Japanese Verb Forms (location in sentence) The Plain and Polite Verb Forms The Stem Form and the Polite Suffix The Present and Past Verb Forms Affirmative and Negative Verb Forms Verbs of Coming and Going Polite Present Forms Places You Often Go Japanese 1100-L09a Class Session 9a Chapter 5

Japanese 1100-L09a Japanese verbs: Are always placed at the end of a sentence Are conjugated based on the speech style, tense, and whether it is affirmative or negative Verb conjugations are based on verb stems + suffixes Most of the verb forms can be derived easily from one of the basic forms by adding one or more suffixes Compared to verbs in many other languages, Japanese verbs tend to more regular in adherence to rules of grammatical construction There are only two irregular verbs in Japanese There are only two tenses for Japanese verbs: past and non-past Japanese Verb Forms

Japanese 1100-L09a The Plain and Polite Verb Forms The short form of a Japanese verb is called the plain form and is used in informal conversation The long form of a Japanese verb is called the polite form and is used in neutral or polite conversation Example: iku (to go) is in the plain present (short) affirmative form ikimasuis in the polite present (long) affirmative form The plain form is also used in some grammatical constructions even when they are used in neutral or polite conversation (so, you must know both forms)

Japanese 1100-L09a The polite form of a verb is the combination of the stem form and the polite suffix The stem form of the verb iku is iki and -masu is the polite suffix in present affirmative form The polite present negative suffix is –masen Examples: ikimasu(I) will go (there) ikimasen(I) will not go (there) The stem form is often called “pre-masu” form because it is the form that precedes -masu (or the form to which you add –masu) The Stem Form and the Polite Suffix

Japanese 1100-L09a The Present and Past Verb Forms The present tense expresses a habitual OR future action (or non-past tense) The past tense expresses an action that has already happened The past counterparts for iku and ikimasu itta (I) went ikimashita(I) went

Japanese 1100-L09a Affirmative and Negative Verb Forms Japanese verbs conjugate based on whether or not they are affirmative or negative iku is affirmative; its negative is ikanai ikimasu is affirmative; its negative is ikimasen Verbs are listed in (most) dictionaries in the plain present affirmative form. The verb “to go” is listed as iku in a Japanese dictionary The plain present affirmative form is also called “the dictionary form”

Japanese 1100-L09a Verbs of Coming and Going The verbs for coming and going are used frequently in describing one’s daily activities iku means to go kuru means to come kaeru means to return kaeru is used when one goes back to his base place such as home, dorm, or office

Japanese 1100-L09a Polite Present Forms Polite present forms of verbs of coming and goingPolite Present Affirmative Negative iku (go)ikimasuikimasen kuru (come)kimasukimasen kaeru (return)kaerimasukaerimasen We will discuss the verb conjugation mechanism in Chapter 7 As mentioned earlier the present tense actually expresses a future tense (especially with a furure time word) or habitual action (especially with an adverb) ashita ikimasu.I will go (there) tomorrow. yoku ikimasu.I go (there) often.

Japanese 1100-L09a Places You Often Go Places where people frequently go to study, work, or do other things: kōkōhigh school daigakuunivesity, college kurasuclass kaishacompany yūbinkyokupost office byōinhospital ginkōbank sūpāsupermarket