2019年10月19日土曜日

Question words

The other day one of my students requested me to show him a list of common question words. I wrote the list on the whiteboard during the lesson. Today I'll share the same list here.


question
some-
no- (used with a negative form of verb or adjective.)
-ever
What
nani
nan (used with desu ka)
nanika
(something)
nanimo
(nothing)
nandemo
(whatever)
Where
doko
dokoka
dokonimo
dokodemo
When
itsu
itsuka
itsumo (always)
itsudemo
Who
dare
dareka
daremo
daredemo
Which (1. more than 2 choices)
dore
doreka (some of these)
doremo (none of these)
doredemo
Which (2. More than 2 choices. A noun follows dono.)
dono+noun
dono + noun+ ka (some of these)
dono + noun + mo
(none of these)
dono + noun + demo
Which (3. Only 2 choices.)
docchi
docchika (either of these)
docchimo (neither of these)
docchidemo
What kind of
donna + noun



Why
doshite
Nande (more casual)



How 1
do (used with desu ka)



How 2
doyatte (used with a verb)



How much
ikura



How long
donogurai or donokurai



How old
nansai



How many people
nannin
nanmei (more formal)
nanninka
nanmeika

nannindemo
nanmeidemo
(any number of people)
How many things
ikutsu
ikutsuka

Ikutsudemo
(any number of things)
What time
nanji


nanjidemo

Here are explanations for the words marked in yellow.

docchi : meaning “which one” when you have two alternatives like meat or fish. It often refers to directions like this way or that way.

donogurai/donokurairefers to time, distance or degree.
  1. Tokyo kara Osaka made donogurai (or nanjikan) kakarimasu ka? “How long (or how many hours) does it take to travel from Tokyo to Osaka?” 
  2. Tokyo kara Osaka made donogurai (or nankilo) desu ka? “How long (or how many kilometers) is it from Tokyo to Osaka?”
  3. kono test wa donogurai muzukashii desu ka? “ How difficult will this test be?”
ikutsuA general counter for objects, so you can use “ikutsu” for anything you want to know the number of. There are many other counter words for certain types of objects. Japanese people usually choose the appropriate counter word over “ikutsu” according to the object in question.

dokonimo: “Ni” is a particle which has two different meanings when it is used with “doko”. One indicates direction meaning “to” or “towards”. The other one indicates location meaning “in” or “at”.
  1. ashita wa dokonimo ikanai.  “I’m not going anywhere tomorrow.”
  2. konoo machi wa conbini ga dokonimo nai.  “There are no convenience stores anywhere in this city.”
How is a series of these words used? Let’s take the nani-series as an example.
  • Q. nani o tabeteimasu ka? >> A. ramen o tabeteimasu. “Q. What are you eating? >> A. I’m eating ramen.”
  • Q. Asagohan o tabemashita ka? >> A, iie, kyo no asa nanimo tabemasendeshita. “Did you have breakfast? >> No, I didn’t eat anything this morning.”
  • Q. nani o tabemasho ka? >> A. nandemo ii desu yo. “What shall we eat? >> A. Anything is fine.”
Listing out these words really helps you learn them. I suggest you always make lists or charts of words or expressions in your notebook. This way is much better than writing down the words randomly!!

2019年9月3日火曜日

Ta-form doesn't always indicate past tense.

Long time no see, everyone! I have been busy and lazy this year, but I finally wrote one English post on a quiet day in August. I'm happy to do it. 

Let’s focus on “ta-form” today.

What expressions are used with ta-form?

              Ta toki, ta koto ga aru, ta bakari, ta tokoro, ta mama, ta ra, and so on.

Basically, a verb in ta-form means that the action of the verb is completed, but it doesn’t always indicate past tense. Here are the some examples:
  1. maiasa kaisha ni tsuita (A) ato de, asagohan o taberu (B). (Every morning, I have breakfast after I arrive at my office.)
  2. kino asagohan o tabeta (A) ato de, gym ni itta (B). (Yesterday, I went to the gym after I had breakfast.)
When action A (“kaisha ni tsuku” or “asagohan o taberu”) is completed, action B (“asagohan o taberu” or “gym ni iku”) is done. 
Chronological order:
  1.  kaisha ni tsuku → asagohan o taberu 
  2. asagohan o taberu → gym ni iku
Verb B changes its tense depending on context, but verb A always takes ta-form because it has a sense of completion. Particularly, even though the actions of sentence 1 are not in the past, “tsuita” (ta-form) is required.

The same rule applies to “ta toki”.
Watashi wa itsumo tsukareta toki, massage ni iku. (I always go get a massage when I get tired.)
The whole sentence is in the present, but “tsukareta” is the ta-form. This expresses that I go get a massage after getting tired.
Tsukareru → massage ni iku
Given the above chronological order, you must indicate the completion of “becoming tired”.

This works for “ta ra” in the same way.
Soko o migi ni magattara, eki ga aru. (If you turn right there, there is a station.)
Ame ga futtara, ie de eiga o miyou. (If it rains, let’s watch a movie at home.)
Kyoto ni ittara, kireina niwa ga mitai. (When I go to Kyoto, I want to see a pretty garden.)
Yamada san ga kitara, Tanaka san wa kaeru desho. (If Yamada comes, Tanaka will go home.)
Takarakuji ni atattara, nani o kaimasu ka? (If you win the lottery, what would you buy?)
Eki ni tsuitara, anata ni denwa o shimasu. (When I get to the station, I will call you.)
The first verbs (A) are all ta-form. After those actions are done, the second verbs (B) are conducted or occur. In other words, verbs B follow verbs A in terms of time.
Many people wonder why if-sentences require ta-form. I hope this explains why.