Question Do You Have To?

[トレバー]

Hey all, do I have to conjugate the verb at the end of my sentence every time, or can I leave it in root dictionary form?

 

[mdchachi]

Hey all, do I have to conjugate the verb at the end of my sentence every time, or can I leave it in root dictionary form?

Depends on what you're trying to say and to who.

 

[トレバー]

Oh I see!

 

[トレバー]

If I'm just speaking out loud to myself do I have to conjugate the verb? HAHA

 

[mdchachi]

If I'm just speaking out loud to myself do I have to conjugate the verb? HAHA

What do you mean by conjugate? Tense? Or do you mean the -masu form?

 

[トレバー]

What do you mean by conjugate? Tense? Or do you mean the -masu form?

The MASU form.

 

[nice gaijin]

The MASU form.

if you're thinking to yourself, no need to be so polite!

but if you're speaking in a setting where being polite is appropriate, then yes you should conjugate to ~masu form (teineigo). Also, practicing your conjugations will help prepare you for all the OTHER conjugations you'll learn to express different meanings of the verbs (should do, shouldn't have done, have done before, want to, tried to, transitive, intransitive, passive, volitional, imperative, and so on)

 

[mdchachi]

The MASU form.

haha ok then no you don't need to use that form to talk to yourself. But it could be good practice to do so. If you get too used to the casual form it gets very easy to use it inappropriately. I do it all the time myself -- using casual with my colleagues when I should be using the politer form.

 

[トレバー]

if you're thinking to yourself, no need to be so polite!

but if you're speaking in a setting where being polite is appropriate, then yes you should conjugate to ~masu form (teineigo). Also, practicing your conjugations will help prepare you for all the OTHER conjugations you'll learn to express different meanings of the verbs (should do, shouldn't have done, have done before, want to, tried to, transitive, intransitive, passive, volitional, imperative, and so on)

Hummina hummina hummina my head is going to explode, haha. Thank you so much!

 

[トレバー]

haha ok then no you don't need to use that form to talk to yourself. But it could be good practice to do so. If you get too used to the casual form it gets very easy to use it inappropriately. I do it all the time myself -- using casual with my colleagues when I should be using the politer form.

Oh, you're absolutely right! It's always good practice. I don't think I would survive in a Japanese company, haha.

 

[mdchachi]

By the way this talking to yourself -- inner dialogue -- I've found as a useful way to learn Japanese. Like I may say to myself "It's f'ing hot today" and then try to say that to myself in Japanese and may realize there are gaps to my knowledge and take the time to figure out the missing vocab or phrasing. In your case it will be extra difficult because I imagine you'd say something like "holy buckets it's hotter than a cat on a tin roof." Trying to find an equivalent to that will be challenging. Definitely an advanced topic.

 

[nice gaijin]

Hummina hummina hummina my head is going to explode, haha. Thank you so much!

it's not so bad once you get used to it, the challenge is to turn off your English brain so you can think in Japanese, which can take a lot of patience to get to that point.

For basic conjugations (outside of a handful of irregular verbs), it's important to know the two main kinds of verbs: ichidan and godan.

Ichidan all end in "eru" or "iru" and are easily conjugated by replacing the る with the conjugation, like 食べる→食べない、食べます、食べません、、食べた、食べて、食べたい、食べさせる、etc.

Godan verbs cover the verbs where (in my mind) the conjugation is carried by the final consonant of the verb's dictionary form, this means that there are more sound changes that happen when conjugating, but they are also quite predictable for the most part. Despite ending in "iru," shiru (to know) is a godan verb. 知る→知らない、知ります、知りません、知った、知って、知りたい、知らせる

This is a little ditty my first teacher used to teach us about the proper way to conjugate the って form of godan verbs depending on their final mora.
う、つ、る→って
む、ぶ、ぬ→んで
く→いて
ぐ→いで
す→して

Verb Conjugation

Japanese verbs have different conjugation patterns depending on what type they are — godan, ichidan, or irregular. Learn all about verb types and conjugation on this page.

www.tofugu.com

Japanese godan and ichidan verbs - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[トレバー]

By the way this talking to yourself -- inner dialogue -- I've found as a useful way to learn Japanese. Like I may say to myself "It's f'ing hot today" and then try to say that to myself in Japanese and may realize there are gaps to my knowledge and take the time to figure out the missing vocab or phrasing. In your case it will be extra difficult because I imagine you'd say something like "holy buckets it's hotter than a cat on a tin roof." Trying to find an equivalent to that will be challenging. Definitely an advanced topic.

I love this idea and HOLY MILK TOAST, you know me so well. Haha

 

[トレバー]

it's not so bad once you get used to it, the challenge is to turn off your English brain so you can think in Japanese, which can take a lot of patience to get to that point.

For basic conjugations (outside of a handful of irregular verbs), it's important to know the two main kinds of verbs: ichidan and godan.

Ichidan all end in "eru" or "iru" and are easily conjugated by replacing the る with the conjugation, like 食べる→食べない、食べます、食べません、、食べた、食べて、食べたい、食べさせる、etc.

Godan verbs cover the verbs where (in my mind) the conjugation is carried by the final consonant of the verb's dictionary form, this means that there are more sound changes that happen when conjugating, but they are also quite predictable for the most part. Despite ending in "iru," shiru (to know) is a godan verb. 知る→知らない、知ります、知りません、知った、知って、知りたい、知らせる

This is a little ditty my first teacher used to teach us about the proper way to conjugate the って form of godan verbs depending on their final mora.
う、つ、る→って
む、ぶ、ぬ→んで
く→いて
ぐ→いで
す→して

Verb Conjugation

Japanese verbs have different conjugation patterns depending on what type they are — godan, ichidan, or irregular. Learn all about verb types and conjugation on this page.

www.tofugu.com

Japanese godan and ichidan verbs - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Oh yes! This is great!

 

[トレバー]

Does anybody know if that is MI HA or MI WA on the 4th column at the bottom?

 

[Majestic]

みはからって

its one word, so the second character is "ha".
Or, I should say, it is a conjugated verb. The root verb is みはからう。

 

[トレバー]

みはからって

its one word, so the second character is "ha".
Or, I should say, it is a conjugated verb. The root verb is みはからう。

I knew it was HA!

 

[mdchachi]

 

[トレバー]

Can you have multiple WA in a sentence? I'm looking at the third last column.

 

[Majestic]

Yes, its OK to use は more than once in a sentence. It's used here as the topic marker for fude, but it's also marking/emphasizing the time of "nowadays". Totally fine and acceptable.

 

[トレバー]

Wow, thank you it turns out I pronounced it properly. The first time. I just question myself. I was like wait. Is this right but now I know it is. Thanks a ton.