-koto

[Karan]

I noticed the koto dekiru post below mine, but I think my question is a little bit different..

We're just learning the koto.. and koto dekiru and so on and so forth.. but.. I'm having a bit of trouble grasping the concept..

Now I understand when describing a hobby it can be used like

私のしゅみは(or is it が）アメフトすることです。

But what's the real difference between..

私は日本語を勉強します。

と

私は日本語を勉強することです。

ーカラン

 

[Stutz]

私は日本語を勉強します。

In this sentence you are doing the action which is studying Japanese.

私は日本語を勉強することです。

This sentence comes out as "I am the studying of Japanese." and doesn't make much sense. Basically the koto turns it into a noun clause just like "no" does.

 

[Elizabeth]

I noticed the koto dekiru post below mine, but I think my question is a little bit different..

We're just learning the koto.. and koto dekiru and so on and so forth.. but.. I'm having a bit of trouble grasping the concept..

Now I understand when describing a hobby it can be used like

私のしゅみは(or is it が）アメフトすることです。

This is literally saying "The thing (こと） that I do as a hobby is (the thing that my hobby is....)....."

Another example would be a sentence like this :
プランが変更になる のはよくあることです. That plans change (プランが変更になる) is a thing that is common, or a thing that happens a lot (よくあることです).

 

[GaijinPunch]

There should actually be a sticky thread for 'koto' alone. It's one of those words that actually can get pretty advanced (like it's cousin 'wake'). They can really grill you with it on the Level 1 test. It apparently takes an act of God to make a sticky here though.

 

[orochi]

Tagging こと onto the plain form of a verb modifies the verb so that it can be treated like a noun. This is similar to in English when we transform a verb (run) into its gerund (running) or infinitive (to run) form.

In English, it is improper to say "I like run." It is proper, though, to say "I like running" or "I like to run."

This is the same in Japanese. It is improper to say 私は走るが好きだ。 The proper way to say this is to modify it with こと and say 私は走ることが好きだ。