Multiple actions in one sentence

[The7thSamurai]

How does one use multiple actions, or multiple verbs in one sentence? For example, in English "Today I ate and drank", in Japanese do you use the joiner 'to' like we use 'and' so that you would have:

Kyou wa tabemashita to nomimashita

Or is that completely wrong?

Alternatively, how would you say "today I ate THEN drank"???

So confused

 

[Stutz]

Nope. In the example you stated, you'll likely use the -te form that connects verbs together. The particle "to" connects a definitive list of nouns and is not the Japanese equivelent of "and". So it this case, your sentence will look more like:

Kyou wa tabete nomimashita.

The last verb carries the tense of the sentence so you don't have to worry about giving taberu the past formal tense too. Of course, according to my sensei, you can also connect actions in a lot of other ways, but you should worry about them when you get to them.

 

[blade_bltz]

For the second sentence, you could add kara to the -te form and say:

kyou ha tabetekara nomimashita

 

[Damicci]

I think there other instances when you are specifying that you went somewhere to perform and action.

EX.
私と母はひるごはんを食べるに行きました。 Mother and I went to eat lunch. Where i think ni links and indirect verb with a direct verb. er something like that.

 

[Elizabeth]

I think there other instances when you are specifying that you went somewhere to perform and action.

EX.
私と母はひるごはんを食べるに行きました。 Mother and I went to eat lunch. Where i think ni links and indirect verb with a direct verb. er something like that.

私は母と一緒にお昼を食べに行きました。がよい思います。

 

[GaijinPunch]

For now, just remember to add say you did two things, make the first one the -te form, then say the second in the -masu or whatever form. Of course, there are a few other ways that have slightly different meanings, but the "-te connection" I believe is the first one you should learn and will suffice.

 

[Elizabeth]

I don't think the 'te' form quite fits for doing two things in a single setting or intermittently throughout the day like eating and drinking.

 

[WHEATTHlNS]

Wouldnt it - since one is following the other?

"I got up and ate breakfast" - "okite, tabemashita"

 

[GaijinPunch]

"I got up and ate breakfast" - "okite, tabemashita"

Bingo.

As before, there are other ways, but considering the elementary question, why bother? Those are at least a few months into studying. You have to crawl before you walk.

 

[Damicci]

See My old teacher taught us differently I think she did a good job but it seems she also left a few things out, she wasn't a graduated language teacher but she teaches psychology for high school studetns or something like but is japanese and wanted try teaching with us b4 she started real world teaching. but that is good info to know. Thanks GaijinP

 

[Leroy_Brown]

How does one use multiple actions, or multiple verbs in one sentence? For example, in English "Today I ate and drank", in Japanese do you use the joiner 'to' like we use 'and' so that you would have:

Kyou wa tabemashita to nomimashita

Or is that completely wrong?

Alternatively, how would you say "today I ate THEN drank"???

So confused

"Kyou wa tabete nomimashita"

 

[GaijinPunch]

"Kyou wa tabete nomimashita"

??? Uh... yeah... same as first reply, right?

 

[orochi]

Looking over this thread again, I thought of a grammar pattern that might be more acceptable. First of all, looking at the logic of your original sentence, are we supposed to assume the ONLY things you did over the course of the whole day were eating and drinking? Nothing else? You didn't go anywhere... meet anyone... have a conversation, etc? There's a great grammar pattern that talks about multiple actions but does not limit the speaker to having only completed those specific actions. Here's the translation using this form and then an explanation:

今日、食べたり、飲んだりした。

This would translate to, "Today, I ate and drank [amongst other things]."

This form is made by adding a り to the past plain form of any number of verbs (in this case 2), following up with a する (or in this case, the past tense form, した). This grammar form is very useful for describing multiple actions inclusively (that is, other actions may have taken place but we won't state them in this sentence).

Upon hearing a sentence like this, the listener would definitely think you had a lazy day!

 

[The7thSamurai]

Thanks Orochi, I'll look into it further

 

[nhk9]

In colloquial speech, I think it's acceptable to say "taberu toka nomu toka"... but then this is really colloquial so please pay attention to when to use this kind of arrangement.

tabetekara nomu would not really fit what the person wanted to ask, since tabetekara implies that drinking is done AFTER eating... but from "today I ate and drank", we don't know the order of the 2, so I don't think using -tekara is acceptable here. (although the listener should be able to get what you are trying to say)

You may also want to think about using "shi" as a way to express 2 actions.

watashi ha ringo wo takusan tabeta shi, milku mo nonda.
I eat lots of apple, and also I drank milk.