Negative copula forms

[GoldCoinLover]

あなたの日本語上手ですね。 = "Your japanese is very good."

This means your japanese is good. But how would I say "Your japanese is not good." or "My japanese is not good."

A major problem with me constructing sentences (since I don't have a book)
1) The right particles
2) And copulas

I don't know the negative copulas. its frustration. I know 'suru' means 'to do', shimashita (negative form of shimasu?) I need to find negative forums of verbs.

If I did, I could easily twist this sentence above around and make it "My japanese is not good", "your japanese is not good." (i.e negative copula) does anyone know of any?

 

[MeAndroo]

あなたの日本語上手ですね。 = "Your japanese is very good."

This means your japanese is good. But how would I say "Your japanese is not good." or "My japanese is not good."

A major problem with me constructing sentences (since I dont haev a book)
1) The right particles
2) And copulas

I don't know the negative copulas. its frusteration. I know 'suru' means 'to do', shimashita (negatve form of shimasu?) I need to find negative forums of verbs.

If I did, I could easily twist this sentence above around and make it "My japanese is not good", "your japanese is not good." (i.e negative copula) does anyone know of any?

A common form of this sentence is "nihongo ga jouzu desu ne."

Jouzu is an adjective, and there are a variety of adjectives that mean "not good." In order to sound less than rude, however, you could use the term mada mada, for "not there yet."

Shimashita is the past tense of shimasu, the desu/masu form of suru, thus it is not negative. I'm not sure what a copula is, but you don't need an additional verb for the sentence you intend to make.

As far as verb forms, look here.

 

[Cynergy]

You should look into getting Living Language's Ultimate Japanese. That's the program I'm working with.

Anyway, here's what it says about negation of the copula with nouns...

The negative of desu "to be" is ja arimasen "not to be" or de wa arimasen "not to be." De wa arimasen is more formal, and ja arimasen is more common in casual conversation.

Examples: わたしはがくせいではありません。
Watashi wa gakusei de wa arimasen.
I am not a student.

これはしょくどうじゃありません。
Kore wa shokudoo ja arimasen.
This is not a cafeteria.

Verbs...

The present negative suffix - masen
-masen is the negative form of -masu.

examples:

ikimasu - go (am going, will go)
ikimasen - do not go (am not going, will not go)

oyogimasu - swim (am swimming, will swim)
oyogimasen - do not swim (am not swimming, will not swim)

I hope that helps.

 

[GoldCoinLover]

Thank you. What about negative forms of have? I do not have, have is motto, so would not have be mottiru?

I want to say "Do you have grand theft auto: Liberty city stories for the PSP?" and "has it been released in japan?"

I have to actually say this to japanese people in gamer chat, because I posted it on the playstaiton forums several times, with not a single response. And no one knew.

I was just interested because it seems like a hard game to transition to japanese and i dont think they'd like it

 

[nice gaijin]

Carefully look over the link that @MeAndroo posted, it has all the information you need for simple verb conjugation at this point.

motto means "more." The verb for "have" is motsu 持つ, and the present form of that verb "having/holding" is the ~te form of motsu with the verb iru, to be-->持っている (motteiru). Casually, the i is dropped and the verb becomes 持ってる (motteru). These are all positive statements in the short form, the negative form of motsu is motanai, and for the present tense, it would be motteimasen/motteinai/mottenai (from polite to most casual).

read the link MeAndroo posted very carefully if you want to understand the way Japanese verbs behave in sentences. The most important thing for you to study for now is verb conjugations, especially affirmative (suru), negative (shinai), past affirmative and negative (shita and shinakatta), and the ~te form, which has countless uses (shite). Bear in mind that there are different kinds of verbs that affect the way they are conjugated, and there are special exceptions that conjugate differently from the standard set.

So please, READ THAT LINK before you even consider making another sentence.

Tim Sensei's Corner

 

[Kuzzy]

GCL,

I would like to make a personal challenge to you. I have seen you say a number of times that you are very enthusiastic and motivated to learn Japanese, but that you do not have a book, and thus direction. Please don't misunderstand me when I say that many times it seems as though you use this as an excuse to disregard advice and continue wandering haphazardly. This is only the impression that your (many times) defensive and a bit aggressive replies give - I am not saying that it is your true additude. I salute you for taking up the study on your own and having a passion for it. That said, there are some invaluable resources out there that could very well substitute for having a book.

I am going to give you a few links, and I challenge you to choose one and work through it just like you would a book - mastering the basic material and progressing at a speed that allows you to really take in the information and "make it your own". Of course, as you move through the material, bounce your thoughts off of us here and share with us what you have learned. However, try to move through it progressively and take time to become familiar with the material rather than jumping around to far more advanced topics. Build a strong foundation from which to grow. Take a look at these sites and pick one that seems to suit you:

Japanese Guide to Japanese Grammar
An Introduction to Japanese Syntax, Grammar and Language
Teach Yourself Japanese
Japanese for the Western Brain

Personally, I think the first is excellent and it is the one I have the most experience with. But more important than choosing the "best" one is choosing one that appeals to you and that you can stick with. I have tons of links, so feel free to ask if you're also looking for something else (kana practice, stroke order, culture, etc.), but my challenge remains. A textbook is a great help, but in today's internet age, not having one is much less of a hurdle. Please keep in mind that I am not trying to insult you in any way - I am only trying to help you out.

 

[GoldCoinLover]

GCL,

I would like to make a personal challenge to you. I have seen you say a number of times that you are very enthusiastic and motivated to learn Japanese, but that you do not have a book, and thus direction. Please don't misunderstand me when I say that many times it seems as though you use this as an excuse to disregard advice and continue wandering haphazardly. This is only the impression that your (many times) defensive and a bit aggressive replies give - I am not saying that it is your true additude. I salute you for taking up the study on your own and having a passion for it. That said, there are some invaluable resources out there that could very well substitute for having a book.

I am going to give you a few links, and I challenge you to choose one and work through it just like you would a book - mastering the basic material and progressing at a speed that allows you to really take in the information and "make it your own". Of course, as you move through the material, bounce your thoughts off of us here and share with us what you have learned. However, try to move through it progressively and take time to become familiar with the material rather than jumping around to far more advanced topics. Build a strong foundation from which to grow. Take a look at these sites and pick one that seems to suit you:

Japanese Guide to Japanese Grammar
An Introduction to Japanese Syntax, Grammar and Language
Teach Yourself Japanese
Japanese for the Western Brain

Personally, I think the first is excellent and it is the one I have the most experience with. But more important than choosing the "best" one is choosing one that appeals to you and that you can stick with. I have tons of links, so feel free to ask if you're also looking for something else (kana practice, stroke order, culture, etc.), but my challenge remains. A textbook is a great help, but in today's internet age, not having one is much less of a hurdle. Please keep in mind that I am not trying to insult you in any way - I am only trying to help you out.

Before you even mentioned this, I already had looked at the first one there. The notoriously hard to grasp and understand 'guidetojapanese' for a 17. Heck, my mom didn't understand it and she's very good in english!

Also, elizabeth agreed with me, it makes japanese much harder than it is.

I also have a very crappy japanese CD for windows '95 called 'smart start japanese', it doesn't even mention kanji, and for your name it says it would be like this: "Kevin to imasu." which ive never heard before..

I'll try the others though.

 

[GoldCoinLover]

A common form of this sentence is "nihongo ga jouzu desu ne."

Jouzu is an adjective, and there are a variety of adjectives that mean "not good." In order to sound less than rude, however, you could use the term mada mada, for "not there yet."

Shimashita is the past tense of shimasu, the desu/masu form of suru, thus it is not negative. I'm not sure what a copula is, but you don't need an additional verb for the sentence you intend to make.

As far as verb forms, look here.

Thanks for giving me one with 'laymen terms' i'm aggrevated by people giving me very difficult to grasp guides with very technical english (English was by far my worst subject in school, and I was always in special ed english), while i exceed in math and science.

Now, 2 people have. I'm reading yours, as iti s much easier. I was very discouraged with the 'www.guidetojapanese.com' as it makes it more complicated than it has to be.

 

[GoldCoinLover]

GCL,

I would like to make a personal challenge to you. I have seen you say a number of times that you are very enthusiastic and motivated to learn Japanese, but that you do not have a book, and thus direction. Please don't misunderstand me when I say that many times it seems as though you use this as an excuse to disregard advice and continue wandering haphazardly. This is only the impression that your (many times) defensive and a bit aggressive replies give - I am not saying that it is your true additude. I salute you for taking up the study on your own and having a passion for it. That said, there are some invaluable resources out there that could very well substitute for having a book.

I am going to give you a few links, and I challenge you to choose one and work through it just like you would a book - mastering the basic material and progressing at a speed that allows you to really take in the information and "make it your own". Of course, as you move through the material, bounce your thoughts off of us here and share with us what you have learned. However, try to move through it progressively and take time to become familiar with the material rather than jumping around to far more advanced topics. Build a strong foundation from which to grow. Take a look at these sites and pick one that seems to suit you:

Japanese Guide to Japanese Grammar
An Introduction to Japanese Syntax, Grammar and Language
Teach Yourself Japanese
Japanese for the Western Brain

Personally, I think the first is excellent and it is the one I have the most experience with. But more important than choosing the "best" one is choosing one that appeals to you and that you can stick with. I have tons of links, so feel free to ask if you're also looking for something else (kana practice, stroke order, culture, etc.), but my challenge remains. A textbook is a great help, but in today's internet age, not having one is much less of a hurdle. Please keep in mind that I am not trying to insult you in any way - I am only trying to help you out.

It's not a challenge, I want to learn about japanese. I just don't want it to be incredibly too-difficult-to-be-normal 'guidetojapanese.com' difficult.

I'm not an english teacher, and my english (in terms of the english language, not speaking it my whole life) technicalities is middle school at best. (I barely know what an adjective is)

 

[Kuzzy]

I'll try the others though.

Please don't get caught up in one of the mentioned sites and bypass the heart of the matter. That's why I said look through them and pick one that fits you, personally. As for myself, I like the first one very much and find it easy to follow, but we are all different. So pick one that you can stick with.

If you look through all of those and can't find one that speaks to you, I will give you more links. My challenge is based on my feeling that I don't think you truly need a textbook to find direction and make good, steady progress. Those links cover a number of approaches, and I will provide more if need be.

I guess what I would like to make clear is that there is nothing magical about a textbook that will suddenly make your journey simple. A textbook will give you a bit of guidance with lessons that progress from the basics onward, providing some explanation, some examples, and some activities. Most of these sites provide the same thing in different ways. The majority of the work is up to you - a textbook or a site can only be a guide.

It's not a challenge, I want to learn about japanese. I just don't want it to be incredibly too-difficult-to-be-normal 'guidetojapanese.com' difficult.

Like I said, don't get caught up in one of the mentioned sites. Just forget about that one since it doesn't fit you. The challenge still stands - I am challenging you to pick a site and to stick with it; work through it. I am not saying you are unwilling to do it or that it will be "challenging", rather it is simply a friendly challenge that I am offering you.

 

[nhk9]

If you are struggling with all the details etc. that a website presents, by all mean skip it, bookmark it and save it for later. If you want to make some progress and feel confident about yourself during the beginning stages of learning a language, then you may perhaps want to find a book that teaches the ESSENTIALS instead. I recommend the "Dummy Series" or "Idiot's Guide" books that should be available at your local public library. Otherwise I think they are available at amazon.com

You just need to familiarize yourself with adjectives and adverbs. Otherwise it will become a pain for yourself down the road. Trust me, they are not difficult.

I did a search for you @ amazon. Apparently the two books are about $20US each. Those are really good books, and I used similar books for my studies in German. You should try to give them a shot.

Amazon product ASIN 0028641795

 

[MeAndroo]

I also have a very crappy japanese CD for windows '95 called 'smart start japanese', it doesn't even mention kanji, and for your name it says it would be like this: "Kevin to imasu." which ive never heard before..

"-name- to iimasu" is a perfectly fine way of telling people what your name is. More common is using the humble form and make it -name to moushimasu-, usually because it's during an introduction, and being polite never hurts.

 

[The7thSamurai]

GCL, can I just say that for the first 6 months or so of my study I just used Internet sites like the above mentioned, and especially Tim Sensei's Corner - Getting Started with the Japanese Language

In fact, I think you'll end up being rather disappointed in any textbook you get.