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The Copula's Conjugations

Coffeesan

先輩
6 Jul 2011
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Sooo I use the following fairly often.. I'm including what they roughly mean if they were English too but chill out I know its context based..

Da / Desu -- Non-past positive -- Is/Are/Am
Dewa Nai desu / Dewa arimasen -- Present negative -- Isnt/Arent/Not

Datta / Deshita -- Past positive -- Was/Were
Dewa Arimasen Deshita --Past negative -- Wasnt/Was not/Werent


But what I'm wondering is does the Copula have any other forms? When I see the presumptive form of a verb like for example:

Taberu daro / Taberu desho

It looks like the desho/daro was some kind of conjugation of desu/da but I wasnt ever sure because if it conveys the rough meaning of "lets", "shall", "about to", "trying to" then in isolation would it make sense stuck on the end of a simple noun-copula end sentence?

I thought it could mean things like "I shall BE a father", "I'm about TO BE a teacher" and doesnt really make sense without adding a BE so figured iru would simply fill the need for that.

Sooo basically what I'm asking is: Is daro/desho a copula conjugation that can be used on its own in a simple noun-copula sentence and if so could I see an example. Also how many forms would it have? It surely must have a lot less than a real verb would I thought it only had the non-past and past which is all I've ever used but I have a teacher now and she said there was just as many forms for the copula as normal verbs. Only see her once a week, no I cant email so posting here.

P.s. Yes I know its not a verb I'm just calling it the special/fake one for ease of reading. I dont have kana input on this computer.
 
Does Daro/Darou/Desho roughly mean "think is", "seems like" in Japanese? I know many things cant be translated literally between the two languages. Could it also mean "she could be a student" ? Or would the presence of the "be" entail the "to exist, be" verb Iru/Imasu would need to be used instead of the more simple copula? Sorry hope this makes sense..

The Verb conjugation on wikipedia is useful for verbs but it doesnt help with the copula forms. The non-past and past forms are obvious likewise their negatives but I'm trying to find out if desu has a past and non-past continious/progressive form, a conditional, potential etc. Because I've never thought it did because its not actually a verb just follows the same rules of one sometimes.
 
Does Daro/Darou/Desho roughly mean "think is", "seems like" in Japanese?
Sometimes, but not necessarily, is my understanding. I have been confused about this in the past, and have asked about it here a couple of times. Sometimes だろう/でしょう seems to have a definite sense of "will" (i.e. future tense in English), and other times it seems to be more speculative, depending on context.
 
Sometimes, but not necessarily, is my understanding. I have been confused about this in the past, and have asked about it here a couple of times. Sometimes だろう/でしょう seems to have a definite sense of "will" (i.e. future tense in English), and other times it seems to be more speculative, depending on context.

Thats useful cheers eeky, dont suppose you remember what you vaugely asked the questions under do you? I've typed presumptive form/verb, desho, darou, daro, copulae all into advanced search but havent found a lot, admitidly the advanced search has always been a little pants lol
 
Thats useful cheers eeky, dont suppose you remember what you vaugely asked the questions under do you? I've typed presumptive form/verb, desho, darou, daro, copulae all into advanced search but havent found a lot, admitidly the advanced search has always been a little pants lol
A couple of threads I managed to locate are:

水先案内人 / だろう / 人たがいる / しては | Japan Forum

考えてあげましょう / 所 / でしょう / なあに / 取れる | Japan Forum

Also how many forms would it have? It surely must have a lot less than a real verb would I thought it only had the non-past and past which is all I've ever used but I have a teacher now and she said there was just as many forms for the copula as normal verbs. Only see her once a week, no I cant email so posting here.
This might be of interest:

Japanese Verb Conjugation

(section on copula)
 
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Not checked out the threads you've fund yet but that site link pretty much has exactly what I wanted! Not sure I understand it all but going to read it all a few times. Much appreciated buddy :joyful:

Edit: This page you linked me is bloody long! It literally has everything... Some of this stuff I've never seen and more than half of it isnt in any of my textbooks. Should really make that site a sticky I reckon.
 
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