Verb conjugates

[KrazyKat]

Most likely it's for the desiderative form (～たい) or adjectives that you've seen that with. Since adjectives aren't verbs they don't take direct objects, and since the ～たい form makes verbs into adjectives in effect, that form generally doesn't take direct objects, although there are exceptions.
So, for example, すしが食べたい！ いい車が欲しい, and お前のことが好きだ. If that's not what you're talking about then I don't know.
As for は being an emphasis particle for を, when it's used as the contrastive marker and it replaces を it serves to emphasize contrast. Its use in this way isn't just limited to を, of course. You could have something like 留学生はロシアからは来たんですが、カナダからは来ませんでした, etc.
[EDIT] I just remembered about the 分かる, 要る group. Here's the rule according to 日本語基本文法辞典: "when predicates are transitive adjectives or stative transitive verbs, the elements which correspond to the direct object in English are marked by ga." I don't know how much that'll help, though, unless you can pick out a stative transitive verb by sight.

Thanks! That helped so much. Now I think about it one of the sentences I saw it in might have been:
両親の声が聞きたい。
So that fits right into what you were saying. that bit in the edit helps too!

Now more questions!

Why do you see Xを好き ?
Its not very common but its definitely around. It might have something to do with people or oneself? A situation I might have seen it, could have been something like this(I'm making it up)
彼女は僕を好きかな

Am I getting anywhere?
Thanks again!

 

[Elizabeth]

Why do you see Xを好き ?
Its not very common but its deffinately around. It might have something to do with people or onself? A situation I might have seen it, could have been something like this(I'm making it up)
彼女は僕を好きかな
Am I getting anywhere?
Thanks again!

And I've seen it in a similar context, what a fascinating coincidence if
that is what it turns out to be. 彼が好き used here would give unusual emphasis to him perhaps, as the one she likes or not, as opposed to someone else ?

彼女は彼を好きか嫌いかもわからないのに。。

My impression is still that は replaces を as the particle of emphasis in most cases, though. It's just too common not too unless the contrast is extremely implicit. :?

マライヤはあまり聞いたことがありません for instance. This doesn't have any connotation that he has listened to music other than hers. My reading was that wa was used because it was the topic under discussion.

 

[nhk9]

Please note that although は usually replaces を when it serves as an emphasis particle in a contrastive manner, it can be used in non-contrastive situations as well. You can say:

(watashi ha) sushi ha tabeta koto (ga) aru

In situations such as this:

Q: Have you tried Japanese cuisine before?
A: Sushi ha tabeta koto ga aru (has the meaning of "sushi nara tameshita koto ga aru)

 

[GoldCoinLover]

Thank you.

Is tabete in this case informal past tense?

It's kind of like "tried" built inot it. lOL

 

[Mike Cash]

"Tabeta".....not "tabete".

 

[WHEATTHlNS]

Tabete on its own contains no verb tense. Tabete kudasai; tabete, gakko ni itteimashita - these carry verb tenses. "Please eat" (present tense), "I ate and went to school" (past tense).

 

[J44xm]

A: Sushi ha tabeta koto ga aru (has the meaning of "sushi nara tameshita koto ga aru)

Is that "tameshita" the past tense of 試す ("to attempt or test")? The root must be ためす, right?

Tabete on its own contains no verb tense. Tabete kudasai; tabete, gakko ni itteimashita - these carry verb tenses. "Please eat" (present tense), "I ate and went to school" (past tense).

In what cases would you use 行っていました instead of 行きました? Wouldn't the former have the impression of "was walking" (the past progressive)?

Thanks.

 

[nhk9]

Is that "tameshita" the past tense of 試す ("to attempt or test")? The root must be ためす, right?
In what cases would you use 行っていました instead of 行きました? Wouldn't the former have the impression of "was walking" (the past progressive)?
Thanks.

You are right about the tamesu part
The way how these tenses work in Japanese are a little bit different from that of English. Just think about it this way, at least it works for me:
行っていました -> Someone was doing the act of going during SOME RANGE OF TIME in the past. We don't know whether or not this act is still continuing right now.
行きました -> Someone did the act of going at A SPECIFIC TIME in the past. The general idea is that the act is completed, but we can't say for 100% sure. Something like "itte shimaimashita" would make it more clear whether the act was completed in the past or not.

 

[J44xm]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the useful info.

 

[Glenn]

And I've seen it in a similar context, what a fascinating coincidence if
that is what it turns out to be. 彼が好き used here would give unusual emphasis to him perhaps, as the one she likes or not, as opposed to someone else ?
彼女は彼を好きか嫌いかもわからないのに。。

を is sometimes used to make it clear whether someone likes or is liked, like in this situation.
甲：好きだね。
乙：誰が？
甲：あなた。
乙：誰を？
甲：はち。
I think in the situation you brought up こと would be used to clarify things: 彼女は彼のことが好きか嫌いか。。。 And of course there are the considerations of omitting the 彼女は and using が instead, etc., but those fall under a different category. I'm pretty sure that 彼女が好きです will 95% of the time mean "I like/love her," and it places no special emphasis on "her."

 

[Glenn]

About 行っています: I've always seen it as "is there." For instance, 聞いたか。武（たけし）はアメリカに行ってるよ！すごいな〜！ Here it's "did you hear? Takeshi's in America! Sugoi nâ!" (sorry, didn't feel like thinking of a good English equivalent for that one at the moment). So, it's used when you talk about someone being somewhere that is away from the speaker and that the person who is there has gone to. Does that make sense?

By the way, 来る can be used in the same way. ほお、雄介（ゆうすけ）も来ている！ "Well lookie here, even Yûsuke is here!" I assume this would be said in a situation like when you arrive at a party and notice that someone is already there. At least that's the only type of situation I can think of that this sentence would fit.

 

[Elizabeth]

About 行っています: I've always seen it as "is there." For instance, 聞いたか。武（たけし）はアメリカに行ってるよ！すごいな〜！ Here it's "did you hear? Takeshi's in America! Sugoi ne!" (sorry, didn't feel like thinking of a good English equivalent for that one at the moment). So, it's used when you talk about someone being somewhere that is away from the speaker and that the person who is there has gone to. Does that make sense?

By the way, 来る can be used in the same way. ほお、雄介（ゆうすけ）も来ている！ "Well lookie here, even Yûsuke is here!" I assume this would be said in a situation like when you arrive at a party and notice that someone is already there. At least that's the only type of situation I can think of that this sentence would fit.

Although I would say itte imasu can just as easily refer to a future condition or expected state about yourself or anyone else. For instance, I will be in Tokyo for two weeks. [2週間東京に行っている」 or of course 「2週間東京に行って来 る]

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can use it for future as well as present states. 行ってくる, on the other hand, is a different beast.

 

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can use it for future as well as present states. 行ってくる, on the other hand, is a different beast.

Itte kuru is fine as well in that situation as well. I will go and come back in two weeks....

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, it's fine, but the meaning is slightly different, and I'm pretty sure it isn't used for someone being somewhere, but rather going somewhere. I believe the difference is that 行っている expresses a state, whereas 行ってくる expresses and action.

 

[nice gaijin]

i believe that 行っている only implies that the the subject has departed, and does not imply a persistant state of motion or travel. I think in order to do this, 行っている途中 must be used. In the sense of "is there," I think that 行ってる is closer to "has left for," although it usually follows that they have arrived there as well.

 

[Mike Cash]

i believe that 行っている only implies that the the subject has departed, and does not imply a persistent state of motion or travel. I think in order to do this, 行っている途中 must be used. In the sense of "is there," I think that 行ってる is closer to "has left for," although it usually follows that they have arrived there as well.

Arriving at a understanding of this also helps clear up things like 知っている and 痩せている。

 

[KrazyKat]

を is sometimes used to make it clear whether someone likes or is liked, like in this situation.
甲：好きだね。
乙：誰が？
甲：あなた。
乙：誰を？
甲：はち。
I think in the situation you brought up こと would be used to clarify things: 彼女は彼のことが好きか嫌いか。。。 And of course there are the considerations of omitting the 彼女は and using が instead, etc., but those fall under a different category. I'm pretty sure that 彼女が好きです will 95% of the time mean "I like/love her," and it places no special emphasis on "her."

Thanks, that makes it a lot clearer. So it essentially just used if its not clear who is being liked and who is liking.

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, but I'd still stay away from it until you feel you've really gotten it down if I were you. My advice is to know that it's out there for now, but stick with が.

 

[Buntaro]

Here is something about verbs that has not been mentioned yet. For yomu, there are the five basic ma mi mu me mo forms:

ma: yomanai - I don't read (it).

mi: yomimasu - I read (it). (polite)

mu: yomu - I read (it). (informal) This is also called the plain form and the dictionary form.

me: yomeru - I can read (it).

mo: yomou - Let's read (it).

All serious beginning students of Japanese should own this book:

501 Japanese Verbs

Amazon product ASIN 0764102850
It lists one verb on each page, and lists all of the zillions of forms that single verb can take.

By the way, the picture of the book is clickable. Go through the book and take a look at the multitude of forms possible. For example, on page three is AGARU and its 56 forms.

 

[KrazyKat]

Here is something about verbs that has not been mentioned yet. For yomu, there are the five basic ma mi mu me mo forms:
ma: yomanai - I don't read (it).
mi: yomimasu - I read (it). (polite)
mu: yomu - I read (it). (informal) This is also called the plain form and the dictionary form.
me: yomeru - I can read (it).
mo: yomou - Let's read (it).
All serious beginning students of Japanese should own this book:
501 Japanese Verbs
Amazon product ASIN 0764102850It lists one verb on each page, and lists all of the zillions of forms that single verb can take.
By the way, the picture of the book is clickable. Go through the book and take a look at the multitude of forms possible. For example, on page three is AGARU and its 56 forms.

That book might work for some people, but personally I wouldn't recommend it. My reasoning being that almost all of the verbs in Japanese are regular. Once you can conjugate a type 1 verb and a type 2 verb you can conjugate almost any japanese verb. Sites like timwerx.net also give a list of all the ways to conjugate verbs so I don't think this book is really necessary for Japanese. There are much better books to spend your money on, in my opinion, like 'basic connections'. If I remember rightly '501 verbs' also used some kind of strange romanisation and didn't give Kanji or even hiragana.

 

[Elizabeth]

i believe that 行っている only implies that the the subject has departed, and does not imply a persistent state of motion or travel. I think in order to do this, 行っている途中 must be used. In the sense of "is there," I think that 行ってる is closer to "has left for," although it usually follows that they have arrived there as well.

The distinction between state and action is a little lost on me here since Itte iru can also be used in advance of an actual departure, as can itte kuru, or at least this is how my Japanese friends have explained it. And both seem logical enough to me although its always possible there was a misunderstanding.