In Japanese, the masen ending is used for polite verbs to show a negative.
For example:
Hanashimasu - to speak
hanashimasen - to not speak
In my text book it gives the following example:
Nihongo wa hotondo hanase masen. Shoshinsha desu.
I can speak very little Japanese. I'm just a beginner.
Hanase means to speak, talk, understand
Masen is a suffix used to negate an item in the past
1) So why has the speaker used hanase masen instead of hanashimasen?
In particular, the sentence is used for to talk about a present ability (e.g. I can speak very little).
2) Why is masen being used when that is for the past?
3) Could hanase masen be replaced with hanashimasen? If so, would it change the meaning?
Thanks!
For example:
Hanashimasu - to speak
hanashimasen - to not speak
In my text book it gives the following example:
Nihongo wa hotondo hanase masen. Shoshinsha desu.
I can speak very little Japanese. I'm just a beginner.
Hanase means to speak, talk, understand
Masen is a suffix used to negate an item in the past
1) So why has the speaker used hanase masen instead of hanashimasen?
In particular, the sentence is used for to talk about a present ability (e.g. I can speak very little).
2) Why is masen being used when that is for the past?
3) Could hanase masen be replaced with hanashimasen? If so, would it change the meaning?
Thanks!