When to use 'suru'

Hello Everyone

I have started working on asking questions in japanese and as a practice sentence I wrote this

"Where do you live?" - どこあなたするすむですか

I checked it using google translate and saw that the meaning of my sentence was this

"Where do you live to your"

I then removed 'する' from my sentence and it was correct i.e "Where do you live?"

My question is: When do you use する in a sentence ? I guess a sub-question would be, is the use of します the same as the use of する in sentences?

Thanks in advance

There are different kinds of verbs in Japanese and suru (する) belongs to a group of irregular verbs. Japanese irregular verbs are much like the English irregular verbs in that their spellings change irregularly.

Moreover, regarding your question on the use of "する", "する" means "to do (something)". For example, "べんきょう" means "study" and the sentence "べんきょうする。" means "to study". You can use it alone to say that you do something or use it together with a noun, as in the example, to express that you are doing something (noun).

"する" is the basic form, a.k.a. dictionary form, of します (present/future), しません(negative present/future), しました(past), しませんでした (negative past) and other suru variations.

Note: Japanese verbs in the present tense can also function as future tenses.

I think the correct Japanese statement for "Where do you live?" would be "どこに住んでいますか。" and here's why I think it is so.

First of all, as you've learned, "どこ" is equivalent to where and it should come together with a particle that indicates location which is "に". So, using "どこ" alone would be incorrect.

And, in my statement, the Japanese word for you "あなた" was removed because you omit "あなた" when it is clear to whom you are speaking to - that is, if you are speaking to someone, the "あなた" is already implied by the statement "どこに住んでいますか。" as in "(あなたは) どこに住んでいますか。" So, there is really no need to use "あなた" in your sentence.

"住んでいますか" is a variation of "住んでいる" (much like する and しますか) and it means "living (present progressive tense)".

Hope this cleared up your mind a bit.

Thanks for the reply chldudghks0517; You mention that something implied can be left out of the sentence; is this valid for all japanese conversations? If i was to meet a japanese person and started speaking to them, can i leave out "you" when for example i asked "Where do you work?"

You are welcome. By the way, I'm also in the course of learning basic Japanese so my explanation may not be perfect.

Yes, something already implied (clearly) can be left out of the sentence, and I think this is true for all Japanese sentences.

The same is true for the Korean language, too (I'm a South Korean), which has a very, very similar sentence structure with the Japanese language (In fact, there are numerous South Korean words that are exactly the same with the Japanese language because we both use the Chinese characters!). Okay, this is off topic.

Anyway, yes, if you want to ask "Where do you work?" to someone, you can just say "どこに働いてますか。" instead of "(あなたは)どこに働いてますか。" because it is clear to the listener that you are talking to him or her (that is, him or her is the subject you are talking to).

By the way, Google Translate is not quite accurate with its translations - although it's indeed am intelligent Mechanical Turk. It can be even more inaccurate when you are translating from one language to another language both of which are of different linguistic roots (i.e. Translating from Japanese to English (these two have different linguistic roots) is not as accurate as translating from Japanese to Korean (these two have similar linguistic roots such as the using of Chinese characters (Kanji); both countries were greatly influenced by Chinese Confucianism a lot in the past.). Just saying that depending too much on Google Translate may not be a good idea, though I does give you a vague implication of what the source text is about.

Hope this helps.

What materials are you using to learn Japanese?

Hi Mike!

I'm currently using GENKI II for my Japanes studies (I finished GENKI I through self-study and it was a very, very rewarding experience and now, I'm motivated more than ever to study harder!).

I also have other e-books that I plan to use for my Japanese studies such as the Basic Kanji Book by Chieko Kano et al., Japanese in MangaLand by Marc Bernabe, A Handbook of Japanese Grammar by Masahiro Tanimori, Japanese Particle Workbook by Taeko Kamiya, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Conversational Japanese by Naoya Fujita and several other e-books.

In addition to that, I'm also have Japanese audio files that I listen to while commuting to and from the workplace. I also have several video files in the cloud so that I can watch whenever time allows me.

Well, those are just the things I have with me and they don't, by any means, make me a good Japanese speaker - as of the moment. But it is a reminder that reminds me that I'm really zealously trying to improve my Japanese skills day by day - which is I think good.

Seems like you are a Japanese or living in Japan. Can you recommend me Japanese educational material that can help me learn Japanese effectively (good content) and efficiently (save time)? I prefer Japanese textbooks that are being used in elementary, junior high and high schools in Japan. Hope not I'm asking too much from you.

Thanks!

Actually, my question was for the OP. but it sounds like you have some good materials and I'm sure they can benefit from your list of materials.

I have always recommended 四コマ漫画, but nobody has ever taken that recommendation that I am aware of.

四コマ漫画(four cell manga) huh? I think this is going to be a good material for learning Japanese for me. Besides, I'm a big fan of Japanese manga and anime. Are there sites that offer 四コマ漫画 for free online reading?

chldudghks0517 said:

四コマ漫画(four cell manga) huh? I think this is going to be a good material for learning Japanese for me. Besides, I'm a big fan of Japanese manga and anime. Are there sites that offer 四コマ漫画 for free online reading?

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I think most manga fans find them uninteresting. I think they are outstanding intermediate learning material and good for building comprehension, vocabulary, colloquial usage, and reading skills. Plus, they're generally funny....which provided a built-in quiz; get the joke, you pass; don't get it, you missed something. Their other chief advantage is that they are short. No starting and getting lost or discouraged as with normal story-length manga.

I have no idea if there are any online. I bought all mine in bookstores and convenience stores.

---------- Post added at 08:55 ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 ----------

Mike Cash said:

I think most manga fans find them uninteresting. I think they are outstanding intermediate learning material and good for building comprehension, vocabulary, colloquial usage, and reading skills. Plus, they're generally funny....which provided a built-in quiz; get the joke, you pass; don't get it, you missed something. Their other chief advantage is that they are short. No starting and getting lost or discouraged as with normal story-length manga.

I have no idea if there are any online. I bought all mine in bookstores and convenience stores.

Click to expand...

I think I found one >>> 4コマ漫画100

chldudghks0517 said:

"どこに働いてますか。"

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Just one correction. どこで働いていますか is correct. 働く is an action verb, so で is used to indicate the location of action.

Mike Cash said:

What materials are you using to learn Japanese?

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Currently i am reading a book "Completed Idiot's guide to Conversational Japanese", that is my main resource. Additionally i have 2 japanese friends that i talk to.

I've also heard about the GENKI books, suggested to me by one of my japanese friends. I'll look into those, thanks for the tipe. I just noticed that c.....0517 and i am using the same book by Naoya Fujita.

The website below (4コマ漫画100) i've visited it but it's all in japanese so i'm a bit stuck on where to go, etc