📄️ Becoming Something with なる
なる is one of those spectacularly useful verbs that means 'to become'. It is most commonly used in conjunction with adjectives and nouns to describe a change in state.
📄️ Extending an Invitation with ませんか
One way of extending an invitation to someone in Japanese is to use the phrase ませんか, building on the masen-form of a verb. For example, you might want to say:
📄️ Giving and Receiving
In Japanese there are two words for the English 'to give': あげる and くれる. Which word you use depends on the direction of giving.
📄️ Hoping Something Happens with といい
といい is added to the end of a sentence to mean that you hope that something positive happens. It takes on slightly different forms dependent on whether you hope something happens to yourself or to someone else
📄️ I Wish I Had Done: ばよかったです
ばよかったです is used when you want to say you wish you or someone had done something or not done something. Effectively, it is used to make statements of regret.
📄️ It Looks ... with そうです
If you want to say something looks delicious, or the weather seems fine, or a Japanese book looks easy, そうです is the expression for you.
📄️ Liking and Disliking
Two of the most important na-adjectives in the Japanese language are `好き and きらい`, meaning like and dislike respectively.
📄️ Modifying Nouns
In Japanese, nouns can be modified by sentences to provide more context to the noun in question. For example:
📄️ Observing Someone's Wants with たがっている
If you observe that someone wants to do something, you cannot use the tai-form (たい) to talk about their desires. A separate form is reserved for this, using たがっている.
📄️ Quoting People and Saying What You Think
This lesson will teach you how to quote people, or to say that you think something, using the particle と.
📄️ Resemblence: みたいです
If you want to say that something resembles something else, use みたいです.
📄️ Say What You've Decided To Do Something with the Volitional-Form
In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the volitional form with the verb 思う to say that you've decided to do something.
📄️ Saying 'I Want' with ほしい
`欲しい is an i-adjective that means to want (an object). The basic sentence construction using 欲しい` is:
📄️ Saying Something is Easy or Hard to Do
This lesson will teach you how to say whether an action is easy or hard to do, using two of our favourite adjectives やすい and にくい.
📄️ Saying You Like an Activity with のが好きです
If you want to say that you like doing a certain activity in Japanese, you can use the construct: Verb + のが好きです.
📄️ Saying You're Skilled At Something
If you want to say that you're skilled at something, or that you're not very good at something, you can use the words 上手 (skilled) and 下手 (unskilled).
📄️ Stating Intent with つもりです
つもりです can be placed following a verb to say that you intend to do something.
📄️ Supposed to be: はずです
If something is expected, supposed to be the case, or the norm, you can state this by using はずです. The past tense はずでした can be used to say something was expected or supposed to be the case.
📄️ Too much: すぎる
すぎる is a verb that means 'too much'. すぎる can be used in conjunction with adjectives or verbs and conjugates as a ru-verb.
📄️ Using かもしれません
In Japanese でしょう can be used to express the probability of something happening. A more colloquial way of doing this is to use the verb かもしれません or the more informal かもしれない.
📄️ Using でしょう
でしょう is used as a sentence-ender and is most commonly used to indicate that something is probable. It is one of those words that changes meaning subtly with tone and context, and can be used to infer that something might happen, is likely to happen, or is a near certainty.
📄️ Using 方
The kanji 方 can be added as a suffix to the stem form of a verb. The stem-form-方 compound translates to 'the way in which something is done' or 'how something is done'.
📄️ Must: なければなりません
なければなりません is a double negative that translates to 'must'.
📄️ そうです Part II
One of the most common uses of そうです at the end of a sentence means, 'it look X'. However, そうです also has another meaning and that is, 'I hear...'. As well as the difference in meaning, the two forms of そうです influence their predicates in different ways.
📄️ Verbs + てあげる, てくれる & てもらう
くれる, あげる and もらう are all verbs to do with giving and receiving of things. These verbs can also be combined with other verbs in the te-form to add nuance to the expression of an action.