📄️ Going from the Plain Form to the Masu-Form on the Fly
Though most Japanese students will encounter the masu-form before the plain-form (it is simpler to learn), there will come a time in your Japanese life where you will encounter a verb in the plain form and wonder how you turn it into the masu-form. Here's how:
📄️ The Causative Form
The causative form is used to describe when someone or something has made something happen or, as the name suggests, causes something to happen.
📄️ The Causative-Passive Form
The causative-passive from combines the causative and passive forms. It is used to create sentences along the lines of 'someone was made to do something by someone else'. For example:
📄️ The Conditional Form
The conditional form involves the direct conjugation of a verb, noun or adjective to make a sentence conditional. It is the equivalent of constructing a sentence in English that contains the word 'if'.
📄️ The Conditional と
と can be used a conditional conjunction, equivalent to the word 'if'. It is used when a condition brings about a non-controllable event or state.
📄️ The Dictionary Form
The dictionary form is the most basic form of a Japanese verb. It is also the non-past, affirmative conjugation of plain speech.
📄️ The Imperative Form
The imperative form is used to give commands. No messing about with pleasantries, it's for getting straight to the point.
📄️ The Masen-Form
In Japanese, verbs ending in masen ません are in the polite, non-past negative. The masen-form is the negative of the masu-form (see below).
📄️ The Masendeshita-Form
In Japanese, verbs ending in masendeshita (ませんでした) are in the polite, past negative. The masendeshita-form is the past negative of the masu-form (see below).
📄️ The Mashita-Form
In Japanese, verbs ending in mashita (ました) are in the polite, past affirmative. The mashita-form is the past tense of the masu-form (see below).
📄️ The Mashou-Form
The mashou-form, a.k.a the polite volitional, is used for suggesting activities or things to do.
📄️ The Masu-Form
The masu-form is the polite, non-past affirmative form of a verb.
📄️ The Nai-Form
The nai-form is used as the non-past negative in plain or casual speech. It is also used to create functional sentences such as inviting someone to do something and requesting someone refrains from doing something.
📄️ The Nakatta-Form
The nakatta-form is the past tense, negative of a verb in plain or casual speech.
📄️ The Negative Imperative
This form is for giving commands in the negative, allowing you to make sentences such as 'don't do that'. It is considered very direct in Japanese speech.
📄️ The Passive Form
The passive form is used in Japanese when something has occurred to affect the subject, without action by the subject (i.e the subject is passive).
📄️ The Plain Form
The plain-form can be used instead of the masu-form in most casual situations. It is also used within sentences to create compounds, no matter whether the sentence itself is in plain-form, or in a more formal form.
📄️ The Polite Potential: できます
One way of creating potential verbs in Japanese - to say you have the ability to do something - is to use the potential form. Another way to form the potential, one which is more polite, is to use the verb できます.
📄️ The Potential Form
Verbs in the potential form are used to let the listener know that someone can or can't do something; literally whether they have the potential to do a verb.
📄️ The Ta-Form
The ta-form is used as the past affirmative in plain or casual speech.
📄️ The Te-Form
The te-form is one of the most useful forms in Japanese and you will find it in all sorts of grammatical constructs.
📄️ The Volitional Form
The volitional form of a verb has the same meaning as the mashou-form and is used for suggesting activities or things to do.
📄️ Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Sometimes verbs are used to describe one thing's action upon another thing, involving a subject, and an object. These verbs are known as transitive verbs.
📄️ Verb Basics
As with all languages, verbs in Japanese conjugate in several ways to provide context to the action at hand. At its basic level, Japanese verb conjugation is about as simple as it comes; you'll have it mastered in no time.
📄️ Verb Stems
Japanese verb stems have all sorts of uses. They are a stepping stone between plain and polite speech, they are used to link verbs together to create new constructs, and can even be combined with verbs to create new verb compounds.
📄️ Polite Commands with なさい
While the imperative form allows you to make direct commands, this form allows you to make polite commands. This form is stronger than using ください, but more respectful than using the imperative or negative imperative forms.
📄️ The Present Perfect with ことがある
If you want to say that you have experienced or done something in the past, use ことがある. This construct allows you to create sentences in the present perfect tense, such as 'I have been to Okinawa'.
📄️ How to use ている
If you see or hear ている used in a sentence, it usually means one of two things: