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Grammar Notes 11 |  |
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We learned Vて forms earlier. (Review the Grammar Notes here.) The Vて + います pattern describes an action in progress or repeated actions (similar to be V-ing in English). The following table shows the conjugation of Vています.
More examples are shown below. Be careful with the verbs つとめる and はたらく. They take different particles --- に or で.
As you already know, not every sentence in Japanese requires the subject such as わたし or ぼく. If the subject is understood from the context, it is naturally dropped from the sentence. This does not mean that person pronouns are unimportant in Japanese. In fact, Japanese has an elaborate system of person pronouns, and they are chosen according to various factors---how close the speaker is toward the listener in terms of social ranking or intimacy, or how polite and/or formal the speaker would like to be, etc.
Another function of Vています is to express a state resulting from a completed action or event. This translates to Someone/Something has V-ed. Verbs used in this interpretation refer to a change of state (e.g., けっこんする: to get married --- a change from single to married).
With the verb けっこんする (to get married) or りこんする (to get divorced), the following expressions are possible.
If 今 is used, ています is likely to be used as in 10年まえに けっこんしましたが、今は りこんしています. Compare the following expressions using やせる (る-verb: to lose weight) and ふとる (う-verb: to gain weight).
Other expressions commonly expressed with resultant state verbs are shown below. もっている is usually used in the sense of have/own something concrete or inanimate. For example, you can say 日本ごの本をもっている (I have a Japanese book), but
The Vています form of motion verbs (e.g., 行きます, 来ます,
帰ります, 出ます, 出かけます) describes a current state resulting from coming and going. (
Earlier, we learned the particle と (e.g., NとN) can be used to combine nouns. However, と cannot combine phrases or sentences (i.e.,
とき is a noun referring to time. The structures Nの時 or い-Adj+時 or な-Adj+な時 can be used to refer to the time when something happens.
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When referring to one's own family members (ingroup) while speaking to someone from outside of the family (outgroup), we use humble terms (
When referring to the members of other's family, we
use honorific terms (
When you address your own family members directly, we use the honorific terms (  ) for the older members,
and their first names for the younger
ones.
Here is the summary of family terms to refer to everyone in an extended family that includes one's grandparents.
One's spouses can also be referred to by other generic terms such as おっと (husband) and つま (wife). おっと and つま are less commonly used. 男の子: boy(s). 女の子: girl(s)
The following are sample descriptions of family members. Note that it is redundant to say 私の父, 私の母, etc. because 父, 母, etc. already mean my father, my mother, etc.
To count people, the counter 人 (pronounced as り or にん) is used. り is used for up to two people. To count more than two people, pronounce it as にん as shown below.
To say someone has a certain number of family members, you can use the following pattern.
To state the order of siblings, we use ばん目 counter: 一ばん目, 二ばん目, 三ばん目, etc.
The question word is 何ばん目 (What N-th?). In general, the suffix 目 can be attached any counter and create an ordinal number (e.g., 三人目 = third person; 二こ目 = second small, solid thing; 四時間目 = 4th hour, 三さつ目 = third book, 七本目 = 7th long, cylindrical object, 一まい目 = first thin, flat object, etc.).
To count people's (or animal's) age, we use the つ counter (1-10 years old) or the さい counter (any age).
When we refer to outgroup members, we commonly use honorific forms. We will introduce one such honorific verb here: いらっしゃいます (or いらっしゃる). This is the honorific form of います (or いる).
NEVER use honorific verbs to talk about ingroup members (i.e., your own family members).
A typical introduction of one's own family members (ingroup) to an outsider involves
the style shift between the plain and polite forms in the same conversation. See the classroom exercise for the details. In addition, you refer to your own members with the humble term これ
You can also use the expression うち
The same caution applies to talking about one's own family members.
When you introduce others' family members (outgroup) to someone,
you refer to them with こちら
You can also use the following expression to introduce others' family members.
Note: If the person to be introduced is not nearby the speaker,
other demonstratives (それ
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The Xは Yが Zです structure (X's Y is Z or X has Z-like Y) can be used to describe physical appearances of something or someone. First, let's study the following words.
The Xは Yが Zです structure is often translated as X has Z-kind of Y or X's Y is Z as shown below. To combine two expressions, て-form can be used.
If the expressions being combined are opposite in nature (e.g., positive vs. negative), けど or が connective is more likely to be used.
The expressions shown above can be stated in separate sentences by using そして (and) or それに (furthermore). When combining them withそして or それに, make sure they are not opposite in nature. If the descriptions are opposite in nature, use けど, が or でも instead.
We use different verbs to put on/wear something depending what part of the body we put it on.
The resultant state Vています form is used to describe what people are wearing as follows.
We have seen so far that a noun can be modified by another noun (田中さんの車: Mr. Tanaka's car) or by an adjective (ふるい本: old book). A noun can also be modified by a clause (= a sentence within a sentence). This structure is called a "modifying clause" which is similar to a relative clause in English. A modifying clause is required to be in the plain form.
The English translations of these structures often require a relative pronoun (e.g., that, in which, who, where, etc.). Note that the Japanese structures do not have a relative pronoun, and the particle which marks the noun to be modified is always dropped in the clause modifiers. Click on the grammar animation link to see how this works.
If the modifying clause is a い-adjective (e.g., かみが ながい), it is directly placed in front the noun. If the modifying clause is a な-adjective (e.g., テニスが じょうずだ), だ changes to な (See
The subject marker が within a modifying clause can optionally be replaced by the particle の. This が to の substitution is possible only inside clause modifiers. This is an early-warning system for detecting clause modifiers before they are completed.
The modifying clause + N pattern is a recurring pattern in Japanese, so it is worth investing time to practice it. The following are some examples.
The modifying clause can be long and complex. The modifying clause below contains two adjectives combined with a て-form (and) in addition to the prenominal あの in front.
Earlier, we learned the /Plain-Present V + の/ structure (e.g., およぐのが すきです I like swimming). This is essentially a clause modifier structure with a clause modifier (およぐ) followed by a noun (の). You can see this easily once we start expanding the verb: ともだちと うみで およぐのが すきです (I like swimming in the ocean with my friends).
The topic marker は is usually avoided within the modifying clause. If the subject of the original sentence is marked by は, change it to が as shown below.
Beginners often make a mistake by adding an extra の before a noun. Let's look at some examples to clear up the confusion:
The important thing to remember is that the particle の is usually used in the pattern /NounのNoun/ (e.g., 日本語の本 meaning Japanese book). However, in Sentence 1, there is a verb 読んでいる before the noun 本. This creates a structure where the verb is modifying the noun (the book someone is reading). In this case, you don't need to add an extra の before the noun.
In Sentence 3, there is a noun の (one), and it's correctly used to specify "the one" you are reading. Sentence 2 follows the same grammar structure as Sentence 3, so there's no need for an extra の in Sentence 2 either. |
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日本ごのクラスをもっている
)
as shown below.
below). The head noun (= the modified noun) is marked in red below.