Grammar Notes 12

As introduced in Lesson 8, Section 12, Japanese speakers choose between polite and plain speech partly according to their relationship with the listener. Polite speech generally maintains greater social distance, while plain speech can signal a closer or more informal relationship. The choice, however, involves more than simply “formal” versus “casual.” Two important factors are social status and social distance, as illustrated in Figure 1.

The vertical axis represents differences in status or seniority, while the horizontal axis represents social distance. People who are psychologically close to the speaker belong more toward the uchi (“inside/in-group”) side, while people with whom the speaker maintains greater social distance belong more toward the soto (“outside/out-group”) side. For example, plain speech is common with close friends and family members, while polite speech is generally expected with teachers, supervisors, strangers, and people one does not know well. Between these extremes, however, the choice is not always predictable. A colleague or classmate may be socially equal but still remain relatively distant, so polite speech may continue to be used.

In Lesson 8, Sections 10–12, we learned how to form plain sentences and how they are used in informal conversation. In this lesson, we will expand that pattern by looking more closely at sentence endings, questions, and explanation mode. Casual speech is not simply polite speech with です and ます removed. It also has characteristic conversational features: Particles such as を and は may sometimes be omitted when their meaning is clear from context. The copula だ is often omitted at the end of noun and な-adjective sentences. はい／ええ commonly becomes うん, and いいえ becomes ううん／うううん. The connective が often becomes けど. Casual questions normally omit か and are signaled by intonation (and by ？ in this textbook).

Table 1. Polite/Plain Forms with Sentence Particles

Polite		Plain	Softer Casual
いきます いきますよ いきますね		いく いくよ いくね	いくわ いくわよ いくわね
たかいです たかいですよ たかいですね		たかい たかいよ たかいね	たかいわ たかいわよ たかいわね
先生です 先生ですよ 先生ですね		先生（だ）✅ 先生だよ 先生だね	先生だわ 先生よ 先生ね
きれいです きれいですよ きれいですね		きれい（だ）✅ きれいだよ きれいだね	きれいだわ きれいよ きれいね
はい	►	うん ( )
いいえ		ううん ( ) or うううん ( )
が		けど

✅ Note: In casual noun and な-adjective sentences, final だ is often omitted, especially when nothing follows it. Forms without だ often sound less assertive: 先生だ。 → 先生。 きれいだ。 → きれい。 Softer casual sentence endings, including ～わ, ～わよ, and ～わね, may have feminine associations in standard Japanese. Their actual use varies by speaker, age, region, and speaking style. For now, you do not need to use these forms actively.

Explanation Mode in Casual Speech

Lesson 8, Section 14 introduced the explanation mode ～んです. In casual speech, the corresponding endings are commonly ～んだ and ～の. The basic patterns are:

Table 2. Polite-Casual Explanation Mode

Polite	Casual
いくんです	いくんだ／いくの
たかいんです	たかいんだ／たかいの
先生なんです	先生なんだ／先生なの
きれいなんです	きれいなんだ／きれいなの

Casual Questions

In casual conversation, the question particle か is normally omitted. A question is indicated primarily by rising intonation:

• いく。　I'm going.
• いく？　Are you going?

Because intonation cannot be heard in writing, this textbook uses a question mark ？ to identify casual questions clearly. For noun and な-adjective questions, final だ is also omitted:

• 先生？　Are you a teacher?
• ひま？　Are you free?

Explanation-mode questions commonly end in ～の？

• いくの？　Are you going?
• どうして食べないの？　Why aren't you eating it?

Unlike sentence-final ～わ, ～の？ is not restricted to feminine speech. It is a very common casual explanatory question form.

⚠ About Plain Form + か

Questions such as いくか？ and いくのか？ can sound quite direct or rough when addressed to another person. Their appropriateness depends heavily on the speaker, relationship, and situation. Until you are familiar with these nuances, use the more neutral casual question patterns いく？ and いくの？.

そうか is different. It is commonly used as a reaction meaning “I see,” “Oh, I get it,” or “So that's it,” rather than as a question.

Common Issues

Be careful with the following when forming casual questions:

• Do not automatically add か.
  • すき？　✓
  • すきか？　⚠ very direct/rough in many contexts
• Do not use だ before question か.
• すき？　✓
• ✽すきだか？ [Ungrammatical]
• Do not use sentence-final わ to form a question.
  • すき？　✓
  • ✽すきわか？　[Ungrammatical]
• Spoken Japanese uses intonation to distinguish:
  • いく。　I'm going.
  • いく？　Are you going?
  In this textbook, always use ？ to make this distinction clear in writing.
• Be cautious with おれ.
  
  おれ is a strongly casual first-person pronoun associated especially with masculine speech. Its appropriateness depends on the speaker's persona, relationship with the listener, and situation. Beginning learners should generally continue using わたし (or ぼく for male speakers) or omit the first-person pronoun when it is understood from context.

English distinguishes between the simple past and the present perfect:

1. Amy lost her smartphone. [simple past]
2. Amy has lost her smartphone. [present perfect]

Both sentences refer to Amy's losing her smartphone, but they present the event differently. The simple past refers to an event that happened in the past, while the present perfect presents the past event as relevant to the present situation. In the second sentence, for example, Amy's smartphone is understood to be still missing.

Japanese does not make this distinction through a separate verb tense. The same past form can be used in both situations. Adverbs such as もう (“already”) and まだ (“still; yet”) help indicate how the past event relates to the present.

3. エイミーさんはきのうハンバーガーを食べました。
   Amy ate a hamburger yesterday
4. エイミーさんは もう ハンバーガーを食べました。
   Amy has already eaten a hamburger.

Sentence (3) simply reports an event that occurred yesterday. Sentence (4) emphasizes that the eating has already taken place as of now.

もう + Affirmative Past

もう means “already” and is commonly used when an action has been completed.

• A: もうハンバーガーを食べましたか。
  　　Have you already eaten the hamburger?
• B: はい、もう食べました。
  　　Yes, I already ate it.

まだ + Negative

To say that something has not happened yet, use まだ with a negative form that describes the present situation.

• A: もうハンバーガーを食べましたか。
  　　Have you already eaten the hamburger?
• B: いいえ、まだ食べていません。　
  　　No, I haven't eaten it yet.　or
  　　いいえ、まだです。
  　　No, not yet.

The form まだ食べませんでした is not used for this meaning because it refers to a past negative event rather than to the present state of “not having eaten yet.”　Similarly:

• A: もう田中さんから電話が来ましたか。
  　　Has Mr. Tanaka called already?
• B: いいえ、まだ来ていません。
  　　No, the call hasn't come yet.　or
  　　いいえ、まだです。
  　　No, not yet.
  　　✽ いいえ、まだ来ませんでした。 [Not used for “hasn't come yet.”]
  

With あります

With あります, use まだありません, not まだあっていません.

• A: もう田中さんから電話がありましたか。
  　　Have you already received a phone call from Mr. Tanaka?
  B: いいえ、まだありません。 or いいえ、まだです。
  　　No, I haven't. Or, No, not yet.
  

The follownig are not used for “hasn't come yet.”

• ✽ いいえ、まだあっていません。
• ✽ いいえ、まだありませんでした。

We have learned that the particle か is used at the end of a sentence to form a question.

あした帰りますか。
Are you going home tomorrow?

The particle か can also be used to present alternatives. The pattern A か B means “A or B.”

あしたかあさって帰ります。
I will go home tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

When A か B is followed by another particle such as に or を, that particle normally follows the entire A か B expression:

• 海か山に行くつもりです。 I intend to go to the beach or the mountains.
• コーヒーかお茶を飲みます。 I will drink coffee or tea.

A か B can also occur within a question:

土曜日か日曜日に行きますか。
Will you go on Saturday or Sunday?

Here, the first か means “or” by marking the alternatives 土曜日 / 日曜日, while the final か marks the entire sentence as a question.

FYI: か is associated with an unresolved choice or alternatives. In a sentence-final question, the choice is left open for the listener to answer; in AかB, the alternatives themselves are explicitly stated.

The particle で marks the means and tools by which one does something. The question word is 何(なん) で (By means of what?) as shown in Example #1 below. Don't confuse this with the particle で that marks the location of activity (Example #2 below).

1.	[Means/Toolsで] A: スミスさんは 何で行きますか。 B: くるまで行きます。 (by means of a car)
2.	[Place of activityで] A: 田中さんはどこでべんきょうしますか。 B: としょかんでべんきょうします。(at the library)

Quoting What Someone Said: ～と言っていました

To report what someone said, use ～と言って(い)ました (“said that ...”). The particle と marks the quoted content, which is normally in the plain form.

田中さんは あした学校に行かないと言って(い)ました。
Ms. Tanaka said that she would not go to school tomorrow.

Japanese generally preserves the tense used from the original speaker's point of view. This differs from English, where the tense is often shifted back in reported speech.

そのえいがは おもしろいと言っていました。
He said that the movie was interesting.
(Japanese: おもしろい “is interesting”)

In casual conversation, quotation と is commonly replaced by って, and 言っていました may also become 言ってた.

そのえいがは おもしろいって言って(い)たよ。
He said that the movie was interesting.

Expressing What You Think: ～と思います

To express an opinion, belief, or judgment, use ～と思います (“I think that ...”). The content before と is normally in the plain form.

• まだきめていませんが、来年、日本に行くと思います。
  I haven't decided yet, but I think I'm going to Japan next year.
• きのうは朝８時ごろ起きたと思います。
  I think I woke up around eight yesterday morning.
• 日本りょうりはおいしいと思います。
  I think Japanese food is delicious.

In casual speech, 思います becomes 思う. Unlike …と言う, the quotation particle と is normally retained with …と思う (i.e., …って思う is rare).

カラオケでうたをうたうのはたのしいと思うよ。
I think that singing songs at a karaoke bar is fun.

Negative Thoughts

To say “I don't think that...,” Japanese commonly puts the negative inside the quoted thought:

1.	スミスさんは 田中さんがすきだと思います。 I think Mr. Smith likes Ms. Tanaka.
2.	田中さんは スミスさんがすきじゃないと思います。 I don't think Ms. Tanaka likes Mr. Smith. (Lit. I think Ms. Tanaka does not like Mr. Smith.)

This pattern, ～ないと思います, is generally more common and less categorical than ～とは思いません (“I don't think that ...”).

⚠Using ～と思います for Your Own Feelings

～と思います presents something as your thought, opinion, judgment, or belief. Therefore, it may sound unnatural when used to express something about your own feelings that you already know directly.

△ 私は日本料理が好きだと思います。
I think I like Japanese food.

If you already know that you like Japanese food, simply say:

私は日本りょうりがすきです。
I like Japanese food.

However, ～と思います is natural when you are making a judgment about someone else's feelings, since you cannot directly know what another person feels:

(私は)スミスさんは日本りょうりがすきだと思います。
I think Mr. Smith likes Japanese food.

Adjectives and Nouns + ～ても

Sample Conversations