Lesson 24 Base 3 + deshou

Even though deshou was already introduced in Lesson 18, I thought it would be a nice and easy way to begin the Base 3 verb endings. But before we begin, please remember that Base 3 is actually the root or "dictionary" form of the verb; the plain, unsophisticated form used by kids or in very familiar situations, as explained in Lesson 1. (To my mind it would make more sense to call this form Base 1, but I suppose we must allow each language its quirks.)

Remember these examples?

• Jim wa manga o yomu.
• Ojii-san wa sugu kaeru.
• Watashi wa ringo o taberu.
• Naomi wa terebi o miru.
• Mama wa mise de banana o kau.

Not only should you be able to translate these, you should know which are ichidan and which are yodan. Please review Lesson 1 if necessary.

Let's get back to deshou. This is an easy add-on which means "perhaps" or "probably." For example, add it to kau (to buy) in Mama wa mise de banana o kau and you have Mama wa mise de banana o kau deshou (Mom will probably buy some bananas at the store). Let's do a few more:

• Raishuu watashi wa Okayama ni iku deshou. (I'll probably go to Okayama next week.)
• Kenji wa atarashii kuruma o kau deshou. (Kenji will probably buy a new car.)
• Ashita wa ame (ga furu) deshou. ¹ (It will probably rain tomorrow.)

Base 3 + deshou is very handy when you are not sure of something. Use it when you don't want to take full responsibility for an outcome. That is why you will hear it used at the end of practically every sentence of a weather forecast in Japan.

Another use for this form is questioning or confirming something already assumed, as we would use tag questions in English. Please note that ka is not added at the end; a rising intonation is used instead:

• Osaka ni iku deshou? (You're going to Osaka, aren't you?)
• Sue wa kuru deshou? (Sue's coming, isn't she?)
• Tomoka wa eigo no shukudai o suru deshou? (Tomoka will do her English homework, right?)

Word Check

raishuu: next week
atarashii: new
kuruma: car
ashita: tomorrow
ame: rain
furu: to fall (rain, snow, etc.)
shukudai: homework

Notes

1. The verb furu used in this example means "to fall," but only if it's rain or snow that's doing the falling. (A falling object uses the verb ochiru). As in English, the fact that the rain will fall is understood, making the verb unnecessary, so it is often omitted.

Lesson 22 Base 1 + seru / saseru

These are used when you want to let/have/make someone do something. In English we fortunately have three different words which allow us to easily adjust the meaning to the one we want to convey. Accordingly, "I'll let him go to the store," "I'll have him go to the store," and "I'll make him go to the store" all have different nuances. In Japanese, however, seru, for yodan verbs, and saseru, for the others, are used for all of these. By the overall context and by using other "helper" words the different meanings, or feelings, as in "let him" vs. "make him," can be conveyed.

The important thing to remember is that yodan verbs use seru, like this:

• Obaa-san wa kodomotachi ni soto de asobaseru. (Grandma lets the children play outside.)
• Okaa-chan wa Kimiko ni kasa o kawaseru. (Mom will have Kimiko buy an umbrella.)
• Sensei wa gakusei ni mainichi shimbun o yomaseru. (The teacher makes the students read the newspaper every day.)

And ichidan verbs and the irregular kuru use saseru:

• Roku ji ni kodomotachi ni yuushoku o tabesaseru. (I'll have the kids eat dinner at 6:00.)
• John ni raishuu made ni kimesaseru. (I'll have John decide by next week.)
• Kare ni ashita kosaseru. (I'll have him come tomorrow.)

With suru verbs, suru is simply replaced with saseru:

• Otou-san wa Bob ni benkyou saseru. (Dad will make Bob study.)
• Kanojo ni saseru. (I'll have her do it.)

As you can see, in these constructions the person being let or made to do something becomes the indirect object, which is signified by adding ni after it.

One tricky thing is that there are some verbs which already have a "set form" to convey this meaning, and do not follow the above rules. A good example is miseru, which means "to show" or "to let see," as in:

• Kare wa karera ni mainichi terebi o miseru. (He lets them watch TV every day.)

So, although miru is an ichidan verb, you won't hear or see "misaseru." As you get used to more and more natural Japanese expressions, you will know which verbs are conjugated as outlined above and which have their own set forms which are used instead.

Now for the easy part: Since seru and saseru end in eru, they can be conjugated further like any other ichidan verb, making it easy to apply what has been learned in the previous lessons in order to make them negative, past tense, polite, and etc. For example:

• Ritsuko wa Kumi ni pen o kawasemashita. (Ritsuko had Kumi buy a pen.)
• Ojii-san wa kodomotachi ni ame o tabesasemasen. (Grandpa won't let the children eat candy.)
• Watashi wa Kenji ni eigo o benkyou sasetai desu. (I want to have Kenji study English.)
• John ni mise ni ikasemashou. (Let's have John go to the store.)
• Kodomotachi ni terebi o misemashou ka. (Shall we let the kids watch TV?)

These examples all use Base 2 final endings. Please review any you may have forgotten.

Word Check

sensei: teacher
gakusei: student(s)
mainichi: every day
shinbun: newspaper
yuushoku: dinner
taberu: to eat
raishuu: next week
made ni: by (a time or date, to set a deadline: by 5:00, by tomorrow, etc.)
kimeru: to decide
kare: he, him
ashita: tomorrow
kuru: to come
benkyou suru: to study
kanojo: she, her
karera: they, them
ame: candy, sweets ¹
eigo: the English language
mise: a store, a shop
iku: to go

(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)

Notes

1. Yes, "rain" is also ame, but it uses a different kanji. The word ame for sweets is usually written in hiragana.

Lesson 23 Base 1 + zu ni

Use zu ni with Base 1 to say that someone did something without doing something else which was expected. Yes, that's a tad confusing, but these examples should make it clear:

• Kare wa yuushoku o tabezu ni nemashita. (He went to bed without eating dinner.)
• Kyou Shizuka wa kyoukasho o motazu ni gakkou ni kimashita. (Today Shizuka came to school without her textbook.)
• Bob wa maemotte denwa sezu ni John no ie ni ikimashita. (Bob went to John's house without calling first.)

Please note that in some cases the ni after the zu may be omitted, especially when no particular emphasis needs to be applied.

Word Check

neru: to sleep
kyoukasho: textbook
motsu: to hold; to have
gakkou: school
maemotte: beforehand; in advance
denwa suru: to telephone (someone)
ie: house; home

(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)

Lesson 21 Base 1 + nakereba narimasen

This verb ending is not only a long one, it's a bit of a tongue twister. It is used quite a lot because it means "must do." Let's take iku (to go), change it to Base 1 ika, and add nakereba narimasen to make this simple example sentence: Watashi wa ikanakereba narimasen. (I have to go.)

Looking at it literally, the nakereba means "if one does not...," as you will remember from Lesson 20, and narimasen means "will not become"; so in the example above you are saying "If I don't go it won't do."

Here are some more examples:

• Jim wa ima kaeranakereba narimasen. (Jim has to return now.)
• Laura wa kasa o kawanakereba narimasen. (Laura has to buy an umbrella.)
• Kodomotachi wa tabenakereba narimasen. (The children must eat.)

You have probably noticed that the polite negative ending masen is stuck on the end here. Yes, this is a verb within a verb ending: naru (to become) is the root word here, which is in its Base 2 form with masen added on (narimasen). If we were to use the plain negative form of naru (naranai) instead, the ending becomes nakereba naranai, which changes the whole sentence to its plain form. This can be handy when adding other endings, like deshou from Lesson 18. Let's use this ending with the three examples above and see how the meanings are "softened":

• Jim wa ima kaeranakereba naranai deshou. (Jim probably has to return now.)
• Laura wa kasa o kawanakereba naranai deshou. (Laura probably needs to buy an umbrella.)
• Kodomotachi wa tabenakereba naranai deshou. (The children probably need to eat.)

As you grow accustomed to Japanese verb usage and ending patterns, you will see how the entire meaning or "feeling" of a sentence can be adjusted or "fine tuned" at will by combining the right ending components as you finish the sentence up.

Good luck with nakereba narimasen. I already mentioned that it's a tongue twister. More than memorizing its meaning, mastering a clean, clear pronunciation of it is usually the most difficult part.

Word Check

ima: now
kasa: umbrella

Lesson 18 Base 1 + nai deshou

Here's an easy one. Adding deshou after nai means that somebody is probably not going to do something, or that something is not likely to happen:

• John wa kasa o kawanai deshou. (John probably isn't going to buy an umbrella.)
• Jim wa manga o yomanai deshou. (Jim probably doesn't read comic books.)
• Yuki wa furanai deshou. (It probably won't snow.)

Actually, deshou is a handy add-on that also works with plain positive (Base 3) verbs, as in:

• Ojii-san wa sugu kaeru deshou. (Grandpa will probably return soon.)
• Sachiko wa kuru deshou. (Sachiko will probably come.)
• Bill wa ika o taberu deshou. (Bill will probably eat the squid.)

Word Check

kau: to buy
yuki: snow
furu: to fall from the sky ¹
ika: squid

(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)

Notes

1. Furu means "to fall down from the sky," like rain, snow, or hail. For falling objects, use ochiru.

Lesson 19 Base 1 + nakatta

The past tense of nai is a bit odd, but I think that this is a good place to introduce it: nakatta. (Nai with its i dropped and katta added. Remembering that na is the negative element and katta is for past tense will be a big help later on.) This is how you make plain past tense.

Let's make a few examples:

• Watashi wa terebi o minakatta. (I didn't watch TV.)
• Sachiko wa konakatta. (Sachiko didn't come.)
• Ojii-san wa shinbun o yomitakunakatta. (Grandpa didn't want to read the newspaper.)

Word Check

shinbun: newspaper
yomu: to read

(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)

Lesson 20 Base 1 + nakereba

Base 1 + nakereba is used to make negative conditional sentences — what will happen if something doesn't happen. Look at these examples:

• Ojii-san ga sugu kaeranakereba watashi wa makudonarudo ni ikimasu. (If Grandpa doesn't return soon I'm going to McDonald's.)
• Miki ga heya o tsukawanakereba Junko wa tsukaitai desu. (If Miki isn't going to use the room Junko wants to use it.)
• Naoko wa kasa o karinakereba (kanojo wa) koukai suru deshou. ¹ (If Naoko doesn't borrow an umbrella she'll probably regret it.)

As mentioned in the last lesson, please remember that the na in nakereba comes from nai and is the negative element. The kereba is the conditional ("if") element which was introduced back in Lesson 8 with tai (takereba).

Word Check

heya: room
tsukau: to use
kariru: to borrow
koukai suru: to regret

(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)

Notes

1. A very convenient thing about Japanese is the fact that you can omit subjects that are understood or obvious — you don't have to retain them for the sake of good grammar, as in English. In this example there is no question that kanojo wa (she) is Naoko, so it is omitted.

Lesson 17 Base 1 + nai — The Plain Negative Form

We will now look at Base 1, which is mainly used for creating negative verb endings.

Ichidan are easy to convert into Base 1 because you just knock off the ru. In other words, Bases 1 and 2 are the same. Verbs in the yodan group are changed so that they end in a: iku changes to ika, matsu to mata, yomu to yoma, and etc. If the verb ends in u with another vowel before it, like kau, just change the u to wa; so kau becomes kawa. The irregular kuru changes to ko, and suru to shi, just like its Base 2 form.

The following tables should help clarify the way the three types of verbs are converted into Base 1 from their plain Base 3 forms, with Base 2 thrown in for review and comparison. Please note the changes carefully.

Yodan verbs:

Base 3 (root form)	Base 2	Base 1
kau (to buy)	kai	kawa
aruku (to walk)	aruki	aruka
isogu (to hurry)	isogi	isoga
kasu (to lend)	kashi	kasa
matsu (to wait)	machi	mata
shinu (to die)	shini	shina
asobu (to play)	asobi	asoba
yomu (to read)	yomi	yoma
kaeru (to return)	kaeri	kaera

Ichidan verbs:

Base 3 (root form)	Base 2	Base 1
taberu (to eat)	tabe	tabe
oboeru (to remember)	oboe	oboe
kimeru (to decide)	kime	kime
deru (to leave)	de	de
kariru (to borrow)	kari	kari
miru (to look)	mi	mi

Irregular verbs:

Base 3 (root form)	Base 2	Base 1
kuru (to come)	ki	ko
suru (to do)	shi	shi

Now what we want to do is use Base 1 + nai to change some verbs into their plain negative form: kau (to buy) becomes kawanai (will not buy); kariru (to borrow) becomes karinai (will not borrow); kuru (to come), konai (will not come); and suru (to do), shinai (will not do).

Look at these example sentences:

• John wa kasa o kawanai. (John isn't going to buy an umbrella.)
• Jim wa manga o yomanai. (Jim doesn't read comic books.)
• Ojii-san wa sugu kaeranai. (Grandpa isn't going to return soon.)
• Watashi wa terebi o minai. (I'm not going to watch TV.)
• Sachiko wa konai. (Sachiko won't be coming.)

Notice how this ending can be used to mean "not going to do (something) for the time being" as well as "don't do at all" as a matter of personal policy. For example, Jim wa manga o yomanai could mean that Jim never reads comic books, or that he just isn't going to read a comic book now or in the near future. As in English, Japanese used in actual conversation would be modified as needed in order to make meanings clear.

Please remember that the ending nai by itself is plain, and should only be used in informal settings. Depending on the situation, you may want to upgrade it to a polite form, like Base 2 + masen, which we already covered in Lesson 4, or by simply adding desu on the end after nai :

• John wa kasa o kaimasen. / John wa kasa o kawanai desu.
• Jim wa manga o yomimasen. / Jim wa manga o yomanai desu.

Can you get a good feel for the changeover between Base 2 + masen and Base 1 + nai here?

Word Check

kasa: umbrella
kau: to buy
manga: a comic book, comics; cartoons
yomu: to read
ojii-san: grandfather
sugu: soon
kaeru: to return
kuru: to come

(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)

Base 1 + zu ni

Use zu ni with Base 1 to say that someone did something without doing something else which was expected. Yes, that's a tad confusing, but these examples should make it clear:

• Kare wa yuushoku o tabezu ni nemashita. (He went to bed without eating dinner.)
• Kyou Shizuka wa kyoukasho o motazu ni gakkou ni kimashita. (Today Shizuka came to school without her textbook.)
• Bob wa maemotte denwa sezu ni John no ie ni ikimashita. (Bob went to John's house without calling first.)

Please note that in some cases the ni after the zu may be omitted, especially when no particular emphasis needs to be applied.

Word Check

neru: to sleep
kyoukasho: textbook
motsu: to hold; to have
gakkou: school
maemotte: beforehand; in advance
denwa suru: to telephone (someone)
ie: house; home

(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)

Base 1 + seru / saseru

These are used when you want to let/have/make someone do something. In English we fortunately have three different words which allow us to easily adjust the meaning to the one we want to convey. Accordingly, "I'll let him go to the store," "I'll have him go to the store," and "I'll make him go to the store" all have different nuances. In Japanese, however, seru, for yodan verbs, and saseru, for the others, are used for all of these. By the overall context and by using other "helper" words the different meanings, or feelings, as in "let him" vs. "make him," can be conveyed.

The important thing to remember is that yodan verbs use seru, like this:

• Obaa-san wa kodomotachi ni soto de asobaseru. (Grandma lets the children play outside.)
• Okaa-chan wa Kimiko ni kasa o kawaseru. (Mom will have Kimiko buy an umbrella.)
• Sensei wa gakusei ni mainichi shimbun o yomaseru. (The teacher makes the students read the newspaper every day.)

And ichidan verbs and the irregular kuru use saseru:

• Roku ji ni kodomotachi ni yuushoku o tabesaseru. (I'll have the kids eat dinner at 6:00.)
• John ni raishuu made ni kimesaseru. (I'll have John decide by next week.)
• Kare ni ashita kosaseru. (I'll have him come tomorrow.)

With suru verbs, suru is simply replaced with saseru:

• Otou-san wa Bob ni benkyou saseru. (Dad will make Bob study.)
• Kanojo ni saseru. (I'll have her do it.)

As you can see, in these constructions the person being let or made to do something becomes the indirect object, which is signified by adding ni after it.

One tricky thing is that there are some verbs which already have a "set form" to convey this meaning, and do not follow the above rules. A good example is miseru, which means "to show" or "to let see," as in:

• Kare wa karera ni mainichi terebi o miseru. (He lets them watch TV every day.)

So, although miru is an ichidan verb, you won't hear or see "misaseru." As you get used to more and more natural Japanese expressions, you will know which verbs are conjugated as outlined above and which have their own set forms which are used instead.

Now for the easy part: Since seru and saseru end in eru, they can be conjugated further like any other ichidan verb, making it easy to apply what has been learned in the previous lessons in order to make them negative, past tense, polite, and etc. For example:

• Ritsuko wa Kumi ni pen o kawasemashita. (Ritsuko had Kumi buy a pen.)
• Ojii-san wa kodomotachi ni ame o tabesasemasen. (Grandpa won't let the children eat candy.)
• Watashi wa Kenji ni eigo o benkyou sasetai desu. (I want to have Kenji study English.)
• John ni mise ni ikasemashou. (Let's have John go to the store.)
• Kodomotachi ni terebi o misemashou ka. (Shall we let the kids watch TV?)

These examples all use Base 2 final endings. Please review any you may have forgotten.

Word Check

sensei: teacher
gakusei: student(s)
mainichi: every day
shinbun: newspaper
yuushoku: dinner
taberu: to eat
raishuu: next week
made ni: by (a time or date, to set a deadline: by 5:00, by tomorrow, etc.)
kimeru: to decide
kare: he, him
ashita: tomorrow
kuru: to come
benkyou suru: to study
kanojo: she, her
karera: they, them
ame: candy, sweets ¹
eigo: the English language
mise: a store, a shop
iku: to go

(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)

Notes

1. Yes, "rain" is also ame, but it uses a different kanji. The word ame for sweets is usually written in hiragana.

Base 1 + nakereba

Base 1 + nakereba is used to make negative conditional sentences — what will happen if something doesn't happen. Look at these examples:

• Ojii-san ga sugu kaeranakereba watashi wa makudonarudo ni ikimasu. (If Grandpa doesn't return soon I'm going to McDonald's.)
• Miki ga heya o tsukawanakereba Junko wa tsukaitai desu. (If Miki isn't going to use the room Junko wants to use it.)
• Naoko wa kasa o karinakereba (kanojo wa) koukai suru deshou. ¹ (If Naoko doesn't borrow an umbrella she'll probably regret it.)

As mentioned in the last lesson, please remember that the na in nakereba comes from nai and is the negative element. The kereba is the conditional ("if") element which was introduced back in Lesson 8 with tai (takereba).

Word Check

heya: room
tsukau: to use
kariru: to borrow
koukai suru: to regret

(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)

Notes

1. A very convenient thing about Japanese is the fact that you can omit subjects that are understood or obvious — you don't have to retain them for the sake of good grammar, as in English. In this example there is no question that kanojo wa (she) is Naoko, so it is omitted.

Base 1 + nakereba narimasen

This verb ending is not only a long one, it's a bit of a tongue twister. It is used quite a lot because it means "must do." Let's take iku (to go), change it to Base 1 ika, and add nakereba narimasen to make this simple example sentence: Watashi wa ikanakereba narimasen. (I have to go.)

Looking at it literally, the nakereba means "if one does not...," as you will remember from Lesson 20, and narimasen means "will not become"; so in the example above you are saying "If I don't go it won't do."

Here are some more examples:

• Jim wa ima kaeranakereba narimasen. (Jim has to return now.)
• Laura wa kasa o kawanakereba narimasen. (Laura has to buy an umbrella.)
• Kodomotachi wa tabenakereba narimasen. (The children must eat.)

You have probably noticed that the polite negative ending masen is stuck on the end here. Yes, this is a verb within a verb ending: naru (to become) is the root word here, which is in its Base 2 form with masen added on (narimasen). If we were to use the plain negative form of naru (naranai) instead, the ending becomes nakereba naranai, which changes the whole sentence to its plain form. This can be handy when adding other endings, like deshou from Lesson 18. Let's use this ending with the three examples above and see how the meanings are "softened":

• Jim wa ima kaeranakereba naranai deshou. (Jim probably has to return now.)
• Laura wa kasa o kawanakereba naranai deshou. (Laura probably needs to buy an umbrella.)
• Kodomotachi wa tabenakereba naranai deshou. (The children probably need to eat.)

As you grow accustomed to Japanese verb usage and ending patterns, you will see how the entire meaning or "feeling" of a sentence can be adjusted or "fine tuned" at will by combining the right ending components as you finish the sentence up.

Good luck with nakereba narimasen. I already mentioned that it's a tongue twister. More than memorizing its meaning, mastering a clean, clear pronunciation of it is usually the most difficult part.

Word Check

ima: now
kasa: umbrella

Base 1 + nakatta

The past tense of nai is a bit odd, but I think that this is a good place to introduce it: nakatta. (Nai with its i dropped and katta added. Remembering that na is the negative element and katta is for past tense will be a big help later on.) This is how you make plain past tense.

Let's make a few examples:

• Watashi wa terebi o minakatta. (I didn't watch TV.)
• Sachiko wa konakatta. (Sachiko didn't come.)
• Ojii-san wa shinbun o yomitakunakatta. (Grandpa didn't want to read the newspaper.)

Word Check

shinbun: newspaper
yomu: to read

(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)

Base 1 + nai deshou

Here's an easy one. Adding deshou after nai means that somebody is probably not going to do something, or that something is not likely to happen:

• John wa kasa o kawanai deshou. (John probably isn't going to buy an umbrella.)
• Jim wa manga o yomanai deshou. (Jim probably doesn't read comic books.)
• Yuki wa furanai deshou. (It probably won't snow.)

Actually, deshou is a handy add-on that also works with plain positive (Base 3) verbs, as in:

• Ojii-san wa sugu kaeru deshou. (Grandpa will probably return soon.)
• Sachiko wa kuru deshou. (Sachiko will probably come.)
• Bill wa ika o taberu deshou. (Bill will probably eat the squid.)

Word Check

kau: to buy
yuki: snow
furu: to fall from the sky ¹
ika: squid

(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)

Notes

1. Furu means "to fall down from the sky," like rain, snow, or hail. For falling objects, use ochiru.

Base 1 + nai — The Plain Negative Form

We will now look at Base 1, which is mainly used for creating negative verb endings.

Ichidan are easy to convert into Base 1 because you just knock off the ru. In other words, Bases 1 and 2 are the same. Verbs in the yodan group are changed so that they end in a: iku changes to ika, matsu to mata, yomu to yoma, and etc. If the verb ends in u with another vowel before it, like kau, just change the u to wa; so kau becomes kawa. The irregular kuru changes to ko, and suru to shi, just like its Base 2 form.

The following tables should help clarify the way the three types of verbs are converted into Base 1 from their plain Base 3 forms, with Base 2 thrown in for review and comparison. Please note the changes carefully.

Yodan verbs:

Base 3 (root form)	Base 2	Base 1
kau (to buy)	kai	kawa
aruku (to walk)	aruki	aruka
isogu (to hurry)	isogi	isoga
kasu (to lend)	kashi	kasa
matsu (to wait)	machi	mata
shinu (to die)	shini	shina
asobu (to play)	asobi	asoba
yomu (to read)	yomi	yoma
kaeru (to return)	kaeri	kaera

Ichidan verbs:

Base 3 (root form)	Base 2	Base 1
taberu (to eat)	tabe	tabe
oboeru (to remember)	oboe	oboe
kimeru (to decide)	kime	kime
deru (to leave)	de	de
kariru (to borrow)	kari	kari
miru (to look)	mi	mi

Irregular verbs:

Base 3 (root form)	Base 2	Base 1
kuru (to come)	ki	ko
suru (to do)	shi	shi

Now what we want to do is use Base 1 + nai to change some verbs into their plain negative form: kau (to buy) becomes kawanai (will not buy); kariru (to borrow) becomes karinai (will not borrow); kuru (to come), konai (will not come); and suru (to do), shinai (will not do).

Look at these example sentences:

• John wa kasa o kawanai. (John isn't going to buy an umbrella.)
• Jim wa manga o yomanai. (Jim doesn't read comic books.)
• Ojii-san wa sugu kaeranai. (Grandpa isn't going to return soon.)
• Watashi wa terebi o minai. (I'm not going to watch TV.)
• Sachiko wa konai. (Sachiko won't be coming.)

Notice how this ending can be used to mean "not going to do (something) for the time being" as well as "don't do at all" as a matter of personal policy. For example, Jim wa manga o yomanai could mean that Jim never reads comic books, or that he just isn't going to read a comic book now or in the near future. As in English, Japanese used in actual conversation would be modified as needed in order to make meanings clear.

Please remember that the ending nai by itself is plain, and should only be used in informal settings. Depending on the situation, you may want to upgrade it to a polite form, like Base 2 + masen, which we already covered in Lesson 4, or by simply adding desu on the end after nai :

• John wa kasa o kaimasen. / John wa kasa o kawanai desu.
• Jim wa manga o yomimasen. / Jim wa manga o yomanai desu.

Can you get a good feel for the changeover between Base 2 + masen and Base 1 + nai here?

Word Check

kasa: umbrella
kau: to buy
manga: a comic book, comics; cartoons
yomu: to read
ojii-san: grandfather
sugu: soon
kaeru: to return
kuru: to come

Kanji

Kanji are characters which were originally adopted from the Chinese. Though similarities still exist, Japanese kanji have evolved and changed differently than their Chinese counterparts, and now have forms and readings all their own. Kanji are used for the core parts of a sentence: nouns and the root forms of verbs and adjectives. Hiragana are used as the "cement" between the kanji to indicate their relationship to each other, and to conjugate verbs.

You need to know around 2,200 kanji to read a Japanese newspaper. The study of kanji can be fascinating, however, and the more you study them the more sense they make (excepting the exceptions), making it easier to learn more.

This just barely scratches the surface, but here are a few of the easiest kanji of the 76 taught to first graders in elementary school:

Katakana

For every hiragana there is a corresponding katakana, which are more angular. Here they are:

Katakana are used to write foreign words and names, and the names of some Japanese companies. They are also often seen expressing the sounds of various noises in comic books.

Most of the rules that apply to hiragana also apply to katakana. One exception is when a vowel sound is elongated: katakana vowels are not doubled, but use a dash (—) to show an extended vowel sound.

Here are a few that are often seen:

The worst thing about katakana is that they are sometimes used as a phonetic guide for pronouncing English words. Tiny katakana can sometimes be seen running above or below English sentences in textbooks — books that I would never recommend. While it is true that katakana will give Japanese students of English an idea of how a word is pronounced, those who rely on katakana to learn English form bad habits in pronunciation that become very difficult to overcome in the future.

Hiragana

Hiragana is the first system you want to learn, as they are phonetic symbols or "pronunciation guides" for kanji, and have an extensive role in Japanese grammar. Hiragana is the first alphabet that children learn, and, at any age, is the "default" alphabet used when a particular kanjiis unknown or forgotten.

Here are the basic 46 hiragana with their readings:

The nice thing about Japanese is that once you can read and say these, you can read and say longer words, which are simply combinations of the individual letters. Let's try some:

Easy, right? Now let's move on to the modified hiragana.

There are 4 groups of hiragana that are modified by two small quote-like marks added just above and/or to the right of the letter. They are the ka, sa, ta, and ha groups. The ha group alone has an additional mode of modification which is made by adding a small degree-like circle. Here are the modified hiragana with their readings:

It will be noticed that two ji 's and two zu 's are created, but the ones in the sa group are used most of the time. Accurate knowledge concerning differentiation and use of these is not important until the student is well into the study of kanji.

Let's try these:

Next up are the combined hiragana, which are made by adding a small ya, yu, or yo to letters in the second line, namely ki through ri, including the modified ones mentioned above. For example, ki + ya = kya; chi + yu = chu; and so on. Here they all are:

The ri group is usually the hardest for foreign speakers to master, but that's because they're still trying to pronounce the r like the English r. If you just pronounce them dya, dyu, dyo, with just a light d, they'll sound fine.

Try these:

The last thing that needs to be mentioned about hiragana at this time is the small tsu, which indicates double consonants. As one becomes familiar with kanji, this will become easier to understand. Here are some good examples. Remember to hold the double as mentioned in consonants.

This should be enough about hiragana for the time being. All the examples used here are words that are usually written in kanji, but are shown in hiragana to show what they look like and how they work together.