Minna no Nihongo Lesson 25 Grammar Plain past form ら、～ If … When らis attached to the past tense plain form of verbs, adjectives, etc., it changes the preceding clause into a conditional expression. When a speaker wants to state his opinion, situation, request, etc., in the conditional, this pattern is …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 24 Grammar くれます You learned that あげますmeans “give” in Lesson 7. This verb cannot be used when somebody else gives something to the speaker or the speaker’s family, etc. (x さとうさんはわたしにクリスマスカードをあげました). In this caseくれます is used. わたしは佐藤さんに花をあげました。 I gave flowers to Ms. Sato. 佐藤さんはわたしにクリスマスカードをくれました。 Ms. Sato …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 23 Grammar V dictionary form Vない-form い-adj (～い ) な-adjな Nの   とき、～     When …, …     ときconnects two sentences and expresses the time when the state or action described in the main sentence exists or occurs. As shown in the table above, the …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 22 Grammar Noun modification You learned how to modify nouns in Lesson 2 and Lesson 8. ミラーさんのうち               Mr. Miller’s house (Lesson 2) 新しいうち                            a new house (Lesson 8) きれいなうち                        a beautiful house (Lesson 8) In Japanese, whatever modifies a word, …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 21 Grammar Plain form と思います I think that … The ideas or information expressed with おもいますare indicated by the particle と. 1) When expressing conjecture あした雨が降ると思います。 I think it will rain tomorrow. テレサちゃんはもう寝たと思います。 I think Teresa has already gone to bed. When the content of conjecture is …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 20 Grammar Polite style and plain style Japanese language has two styles of speech: polite style and plain style. polite style plain style あした東京へ行きます。 I will go to Tokyo tomorrow. あした東京へ行く。 I will go to Tokyo tomorrow. 毎日忙しいです。 I am busy every day. 毎日忙しい。 I am …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 19 Grammar Verb た-form In this lesson you learn the た-form. How to make the た-form is shown below. The た-form is made by changing てand でof the て-form into たand だrespectively. て-form た-form Group I かいて のんで かいた のんだ Group II たべて たべた Group III きて …

Minna No Nihongo Grammar Lesson 18 Verb dictionary form This form is the basic form of a verb. Verbs are given in this form in the dictionary, hence the name. How to make the dictionary form is given below. Group I In the verbs of this group, the last sound …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 17 Grammar Vない-form The verb form used withない is called the ない-form; that is to say, かかof かかないis the ない-form of かきます(write). How to make the ない-form is given below. 1) Group I In the verbs of this group the last sound of the ます-form is …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 16 Grammar 1. V て-form To connect verb sentences, the て-form is used. When two or more actions take place in succession, the actions are mentioned in the order of occurrence by using the て-form. The tense of sentence is determined by the tense form of …