かいわ I. 会話 Dialogue File 5A-Dialogue Prof. Ookawa and Prof. Nomura are very good friends and they are talking on the phone about their winter break. 大川

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1 だいか CHAPTER 5 / 第 5 課 したゆうじんかいわ親しい友人との会話 (Talking Casually with Close Friends) Goals and Standards In this chapter, students learn plain form or dictionary form of adjectives and verbs. The plain form is an essential element in order move from elementary constructions to intermediate Japanese learner. New vocabulary is minimal in this chapter. We will be revisiting vocabulary and expressions we learned in previous chapters, aiming to use them in more complex and sophisticated ways. Since you need to know the plain form in order to advance, there will be memorization in this chapter, but we will get through it together! After successfully completing this chapter, you will be able to converse with close friends and family more naturally. This chapter begins with a dialogue where two friends talk on the phone about the New Year holiday and their plan to meet. Part A: かいわたんご会話と単語 (Conversation and Vocabulary) かいわ I. 会話 (Conversation) たんご II. 単語 (Vocabulary) Part B: Grammar and Practice I. Plain form of verbs II. Plain form of adjectives III.~ んです Form IV. Nominalized phrase (or Nominalization) Part C: かんじしゅくだい漢字と宿題 (Assignment) 食読会聞見行来話語休友毎古 1

2 かいわ I. 会話 Dialogue File 5A-Dialogue Prof. Ookawa and Prof. Nomura are very good friends and they are talking on the phone about their winter break. 大川先生 のむら野村先生 のむらああのう もしもし 野村先生? 大川です 明けましておめでとうございます あことしあ もしもし 大川先生 明けましておめでとうございます 今年もどうぞよ さむげんきしょうがつろしく ところで このごろ すごく寒いね 元気? お正月はどこかに い行った? 大川先生 のむら野村先生 こどもそれが 子供がちょっとかぜをひいて何もしなかったんですよ たいへんこだいじょうぶそれは大変だ お子さんはもう大丈夫? しょうがつ大川先生ええ おかげさまで 先生はお正月は何をしたんですか のむら野村先生 いハワイに行ったんだけど 大川先生 のむら野村先生 しごとわあ いいなあ あっ でも お仕事? がっかいいいそができうん 学会に行ったんだけど 忙しかったからゆっくり出来なかったよ 大川先生 のむら野村先生 ざんねんそれは 残念! ほんとううみたもの本当に 海がすごくきれいで食べ物がとてもおいしかったよ 大川先生 たものじつやそうだ 食べ物といえば 実は すごくおいしいすし屋がフォーレストヒルズ いにあるんですよ どう 行かない? のむら野村先生 あさってそれは いいアイデアだ 明後日はひま? 大川先生 あさってえぇっと 明後日は木曜日ね うんん ちょっと用事があるから 金曜日はど たう? お昼ごはん食をべようか? のむら野村先生 大川先生 やうん そうしよう じゃあ いつもの本屋で十二時にごろ会おうよ オーケー じゃあ また 2

3 のむら野村先生 うん じゃあね たんご II. 単語 Nouns New Vocabulary File 5A-Vocab しょうがつ 正 ことし 今年 こども 月 子供こお子さんハワイ がっかい 学会 うみ 海スキー りょこう 旅行ふゆやす冬休み や すし屋 あさって 明後日 ようじ 用事アイデアオーケー New Year s day This year Child/children Someone else s child/children Hawaii Conference Ocean Ski Traveling / Vacation Winter break Sushi restaurant Day after tomorrow Errands Idea OK Adjectives < い Adjective> さむ寒いあたた暖かい Cold Warm < な Adjective> だいじょうぶ大丈夫 ( な ) OK, all right, fine Verbs < る verb > できでき出来ます ( 出来る ) (to) be able to do 3

4 < う verb > まま待ちます ( 待つ ) しし死にます ( 死ぬ ) (to) wait (to) die Conjunctions けれどけど Expressions Useful conversational expressions うんうんんじつ実はじゃあね \ じゃあ またかぜひ風邪を引きます ( ひく ) But Informal version of けれど used in conversation Yes <informal> No <informal> As a matter of fact (see you) later <informal> (To) catch cold Ritualistic expressions あ明けましておめでとう ( ございます ) ことしよろねが今年も ( どうぞ ) 宜しく ( お願いします ) Happy New Year Have a great year! ぶんぽうれんしゅう Part B: 文法と練習 Grammar and Practice I. Plain (or Dictionary) Form of Verbs In this chapter, we learn the plain form of verbs and adjectives. The plain form is shorter than the polite form. Sometime the plain form is referred as the dictionary form because it is the form used in the dictionary. The plain form plays a major role in: 1) informal/casual conversation, 2) as a building block of complex verbal expressions, and 3) formal writing. Up until now, we have been practicing Japanese using polite forms, ending with - ます and です. The polite endings of verbs and adjectives convey politeness and formality. You will not embarrass yourselves if you use polite forms in formal settings, such as when speaking in the classroom, to strangers, and with someone who is older and/or superior to you. But when you speak formally to your close friends and family members at home, you would sound strange cold or distanced, perhaps. Rather, it would be more natural for you to speak with them in a more casual and friendly manner. Plain forms convey these nuances. This is one of the reasons why you hear the plain form used very frequently in Anime and dramas. Plain forms 4

5 Any parts of speech that conjugate (including the copula verb です, verbs, and both い adjective and な adjective) can exhibit a distinction between the polite form and the plain form. The next sections will show how to form the plain form of verbs, and then the plain forms of adjectives. Study these sections carefully. The Copula verb です Let s recall the self-introduction we practiced in the first chapter. In chapter 1, we introduced なまえせんこうげんごがく ourselves using utterances like 私の名前は大川です and 専攻は言語学です. Because these introductions end with N+ です, they are said to be formal introductions. But it is also possible to have a more informal introduction, using the plain form. Compare the following なまえせんこうげんごがく examples: 私の名前は大川だ and 専攻は言語学だ in a casual situation since だ is the plain form of です. Formal (-です) なまえ私の名前は大川ですせんこうげんごがく専攻は言語学です Informal Plain form なまえ私の名前は大川だせんこうげんごがく専攻は言語学だ We can see that - です is replaced with - だ in the examples above. (In conversation, the informal - だ is often omitted; we will cover instances when this is so.) The negative form is made by changing じゃありません or じゃないです to じゃない. The past tense of plain negation is derived by changing the last い of the present negative into かった. Examples: Polite to Plain (affirmative present) Polite negative to plain negative Plain present to plain past tense Plain present negative to past tense negative 学生です + だ 学生だ学生じゃありません + ない 学生じゃない学生だ + った 学生だった学生じゃない + かった 学生じゃなかった Plain form of copula Polite form Present Past Affirmative Affirmative です だ (or omission) だった Present じゃない Past じゃなかった Cautionary note: Grammatically speaking, there is nothing wrong with using だ ending (for the copula な adjective because they are historically the same). However in conversation (not in 5

6 writing), だ is almost exclusively used by male speakers, since it sounds direct and forceful. なまえ That is, the utterance, 私の名前は大川だ sounds very masculine. In general, people (and female speakers, in particular) omit だ quite frequently. Further, women tend to attach sentence final particle(s) or other qualifiers (such as but and isn t it right? ) to soften the forcefulness of their utterances. Many sociolinguistic studies have shown that this tendency is widespread across languages, where female speakers in general speak more politely and less directly, compared to the male speakers. See the contrast in male vs. female speech in the following: Female: めあっ かわいい猫! 目はみどりだよね Wow, a cute cat! The eyes are green, right! Male: めあっ かわいい猫だ! 目はみどりだ Wow, a cute cat! The eyes are green! Exercises Convert the following sentences into casual speech by using the plain form. 1. これは本じゃありません きのう 2. 昨日は金曜日でした 3. 田中さんは学生じゃありませんでした ぼく 4. 僕は学生です Answer 1. これは本じゃない 2. 昨日は金曜日だった 3. 田中さんは学生じゃなかった ぼく 4. 僕は学生だ Verbs (~ ます ending) The plain form of all -ます ending verbs end with the vowel [u] in the present tense and end with the past tense morpheme た / だ in the past tense. You may have noticed that the vocabulary section of each chapter has classified verbs 1 into three kinds: irregular, る verbs and う verbs. The classification is based on the mechanism of how the stem of the polite form derives to the き plain form. Japanese has only two irregular verbs, namely します and 来ます. The remainder are either る verbs or う verbs. いちだんさんだんごだん 1 Some textbooks use different classification, such as 一段 verbs, 三段 verbs, 五段 verbs, which is used in Japanese students learning Japanese grammar. They are the equivalent of う verbs, irregular verbs and る verbs respectively. 6

7 1. る verbs みおる verbs are the most straightforward. る verbs such as 食べます, 見ます, います and 起きます have [e] or [i] vowel ending in the stem. In order to derive the plain form, first identify the stem and then add る. The stem of verb is what remains after removing the ~ ます ending from the み polite form of a verb. (For example, たべ is the stem of たべます. What are the stems of 見ます, おいます and 起きます?) To form the plain negative present tense, replace る with ない. For the affirmative past tense, replace る with た. Lastly, to derive the negative past tense, change the final ~ い of the present negative into ~ かった. た Example: 食べます Polite to Plain Plain affirmative to plain negative Plain present to plain past tense Plain present negative to past tense negative たた食べます + る 食べるたた食べる + ない 食べないたた食べる + た 食べたたた食べない + かった 食べなかった Plain form of る verbs Polite form Stem た食べます たべ (-e ending) Present Affirmative た食べる Present た食べない Past Affirmative た食べた Past た食べなかった Polite form Stem みみ (-i ending) 見ます Present Affirmative みる 見 Present み見ない Past Affirmative みた 見 Past み見なかった 2. う verbs 7

8 The majority of Japanese verbs are う verbs. To make the plain form of う verbs, first identify か the stem. Then change the final vowel [i] in the stem into [u]. For example, the stem of 買いますかか is 買い. Change い, the final vowel of the last syllable, into う to make the plain form 買う. Examples: Polite to plain かか i 買います 買い か + [u] 買う かか書きます 書き [kak i ] + [u] 書 かく う verbs plain form, present affirmative Polite form Stem Plain form か買います かい か買う か書きます かき か書く およ泳ぎます およぎ およ泳ぐ はな話します はなし はな話す ま待ちます まち ま待つ し死にます しに し死ぬ あそ遊びます あそび あそ遊ぶ の飲みます のみ の飲む かえ帰ります かえり かえ帰る To form the presentence negation, the last vowel of the stem [u] will be replaced by [a]+ ない. かいあ When the last syllable of the plain form consists of only a vowel, う, such as 買う, 言う and 会う, rather than add [a]+ ない, use ~ わない. Example: Plain present to plain present negative およおよ泳ぐ [g u ] + [a] ない 泳がない ああ会う + わない 会わない う verbs plain form, present negative Plain form か買うか書くおよ泳ぐ はな話す か買わないか書かないおよ泳がないはな話さない 8

9 ま待つ し死ぬあそ遊ぶ の飲むかえ帰る ま待たないし死なないあそ遊ばないの飲まないかえ帰らない In order to derive the plain negative past tense, change the final ~ い of the present negative into ~ かった. う verbs plain form, present and past tense negative Plain form Past か買うか書くおよ泳ぐ はな話すま待つ し死ぬあそ遊ぶ の飲むかえ帰る か買わないか書かないおよ泳がないはな話さないま待たないし死なないあそ遊ばないの飲まないかえ帰らない か買わなかったか書かなかったおよ泳がなかったはな話さなかったま待たなかったし死ななかったあそ遊ばなかったの飲まなかったかえ帰らなかった An interesting fact about ある and ない : The verb ある (to) exist is a う verb, but it does not have the negation in the plain form. That is, あらない is NOT the negation of ある. Instead, Japanese speakers use word that means (to) not to exist or non-existing ( ない ). This may be counterintuitive for English speakers because we are used to the fact that all verbs have affirmative and negative as pairs. As illustrated in the table below, ない serves as the counterpart of ある. The plain past tense of ない is なかった. Plain form of あります Polite form Present Past Affirmative Affirmative あります ある あった Present ない Past なかった 9

10 Lastly, deriving the negation in the past tense is slightly complex since う verbs break up into four patterns based on the ending of the affirmative plain form as illustrated below. う verb plain form, past tense affirmative Patterns Examples Plain form ending [s] pattern はな話す す す した [k/g] pattern か書く [m/n/b] pattern およ泳ぐの飲むあそ遊ぶ くぐ むぶぬ く いたぐ いだ むぶ んだぬ Past はな話したか書いたおよ泳いだの飲んだあそ遊んだ [ /r/ts] pattern し死ぬか買うかえ帰る うるつ うる ったつ し死んだか買ったかえ帰った The group of plain forms that end with す in the plain form affirmative, end in した in the past plain form; ~ す is replaced by ~ した. The group that ends with く and ぐ, change to ~ いた and ~ いだ respectively. Verbs ending with む, ぐ and ぬ change to ~ んだ. Finally, verbs ending with う, る and つ change to ~ った in the plain past tense. There is one irregular form in the plain past: though the verb 行く ends with く, it takes the plain past ending ~ った. 3. Irregular verbs ま待つ * 行 いく ま待ったい行った Because irregular verbs do not have obvious relationship with the stem you will have to memorize these forms. Also notice the phonological change in the stem of each verb. Plain form of irregular verbs Polite form Plain form Past Past しますするしないしたしなかった きくるこないきたこなかった来ます 10

11 Exercises Convert the following sentences into the plain form. き 1. 大学に来ます きのうせんたくともだちあ 2. 昨日 洗濯をしました そして友達に会いました さけの 3. 酒は飲みません えいがみい 4. 映画を見に行きました べんきょう 5. 勉強はしませんでした Answer き きのう せんたく ともだち 1. 大学に来た 2. 昨日 洗濯をした そして友達に会った 3. あ さけ酒 の は飲まない えいがみいべんきょう 4. 映画を見に行った 5. 勉強をしなかった The Plain (or Dictionary) Form of Adjectives Since the な and い adjective conjugate, they also have plain forms. 1. な Adjective げんき Let us start with な adjective, such as りっぱです, きれいです and 元気です. Since な adjectives were historically (around the time of classical Japanese) a noun and the copula verb, the conjugation pattern is identical to the copula verb. To derive the negative plain form of な adjective です is replaced by だ. To form the plain form negation, replace the polite negative ending じゃありません or じゃないです with じゃない. The negative plain past is derived by changing the last い of the present negative into かった. Example: Polite to Plain Polite affirmative to plain negative Plain present to past tense Plain present negative to past tense negative 学生です + だ 学生だ学生じゃありません + ない 学生じゃない学生だ + った 学生だった学生じゃない + かった 学生じゃなかった Plain form of copula verb Polite form Present Affirmative Past Affirmative 学生です 学生だ 学生だった Present 学生じゃない Past 学生じゃなかった 11

12 2. い Adjective あおさび The plain form of い Adjective, such as いいです, 青いです and 寂しいです can be derived by simply deleting です from the polite form. For example, the plain form of いいです is いい. To derive the negation of the plain form, the final ~ い endings of い adjective is replaced by! かった. To form the plain form negation, replace ~ くありません or ~ くないです with くない. Both affirmative and negative plain past tense can be derived by changing the final ~ い in their respective forms into ~ かった. Example: Polite to Plain Polite affirmative to plain negative Plain present to past tense Plain present negative to past tense negative あおあお青いです 青いあおあお青くありません + ない 青くないあおあお青い + かった 青かったあおあお青くない + かった 青くなかった Polite form Present Affirmative Past Affirmative あお青いです あお青い Present あお青くない あお青かった Past あお青くなかった Exercises Convert the following sentences into the plain form. 1. ケーキはおいしいです 2. 田中さんは学生じゃありません きのう 3. 昨日はひまでした 4. テストはむずかしかったです Answer きのう 1. ケーキはおいしい 2. 田中さんは学生じゃない 3. 昨日はひまだった 4. テストはむずかしかった Important note Now that we discussed about the conjugation pattern of various verbs, you may be feeling a bit panicky wondering about how you are going to memorize them all. What we can recommend 12

13 is, to first understand the relationship between the stem and the conjugation pattern and let it go; do not stress out too much. And make flashcards and most importantly, verbally go over them many times. Keep practicing! Once you become familiar with how the plain form sounds, you will pick up the various patterns and will be able to catch yourself when you make mistakes. Forming Questions with the Plain (or Dictionary) Form Now, forming the question is slightly different from what we have learned with the polite form. Then you were told to attach the SFP か to form a question. Grammatically, you could do the same in the plain form. However, since the plain form + SFP か sounds very masculine, it is far more common to omit SFP か and to indicate questions with rising intonation. Of course, by all means, use the SFP か with the plain form when you need to emphasize the masculinity. Question with polite form: あしたがっこうい明日 学校に行きますか? Will you go to school tomorrow? Question with plain form: Question with polite form: Question with plain form: あしたがっこうい明日 学校に行く? (rising intonation at end) Are you gonna go to school tomorrow? さむ寒いですか? Is it cold? 寒い? (rising intonation at end) (Is it) Cold? Making Wh-Question with Copula verb and な Adjectives There are different rules for making plain form questions with the copular verb and な adjectives. Without getting into the details 2, だ is deleted completely in a question. Rising intonation at the end of the utterance is sufficient to indicate the question. Of course, even here, a speaker can attach か to convey a more masculine tone. Question Noun Copula verb SFP 田中さん Rising intonation or か with very masculine tone 2 In order to understand this, we need to investigate the origin of です. です derived from であります where で, the particle is followed by the verb あります, i.e., だ should not be simply considered as the plain form of です. We should discuss this matter in a Japanese linguistics class. 13

14 On the other hand, the SFP か does not attach to the end of the plain form sentence to make だれ questions. The example こちらは誰だか? is ungrammatical; However, there are a number of acceptable ways to form the WH questions for copular verb and な adjectives, as follows, though some of them may sound very masculine. The most common way to form Wh-question だれ with the copula verb and な adjectives is as follows: Polite Form: こちらは誰ですか. Plain だれ Form: こちらは誰?, omitting both the だ and the か. Study the examples below. Wh-Question: だれ * こちらは誰だか? だれこちらは誰だ? だれこちらは誰か? こちらは誰 だれ? (*Ungrammatical) (Masculine) (Masculine) (the most common) Notes Some other phenomena with casual speech Some noticeable phenomena occur when casual speech is used. Sometimes words become shortened or other grammatical elements are omitted. Let us look at a few examples. a. Truncation Some words are simplified or shortened. For example, sometimes a syllable may be deleted. ほんとう For example the words 本当 truth and だけれど however are commonly truncated in casual speech and pronounced ほんと and だけど, respectively. b. Particle omission The particles は, が, を and に are typically omitted in the casual speech. For example, the following is pretty typical in casual conversation: きのういねえ 昨日 どこ行った? Hey, where d ya go yesterday? Compare the following counterexample in the polite form: きのういあのう 昨日はどこに行きましたか? Umm, where did you go yesterday? The plain form utterance above is missing both topic marker and location marker, in addition to the SFP か. This is one of the reasons one might encounter problems when one learns Japanese solely from Anime and friends, since you will usually hear casual conversation in these situations. As you already know, using the particles correctly can be tricky. Learners need hear them often, in order to learn them well. (This is another reason why many Japanese language textbooks start with the polite forms.) 14

15 c. Phonological change When conversation is extremely casual (or when you are involved in a quarrel), parts of a word may be uttered with slightly different sounds. おまえ おめえすごい すげえこれは こりゃあそうですか そっ ( す ) か You extraordinary Speaking of this Is that so? Since these expressions are potentially rude, let us not practice but let us be aware of them. Describing reasons using から, revisited In the previous chapter, we practiced sentence that express reason. Now that we have learned さび the plain form, we would like to revisit this topic. We provided the example 寂しかったですからともだちでんわ友達に電話をかけました, I called my friends because I was lonely. Look closely at the table below. Notice that the polite form is present in both the reason clause (preceding から ) and in the final clause at the end of the sentence. Clause describing reason さび寂しかったです Post-position から から Clause describing result ともだちでんわ友達に電話をかけました This is correct grammatically, but because the contrast between formal vs. casual is typically expressed at the end of the sentence, the presence of two polite forms makes this sentence sound overly polite and a bit too stuffy for every day conversation. Therefore, it is more common to use plain form in the clause that describes the reason, as below: Clause describing reason (plain form) さび寂しかった Post-position から から Clause describing result ともだちでんわ友達に電話をかけました By choosing different combination of the plain and polite form, you can manipulate the degree of politeness. さびともだちでんわ寂しかったですから友達に電話をかけました さびともだちでんわ寂しかったから友達に電話をかけました さびともだちでんわ寂しかったから友達に電話をかけた (very formal) (formal) (casual) 15

16 Further, particularly in conversation, it is common to provide a reason simply by attaching からです directly onto a clause describing the reason in plain form. In other words, the result is omitted. Clause describing reason (plain form) ベジタリアンだ Post-position から + です からです どうしてハンバーガーを食べないんですか How come you don t eat hamburgers? さいしょくしゅぎ私はベジタリアン ( 菜食主義 ) だからです Because I m a vegetarian. Exercises さびともだちでんわ A. Is 寂しかったから友達に電話をかけました in casual or formal speech? Describe the reason why. Answer The sentence above is in a formal speech because the sentence final predicate contains ました, which is the past tense form of ます, the polite form. B. Convert the following sentences into Japanese using the plain form + から. 1. I ate the cake because it is tasty. 2. Since Ms. Tanaka is a student, he doesn t work. 3. I didn t sleep yesterday since I had an exam. Answer た 1. ケーキはおいしいから食べました しけんきのう 3. 試験があったから昨日は寝ませんでした しごと 2. 田中さんは学生だから仕事をしない C. Use the words in parenthesis to make answers to the questions using ~ からです ending. きらにぎ 1. どうしてマンハッタンが嫌いなんですか ( 賑やかです ) やい 2. どうしてそのすし屋に行くんですか ( おいしいです ) か 3. どうしてあのドレスを買わなかったんですか ( きれいじゃありませんでした ) 16

17 か 4. あれ 本を買いませんでしたね どうしてですか ( ありませんでした ) Answer にぎ 1. 賑やかだからです 2. おいしいからです 3. きれいじゃなかったからです 4. なかったからです III. ~ んです Form: Hybrid of Casual and Formal Versatile Conversational Ending The polite endings ます and です convey formality but can also sound impersonal. There is however an ending, the ~ んです form which serves as a hybrid of casual and formal forms. This ending is very common in daily conversation, though is rarely used in writing (other than novels, when it is expressing a character s attitude.) This ~ んです ending (sometimes called the extended predicate ) provides a way to convey a casual attitude and yet maintain a certain level of politeness because it has the ~ です ending. Therefore, sentences with ~ んです are commonly used for a speaker to convey various concerns to the listener. This could include the speaker s feelings of friendliness and engagement, or it can serve a variety of other functions, as described below. Mastering ~ んです form is an essential step to fluency in Japanese. Let us look at the grammatical construction first and discuss the functions later. ~ んです taking affirmative host The basic grammatical construction is to attach~ んです to a plain form ending. The chart below shows how to attach ~ んです to verbs and い adjective in the affirmative. Verb and い adjective + んです Sentence in plain form ~ んです Form べんきょう勉強する く来る あう 会ある んです さむ寒い Copula Verb and い adjective + んです 17

18 For copula verbs and な adjective, the host takes their prenominal form, namely the な ending 3. Sentence in plain form 学生な げんき元気な ~ んです Form んです ~ んです taking negated host When ~ んです attaches to a negated host, it is in the plain form. There are no exceptions. Sentence in plain form ~ んです Form べんきょう勉強しない こ来ないあ会わないない んです さむ寒くない学生じゃないげんき元気じゃない Exercises Convert the following sentences into んです form. 1. これは本です 2. そうじゃありません 3. きれいです おんがく きき 4. 音楽を聞ました じゅぎょう 5. 今日は授業がありません 6. 学生だからです 3 んです and のです : The formal version of んです is のです. It is commonly used in a formal conversation and writing. The の used here is what we called generalizing pronoun の in the previous chapter; the の replaces a specific noun understood through context and has a general meaning of one(s) or thing(s). When な adjective precedes this の it takes な ending. えゆうめいここにはたくさんの絵がありますね 有名なのはどこですか There are so many paintings here, aren t there? Where is a famous one? 18

19 Answer 1. これは本なんです 2. そうじゃないんです 3. きれいなんです 4. 音楽を聞いたんです 5. きょう今日 じゅぎょう業 は授 がないんです 6. 学生だからなんです おんがく き Functions of ~ んです form As previously mentioned, one can use ~ んです form in conversation to expresses friendliness and concerns to the listener. On the contrary, ~ ます and ~ です ending sounds more matter-offact. The following examples illustrate the effect of ~ んです form compared to sentences without it; you might be surprised by the different responses: しゅうまつだいがくい A: 週末に大学に行きますか Are you going to school this weekend? い B: はい 行きます Yes, I will. しゅうまつだいがくい A: 週末に大学に行くんですか Are you going to school this weekend (what happened not a usual occurrence)? じゅぎょうらいしゅうしけん B: うん 授業はないんだけど来週に試験があるから... Yeah, I don t have classes but I have exams next week so. In the first example, the speaker is simply responding that he/she will go. The second is quite different The contrast in the reply is triggered by by the presence of the ~ んです form since it conveys feelings of how the speaker cares about his or her interlocutor. Thus, the ~ んです form serves some significant functions which I am going to list below as examples. a. Providing reasons The ~ んです expression can be used to provide reasons and explanations. For example, ~ んです form is commonly used in replies to questions containing どうして why. い A: どうして大学に行かないんですか Why aren t you going to school? B: ちょっと風邪をひいたんです (Because) I have a bit of cold. 19

20 b. Indirectly refusing an invitation Since most Japanese feel that turning down an invitation is rather rude, they tend to do it indirectly. ~ んです form can be used in this situation. いっしょい A: 一緒にパーティーに行きませんか Won t we go to party together? ようじ B: あのう ちょっと用事があるんです Umm I have a few errands to run (sorry). c. Expressing surprises or frustration ~ んです form can be used to express a reaction to an unexpected event. This can be surprises and frustration. ふゆやす A: 冬休みは何をしましたか What did you do during the winter break? とうきょうあそい B: 東京に遊びに行きました I went to Tokyo for leisure. とうきょうい A: ええっ 東京に行ったんですか Wow! You went to Tokyo (I m surprised)?! A: もしもし 田中さん 今どこにいますか (On the phone)hello, Ms. Tanaka? Where are you now? ふとん B: ああ もしもし まだ布団の中 Well...hello. (I m) still in bed. なか... ね A: ええっ まだ寝てるんですか What! (You are) still sleeping (Gosh, I can t believe this)?! Although it is very useful to use ~ んです form in conversation, keep in mind that the expression is not usually used to provide a description of simple facts such as telling your name, time and days of the week or in speech that does not involve listeners, such as news broadcasting. VI. Nominalized Phrase (or Nominalization) In English, the relative clause (RC) is used to modify a noun (or provide additional information about something or somebody) within a sentence. For example, I truly love the book that was 20

21 written by Shusaku Endo contains a RC. English RC contains a relative pronoun, such as who and that as a subject, and a verb. Japanese has a grammatical construction that also allows the speaker to modify nouns or provide additional information. It is formed differently, and as a result, different terms will be used to describe this construction. Many Japanese textbooks refer to it as Nominalized Phrases, Nominalization or sometimes Modifying nouns with clauses. You may hear all these terms. Grammatically, the relative clause which we will call nominalized phrases from now on precede the noun they modify in Japanese. This contrasts with RC in English, which always follow the noun they modify. See the contrast illustrated below. I truly love the book [that was written by Shusaku Endo] RC NP えんどうしゅうさくか私は [ 遠藤周作が書いた ] RC 本 NP がとても好きです I truly love the book that was written by Shusaku Endo. For both English and Japanese examples above, the clause enclosed in brackets modifies the noun, forming a noun phrase (NP). Japanese utilize nominalized phrases quite frequently. The nominalized phrase is formed by a sentence in plain form followed a noun. Sentence in plain form (Modifier) 白いか先生が買った Noun (Modified) いぬ犬 はんを食 ご飯 たべない For な adjective, the prenominal ending な precedes the modified noun. Sentence in plain form (Modifier) りっぱな げんきな 元気きれいな Noun (Modified) 人 Here are some examples of nominalized phrases that describe nouns. Pay close attention to the English translations. All of these examples are noun phrases, not complete sentences. 21

22 アルバイトをする学生 a student who does a part-time job アルバイトをしない学生 a student who does not do a part-time job アルバイトをした学生 a student who had a part-time job アルバイトをしなかった学生 a student who did not do a part-time job とうきょういひこうき東京に行く飛行機 an airplane that flies/goes to Tokyo とうきょういひこうき東京に行かない飛行機 an airplane that does not fly/go to Tokyo とうきょういひこうき東京に行った飛行機 an airplane that flew/went to Tokyo とうきょういひこうき東京に行かなかった飛行機 an airplane that did not fly/go to Tokyo The example below shows the contrast between a grammatical sentence (ends with a predicate, such as a verb) and a nominalized phrase (ends with a noun, is preceded by a nominalizer, i.e. some sentence in plain form). ときどきみときどきみ時々テレビを見る vs. 時々見るテレビ (I) watch TV sometimes. // TV that (I) watch sometimes Exercises A. Translate the following and identify whether it is a noun phrase (NP) or a complete sentence. Ex. 毎日会う女の人 the woman that I meet every day NP sentence 1. とても高い T-シャツ NP sentence 22

23 2. 本は安い NP sentence 3. 昨日食べた寿司 NP sentence Answer 1. An expensive T-shirt, NP 2. (The) book is cheap, Sentence 3. Sushi (I) ate yesterday, NP B. Based on the information provided in the parenthesis, fill in the blanks to complete the sentences. 1. これは 本です か ( 先生が本を書きました ) 2. これは サンドイッチです かあつく ( お母さんがサンドイッチを作りました ) 3. 学生はかわいいです きのう あ ( 昨日 学生に会いました ) しんせつ 4. 田中さんは親切です じゅぎょうあ ( 田中さんと授業で会います ) Answer かかあつく 1. これは先生が書いた本です 2. これはお母さんが作ったサンドイッチです きのう 3. 昨日 会った学生はかわいいです 4. 授 じゅぎょう業 しんせつ で会う田中さんは親切です 23