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Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com. What if you want to say something simple like, “I went home and made dinner” in Japanese? Unless you know how to combine verbs, you’ll be stuck saying, “I went home. I made dinner.” That sounds choppy, not something a proficient Japanese speaker would say. Casual conversation often means talking about actions, things that you do.

This beginner Japanese lesson will show you how to combine verbs in Japanese. You’ll be able to form sentences that clearly get your point across. As a bonus, learn to use the prefix Dai to add “big” or “large” to words. This Japanese prefix allows you to talk about a big traffic jam, at big date, etc. This JapanesePod101.com lesson is a must for learning to write and say sentences in Japanese.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Beginner Season 4 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

38 Responses to “Beginner Lesson S4 #16 - Read, Learn and Speak: Combining Verbs in Japanese”

JapanesePod101.com says:

Mina-san, do you think Haruya is still on the veranda?

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JKid says:

This lesson is perfect review! :)

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テッド says:

しばらくですね。まい日やまい週はいそがしすぎます。  

I do not get time to take advantage of most of the tools or to post, it seems that the only time I have to spare is when commuting. Every morning I create a play list in iTunes with the audio, the dialog, vocabulary and grammar so they each play at least two times. I then listen while driving to work in the morning and home in the evening (by creating this play list the lessons play right though without any additional attention). I am taking time to post now because Naomi made such a convincing request.

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Naomi says:

テッド-san

ありがとうございます。Arigatou gozaimasu.
気をつけて、運転してください。 Please drive safely!!

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Charity says:

Great lesson! I’m excited to see what happens next week!  :smile:

有名なけいたい会社の名前は Docomoです。 いみは “everywhere”ですか。
Does the name of the popular cell-phone company “Docomo” mean “everywhere”?

Thanks for all you do!

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John says:

aikawarazu, great job, guys ^_^

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Thomas says:

こんばんわ なおみせんせい と ピタさん

I find it very difficult to understand informal speach.

And, could you please chop the translated part ( えごがはいります )
of the listenings in smaller pieces, if possible to the sentences.
That would make it easier to follow.
あっりがとございます。

トマス

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JoelOwens says:

Isn’t it interesting the word for ’sound’ is “oto”? I instantly thought of the lighted instrument the doctor uses for looking inside the ear - An otoscope.

Poor Haruya - Probably has eaten all the plants and flowers on the veranda just to survive. Will either of them escape to safety? Will Miyu ever date again once word of this gets out? Stay tuned!

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Naomi says:

Charityーsan

>>有名なけいたい会社の名前は Docomoです。 いみは “everywhere”ですか。
>>Does the name of the popular cell-phone company “Docomo” mean “everywhere”?
I guess so.  :grin:  If you have a cell phone, you can talk to people anytime you want and anywhere you want…

John-san
ありがとうございます。Arigatou gozaimasu :dogeza:

Thomas-san
Thank you for the great advice!

Joelowens-san
>>Isn’t it interesting the word for ’sound’ is “oto”? I instantly thought of the lighted instrument the doctor uses for looking inside the ear - An otoscope.
おもしろいですね。Omoshiroi desune. :razz:

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Thomas Rike says:

I just happened to try the line-by-line audio transcript where it says:
Below is the transcript for Beginner Lesson S4 #16 - Read, Learn and Speak: Combining Verbs in Japanese
Click on the play button next to each line to hear the sentence (requires Macromedia Flash)

There are no audio buttons for this lesson. The previous lessons have them. Maybe no one else noticed!? I am really enjoying my membership in this great enterprise you have going. Thanks.

ライク・トム

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Steffie says:

Tendou-san no beranda wa nankai desu ka? If Haruya-san is lucky, maybe he could climb down. :-)

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Steve says:

I’d like to thank everyone for just being you.
You’re all great!
Yeah!

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JKid says:

Thanks Steve-san :)

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radha says:

Hello! The word hanabi is spelt as hababi at many places.
Radha

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Rick-san says:

Haruya-san wa beranda ni imasu.

He might be enjoying hanami, ne?

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Jessi says:

radhaさん,
Thank you for pointing that out!!

Rickさん,
Hmm.. hanami, or hanabi…? :mrgreen:

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eva21 says:

hi, the line-by-line audio transcript is still not working. could you fix it?
It’s sooo helpful…

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Nori says:

eva21-san,
It has been fixed!
Sorry for the inconvenience.

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Israel says:

Naomi,

I was wondering if you could supplement me with the sentence you provide in this lesson at about *13:23 (time frame it appears in lesson)

What I mean is, are you saying: あさかいしゃに いって メールを よみます。

thanks for any corrections!!!

best regards

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Jessi says:

Israelさん,
Thanks for your question! I hope you don’t mind me answering :smile:

The sentence in question is あさ かいしゃにきて メールをよみます。

Great job! :mrgreen:

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Israel says:

Thanks JESSI :lol:

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Charms says:

Hi guys!

Was wondering if I did the Practice Questions right, seeing as there are no answers. :)

1)わたしわバースデケキおつくってプレゼントおする (Was it okay to include Watashi wa?)

2)朝、会社にいってコーヒおのむ (Not sure how to write the long vowel for Coffee…:/)

3)ともだちとあってえいがおみる

ありがとうございます!

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Naomi says:

Charms-san
Great job!! They look good!
There’s only one thing I’d like to point out.
Particle “wa” and “o” are written as は and を respectively.

1)わたしわバースデケキおつくってプレゼントおする (Was it okay to include Watashi wa?)
→ Yes. You can put “Watashi wa”. :wink:
わたし は バースデーケーキ を つくって プレゼント を する。

2)朝、会社にいってコーヒおのむ (Not sure how to write the long vowel for Coffee…:/)
→ You were almost right. Coffee is コーヒー
朝、会社 に いって コーヒー を のむ。

3)ともだちとあってえいがおみる
→ ともだち と あって えいが を みる。

I hope this helps. :wink:

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Charms says:

OOOPS! :oops:

That is so clumsy of me cause I normally don’t forget the difference between WA (HA) and O. Its probably cause am not so use to typing in Japanese.

Thank you so much Naomi Sensei!!

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Archernar says:

皆さん、こんにちは!
このレッソンもいいです。 ”って”Formは超便利ですねえ
外に晴夜さんがまたあると思います。
すみませんが、私の日本語は下手です。

Can you please tell me more about this word Yappari? I hear it very often on Japanese TV but I don’t Quite get it yet.

教えてください。
ありがとうございます。

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Naomi says:

Archernar-san
こんにちは。コメントありがとうございます。 :grin:
「やっぱり」は難しいですよね。場面によって、”of course”になったり、”I knew it!” になったり、”as I expected” になったり ”also”になったりします。
Thank you for your comment.
The translation of “yappari” varies depending on the context. It could mean “of course”, “as I expected” or “also…” :sad:

However when “Yappari!” is used by itself, it’s often translated as “I thought so” or “I knew it!” :wink:

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Dario says:

Hello…I’m a bit confused as to when I can use “itsumo” in a negative sentence..
If I understand correctly, it should mean “never”…

So, can I say: “Itsumo gohan wo tsukuranai”?
My girlfriend is Japanese and says that it doesn’t sound really natural, so I just wanted to know if this is more of a written language structure…

If so, is there any other common use of “itsumo” that I can learn?
Thanks very much for your help…

Dario

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Naomi says:

Dario-san
“Itsumo gohan o tsukuranai”could be interpreted in two different ways.
This sentence could mean “I don’t always cook, (but I cook occasionally).” or “I always don’t cook-I never cook.” depending on the context and how the speaker says it. I guess that’s why your girlfriend said this sentence didn’t sound natural.

“Zettai -nai” and “-koto wa nai” sentence structures could also mean “never.”
This way, you can convey the meaning of “never” more clearly.
zettai gohan o tsukuranai. I/you/she/he etc. never cook(s).
gohan o tukuru koto wa nai.I/you/she/he etc. never cook(s).

I hope this makes sense.

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Dario says:

That’s so much clearer now! And thanks so much for the super-prompt reply! :)

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jacob says:

hey, there may be a mistake is this lesson… the father at one point says “konya, chikaku no kouen de hababi taikai ga atte, michi wa dai juutai desu yo”.
The particle used at the start is ‘de’ (chikaku no kouen de). Shoudn’t be ‘ni’ as we are using the verb ‘aru’ :roll:

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Motoko says:

jacob-san,
“de” is correct.
“ni aru” simply describes a place and existence of something, but “de aru” describes a place something is held or happens.
ex) Koen ni funsui ga arimasu. “There is fountain in the park.”
Koen de o-matusri ga arimasu. “A festival is held in the park.”
I hope this helps.

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jacob says:

oohhhhh, thanks i see now :eek:

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アルウィン says:

Naomi sensai, konbanwa
Omoshiroi kanji no mnemonics oshitekara arigato gozaimas, hontoni bikkuri simasita….. :wink:

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アルウィン says:

How do we say you are a generous person in japanese ?
Shinsetsu hito wa dou desuka?
Can we use shinsetsu hito for second person as u are talking with or only to describe the third person character….
i often hear…(name) sensai wa shinsetsu desyo.

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Motoko says:

アルウィンさん
The meaning depends on the context.
When someone is a generous/kind person, s/he would be shinsetsu na hito.
When someone is a generous person, about money, s/he would be kimae no ii hito.
I hope this helps.

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Gizzy says:

Noticed something wrong with the pdf:

A:明日、何をしますか。Ashita, nani o shimashimasu ka?

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Motoko says:

Gizzy-san,
Arigato gozaimasu!
I fix it!

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亀井 says:

春やさんは、バルコニーにまだいれば、困ってなる、と思います。

I might have botched the conditional but I think the rest is OK…

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