Learn how to use the sentence pattern "May I...?/Can I...?"
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| INTRODUCTION | |
| John: Hi everyone, I'm John. | |
| Risa: And I'm Risa. | |
| John: And welcome to Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 27. Requesting Permission. | |
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for requesting permission. | |
| PATTERN | |
| John: For example, | |
| John: "Can I ask a question?" | |
| Risa: 質問してもいいですか。 (Shitsumon shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| Risa: [slow] 質問してもいいですか。 (Shitsumon shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| John: The pattern for requesting permission has three elements. First, a verb phrase meaning "to ask a question" in the -te form . | |
| Risa: 質問して (Shitsumon shite-). | |
| John: Second, a particle meaning "even" . | |
| Risa: も (mo). | |
| John: Third, a phrase meaning "is it good?". | |
| Risa: いいですか (ii desu ka). | |
| Risa: 質問してもいいですか。 (Shitsumon shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| [slow] 質問してもいいですか。 (Shitsumon shite mo ii desu ka.) [normal] 質問してもいいですか。 (Shitsumon shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| John: The sentence pattern to ask permission in Japanese is the -te form of a verb or verb phrase plus the particle meaning "even" | |
| Risa: も (mo) | |
| John: and finally the phrase meaning "is it good? | |
| Risa: いいですか (ii desu ka). | |
| John: So, "Can I ask a question?" would be | |
| Risa: 質問してもいいですか。 (Shitsumon shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| John: So, to ask "Can I [do something]?" remember to say the -te form of the verb or verb phrase plus the particle | |
| Risa: も (mo) | |
| John: at the end, just add | |
| Risa: いいですか (ii desu ka). | |
| John: Here is another example meaning, "Can I try it?" First, a verb phrase meaning "to try on" in the -te form. | |
| Risa: 試着して (Shichaku shite-). | |
| John: Second, a particle meaning "even". | |
| Risa: も (mo). | |
| John: Third, the phrase meaning "is it good?". | |
| Risa: いいですか (ii desu ka). | |
| John: Altogether we have... | |
| Risa: 試着してもいいですか。 (Shichaku shite mo ii desu ka.) [slow] 試着してもいいですか。 (Shichaku shite mo ii desu ka.) [normal] 試着してもいいですか。 (Shichaku shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| John: "Can I try it?" | |
| [pause] | |
| Risa: 試着してもいいですか。 (Shichaku shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| John: How do you say, "Can I turn on the TV?" To give you a hint, "to turn on" is... | |
| Risa: つける (tsukeru ). [slow] つける (tsukeru ). [normal] つける (tsukeru). | |
| John: "Can I turn on the TV?" | |
| [pause] | |
| Risa: テレビをつけてもいいですか。 (Terebi o tsukete mo ii desu ka.) [slow] テレビをつけてもいいですか。 (Terebi o tsukete mo ii desu ka.) [normal] テレビをつけてもいいですか。 (Terebi o tsukete mo ii desu ka.) | |
| [pause] | |
| Risa: テレビをつけてもいいですか。 (Terebi o tsukete mo ii desu ka.) | |
| REVIEW | |
| John: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will give you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Japanese. Here we go. | |
| John: "Can I ask a question?" | |
| [pause] | |
| Risa: 質問してもいいですか。 (Shitsumon shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| [pause] | |
| Risa: 質問してもいいですか。 (Shitsumon shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| John: "Can I try it?" | |
| [pause] | |
| Risa: 試着してもいいですか。 (Shichaku shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| [pause] | |
| Risa: 試着してもいいですか。 (Shichaku shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| John: "Can I turn on the TV?" | |
| [pause] | |
| Risa: テレビをつけてもいいですか。 (Terebi o tsukete mo ii desu ka.) | |
| [pause] | |
| Risa: テレビをつけてもいいですか。 (Terebi o tsukete mo ii desu ka.) | |
Outro |
|
|---|---|
| John: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for requesting permission, as in... | |
| Risa: 質問してもいいですか。 (Shitsumon shite mo ii desu ka.) | |
| John: meaning "Can I ask a question?" | |
| John: You can find more vocab or phrases that will go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on JapanesePod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time! | |
| Risa: またね！(Mata ne!). |
9 Comments
HidePractice requesting permission using this pattern.
Hi someone,
Thank you for your comment!
As you say, negative of permission, "~ te mo ii desu" can be prohibition in the meaning.
You will learn the form here in this lesson.
https://www.japanesepod101.com/lesson/beginner-lesson-s4-15-cans-and-cants-asking-for-and-giving-permission/?lp=442
But in this lesson, we learn negative form plus "~ te mo ii desu."
Hope you enjoy learning Japanese with us!
Sincerely,
Miho
Team JapanesePod101.com
hello
just a question
in these lesson they say that the sentence is " can i do something " or " you may do smth " but in negative it is " its alright not to do smth" but i think that it should be you may not do something instead
Hi Tatiana,
Thank you for your question!
The negative -te form of a verb and negative informal form of a verb without -nai are different.
Please see how the negative -te form is formed.
informal verb
iku / taberu/ suru
↓
negative informal verb
ikanai / tabenai / shinai
↓
(change the final "nai" into "nakute")
↓
negative -te form
ikanakute / tabenakute / shinakute
Thank you for studying with us!
Cheers,
Miho
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hi Erin,
Thank you for posting!
We're really sorry for the late reply.
We say「質問してもいいですか。」, but cannot say「質問してはいいですか。」
Please compare these two sentences:
質問してもいいですか。(Can I ask a question?)
質問してはいけません。(You should not ask a question.)
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Miho
Team JapanesePod101.com
In the pattern -nakute mo ii, the negative te-form of a verb is the same that a negative informal form of a verb without nai?
hi would you like to explain the difference between 質問してもいいですか と 質問してはいいですか？
Thank you!
Hi Kabiru Muhammad,
Thank you for joining us!
We wish you all the best with your further Japanese studies and in case of any questions, please contact us. We'll be glad to help!
For your reference, here are the lessons for learning:
Hiragana and Katakana:
https://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php?cat=112
Regarding Kanji, please check out: https://www.japanesepod101.com/kanji/
Sincerely,
Cristiane (クリスチアネ)
Team Japanesepod101.com
I'm Nigerian Hausa by tribe, found your lesson so interested. it gives me courage to learn Japanese language; Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji as well. thanks you