Class Session 15b
Chapter 10
•
Answering a Negative Question with hai and iie
•
Expressing What is Permissible with de mo ii and de wa ikemasen
•
Expressing What is Required with nakute wa ikemasen/nakute mo ii desu
•
The Potential Forms of Verbs
•
Expressing Potential with koto ga dekiru
•
Verbs with Inherent Potential Meanings
•
Sports
•
Hobbies
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Answering a Negative Question with hai and iie
• In Japanese, hai shows agreement; iie shows disagreement
• If a question is asked in the affirmative, the Japanese reply is the same as the
English reply:
kyō gakkō ni ikimasu ka.
Will you go to school today?
hai - Yes (I will go)
iie – No (I will not go)
• If a question is asked in the negative, the Japanese reply is different than the
English reply:
kyō gakkō ni ikimasen ka
Will you not go to school today?
hai - Yes (I will not go)
iie – No (I will go)
• Be careful in answering negative questions
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Expressing What is Permissible with de mo ii and de wa ikemasen
• Use and adjective and the copular verb (desu) in the te-form to express what is
permissible and what is not permissible:
chūkosha de mo ii desu.
A used car is acceptable (good).
chūkosha de wa ikemasen.
A used car is not acceptable (won’t do).
takakute mo ii desu.
It is alright if it is expensive.
takakute wa ikemasen.
It is not okay if it is expensive.
fuben de mo ii desu.
It is okay to be inconvenient.
fuben de wa ikemasen.
If it is inconvenient, it is not okay.
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Expressing What is Required with nakute wa ikemasen/nakute mo ii desu
• What is a required condition and what is not is expressed using adjectives and the
copular verb in the negative te-form:
shinsha ja nakute wa ikemasen.
It must be a new car.
shinsha ja nakute mo ii desu.
It is okay even if it is not a new car.
yasuku nakute wa ikemasen.
It must be cheap.
yasuku nakute mo ii desu.
It need not be cheap.
shizuka ja nakute wa ikemasen.
It must be quiet.
shizuka ja nakute mo ii desu.
It need not be quiet.
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The Potential Form of Verbs
• The potential form of an ru-verb in Japanese is created by dropping the final
ru syllable from the dictionary form and adding rareru
• The potential form of a u-verb is created by dropping the final u from the dictionary
Form and adding the suffix eru
• Here are the potential form of some ru and u-verbs (complete list on textbook
pages 190-191):
Dictionary Form
Potential Form
ru-verbs
taberu (to eat)
taberareru (can eat)
miru (to watch)
mirareru (can watch)
u-verbs
kaeru (to return)
kaereru (can return)
kau (to buy)
kaeru (can buy)
tobu (to fly)
toberu (can fly)
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The Potential Form of Verbs
• The potential form of the irregular verbs are:
kuru (to come)
korareru ( can come)
suru (to do)
dekiru (can do)
• The direct object particle o is usually replaced by the particle ga in the potential
form:
watashi wa katakana de namae ga kakemasu.
I can write (my) name in katakana.
• If the verb is dekiru (can do), o must be replaced by ga
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Expressing Potential with koto ga dekiru
• One’s potential can be expressed using the construction koto ga dekiru (. . . can do)
Rather than the potential form discussed above
• Create an expression using the plain form verb and add koto ga dekiru (koto serves
as a nominalizer):
katakana de namae o kaku koto ga dekimasu.
I can write (my) name in katakana.
nihon-go o sukoshi hanasu koto ga dekimasu.
(I) can speak a little Japanese.
• Note: koto cannot be replaced by no in this construction
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Verbs with Inherent Potential Meanings
• Some verbs in Japanese, like kikoeru (to be heard; be audible), mieru (to be seen;
be in sight ) and wakaru (to be understood; be comprehended) already have
potential meanings
• These verbs cannot be conjugated into the potential form described previously
• The direct objects of these verbs are marked by the particle ga rather than the
particle o:
kyō wa tenki ga ii desu ne. fujisan ga miemasu ne.
Today the weather is good, isn’t it? We can Mt. Fuji, right?
kono denwa wa hen desu. zenzen kokoemasen.
This phone is strange. I cannot hear at all.
nikorasu-san wa nihon-go ga sukoshi wakarimasu ka.
Nicolas, can you understand Japanese a little?
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Sports
• These are Japanese words for martial arts:
sumō
karate
kendo
sumo wrestling
karate
kendo
judō
aikidō
judo
aikido
• Popular Japanese sports:
sakkā
yakyū
gorufu
tenisu
basuketto-bōru
soccer
baseball
golf
tennis
basketball
barē-bōru
sukii
sukēto
suiei
volleyball
skiing
skating
swimming
• To say you play these sports, use the verb suru (to do):
ani wa gorufu o shimasu.
My older brother plays golf.
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Hobbies
• Some popular pastime activities:
e o kaku
to draw, paint
tsuri o suru
to fish
ryōri o suru
to cook
shashin o toru
to take pictures
ikebana o suru
to do flower arranging
shodō o suru
to do calligraphy
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