Lesson 7: Forming Questions

In this lesson, you learn the sentence structure and the particle needed to ask a question in Japanese.

Forming a question in Japanese is a pretty simple two step process. You first take a statement that is similar to the question you want to ask, then you add the particle か to the end of the sentence to change it into a question. In an informal sentence, you do not have to put か at the end of a sentence. Instead, you either end the sentence with a rising tone when speaking or put a question mark at the end of the sentence when written.

For example, to say "Will the warrior go to the cave?" you would first take the sentence below.

戦士は洞窟に行く。
せんしはどうくつにいく。
The warrior will go to the cave.

Then you add the particle か to change the sentence into a question.

戦士は洞窟に行くか。
せんしはどうくつにいくか。
Will the warrior go to the cave.

That is the only step needed to form a question in Japanese. I will include some more example sentences below to help show how to form a question in Japanese. I will first show the question I'm forming then show the sentence I will add か to then show the question with the Japanese.

Nouns:
勇者　ゆうしゃ A hero
魔法使い　まほうつかい A mage

Verb:
助ける　たすける To save

Question: "Did the hero save the village?"

勇者は村を助けた。
ゆうしゃはむらをたすける。
The hero saved the village.

勇者は村を助けたか。
ゆうしゃはむらをたすけたか。
Did the hero save the village?

Question: "Will the mage go to the desert?"

魔法使いは砂漠に行きます。
まほうつかいはさばくにいきます。
The mage will go to the desert.

魔法使いは砂漠に行きますか。
まほうつかいはさばくにいきますか。
Will the mage go to the desert?

That finishes this lesson. You should now know when you are being ask a question in a game now.

John

Lesson 6: The Past Tenses

In this lesson, I will teach you how to conjugate verbs into both the polite and the plain past tense. I will first teach the polite past tense because conjugating verbs into it is easier than conjugating verbs into the plain past tense.

Conjugating verbs into the polite past tense is the same for all the groups of verbs. You first conjugate the verb into its ます-stem then add ました to the end of the verb, i.e. あい→あいました, たべ→たべました, and きき→ききました.

Conjugating Group 1 verbs into the plain past tense is a bit harder than conjugating them into the polite past tense since there's more to memorize. The basic steps are the same but there are minor differences depending on which kana ends the verb. If the verb ends in う, つ, or る, you replace ending kana with った, i.e. あう→あった, たつ→たった, and うる→うった. If the ending kana is く, you replace the kana with いた, i.e. きく→きいた. If the ending kana is ぐ, you replace it with いだ, i.e. およぐ→およいだ. If the ending kana is す, you replace it with した, i.e. ころす→ころした. If the verb ends in ぬ, ぶ, or む, you replace the ending kana with んだ, i.e. しぬ→しんだ, よぶ→よんだ , and ぬすむ→ぬすんだ. While that covers all of the normal Group 1 verbs, it does not cover the Group 1 verb 行く (いく） since it's slightly irregular. To conjugate 行く, you replace the く with った, i.e. 行く（いく）→行った（いった）.

Conjugating Group 2 verbs and the irregular verbs into the plain past tense is far easier than conjugating Group 1 verbs into the plain past tense. You just take the ます-stem of the verb and add た to the end of it, i.e. たべ→たべた, たり→たりた , い→いた , しー＞した , and 来（き）→来た（きた）, to conjugate a Group 2 verb or an irregular verb into the plain past tense.

With this lesson and lesson three, you now know all of the basic conjugations of Japanese except for the polite and plain tenses of both the negative present tense and the negative past tense, so you are halfway done learning the basic conjugations of Japanese.

John

Lesson 5: The Uses of ある and いる

In this lesson, I will explain how to use the words ある and いる. I will first explain the difference between them than explain how to use them in a sentence. Also, at the end of this post, I will have some example sentences

While ある and いる have the same meaning, their uses do not overlap. ある is used with inanimate objects, like chairs, plants, and books, and いる is used with animate objects, such as people and animals.

When ある and いる are being used to mean "to exist" in a sentence, you use the particle に to mark the location where the object exists. When they are being used to mean "to have" in a sentence, the possessor is marked with は (the topic marker), and the object that is being possessed is marked with が.

That's all I have to explain about ある and いる, so I will now give you some example sentences, so you can see them in action. The new vocabulary will be listed in my normal way.

Nouns:
猫　ねこ A cat
剣　けん A sword
戦士　せんし　A warrior
魔法使い　まほうつかい A mage
子供　こども A child
軍隊　ぐんたい A army

I will first give some example sentences for the "to exist" meaning of ある and いる.

猫が家にいる。
ねこがいえにいる。
There is a cat in the house.

剣が洞窟にある。
けんがどうくつにある。
There is a sword in the cave.

戦士は城にいます。
せんしはしろにいます。
The warrior is in the castle.

I will now give some example for the "to have" meaning of ある and いる.

戦士は剣があります。
せんしはけんがあります。
The warrior has a sword.

魔法使いは子供がいます。
まほうつかいはこどもがいます。
The mage has a child.

軍隊は魔法使いがいます。
ぐんたいはまほうつかいがいます。
The army has a mage.

That's all for this lesson.

John