Conversation - Verbs Wednesday, Dec 28 2005
Level 1 7:35 pm
Today, I will show you how to converse using Verbs
Conversation 1
Q : Is the window closed? - Mado o shimemashita ka?
A : Yes, the window and curtain are closed - Hai, Mado mo ka-ten mo shimemashita (the curtain is an aditional info to the question, that’s why “mo” is used) OR
A : Yes, it’s closed - Hai, shimemashita
Conversation 2
Q : Have you rented a house? - Uchi o karimashita ka?
A : No, I did not rent a house but rented an Apartment - Iie, uchi wa karimasen deshita, apa-to o karimashita
Q : I see. Where is the Apartment located? - Sou desu ka. Sono apa-to wa doko ni arimasu ka?
A : It’s near the train station. - Eki no soba ni arimasu.
Conversation 3
Waiter : Welcome - Irasshaimase
Tony : What do you want to drink - Nani o nomimasu ka?
Jenny : Coffee for me. How about you? - Watashi wa ko-hi- desu. Anata wa?
Tony : Me too and order me a cake please - Watashi mo. Sorekara ke-ki mo onegai shimasu
Meaning : Mado (Window), Shimemashita (Closed), Ka-ten (Curtain), Uchi (House), Karimashita (Rented), Apa-to (Apartment), Doko (Where), Iwasshaimase (Welcome), Nomimasu (Drink), Ko-hi (Coffee), Ke-ki (Cake), Onegai Shimasu (Please)
You may have notice that some verbs use “mashita” instead of “masu”. “mashita” is use for Past Tense where “masu” is Present Tense. For example :
| Present Tense Nomimasu Karimasu Tabemasu Mimasu Kakimasu |
Past Tense Nomimashita Karimashita Tabemashita Mimashita Kakimashita |
See, It’s easy. Japanese Present/Past Tense is much easier than English.
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January 6th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
[…] As I have show you how to convert Verbs into past tense in my previous post. Today, I will show you how to convert Adjectives into Past Tense. […]
November 9th, 2006 at 12:02 am
In the above example of Conversation 2, is it possible to use “Sou desu ne” instead of “Sou desu ka”? I thought I heard that on TV. XD
November 9th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
> Watson
No, “Sō desu ne” is used to represent “Ya, it’s true”. For example : This apartment is expensive (Kono apa-to wa takai desu) and you may use “Sō desu ne” to answer him/her because you are agreeing to what he/she has mentioned.
Where “Sō desu ka” means “Is it?” like the above lesson.
Hope this help.
December 13th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
Could you help me understand something??? In this sentence (Hai, Mado mo ka-ten mo shimemashita), why are there two “mo”s? What do they represent? Thanks for everything! Your web site has helped me beyond anything I’ve ever found!
December 14th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Hi AJ, Sorry, I have made a mistake for not putting in the curtain in my explanation above (I will changed it and thanks for pointing it out)
The meaning of “Hai, Mado mo ka-ten mo shimemashita” should be “Yes, the window and the curtain are closed”
In direct translation, it is “The window also (mo) closed and curtain also (mo) closed”.
December 15th, 2006 at 3:38 am
Cool! Thanks for that! I just gotta remember…”mo” represents “also”.
December 15th, 2006 at 10:24 am
my pleasure, AJ
June 14th, 2007 at 1:10 am
Doesn’t “Mado o shimemashita ka?” mean, “Did you close the window?” as opposed to, “Is the window closed?” If not, how would you say, “Did you close the window?”
June 14th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Hi Rai,
For me, Did you close the window? and Is the window closed? are the same. Both also use the same.
June 14th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Thank you for your reply, Tony. I was curious because in English they don’t necessarily mean the same thing. For example, when you ask “Is the window closed” the person would answer, “Yes” even if someone other than the person you’re asking had closed the window. Whereas if the question was “Did you close the window” the answer would be “No” if someone else had closed the window. I was just wondering if there was such a distinction in Japanese as well.
June 14th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Hi Rai,
In Japanese both use the same. The closest to your question would be to add “Anata wa” in front. ie.
Anata wa mado o shimemashita ka? means Did you close the window? However I can still use the sentence without placing “Anata wa” in front since I am talking to that person directly.
December 4th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
hmm.. i beleive that it would be mado wa(ha) shimemashita? as the window is the subject rather than the the person who closed it..
wa would be translated as ‘was’.
“Was the window close?”
and
[anata wa] mado o shimemashita ka? for did you close the window, anata wa can be dropped from the sentence without changing the meaning as long as the subject (topic i.e person not window) is known.
“Did you close the window?”
moichidou.. (one more time)
mado wa shimemashita ka? - Was the window closed?
[anata wa] mado o shimemashita ka? - Did YOU close the window?
December 4th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
also in conversation 3..
Tony : What do you want to drink - Nani o nomimasu ka?
Tony has actually said - “What will you drink?” not “what do you want to drink?”
“What do you WANT to drink?” is “nani o nomitai desu ka?” - that is we use tai form of the verb.
This is only a slight difference but is important so we can develope an indepth understanding of japanese. =D