Habitual Actions

Yet another use for the ている form is to describe a person's habitual actions. For example, I can say:

アヤトは毎朝血を飲んでいる。
Ayato drinks blood every morning.

ライトは毎週末図書館に行っている。
Laito goes to the library every weekend.

Neither of those translations have an -ing verb, because I'm not saying that Ayato is drinking blood 24/7 (though he would if he could). I'm merely stating that he has a habit of doing so every morning, and that he continues to exist that way. The same goes for Laito's sentence.

ている form is also used for occupations and residency. The reasoning is much the same - if I work in a certain field or live in a certain place, it is a continued state of existence and should be described as such.

シュウ君は日本語を教えている。
Shuu teaches Japanese.

リーさんは阪神に勤めている。
Lee-san works for Hanshin.

カナトは東京に住んでいる。
Kanato lives in Tokyo.

スバル君は邸宅に住んでいる。
Subaru lives in a mansion.

More on Progressive Form

There's another use for the progressive form in Japanese, although it may be better to call it the ている form to avoid confusion. In English, we simply use the present tense to declare certain states. "I have lots of money" or "I know your sister" are two examples. However, in Japanese, the ている form would be used in both of those cases. I'll try my best to explain the reasoning.

If I have lots of money, that is sort of like a continued state. It doesn't refer to a state that's only true at this exact moment. The same is true with "I know your sister." I don't cease to know her after the sentence is finished. My knowledge of her is an ongoing state that continues to be true. So, rather than use the present tense to say that I know her, I would use the ている form because I want to convey that I'm in a state of knowing her.

Because this is an entirely new concept and is a bit difficult to comprehend at first, I'm going to copy some examples directly from my Genki textbook. The following are common verbs that use the ている form to convey a continued state.

結婚している - is married

座っている - is seated

持っている - has

知っている - knows

太っている - is overweight

やせている - is thin

着ている - wears/is wearing

起きている - is awake

住んでいる - lives

勤めている - works for

The verbs 行っている and 来ている are very common, as well. In this form, they do NOT say "is going" or "is coming." What they do is "indicate the current state that resulted from prior movements" (from Genki).

アヤトはカナダに行っている。
Ayato has gone to/is in Canada.

ライトは家に来ている。
Laito has come over.

This is probably the most difficult concept I've studied to date because, like I said, it's rather different from English. But at the same time, it almost makes sense intuitively. I think I would find it strange to read 姉を知る (I know your sister, plain present tense) because it just sounds wrong. With ている we are describing a continued state in which we know her, and that makes sense.

Progressive Form

In English, the progressive form refers to our -ing verbs, and it shows that something is in an ongoing state. "He is running" tells me that the action is currently happening. There's an equivalent version in Japanese used with the ている form of verbs.

This simply requires putting the verb in て form, then adding いる to the end of it in its appropriate form. It can be conjugated as necessary as a standard ichidan verb, so います, いない, etc. The tense is determined by how いる is conjugated.

アヤトは本を読んでいる。
Ayato is reading a book.

ライトは今寝ていない。
Laito is not sleeping right now.

スバル君はお菓子を食べていた。
Subaru was eating candy.

This is actually very similar to the construct we use in English and thus fairly easy to read. In more casual situations, the い in いる is dropped, so it'll read as てる (or the appropriate conjugation, minus the い).

何をしてるの？
What are you doing?

リーさんに話してるよ。
I'm talking to Lee-san.

今テレビを見てない。
I'm not watching TV right now.

Sentence Practice 9/26/2016

I'm going to write several sentences that use a bunch of different grammar points that I've covered in the past couple months. I don't want any of these points to simply fall out of my brain, so it's best to use them to ensure I refresh my memory.

午後九時半ごろアヤトと宿に帰りたい。
I want to return to the hotel with Ayato around 9:30 PM.

店に行く時に、お菓子を買ってください。
When you go to the store, buy me some candy please.

明日六時に映画を見よう。
Let's see a movie tomorrow at 6.

昨日ゲームを四時間ぐらいやった。
Yesterday I played games for about four hours.

あそこにけれいな蝶々がいる。
There's a beautiful butterfly over there.

母は明日忙しいから、私と買い物に行きたくない。
My mom is busy tomorrow, so she doesn't want to go shopping with me.

リーさんはいつも苺を食べる。彼はみかんも食べる。
Lee-san always eats strawberries. He also eats tangerines.

今日は音楽を聞いて、プールで泳いで、猫に歌った。
Today I listened to music, swam in the pool, and sang to my cat.

アヤトの家に行こう。
Let's go to Ayato's house.

ライトと図書館で勉強したいけど、今日英語のテストがあるよ。
I want to study at the library with Laito, but he has a test in English today.

喫茶店で朝ごはんを食べてもいいですか。
Is it okay if I eat breakfast at the cafe?

私の部屋で吸ってはいけない。
You must not smoke in my room.

スバルは動物園に行った。彼はビーチにも行った。
Subaru when to the zoo. He also went to the beach.

ここで昼ごはんを食べて、買い物に行きましょう。
Let's eat lunch here, then go shopping.

教科書は机の下にある。
The textbook is under the desk.

でもアリスにその本をあげたかったよ。
But I wanted to give that book to Alice.

Explanations and Assistance

Some of the grammar points in Genki are random or very loosely-related, resulting in shorter posts on my end. I'm going to group the last two points in this chapter into one post since they're fairly brief and kind of touch on things I've already reviewed.

The first is から, which acts as an explanatory particle. I've already learned how to create compound sentences with it, but I can also use it at the end of a sentence to treat it as an explanation.

学校に行きたくないから。
Because I don't want to go to school.

アヤトがとってもかわいいから！
Because Ayato is really cute!

ライトが私に花束をくれたから。
Because Laito gave me a bouquet of flowers.

The second point relates to the volitional form, with ましょうか being used to say "let's do x." It can also be used to say something like "let me do x" to offer someone help.

やりましょうか。
I'll do it.

本を持ちましょうか。
Shall I carry your books?

直しましょうか。
I'll fix it for you.

Te Form - Multiple Verbs

Throughout my Japanese studies, I've been waiting for the day where I find an "and" that's used for linking verbs so I can say I did multiple things in one sentence. Well, there's not necessarily an "and" for that, but there's an equivalent.

If I want to say that I did multiple things, I use the te form. The overall tense is determined by the last verb in the sentence.

昨日リーさんと朝ごはんを食べて、図書館で日本語を勉強した。
Yesterday I ate breakfast with Lee-san, then studied Japanese at the library.

今朝六時に起きて、学校に行って、午後三時帰った。
This morning I got up at 6, went to school, then came home at 3.

明日アヤトに会って、午後九時ごろに酒場でカラオケを歌いに行く。
Tomorrow I'll meet with Ayato, then go to the bar to sing karaoke around 9.

ここで昼ごはんを食べて、モールで買い物に行こう。
Let's each lunch here, then go shopping at the mall.

Te Form - Permission

The te form, when used alongside another set phrase (listed below), can be used to ask for or grant permission.

てverb +  もいいです =  "You may do [verb]."

This can be made into a question by either changing it to ですか or providing the proper inflection. It can also be made more casual by dropping も.

　 リー：　テレビを見てもいいですか。
ホリー：　はい、いいです。

   Lee: May I watch TV?
Holly: Yes, you may.

アリス：　この苺を食べてもいいですか。
ホリー：　はい、いいです。

Alice: May I eat this strawberry?
Holly: Yes, you may.

 アヤト：　君の本を読んでいいですか。
ほりー：　いいよ。

Ayato: Can I read your book?
Holly: Sure.

  ライト：　君のノートを借りていいですか。
ほりー：　いいよ。

Laito: Can I borrow your notebook?
Holly: Sure.

To state that something is prohibited, I can use the following form:

てverb + はいけません  (or  いけない, which is not polite form)

その池で泳いではいけません。
You must not swim in that pond.

花を食べてはいけません。
You must not eat the flowers.

この水を飲んではいけません。
You must not drink this water.

This isn't something typically used in an everyday conversation because it sounds more authoritative. It's meant in the "rules" sense and would sound harsh if used with friends or acquaintances.

Te Form - Requests

The te form can be used to make requests. Examples best demonstrate this.

教科書を勉強してください。
Study the textbook, please.

昼ごはんを食べてください。
Eat your lunch, please.

銀行を行ってください。
Go to the bank, please.

野菜を買ってください。
Buy me some vegetables, please.

帰ってください。
Come home, please.

Te form of a verb plus ください results in a polite request. Removing the ください makes it more casual, and thus something more commonly used with friends and family.

窓を開けて。
Open the window.

ベンチに座って。
Take a seat on the bench.

誕生日を教えて。
Tell me your birthday.

姉に話して。
Talk to your sister.

戸を閉めて。
Close the door.

Te Form - Conjugation

Well, this has been looming over me for awhile, and it's time to finally take the plunge. The te form in Japanese is arguably one of the most important verb conjugations to learn because it's used in many grammar constructs. It's also the most difficult form to learn because of our lovely godan verbs, which have to be separated into four additional categories for proper conjugation. But I'm sure it'll begin to feel more natural as I practice with them, so let's get started.

Ichidan Verbs:

• Drop the る and add て

Godan Verbs:

•  す
• す → して
• く、ぐ
• く → いて
• ぐ → いで
• む、ぶ、ぬ
• む → んで
• ぶ → んで
• ぬ → んで
• る、う、つ 
• る → って
• う → って
• つ → って

Exceptions:

• する　→　して
• 来る　→　きて
• 行く 　→　行って

I know that's painful to look at. I'm going to list a few example conjugations of each type so it becomes slightly more familiar and more clear.

話す　→　話して
化かす　→　化かして
動く　→　動いて
働く　→　働いて
泳ぐ　→　泳いで
飲む　→　飲んで
読む　→　読んで
選ぶ　→　選んで
転ぶ　→　転んで
死ぬ　→　死んで
分かる　→　分かって
知る　→　知って
買う　→　買って
待つ　→　待って
持つ　→　持って

Credit goes to Tae Kim's lesson seen here.

Sentence Practice 9/16/2016

アヤトは明日十一時に一緒に公園に行きたい。
Tomorrow at 11, Ayato wants to go to the park together.

私とライトは今朝ビーチで一緒に三時間泳いだ。
This morning, Laito and I swam at the beach together for three hours.

スバルが昨晩家の後ろで殺人者を見つけた。
Subaru found the murderer behind his home last night.

リーさんはお金がないから、学校で朝ごはんを食べた。
Lee-san ate breakfast at school since he didn't have any money.

アリスは新しいパソコンを買ってけどレーチェルが昨日盗んだ。
Alice bought a new PC, but Rachel stole it yesterday.

A mixture of peaceful and not-so-peaceful scenes going on here. 

Progress Report - 9/14/2016

I haven't actually done one of these since I began using this blog back in May (wow, it's been that long?), so I think now's a good time to start.

In May I'd say I was still at a very basic level of Japanese. I didn't know much beyond stringing nouns and adjectives together to try to form simple descriptive sentences. The most I could do in terms of "verbs" is use 好き or きらい to say I like or hate something. (I know those are not verbs in Japanese, they just translate as such in English.)

Now, I'm able to use verbs in past and present form, polite or casual. I also know the "desire" form, as well as the volitional. I can specify direct and indirect objects, the location, time, and means by which something is done, as well as who I may perform that action with. I also know about noun and adjective conjugation for positive/negative and present/past tense.

My current study tools:
-Tae Kim's guide
-Genki I
-Anki (kana deck)
-WaniKani

I need to continue on my grammar studies most of all, because that is critical for being able to read things like NHK Easy News and Satori Beta articles. I also need to vastly increase my vocabulary, because although WaniKani teaches ~6,000 words, not all of them are relevant, and that's still not nearly enough.

I would like to complete Genki I and have a thorough understanding of all its contents by the end of this year. That leaves me to do a chapter about every two weeks, which I think is perfectly reasonable, even with the workbook included. I'm feeling very confident in the material thus far, so hopefully that will continue. Then I can start Genki II in the new year, and continue to improve my grammar.

I recently bought a book called Japanese The Manga Way, which is very highly recommended for its concise but well-explained grammar points. Reviews state that it contains a great deal of info for casual Japanese conversations, which you're not going to find in standard textbooks, so I think it'll be a great Genki supplement. It'll help me learn to read manga earlier on, which will be encouraging.

Right now my two weakest areas are speaking and listening. They're the most difficult to improve without pure immersion in Japan, but there are two ways to overcome that: one, practice listening with the Genki CDs (which I do already) and JapanesePod101 (I have an account there but haven't used it), and two, use italki to do speaking practice with a teacher. This is the most difficult part due to my lacking vocabulary and shyness, but it's something I need to overcome.

Overall, I feel pretty good about where I currently stand. If I continue learning kanji and studying grammar while simultaneously expanding my vocabulary, then my understanding of the language will only grow. It will make learning how to speak and listen easier, and make practice a lot more fun in general. I'm excited to continue improving my skills.

Writing Practice 9/12/2016

In Genki there's a section for each chapter containing reading and writing exercises. I think I'm going to do the writing practices here, and potentially post them on italki for corrections.

My first prompt is to write about my daily routine, so here we go. I'm going to write as if I'm a student, because otherwise things are far more dull. I'll provide English translations as well, but they're going to be terribly choppy due to the nature of these sentence structures.

私は朝たいてい八時半に起きます。台所で朝ごはんを食べます。それから日本語を二時間ぐらい勉強します。十二時に宿題を一時間します。一時に彼と昼ごはんを食べます。二時ごろにたいてい図書館で本を読みます。時々喫茶店でコーヒーを飲みます。六時によくレストランで友達と晩ごはんを食べます。楽しいですね！八時に帰ります。彼とゲームをやります、それから十二時半に寝ます。

I usually get up at 8:30 in the morning. I eat breakfast in the kitchen. After that, I study Japanese for about 2 hours. At 12 noon I do homework for about an hour. At 1 I eat lunch with my boyfriend. Around 2 I usually go to the library to read books. Sometimes I get coffee at the cafe. At 6 I often eat dinner with my friends at a restaurant. It's a lot of fun! At 8 I return home. I play games with my boyfriend, and then I go to bed at 12:30.

Next is to write as if I'm leaving a note for a roommate, telling them where I'll be today.

サラ、
私は今日大学でライト君と英語を勉強します。それからレストランで昼ごはんを食べます。六時ごろにライトの友達に会いますから、家で晩ごはんを食べません。それから映画館にいきます。十時ごろに帰ります。
- ホリー

Sara,
Today I'm going to the university to study English with Laito. After that, we're eating lunch at a restaurant. Around 6 we're going to meet with Laito's friends, so I won't be eating dinner at home. We're going to the movie theater after that. I should return home around 10.
-Holly

Finally, I need to write a brief summary of what I did this past weekend.

金曜日に友達の家に行きました。そこに晩ごはんを食べました。テレビを見ました、それから九時半ごろに家に帰りました。土曜日に彼と公園に行きました。暑かった、でもまだ楽しかった。家で晩ごはんを食べました。日曜日に母と買い物に八時間ぐらい行きました。眠かった！それから日本語を三時間勉強しました。午前一時ごろにねました。

On Friday I went to my friends' house. There I ate dinner. We watched TV, and then I went home at around 9:30. On Saturday I went to the park with my boyfriend. It was hot, but still fun. We ate dinner at home. On Sunday I went shopping with my mom for about eight hours. I was tired! After that, I studied Japanese for about three hours. I went to bed at about 1 AM.

Note About Duration

I've been confused about where I'm supposed to specify the duration of an event. In some Genki sentences, it's stated after the day/time (such as "today"), and in others, it's used right before the verb. I wasn't sure of the difference between the two, but someone on the WaniKani forums made a thread about this exact issue, and a few posters answered.

If I specify the duration closer to the beginning of the sentence (such as after "today") then I'm placing emphasis on the fact that that particular duration was TODAY, as opposed to some other day.

ライトは今日二時間科学を勉強した。
Today, Laito studied science for two hours.

ライトは今日科学を二時間勉強した。
Laito studied science for two hours today.

Sentence Practice 9/8/2016

ライトは今日二時間YMCAで泳ぎました。
Laito swam at the YMCA for two hours today.

アヤトは午後九時に学校に行った。
Ayato went to school at 9 PM.

あそこにデパートがあるけどお金がない。
There's a department store over there, but I don't have any money.

リーさんは先週毎日五時間ぐらい英語を勉強しました。
Last week, Lee-san studied English every day for nearly five hours.

前夜午後七時にスバル君と晩ごはんを食べた。
Last night I ate dinner with Subaru-kun at 7 PM.

田中先生は日曜日に中国に旅行したから、水曜日に日本語のクラスがない。
Professor Tanaka traveled to China on Sunday, so there's no Japanese class on Wednesday.

I'm pretty happy with these sentences for now. They include examples of time, duration, and existence. I've done a lot of Japanese writing today so my brain's fried (plus it's Thursday).

Topic and Time

Ever since learning how to express when something occurred/is occurring, I've wondered about the proper sentence order for those expressions. In some sentences I've seen the time ("In September"), followed by the topic ("I"), followed by anything else ("will go to Japan"). In others I've seen the topic written before the specified time. This has been bothering me because I always want to know if I should have the time listed before the は particle, as that would seemingly include it as part of the topic. Well, I finally have an answer after posting this question on the WaniKani forums.

In general, it is preferable to begin sentences with the topic, then follow that with any time specifications. This is because, in Japanese, you almost always want to follow the format of Topic -> Comment, even if that comment is time-related. I've often written sentences the other way around because it felt more natural, but I was wrong. So to be clear, I need to write like this from now on.

私は九月に日本に行く。
I'm going to Japan in September. (I'm not :( )

アヤトは七時半に起きる。
Ayato gets up at 7:30.

ライトは毎日科学を勉強する。
Laito studies science every day.

リーさんは週末買い物に行く。
Lee-san is going shopping this weekend.

スバルは今夜家で晩ごはんを食べる。
Subaru is eating dinner at home tonight.

Now, I need to eternally remember this. I know there are instances where including the day/time with the topic would make sense, mainly for emphasis, but in general, the above sentences demonstrate the preferred ordering.

Sentence Practice 9/2/2016

Time to practice some of the new Genki concepts I've recently learned.

毎週水曜日によく友達の家に行く。
I often go to my friend's house every Wednesday.

毎日リーさんは仕事に運転する。彼は銀行にも運転する。
Lee-san drives to work every day. He also drives to the bank. (Is he a robber?)

九月にアリスは学校に返る。
Alice returns to school in September.

毎週金曜日にライト君は店でたくさんお菓子を買う。
Every Friday, Laito-kun buys lots of candy at the store.

シュさん、図書館で勉強しませんか？
Shu-san, would you like to study at the library?

シキ君はいつも酒場で流行歌を歌う。
Shiki-kun always sings popular songs at the bar.

 今週末にスバルは ビーチで泳ぎに行きたい。
 This weekend Subaru wants to go swimming at the beach.

アヤトの財布は冷蔵庫のなかにある。
Ayato's wallet is in the fridge.

土曜日にそのレストランでライトと食べたい。
On Saturday I want to eat at that restaurant with Laito.