Japanese the Manga Way PDF

OO “real manga, real Japanese” resource and study manual for language students and teachers  Learn Japanese the Manga Way! Japanese difficult? Study boring? Not if you use a “real manga, real Japa- nese” approach to learning. Presentin...

OO “real manga, real Japanese” resource and study manual for language students and teachers  Learn Japanese the Manga Way! Japanese difficult? Study boring? Not if you use a “real manga, real Japa- nese” approach to learning. Presenting all spoken Japanese as a variation of three basic sentence types, Japanese the Manga Way shows you how to build complex constructions step by step. Almost every key grammar point taught in the first two years of study is illustrated with a panel from a manga actually published in Japan to show how the language is used in real life. Learning with manga makes rules and structures easy to remember, and also lets you experience colloquialisms, contractions, interjections, and other elements of speech that get short shrift in more formal textbooks. At the same time, you'll find a wealth of solid informa- tion to give you confidence at exam time. With a detailed index, numerous tables and sidebars, and a complete guide to pronunciation, Japanese the Manga Way is ideal as an introduction for the independent student, as a supplement for the beginning classroom, and as a reference or review for advanced learners. Wayne P. Lammers grew up in Japan and has taught Japanese at the uni- versity level. An award-winning translator, he was the translation editor for Mangajin magazine for seven years. He lives in Portland, Oregon. CONTENTS The Three Basic Sentence Types Question Words Sentence Particles The Past Forms Desu and -Masu The -Te Form Simple Questions with Ka Negative Verbs Doing Things with Suru Negative Adjectives & Desu Modifying Verbs, Adjectives, & Desu Let's Do It! Modifying Nouns Desire Explanatory No If and When Ga Marks the Subject More -Te Form Expressions O Marks the Direct Object Probably, Surely, Maybe Wa Marks the Topic Commands Ko-so-a-do Words Can Do Some High-Traffic Particles Passive Verbs Connecting Words Making It Happen Quoting with To Giving and Receiving Complete Sentence Modifiers Appearances and Hearsay ISBN 978-1-880656-90-7 524 2 ‘5 > [a | Stone Bridge Press 9!'781880!'656907 8 [email protected] US$24.95/CANS30.00 A www.stonebridge.com [Mf LoaIl Language / Japanese er  Japanese the Manga Way An Illustrated Guide to Grammar & Structure Wayne P. Lammers Stone Bridge Press »* Berkeley, California Published by Stone Bridge Press P.O. Box 8208, Berkeley, CA 94707 Tel: 510-524-8732 » [email protected] * www.stonebridge.com We want to hear from you! Updates? Corrections? Comments? Please send all correspondence re- garding this book to [email protected]. Grateful acknowledgment for permission to reproduce copyrighted materials is made to the following companies and their artists: To Futabasha for: Bar Remon Hato: © Furuya Mitsutoshi. Garushia-kun: © Takeuchi Akira. /shii Hisaichi Senshi: © Ishii Hisaichi. Kariage-kun: © Ueda Masashi. Kureyon Shin-chan: © Usui Yoshito. Maboroshi no Futsti Shojo: © Uchida Shungicu. Rakuten Famirii: © Nitta Tomoko. Take’ emon-ke no Hitobito: © Sato Take’emon. Zusetsu Gendai Yogo Binran: © Deluxe Company. To Kédansha for: Buchd Shima Késaku: © Hirokane Kenshi. Dai-Téky6 Binbé Seikatsu Manyuaru: © Maekawa Tsukasa. Kaché Shima Koésaku: © Hirokane Kenshi. Kaji Rytisuke no Gi: © Hirokane Kenshi. Natsu no Kura: © Oze Akira. Natsuko no Sake: © Oze Akira. Okusama Shinkaron: © Akizuki Risu. OL Shinkaron: © Akizuki Risu. Shoot!: © Oshima Tsukasa. What’ s Michael?: © Kobayashi Makoto. To Take Shobé for: Ai ga Hoshii: © Nonaka Nobara. Ashita mo Genki: © Tanzawa Megumi. Bonobono: © Igarashi Mikio. Furiten-kun: © Ueda Masashi. Kaisha-in no Merodii: © Ohashi Tsuyoshi. Nat-chan wa ne!?: © Minami Hiroko. Obatarian: © Hotta Katsuhiko. Ojama Shimasu: © Imazeki Shin. To Tanaka Hiroshi for: Naku na! Tanaka-kun: © Tanaka Hiroshi. All rights reserved. Front cover image from Natsuko no Sake by Oze Akira; used by permission of Kodansha Ltd. Front cover design by Linda Ronan. Text © 2005 Wayne P. Lammers. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN 978-1-880656-90-7 Contents Preface: About This Book ix Acknowledgments xiv Introduction: Pronunciation & Kana Guide XV The Lessons = The Three Basic Sentence Types Sentence Particles CF Desu and -~F -Masu Simple Questions with > Ka Doing Things with $4 Suru Modifying Verbs, Adjectives, & Desu Modifying Nouns Explanatory ® No ND 28 Ga Marks the Subject TO9 ate HON DY Te i OO NO % O Marks the Direct Object '& Wa Marks the Topic Ko-so-a-do Words Some High-Traffic Particles Connecting Words 102 Quoting with ¢ To 112 Complete Sentence Modifiers 118 Question Words 128 The Past Forms 138 eBOD.The -C -Te Form Beek Boe Peee EN OV. hw OO 85 148  20: Negative Verbs 156 21: Negative Adjectives & Desu 166 22: Let’s Do It! 176 23: Desire 182 24: If and When 188 25: More -Te Form Expressions 198 26: Probably, Surely, Maybe 208 27: Commands 214 28: Can Do 222 29: Passive Verbs 228 30: Making It Happen 236 31: Giving and Receiving 242 32: Appearances and Hearsay 254 Appendixes A: Useful Resources 266 B The Manga Titles Used in This Book 269 C: Bibliography of Grammatical References 274 D Selective Glossary 275 Index 276 Tables and Sidebars Hiragana XX Katakana Xxi Some Things to Know About Kanji xxii Where Hiragana and Katakana Came From XXV The Four Politeness Levels 4 Basic Verb Facts Sentence Structure 10 Summary: Sentence Particles 17 Summary: Desu and -Masu 22 Interjections 23 Summary: Simple Questions 29 Existence 31 Honorific Language 38 Relative Time Table 44 A Generic Counting Sequence 45 The Basic Numbers and Units 46 How Units Are Combined 46 Frequently Used Counters 47 Dates and Durations 49 Nouns 37 Personal Pronouns 63 Kinship Terms 91 Hours and Minutes 93 Quoting Structure 112 Some Common Question-Word + Ka Forms 135, Summary : Question-Word Sentence Structure 137 Summary : Past Forms 147 Summary: -Te Forms 155 Summary: Negative Verbs 160 Summary: Negative Da/desu and Adjectives 175 Summary: The “Let’s/I’l/I Think I'll ~” Forms of Verbs 178 Summary: -Ba Forms 190 Summary: The Abrupt Command Forms of Verbs 217 Summary: The “Can/Be Able To ~” Forms of Verbs 227 Summary: The Passive and Honorific Forms of Verbs 235 Comparing Passive and “Can/Be Able To” Verbs 235 Summary : The Causative Forms of Verbs 241 Summary : Verbs of Giving and Receiving 253 About This Book Japanese has a reputation for being difficult, but the basic sometimes running to dozens of volumes. The tremendous structure of the language is actually quite simple. This book variety of manga published means they literally offer some- sets out to prove the point by boiling all Japanese sentences thing for everyone. down to three basic types, then, starting with the simplest Almost any kind of manga can provide excellent study single-word sentences of each type, gradually expanding to material for learners of Japanese, but realistic story manga more complex expressions following a logical and system- are especially well-suited to the purpose because they depict atic progression. The writing system (which is to be distin- Japanese life as it really is and model the kind of vocabu- guished from the language itself) is admittedly a challenge, lary and usage heard in the course of normal business and but even this has certain redeeming qualities, and it doesn’t play. Most of the manga featured in this book fall into this seem like nearly as big a hurdle if you’re picking it up while category. The book also features quite a few four-frame gag you’re having fun. strips; although their humorous twists can sometimes make Whether you’re learning the structure of the Japanese their situations seem a little less “normal,” and therefore language or the intricacies of its writing system, making the more difficult, these in fact offer an opportunity for you to process more fun is where manga come in. Even if you’re learn a little more about how the Japanese language works. one of those people whose eyes glaze over any time you If your taste runs to other genres of manga, don’t despair. hear the word “grammar,” you’ll find that having each new The grammar and structure of the language are the same in point illustrated with an example taken from a manga not all manga, so what you learn in this book will apply to what- only makes the learning process more entertaining, but es- ever kind of manga you want to read after you’re done—as tablishes the point more clearly in your mind by rooting it in well as to however else you want to use the language. real-life circumstances and usage. With manga for illustra- If you’re new to manga—or relatively so—and would tions and with each point explained in plain English, lim- like to know more about the whole phenomenon, an excel- iting linguistic jargon to an absolute minimum, Japanese lent place to start is Frederik L. Schodt’s Dreamland Japan: the Manga Way aims to be the first grammar book you can Writings on Modern Manga. actually read with enjoyment. Manga, if you don’t know, are Japanese comics and graphic novels, and they are now gaining ground with amaz- ing speed in the United States and elsewhere; in Japan they Manga and language learning have been a publishing phenomenon for over half a century, with roots that reach back deep into Japanese history as well When you’re tackling a new language—whether in a formal as to early American comic strips. Japanese manga differ class, with a private tutor, or on your own—you want to in many ways from American comics, including the nature expose yourself to the language in as many ways as pos- of the artwork, which is almost always monochrome and sible. For learning Japanese, manga are a perfect addition crudely drawn by American standards, even as it makes use to whatever arsenal of text and audio-visual aids you may of highly sophisticated and innovative visual effects. But already be using. With this book, manga can even be a great the most important aspect of manga for the language learner place to start. To some extent, you want to take advantage is that they are created for and read avidly by every segment of manga just because they’re there: they are an important of Japanese society—boys and girls as well as grown men part of the culture and represent a major use of the language and women, students and workers and homemakers as well you are studying. But there are several more specific reasons as businessmen, professionals, and the movers and shak- why manga offer such perfect source material for learners ers; and they include not only the equivalent of American of Japanese. newspaper funnies (four-frame “gag” strips), Disneyesque First and foremost, even though manga are a printed children’s fare, and adolescent superhero and science fic- medium, most of the text is natural, conversational Japanese, tion fantasies, but socially realistic tales about ordinary not discursive prose. The language in the balloons models people from every walk of life. Stories of the kind Ameri- exactly the kind of language you want to learn to understand cans are accustomed to finding only in prose fiction, with and speak, and it provides the perfect supplement to the dia- believable, well-motivated plots and characterizations, and logues and conversation drills found in language textbooks. serious social themes, are published as long-running manga Many language courses turn to prose texts, such as news- series in weekly magazines and later compiled into books, paper articles, essays, and fiction, when students are ready ix x PREFACE for additional material beyond textbook drills. But the tran- learner’s toolbox, its constant forward motion can be a dis- sition can be awkward: even though the grammar doesn’t advantage, especially for relative beginners, who find ev- change, the language is not used the same way in writing as erything spinning on by much too quickly. In manga, the in speaking; sentences grow longer and more convoluted. action in each frame is frozen, and you can take all the time Manga, with their primarily conversational content, are a you need to absorb the images and dialogue—once again more logical next step for following up on textbook dia- reinforcing their value at an earlier stage of study. logues and broadening your exposure to the wide variations All print-based media for learning Japanese will soon- of conversational usage in real life. er or later require that you come to terms with the Japanese Although prose fiction also contains dialogue, it uses writing system, which unlike the language itself, probably narrative passages to set the stage and move the action deserves the reputation for difficulty that it has (though you forward. In manga, these purposes are served largely by may recall that all those spelling tests you took in English the illustrations, allowing the action to move along much were not exactly a picnic either). But once again, the lower- more quickly than when you’re forced to tediously decipher density text of manga is your friend: not only is it less intim- passages of narrative. This in turn keeps the fun quotient idating when you don’t have to face solid pages of nothing much higher so you’re inclined to read on—instead of los- but text, but manga tend to use more of the easy-to-learn ing steam because your progress is so slow. Of course, you phonetic characters known as kana (you’ll find more infor- may eventually want to gain full mastery of dense running mation about these in the Introduction) and fewer of the dif- prose as well—whether literary or nonliterary. But the illus- ficult ones known as kanji compared to discursive or literary trated and less densely packed format of manga makes them prose. Whenever the fun quotient of manga keeps you read- suitable as a supplement at a much earlier stage of study. ing just a little longer, you have that much more opportunity As they always say, your mileage will vary, and the more to pick up something new or reinforce what you’ve already advanced you are the greater the benefits you will reap. But learned—all while you’re enjoying an entertaining story. with the help of this book, you should be able to start getting Any task seems like a lot less work when you’re having fun, something out of manga from day one. and this goes for learning the Japanese script as well. Not to detract from other valuable study tools, but manga have strengths that can help fill in for the weak- nesses of other media. Textbook dialogues and drills are virtually indispensable for gaining spoken command of The origins of this book the language, but they are inevitably limited in variety and tend to emphasize polite language over what you’re more In 1990, businessman and translator Vaughan Simmons likely to actually hear on the street. Divorced from much launched a magazine called Mangajin that tapped into all of sense of context, they can be quite artificial, and over time these benefits of manga for the language learner by reprinting the vocabulary tends to become outdated. With manga, the a variety of four-frame strips and longer story episodes in a variety is effectively limitless. If you read current manga, facing-page layout, with the manga on the left and a variety you know you’re getting current vocabulary, and you can of helps on the right. He developed a four-line format that even go back and plug that vocabulary into your textbook transcribed the text appearing in each balloon of the manga, drills. The dialogues you see are arguably the most real con- spelled the full text out in roman letters (that is, the stan- versational Japanese you’ll find on the printed page—with dard English alphabet), provided an initial word-for-word starts and stops, contractions and omissions, exclamations translation to show how the Japanese structure worked, and and interjections, and all the other quirks of real-life con- concluded with a polished translation that expressed what versations—not sentences created just for drill. Further, the the sentence was really trying to say in fluid, natural Eng- format constantly reinforces the fact that every language act lish. Capping this off were bulleted notes offering further occurs in a very specific social context, with visual images commentary on grammar, vocabulary, cultural background, providing many of the details of that context at a glance and whatever else seemed to deserve comment. instead of requiring a lengthy verbal setting of the stage. Even for students who had already discovered the joys If, in the absence of drills, you memorize a manga line you of manga, this format made things a whole lot easier—as think you might want to use, you’ll be doing it with a rock well as more instructive. A certain amount of prior language solid sense of the context in which the opportunity to use it learning was necessary if you wanted to fully understand might come up. the explanations, but for the most part, Simmons’s system Any medium with a visual component, especially me- of helps took care of all the tedious dictionary and other ref- dia that tell realistic stories, will naturally provide rich cul- erence work for the reader. Even if you had relatively lim- tural information that drill-based textbooks cannot, some of ited language skills, you could follow the Japanese without it absorbed on a subliminal basis. Video materials such as being overwhelmed; if you were more advanced you could films, TV programs, and anime offer audio as well, which actually read at something close to a normal pace while is crucial in learning how the language actually sounds. But picking up useful new tidbits along the way. And of course, even though video has an important place in any language no matter what your level, you could simply fall back on  ABOUT THIS BOOK xi the provided translation any time you decided you’d had and Japanese business practices since the nation’s economy enough of a workout for one session but just had to find out caught fire in the 1960s and turned the country into an in- how the story turned out. ternational trade powerhouse, when it came to taking the Japanese the Manga Way has its roots in Mangajin. true pulse of the people, they generally fell short. Simmons I was teaching Japanese at the University of Wisconsin— saw manga as a medium that reflected how the Japanese Madison when Simmons called to seek feedback on a proto- really lived and breathed, a window on their psyche, and type he had developed for the magazine. Upon launch of the he felt a magazine featuring manga as well as articles on magazine, I became one of several checkers for the drafts other aspects of Japanese popular culture could help fill the Simmons produced, and about a year later I took over most information gap. of the main manga translation and annotation work myself. Mangaare such an integral part of Japanese popular cul- I also began helping with another feature that had been part ture that even those who are already fluent in the language of the magazine from the start—a series called “Basic Japa- can benefit from a regular dose of the medium. Today, with nese,” which is the specific feature this book grew out of. a growing number of titles available in translation, it’s pos- The notes to the manga featured in facing-page lay- sible to get a regular manga fix without knowing a word of outs had something of a chance quality, simply explaining Japanese. But the number of translated manga will always whatever vocabulary or grammar point came up according remain a small fraction of the full variety available in their to how it occurred in that specific context. The purpose of native language, so whether you’re interested in manga just “Basic Japanese” was to allow more systematic treatment for fun or for the cultural insights they offer, learning the of a selected word or expression. Typically, some twelve language can still pay rich rewards. to fifteen individual manga panels containing the chosen If you’re interested in finding out more about Manga- expression were brought together from as many different jin, you can visit mangajin.com for a brief account of its sources and folded into a single unified discussion that illus- rise and fall. You can also purchase individual copies or trated the full range of its uses. The series became an instant subscriptions to back issues of the magazine at the website hit with readers because it focused on prominent and some- (if you live in Japan, follow the link to the Japan site); as times tricky expressions and gave an in-depth understand- of this writing, substantial quantities remain of the bulk of ing of how and when they could be used. But even though the seventy issues published. Most of the illustrations used each installment was indeed systematic and thorough in its in this book were taken from titles featured in the maga- treatment of the chosen topic, the selection of that topic zine, so finding the right back issues will let you read more remained quite random from one installment to the next. of those stories (see Appendix B); some of the illustrations Especially once the series started being reprinted in sepa- were taken from the particular episodes that appeared in rate volumes entitled Mangajin’s Basic Japanese Through the magazine, and I’m grateful to Vaughan Simmons and Comics, the idea of adapting its format to a more methodi- Mangajin for permission to reuse or adapt portions of the cal and unified introduction to the language kept cropping translations and notes. up in various forms. The result, after more twists and turns than I care to recall, is this book. When changing market conditions and falling ad revenues forced the magazine to go out of busi- Who can benefit from this book? ness at the end of 1997, it meant renegotiating from step one for permission to use the manga panels I’d chosen for No prior knowledge of Japanese is necessary to learn from. my first draft, and new strictures and conditions forced me this book. The Introduction provides a brief survey of the to replace between half and two-thirds of the examples I’d Japanese sound and writing systems, and after that the les- originally selected. The extensive revisions this prompted sons in the first half of the book are organized on the model have without a doubt improved the book, but at the cost of of the expansion drill sometimes used in language classes: years of delay as I worked on the text between my other Lesson | starts off by identifying the three basic sentence projects as a commercial and literary translator. Still, the types and showing examples of the simplest sentences pos- book’s raison d’étre remains unchanged: to provide a sys- sible for each; the following lessons add new sentence parts tematic introduction to basic Japanese grammar and struc- one step at a time, gradually expanding the sentences into ture using authentic examples from real manga. more complex constructions. Every grammar point and sen- Vaughan Simmons’s original inspiration for launching tence example is explained in plain English, so you don’t a magazine featuring manga came as much from their cul- have to master a third language of linguistic jargon in order tural value as it did from their suitability as language texts. to learn Japanese. For basic terms like “noun” and “verb” While living and working in Japan, he had seen that Ameri- and “adjective” that can’t be avoided when describing lan- can and European companies could indeed succeed in the guage, clear definitions are provided when they first appear Japanese market if they first took the time to learn about so you can be sure you understand what they refer to; a brief the people who made up that market: the Japanese consum- glossary is also provided in Appendix D for easy reference. ers. Although many books had been written about Japan Roughly the first half of the book, through Lesson 17, fo- xii PREFACE cuses on the basic building blocks of the language and how Some notes about using this book they fit together; the second half shows how verbs and ad- jectives are transformed to make the basic building blocks Each kind of reader mentioned above will probably use this express a broad range of different senses. book a little differently. But here are a few suggestions, and If you’re completely new to the language, this book things to keep in mind: will serve as a “from scratch” primer that is very compre- * Most Japanese books and magazines, including manga, hensive in terms of touching all the basic structural bases. are opened and read from right to left. Text flows in ver- This is not to say that the book covers all those bases ex- tical lines from top to bottom and right to left, and when haustively. To reach fluency, you will need to find addition- the text is broken up in separate blocks, as in manga al help from publications, learning aids, and classes or other panels and balloons, the order of the blocks flows this opportunities that offer extensive practice in actually speak- same way. In this book, where manga extracts must ing the language, not just reading and deciphering it. Manga mix with English text, the panels have been arranged are a wonderful learning tool for the spoken language be- to fit the convenience of the standard English left-to- cause they provide endlessly varied examples of real col- right layout where possible. But the text and order of loquial Japanese rooted in real-life situations, but they don’t the balloons inside each panel remain in the traditional actually teach you to converse—or even how to pronounce Japanese orientation and must be read starting at the individual words properly. Even if your aim is only to learn top right. Panels or transcriptions have been numbered to read—for example, you’re a manga-in-translation fan where there seems any possible uncertainty about the who wants to read titles that haven’t been translated—you proper order. will need additional helps to gain full command. Appendix A suggests some books and web-based resources you may ¢ The standard four-line format for presenting the balloon find helpful to use alongside this book or after finishing it. text includes (a) a transcription of the text in Japanese If you’re already studying Japanese in a formal class script; (b) the same text romanized (i.e., spelled out in or otherwise, this book can serve not only as an introduction the familiar roman alphabet used for English); (c) a to using manga to broaden your exposure to real Japanese, word-for-word translation of each part of the sentence; but as consolidation and review of what you’ve learned in and (d) a polished English translation: class—and quite likely a little bit of preview, too. If you’re one of those people who is struggling a little because you (a) Matsuda: 7%, PAA ct, can’t quite see how it all fits together, the way this book (b) Hai, Matsuda desu. distills the grammar down to its bare essentials to reveal the (c) yes/hello (name) — is/am simplicity of Japanese structure may be just the ticket for (d) “Hello, this is Matsuda.” (PL3) making everything finally fall into place. Similarly, if you tried to learn Japanese in the past but gave it up because you I have sometimes added a fifth line between (c) and (d) found it too overwhelming somehow, perhaps this book can to help clarify how the individual parts of the sentence give you the jump start you need to get back on track. Even in (c) turn into the meaning shown in (d). The interme- if you’re one of those who’s sailing along without difficulty, diate translation is intended to better reflect the original you can benefit from the new light thrown on what you’ve Japanese structure and the grammar point being made, learned, by both the focus on structure (especially if your since both of these can be obscured in the final transla- course is organized more thematically or situationally) and tion. the real manga approach that roots every example in real- ¢ The modified Hepburn system of romanization is used ife contexts. for transcribing the Japanese in this book; details are If you’ve “completed” your study but you’re looking provided in the Introduction. Published spellings are ‘or an enjoyable way to either keep up your language skills respected for author and publisher names. No hard and or revitalize them, the benefits of manga for language learn- fast standards are available for hyphenating or dividing ers outlined above hold for you as well. In many cases, you certain word forms and phrases when Japanese is ro- may be able to simply pick up whatever manga suits your manized—hyphens are not used in Japanese script, and ancy and dive right in. But if it’s been a while since you’ve usually no spaces appear between words—so when you had opportunities for regular practice or contact with the see a hyphenated word here, be prepared to see it either language, reading this book will provide you with the per- as a single melded word or as two (or more) separate ect refresher course for brushing things up, as well as a words elsewhere. handbook for ongoing reference any time you feel yourself ¢ With the manga panels extracted from their original getting a little vague on some point or other. contexts, a book like this can only take partial advan- tage of one of the strengths of manga—the way they set the stage visually without the need for text narra- tive. Even when a single panel offers substantial vi-  ABOUT THIS BOOK xiii sual cues, it’s usually missing important information * However you approach this book, it’s probably worth that was revealed in previous panels. To make up for spending some time memorizing the hiragana charac- this shortcoming, each panel in this book appears with ter set presented in the Introduction before you start or a brief description of what’s happening and any other as you go through the first couple of lessons. It helps necessary background information. Cross-references to practice writing the characters at the same time you are provided, especially early on, to help you connect work on recognizing them. There’s no need to have the panels from the same story and to avoid having to repeat whole set nailed down for good before you proceed, details already mentioned. Brief descriptions of each but having focused on it intensively once will help you manga title as a whole are provided in Appendix B. pick up more along the way—even if you’re not trying to read everything in Japanese your first time through. The chapters are best read in sequence, especially in the first half of the book, since each lesson assumes the ¢ When you do start trying to read everything in Japa- reader is familiar with the material covered in previ- nese, be sure to always look at the actual manga balloon ous lessons. This is less important after about Lesson as well as its transcription. The transcription duplicates 21. By that point, all the basic structural elements and the characters, but it’s laid out horizontally, some ad- the most important verb and adjective transformations justments have been made in punctuation, and the have been introduced, so you can probably follow the words are spaced out for you. You instead want to get information in any given lesson with a minimum of dif- used to reading standard Japanese that’s written verti- ficulty even if something covered in another lesson is cally without spaces between the words; you also want not explained. to learn to take advantage of the small hiragana (not included in the transcription for space reasons) that are Even if you plan to use the book primarily as a refer- sometimes provided to help you read the more diffi- ence handbook to dip into from the Index, I recommend cult kanji characters. For some of the more intricate and that you read at least the first chapter, which sets the many-stroked kanji, however, you may find you have basic approach and defines some key terms. Better yet, to rely on the transcription to make out their shapes give the full text a read-through so you get the benefit clearly. of the systematic sequential treatment once. ¢ There was no room in this book to offer practice drills The brief rundown of the sound and writing systems in or additional reading exercises, but a few suggestions the Introduction may contain more detail than you care for further reading are offered in Appendix A. You can to digest immediately, especially if you’re entirely new partly compensate for the lack of drills by keeping cat- to Japanese. It made best sense to present all this mate- egorized lists or flashcards of the words you want to rial here in a single place, but in fact, the only critical information before you get started is how to pronounce learn and by trying them out in sentences modeled on subsequent examples that appear. Once you start learn- the vowels (a, i, u, e, 0) and, to a lesser extent, the con- ing how to make the different forms of a word—the sonants (k, s, t, n, h, etc—the Hepburn system of ro- easiest and in some ways most important transformation manization is pretty intuitive for these). So once you’ve rules appear in Lesson 3, and the rest begin in Lesson looked at those sections, go ahead and skip to Lesson 18—practice making each new form with every word 1 and get started on the fun if you want. You can come of that kind you have on your list. Don’t stop with just back for additional details when you’re ready. Apart making the form, though; also try to think of specific from the concise treatment here, this book offers only contexts where you might use that form and try putting the random, pick-it-up-as-you-go approach to the Japa- it in a sentence. The context given for the manga used nese writing system. For other books and resources that to introduce the form should offer some help, but you’ll can help you with the task of mastering Japanese script, find that in some cases the form doesn’t make sense for see Appendix A. a given word—in which case you can guess that it’s Some readers may find it useful to read through the probably not used. book quickly once, to get the lay of the land, before ¢ If you’re not in a formal class and can’t or don’t want to returning to the beginning to actively compile vocabu- join one, try to find a native speaker to check and cor- lary lists, learn the Japanese script, memorize the mod- rect your pronunciation and transformations and answer el verbs and practice transforming them, and so forth. other questions that come up. You may be able to set up Even if you find yourself forgetting or only vaguely a language exchange with someone studying English at understanding something, the four-line format will al- a nearby college or language school who could use the ways be there to help, along with cross-references and same kind of help in the opposite direction. the Index if you need to find a previous explanation to refresh your memory. You’ll probably pick up quite a bit of the vocabulary and script along the way without any special effort, and this may make your second pass that much easier. Acknowledgments The debt Japanese the Manga Way owes to Vaughan Sim- ing the final production phase when the seemingly endless mons and his pioneering efforts is incalculable. This book details consumed so much more of my time for so much simply would not exist were it not for Mangajin, the maga- longer than either of us had ever imagined. I could never zine he created, and his continual fine tuning of the way it have done it without her understanding and support. used manga to help students learn Japanese. The original conception for the book was born and fleshed out in discus- Wayne P. Lammers sions with him, and even after the project became my own he continued to offer suggestions and advice. I am deeply grateful to him. For their help in arranging permissions for the manga illustrations, I would like to thank Andd Yuka and Suga Tomoko at Kddansha, Honda Kenji and Nakano Masashi at Futabasha, and Tsujii Kiyoshi at Take Shobd. (Japanese names are given in Japanese order, surname first.) I am grateful to all of the individual artists listed on the copyright page for permission to use their work; special thanks go to Hirokane Kenshi, Oze Akira, Maekawa Tsukasa, Kobaya- shi Makoto, and Akizuki Risu, whose support at a crucial juncture saved the project from certain doom. I am also in- debted to Moteki Hiromichi, Frederik L. Schodt, Ishimatsu Hisayuki, and Matsuzaki Kazuko for a variety of help in making the necessary contacts. Thanks to Virginia Skord Waters and Chris Thompson for feedback on different early drafts when this book was still a Mangajin project; they may no longer recognize the book that has resulted but they did help shape it. Thanks to Harada Ako, Katabami Miyoko, and Frederik L. Schodt for responding to grammar and manga questions at various stages along the way. Thanks also to Ken Lunde of Adobe Systems for his generous help with software and fonts as changing technology repeatedly threatened to leave me be- hind during the many years this book was in the making. My editor Elizabeth Floyd was my principal sounding board for final adjustments to the manuscript, and I’m grate- ful for the meticulous care with which she examined every element of the text. Her invaluable comments and queries resulted in numerous additions, clarifications, and correc- tions that should make things easier for learners to under- stand. Responsibility for any lingering errors or infelicities, of course, rests solely with me. A special word of thanks goes to my publisher Peter Goodman for taking on the unusual demands and risks of this project after it was orphaned by the demise of Manga- Jin; and for having enough faith in the project to stick with it through repeated discouragements and delays over so many long years. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Cheryl for her unstinting encouragement through all the twists and turns this project has taken, and especially for her patience dur- xiv  Taldgeleleloiifela Pronunciation & Kana Guide The language of manga may be ideal for people who want to learn spoken Japanese, since that’s exactly what manga balloons contain. But there’s one catch: manga are a printed medium, so you also have to learn to read Japanese script if you want to take advantage of what they have to offer. To let you begin learning Japanese from manga without first having to master Japanese script, the manga dialogue in this book is spelled out in the same alphabet you’re used to using in English. That way, the complicated characters normally used to write Japanese don’t have to get in the way of your learning the language, and you can decide for yourself how much effort you initially want to put into learning to read. The alphabetic characters you read and write in English are called romaji in Japanese (lit. “Roman letters”), and in fact, enough language texts, dictionaries, handbooks, grammars, and other learning aids use romaji that it’s even possible to become fluent in Japanese without ever ‘Uny-vajuny eye “ogous |© epEn ‘IyseseW “It’s a fire!” “Fire!” learning the native script. But if you want to go beyond books that provide romaji transcriptions, putting time in on the Japanese writing system is an absolute must. So even if you don’t make it a priority on your first pass through this book, be sure to hunker down and learn to read the Japanese script the next time around. The sooner you can read manga in the original, the sooner you can start learning from whatever kind of manga you enjoy the most. You're likely to encounter several different romanization schemes as you study Japanese. This book uses what’s called the “modified Hepburn” system. It’s the system that comes closest to being intuitive for speakers of English. Vowels When reading romaji, you need to banish most of the vowel sounds you’re used to using in English. The Japanese vowels are a, i, u, e, o (in that order), and they are always pronounced as follows, regardless of where or how they appear in a word. a like the a’s in father, or ha ha ha i like the i in macaroni u like the w’s in zulu e like the e in get, or extra o like the 0’s in solo xv xvi INTRODUCTION There are no a’s that sound like the a in “hat” or “hate”; a always sounds like the a in “father.” There are no e’s that sound like the e in “even,” none that have the schwa sound (2) shared with other vowels in English, and none that are silent at the end of words: e always sounds like the e in “get.” You might notice that the e in “even” is almost the same sound as the iin “macaroni”; in English, the sound can be written with either vowel, depending on the word it is part of, but in romaji that sound is always written i, never e. The vowel i never sounds like the 7 in “ice” or “pick.” The other vowels are just as consistent, and that means you need to be consistent, too. When you see the word hate, your English instincts will tell you to pronounce it as a single syllable (one unit or beat) with a long a and a silent e, rhyming with “bait,” but if you’re reading romaji you must pronounce the word as two distinct syllables with fully sounded vowels, ha + te, and the a must sound like the a in “father,” the ¢ like the e in “get.” (In a few cases where Japanese words or names appear without italics in English sentences where they might be misread with a silent e, an accent mark is used to show that the e is not silent: “saké”; “Moé.” But this is an English convention that’s not used in romaji, so no accent marks are provided in the transcrip- tions here.) The only significant variation that occurs in the pronunciation of vowels is how long the vowel is sounded: standard length or double length. In Hepburn romaji, the elongated vowels are written like this (the mark appearing over most of the vowels is called a “macron”): 8=: u é or ei (see page xxvi for the difference) 6 e x g double-length vowels g 3 Mother: EH. \HAOKS. 8 Ma, _\ fukinoto. z (interj.) butterbur sprout 2 “Oh, my! Butterburs!” g & war. Haru né. spring _(is-colloq.) “It really is spring!” When Japanese words and names are “romanized” for use in English, long vowels are often ignored and the macrons omitted. In this book, Japanese words appearing in the English transla- tions or discussions are sometimes treated according to this English convention, but every effort has been made to accurately reflect the length of vowels in the romaji transcriptions. So, for example, you will see Tékyé in the romaji transcription, but “Tokyo” in the translation. (The word “romaji” itself should strictly speaking be romaji, but the macron is customarily omitted when the word is used in English.) Except as shown above for the long vowels ii and ei, if you see two or more vowels in a row (e.g., kau, kuu, baai, ubaiau), they belong to separate syllables and need to be pronounced as separate units (ka-u, ku-u, ba-a-i, u-ba-i-a-u). If the two vowels next to each other are the same, they will sound virtually the same as a long vowel, especially to the unpracticed ear; but if you listen very carefully to a native speaker saying the words, you’ll often hear a slight catch in the middle to separate the syllables.  PRONUNCIATION & KANA GUIDE xvii Sometimes i and wuare not fully sounded between certain consonant combinations or at the end of words (e.g., the i in -mashita and the u in desu), but the degree varies from speaker to speaker and there are no fixed rules, so no effort has been made to indicate the difference in this book. Consonants The Japanese writing system uses what’s called a “syllabary” instead of an alphabet to represent sounds. In a syllabary, each symbol represents a full syllable, not just part of one the way En- glish letters usually do. A word like “syl-la-ble,” which has three syllables, would be written with just three symbols instead of eight letters. In the romaji syllabary, each vowel makes a full syllable by itself, but most of the syllables consist of a consonant (or sometimes two) followed by a vowel. In Hepburn romaji, you can for the most part sound the consonants exactly as you’re used to doing in English, with the follow- ing conditions: ¢ ch is always like the ch in chin, never like chorus or charade; the latter two sounds would be spelled with k and sh, respectively. (Don’t you wish spelling were so consistent in English?) + foccurs only in the syllable fu,which you sound by shaping your lips as if to blow a speck of dust away, not by touching the upper teeth to the lower lip like you do for fin English. Fu should come out sounding almost like a very short “who.” + ris like a cross between English r and J, and it actually winds up sounding close to ad. You make the sound by lightly flicking the tip of your tongue against the ridge behind your upper teeth, slightly farther back than when saying d. If you pronounce the English name Eddie and make the dd sound very short and light, it comes out like the Japanese word eri (“collar”). pause a beat between regular n, makes a syllable doubled consonants with the following vowel Mother: < & a |a | %. __-yilabie’imy makes'a Yatto watashi no\ban. full syllable by itself at last/finally I/me ’s turn “It’s finally my turn.” Ww HH =a, PH =ka, XH =sa, KH =ma vy icolumn syllables; add¥¥ > V\=ii; FV =kii; BV =chil; OW= hii 5 ucolumn syllables: add 9 > DD= is $9 =k; SD =fa; OD =ya The other two vowels aren’t quite so obvious: A ecolumn syllables: normally add V3 TV =kei; CV =dei; TW) = rei sometimes add ~ AA =e; VA Hne; AA =hé 5 o column syllables: normally add 9 BS =6;, 9 =50; 65 =md sometimes add 45 Yop Bh =6, EB =16; KB=yo obey double-length vowels in kana Toshi: fa7iv) ZRH! Abunai na! is dangerous (emph.) J00yg ©“eysuepoy EWIYSO “eseyns) “That’s dangerous!” Be OUEST OK! Hodo o hashiru na yo! sidewalk on/along don’trun/ride —(emph.) “Don’t ride on the sidewalk!” Kenji: RB. KY! Be UM DY? Yo, Toshi! Bukatsu tanoshii ka? hey (name) club activity is fun/enjoyable (Q?) “Hey there, Toshi! Is practice fun?” “Yo, Toshi! Having fun in practice?” For the last two vowels, it’s the particular word, not the preceding consonant, that determines which is correct, and of course, there’s no way for beginners to know beforehand which words are which. You simply need to be aware that you will encounter two different ways of elongating e and o column syllables in kana. Make note of the exceptions that require A or 45 when they come up; since manga artists don’t always follow standard usage, it’s a good idea to check the proper spelling in a dictionary as well.  PRONUNCIATION & KANA GUIDE xxvii Katakana The tables on page xxi show the katakana equivalents of the hiragana, laid out for easy compari- son in the same format as the tables on the facing page. The same two dots are used in katakana for the voiced consonants of the g, z, d, and b rows, and the same little circle indicates the aspi- rated consonants of the p row. Since katakana are used to write foreign words that don’t conform so neatly to the Japanese sound system, they’re sometimes used a little more creatively than hiragana—e.g., the a row kana are often made small to show that the vowel should be merged with the previous syllable instead of being pronounced separately—but both sets of kana represent the same sounds. The one significant difference between the two sets is that all five double-length vowels in katakana are usually indicated simply by adding a long dash after the syllable that is to be lengthened. This dash is commonly called “the katakana long mark” (in Japanese, chdon kigd or bd). When text is written vertically, the long mark is vertical; when text is written horizontally, so is the long mark. a ti Uzuratani: aI k “CUI Sado deshita. third was “T was third baseman.” “I played third.” 1“1YSOANS| ‘ypo!eY) ©ou 1YSEUO EYE “gous U-eYSIEy Especially in manga but in other forms of writing as well, you will sometimes see the kata- kana long mark used with hiragana (see panel on page xv), and the hiragana conventions for long vowels used with katakana, but neither practice is considered standard. The wavy long mark used in the panel on page xxv is also non-standard. Punctuation The comma for Japanese script is an angled “dot” (._), and the period is a small circle (._). In vertical text, these appear at the upper right of the character square they occupy, while in hori- zontal text, they appear at the lower left. As you’ve seen in the illustrations, the question mark and exclamation point familiar to you in English are also used; they appear centered in that character square. You should be aware, though, that most manga artists are quite unconventional in their use of punctuation—placing commas where periods are called for and vice versa, inserting question marks and exclamation points in the middle of sentences, and often skipping punctuation alto- xxviii INTRODUCTION gether. Short lines and limited space encourage the last option. For native speakers, such liber- ties work to good effect, but for beginning language learners they can create confusion, making it difficult to determine where sentences begin and end. The punctuation in the transcribed text has been revised along more standard lines, with an eye to helping the beginning student. Learning to write kana and kanji One of the best ways to learn to read kana and kanji is to practice writing them. Practicing with grid-marked paper—use graph paper, or make your own—will help you achieve better balance and shape in your characters; learning the proper order of the strokes helps as well. This book does not provide further instructions along those lines, but there are a variety of published guides available for you to choose from, as well as a growing number of web-based resources. A few of each are listed in Appendix A.2. The Lessons  | =X-X-Yo)a) The Three Basic Sentence Types Japanese is built on three basic sentence types: verb, adjective, and noun. And the simple sen- tences of each type could hardly be simpler. A verb—an action word, like “go”—all by itself makes a complete sentence. An adjective—a describing word, like “cold”—by itself can make a complete sentence, too, because in Japanese the meaning of the verb “to be” is built right in. A noun—a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea—must come with a separate verb “to be,” but only a single noun has to be stated. So to give English comparisons, the simplest Japa- nese sentences are like: Goes. Went. Came. Will come. (verb type: action) Is cold. Was fantastic. (adjective type: describing) Is phone. Were friends. (noun type: naming/identifying) In English, these are sentence fragments, because they don’t have subjects—that is, they don’t say who’s doing the action, or what is being described or identified—and a native English speaker who spoke this way would sound rather silly. In Japanese, though, sentences like these sound perfectly normal; in fact, it often sounds quite unnatural to include the subject when it’s already obvious from what came before in the conversation, or simply from the situation. Some people point to these missing subjects and complain that Japanese is a vague lan- © Brief descriptions of the guage, but it’s better to think of the subjects as merely unstated rather than altogether absent. manga series used to The specific subject isn’t always included in English, either; much of the time, a substitute like illustrate this book are included in Appendix B. “he” or “she” fills its place instead. How do you know who “he” or “she” is? By what came You can look a series up before in the conversation, or by the situation. The same holds for the unstated subjects in by author and title based on the information in the Japanese. So long as you’re paying attention, the context usually fills in the subject for you. copyright notice next to Once you get used to this approach, it’s actually quite efficient, but you do have to stay on your each example. toes. Keeping tuned in to the context is crucial. Simple verb-type sentences A verb-type sentence tells of an action. All the verb-type sentences in this lesson consist of only a single verb and nothing else. Yamashita Sayuri has a new boyfriend and doesn't re- ally want to have anything to do with Shin’ichi anymore. Shin’ichi wants to tell her how much she still means to him, and asks for a chance to talk to her. When she seems to think they have nothing to talk about, he pleads: Shin’ichi: 73S! Tanomu! request/ask/beg “T request!” “TI beg you!” (PL2) * tanomu means “make a request/ask a favor.” When addressed di- rectly to someone, it literally implies “I request this of you,” and often serves as an equivalent of “Please”; when asked with strong feeling it can be like “I beg you!” ‘oloyg ‘noiunyg ‘eyseqeiny 1ysosogew ou nsiny © eplu{N * it’s obvious from the context that the subject of the verb is Shin’ichi himself (“I ~”), so there’s no need to state it. In conversation, the speaker and listener are among the first candidates to consider when trying to fill in an unstated subject.  THE THREE BASIC SENTENCE TYPES 3 “Non-past” verbs In fig. 1, tanomu is the plain, dictionary form of the verb for “request/ask a favor,” and in fig. 2 here, iku is the plain, dictionary form of the verb for “go.” But the context in fig. 2 demands that the verb be translated “will go”—that is, as future tense. In Japanese, the plain, dictionary © The dictionary form of a form of a verb is used to speak of both present and future events, so it’s best to call it the non- verb is its plain non-past form, but there will be past form. other plain forms to learn as well, such as plain past, plain negative, and 2 At the bar Lemon Hart, regular patron Matsuda has so forth. been rattling on nonstop about the woman who came in for the first time the night before, when that very woman calls to say she has gotten lost trying to find the bar again. The proprietor announces that she wants some- body to come and meet her, and Matsuda leaps at the chance. Matsuda: fT -* UZ). You can think of this as being like adding -ed to a verb to make it past tense in English—except that in Japanese the simple change in the ending works for all verbs, not just regular verbs. So long as you know the verb’s -masu form, you can make this conversion (and the other polite-form conversions in this lesson) confidently for any verb in the language. 29 Natsuko (figs. 12, 23) is determined to fulfill her late ® brother’s dream of bringing a legendary strain of tice back into cultivation, and starting with just 1350 seeds, she has overcome numerous difficulties to nurture her first small crop. Kusakabe has come to look at the paddy where the grain is almost ready to be harvested. Kusakabe: |ASAIZSOELE| tay Hf eh. Gi anbarimashita ne, Natsuko -san. persevered/worked hard (collog.) (name) Ms./Miss “You persevered, didn’t you, Miss Natsuko.” OYNSIEN OU ‘BYES PYSURPOY 8ZO. “eII4Y “You really stuck with it [and pulled it off], Miss Natsuko.” (PL3) * ganbarimashita is the polite past form of ganbaru/ganbari- masu (“persevere/work hard/give it one’s all’).  TT DESU AND -#F -MASU 19 Japanese past is different from English past Japanese handles time frames differently from English and does not have a past tense as English speakers know it. The form that’s generally used to speak of past events doesn’t actually imply past; it implies completion. Because speaking of past events and actions—that is, events and actions completed prior to the present moment—is one of that form’s most important uses, it’s called “past tense” or “the past form” for convenience. But it’s important to remember that the way it’s used won’t always correspond exactly to past tense in English. 30 When Yagi expresses reservations about a cultural project be- cause he thinks the city’s demands will wipe out any advertising value for Hatsushiba Electric, he is surprised to hear his boss Shima (fig. 17) tell him not to worry so much about the bottom line. Yagi: i Me. [DDODELE| ta. Shima -kaché |_kawarimashita | _ ne. (name) section head changed (colloq.) “You’ve changed, Mr. Shima.” (PL3) + kawarimashita is the polite past form of the verb kKawaru/kawarimasu (“[some- thing] changes”). In this case the natural English equivalent is the “have/has ~” form rather than the simple past form. © + ka refers to a “section” within a company, and the suffix -chd indicates “head/ ‘NYPSOY 'BYSURPOY OYORY BWIYS SUEYOIIH ‘1YSUey leader,” so what he’s literally saying is “Section Head Shima” rather than “Mr. Shima.” 31 In one of her first setbacks, Natsuko clutches the “Future site of...” signpost that had marked the rice paddy promised to her brother for growing the special crop (fig. 29). The owner has just ex- plained why he can no longer let her use the paddy for that purpose: Natsuko: DAO ELE. Wakarimashita. understood “T see.” (PL3) ‘8¥2S BYSUEPOY “eIMY OYNS}EN OU © 820 + wakarimashita is the PL3 past form of wakaru/wakarimasu, which corre- sponds to English “understand/comprehend,” or colloquial equivalents like “see/get/grasp/discern/follow”; in some of its forms it also overlaps with English uses of “know,” and it often includes the meaning of “can”—i.e., “can understand/see/follow/know.” The past form is used in a context like this because by the time the person speaks, the understanding is complete. 32 Hatsushiba Electric has hired a new driver for its racing team, and the crew is timing his laps on his first spin around the track. After a me- diocre first lap, which they dismiss as a warm-up, they are eager to see the —t split time on his second lap. TCH Crew Member: 5! |KEU| k. oO! Kimashita| yo. (interj.) came (emph. ) “Hey! Here he comes!” (PL3) + kimashita is the polite past form of the irregular verb kuru/kimasu (“come”). In PL3 speech, even the two irregular verbs (see table on p. 5) act exactly the same as all other verbs. ‘MYESOY "RYSURPOY OYORY BWIYS © BUEYOIH ‘IYSUEY In other contexts, any of these verbs could of course be translated very naturally as simple past tense English verbs, but in these contexts they cannot. Since the right equivalent depends on the exact nature of the verb as well as the context and the differences in how time frames are handled, no simple rule can be laid out for you to follow. You just need to be aware of the dif- ferences so you will be prepared to encounter them. 20 LESSON3 “Eth -masen = “doesn’t/don’t ~” For any verb, its polite negative form is made by changing -masu to -masen (“KF > -Ett/). In this example, the negative form is equivalent to a present-tense negative verb in English: “doesn’t/don’t [do the action].” 33 Kakegawa High (fig. 26) is trailing by a point when crack defender Kubo takes the ball and charges down the field, leaving his usual backfield po- sition and dribbling past one opponent after another. As his teammates watch, he keeps on going even after he crosses the center line. Play-by-play: [KE O EtA—!! EWIYSE "BSEYNS| ‘jJOOYS “BYSURPOY © Tomarimasen!! not stop “He still doesn’t stop!!” (PL3) * tomarimasen is the PL3 negative form of tomaru/tomarimasu (“[something] stops/ halts”). To say “stop [something]” requires a different verb, tomeru/tomemasu. + lenthening n is nonstandard; normally only vowels are lengthened, but the artist uses the long mark here to intensify the exclamation. -Masen = “won't ~” The -masen form of a verb is non-past, so it is used for both present (“‘doesn’t/don’t [do the action]”) and future tense (“won’t [do the action]”). Here is an example of its use for future tense: 34 The aging brewmaster at the Saeki Brewery is in failing health. His wife explains to Natsuko what the doctor has told her—that the exertions of another season on the job are likely to kill her husband. But she says she can’t bring herself to stop him be- cause she knows how much he has been counting on brewing saké with the legendary Tatsunishiki rice Natsuko has cultivated (fig. 29). She asks Natsuko not to tell him what the doctor has said. Mrs. Brewmaster ‘YES ‘BYSUBPOY 220 “BIDY OYNSIEN OU © Natsuko: SWktA. Timasen. won’t tell “I won’t tell him.” (PL3) + timasen is the PL3 negative form of iu/ iimasu (“say/speak/tell”); iu is pro- nounced yi. Here are the polite negative forms of several of the other verbs you’ve already seen: TWeEEtA. KE. PDD ETA. DYVETA. Tkimasen. Kimasen. Kawarimasen. Wakarimasen. not go not come not change not understand/know “I won’t go.” “They won’t come.” “It doesn’t change.” “I don’t understand.”  TT DESU AND-£F -MASU 21 -&ttATUZ -masen deshita = “didn’t ~” For any verb, its polite negative-past form is made by changing -masu to -masen deshita (-—T > -EA TUL). You will recognize deshita as the past form of desu (“is/are”), but in this case it serves only to change the tense; it does not add the meaning of the verb “to be.” 35 A young reporter from the Dainichi News and a secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, who were having an affair, have just been arrested for leaking classified information. Dai- nichi’s editor-in-chief asks editorial board members if any of them had prior knowledge of what was going on. Noda: |MIOEA CLE. Shirimasen____deshita. d's not know (past) “JT didn’t know about it.” (PL3) SS BS in) dt 370 Sd E EHS ACA seaSe Name: !f ii EB Noda henshiikyoku-ché Jey aynsMAy 19 “eYSURPOY OU BUEYOIIH “IYSUey| © (surname) executive editor Executive Editor Noda + shirimasen deshita is the PL3 negative-past form of shiru/shirimasu. Strictly speaking, this verb means “come to know/learn/find out,” but in several of its forms it corresponds to English “know”; its negative form means “not know” rather than “not learn.” + henshikyoku = “editorial board,” and the suffix -chd means “head/leader”; the correspondence between Japanese and English job titles is seldom exact, but henshitkyoku-cho can be considered roughly equivalent to “executive editor.” -& LES -masho = “let’s/I shall/I think I'll ~” If you change the -masu form of a Japanese verb to -mashd (-K F > -EU £4), you get a form that expresses intention/determination or a decision to do the action, like “Let’s [do the action]” (when the speaker and at least one other person will act together) or “I will/I shall/I think I'll [do the action]” (when the speaker will act alone, in many cases doing something for the listener). Since the form implies a willful decision, not all verbs make sense in this form. 36 Just after Kusakabe has congratulated Natsuko on the impending harvest of her Tatsunishiki crop (fig. 29), she discovers a tiny insect on one of the stalks—and then on count- less others. She takes one to the retired farmer who is advising her, and he confirms that the insects could ruin the crop. Natsu- T Sige Hee ko remains determined not to use any chemicals, so she de- cides to at least remove as many of the insects as she can by hand. Kusakabe offers to help. Kus|/ff2 aka EU &5.] be: BFEA- OYNSIEN OU ‘aYBS “eYSUEPOY © 8ZO “eIIMY Ikimasho, Natsuko-san. let’s go (name-pol.) “Let’s go, Miss Natsuko.” (PL3) FRET. Tetsudaimasu. will help “Tl help.” (PL3) + ikimasho is the PL3 “let’s/I’ll ~” form of iku/ikimasu (“go”). * among people who are on familiar terms, the polite suffix -san (“Mr./Ms. ”; fig. 14) can be used with given names as well as family names. The feeling can still be quite casual, so it is not always like using “Miss/ Master” with first names in English, but Kusakabe’s consistent deference toward his employer’s daughter seems to call for such treatment. + tetsudaimasu is the PL3 form of tetsudau (“help/will help”). The understood subject is “I.” 22 LESSON3 CL&S deshé = “probably/surely is” Desu can also be given a -shé ending, making desh6 (CT > CU& 4). But it has a very different meaning from -mashd so it’s important to keep the distinction clear in your mind. Desho essentially expresses a guess—‘is maybe/probably/surely [the stated thing]”; usually the speaker has some evidence/reason for what he is saying but is not certain enough about it to state it with the more categorical desu (“is/are”). You’lllearn more about this form as well as its plain equivalent in Lesson 26. 37The proprietor of Lemon Hart is getting ready to close up shop one night when a young guitarist comes in. As the guitarist studies the bottles on the wall behind the bar, the proprietor says he’d like to try guessing what the cus- tomer wants to drink. Proprietor: /\—#RKY |CUED. Babon desho. bourbon is probably “Tt’s probably bourbon.” “Bourbon, I bet.” (PL3) eAnun4 ‘OPH eyseqeIN4 “IysoINsyW Jeg ©UOWeLY Summary: Desu and -masu Here’s a quick reference table for the new forms introduced in this lesson, followed by a table listing each of those forms for a few of the verbs you have seen. Practice the conversions by hiding all but the first column with a sheet of paper, referring as necessary to the quick reference table. kana romaji form (meaning) © The negative forms of = CT desu non-past (“‘is/are/will be”) _ a introduced in 2 i LE deshita past (“was/were”) Perce TLED deshé guess (“probably/surely is”) ES -masu non-past (“do/does/will do”) 2 -ELE -mashita past (“did do”) £ -EtA -masen negative (“don’t/doesn’t/won’t do”) m -A CU -masendeshita negative-past (“didn’t do”) -ELES -masho determination (“‘let’s/I’II/I think I'll do”) non-past past negative negative-past “let’s/Ill ~” KOAEF KOSLELK KOSERA MARUATLE MAERLED tanomimasu tanomimashita tanomimasen tanomimasen deshita tanomimashd request requested doesn’t/won’t request didn’t request let’s request WaT WeELE WEED FEERVATLA fFFEUKI ikimasu ikimashita ikimasen ikimasen deshita ikimashé go went doesn’t/won’t go didn’t go let’s go erg SELK SETA RECA TUR REED kimasu kimashita kimasen kimasen deshita kimasho come came doesn’t/won’t come didn’t come let’s come ERET EREVE ERECTA BREVATLE REELED tabemasu tabemashita tabemasen tabemasen deshita tabemashé eat ate doesn’t/won’t eat didn’t eat let’s eat DET DWELE DWE BWEGATLE RBVWELED kaimasu kaimashita kaimasen kaimasen deshita kaimashé buy bought doesn’t/won’t buy didn’t buy let’s buy UOEF lLUMELA UOERA MOECATLE tw ELED hajimemasu hajimemashita hajimemasen hajimemasen deshita hajimemashé begin began doesn’t/won’t begin didn’t begin let’s begin