LESSON NOTES

Learn Japanese Grammar Video -

Absolute Beginner S1 #13
Using Verbs in Japanese

CONTENTS
2 Kanji
2 Kana
2 Romanization
2 English
2 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
3 Grammar

# 13
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 KANJI

1.

KANA

1.

ROMANIZATION

1. Watashi wa niku wo tabemasu.

ENGLISH

1. I eat meat.

VOCABULARY

Kanji Kana R omaji English

imto younger sister

tsukau to use; V1

nomu to drink;V1

to see, to watch, to
miru look ; V2

hanasu to speak, to talk; V1

sushi sushi

niku meat

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 otto younger brother

taberu to eat; V2

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Imto ga imasu. Pasokon o tsukau.

I have a younger sister. I'll use a PC.

Watashi wa, asa, orenji jsu o nomu. Densha no naka kara fujisan o mimashita.

I drink orange juice in the morning. I saw Mt. Fuji from the train.

Kare wa Ei-go to Nihon-go o hanashimasu. Sushi wa, Nihon no daihy-teki na tabemono da.

He speaks English and Japanese. Sushi is a typical Japanese food.

Kore wa niku desu. Watashi no otto wa jnarisuto desu.

This is meat. My younger brother is a journalist.

Oyatsu o mainichi taberu.

I eat snacks every day.

GRAMMAR

T he Focus of T his Le sson Is Using Ve rbs in Japane se

Making Pre se nt Te nse Ve rbs in Japane se

Just as with imasu and arimasu, the polite/formal form of present tense verbs in Japanese
ends with -masu. Compared to European languages such as English, French, and German,
Japanese verbs are very easy because they don't change form depending on who the verb

JAPANESEPOD101.COM LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #13 - USING VERBS IN JAPANESE 3
is talking about. For example, in English, we say "he eats" but "they eat" (no "-s"). In
Japanese, "he eats" is tabemasu (), while "they eat" is also tabemasu ().
The verb ending stays the same!

Plain f orm Masu Form "English"

taberu tabemasu
() () "eat"

nomu nomimasu
( ) () "drink"

hanasu hanashimasu
() () "speak"

miru mimasu
() () "see"/"watch"

tsukau tsukaimasu
() () "use"

Sample Se nt e nce s

1. Watashi wa t abe masu.

2.
"I eat."

3. Kare wa t abe masu.

"He eats."

4. Watashitachi wa t abe masu.

"We eat."

Talking about Doing an Act ion Using Pre se nt Te nse Ve rbs

Now we're going to look at how to make a sentence in Japanese describing an action

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involving an object or a thing.

Se nt e nce Pat t e rn

[subje ct /pe rson] wa [obje ct /t hing] o [ve rb]

( o-mizu ) + ( o ) + ( nomimasu ) = "[some one ] drinks wat e r"

Subje ct / wa Obje ct / o Ve rb "English"

Pe rson T hing

Teir tabemas "Taylor

( u. ( eats
wa () sushi () o () sushi."
) )

nomimas
u. "Kaori
Kaori ( mizu
wa () o () ( drinks
) ()
) water."

hanashim "I speak

watashi nihon-go asu. ( Japanese.
wa () o () "
() () )

"My
younger
mimasu.
Imto ( terebi sister
wa () o () (
) () watches
) TV."

"My
younger
konpy ta tsukaimas brother
Ot to (
wa () ( o () u. ( uses the
)
) ) compute
r."

You already learned that wa () marks the subject of a sentence in Japanese, but let's
have a quick reminder of what wa does. literally means "as for [subject/person]." When
you see right after a word, you know that the sentence is going to be about that word.

For Example :

JAPANESEPOD101.COM LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #13 - USING VERBS IN JAPANESE 5
1. sara wa banana o tabemasu

literally, "As for Sarah, she eats bananas." = "Sarah eats bananas."

You may not have seen wo () before. Sometimes we write wo () as wo but we

pronounce it as ["o"]. It comes between the noun and the verb in a sentence and tells you
what is done to the object.

Sample Se nt e nce s

1. Watashi wa niku o tabemasu.

"I eat meat."

2. (Anata wa) niku o tabemasu ka.

()
"Do you eat meat?" *Anata = "you"

3. Ot to wa eigo o hanashimasu.

"My younger brother speaks English." * Eigo = "English language"

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