Japanese Made Easy. Tazuko Ajiro Monane
like to drink beer.
| Sentence Pattern 3 | |
| PLACE + e / ikitai desu.PLACE + へ行きたいです。 | I’d like to go to + place. |
| Examples | |
| Kyōto e ikitai desu.京都へ行たいです。 | I’d like to go to Kyoto. |
| Nihon e ikitai desu.日本へ行たいです。 | I’d like to go to Japan. |
In Japanese, the words carrying a verbal meaning usually go at the very end of the sentence. In the previous examples, the -tai desu ending expresses the meaning “would like to do” and is attached to what we will call the verb-infinitive form of the verb. This will be explained later, but for now, memorize the following verb-infinitives and note the -tai desu endings.
| eat | tabe-食べ- | Tabetai desu.食べたいです。 | (I) would like to eat. |
| drink | nomi-飲み- | Nomitai desu.飲みたいです。 | (I) would like to drink. |
| buy | kai-買い- | Kaitai desu.買いたいです。 | (I) would like to buy. |
| see | mi-見- | Mitai desu.見たいです。 | (I) would like to see. |
| go | iki-行き- | Ikitai desu.行きたいです。 | (I) would like to go. |
The word desu here has no real function other than to make the phrase sound more polite to Japanese ears (another use of desu in the sense of English “is” or “are” will be shown later). Thus, Tabetai means exactly the same thing as Tabetai desu, but it is more informal. Such informal expressions are most often used with family members or close friends. The matter is not so simple, however, and understanding when informal speech is appropriate requires more than a little knowledge of Japanese culture. A few informal forms are presented in this book because they are commonly used or show some important characteristics of Japanese words. But you are strongly advised to use only the polite forms of speech (including the desu in Tabetai desu, the o- in o-sake) until you become more familiar with the language and the people.
In Chapter 1 you learned the sentence pattern noun o kudasai, “Please give me noun,” in which the noun (the item requested) was followed by the particle o. In Sentence Pattern 2 in this chapter, the particle ga is introduced as an object marker when the verb ends in -tai desu.
| Biiru o kudasai.ビールをください。 | Please give me a beer. |
| Biiru ga nomitai desu.ビールが飲みたいです。 | I’d like to drink beer. |
Among the younger generation in Japan, the particle o instead of ga is coming into use in the -tai desu construction. Whichever you may hear, the meaning is the same. Sentence Pattern 3 shows the particle e, which expresses direction or destination. It can be translated as “to,” and follows the noun for the direction or destination.
Practice
1. Practice saying the following sentences aloud.
(a) to eat
| O-sushi ga tabetai desu.お寿司が食べたいです。 | I’d like to eat sushi. |
| Sukiyakiすき焼き | sukiyaki. |
| Tenpura天ぷら | tenpura. |
(b) to drink
| Biiru ga nomitai desu.ビールが飲みたいです。 | I’d like to drink beer. |
| Kōhiiこーひー | coffee. |
| O-chaお茶 | tea. |
| Sūpuスープ | soup. |
(c) to buy
| Kamera ga kaitai desu.カメラが買いたいです。 | I’d like to buy a camera. |
| Rajioラジオ | radio. |
| Shiidii CD | CD. |
| Sūpuスープ | soup. |
(d) to see
| Bunraku ga mitai desu.文楽が見たいです。 | I’d like to watch a puppet play. |
| Eiga映画 | a movie. |
| Kabuki歌舞伎 | a Kabuki play. |
| Nō能 | a Noh play. |
| Terebiテレビ | television. |
(e) to go
| Hokkaidō e ikitai desu.北海道へ行きたいです。 | I’d like to go to Hokkaido. |
| Kyōto京都 | Kyoto. |
| Nihon (Nippon)日本 (ニッポン) | Japan. |
| Ōsaka大阪 | Osaka. |
| Sapporo札幌 | Sapporo. |
2. Practice Sentence Patterns 2 and 3 with the following words.
(a) to eat
| biifustēkiビーフステーキ | sukiyakiすき焼き | karē raisuカレーライス | o-sushiお寿司 |
| tenpura天ぷら | o-sashimiお刺身 | tonkatsuトンカツ | |
| (b) to drink | |||
| biiruビール | o-mizuお水 | kōhiiコーヒー | |
| orenjijūsuオレンジジュース | o-chaお茶 | o-sakeお酒 | |
| (c) to buy | |||
| happiはっぴ | obi帯 | kameraカメラ | |
| yukata浴衣 | kimono着物 | zōriぞうり | |
| (d) to see | |||
| Bunraku分楽 | Kabuki歌舞伎 | Nō能 | eiga映画 |
| (e) to go | |||
| Hiroshima広島 | Nara奈良 | Kōbe神戸 | |
| Tōkyō東京 | Ōsaka大阪 | Okayama岡山 | |
| Nagasaki長崎 | Sapporo札幌 |
• LESSON 6 •
Asking Questions and Saying “Yes”
So far you have been practicing statements. With these statements, you can express certain basic needs, but your ability to communicate is still limited. By learning to ask questions and answer them, you will be able to achieve real two-way communication.
Vocabulary
| desu ka? | ですか？ | is it? |
| ē | ええ | yes |
| hai | はい | yes |
Culture and vocabulary notes