Minna no Nihongo

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 50 Grammar 1. 謙譲語 (humble expressions) けんじょうごare expressions in which the speaker humbles himself/herself and lowers his/her own acts to show respect to the listener or the person being referred to. Respect is directed at a person of higher social status or そとのひと (an outsider). けんじょうごis also …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 49 Grammar 1. 敬語 (honorific expressions) You learnけいご in Lesson 49 and 50, けいごare expressions used to show the speaker’s respect for the listener or the person being referred to. The speaker is expected to show respect depending on his/her relationship with the listener or the person …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 48 Grammar 1. Causative verbs How to make causative verbs Causative verbs polite form plain form I いきます いかせます いかせる II たべます たべさせます たべさせる III きます します こさせます させます こさせる させる   All causative verbs are Group II verbs; they conjugate into the dictionary form, ない-form, …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 47 Grammar 1. Plain form そうです I hear that … This is an expression for conveying information you have obtained from another source without adding your own point of view. When the source of information is given, it is indicated by～によると (according to), placed at the …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 46 Grammar 1. V dictionary form Vて-formいる Vた-form ところです   The wordところ originally means “place”, but it is also used to indicate a temporal position. The ところthat you learn in this lesson is the latter and is used to stress a certain point in time during …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 45 Grammar 1. V dictionary form Vた-form Vない-formない い-adj (～い) な-adjな Nの 場合は、～   ～ばあいはis an expression used to talk about a hypothetical situation. The sentence after it indicates how to cope with such a situation or its consequence. ばあいはfollows either verbs, adjectives or nouns. Because …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 44 Grammar 1.  Vます-form い-adj (～い) な-adj [な] すぎます   ～すぎますindicates that the degree of an action or a state is excessive. Therefore, it is usually used with reference to undesirable states. ゆうべお酒を飲みすぎました。 I drank too much last night. このセーターは大きすぎます。 This sweater is too large (for …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 43 Grammar 1.  Vます-form い-adj（～い） な-adj [な] そうです looks like   When the look of a thing leads you to a supposition, you can state your supposition using this sentence pattern. The supposition is basically based on the appearance of a thing, a person, scene, etc. 1) …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 42 Grammar 1.  V dictionary form Nの ために、～ in order to V for N   This sentence pattern indicates a purpose. 自分の店を持つために、貯金しています。 I am saving money in order to have my own shop. 引っ越しのために、車を借ります。 I will rent a car for the move. N のためにis also used …

Minna no Nihongo Lesson 41 Grammar 1. Expressions for giving and receiving In Lesson 7 and 24, you learned expressions for the giving and receiving of things and actions. In this lesson, you will learn other expressions for giving and receiving things and actions, but these reflect the relationship between …