There’s More Than “-masu”
One of the interesting features of the Japanese language is the way in which the vocabulary used changes to reflect hierarchical relationships in speech. Entire books have been written on this topic but as a cartoon version of the concept, consider four primary levels of politeness:
- Honorific, used to address esteemed personages like honored customers or those to whom you wish to show deference;
- Polite, used to address people roughly on your level that you aren’t on close terms with, e.g. new coworkers;
- Casual, used among friends and family;
- Crude, used to rudely talk down to people you consider vastly subordinate, used by young lads, gangsters, and so on.
Beginner-level textbooks invariably introduce verbs in the “-masu” form, which is characterized as the “Polite” form. This is considered a ‘safe’ entry point into the language, as you’ll rarely insult or cause embarrassment to your conversation partner if you’re polite, right?
ラーマンを食べます。
Ramen wo tabemasu.
I eat ramen. / I will eat ramen.
Sadly, if you stick to this principle, you’ll immediately become lost in the real world where the vast amount of verbs you’ll encounter will not be in the polite form. For example, verbs that are part of dependent clauses (e.g. “The man who is wearing the green coat is my father”) are never in the “polite/-masu” form.
I strongly recommend that to begin with, whenever you are given a “-masu” form verb to learn, you immediately also learn the “casual” or “dictionary” form and the “-te” form.
Dictionary Form
Knowing the dictionary form (a.k.a. “plain form”) of verbs is essential, particularly if you need to look it up in a… you know… a dictionary. And as mentioned above, you’ll see these often in clauses that modify other parts of a sentence. For example, “The man eating ramen is my friend.” becomes “Ramen wo taberu hito ha tomodachi desu.” or「ラーメンを食べる人は友達です。」 The plain form of “to eat” is tucked away in bold there.
Moreover, in causal speech among friends, it’s pretty rare that you hear many polite “-masu” forms used.
The “-te” Form
The -te form of verbs is used in so many constructions, I can’t even begin to list them all here. A few examples include:
Polite requests:
日本に来てください。
Nihon ni kite kudasai.
Please come to Japan.
Progressive forms of verbs:
食べています。
Tabete imasu.
I am eating.
Actions occurring together:
歩いて、話して、ガムを噛んでいます。
Aruite, hanashite, gamu wo kande imasu.
I am walking, talking, and chewing gum.
The manner in which something is done:
駅に走って行きました。
Eki ni hashitte kimashita.
I ran to the station.
Showing a reason:
お酒を飲み過ぎて吐きました。
O-sake wo nomisugite hakimashita.
I drank too much sake and threw up.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. And once you know the -te form, you also immediately know the -ta form (just change て to た), which makes the dictionary form past tense, among many other uses, e.g. “I ate” → “Tabeta” → 「食べた」
Conclusion
This isn’t intended to be a full-blown grammar lesson, the takeaway is that when you’re starting out, if you follow the practice of learning both the dictionary form and -te form of verbs at the same time you’re learning your -masu forms, your 日本語 life will be much, much easier down the road.
頑張ってください！
Ganbatte kudasai!
Please do your best!
P.S. In short order, you’ll internalize the pattern of how to transform the dictionary form of a verb into the -te form, so you won’t even need to memorize that, but for now as you’re getting started, learn these forms together explicitly.
P.P.S. I know I promised you wouldn’t see romaji here again. Trust me, this is the last time so learn your kana!