日本語 の べんきょう

こんばんは！

I know my study blogs have been a little short and boring recently, but we’ve been doing a lot of the same stuff – practicing short forms, and now, practicing past tense short forms.  I don’t think it makes for particularly interesting blogging to just list verb conjugations, so I guess I’ve been waiting for something more interesting to write about!  Also, I’ve been finding it hard to get my head around everything I’m learning, and I don’t want to write something if I don’t really understand it (or if I’m just copying from the textbook!).

About a month ago I learnt how to use present tense short forms in quoted or reported speech, and before that I learnt how to use present tense short forms to say “I think…”.  Well, in last Friday’s class I practiced using past tense short forms in the same situations, in both the positive and the negative.

It’s not so hard, actually, once you get going.  Here, I gave some brief rules on making past tense short forms, but now I wil give some examples of how the rules work, to provide more detail.  I have to confess, I am once again stealing this straight from Genki 1 (page 174) as right now I am feeling too lazy and tired to make up my own examples!

Past tense, affirmative

verbs:　（よんで）　よんだ

い-adjectives:　（かわいい）　かわいかった

な-adjectives:　（しずかだ）　しずかだった

noun + です:　（がくせいだ）　がくせいだった

Past tense, negative

verbs:（よまない）　よまなかった

い-adjectives:　（かわいくない）　かわいくなかった

な-adjectives:　（しずかじゃない）　しずかじゃなかった

noun + です:　（がくせいじゃない）　がくせいじゃなかった

So, how do we use these in reported speech or “I think…” sentences?  Here are some examples:

せんしゅ　の　ロミオ＆ジュリエット　の　げき　は　どうでしたか。

How was the play Romeo and Juliet last week?

私　は　げき　は　よかった　と　思います。

I thought it was good.

私　は　げき　は　よくなかった と　思います。

I thought it was not good.

私　は　げき　は　まあまあだった と　思います。

I thought it was so-so.

私　は　げき　は　まあまあじゃなかった と　思います。

I thought it was not so-so. (? – not sure about this translation!)

私　は　はいゆう　の　えんき　は　じょうずだった と　思います。

I thought the actors were talented.

私　は　はいゆう　の　えんき　は　じょうずじゃなかった と　思います。

I thought the actors were not talented.

私　は　げき　で　たぶん　ラテン語　を　はなした と　思います。

I thought maybe they spoke Latin.

私　は　げき　で　たぶん　ラテン語　を　はなさなかった と　思います。

I thought maybe they didn’t speak Latin.

Hmm… the more I write (from my class notes), the less I am sure about the translations… Well, anyway, you get the gist!

As for reported speech, I’ve just been doing that for homework.  I had to look at pages 182 and 183 of Genki 1 and make sentences about what the people said.  For example:

友だち　は　せんげつ　日本　に　いった　と　言っていました。

(My) friend (he) went to Japan last month.

As with “I think…” sentences, you just use the short form in its past tense (positive/negative) version, and instead of と　思います you just use と　言っていました.

I think maybe I’m getting the hang of it… maybe.

For now, おやすみなさい！ (-_-)Zzzzz…

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