Lesson 10: "Japanese conjugation" myth busted! Also, potential verb form secret unlocked

By Cure Dolly

 

Konnichiwa.

Today we're going to talk about the main helper-verbs and about the potential form.

When I say "the main helper-verbs", I'm referring to what the standard

Western Japanese grammar descriptions call "conjugation".

And I only mention this word because I don't want you to get confused

if you see "conjugation" referred to somewhere else.

When they talk about "conjugation", this is what they mean.

But in fact there is no such thing as conjugation in Japanese.

All we ever do is add helper-words to the four verb stems.

And there are a lot of helper-words and most of them are just a question of extra vocabulary

so long as you don't think of them as conjugation.

In some cases they get called "conjugation", in other cases they don't,

and they're exactly the same process every time.

The only difference is that some of them happen to accidentally, and only very vaguely, resemble

European conjugation and others don't.

All kinds of confusions arise from confusing Japanese helper-verbs and helper-adjectives

with conjugations, but because we're not going to use

them, we don't need to worry about that here.

All right.

So, the first main helper-verb we're going to look at is the potential verb.

Now, we've already looked, haven't we, at helper-words.

We've looked at the helper-adjectives "nai", which forms the negative, and "tai", which

is used for the desirability of an action.

We've also looked at the helper-verb "garu", which is attached to an adjective.

Now we're going to look at the potential helper-verb, and this attaches to the e-stem.

There aren't as many things we do with the e-stem

as we do with the a- and i-stems, but there are some.

And only one of them is a verb, so there's no room for confusion here.

The potential helper-verb has two forms, and they are "-ru" and "-rareru".

People can be a little disconcerted by the godan form of the helper-verb because it's

just one character, る(ru).

But that shouldn't worry you at all, and because it's only ever goes onto the e-stem, can't

be used on its own, it's very very easy to recognize.

"-Rareru" is the form of the potential helper-verb that goes onto ichidan verbs – and we discussed

godan and ichidan verbs before, didn't we?

So, "kau" (buy) becomes "kae-ru" (buy-able); "kiku" (hear) becomes "kike-ru" (hear-able);

"hanasu" (speak) becomes "hanase-ru" (speak-able); "motsu" (hold) becomes "mote-ru" (hold-able)

and so forth.

And with "taberu", which is an ichidan verb, we do what we always do, simply take off the

-ru and put on whatever we're going to put on.

So "taberu" (eat) becomes "tabe-rareru" (eat-able).

So this is very simple, isn't it?

There are only two exceptions to this formation of the potential form and they are the two

Japanese irregular verbs, "kuru" and "suru".

"Kuru" become "ko-rareru", but "suru" surprisingly becomes "dekiru".

"Dekiru" is the potential form of "suru".

And this is an interesting word because it also means "come out" – literally it's made

up of the kanji "out" and "come" – "de-kiru".

And if we say "Nihongo-ga dekiru", we're not saying "I can do Japanese", we're saying "Japanese

is possible".

And if we say or imply "Watashi-wa Nihongo-ga dekiru", we're saying, "To me, Japanese is

possible".

And it's interesting if you see a small child perhaps trying to make something out of paper,

she may say, "I'm trying very hard, but it won't come out right" – and this is just

the way "dekiru" is used in Japanese, isn't it?

And there are some interesting ways in which "dekiru" is used which show how the idea of

something being possible and something coming out are closely linked in the Japanese language.

But we won't talk about that now – that's a little bit more advanced.

There's only one danger area with the potential form, and it's very very close to something

we dealt with last week.

So if you've seen that lesson, this one should be very easy to you.

Let's look at a typical sentence: "Hon-ga yomeru."

Now, the standard texts usually translate this as "I can read the book".

But that isn't what it means, as you can clearly understand if you followed our previous lesson.

Look where the -ga is.

The -ga is marking what?

It's marking the book!

So who is the actor of this sentence?

It's the book.

We are saying something about the book.

So the book is the main car and "yomeru" is the engine.

We are saying the book is readable, it's possible to read the book.

If we add "watashi-wa", we are saying the book is readable "to me".

What we are literally saying is, "In relation to me, the book is readable".

But this does not and cannot mean, "I can read the book".

If we wanted to say "I can read the book", the book would have to be marked by -wo, wouldn't

it?

And I would have to be marked by -ga.

And it is in fact possible to do this, but it's not what is usually done.

But also remember that if we want to put stress on the ego, the way English wants to, then

we have to change the particles.

If we literally want to say, "I can read the book" – "Watashi-ga hon-wo yomeru".

A lot of people think this is bad Japanese.

Not our place to work out whether it is or isn't bad Japanese.

The point is that most of the time you will see "hon-ga yomeru", and "hon-ga yomeru" can't

literally mean "I can read the book".

It means "The book is readable".

So that's simple enough, and provided we remember that, we don't send all those particles into

crazy illogicality.

So really this is very much similar to the questions we discussed last week about -tai

and adjectives of desire.

If we just keep that -ga straight in our minds, everything else will fall into place.

And just as with the tai-form if we say, "keeki-ga tabetai", it's the cake that being want-inducing,

but if we just say "tabetai" we do mean "I want to eat", because when there's no particular

food there to do the being-wanted, then I do the wanting.

It's the same with the potential form.

So we say, "hon-ga yomeru" – "to me the book is read-able", but if we just want to

say "I can read" – not "I can read the book or I can read the newspaper or I can read

Sakura's secret diary", but "I can read" – then we say "watashi-ga yomeru" or just "yomeru",

which means "zero-ga yomeru".

And we really have become the subject of the sentence.

And I am sure there are people who find this confusing, but if you followed the past lesson

this should be completely clear.

And let's remember that Japanese always fits together just like Lego, so the potential

helper-verb, even when it's just that single kana る(ru), is simply a regular ichidan

verb like most helper-verbs, and we can do exactly the same things with it that we can

do with other helper-verbs.

We'll always recognize it, because it's the only one that goes onto the e-stem, and we

can do everything with it that we do with any other ichidan verb.

So: "arukeru" – can walk; "arukenai" – can't walk; "aruketa" – could walk; "arukenakatta"

– couldn't walk.

And this regularity is the same even with the irregulars.

So: "dekiru" – possible; "dekinai" – not possible; "dekita" – was possible; "dekinakatta"

– wasn't possible.

And it's really as easy as that.

And I'd like to thank my Gold Kokeshi patrons, my producer-angels, for helping to make these

video lessons possible.

I'd like to thank all my patrons and supporters, and I'd like to thank you, for attending this

lesson.

Kore kara mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.

Class dismissed.