Page 3

  1. Past affirmative (yes) and negative (no) form of (to be):

    Affirmative   Negative  
    Non-past desu dewa arimasen
    Past deshita dewa arimasen deshita

    As you learned in Lesson 4, Japanese verbs have a non-past form, used for the present and the future, and a past form. You make the negative of the past tense by attaching (deshita) to the negative non-past form.



    Kino wa Lucy no tanjobi deshita.    		 Yesterday was Lucy's birthday.

    Purezento wa seta deshita.    		 The present was a sweater.

    Shatsu dewa arimasen deshita.    		 It was not a shirt.



  2. (suki) like, be fond of

    , or "like," is classified as a noun, not an adjective. This means you have to use the particle to mark the thing that is liked.


    Kenta wa sakka ga suki desu.    		 Kenta likes soccer.

    Lucy wa tenisu to sakka ga suki desu.    		 Lucy likes tennis and soccer.

    Kenta wa tenisu ga suki dewa arimasen.    		 Kenta does not like tennis.



  3. (to): and

    is used like the word "and" in English. When you combine many things in English, you say "A, B, C, D and E," but in Japanese you use every time: "A to B to C to D to E."


    Orenji to banana o tabemashita.    		 ( I ) ate an orange and a banana.

    Orenji to banana to kukki o tabemashita.    		 ( I ) ate an orange, a banana and cookies.



  4. (kore, sore, are, dore): this and that...


    		(kore) indicates a thing or things close to the speaker.

    		(sore)

    indicates a thing or things close to the person
    the speaker is talking to.
    (are) indicates a thing or things "over there," or distant
    from both the speaker and the person being talked to.
    (dore) is a question word that means "which one?" It is used
    when choosing one of several things.