JLC1097-ABED_1: 3.7 う verbs in ~MASU Form

~MASU form

The ~MASU form is used to express present tense, habitual actions and the future tense, as well.

Verb Stems

The part of the verb that comes BEFORE the ~MASU is called the "stem".

う　Verb Conjugations

Look at the conjugations of the verb "かく" (to write).

How do we go from "To write" to "I write" or "She writes"?

What do you notice between the English and Japanese?

Can you also tell how the subjects are made into plural form?
Example: I --> we.

Romaji	English
Watashi wa* tegami wo kakimasu.	I write a letter.
Anata wa tegami** wo kakimasu.	You write a letter.
Kanojo wa tegami wo*** kakimasu.	She writes a letter.
Kare wa tegami wo kakimasu.	He writes a letter.
Watashitachi wa tegami wo kakimasu.	We write a letter.
Anatatachi wa tegami wo kakimasu.	You (plural) write a letter.
Karera wa tegami wo kakimasu.	They write a letter.

How do we conjugate う verbs?

Take the verb in its dictionary form (かく).

2. Change the last character (く) to the character in its corresponding い line (for the K line, it will be the character き). This is now the verb STEM.

3. Add "MASU."

What does the particle WA mark in a sentence?

The particle WA marks the subject of the sentence.

Where does the WA go? Before the subject? Or after the subject?

The particle WA goes AFTER the subject.

The particle WA is pronounced as it looks in Romaji but which Hiragana character do we use to write it in Japanese?

Although it is read with a /w/ sound, the particle WA is written using the Hiragana character は。

Nouns in Japanese can be singular or plural.

These sentences could be read as "a letter" or "letters."

If you wanted to say, "I write letters." it would still be written as "Watashi wa tegami wo kakimasu."

For simplicity in this chart, the noun "TEGAMI" has been translated into the singular form (indicating only one letter).

What does the particle WO mark in the sentence?

The particle WO indicates the OBJECT of the sentence.

Does the particle WO go after or before the object in the sentence?

The particle WO goes AFTER the object it marks.

How is the particle WO pronounced?

The particle WO sounds the same as the Hiragana character お but it is NOT written using the same character. The particle WO, which marks the object, has its own character (を) which we will learn near the end of the Hiragana chart.

HANASU = to speak/to talk

Try conjugating the verb HANASU!

Start with the verb in its dictionary form: HANASU.

2. Take the last character (SU) and change it to its corresponding い line. What is the い sound character in the S line? し！

Now that leaves you with HANASHI. This is the stem of the verb.

Add "MASU." Now you have conjugated the verb HANASU to its ~MASU form: HANASHIMASU.

This is just an introductory look at conjugating the dictionary form of う verbs into the ~MASU forms. We will be looking at the dictionary forms of verbs in more detail in Japanese 20.

For Japanese 10, the most important thing is that you know all the verbs in their ~MASU forms. All subsequent verb forms that we will learn in Japanese 10 are based off of the ~MASU forms of verbs.