Monday, April 23, 2018

The uses of verb2 (v2) Part 2 of 2


Section 7: v2-mono and v2-kata
Mono is a noun which literally means “thing,” and also means “person” or “fellow”. When attached to the v2 form, v2-mono expresses the literal meaning of a “thing (things) or a person (persons) for a certain function)”. As you will see, this rather complex sounding expression usually equates to rather simple English nounds.

                  Japanese                                    Literal Meaning                       English equivalent
                  Tabe-mono                                thing to eat                                food
                  Nomi-mono                               thing to drink                            liquors, beverages
                  Ki-mono                                      thing to wear                           (Japanese) clothing
                  Kai-mono                                   thing to buy                              shopping, good buy
                  Uri-mono                                   thing to sell                                for sale
                  Okuri-mono                              thing to present                          gift
                  Nori-mono                                 thing to ride                               vehicle
                  mi-mono                                    thing to see                                highlight
                  yomi-mono                                thing to read                              literature
                  iki-mono                                     living thing                              creature
                  tate-mono                                 thing to be built                         building
                  koware-mono                           thing that is easily broken         fragile
                  hataraki-mono                         person who works hard             hard worker
                  namake-mono                          person who dawdles                  lazy person

v2-kata
The suffix kata, when attached to a v2 form of a verb, expresses the way or manner to do something.

                  tsukai-kata              how to use                                 iki-kata                     the way of living
                  tsurkuri-kata          how to make                             hanashi-kata           the way of speaking
                  oyogi-kata               how to swim                              kangae-kata            the way of thinking
                  ake-kata                   how to open                              mi-kata                     the way of looking at
                  susume-kata           how to proceed                        aruki-kata                the manner of walking
                  sodate-kata             how to bring up                        oshie-kata               the method of teaching

Section 8: Compound verbs v2-v3
In certain cases, combining two verbs, the first in v2 form and the second in v3 form, can produce a meaningful compound verb. For example:
                  To see:                       v3 is miru. v2 is mi.
                  To learn:                   v3 is narau

The compound verb in v2-v3 form, mi-narau, means “to learn by observation”, or even “to follow suit”

The above v2-v3 compound is considered to be a root form or dictionary form. In conjugation, the v2 part remains unchanged; only the v3 part conjugates just like any other single v3 verb. For example, the polite v2 masu form for a v2-v3 is v2-v2 masu. So mi-narau becomes mi-narai-masu.

                  Japanese                                    Literal Meaning                       English equivalent
                  mi-naosu                                    to see and mend                       to give it a second look; to discover new merits
                  mi-wakeru                                 to see and separate                   to distinguish; to identify
                  mi-yaburu                                  to see and break                       to see through another’s plot
                  mi-nogasu                                  to see and let go                       to overlook; to wink an eye at
                  nusumi-miru                             to steal and see                         to cast a furtive glance at
                  kaki-naosu                                 to write and mend                   to rewrite
                  hanashi-hajimeru                    to speak and begin to begin      talking
                  aruki-tsuzukeru                       to walk and continue                to continue walking
                  yomi-owaru                              to read and finish                     to finish reading
                  nomi-akasu                               to drink and sit up all night     to drink the night away
                  tobi-okiru                                  to jump and get up                  to jump out of bed
                  ne-sugosu                                  to sleep and pass                      to oversleep
                  oki-wasureru                            to put and forget                      to mislay
                  nori-kaeru                                to ride and change to transfer  (to another train, plane, etc)
                  tabe-sugiru                               to eat and exceed                     to eat too much

Adjective-sugiru
By following the format below, the verb sugiru (to exceed), seen in the last example above, can also be attached to adjectives to describe a degree of excess:

                  Adj-i –sugiru
                  Adj-na-sugiru

                  taka-sugiru                                too expensive
                  ooki-sugiru                                too big
                  chiisa-sugiru                             too small
                  oo-sugiru                                   too much
                  sukuna-sugiru                          too little
                  shizuka-sugiru                          too quiet

Section 9: v2 used as a noun
In most cases, the v2 form of a verb can be used as an everyday noun either by itself or as a compound word combined with another noun or adjective. (This function is very much like that of the gerund in English, as stated in the introduction of Chapter 7.)

                                    V3                                                                                     v2 used as a noun
                  hanasu                      to speak, to tell                         hanashi                     speech, story
                  kangaeru                  to think                                       kangae                      thought, idea, opinion
                  oshieru                     to teach                                       oshie                         instruction, doctrine
                  nagameru                to look on                                   nagame                     view
                  toru                            to pass through                        toori                          street
                  okonau                      to act                                           okonai                       behaviour
                  umareru                   to be born                                  umare                       lineage
                  kawaru                      to replace                                   o-kawari                   second helping

More examples
                                    V3                                                                                     v2 used as a noun
                  kasu                           to lend                                         kasha                         loan
                                                                                                            kashi-kata                credit side
                  kariru                        to borrow                                   kari                             debt
                                                                                                            kari-kata                   debit side
                  tetsudau                  to help                                         tetsudai                    helping hand
                                                                                                            o-tetsudai-san       maid
                  neru                           to sleep                                       hiru-ne                      nap
                                                                                                            (combined with hiru [daytime])
                  Nigeru                       to run away                               yo-nige                     flight by night
                                                                                                            (combined with yoru [night])
                  Miru                          to see                                           hana-mi                    cherry blossom viewing
                                                                                                            (combined with hana [flower])                                   
                  Kaku                           to write, draw                           e-kaki                        painter
                                                                                                            (combined with e [picture])
                  Shiru                          to know                                      mono-shiri               knowledgeable person
                                                                                                            (combined with mono [things])
                  Nomu                        to drink                                       sake-nomi                heavy drinker
                                                                                                            (combined with sake [rice wine])
                  Yasumu                     to rest                                          yasumi                      day off, holiday
                                                                                                            Natsu-yasumi         summer vacation
                                                                                                            Zuru-yasumi            truancy
                                                                                                            (combined with zurui [sly])
                  Okiru                         to get up                                     haya-oki                   early riser
                                                                                                            (combined with hayai [early])
                  Uru                             to sell                                           yasu-uri                    bargain sale
                                                                                                            (combined with yasui [cheap])
                  Ikiru                           to live, subsist                            naga-iki                     longevity
                                                                                                            (combined with nagai [long])

Section 10: Honorifics (4): o-v2-Forms
o-v2 forms

The o-v2 form, (v2 verb used as a noun with prefix o, for example hanasu (to speak) becomes o-hanashi) plays an important role in honorifics in the following forms. (Each form has tentatively been numbered R1 through H4.)


                  Respectful forms                    doer of V2

                  (R1) o-v2-desu                         second (you) or third person
                  (R2) o-v2-nasai-masu             second (you) or third person
                  (R3) o-v2-ni-nari-masu          second (you) or third person
                  (R4) o-v2-kudasai-masu        second (you) or third person

                  Humble forms                          doer of v2

                  (H1) o-v2-shi-masu                 first person (I)
                  (H2) o-v2-itashi-masu           first person (I)
                  (H3) o-v2-moushi-agemasu   first person (I)
                  (H4) o-v2-itadaki-masu         second or third person

Important
Pay attention to who is actually doing the action of the v2 verb. For example in o-hanashi (to talk), pay attention to the person who is doing the talking. In all respectful forms, it is easy to assume that the action of the v2 verb is being performed by the second person (you) or the third person (he, she, they).

For the forms (H1) through (H3), it is also understandable, by the use of the plain or humble suffixes (shi-masu, itashi-masu, moushi-age-masu) that the doer of v2 is the first person (I, we) or the speaker. In (H4), the suffix itadaki-masu is the humble form meaning “I receive a favour (from the second or third person).” Therefore the true doer of the action v2 is the originator of the favour.

Since the v2 of o-v2 functions as a verb that has turned into a noun, (as we studied in the previous section) the two kanji character action nouns (suru verbs, eg shinpai, shusseki, souji, unten) can easily be used in place of the v2. In such cases, however, the prefix go is generally used instead of o. For example: go-aisatsu, go-kekkon, go-hatten.

(R1) o-v2-desu
This is the simplified form of (R2) or (R3) forms, and is often used in practical conversation. Examples:

                  Tanaka san ga o-mie desu.                     Mr Tanaka is here. (Mr Tanaka shows up).
                  Shachou ga o-yobi desu.                         The President is calling you.
                  Nani o o-sagashi desu ka.                       What are you looking for?

(R2) o-v2-nasai-masu and (R3) o-v2-ni-nari-masu
Both (R2) and (R3) forms indicate a very high degree of respect. Examples:

                  Tanaka san to o-hanashi nasai-            Have you talked with Mr Tanaka?
                  mashita ka.
                  Mou go-chuumon nasaimashita ka.    Have you ordered already?
                  Tanaka san to yoku o-ai-ni nari-           Do you often meet with Mr Tanaka?
                  masu ka.
                  Satou san wa taihen o-yorokobi ni     Mr Sato was very glad.
                  narimashita.
                  Ouji-sama ga o-umare ni nari-              A prince was born.
                  mashita.
                  Sukoshi o-yase ni narimashita ne.      You seem to have lost a little weight, haven’t you?
                  Katou san wa kotoshi daigaku o           Miss Kato will graduate from university this year.
                  go-sotsugyou ni narimasu.

(H1) o-v2-shimasu, (H2) o-v2-itashimasu and (H3) o-v2-moushi-agemasu
These three forms all mean “I will do” in order of humble ness. (H3 is the most humble form.) Examples:

                 
                  (H1) Sugu ni o-okuri-shimasu                                 I will send it right away.
                  (H2) Sugu ni o-okuri-itashimasu
                  (H3) Sugu ni o-okuri-moushi-agemasu.

                  (H1) Ashita o-denwa-shimasu                                I will call you on the telephone tomorrow.
                  (H2) Asu o-denwa-itashimasu
                  (H3) Asu o-denwa-moushi-agemasu.

                  (H1) Koujou o go-annai-shimasu.                          I will give you a tour of the factory.
                  (H2) Koujou o go-annai-itashimasu.
                  (H3) Koujou o go-annai-moushi-agemasu.

(R4) o-v2-kudasai-masu and (H4) o-v2-itadaki-masu
Kudasaru is a respectful word meaning “to give” and itadaki is a humble word meaning “to receive”. (See Chapter 4 Section 12). The meaning conveyed here is that the second or the third person is taking the trouble to do the action of the v2 verb as a favour to the speaker. This can be expressed in two ways: (R4) from the favour giving side and (H4) from the favour receiving side.

                  (R4) Itou san ga (watashi tachi ni) o                     Mr Ito told us the story.
                  hanashi-kudasai-mashita.
                  (H4) (watashi tachi wa) Itou san ni o
                  hanashi-itadaki-mashita.

                  (R4) Itou san ga (watashi ni) sono nyuusu          Mr Ito informed me of the news.
                  o o-shirase-kudasai-mashita.
                  (H4) (Watashi wa) Itou san ni sono nyuusu
                  o o-shirase-itadaki-mashita.

                  (R4) Satou san wa watashi o paatii ni                  Mr Sato invited me to the party.
                  go-shoutai-kudasai-mashita.
                  (H4) Watashi wa Satou san kara paatii ni
                  go-shoutai-itadaki-mashita.

o-v2-kudasai
The o-v2-kudasai form is a variation of (R4). This is used in making a respectful request to the listener, and literally means “would you please do me a favour?” Examples:

                  Douzo shibaraku o machi kudasai.                        Would you please wait a moment.
                  Douzo kochira ni o ide kudasai.                             Would you please come this way?
                  Douzo shitsurei o o-yurushi kudasai.                   Please forgive my rudeness.
                  Douzo o genki ni o sugoshi kudasai.                    Please take good care of your health.
                  O-tabako wa go-enryo kudasai.                             Kindly refrain from smoking.

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