Japanese plug and play - The bunpo of Intentions
How to say Intend to Verb
In Japanese, it’s not hard to say, “I intend to _______”, where _______ is any verb in its infinitive form. By the end of this small Japanese grammar lesson, you should be able to tell anybody in your favorite L2 (Japanese) what you intend to do. I will show you how to use this plug and play Japanese grammar system, all you have to do to practice with it. It involves a little ‘drill and kill’ to fortify your Japanese conversation. The sure way to retain words in the here and now, when you are short on time, I always use the drill and kill method for learning the vocabulary. Repeat words over and over again, then work on words for the sake of pronunciation practice.
In order to learn an L2 as difficult as Japanese, one has to overcome the fear of speaking words incorrectly. Say as many as you can whenever and however you can. This is the only way to get Native speakers to give you modified input. Modified input is good and helps you take your first language steps on your own, so that later you can tell your mom,” Look, Ma!… No hands!”
By saying sentences over and over correctly you are preparing yourself for conversation. At first the conversations may be a little one sided, but you will get there. Just keep plugging away, a little at a time. 12,000 words isn’t so bad, one word at a time. Don’t ever go to fast just a comfortable speed at which you work best at. Trying to memorize too many words will result in poor overall retention of the vocabulary.
I would shoot for 10 to 15 words every two days We know that repetition works. Plug a verb into the bunpo, say the sentence in both English and Japanese out loud and repeat. o make learning Japanese a snap; helpful and fun. Your Japanese skills are sure to improve.
To construct sentences that tell others what you intend to do, use the following plug and play formula –
Verb (Base III[1] or Base I + nai[2]) + verb
in either
Base III (plain infinitive form) + tsumori desu or
Base I + nai + tsumori desu. (i.e. iku or ikanai) and add tsumori desu.
As long as the locutor has a handle on the pronunciation of the tsu syllable (see pronunciation tips #13), then his/her spoken intentions in the second language(L2) will be more easily understood. Tsumori is the word used to show an intention. Putting tsumoru into Base II[3] gives you tsumori. By the end of this lesson you should be a champion of the grammar or bunpo of intent.
We can understand more about the bunpo of intentions (today’s grammar principle) by taking a closer look at the meaning of the word tsumori and/or its etymology. Of course never neglect to listen to your surroundings especially when you are blessed with an immersive environment. If you are not already in Japan, try listening for words you have learned via Japanese T.V. or from any other means to feel the way in which those words are used by native Japanese speakers.
Pay attention to how words are used in the real world. Tsumoru is the verb to accumulate; to be piled or stacked up. Also note that tsumeru means to stuff, pack, or cram, and although the kanji is not exactly the same, they both seem to have stemmed from one common language source. Tsumori is also related to the widely used common term tsumaranai which is the word for something that is worthless or, trivial or something that is not worth your time worrying about.
Japanese plug and play drill and kill Japanese language lesson 115 – Intend to verb
English
Japanese
- intend to + verb
verb (Base III) + tsumori desu[4]
- no intention to + verb
verb (Base I) + tsumori wa nai desu[5]
You must add the polite form of the verb to be (de aru) after tsumori to show politeness as well as to show whether the intention was a past or present, negative or positive intention. A few examples will show you how to use this bunpo principle.
ex.1 - I intend to win.
- Watakushi wa katsu tsumori desu.
Practice Tip – Take all the Japanese verbs you know and put them into the tsumori bunpo. Have fun with words like fart, choke, drown, dumpster dive etc.
Remember Japanese plug and play grammar is not only useful,…its fun.
Be careful not to get too ghetto. Make sure to always use polite form Japanese for as many verbs. as you can. Its always right to speak polite. Steer clear of using verbs or any language element that uses verbs in the plain form or lower.
ex.2 - He intends to speak with her.
- Kare wa kanojo to hanasu tsumori desu.
ex.3 - I don't intend to go.
- Ikanai tsumori desu. (Rarely used)
ex.3a - I have no intentions to go.
- Iku tsumori wa nai desu. (More frequently)
- Iku tsumori wa arimasen. (More polite)
ex.4 - It was my intention to do the dishes.
- Sara o arau tsumori deshita.
ex.4a - I had intended to go
- Iku tsumori deshita.
-
Most often literal translations of Japanese to English rarely come out in a comprehensible fashion. Usually they are so far from what we really are saying that they are anything but true or correct interpretations. In studying a language it is sometime good, however, to learn about word etymology if possible.
Try listening for other uses of the same term. By getting use to hearing a certain phrase more than one way, you are setting the stage for solid language acquisition. In our tsumori bunpo we would want to know how meanings would affect our usage.
Since tsumoru means to accumulate, to be piled or to be stacked up, when we literally translate example 1 above it becomes something like this - I have accumulated much the act of winning, Or, - I have a lot of winning put aside, the winning is all piled up over there. I hope you get my point here. It may sound a little wacky but remember… this is ‘ghetto’ grammar baby! Intentions are like a stack of things piled so high that the shear weight of it gives Japanese verbs and our Japanese grammar principles intentional potential.
This lesson brought to you by Makurasuki Sensei, Brett McCluskey who wishes you all the best in your work toward improving and progressing in the Japanese language.
Ganbatte ne!
Do your Best!
Ja Mata Kondo!
If you found this article helpful and want to really get good at Japanese or any language for that matter look for my articles at squidoo.com and also check out http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-2328430-10446709/ for the best dictionary in the galaxy.
[1] Plain form infinitive like iku, nomu, taberu, iru etc.
[2]
[3] For more about how verbs are put into bases in Japanese see
[4] use of desu here is for polite levels of speech, other forms of the verb
to be (de aru) may be used including the past tense.
[5] or tsumori wa arimasen
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