Verb Conjugation

[mrtrombone]

I realized that japanese seems to have a lot of different verb conjugation and i was wondering if anyone could explain them to me and perhaps give some examples too. I know that "-tai" is to want and -"eba" is the conditional form. but like what exactly does the "-te" form do??

[WalterWills]

Well there's a lot of endings for the -te form..

For example, you can add -iru (-inai, -masu, -imashita, -imasen deshita etc), which is called the progressive form.

So, if "oshieru" is the dictionary form of the verb "to teach/tell", then "oshiete" is the -te form.

So "oshieteimasu" could mean, depending on the context, "I am teaching".

"Ima watashi wa oshieteimasu" = "Now, I am teaching"


Also you can add "-kudasai" on the end of a verb in its -te form, to form a request.

"Oshietekudasai" = "Please tell me".


You'll learn more about this as you study, I can't write an exhaustive list here (not that I know all the ending anyway).

Here's a good website with lots of verb endings:
http://www.timwerx.net/language/jpverbs/index.htm

[mrtrombone]

wow. i didn't realized there were so many diff endings! thanks!

[Javizy]

It's best not to think of them as a list of "endings" that you need to memorise, but rather as the fundamental grammar of the language, which you need to learn and understand clearly. Most people probably spend around a year learning this. You're probably likely to pick up some bad habits or misunderstandings unless you approach it a bit more systematically.

If you're going through the lessons on here, then just keep at them, and maybe buy a good reference, like A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar by Seiichi Makino (you'll be hard-pressed to find a better one).