Verb Conjugation Question

[Jaagjah]

I really appreciate the help I got here last time. But alas, I hit another point of confusion. Would these be correct?

ku-ji wa watashi no shigoto ni ikkimasu.

And if I were to add by way of car; ku-ji wa kuruma de watashi no shigoto ni ikkimasu.

and finally;

shigoto e iku, demo kuruma wa koware daun soshite watashi wa matsu.

I was going to work, but my car broke down and I had to wait.

in zenshin, arigatou gozaimasu

[jim.schuler]

Correct for what? We need to know what you want to say in order to tell you if you said it correctly.

I'm also a beginner, so what I say here may be wrong as well:

I'm unsure what ku-ji is supposed to be. Lottery? Bygones? Someone's name? The city?

I take it you want to say "will go to my work" or "goes to my work." The polite form of "iku," in that case, would be "ikimasu." And I think instead of "shigoto," "shigotoba" would be better.

If you want to add "by car," you did so correctly.

For "I was going to work, but my car broke down and I had to wait,"

"Shigotoba e itte ita" is "I was (in the state of) going to my place of work." You will want to learn the ~te form of a verb, particularly the ~te iru construction.

I'm pretty sure "kuruma wa koware daun" is wrong. You'd either go with "kuruma wa kowareta" or "kuruma wa daun shita."

"Watashi wa matsu" is "I wait" or "I will wait." "Matta" is "waited." "Mataseru" is "am made to wait." "Mataseta" is "was made to wait." "Watashi wo mataseta" "I was made to wait." Or, perhaps ~te shimau is appropriate here: "Watashi wa matte shimaimashita" would be the polite form, with shimau conjugated into the polite past tense. "Watashi wa matte chatta" is the slangy casual form, and I believe there is an air of... cuteness... to it. ~te shimau has the connotation that you had no control over it and it was a regretful occurrence.

Another issue is that you're using "wa" a lot, which means you are constantly switching the topic of discussion: At first it's you (implied), then the car, then you again. Try this

"Shigotoba e itte ita kedo kuruma ga kowareta soshite matte chatta."

[Jaagjah]

I assume a fluent Japanese speaker could translate my sentences. Hence the lack of description. However, you're reply is appreciated. As for my current level of knowledge the chronological order is: Nouns/sentence particles - na/I adjectives - verbs - more sentence particles. All of the conjugations I've learned are considered informal. But from what I've gathered, it's preferred among casual chat.


"ku-ji / くじ" means 9 o'clock. You add じ after whichever number to make it o'clock. (Ex: いちじ / 1 o'clock) But there are some irregulars such as くじ.

I'll try to be more vigil about the wa usage.

[jim.schuler]

I assume a fluent Japanese speaker could translate my sentences. Hence the lack of description.

Fluency doesn't enter into it. Your sentences will mean something. It's a question of whether they mean what you want them to mean. For that, you need to give the English as well. There's only a problem if they don't match. This is especially true if you're asking about conjugations: no one will know if you've conjugated the verb correctly if you don't state how you want the verb to come out.

All of the conjugations I've learned are considered informal. But from what I've gathered, it's preferred among casual chat.

The ~masu form is polite, not informal.

"ku-ji / くじ" means 9 o'clock.

Do you want to say "At 9 o'clock I will go to work?"
Ku-ji ni wa shigotoba ni ikimasu.

[Jaagjah]

I didn't feel the need to conduct my sentences in English. I figure that someone who speaks Japanese could tell me what they mean or what they could mean. A fluent speaker would be able to interpret the meaning without my clarification.

I know masu is the polite form. But I'm mostly familiar with the informal forms. So if someone's willing to teach me, I thought this information would be important.

So, "Do you want to say "At 9 o'clock I will go to work?"
Ku-ji ni wa shigotoba ni ikimasu."

As for this, would it be the same as; At 9 o'clock I'm going to work? I was told to put "no" at the end of a verb to imply "ing". So hashiru "to run" would become hashiruno "running".

[jim.schuler]

As for this, would it be the same as; At 9 o'clock I'm going to work? I was told to put "no" at the end of a verb to imply "ing". So hashiru "to run" would become hashiruno "running".

Verb + no turns the verb into a noun (as does verb + koto), so yes, "hashiru no" is running, but it's running in the sense of "I really like running," just as you would say "I really like ice cream." You're using the verb as a noun in that case. If you want "I am running," that's where the ~te iru form comes in. So:

Fujisanchou e hashite iru*
"I'm running to the top of Mt. Fuji"

Fujisanchou e hashiru no de tsukareta
"I got tired by running to the top of Mt. Fuji."

I don't think you can use ~te iru for something that will happen in the future. I believe "Ku-ji ni wa shigotoba ni itte iru" is translated as "I go to work at 9;" it's part of your daily schedule, it's habit. Literally, you are in the state of going to work at 9. "I'm going to work at 9" is just "ni iku" "I will go..."

*Edit: The e particles I'm using here are likely wrong. I remember there's something about how verbs like "to walk" and "to run" do not function the same as they do in English, but I've had no success in looking that up so far.

[community.japanese]

jim.schuler san,
konnichiwa.
Thank you for helping Jaagjah san.

Jaagjah san,
Konnichiwa.
Thank you for your question.
If you provide us with English translation, it is easy for us to understand what you mean.

‘I am going to work at 9 o’clock’ is ‘watashi wa kuji ni sigoto ni ikimasu.’
The time marker is ‘ni.’
‘wa’ is the topic marker.
‘I am going to work by car at 9 o’clock’ means ‘watashi wa kuji ni kurumade sigoto ni ikimasu.’
‘I was going to work, but my car broke down and I had to wait’ means ‘watashi wa sigoto ni iku tsumori desita ga kuruma ga koshou sita node matanakerebanarimasenndeshita.’

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