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意志動詞と無意志動詞 – Consciousness & unconsciousness verb

Posted on August 19th, 2017 by Art Vandelay

I will introduce an interesting concept called consciousness & unconsciousness verb which you might not be aware yet. So what is it? Here is some explanation about it.

Consciousness verb: the action from the “verb” which can be controlled by the person who conducts it.
Unconsciousness verb: the action from the “verb” which cannot be controlled.

It is easy to understand what consciousness verb is, however, people are usually confused about the unconsciousness ones. Therefore, I will focus on introducing the latter. Let’s see some examples.

1. 机の上に財布があった。 (There is a wallet on the table.)
2. 雪が降っている。 (It’s snowing.)

As you cannot control the action itself, “ある” and “降る” are unconsciousness verb. Meanwhile, verbs about natural phenomenon, mental and physical activity are usually unconsciousness verbs.

3. 授業があまりにもつまらなくて、居眠りしちゃった。 (I fell asleep because the class is so boring.)
4. 寒いのか、子猫はずっと震えていた。 (The cat is trembling. Probably it’s cold.)
5. 理想な女性に出会った。 (I come across my dream girl.)

It might be confusing as some unconsciousness verbs look like consciousness verbs. You need to distinguish them by understanding the meaning of the sentence. Next time I will introduce something about the consciousness verb.

Enjoy the weekend.

授受表現 – some typical mistakes

Posted on August 11th, 2017 by Art Vandelay

We have been learning the “授受表現” for a few weeks. Students should know that there is a kind of emotion about “offering a benefit to somebody” included in this structure. However, many students usually misunderstanding this “benefit”. Therefore, Today I will introduce some typical mistakes that students are liable to make.

Wrong example 1: 先生は学生に宿題をあげました。(The teacher gave some homework to students.)

In general, it is difficult for students to think that homework is a benefit. Thus, it would not make any sense if you say something like above. Instead, you should say

先生は学生に宿題を出しました。

See the following example and try to feel the emotion to identify why they are not appropriate.

Wrong example 2: 日本では歩いている人に無料でテッシュペーパーをあげている人がいる。(There are a group of people who hand out a free tissue to the pedestrians.)

Though it is the free tissue, Japanese would not consider it as a benefit. Therefore, instead of using “あげる”, “配る(hand out)” could be the most appropriate word.

Wrong example 3: 私は店長に今日の仕事の日程表をさしあげました。(I gave the schedule of today’s work to my manager.)

This example might be difficult to understand. In fact, it is similar to the example 2. Students should replace “さしあげる” by “渡す(hand in)”.

“Feel” the language has always been the most challenging thing for language-learner. If you think it is difficult, the only thing you can do is practice, practice, and practice.

I hope you like it. See you next time.

授受表現「くれる/くださる」

Posted on August 5th, 2017 by Art Vandelay

This week I will introduce the expression about “receive (くれる/くださる)”. Let’s have a look at the structure first.

Giver が/は + receiver に (etc.) + item + くれる/くださる

Example:

マリさんは私の妹に絵本をくれました。(Mary gave my sister a picture book.)

If it is clear to identify the receiver, usually it is not necessary to mention the receiver. For example,

先生は(私に)辞書をくださいました。(The teacher gave me a dictionary.)

“は” is often used after the subject, however, “が” should be used instead in order to emphasize the “who”gave the item. For example,

陳さんがこの花束をくれたんです。(It was Mr./Ms. who gave me the flower.)

In addition, if the subject is someone who is superior, you should replace “くれる” by “くださる”.

Hope you enjoy. Have a good weekend.

授受表現 – やる/あげる/さしあげる

Posted on July 29th, 2017 by Art Vandelay

Last week we have learned that you should use “さしあげる” instead of “あげる” when you give an item to someone superior such as your supervisor. However, it sounds like you are very pushy and it might end up making your supervisor uncomfortable. Therefore, instead of “さしあげる”, you could alter the sentence a bit as below.

Inappropriate: 先生、私の国のお菓子をさしあげます。(I will give you the souvenir from my country.)

Appropriate: 先生、これは私の国のお菓子です。どうぞ。(This is the souvenir from my country. You could try it.)

Meanwhile, I will introduce another expression “やる” which is basically as same as “あげる”. When you do something to the animal or plant or someone who is inferior to you, you could use “やる”. For example,

小鳥に餌をやる。(Feed the bird.)

花に水をやる。(Water the flower.)

お正月には子供達にお年玉をやります。(I give money on the New Year day.)

However, more and more people use “あげる” recently instead of “やる”.

I hope you enjoy it. See you next week.

授受表現 – 物(item)のやりもらい – Give and receive of item

Posted on July 22nd, 2017 by Art Vandelay

As shown in the title, today I will talk about the give and take of an item. Similar to the action, there are two rules need to be born in mind.

– the direction of the item going

– who present the item

あげる・くれる

あげる: the item goes out from the speaker

くれる: the item comes into the speaker

Example:

あげる: (speaker = 私) 私はマリさんに本をあげた。(I gave Mary a book.)

くれる: (speaker = 私) マリさんは私に本をくれた。(Mary gave me a book.)

It seems like a very easy structure, however, you would have to convert あげる・くれる into different forms depends on who you talk to.

In the situation where the item goes out from the speaker when you talk to:

Superior/supervisor: あげる→さしあげる

Equal status: あげる→あげる

Inferior: あげる→やる/あげる

In the situation where the item comes into the speaker when you talk to:

Superior/supervisor: くれる→くださる

Equal status: くれる→くれる

Inferior: くれる→くれる