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Lesson 6: I don't read
books.
Click here for the kana version.
| This lesson is about the Japanese particle wo. Wo is pronounced 'o' and will be spelled 'o' in romanized Japanese but should not be confused with the vowel o. (W)o is only used as a particle. It is used to mark the object of a sentence. The particle comes after the object and before the verb. Basically, you have "noun o action verb" which means: "do/does the action verb to the noun." | |
| nihongo o benkyou shimasu | study Japanese language |
| hon o yomimasu | read a book |
| zasshi o yomimasu | read a magazine |
| niku o tabemasu | eat meat |
| ringo o tabemasu | eat an apple |
| terebi o mimasu | watch TV |
| koora o nomimasu | drink cola |
| ongaku o kikimasu | listen to music |
| One can also attach a subject to the sentence to explain who or what is doing the action. |
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| Examples: Watashi wa hon o yomimasu. |
I read books. |
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Annasan wa Nihongo o benkyou shimasu. |
Anna studies Japanese. |
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Yoshisan wa ongaku o kikimasu. |
Yoshi listens to music. |
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Ano neko wa ringo o tabemasu. |
That cat over there eats apples. |
| Well, that's all well and good, but what if you want to say you don't eat meat? or don't drink coffee? Notice that all of the verbs above end in masu. That is called the masu ending. (It's pronounced like the 'moss' that grows on the ground.) That is the positive present (or future) form of the verb in polite form. If you want to use the negative present form of the verb you change the masu to masen. So "I listen", "Watashi wa kikimasu", becomes "I don't listen", "Watashi wa kikimasen." |
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Examples: Watashi wa hon o yomimasen. |
I don't read books. |
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Meerisan wa ringo o tabemasen. |
Mary doesn't eat apples. |
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Watashi no neko wa banana o tabemasen. |
My cat doesn't eat bananas. |
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Maikusan wa Nihongo o benkyou shimasen. |
Mike doesn't study Japanese. |
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benkyou shimasu ~masu |
object marker (particle) apple banana TV cola music to study present positive verb form |