Photos of JapanNihongo o Narau

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.
Examples:

Watashi wa hon o yomimasu.


I read books.

Annasan wa Nihongo o benkyou shimasu.

Anna studies Japanese.

Yoshisan wa ongaku o kikimasu.

Yoshi listens to music.

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."

Examples:

Watashi wa hon o yomimasen.

 

I don't read books.
 

Meerisan wa ringo o tabemasen.

Mary doesn't eat apples.

Watashi no neko wa banana o tabemasen.

My cat doesn't eat bananas.

Maikusan wa Nihongo o benkyou shimasen.

Mike doesn't study Japanese.


Lesson 6 Vocabulary
:

(w)o

ringo
banana
terebi
koora
ongaku

benkyou shimasu
tabemasu
kikimasu
yomimasu
nomimasu
mimasu

~masu
~masen





object marker (particle)

apple
banana
TV
cola
music

to study
to eat
to hear or listen
to read
to drink
to watch, look, or see

present positive verb form
present negative verb form

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