Lesson 5. Grammar Item #1 (p. 100-101)

The sea in Okinawa is beautiful.

·          the sea in Okinawa à おきなわのうみ

·          きれいなひと ‘beautiful person’

·          きれい

beautiful be [LV][Present] of Classical Japanese

 

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Linking Verb be plus /na/-adjective in polite-style PRESENT

à

きれい                                                   

/na/-adjective minus /na/   being [LV]-to  [Polite]-Present Tense

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N.B. The /na/-adjective form minus /na/ is nouny. Linking Verb-/na/-adjective /kirei-desu/ patterns the same as Linking Verb-Noun, e.g., /gakusei-desu/, except for when they modify a noun as in きれいなひと/kirei-na hito/ ‘a beautiful person’, and がくせいのひと/gakusei-no hito/.

 

1)   おきなわのうみは きれいです。

 

Shinjuku is not quiet.

·          しずかなこうえん ‘a quiet park’

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negative of Linking Verb-/na/-Adjective in polite-style PRESENT

à

しずか                                 じゃ

      /na/-Adjective minus /na/     being [LV]-to-TOPIC

ありません

ar-imas-en

be [Existential]-[Polite]-Negative

では[1] is contracted, and is pronounced as じゃ in modern Japanese.

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2)            しんじゅくは しずかじゃ ありません。

 

a)             I am free (= not busy) today.

b)            The person next to me is not healthy.

 

The school is big.

·          the school à がっこう

·          おおきいつくえ ‘a big desk’

·          おおきい

ooki-i

/i/-adjective-Present

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Linking Verb be plus /i/-Adjective in polite-style PRESENT

à

おおきい                                      

  /i/-Adjective-Present     being [LV]-to  [Polite]-Present

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N.B. The form /desu/ ‘is’ attaches to the clause of ooki-i ‘big Present’ in order for the clause to get the polite style.

 

3)   がっこうは おおきいです。

 

My town is not big.

·          My town à わたしのまち

·          big

à 

おおきい                              (as in おおきいつくえ)

/i/-Adjective-Present Tense[2]

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negative of the Linking Verb be plus /i/-Adjective in polite style PRESENT TENSE

à

おおき

      bigly [Adverbial]

ありません

ar-imas-en

be [Existential]-[Polite]-Negative

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4)            わたしのまちは おおきく ありません。

 

c)            Japanese class is not difficult.

d)            The Judo person is not big.



[1] The underlying form /ni-te/ ‘being-to’ realizes as /de/ for a sequence of sounds.

[2] The Ashikari dialect of Japanese, which is spoken in Ashikari, Saga, uses /ookiku aru/ ‘bigly [adverbial]-be [existential]-Present Tense.