Lesson 9. Grammar Item #1

[1] Takeshi met Mary [plain (= non-polite) style].

· Takeshi met Mary [Polite Style] à

たけしさんは　メアリーさんに あいました。

aw-imas-ita

Verb Base-Polite-Past

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Delete /imas/ of the polite-style clause to get the non-polite equivalent. E.g.,

たけしさんは　メアリーさんに あった。

atta

aw-ita*

Verb Base-Past

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* The same sound change rules apply here over the two adjacent forms /aw/+/ita/ resulting in /atta/ as those occurring over /aw/+/ite/ resulting in /atte/. See the sound change rules over the two adjacent forms /…CONSONANT{w, t, r, m, b, n, k, g}/+/it…/ in Lesson 6. What we obtain is the form replacing /ta/ with /te/ of the /ite/ form, e.g., あった for あって.

１）たけしさんは　メアリーさんに あった。

a) Mary drank alcohol a little bit.

b) Robert ate fish a lot.

c) Mary came to the party.

d) Robert studied history of Japanese.

[2] Father was busy.

· a busy person

à いそがしい ひと

· was busy [Polite Style]

à いそがしかった です

busy [Past] is [Polite] [Linking Verb]

N.B. The form /desu/ attaches just to make the sentence be in the polite-style when the main verb of the sentence is together with /i/-adjective.

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Delete /desu/ of the polite-style clause to get the non-polite equivalent. E.g.,

いそがしかった

busy [Past]

isogashikatta

isogashiku-ar-ita

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２） おとうさんは　いそがしかった。

[3] Mother is good at cooking.

· a skillful person

à じょうずな ひと

skillful [Present][Classical Japanese] person

· being skillful

à じょうず で

busy-being-/TE/

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Use /datta/ in place of /da/ for a clause with the present tense in order to get the past equivalent. E.g.,

じょうずだった

zyouzu-d atta

zyouzu-de ar-ita

/na/adjective-being-to exist-PAST

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３）おかあさんは　りょうりが　じょうずだった。

e) Yesterday was Wednesday.

f) That ice cream was delicious.

[4] Takeshi did not meet Mary.

· Takeshi does not meet Mary [Non-polite Style].

à たけしさんは　メアリーさんに　あわない。

aw- anai

VB-[/i/-adjective]

· The lunch is delicious.

· The lunch was delicious.

à ひるごはんは おいしい です。

oishii is [Polite Style]

à ひるごはんは おいしかった です。

oishik- atta is [Polite Style]

oishiku-ar-ita

delicious [Adverb]-exists-PAST

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Use なかった in place of ない of the clause with the negative present to obtain the negative past.

あわなかった

aw-anak-atta

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４）たけしさんは　メアリーさんに　あわなかった。

g) Robert did not eat bread.

h) Robert did not study.

i) Robert did not come to the party.

j) There was not a test yesterday.

k) Mary did not drink alcohol much.

l) Father was not busy.

m) Mary was not good at cooking.

n) Yesterday was not Thursday.