Kids Web Japan

Grammar

1. Past affirmative (yes) and negative (no) form of (to be):
   

   Affirmative			Negative
   Non-past		desu		dewa arimasen
   Past		deshita		dewa arimasen deshita

   
   As you learned in Lesson 4, Japanese verbs have a non-past form, used for the present and the future, and a past form. You make the negative of the past tense by attaching (deshita) to the negative non-past form.
   

   Kinoo wa Lucy no tanjoobi deshita.	Yesterday was Lucy's birthday.
   Purezento wa seetaa deshita.	The present was a sweater.
   Shatsu dewa arimasen deshita.	It was not a shirt.

   
2. (suki) like, be fond of
   , or "like," is classified as a noun, not an adjective. This means you have to use the particle to mark the thing that is liked.
   

   Kenta wa sakkaa ga suki desu.	Kenta likes soccer.
   Lucy wa tenisu to sakkaa ga suki desu.	Lucy likes tennis and soccer.
   Kenta wa tenisu ga suki dewa arimasen.	Kenta does not like tennis.

   
3. (to): and
   is used like the word "and" in English. When you combine many things in English, you say "A, B, C, D and E," but in Japanese you use every time: "A to B to C to D to E."
   

   Orenji to banana o tabemashita.	( I ) ate an orange and a banana.
   Orenji to banana to kukkii o tabemashita.	( I ) ate an orange, a banana and cookies.

   
4. (kore, sore, are, dore): this and that...
   

   	(kore)	indicates a thing or things close to the speaker.
   	(sore)	indicates a thing or things close to the person the speaker is talking to.
   	(are)	indicates a thing or things "over there," or distant from both the speaker and the person being talked to.
   	(dore)	is a question word that means "which one?" It is used when choosing one of several things.