田中さんは病気でしょう。
Tanaka-san wa byōki deshō.
Mr. Tanaka must be sick. (I’m not sure, it isn’t definite, but what do you think?)
どこへ行きましょうか。
Doko e ikimashō ka.
Where shall we go? (It hasn’t been definitely decided where we will go, but we will probably go some place, so what shall we consider?)
This sometimes corresponds to English let us:
歩いて行きましょう。
Aruite ikimashō.
Let’s walk. (It isn’t definite that we will walk, but I’m suggesting it.)
3.12. Negatives
The polite imperfect negative of a verb is made by changing -masu to -masen. The polite negative of the copula desu is the phrase ja arimasen. Or, often, ja nai desu; and arimasen is often nai desu. Ja in negative forms is often de wa in formal contexts. Do not confuse this with the word arimasen all by itself; this is the negative of arimasu and means ‘there isn’t any.’
The most common type of attention-focus for a negative sentence in Japanese is on the negation itself ‘there ISN’T any bread.’ If you want to say ‘There isn’t any BREAD’ (that is, ‘It’s BREAD that we lack (rather than something else)’), then you say Pan ga arimasen.
The polite perfect negative is a phrase, -masen deshita (for the copula ja arimasen deshita), and similarly the polite tentative negative is -nai deshō (for the copula ja nai deshō).
| There is bread. パンがあります。 Pan ga arimasu. | This is bread. これはパンです。 Kore wa pan desu. |
| There is no bread. パンはありません。 Pan wa arimasen. (パンはないです。) (Pan wa nai desu.) | This isn’t bread. これはパンじゃありません。 Kore wa pan ja arimasen. (これはパンではありません。) (Kore wa pan de wa arimasen.) (これはパンじゃないです。) (Kore wa pan ja nai desu.) (これはパンではないです。) (Kore wa pan de wa nai desu.) |
| There was bread. パンがありました。 Pan ga arimashita. | That was bread. それはパンでした。 Sore wa pan deshita. |
| There was no bread. パンはありませんでした。 Pan wa arimasen deshita. (パンはなかったです。) (Pan wa nakatta desu.) | That was not bread. それはパンじゃありませんでした。 Sore wa pan ja arimasen deshita. (それはパンではありませんでした。) (Sore wa pan de wa arimasen deshita.) (それはパンじゃなかったです。) (Sore wa pan ja nakatta desu.) (それはパンではなかったです。) (Sore wa pan de wa nakatta desu.) |
| There won’t be any bread (I bet). パンはないでしょう。 Pan wa nai deshō. | That (probably) won’t be bread. それはパンじゃないでしょう。 Sore wa pan ja nai deshō. (それはパンではないでしょう。) (Sore wa pan de wa nai deshō.) |
3.13. Words for ‘work’
You have seen two ways to say ‘I work.’ Shigoto o shimasu means ‘I do my job’; hatarakimasu means ‘I work (often, but not necessarily, at something physical).’ These two words can frequently be used in each other’s place, with no great change of meaning. There is another word meaning ‘is employed’ or ‘works’—tsutomemasu. This has a somewhat more refined connotation.
どこで働いていますか。
Doko de hataraite imasu ka.
Where do you work?
どこに勤めていますか。
Doko ni tsutomete imasu ka.
Where are you employed?
3.14. Verbal nouns (…する …suru)
There are some nouns, like shutchō ‘a business trip,’ shōkai ‘introduction,’ and benkyō ‘study,’ that can be followed directly by a form of the verb suru/shimasu ‘does.’ These constitute a class of nouns we call “verbal nouns.” (They are also called suru-verbs more commonly.) Sometimes the particle o is inserted with expressions of this type, especially if the noun has something modifying it:
先月大阪に出張しました。
Sengetsu Ōsaka ni shutchō shimashita.
Last month I went to Osaka for a business trip.
友達に紹介しましょう。
Tomodachi ni shōkai shimashō.
Let me introduce you to a friend.
日本語を勉強しました。
Nihongo o benkyō shimashita.
I studied Japanese.
その勉強をしました。
Sono benkyō o shimashita.
I did that study.
The following are additional examples of verbal nouns followed by suru:
| 料理 ryōri cooking | 料理する ryōri suru cooks |
| 掃除 sōji (room) cleaning | 掃除する sōji suru cleans |
| 洗濯 sentaku laundry | 洗濯する sentaku suru does laundry |
| 予約 yoyaku reservation | 予約する yoyaku suru reserves |
| 契約 keiyaku contract | 契約する
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