JSLL #36 - Urashima Tarou aftermath - the grammar

 In a short amount of space, the Urashima Tarou story in this book deals with a whole bunch of grammatical constructions. Here's an overview of the grammar points found in this little story:

～て form

Every verb has a て-form, which serves multiple purposes, but is most commonly used to connect two clauses (for example, 絵を描いて笑いました。= "I drew the picture and smiled.") The connection is normally sequential (verb1 and then verb2), but it can also be causal ("Because I drew the picture, I smiled"), purposeful ("I verb1'd in order to verb2") or instrumental ("By verb1-ing, I verb2'd").

Polite form versus dictionary (plain) form

Verbs can exist in a polite form (or masu-form, for example, 見ます) and a plain form (見る). The plain form is also called dictionary form because dictionaries list this form. 

～ている ending

Verbs ending in a て-form followed by a form of いる indicate that the action described by the verb is ongoing (progressive) or completed.

i-adjectives, na-adjectives

Adjectives come in two forms: those ending in い and those ending in な.

お- prefix for respect

The お- prefix for respect in front of a noun indicates a respectful attitude toward the listener.

～さん suffix for normal respect for a person ("Mr/Ms")

The ～さん suffix indicates a normal level of formality and respect for the person being mentioned. Unlike in English, where Mr/Ms is normally combined only with a surname, the Japanese さん can follow a surname or a first name. To be even more respectful (say, toward royalty) use ～さま instead, also written ～様.

Counters

When indicating a specific number of things or people, it's not enough to just mention the number, but also the counter. Japanese has many different counters, some for broad categories (flat objects, cylindrical objects, small crumb-like objects) and some for narrow categories (animals small enough to pick up). Japanese writes, for example, "seven cats" as the word for "cats," the particle associated with the noun in this particular sentence, the number "seven," and the counter for small animals. Thus "I saw seven cats" becomes 猫を七匹見ました: 猫 = cat, を = the object particle, 七 = seven, 匹 = counter for small animal.

～てやる ending

Verbs ending in a て-form followed by a form of やる indicate that the action described by the verb is a favor toward someone of lower social status.

Relative clauses modifying a noun phrase

If you place a clause directly before a noun phrase, that clause qualifies the noun phrase. For example, 私が見るカラス is the subject 私 (わたし, watashi, "I"), the verb 見る, "to see," and the noun カラス ("crow"). So this means "the crow that I saw." Note that the verb of the qualifying clause is always in the dictionary/plain form (見る, not 見ます).

Onomatopeia

In Japanese, onomatopeia are almost always a doubled two-syllable word, say, パクパク (pakupaku, referring to gobbling up food, from which Pac-Man gets his name). Japanese has many of these, and unlike in English, they don't always refer to imitations of sounds.

～ます-stem followed by 始める

This construction means "begin to X," where X is the activity that is beginnen. For example, the verb 歩く is "to walk"; the ます-form is 歩きます; 歩き始める is "to begin to walk, to start walking."

Quotations

A quotation of the type Yoshi said, "Let's go" would render in Japanese as 吉さんは「行きましょう」と言いました。In the Japanese, the subject/topic comes first, then the quote, enclosed in the Japanese quotation marks 「」, then the particle と matching the introductory comma in the English, and then the attribution "said."

Honorifics

Beyond the simple polite ～ます-form, Japanese has an elaborate system to indicate additional politeness, respectfulness, and humility/modesty. Verbs may be written in a different way, or replaced by entirely different verbs (a bit like saying "imbibe" instead of "drink").

Three forms of "to be"

I wrote an entire blog post about this.

なる "to become"

To say that something or someone becomes adjective, there are two constructions: if the adjective is an i-adjective (赤い "red"), remove the い at the end, replace it with く, and put なる after it. k紙は赤くなりました = "The paper became/turned red." If the adjective is a na-adjective (きれい, "pretty, clean"), put に after it and then なる. 部屋はきれいになりました = "The room became clean." 

～ます-stem to signify "and (then)" between clauses

Instead of connecting two clauses through a て-form, you can instead use the (less frequently used) ます-stem of the first verb. The meaning is similar, but more limited: it can only mean the two actions described by the verbs are simultaneous or sequential. It cannot be used to indicate a causal, purposeful or instrumental connection.

て-form followed by ください

This construction translates to an imperative of the verb followed by "please." Despite the pleasantries, this construction is often closer to a command than a request.

たり…たり…する verb enumeration

You can create a non-exhaustive enumeration of clauses. All clauses end in the plain past tense of a verb, followed by り. The last one additionally adds a form of the verb する. For example, 食べ物を食べたりビールを飲んだり音楽を聞いたりした = "I ate food, drank beer and listened to music."

Adverb form of い-adjective

By replacing the い at the end of an い-adjective and replacing it with く, you replace the adjective with an adverb. For example, 早い means "quick," and 早く means "quickly."

～たい to indicate the wish of the speaker

To express what in English means "I want to verb," Add たい to the ます-stem of a verb. For example, 飲みたい means "I want to drink."

～て-form followed by a form of しまう

This construction can signify doing something completely and with determination, or unintentionally and regrettably.