122 CHAPTER 3. MORE GRAMMAR
The way the direct pseudo-future is constructed differs for the two
verb classes: verbs get added to the , but the combination of
the –row syllable and the changes the pronunciation (as well as
wriĴen form) to an –row syllable instead, so + becomes , +
becomes , etc. To see why this happens we have to look back at classi-
cal Japanese, where the combination of an –row syllable and an always
changed the pronuncation to that that of the corresponding –row sylla-
ble; not just for constructions, but for any wriĴen combination of
the two. While the language reforms of the mid 20th century changes many
of the rules for wriĴen language, so that it would correspond to spoken
language more, constructions involving the have generally been
left alone (another ’quirk’ can be found in verbs ending on ,
which becomes rather than ). For verbs, we simply add to
the and. For the irregular verbs and copulae we see special cases.
verb pseudo-future polite pseudo-future
[ → ] + = +
[ → ] + = +
[ → ] + = +
[ → ] + = +
[ → ] + = +
[ → ] + = +
[ → ] + = +
[ → ] + = +
[ → ] + = +
[ → ] + = +verb pseudo-future polite pseudo-future
+ +
+ +
+ +irregular pseudo-future polite pseudo-future
+ +
+ +
+ = x
+ = x
+ = x