An introduction to Japanese - Syntax, Grammar & Language

74 CHAPTER 2. VERB GRAMMAR

you tell them to, and it doesn’t suddenly become night because you ordain

it so. At least not without superpowers of some sort, which are beyond the

scope of this book.

Secondly, the ”copula” column is a bit special: it tells you which

form is typically used when a certain baseform is relied on. When we need

a copula, we can use either or depending on whether we

want plain form or polite form, but when we need a continuative (which

will be explained in the next chapter), modern Japanese uses.

Third, there is a entry, which most modern verbs do not

use. The reason it exists for (this) copula is that is relatively special:

when used to end noun phrases, its is used, and so it uses the form

. However, when used aĴributively (effectively turning nouns into ad-
jectives), which uses the , the classical is used and we end
up with. Although the language reforms of the 20th century have for
the most part merged the functions of and , this particular
instance of separate form has been preserved, rather than goĴen rid of.
Luckily you will rarely, if ever, need to recite the bases for or , but
is used aĴributively so frequently that you should have liĴle problem
remembering when to use and when to use.

Present tense

Present tense for / is just as simple as for any other verb.

”This is a book.”

There is no difference in meaning between those two sentences, the

only difference is the perceived politeness, with being neutral polite,

while is plain form.

Past tense

The past tenses for both and are also reasonably straight forward,
although we do need to know a liĴle bit more about where came from.
The common explanation for is that it came from , the continuative of
, and the verb , to form the copula. This copula is actually
still used in modern Japanese in formal seĴings. However, the + in
this has contracted over time, to form , which explains the