84 CHAPTER 2. VERB GRAMMAR
2.5.3 Doing:
We’ve already seen as irregular verb, and it has been used in enough
example sentences to let it be no surprise that it means ”do”. However,
this isn’t the only meaning for this verb. When used in combination with
a direct object – as transitive verb – does mean ”do”, but when used
as intransitive verb, its meaning should be considered to be ”decide on”
or ”choose”. To show this difference in meaning between the transitive
(strictly speaking,
) and intransitive (strictly speaking,
) ver-
sions of , two short sentences:
”What are (you) doing?””What will (you) pick?”In the first sentence, marks the preceding as direct object to the
verb, while in the second sentence, marks the preceding part as indirect
object to the verb. The difference in meaning is striking.
There is a third meaning to , when paired with the particle ,
which is ”to consider something ...”:
”These are the things (that) I consider important.”2.5.4 Possessive:
We’re not quite done treating ; while it means ”exist” for inanimate
things, this meaning also leads it to be usable for what in English is rep-
resented by ”to have” in sentences like ”I have a radio”. In Japanese, you
don’t say you ”have” something, but that ”something is with you”. For
instance, if I want to say that aside from my portable radio I also have a
radio at home, instead of saying ”I have a radio at home too” I would say
”there is a radio at my house too”:
”I have a radio at home, too.”Because of this double role, it’s quite an important verb.