Japanese Language

Wednesday - Japanese Language Time

Verb form: eru

imasu vs mashita

This was fun to learn for me. I hope some of you find it interesting.

The Japanese language used a lot of verbs. They are so important to the language it is in front of their sentence structure. New learners, always put watashi wa (translated: I) or anata was (translated: you) at the beginning of a sentence. This is only used formally but in normal conversation, it is not often said it is assumed that you are talking about yourself. Now let's get to the lesson point. Let's take the word: eat. In Japanese verbs using eru taberu

If you are eating now you drop the ru and change it to te. Tabete and add imasu. To tell a person you are eating you would say: Tebete imasu. If someone calls you on the phone and asks, “What are you doing now?” or translated: Ima, Nani wo shite imasu ka? ( this is a little formal) You would say, “Ima, tabete imasu.”

After you finished eating, this is where mashita comes in. Taberu drops the ru and changes to mashita . Tabe mashita. Translated: (l) ate.

Zenbu tabe mashita (as you rub your stomach with a smile) translated: I ate it all.

NOTE: This is used for verbs ending in ~eru

(sakeru) avoid (sakete imasu) avoiding

After running away from someone:

Saketemashita

Other eru verbs

Kikoeru (able to hear)

Oreru (be broken, snap)

Kogeru (be burned, charred)

Makeru (be defeated, lose a game)

Other verb forms are different but once you learn them all understanding will be easier.

Good luck 😎