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Lesson 20N5Minna no Nihongo I

夏休みは 国へ 帰る — plain (casual) speech

The plain style used among friends and family — the basis for many later patterns.

Verb conjugation

How verbs change by group. The form in focus is highlighted.

Verb辞書形Dictionaryます形Masuて形Te-formない形Nai-formた形Ta-form
Group I (う-verbs)
書くwrite
行くgo
泳ぐswim
急ぐhurry
飲むdrink
呼ぶcall
待つwait
買うbuy
話すspeak
Group II (る-verbs)
食べるeat
見るsee
Group III (irregular)
するdo
来るcome

※ 行く is irregular: its て/た-form is 行って / 行った, not 行いて.

Plain & polite forms

How the same thing looks in the polite (丁寧形) and plain (普通形) style — for verbs, adjectives and nouns.

Form丁寧形Polite普通形Plain
Verb (行く) — go
non-past +
non-past −
past +
past −
い-adjective (高い) — expensive
non-past +
non-past −
past +
past −
な-adjective (元気) — well / fine
non-past +
non-past −
past +
past −
Noun (学生) — student
non-past +
non-past −
past +
past −
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Plain form (普通形)Plain (casual) style
Plain form

ます → dictionary/ない/た forms; です → だ. Used with close people.

あした　京都へ　行く。

あした　きょうとへ　いく。

I'm going to Kyoto tomorrow. (casual)

Plain style swaps the polite endings for plain ones: 行きます→行く, 行きません→行かない, 行きました→行った. It is used with family and close friends; the polite ます-style stays for everyone else.

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N / な-adj だです → だ (plain)
Plain form

In plain style, です becomes だ (often dropped in casual speech).

これ、わたしの　本だ。

これ、わたしの　ほんだ。

This is my book. (casual)

Nouns and な-adjectives use だ as the plain copula (past だった). In casual conversation だ is often omitted, especially by women: これ、わたしの 本.

  • Casual yes/no questions drop か and just rise in intonation: ごはん 食べる？