Moto Learning Doujou: #20-0-5 Japanese Speaking and Writing from Scratch with Moto for JLPT N5 Beginner, “Explanation of Plain style なAdjective”

(L20-0-5 does not have any Speaking and Writing exercises. They have only explanation of Plain style なAdjective.)　

①Improvement of Speaking and Writing

こんにちは。モトです。I am Japanese and I am teaching Japanese. In this series, I will share my practice way for N5 Beginner and Intermediate level learners who want to review.

If learners are studying Japanese only for JLPT as test preparation, it might be difficult to improve speaking and writing Japanese actually, because the test does not cover Speaking and Writing. Thus, we set a Goal to improve Speaking and Writing in this series while learning JLPT N5 Beginner topics.

Features and Advantages

・While using Practice Sheet, we try to remember Question and Response sentences as Dialogue to learn how to use word and grammar. (Using story or dialogues, it could be easier to remember them efficiently.)

・It is also good to partially hide some words in tables in Practice Sheet by hand to check your progress or you can also change part of words and make another sentence like improvisation music.

・After Speaking, through making your sentences, you can improve Writing. (Based on your sentences, it is good to make your Practice Sheet and play Dialogues with other learners.)

・I will apply Minna no Nihongo to speaking and writing practice that covers almost all topics introduced by Genki so Genki user can also use this series.

(I will cite English translation from the textbook as it is, or I try to translate some expressions by myself. Now I am also learning English so my translation and explanation could be not correct or not natural, sorry for that.)

②Explanation of なAdjective

Plain Style

When we have conversation with friends or family, we use “Plain style (Plain Form/Short Form)” as casual speaking style. Moreover, in specific types of writings such as essay, report or news article etc., we tend to use “Plain style”. Thus, we will check how to use “Plain Style”.

Plain Style for なAdjective

From Lesson1 to 19, we have learned です/ます form categorized into “Polite Style”. To introduce “Plain style” as a casual speaking way, we will compare “Polite style” and “Plain style”.

(Example1: Polite Style by using です/ます)

A１このテスト　は　かんたんな　　　です。

kono tesuto wa 　 kantan 　　desu

A２このテストは　　かんたんな　じゃありません。

　kono tesuto wa 　 kantan ja arimasen

[We have already learned です/ます like above sentences.]

(Example1’: Plain style)

A１‘　　このテスト　は　　　　かんたん　　なだ。

　kono tesuto wa 　　　kantan 　　 da

A２‘　　このテストは　　　　かんたん　な　　　じゃない。

　　kono tesuto wa 　　kantan 　　　 ja nai

[To make present affirmative in plain style, we just replace ですin A1 with だ in A1’ so かんたんです in A1 becomes　かんたんだ in A1’. （When it comes to casual speaking way, I think people often put よ　and say このテストは　かんたんだよ。）

When you want to make question in casual speaking way, you can say このテストは　かんたん。↑ . (The pitch at the end goes up)

To make negative response, we just replace じゃありませんin A２ with じゃない in A２’ so かんたんじゃありません in A２ becomes かんたんじゃない in A２’. You can also say このテストは　かんたんじゃないよ.]

(Dialogue2: Polite Style, past tense)

A３このテストは　　　　かんたん　な　　でした。

kono tesuto wa 　　 kantan 　 desita

A４このテストは　　　かんたん　な　　　　じゃありませんでした。

kono tesuto wa 　 kantan 　ja arimasendesita

(Dialoguew2’: Plain style, past)

A3’　　このテストは　　　かんたん　なだった。

kono tesuto wa 　　 kantan 　datta

A4’　　　このテストは　　　かんたん　な　　じゃなかった。

kono tesuto wa 　 kantan 　ja nakatta

[To make past affirmative in plain style, we just replace でしたin A３ with だった in A３’ so かんたんでした in A3 becomes　かんたんだった in A3’. （When it comes to casual speaking way, I think people often put よ　and say このテストは　かんたんだったよ。）

When you want to make past tense question in casual speaking way, you can say このテストは　かんたん　だった。↑ . (The pitch at the end goes up)

To make past negative response, we just replace じゃありませんでしたin A４ with じゃなかった in A４’ so かんたんじゃありませんでした in A４ becomes　かんたん　じゃなかった in A４’. You can also say このテストはかんたんじゃなかったよ.]