Moto Learning Doujou: #21-1 Japanese Speaking and Writing from Scratch with Moto for JLPT N5 Beginner and Intermediate level, “Verb Plain style, Present Affirmative or Negative とおもいます”

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.)

②Instruction of Exercise

Before Speaking & Writing exercises, check vocabulary and grammar.

Step1 Vocabulary

I referred to words (I marked with☆) and their translations from Page 130-131 in Minna No Nihongo Second Edition Elementary Japanese 1, Translation & Grammar Notes – English. I added other words for learning.

To rain あめが　ふります amega　furimasu

think ☆ おもいます omoimasu

Step2 Grammar

So, Today’s grammar topic is “Verb Plain style, Present Affirmative or Negative とおもいます”.

While I referred to “あした　雨が降ると思います。” on Page 134 in Minna No Nihongo Second Edition Elementary Japanese 1, Translation & Grammar Notes – English, I used same grammar pattern and wrote another sentence by combining other words like below [*1]. To make dialogue structure, based on [*1] sentence, I wrote [*2] sentences as Person A’s & B’s lines. I added “[ ] My grammar interpretation”.

“☆☆Basic Example Dialogue”

A チンさんは　がっこうへ　いきますか。[*2]

chin san wa gakkoue ikimasuka

　　Will Mr. Chin go to school?

[In lesson 20, we have learned Plain Style to make casual speaking style. However, the textbook will reintroduce です/ますform as “Polite Style” and it continues even up to Lesson50! I guess several reasons. The first: Casual speaking is more difficult, and it has a risk. If people cannot use in appropriate way, it will be very rude in some situations. Thus, my opinion is learning casual speaking later could be better. The 2^nd: we still have many important expressions in です/ます as Polite Style and we can use “Plain Style” to get more important expressions in です/ます. Thus, we will still continue to learn です・ます with “Plain Style”.]

B1 チンさんは　がっこうへ　いく（PS, Dictionary）とおもいます。 [*1]

　　chinsan wa gakkouhe 　iku to omoimasu

I think he will go to school.

[This time we will learn “とおもいます。Subject think--”.　Before　とおもいます, we have to put “Plain Style”. Conventional sentence　チンさんは　がっこうへ　いきます, we can change it to　“チンさんは　がっこうへ　いく” as Plain style by using Dictionary Form. Then, we can say “I think-”.　]

B2 チンさんは　がっこうへ　いかない（PS, Nai+ない）とおもいます。[*2]

chinsan wa gakkouhe 　ikanai to omoimasu

I think he will not go to school.

[チンさんは　がっこうへいきません is a sentence that we have already learned. When we want to put it before “とおもいますSubject think-”, we can use “Plain Style, Nai form+ない” to express Present Negative. As we learned in Lesson 20, いきます is Masu form.　いかない that is Nai form+ない comes before とおもいます。 In this situation, Subject is “I”= Speaker = Person B and Person B has omitted わたしは.]

Step3　Speaking Exercise

Watch the video. You can use Speaking Practice Sheet.

Speaking Practice Video↓

https://youtu.be/8-Ahe7tJfUo

“Practice Sheet”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hFAXg78fBPjMywYssL7BcjjbY8xPxcI4/view?usp=sharing

Step4 Writing Exercise

(W1) Read the above “☆☆Basic Example Dialogue” between Person A and B. The Dialogue contains Grammar topic in each time.

(W2) Try to make your dialogue between Person A&B like “☆☆Basic Example Dialogue”. In your dialogue, please try to use this time grammar topic “Verb Plain style, Present Affirmative or Negative とおもいます” appropriately. Millions of mistakes are necessary for improvement, so you do not have to hesitate.

N5 level learner, if you have difficulty to write Dialogue style sentence, it is OK to write single sentences with grammar topic and OK to use only Hiragana. (It is easy-to-read to make space between word and word).

(W3) It is good to ask your teacher or Japanese friends to correct your sentences.

“For Intermediate Level Learners”

(W4) See the below “☆Advanced Example Dialogue”. Like the example, try to use this time Grammar topic “Verb Plain style, Present Affirmative or Negative とおもいます” at least once and make your original Dialogue. In other words, if you just use the topic at least once, you do not have to use the topic anymore and you can make your dialogue freely. It is also OK to add more Person A&B part to make longer Dialogue.

“☆Advanced Example Dialogue”

A:　田中さんは、新しいスマホを買うと思いますか。

B:　買うと思いますよ。田中さんは、4年前にスマホを買って、今使っているのは古くなっているので、バッテリーがもたないと頻繁に言っていましたから。

A:　どこのブランドのを買いますかね。

B:　うーん。多分、ずっとAppleを使っているので、またiPhoneを買うと思いますよ。以前、アンドロイドも勧めましたが、あまり気に入らなかったみたいです。

So, like this, while using Today’s grammar topic, write your dialogue and if you add [ ] explanation and English translation, it will be helpful to understand and correct your sentences.

(If you have a difficulty to find out someone to correct your sentences and want to ask me to correct your sentences, check my “Moto Writing Doujou”.)

https://bit.ly/3xy1Hso

③Update Alert by SNS

I will continue to upload of this series for N5 Basic level. You can easily get each time update, if you follow my SNS account.

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④Other Activities

Need correction? →Check “Moto Writing Doujou”

https://bit.ly/3xy1Hso