hi, i just started taking japanese at my college and i have a question that i havent been able to ask my teacher yet.
Does japanese conjugate verbs? Is there different forms of desu (to be)?

.... erm.... I can't answer your question first hand.... but what I can do is be cheeky!
I quickly searched the net... and got this sort of thing.......

"Verb conjugation is essential to any language. However, Japanese verbs are very regular. Entry level grammar books teach verb conjugation. Once one learns the two patterns, and two exceptions, one can conjugate any Japanese verb. One does not need a large book of tables, like this book."
So I guess the answer is yes they don't, (apart from the two exceptions???)

Now to be cheeky again.....
As and when you get more proficinet with the Kanji/Katanka and the Hara???, would you be able to double check them for me?
Only, I've researched a bunch of terms, katas and grades etc.... and have no way of knowing if they are correct!
LOL
Hope I'm not being too cheeky!

Still, best of luck with the studying

ive got charts for the katakana, hiragana, and roumaji so just tell me what you want me to check. If there is any kanji you wonder about i can always ask my teacher

erm... you are aware that I'm refering to about 15 kata, club name, grades, colours, that sort of thing? I've got about 6 or so tables/pages with it in... I suppose it's about 70 pieces/lines each with about 2 to 5 Kanji.....

is that ok?

You know, I'm just worried about saying... "hey, this is this, that means that ets." and getting it wrong!
LOL
It could get embarrassing. Did you know that our saying for SAI, as in the weapon, has about 28 translational Kanji, one being Rhinocerous?

Still, if it's OK, I'd really appreciate the help.

just send me whatever and ill do my best to translate it/get it translated. I may not get to it immediately but ill see what i can do. Besides it will probably help me with my homework heh

Okey Dokey, I'll take you up on the very nice offer!
(*cough* considering I asked for it! LOL *sheepish grin*)

So, the next thing is, what fonts do you have to support the Characters... I have them in MS Mincho... seems to have all the kanji I need (plus haranga and katanaka)...
so you can see what I have put!

i dont have any fonts to support them, i was thinking you were gonna send pictures or something. Where can i download the fonts from?

I've been self-teaching myself nihongo for a while, so I know some basics.

desu = present or future tense
deshita = past tense
deshou = future conditional?
etc.

I recommend the following to help you out:

http://dict.regex.info/cgi-bin/j-e/jis/fg%3Db/nocolor/dict?sDict=on&sLife=on&&sJwords=on&&sAvia=on&&sVerb=on&&sGeo=on&&sEngsci=on&&sEnv=on&&sBud=on&&LI=

http://www.msu.edu/~lakejess/kanjigame.html

http://www.kanjisite.com/

http://japanese.about.com/
- http://japanese.about.com/blintroductory.htm

http://s87802762.onlinehome.us/japanese.htm

There are many more, but the above cover the basics pretty well

I've been self-teaching myself nihongo for a while, so I know some basics.

desu = present or future tense
deshita = past tense
deshou = future conditional?
etc.

I recommend the following to help you out:

http://dict.regex.info/cgi-bin/j-e/jis/fg%3Db/nocolor/dict?sDict=on&sLife=on&&sJwords=on&&sAvia=on&&sVerb=on&&sGeo=on&&sEngsci=on&&sEnv=on&&sBud=on&&LI=

http://www.msu.edu/~lakejess/kanjigame.html

http://www.kanjisite.com/

http://japanese.about.com/
- http://japanese.about.com/blintroductory.htm

http://s87802762.onlinehome.us/japanese.htm

There are many more, but the above cover the basics pretty well

awesome! thank you

I accidentally just lost what I wrote. :( Basically, yes, verbs have to conjugate, but they don't have 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular and plural forms. They primarily conjugate by tense, like past or present (which is also used for future), politeness level, like plain or polite, and affirimative or negative. Here's the table my little grammar book has for desu. The two forms on one line are the affirimative followed by the negative.

Present Plain = da, dewa nai
Present Polite = desu, dewa arimasen
Past Plain = datta, dewa nakatta
Past Present = deshita, dewa arimasen deshita
Probable Plain = darou, dewa nai darou
Probable Polite = deshou, dewa nai deshou

And there's a note that for informal useage, "ja" can replace "dewa". I can help out with information I have available, but I don't know the language myself. I'd basically just be passing along info I found.

OK, I could post as pictures... alternatively, you could do a search on google etc for the font MS MINCHO...... that would make life easier... or you could install the windows asian language support pack!

Let me know your preference, and I'll post!

i installed the support pack so im ready for em!

Does japanese conjugate verbs? Is there different forms of desu (to be)?
Yes, verbs are conjugated, as well as adjectives.

2 fun sites on the net I'd suggest are

www.pikkle.com (http://www.pikkle.com)

www.rikai.com (http://www.rikai.com)


pikkle has a great grammar dictionary and rikai has some really useful study tools.

合掌 (Gassho).

Well, I put something up quickly on the site, it's graphical, so it should bbe easy for you to grab it of the site.....


http://www.bokb.co.uk/hires/kanji/Kanji.html


Any thing you can confirm or blatantly recognise as wrong, feel free to let me know!
LOL

Oh, did you need any software for this sort of thing... additional fonts, dictionaries for you pc, websites for online dictionaries etc.?

alright i will have banerjee sensei look at it this week

Thank you, that would be greatly appreciated!
(*sigh* - I bet I got atleast 20% of them wrong! Let me know how sensei laughs!)

Thank you, that would be greatly appreciated!
(*sigh* - I bet I got atleast 20% of them wrong! Let me know how sensei laughs!)

sorry, i havent been able to get them to my teacher yet. Im gonna try really hard to get it done next week!

No biggy... just be nice to know whether I got it right or not!
I think I may be one of the first people to find the correct kanji for tonfa as well... everybody else uses katanaka because they cannot find the kanji!