#plain form

[garadinervi]

«Plain Text», No. 2, Edited and Designed by Lucas Descroix and Benjamin Dumond, Plain Form, July 2025

Plus: Fonts in Use

[happywebdesign]

http://lucasdescroix.fr/

[breezy-jpn]

Duolingo Vocabulary: Hobbies 3

思う ( おもう ) to think

蹴る ( ける ) to kick

組 ( くみ ) set of, group of

写真 ( しゃしん ) photo

写真を撮る ( しゃしんをとる ) to take a photo

字 ( じ ) handwriting

上手 ( じょうず ) skilled

楽しい ( たのしい ) fun

頼む ( たのむ ) to ask

投げる ( なげる ) to throw

灰 ( はい ) ash

野球 ( やきゅう ) baseball

カラオケ karaoke

サッカー soccer

テニス tennis

Grammar

The plain form of a verb in Japanese expresses that it is happening now or will happen in the future, and it is used in casual, not formal, conversation. All plain form verbs end with the う sound (but not necessarily the う hiragana). For example, 食べる, 買う, and 読む are all the plain form of their respective verbs.

When expressing that you like doing something, you would use the plain form of the verb and add ～のが好きです. For example, 「食べるのが好きです」 means “I like eating.” 「アニメを見るのが好きです」means “I like watching anime.”

You can replace 好き (from the previous section) with any adverb or adjective to describe a verb, making the sentence structure [verb] のが [adv or adj] です. For example,「テニスをするのが下手です」 means “My tennis-playing is bad.”

Adding だ to the end of a sentence declares that the previous statement is true in a declarative manner. 

Sentences

彼は野球が上手です。かれはやきゅうがじょうずです。He is skilled at baseball.

私は勉強するのが好きではありません。わたしはべにょうをするのがすきではありません。 I do not like studying.

日本語は上手ですね。 にほんごがじょうずですね。 You are good at Japanese, huh?

泳ぐのが下手ですからたくさん練習します。およぐのがへたですからたくさんれんしゅうします。I’m not good at swimming so I practice a lot.

写真を撮るのは楽しいです。 しゃしんをとるのはたのしいです。It is fun to take photos.

子供たちは動物園に行くのが大好きだ。こどもたちはどうぶつえんにいくのがだいすきだ。Children love going to the zoo.

田中さんのお母さんは先生だと思います。たなかさんのおかあさんはせんせいだとおもいます。I think that Mr. Tanaka’s mother is a teacher.

行く時間だ。いくじかんだ。 It is time to go.

ボールをこっちに投げて。 ボールをこっちになげて。 Throw the ball over here.

[japanese-studies]

Typically most online courses/textbooks will teach you the dictionary form of verbs first, but at my university we learn ます or the ‘polite form’ first. 

[alittleflare]

歌う　- to sing 

言うと - to say

買う - to buy

待つ - to wait 

有る - to exist 

売る - to sell

取る - to take/grab

寝る - to sleep (lying down)

教える - to teach 

撮る  - to take a photo 

踊る - to dance

起きる - to wake up

飲む - to drink

読む - to read

話す - to talk/speak

聞く - to listen

帰る - to return/ to go back

食べる - to eat

見る - to see/watch/look

* I didn’t include hiragana in front for reading so I can get used to the kanji also by this way you can search for the word and learn about the meaning of the kanji I see this to be more helpful.

*Please correct me if I’m wrong

[garadinervi]

«Plain Text», No. 1, Edited and Designed by Lucas Descroix and Benjamin Dumond, Plain Form, January 2025

Plus: Fonts in Use

[japanese-studies]

[boardofmoods]