#pre-masu

[hotaru-no-nihongo-blog]

Grammar Spotlight: 「何(を)しにここに来た??!?」 | Pre-ます+に+verb of motion

Remember Shadis’ question to Armin (in our Lesson 1)? “何しにここに来た??!?” Nani shi ni koko ni kita??!?

In the subtitles, it’s “Why did you come here?” or “What are you doing here?”

We’re looking into this grammar.

Basically, it’s just this format:

Pre-ます(masu) + に(ni) + verb of motion

Examples of verbs of motion are (and the most basic ones):

行く (iku) - to go

来る (kuru) - to come

帰る (kaeru) - to return home

This sentence pattern can be translated as “to go/come (in order) to [verb]”

Examples:

1. 食べに来た。= I’ve come to eat. -Convert 食べる to its pre-ます: 食べる –> 食べ -Add the particle に (which in this usage is like the English “to” or “in order to”. -Then, add your verb of motion. In this case, it’s 来た (kita) “came”, the past tense of 来る (kuru) “to come”. -食べ+に+来た。=  食べに来た。

2. 洗濯しに帰った。= I’ve come home to do laundry. 洗濯する (sentaku suru) = to do laundry The pre-ます of する (suru) “to do” is し (shi) 帰った (kaetta) - past tense of 帰る

You can also add more information to your sentence, like adding the object of your pre-ますverb and the place you’re doing it.

3. コーヒーを飲みに喫茶店に行きたい。 コーヒー (koーhiー) - coffee 飲み (nomi) - pre-ますof 飲む (nomu) “to drink” 喫茶店 (kissaten) - teahouse 行きたい (ikitai) - たい(tai) form of 行く. This form indicates want. “want to go” = I want to go to the kissaten to drink coffee.

Now let’s go back to Shadis’ question to Armin.

Shadis: 何(を)しにここに来た?!?? NANI (wo) SHI NI KOKO NI KITA?!?? 何 (nani) 何をする (nani wo suru) - do what? (Shadis dropped the を(wo) object particle, Japanese sometimes do that in casual conversations.) ここ (koko) - here = What did you come here for (to do)?

You can answer the question using the same sentence form. However, in the anime, the soldiers used a different format: the ため (tame) format, which puts more emphasize on their “purpose/reason” for enlisting. We’ll look into it in a later post. :> 

For now, here are sample sentences that can be answers to Shadis’ question.

人類の勝利の役に立ちに来た。

調査兵団に入りに来た。

巨人を殺しに来た。

シャーディス教官に会いに来た。

I’ll give the vocabulary. You know the gist. 

人類 (jinrui) - humankind

勝利 (shouri) - victory

人類の勝利 (jinrui no shouri)- humanity’s victory

役に立つ (yaku ni tatsu) - to be useful

調査兵団 (chousa heidan) - Survey Corps

入る (hairu) - to enter

巨人 (kyojin) - titan

殺す (korosu) - to kill

シャーディス教官 (shaーdisu kyoukan)- Instructor Shadis

会う (au) - to meet | [person]に会う = “to meet [person]”

日本語 (nihongo) - Japanese language

習う (narau) - to learn

みんな (minna) - everyone, you all

一緒(に) ((issho (ni)) - together ~と(to)一緒に "together with~”

蛍 (hotaru) - firefly

蛍ジン (hotaru jin) - 😝

-ちゃん (chan) - a suffix attached to the name by the speaker. Usually used between girl friends and to refer to a female friend or to a child.

の (no) -  の at the end of a question sentence serves as something like a question mark.

みんなは何をしにこのページに来たの？ 蛍ジンちゃんと一緒に日本語を習いに来たね。^_^ 

:p

[hotaru-no-nihongo-blog]

Grammar focus: Conjunctive / Pre-ます / Infinitive / Continuative...

Whatever it’s called.

Now that we know about Ichidan and Godan verbs, I’d like to venture on forming the pre-ます(masu) form. I guess I’ll just call it pre-ます, so that any Japanese learner can recognize.

Ichidan: Just drop the る(ru). Example: 食べる (taberu) –> 食べ (tabe)

Godan: Change the final う(u) kana to the い (i) kana. Example: 買う (kau) –> 買い (kai) しゃべる (shaberu) –> しゃべり (shaberi)

Irregulars する (suru): し (shi) くる (kuru): き (ki)

Now, one of the many uses of this form is the [Pre-ます] + に + [verb of motion] form, which can be translated as “to go/come (in order to) [verb]”.

That is all. ^^ Short and sweet.