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please help me, I try to learn Japanese online, but I need some assistance, I have some problems:

I find all the verbs in dictionary in this short form : "yomu" (to read), "iku" (to go), "nomu" (to drink) .........

I've read an on-line language-learning course that this dictionary forms are followed by "-masu", and in usual speaking is used the "-masu" form.
for example: yomu -> yomimasu
iku -> ikimasu
taberu -> tabemasu ......

And in the same course I've found sentences like: "Nihon ni ikimashou" (let's go in Japan), "hon o yomima$hita" (I read a book). but this is not the dictionary form, neither the masu form.

Please explain me which form it's correct.


and I have words which I don't know how to pronounce, can u give me some examples of pronunciations using english words? (I guess you can't do it in Romanian, I'm Romanian, if someone is too please tell me, but I think I'm the only one )

this are the problem words for now: okaasan (father) - the double "a"
densha (train) - "sha"
shounen (young boy) - "sh" and "en"

If there is somebody who can and wants to help me this are my contacts: leo_s118@yahoo.com or leonard_cornel@hotmail.com

thank you

okay normally "to go" would be ikimasu. "ikimashou" means to "let's go." The "shou" kinda adds the "let's."

And as for the "Yomima$hita." Normally it would be "Yomimasu" But the "$hita" at the end, makes it into past tense. Like tabemasu means to eat, but tabema$hita would mean that you or whoever it applies to, already ate.



you'll come across some double vowel sounds. You just extend the "aa" a little bit, that's all. And "sha"......you just say "sha." and Shounen would be pronounced like "Show-Nen."


I'm limited in japanese and stuff, but hope that helped.

thank you bigboy

Don't help this guy.

I think we all know what he's after.

Stop rape before it happens!

that doesnt need to speak japanese right?

lol

True, if you're white you don't need to do sh1t to pickup Japanese chicks. Just nod.

Take a Japanese class, I found this language is near impossible to learn by yourself.

A nice way to wake you up to this language, dictionary ~masu form is the polite form. You can have negative, past, past negative, te, plain, plain past, plain negative, plain past negative, etc. There are so many different ways to conjugate a verb. So taberu, can be tabemasu, tabema$hita, tabemasen de$hita, tabete, taberu, tabeta, tabenai, tabenakatta etc. Japanese are also very specific in WHEN you use these forms.

Confused yet? Good. Double vowels means you hold the letter longer. So obasan and obaasan, the difference isn't in pronunciation but how long you hold the "a". Same with otousan, even though it uses o and u, it's just a longer "o". It's usually very slight, hardly noticeable to a foreigner. Double consonants, they use small "tsu" in hiragana and ー in katakana, just means you momentarily pause. Pretend you're saying tsu silently and really fast. For instance, 待ってください, would be ma- tekudasai, even though in romaji it's mattekudasai. Same with コーヒー, would be ko- hi-.

I'm not Japanese or a girl, don't get your hopes up.

you one-track minded click-aholics!

I'm not looking for some Japanese chicks, remember this! I don't need to speak Japanese for this, English is enough, somebody in this forum said that speaking English it's even better. if I want to learn Japanese, I have another more serious reasons.

try to think a little more than sex!

Geez, lighten up! それは唯一に冗談だった

Hmm I'll try to help. All of the words you mentioned and their romanized spelling are correct, but as for speaking them, it usually just depends on the sentence structure, and when you're referring to, as in 'past, present, future, etc.'

The dictionary words are just the plain form, which can still be used. If you had 'imasu' in the word, it means you're in the act of doing it, or it's happening.

When you wanna say 'masu', you can pretty much just leave out the 'u', or make it short and silent. This doesn't matter, but it's how it's spoken in conversation. 'Okaasan' actually means 'aunt' if you draw out the A sound. For father, it's 'otousan'.

Hope this helped some. It's hard to actually explain about how to pronounce something without actually speaking it out loud.

ANIME SUSHI AND NARUTO!!!!

Gotta love the anime Japanese culture noobs

go to the other forum AsiaFanatics.

they have a whole forum dedicated to teaching languages.
And its pretty accurate too, though i think the teachers are amateurs.

Heyyy! My grandma is Japanese, and I rarely to never watch anime.