Humble form of a verb : O { verb base { shimasu

III. Expression of the speakers and the heare's desire
A. When you want to say "I want something." say "Nani ka ga hoshii desu."
Examples
1. Kyasshukaado ga hoshii desu.
"I want a cash card."
2. Ii kutsu ga hoshii desu.
"I want a good pair of shoes."
3. Kusuri ga hoshii desu.
"I want some medicine."
4. Kono hon wa hoshiku arimasen.
"I don't want this book."
5. Kinoo kore ga hoshikatta n desu.
"I wanted this yesterday."
In "X ga hoshii desu.," X indicates what the speaker wants. The particle ga does not indicate the subject but the direct object of hoshii, an adjective.

B. When you want to say "I want to do something." say "Nani ka ga shitai desu."
Examples
1. Kono kikai ga tsukaitai desu.
"I want to use this machine."
2. Kono kutsu ga kaitai desu.
"I want to buy this pair of shoes."
3. Sakana ga tabetai desu.
"I want to eat fish."
What are common in these three examples above are :
1. all sentences end with desu, so they are polite ;
2. desu follows a word ending in -tai ; and
3. the particle ga precedes a word ending in -tai.

A word ending in -tai comes from a verb base { -tai. The suffix –tai indicates the speaker's and the hearer's desire and changes a verb into an –I adjective.
The sentence pattern for "I want to do something." is :

X ga verb base -tai desu.

In this sentence pattern also, ga indicates the direct object, but it sometimes changes to the particle o.
Examples
1. Nihongo no hon ga/o yomitai desu.
"I want to read a Japanese book."
2. Sakana wa tabetaku arimasen.
"I don't want to eat fish."
3. Kinoo depaato de kaimono ga shitakatta desu.
"I wanted to do some shopping at a department store yesterday."
C. In Japanese culture, it is not good manners to ask one's superior's desire directly.
Instead, you should say "X wa doo/ikaga desu ka." As explained in Lesson 3,
NOTES ON SENTENCE GRAMMAR IV, ikaga is the polite counterpart of doo, so ikaga is better to use when talking to your superiors.
Example
A : Sensee, koohii wa ikaga desuka.
"Would you like some coffee, professor?"
B : Ee, itadakimasu yo.
"Yes, please."

Expressions of request or polite command

C. If you replace kudasai with kudasaimasen ka, you will sound more polite.
Cashing a check, making a cash card, etc. are usual services for a bank to offer. However, teaching how to use a machine is an extra one, so Lwin says, "Kono kikai ga tsukaitai n desu ga, oshiete kudasaimasen ka." "I'd like to use this machine. Would you please tell me how to use it?" in the third line, Dialogue 7-3.

D. When you ask your customer to push the button, "Kono botan o oshite kudasai." is not appropriate, because this sentence sounds a little rude. Instead, you should say :
Kono botan o ooshi kudasai.
This sentence sounds more formal than "Oshite kudasai." or "Oshite kudasaimasen ka." Ooshi in the above sentence is obtained by dropping –masu from oshimasu(the polite form of osu "push") and adding o- to it. When the masu part is taken out of a verb ending in -masu, the remaining part will be called the verb base in this textbook.




* Table of the form of the verbs *
Non-polite form -Masu form Verb base O-verb base
ireru
yameru
toru
yomu iremasu
yamemasu
torimasu
yomimasu ire
yame
tori
yomi oire
oyame
otori
oyomi


Examples
1. Rajio o okiki kudasai.
"Will you listen to the radio?"
2. Motto yukkuri ohanashi kudasai.
"Could you speak more slowly?"
3. Kore o omochi kudasai.
"Will you take this one with you?"
O { verb base { kudasai is often used by clerks, salesmen, etc. in situations such as in a bank, a department store or a ceremony. Note that there are some verbs which don't have o { verb base { kudasai : miru, kuru, suru, etc.

Expressions of request or polite command

A. In this lesson you will learn three ways of expressing your requests or polite commands. In I-A and B you will learn sentences ending in a verb in the –te form { kudasai.
Examples
1. Namae o kaite kudasai.
"Please write your name."
2. Ashita daigaku e kite kudasai.
"Please come to the university tomorrow."
3. Kono kusuri o nonde kudasai.
"Please take this medicine.
The form of a verb ending in -te or- de is called the -te form of a verb. As shown in the above examples, a verb which follows a sentence ending in –te or -de adds some extra meanings such as request, command, etc. to the original sentence. Verbs of this type other than kudasai will be introduced later.

B. The following show how to make the -te form of a verb.

1. Group 1 verbs, or verbs ending in -eru or -iru

Change the final -ru to -te.

* Table of the -te form of Group 1 verbs *

Dicdonary form -Te form masu form
deru
norikaeru
iru
oriru dete
norikaete
ite
orite demasu
norikaemasu
imasu
orimasu

2. Group 2 verbs, or verbs ending in -u

(1) Change -u, -tsu or -ru to -tte.

* Table of the -te form of Group 2 verbs(1) *

Dictionary -Te form masu form
kau
matsu
noru
tooru katte
matte
notte
tootte kaimasu
machimasu
norimasu
toorimasu



(2) Change -bu, -mu or -nu to -nde.

* Table of the -te form of Group 2 verbs(2) *

yobu (call)
yomu
nomu
shinu (die) yonde
yonde
nonde
shinde yobimasu
yomimasu
nomimasu
shinimasu

(3) Change -su to -shite.

* Table of the -te form of Group 2 verbs(3) *
hanasu (speak)
osu hanashite
oshite hanashimasu
oshimasu


(4) Change -ku or -gu to -ite or -ide, respectively.

* Table of the -te form of Group 2 verbs(4) *
oku
kiku
oyogu (swim)
iku oite
kiite
oyoide
itte* okimasu
kikimasu
oyogimasu
ikimasu


Note that the verb with * is an exception to this rule.

3. Irregular verbs
The -te form of kuru is kite.
The -te form of suru is shite.
Examples
1. Otokoro o kaite kudasai.
"Please write your address."
2. Tsuuchoo o tsukutte kudasai.
"Please make my bankbook."(Lit.)
3. Kono kami ni kinyuu shite kudasai.
"Fill in this form, please."
4. Kyasshukaado o irete kudasai.
"Please put in your cash card."
5. Kono botan o oshite kudasai.
"Please push this button."