Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Of Swords and Shields: Part 1/Grammar

Expressing "have to"

We looked at one way to say "have to" or "must" in the second section. In this section, we will see another way to say "must".

You can change the verb to the negative て form, and add はいけない　or はいけません　

Note:To form the negative て　form, put the verb in plain past, and replace the last い to　くて

• 食べない　食べなくて
• 書かない　書かなくて

• やさいを食べなくてはいけません。 You have have to eat vegetables.
• 毎日、日本語を勉強しなくてはいけない。 You have to study Japanese every day.

The shortcut for this is to simply replace the なくて with　なくちゃ.

• れんしゅうしなくちゃ。 You have to practice.

Using ～なら

You can say "If something is true, then..." by using なら after a verb or an adjective. For example

• おいしいなら食べます。 If it is delicious, I will eat it.
• 安いなら買えます。　If it is cheap, I can buy it.

You can add a の between the verb/adjective and なら, although it isn't always needed.

If statements with ～ば

We seen quite a few sentences with verbs that have an ば at the end of it:

• 飛びたい方向におもいきって走れば勝手に飛べます
• ピョンピョン飛べばしあわせがおとずれます
• 「Ｚ注目」を使えば、こんなにはなれててもはなせるし…

This form of the verb means "if (verb)"

To form the verb for る verbs, drop off the る and add れば:

• 食べれば If someone eats
• 　寝れば If someone sleeps

To form the ば form for う verbs, change the verb to base 4 (ends with an え sound) and add ば:

• 買えば If someone buys (something)
• 読めば If someone reads
• 話せば If someone speaks

Again, する　and 来る are irregular, their forms are すれば and　くれば.

You can also apply this to adjectives too. For I-adj, replace the last い with　ければ:

• 安ければ If something is cheap
• おいしければ If something is delicious

For Na-adj and nouns, you can either attach ならば or　であれば to the noun/adj:

• 学生ならば If someone is a student
• けちならば If someone is stingy

走れば飛べます。 If you run, you can jump. 飛べばしあわせがおとずれます。 If you jump, you will receive happiness. Aボタンを押せば話せる。 If you push A, you can talk

A lesson will appear later in the course to determine the different If or when statements. For now, just learn the conjugation, and their meanings.

Potential form

You can express "can do something" or "able to do something" two ways:

First, make the verb a noun by attaching のが or ことが　to the dictionary form of the verb and adding できる to that:

• すしを食べるのができます。 I can eat sushi.
• ピアノをひくことができません。　I can't play the piano.

We seen this used a couple times in the dialogue:

• デクの樹サマとお話しできる! You can speak　with the Deku Tree!

The other way is to completely conjugate the verb into the potential form. For る　verbs, take of the final る and add られる.

• 食べられる Can eat
• 寝られる Can sleep

For う verbs, change the verb to Base 4 (just like the ば form) and add る.

• 読める Can read
• 話せる Can talk
• 飲める Can drink
• 乗れる Can ride

The verbs する　and くる　potential forms are できる　and こられる, respectively.

The potential can be used any place a normal verb can. However, with the potential form, most of the time the object that can be done is marked with が, not を.

• すしが食べられる。 I can eat sushi
• ピアノがひけられません。 I can't play the piano

Example from the text:

• 走れば飛べます。 If you run, you can jump

Note: For る verbs, there is a shorter, more non-standard form of the potential. Instead of adding られる, just add れる:

• 食べれる
• 寝れる

One last note: Remember the note at the end of the passive lesson? Namely, both the potential and the passive are form the same way for る verbs? Use context clues to determine if the potential or the passive is used.

Review: ～たい

A quick review over expressing "wanting to do something"

You can put the verb into Base 2 and add たい to say you yourself want to do something.

• 食べる　->　たべ　+　たい　＝　食べたい
• 読む　->　読み　+　たい　＝　読みたい

Example sentences:

• 東京に行きたい。 I want to got to Tokyo
• やさいを食べたくない。 I don't want to eat vegetables

Note: ～たい isn't used when talking about others desires, only your own. To say what others want, you need to say ～たがっている:

• スミスさんはソーダを飲みたがっています。　Smith wants to drink a soda.