How can I say “I eat sushi” in Japanese?
Action object
In English, there are two types of grammatical objects.
That is to say, the direct object and the indirect object.
- Direct object : no preposition between a verb and an object (e.g. I love YOU.)
- Indirect object : an object need a preposition (e.g. I passed the ball TO YOU.)
But in Japanese, it’s very normal that particles determine the role of a noun, so there is no direct objects.
But for the most of the cases of the direct object in English, you can use
を
wo
For example,
わたしは寿司を食べます。
watashi wa sushi wo tabe masu.
I eat sushi.
映画を見ます。
eiga wo mi masu.
I watch a movie.
So, here, the particle を (wo) works as an action object.
The actions described by the verbs (食べる : taberu, to eat, 見る : miru, to watch) can be said to control the objects sushi and a movie.
How to ask about an action object?
We can use
何を
nani wo
what
to ask about the action item.
For example,
A :
昨日、何を食べましたか。
kinou nani wo tabe mashita ka.
What did you eat last night?
B :
寿司を食べました。
sushi wo tabe mashita.
I ate sushi.
A :
何を飲みますか。
nani wo nomi masu ka.
What do you drink?
B :
お茶を飲みます。
ocha wo nomi masu.
I drink some tea.
Asking about our general action
When you want to ask someone about what they do without specifying actions,
何をしますか。
nani wo shimasu ka.
What do you do?
is typically used.
します is a conjugated form of する (suru), meaning “to do”.
する is under the 3rd verb group and it conjugates uniquely.
See also : Verbs in Japanese
And as it is for a general question, we can answer it by any activities even if there is no action object followed by を (wo).
A :
日曜日、何をしますか。
nichiyoubi nani wo shi masu ka.
What will you do this Sunday?
B :
友だちと映画を見ます。
tomodachi to eiga wo mi masu.
I’ll watch a movie with my friend.
A :
昨日、何をしましたか。
kinou nani wo shi mashita ka.
What did you do yesterday?
B :
レストランへ行きました。
resutoran e iki mashita.
I went to a restaurant.
*This する is very useful.
You can combine it with an action noun (like some nouns from sports) and make a verb for an action.
スキーをします
sukii wo shi masu
To ski
サッカーをします
sakkaa wo shi masu
To play soccer
野球をします
yakyuu wo shi masu
To play baseball
料理をします
ryouri wo shi masu
To cook
Complete negation
Just like we saw in も : complete negation, we can use
何も + negative form
nani mo
to deny anything.
A :
日曜日に何をしましたか。
nichiyoubi ni nani wo shi mashita ka.
What did you do last Sunday?
B :
何もしませんでした。
I did nothing.
Then
You can connect two sentences in order by
それから
sorekara
then
For example,
シャワーを浴びました。それから学校へ行きました。
syawaa wo abi mashita. sorekara gakkou e iki mashita.
I took a shower, then I went to school.
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