〜つもり: Intention | Japanese Grammar

When you tell someone what you mean to do — quit smoking next month, relax at home this weekend, never go back to that restaurant — Japanese reaches for つもり. The word names a settled state of mind: your resolve, your intention. It sits between the two things learners often confuse it with — firmer and more decided than the wishful 〜たい ("I want to"), but more private and subjective than the calendar-fixed 〜予定 ("it's scheduled"). Master つもり and you can say precisely how committed you are to a future action, and — crucially — admit when your intention came to nothing.

つもり is a noun, not a verb

Here is the reframing that unlocks everything. English "intend to / plan to / mean to" are verbs — actions your subject performs. Japanese つもり is a noun meaning roughly "intention, resolve," and it takes the copula だ/です. So 行くつもりだ is literally "the intention-to-go exists (is the case)." You are not doing intending; you are reporting a state of mind you're in. That noun-hood explains all its behavior — the の/な linking, the two negatives, the ability to be "there" or "not there."

The verb in front takes its plain dictionary form:

Verb	つもり	Meaning
行く (go)	行くつもりだ	I intend to go
買う (buy)	買うつもりです	I plan to buy
やめる (quit)	やめるつもりです	I intend to quit

来年、日本に留学するつもりです。

rainen, nihon ni ryūgaku suru tsumori desu

I'm planning to study abroad in Japan next year.

週末は家でゆっくりするつもりです。

shūmatsu wa ie de yukkuri suru tsumori desu

I intend to take it easy at home this weekend.

来月からタバコをやめるつもりだ。

raigetsu kara tabako o yameru tsumori da

I intend to quit smoking starting next month.

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Read つもりだ as "the intention is in place," not as the verb "to intend." Because it's a noun of resolve, it describes a mind already made up — firmer than a vague たい wish, which only reports a desire. 行きたい ("I want to go") is a feeling; 行くつもりだ ("I intend to go") is a decision.

The two negatives — and they mean different things

Negation is where つもり's noun-nature pays off, because you can negate the verb or the intention, and the two land differently.

〜ないつもり — the intention is to not do it. You have positively resolved on inaction.

あの店にはもう二度と行かないつもりだ。

ano mise ni wa mō nido to ikanai tsumori da

I intend never to go to that shop again.

〜つもりはない — you deny having the intention at all. Grammatically you negate つもり itself (the noun), which is stronger and more emphatic — it flatly rejects the idea, and often rebuffs a suggestion or accusation.

今のところ、結婚するつもりはありません。

ima no tokoro, kekkon suru tsumori wa arimasen

For the time being, I have no intention of getting married.

そんなことを言うつもりはなかった。ごめん。

sonna koto o iu tsumori wa nakatta. gomen

I didn't mean to say something like that. Sorry.

The gap is real: 行かないつもり says "I've decided not to go"; 行くつもりはない says "there's no such intention here at all" — a harder, more defensive line. Use the second to deny an implication ("you were going to, weren't you?" → "I have no intention of it").

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〜ないつもり resolves toward not doing; 〜つもりはない denies the intention outright. When you're firmly pushing back — "I absolutely don't mean to / no way" — reach for 〜つもりはない, which negates the intention itself and hits harder.

つもりだった: "I meant to — but…"

Because つもり is a subjective resolve, it can be broken, abandoned, or overtaken by events. Put it in the past — つもりだった — and you signal exactly that: the intention was there, but reality diverged. It leans naturally into のに ("even though") or a trailing が, carrying a note of apology or regret.

手伝うつもりだったのに、間に合わなかった。

tetsudau tsumori datta noni, ma ni awanakatta

I meant to help, but I didn't make it in time.

車を買うつもりだったが、やっぱりやめた。

kuruma o kau tsumori datta ga, yappari yameta

I was going to buy a car, but in the end I decided against it.

This "willed it, didn't achieve it" reading is possible only because intention is a state of mind that events can override. A scheduled 予定 can also fall through, but つもりだった specifically foregrounds your thwarted resolve — the regret is personal.

The false friend: 〜たつもり ("convinced oneself")

Now the trap the brief warns about. Attach つもり not to the dictionary form but to the past 〜た form and the meaning changes entirely. 〜たつもり does not state a future plan; it means "under the (mistaken) impression that one did," "as if one had." It describes a belief about your own action that may not match reality.

ちゃんと説明したつもりだったが、全然伝わっていなかった。

chanto setsumei shita tsumori datta ga, zenzen tsutawatte inakatta

I was sure I'd explained it properly, but it hadn't got across at all.

旅行に行ったつもりで、そのお金を貯金することにした。

ryokō ni itta tsumori de, sono o-kane o chokin suru koto ni shita

Pretending (as if) I'd gone on the trip, I decided to save that money instead.

The same "believes oneself to be" idiom extends to adjectives and nouns in the non-past: 若いつもり ("thinks himself young"), 分かっているつもり ("under the impression he understands"), 専門家のつもり ("fancies himself an expert"). Note the linking — adjectives attach plainly (若いつもり), nouns take の (専門家のつもり). This whole family is about self-deception or as-if framing, worlds away from stating a plan.

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行くつもりだ (dictionary form) = future intention, "I mean to go." 行ったつもりだ (past form) = self-persuasion, "I'm under the impression I went / as if I'd gone." The tense of the inner verb flips the meaning — never use 〜たつもり for a plan you haven't carried out yet.

つもり vs 予定: willed versus arranged

The same future event can be framed two ways, and the choice signals who owns the plan. つもり is your inner resolve; 予定 reports an external, arranged schedule — a calendar entry, an agreed appointment.

来週、大阪に行くつもりです。

raishū, Ōsaka ni iku tsumori desu

I intend to go to Osaka next week. (my personal resolve)

来週、大阪に出張する予定です。

raishū, Ōsaka ni shutchō suru yotei desu

I'm scheduled to go to Osaka on business next week. (it's on the calendar)

Say 行くつもり when it's your own will; say 行く予定 when it's an arrangement fixed outside your whim. Picking correctly tells your listener whether the plan is willed or booked.

A note on other people's intentions

Because つもり reports a mind, and you can't see into someone else's, stating a third person's intention as a bare fact sounds odd. Wrap it in a reporting or evidential frame instead:

彼は会社を辞めるつもりらしい。

kare wa kaisha o yameru tsumori rashii

Apparently he intends to quit the company. (hearsay frame — you can't read his mind directly)

Common Mistakes

❌ 来年、日本に行きますつもりです。

rainen, nihon ni ikimasu tsumori desu

Incorrect — つもり takes the plain dictionary form, never the ます-form.

✅ 来年、日本に行くつもりです。

rainen, nihon ni iku tsumori desu

I intend to go to Japan next year.

❌ 明日、映画を見たつもりです。

ashita, eiga o mita tsumori desu

Wrong idiom for a future plan — 〜たつもり means 'as if / under the impression I did,' not 'I plan to.'

✅ 明日、映画を見るつもりです。

ashita, eiga o miru tsumori desu

I plan to see a movie tomorrow.

❌ 彼を傷つけるつもりじゃないでした。

kare o kizutsukeru tsumori ja nai deshita

Incorrect copula past — negate with なかった/ありませんでした, not じゃないでした.

✅ 彼を傷つけるつもりはありませんでした。

kare o kizutsukeru tsumori wa arimasen deshita

I had no intention of hurting him.

❌ 週末は暇なつもりです。

shūmatsu wa hima na tsumori desu

Odd — つもり is a resolve about your own action, not a forecast of a state; for a schedule use 予定.

✅ 週末は暇になる予定です。

shūmatsu wa hima ni naru yotei desu

I'm expecting to be free this weekend. (schedule/expectation → 予定)

Key Takeaways

つもり is a noun of intention taking the copula: 行くつもりだ = "the intention to go is in place."
It marks a settled resolve — firmer than the たい wish, more personal than the scheduled 予定.
Two negatives: 〜ないつもり (resolve not to) vs the stronger 〜つもりはない (deny the intention outright).
つもりだった(のに) = "I meant to, but…" — intention overtaken by reality.
〜たつもり (past inner verb) is a different idiom: "convinced oneself / as if" — never a future plan.
For an externally arranged schedule, switch to 〜予定.

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