Until this point in the Japanese course, most lessons have been written in the neutral form. This generally entails using verbs in the long form, ending in -ます. This neutral form of Japanese is good to adopt as one's default mode of speaking or writing, especially for using with strangers or in a professional or formal situation.
However, when spending time with friends or family members, the more colloquial plain form or casual form is by far the most common mode of expression. In the next few lessons we will be going over how to create sentences in the plain form.
We'll begin with conjugating verbs to the plain form in the present tense. For verbs used in the affirmative this is actually simply the dictionary form, which we have used when introducing new verb vocabulary words.
Below are some sentences contrasting the polite and plain form.
| English | Japanese |
|---|---|
| I drink wine at dinner. | 晩ご飯 で ワイン を 飲む。bangohan de wain o nomu. |
| She studies chemistry in the Netherlands. | 彼女 は オランダ で 化学 を 勉強する。kanojo wa oranda de kagaku o benkyousuru. |
The copula desu also has a plain form, which is だ.
| English | Japanese |
|---|---|
| My favorite type of flower is the orchid. | 私 の 一番 好きな 花 の 種類 は ラン だ。watashi no ichiban sukina hana no shurui wa ran da. |
