Page:An elementary grammar of the Japanese language.djvu/123

Rh them? 18. A famous painter called Hokusai painted them. 19. Where do you go to-day? 20. I go to hear a story-teller. 21. What story (Nan to yuwu hanasi) are you going to hear? 22. I am going to hear the story of Tiwusingura. 23. Who is the story-teller? 24. I do not know (his) name. 25. Tiwusingura is the story I heard before.

Where two or more verbs are connected by the conjunction “and” in an English sentence, the verbs in a Japanese sentence change their termination except a final one, in order to avoid the repetition, of masu, masen, &c. For instance, Watakusi wa Asakusa ye ite, hana wo mite, sore kara kayerimasho. I shall go to Asakusa, see the flower and then return. Here the words iku “to go,” and miru “to see,” are respectively changed into ite and mite. These forms of the verbs remain the same whether the tense is present, past, or future.

Where a verb is governed by a relative pronoun in an English sentence, the verb in a Japanese sentence often changes its termination. For instance, Sore wa watakusi ga mita shomotu de gozarimasu, That is the book (which) I have seen. Here the verb miru “to see,” is changed into mita. The following is the declension of the verb ending in ku.