Hossfeld's Japanese grammar; comprising a manual of the spoken language in the Roman character together with dialogues on several subjects and two vocabularies of useful words

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 Excerpt: ...is attained, the following suggestions and examples are offered with a view to minimising the difficulty:--Aru, atta, arc, etc. These forms are mostly used with the signification "there is," "there was," "perhaps there will be." In many instances their meaning is conveniently rendered by "I (you, etc.) have, had, shall have," the subject in the Japanese construction being replaced by the object in English; thus--Mizu ga aru. r L / 1 ha/oe (some) water. 'there-is ) If masu is affixed, as arimasu, arimasKita, arimasho, a politer signification is imparted. Still more respectful but identical in meaning are the forms gozaimasu, gozaimashlta, gozaimasho (cf. p. 78). Used with a Gerund, however, arimasu, gozaimasu mean "to be" only, and not "there is "; as--Kami ni tsutsunde arimasu, ) It is wrapped up in yaper in hav ing-wrapped is ) paper. This is also the case when gozaimasu has an adjective associated with it; as--Yama ga tako gozaimasu, mountain mountain high is The Certain Present of aru and of arimasu are seldom used in this connection accompanied by adjectives in the u or o form as the notion of " to be" is inherent in the adjective itself. Thus the last sentence would be, in a less respectful form, "Yama ga takai" (see p. 118). De aru, de atta, de aro, etc. (familiar). De arimasu, de arimashlta, de arimasho, etc. (politer). De gozaimasu, de gozaimashlta, de gozaimash.6, etc. (politest). These are forms of the verb "to be "without "there," and their signification is therefore simply "I am, he, she, it is," etc., and similarly throughout the conjugation. Desu is an abbreviation of de gozaimasu; deshlta of de gozaimashlta, and desho of de gozaimasJw...