Nihongo Notes

Common Contractions

When Mr. Lerner passed by where Miss Yoshida was talking with a young colleague at lunchtime, he heard her saying
    Ima yonderu. Yonjattara motte kitageru.
He understood that she ment that she was reading the book in question and that she would bring it to her colleague when she had finished reading it, but he was suppreised at the familiar tone and use of contractions
Several kinds of contracted form are used in familiar conversation. Miss Yoshida contracted yonde iru into yonderu, yonde shimattara into yonjattara, and motte kite ageru into motte kitageru. The following is an explanation of some common contractions, including those used by Miss Yoshida.
1.) The "i" sound in iru, iku, and irassharu is very often dropped:
    Omachi shite-masu.
    (I'll be waiting for you.)
      from Omachi shite imasu.
    Itte-rasshai.
    (Goodbye, said to family members going out.)
      from Itte irasshai.
This dropping of the "i" sound is seen in fairly polite speech, too.

2.) Expressions composed of the tr form followed by another verb or by wa are contracted as follows:

    kaichatta
    (I have written it.)
      from kaite shimatta
    yonjatta
    (I have read it.)
      from yonde shimatta
    kaitoita
    (I wrote it beforehand.)
      from kaite oita
    yondoita
    (I read it beforehand.)
      from yonde oita
    kaitageru
    (I'll write it for you.)
      from kaite ageru
    yondageru
    (I'll read it for you.)
      from yonde ageru
    kaicha ikemasen
    (You shouldn't write it.)
      from kaite wa ikemasen
    yonja ikemasen
    (you shouldn't read it.)
      from yonde wa ikemasen
3.) ...kereba insuch phrases as yokereba (if it is good) and ikanakereba (if I don't go) are contracted into either kya or kerya.
    yasukya
    (if it's inexpensive.)
      from yasukereba
    yasukerya
    (if it's inexpensive.)
      from yasukereba
    kakanakya naranai
    (I have to write it.)
      from kakanakereba naranai
    kakanakerya naranai
    (I have to write it.)
      from kakanakereba naranai
4.) In addition to these common contractions, sometimes the "ra" and the "re" sounds become "n"
    wakannai
    (I don't understand.)
      from wakaranai
    kawannai
    (It doesn't change.)
      from kawaranai
    mirannai
    (I can't see it.)
      from mirarenai
Follow this link for an index of Nihongo Notes
Nihongo Notes is taken from a series of columns that appeared in The Japan Times
written by Osamu and Nobuko Mizutani They are not designed to teach Japanese, so much
as they are to better one's Japanese.

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