Requests, and things in progress

The て form you built last lesson does almost nothing on its own, and that is exactly its job: it is a hook, waiting for something to hang off it. This lesson hangs two very useful things off it. Add ください and you can ask for what you want. Add います and you can describe what is going on at this moment. Between them they turn a list of dictionary verbs into a language you can actually use in a shop, a station or a conversation.

Asking for something: てください

Take the て form and add ください. That is the whole rule.

ちょっと待まってください chotto matte kudasai Please wait a moment

もう一度いちど言いってください mou ichido itte kudasai Please say that once more

ここに名前なまえを書かいてください koko ni namae o kaite kudasai Please write your name here

Notice that the rest of the sentence behaves normally. を still marks the object, に still marks the place. Only the verb ending changes.

ゆっくり話はなしてください yukkuri hanashite kudasai Please speak slowly

A warning about strength. English "please" is soft, but てください is closer to a polite instruction than a plea. A teacher says it to a class, a doctor says it to a patient, a station announcement says it to you. Among equals it is perfectly normal for small favours, but pointing it at your boss can sound like you are giving orders. Two habits fix this. Start with すみませんが, and drop ちょっと in front of the verb, which shrinks the request to something trivially small.

すみませんが、ちょっと手伝てつだってください sumimasen ga, chotto tetsudatte kudasai Sorry, but could you give me a hand

ください also works on its own, with no verb in front of it at all. Put a noun and を before it and you are asking to be given the thing. This is what you say across a counter, and it is probably the single most useful sentence pattern in the whole lesson.

これをください kore o kudasai I will take this one, please

水みずをください mizu o kudasai Some water, please

Keep the two patterns apart in your head. A noun takes を before ください, an action takes the て form and no を at all. Saying 待まちますをください is the sort of mistake that comes from mixing them.

Asking someone not to

For the opposite, use the plain negative, the ない form you met when you learned negatives, and add でください.

ここで写真しゃしんを撮とらないでください koko de shashin o toranai de kudasai Please do not take photographs here

心配しんぱいしないでください shinpai shinai de kudasai Please do not worry

窓まどを開あけないでください mado o akenai de kudasai Please do not open the window

Things in progress: ています

Attach います to the て form instead, and the action becomes ongoing. This is the closest Japanese has to "I am doing".

今いまごはんを食たべています ima gohan o tabete imasu I am eating right now

雨あめが降ふっています ame ga futte imasu It is raining

子こどもたちは公園こうえんで遊あそんでいます kodomotachi wa kouen de asonde imasu The children are playing in the park

Only います changes when you make the sentence negative or past. The て form in front of it never moves.

姉あねは働はたらいていません ane wa hataraite imasen My older sister is not working

昨日きのうの夜よる、本ほんを読よんでいました kinou no yoru, hon o yonde imashita Last night I was reading a book

In relaxed speech the い disappears and you hear 食たべてます, 待まってます. Recognise it, and keep the い in anything you write.

States that stay

Here is the part that trips up nearly every beginner. With some verbs, ています does not mean "in the middle of doing" at all. It means the action already happened and its result is still true. The verb points at a moment of change, and ています describes the world after that moment.

東京とうきょうに住すんでいます toukyou ni sunde imasu I live in Tokyo

姉あねは結婚けっこんしています ane wa kekkon shite imasu My older sister is married

先生せんせいの電話でんわ番号ばんごうを知しっています sensei no denwa bangou o shitte imasu I know the teacher's phone number

None of those is a progressive. 結婚けっこんしています is not "she is getting married", it is "she got married and still is". 住すんでいます is where you live, not where you are moving in today. In fact 住すみます on its own sounds oddly like a plan rather than a fact, so for where you live, ています is the ordinary choice rather than a fancy one.

知しっています hides one more trap. Its negative is not 知しっていません but 知しりません. There is no state to describe when you do not know something, so Japanese simply says the verb did not happen.

道みちを知しりません michi o shirimasen I do not know the way

Habits, too

The same ています covers what you do regularly, in the sense of what you are currently doing with your life.

銀行ぎんこうで働はたらいています ginkou de hataraite imasu I work at a bank

毎朝まいあさコーヒーを飲のんでいます maiasa koohii o nonde imasu I drink coffee every morning

So one form does three jobs: this instant, a lasting result, and an ongoing habit. Context sorts them out, and the verb itself tells you which reading is even possible. Verbs describing a stretch of activity, like 食たべます or 読よみます, give you the progressive. Verbs describing an instant change, like 結婚けっこんします or 持もちます, give you the state.

Vocabulary

You can now ask for things and describe what is happening, which covers a surprising share of everyday speech. Next you will send yourself somewhere, and learn which particle carries you there.