Intention and decision

The previous lesson dealt with what you are able to do. This one deals with what you have decided to do, and it ends on a piece of Japanese that has no English counterpart at all: a construction for announcing your own decisions as though somebody else had made them.

The volitional form

You already have half of this. ましょう, from the beginner course, is the polite volitional, and the plain form of it is what this lesson builds.

For a group 1 verb, move the final kana of the dictionary form to the お row and lengthen it with う. 行いく gives 行いこう, 飲のむ gives 飲のもう, 買かう gives 買かおう, 待まつ gives 待まとう, 帰かえる gives 帰かえろう, 話はなす gives 話はなそう, 泳およぐ gives 泳およごう.

Group 2 replaces る with よう: 食たべよう, 見みよう, 起おきよう. The irregulars give しよう and 来こよう.

That is now the fifth thing the final kana of a group 1 dictionary form has decided, after the て form, the ない form, the ば form and the potential. Five conjugations, one piece of information, which is the argument for having learned the nine endings properly in the first lesson.

The basic meaning is the one you know: let us, or shall we.

お茶ちゃでも飲のもう ocha demo nomou let's get a cup of tea

Example. Give the plain volitional of 手伝てつだう, 持もつ, 始はじめる and 来くる.

手伝てつだおう, 持もとう, 始はじめよう, 来こよう. The first is a う verb, so its final kana moves to the お row and takes う, giving おう rather than あう. The second moves つ to と. The third is group 2 and takes よう. The fourth is irregular and shifts its reading to こ, as it does in the negative and the potential.

Now you. Give the plain volitional of 急いそぐ, 座すわる, 見みる and する, and say which one is easiest to get wrong.

Volitional plus と思おもう: intention

Put the volitional in front of と and a verb of thinking, using the quotation grammar of an earlier lesson, and you have the ordinary way to state an intention.

来年らいねん日本にほんに行いこうと思おもっています rainen nihon ni ikou to omotte imasu I'm thinking of going to Japan next year

The choice between 思おもう and 思おもっている matters here and is easy to state. と思おもいます reports a decision reached at this moment, often in response to what was just said. と思おもっています reports a settled intention you have been holding for a while, and it is the one you want for plans. The same ている that turned a claim about somebody else's mind into a report of an observable state is doing the same work again.

This construction is softer than saying you will do something. 行いきます is a statement of fact about the future; 行いこうと思おもっています presents it as your current thinking, which leaves room for it not to happen. In Japanese that room is usually wanted.

Volitional plus とする: on the point of

The other thing a volitional attaches to is する, and the result means "to be about to" or "to try to".

出でかけようとしたとき、電話でんわが鳴なった dekakeyou to shita toki, denwa ga natta just as I was about to go out, the phone rang

ドアを開あけようとしたが、開あかなかった doa o akeyou to shita ga, akanakatta I tried to open the door, but it wouldn't

Note carefully what "try" means here: an attempt that is under way or that failed, with the emphasis on the effort. It is not the てみる of the beginner course, which means to do something and see how it goes. 食たべてみる is to try a dish; 食たべようとする is to attempt to eat something and, usually, to fail.

つもり and 予定よてい

Both translate as "plan", and they differ in where the plan lives.

つもり is your own intention, held in your head. It attaches to the plain form.

明日あした早はやく起おきるつもりです ashita hayaku okiru tsumori desu I intend to get up early tomorrow

Its two negatives are not the same. 行いかないつもりです says you intend not to go. 行いくつもりはありません says you have no intention of going, which is markedly stronger and can be curt. And つもりだった says an intention that came to nothing: 電話でんわするつもりだったんですが, "I meant to ring, but...".

予定よてい is an arrangement, something on a calendar, which may well have been fixed by somebody else. It is a noun, so a verb takes the plain form in front of it and a noun takes の.

三時さんじに会あう予定よていです sanji ni au yotei desu I'm due to meet them at three

The test is simple: if a diary would know about it, it is 予定よてい; if only you know about it, it is つもり.

Example. You have a dentist's appointment at four, and you also mean to do some shopping on the way home. Say both.

四時よじに歯医者はいしゃに行いく予定よていです for the appointment, since it is booked and somebody else is expecting you, and 帰かえりに買かい物ものをするつもりです for the shopping, since nobody but you knows about it and nothing would go wrong if you skipped it. Swapping them produces two odd sentences: a 予定よてい for unplanned shopping suggests a schedule you have been given, and a つもり for a dentist's appointment suggests you might not turn up.

Now you. Say that you meant to ring but did not, and then say that you have no intention whatever of going to the party.

ことにする and ことになる

Here is where Japanese does something that English does not, and it is worth the whole lesson.

ことにする means to decide to do something, by your own choice. It takes the plain form plus こと, from the nominalisation lesson.

毎朝まいあさ走はしることにしました maiasa hashiru koto ni shimashita I've decided to run every morning

ことになる means that it has come to be decided. Grammatically the decision has no agent: it happened.

来月らいげつ大阪おおさかに転勤てんきんすることになりました raigetsu Osaka ni tenkin suru koto ni narimashita it's been arranged that I'll transfer to Osaka next month

Sometimes that is literally true and your employer decided. But the striking fact is that Japanese speakers use ことになりました even when they decided entirely for themselves. 結婚けっこんすることになりました is the ordinary way to announce your own engagement, and it does not mean anybody arranged the marriage. The construction presents the outcome as something that came about, which spares the listener the sight of you announcing your own plans, and spares you the appearance of self-importance.

That is not a grammatical rule and not a politeness level. It is a habit of self-presentation built into a construction, and noticing it is a good measure of how far into the language you have got. A learner who announces 結婚けっこんすることにしました has said something perfectly grammatical that sounds faintly like a press release.

The related ことにしている means to make a practice of something: 毎日まいにち日記にっきを書かくことにしています, I make a point of keeping a diary. And ことになっている describes a standing rule: この部屋へやでは靴くつを脱ぬぐことになっています, you are supposed to take your shoes off in this room.

Example. You have decided to quit your job and move to Kyoto. Announce it to a colleague in the way a Japanese speaker would, and say what the alternative would sound like.

来月らいげつ会社かいしゃを辞やめて、京都きょうとに引ひっ越こすことになりました. Nobody made you do it, and everyone knows that, which is exactly why ことになりました is right: it reports the outcome rather than parading the decision. Saying 辞やめることにしました is grammatical and puts your own agency in the foreground, which is fine among close friends and slightly graceless in an office. The English instinct, that taking responsibility for your own choices is a virtue, does not transfer here.

Now you. Your company has told you that you will be working Saturdays from next month. Say so, and then say that you have decided to leave the job because of it.

ようになる and ようにする

The last pair describes gradual change rather than a moment of decision.

ようになる means to reach the point of doing something, usually a change in ability or habit.

日本語にほんごが話はなせるようになりました nihongo ga hanaseru you ni narimashita I've got to the point where I can speak Japanese

Because it is about change over time, it pairs naturally with the potential form, and the negative is なくなる rather than ないようになる: 新聞しんぶんを読よまなくなりました, I've stopped reading the newspaper.

ようにする means to make an effort towards something, and ようにしている means you are keeping that effort up.

毎日まいにち運動うんどうするようにしています mainichi undou suru you ni shite imasu I try to exercise every day

甘あまい物ものを食たべないようにしています amai mono o tabenai you ni shite imasu I'm trying not to eat sweet things

The difference from ことにする is one of hardness. ことにしている is a rule you have set yourself and keep; ようにしている is an aim you are working towards and may miss. Saying 毎日まいにち運動うんどうすることにしています claims a discipline that ようにしています carefully does not.

Vocabulary

Everything so far has been done by somebody, and the grammar has kept track of who. The next lesson takes the actor out, first by choosing a different verb and then, in the lesson after it, by using the passive.