Page:An elementary grammar of the Japanese language.djvu/23

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Of Verbs.
9

There are two kinds of demonstrative pronouns, namely, kore and sore, which correspond to ‘this’ and ‘that’ in English. They have cases, which are rendered like cases of a noun: they have the same forms both in the plural and singular. Examples: Kore wo ō-torinasare, Take this; Watakusi ni sore wo kudasare, Give me that.

OF VERBS.

A Verb is a word used to express existence or action. Verbs are of three kinds—Active, Passive, and Neuter.

  1. An Active Verb expresses action passing from an actor to some object; as, Watakusi wa shomotu wo mimasu, I see or read a book.
  2. A Passive Verb expresses the suffering of an action performed by another; as, Watakusi wa hita ni[1] miraremasu, I am seen by people.
  3. A Neuter Verb is neither active nor passive; it expresses existence, condition of being, and action limited to the actor; as, Watakusi wa nemurimasu, I sleep.

Inflection of Verbs.

Verbs are inflected to express voices, moods, and tenses. There are three kinds of Japanese verbs—first,

  1. Here ni means ‘by’ in English