JLPT N4 Grammar: Using hajimeru, dasu, tudukeru, and owaru

JLPT N4 Grammar: Using hajimeru, dasu, tudukeru, and owaru post image

This month, I’m continuing on with N4 grammar points and how to use the masu stem effectively. We are going to talk about how to start, continue and finish something using 始める, 出す, 続ける, and 終わる. Do you know what the difference is between 始める and 出す? Do you know how to form sentences using these points? I go over all that and more in the video below:

Since this is the first of many N4 Grammar videos to come. Be sure to subscribe to the N4 Grammar channel in order to get all of the videos as they come out.

And if you missed any of my N5 grammar videos you can find them on the JLPT N5 Grammar YouTube Channel

Do you have friends? I bet you do. How about friends that are just starting to learn Japanese? They will probably find this video helpful, so send it along and help them out.

Of course for more information about each grammar point as well as access to the JLPT Study Kit, check out the premium site.

Did I miss something? Do you have a question? Let me know in the comments.

{ 4 comments… add one }
  • Jared May 20, 2015, 11:52 pm

    降り続ける sounded weird to me as I thought it turned it into a transitive verb and 降り続く sounded more correct. But after looking it up, it seems as both are completely OK (and you might hear either of them on the news) and the intransitive-ness of 降る (or any verb, I guess) is not completely trampled by 続ける.

    Many verbs work with one and not the other so it becomes second nature to use one over the other, but this one can go with either and it perked my ears up. Even after using these for years it’s fun to find something to challenge and solidify your own understanding. Thanks!

    • Clayton MacKnight May 21, 2015, 12:19 am

      Yeah, I like to think of myself as at least an upper intermediate user of Japanese, but every time I make these videos, do all the research, double check the sentences with my editors, questions inevitably come up and I learn something new. I wouldn’t really recommend for everyone, but detailed review like this is great for lifers like me.

      • Jared May 21, 2015, 12:22 am

        Where’s the like button? I just wanna click like on this… haha :thumbsup:

        But yeah I do like reading about basic stuff again. Makes it easier to explain the large amounts of things I’ve just learned over the years but never really studied formally. Many eye-openers come up randomly.

  • Tommy June 14, 2015, 8:50 pm

    Great video Clayton.

    In terms of my own N4 progress, I’m on track to have most of the essentials covered with a few months to spare. With my teacher, I’ve reached chapter 21 of 23 in Genki, and kanji-wise I have almost finished learning the N4 kanji.

    As far as vocabulary goes, I’ve been doing a lot of reading (mainly Kokugo, the Japanese Graded Reader and a book called “Naze? Doushite? Kagaku no Hanashi”). Kokugo is a Japanese school textbook that I managed to pick up for free from the Japanese Embassy here. I have the first four books which cover first and second year, two books for each year. They are brilliant books, ideal for my level, a great source of vocabulary and I would recommend them to any Japanese learner.

    The Japanese Graded Reader and Naze Doushite are two more great readers that I bought from White Rabbit Japan. I have tried other readers but they are more difficult (even if they are all labelled “Ichi Nensei”. There seems to be a big disparity as to what qualifies as “Ichi Nensei”.)

    My teacher wants to move straight on to Minna no Nihongo Chukyu, which I’m happy enough to do, but my main focus for the rest of the year will be to revise and continue reading. Last year before the N5 I spent some time in Japan which gave me a huge boost for the exam, this year I won’t have any such life-changing experience so it will be interesting to see how I get on!

    By the way, isn’t it funny how kanji are seen – maybe from a beginner’s viewpoint – as the biggest obstacle to reading Japanese? But there is so much more to it than that. If you are reading Japanese at any graded level (i.e. not in the wild and not for adults) – then kanji are irrelevant in terms of the difficulty of comprehension, and if anything, are a help more than a hindrance. But I suppose, as you move up the ladder, things change…

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