Lesson 6: Basic Verbs — Making Sentences

Build a sentence the listener can follow

You can now introduce yourself. Next, say what you do: read at the library, drink coffee with a friend, or go to Tokyo on Saturday. The key is to connect each piece to its role, then finish the basic clause with the predicate.

Compare コーヒーを飲みます (Kōhī o nomimasu, I drink coffee) with カフェで飲みます (Kafe de nomimasu, I drink at a café). を marks what you drink; で marks where the drinking happens. Combine them: カフェでコーヒーを飲みます。 The particles let the listener follow both pieces.

This lesson supplies readings for new words. You do not need to know their kanji or katakana before practicing the sentence patterns.

1. Learn a verb together with its polite form

The dictionary form is the form you look up. The ～ます form is polite and nonpast: with suitable context, it describes a routine or a future action. It does not by itself specifically mean “doing it right now.”

These are 15 core verbs. The stem changes depend on the verb group: 食べる → 食べます, 飲む → 飲みます, する → します, 来る → 来ます（きます）. You cannot simply attach ます to the whole dictionary form. For now, learn the pairs; a full conjugation system can come later.

Keep vowel and consonant lengths from the hiragana lessons. べんきょう has four timing units, べ・ん・きょ・う. A timing unit is a useful rhythm model, not a promise that every sound lasts exactly the same number of milliseconds. The /u/ vowel in the final す of ます may be devoiced in ordinary speech; do not add a strong English-style stressed “soo.”

毎日、本を読みます。 (Mainichi, hon o yomimasu.) — I read books every day.
明日、本を読みます。 (Ashita, hon o yomimasu.) — I'll read a book tomorrow.

The time expression makes the routine/future contrast clear. To explicitly describe an ongoing activity, you met 勉強しています in the previous lesson. Bare 勉強します is not automatically “I am studying right now.”

2. Start with topic → object → verb

私は本を読みます。
わたしはほんをよみます / Watashi wa hon o yomimasu.
I read books.

Break it into 私は (as for me), 本を (books, the object), 読みます (read). This is a neutral beginner pattern. A simple clause commonly puts its predicate last, but the verb need not be the final word of every utterance: 読みますか adds a question particle; 読みますよ adds a sentence-final particle. Spoken afterthoughts are another reason to avoid an absolute “verb always last” rule.

本を私は読みます is also grammatical. Changing the order before the verb can affect emphasis and context; particles still identify the roles. Practice the neutral topic-first order first, while recognizing that another grammatical order is not automatically wrong.

When the topic is understood, 本を読みます is enough. Japanese can omit understood subjects and objects. Not every verb requires a direct object either: 行きます can mean “I'll go” when the destination is understood.

3. Particles: mark each piece's job

These are selected uses, not complete definitions of the particles. は marks a topic, which is not always the grammatical subject. を is normally pronounced o in modern standard Japanese, even though a chart or keyboard may label it wo.

Destination or action location?

学校に行きます。 (Gakkō ni ikimasu.) — I go to school.
学校で勉強します。 (Gakkō de benkyō shimasu.) — I study at school.

Look at the verb before choosing the particle. Going establishes a destination; studying is an action at a location. The same place can therefore take different particles in different sentences. へ, pronounced e, can also mark direction with 行きます: 学校へ行きます is valid too.

に has other uses. With 会います（あいます / aimasu）, “meet,” you can say 友達に会います, “I meet a friend.” 友達と会います also works. Do not teach yourself that に only ever means “to a destination.”

Time, means, and company

六時に帰ります。 (Roku-ji ni kaerimasu.) — I return at six.
土曜日に友達と東京に行きます。 (Doyōbi ni tomodachi to Tōkyō ni ikimasu.) — I'll go to Tokyo with a friend on Saturday.
日本語で話します。 (Nihongo de hanashimasu.) — I speak in Japanese.
電話で話します。 (Denwa de hanashimasu.) — I talk by phone.

Time に is useful with clock times and can appear with days such as Saturday or the weekend. It can also be omitted in some contexts. 今日（きょう / kyō）, 明日（あした / ashita）, and 毎日（まいにち / mainichi） normally stand without に in the basic time expressions here.

日本語を話します is also grammatical: it presents Japanese as what you speak. 日本語で話します presents Japanese as the language used. If an exercise explicitly asks for the marker of the language/means, it is practicing で; this does not make the を sentence generally wrong.

を also has uses beyond direct objects, such as the place left in 家を出ます（いえをでます / ie o demasu）, “I leave home.” A particle's English gloss is a clue for a particular construction, not a translation rule for every sentence.

4. Put the verbs to work

Read each sentence aloud, then cover the last column and recover the action. The examples deliberately reuse a small set of patterns.

In the fourth example, が marks the friend as the subject of 来ます. 来ます means “come,” toward a relevant place such as the speaker's home in this scene; 行きます means “go.” The reference point matters, so English “come/go” will not map perfectly in every conversation. 帰ります is returning to home or another place where someone belongs. 遊びます covers playing and spending leisure time socially, including adults hanging out.

Word bank for these examples and the practice questions

Four supporting verbs help link the scenes: 起きます（おきます / okimasu）, get up; 寝ます（ねます / nemasu）, sleep/go to bed; 出ます（でます / demasu）, leave/go out; and 会います（あいます / aimasu）, meet. These are in addition to the 15 core verbs, not secretly part of that count.

5. Build, compare, then change one piece

Start with 飲みます. Add what: コーヒーを飲みます. Add where: カフェでコーヒーを飲みます. Add who accompanies you: カフェで友達とコーヒーを飲みます. Add a time: 明日、カフェで友達とコーヒーを飲みます.

Now change the drink to water. The result is 明日、カフェで友達と水を飲みます. The object changes, but its marker を stays. Change the action to “go to the café” and the location role changes: 明日、友達とカフェに行きます. This is why you should choose particles by the whole construction.

Try these before reading the answers:

1. Read a book at the library: 図書館 ___ 本 ___ 読みます。
2. Go to school by train: 電車 ___ 学校 ___ 行きます。
3. Eat dinner with a friend: 友達 ___ 晩ご飯 ___ 食べます。

Answers: (1) で / を; (2) で / に, with へ also valid for the destination; (3) と / を. The particles mark action location/object, means/destination, and companion/object respectively.

A short day, then your own version

毎朝、七時に起きます。パンを食べます。電車で学校に行きます。学校で日本語を勉強します。六時に家に帰ります。家で晩ご飯を作ります。夜、テレビを見ます。
Maiasa, shichi-ji ni okimasu. Pan o tabemasu. Densha de gakkō ni ikimasu. Gakkō de Nihongo o benkyō shimasu. Roku-ji ni ie ni kaerimasu. Ie de bangohan o tsukurimasu. Yoru, terebi o mimasu.

Every morning I get up at seven. I eat bread, go to school by train, and study Japanese there. I return home at six, make dinner at home, and watch TV at night.

Replace three details with your own or invented ones. Then describe tomorrow using 明日 and two actions. Check the action first, the particles second, and the polite ending last. Your aim is a sentence whose meaning another person can follow, with enough context to know who does what, where, or when.