Compound Sentences

Posted by Tae Kim

In this section, we will learn various ways to combine multiple simple sentences into one complex sentence. For example, we will learn how to chain separate sentences together to express multiple actions or states. In other words, if we have two simple sentences with the same subject, "I ran" and "I ate", we will learn how to group them together to mean, "I ran and ate." We will also learn how to do this with adjectives and nouns. (Ex: He is rich, handsome, and charming.)

Expressing a sequence of states

It is very easy to combine a chain of nouns and adjectives to describe a person or object. For example, in English if we wanted to say, "He is X. He is Y. He is Z." since all three sentences have the same noun, we would usually say, "He is X, Y, and Z." In Japanese, we can do the same thing by conjugating the noun or adjective. The last noun or adjective remains the same as before.

How to chain nouns and adjectives together
  • Nouns and na-adjectives: Attach 「で」 to the noun or na-adjective.
  • 例) 一般的一般的
  • 例) 静か静か
  • I-adjectives and negative noun/adjective: Replace the 「い」 with 「くて」.
    ※For 「いい」 and 「かっこいい」, the 「い→よ」 exception applies here as well.
  • 例) くて
  • 例) 彼女じゃな彼女じゃなくて
  • 例) いいよくて

Examples

(1) 部屋は、きれい静かとても好き
- My room is clean, quiet, and I like it a lot.

(2) 彼女は、学生じゃなくて先生だ。
- She is not a student, she is a teacher.

(3) 田中さんは、お金持ちかっこよくて魅力的ですね。
- Tanaka-san is rich, handsome, and charming, isn't he?

As you can see, the 「で」 attached to 「お金持ち」 obviously cannot be the context particle 「で」 here because there is no verb. It might be helpful to think of 「で」 as merely a substitution for 「だ」 that can be chained together.

Expressing a sequence of verbs with the te-form

In a similar fashion, you can express multiple actions. It is usually interpreted as a sequence of event. (I did [X], then I did [Y], then I finally did [Z].) There are two forms: positive and negative. The tense of all the actions is determined by the tense of the last verb.

How to chain verbs together
  1. Positive: Conjugate the verb to its past tense and replace 「た」 with 「て」 or 「だ」 with 「で」. This is often called the te-form even though it could sometimes be 'de' .
  2. Negative: Same as i-adjectives, replace 「い」 with 「くて」.
  • This rule also works for the polite 「です」 and 「ます」 endings.
  • 例) 学生学生でし学生でし
  • 例) 買いま買いま買いまし

Sample conjugations
Past Tense Te-form
食べ 食べ
行っ 行っ
遊ん 遊ん
飲ん 飲ん
      
Negative Te-form
食べな 食べなくて
行かな 行かなくて
しな しなくて
遊ばな 遊ばなくて
飲まな 飲まなくて

Examples

(1) 食堂行って昼ご飯食べて昼寝する
- I will go to cafeteria, eat lunch, and take a nap.

(2) 食堂行って昼ご飯食べて昼寝した
- I went to cafeteria, ate lunch, and took a nap.

(3) 時間ありまして映画見ました
- There was time and I watched a movie.

Expressing reason or causation using 「から」 and 「ので」

You can connect two complete sentences using 「から」 to indicate a reason for something. The two sentences are always ordered [reason] から [result]. When the reason is a non-conjugated noun or na-adjective, you must add 「だ」 to explicitly declare the reason in the form of 「(noun/na-adjective)から」. If you forget to add the declarative 「だ」 to 「から」, it will end up sounding like the 「から」 meaning "from" which was first introduced in
Particles 2.

Examples

(1) 時間なかったからパーティーに行きませんでした
- There was no time so didn't go to party.

(2) 友達からプレゼント来た
- Present came from friend.

(3) 友達だからプレゼント来た
- Present came because (the person is) friend. (This sentence sounds a bit odd.)

Either the reason or the cause can be omitted if it is clear from the context. In the case of polite speech, you would treat 「から」 just like a regular noun and add 「です」. When you omit the reason, you must include the declarative 「だ」 or 「です」.

田中さん) どうしてパーティー行きませんでしたか。- Why didn't you go to the party?
山田さん) 時間なかったからです。- It's because I didn't have time.

一郎) パーティー行かなかったの?- You didn't go to the party?
直子) うん、時間なかったから。- Yeah, because I didn't have time.

(1) 時間なかった。- I didn't have time.
(2) だからパーティー行かなかったの? - Is that why you didn't go to the party?

Notice that 山田さん and 直子 could have used the explanatory 「の」 to express the same thing. In other words, 山田さん could have also said, 「時間なかったのです」 or 「時間なかったんです」 while 直子 could have said 「時間なかったの」 (we'll assume she wants to use the more feminine form). In fact, this is where 「ので」 possibly came from. Let's say you want to combine two sentences: 「時間なかったのだ」 and 「パーティー行かなかった」. Remember we can treat the 「の」 just like a noun so we can use what we just learned in the first section of this lesson.

(1) 時間なかったのだ+パーティー行かなかった
becomes:
(2) 時間なかったのでパーティー行かなかった

In fact, 「ので」 is almost interchangeable with 「から」 with a few subtle differences. 「から」 explicitly states that the sentence preceding is the reason for something while 「ので」 is merely putting two sentences together, the first with an explanatory tone. This is something I call causation where [X] happened, therefore [Y] happened. This is slightly different from 「から」 where [Y] happened explicitly because [X] happened. This difference tends to make 「ので」 sound softer and slightly more polite and it is favored over 「から」 when explaining a reason for doing something that is considered discourteous.

(1) ちょっと忙しいのでそろそろ失礼します
- Because I'm a little busy, I'll be making my leave soon.
(「失礼します」, which literally means "I'm doing a discourtesy", is commonly used as a polite way to make your leave or disturb someone's time.)

Reminder: Don't forget that the explanatory 「の」 requires a 「な」 for both non-conjugated nouns and na-adjectives. Review Particles 3 to see why.

(1) 学生ので、お金ないんです。
- Because I'm a student, I have no money (lit: there is no money).

(2) ここ静かので、とても穏やかです。
- It is very calm here because it is quiet.

(3) ので、友達会う時間ない
- That's why there's no time to meet friend.

Just like how the explanatory 「の」 can be shortened to 「ん」, in speech, the 「ので」 can be changed to 「んで」 simply because it's easier to slur the sounds together rather then pronouncing the / o / syllable.

(1) 時間なかったんでパーティー行かなかった
- Didn't go to the party because there was no time.

(2) ここ静かんでとても穏やかです。
- It is very calm here because it is quiet.

(3) なんで友達会う時間ない
- That's why there's no time to meet friend.

Using 「のに」 to mean "despite"

Grammatically, 「のに」 is used exactly the same way as 「ので」. When used to combine two simple sentences together, it means "[Sentence 1] despite the fact that [Sentence 2]." However the order is reversed: [Sentence 2]のに[Sentence 1].

Examples

(1) 毎日運動したのに全然痩せなかった
- Despite exercising every day, I didn't get thinner.

(2) 学生のに彼女勉強しない
- Despite being a student, she does not study.

Expressing contradiction using 「が」 and 「けど」

Used in the same manner as 「から」 and 「ので」, 「が」 and 「けど」 also connect two sentences together but this time to express a contradiction. Just like 「から」 the declarative 「だ」 is required for nouns and na-adjectives. And just like 「から」 and 「ので」, the reason or cause can be left out.

Examples

(1) デパート行きました何も欲しくなかったです。
- I went to department store but there was nothing I wanted.

(2) 友達聞いたけど知らなかった
- I asked (or heard from) a friend but he (or I) didn't know.

(3) 今日だけど明日忙しい
- I'm free today but I will be busy tomorrow.

(4) だけどまだ好きなの。
- That may be so, but it is that I still like him. (explanation, feminine tone)

It may seem odd but 「聞く」 can either mean "to listen" or "to ask". You may think this may become confusing but the meaning is usually clear within context. In (2)、 we're assuming that the friend didn't know, so the speaker was probably asking the friend. Yet again we see the importance of context in Japanese because this sentence can also mean, "I heard from a friend but I didn't know" since there is neither subject nor topic.

Similar to the difference between 「から」 and 「ので」, 「が」 has a softer tone and is slightly more polite than 「けど」. Though this isn't a rule as such, it is generally common to see 「が」 attached to a 「~ます」 or 「~です」 ending and 「けど」 attached to a regular, plain ending. A more formal version of 「けど」 is 「けれど」 and even more formal is 「けれども」, which we may see later when we cover formal expressions.

Unlike the English word for contradiction such as "but" or "however", 「けど」 and 「が」 do not always express a direct contradiction. Often times, especially when introducing a new topic, it is used as a general connector of two separate sentences. For example, in the following sentences, there is no actual contradiction but 「が」 and 「けど」 are used simply to connect the sentences. Sometimes, the English "and" becomes a closer translation than "but".

(1) デパート行きましたいいたくさんありました
- I went to the department store and there was a lot of good stuff.

(2) マトリックス見たけど面白かった
- I watched the "Matrix" and it was interesting.

Expressing multiple reasons using 「し」

When you want to list reasons for multiple states or actions you can do so by adding 「し」 to the end of each subordinate clause. It is very similar to the 「や」 particle except that it lists reasons for verbs and state of being. Again, for states of being, 「だ」 must be used to explicitly declare the state of being for any non-conjugated noun or na-adjective. Let's look at some examples.

(1) どうして友達じゃないんですか?- Why isn't him/her friend (seeking explanation)?
(2) 先生だし年上だし・・・。- Well, he's/she's the teacher, and older...

(1) どうして好きなの?- Why (do you) like him?
(2) 優しいかっこいい面白いから。- Because he's kind, attractive, and interesting (among other things).

Notice that 「優しくてかっこよくて面白いから。」 could also have worked but much like the difference between the 「と」 and 「や」 particle, 「し」 implies that there may be other reasons.

Expressing multiple actions or states using 「~たりする」

This is the verb version of the 「や」 particle. You can make an example list of verbs among a possible larger list by conjugating each verb into the past tense and adding 「り」. At the end, you need to attach the verb 「する」. Just like the 「や」 particle, the tense is determined by the last verb, which in this case will always be 「する」 (since you have to attach it at the end).

You can also use this with the state of being to say that you are a number of things at various random times among a larger list. Similar to regular verbs, you just take the noun or adjective for each state of being and conjugate it to the past state of being and then attach 「り」. Then finally, attach 「する」 at the end.

Rules for stating a list of verbs among a larger list using 「~たりする」
  • Verbs - Conjugate each verb to the past tense and add 「り」. Finally, add 「する」 at the very end.
    例) 食べ食べんだ食べた飲んだ食べたり飲んだりする
  • State of being - Conjugate the noun or adjective for each state of being and add 「り」. Finally, add 「する」 at the very end.
    例) 簡単難し簡単だった難しかった簡単だった難しかった簡単だったり、難しかったりする

(1) 映画見たり読んだり昼寝したりする。
- I do things like (among other things) watch movies, read books, and take naps.

(2) この大学授業簡単だったり難しかったりする
- Class of this college is sometimes easy, sometimes difficult (and other times something else maybe).

As you can see, the tense and negative/positive state is controlled by the last 「する」.

(3) 映画見たり読んだりした
- I did things like (among other things) watch movies, and read books.

(4) 映画見たり読んだりしない
- I don't do things like (among other things) watch movies, and read books.

(5) 映画見たり読んだりしなかった
- I didn't do things like (among other things) watch movies, and read books.

If I wanted to make the

If I wanted to make the polite version of 優しいし、かっこいいし、面白いから, would it be correct to say 優しいですし、かっこいいですし、面白いですから?

Thank you very much.


No, that's not correct.

No, that's not correct. 「です」is mostly used at the end of a sentence (sometimes it can be in the middle, if it's part of a conjunction, like 「ですけど」 or something.

Most of the time you can't tell if someone is using polite speech until they're finished with what they're saying, because what makes it polite usually comes at the end of the sentence.

So, that being said, if you wanted to say 「優しいし、かっこいいし、面白いから」 in polite speech, it would be 「優しいし、かっこいいし、面白いですから」

I hope I helped. ^^


どうして彼が好きなの? 優しいし、かっこいいし、面白いから

どうして彼が好きなの?
優しいし、かっこいいし、面白いから。

In this example if instead of answering a question I was just telling someone the reasons why I liked someone, could I say it like this?:

優しいし、かわいい、面白いから彼女が好きだ。

Is that correct?


優しいし、かわいい、面白いから彼女が好きだ。 Sounds

優しいし、かわいい、面白いから彼女が好きだ。

Sounds about right to me, just add a し after かわいい, so it's

優しいし、かわいいし、面白いから彼女が好きだ。

Also, to the person who posted before me, note that normally you say 女の人 rather than 女 to talk about a woman--女 by itself can come off as rude.


優しいし、かわいいし、面白い女なんで、好きだ。 I

優しいし、かわいいし、面白い女なんで、好きだ。

I think this is how you would say that, not sure.
I think it just sounds more natural to have the topic,
in this case 'onna', in S1.
I suppose you can say ~女だから but I used ~女なので to add an explanitary tone.
I'm still not 100% on the explanitory thing, maybe you can say ~女のだから?

Anyway, you forgot the し after kawaii :P


So for the expressing a

So for the expressing a sequence of verbs part, what's the difference between conjugating it to the positive or negative tense if the tense of the last verb in the sentence is still what dictates the tense of all the actions?


I should clarify this. Tense

I should clarify this. Tense grammatically means temporal so the last verb only dictates past/non-past.


Hi, thank you for the

Hi, thank you for the guide.

How to chain a negative?

eg1. I didn't eat. I slept.
Is it ok like this:
食べなくて、寝ました。

eg2. It wasn't a big room. It wasn't a calm room. It was a brightly lit room.
Is it ok like this:
広くなくて、静かじゃなくて、明るい部屋だった。

Thank you in advance.


Just a correction: In one of

Just a correction: In one of the examples on the mechanics box for -tarisuru, the verb "drink" was mixed up with the verb "ate" (to eat, to drink -> ate, drank ->). Hope you catch the error.


I've noticed you have not

I've noticed you have not included the ~てから construction to mean "after doing ~." I had hoped to read your take on it because I am unclear on the exact differences between, e.g.,

俺は酒を飲んだ後、警察の奴を殴っちまったぞ。 Vs. 俺は酒を飲んでから、警察の奴を殴っちゃまったぞ。
Not that I would ever have cause for examples like these in real life :)

Come to think of it, I also see no section on Verb+前、後、時、and the complications that arise from verb tense in main and subordinate clauses.


Are けど and でも

Are けど and でも interchangeable?
Like in this sentence:
友達に聞いたけど、知らなかった。
友達に聞いたでも、知らなかった。


I have a question about けれども.

I have a question about けれども. I work at a school as an assistant language teacher, and every morning one of my coworkers answer the phone, saying "はい、[name of school] ですけれども。" In the above lesson, it states that けれども is not necessarily contradictive, but may sometimes be closer to "and." However, since it terminates the sentence, neither of these interpretations makes sense to me. Please help!

Also, the language guide is amazing. Thank you so much, Mr. Kim.


From what I have learned,

From what I have learned, when you call someone on the phone you can say, for example: [your name]ともうしますが。 Which is basically saying this is "[your name] speaking" humbly. It makes the sentence softer, and it assumes that listener knows what you are asking for without you actually having to say it or give them time to figure out who you are. You will hear waiters end sentences like that. If you ask how long it will take for your food to come out, the waiter may something like 時間がかかりますが。。。that が simply asking "so what do you want to do?" Now if the けれども is the same as けど and が it might be used in the same way...but this is merely a guess.


Thanks for the tip! You've

Thanks for the tip! You've taught me some interesting points I wasn't counting on. However, since posting my initial question, I asked another coworker about the phone-answerer's use of けれども. Come to find out, he's been using it wrong all along, and this being Japan, no one ever bothers to correct him! Haha.


1

1 question.

時間がなかったからパーティーに行きませんでした
(Didn't go to the party because there was no time)

How do you put it into the present tenses?
both plain and polite form.

eg. I'm not going to the party because there is no time)

is it   "時間がないからパーティーに行くない"

     "時間がないからパーティーに行きません"

just a rough guess.


Polite form, present

Polite form, present tense:
時間がありませんからパーティーに行きません。

Plain form, present tense:
時間がないからパーティーに行かない。


In the plan form, 行くない is not

In the plan form, 行くない is not used. In fact, I question if that's correct Japanese.

時間がないからパーティに行かない

You've got the polite form down pact, though.


The expression is "down pat".

The expression is "down pat".


There is something I don't

There is something I don't get, what's the use of the -te form with -masu and -desu?

Anyway, thanks for this great guide! I'm studing on Genki and when I don't understand something, if I come here I get it so easy!


I think what you mean is

I think what you mean is something like, 本当に世話になりましてありがとうございました。 Or
課長と話しまして事務室を出ました。 As for -desu, something like 静かでして穏やかです。 If this is what you are asking about, then it is just a way to be more polite with the -te/de form. The reason it may not be explicitly taught or discussed in grammar sections may be because -masu and -desu are an auxiliary and copula verb, and they conjugate like a pair of うーverbs ending with ーす, thus ーました and -でした。Tae-san, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think you can use this more polite -te form with any grammar using -te, though in most cases other than as a chronological conjunction, it is uncommon, and a bit odd-sounding.


Unless I misunderstand your

Unless I misunderstand your question, it's just a matter of politeness.

彼は食べて、飲む。 He eats and drinks.
彼は食べて、飲みます。 He eats and drinks (polite).

Other endings work the same way:

彼は食べて、飲みたい。 He wants to eat and drink.


I thought it would be

I thought it would be 彼は食べたくて飲みたい。

By saying 彼は食べて、飲みたい, I believe you're saying 'He eats and then wants to drink'.


"[Sentence 1] despite the

"[Sentence 1] despite the fact that [Sentence 2]." However the order is reversed: [Sentence 2]のに[Sentence 1].

This is confusing. Simply saying "Despite [Sentence 1], [Sentence 2]." would make more sense to me. Makes more sense in English and the clauses are in the same order as Japanese.

Also, to what does "particles 3" refer? There's nothing labeled like that. Is it "Noun Related Particles?" A link that opens in a new tab would be cool and convenient.


"Despite [Sentence 1],

"Despite [Sentence 1], [Sentence 2]." Written like that might suggest that のに should go at the beginning of the sentence, and it shouldn't.

But it makes more sens when you think about it this way: [Sentence 1]and despite that,[Sentence 2].


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