Beginner Japanese Grammar Lesson: hou ga ii–It would be better to…

I’m working on a new project to compile useful beginner grammatical patterns eventually with sound and a little interaction.

Here is the first one.  Since the formating is large than the theme on this blog, you may want to download the PDF here:

http://www.1nichi1kai.com/download/4/

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休(やす)んだほうがいい 。
yasunda hou ga ii
It would be better to rest.

(Informal Past Verb) + ほうがいい

Use this form when giving advice or to suggest a course of action.

あまり寝(ね)ていないなら、休(やす)んだほうがいいですよ。
mari neteinai nara, yasunda hou ga ii desu yo.
If you didn’t sleep well, it would be better to rest.

[あまり means ‘not very’ and always ends with a negative: あまり寝ていない]

行(い)く前(まえ)に、食(た)べたほうがいい。
iku mae ni tabeta hou ga ii.
Before leaving, it would be best to eat something.

もっとちゃんと勉強(べんきょう)したほうがいいでしょう。
motto chanto benkyou shita hou ga ii deshou.
You should study harder.

[To use with する verbs such as 勉強, use the Informal Past した.]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 9:34 am and is filed under Japanese. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Beginner Japanese Grammar Lesson: hou ga ii–It would be better to…”

1. Koara on November 20th, 2007 at 12:32 pm

   Hello! It’s great the kanjis translated in english at the bottom of each one!..I just study kanjis, but in a french site(ma tongue), and there are more meanings that one for each kanjis!..

   ..I supose it is all the meaning possible of each one, about the expression it could give with some others kanjis! I supose! So what is better to do?? Thanks (and sorry for my unperfect english)

2. Clay on November 20th, 2007 at 2:55 pm

   Thanks! I am not sure I follow, but do you mean you would like a more literal translation?

3. Koara on November 20th, 2007 at 5:38 pm

   No, I meaned that I’m wonderin’ if it’s better to study every meanin’ for each kanji, or only study the kun meaning, yea I think it’s what I wanted to say :D! XXX

4. Clay on November 20th, 2007 at 9:07 pm

   While each kanji seem to have meaning (and usually they really do), they have meaning because of words that use that kanji.

   It may be helpful to know the meaning of each kanji, but you should learn words (jukugo). When you learn words then you learn not only what kanji mean but also how they are used.

   You should know the readings (on and kun), but again you can pick up a lot of that by learning words.

   That is my opinion, but let me know if you don’t understand.

5. Koara on November 21st, 2007 at 4:43 pm

   Hello! Ok^^! Anyway, I think it’s more interesting ans simple to study them with words for the on readin’ ;)! XXXXX

6. Clay on November 21st, 2007 at 5:11 pm

   Definitely. Of course a few jukugo use kun readings, but most are on.

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