Lesson 30: Daily actions with を

A verb here tells us the action someone performs: reading, drinking, or writing. We start with polite 読みます (yomimasu), ‘read’. For this exercise, divide it into 読み (yomi) and ます (masu). In the changes below, 読み stays the same and only the ending changes.

読みます is affirmative non-past: for example, a habit or something you will do. It does not automatically mean ‘am reading right now’. 読みません (yomimasen) is the negative partner: do not read. 読みました (yomimashita) refers back to reading, and 読みませんでした (yomimasen deshita) to not reading.

The table below practises only these polite endings. You do not need to derive forms from dictionary forms here. Later in this lesson, apply the same change to 飲みます (nomimasu) or 食べます (tabemasu). Do not add です after a form ending in ます: it is already polite.

読みます。

読みません。

読みました。

読みませんでした。

You do not need to write new kanji from memory for this lesson. Each word has its kana reading, meaning, and a play button. Start with three pairs: 水・飲みます (mizu / nomimasu), 本・読みます (hon / yomimasu), and 名前・書きます (namae / kakimasu). You drink water, read a book, and write a name.

Some other combinations are possible too: 本を見ます (hon o mimasu) can mean ‘look at a book’. That differs from reading, but is not automatically wrong. 日本語 (nihongo) means the Japanese language, not a Japanese person. Use 勉強します (benkyou shimasu) as a whole for ‘study’.

朝 (asa) and 夜 (yoru) name parts of the day in our examples. 昨日 (kinou) means yesterday and makes a past context clear. Japanese nouns often do not specify singular or plural: 卵 (tamago) can mean egg or eggs. Read the translation in its full context.

In ‘I drink water’, drinking is the action and water is what you drink. That is what we call the direct object. In these Japanese sentences, を marks the word or phrase the action is directed at. Put the object first, then を, then the verb.

As a particle, を is pronounced O, not a distinct WO. When typing, you may need WO to produce this particular character. It is not interchangeable with the vowel お. In 水を飲みます (mizu o nomimasu), を marks ‘water’ as what is being drunk.

The object does not have to change physically: in 日本語を勉強します (nihongo o benkyou shimasu), Japanese is what you study. Learn complete combinations rather than the overbroad rule ‘every thing gets を’. Who performs the action may be clear from context and need not be stated every time. The verb closes our simple sentences.

水を飲みます。

日本語を勉強します。

You know someone drinks something, but not what. Replace 水 (mizu) with 何 (nani), ‘what’, and keep を. Add the familiar question particle か (ka) after the polite verb. 何を飲みますか (nani o nomimasu ka) means ‘What do you drink?’.

In 何を, the reading is なにを (nani o), not nan o. The answer fills the exact gap: 水を飲みます. 本を読みます is a good sentence by itself, but does not answer a question about drinking. Meaning and grammar both need to fit.

A broader question is 何をしますか (nani o shimasu ka), ‘What do you do?’. Here します (shimasu) means ‘do’. An answer about reading or studying can fit that question. For past questions use ましたか and answer in the appropriate tense; the word order stays the same.

何を飲みますか。

夜、何をしますか。

You eat eggs and bread. In this lesson, と (to) connects two nouns: 卵とパン (tamago to pan). This is one phrase, ‘eggs and bread’. Put one を after the whole group and finish with 食べます (tabemasu).

The blocks below show that を does not apply only to bread: the whole group is what you eat. You do not need を after each individual object. Here と does not connect two verbs. ‘Eat and drink’ requires another construction, which we are not silently introducing now.

You can make two complete sentences: 卵とパンを食べます。水を飲みます。 For an earlier day, only the verb ending changes: 食べました. The object group stays in place. Say the group aloud first, then build the whole sentence.

卵とパンを食べます。

A book remains a book, but the word's role changes with the message. A particle is not attached to an item simply because you can touch it. Look first at the predicate: what are you saying about the book? In the comparison below, 本 (hon) stays the same while the rest of the sentence changes.

For 本を読みます (hon o yomimasu), ask: what do you read? The answer is 本, the direct object of reading. That is why を is used here. Reading need not physically change the book: being the object of an action does not mean something must be damaged or moved.

With 本があります (hon ga arimasu), you are not saying what someone does with the book. You are saying that a book is there. 本 is the grammatical subject here: the thing whose presence is stated, marked with が. A grammatical subject need not be a person performing an action. In a suitable context the same sentence can also mean ‘I have a book’; the English translation does not change the Japanese existence pattern.

With 本が好きです (hon ga suki desu), you are expressing a preference. 好き (suki) is a な-adjective, not a verb like ‘like’. For now, simply recognise the word class: together with です, 好き describes a preference. Here が marks what you like. Use the learned pattern が好きです rather than copying the English verb-and-object structure word for word.

The practical question is: are you reading something, is something present, or do you like something? Choose the message and the corresponding Japanese predicate before filling in the particle. These are three basic patterns, not a complete theory of は, が, and を. Can you use the comparison to explain why the same 本 does not take を in all three sentences? Then try the two short exercises.

Now connect the separate patterns in a conversation. Lesson 30's listening exercises cover eating, drinking, and other ordinary actions. Listen to the question or whole excerpt first; recognising one word is not enough. Pay particular attention to the verb and tense.

The comprehension questions concern the information you heard. After answering, you can reveal the transcript and optionally type the sentence. That is practice support, not evidence that you heard everything unaided. Then return to describe a new day below and take the final check.