Three Common Japanese Semi-Errors Beginners Make

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Hello, I want to talk about three common semi errors that I'm seeing a lot in introductory Japanese students these days, especially ones that have been studying from like the internet using manga, anime, etc. So, I just want to like give a crash course in why they're wrong and how to make sure that you don't fall into these traps. The first is involving the teiru form. This a form of course is used in Japanese for a number of things, but the main one is to create the ing, like running, right? So, taberu is to eat, tabeteru is eating.

[00:00:25]Now, the error that I'm talking about with this is that I've seen a lot of people writing it with the te touching the ru. And this is okay if you're writing a text message or a comic or any kind of casual communication. However, it's important to note that this is formally an error. The reason why is that the teiru form is as it sounds made up of the te form and then iru attaches to it. And that iru is to exist. So, like eating in Japanese I guess literally is eat and exist. And you'll see that e get dropped very, very commonly in casual Japanese communication because in Japanese speech the e tends to get dropped. People will say tabeteru instead of tabeteiru. A really, really effective and pretty accurate analogy for this is the use of ing in English because running becomes running. We drop the g quite a bit. And so again, in casual context you can drop the g from the English. But, if you are writing Japanese formally, if you are doing like a test or writing an email, if you're writing in a newspaper, things like that, you do have to keep that e in there. So, while you will see the teiru form become the teru form I guess if you read manga, etc., do note that this is formally incorrect, although it is quite common. The second thing that I think is important to note is that I see a lot of early Japanese learners, again especially but not exclusively those who have self-studied, using gomen quite a bit. And gomen again is not inherently an error, but it is something that you actually should be careful of because while gomen does mean sorry, it's probably one of the most like lighthearted or casual sorrys you will see. And while you'll definitely see tons of again, anime, manga, etc. where people are like "Sensei gomen" or "Gomen to their whatever." In reality, if you use gomen to a person who is above you in social status, that might backfire. I won't say it always will. I'm sure there are many contexts in Japan where teachers are fine with their students saying gomen to them, but you should be using sumimasen or gomenasai in these contexts to be safe. If you are 100% sure of the relationship and that it's okay to do that, if you are an elementary school student, first off, what are you doing on TikTok? But if you're traveling to Japan and you join a Japanese school for a bit and you see all the other students saying gomen to the teacher and the teacher's like that's fine, we have that kind of relationship, great. But don't do things that I've experienced like cold email your professor with gomen. If you're lucky, you'll be fine. It still is an apology. It's definitely better than like kutabare or something like that.

[00:02:47]But if you're unlucky, that will not leave a very good impression. Generally speaking, in most languages, Japanese included, the longer something gets, the more polite it is. So, you want to make that polite impression, don't drop the nasai from gomen. You don't need to go all the way to like omoshiroi gozaimasen, but just like you would say arigato gozaimasu instead of domo to your teacher, to your boss, etc., try to avoid gomen in those situations.

[00:03:11]Finally, this one actually is an error, but it's one that is very understandable because I see a lot of again beginner learners, especially those ones that come from Japanese anime, etc., ending plain form verbs with da as in taberu da or iku da. Now, you might think you've heard this before, but you have not.

[00:03:30]Unless of course you've heard somebody making this error. Like I've heard it before, but that's because I teach Japanese. So, fundamental rule, the plain form of verbs does not end in da.

[00:03:38]Desu is a copula verb, other verbs are other verbs, and just like we don't say I is swim in Japanese, you don't say I is eat, and that's I guess what taberu da would mean. But there is a grammar form in Japanese that can let you add a da to the end of a plain form verb if you add something in between. And this is the no desu form. Now, this form attaches to basically anything in the plain form. If it's a noun or an adjective, it attaches via na as in sensei na no desu or kirei na no desu.

[00:04:04]If it's an e-adjective, it attaches just directly as in oishii no desu. And if it's a verb, it attaches again directly to the plain form as in taberu no desu.

[00:04:12]This is considered to be an explanatory form. It is used when you are proffering information to somebody or in questions when you are asking them to give you information. So, like doko ni ikimasu ka is just a general question, whereas doko ni iku no desu ka is kind of like a hey, I want you to explain things to me. And that can have potential implications such as I'm hoping you'll say the supermarket cuz I'm going to ask you to buy something for me. It's often used in telling stories or explaining kind of what happened or asking for further detail. Now, this no desu form can be shortened to n desu. So, taberu no desu ka, are you going to eat that? Explain.

[00:04:45]Can be taberu n desu ka? And in the plain form then, we can shorten the desu to da, not the desu ka. You can't use da in a question. So, this can lead to forms like taberu n da or taberu n da.

[00:04:58]And sometimes again, if someone is speaking really fast or if your ears aren't just that good yet, you may hear that as taberu n da.

[00:05:06]But, it's not that. It's taberu n da.

[00:05:09]So, without that no, you cannot attach the da to the end of the verb like that.

[00:05:13]And that's true for e-adjectives etc. as well. You can't say oishii da, but you can't say oishii n da. Oishii n da ne.

[00:05:19]Omoshiroi n da yo. All those work, but you have to have that n sound. So, there you go. Yes, every once in a while I do make content which is useful and makes your Japanese knowledge better instead of worse. But, for those of you who prefer content that makes your Japanese abilities worse, all I can say I guess is gomen I amateru da.