japanese grammar

5 comments

1. not sure what you mean by cohabitate, but don’t add desu to short form verbs, instead use the masu-form

   私の宿題をしています＝watashi no shukudai wo shiteimasu=doing my homework

   私は宿題をしています＝watashi HA shukudai wo shiteimasu=i am doing homework

   as for the second, you need to decide if you mean “is possible to hold” or “is okay to hold”, as they aren’t the same construct, and do you mean kono instead of kanou?

   このイチゴを持てますか？＝kono ichigo wo motemasu ka?=am i able to hold these strawberries?

   このイチゴを持ってもいいですか？＝kono ichigo wo motte mo ii desu ka?=is it ok if i hold these strawberries?

2. If you want to say “my homework” it would be simply わたしのしゅくだいをしっている, no “wa” needed. However I would argue you don’t even need to state that it’s your homework, it’s implied.

   People usually do their own homework and in the case when you do someone else’s homework, well then you’ll mention that it’s theirs.

3. I can’t even understand your English. Just being honest

4. If you wanted to use both は (wa) and の (no) at the same time, you have to say the word they modify twice. So for your example, you could say 「私は私の宿題をしています」(watashi wa watashi no shukudai wo shiteimasu), although as the other commenters have pointed out, this sentence is rather wordy. Pronouns are usually dropped, as most of the time context makes it clear.

   For the second one, it’s important to note that the English verb “to have” serves many different functions, which are usually covered by different words in Japanese. 「持つ」(motsu) can mean to have, but it also can just mean “to hold”. In this case, it seems that you are asking if it is possible to *receive* strawberries, not just hold them. In this situation, you could use a word like 「いただく」(itadaku) or 「もらう」(morau).

   Moving on to the next point, 「可能」(kanou) cannot be used in the way you are using it. It is a noun meaning “possibility, potential”, whereas in English “can” is a verb. In Japanese, there is a verb conjugation called the Potential Form that is used to indicate ability/possibility, in many of the same situations where we use “can” in English. Instead of going through all of that conjugation here, I’m gonna go ahead and just recommend you study verb conjugation some more. But as an example, “Are you able to eat peanuts?” would be 「ピーナッツを食べられますか？」(pīnattsu wo taberaremasu ka?), with 「食べる」(taberu – to eat) becoming 「食べられます」(taberareru – to be able to eat).

   So for your sentence, “Is it possible to have strawberries”, I would say something like 「イチゴをいただけますか？」(ichigo wo itadakemasu ka?), with “itadakemasu” being the aforementioned Potential Form of 「いただく」to have/receive.

   It seems that you’re still in the very beginning stages of learning, and it’s great that you’re working at it. However, I do think you should take care not to skip on the basics too much. Everything will be harder if you don’t have a solid foundation.

   First things first, I’d recommend learning at least Hiragana first. Romaji is convenient, but I feel that it keeps you stuck thinking about Japanese from the perspective of English. The sooner you can stop using Romaji, the better.

   Second, I’d recommend spending some time familiarizing yourself more with basic grammar, such as sentence structure and verb conjugation, in particular conjugation. That was one of the first things I focused on and it helped a lot. It may seem tedious but the better acquainted you are with the basics, the better you’ll be equipped for more complex ideas.

   Sorry that this explanation got so long. Best of luck with your studies!

5. Your usage or “wano” is ungrammatical; you should not be following your verbs with desu; and kanou is a plain noun which cannot be used like that.

   I recommend you read Tae Kim’s basic grammar guide or some other suitable resource and properly learn your grammar and kana from the basics.