hey guys. beginner here on level 1 going through the vocabulary and already struggling. when going through the vocab section ive noticed on multiple occasions when a verb is taught but on reading the context sentence the entire verb is not used.
example: the verb 上げる to raise. after learning it and looking through the context sentences ive noticed they omit the る. i am a beginner and reading is still tough due to a lack of vocabulary anyway so im probably unable to catch something but wanted your opinions.
sentence: 三センチ上げてください so if you notice 上げ is present not 上げる
That change is actually due to how a verb conjugates. 上げる (to raise) is the “original form” (or non-past informal affirmative form), and 上げて is known as the te-form. One of the uses of the te-form is when making a request, hence 上げてください is used.
It’s similar to how 待つ (to wait) changes to 待って when in 待ってください (please wait).
You’ll learn more of this when studying grammar (which you should not neglect as well). As I’m a beginner too, I’m not really qualified to answer much. I’m just filling the gap until someone more knowledgable answers. As of now, just know that verbs can change (conjugate) into different forms. Good luck with your studies
Edit:Added furigana, fixed some grammar and odd formatting. Sorry @Taniotoshi
This is where study outside WK comes into play. Verbs in Japanese have a variety of conjugations. 上げる is the basic or ‘dictionary’ form of the verb. 上げて is the “て” form which is used to connect two parts of a sentence. Here it’s connecting ‘raise’ and ‘please’. The -てください pattern is taught very early on in most textbooks.
TLDR: It’s a bit rough for total noobs, but 上げる and 上げて are the same word, just conjugated for different purposes.
Looks like you got your answer. Wanikani presupposes at least some grammar knowledge.
The fastest way to do this is to sign up for the Bunpro.com trial and just power through the N5 lessons. Don’t worry about remembering them for now. You just want to be familiar with what’s there so you can recognize when something might be a grammar point rather than a vocab thing.
