Genki Study Buddies - 「皆さんはGenkiを勉強しています」

皆さん!
Hey, so on the old forums we had this wonderful thread started by @jomteon about doing a Genki Sprint last year. It has been a wonderful resource, and also a source of encouragement… and a place for me to feel nagged into doing more grammar, as well.

Because I learn better and stay more motivated when I’m doing something as a group, rather than on my own… I wanted to revive the idea.
But also, Jomteon’s already done a fantastic job at summarizing the grammar points in Genki’s lessons.

Let’s use this thread to help each other to the finish line, and discuss any grammar points with which we’re struggling.

My own personal goal is to go through one lesson/chapter a week. (Let’s see if I can keep that up this time?)

I’ll start: as of right now, I think I’m understanding the points in Lesson 7, more specifically about に行く… but it feels like it’s having trouble settling in my brain. Especially since there are so few examples given.

EDIT: Some helpful links…
Hinekidori’s awesome Genki Vocab Anki Deck
Genki I Vocab on Memrise
Don’s Conjugation Drill Website
Bunpro - Grammar SRS by pushindawood
Alexbeldan’s Goal and Progress Spreadsheet
Angelic’s Discord Server for Genki Study

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I’m on board. I’m reviewing my grammar notes from the first 8 chapters. I’ll keep my eye on this thread.

I found another example later in the chapter…

I think it’s just something I haven’t come across as often, so merely reading about it doesn’t feel quite enough.
I’m going to try writing some sentences using that point now…

家に食べに行きました。 (Hopefully) I went home to eat.
彼女はクラスに画きに行っています。 (Hopefully) She goes to class to draw/paint. (Or “She goes to drawing/painting class.”)

I tried to combine 2 grammar points in that second sentence… here’s hoping I’m on the right track…

@Aleithian - welcome aboard! :slight_smile:

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I think itte imasu here means she is going…/she has gone…, while she goes (generally or habitually) would be ikimasu.

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But using the に行く concept… I do have に行っています in there… so…??? Especially since the ている is supposed to mean ongoing/habitual actions.

Well, I tried it anyway…

I’m on Lesson/Chapter 17, would love a Genki study buddy for anyone on book 2

~に行きます she goes to do x

~に行っています she is going to do x

So basically in your sentence she is on her way to paint right now.

[quote=“AnimeCanuck, post:3, topic:16582, full:true”]
I found another example later in the chapter…

I think it’s just something I haven’t come across as often, so merely reading about it doesn’t feel quite enough.
I’m going to try writing some sentences using that point now…

家に食べに行きました。 (Hopefully) I went home to eat.
彼女はクラスに画きに行っています。 (Hopefully) She goes to class to draw/paint. (Or “She goes to drawing/painting class.”)

I tried to combine 2 grammar points in that second sentence… here’s hoping I’m on the right track…


Ermmm, not quite. The verb stem+に行く construction is about traveling to a destination with an express purpose in mind. 遊ぶ in the example sentence is being used as meaning “to hang out [with friends, have fun]”, but it’s important to note that in this sentence going to Tokyo is a one time thing and Tokyo is a place, not an event.

So, 彼女はクラスに画きに行っています won’t fly because クラス isn’t a place per se.
The second sentence, 家に食べに行きました does work, except that because it’s japanese, 家 without any modifcation doesn’t mean house but home, and whenever you’re going you need to use the verb 帰る (to return). But that said,

家に食べに帰りました is fine.

Sidenote tho: insofar as I hear spoken japanese, this construction is usually only used for travel plans (like in the example sentence), not so much for day-to-day stuff.

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OK I’m getting confused. This is why I’m reviewing grammar points rather than just picking up where I left off :stuck_out_tongue:

No!
Okay, @Aleithian and @katiesaccount you are both right.

Jomteon (on that link to Lesson 7 I have up in the OP) has said this regarding 行っています:

However I personally do not remember seeing that nor reading it in the chapter. However, this time around, I didn’t read the footnotes (as they were vast), so it must’ve been there.
What a really weird exception to have! … (Thanks, Japan!)

So… now I have to wrap my head around that too… @gahlib I will now proceed to read your explanation… (Since I was over in the archived thread to check for something I’ve missed… but also apparently this whole lesson is poorly worded, according to Jomteon, in any case. XD)

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Hmm…
Oh, yeah I guess I would have to use 帰る。But had it been something like たかやさんの家に食べに行きました。 (for “I’m going to Takaya-san’s house to eat”) … would that have still worked?

Weird about not being able to say class is a “place” though… because I’ve always considered class and classroom to be interchangeable (in English) as a location… but also there was no mention of not using this verb form without a “proper” location… If… that makes sense?

I appreciate your explanations.

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Yeah it looks like I was a little off in my explanation…

I think it is more of a ‘went/came to x and is still there’ thing than ‘is currently going’ in regards to いく・くる

I kind of forgot about that rule haha… I wish I had my genki book with me so I could actually check the lessons.

Hmm! Thanks for additional reasons.

Hopefully this can sink in for me… I think these two particular verb forms (especially the weird limitations with に行く) is the hardest concept for me to really grasp thus far.

yeah, the tanaka-san’s house example would definitely work, though now that I think on it, in terms of natural-sounding conversational japanese, you prolly would name the meal along with the verb stem, or maybe even just the meal without the verb– you should check with someone more advanced in japanese, I’m not totally sure.

I do know that adding に in front of 食べ or 遊び is like saying that the activity is something you are traveling towards, if that makes any sense. It also implies the possibility that you may not arrive/do what is planned, ie: “you’ve set out to do ” rather than “you’ve gone to do .” Japanese tends to have a lot of constructions and nuance centered around different degrees of being sure about something occuring. This one in particular is focusing on stating an intention for travel rather than focusing on the action itself, kind of like sharing of your general plans for the future but not like a scheduled event. An example in that sense might be “アメリカに英語を学びに行きました.” [I come to America to study English]

Hope that helps!

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It does, thanks! (But exanoke…? Is that just a really weird typo there?)

Thanks a bunch! :slight_smile:

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Hello!

I am jumping on the genki train!!

I previously went to japanese class and went through the 1st genki but now I am going through it again on my own to make sure I know it!

My plan is to eventually do Genki 2 on my own too so to have people to motivate/help me is fantastic! :smiley:

Currently rehersing chapter 6!

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Wow, didn’t expect to see this resurrected!

I’m completely thrilled that people have found my Genki chapter write-ups so useful :slight_smile:

I actually live in Japan now, way up in Hokkaido. I’m aiming for JLPT N3 in July, so I’m starting from scratch and going back through genki. I think I’m at the same point as @AnimeCanuck, roughly Ch. 7, though I’m starting Ch. 8 tomorrow. I’m at a point where I could pass N5 with little trouble, but not N4, so I have a lot of work to do. I finally decided to kick my butt back in gear when I realized how absurdly paltry my Japanese is when trying to talk to anyone here.

I’m doing less of a sprint this time, and more of a very intense marathon. 3 chapters a week. Good chance I’ll burn out, but I’m going to take that risk.

I’m scheduled to hit IAIJ on Friday, April 21 and then Tobira on Friday, May 26. I’ll start doing chapter write ups of that when I get there, I think. Especially since everyone got such use out of my Genki write-ups.

I also have a Genki grammar anki deck I’ve put together, if anyone is interested. It’s pretty dry, obnoxiously thorough, and I’m still proofing it card by card as I work through, but if people want it, I’ll throw it up. Oh, and if I recall correctly, I only have volume one completed, atm. But i’ll fix that soon as well.

皆さん、がんばって!

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Cool, good to see you, @jomteon! :slight_smile:
Yeah, reading through your write-up of Chapter 7 really helped me today… as I totally missed that one key thing.
I am also intending to look at Chapter 8 tomorrow (and almost did so tonight, but I want to let that stuff settle in a bit).

IAIJ… which text is that an acronym for? Intermediate something, I’m sure… but I don’t know the particulars. I was really thankful for your sprint last year, and while I fell off the wagon (of Japanese learning entirely) for over six months, it was still a great resource to come back to.

Other than the language being more difficult than you expected, how else do you like Hokkaido? How is the weather up there right now? We just had a resurgence of Winter here, with -19 C temperatures and snow again. Must be beautiful… What are you doing there - just vacationing? - or working in a career path you wanted to achieve (I forget your reason for travelling in the first place when you made the sprint last year)?

I think when I finish Genki I I’m going to work through the free JLPT N5 practice book (pdf) that’s been linked from the J-CAT thread, before moving on to Genki II (and then hopefully the N4 PDF?). I would love to be in a position to feel comfortable (or at least less of a struggle) to read my 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 light novels, and have an easy time at the first (and only) volume of Yotsubato! that I have.

I’m on Genki 2 as well! I think I’m a bit further than 17, but I don’t mind going back. If anything, it’ll be a great chance to review and relearn things as necessary.

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I’m on chapter 10 in class. But I’ve at minimum read through the entirety of Genki 1.
I feel like I need go back through all of it, at least reading. My ultimate goal would be to create 3 sentences from ch. 1 - 12 for every new thing learned. Some of it would be extremely redundant, but couldn’t hurt.

But I don’t think I have that sort of drive (especially as I’m on my last week of this school’s quarter). My Genki II comes in tomorrow though. :smiley:

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