Hey there!
Recently I loaded a lesson about volitional verbs (talking about what you are thinking of doing). You can review the lesson here: http://thejapaneseproject.com/?p=35
Today, we are going to take it one step further and learn the Japanese for “I intend to…”
tsumori
The good news? This one is easier than the volitional verbs lesson.
So let’s get started:
In English we talk about what we are thinking of doing like this:
“I am thinking of going on a diet…”
“I am thinking of doing my homework…”
You can study “I am thinking of doing…” here: http://thejapaneseproject.com/?p=35
As an extension, imagine you are also thinking of going on a diet, but never do.
One day you go to the doctor and she tells you that you need to lose weight for your health.
So, you finally decide you are going to diet, starting tomorrow.
It is definite now. There is a strong intention.
Now you say:
watashi wa daieto suru tsumori desu
Let’s break it down:
watashi I
wa topic marker (as for)
daieto diet
suru dictionary form of verb shimasu (to do)
tsumori intention
desu is
It translates to: I intend to diet
The sentence structure?
DICTIONARY FORM OF VERB (or NAI FORM OF VERB) tsumori desu
That’s it!
Another example?
Imagine you are going to move to Hiroshima:
watashi wa hiroshima ni sumu tsumori desu
Imagine you never intend to move to Hiroshima:
watashi wa hiroshima ni sumanai tsumori desu
Imagine you want to buy a car:
watashi wa kuruma o kau tsumori desu
Imagine you don’t intend to buy a Nissan:
watashi wa nissan no kuruma o kawanai tsumori desu
To recap:
Just use the dictionary form of a verb plus tsumori desu to state your intentions.
Use the negative dictionary form of a verb plus tsumori desu to state what you don’t intend to do.
That’s about it…
If you have any questions leave me a comment.
Cheers,
David