Lesson 28
Base 3 + kamo shiremasen
This one is used frequently, so you'll want to master it right away. Kamo shiremasen means "maybe, perhaps." Let's look at these examples:
- Watashi wa raishuu Osaka ni iku kamo shiremasen. (Maybe I'll go to Osaka next week.)
- Jack mo kuru kamo shiremasen. (Jack may also come.)
- Ashita yuki ga furu kamo shiremasen. (It might snow tomorrow.)
As you have probably noticed, this conjugation ends with the polite negative ending masen, meaning that, yes, you can change it to the plain form nai if you don't need to be polite:
- Ashita ame ga furu kamo shirenai. (It might rain tomorrow.)
- Konban watashitachi wa soto de taberu kamo shirenai. (We may eat out tonight.)
Because nai follows shiru (to know) after it has been changed to its Base 1 form for plain negative shiranai, and because masen follows shiru after it has been changed to its Base 2 form for polite negative shirimasen, it is common for foreigners to slip when using kamo shirenai or kamo shiremasen and say "kamo shiranai" or "kamo shirimasen." These are incorrect, so please be careful when pronouncing. It will take some practice.
Actually (and since you'll need to know this sooner or later), the shire in this conjugation does come from shiru. It is its "conditional" Base 4 form, where it is converted to shireru (can know). As such, it is handled the same as an ichidan verb (please review Lesson 1 if necessary), and is conjugated accordingly. Simply put, shirenai and shiremasen are the Base 1 and 2 forms of shireru with the plain negative nai or the polite negative masen added on. Therefore, when you say kamo shirenai or kamo shiremasen you are saying "cannot be known."
Since this verb ending is rather long, people sometimes shorten it to just kamo, as in:
- Ashita Bob kara meeru ga kuru kamo. (Perhaps we'll get an e-mail from Bob tomorrow.) 1
- Sanji goro watashi wa dekakeru kamo. (I might go out around three o'clock.)
I suggest, however, that you do not abbreviate it in this way until you are familiar enough with the language to make it sound natural, and familiar enough with the culture to know when it is appropriate.
Word Check
yuki: snow
ame: rain
konban: this evening; tonight
soto: outside
kara: from
sanji: three o'clock
goro: about, around (used with times and dates)
dekakeru: to go out
Notes
1. The technically accurate term for e-mail in Japanese is denshi meeru, but it's usually just called meeru.
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