Structure
Verb［stem］+ Phrase
［い］Adjective［て］+ Phrase
Details
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Formal
About 連用形
In Japanese, the conjunctive form is often called 'the ます form', or 'the conjunctive form'. 'The conjunctive form' is much more accurate, as it is used with more than just verbs. Basically, the conjunctive form is the form of any word that will be used in standard conjugation with other structures. For い-Adjectives, this is the form that uses く, for verbs, the ます stem.
The reason that conjunctive form is sometimes referred to as 'the formal conjunctive' is due to its use before a comma. Usually, the conjunction particle て would be used to separate clauses in sentences, however, the formal conjunctive allows this to be done without て. Let's look at some examples.
As we can see, although て is not required, a 読点 (Japanese comma) will be required to prevent the sentence from becoming confusing.
Caution
This type of conjugation is seen primarily in formal writing, and the standard て form will be heard much more frequently in daily speech.Related
Examples
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風が吹き、悪魔が現れた。
The wind blew, a demon appeared.
空は青く、海より広い。
The sky is blue, (and) bigger than the sea.
スピードを出しすぎ、警察に捕まった。
I was going too fast, (and) a cop pulled me over.
公園に行き、子供と遊んだ。
I went to the park, (and) played with kids.
夢は大きく、志は高く！
Have big dreams, (and) be ambitious!
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連用形 – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (11 in total)
mrnoone
English translation:
and, ingStructure:
Verb[stem] + Phrase
い-Adjective[ く ] + PhraseView on Bunpro
rwmleach
Satori Reader just posted a good video about this topic:
mrthuvi
Is it necessary to have the comma between the clauses? There’s this sentence that I suspect to have 連用形 but I don’t see a comma there:
明治６年に日本政府は旧暦を改め現在使用している新暦に移行しました。
ljoekelsoey
Very unusual in modern Japanese to not use a comma I’d have thought. I’ve never come across the conjunctive in modern books where a comma is omitted.
mrthuvi
Might be a typo in that text then.
mrthuvi
I’m actually starting to see more examples of comma reduction.
そして、赤ちゃんはおなかがすくと、母乳を求め母を呼ぶ。
And another sentence yesterday that I forgot to take note.
ljoekelsoey
I’ve had a look at the 連用形 page and all the example sentences have commas in them, and I can’t actually find your sentence there. Might be a case of just reporting an error with each specific case you find. Under which grammar point did that example sentence come up?
mrthuvi
It’s in the text I came across in a JLPT reading book.
ljoekelsoey
It might not be required as " 母乳を求め母を呼ぶ" is not a separate clause in this case. I had a wee thought as well where you wouldn’t use a comma with the informal conjunctive
買い物をしに行って、野菜を買ってきた。
You’d stick a comma after 行って as it is separating the clauses, but you wouldn’t stick a comma after 買って as they’re the same clause. I wonder if your 母乳 sentence would fall into this category.
Asked my wife (she’s a native speaker and wives are usually right anyway). She’s not sure that it is absolutely required, however its unusual to not have a comma, and in this sentence it doesn’t have any 違和感. Adding in the commas is apparently very common in business Japanese as its seen as making the sentence easier to read and therefore is considerate and polite which is pretty much essential in Japanese.
A penny for your thoughts @mrnoone or @pushindawood
Daru
Commas are usually added in for pause to make things easier to understand, and to avoid misunderstandings. You can read more about this here:
Andreaiovi
夢は大きく、志は高く！
I’m sorry if my question could seem stupid but… What is the final 高く standing for?
Thanks in advance!
Pablunpro
Hi!
I may be a set phrase, something like a saying: “as for big dreams, a big will”-like. You might find this article interesting.
Have a good day!
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