Page 544 - Basic Japanese

then sometimes lengthened before a pause to ā: koryā or korā =
kore wa.
This explains the contraction ja (or jā) from de wa. The

sequence d-y does not occur in modern Japanese, so j is
substituted for it. A gerund ending in -de followed by the particle

wa becomes -ja in the same way: Kono mizu o nonja ikenai yo = Kono
mizu o nonde wa ikenai yo ‘Don’t drink this water.’ This contraction

is paralleled by the contraction of -cha (or -chā) for -te wa (ch

since the sequence t-y does not occur in modern Japanese): Soko
e itcha ikenai yo = Soko e itte wa ikenai yo ‘You mustn’t go there.’
Mainichi sakana o tabenakucha ikenai = Mainichi sakana o tabenakute wa

ikenai ‘Every day we have to eat fish.’ Hanashicha dame da =
Hanashite wa dame da ‘It’s no good to talk.’

The provisional endings -(r)eba and -kereba are often
contracted to -(r)ya (or -(r)yā) and -kerya: Kono kusuri nomanakerya
naran = Kono kusuri o nomanakereba naranai ‘I have to take this

medicine.’ Kore taberya byōki ni naru yo = Kore o tabereba byōki ni naru

yo ‘If you eat this, you’ll get sick.’
A gerund + the verb shimau ‘finishes, does completely’ is

contracted in the following way: -te shimau becomes -chimau or -

chau; -de shimau becomes -jimau or -jau. Shinjimatta or Shinjatta =
Shinde shimatta ‘He died.’ Tabechimatta or Tabechatta = Tabete
shimatta ‘He ate it all up.’

The initial i of the verb iru ‘stays, is … ing’ often drops after a
gerund: Nani shiteru? = Nani o shite iru ka? ‘What are you doing?’

The final e of the gerund form is often dropped before the verb

oku ‘puts away, does for later’: Koko ni oi-toita enpitsu wa doko e itta?
= Koko ni oite oita enpitsu wa doko e itta ka? ‘Where did the pencil I
put here go?’ Kippu katt-oita = Kippu o katte oita ‘I bought the

tickets (in advance).’
The particle keredomo is often shortened to keredo or kedo.

Shortenings of mono to mon and of no to just n have already been