Genki 2

The part where Japanese starts connecting ideas.

Genki 2 is less about isolated forms and more about who did what for whom, what might happen, and how polite the room is.

lesson 13

Potential form: can do, can happen, can be used

Potential verbs usually mark the thing you can do with が, though を also appears in real speech. Genki teaches the clean version first because it helps you see the pattern.

る verbs

食たべる becomes 食たべられる. Casual speech often shortens it to 食たべれる.

う verbs

読よむ becomes 読よめる. 行いく becomes 行いける.

irregular

する becomes できる. 来くる becomes 来こられる.

Giving, receiving, wanting, and doing favors

This is where English starts lying to you. Japanese cares about direction. Did I give to you, did you give to me, or did I receive from someone?

あげる

Someone gives outward from the speaker side.

くれる

Someone gives toward me or my group.

もらう

Someone receives from someone else.

ておく

Do something ahead of time, often as preparation.

くれました is doing emotional work here. The sentence is not only “help happened”. It tells us the help came toward the speaker.

Hearsay, conditionals, accidents, and regret

そうです for hearsay is not the same as そうです for “looks like”. Context and form tell you which one you are seeing.

てしまう is often taught as “do completely”, but the useful beginner meaning is regret or “welp, that happened”.

Respectful and humble speech

Honorific language raises the other person. Humble language lowers your own side. Do not memorize this as fancy synonyms only. Memorize the social direction.

尊敬語そんけいご

Respectful language for someone outside or above your group.

謙譲語けんじょうご

Humble language for yourself or your group.

丁寧語ていねいご

Polite language like です and ます.

This is less about being fancy and more about not putting yourself in the wrong social position.

Passive, causative, and causative passive

The passive is not only “was done”. It can show that someone was affected by what happened.

Causative means make or let someone do something. Causative passive means someone was made to do it.

By the end of Genki 2, you have most of the machinery you need for intermediate reading. Tobira then asks you to use it in longer paragraphs.