I once had a chat with someone where I used "coming" as an example and said it was "来る". They responded by asking me "wait I thought it was イク" I said "different coming"

@@JouzuJuls well thanks for teaching me a new word 😂

@@hikodzu As long as you have no problems with it yourself, you can think of it whatever way you want. I think most learners will agree than if you treat nouns as verbs and verbs as nouns and can't properly identify an A is B sentence from an A does B sentence, THAT is more confusing. The system exists and it works, those who follow the system find Japanese simple and logical. Those who don't are the ones who tend to claim "languages are complicated".

@@JouzuJuls wait what, can you explain why do you think "I was watching tv" A is B instead of A does B?

@@hikodzu "was" is a copula.

@@JouzuJuls what do you mean by that? Is "was" linking "I" and idk "watching tv" or modifying "watching" into past tense

@@hikodzu I recommend watching my video on the Copula: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eLR8rNeFzZa-qJc.html As well as my video on the 2 types of sentences in Japanese: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bcymZLlep6idfn0.html That should clear things up a bit

@@craigjones8518 Yes, she passed away in 2022 if I remember correctly. I now work to carry on her legacy as best as I can, and to release some of the works that she never had the time to get to!

@@tiglionabbit it's evolved a little bit and can be safely treated as it's own thing in modern Japanese, but yes, that's how it came to be!

@@Sultan_Kere. I will be busy taking the N1 in July so unfortunately I'll be focusing on that first!

@@tiglionabbit Hello, thanks for the comment! There are a few misconceptions here leading to some misunderstandings. First of all, いる does not mean "is" in that scenario. English's "is" is both the verb of existence and the copula, Japanese has separate words for the verbs of existence and the copula. I would advice watching the video on the Japanese Copula first: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eLR8rNeFzZa-qJc.html 犬がいる, as mentioned in the video, does not mean "there is a dog" as that is an A is B sentence. It simply means "dog does exist". This is the natural way to say it in Japanese even if it is not natural in English. If you are unfamiliar with the only 2 types of sentences in Japanese, please reference here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eLR8rNeFzZa-qJc.html 犬は見る furthermore does not mean "the dog is watching" as, again, that is an A is B sentence. This would simply be "As for dog, Ø does see". If you are unfamiliar with the Null subject Ø in Japanese (the most important concept in Japanese), please refer to this video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eLR8rNeFzZa-qJc.html As such, 犬は見ている does not mean "the dog is watching" as pointed out in the video as well. It would mean "as for dog, exist in a state of see". If you truly wanted to say "the dog /is/ watching" you would need to use the copula. However, Japanese does not allow this construction of verb+copula. The best you can do is 犬が見ているのだ which uses the nominalizing の (mentioned here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eLR8rNeFzZa-qJc.html) to turn 犬が見ている into a noun. You'd end up with "it is that dog exists in state of see". But this would also not be used in the same way as the English sentence. As you can see, what's natural in English may not necessarily be natural in Japanese and vice versa. It is important to learn how Japanese wants to say certain things instead of thinking about how we would say it in English.

@@JouzuJuls > English's "is" is both the verb of existence and the copula Exactly. I'm using the "existence" version of "is" in my explanation, not the copula. I suppose you're trying to be very careful not to let people conflate those two meanings? Is that worth the awkwardness of phrasing that results in? It's natural to translate "犬がいる" as "there is a dog" -- I mean, that's literally how you translated it in the video in that speech bubble. I was just pointing out how the "present continuous" form in Japanese and English have something in common: they both use the words "is" and "[verb]-ing". I don't think you need to use です or nominalizing の here.