[:-xFavarcadex-:] - PositiveNegative

This lesson is about the Japanese particle wo. Wo is pronounced 'o' and will be spelled 'o' in romanized Japanese but should not be confused with the vowel o. (W)o is only used as a particle. It is used to mark the object of a sentence. The particle comes after the object and before the verb. Basically, you have "noun o action verb" which means: "do/does the action verb to the noun."
nihongo o benkyou shimasu	study Japanese language
hon o yomimasu	read a book
zasshi o yomimasu	read a magazine
niku o tabemasu	eat meat
ringo o tabemasu	eat an apple
terebi o mimasu	watch TV
koora o nomimasu	drink cola
ongaku o kikimasu	listen to music
One can also attach a subject to the sentence to explain who or what is doing the action.
Examples: Watashi wa hon o yomimasu.	I read books.
Annasan wa Nihongo o benkyou shimasu.	Anna studies Japanese.
Yoshisan wa ongaku o kikimasu.	Yoshi listens to music.
Ano neko wa ringo o tabemasu.	That cat over there eats apples.
Well, that's all well and good, but what if you want to say you don't eat meat? or don't drink coffee? Notice that all of the verbs above end in masu. That is called the masu ending. (It's pronounced like the 'moss' that grows on the ground.) That is the positive present (or future) form of the verb in polite form. If you want to use the negative present form of the verb you change the masu to masen. So "I listen", "Watashi wa kikimasu", becomes "I don't listen", "Watashi wa kikimasen."
Examples: Watashi wa hon o yomimasen.	I don't read books.
Meerisan wa ringo o tabemasen.	Mary doesn't eat apples.
Watashi no neko wa banana o tabemasen.	My cat doesn't eat bananas.
Maikusan wa Nihongo o benkyou shimasen.	Mike doesn't study Japanese.
Lesson 6 Vocabulary: (w)o ringo banana terebi koora ongaku benkyou shimasu tabemasu kikimasu yomimasu nomimasu mimasu ~masu ~masen	object marker (particle) apple banana TV cola music to study to eat to hear or listen to read to drink to watch, look, or see present positive verb form present negative verb form