Japanese 遊ぶ: play and spend leisure time

The idea

遊あそぶ is a godan verb: ぶ becomes びます in the polite form and んで in the て form. 遊あそびません is polite negative and 遊あそびました is polite past; the non-past can describe a habit or the future. Use と for a playmate and で for the place. For playing a named game, ゲームをする is also common.

Examples

• 日曜日にちようびは友達ともだちと遊あそびます。I play with a friend on Sundays.
• 今日きょうは公園こうえんで遊あそびません。I will not play in the park today.
• 昨日きのう、子こどもが庭にわで遊あそびました。Yesterday a child played in the garden.
• ここで遊あそんでください。Please play here.
• 今いま、子こどもが外そとで遊あそんでいます。A child is playing outside now.
• 明日あした、いっしょに遊あそびませんか。Would you like to play together tomorrow?

Watch out

The dictionary form 遊あそぶ is plain speech. In polite conversation use 遊あそびます; the て form is 遊あそんで, not the dictionary form plus て.

Try it yourself

1. 日曜日にちようびは友達ともだちと＿。（遊あそぶ→ます）

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   遊びます

   遊あそびます is the polite non-past of 遊あそぶ; context tells whether it describes a habit or a future action.

2. ＿。（遊あそぶ→て）

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   遊んで

   遊あそんで is the て form of 遊あそぶ. It can join clauses or precede ください in a request.

3. 公園こうえん＿遊あそびます。（で／に）

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   で

   で marks the place where the activity happens; に would mark a destination.

Use it today

Make a new sentence with 遊あそぶ. Change it to the polite past and identify its particle, then compare it with the table.