Using “Nagara” 〜ながら with Japanese verbs to express simultaneous actions : Learn how to combine two verbs with nagara to talk about doing 2 actions at the same time.
Contents
Using “Nagara” 〜ながら with Japanese verbs to express simultaneous actions.
Hey guys and welcome to today’s online Japanese lesson from Bondlingo. We hope you are fired up and ready to get to grips with some more awesome Japanese. Today we are going to be talking about “nagara” ながら. Nagara lets the speaker express simultaneous actions at the same time. We are first going to learn about this grammar point and when it can be used.
Next, we are going to look at how to form the verbs with some practice exercises. We will then form and break down some example sentences to make sure you understand how to use it in context. Finally, we will be giving you an effective study tip to help you remember it and use it moving forward, without hesitation.
So if you are now ready, grab your notebook, perhaps a coffee? and let’s get started.
What is ながら anyway?
Nagara is a great grammar point to know if you want to express doing more than one action at a time. You could use this when you are studying and listening to music, running and thinking about your life, exercising and holding a burger.
If the actions are happening simultaneously, then you can use “nagara”. We are now going to need to know how to form ながら sentences so you can start creating sentences and expressing it in your own Japanese. It is such a useful grammar point that we are sure you are going to enjoy.
How to form ながら: A basic understanding
To form a “nagara” sentence this is what you need to do.
- Take a ます masu for verb
- Remove the ます masu form verb
- Add ながら nagara
- You can then add the next verb which you are doing simultaneously.
We are now going to have a look at some awesome example sentences to help you have a better understanding of how the grammar point is used to help further your knowledge of nagara.
Sentence examples
So now let’s take a look at some examples of ながら sentences. We are going to start with an easy one. Imagine you are listening to your music whilst walking around a forest on a lovely day. In this situation you can say:
音楽を聞きながら歩きます
Ongaku wo kikinagara arukimasu
I walk while I listen to music
Now imagine the scene, some delightful young children, laughing and having fun whilst playing there favourite game. To describe the scene you could say:
子供達は笑いながらゲームで遊んでいた。
Kodomotachi wa warainagara geimu de asonde ita.
The children were playing a game laughing.
Can you imagine a nice relaxing night in, feet up on the sofa, TV on with your favourite Netflix show and some delicious takeout! This sounds like the perfect scenario. Well you can describe ths dream scene by saying:
いつもご飯を食べながらテレビを観る。
Itsumo gohan wo tabenagara terebi wo miru.
I always eat watching TV.
Now you have seen how to create sentences with ながら you should, to some extent, understand how it is formed and used in real life situations.
What you now need to is go ahead and create some of your own sentences to really help you remember them. First start by taking 2 verbs that you can do simultaneously, then try and turn them into longer sentences. Do this with 10 pairs of verbs and you will be well on the way to mastering this grammar point.
Study tip
Here at Bondlingo we like to offer help and advice in any way we can. We believe in efficient learning, that’s why we like to offer study tips to help supplement your language growth. When you are looking to master concepts such as ながら “nagara” you must think about exposing yourself to the grammar point you want to learn as intensively as possible.
We suggest putting a day aside to really focus on one specific grammar point only. Set an alarm to remind you to come up with a “nagara” sentence every 10 minutes throughout the day. By the end of the day you will have made more than 100 sentences and will be well on the way to mastery.
Remember, with this type of thing it’s all about quality over quantity, be sure you are focussing as much as possible on mastering only that point before moving onto other.
Okay guys that brings us to the end of today’s online Japanese lesson. We hope you have enjoyed it and most importantly learned something from it. If you have any questions or want to suggest some content for us to cover, please get in touch. We love creating these blogs for you so we are really open to hearing your ideas and helping you along with your Japanese.
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