19000
There is a phrase 「私は緊{きん}張{ちょう}しすぎて」. Translates as:

> 私は - I  
> 緊張 - nervous  
> すぎて - too; exceedingly

But what is the purpose of 「し」 after 「緊張」?
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2014-10-08T08:57:48.930
18996
2014-10-10T06:29:21.730
7045
question
grammar
What is the purpose of 「し」 in phrase 「私は緊{きん}張{ちょう}しすぎて」?
[緊張]{きんちょう} by itself is a
[noun](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/59548/m0u/%E7%B7%8A%E5%BC%B5/).
The English word "nervous" is an adjective.

To say the sentence in English, you would say "I was too nervous" or "I am too
nervous." That makes the English construction a be-verb construction to apply
the adjective to the subject.

To accomplish the same sort of thing -- to apply 緊張 to a subject in Japanese,
you say [緊張]{きんちょう} **する** 。 This is roughly equal to "I am nervous."

The し you are parsing is a form of the verb する that conjugates with すぎる to
give the meaning we would say in English with: "I was too nervous"

* * *

I do actually hear people drop the し sometimes in colloquial patterns and just
say 緊張すぎる. In those contexts, I somewhat wonder if the meaning is that the
person saying it is nervous or they believe the situation itself to be
nervous.
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2014-10-08T09:08:15.230
18997
2014-10-10T06:29:21.730
2014-10-10T06:29:21.730
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18996
answer
緊張し is 連用形(ますform) of the verb "緊張する".
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2014-10-08T09:12:25.370
18998
2014-10-08T09:12:25.370
7320
18996
answer
「緊張しすぎる」＝「緊張」 + 「する」 +「すぎる」

In order to combine the two verbs する and すぎる, you need to change the first one
する into its [連用形]{れんようけい} (continuative form).

The 連用形 of the verb 「する」 is 「し」. Since 「する」 is the most often used verb in the
language, 「し」 is very important and you will keep seeing it from now on.

緊張しすぎる = to get too nervous

[飲]{の}みすぎる = to drink too much

[回答]{かいとう}しすぎる = to answer too many questions
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-08T09:42:28.657
19000
2014-10-08T09:42:28.657
18996
answer