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I took up an interest in Japanese and I have to say I'm enjoying the language
overall.

I've been reading online resources and have no problem with normal Godan or
Ichidan verbs since they have rules you can follow.

However when I look up verbs in the dictionary such as cooking, painting, etc:

```

    [料理]{りょうり},　[絵]{え}
    
```

None of the online resources I've found tell you how to deal with these. There
are a lot of words that don't end like the regular verbs.

What do I need to learn to to begin forming sentences like

  * Do you cook?

  * Are you cooking?
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2014-03-07T12:54:31.760
14780
2014-03-08T04:13:30.523
2014-03-08T04:13:30.523
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question
verbs
Understanding Japanese verbs
料理 and 絵 aren't verbs. They're nouns. Your dictionary should say so.

In the case of 料理, you can add する to make 料理する, which means "to prepare food".
(It doesn't necessarily mean to heat it up, though, so it might not be exactly
the same as English "cook".)

In the case of 絵, you can use the phrase 絵を描{か}く. (Although this is one way to
say "to paint a picture", more generally it can mean "to draw a picture", not
just with paints.)

You might consider picking up an English-Japanese dictionary designed for
beginners. For example, Kodansha's _Basic English-Japanese Dictionary_ has
only a fairly basic set of vocabulary, but it describes how to use it and
gives examples for every entry.

As for forming basic sentences like "Do you cook?" and "Are you cooking?", you
would probably be better served by taking a class, working through a textbook
or going through an online introduction to Japanese. You won't learn the
basics you need to know from dictionaries.
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2014-03-07T13:31:19.767
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2014-03-07T13:31:19.767
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answer
There is a class of verbs, sometimes called suru-verbs, which are formed from
a noun + the verb する, e.g.

> [料理]{りょうり}する = to cook

So,

> 料理しますか。  
>  Do you cook?
>
> 料理していますか。  
>  Are you cooking?

To learn how to form simple sentences like this, you need to know how to form
questions and how to look up word in a dictionary:

The second word you looked up is the gerund "painting" of the verb "to paint",
but "painting" is not really a verb anymore. 絵 doesn't mean "to paint" (not
even with する appended), but means a _picture_ (or painting).

"to draw a picture" is in fact 絵{え}を描{か}く.

To look up verbs in a dictionary, I suggest not to look for the gerund (e.g.
cooking, painting, ...), but for the infinitive (e.g. to cook, to paint, ...)
to avoid confusion.
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2014-03-07T13:33:14.213
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2014-03-07T14:49:54.697
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer