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Japanese/Lessons/Simultaneous action

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Simultaneous action is designated by replacing the "〜ます" ending of the polite present positive tense of the first verb with "〜ながら". The tense is then determined by the latter verb. Both actions should be performed by the same person.

Those more comfortable thinking in terms of the dictionary form can see this as adding "〜ながら" to the stem of vowel-stem verbs, or the い-row of consonant-stem verbs (e.g. 飲む -> 飲みながら example below). The irregular verbs are also put in the い-row making them identical to the consonant-stem verbs.

<sentence start> <vowel-stem verb stem> ながら <second verb>
<consonant-stem verb stem in い-row>

The tense of the sentence is given with the second verb.

Examples

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Dictionary form ながら-form example meaning
Vowel stem verbs
見る (みる) 見ながら テレビを見ながらりんごを食べた。 I ate an apple while I watched television.
食べる(たべる) 食べながら りんごを食べながらテレビを見る。 I watch television while eating an apple.
Consonant stem verbs
会う(あう) 会いながら
行く(いく) 行きながら 学校へ行きながら友だちと喋った。 I talked with my friends on our way to school.
泳ぐ(およぐ) 泳ぎながら 泳ぎながら歌を歌った。 I sang a song while swimming.
話す(はなす) 話しながら
待つ(まつ) 待ちながら
遊ぶ(あそぶ) 遊びながら
飲む(のむ) 飲みながら コーヒーを飲みながら友達と喋っていました。 I chatted with friends over coffee.
喋る(しゃべる) 喋りながら
Irregular verbs
する しながら
() ()ながら
Japanese English Reading Notes
テレビtelevision
見るto see, to watchみるThis verb changes thus: "見る" -> "見ます" -> "見ながら".
パンbread
食べるto eatたべるThis verb changes thus: "食べる" -> "食べます" -> "食べながら"
コーヒーcoffee
公園a (public) parkこうえん
友達a friendともだち
飲むto drinkのむ
喋るto talk, to chatしゃべる
歩くto walkあるく