Suru: your new best friend

Suru (する--no kanji. We love those!), for those of you who don't know, means, "to do." As you can imagine, this is an immensely useful verb. Not only is it used a heck of a lot, but you can also attach it onto nouns, and together they become a verb. As a student, you may have been taught 「勉強をする(べんきょうをする)」(benkyou wo suru), which means "to study." "Benkyou" (勉強) just means "study" on its own. Adding "wo" (を) allows suru to modify benkyou, so it becomes "doing study."

Now, this is the correct way to say "study." This word, suru, makes hundreds of nouns into verbs in proper Japanese. But this post is here to draw you to the survival aspect of suru. In a pinch, this verb can help you get your meaning across. If you know a noun but not the related verb, try slapping 「をします」after it, and the listener should understand. Case and point: if I wanted to say I was driving a car, I couldn't. I don't know the verb for driving. But doing a/the car (車をします/kuruma wo shimasu), don't you think the listener would understand? And I'm sure they'd also teach you the proper way to say it afterward.

Obviously, don't make a habit of it. But as I will say time and time again, language is for communicating, for getting a meaning across. It is not about writing essays. That comes later.

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