まま Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Noun
Essential Meaning: As is / Unchanged / Remain as it is
Construction:
- Verb informal past + まま
- E.g. 閉めたまま [X remains closed / X is left closed closed]
- Negative verb informal + まま
- E.g. 閉めないまま [X remains not closed / X is left not closed]
- い-Adjective + まま
- E.g. 高いまま [X remains expensive]
- な-Adjective Stem + なまま
- E.g. 静かなまま [X remains quiet]
- Noun + のまま
- E.g. 昔のまま [X remains as it was in the past]
Notes:
- Xまま conveys the idea that situation X remains unchanged (usually while some situation Y occurs). For example, consider the sentence: 電気をつけたまま寝てしまいました。[I fell asleep while the lights remained on.] In this example, the lights are on; this is the situation that remains unchanged. Then, while the lights remain on, the speaker falls asleep. When using まま, the unchanged situation X precedes the main action Y. Sometimes there is no main action Y, and the sentence merely expresses that state X remains unchanged.
- E.g. この部屋は昨日のままだ。[This room is as it was yesterday.]
- In most cases, the verb that precedes まま takes the informal past tense. But when the unchanged situation X takes a negative verb, that verb takes the nonpast tense.
- E.g. ドアを閉めないまま出かけてしまった。[I left the house without closing the window.] The predicate of the unchanged situation (i.e. 閉めない) is in the negative nonpast tense.
- E.g. さようならの挨拶もしないまま行ってしまった。[I went without even saying goodbye.] The predicate of the unchanged situation (i.e. しない) is in the negative nonpast tense.
- When the verb that precedes まま is non-volitional (e.g. a passive verb form or a verb conveying internal feelings), it is acceptable to use either the past or nonpast tense.
- E.g. 言われるままを払った。[I paid just as I was told to.] This example uses a nonpast tense interior verb and a past tense main verb.
- E.g. 言われたままを払った。[I paid just as I was told to.] This example uses both a past tense interior verb and a past tense main verb.
- E.g. 思っているままを書いてみた。[I tried writing down exactly how I felt.] This example uses a nonpast tense interior verb and a past tense main verb.
- E.g. 思っていたままを書いてみた。[I tried writing down exactly how I felt.] This example uses both a past tense interior verb and a past tense main verb.
- When a non-する verb directly follows まま, you can optionally separate まま and the verb with で (in this case, で acts as the て-Form of the copula だ). With ままで, the statements before and after ままで comes across more like two coordinated phrases rather than a single unified phrase.
- E.g. 弟はテレビをつけたまま寝てしまった。 [My younger brother slept with the TV on.]
- E.g. 弟はテレビをつけたままで寝てしまった。[My younger brother left the TV on, and he fell asleep.]
- Verb informal negative nonpast + まま (e.g. 閉めないまま) can be re-phrased using ないで or ずに. The difference is that ないで / ずに focuses primarily on the negative aspect of the verb (i.e. focusing on what didn’t occur), while まま focuses primarily on the unaltered situation that did occur.
- E.g. ドアを閉めないまま出かけてしまった。[He left with the door open.]
- E.g. ドアを閉めないで / ずに出かけてしまった。[He left without closing the door.]
- In casual speech, まま is often expresses as まんま. The meaning is exactly the same.
Example Sentences:
弟はテレビをつけたまま寝てしまった。[My little brother fell asleep with the TV on.]
弟はテレビをつけたままにしておいた。[My younger brother left the TV on.]
弟はテレビをつけたままだ。[My younger brother left the TV on.]
この部屋は昨日のままだ。[This room is as it was yesterday.]
ここはこのままにしておく。[I’ll leave this place as it is.]
テレビがついたままになっている。[The TV was turned on and it’s still on.]
帽子をかぶったままの学生が教室にいた。[The boy who kept his hat on was in the classroom.]
WILD Examples:
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