More questions about 'to be' in japanese


I had some questions about the verb 'to be'. I know you have the copula 「だ」
and 「いる」and「ある」. However, the copula does not have all the conjugations, so
how would you express something like 'can be' or 'make be'(like in: 'I made
him happy'). And use expressions like 「なければならない」would you form something like
「じゃなければならない」? Or the expression 「～たい」(Like in: 'I want to be happy'). I don't
really know. I suggest maybe using 「である」. But I know that's really like
literary language. Also how would you say all this with i-adjectives?

Well, Thank you, in advance.




Your question seems a little too broad to answer to, but some examples:

>   * I want to be happy. -- [私]{わたし}は[幸]{しあわ}せになりたい。 [ 〜に-なる ]
>   * I can be happy. -- 私は幸せになれる。 [ なれる (potential form of なる) ]
>   * I made him happy. -- 私は[彼]{かれ}を幸せにした。 [ ～に-する ]
>   * He has to be happy. -- 彼は幸せでなければならない。[ ～なければならない ]
>   * He should be happy. -- 彼は幸せであるべきだ。[ ～べき-だ ]
>   * He must be happy. (assuming) -- 彼は幸せにちがいない。[ ～に-ちがいない ]
>   * He may be happy. (possibility) -- 彼は幸せかもしれない。[ ～かもしれない ]
>

of course there can be other translations though.

I picked a key expression (verb or auxiliary phrase) from each sentence into
bracket. Recommend you should look them up in textbooks / dictionaries. Could
this be of any help?

