Planning つもり

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

When you plan to do something you’re doing something. That means we’re working with verbs, right? You don’t “plan to tall” or “plan to horse.” You do things like “plan to become tall” or “plan to eat a horse” (maybe not the last one… just maybe).

When it comes to the planning version of つもり, we’re talking all verbs, which makes it easier for us. The “conviction つもり” on the other hand is a bit different, and that can be attached to nouns, adjectives, and verbs, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

For now, just think through the logic. You plan to DO things. Therefor, つもり is associated with verbs. Put it in your head.

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to look at the pattern つもり follows:

v.dict + つもりです

You know what v.dict is (that’s a verb in dictionary form). つもり, however, ends with です. Why? Well, because it’s a noun – a noun that means “plan” or “intention.” So, basically what you’re saying is “doing something plan” or “doing something intention.” Let’s look at some examples which should help to clear all this up.

aたべる　つもりです
Plan to eat

aいく　つもりです
Plan to go

a入る　つもりです
Plan to enter

You can plan to do any number of things. The examples above are the simplest version of this grammar point. We should be specifying what we’re eating, etc., though.

aハンバーガー　を　たべる　つもりです
I plan to eat a hamburger

a日本　に　いく　つもりです
I plan to go to Japan

aスーパー　に　入る　つもりです
I plan to enter the supermarket

Now it’s your turn. You know the pattern, and you know つもり. I’m going to give you words, and your job is to tell me what you plan to do with / to / about them. I’ll include example answers, though you should try to come up with your own.

すし　Example Answer →

石　Example Answer →

にほんご　Example Answer →

ゴジラ　Example Answer →

フランス　Example Answer →

オレンジジュース　Example Answer →

とうきょう　Example Answer →

この　おもしろい　本　Example Answer →

あの　でんしゃ　Example Answer →

Pretty good so far, right? Now it’s time to learn negatives, which can get a little bit tricky, depending on what you want to do. By practicing negatives, though, you’ll get practice with what you just learned here and learn something useful you ought to be learning. Doesn’t get any better than that.

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