nihongo wo benkyou shitai

日本語：	[verb (base 7)] まま
日本語：	[adjective] まま
日本語：	[noun] のまま
English:	Leave as is, Some state remains unchanged...

Today's grammar point has surprised me in that it is a deceptively handy one to know. Previously I didn't think it would be something used very often, but after some research, it seems to crop up a lot. Today's grammar point is まま and it is used to indicate that some state has not changed.

The JLPT3 specification requires us to only know of まま when used after verbs in base 7, but as I found out, when used after adjectives and nouns it can be very useful, so we'll cover them too.

Essentially, there are two components to a sentence containing まま - the clause that comes before and the clause that comes after. The clause that comes before is used to indicate that state that has not changed. For example:

English: I left the lights on when I left the room.

Much better if we put this into Jenglish:

Jenglish: [lights][on][unchanged state][room][left]

The unchanged state is that the lights were on before I left and they were still on after I left. Examples I've found in text books and on the web all follow this basic theme; another common example being "I slept with the window open".

Now, while it is not part of the JLPT3 specification, it is worth looking at まま when used with adjectives and nouns. Just as when following a verb, まま after an adjective or noun indicates that the state has not changed. For example:

English: As cold as it is, I'll wear a T-shirt.

or in Jenglish:

Jenglish: [cold][unchanged state][t-shirt][wear]

A example with nouns:

English: I left the car as it was and went to phone the police.

Or again in Jenglish:

[car][unchanged state][police][phone + went]

A couple of things worth noting. まま acts as a noun and as such follows the same grammatical rules. If used with nouns, you need the possessive particle の and with な adjectives, keep the な.

例文

English:	I left the lights on when I left the room.
Jenglish:	[lights][on][unchanged state][room][left]
日本語：	明かりをつけたまま部屋を出ました。

English:	As cold as it is, I'll wear a T-shirt.
Jenglish:	[cold][unchanged state][t-shirt][wear]
日本語：	寒いままTシャツを着ます。

English:	I left the car as it was and went to phone the police.
Jenglish:	[car][unchanged state][police][phone + went]
日本語：	車のまま警察を電話しに行きました。

One final point, まま is frequently used directly after この and その. In such cases the meaning is 'just like this' or 'as it is'. For example:

English:	As it is, I'm not going to London.
日本語：	このままロンドンに行きません。

またね。。。