～mama: As Is / While Still

Learning objectives

Lesson goals: Learn mama for keeping a state unchanged while doing something else.
Form and connection: [Nounの/Verb ta-form/Verb nai-form] まま
Nuance in real use: まま describes an "unfinished" intermediate state — something that should have been changed but hasn't been. Sleeping with the window open, leaving without locking the door — まま always paints a picture of something left incomplete.

Form and connection

[Nounの/Verb ta-form/Verb nai-form] まま

Core Explanation

Learn mama for keeping a state unchanged while doing something else.

Cultural Note

まま describes an "unfinished" intermediate state — something that should have been changed but hasn't been. Sleeping with the window open, leaving without locking the door — まま always paints a picture of something left incomplete.

Practical examples

1. テレビをつけたまま寝ねてしまいました。

I fell asleep with the TV on.

2. 窓まどを開あけたまま出でかけました。

I went out leaving the window open.

3. この町まちは昔むかしのままです。

This town is still as it was long ago.

4. 靴くつを履はいたまま部屋へやに入はいらないでください。

Please don't enter the room with your shoes on.

Common pitfalls

Build the base form before adding the pattern

Complete the required conjugation first. Do not keep polite and plain endings at the same time.

Match politeness to the situation

The examples are reliable starting points; relationships and context can still change the most natural wording.

Practice and answers

1. Write the connection formula for this lesson.

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[Nounの/Verb ta-form/Verb nai-form] まま

2. Explain the meaning of the first example.

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I fell asleep with the TV on.

3. Rewrite the final example using this lesson pattern.

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靴くつを履はいたまま部屋へやに入はいらないでください。 ([Nounの/Verb ta-form/Verb nai-form] まま)

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