"Shimasu" vs. "yarimasu"
One of the students asked me about the verb やります yarimasu. She asked if this verb was related to します shimasu, which means “do”.
The answer is yes, やります yarimasu is a colloquial variation of the verb します shimasu. People use やります yarimasu a lot instead of します shimasu in daily casual conversations.
For example,
もう宿題をやったよ！Moo shukudai o yatta yo!
“I did my homework already!”
(Note that I used the plain past tense form やった yatta here, in order to make it casual.)
If you hear やります yarimasu in daily conversations, it means “do” most of the time; i.e. the casual version of します shimasu.
However, やります yarimasu has more meanings than します shimasu. Other than “do”, it could also mean “dispatch”, “give (water to plants)”, “feed (pets)”, “manage to make a living”, among a few other things.
For example, if you hear,
花に水をやりました Hana ni mizu o yarimashita,
It means, “I gave water to flowers” --> “I watered flowers”.
But it does NOT mean, *I did water to flowers*.
Another thing to note is that やります yarimasu cannot replace します shimasu in expressions which are composed of “noun of foreign origin + します shimasu”. The reason is that such expressions are considered to be fixed, so you cannot replace part of the expression with something else.
For example,
勉強します benkyooshimasu --> You cannot say, 勉強やります benkyooyarimasu
リラックスします rirakkusushimasu --> You cannot say, リラックスやります rirakkusuyarimasu
If you like to read more about “noun of foreign origin + します shimasu” expressions, please check out this thread!
The answer is yes, やります yarimasu is a colloquial variation of the verb します shimasu. People use やります yarimasu a lot instead of します shimasu in daily casual conversations.
For example,
もう宿題をやったよ！Moo shukudai o yatta yo!
“I did my homework already!”
(Note that I used the plain past tense form やった yatta here, in order to make it casual.)
If you hear やります yarimasu in daily conversations, it means “do” most of the time; i.e. the casual version of します shimasu.
However, やります yarimasu has more meanings than します shimasu. Other than “do”, it could also mean “dispatch”, “give (water to plants)”, “feed (pets)”, “manage to make a living”, among a few other things.
For example, if you hear,
花に水をやりました Hana ni mizu o yarimashita,
It means, “I gave water to flowers” --> “I watered flowers”.
But it does NOT mean, *I did water to flowers*.
Another thing to note is that やります yarimasu cannot replace します shimasu in expressions which are composed of “noun of foreign origin + します shimasu”. The reason is that such expressions are considered to be fixed, so you cannot replace part of the expression with something else.
For example,
勉強します benkyooshimasu --> You cannot say, 勉強やります benkyooyarimasu
リラックスします rirakkusushimasu --> You cannot say, リラックスやります rirakkusuyarimasu
If you like to read more about “noun of foreign origin + します shimasu” expressions, please check out this thread!