1

Is it

ピアノを弾いてやめました。

or

ピアノを弾きやめました。

Thanks

Flaw
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dngr193
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1 Answers1

7

Neither is correct. Unlike 始める or 終える which can follow almost any verb, やめる can not follow the masu-stem of an arbitrary verb. (There are a few fixed compound verbs like 取りやめる, though)

You have to use a nominalizer and say:

ピアノを弾くのをやめました。

Compare:

  • ピアノを弾き始めました。 I started playing the piano.
  • ピアノを弾き終えました。 I finished playing the piano.
naruto
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  • Is the difference between "I stopped playing piano [now]" and "I stopped playing piano [altogether]" best translated as 「ピアノを弾き終えました」 and 「ピアノを弾くのをやめました」? Can you say 「ピアノをやめました」 for the latter? – Earthliŋ Oct 08 '17 at 13:08
  • hmm, I thought you could add やむ to stem verbs, like in 泣きやむ. Is this different because it is intransitive? Only possible with やむ and not やめる？ – kandyman Oct 08 '17 at 20:08
  • @Earthliŋ ピアノをやめました only means "I quit the habit of playing the piano" or "I ended my career as a pianist." ピアノを弾き終えました means finishing one particular performance. ピアノを弾くのをやめました can mean both depending on the context. – naruto Oct 09 '17 at 00:12
  • @kandyman I recommend you first visit [this site](http://vvlexicon.ninjal.ac.jp/en/) and learn about syntactic compound verbs. 始める can directly follow any verb, やむ can follow some verbs, やめる can follow only very few verbs. Also please read [this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/52803/5010). You can say 泣き止む and 降り止む, but not 食べ止む nor 歩き止む. – naruto Oct 09 '17 at 00:15