Japanese language guide
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This page is intended to give the reader a feel for how the Japanese language is used. This entry is written using romaji for the benefit of English readers. A limited Japanese vocabulary is assumed.
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Parts of Speech
Japanese parts of speech, although no more complicated than those of other languages, do not fit well into typical labels such as verb, noun, and adjective. The following uses a labeling system loosely based on Eleanor Harz Jorden's book Beginning Japanese -- sufficient for an overview, but not so simplistic as to be misleading.
Nominals
Nouns: Japanese nouns do not inflect for number, person, or (directly) case.
- Tōkyō (Tokyo); mikan (mandarin orange); kuruma (car)
Although there is no true plural in Japanese, a number of nouns (generally those that refer to people) may take one of several collective suffixes.
- Tanaka-san (Mr. Tanaka), Tanaka-san-tachi (Mr. Tanaka and his group)
A very limited number indicate the collective by reduplication.
- hito person → hitobito people; hoshi star → hoshiboshi stars
Pronominals: Unlike many other languages, Japanese has no true pronouns; since words that are clear from context are usually elided, there is less need for them. (In general, natural-sounding Japanese tends to avoid the use of nouns that refer to people except when explicitly needed. This is often a point of confusion for beginners.) Pronominals are not grammatically distinct from ordinary nominals: notably, they may take adjectives, which pronouns cannot.
- atashi, boku, ore, watashi I; anata, kimi, kiisama, omae you
na-adjectives: These nominals almost invariably have a form of the copula (such as na) following them, to the point where they are often listed in dictionaries with the na included. They are generally adjectival in meaning as well.
- heta na unskilled, "bad at"; genki na healthy, energetic; orijinaru na original
Verbals
Verbs: Japanese verbs inflect directly for tense, negation, mood, aspect, politeness, and honorific speech.
- iku (to go), kuru (to come), iru (existence of animate object, "there is/are"), aru (existence of inanimate object, "there is/are")
-i adjectives: These inflect for tense, politeness, and honorific speech as well (although not aspect or mood, as they are all stative verbs); an -i adjective will always end in -ai, -ii, -ui, or -oi. (Note that there are also stative -u verbs.)
- utsukushii beautiful; ii good; sugoi amazing; ureshii happy
Copula: Although the copula is not strictly a verb, most of its forms derive from de aru; it inflects somewhat irregularly, however. It retains an "attributive form", na, used to modify the noun it stands before: however, this form is almost exclusively used after na-adjectives.
Other
Particles: Also called postpositions or joshi, particles show the case of nouns in Japanese: that is, they mark nouns as being the subject, object, indirect object, etc. (English typically uses word order or prepositions for the same effect.) Particles follow the noun they modify.
- wa (topic); ga (subject); o (direct object), no (possession), ni (indirect object marker), to, etc.; kara from; made until, as far as; de using, at
Some particles are used after sentences instead:
- ka (question marker); yo (exclamatory marker); tte (quotation marker)
Adverbs: Adverbs typically modify the entire sentence, although most Japanese quantifiers (including numbers) are actually adverbs, rather than adjectives as in English.
- aikawarazu as always; sukoshi a little, few; mō sugu soon, before long; sō thus, so
Conjunctions: Japanese conjunctions typically either apply to nominals (like English "except") or to predicates (like English "when"), not both (like English "and").
- mata wa or (n.); soshite and then, and also (pr.); ga but (pr.)
Interjections: Common to every language.
- wā! "wow!", are? "huh?", "wha?"; ē to "um, er"; anō "um"
Japanese Basics
The most basic sentence in Japanese consists of a predicate. The predicate must be a verbal, although a copula with a nominal suffices. More frequently, a subject, object, or other additional noun will also be used, but none is required. Note, however, that the
Examples
Osoi. late [You're] late.
Kirei da. pretty is [It] is pretty.
Kore wa hon da. This TOPIC book is This is a book.
Kanojo wa utsukushii. She TOPIC is-beautiful The girl is beautiful.
Kyou wa amari samuku nai desu. Today TOPIC very cold-NEG-POLITE It isn't very cold today. / Today isn't very cold.
Umi wo mimashita. Sea OBJ look_out_on-PAST [I] gazed out at the ocean.
Okaasan wa mise ni ikimashita. Mother TOPIC store PLACE_TO went-PAST-POLITE [Her] mother went to the store.
Natsu ga kimashita. Summer SUBJ come-PAST-POLITE Summer has come.
Basic Grammar
The Japanese language is often confusing for Westerners first learning it, since word order and syntax are strikingly different from most European languages. However, the following basic grammatical rules are almost always obeyed.
- A modifying verbal or predicate comes before the nominal it modifies.
- utsukushii hito (beautiful person)
- kitanai heya (dirty room)
- taisetsu na mondai (important problem, lit. "problem which is important")
- watashi no katta hon [(1p) RELSUBJ buy-PAST book] (the book that I bought)
- Postposition particles (joshi) always come after the word(s) they modify.
- watashi wa kita (I came)
- okāsan ni ageta ([I] gave it to mom)
Introductory Conversation
A typical (yet contrived) exchange between two people would look like this: Mr. Hayashi introduces Mr. Tanaka to Mr. Sanger.
Yamada: Tanaka-san, kochira wa Sangā san desu. Sangaa: Hajimemashite, Sangā desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. Tanaka: Hajimemashite. Ēbīshī no Tanaka desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. Yamada: Sangā san wa Nupīdia no shain desu.
Yamada: Mr. Tanaka, this is Mr. Sanger. Sanger: How do you do. My name is Sanger. I'm very glad to meet you. Tanaka: How do you do. I am Mr. Tanaka from ABC Company. I'm very glad to meet you. Yamada: Mr. Sanger is an employee of Nupedia.
Example of Basic Japanese Sentence structure
Note the importance of the particles, verb tenses, and adjectives.
Mr. Sanger and Mr. Wales eat at a Japanese restaurant.
Sangaa: Sumimasen, menyū o misete kudasai. Please show us the menu.
Ueitoresu: Hai, dōzo. Certainly sir. Here you are.
(cont'd): Nomimono wa nani ni nasaimasu ka. What would you like to drink?
Weruzu: Bīru o onegaishimasu. I'd like a beer, please.
Sangaa: Sukiyaki ni shimasu. I'll have the "sukiyaki".
Weruzu: Bīru o ni-hon to sukiyaki o kudasai. Two bottles of beer and some
sukiyaki, please.
Sangaa: Dezāto wa meron ga ī desu. For dessert we'll have melon.
Ueitoresu: Hai, kashikomarimashita. I see (understood).
Notes
Vocabulary: ueitoresu - waitress (loanword) sumimasen - excuse me, i'm sorry menyū - menu (loanword) hai - yes (in the sense of "that's correct", or "I agree") nomimono - beverage nani - what hoshii - want (desire an object or outcome) ii - good bīru - beer (loanword) ni - two hon - to count bottles (or any long object) dezāto - dessert (loanword) meron - melon (loanword)
X onegaishimasu - please do X for me X kudasai - please give me X
Particles: wa - indicates the topic. ga - indicates the topic with de-emphasis on the topic o - indicates the direct object ka - indicates a question to - and
Verbs: misemasu - show desu - to be (copula, as opposed to existence) wakarimasu - to understand.
See also
- Japanese Wikibook
- the Japanese ibook (http://textbook.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese)
- Japanese Dictionary (http://www.online-dictionary.biz/english/japanese) Lookup words, kanji characters, kanji combinations, converter between Romaji and Kana, view kanji in example sentences.
- Nihongo Resources (http://www.nihongoresources.com/grammar/particles.htm) In-depth description of Japanese particles