Japanese uses several particles, which act as glue to hold the words of a sentence together. Particles tell what a word "was" to the sentence. You typically have a particle after each word. They are all one syllable long, or two roman letters. Incidentally, since they are one syllable long, they are one Japanese "letter", since each Japanese letter is actually a syllable.
The particle WA
This particle tells that the preceding word is the subject of the sentence. A good way to translate it is as for.
benkyou suru koto wa yoi desu.
to study situation (as for) good is.
kore wa boku no mono desu.
this (as for) I ('s) thing is.
Guile wa tsuyoi desu.
Guile (as for) strong is.
Difference between WA and GA
People often confuse WA and GA. Ga also marks the subject of the sentence, but I think of GA as a way to mark a word in "Italics". You can translate GA as "instead of something or someone else". There are some other subtle differences; but for now I'd just worry about this much. If you're interested in all the nuances, I'm sure there are several websites that have in-depth info. Also, try searching Deja.com for newsgroup posts from about 1 or 2 years ago. There was a big discussion on sci.lang.japan about this very topic.
Example:
benkyou suru koto wa internet ga ichiban desu.
to study situation (as for) THE INTERNET (as opposed to something else) #1 is.
kore ga hayai desu.
THIS is fast. (as opposed to THAT or THE OTHER THING)
kore wa hayai desu.
this (as for) fast is. (simply saying, "this is fast")
The particle NO
No is best translated as an "apostrophe S" (the 's in Matt's). It is the possessive particle for those you familiar with the term. Since explanations only do so much good, I'll show you several examples:
kare wa boku no tomodachi desu.
he (as for) I ('s) friend is.
He is my friend.
are wa okaasan no kami desu.
that over there (as for) mother ('s) hair it is.
That is my mother's hair.
ano kumo wa otousan no mono desu.
that cloud (as for) father ('s) thing it is.
That cloud over there is my dad's.
kono shounen no mise wa chikai desu.
this boy ('s) store (as for) close is.
This boy's store is closeby.
sono shoujo no mise wa toui desu.
that girl ('s) store (as for) far is.
That girl's store is far away.
The particle NI
This particle means "by", "in", "on", "location" etc.
Examples:
Aeris o Sephiroth ni koroshita.
Aeris (answers "who") Sephiroth (answers "by who" or "using what") killed.
Aeris was killed by Sephiroth.
aitsu wa jigoku ni iru.
him (as for) hell (location) is in. (iru = to be somewhere)
He is in hell.
boushi wa ude ni iru.
hat (as for) arm (location) is on.
The hat is on (your) arm.
sore wo mise ni kaeshita.
that (answers WHAT) store (in, at) returned.
He returned that to the store.
The particle DE
This particle means "restricting ourselves to", "using", or "by means of".
Examples:
nihon de ichiban nagai kami desu.
japan (restricting us to) #1 long hair is.
(That) is the longest hair in Japan.
densha de otta.
train (by means of) followed (ou - to follow)
(He) followed (someone) by train.
itsumo tabemono wo taberu.
always food (answers who or what) eats
(He) always eats food.
There are several other particles (around 12 in all) which you will want to learn right away. They are used in every sentence, so it's very important to learn them first!
A useful word - "Koto"
Koto means "situation". You turn a phrase into a working noun by adding "koto" after it.
Take a typical short sentence:
aeris o koroshita.
Killed Aeris
If we add "koto", it allows us to use the phrase as the subject of a larger sentence.
aeris o koroshita koto
The situation where aeris was killed, aeris getting killed, etc.
aeris o koroshita koto wa zannen desu.
aeris (who or what) killed situation (as for) shame it is.
It's a shame that Aeris was killed.
You can't just say:
Aeris o koroshita wa zannen desu.
That's why "koto" is used - it turns a standalone sentence (really should be called a "phrase" since it's so small) into the subject of a larger sentence.
Useful words to add to your list!
Adjectives:
chikai - near
toui - far
mijikai - short (hair, etc)
nagai - long
tsumetai - cold
akai - red
ichiban - number 1
Adverbs:
itsumo - always
yukkuri - slowly, leisurely
Interrogatives:
itsu - when
Nouns:
tomodachi - friend
tabemono - food
jigoku - hell
densha - train
shoujo - girl
shounen - boy
kumo - cloud
otoko - man
onna - woman
okaasan - mother
otousan - father
mise - store
boushi - hat
ude - arm
kuchi - mouth
mono - thing
kami - hair (yes, it ALSO means god!)
Verbs:
iru - to be somewhere (for a person) plain
imasu - to be somewhere (person) polite
ou - to follow
kaesu - return something, give back
omou - to think
Pronouns:
yatsu - guy, dude
ore - I (speaker thinks he is superior)
Kono, Sono, and Ano
In Japanese, things are usually pretty organized. Let me introduce you to another example of this!
In a previous lesson, we learned:
kore - this
sore - that
are - that over there
By the way, just a reminder that you pronounce all vowels in Japanese. There is no silent 'E' at the end of Japanese words, for instance. So you would pronounce 'kore' as (KOE REH).
Now you'll learn 3 related words! First, let's see how you use one of the words you already know:
kore wa ore no mono desu.
this (as for) I 's thing is.
(This is my thing)
What if you wanted to say this CLOUD is yours? You wouldn't use kore - you'd use 'kono' instead.
kono kumo wa ore no mono desu.
this cloud (as for) I 's thing is.
(This cloud is my thing)
There are 3 of these - one each for kore, sore, and are:
kono - this
sono - that
ano - that over there
Sidenote - the devil of English, the schwa
In English, there is a vowel sound that can be represented by any of the 5 vowels. It is called the schwa. (represented in dictionaries by an upside-down 'e') For instance, you could easily spell the word "pencil" with any of the 5 vowels, and it would sound the same:
Pencal, Pencel, Pencil, Pencol, Pencul
That's because the "i" in pencil isn't pronounced like the 'i' in image. It's a schwa.
Whenever you can't remember to spell a word - go through the 5 vowels. If they all COULD go there, then you're having trouble with spelling thanks to the schwa. The schwa is probably the #1 cause of spelling errors!
Thank goodness there is no such demon in Japanese!
Get a feel for Japanese sentences!
I would recommend writing several of these sentences on index cards (or on regular paper) and studying them often. Just reading Japanese setences helps give you a feel for how they are constructed, and helps you to make your own sentences. Since the grammer is so "different", you need to expose yourself to it a lot, so you can become more comforatable with it. After you use Japanese sentences for a while, you will start to get a feel for how they should sound, and how to create your own.
What is the best way to practice in this area?
Next Week
[an error occurred while processing this directive]