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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.
Japanese Basics
The most basic sentence in Japanese consists of a topic
(not necessarily the subject), the topic marker wa, and a predicate. The
predicate can be in the form of a noun or adjective combined with a copula,
or a verb.
Examples
Watashi wa utsukushii desu.
I am beautful. (Literally, "As for me, I am beautful").
Okaasan wa mise ni ikimashita.
Mom went to the store. ("As for mother, she went to the store")
Natsu wa kimashita.
Summer has come.
Parts of Speech
Roughly speaking, Japanese has the following parts of
speech. Some examples are given.
- Nouns
- toukyou (Tokyo), ringo (apple),
hito (person)
- Adjectives
- -i Adjectives. These adjectives
always end in a hiragana -i.
- utsukushii (beautiful), ii
(good), sugoi (amazing), ureshii (happy)
- -na Adjectives. These adjectives
have a variety of endings and use -na as a connector.
- kirei-na (pretty), kantan-na
(simple), shiawase-na (happy)
- Adverbs. Adverbs are almost always
formed from adjectives.
- sugoku (extremely, amazingly),
tanoshiku (enjoyably), ureshiku (happily)
- Verbs
- iku (to go), kuru (to come), iru (existance
of animate object, "there is/are"), aru (existance of inanimate object,
"there is/are")
- Particles (postpositions)
- wa (topic marker), ga (subject
marker), wo (o) (direct object), no (possession), ni (indirect object,
"to", etc.), kara ("from"), made ("until")
- Pronouns
- Pronouns are rather different in
their quantity and usage versus many western languages. For example,
there are many different ways to express "I" in Japanese: "wareware", "watashi",
"boku", "ore" are just four examples (the differences are in politeness
and nuance).
- Natural-sounding Japanese tends to
avoid the use of pronouns except when explicitly needed. This is often a
point of confusion for beginners.
- Examples: watashi (I),
watashitachi (we), anata (you), kare (him), kanojo (her), karera (they)
- Interjections
- waa (wow), are (Huh? Eh?)
Basic Grammar
The Japanese language is often confusing for westerners
first learning it, since word order and syntax are often backwards. However,
the following basic grammatical rules are almost always obeyed.
- A noun modifier such as an
adjective, or modifying clause always comes before the noun it modifies.
Examples are below.
- utsukushii hito (beautiful person)
- kitanai heya (dirty room)
- taisetsuna mondai (important
problem)
- watashi no yonda hon (The book I
read)
- Adverbs come before the verbs or
adjectives they modify.
- tanoshiku shimashou (Let's do it
enjoyably)
- sugoku utsukushii (Extremely
pretty)
- Postpositions (particles, or
joshi) always come after the word they modify.
- watashi wa kita (I came)
- okaasan ni ageta (I gave it to
mom)
- More to come...
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, Sangaa san desu.
Sangaa: Hajimemashite, Senga desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
Tanaka: Hajimemashite. Eebiishii no Tanaka desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
Yamada: Sangaa san wa Nupiidia 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, menyuu o misete kudasai. Please show us the menu.
Ueitoresu: Hai, doozo. Certainly sir. Here you are.
(cont'd): Nomimono wa nani ni nasaimasuka. What would you like to drink?
Weruzu: Biiru onegaishimasu. I'd like a beer, please.
Sangaa: Sukiyaki ni shimasu. I'll have the "sukiyaki."
Weruzu: Biiru o ni-hon to sukiyaki kudasai. Two bottles of beer and some
sukiyaki, please.
Sangaa: Dezaato wa meron ga ii desu. For dessert we'll have melon.
Ueitoresu: Hai, kashikomarimashita. I see (understood).
Notes
Vocabulary:
ueitoresu - waitress
sumimasen - excuse me
menyuu - menu
hai - yes
nomimono - beverage
nani - what
hoshii - want
ii - good
biiru - beer
ni - two
hon - to count bottles (or any long object)
dezaato - dessert
meron - melon
onegaishimasu - please
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 (copulative)
wakarimasu - to understand.
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