Archive for 'Grammar'
Kore, Sore, Are Posted by Ginny on Aug 16, 2009
In Japanese, there are ways to say, ‘this, that and that over there’ This – kore (これ). Refers to things that are close to the speaker. That – sore (それ). Refers to things that are close to the person you are talking to. That over there – are (あれ). Refers to things that are far away…
The To Particle Posted by Ginny on Aug 13, 2009
The to (と) particle is one of the most extensive particles in Japanese grammar. For today, we’ll only look at two possible meanings that can be conveyed by to (と). The to (と) particle can be used as a conjunction. You can use to (と) to add nouns together. For example, you could say, ‘I study English…
The Yo Particle Posted by Ginny on Aug 10, 2009
The yo (よ) particle can be used for emphasis. For example a sentence like uso ja nai yo (うそじゃないよ) means something like, ‘I assure you it’s not a lie!’ Another example is, honto des yo (ほんとですよ) which means something like, ‘I assure you it’s true!’ Without the yo (よ), honto des (ほんとです) or uso ja nai (うそじゃない)…
Japanese Proverbs Posted by Ginny on Jul 28, 2009
Do any of these proverbs sound familar to you? I’ll provide a translation of these proverbs in the next post, but for now, try to decipher the meanings on your own. 猿も木から落ちる (saru mo ki kara ochiru) 井の中の蛙大海を知らず ( i no naka no kawazu taikai wo shirazu) 蛙の子は蛙 (kaeru no ko wa kaeru) 花よりだんご (hana…
The Ne Particle Posted by Ginny on Jul 25, 2009
Today’s post will deal with the particle: ne (ね). When will you see ne (ね)? At the end of a sentence. Take a look at this sentence for an example, “いい てんきですね” (ii tenki desne). This sentence means, ‘the weather is nice, isn’t it?’ Ii (いい) means ‘good/nice’ and tenki (てんき) means ‘weather’ and in this…
The Mo Particle Posted by Ginny on Jul 22, 2009
With the last post, we looked at simple sentences and negated formal sentences that contained nouns. I’m going to add a little more to these sentences, but the basic structure will more or less stay the same. Let’s say you want to say, “I am also a student” in Japanese. In Japanese, this would be…
Simple Sentences Posted by Ginny on Jul 19, 2009
If you want to say, “I am a Japanese person” in formal Japanese, you could say, “わたしは にほんじんです” (watashiwa nihonjindes). However, how do you say the opposite of that? How do you say, “I am not a Japanese person” in formal Japanese? You can say this in Japanese as, “わたしは にほんじんじゃありません” (watashiwa nihonjin ja arimasen). As you…