{"id":104,"date":"2009-07-19T21:11:19","date_gmt":"2009-07-20T01:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=104"},"modified":"2009-07-19T21:11:19","modified_gmt":"2009-07-20T01:11:19","slug":"simple-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/simple-sentences\/","title":{"rendered":"Simple Sentences"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you want to say, “I am a Japanese person” in formal Japanese, you could say, “\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u3000\u306b\u307b\u3093\u3058\u3093\u3067\u3059<\/strong>” (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, “\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u3000\u306b\u307b\u3093\u3058\u3093\u3058\u3083\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093<\/strong>” (watashiwa nihonjin ja arimasen).<\/p>\n

As you see in this sentence, the ja arimasen (\u3058\u3083\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093<\/strong>) has replaced the des (\u3067\u3059<\/strong>). In addition, the ja arimasen (\u3058\u3083\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093<\/strong>) comes right after the noun. You can form the negative form of any sentence that has a noun. I’ll talk about negating sentences with adjectives in another post.<\/p>\n

Just so you know, jaa arimasen (\u3058\u3083\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093<\/strong>) is the contracted form of negating a sentence. The uncontracted form is dewa (\u3067\u308f<\/strong>). Using the example above, I am not a Japanese person is, “\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u3000\u306b\u307b\u3093\u3058\u3093\u3067\u308f\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093<\/strong>” (watashiwa nihonjin dewa arimasen).<\/p>\n

Subjects can be dropped in Japanese. Therefore, the sentence, “I am a Japanese person” can have the “I” dropped if it’s obvious that you’re doing the talking. Simply saying, “\u306b\u307b\u3093\u3058\u3093\u3067\u3059<\/strong>” is adequate enough. This is especially true when you’re asking people questions in Japanese. You can ask, “Are you a Japanese person?” by asking, “\u306b\u307b\u3093\u3058\u3093\u3067\u3059\u304b<\/strong>” (nihonjin deska). The Japanese word for “you” in Japanese is “anata” (\u3042\u306a\u305f<\/strong>). You’re free to include anata (\u3042\u306a\u305f<\/strong>) as the subject of the sentence when you’re asking someone a question, but it’s a bit redundant.<\/p>\n

Des (\u3067\u3059<\/strong>) is a flexible verb. You can use des (\u3067\u3059<\/strong>) to say, “am”, “are”, and “is”. For example the sentence, “Misora is\u00a0ten years old” in Japanese is “\u307f\u305d\u3089\u306f\u3000\u3058\u3085\u3063\u3055\u3044\u3067\u3059<\/strong>“. The same goes for the negative form of des (\u3067\u3059<\/strong>) which is jaarimasen (\u3058\u3083\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093<\/strong>). One last thing, before I go, des (\u3067\u3059<\/strong>) and jaarimasen (\u3058\u3083\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093<\/strong>) is in the formal, present tense. I’ll write another post on the past tense as well.<\/p>\n

One last note, the particle \u306f<\/strong> in\u00a0\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u3000\u306b\u307b\u3093\u3058\u3093\u3067\u308f\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093 <\/strong>and other\u00a0sentences, is pronounced as wa, not ha. \u306f<\/strong> is also a subject marking particle. However, since subjects can be dropped, this particle can also be dropped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you want to say, “I am a Japanese person” in formal Japanese, you could say, “\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u3000\u306b\u307b\u3093\u3058\u3093\u3067\u3059” (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, “\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u3000\u306b\u307b\u3093\u3058\u3093\u3058\u3083\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093” (watashiwa nihonjin ja arimasen). As you…<\/p>\n

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