We are going to continue our study on Japanese grammar in this post with our third lesson on particles. We are going to take a look at the particle も.

The particle も can be used to indicate similarity as in the words ‘too’ or ‘also’. This particle replaces が or は, when used:

A: 私がえいがすきです。
B: 私もえいががすきです。
A: I like movies
B: I also like movies

This is a reasonably simple use of も, which can also be used in a double patternsuch as in the following sentence:

A: えいががすきですか、おんがくがすきですか。
B: えいがもおんがくもすきです。
A: Do [you] like movies, or do [you] like music?
B: [I] like both movies and music.

Remember that because も marks a similarity to something previously mentioned, you cannot use も out of the blue. It requires a prompt either by someone else, or by something you yourself just said.

A second use of も is after the て form of verbs and verbal adjectives. In this use, も acts as an emphatic contrasting particle, meaning something like the English “even [by/if] …”. The phrase below

“Even [by] leaving now, [you] probably won’t make it.” translates to いま　いっても　まにあわない　でしょう。

There are two special things that concern this particle. One, a special case of this use of も is in combination with the copula です, which becomes でも. We will look at this in a later post.

The second is this particle can be used with question pronouns. Have a look at the examples below:

なに　means “what”, なにも means “anything” when followed by positive verb or “nothing”, when followed by a negative verb.

どこ means “where”, どこも means “anywhere” when followed by a postive verb or “nowhere”, when followed by a negative verb.

だれ　means “who”, だれも means “anyone” when followed by a postive verb or “no one”, when followed by a negative verb.

This rule continues for words like どんな (what kind of?), どっち (which way?), いつ (when?), どうして (why?) and so forth and so forth.

As you can see the simple use of particles can greatly change the context and meaning of the Japanese language. If you have ever taken the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) before you will know one whole section of the grammar test is devoted to particles. Particles are important. So we will continue our study of them. Look forward to the next post on the particle の.

Did you know that you can learn Japanese online with our videos at Youtube? We have posted 75 videos for learning Japanese. You can learn how to read hiragana and katakana. We have video lessons to teach you Japanese words and phrases. We have samples our our products as well.

In this video lesson you will learn about “housework”. Don’t forget to write a comment.

家事　－　かじ

Key phrases:

せんたくを　しました              -　I did the washing.

そうじきを　かけました       – I vacuumed the floors

せんたくものを　ほしました   – I hung out the washing

トイレを　そうじしました          – I cleaned the toilet
Learning Japanese online is cheapest and most effective way to learn Japanese. I think it is even better than taking private Japanese lessons. There is lots of free quality content, including Japanese podcast lessons, video lessons and lots of blogs and sites teaching Hiragana and Katakana. Start learning Japanese today.

In this post we are going to look at the particle は. Note that the particle is not pronounce as it is reads. It is pronounced wa and not ha.

This particle has three main functions in Japanese. The first of these is to act as topic marker for conversations or texts. The main difference between a topic and a subject is that you can leave off a topic from a sentence, and it will still make perfect sense. This in contrast to a subject, which if removed creates a sentence with a gap in it:

Lets have a look at an example

きょうは　だれが　きましたか　Who came [here] today?

The same sentence on its own without the topic works just fine:

だれが　きましたか。Who came [here]?

However, the same sentence on its own without the subject won’t make sense.

きょう　はきましたか。 …came [here] today?

The second function of は is as contrast marker, as in an “[A]は something, [B]はsomething else” pattern.

Here is an example:

ちがいますよ。　これは　すしで、それはさしみ – [That's] not [quite] right. This is Sushi, and that’s Sashimi
Here a contrast is given between “this” and “that”, regardless of whether they were already topics.

The third function that は is the negative imperative when it follows a て form.

Here is an example;

きょう　こなくて　は　いけません　－　You have to come today.

In this use, it creates a negative imperative。The は could also be followed by だめ.

きょう　は　だめ 　－　Today is no good.

In our next post we will look at more particles. In fact I have decided to do a whole series on these little confusing monsters.

Studying Japanese grammar isn’t always fun, but you have to know your grammar. In the next three post we shall look at the importance of particles. When I studied for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test I spent quite a lot of time learning particles and how to correctly use them. Particles in Japanese are called じょし . An easy way to remember them is  てにをは – after the て form verb and the three quintessential particles に, を and は. In short particles  give grammatical meaning to words or phrases that precede them.

You will find learning and using particles quite challenging. As the Japanese language  divides the perception of processes and states in a drastically different way to western languages, particles are very different. Some particles do correspond to western prepositions and postpositions. However,  there are particles which don’t just have one translation, but translate to many different things in western language. Learning these particles and all their applications can chew up your study time.

Without knowing a certain number of prepositions it is reasonably safe to say that you cannot use Japanese to any real extent. Simply put you have got to know how to use particles correctly.   If you don’t you won’t be able to hold anything that comes even close to a consistent short and simple conversation. We are going to take a look at 10 all important particles. Almost all Japanese particles have several meanings.  You must know at least the first meaning of each of these particles.

Let’s have a look at  が – the subject marker.

This particle denotes the subject of an operative word (regardless of whether the operative is actually explicitly used in the sentence). Simple sentences that illustrate this use are:

だれが来ましたか。　－　Who came [here]?
コーヒーが好きです。－　[I] like coffee.

In these sentences が links the subjects, respectively [who] and [coffee], to their
operatives [come] and [like]. An important general rule to remember is whenever something not-yet-talked-about is being mentioned in a conversation, が is used. Also, when asking questions in relation to something unknown, が is used because this too
is something new.

A second use of が is as a weak “but”:

すみませんが、今何時ですか。Excuse me but, what time is?

In contrast, but acts more like a gentle in-sentence conjugation particle, gluing the two pieces together with only a moderate level of contrast at best.

Here is a Japanese video lesson on common questions. These are the top ten questions Japanese ask foreigners in Japan. The first question might surprise you, but it was definitelty the question I was most asked by Japanese.  Japanese generally think that most foreigners are American.  It can be a little frustrating or annoying  if you are not American, when the people around you assume you are American all the time.  So, if you go to Japan expect to be asked this question all the time.

My Japanese uncle in-law even gave a speech about his idea of American lifestyle how it related to my wife and I on an important family occasion.  He thought he was doing me a great favor with his speech. I was somewhat frustrated and wanted to tell him how ignorant he was. Even though he knew my nationality, Australian, he just amsumed we shared the same culture. I certainly don’t have anything against Americans. I have many good friends who are American. I just got sick are being asked if I were American by almost every Japanese I met for ten years.

Japanese will also speak to you s if you are new to the country. This can be a little annoying, too, if you are a long term resident.  You end up having the same conversations all the time. I would occassionally avoid conversations with the locals just to have a break from the top ten questions you will hopefully memorize.

Hey there,

We have just been through the worst heatwave in Melbourne and Victoria. Two weeks ago, we had three days of 43 degrees in a row. Then, last Saturday we reached 47  degrees. You may have heard about the terrible bush fires in Victoria. Devastating stuff – probably over 200 dead, 750 homes destroyed and whole communities lost. And to think some of the fires were lit on purpose. How could someone go out and intentionally light a  fire knowing the possible destruction it could cause. So please spare a thought or two for the many people who lost family, friends and just about everything else.

In  this post we have a short video lesson on “commenting on the weather”.