Here is our second Japanese grammar lesson on particles. In this post we are going to look at the particle は. Note that the particle is not pronounced as it is reads. It is pronounced wa and not ha. Although we are covering basic Japanese grammar in ths lesson, you may struggle with this for quite some time as I did. It took many Japanese grammar lessons for me to master this one particle. I hope my lesson will help you gain some understanding.
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.
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.
Japanese verbs……in my first post on verbs I introduced you to the plain form verbs, also known as the dictionary form verb. Now, allow me to introduce “masu”. Masu form verbs differ to dictionary form verbs in that the masu form is used in formal situations. As a general rule the dictionary form is used when speaking to family and close friends. The “masu” form is used at the workplace, when meeting people for the first time and when speaking to “important” people. The “masu” form could be called the polite form.
Japanese verbs fall into three groups based on the plain/dictionary form.
In this lesson you will learn “dictionary” form and “masu” form of present tense affirmative verbs. Having to learn these two fundamental verb forms is a challenge and, unfortunately this is just the beginning. There are very difficult verbs forms ahead that will deprive of sleep if you let the frustration of trying to understand them get to you. I strongly recommend you put a great deal of your study time into learning verbs.
It is probably best to start with irregular verbs because there are only two and you’ll use them daily.?Here they are;
Irregular Verbs
It is probably best to start with irregular verbs because there are only two and you’ll use them daily.?Here they are;
Ru-ending Verbs
Ru-ending verbs can be broken in two groups; eru-ending and iru ending verbs. Knowing this will help you identify Ru-ending verbs form U-ending verbs. Some U-ending verbs do end with “ru” such as the verb “noru”(ride) and can confuse students.The masu form is made by dropping the ru and adding masu. Pretty easy stuff!
U-ending Verbs
U-ending verbs are a little more complicated and require more attention. The way the verbs conjugate depends on the vowel or consonant that proceeds the u. When conjugating to the “masu” form just drop the u and add “imasu”. Have a careful look at the chart;
You know what adverbs are, right? Adverbs modify verbs. In English, adverbs are words like “slowly” in “John slowly walked down the street.” or “creatively” in “My wife creatively folded the paper into a crane.” Students of Japanese tend to learn one adjective, the adjective totemo and then move on Kanji or keigo or something else. I guess the reason for this Japanese adverbs are a little confusing. So let’s learn Japanese with a few new adjectives to put a little wasabi in your Japanese
There are two kinds of Japanese adverbs. There are adverbs and then modified adjectives that play the role of adverbs.The first kind are words that have always been adverbs, and the second are adjectives that are placed in a particular inflection so as to act adverbially. You will understand. In fact you are probably already using these adjectival adverbs.
Japanese Adverbs
The first type of adverbials are mostly quantifiers. Words such as sukoshi, meaning “a little bit”, zutto, meaning “very much”/”throughout” or tokidoki, meaning “sometimes”.
Here is a list of a few more;
Daibu – greatly
Totemo – very
Taihen - very, awfully
Adjectival adverbs
The second type can be constructed out of either verbal adjectives, or noun adjectives. However, the way they are inflected to become adverbs is different for the two.
Verbal Adjectives
Change verbal adjectives to the ku form and then it can be used as an adverb. For instance, the verbal adjective hayai, meaning “early” can be made an adverb by dropping the i and adding ku, resulting in hayaku. This can then be used with for instance the verb for “waking up”, okiru: hayaku okiru – to wake up early.
Here are a few more;
hidoku – appallingly
sugoku - terribly, amazingly
yoku – well
tsuyoku – strongly
Noun adjectives
Noun adjectives can be turned into adjectives by instead of adding na as suffix, adding ni as suffix. For instance, kirei is a noun adjective meaning “pretty”, kireini is an adverb meaning pretty. If we pair this with the verb for “to split”, wakeru we get niwakeru meaning “to cleanly split” (such as a piece of cake spilt among children)
nazen ni – completely
amari ni excessively
migoto ni – astonishingly
hijyou ni – extraordinarily
yakeni – horribly
I hope this helps. Now you should know a few more adjectives than just tetomo.
