Japanese Lesson 3: Nouns and Pronouns

How's your weekend everyone? Now, let's talk about nouns and pronouns.

Nouns
1. Number - Most nouns are not distinguished as to number. However, some suffixes can be added to indicate the plural in the case of human beings.
-tachi                    komodotachi (children)
-ra                        kodomora (children)
-gata (honorific)  senseigata (professors)

2. Case - The case of nouns is usually indicated with particles. See Lesson 2: Particles.

3. Gender - Nouns have no gender.

4. Form nouns - There are several nouns which have no concrete meaning and are always used in phrase, preceded by modifiers. These are called form nouns; the most important ones are: koto, tame, mono, wake, hō, tokoro, toki, mae, ato, etc.
koto                     Mada tabeta koto ga arimasen. (I have never tasted it.)
tame                    Daigaku ni hairu tame ni benkyō shite imasu.(I am studying in order to enter college.)
mono                   Sonna koto o iu mono ja arimasen. (You should not say such a thing.)

Pronouns
1. The following is the list of the most commonly used pronouns:

2. There are several other pronouns used in polite and vulgar speech.

3. Pronouns are not used as frequently in Japanese as in English. They are left out when understood from the context.
Lizzy: Hattori san, kimashita ka? (Did Mr. Hattori came?
Babu: Ee, kimashita. (Yes, he did.)

Other terms used as pronouns
1. Personal names are often used instead of pronouns
Hattori san mo ikimasu ka? (Are you going, too? - said to Hattori san)
Kore, Takagi san no deshō? (Isn't it yours? - said to Takagi, familiar)

2. Nouns indicating position or status are also being used instead of pronouns.
Okusan mo ikimasu ka? (Are you going, too? - said to someone's wife)
Shachō wa dochira ni osumai desu ka? (Where do you live? - said to director of a company)

3. Kinship terms are also used instead of pronouns.
Otōsan mo iku? (Are you going, too?  - said to one's father)

KOTD:

湖 (kanji) みずうみ (Reading/Kana) mizuumi (Romaji) Lake (English)

Japanese Lesson 2: Particles

Particles are used to indicate relations between words, phrases and clauses. They also express the speaker's feelings. This study of particles is divided into four: case particles, modifying particles, connecting particles and sentence particles.

1. Case Particles. These are added to nouns and pronounds.

ga (subject)          Ame ga futte imase. (It is raining.)

o (object)             Tegami o kakimashita. (I wrote a letter.)

ni (at, in, on)         Manila ni sunde imasu. (I live in Manila.)

e (to, toward)       Gakkō e ikimasu. (I'm going to the school.)

no (of)                  Watashi no empitsu desu. (It's my pencil.)

to (and)                Sore to kore o kudasai. (Please give me this and that.)

de (by, with)         Naifu de kirimashita. (I cut it with a knife.)

kara (from)          Uchikara ichijikan kakarimasu. (It takes an hour to go there from my house.)

yori (than)            Kore wa are yori yasui desu. (This is cheaper than that.)

ya (and)               Tokei ya megane o kaimashita. (I bought a watch, glasses and other things.)

ka (or)                 Tanaka san ka Yoshida san ni tanomimasu. (I will ask Mr. Takada or Mr. Yoshida to do it.)

2. Modifying Particles. The are used as modifiers.

wa (as for)         Watashi wa sushida. (Give me sushi.)

mo (also, too)    Biiru mo kudasai. (Please give me some beer, too.)

demo (or something) Ocha demo nomimashio ka? (Shall we have tea or something?)

shika (only)       Sen'en shika arimasen. (I only have a thousand yen.)

3. Connecting Particles. These are used to connect phrases and clauses.

ga (but, and)      Sumimasen ga,  chotto matte kudsaimasen ka? (I am sorry, but would you wait a moment?

kara (because, so) Jikan ga arimasen kara, yomemasen. (I cannot read it because I have no time.)

ke(red)do(mo) (but) Takai keredo, kaimasu. (It is expensive but I will buy it.)

shi (and what's more) Hiroi shi shizuka desu. (It's spacious and quiet.)

-tari (do A and B) Uta o utattari odottari shimashita. (We sand songs and danced.)

-te, -de (used for making the -te form) Mado ga aite imasu. (The window is open.)

-te mo, -de mo (even if) Ame ga futte mo ikimasu. (I will go even if it rains.)

to (when)            Yugata ni naru to samuku narimasu. (It becomes cold in the evening - literally, when it becomes evening.)

-nagara (while)    Ocha o nominagara hanashimashita. (We talked while having tea.)

node (so)             Kuraku natta node shigoto o yamemashita. (It became dark so we stopped working.)

noni (althought)    Renshu shita noni umaku dekimasen deshita. (Although I practiced hard, I couldn't do it well.)

4. Sentence Particles. These are adde at the end of a sentence.

ka (question)       Hattori san desu ka? (Are you Mr. Hattori?)

ne (agreement)    Ii otenki desu ne. (Lovely day, isn't it?)

yo (emphasis)     Kamaimasen yo. (That's alright.)

na (monologue)   Ii otenki da na. (It's a lovely day.)

tomo (emphasis) Kekkō desu tomo. (That's fine.)

no (question, familiar.) Doko e iku no? (Where are you going?)

KOTD:

湖 (kanji) みずうみ (Reading/Kana) mizuumi (Romaji) Lake (English)

*Still using the original KOTD format since my boyfriend told me that it's better to  include Hiragana (Kana).

By the way, as a general rule for this blog we'll have no classes every weekend! Japanese lessons will resume on Monday! But I'm tempted to post "Kanji of the Day" daily via Twitter. Follow me: @lizmoneyweb

Japanese Writing System

The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts: that of Chinese origin - Kanji and those of Japanese origin (Kana) - Hiragana and Katakana.

Kanji is simply adopted Chinese characters and a little complicated to study if you're not a Japanese. Kana (Hiragana and Katakana) on the other hand is easier since it's a pair of syllabaries (written symbols) like phonetic alphabets.

Hiragana consists of roundish Japanese writing characters used along with kanji, for native or naturalised Japanese words, and for grammatical elements.

Katakana is used for foreign words and names, loanwords, onomatopoeia, scientific names, and sometimes to replace kanji or hiragana for emphasis.

Hiragana Chart

 Katakana Chart

Hiragana and Katakana Source: tofugu.com

KOTD:

犬 (kanji) いぬ (Reading/Kana) inu (Romaji) Dog (English)

P.S.

Next time on KOTD, we may skip Kana since you can simply refer to the charts above on how to write the words.

Japanese Lesson 1: Basic Structure of Japanese Sentences

Ohayō! (also Ohayou gozaimasu, means "Good morning!")

Let's formally begin our lesson for today - an introduction to Japanese Grammar. I've learned a lot of Japanese expressions already but we will start with the basics which is the structure of Japanese sentences covering sentences, omission, word order, desu and particles.

Sentences
1. A sentence usually consists of (1) noun phrase, (2) a verb phrase, (3) an adjective phrase.
(1) Getsuyōbi desu. (It is Monday)
(2) Tabemashita. (I/You/He/She/It/We/They ate.)
(3) Chiisai desu. (It is/They are small.)

2. When the subject needs to be mentioned, the particle ga is added to the noun or pronoun.
Hattori san ga tabemashita. (Mr./Mrs. Hattori ate.)

3. When the topic needs to be mentioned, the particle wa is added to the noun or pronoun
Kyō  wa  Getsuyōbi desu. (Today is Monday.)
Sono hana wa akai desu. (That flower is red.)

Remember: Wa is used to indicate a subject while placing the emphasis on the predicate and Ga is used to emphasize the subject.

4. A verb phrase is often preceded by (1) an object or (2) an adverbial phrase.
(1) Tegami o kakimashita. (I/You/He/She/It/We/They wrote a letter.)
(2) Sanji ni kite kudasai. (Please come at three o'clock.)

Omission
Any of (1) the topic, (2) a verb phrase, (3) an object, and (4) an adverbial phrase are left out when they can be understood from the context when having conversion.
(1) Lizzy: Kyō wa naniyōbi desu ka? ( What day of the week is it today?
     Babu: Nichiyōbi desu. (It is Sunday.)
(2) Lizzy: Nanji goro ikimasu ka? (What time are you going)
     Babu: Sanji goro. (At around three.)
(3) Lizzy: Ano empitsu o kaimasu ka? (Are you going to buy that pencil?)
     Babu: Ee, kaimasu. (Yes, I'm going to buy it.)

Note: ō can be written as "oo"  since it is read as long "o" (e.g. Nichiyōbi as Nichiyoobi)


Word Order
1. Modifiers precede what is modified.
nagai empitsu (a long pencil, long pencils)
saiteru hana (flowers in bloom)
watashi ga mita hana (flowers that I saw)

2. Particles are always added to other words and phrases.
ame ga (the rain)
sen'en shika (only a thousand yen)

3. Phrases can be reversed can have a reversed order in a conversation.
Kimashita yo, Hattori san ga. (Mr. Hattori came!)
Kirei desu ne, kono hana. (This flower is beautiful!)

Desu (the copula)
1. Desu, or the copula is used either to form a phrase or to make an adjective phrase more polite.
noun phrase:  Nichiyōbi desu. (It's Sunday.)
adjective phrase: Akai desu. (It's red.)

2. The negative from of desu is ja arimasen (informal).
Kyō  wa Nichiyōbi ja arimasen. (Today is not Sunday.)

3. The past from of the desu is deshita and the past negative form is ja arimasen deshita (informal).
Nichiyōbi deshita. (It was Sunday.)
Nichiyōbi ja arimasen deshita. (It wasn't Sunday.)

4. Deshō is used to mean "it probably it is" or "it probably will be".
Ashita wa ame-deshō. (Tromorrow will probably be rainy.)

The negative form of deshō is ja nai deshō (informal).
Ashita wa ame ja nai deshō . (Tromorrow will probably not be rainy.)

5. Da is used instead of desu in familiar speech, it has the following forms.
da (present affirmative) Nichiyōbi da. (It is Sunday.)
ja nai (present negative) Nichiyōbi ja nai. (It isn't Sunday.)
datta (past affirmative) Nichiyōbi datta. (It was Sunday.)
ja nakatta (past negative) Nichiyōbi ja nakatta. (It wasn't Sunday.)
darō (probability.) Nichiyōbi darō . (It will probably be Sunday.)

Particles

We'll be talking about different particles which would be a long discussion so let's save it for tomorrow instead.

P.S. The way fo Japanese writing used here is Romaji. But there's more to learn - Kanji. So at the end of every lesson or blog post, let's have "Kanji of The Day" or KOTD.

KOTD:

一 (kanji) イチ (Reading/Kana) ichi (Romaji) one (English)

Studying the Japanese Language

Introductory post:

Here are my reference books:

*Easy Way to Learn Japanese with Filipino Text

Prof. M. Honda

*Learn to Speak Nippongo the Easy Way

A Self-help study book by Bernardo Canilang

*Basic Japanese-English Dictionary

Bonjinsha Oxford

*New English-Japanese Dictionary

Cyrus Publishing, Inc.

Currently watching Mirai Nikki, Bakuman and Fairy Tail. Listening closely to the seiyū (anime voice actors) gives me an idea on how to properly pronounced the words while reading the subtitles helps me understand their conversation. 

I'm not checking some online resources yet but I'll do so once I've learned enough from these books. I know that there are lots of websites and blogs that can help me learn the Japanese language. I created this blog to track my progress and to share what I'm learning each day. I am also planning to make this a Japanese journal once I'm all good.

Let's learn the Japanese language together!