|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:38 pm
 |
|
|
 |
I. Iητrođυcτιoηssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
A. First Off…
tabtabSeeing as the existing Japanese guide has not been updated in quite a while, Mizu has asked me to take over in making one. So here I am! The name’s Ookami, and I’ll be starting university in autumn. I adore languages in general, but Japanese is by far my favourite one. I’ve been studying it for about five years now, and hopefully through these lessons I will be able to pass on what I have learned to all those interested in the Japanese language.
B. About These Lessons
Note: This section of the introduction is mostly intended for those who already have experience with studying Japanese.
tabtabFirst of all, I would like to state that this is not some sort of quick-start guide meant to teach you the polite form and some basic phrases so you can hop off to Japan and impress your friends by demonstrating a mediocre ability to communicate your likes and dislikes to uninterested yet polite Japanese citizens. I believe that in order to build a strong foundation in Japanese and not run into problems later on, it is essential to learn the language in the most natural way possible—that is, beginning with plain, simple speech and building from there, just as a child would. Yes, it will be longer before you can hold an actual conversation with someone you don’t know, but you will find later on that it is much easier to tackle more complex grammar when you have learned the basics in an order that makes sense rather than attempting to learn the polite form before everything else.
tabtabFurthermore, because Japanese and English are such vastly different languages in terms of grammar, I will try to avoid English-ifying my translations as much as possible. In other words, most of the translations you see will not be entirely grammatically correct in English. The reasoning behind this is that I want to get you to think like a Japanese person as much as possible while you are learning—if you try to force every Japanese sentence to become a proper English sentence, it will be very difficult to make sense of them, especially as they grow more complex. Rather, I want you to get used to the unique way Japanese works and feels so that Japanese sentences make sense to you in Japanese, not in English.
tabtabAnother thing I’d like to point out concerns kanji. Many beginner textbooks and resources tend to avoid kanji as if they carry some sort of magical, deadly plague that will immediately put the learner into a shock- and stroke order-induced coma for all eternity. But as I’m sure you have already guessed, I think this is a terrible approach. Kanji are everywhere, and you need to get used to seeing them. I won’t beat around the bush with hiragana-only sentences (nor, for that matter, will I ever write in romaji). But don’t worry! I’m not going to overwhelm you with ridiculously complicated characters and long lists of vocabulary, because that would be equally silly. We’ll start simple and go from there, just like with the grammar.
tabtabAnd, well, finally, have fun! Learning should always be fun, and I want everyone who reads this to enjoy it and (hopefully) come to love Japanese as much as I do. As such, there will likely be sarcastic humour, strange example sentences, and other fun things scattered throughout these lessons. Now let’s learn! :]
C. Table of Contents
tabtabI. Introduction
tabtabII. Resources
tabtabIII. Writing Systems and Pronunciation
tabtabIV. Typing in Japanese
tabtabV. State-of-Being
tabtabV. Adjectives
tabtabVII. Essential Particles 「は」 and 「が」
tabtabVIII. Introduction to Verbs
D. Log
tabtab12.06.18 Thread created.
tabtab12.06.18 Resources, Typing in Japanese, and Writing sections added.
tabtab12.06.19 State-of-Being section added.
tabtab12.06.25 Adjectives section added.
tabtab12.07.05 First half of Essential Particles section added.
tabtab12.07.09 Second half of Essential Particles section added.
tabtab12.07.16 Introduction to Verbs added.
tabtab12.07.16 Supplementary Lessons thread created.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:41 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:49 pm
|
|
|
|
III. Wrιτιηg Sγsτεmς αηđ Proηυηcιατιoηsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
**NOTE: The charts in this section are best viewed in Firefox.**
A. Introduction
tabtabJapanese uses three different writing systems--hiragana, katakana, and kanji. The first two are syllabaries, meaning they are phonetic (similar to our alphabet, though they are at the same time quite different from it), while kanji are what I would refer to as semi-symbolic. An excellent description of the functions of the three systems can be found in Mikagi-sama's Japanese thread, so I won't reiterate.
B. Basic Sounds
tabtabClick on the character that represents each sound to hear it spoken aloud. Note that the Japanese “r” is very different from the English “r”; tips on how to pronounce it will follow the sound chart. All charts in this section are read top-to-bottom, right-to-left.
平仮名・Hiragana
n w r y m h n t s k
ん わ ら や ま は な た さ か あ a
n り み ひ に ち し き い i
n る ゆ む ふ ぬ つ す く う u
n れ め へ ね て せ け え e
n を ろ よ も ほ の と そ こ お o
片仮名・Katakana
n w r y m h n t s k
ン ワ ラ ヤ マ ハ ナ タ サ カ ア a
n リ ミ ヒ ニ チ シ キ イ i
n ル ユ ム フ ヌ ツ ス ク ウ u
n レ メ ヘ ネ テ セ ケ エ e
n ヲ ロ ヨ モ ホ ノ ト ソ コ オ o
tabtabNote that 「し」/「シ」 is pronounced "shi," 「つ」/「ツ」 is pronounced "tsu," 「ち」/「チ」 is pronounced "chi," and 「ん」/「ン」 is pronounced "nn."
tabtab「ふ」/「フ」 is a somewhat special case; it is a sound between the sound "hu" (as in "who" ) and "fu" (as in "food" ). The simplest way to describe it is that it like saying "hu," but with an added puff of air at the beginning. Listen closely to the sound, and it shouldn't be too difficult to master.
tabtabBy the way, an easy way to remember the order of the Japanese syllabary is through the a-row: 「あかさたな、 はまやらわ」. Just memorise those two (rather catchy) "words" and you'll never forget it.
C. The Japanese “r”
tabtabIf you listen closely, the Japanese “r” sounds something like a cross between an English “l” and “r” with a hint of a “d.” To pronounce this sound, first think about the position of your tongue when you say the English “l” and “r.” For “l,” you place your tongue against the back of your teeth, while for an “r” sound it is essentially stationary at the bottom of your mouth. Well, for a Japanese “r,” your tongue is going be somewhere between these two positions—not all the way forward, but not back—and will brush against the roof of your mouth.
tabtabAnother way it has been described is that it is like the “tt” in "bottle", but the tongue flaps a bit more to soften the “d” sound. (Note: this method only works when “bottle” is pronounced in American English.)
tabtabListen closely to the audio recordings provided and practice until you feel comfortable. It’s not as hard as it may seem!
D. Vowel Combinations
tabtabUnlike in English, Japanese vowels are never blended together into a single sound; you pronounce each vowel separately. For example, 「帰る（かえる）」(to return [home]) is pronounced “ka-e-ru,” with the “a” and “e” distinct from one another. Keep in mind, however, that sometimes 「おう」 is pronounced like 「おお」, and 「えい」 sometimes becomes 「ええ」. The best way to get used to these is through listening!
tabExamples (click for audio):
tabtabスイカ - watermelon
tabtabほうれん草（ほうれんそう） - spinach
tabtab会う（あう） - to meet
E. Voiced Consonants
tabtabAdding two dashes to certain hiragana and katakana changes them from being unvoiced to being voiced, while adding a circle to the characters in the h-column turns the h-sound into a p-sound. Give each a listen.
p b d z ｇ
ぱ パ ば バ だ ダ ざ ザ が ガ a
ぴ ピ び ビ （ぢ ヂ） じ ジ ぎ ギ i
ぷ プ ぶ ブ づ ヅ ず ズ ぐ グ u
ぺ ペ べ ベ で デ ぜ ゼ げ ゲ e
ぽ ポ ぼ ボ ど ド ぞ ゾ ご ゴ o
tabtabNote that 「じ」/「ジ」 is pronounced "ji", and 「づ」/「ヅ」 is pronounced "dzu." Also note that before a "b" sound or a "p" sound, 「ん」/「ン」 becomes "mm." So, 「新聞（しんぶん）」 (newspaper) is pronounced "shim-bun," not "shin-bun." This change from "nn" to "mm" before these two sounds occurs pretty naturally when speaking quickly, though, so you probably won't have to worry too much about it.
tabtab 「ぢ」/「ヂ」is, in a way, special--it is pronounced "ji" just like 「じ」/「ジ」, and you might occasionally see it used as a substitute for 「じ」 in certain words. However, it is somewhat obsolete and not thus used very often.
F. Compound Sounds
tabtabAttaching a small 「や」, 「ゆ」, or 「よ」 to certain characters creates a compound sound; for example, 「きゃ」 is pronounced “kya.” Note that every character that can create a compound will end in an “i” vowel sound. You can listen to them below.
r m h t k n g
りゃ リャ みゃ ミャ ひゃ ヒャ ちゃ チャ しゃ シャ にゃ ニャ きゃ キャ ya
りゅ リュ みゅ ミュ ひゅ ヒュ ちゅ チュ しゅ シュ にゅ ニュ きゅ キュ yu
りょ リョ みょ ミョ ひょ ヒョ ちょ チョ しょ ショ にょ ニョ きょ キョ yo
p b z (j) ｇ
ぴゃ ピャ びゃ ビャ じゃ ジャ ぎゃ ギャ ya
ぴゅ ピュ びゅ ビュ じゅ ジュ ぎゅ ギュ yu
ぴょ ピョ びょ ビョ じょ ジョ ぎょ ギョ yo
G. Double (Elongated) Vowels
tabtab]In Japanese, there is a distinction between single vowels, such as the 「う」 in「雪（ゆき）」(snow), and double vowels, such as the 「うう」 in 「勇気（ゆうき）」(courage). The sound of the vowel itself does not change; you simply hold the sound twice as long. Similarly, in the rare case of a triple vowel, you hold the vowel sound three times as along. A notable example of this is the word 「憂鬱（ゆううつ） 」(melancholy, depression), which is pronounced “yu-u-u-tsu.”
tabtab]When writing in katakana, a long vowel is often indicated by a dash, 「ー」. For example, 「コーヒー」(coffee) or 「ビール」(beer).
tabExamples (click for audio):
tabtab狼（おおかみ） - wolf
tabtabスポーツカー - sports car
tabtab救急車（きゅうきゅうしゃ） - ambulance
H. Double (Elongated) Consonants
tabtab]There is also a distinction between single and double consonants. As with double vowels, you simply say the consonant sound twice. For example, 「夏（なつ）」(summer) is pronounced “na-tsu,” while「ナッツ」(nuts) is pronounced nat-tsu. A small 「つ」or「ツ」is used to indicate that the consonant following it should be doubled. Keep in mind that this 「つ」/「ツ」 is never pronounced; it is silent and serves only as a signal to double the next consonant.
tabExamples (click for audio):
tabtab卓球（たっきゅう） - table tennis
tabtabベッド - bed
tabtab抹茶（まっちゃ） - powdered green tea
I. Special Sounds in Katakana
tabtabMany foreign words contain sounds that do not traditionally exist in Japanese, such as the “v” sound in “viola” or the “dy” sound in the word “lady.” However, the Japanese have developed a way to represent these sounds in katakana through the use of small vowels, similar to the way small 「や」,「ゆ」, and 「よ」 are used to create compound sounds. For example, writing 「デ」and attaching a small 「イ」 allows one to write レディー (lady), while adding two dashes to 「ウ」 solves the problem of writing ヴィオラ (viola). A chart of these special combinations follows.
d t w f v
ファ ヴァ a
ディ ティ ウィ フィ ヴィ i
ドゥ トゥ ヴ u
ウェ フェ ヴェ e
ウォ フォ ヴォ o
z(j) t(ch) s(sh)
ジェ チェ シェ (y)e
tabtabKeep in mind that the last three are "she", "che", and "je", respectively.
tabtabYou will rarely, if ever, see such combinations written in hiragana when reading formal writing, but on popular websites such as ニコニコ動画 it is not an uncommon sight.
J. Learning Resources
tabCharts
tabtabTalking Hiragana Chart
tabtabTalking Katakana Chart
tabDrills
tabtabHiragana Drills
tabtabKatakana Drills
tabtabReal Kana
tabStroke Order/Writing Practice
tabtabHiragana Trace Sheets (v. 1)
tabtabHiragana Trace Sheets (v. 2)
tabtabHiragana Trace Sheets (v. 3)
tabtabKatakana Trace Sheets (v. 1)
tabtabKatakana Trace Sheets (v. 2)
tabtabKatakana Trace Sheets (v. 3)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:37 am
|
|
|
|
IV. Tγpιηg ιη Jαpαηεsεssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
tabtabThere are a lot of neat tricks and shortcuts to using a Japanese IME that for some reason, no one really tells you about. I’ll list some here.
A. Typing Shortcuts and Not-So-Shortcuts
tabtabFirst of all, when we see Japanese romanised these days, it is usually written in a way that reflects the pronunciation from an English standpoint. 「し」 is written “shi,” 「つ」 is “tsu,” and 「しゃ」 is “sha.” Because of this, many learners of Japanese are tempted to type these the same way when using a Japanese IME. But this is not how Japanese people usually type! Rather, they type in a way that reflects how the Japanese syllabary works from a Japanese standpoint—there are nine consonants (kstnhmyrw) that can be paired with five vowels (aiueo) to create various sounds (ex. ta ti tu te to); there are no such things as “ts” or “dz” or “ch” or “sh,” just t, d, c, and s. So, people use “si” to type 「し」, “tu” for 「つ」, “sya” for 「しゃ」, and so on. (And in fact, there is a romanisation system that represents Japanese sounds with this method rather than the “makes sense in English” method.) In many cases it is a bit faster to type this way, although typing “zya” for 「じゃ」 is actually less efficient than tying “ja.” Most people aren’t going to see the roman letters you use to type your hiragana/katakana unless you’re weird like me and play Minecraft with Japanese people all the time (you can’t type hiragana or katakana directly into the Minecraft chat, so we write all in romaji; I trained myself to type everything the “shortcut” way even if it was longer so that my typing blended in with everyone else’s), so feel free to use the shortcuts (which I recommend) but skip the not-so-shortcuts like zya, zyu, zyo.
tabtabOne other important thing to know is that when you need to type 「ん」 by itself, you type “nn.” That way you can type words like 「親友（しんゆう）」 (best friend) without it becoming 「しにゅう」, which is what would happen if you tried to type “sinyuu” rather than “sinnyuu.” Even in cases where you can get away with only typing one “n,” I recommend typing two so as to ensure that you get into the habit of doing so, and also because it is more reflective of the Japanese way of thinking about the character 「ん」.
B. Special Characters
tabtabWhen using the Japanese IME, typing “” will give you 「￥」, and typing “/” will give you 「・」.
tabtabTo type miniature hiragana or katakana characters, such as when trying to type special sounds like「ディ」, you simply type an “x” or an “l” before typing whatever character it is you want to make smaller. For example, “xa” (or “la”) will give you 「ぁ」/「ァ」, “xyu” (or lyu) will give you 「ゅ」/「ュ」, and so on. So, the aforementioned 「ディ」can be typed with “dexi” or “deli”. I am of the impression that most people use “x,” but either works, so it is up to your preference.
tabtabFinally, many special symbols like 「▽」,「■」,「↓」, etc. can be found by typing out the word that describes the type of symbol (ex. a triangle or square) you want and then hitting space until you get to the list of symbols. For example, to type the triangle above, you would type 「さんかく」, which means triangle, then hit space until you found that specific triangle. 「しかく」will give you all the squares available, 「やじるし」 will give you arrows, and 「きごう」 will give you a list of all symbols. There are many other shortcuts available; a chart can be found here.
C. Other Tricks
tabtabTo force your IME to type temporarily in English, simply start the word you want to type with a capital letter. Anything that comes after will not convert to hiragana. Hitting enter will exit English mode.
tabtabAlso, remember to use your shortcuts for switching between languages, hiragana, and katakana! Alt + Shift toggles between languages, and when using the Japanese IME, Alt + Caps Lock switching to katakana input, while Ctrl + Caps Lock switches to hiragana input.
tabtabThere are a lot of other neat tricks you can do with the Japanese IME; I recommend looking at 12 Japanese IME Tips for more.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:39 pm
|
|
|
|
V. Sτατε-oƒ-Bειηgsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
A. A Reminder
tabtabRemember that I am not teaching you the polite form first! I’m beginning with the foundations of basic grammar (the plain form) and building from there. So don’t go up to a stranger in Japan and start talking like this, because you’ll sound rather silly. We’ll be getting to the polite form later.
B. About Japanese Sentence Order
tabtabMost people will tell you that Japanese is an SOV (subject-object-verb) language, which is technically true. But really, the only (yes, only) rule of Japanese sentences is that the verb goes at the end. In fact, a single verb can be a complete sentence! This is possible for two reasons:
tabtabtabtab]1. In Japanese much (if not most) of a sentence is implied by context, especially when speaking casually.
tabtabtabtab]2. Japanese uses special things called particles to indicate a word’s grammatical function, allowing sentence order can be much more fluid than it is in English.
tabtabI’ll be explaining these aspects of the language in more detail as we go along.
C. Lesson Vocabulary
tabtab人（ひと） - person
tabtab学生（がくせい） - student
tabtab本（ほん） - book
tabtab女（おんな） - woman
tabtab男（おとこ） - man
tabtab元気（げんき） - well (as in healthy)
tabtab鉛筆（えんぴつ） - pencil
tabtab円（えん） - yen
D. Positive State-of-Being
tabtabIn English, we use the verb “to be” to state that something “is” something else. But in Japanese, it is a bit different; there is no actual verb that can be used to express state-of-being. Don’t let that worry you, though; expressing state-of-being in Japanese is actually quite easy! Here’s how it works: to say what something “is”, simply add 「だ」 to the end of the object of the sentence (in this case, the noun describing your subject). For example, to say that something “is a person,” you would add 「だ」 onto 「人」 to get 「人だ。」Since you don’t know any particles yet, we cannot actually say what the subject is, but this is okay—we can pretend for now that the subject is implied by context. So, the sentence 「人だ。」 could be describing the crazy-looking hobo you found on the street, your friend that looks somewhat like an alien, or whatever else your imagination can think up.
tabtabThere is, though, one important thing to keep in mind about this grammar—「だ」can only be directly attached to nouns and na-adjectives (we’ll get to those later).
Examples:
女だ。
Is woman.
男だ。
Is man.
tabtabIn both of these sentences no subject is given, but they are still complete. In an actual conversation, the subject would be implied through context.
E. But Wait, There’s More
tabtabHere’s the interesting thing—you can actually imply state-of-being without using 「だ」! That might seem kind of weird and Twilight Zone-ish at first, but don’t panic--here is an example of a conversation between two friends to illustrate how this works:
Aさん：元気？
Bさん：元気。
A: (Are you) well?
B: (I am) well.
tabtabSo as you might have gathered by now, Japanese likes to imply things. A lot. But don’t think that this makes 「だ」 completely unnecessary. For now, you can think of 「だ」 as a way of making sentences more forceful or emphatic. Like “It is this.” You will also see later that the use of「だ」 is essential in many grammatical expressions.
More examples:
本だ。
Is book.
円だ。
Is yen.
And another example conversation:
Aさん：鉛筆？
Bさん：鉛筆。
A: (Is) pencil?
B: (Is) pencil.
F. Negative State-of-Being
tabtabTo say that something “is not” something else, just attach 「じゃない」 to any noun or na-adjective (this is actually a contraction of 「ではない」, but you don’t need to worry about this much right now). Once again, this only works with nouns and na-adjectives.
Examples:
本じゃない。
Not book.
学生じゃない。
Not student.
男じゃない。
Not man.
Example conversation:
Aさん：鉛筆？
Bさん：鉛筆じゃない。
A: (Is) pencil?
B: (Is) not pencil.
G. Past State-of-Being
tabtabI could lie and say that the past state-of-being is extremely difficult to form just to freak you out, but sadly, it is just as easy as the negative. Just attach 「だった」to a noun or na-adjective and you’re good to go.
Examples:
人だった。
Was person.
本だった。
Was book.
学生だった。
Was student.
H. Past-Negative State-of-Being
tabtabBut what if it wasn’t a flower? What if you thought you saw a person, and your friend needed to quickly inform you that whatever you saw was definitely not a person? Well, it’s time to learn your first real conjugation!
tabtabTo make 「じゃない」past tense, drop the 「い」 and add 「かった」。Yup, that’s it. Just stick that onto a noun or na-adjective and you’re all set.
Examples:
人じゃなかった。
Was not person.
学生じゃなかった。
Was not student.
女じゃなかった。
Was not woman.
tabtabAnd that’s it for basic state-of-being. Not that bad, right?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:36 pm
|
|
|
|
VI. Aδjεcτινεςssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
I. Lesson Vocabulary
tabtab静か[な]（しずか[な]） - quiet
tabtab遥か[な]（はるか[な]） - distant
tabtab親切[な]（しんせつ[な]） - kind
tabtab綺麗[な]（きれい[な]） - pretty; clean
tabtab退屈[な]（たいくつ[な]） - boring
tabtab愚か[な]（おろか[な]） - foolish
tabtab馬鹿[な]（ばか[な]） - idiot
tabtab早い（はやい） - fast; early
tabtab遅い（おそい） - slow; late
tabtab長い（ながい） - long
tabtab短い（みじかい） - short
tabtab高い（たかい） - tall; expensive
tabtab安い（やすい） - cheap
tabtabいい - good
tabtab悪い（わるい） - bad
tabtab子（こ） - child
tabtab授業（じゅぎょう） - classwork; lesson
tabtab友達（ともだち） - friend
tabtab値段（ねだん） - price
tabtab髪（かみ） - hair
tabtabゲーム - game
II. Na-Adjectives
tabtabJapanese has two types of adjectives, the first of which we will learn being na-adjectives. . Na-adjectives as very easy to work with because, grammatically speaking, they are treated the same as nouns. To modify a noun directly with a na-adjective, simply place 「な」 between the adjective (which comes first) and the noun it is modifying (which comes second).
Examples:
静かな人。
Quiet person.
退屈な授業だった。
Was boring lesson.
親切な友達じゃなかった。
Was not kind friend.
愚かな子。
Foolish child.*
*This is actually a shameless reference to Dissidia Duodecim. Ultimecia! *winks at Mizu*
To the learners: 「愚か」 really isn't that common of a word. In most general contexts, people would just use 「馬鹿」.
tabtabNa-adjectives are made negative, past, and past-negative in the same way nouns are--by attaching 「じゃない」, 「だった」, and 「じゃなかった」, respectively. They can also take the declarative 「だ」.
Examples:
馬鹿だった。
Was idiot.
遥かだ。
Is far off.
退屈じゃなかった。
Was not boring.
綺麗じゃない。
Is not pretty.
III. I-Adjectives
tabtabJust as with na-adjectives, i-adjectives bear this name for a reason: all of them end in 「い」! To directly modify a noun with one, nothing special is required; simply place the i-adjective before the noun it modifies.
Examples:
長い髪だ。
Is long hair.
短いゲームだった。
Was short game.
高い値段。
Expensive price.
悪い人じゃない。
Is not bad person.
tabtabI-adjectives work a bit differently from na-adjectives in other respects, too; 「だ」 cannot be placed directly after them, and thus by extension, directly attaching 「じゃない」, 「じゃなかった」, or 「だった」 is also not possible. Only nouns and na-adjectives work like this.
tabtabHow do we change the tense of i-adjectives or make them negative, then? Through conjugations, of course! But worry not, for you will find that these conjugations look strikingly familiar. I'll go through all three, then give you some examples to look at.
tabtabNegative: To make i-adjectives negative, drop the 「い」 and add 「くない」. For example, the negative of 「高い」 would be 「高くない」.
tabtabPast: To make i-adjectives past tense, drop the 「い」 and add 「かった」. So, the past tense of 「悪い」 would be 「悪かった」.
tabtabPast negative: To make i-adjectives negative and past tense, first conjugate the adjective to make it negative, then drop the 「い」 and add 「かった」 just as you would do to make the plain past. To steal an earlier example, 「高くない」 would become 「高くなかった」。
tabtabNotice how similar these conjugations are to what you've already learned. And guess what? You'll see them again when we get to verbs! Isn't Japanese lovely?
Examples:
安くない。
Is not cheap.
早かった。
Was fast.
遅くなかった。
Was not late.
IV. 「いい」, the Exception (Sort Of)
tabtabOnce upon a time, the Japanese word for "good" was actually 「良い（よい）」. Gradually, because people are lazy and 「よ」 takes a bit too much effort to say, the word turned into the much easier to pronounce 「いい」, but its conjugations remain the same as they were in the past--they use 「よ」 as their stem, not 「い」 (presumably because 「いくない」 and 「いかった」 sound a bit ridiculous). Sometimes you'll see its conjugations written with the kanji, and sometimes you won't; it's somewhat up to personal preference. I like using the kanji, so I will include it in the following examples.
Examples:
良くない。
Is not good.
良くなかった。
Was not good.
良かった。
Was good.
tabtabRemember that these are pronounced 「よくない」, 「よかった」, and 「よくなかった」.
V. Lies
tabtabThe one thing that tends to get beginners when it comes to adjectives is the fact that there are some na-adjectives that end with 「い」; for example, in an earlier section, I used the word 「綺麗」, which is a na-adjective. Now, in the vast majority of cases, adjectives that end in 「い」 will be i-adjectives. But here's the trick to knowing when it's a lie: when a na-adjective ends in 「い」, that 「い」 is almost always a part of the kanji used to write the adjective, whereas with i-adjectives, this can never be the case. The 「い」 in an i-adjective must be okurigana*, or else you would not be able to remove it when trying to conjugate the adjective--you cannot take away part of a word's kanji because this would change the word itself.
tabtabThere is, however, one little exception that I can think of. 「嫌い（きらい）」, an adjective meaning "disliked" or "hated," is a na-adjective. The reason for this is that 「嫌い」 is actually derived from the verb 「嫌う（きらう）」, which means "to hate." But really, this is literally the only exception that comes to mind; the kanji trick works for most everything else.
tabtabAnd well, that's it for this lesson. I hope you enjoyed. :]
*Okurigana are the kana that follow the kanji of a verb or i-adjective and allow it to be conjugated.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:23 pm
|
|
|
|
VII. Ėssεητιαl Pαrτιċlες 「は」 αηδ 「が」ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
A. Vocabulary
tabtab彼女（かのじょ） - she, her; girlfriend
tabtab私（わたし） - I; me (usu. used by girls/women and older men)
tabtab学校（がっこう） - school
tabtab明日（あたし） - pretty; clean
tabtab試験（しけん） - exam
tabtab黒（くろ） - black (n.)
tabtab茶色（ちゃいろ） - brown (n.)
tabtabこれ - this (indicates something near speaker)
tabtabあれ - that (indicates something distant from both speaker and listener)
tabtab誰（だれ） - exam
tabtab何処（どこ） - black (n.)
tabtab何（なに） - brown (n.)
tabtab好き[な]（すき[な]） - likable
tabtab医者（いしゃ） - doctor
tabtab野菜（やさい） - vegetables
tabtabじゃぁ - "Well then..." (Int.)
tabtab食べ物（たべもの） - food
tabtab音楽（おんがく） - music
tabtab寿司（すし） - sushi
tabtabうるさい - noisy
tabtab先生（せんせい） - teacher
B. What is a particle?
tabtabParticles are used to indicate the grammatical role (such as direct object or indirect object) of nouns. They are usually a single hiragana characters or short words, and they come after the noun they modify.
tabtabParticles are what allow Japanese sentence order to be so flexible—as long as the right particles are used and the main verb comes at the end, the various parts of the sentence can technically go in any order. That said, there are general conventions for word order. Time words tend to be first, for example, and objects tend to be placed near the verb. You’ll get a feel for these conventions more through reading than through me explaining them in detail, though, so I’ll leave it at this for now.
C. The Topic Marker, 「は」
tabtabFirst of all, when 「は」 is used as a particle, it is read 「わ」. Don’t worry, though—thanks to kanji, it’s usually pretty easy to tell when 「は」is a particle (hint: when you see it written in hiragana, it usually is). Your vocabulary and/or a program like Perapera-kun will help you out otherwise.
tabtabThe function of「は」is to mark the overall topic of conversation. Now this might seem a bit strange at first, but bear with me. I’ll break it down.
tabtabIn a simple sentence, 「は」 essentially marks the topic (subject) of that sentence. For example:
tabtab私は人だ。
tabtabI am a person.
tabtab「は」indicates that 「私」 is what’s being talked about—the topic—and relates it to 「人」, while 「だ」, of course, indicates the present-tense state-of-being.
tabtabThe trick to 「は」, though, is this—whatever it indicates as the topic remains the topic of all subsequent sentences until 「は」 is used again with a different noun. This means you don’t have to keep repeating the topic once it has been established.
tabtabHere’s an example of how it works. In English we have to say, “The girl goes to school. The girl is nice. The girl has many friends.” But in Japanese, 「は」 eliminates all that repetitiveness: “Girl-wa goes to store. Is nice. Has many friends.” Since the girl was identified as the topic in the first sentence, it’s implied in the next two that the girl is still the topic. If the topic needs to be changed, 「は」 is simply used again with a new noun. Let’s do a quick example.
tabtabこれは猫。黒だ。あれは犬。茶色だ。
tabtabThis (is) cat. Is black. That over there (is) dog. Is brown.
tabtabNote how we only have to say 「これは」 and 「あれは」 once. As I’ve said a hundred times already, Japanese likes to imply things. A lot. And 「は」 is the perfect particle to facilitate this!
tabtabBy the way, I’ve found that the easiest way to think of 「は」when starting out is to imagine that it means “As for __(noun)__.” Whenever I translate a sentence, I will try use this method. So my translation for「学校は…」 , for example, would be “As for school…” This will hopefully help make the function of 「は」 more clear.
Examples:
彼女は親切な人だ。
As for her, is kind person. (She is a kind person.)
授業は退屈だった。
As for lesson, was boring.
私は男じゃない。
As for me, not man. (I am not a man.)
tabtabThere’s one more thing we need to go over before moving on. In Japanese, the idea of a “topic” is much more general than it is in English, thanks to Japanese’s ability to imply so many parts of a sentence. I’ll steal a great example from Tae Kim’s site to illustrate.
tabtabジョンは明日。
tabtabJohn (is) tomorrow.
tabtabNow I’m sure at this point you’re thinking, “What! That makes no sense.” But actually, given the way Japanese works, it can be a perfectly logical statement. All we need is a little context, and for that context to somehow relate “John” and “tomorrow.”
tabtabアリス：今日は試験だ。
tabtabAlice: As for today, is exam. (Today is the exam.)
tabtabボブ：ジョンは？
tabtabBob: What about John?
tabtabアリス：ジョンは明日。
tabtabAlice: As for John, tomorrow. (As for John, the exam is tomorrow.)
tabtabAs you can see, with some additional information, otherwise vague statements like 「ジョンは明日」 can have a very clear meaning. In this case, since we’ve been talking about exams, it is implied that we’re referring to the date of John’s exam, but any other context that somehow makes “John” and “tomorrow” relevant to one another could also work.
D. The Identifier Particle, 「が」
tabtabThe most prominent application for 「が」 is with question words. It wouldn’t make sense to use 「は」 (remember, that’s pronounced 「わ」) with question words like “who”, “what”, or “when”, because it is not possible for something unknown to be the topic. Saying 「何は綺麗」 would be like asking, “Is what pretty?” and that doesn’t make much sense at all, does it? So we have 「が」. 「が」 in this case indicates that the word it follows is something unknown that the speaker wants to identify.
Examples:
何が好き？
What is the thing that is likeable?
誰が医者？
Who is the one that is doctor?
tabtabWhen questions like these are answered, 「が」 is used after whatever answers the question word.
Examples:
音楽が好き。
Music is what is likeable.
田中先生が医者だ。*
Tanaka is the one that is doctor.
tabtabThis is because 「が」 is the identifier particle—when a word answers a question, 「が」 identifies that word as the answer. Keep in mind, though, that the question doesn’t have to actually be asked for 「が」 to be used. If you just decide to tell someone “I like pie,” the statement “I like pie,” still answers the question “What do you like?” even though no one explicitly asked. Therefore, 「が」 is still used.
Furthermore,「が」takes the noun it identifies and makes it into what I like to call a “mini-subject;” in other words, it becomes the subject of the phrase or sentence it is in, but doesn’t become the topic like nouns used with「は」 do. The topic stays the same, and 「が」 acts within the context of that topic. For example:
tabtab私は、野菜が好き。
tabtabΑs for me, vegetables are what is likable. (I like vegetables.)
tabtabSo in this sentence, 「私」 is defined as the overall topic with 「は」, while 「が」identifies 「野菜」 as what is liked, and indicates that 「野菜」 is the subject of the statement 「野菜が好き」. Since 「野菜が好き」 is said in the context of the topic「私」, it is implied that the speaker is saying that vegetables are likable to him/her, not to anyone else.
tabtabJust like with 「は」, I have a little trick (courtesy of Tae Kim) to help you keep the meaning of 「が」 straight—I translate it as meaning “__(noun)__ is the one that…”, “__(noun)__ is the place that…”, “__(noun)__ is the thing that…”, etc. as a reminder that 「が」 identifies things.
tabtabThe last thing I’d like to mention is that there are some cases when using regular nouns (not question words) in which either 「は」 or 「が」 can be used, depending on what you want to say or ask. For example, both 「パイが好き？」 and 「パイは、好き？」 are correct ways to ask if you like pie. The difference would be that the former is asking, “Is pie the thing that you like?” whereas the latter is asking, “As for pie, do you like it?” and makes “pie” into the topic of conversation. Which is used in these situations depends on the nuance you want the sentence to have. Which is most natural in a given situation, though, can really only be learned through experience—which is why, as always, I encourage everyone to read and listen to Japanese as much as possible! Practice makes perfect. I’ll see you all next time with verbs. :]
Some more examples:
Aさん：カレーが好き？
A: Do you like curry? (Is curry the thing that is likable?)
Bさん：ううん、好きじゃない。
B: No, I don’t. (No, [it’s] not likable.)
Aさん：じゃぁ好きな食べ物は？
A: Then what food do you like? (Then the likeable food is?)
Bさん；寿司が好きだ。
B: I like sushi. (Sushi is the food that is likable.)
彼は、うるさい人が嫌い。
He hates noisy people. (As for him, noisy people are detestable.)
先生がいい人じゃない。
The teacher is not a good person. (Teacher is not the one who is good person. )
*The names of doctors take the suffix 「先生」, as do teachers and other people in professions that involve knowledge.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 7:28 pm
|
|
|
|
VIII. Iητroδυcτιoη το Vεrbςsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
A. First Off
tabtabAt long last, the time has come to learn of the wonders of Japanese verbs. Or maybe just the wonder--they're easy! Ever studied a language like French? Memorised huge tables of conjugations? Despaired at irregulars? Well, listen to this: Japanese verbs do not change for person or number, and there are only two irregular verbs in the entire language. What's more, the two verb classes—formally referred to as 五段(ごだん, “five-step”) verbs and 一段(いちだん, “one-step”) verbs—are not all that different, and even the irregulars do not deviate too much from the expected pattern. So let's get to it!
B. Vocabulary
食べる（たべる） - (v1, vt) to eat
起きる（おきる） - (v1, vi)to wake up; to happen, occur (for negative events)
考える（かんがえる） - (v1, vt) to think about, consider
見る（みる） - (v1, vt) to see
買う（かう） - (v5, vt) to buy
歩く（あるく） - (v5k, vt) to walk
泳ぐ（およぐ） - (v5g, vt) to swim
話す（はなす） - (v5s, vt) to speak, conerse
待つ（まつ） - (v5t, vt) to wait
死ぬ（しぬ） - (v5n, vt) to die
学ぶ（まなぶ） - (v5b, vt) to learn, study
噛む（かむ） - (v5m, vt) to bite
終わる（おわる） - (v5r, vi) to end
知る（しる） - to know (usu. for concrete facts)
帰る（かえる） - (v5r, vi) to return home
切る（きる） - (v5r, vt) to cut
蹴る（ける） - (v5r, vt) to kick
ある - (v5r, vi) to exist (inanimate objects)
いる - (v1, vi) to exist (animate objects)
行く（いく） - (v5k, vi) to go
来る（くる） - (irr., vi) to come
する - (irr., vt) to do
叱る（しかる） - (v5r, vt) to scold
始める（はじめる） - (v1, vt) to start, begin
始まる（はじまる） - (v5r, vi) to start, begin
動く（うごく） - (v5k, vi) to move
動かす（うごかす） - (v5s, vt) to kick
手（て） - hand
今日（きょう） - today
昼食（ちゅうしょく） - lunch
箪笥（たんす） - chest of drawers, dresser
C. Ru-Verbs
tabtabThe first type of verbs we'll go over is ichidan vebs, which I like to refer to informally as ru-verbs because they usually drop their final 「る」 when conjugated. All ru-verbs end in either 「いる」 or 「える」; for example, 「食べる」, 「起きる」, 「考える」, 「見る」. However, it is important to keep in mind that not all verbs ending in 「いる」 and 「える」 are ru-verbs, and the only way to know for sure is either by hearing the verb conjugated or by checking a dictionary.*
*A good rule of thumb, though, is that if the 「い」 or 「え」 is a part of the okurigana (the kana following the kanji), the verb is a ru-verb. If the 「い」 or 「え」 is in the kanji, there's no real way to tell.
D. U-verbs
tabtabU-verbs are godan verbs. I call them this because when they conjugate they drop their 「う」 vowel sound and replace it with 「あ」, 「い」, 「え」, or 「お」 (this also explains why they are called godan verbs—they change based on the five vowel sounds present in the Japanese language). I'll give one example for each possible ending such verbs can have:
tabtab・買う
tabtab・歩く
tabtab・泳ぐ
tabtab・話す
tabtab・待つ
tabtab・死ぬ
tabtab・学ぶ
tabtab・噛む
tabtab・終わる
abtab(There are no verbs ending in 「ず」, 「づ」, 「ふ」, 「ぷ」, or 「ゆ」. Furthermore, 「死ぬ」 is the only verb ending in 「ぬ」.)
tabtabAlso, here are some examples of verbs that look like ru-verbs but are actually u-verbs:
tabtab・知る
tabtab・帰る
tabtab・切る
tabtab・蹴る
E. The Irregular Verbs, 「来る」 and 「する」
tabtab「来る」 and 「する」 are irregular because their actual bases—the 「く」 in 「来る」 and the 「す」 in 「する」—change when they are conjugated. More specifically, the 「す」 usually changes to 「し」, and the 「く」 changes to either 「き」 or 「こ」. Still, the actual endings they take for their various conjugations are exactly the same as the endings taken by all other verbs, so as long as you remember to change the stem properly, it's not very difficult to guess how to conjugate them.
tabtabIt is also important to note that while it is not considered an irregular verb, the verb 「ある」 has one iregular conjugation, which you have actually already encountered—its negative form is 「ない」. The verb 「行く」 also has two irregular conjugations, but we'll cover those when we get to the plain past tense and the te-form.
F. The Direct Object Marker, 「を」
tabtabThe form we've seen verbs in so far is referred to as the plain or dictionary form. It is the plain non-past tense. I say “non-past” because Japanese has no conjugation for future tense; whether or not the future tense is intended is to be gleaned from context. Therefore, rather than saying that Japanese has present- and past-tense conjugations, I say that it has past and non-past conjuations, because this is a much clearer reflection of how the languge works.
tabtabWith this form, we can make such simple sentences as:
tabtab私は食べる。
tabtabAs for me, (I) eat.
tabtabOr even make a little diaglogue:
tabtabAさん：食べる？
tabtabA: (Will you) eat?
tabtabBさん：食べる。
tabtabB: (I'll) eat.
tabtabBut that's not very interesting, is it? What if you want to talk about *what* you are going to eat? This is where the particle 「を」 comes in. Unlike with 「は」 and 「が」, this particle requires no long explanation—it just goes after whatever the direct object of the sentence is.
Examples:
野菜を食べる。
(I, you, etc.) eat vegetables.
手を洗う。
Wash hands.
今日、私は昼食を作る。
I'm going to make lunch today.
tabtab「を」 can be used with question words, too.
Examples:
何を食べる？
What will (you, he, they) eat?
誰を叱る？
Who (are you, is she, etc.) going to scold?
G. Transitive vs. Intransitive Verbs
tabtabVerbs can be either transitive or intransitive. Transitive verbs perform an action on something else. For example, in the sentence “I eat the apple,” “eat” is transitive beause it performs an action on a direct object (the apple). As we saw in the previous section, such verbs use the particle 「を」 to mark the noun that is their direct object.
tabtabIntransitive verbs describe a state. For example, in the sentence “The door is open,” “is open” describes the state of the door. Such verbs cannot have a direct object because they are not performing an action on anything, and the object they are describing takes the particle 「は」 or 「が」.
Examples:
学校が始まる。
School starts.
学校を始める。
(I, etc.) start school.
犬が動く。
The dog moves.
箪笥を動かす。
(I, etc.) move the dresser.
H. A Note About Dictionaries
tabtabMost online Japanese-English-Japanese dictionaries use the following abbreciations when defining verbs:
vi – intransitive
vt – transitive
v1 – ichidan (ru-) verb
v5 – godan (u-) verb
tabtabOften there is also a letter attached to the "v5," as in "v5k" or "v5r." This letter simply represents the consonant attached to the 「う」. So, for example, 「歩く」 would be labeled "v5k."
tabtabWhenever you look up a verb, be sure to note its type so that you can use it and conjugate it correctly!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
