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Basic Grammar Japanese

The Japanese grammar has some unique features as Japanese is not related to other languages. Some key aspects of Japanese grammar include: 1. The predicate always comes at the end of the sentence. 2. Verbs do not change based on person, gender, or number. 3. Nouns do not have plural or gender forms. 4. Particles placed after words indicate their function in the sentence by showing relationships between words.

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326 views3 pages

Basic Grammar Japanese

The Japanese grammar has some unique features as Japanese is not related to other languages. Some key aspects of Japanese grammar include: 1. The predicate always comes at the end of the sentence. 2. Verbs do not change based on person, gender, or number. 3. Nouns do not have plural or gender forms. 4. Particles placed after words indicate their function in the sentence by showing relationships between words.

Uploaded by

Fiorissa Irvienna
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Basic grammar

The Japanese grammar has lots of specific features, mostly because it is so scarcely
related to other languages. On the other hand it is very sensible, logically very well
connected. Some of its features are:

1. in Japanese the predicate always stands at the end of the sentence

2. the verbs don't change depending on the person, gender or number

3. the nouns don't have plural or gender

4. the dependence between words in a sentence is expressed thru particles which


follow the words affected.

Personal pronouns

First, the personal pronouns will be covered:

Singular plural
わたしたち
I watashi わたし 私 we watashitachi
私達
あなたたち
you anata あなた you anatatachi
あなた達
he kare かれ 彼
they karera かれら 彼ら
she kanojo かのじょ 彼女

The columns are as follows: english, romaji, hiragana　and kanji.

There is no neuter gender ("it") in Japanese. There are other forms of personal
pronouns too. For example, the most polite form of "I" is "watakushi". Then there is
the form that can only be used by men, "boku", and so on...

For "you" males can say "kimi", informally. But "kimi" is not dependent on the
gender of the person to whom it relates, but on the gender of the one who talks. Only
men can say that! It's a very specific feature of the Japanese language too.

For "they" there are different feminine and masculine forms too: "karetachi" and
"kanojochi".

Particles

Particles are suffixes which follow promptly after the word that they relate to. They
determine the function of that word in the sentence. Some of the most common
particles are:

WA - determines the subject in a sentence.


Example: Watashiwa Nihonjin desu.
私は　日本人　です。
I Japanese am.

Notice, that "wa" is written as "ha" in hiragana. This is one of the few exceptions in
Japanese.

O - pinpoints the direct object

Example: Watashiwa kohio nomimasu.


私は　コーヒを　飲みます。
I　coffee drink.

This is also an exception, because "wo" is written , but just "o" is read.

NI - indirect object
- place marker
- time marker

Example: ７ jini okimasu .


７じに　おきます。
(I) get up at 7 o'clock.

E - marks the direction

Example: Daigakue ikimasu.


だいがくへ　いきます。
(I am) going to the university.

Also an exception.

NO - indicates possession

Example: Korewa anatano hon desu .


これは　あなたの　ほん　です。
This book is yours .
The main function of "no" is to mark possession, but it also has some other minor
usages too.

MO - inclusion, addition marker

Example: Karemo gakusei desu .


かれも　がくせい　です。
He too is a student .

"mo" replaces "wa" and indicates that the word before it also has some property.

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