Category: Basic Grammar

Vocabulary used in this section

This is the same list of verbs from the previous practice exercise. We will use the same verbs from the last exercise to practice conjugating to the negative.

Practice with Negative Verb Conjugations

We learned how to classify the following verbs in the previous practice exercise. Now, we are going to put that knowledge to use by conjugating the same verbs into the negative depending on which type of verb it is. The first answer has been given as an example.

We will finish defining all the basic properties of verbs by learning how to express the past and past-negative tense of actions. I will warn you in advance that the conjugation rules in this section will be the most complex rules you will learn in all of Japanese. On the one hand, once you have this section nailed, all other rules of conjugation will seem simple. On the other hand, you might need to refer back to this section many times before you finally get all the rules. You will probably need a great deal of practice until you can become familiar with all the different conjugations.

Past tense for ru-verbs

Vocabulary

1. 出る 【で・る】 (ru-verb) – to come out
2. 捨てる 【す・てる】 (ru-verb) – to throw away
3. ご飯 【ご・はん】 – rice; meal
4. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
5. 映画 【えい・が】 – movie
6. 全部 【ぜん・ぶ】 – everything
7. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see

We will start off with the easy ru-verb category. To change a ru-verb from the dictionary form into the past tense, you simply drop the 「る」 and add 「た」.

Examples

1. ご飯は、食べた。
   As for meal, ate.
2. 映画は、全部見た。
   As for movie, saw them all.

Past tense for u-verbs

Vocabulary

1. 話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) – to speak
2. 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write
3. 泳ぐ 【およ・ぐ】 (u-verb) – to swim
4. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
5. 遊ぶ 【あそ・ぶ】 (u-verb) – to play
6. 死ぬ 【し・ぬ】 (u-verb) – to die
7. 切る 【き・る】 (u-verb) – to cut
8. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
9. 持つ 【も・つ】 (u-verb) – to hold
10. する (exception) – to do
11. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
12. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
13. 今日 【きょう】 – today
14. 走る 【はし・る】 (u-verb) – to run
15. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
16. 私 【わたし】 – me, myself, I
17. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study

Changing a u-verb from dictionary form to the past tense is difficult because we must break up u-verbs into four additional categories. These four categories depend on the last character of the verb. The table below illustrates the different sub-categories. In addition, there is one exception to the rules, which is the verb 「行く」. I’ve bundled it with the regular exception verbs 「する」 and 「来る」 even though 「行く」 is a regular u-verb in all other conjugations.

* exceptions particular to this conjugation

Examples

1. 今日は、走った。
   As for today, ran.
2. 友達が来た。
   Friend is the one that came.
3. 私も遊んだ。
   I also played.
4. 勉強は、した。
   About study, did it.

Past-negative tense for all verbs

Vocabulary

1. 捨てる 【す・てる】 (ru-verb) – to throw away
2. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
3. 食べる 【たべ・る】 (ru-verb) – to eat
4. する (exception) – to do
5. お金 【お・かね】 – money
6. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
7. 私 【わたし】 – me, myself, I
8. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
9. 猫　【ねこ】 – cat
10. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)

The conjugation rules for the past-negative tense are the same for all verbs. You might have noticed that the negative of just about everything always end in 「ない」. The conjugation rule for the past-negative tense of verbs is pretty much the same as all the other negatives that end in 「ない」. You simply take the negative of any verb, remove the 「い」 from the 「ない」 ending, and replace it with 「かった」.

Examples

1. アリスは食べなかった。
   As for Alice, did not eat.
2. ジムがしなかった。
   Jim is the one that did not do.
3. ボブも行かなかった。
   Bob also did not go.
4. お金がなかった。
   There was no money. (lit: As for money, did not exist.)
5. 私は買わなかった。
   As for me, did not buy.
6. 猫はいなかった。
   There was no cat. (lit: As for cat, did not exist.)

Vocabulary used in this section

This is the same list of verbs from the previous practice exercise with a couple additions. We will use mostly the same verbs from the last exercise to practice conjugating to the past and the past negative tense.

Practice with Past Verb Conjugations

We learned how to classify the following verbs in the first verb practice exercise. Now, we are going to put that knowledge to use by conjugating the same verbs into the past tense depending on which type of verb it is. The first answer has been given as an example.

Practice with Past Negative Verb Conjugations

Now, we are going to do the same thing for the past negative verb conjugations.

In this section, we will learn some new particles essential for using verbs. We will learn how to specify the direct object of a verb and the location where a verb takes place whether it’s physical or abstract.

The direct object 「を」 particle

Vocabulary

1. 魚 【さかな】 – fish
2. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
3. ジュース – juice
4. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
5. 街 【まち】 – town
6. ぶらぶら – wandering; aimlessly
7. 歩く 【ある・く】 (u-verb) – to walk
8. 高速 【こう・そく】 – high-speed
9. 道路 【どう・ろ】 – route
10. 走る 【はし・る】 (u-verb) – to run
11. 毎日 【まい・にち】 – everyday
12. 日本語 【に・ほん・ご】 – Japanese (language)
13. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study
14. する (exception) – to do
15. メールアドレス – email address
16. 登録 【とう・ろく】 – register

The first particle we will learn is the object particle because it is a very straightforward particle. The 「を」 character is attached to the end of a word to signify that that word is the direct object of the verb. This character is essentially never used anywhere else. That is why the katakana equivalent 「ヲ」 is almost never used since particles are always written in hiragana. The 「を」 character, while technically pronounced as /wo/ essentially sounds like /o/ in real speech. Here are some examples of the direct object particle in action.

Examples

1. 魚を食べる。
   Eat fish.
2. ジュースを飲んだ。
   Drank juice.

Unlike the direct object we’re familiar with in English, places can also be the direct object of motion verbs such as 「歩く」 and 「走る」. Since the motion verb is done to the location, the concept of direct object is the same in Japanese. However, as you can see by the next examples, it often translates to something different in English due to the slight difference of the concept of direct object.

1. 街をぶらぶら歩く。
   Aimlessly walk through town. (Lit: Aimlessly walk town)
2. 高速道路を走る。
   Run through expressway. (Lit: Run expressway)

When you use 「する」 with a noun, the 「を」 particle is optional and you can treat the whole [noun+する] as one verb.

1. 毎日、日本語を勉強する。
   Study Japanese everyday.
2. メールアドレスを登録した。
   Registered email address.

The target 「に」 particle

Vocabulary

1. 日本 【に・ほん】 – Japan
2. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
3. 家 【1) うち; 2) いえ】 – 1) one’s own home; 2) house
4. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
5. 部屋 【へ・や】 – room
6. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
7. アメリカ – America
8. 宿題 【しゅく・だい】 – homework
9. 今日 【きょう】 – today
10. 明日 【あした】 – tomorrow
11. 猫 【ねこ】 – cat
12. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)
13. いす – chair
14. 台所 【だい・どころ】 – kitchen
15. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
16. いい (i-adj) – good
17. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
18. 会う 【あう】 (u-verb) – to meet
19. 医者 【い・しゃ】 – doctor
20. なる (u-verb) – to become
21. 先週 【せん・しゅう】 – last week
22. 図書館 【と・しょ・かん】 – library
23. 来年 【らい・ねん】 – next year

The 「に」 particle can specify a target of a verb. This is different from the 「を」 particle in which the verb does something to the direct object. With the 「に」 particle, the verb does something toward the word associated with the 「に」 particle. For example, the target of any motion verb is specified by the 「に」 particle.

Examples

1. ボブは日本に行った。
   Bob went to Japan.
2. 家に帰らない。
   Not go back home.
3. 部屋にくる。
   Come to room.

As you can see in the last example, the target particle always targets “to” rather than “from”. If you wanted to say, “come from” for example, you would need to use 「から」, which means “from”. If you used 「に」, it would instead mean “come to“. 「から」 is also often paired with 「まで」, which means “up to”.

1. アリスは、アメリカからきた。
   Alice came from America.
2. 宿題を今日から明日までする。
   Will do homework from today to tomorrow.

The idea of a target in Japanese is very general and is not restricted to motion verbs. For example, the location of an object is defined as the target of the verb for existence （ある and いる）. Time is also a common target. Here are some examples of non-motion verbs and their targets

1. 猫は部屋にいる。
   Cat is in room.
2. いすが台所にあった。
   Chair was in the kitchen.
3. いい友達に会った。
   Met good friend.
4. ジムは医者になる。
   Jim will become doctor.
5. 先週に図書館に行った。
   Went to library last week.

Note: Don’t forget to use 「ある」 for inanimate objects such as the chair and 「いる」 for animate objects such as the cat.

While the 「に」 particle is not always required to indicate time, there is a slight difference in meaning between using the target particle and not using anything at all. In the following examples, the target particle makes the date a specific target emphasizing that the friend will go to Japan at that time. Without the particle, there is no special emphasis.

1. 友達は、来年、日本に行く。
   Next year, friend go to Japan.
2. 友達は、来年に日本に行く。
   Friend go to Japan next year.

The directional 「へ」 particle

Vocabulary

1. 日本 【に・ほん】 – Japan
2. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
3. 家 【1) うち; 2) いえ】 – 1) one’s own home; 2) house
4. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
5. 部屋 【へ・や】 – room
6. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
7. 医者 【い・しゃ】 – doctor
8. なる (u-verb) – to become
9. 勝ち 【か・ち】 – victory
10. 向かう 【むか・う】 (u-verb) – to face; to go towards

While 「へ」 is normally pronounced /he/, when it is being used as a particle, it is always pronounced /e/ （え）. The primary difference between the 「に」 and 「へ」 particle is that 「に」 goes to a target as the final, intended destination (both physical or abstract). The 「へ」 particle, on the other hand, is used to express the fact that one is setting out towards the direction of the target. As a result, it is only used with directional motion verbs. It also does not guarantee whether the target is the final intended destination, only that one is heading towards that direction. In other words, the 「に」 particle sticks to the destination while the 「へ」 particle is fuzzy about where one is ultimately headed. For example, if we choose to replace 「に」 with 「へ」 in the first three examples of the previous section, the nuance changes slightly.

Examples

1. ボブは日本へ行った。
   Bob headed towards Japan.
2. 家へ帰らない。
   Not go home toward house.
3. 部屋へくる。
   Come towards room.

Note that we cannot use the 「へ」 particle with verbs that have no physical direction. For example, the following is incorrect.

• 医者へなる。
  （Grammatically incorrect version of 「医者になる」.）

This does not mean to say that 「へ」 cannot set out towards an abstract concept. In fact, because of the fuzzy directional meaning of this particle, the 「へ」 particle can also be used to talk about setting out towards certain future goals or expectations.

• 勝ちへ向かう。
  Go towards victory.

The contextual 「で」 particle

Vocabulary

1. 映画館 【えい・が・かん】 – movie theatre
2. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see
3. バス – bus
4. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
5. レストラン – restaurant
6. 昼ご飯 【ひる・ご・はん】 – lunch
7. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
8. 何 【なに／なん】 – what
9. 暇 【ひま】 – free　(as in not busy)

The 「で」 particle will allow us to specify the context in which the action is performed. For example, if a person ate a fish, where did he eat it? If a person went to school, by what means did she go? With what will you eat the soup? All of these questions can be answered with the 「で」 particle. Here are some examples.

Examples

1. 映画館で見た。
   Saw at movie theater.
2. バスで帰る。
   Go home by bus.
3. レストランで昼ご飯を食べた。
   Ate lunch at restaurant.

It may help to think of 「で」 as meaning “by way of”. This way, the same meaning will kind of translate into what the sentence means. The examples will then read: “Saw by way of movie theater”, “Go home by way of bus”, and “Ate lunch by way of restaurant.”

Using 「で」 with 「何」

The word for “what” （何） is quite annoying because while it’s usually read as 「なに」, sometimes it is read as 「なん」 depending on how it’s used. And since it’s always written in Kanji, you can’t tell which it is. I would suggest sticking with 「なに」 until someone corrects you for when it should be 「なん」. With the 「で」 particle, it is read as 「なに」 as well. (Hold the mouse cursor over the word to check the reading.)

1. 何できた？
   Came by the way of what?
2. バスできた。
   Came by the way of bus.

Here’s the confusing part. There is a colloquial version of the word “why” that is used much more often than the less colloquial version 「どうして」 or the more forceful 「なぜ」. It is also written as 「何で」 but it is read as 「なんで」. This is a completely separate word and has nothing to do with the 「で」 particle.

1. 何できた？
   Why did you come?
2. 暇だから。
   Because I am free (as in have nothing to do).

The 「から」 here meaning “because” is different from the 「から」 we just learned and will be covered later in the compound sentence section. Basically the point is that the two sentences, while written the same way, are read differently and mean completely different things. Don’t worry. This causes less confusion than you think because 95% of the time, the latter is used rather than the former. And even when 「なにで」 is intended, the context will leave no mistake on which one is being used. Even in this short example snippet, you can tell which it is by looking at the answer to the question.

When location is the topic

Vocabulary

1. 学校 【がっ・こう】 – school
2. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
3. 図書館 【と・しょ・かん】 – library
4. どこ – where
5. イタリア – Italy
6. レストラン – restaurant
7. どう – how

There are times when the location of an action is also the topic of a sentence. You can attach the topic particle （「は」 and 「も」） to the three particles that indicate location （「に」、「へ」、「で」） when the location is the topic. We’ll see how location might become the topic in the following examples.

Example 1

ボブ：学校に行った？
Bob: (Did you) go to school?

アリス：行かなかった。
Alice: Didn’t go.

ボブ：図書館には？
Bob: What about library?

アリス：図書館にも行かなかった。
Alice: Also didn’t go to library.

In this example, Bob brings up a new topic (library) and so the location becomes the topic. The sentence is actually an abbreviated version of 「図書館には行った？」 which you can ascertain from the context.

Example 2

ボブ：どこで食べる？
Bob: Eat where?

アリス：イタリアレストランではどう？
Alice: How about Italian restaurant?

Bob asks, “Where shall we eat?” and Alice suggests an Italian restaurant. A sentence like, “How about…” usually brings up a new topic because the person is suggesting something new. In this case, the location (restaurant) is being suggested so it becomes the topic.

When direct object is the topic

Vocabulary

1. 日本語 【に・ほん・ご】 – Japanese (language)
2. 習う 【なら・う】 (u-verb) – to learn

The direct object particle is different from particles related to location in that you cannot use any other particles at the same time. For example, going by the previous section, you might have guessed that you can say 「をは」 to express a direct object that is also the topic but this is not the case. A topic can be a direct object without using the 「を」 particle. In fact, putting the 「を」 particle in will make it wrong.

Examples

1. 日本語を習う。
   Learn Japanese.
2. 日本語は、習う。
   About Japanese, (will) learn it.

Please take care to not make this mistake.

• 日本語をは、習う。
  (This is incorrect.)

In Japanese, sometimes there are two types of the same verb often referred to as transitive and intransitive verbs. The difference between the two is that one verb is an action done by an active agent while the other is something that occurs without a direct agent. In English, this is sometimes expressed with the same verb, such as: “The ball dropped” vs “I dropped the ball” but in Japanese it becomes　「ボールが落ちた」 vs 「ボールを落とした」.　Sometimes, the verbs changes when translated into English such as “To put it in the box” (箱に入れる） vs “To enter the box” （箱に入る） but this is only from the differences in the languages. If you think in Japanese, intransitive and transitive verbs have the same meaning except that one indicates that someone had a direct hand in the action (direct object) while the other does not. While knowing the terminology is not important, it is important to know which is which in order to use the correct particle for the correct verb.

Since the basic meaning and the kanji is the same, you can learn two verbs for the price of just one kanji! Let’s look at a sample list of intransitive and transitive verbs.

Pay attention to particles!

The important lesson to take away here is to learn how to use the correct particle for the correct type of verb. It might be difficult at first to grasp which is which when learning new verbs or whether there even is a transitive/intransitive distinction. If you’re not sure, you can always check whether a verb is transitive or intransitive by using an online dictionary such as jisho.org

Examples

1. 私が電気をつけた。
   I am the one that turned on the lights.
2. 電気がついた。
   The lights turned on.
3. 電気を消す。
   Turn off the lights.
4. 電気が消える。
   Lights turn off.
5. 誰が窓を開けた？
   Who opened the window?
6. 窓がどうして開いた？
   Why has the window opened?

The important thing to remember is that intransitive verbs cannot have a direct object because there is no direct acting agent. The following sentences are grammatically incorrect.

1. 電気をついた。
   （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）
2. 電気を消える。
   （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）
3. どうして窓を開いた？
   （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）

The only time you can use the 「を」 particle for intransitive verbs is when a location is the direct object of a motion verb as briefly described in the previous section.

1. 部屋を出た。
   I left room.

Treating verbs and state-of-being like adjectives

Have you noticed how, many forms of verbs and the state-of-being conjugate in a similar manner to i-adjectives? Well, that is because, in a sense, they are adjectives. For example, consider the sentence: “The person who did not eat went to bank.” The “did not eat” describes the person and in Japanese, you can directly modify the noun ‘person’ with the clause ‘did not eat’ just like a regular adjective. This very simple realization will allow us to modify a noun with any arbitrary verb phrase!

Using state-of-being clauses as adjectives

Vocabulary

1. 国際 【こく・さい】 – international
2. 教育 【きょう・いく】 – education
3. センター – center
4. 登場 【とう・じょう】 – entry (on stage)
5. 人物 【じん・ぶつ】 – character
6. 立入 【たち・いり】 – entering
7. 禁止 【きん・し】 – prohibition, ban
8. 学生 【がく・せい】 – student
9. 人 【ひと】 – person
10. 学校 【がっ・こう】 – school
11. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
12. 子供 【こ・ども】 – child
13. 立派 【りっ・ぱ】 (na-adj) – fine, elegant
14. 大人 【おとな】 – adult
15. なる (u-verb) – to become
16. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
17. いい (i-adj) – good
18. 先週 【せん・しゅう】 – last week
19. 医者 【い・しゃ】 – doctor
20. 仕事 【し・ごと】 – job
21. 辞める 【や・める】 (ru-verb) – to quit

The negative, past, and negative past conjugations of verbs can be used just like adjectives to directly modify nouns. However, we cannot do this with the plain non-past state-of-being using 「だ」. (I told you this was a pain in the butt.) The language has particles for this purpose, which will be covered in the next section.

You can, however, have a string of nouns placed together when they’re not meant to modify each other. For example, in a phrase such as “International Education Center” you can see that it is just a string of nouns without any grammatical modifications between them. It’s not an “Education Center that is International” or a “Center for International Education”, etc., it’s just “International Education Center”. In Japanese, you can express this as simply 「国際教育センタ」 (or 「センター」). You will see this chaining of nouns in many combinations. Sometimes a certain combination is so commonly used that it has almost become a separate word and is even listed as a separate entry in some dictionaries. Some examples include: 「登場人物」、「立入禁止」、or 「通勤手当」. If you have difficulties in figuring out where to separate the words, you can paste them into the WWWJDICs Translate Words in Japanese Text function and it’ll parse the words for you (most of the time).

Examples

Here are some examples of direct noun modifications with a conjugated noun clause. The noun clause has been highlighted.

1. 学生じゃない人は、学校に行かない。
   Person who is not student do not go to school.
2. 子供だったアリスが立派な大人になった。
   The Alice that was a child became a fine adult.
3. 友達じゃなかったアリスは、いい友達になった。
   Alice who was not a friend, became a good friend.
4. 先週医者だったボブは、仕事を辞めた。
   Bob who was a doctor last week quit his job.

Using relative verb clauses as adjectives

Vocabulary

1. 先週 【せん・しゅう】 – last week
2. 映画 【えい・が】 – movie
3. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see
4. 人 【ひと】 – person
5. 誰 【だれ】 – who
6. いつも – always
7. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study
8. する (exception) – to do
9. 赤い 【あか・い】 (i-adj) – red
10. ズボン – pants
11. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
12. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
13. 晩ご飯 【ばん・ご・はん】 – dinner
14. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
15. 銀行 【ぎん・こう】 – bank

Verbs clauses can also be used just like adjectives to modify nouns. The following examples show us how this will allow us to make quite detailed and complicated sentences. The verb clause is highlighted.

Examples

1. 先週に映画を見た人は誰？
   Who is person who watched movie last week?
2. ボブは、いつも勉強する人だ。
   Bob is a person who always studies.
3. 赤いズボンを買う友達はボブだ。
   Friend who buy red pants is Bob.
4. 晩ご飯を食べなかった人は、映画で見た銀行に行った。
   Person who did not eat dinner went to the bank she saw at movie.

Japanese Sentence Order

Vocabulary

1. 私 【わたし】 – me; myself; I
2. 公園 【こう・えん】 – (public) park
3. お弁当 【お・べん・とう】 – box lunch
4. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
5. 学生 【がく・せい】 – student
6. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go

Now that we’ve learned the concept of relative clauses and how they are used as building blocks to make sentences, I can go over how Japanese sentence ordering works. There’s this myth that keeps floating around about Japanese sentence order that continues to plague many hapless beginners to Japanese. Here’s how it goes.

The most basic sentence structure in English can be described as consisting of the following elements in this specific order: [Subject] [Verb] [Object]. A sentence is not grammatically correct if any of those elements are missing or out of order.

Japanese students will tell you that Japanese, on the other hand, while frothing at the mouth, is completely backwards!! Even some Japanese teacher might tell you that the basic Japanese sentence order is [Subject] [Object] [Verb]. This is a classic example of trying to fit Japanese into an English-based type of thinking. Of course, we all know (right?) that the real order of the fundamental Japanese sentence is: [Verb]. Anything else that comes before the verb doesn’t have to come in any particular order and nothing more than the verb is required to make a complete sentence. In addition, the verb must always come at the end. That’s the whole point of even having particles so that they can identify what grammatical function a word serves no matter where it is in the sentence. In fact, nothing will stop us from making a sentence with [Object] [Subject] [Verb] or just [Object] [Verb]. The following sentences are all complete and correct because the verb is at the end of the sentence.

Grammatically complete and correctly ordered sentences

1. 私は公園でお弁当を食べた。
2. 公園で私はお弁当を食べた。
3. お弁当を私は公園で食べた。
4. 弁当を食べた。
5. 食べた。

So don’t sweat over whether your sentence is in the correct order. Just remember the following rules.

The last three particles (Not!)

We have already gone over very powerful constructs that can express almost anything we want. We will see the 「の」 particle will give us even more power by allowing us to define a generic, abstract noun. We will also learn how to modify nouns directly with nouns. The three particles we will cover can group nouns together in different ways.

This is the last lesson that will be specifically focused on particles but that does not mean that there are no more particles to learn. We will learn many more particles along the way but they may not be labeled as such. As long as you know what they mean and how to use them, it is not too important to know whether they are particles or not.

The Inclusive 「と」 particle

Vocabulary

1. ナイフ – knife
2. フォーク – fork
3. ステーキ – steak
4. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
5. 本 【ほん】 – book
6. 雑誌 【ざっ・し】 – magazine
7. 葉書 【はがき】 – postcard
8. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
9. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
10. 話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) – to speak
11. 先生 【せん・せい】 – teacher
12. 会う 【あ・う】 (u-verb) – to meet

The 「と」 particle is similar to the 「も」 particle in that it contains a meaning of inclusion. It can combine two or more nouns together to mean “and”.

1. ナイフとフォークでステーキを食べた。
   Ate steak by means of knife and fork.
2. 本と雑誌と葉書を買った。
   Bought book, magazine, and post card.

Another similar use of the 「と」 particle is to show an action that was done together with someone or something else.

1. 友達と話した。
   Talked with friend.
2. 先生と会った。
   Met with teacher.

The Vague Listing 「や」 and 「とか」 particles

Vocabulary

1. 飲み物 【の・み・もの】 – beverage
2. カップ – cup
3. ナプキン – napkin
4. いる (u-verb) – to need
5. 靴 【くつ】 – shoes
6. シャツ – shirt
7. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy

The 「や」 particle, just like the 「と」 particle, is used to list one or more nouns except that it is much more vague than the 「と」 particle. It implies that there may be other things that are unlisted and that not all items in the list may apply. In English, you might think of this as an “and/or, etc.” type of listing.

1. 飲み物やカップやナプキンは、いらない？
   You don’t need (things like) drink, cup, or napkin, etc.?
2. 靴やシャツを買う。
   Buy (things like) shoes and shirt, etc…

「とか」 also has the same meaning as 「や」 but is a slightly more colloquial expression.

1. 飲み物とかカップとかナプキンは、いらない？
   You don’t need (things like) drink, cup, or napkin, etc.?
2. 靴とかシャツを買う。
   Buy (things like) shoes and shirt, etc…

The 「の」 particle

Vocabulary

1. 本 【ほん】 – book
2. アメリカ – America
3. 大学 【だい・がく】 – college
4. 学生 【がく・せい】 – student
5. それ – that
6. その – abbreviation of 「それの」
7. シャツ – shirt
8. 誰 【だれ】 – who
9. これ – this
10. この – abbreviation of 「これの」
11. あれ – that (over there)
12. あの – abbreviation of 「あれの」
13. 白い 【し・ろい】 (i-adj) – white
14. かわいい (i-adj) – cute
15. 授業 【じゅ・ぎょう】 – class
16. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
17. 忘れる 【わす・れる】 (ru-verb) – to forget
18. こと – event, matter
19. 毎日 【まい・にち】 – every day
20. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study
21. する (exception) – to do
22. 大変 【たい・へん】 (na-adj) – tough, hard time
23. 同じ 【おな・じ】 – same
24. 物 【もの】 – object
25. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
26. 面白い 【おも・し・ろい】 (i-adj) – interesting
27. 静か 【しず・か】 (na-adj) – quiet
28. 部屋 【へ・や】 – room
29. 人 【ひと】 – person
30. 学校 【がっ・こう】 – school

The 「の」 particle has many uses and it is a very powerful particle. It is introduced here because like the 「と」 and 「や」 particle, it can be used to connect one or more nouns. Let’s look at a few examples.

1. ボブの本。
   Book of Bob.
2. 本のボブ。
   Bob of book.

The first sentence essentially means, “Bob’s book.” (not a lost bible chapter). The second sentence means, “Book’s Bob” which is probably a mistake. I’ve translated the first example as “book of Bob” because the 「の」 particle doesn’t always imply possession as the next example shows.

1. ボブは、アメリカの大学の学生だ。
   Bob is student of college of America.

In normal English, this would translate to, “Bob is a student of an American college.” The order of modification is backwards so Bob is a student of a college that is American. 「学生の大学のアメリカ」 means “America of college of student” which is probably an error and makes little sense. (America of student’s college?)

The noun that is being modified can be omitted if the context clearly indicates what is being omitted. The following highlighted redundant words can be omitted.

1. そのシャツは誰のシャツ？
   Whose shirt is that shirt?
2. ボブのシャツだ。
   It is shirt of Bob.

to become:

1. そのシャツは誰の？
   Whose shirt is that?
2. ボブのだ。
   It is of Bob.

（「その」 is an abbreviation of 「それ+の」 so it directly modifies the noun because the 「の」 particle is intrinsically attached. Other words include 「この」 from 「これの」 and 「あの」 from 「あれの」.）

The 「の」 particle in this usage essentially replaces the noun and takes over the role as a noun itself. We can essentially treat adjectives and verbs just like nouns by adding the 「の」 particle to it. The particle then becomes a generic noun, which we can treat just like a regular noun.

1. 白いのは、かわいい。
   Thing that is white is cute.
2. 授業に行くのを忘れた。
   Forgot the event of going to class.

Now we can use the direct object, topic, and identifier particle with verbs and adjectives. We don’t necessarily have to use the 「の」 particle here. We can use the noun 「物」, which is a generic object or 「こと」 for a generic event. For example, we can also say:

1. 白い物は、かわいい。
   Thing that is white is cute.
2. 授業に行くことを忘れた。
   Forgot the thing of going to class.

However, the 「の」 particle is very useful in that you don’t have to specify a particular noun. In the next examples, the 「の」 particle is not replacing any particular noun, it just allows us to modify verb and adjective clauses like noun clauses. The relative clauses are highlighted.

1. 毎日勉強するのは大変。
   The thing of studying every day is tough.
2. 毎日同じ物を食べるのは、面白くない。
   It’s not interesting to eat same thing every day.

Even when substituting 「の」 for a noun, you still need the 「な」 to modify the noun when a na-adjective is being used.

• 静かな部屋が、アリスの部屋だ。
  Quiet room is room of Alice.

becomes:

• 静かなのが、アリスの部屋だ。
  Quiet one is room of Alice.

*Warning: This may make things seem like you can replace any arbitrary nouns with 「の」 but this is not so. It is important to realize that the sentence must be about the clause and not the noun that was replaced. For example, in the last section we had the sentence, 「学生じゃない人は、 学校に行かない」. You may think that you can just replace 「人」 with 「の」 to produce 「学生じゃないのは、学校に行かない」. But in fact, this makes no sense because the sentence is now about the clause “Is not student”. The sentence becomes, “The thing of not being student does not go to school” which is complete gibberish because not being a student is a state and it doesn’t make sense for a state to go anywhere much less school.

The 「の」 particle as explanation

Vocabulary

1. 今 【いま】 – now
2. 忙しい 【いそが・しい】 (i-adj) – busy
3. 学生 【がく・せい】 – student
4. 飲む 【のむ】 – to drink
5. どこ – where
6. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
7. 授業 【じゅ・ぎょう】 – class
8. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
9. ううん – casual word for “no” (nah, uh-uh)
10. その – that （abbr. of それの）
11. 人 【ひと】 – person
12. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
13. 先生 【せん・せい】 – teacher
14. 朝ご飯 【あさ・ご・はん】 – breakfast
15. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
16. どうして – why

The 「の」 particle attached at the end of the last clause of a sentence can also convey an explanatory tone to your sentence. For example, if someone asked you if you have time, you might respond, “The thing is I’m kind of busy right now.” The abstract generic noun of “the thing is…” can also be expressed with the 「の」 particle. This type of sentence has an embedded meaning that explains the reason(s) for something else.

The sentence would be expressed like so:

• 今は忙しいの。
  The thing is that (I’m) busy now.

This sounds very soft and feminine. In fact, adult males will almost always add a declarative 「だ」 unless they want to sound cute for some reason.

• 今は忙しいのだ。
  The thing is that (I’m) busy now.

However, since the declarative 「だ」 cannot be used in a question, the same 「の」 in questions do not carry a feminine tone at all and is used by both males and females.

• 今は忙しいの？
  Is it that (you) are busy now? (gender-neutral)

To express state-of-being, when the 「の」 particle is used to convey this explanatory tone, we need to add 「な」 to distinguish it from the 「の」 particle that simply means “of”.

1. ジムのだ。
   It is of Jim. (It is Jim’s.)
2. ジムなのだ。
   It is Jim (with explanatory tone).

Besides this one case, everything else remains the same as before.

In actuality, while this type of explanatory tone is used all the time, 「のだ」 is usually substituted by 「んだ」. This is probably due to the fact that 「んだ」 is easier to say than 「のだ」. This grammar can have what seems like many different meanings because not only can it be used with all forms of adjectives, nouns, and verbs it itself can also be conjugated just like the state-of-being. A conjugation chart will show you what this means.

There’s really nothing new here. The first chart is just adding 「んだ」 (or 「なんだ」) to a conjugated verb, noun, or adjective. The second chart adds 「んだ」 (or 「なんだ」) to a non-conjugated verb, noun, adjective and then conjugates the 「だ」 part of 「んだ」 just like a regular state-of-being for nouns and na-adjectives. Just don’t forget to attach the 「な」 for nouns as well as na-adjectives.

I would say that the past and past-negative forms for noun/na-adjective in the second chart are almost never used (especially with 「の」) but they are presented for completeness.

The crucial difference between using the explanatory 「の」 and not using anything at all is that you are telling the listener, “Look, here’s the reason” as opposed to simply imparting new information. For example, if someone asked you, “Are you busy now?” you can simply answer, 「今は忙しい」. However, if someone asked you, “How come you can’t talk to me?” since you obviously have some explaining to do, you would answer, 「今は忙しいの」 or 「今は忙しいんだ」. This grammar is indispensable for seeking explanations in questions. For instance, if you want to ask, “Hey, isn’t it late?” you can’t just ask, 「遅くない？」 because that means, “It’s not late?” You need to indicate that you are seeking explanation in the form of 「遅いんじゃない？」.

Let’s see some examples of the types of situations where this grammar is used. The examples will have literal translation to make it easier to see how the meaning stays the same and carries over into what would be very different types of sentences in normal English. A more natural English translation is provided as well because the literal translations can get a bit convoluted.

Example 1

アリス：どこに行くの？
Alice: Where is it that (you) are going?

ボブ：授業に行くんだ。
Bob: It is that (I) go to class.

Alice: Where are you going? (Seeking explanation)
Bob: I’m going to class. (Explanatory)

Example 2

アリス：今、授業があるんじゃない？
Alice: Isn’t it that there is class now?

ボブ：今は、ないんだ。
Bob: Now it is that there is no class.

Alice: Don’t you have class now? (Expecting that there is class)
Bob: No, there is no class now. (Explanatory)

Example 3

アリス：今、授業がないんじゃない？
Alice: Isn’t it that there isn’t class now?

ボブ：ううん、ある。
Bob: No, there is.

Alice: Don’t you not have class now? (Expecting that there is no class)
Bob: No, I do have class.

Example 4

アリス：その人が買うんじゃなかったの？
Alice: Wasn’t it that that person was the one to buy?

ボブ：ううん、先生が買うんだ。
Bob: No, it is that teacher is the one to buy.

Alice: Wasn’t that person going to buy? (Expecting that the person would buy)
Bob: No, the teacher is going to. (Explanatory)

Example 5

アリス：朝ご飯を食べるんじゃなかった。
Alice: It is that breakfast wasn’t to eat.

ボブ：どうして？
Bob: Why?

Alice: Should not have eaten breakfast, you know. (Explaining that breakfast wasn’t to be eaten)
Bob: How come?

Don’t worry if you are thoroughly confused by now, we will see many more examples along the way. Once you get the sense of how everything works, it’s better to forget the English because the double and triple negatives can get quite confusing such as Example 3. However, in Japanese it is a perfectly normal expression, as you will begin to realize once you get accustomed to Japanese.

Properties of Adverbs

Vocabulary

1. 早い 【はや・い】 (i-adj) – fast; early
2. きれい (na-adj) – pretty; clean
3. 朝ご飯 【あさ・ご・はん】 – breakfast
4. 食べる 【た・べる】(ru-verb) – to eat
5. 自分 【じ・ぶん】 – oneself
6. 部屋 【へ・や】 – room
7. 映画 【えい・が】 – movie
8. たくさん – a lot (amount)
9. 見る 【み・る】 – to see; to watch
10. 最近 【さい・きん】 – recent; lately
11. 全然 【ぜん・ぜん】 – not at all (when used with negative)
12. 声 【こえ】 – voice
13. 結構 【けっ・こう】 – fairly, reasonably
14. 大きい 【おお・きい】(i-adj) – big
15. この – this （abbr. of これの）
16. 町 【まち】 – town
17. 変わる 【か・わる】(u-verb) – to change
18. 図書館 【と・しょ・かん】 – library
19. 中 【なか】 – inside
20. 静か 【しず・か】(na-adj) – quiet

Unlike English, changing adjectives to adverbs is a very simple and straightforward process. In addition, since the system of particles make sentence ordering flexible, adverbs can be placed anywhere in the clause that it applies to as long as it comes before the verb that it refers to. As usual, we have two separate rules: one for i-adjectives, and one for na-adjectives.

• ボブは朝ご飯を早く食べた。
  Bob quickly ate breakfast.

The adverb 「早く」 is a little different from the English word ‘fast’ in that it can mean quickly in terms of speed or time. In other words, Bob may have eaten his breakfast early or he may have eaten it quickly depending on the context. In other types of sentences such as 「早く走った」, it is quite obvious that it probably means quickly and not early. (Of course this also depends on the context.)

• アリスは自分の部屋をきれいにした。
  Alice did her own room toward clean.

The literal translation kind of gives you a sense of why the target particle is used. There is some argument against calling this an adverb at all but it is convenient for us to do so because of the grouping of i-adjectives and na-adjectives. Thinking of it as an adverb, we can interpret the sentence to mean: “Alice did her room cleanly.” or less literally: “Alice cleaned her room.” （「きれい」 literally means “pretty” but if it helps, you can think of it as, “Alice prettied up her own room.”）

Note: Not all adverbs are derived from adjectives. Some words like 「全然」 and 「たくさん」 are adverbs in themselves without any conjugation. These words can be used without particles just like regular adverbs.

1. 映画をたくさん見た。
   Saw a lot of movies.
2. 最近、全然食べない。
   Lately, don’t eat at all.

Examples

Here are some more examples of using adverbs.

1. ボブの声は、結構大きい。
   Bob’s voice is fairly large.
2. この町は、最近大きく変わった。
   This town had changed greatly lately.
3. 図書館の中では、静かにする。
   Within the library, [we] do things quietly.

Sentence-ending particles

Vocabulary

1. いい (i-adj) – good
2. 天気 【てん・き】 – weather
3. そう – (things are) that way
4. 面白い 【おも・しろ・い】(i-adj) – interesting
5. 映画 【えい・が】 – movie
6. 全然 【ぜん・ぜん】 – not at all (when used with negative)
7. 時間 【じ・かん】 – time
8. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
9. 大丈夫 【だい・じょう・ぶ】 (na-adj) – ok
10. 今日 【きょう】 – today
11. うん – yes (casual)
12. でも – but
13. 明日 【あした】 – tomorrow
14. 雨 【あめ】 – rain
15. 降る 【ふ・る】(u-verb) – to precipitate
16. 魚 【さかな】 – fish
17. 好き 【す・き】 (na-adj) – likable

Sentence-ending particles are particles that always come at the end of sentences to change the “tone” or “feel” of a sentence. In this section, we will cover the two most commonly used sentence-ending particles.

「ね」 sentence ending

People usually add 「ね」 to the end of their sentence when they are looking for (and expecting) agreement to what they are saying. This is equivalent to saying, “right?” or “isn’t it?” in English.

Example 1

ボブ：いい天気だね。
Bob: Good weather, huh?

アリス：そうね。
Alice: That is so, isn’t it?

The literal translation of 「そうね」 sounds a bit odd but it basically means something like, “Sure is”. Males would probably say, 「そうだね」.

Example 2

アリス：おもしろい映画だったね。
Alice: That was interesting movie, wasn’t it?

ボブ：え？全然おもしろくなかった。
Bob: Huh? No, it wasn’t interesting at all.

Since Alice is expecting agreement that the movie was interesting Bob is surprised because he didn’t find the movie interesting at all. (「え」 is a
sound of surprise and confusion.)

「よ」 sentence ending

When 「よ」 is attached to the end of a sentence, it means that the speaker is informing the listener of something new. In English, we might say this with a, “You know…” such as the sentence, “You know, I’m actually a genius.”

Example 1

アリス：時間がないよ。
Alice: You know, there is no time.

ボブ：大丈夫だよ。
Bob: It’s ok, you know.

Example 2

アリス：今日はいい天気だね。
Alice: Good weather today, huh?

ボブ：うん。でも、明日雨が降るよ。
Bob: Yeah. But it will rain tomorrow, you know.

Combining both to get 「よね」

You can also combine the two particles we just learned to create 「よね」. This is essentially used when you want to inform the listener of some new point you’re trying to make and when you’re seeking agreement on it at the same time. When combining the two, the order must always be 「よね」. You cannot reverse the order.

Example

アリス：ボブは、魚が好きなんだよね。
Alice: You know, you like fish, dontcha?

ボブ：そうだね。
Bob: That is so, huh?