What do we need to pay attention to when learning Japanese?
Particle
A particle determines the role of a word in a sentence.
Unlike English where a preposition is placed before a noun, a particle is placed after a word.
日本へ
Nihon e
To Japan
And although some word roles in a sentence are determined by word order in English, such as a noun being the direct object after a verb, these roles are also determined by particles in Japanese.
リンゴを食べる。
Ringo wo taberu
eat an apple
Conjugation
In Japanese, verbs, auxiliaries and adjectives conjugate.
VERB：
買う
Kau
To buy
買わない
Kawanai
Not to buy
AUXILIARY ：
買います
Kaimasu
To buy (polite way of saying)
買いません
Kaimasen
Not to buy (polite way of saying)
ADJECTIVE ：
安い
Yasui
Cheap
安くない
Yasuku nai
Not cheap
Word order
We pay attention to word order, especially when several particles and auxiliaries are used.
PARTICLE
OK :
日本への手紙
Nihon e no tegami
A letter to Japan
Not OK :
日本のへ手紙
Nihon no e tegami
AUXILIARY
OK :
リンゴを食べられました
Ringo wo tabe rare mashi ta
Not OK :
リンゴを食べましたられ
Ringo wo tabe mashi ta rare
Omission
In Japanese, we don’t have to say what we understand.
(I eat an apple.)
私はリンゴを食べる。
Watashi wa ringo wo taberu
リンゴを食べる。
Ringo wo taberu
リンゴ、食べる。
Ringo taberu
etc…
Respect form
There are 3 forms of respect.
For example, let’s take
りんごを食べる。
(Ringo wo taberu : eat an apple)
as an example.
1 – Respect for listeners (or readers)
リンゴを食べます。
Ringo wo tabe masu
2 – Respect for the actions of a superior
リンゴをお食べになる。
Ringo wo o tabe ni naru
3 – Humility
リンゴをいただきます。
Ringo wo itadakimasu
*We will learn Japanese with respect for the listeners (readers) for the next lessons.
Inversion
This is often done out of necessity.
For example, the following two sentences mean the same thing (“I’ll be king of the pirates!”), but the nuance is slightly different.
俺は海賊王になる！
Ore wa kaizoku ou ni naru
海賊王に俺はなる！
Kaizoku ou ni ore wa naru
Counterword
A counter word is a word used to count the amount of something. For example, in English we say A CUP OF coffee. But we can also simply combine the number and the object, like two apples, which is not possible in Japanese.
OK :
２個のリンゴ
Ni ko no ringo
Not OK :
２リンゴ
Ni ringo
Some counterwords can be used for many objects, but there are many to remember .
Easy tips to study Japanese :
- Japanese basics (N5-N3) : Nouns in Japanese
- Japanese basics (N5-N3) : Verbs in Japanese
- Japanese basics (N5-N3) : Adjectives in Japanese
- Japanese basics (N5-N3) : Punctuation in Japanese
- Japanese basics (N5-N3) : Word Order
- Japanese basics (N5-N3) : Politeness
- Japanese basics (N5-N3) – How to address someone by name
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