Particles and sentence structure

[Nyx408]

Well there are a few classes up now but I thought I might put this here just to go over some of the details that might of been missed. I thought it might be easier to have it in one thread, (forgive me other teacher peoples if I go over your work slightly as well but I really felt this thread was necessary, I'll do my best not to). I'll go over a few particlaes as well.

ok well first I'll start off with basic sentence structure but in more detail than I think has been said before (I'm not sure so shitsurei if it has)

Here is a list of the components of a sentence:

THE SUBJECT: The person/object/animal the sentence is talking about or revolves around. example: I, you, he, she, yamaguchi san, my dog, the pencil case.

PARTICLE: The subject is almost always followed by the particle 'wa' (which is actually 'ha' in hiragana so it is easy to spot) wa means is.

NOUN: Well hopefully we all know what this is...if not learn what it is...japanese taught me a hell of alot about english grammar lol but I don't know how to explain it in english.....so here are some examples: box, pencil case, desk, dog, tv.

The noun in a sentence can also be the subject. But often it won't be. There is no specific particle for a noun as they can be used in many different ways. I'll explain some of those soon.

PLACE: example: school, Australia, Japan, my house, the park, the pool. this one is pretty obvious as well.

PARTICLE: There are a couple of particles to use with places. You can use 'wa' to make the place the subject of the sentence, you can use 'de' which means at. There are other particles but once more they will wait.

ADJECTIVE: Describing word. example: blue, new, old, noisy, cute, scary etc. adjectives don't really have particles....I can't really think of a case where you'd have to use a particle.

TIME: If you want to include a time in your sentence it's normally at the beginning before the subject.

PARTICLE: 'ni' means at. 'ni' is only used when you are talking about specific times. example 11:00, saturday, monday. Words such as tomorrow, today, yesterday, next week, next year do not use particles.

VERB: The doing word xd now this is really easy (at least if we're going to be polite) CJ has explained masu form verbs in one of his threads (maybe it'd be a good idea to go read it up before I explain) but I'll show you how to fit them into sentences with all the right particles. example: To go, to eat, to drink, to sleep, to have.

Now this is EASY...the verb ALWAYS comes at the end of the sentence. No ifs or buts even when sentences get complicated the verb stays at the end of the sentence.

PARTICLES:

For most verbs the particle to use is always 'wo' (pronounced o...not wo) and comes BEFORE the verb.

Examples:
koora o nomimasu. coo-ra oh nomemas
bideo geemu o kaimasu. bide-oh geh-moo oh kaimas
ringo o tabemasu. rin-go (think of the Ringo Star from the beatles) oh tabe-mas

There are exceptions though. for verbs such as to go, to come, to ride (basically verbs that involve actually going somewhere, bringing, taking, coming, going etc) The particle to use is 'ni'

Example:
gakkou ni ikimasu. ga-koo ni e-key-mas

Another exception is used for arimasu and imasu (to have, to be, to exist)
the particle to use for these verbs is 'ga'

Example:
otouto ga imasu. oo-toe-toe ga imas

Note: imasu is used for living things, arimasu is used for inanimate objects.

POSESSION PARTICLE: To say something that belongs to you or someone else the particle 'no' is used. first you say I, you, or the name of the person then add 'no' then add what ever it is that belongs to that person.

examples:
watashi no uchi watashe no u-chi
anata no inu a-na-ta no e-new
sanae san no paatii sanae san no paa-tee

WITH/AND: if you want to say you are going to do something with someone else you say 'to' after their name. 'to' can also mean and.

examples:
rie san to eiga o mimasu. rie san toe eh-ga oh me-mas
kazoku wa chichi to haha to imouto to watashi desu. ka-zo-ku wa chi-chi toe ha-ha toe e-mo-toe toe watashe des


sentence structure.

The time (if there is one) | the subject | wa | noun/place/adjective/all three | wo, ni, de, ga | verb or desu.

Examples:

watashi wa baka desu. (I=subject, baka=noun) watashe wa ba-ka des
narumi san no inu wa kawaii desu. (subject= Narumi's dog, cute= adjective) narumi san no e-new wa ka-wa-ee des.
ashita eki de aimashoo. (ashita=time, eki=place, aimashoo=verb) a-she-ta e-key de i-mashoo
note: lol earlier I said wo is always used before a verb...I lied if I had've used wo in this sentence it would say 'let's meet the station'
nichiyoubi ni tomodachi to machi de eiga o mimasu. (nichiyoubi=time, tomodachi to= who you're doing it with, machi=place, eiga=noun, mimasu=verb.)ni-chi-yobi knee toe-mo-dachi toe machi de eh-ga oh memas

Note: if you do not say boku (I, boy) or watashi (I, girl) in a sentence the speaker is automatically the subject of the sentence unless stated otherwise.
example:
watashi wa hon o yomimasu. wata-she wa hon oh yo-me-mas
hon o yomimasu. hon oh yo-me-mas


Well did I just push too much on you all at once? xd the main thing is remembering the particles you really have to remember which ones to use and where other than that just remember that verbs come at the end of the sentence and it TECHNICALLY doesn't matter where you shove everything else as long as you have the right particles....although it might sound a little strange it'll still mean the same thing if you mix up where you put all of the places, times, and nouns.

everything in green are the pronouncations using English words or sounds that fit.
~Vincent Valentine-jenova  

[Nyx408]

Next lesson asking and answering questions (in detail)


If you have any questions about my last post please ask me as I've probably confused half the members and not just yourself. xd sweatdrop xd

Vincent: You may also ask any of the Mods in this guild. They are the ones who have told me that they can speak/write decent Japanese.  

[origamiboxers]

It doesn't matter to me if you go over my work. It would be easier for the students if it was all compiled in one place anyway, so I think that you should teach what they need to know without it being everywhere. 3nodding I don't know much Japanese anyway, so Im here to learn too! xp  

[Nyx408]

Asking and answering questions:

Please make sure you know how to structure sentences and you know what particles to use (from the last lesson) before reading this. If you want a test on sentence structure and particles ask me and I'll write a short one up for you.

Asking questions:

Before I tell you how to ask questions you'll need to know some question words. I'm not sure if anyone has gone over these before so I'll put them here anyway.

Who ~ dare

When ~ itsu

What ~ nani

Why ~ doushite, naze

How ~ dou

How much does it cost ~ ikura

I'm sort of hazy on how to use the word for how so if anyone can give some example sentences please do! sweatdrop .

Desuka: By adding the particle 'ka' to the end of almost any sentence you are turning it into a question. When writing a question in japanese you don't put a question mark if you use ka. Also whenever you use desuka it is polite so use it whenever you're speaking to strangers, teachers, your boss, and just people you should show respect for.

Examples:

dare desuka. ~ Who is it? (this is the polite way of saying it)
dare? ~ Who? (informal)
itsu desuka. ~ When is it?
itsuka ~ When?
nani? ~ What?
nan desuka. ~ What is it? (note that when the word nani is used with desu it becomes nan)
doushite? ~ Why? (doushite and naze are usually just said on thier own)
naze? ~ Why?
dou deshitaka ~ How was it?
ikura desuka ~ How much is it?
ikura? ~ How much is it?

Particles in questions: Question words need particles as well so please make sure you've read the first post so you know what I'm ranting on about.

Examples:

dare to ikimashitaka. ~ Who did you go with?
dare no inu desuka. ~ Who's dog is this?
tanjyoubi wa itsu desuka. ~ When is your birthday?
nani wo shimasuka. ~ What are you going to do?
nan de ikimasuka. ~ How are you going? (by what means are you going? ex. by car, by train, on foot. Also once more note that nani turns into nan when used with the particle 'de')
purezento wa nan desuka. ~ What is the present?
paati wa dou deshitaka. ~ How was the party?
sushi wa ikura desuka. ~ How much is the sushi?

Answering questions:

To answer a question all you have to do is replace the question word with the answer. Here are some answers to the questions I used above:

dare to ikimashitaka.
kazoku to ikimashita.

dare no inu desuka.
bobu kun no inu desu.

tanjyoubi wa itsu desuka.
tanjyoubi wa nijyuukyuu nichi juuni gatsu desu.

nani wo shimasuka.
yotto wo shimashita.

nan de ikimasuka.
kuruma de ikimasu.

purezento wa nan desuka.
bakudan desu.

paati wa dou deshitaka.
tanoshikatta desu.

sushi wa ikura desuka.
nihyaku en desu. <200 yen>

You don't always have to re-say the whole question as long as you have the answer with the right particle and verb, or in some cases just the answer followed by desu or deshita.

That's basically it. It's easy! but if you don't understand what I mean feel free to ask me or any mod in the guild. If you want a work sheet on it just ask me.  

[nyanchan]

[deleted]  

[Nyx408]

Thankies!  

[Vincent Valentine-Jenova]

the difference between wa and ga.

Basicly when you use wa, its stating that on the subject of ___.

so
Watashiwa vincent desu.
(on the subject of me, I am vincent)

but this is just what I have understood from my teacher, so I am not possitive that it is correct.  

[Yilei]

nyanchan

Also, I think douyatte (how/how do you do something?):

Douyatte gakkou ni ikimasu ka - How do you go to school?

And I think that ikaga is the polite form of dou, but I'm not sure if you wanted polite forms up there. ^^;

That's nice of you to write about that, but I think ikaga might not be exactly used in the same way. It sounds a little strange. I'll let you know when I find it in my book and all, but that doesn't sound exactly right right now to just replace it like that.

Also, it be part of keigo (honorifics) or kenshougo (humble) forms, which are useful and helpful for when you want to find a job and all, but most of the time they aren't used all that much. It's also a bit confusing than simple masu-form. Masu-form is polite enough for general use and all, but it's just if you want to be more polite you start using keigo or kenshougo vocabulary, and even then most Japanese, as I've learned from a transfer student who sat in on our class when we were learning this, don't even remember most of the rules for keigo and kenshougo, so if they have to find a job or something, they have to go look it over and study it themselves. Because of this, it might be more beneficial to keep the lesson on more polite forms like keigo and kenshougo seperate and placed elsewhere, so that people trying to learn don't get confused.

@Vincent: Ga is also sometimes used as a subject marker in a kind of exclamation I learned from my teacher. Like say if you were in a class and the teacher made a mistake and called someone else Vincent instead. You could say "Watashi ga Vincent desu!" or "I am the one that's Vincent!" That's pretty much the exact example my teacher gave me, but it's not something you would use so often. O_o Also, generally you would only have one "wa" in a sentence as a subject marker, so for more complicated compound sentences you would use "wa" for the main subject and "ga" to replace "wa" in all the others. This doesn't hold true all the time as I've found out after going to college, and I'm still trying to figure out when to use it and when not to, but that's one of the things that happens as well.  

[nyanchan]

I've learned the same thing about keigo too. I'm a freak and I happen to find it interesting. sweatdrop

And as I said before, I wasn't sure if the author of the post wanted that kind of information up there or not. If the author didn't want it, I'd delete it. I'll go do that now, anyway.  

[Yilei]

nyanchan

I've learned the same thing about keigo too. I'm a freak and I happen to find it interesting. sweatdrop

And as I said before, I wasn't sure if the author of the post wanted that kind of information up there or not. If the author didn't want it, I'd delete it. I'll go do that now, anyway.

Totally. I find it interesting myself, but it's also kind of confusing. O_o I have a hard time remembering the alternate verb forms and all. It makes me glad it isn't used much these days.  

[Nyx408]

I haven't learned any keigo or kenshougo and if not that many japanese people use it I think I'll avoind having to use it as well lol xd coping with plain, masu, te, volitional and what ever other forms I've learned so far is enough for me to handle for the moment thank you very much xp

Yeah the particle ga is used in more complicated sentences and I forgot to mention the reason it is used in exclamations etc is because if you replace wa with ga it puts emphasis on the subject...Italics will enlighten you all!:

(hi jacks Yilei's example sentence thing)
Watashi wa Vincent desu!
Watashi ga Vincent desu! <I'm Vincent>

I would put another example here but I can't remember how to say to pay....and my text book is too far away.....

Like...If you used ga in the sentence "I'll pay" It's emphasizing you strongly meaning the other person shouldn't even try to argue it's your treat and you won't let them type thing. I hope that explained it I'll go back and edit my first post when I can be bothered grabbing my book sweatdrop  

[Yilei]

harau = to pay  

[Nyx408]

Yilei

harau = to pay

Lol thanks sweatdrop
So it'd be:

watashi ga harao. <I'll pay.>  

[Tenzin Chodron]

Nyx408

Yeah the particle ga is used in more complicated sentences and I forgot to mention the reason it is used in exclamations etc is because if you replace wa with ga it puts emphasis on the subject...Italics will enlighten you all!:

It's also used when saying that you like something, or asking if someone else likes something. It is used with the word "suki" (which is a na adjective). For example:

I like sushi:
Watashi wa | sushi ga | suki desu.

Do you like icecream?
Aisu kuriimu ga | suki desu ka?
"Aisu kuriimu" is "ice cream" in Japanese

The ga particle is also used sometimes when saying that you "have" something. For example:

I have work
Watashi wa | shigoto ga | arimasu.
"Shigoto" is "work" in Japanese. You can also use "arubaito" if it's a part-time job

Compare and Contrasting using "ga" and "wa"

Let's look at the suki adjective again.
Watashi wa | sushi ga | suki desu (I like sushi)
Demo (but)| biiru wa | suki ja nai desu (But, I do not like beer)

In the second sentence, the particle is changed to "wa" from "ga" to show that you are contrasting between enjoying something, and not enjoying something. It doesn't work with the example of "work" (shigoto), though.  

[x_Eternal_Ice_x]

Wow...that was long, but it helped a lot!...and a question..nande means why, right?