Japanese language guide

This page is intended to give the reader a feel for how the Japanese language is used. This entry is written using romaji for the benefit of English readers. A limited Japanese vocabulary is assumed.

Table of contents

1 Japanese Basics

1.1 Examples

2 Parts of Speech
3 Basic Grammar
4 Introductory Conversation
5 Example of Basic Japanese Sentence structure
6 See also

Japanese Basics

The most basic sentence in Japanese consists of a topic (not necessarily the subject), the topic marker wa, and a predicate. The predicate can be in the form of a noun or adjective combined with a copula, or a verb.

Examples

Watashi wa utsukushii desu.
I am beautful.  (Literally, "As for me, I am beautful").
Okaasan wa mise ni ikimashita.
Mom went to the store.  ("As for mother, she went to the store")

Natsu wa kimashita.
Summer has come.

Parts of Speech

Roughly speaking, Japanese has the following parts of speech. Some examples are given.

Nouns
- toukyou (Tokyo), ringo (apple), hito (person)
Adjectives
- -i Adjectives. These adjectives always end in a hiragana -i.
  - utsukushii (beautiful), ii (good), sugoi (amazing), ureshii (happy)
- -na Adjectives. These adjectives have a variety of endings and use -na as a connector.
  - kirei-na (pretty), kantan-na (simple), shiawase-na (happy)
Adverbs. Adverbs are almost always formed from adjectives.
- sugoku (extremely, amazingly), tanoshiku (enjoyably), ureshiku (happily)
Verbs
- iku (to go), kuru (to come), iru (existence of animate object, "there is/are"), aru (existence of inanimate object, "there is/are")
Particles (postpositions)
- wa (topic marker), ga (subject marker), wo (o) (direct object), no (possession), ni (indirect object, "to", etc.), kara ("from"), made ("until")
Pronouns
- Pronouns are rather different in their quantity and usage versus many western languages. For example, there are many different ways to express "I" in Japanese: "wareware", "watashi", "boku", "ore" are just four examples (the differences are in politeness and nuance).
- Natural-sounding Japanese tends to avoid the use of pronouns except when explicitly needed. This is often a point of confusion for beginners.
- Examples: watashi (I), watashitachi (we), anata (you), kare (him), kanojo (her), karera (they)
Interjections
- waa (wow), are (Huh? Eh?)

Basic Grammar

The Japanese language is often confusing for westerners first learning it, since word order and syntax are often backwards. However, the following basic grammatical rules are almost always obeyed.

A noun modifier such as an adjective, or modifying clause always comes before the noun it modifies. Examples are below.
- utsukushii hito (beautiful person)
- kitanai heya (dirty room)
- taisetsuna mondai (important problem)
- watashi no yonda hon (The book I read)
Adverbs come before the verbs or adjectives they modify.
- tanoshiku shimashou (Let's do it enjoyably)
- sugoku utsukushii (Extremely pretty)
Postpositions (particles, or joshi) always come after the word they modify.
- watashi wa kita (I came)
- okaasan ni ageta (I gave it to mom)
More to come...

Introductory Conversation

A typical (yet contrived) exchange between two people would look like this: Mr. Hayashi introduces Mr. Tanaka to Mr. Sanger.

Yamada: Tanaka-san, kochira wa, Sangaa san desu. Sangaa: Hajimemashite, Senga desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. Tanaka: Hajimemashite. Eebiishii no Tanaka desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. Yamada: Sangaa san wa Nupiidia no shain desu.

Yamada: Mr. Tanaka, this is Mr. Sanger. Sanger: How do you do. My name is Sanger. I'm very glad to meet you. Tanaka: How do you do. I am Mr. Tanaka from ABC Company. I'm very glad to meet you. Yamada: Mr. Sanger is an employee of Nupedia.

Example of Basic Japanese Sentence structure

Note the importance of the particles, verb tenses, and adjectives.

Mr. Sanger and Mr. Wales eat at a Japanese restaurant.

Sangaa: Sumimasen, menyuu o misete kudasai. Please show us the menu. Ueitoresu: Hai, doozo. Certainly sir. Here you are. (cont'd): Nomimono wa nani ni nasaimasuka. What would you like to drink? Weruzu: Biiru onegaishimasu. I'd like a beer, please. Sangaa: Sukiyaki ni shimasu. I'll have the "sukiyaki." Weruzu: Biiru o ni-hon to sukiyaki kudasai. Two bottles of beer and some
sukiyaki, please. Sangaa: Dezaato wa meron ga ii desu. For dessert we'll have melon. Ueitoresu: Hai, kashikomarimashita. I see (understood).

Notes

Vocabulary: ueitoresu - waitress sumimasen - excuse me menyuu - menu hai - yes nomimono - beverage nani - what hoshii - want ii - good biiru - beer ni - two hon - to count bottles (or any long object) dezaato - dessert meron - melon

onegaishimasu - please X kudasai - please give me X

Particles: wa - indicates the topic. ga - indicates the topic with de-emphasis on the topic o - indicates the direct object ka - indicates a question to - and

Verbs: misemasu - show desu - to be (copulative) wakarimasu - to understand.