Japanese/Grammar/Nouns
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Since Japanese nouns (名詞; めいし) don't inflect they are fairly simple to master. They do, however, take particles to indicate their place in sentences.
Some commonly used particles for nouns are: "は"[1], "が" and "を"[2].
[edit] Plurals
The Japanese language lacks plurals in the normal English sense. Plural words are usually either preceded with a number and a counter, or simply made understood through context.
A few nouns can also suffix a pluralizing word, such as "たち" or "ら" (e.g. ほしたち meaning stars). When referring to a person, "たち" indicates company. For example, めぐみたち can mean "Megumi and friends".
Yet others indicate plurality by repetition (e.g., ひと means person and ひとびと means persons.) Written in kanji, the repetition mark, 々, is used (e.g., 人, 人々).
[edit] Noun-phrase particles
Japanese word structure, unlike Western languages which allow declensions depending on gender, tense, and many other aspects, maintains constant word forms, which are inflected by particles.
Note: Particles always follow the nouns that they mark.
[edit] は (thematic nominative, or topic marker)
は marks a sentence topic. The topic indicates what the sentence is about. When used in this situation, は is pronounced as wa. To understand the meaning of 〜は, you can translate it as "as for 〜":
- わたし は がくせい だ - I am a student (As for me, (I) am a student)
- これ は ほん だ - This is a book (As for this object, (it) is a book)
[edit] が (rematic nominative, or subject marker)
が marks the verb subject (for passive verbs) or actor (for active verbs).
- ねこ が たべて います - The cat is eating.
- わたし は ねこ が いる - I have a cat. (As for me, there is a cat.)
The difference between は and が is a matter of focus: は gives focus to the action of the sentence (i.e., the verb or adjective, whereas が gives focus to the subject of the action.)
Very often the grammatical subject may also be the topic. In this case, は normally replaces が.
- きみ は つよい - You are strong.
- あれ は でんわ だ - That's the telephone.
If が is used instead, then the emphasis of the sentence changes.
- きみ が つよい - You are strong (only you and not anyone else)
- あれ が でんわ だ - That's the telephone (and not anything else)
However, if the subject is never known, you can not use は and must use が. This is similar to using pronouns. You can't state, "It is over there", without first stating what "it" may be.
- ねこ が います - There's a cat.
[edit] を (accusative)
を marks the verb direct object. As a particle, this is always pronounced as o.
- おさけ を のむ - to drink sake.
- ざっし を よむ - to read a magazine.
It also indicates the place through which the action occurs:
- そら を とぶ - to fly through the sky
- みち を あるく - to walk down the street
[edit] の (possessive)
indicates things that belong to someone (like the 's in English). The most general definition of what の really does is that it converts nouns to adjectives.
- かれ の とけい - his watch
It also connects two nouns, indicating that the preceding noun modifies the following noun.
- みどり の ほん - a green book
and works as substantiator (ie., it can make nouns from the verbs):
- よむ の が いい - reading is good
Note that in this example two particles are used together: の and が: the first makes the action a noun, and the second tells that this action is what the sentence is all about.
[edit] で (instrumental)
indicates the location where an action or event takes place:
- がっこう で ならう - to learn at school
Also indicates method of action:
- くるま で いく - to go by car
Note that the で from the copula である is also actually an instrumental-maker. で marks the whole previous expression instrumental to the verb ある. However, this is the classical meaning of the copula and rarely explicitly treated this way in modern Japanese.
[edit] に (dative)
に marks the verb's indirect object, and marks the destination of a targeted verb action. に is multifunctional, it also indicates the location touched or affected by an event or action:
- うち に いる - to be at home
the time of event or acton:
- どようび に あう - to meet on Saturday
or the person or thing which the action is directed to:
- せんせい に いう - to tell (something) to the teacher
[edit] へ (destination)
indicates the direction of action. Note that when used as a particle, "へ" is read as "え".
- がっこう へ いく - to go to school
[edit] から (origin)
used to indicate starting point of action, it may be place or time (like English from):
- とうきょう から くる - to come from Tokyo
This particle can also be used with time.
[edit] まで (limit)
a "border" particle, indicates the border of action or event (like English until):
- やま まで いく - to go to the mountains
This particle can also be used with time.
[edit] と (connective, exhaustive list)
connective particle, used for linking two or more nouns (exhaustive list, i.e., all objects are explicitly mentioned):
- ほん と ざっし - a book and a magazine
Also used to indicate parallelism with the subject, often meaning "with":
- わたし は あなた と けっこん する - I will marry you. (I will get married with you)
[edit] や (connective, non-exhaustive list)
usage is the same as と, but implies that there are other (usually similar) nouns left unspecified:
- ほん や ざっし - among other things, a book and a magazine.
[edit] も (similarity)
"also" or "too" particle. Replaces は, が, or を.
- わたし も いく - I'm going too.
[edit] も (negation)
When added to an interrogative pro-form (e.g. "どれ", "どこ"), this particle negates it:
- だれも - nobody
- どこも - nowhere
[edit] より (contrastive)
- comparing or contrast particle. used for comparing two things (nouns) and has a meaning "rather than" (better than, more than, worse than etc.):
- おさけ は おちゃ より わるい - Sake is worse than tea.
Also can make contrast of characteristics of time and things:
- きのう より さむい - It's colder than yesterday.
