Tuttle Publishing - Essential Japanese Phrasebook & Dictionary: Speak Japanese with Confidence!

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Basic grammar 1 Sentence construction The greatest difference between Japanese and English sentences is the position of the verb. In Japanese the verb always comes last, giving the basic structure as subjectobjectverb:

Sensei wa	michi o	oshiemashita
Teacher	way	showed (me)

2 Parts of speech Nouns Japanese nouns have no articles and no plural forms. Zasshi (magazine), for example, could mean a/the magazine, magazines, or the/some magazines. This might sound potentially confusing to English speakers who expect the clear distinctions that articles and plurals give. In actuality, though, very little confusion exists, because Japanese has ways of indicating number when it is necessary (see chapter ).

Pronouns Japanese uses pronouns far less than in English. They are in fact often omitted when in the subject position. In English we have to say who went in the sentence I went to Kyoto yesterday if it is clear you are talking about yourself, in Japanese you can merely say kinoo Kyoto e ikimashita (yesterday to-Kyoto went). The most frequently used pronouns in Japanese are watasi (I) and anata (you); he, she and they are far more uncommon. Adjectives Like in English, Japanese can use adjectives in two ways, before the noun they describe ( mushi-atswee hi , a humid day) or following it ( kyoo wa mushi-atswee desu , today is humid ). In grammatical terms, adjectives can in fact function as verbs, and have tenses like verbs (see below).

Verbs The verb is probably the most important element in the Japanese sentence, since it is quite possible for the sentence to consist of a verb and nothing else:

tabemashita

(I, we, he, she, they, you, etc.)

ate

Functions like tense, negation and level of politeness are shown by adding suffixes to the base form of the verb. Whereas in English tense and agreement are probably the most important things about a verb, in Japanese the verb is the main way gradations of social status are marked. In the modern language there are three basic levels of politeness: the plain, or informal; the polite, or formal; and the honorific. If you look up a verb in the word list you will find it written in the base, or plain, form: for example, taberu (to eat) or miru (to see). This is the form used in informal conversation, so, for example, you might say to a friend Ashita ee restoran ni iku (tomorrow I to a good restaurantam going). However, when you talk to people you have only just met or to someone senior to you, you must use the polite form, for example, Ashita ee restoran ni iki masu .

The -masu ending always indicates the polite level. The honorific level is used when someone wishes to show extreme politeness, either because of their own humble position (a shop assistant to a customer, for example) or because of the exalted nature of the person he or she is speaking with (like a company president). Honorific language is very complicated and even Japanese people find it difficult. In this phrasebook, the informal level has been used in close personal situations, the polite in general conversation, and the honorific only when showing how someone in a service situation might address you. In comparison to English the form of Japanese tenses is simple. The future tense has the same form as the present, so that tabemasu could mean I eat or I will eat.

The past is shown by adding the suffix ta : tabemashi ta (I ate), mimashi ta (I saw). The only other form used for tense is the continuative, made using the suffix te : tabe te imasu (I am eating); tabe te imashi ta (I was eating). English speakers may find the lack of a perfect tense (I have done) confusing, but Japanese employs other, non-verb forms, to express this. The negative is made by adding the suffix nai to the plain form of the verb, for example, tabe nai (I do not eat), or the suffix n to the polite masu ending, for example, tabemase n (I do not eat). 3 Particles Japanese is very different from English in that the relationships between the various parts of speech are shown by the use of particles. English uses word order to indicate meaning: the dog bit the man and the man bit the dog are different entirely because of the order in which the words come in a sentence.

In Japanese the meaning is not dependent on word order but on particles; the doer of the action (subject) is shown by the particle ga and receiver of the action (object) is shown by the particle o :

inu	ga	hito	o	kanda
the dog	(subject)	the man	(object)	bit
hito	ga	inu	o	kanda
the man	(subject)	the dog	(object)	bit

Japanese has another particle, wa , which often marks the subject as well. This has the function of pointing out a particular word and making it stand out from the rest of the sentence as the topic.

kono seki	wa	aite imasu	ka ?
this seat	(as for, subject)	free	(Q)?
koko ni	wa	nani ka	omoshiroi no ga	arimasu- ka ?
here	(as for, subject)	what	interesting	is (Q)?

The above examples also show the use of the question-making particle (Q) or ka . Another important particle is no , used principally to join nouns together, so functioning like the English possessive.

watasi	no	namae
my	(possessive particle)	name
igirusu	no	shimbun
English	(possessive particle)	newspaper

Other particles act like English prepositions: ni (at, in, on, to), e (to a place), de (at, with), kara (from), made (to, until), and yori (from). 4 Some useful grammatical forms The phrase book has shown you how to say things as you need them in different situations.

Let us bring together some useful forms that might help you to make new sentences, using words from the word list. Please do something A general imperative is the -te kuda-sai (-te kuda-sai) ending added to a verb:

taberu (eat)	tabe te kuda-sai	please eat
miseru (show)	mise te kuda-sai	please show me
kuru (come)	ki te kuda-sai	please come
kaku (write)	kai te kuda-sai	please write

You can negate this with the phrase naide kuda-sai (nai-de kuda-sai) :

taberu	tabe naide kuda-sai	please dont eat
miseru	mise naide kuda-sai	please dont show me
kuru	ko naide kuda-sai

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