There are a number of small function words generally called particles, such as conjunctions and so forth that I feel should be known at this point, but have not figured into any lessons really. So now is the time to get some of them out of the way. This is a really long lesson due to the number of particles I'm introducing, so it may be good as a reference lesson. Maybe you don't need to learn everything at once. I'll also mention that many particles can attach both to nouns and verbs.
This lesson will cover the following particles:
- から kara
- ので node
- けど/けれど/けども/けれとも kedo/keredo/kedomo/keredomo
- が ga
- でも demo
- のに noni
- か ka
- の no
- と to
- とか to ka
- や ya
- も mo
から kara
We met this one previously as a postposition meaning “from”, but it also means “because” when it occurs after verbs. Remember that Japanese word order is essentially the reverse of English, so the cause and effect positions are reversed as well.
眠かったから寝た。
Nemùkatta kara neta.
tired-PST because sleep-PST
"Because I was tired, I went to sleep." (I was tired so I went to sleep).
眠い nemùi "tired; sleepy"
It should be noticed that in English, we can easily reverse the clauses by changing “because” to “so” as I have done above, but in Japanese this is not smoothly done.
ので node
Essentially, this is the same as kara, but typically is limited to slightly more polite language. I've read differing explanations on what really differentiates node from kara, but in all honesty, you'll be fine treating them as basically synonymous.
台風が近づいていたので試合は延期になった。
Taifū ̀ga chikazùite ita node shiai wa enki ni nàtta.
typhoon SBJ approach-CONJ be-PST because match TOP postponement ADV become-PST
"The match was postponed ecause a typhoon was approaching."
台風 taifū - "typhoon"
近づくchikazùku - "approach; draw near; come close"
試合 shiai - "match; game"
延期(する) enki (suru) - "postponement (postpone)"
けど/けれど/けども/けれとも kedo/keredo/kedomo/keredomo
This is equivalent to “but” in English. It finds its origin as an Old Japanese verb ending, so unlike many other particles, it cannot be found with nouns. All four forms have the same meaning, but the last three are more formal (keredomo being the form from which the other three contracted forms derive). The first form, kedo, is common in informal speech. Unlike kara, clause order is the same as in English.
眠かったけど寝なかった。
Nemùkatta kedo nenàkatta.
tired-PST but sleep-NEG-PST
"I was tired, but I didn’t go to sleep."
Kedo also has a use that differs from English "but". It's used to supply information that is important in interpreting or responding to what comes after it. Example:
眠いけど寝ていい?
Nemùi kedo nete ìi?
Literally this means "I'm tired, but can/may I sleep?" but the nuance is that the first clause gives information that may influence the answer to the question in the second clause.
本棚のどこかにあると思うけど探してくれる?
Hòndana no dòkoka ni àru to omòu kedo sagashite kureru?
"I think it's somewhere on the bookshelf; can you take a look for me?"
本棚 hòndana - "bookshelf"
どこか dòkoka - "somewhere"
思う omòu - "think; believe"
探す sagasu - "search; look for"
There's some stuff going on in this sentence that I haven't taught yet, so don't worry if you don't understand 100%. You can see here as well how kedo is marking information that is important to know for the listener.
This meaning will be covered more in ga below.
が ga
This is the formal/literary equivalent of kedo above. It differs from the formal keredomo above in that it appears in the standard literary register as well as the formal, while keredomo is always formal.
As with kedo above, ga can mark information as being important to what follows.
でも demo
This is like kedo above, except that it only appears at the beginning of a clause, much like "however" in English.
のに noni
This is like "even though" but most often conveys some sort of disappointment.
せっかくギリシャに行ったのにパルテノン神殿に行かなかった?
Sekkaku Gìrisha ni itta noni Parutenon-shìnden ni ikanàkatta?
"You went all the way to Greece but you didn't go to the Parthenon?"
せっかく sekkaku going to the trouble of; having the special opportunity to; being in the ideal situation to
ギリシャ Gìrisha Greece
パルテノン神殿 Parutenon-shìnden the Parthenon
Here, noni shows the speaker's surprise, incredulity, etc. at the indicated contrast. Using kedo instead of noni would make this question sound more like the speaker is simply confirming the facts.
Note that when this appears after the copula, the copula becomes な na:
か ka
When used with verbs, this has a few meanings. At the end of a sentence, it marks a question. In this position, it is far more common in polite speech.
齋藤さんは行きます。
Saitō-san wa ikimàsu.
"Mr. Saito is going."
齋藤さんは行きますか。
Saitō-san wa ikimàsu ka?
"Is Mr. Saito going?"
There are other pragmatic uses of ka which I will get into some other time.
When it appears between clauses, it usually means "or"
今日の夜に行ってホテルに泊まるか、明日朝一行くか、どっちがいい?
Kyṑ no yòru ni itte hòteru ni tomaru ka, ashita asàichi iku ka, dòtchi ga ìi?
today GEN night LOC go-CONJ hotel LOC stay Q, tomorrow early.morning go Q, which NOM be.good
"Should we leave tonight and stay at a hotel or leave first thing tomorrow morning?"
Note: I haven’t covered wa yet, but it is the topic marker. I’ve probably accidentally slipped it in a few times in examples, but I want to wait a bit more before covering topic structure.
の no
This is a multipurpose partical with several different uses.
I will outline its main uses briefly in sections.
Genitive/linking
It is used to indicate possession and association, as English "'s" and "of" and also identity:
川野さんの傘
Kawano-san no kàsa
"Mr. Kawano's umbrella"
家の中
iè no nàka
"the inside of the house"
源頼朝
Minamoto no Yoritomo
"Yoritomo, of the Minamoto (clan)"
おかしのまちおか
Okàshi no Machioka
"Machioka Confectionery (Machioka of (the) confectionery (business))"
It's also used to form compound nouns. Japanese, at least with native roots, is somewhat more likely than English to form compounds with genitive constructions.
くもの巣
kùmo no sù
"spider web"
飛行機の翼
hikṑki no tsubasa
"airplane wing"
Nominalization
Placing this particle after a verb or verb phrase nominalizes it. There is another way to nominalize verbs, but for now it's enough to know that no can do it.
After an adjective, no indicates a noun possessing the quality of the adjective, much like English "one".
赤い
akai
"(it) is red"
赤いの
akài no
"(a/the) red one(s)"
Not very important use, but included for reference:
In lesson 8, we learned that nominal adjectives take na in attributive form. What I didn't tell you is that many adjectives take no instead of na. The difference, unfortunately, is entirely lexical, meaning when you learn a new nominal adjective, you have to memorize which particle it uses. Thereare, as far asI know, no words that can take either one. The good news is that using the wrong one will never obscure the intended meaning.
この問題は最後だ。
Kono mondai wa sàigo da.
"This problem is the last (one)."
これは最後の問題だ。
Kore wa sàigo no mondai da.
"This is the last problem."
問題 mondai "problem"
最後(の) sàigo (no) "last"
Note: whenever the copula is followed by no it becomes na:
このトマトは国産だ。
Kono tòmato wa kokusan da.
"This tomato is domestic(ally grown)."
トマトは国産なのがいい。
Tòmato wa kokusan na no ga ìi.
"I prefer domestically grown tomatoes." (Lit."As for tomatoes, domestically grown ones are good.")
More skippable stuff:
This is another basic particle with a variety of uses, so we'll go over its broad uses.
"and" with nouns
When this particle appears between two nouns, it means "and". Some books will tell you that to is used for exhaustive lists (with や ya being used for non-exhaustive lists), but to me this seems a little misleading, as ya (which is actually somewhat formal; see below) is specifically marked as non-exhaustive; to is exhaustive by default, but it's really just the standard noun connector. If you are not specifically listing samples from a larger list, use to.
毎日ご飯と魚を食べます。
Màinichi gòhan to sakana o tabemàsu.
"Every day I eat rice and fish."
"with" with nouns
When this particle is used to mark a noun as an argument of the verb, it is similar to "with" in the comitative sense.
友達と行った。
Tomodachi to itta.
"I went with my friend."
For this sense, to is often supplemented with 一緒に issho ni "together":
お母さんと一緒に行った。
Okāsan to issho ni itta.
"I went (together) with my mother."
Adverbial marker
As we saw in lesson 8, to can be used to mark adverbs. It is used this way mainly with onomatopoeic and mimetic words.
Complementizer
This particle is also used as a complementizer to mark the content for verbs of speaking, thinking, and so on.
まだ残っていると言った。
Màda nokòtte iru to itta.
still remain-CONJ exist COMPL say-PST
"(They) said that there are still some left. / They said that it's still there."
来ると思った。
Kùru to omòtta.
come COMPL think-PST
"I thought (he/she/it) would come."
To is also frequently used as a type of clause connector, but I'm going to save that for the lesson on conditionals to come some time in the future.
It also appears as an abbreviation of a longer phrase meaning "have to", but this will also be covered elsewhere.
とか to ka
This is an explicitly non-exhaustive listing particle. The pattern "AとかBとか" is roughly equivalent to "like A or B". It's important to note that this is an informal particle; in more polite or formal speech, it will be replaced with や ya, which serves the same function.
It's not unusual to hear this particle lengthened to とかあ tokā, if for example the speaker is in the process of thinking up examples.
釣りとかハイキングとかする。
Tsuri to ka hàikingu to ka suru.
"We will fish and hike and things like that."
When there is only a single noun, it is equivalent or informal English "or something" or "or whatever"
1時間とかかかった。
Ichìjikan to ka kakàtta.
"It took an hour or something."
かかる kakàru this verb has so many contextually specific meanings that I can't even really tell you all of them. With time words, it means "take", as I have used it here.
や ya
Essentially a more formal equivalent of to ka above, though only in the non-exhaustive listing sense.
も mo
This particle means "too" or "also" or "even". Note that it will completely replace the topic, subject, and object particles は wa, が ga, and を o.
ビニール袋も要るよ。
Binīru-bùkuro mo iru yo.
"We need a plastic bag too." (Lit. "A plastic bag also is needed.")
(Don't worry about yo for now.)
For any other particle, it is appended immediately after the particle:
大分にも福岡にも行った。
Ṑita ni mo Fukùoka ni mo itta.
"She even went to Oita and Fukuoka." (Lit. "She went even to Oita even to Fukuoka.")
This particle can also show some degree of surprise at an amount:
10枚も食べたの?
Jūmai mo tàbeta no?
"You ate ten whole slices?"
(Don't worry about the use of no here; we'll save that for a different lesson)
It also appears often with interrogatives to form complex phrases, but we'll save that for another time.
Vocabulary from this lesson
明日 ashita "tomorrow"
ビニール袋 binīru-bùkuro "plastic bag"
どこか dòkoka - "somewhere"
ギリシャ Gìrisha "Greece"
ご飯 gòhan "food; rice"
ハイキング hàikingu "hiking"
飛行機 hikṑki "airplane"
本棚 hòndana - "bookshelf"
ホテル hòteru "hotel"
掛かる kakàru too many meanings to list
傘 kàsa "umbrella"
国産 kokusan "domestic"
くも kùmo "spider"
くもの巣 kùmo no sù "spider web"
今日 kyṑ "today"
まだ màda "still; yet"
毎日 màinichi "every day"
問題 mondai "problem"
パルテノン神殿 Parutenon-shìnden "the Parthenon"
最後(の) sàigo (no) "last"
魚 sakana "fish"
試合 shiai - "match; game"
巣 sù "nest"
台風 taifū - "typhoon"
トマト tòmato "tomato"
友達 tomodachi "friend"
翼 tsubasa "wing"
釣り tsuri "fishing"
夜 yòru "night"
近づく chikazùku - "approach; draw near; come close"
延期(する) enki (suru) - "postponement (postpone)"
要る iru "be needed/necessary"
残る nokòru "remain; stay; be left"
思う omòu - "think; believe"
探す sagasu - "search; look for"
泊まる tomaru "stay the night"
赤い akai "be red"
眠い nemùi "tired; sleepy"
朝一 asàichi "first thing in the morning"
せっかく sekkaku "going to the trouble of; having the special opportunity to; being in the ideal situation to"
There's probably too much stuff here to make exercises.