What are "ten-ten" marks, and what do can we do with them? A "ten-ten" mark is basically a single quotation symbol and is added to certain Japanese syllables to make new syllables that sound different. It makes voiced syllables gutteral. We can add "ten-ten" marks to the k, s, t, and h lines of the Japanese syllabary changin the syllables into their gutteral equivalents. An example would be when we place a "ten ten" mark after a voiced k it becomes its' gutteralized g. In other words, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko becomes ga, gi, gu, ge, go.
か、き、く、け、こ becomes が、ぎ、ぐ、げ、ご
か + " = が or ga
き + " = ぎ or gi
く + " = ぐ or gu
け + " = げ or ge
こ + " = ご or go
In the same manner adding a "ten-ten" mark to
sa, shi, su, se or so will turn them into their gutteralized versions ie. za, zhi (ji), zu, ze, zo etc.
さ、し、す、せ、そ becomes ざ、 じ、 ず、ぜ、ぞ
さ + " = ざ or za
し + " = じ or zhi (ji)
す + " = ず or zu
せ + " = ぜ or ze
そ + " = ぞ or zo
We can also add them to the ta line of syllables so that ta, chi, tsu, te, to becomes da, ji, zu, de, and do.
た、ち、つ、て、と becomes だ、ぢ、づ, で、ど
た + " = だ or da
ち + " = ぢ or ji (dzi)
つ + " = づ or zu (dzu)
て + " = で or de
と + " = ど or do
Lastly, the ha, hi, fu, he, ho line of the syllabary has two ways into which they can change. 1. Adding a "ten-ten" mark to the ha line of the syllabary makes them ba, bi ,bu ,be ,bo. 2. Adding a small degree symbol to the ha line makes each one turn into yet new syllables, they turn into pa, pi, pu, pe, po.
は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ becomes ば、び、ぶ、べ、ぼ, and ぱ、ぴ、ぷ、ぺ、ぽ
は + " = ば or ba
ひ + " = び or bi
ふ + " = ぶ or bu
へ + " = べ or be
ほ + " = ぼ or bo
and
は + °= ぱ or pa
ひ + °= ぴ or pi
ふ + °= ぷ or pu
へ + °= ぺ or pe
ほ + °= ぽ or po
Towards better Japanese - Japanese grammar, Japanese vocabulary, Japanese pronunciation, Japanese Verbs, Japanese sentences, Learn Japanese, Study Japanese, Live Japanese... Breathe Japanese - Japanese Language Mastery
Showing posts with label japanese pages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japanese pages. Show all posts
Dec 1, 2010
Aug 19, 2008
Basic Japanese Grammar - Verb Base II + Nasai
Basic Japanese Grammar Crash Course
Accelerated Japanese Mastery
Base II + NASAI なさい – Lesser command form
To boss people around, or tell people what to do, commanding them in Japanese you will need to know this Japanese Grammar construction:
Verb (base II) + NASAI なさい - Do verb! Command form.
Examples
1.Suwarinasai! 坐りなさい!
“Take your seat!”
a.Suwaru 座る - v. to sit down
b.Suwaru 座るin base II is suwari 坐り
c.Suwari坐り + nasai なさい = suwarinasai坐りなさい Sit!
2.Shukudai o shinasai! 宿題をしなさい
“Do your homework!”
a.suruする – v. to do
b.suru in base II = shiし
c.shiし + nasaiなさい = shinasaiしなさい “DO IT!”
3.Ikinasai!行きなさい
“Go!”
a.iku 行く– v . to go
b.iku 行く in base II is iki 行き
c.iki行き + nasaiなさい = ikinasai行きなさい “GO!”
Plug in your favorite Japanese verbs into this Japanese Grammar Construction and start making your own cool sentences then test them on your Japanese friends.
As always,
Ganbatte Ne! 頑張ってね
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki まくらすき
Accelerated Japanese Mastery
Base II + NASAI なさい – Lesser command form
To boss people around, or tell people what to do, commanding them in Japanese you will need to know this Japanese Grammar construction:
Verb (base II) + NASAI なさい - Do verb! Command form.
Examples
1.Suwarinasai! 坐りなさい!
“Take your seat!”
a.Suwaru 座る - v. to sit down
b.Suwaru 座るin base II is suwari 坐り
c.Suwari坐り + nasai なさい = suwarinasai坐りなさい Sit!
2.Shukudai o shinasai! 宿題をしなさい
“Do your homework!”
a.suruする – v. to do
b.suru in base II = shiし
c.shiし + nasaiなさい = shinasaiしなさい “DO IT!”
3.Ikinasai!行きなさい
“Go!”
a.iku 行く– v . to go
b.iku 行く in base II is iki 行き
c.iki行き + nasaiなさい = ikinasai行きなさい “GO!”
Plug in your favorite Japanese verbs into this Japanese Grammar Construction and start making your own cool sentences then test them on your Japanese friends.
As always,
Ganbatte Ne! 頑張ってね
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki まくらすき
Jul 28, 2008
How to say you should in Japanese
How to say, “You should…” in Japanese.
Ho^ or Hou (方 ) (Pronounced like a Santa’s chuckle …ho, ho, ho…) is the focus of today’s Japanese grammar lesson. I always associated the Japanese word Hou (方 ) to the English word, “way” or “the way”. The kanji for hou (The Chinese character printed next to the word) looks as if it were indicating some direction or person offering a path or showing the way. I also associated Hou to another Japanese word Houhou (方法)which means method or the way of doing things. When we say in English that you ought to lean this way or that way, I could replace them straight way with the Japanese words kono hou or sono hou.
Today’s grammar uses hou after a verb in base TA (た) to help form sentences that indicate that you should, or shouldn’t do something. This isn’t a way of telling someone that they must do something, but only that they should do something.
To say that you should do something in Japanese, use the following Japanese grammar plug and play construction to make your own interesting Japanese sentences:
Verb TA (た) + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです) – …should verb…
First, put a Japanese verb into base TA then add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)
Example –
Dasu (出す) – v. to send
Dasu (出す) in base TA = dashita (出した)
Add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)
And presto… a new interesting sentence has been born.
You should send that letter. – ano tegami o deshita hou ga ii desuあの手紙を出した方がいいです
To say that you should not do something in Japanese, use the following Japanese grammar plug and play construction to make your own interesting Japanese sentences:
Verb base I+nai (ない) + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです) – …shouldn’t verb…
Example –
Dasu (出す) – v. to send
Dasu (出す) in base I + nai (ない) = dasanai (出さない) don't send
Add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)
And presto… a new interesting sentence has been born.
In the negative construction, you first put a verb into base I, add nai (ない), then add hou ga ii desu (方がいいです), desu being the polite form of the copula verb to be
1.Ume o tabeta hou ga ii desu. 梅を食べたほうがいいです – “You** should eat a Japanese plum.” (ume 梅 - plum)* They make sake out of ume called umeshu^ it is delicious
2.Byo^in ni itta hou ga ii desu. 病院に行ったほうがいいです “You should go to the hospital.” or “You better get yourself to a hospital.” *If someone tells you this, you should go anyway.
3.Nakanai hou ga ii desu. 泣かないほうがいいです “It is better not to cry.”, or “You shouldn’t cry.”
4.Konai hou ga ii desu. 来ないほうがいいです “You shouldn’t come.”
**In English, subject pronouns are rarely omitted during a two way conversation. In Japanese, however, the subject is almost always omitted. In Japanese, it is more common to omit the subject than to say specifically who, or what was doing the action in a sentence. Unless you get specific, there is no need to say as for me, or as for you, or as for them etc. Since it is generally understood in the course of a Japanese conversation, who or what is doing the action in a sentence.The Japanese usually omit subject pronouns,
As always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki まくらすき,
Ho^ or Hou (方 ) (Pronounced like a Santa’s chuckle …ho, ho, ho…) is the focus of today’s Japanese grammar lesson. I always associated the Japanese word Hou (方 ) to the English word, “way” or “the way”. The kanji for hou (The Chinese character printed next to the word) looks as if it were indicating some direction or person offering a path or showing the way. I also associated Hou to another Japanese word Houhou (方法)which means method or the way of doing things. When we say in English that you ought to lean this way or that way, I could replace them straight way with the Japanese words kono hou or sono hou.
Today’s grammar uses hou after a verb in base TA (た) to help form sentences that indicate that you should, or shouldn’t do something. This isn’t a way of telling someone that they must do something, but only that they should do something.
To say that you should do something in Japanese, use the following Japanese grammar plug and play construction to make your own interesting Japanese sentences:
Verb TA (た) + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです) – …should verb…
First, put a Japanese verb into base TA then add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)
Example –
Dasu (出す) – v. to send
Dasu (出す) in base TA = dashita (出した)
Add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)
And presto… a new interesting sentence has been born.
You should send that letter. – ano tegami o deshita hou ga ii desuあの手紙を出した方がいいです
To say that you should not do something in Japanese, use the following Japanese grammar plug and play construction to make your own interesting Japanese sentences:
Verb base I+nai (ない) + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです) – …shouldn’t verb…
Example –
Dasu (出す) – v. to send
Dasu (出す) in base I + nai (ない) = dasanai (出さない) don't send
Add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)
And presto… a new interesting sentence has been born.
In the negative construction, you first put a verb into base I, add nai (ない), then add hou ga ii desu (方がいいです), desu being the polite form of the copula verb to be
1.Ume o tabeta hou ga ii desu. 梅を食べたほうがいいです – “You** should eat a Japanese plum.” (ume 梅 - plum)* They make sake out of ume called umeshu^ it is delicious
2.Byo^in ni itta hou ga ii desu. 病院に行ったほうがいいです “You should go to the hospital.” or “You better get yourself to a hospital.” *If someone tells you this, you should go anyway.
3.Nakanai hou ga ii desu. 泣かないほうがいいです “It is better not to cry.”, or “You shouldn’t cry.”
4.Konai hou ga ii desu. 来ないほうがいいです “You shouldn’t come.”
**In English, subject pronouns are rarely omitted during a two way conversation. In Japanese, however, the subject is almost always omitted. In Japanese, it is more common to omit the subject than to say specifically who, or what was doing the action in a sentence. Unless you get specific, there is no need to say as for me, or as for you, or as for them etc. Since it is generally understood in the course of a Japanese conversation, who or what is doing the action in a sentence.The Japanese usually omit subject pronouns,
As always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki まくらすき,
Jul 14, 2008
Making Wishes in Japanese
Japanese Grammar Lesson #98
How to Make Wishes in Japanese
or How to say , "If I could only verb" in Japanese.
Base IV + ba ii no ni or
A verb in its conditional state + ii no ni + ば いい の に
To wish (something), (I wish I could verb, despite it being cool)
To make sentences that will express your wishes or longing for something put a Japanese verb into its conditional state and add ii noni. The noni part I always took as meaning in spite of or despite something. Ii is the word for good, so that yoi could be used or even other adjectives of different shapes and sizes.
For this construction, any Japanese verb in its condtional form conditional will suffice for this lesson’s construction. The use of nara is also acceptable. So that you could have
-noun nara ii noni etc.
The Japanese conditional being either a verb in base IV as in iku -->? ik(e) (baseIV) + ba = ikeba or if (I) go or verb in base TA + RA, so that iku --> itta + ra or ittara
The verb iku 行く in base IV is 行け
- add the conditional extendor ば to the base so that 行け + ば = 行けば
ikeba ii no ni 行けば いい のに -
It would have been cool if I could have went, or I wish I could have gone.
literally this phrase means something more like Despite it being good, if I go.
In the same way you may say it this way, iku in base TA is itta
- add ra to form the conditional. So that
itta + ra = ittara
- than add ii no ni to complete the phrase that you wish would happen.
行った + ら = 行ったら
I have always Below are some examples to get you going. Make your own interesting sentences. Make questions out of them. Use them in Japan on real Japanese people to test them out and make sure they work. You never know what you might be able to say with your new grammar construction for making wishes in Japanese.
Examples
1. Yasukattara ii noni 安かったら いいのに
- I sure hope it is cheap, (lit. if it were cheap it would be good despite the fact that its probably not.)
2. Ittara ii noni or ikeba ii noni 行ったらいいのに or 行けば いい のに
- I wish I could go
3. Kirei dattara or kirei nara ii noni きれい だったら いいのに or きれいなら
- If she were cute that would be cool, or I hope she is pretty. (lit. Despite it being good if (she) is pretty.)
4. Shicchan ga ittara ii noni しっちゃん が いったら いい のに
- it would be cool if shi chan (a girl whose name starts with Shi)
5. Mite mireba ii noni. 見て 見れば
- I wish you would go check it out. or It would be cool if you could go look at it.
6. okane mochi nara ii noni – I wish I were rich, or if only I had a lot of money how cool would that be…etc.
As always,
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki
How to Make Wishes in Japanese
or How to say , "If I could only verb" in Japanese.
Base IV + ba ii no ni or
A verb in its conditional state + ii no ni + ば いい の に
To wish (something), (I wish I could verb, despite it being cool)
To make sentences that will express your wishes or longing for something put a Japanese verb into its conditional state and add ii noni. The noni part I always took as meaning in spite of or despite something. Ii is the word for good, so that yoi could be used or even other adjectives of different shapes and sizes.
For this construction, any Japanese verb in its condtional form conditional will suffice for this lesson’s construction. The use of nara is also acceptable. So that you could have
-noun nara ii noni etc.
The Japanese conditional being either a verb in base IV as in iku -->? ik(e) (baseIV) + ba = ikeba or if (I) go or verb in base TA + RA, so that iku --> itta + ra or ittara
The verb iku 行く in base IV is 行け
- add the conditional extendor ば to the base so that 行け + ば = 行けば
ikeba ii no ni 行けば いい のに -
It would have been cool if I could have went, or I wish I could have gone.
literally this phrase means something more like Despite it being good, if I go.
In the same way you may say it this way, iku in base TA is itta
- add ra to form the conditional. So that
itta + ra = ittara
- than add ii no ni to complete the phrase that you wish would happen.
行った + ら = 行ったら
I have always Below are some examples to get you going. Make your own interesting sentences. Make questions out of them. Use them in Japan on real Japanese people to test them out and make sure they work. You never know what you might be able to say with your new grammar construction for making wishes in Japanese.
Examples
1. Yasukattara ii noni 安かったら いいのに
- I sure hope it is cheap, (lit. if it were cheap it would be good despite the fact that its probably not.)
2. Ittara ii noni or ikeba ii noni 行ったらいいのに or 行けば いい のに
- I wish I could go
3. Kirei dattara or kirei nara ii noni きれい だったら いいのに or きれいなら
- If she were cute that would be cool, or I hope she is pretty. (lit. Despite it being good if (she) is pretty.)
4. Shicchan ga ittara ii noni しっちゃん が いったら いい のに
- it would be cool if shi chan (a girl whose name starts with Shi)
5. Mite mireba ii noni. 見て 見れば
- I wish you would go check it out. or It would be cool if you could go look at it.
6. okane mochi nara ii noni – I wish I were rich, or if only I had a lot of money how cool would that be…etc.
As always,
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki
Jun 30, 2008
A secret to learn any language and Japanese too
A Secret So Easy, it will turn the tedious and sometimes daunting task of learning another language into a fun and exciting adventure.
I know what is good for me!
JPPGG© #91
How to say, “I know what to verb so that it would be good.”
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA SHITTE IRU
Verb (Base TA) + RA + YOI
YOI is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*YOI = ii in any case (pronounced ee)
YOKA – can be heard often in the Fukuoka region. It is a part of the hakata-ben dialect. It means essentially– “Nah...”, or “I’m good!”
TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, OR SURUDOI. It is irregular like TOMEI therefore it uses the connective particle NA
As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You cannot expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully-grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them repeatedly as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Only through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know your native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet? Language is something that must be learned, and it is true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some Hiragana and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang ‘The Alphabet Song', or recited your A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, is not an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really is not that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary consists of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but it is called the GOJUON, or chart of the 50 sounds. The GOJUON is grouped in a way that facilitates learning of Japanese, especially the adjectives. Endings of adjectives follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o. I admonish any aspiring Japanese language learner to earnestly study the 46 syllables of the GOJUON or Japanese alphabet.
By the time we are 12 years of age, we usually forget how we came to be able to speak and utilize the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent. The alphabet itself is so ingrained into our language, it is often hard to remember that in order to be a successful learner of any language, that we must study first the primary components and basic building that we forget to take it for what it was when we try to apply these learning techniques to the way we would learn Japanese. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English, it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was the Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying its Alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated.
Like I said...milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever… learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is not a hard language to learn. In my opinion it is much easier than English to learn.
Japanese Adjectives The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.
The first five syllables in
the GOJU ON A
あ I
い U
う E*
え O
お
The first five adjectivial endings + the irregular EI AI
あい II
いい UI
うい EI
,えい OI
おい
Example adjectives showing the various endings ARAI
あらい ATARASHII
あたらしい FURUI
ふるい KIREI*
きれい OSOI
おそい
* EI endings are for the most
TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in EI, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.
Below are some common Japanese adjectives that I have found most useful.
可愛 kawai かわい - cute
恐い kowai こわい - scary
近い chikai ちかい - close
鋭い surudoi するどい sharp
賢い kashikoi かしこい - smart
堅い katai かたい - hard
短い mijikai みじかい - short
細い hosoi ほそい - narrow
長い nagai ながい - long
明るい akarui あかるい - bright
太い futoi ふとい - fat
厚いatsui あつい - thick
暑いatsui あつい - thick
熱いatsui あつい - hot
寒いsamui さむい – cold
涼しいsuzushii すずしい – cool
激しいhageshii はげしい - violent
難しmuzukashii むつ"かしい - difficult
簡単kantan かんたん – easy
眠いnemui ねむい - sleepy
眠たいnemutai ねむたい - sleepy
低いhikui ひくい - low
高いtakai たかい - tall
珍しいmezurashii めずらしい - rare
大きいookii おおきいい - big
小さいchiisai ちいさい – small
古いfurui ふるい - old
若いwakai わかい - young
広いhiroi ひろい - wide
安いyasui やすい - cheap, easy
目覚しい mezamashii めざましい - alert
凄いtsumetai つめたい - chilly
強いtsuyoi つよい - strong
弱いyowai よわい - weak
柔らかい yawarakai - soft
早い hayai - fast
遅いosoi - slow
重い omoi - heavy
暗い kurai くらい - dark
重たい omotai おもたい - heavy
軽い karui かるい - light
恥ずかしい hazukashii はずかしい - embarassing
喧しいyakamashii やかましい – loud, obnoxious
静か shizuka しずか - quiet
素晴らしい subarashii すばらしい - wonderful
美味しい oishii おいしい – delicious
酸っぱいsuppai すっぱい - sour
甘い あまい amai あまい - sweet
狭い せまいsemai せまい – narrow
悔しい kuyashii くやしいvexing, mortifying
怪しいayashii – doubtful, suspicious
辛いtsurai つらい – hard, difficult
美しいutsukushi うつくし - beautiful
面白いomoshiroi おもしろい - interesting
chikarazuyoiちからずよい - powerful
かこいkakoi – stylish, handsome
惜しいoshii – regretful
http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/mybloglog1294a476cec8f56ae2cc
I know what is good for me!
JPPGG© #91
How to say, “I know what to verb so that it would be good.”
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA SHITTE IRU
Verb (Base TA) + RA + YOI
YOI is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*YOI = ii in any case (pronounced ee)
YOKA – can be heard often in the Fukuoka region. It is a part of the hakata-ben dialect. It means essentially– “Nah...”, or “I’m good!”
TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, OR SURUDOI. It is irregular like TOMEI therefore it uses the connective particle NA
As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You cannot expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully-grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them repeatedly as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Only through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know your native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet? Language is something that must be learned, and it is true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some Hiragana and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang ‘The Alphabet Song', or recited your A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, is not an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really is not that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary consists of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but it is called the GOJUON, or chart of the 50 sounds. The GOJUON is grouped in a way that facilitates learning of Japanese, especially the adjectives. Endings of adjectives follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o. I admonish any aspiring Japanese language learner to earnestly study the 46 syllables of the GOJUON or Japanese alphabet.
By the time we are 12 years of age, we usually forget how we came to be able to speak and utilize the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent. The alphabet itself is so ingrained into our language, it is often hard to remember that in order to be a successful learner of any language, that we must study first the primary components and basic building that we forget to take it for what it was when we try to apply these learning techniques to the way we would learn Japanese. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English, it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was the Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying its Alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated.
Like I said...milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever… learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is not a hard language to learn. In my opinion it is much easier than English to learn.
Japanese Adjectives The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.
The first five syllables in
the GOJU ON A
あ I
い U
う E*
え O
お
The first five adjectivial endings + the irregular EI AI
あい II
いい UI
うい EI
,えい OI
おい
Example adjectives showing the various endings ARAI
あらい ATARASHII
あたらしい FURUI
ふるい KIREI*
きれい OSOI
おそい
* EI endings are for the most
TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in EI, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.
Below are some common Japanese adjectives that I have found most useful.
可愛 kawai かわい - cute
恐い kowai こわい - scary
近い chikai ちかい - close
鋭い surudoi するどい sharp
賢い kashikoi かしこい - smart
堅い katai かたい - hard
短い mijikai みじかい - short
細い hosoi ほそい - narrow
長い nagai ながい - long
明るい akarui あかるい - bright
太い futoi ふとい - fat
厚いatsui あつい - thick
暑いatsui あつい - thick
熱いatsui あつい - hot
寒いsamui さむい – cold
涼しいsuzushii すずしい – cool
激しいhageshii はげしい - violent
難しmuzukashii むつ"かしい - difficult
簡単kantan かんたん – easy
眠いnemui ねむい - sleepy
眠たいnemutai ねむたい - sleepy
低いhikui ひくい - low
高いtakai たかい - tall
珍しいmezurashii めずらしい - rare
大きいookii おおきいい - big
小さいchiisai ちいさい – small
古いfurui ふるい - old
若いwakai わかい - young
広いhiroi ひろい - wide
安いyasui やすい - cheap, easy
目覚しい mezamashii めざましい - alert
凄いtsumetai つめたい - chilly
強いtsuyoi つよい - strong
弱いyowai よわい - weak
柔らかい yawarakai - soft
早い hayai - fast
遅いosoi - slow
重い omoi - heavy
暗い kurai くらい - dark
重たい omotai おもたい - heavy
軽い karui かるい - light
恥ずかしい hazukashii はずかしい - embarassing
喧しいyakamashii やかましい – loud, obnoxious
静か shizuka しずか - quiet
素晴らしい subarashii すばらしい - wonderful
美味しい oishii おいしい – delicious
酸っぱいsuppai すっぱい - sour
甘い あまい amai あまい - sweet
狭い せまいsemai せまい – narrow
悔しい kuyashii くやしいvexing, mortifying
怪しいayashii – doubtful, suspicious
辛いtsurai つらい – hard, difficult
美しいutsukushi うつくし - beautiful
面白いomoshiroi おもしろい - interesting
chikarazuyoiちからずよい - powerful
かこいkakoi – stylish, handsome
惜しいoshii – regretful
http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/mybloglog1294a476cec8f56ae2cc
Jun 11, 2008
Don't Verb in Japanese Easy construction
The construction for negative imperative as in Don't verb
is
verb (plain form) + na! Don't verb
Something you might not get a chance to say but maybe you might is the Negative Imperative grammar use of the particle na after verbs in base III or plain form.
Shimesu na! Don't Show!
Taberu na! Don't Eat!
Iku na! Don't go!
Nomu na! Don't drink!
Noru na! Don't ride!
Miru na! Don't look!
minaide or mittara dame also same as miru na!
is
verb (plain form) + na! Don't verb
Something you might not get a chance to say but maybe you might is the Negative Imperative grammar use of the particle na after verbs in base III or plain form.
Shimesu na! Don't Show!
Taberu na! Don't Eat!
Iku na! Don't go!
Nomu na! Don't drink!
Noru na! Don't ride!
Miru na! Don't look!
minaide or mittara dame also same as miru na!
Why Japanese Isn't as hard to learn as everyone thinks!
Why would anyone think that Japanese is harder than any other language to learn?
Why the learning of the Japanese language has been unfairly labeled as a difficult language, I'll never know. I feel that if you want to learn a language you should try the Japanese language. There are plenty of reasons why but let me first tell you a few of the reasons why I think that Japanese is in fact one of the easier languages to learn.
One reason why Japanese might be an easier language to learn is because there are only four tenses in which a verb can take. A lot less than English which has a multitude of various irregularities to deal with. Another big reason why Japanese might be easier to learn than other languages is because, there are so many common words that are exactly the same in Japanese as they are in English. It only takes a little bit of time before one can start getting use to Japanese pronunciation, but when one does then a plethora of vocabulary words will be at your command.
In Japanese, foreign words are heavily borrowed. I would almost venture to say that if you want to speak to a Japanese person, all you would have to do is say what you want in English but with a Japanese accent or pronunciation, and your communication is likely to be understood. New words or words that are borrowed from other countries (gairaigo) are numerous and continiue to grow in number. Let me give you a few examples:
Spoon - supun -
Fork - fouku
Ball - bouru
Door - doa
Curtain - kaaten
Card - kaado
Toaster - tosuta
Juice - juusu
These are just typical everyday words, but the list goes on and on.
The Japanese language is a fascinating language to learn. They use different letters and script for writing their words. Their system for writing words and communicating through ideographs is very old. The kanji (symbols-ideographs-ideas represented by pictures or even pictographs) has been used in Japan for quite a long time. is a very ancient tradition and the language has evolved Let me tell you something: You can do anything you put your mind to! Now having said that, I would like to give a couple of reasons why I feel that Japanese is in fact an easier language to learn than English.
The symbol shown above is the Kanji, or Chinese character, which represents the word ai, or love in Japanese. Start today to recognize parts of the kanji as you would a constellation. The ai kanji itself is made up of various components (the heart kanji among other ones) that will become easier to recognize the more times you see it. Who said a little drill and kill will hurt you?
There are a lot of reasons why people might think that the Japanese language is a hard language to learn. People seem to think that learning Japanese is too big a task. A mountain can be moved with a little persistence and some good goals, so get to setting them up!
A couple of more Ideas on how to overcome the fear of learning Japanese
How to study Japanese for the first week and why kanji is so cool.
There is spoken language and the written language. Kanji has deep meanings contained within each one. This is much different from what we are expecting, because we have become through continuous use of our own native language, stifled by the alphabet. We can see the meaning of things inside the kanji. Therefore from the get go, we should try to wean ourselves from the temptation to look up words in Romaji to decipher meaning. We should use a dictionary like Sanseido's daily concise wa-ei jiten.
Week 1
Verbs - Drink, Sleep, Eat, Go, Work (nomu, neru, taberu, hataraku).
- Be able to put learned verbs in all their bases. Bases I - V
- create sentences using all base forms from I - V
- Test your created sentences on an actual Nihonjin to make sure they really work.
Nouns: coffee, tea, milk, water, coca cola, sake, Aquarius, beer, juice (KO-hi, o-cha, gyu^nyu^, mizu, koka kora, sake, akuariusu, bi-ru, ju-su
Adjectives - oishii, suteki na, benri na, okii, nagai, samui, atsui, chisai, mijikai. (Delicious, cool, convenient, big, long, cold, hot, small, short etc.)
- Adjectives- are fun to play with. Practice putting the adjectives in front of nouns etc
Grammar - Know the masu, masen, mashita, masen deshita etc (polite formations of verbs)
- Become acquainted with the various levels of politeness; humble, honorific, plain form
Example Grammar Construction -
Verb (Base II) + Tai desu = I want to verb - polite form. - Without desu, its plain form or P.F.
Verb (Base II) + masho^ = Shall we +verb or let's +verb
Pronunciation - (distinguish between long and short vowel sounds) =
Be careful when studying Japanese for the first couple of times to make sure and pay attention to detail. The Romanization methods employed by the various types of Romanization of the Japanese Syllabary should be duly noted. For example in Japanese vowels can extend themselves into their double impressions where two vowels are connected into one yet the true pronunciation will be an elongated double vowel sound.
Amazon Spotlight on Sanseido English Japanese Dictionary
Wa Ei or Ei Wa, Either way, you are covered!
The mother load when it comes to Japanese to English or English to Japanese Dictionaries. Essential for any serious Japanese language student.
Sanseido's New Concise Japanese English Dictionary
Amazon Price: (as of 06/11/2008)
The biggest and most worthy of Dictionaries available to you. The mother load is in Blue. Sanseido has always been my reliable back pocket friend. I love my sanseido. Mua!
New Del.icio.us bookmarks
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 42
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 24
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 28
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 13
Why the learning of the Japanese language has been unfairly labeled as a difficult language, I'll never know. I feel that if you want to learn a language you should try the Japanese language. There are plenty of reasons why but let me first tell you a few of the reasons why I think that Japanese is in fact one of the easier languages to learn.
One reason why Japanese might be an easier language to learn is because there are only four tenses in which a verb can take. A lot less than English which has a multitude of various irregularities to deal with. Another big reason why Japanese might be easier to learn than other languages is because, there are so many common words that are exactly the same in Japanese as they are in English. It only takes a little bit of time before one can start getting use to Japanese pronunciation, but when one does then a plethora of vocabulary words will be at your command.
In Japanese, foreign words are heavily borrowed. I would almost venture to say that if you want to speak to a Japanese person, all you would have to do is say what you want in English but with a Japanese accent or pronunciation, and your communication is likely to be understood. New words or words that are borrowed from other countries (gairaigo) are numerous and continiue to grow in number. Let me give you a few examples:
Spoon - supun -
Fork - fouku
Ball - bouru
Door - doa
Curtain - kaaten
Card - kaado
Toaster - tosuta
Juice - juusu
These are just typical everyday words, but the list goes on and on.
The Japanese language is a fascinating language to learn. They use different letters and script for writing their words. Their system for writing words and communicating through ideographs is very old. The kanji (symbols-ideographs-ideas represented by pictures or even pictographs) has been used in Japan for quite a long time. is a very ancient tradition and the language has evolved Let me tell you something: You can do anything you put your mind to! Now having said that, I would like to give a couple of reasons why I feel that Japanese is in fact an easier language to learn than English.
The symbol shown above is the Kanji, or Chinese character, which represents the word ai, or love in Japanese. Start today to recognize parts of the kanji as you would a constellation. The ai kanji itself is made up of various components (the heart kanji among other ones) that will become easier to recognize the more times you see it. Who said a little drill and kill will hurt you?
There are a lot of reasons why people might think that the Japanese language is a hard language to learn. People seem to think that learning Japanese is too big a task. A mountain can be moved with a little persistence and some good goals, so get to setting them up!
A couple of more Ideas on how to overcome the fear of learning Japanese
How to study Japanese for the first week and why kanji is so cool.
There is spoken language and the written language. Kanji has deep meanings contained within each one. This is much different from what we are expecting, because we have become through continuous use of our own native language, stifled by the alphabet. We can see the meaning of things inside the kanji. Therefore from the get go, we should try to wean ourselves from the temptation to look up words in Romaji to decipher meaning. We should use a dictionary like Sanseido's daily concise wa-ei jiten.
Week 1
Verbs - Drink, Sleep, Eat, Go, Work (nomu, neru, taberu, hataraku).
- Be able to put learned verbs in all their bases. Bases I - V
- create sentences using all base forms from I - V
- Test your created sentences on an actual Nihonjin to make sure they really work.
Nouns: coffee, tea, milk, water, coca cola, sake, Aquarius, beer, juice (KO-hi, o-cha, gyu^nyu^, mizu, koka kora, sake, akuariusu, bi-ru, ju-su
Adjectives - oishii, suteki na, benri na, okii, nagai, samui, atsui, chisai, mijikai. (Delicious, cool, convenient, big, long, cold, hot, small, short etc.)
- Adjectives- are fun to play with. Practice putting the adjectives in front of nouns etc
Grammar - Know the masu, masen, mashita, masen deshita etc (polite formations of verbs)
- Become acquainted with the various levels of politeness; humble, honorific, plain form
Example Grammar Construction -
Verb (Base II) + Tai desu = I want to verb - polite form. - Without desu, its plain form or P.F.
Verb (Base II) + masho^ = Shall we +verb or let's +verb
Pronunciation - (distinguish between long and short vowel sounds) =
Be careful when studying Japanese for the first couple of times to make sure and pay attention to detail. The Romanization methods employed by the various types of Romanization of the Japanese Syllabary should be duly noted. For example in Japanese vowels can extend themselves into their double impressions where two vowels are connected into one yet the true pronunciation will be an elongated double vowel sound.
Amazon Spotlight on Sanseido English Japanese Dictionary
Wa Ei or Ei Wa, Either way, you are covered!
The mother load when it comes to Japanese to English or English to Japanese Dictionaries. Essential for any serious Japanese language student.
Sanseido's New Concise Japanese English Dictionary
Amazon Price: (as of 06/11/2008)
The biggest and most worthy of Dictionaries available to you. The mother load is in Blue. Sanseido has always been my reliable back pocket friend. I love my sanseido. Mua!
New Del.icio.us bookmarks
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 42
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 24
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 28
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 13
May 19, 2008
Japanese gerund - making the verb present tense
In English we learn about the Gerund. Todays blog looks into the Japanese gerund
To say that you are verb' ing right now in the present, use the following construction:
verb (base TE) + iru
Iru the existence verb to be can itself be past, present, negative or positive so that you can have
verb (base TE) + ita - past positive
verb (base TE) + inakatta - past negative
verb (base TE) + iru - future or present tense positive
or
verb (base TE) + inai - future or present tense negative
examples
1. hanashite iru - talking (now)
2. mite iru - watching (now)
3. ugoite iru - moving
4. sunde iru - residing in
To say that you were verbing put the iru into its past form ita or imashita (polite)
1. hanashite ita - were or was talking
2. mite imashita - was watching etc.
same for negative present and past so that
1. hanashite inai - not talking
2. mite imasen deshita - wasn't watching it
hope you liked todays blog it was made on the fly as best as I could, thanks and don't forget to leave comments/
To say that you are verb' ing right now in the present, use the following construction:
verb (base TE) + iru
Iru the existence verb to be can itself be past, present, negative or positive so that you can have
verb (base TE) + ita - past positive
verb (base TE) + inakatta - past negative
verb (base TE) + iru - future or present tense positive
or
verb (base TE) + inai - future or present tense negative
examples
1. hanashite iru - talking (now)
2. mite iru - watching (now)
3. ugoite iru - moving
4. sunde iru - residing in
To say that you were verbing put the iru into its past form ita or imashita (polite)
1. hanashite ita - were or was talking
2. mite imashita - was watching etc.
same for negative present and past so that
1. hanashite inai - not talking
2. mite imasen deshita - wasn't watching it
hope you liked todays blog it was made on the fly as best as I could, thanks and don't forget to leave comments/
May 18, 2008
Learning Japanese isn't so hard
Why the learning of the Japanese language has been unfairly labeled as a difficult language, I feel that if you want to learn a language, try the Japanese language.The Japanese language is a fascinating language to learn. They use different letters and script for writing their words. Their system for writing words and communicating through ideographs is very old. The kanji (symbols-ideographs-ideas represented by pictures or even pictographs) has been used in Japan for quite a long time. is a very ancient tradition and the language has evolved Let me tell you something: You can do anything you put your mind to!Now having said that, I would like to give a couple of reasons why I feel that Japanese is in fact an easier language to learn than English.
The symbol shown above right is the Kanji, or chinese character, which represents the word ai, or love in Japanese. Start today to recognize parts of the kanji as you would a constellation. The ai kanji itself is made up of various components (the heart kanji among other ones) that will become easier to recognize the more times you see it. Who said a little drill and kill will hurt you?There are a lot of reasons why people might think that the Japanese language is a hard language to learn. People seem to think that learning Japanese is too big a task. A mountain can be moved with a little persistence and some good goals, so get to setting them up!
May 15, 2008
Japanese skills
A Secret So Easy, It will turn the tedious and sometimes daunting task of learning another language funto making language learning Easy
Japanese Easy
I know what’s good for me!
JPPGG© #91
How to say, “I know how to verb
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA
Verb(Base TA) + RA +
Yoi is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*yoi = ii in any case
yoka – can be hear much in Fukuoka to mean – “Nah”, or “I’m good”
TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, TOMEI, OR SURUDOI.
As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You can’t expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to a language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, by all means start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them time and time again as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know you native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet. Language is something that must be learned, and its true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some hiragana, and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang The Alphabet Song, or recited you’re A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, isn’t an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really isn’t that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary is made up of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but its called the gojuon or chart of the 50 sounds. It is grouped to make the learning of it very easy. Set up in groups that follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o
By the time we are 12 we usually forget that we had ever even learned the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent. The alphabet I so ingrained into our language that we forget to take it for what it was when we try to apply these learning techniques to the way we would learn Japanese. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was the Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying it’s Alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated. Like I said...milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever, learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is really not that bad. Also I ask all of those who may harrow in their souls hatred against the Japanese people to end it now so that we can live peaceably amongst each others, and learn from one another.
Japanese Adjectives The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.
KAWAI ATARASHII FURUI KIREI BOROI
TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in ei, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.
Japanese Easy
I know what’s good for me!
JPPGG© #91
How to say, “I know how to verb
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA
Verb(Base TA) + RA +
Yoi is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*yoi = ii in any case
yoka – can be hear much in Fukuoka to mean – “Nah”, or “I’m good”
TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, TOMEI, OR SURUDOI.
As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You can’t expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to a language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, by all means start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them time and time again as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know you native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet. Language is something that must be learned, and its true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some hiragana, and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang The Alphabet Song, or recited you’re A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, isn’t an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really isn’t that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary is made up of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but its called the gojuon or chart of the 50 sounds. It is grouped to make the learning of it very easy. Set up in groups that follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o
By the time we are 12 we usually forget that we had ever even learned the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent. The alphabet I so ingrained into our language that we forget to take it for what it was when we try to apply these learning techniques to the way we would learn Japanese. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was the Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying it’s Alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated. Like I said...milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever, learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is really not that bad. Also I ask all of those who may harrow in their souls hatred against the Japanese people to end it now so that we can live peaceably amongst each others, and learn from one another.
Japanese Adjectives The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.
KAWAI ATARASHII FURUI KIREI BOROI
TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in ei, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.
chigai nai in Japanese grammar
Why Certainly!
Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar #112
How to say something is for sure in Japanese
Noun + CHIGAI NAI
I. Noun + NI CHIGAI NAI – Noun for sure!
To be (noun phrase) without fail !
The Japanese bunpo^ NOUN+ NI CHIGAI NAI grammar construction is used quite regularly, and in expressions where you want to impart an unwavering definiteness as to the outcome. CHIGAI itself is a noun meaning difference. It is in base II in similitude to other verbs that change into nouns by putting them into base II. See my article on verb bases for more information. comes from the verb CHIGAU –v. to be different, to vary, to disagree, to be unlike.
Ex. 1 ZETTAI KARE NO SAIFU NI CHIGAI NAI. –
Its definitely his wallet . . .for sure! Or
It’s his wallet for sure definitely
Ex. 2 NATSU GA KURU NI CHIGAI NAI –
Summer will be here without fail.
Ex. 3 MAI HARU WASHI GA CANADA NI KAETTE KURU NI CHIGAI NAI –
Every spring the eagles return back to Canada without fail.
Ex. 4 SO^ NI CHIGAI NAI! そうに違いない –
That’s the way it is man! FOR SHIZZLE!
It’s my way..., my way or the highway!
II. A [TO (と)] B NO CHIGAI GA WAKARU (WAKARANAI) –
Can (can’t) tell the difference between A and B.
Ex.1. HONMONO TO NISEMONO NO CHIGAI GA WAKARANAI. –
I can’t tell the difference between the fake and the real thing.
See my other Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar articles by visiting the index. Beef up your current stock of word power with my Japanese Vocabulary Blasters also found on the index. Finally, take your skills and head over to the Japanese Conversational Practice Palace to solidify your Japanese language training and to help fortify your Japanese language skills.
http://squidoo.com/jppgg
As always,
Do Your Best!
Ganbatte Ne!
Makurasuki Sensei
Ghetto After Blast G.A.B. - one point advice – when you want to refute a point made by another soften your phrase up by saying CHIGAU TO OMOU or I think it’s a little different. Unless you want to make it clear that the other person is wrong then you would say CHIGAU! – You are definitely wrong! In English CHIGAU can simply mean nope! or NO ITS NOT! Or even NO you are WRONG! Or Not even! That is why this is the GAB, the ghetto after blast because the effects could ripple through the time space continuum. JA NE! LATES!
This lens needs improvement. You can help by adding your suggestions to the group comment box below. Thanks in advance for allowing this non-wiki yet wiki wiki wiki!
Brett McCluskey 2008
Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar #112
How to say something is for sure in Japanese
Noun + CHIGAI NAI
I. Noun + NI CHIGAI NAI – Noun for sure!
To be (noun phrase) without fail !
The Japanese bunpo^ NOUN+ NI CHIGAI NAI grammar construction is used quite regularly, and in expressions where you want to impart an unwavering definiteness as to the outcome. CHIGAI itself is a noun meaning difference. It is in base II in similitude to other verbs that change into nouns by putting them into base II. See my article on verb bases for more information. comes from the verb CHIGAU –v. to be different, to vary, to disagree, to be unlike.
Ex. 1 ZETTAI KARE NO SAIFU NI CHIGAI NAI. –
Its definitely his wallet . . .for sure! Or
It’s his wallet for sure definitely
Ex. 2 NATSU GA KURU NI CHIGAI NAI –
Summer will be here without fail.
Ex. 3 MAI HARU WASHI GA CANADA NI KAETTE KURU NI CHIGAI NAI –
Every spring the eagles return back to Canada without fail.
Ex. 4 SO^ NI CHIGAI NAI! そうに違いない –
That’s the way it is man! FOR SHIZZLE!
It’s my way..., my way or the highway!
II. A [TO (と)] B NO CHIGAI GA WAKARU (WAKARANAI) –
Can (can’t) tell the difference between A and B.
Ex.1. HONMONO TO NISEMONO NO CHIGAI GA WAKARANAI. –
I can’t tell the difference between the fake and the real thing.
See my other Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar articles by visiting the index. Beef up your current stock of word power with my Japanese Vocabulary Blasters also found on the index. Finally, take your skills and head over to the Japanese Conversational Practice Palace to solidify your Japanese language training and to help fortify your Japanese language skills.
http://squidoo.com/jppgg
As always,
Do Your Best!
Ganbatte Ne!
Makurasuki Sensei
Ghetto After Blast G.A.B. - one point advice – when you want to refute a point made by another soften your phrase up by saying CHIGAU TO OMOU or I think it’s a little different. Unless you want to make it clear that the other person is wrong then you would say CHIGAU! – You are definitely wrong! In English CHIGAU can simply mean nope! or NO ITS NOT! Or even NO you are WRONG! Or Not even! That is why this is the GAB, the ghetto after blast because the effects could ripple through the time space continuum. JA NE! LATES!
This lens needs improvement. You can help by adding your suggestions to the group comment box below. Thanks in advance for allowing this non-wiki yet wiki wiki wiki!
Brett McCluskey 2008
May 7, 2008
how to say after verbing in Japanese
Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar JPPGG #109
Verb (Base TE) + KARA – after verb’ing
After, After, and After - 3 ways to say, “after verb’ing” in Japanese
To say that you will do something after doing something else in Japanese, use the following grammar construction:
Take verbs and put them into base TE.
Verbs ending in su becomes shi-te shite
Verbs ending in ku becomes ku-ite
Verbs ending in gu becomes ide
HANASU (v. to speak) – HANASHITE
HON O YONDE KARA NERU TO OMOIMASU. I think I’ll sleep after reading a book.
TABETE KARA SHUKUDAI O SURU. – after I eat I’m going to do homework.
UNDO WO SHITE KARA SHAWA O SURU KOTO GA SUKI DESU. –
I like to take a shower after I exercise.
After verb – verb (base TA) + ATO DE –
SAKE O NONDA ATO DE NEMUKUNATTA –
I got sleepy after drinking some* sake.
After verb – verb ( base TA) + NOCHI NI
Nomu - (v. To drink) –
Nomu (base ta)
Bu, mu or nu
ta nda
Nomu in base ta is NONDA
SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI INU O SAMPO SHI NI ITTA –
(After I drank some sake I took the dog for a walk.)
Verb (Base TE) + KARA – after verb’ing
After, After, and After - 3 ways to say, “after verb’ing” in Japanese
To say that you will do something after doing something else in Japanese, use the following grammar construction:
Take verbs and put them into base TE.
Verbs ending in su becomes shi-te shite
Verbs ending in ku becomes ku-ite
Verbs ending in gu becomes ide
HANASU (v. to speak) – HANASHITE
HON O YONDE KARA NERU TO OMOIMASU. I think I’ll sleep after reading a book.
TABETE KARA SHUKUDAI O SURU. – after I eat I’m going to do homework.
UNDO WO SHITE KARA SHAWA O SURU KOTO GA SUKI DESU. –
I like to take a shower after I exercise.
After verb – verb (base TA) + ATO DE –
SAKE O NONDA ATO DE NEMUKUNATTA –
I got sleepy after drinking some* sake.
After verb – verb ( base TA) + NOCHI NI
Nomu - (v. To drink) –
Nomu (base ta)
Bu, mu or nu
ta nda
Nomu in base ta is NONDA
SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI INU O SAMPO SHI NI ITTA –
(After I drank some sake I took the dog for a walk.)
Vocab lesson in Japanese with links
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster #25
15 Words Every 2 Days.
Learn, Memorize, Study, Ponder
Rinse, Get Quizzed, Repeat
Now Blast!
1. boeki - trade
2. teian - suggestion
3. teian suru – to suggest
4. kemushi - caterpillar
5. kitai hazure – let down
6. kigen ga kireru – time limit, expiration date
7. kyo^ryo^ku suru – to cooperate
8. doryo^ku suru – to try
9. giri no oto^san* – father-in-law
10. nokogiri – a saw
11. jika – ear doctor
12. jibika – ear and throat doctor
13.songai - damage
14. tsune = itsumo, usually, always, commonly
15. noritsu - efficicient
As Always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei
to see the list of the last 15 words you should have already memorized go to Japanese Vocabulary 24 or go on to memorize your next 15 here at
Japanese Vocabulary 26
http://squidutils.com/lensmaster/brettkun.rss
438510347X
15 Words Every 2 Days.
Learn, Memorize, Study, Ponder
Rinse, Get Quizzed, Repeat
Now Blast!
1. boeki - trade
2. teian - suggestion
3. teian suru – to suggest
4. kemushi - caterpillar
5. kitai hazure – let down
6. kigen ga kireru – time limit, expiration date
7. kyo^ryo^ku suru – to cooperate
8. doryo^ku suru – to try
9. giri no oto^san* – father-in-law
10. nokogiri – a saw
11. jika – ear doctor
12. jibika – ear and throat doctor
13.songai - damage
14. tsune = itsumo, usually, always, commonly
15. noritsu - efficicient
As Always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei
to see the list of the last 15 words you should have already memorized go to Japanese Vocabulary 24 or go on to memorize your next 15 here at
Japanese Vocabulary 26
http://squidutils.com/lensmaster/brettkun.rss
438510347X
One Japanese Secret that may help in your quest for mastery
A Secret So Easy, It will turn the tedious and sometimes daunting task of learning another language fun to making language learning Easy
Japanese Easy
I know what is good for me!
JPPGG© #91
How to say, “I know how to verb
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA
Verb (Base TA) + RA +
YOI is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*YOI = ii in any case (pronounced ee)
YOKA – can be heard often in the Fukuoka region. It is a part of the hakata-ben dialect. It means essentially– “Nah...”, or “I’m good!”
TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, TOMEI, OR SURUDOI.
As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You cannot expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully-grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them repeatedly as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Only through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know your native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet? Language is something that must be learned, and it is true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some Hiragana and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang ‘The Alphabet Song', or recited your A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, is not an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really is not that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary is made up of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but its called the gojuon or chart of the 50 sounds. It is grouped to make the learning of it very easy. Set up in groups that follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o
By the time we are 12 we usually forget that we had ever even learned the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent. The alphabet I so ingrained into our language that we forget to take it for what it was when we try to apply these learning techniques to the way we would learn Japanese. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was the Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying it’s Alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated. Like I said...milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever, learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is really not that bad. Also I ask all of those who may harrow in their souls hatred against the Japanese people to end it now so that we can live peaceably amongst each others, and learn from one another.
Japanese Adjectives
The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.
The first five syllables in
the GoJu On
A
I
U
E*
O
AI
II
UI
EI
OI
Example adjectives showing the various endings
KAWAI
ATARASHII
FURUI
KIREI*
BOROI
TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in ei, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.
Below are some common Japanese adjectives that I have found most useful.
可愛 kawai かわい - cute
恐い kowai こわい - scary
近い chikai ちかい - close
鋭い surudoi するどい sharp
賢い kashikoi かしこい - smart
堅い katai かたい - hard
短い mijikai みじかい - short
細い hosoi ほそい - narrow
長い nagai ながい - long
明るい akarui あかるい - bright
太い futoi ふとい - fat
厚いatsui あつい - thick
暑いatsui あつい - thick
熱いatsui あつい - hot
寒いsamui さむい – cold
涼しいsuzushii すずしい – cool
激しいhageshii はげしい - violent
難しmuzukashii むつ"かしい - difficult
簡単kantan かんたん – easy
眠いnemui ねむい - sleepy
眠たいnemutai ねむたい - sleepy
低いhikui ひくい - low
高いtakai たかい - tall
珍しいmezurashii めずらしい - rare
大きいookii おおきいい - big
小さいchiisai ちいさい – small
古いfurui ふるい - old
若いwakai わかい - young
広いhiroi ひろい - wide
安いyasui やすい - cheap, easy
目覚しい mezamashii めざましい - alert
凄いtsumetai つめたい - chilly
強いtsuyoi つよい - strong
弱いyowai よわい - weak
柔らかい yawarakai - soft
早い hayai - fast
遅いosoi - slow
重い omoi - heavy
暗い kurai くらい - dark
重たい omotai おもたい - heavy
軽い karui かるい - light
恥ずかしい hazukashii はずかしい - embarassing
喧しいyakamashii やかましい – loud, obnoxious
静か shizuka しずか - quiet
素晴らしい subarashii すばらしい - wonderful
美味しい oishii おいしい – delicious
酸っぱいsuppai すっぱい - sour
甘い あまい amai あまい - sweet
狭い せまいsemai せまい – narrow
悔しい kuyashii くやしいvexing, mortifying
怪しいayashii – doubtful, suspicious
辛いtsurai つらい – hard, difficult
美しいutsukushi うつくし - beautiful
面白いomoshiroi おもしろい - interesting
chikarazuyoiちからずよい - powerful
かこいkakoi – stylish, handsome
惜しいoshii – regretful
Japanese Easy
I know what is good for me!
JPPGG© #91
How to say, “I know how to verb
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA
Verb (Base TA) + RA +
YOI is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*YOI = ii in any case (pronounced ee)
YOKA – can be heard often in the Fukuoka region. It is a part of the hakata-ben dialect. It means essentially– “Nah...”, or “I’m good!”
TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, TOMEI, OR SURUDOI.
As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You cannot expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully-grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them repeatedly as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Only through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know your native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet? Language is something that must be learned, and it is true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some Hiragana and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang ‘The Alphabet Song', or recited your A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, is not an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really is not that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary is made up of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but its called the gojuon or chart of the 50 sounds. It is grouped to make the learning of it very easy. Set up in groups that follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o
By the time we are 12 we usually forget that we had ever even learned the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent. The alphabet I so ingrained into our language that we forget to take it for what it was when we try to apply these learning techniques to the way we would learn Japanese. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was the Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying it’s Alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated. Like I said...milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever, learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is really not that bad. Also I ask all of those who may harrow in their souls hatred against the Japanese people to end it now so that we can live peaceably amongst each others, and learn from one another.
Japanese Adjectives
The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.
The first five syllables in
the GoJu On
A
I
U
E*
O
AI
II
UI
EI
OI
Example adjectives showing the various endings
KAWAI
ATARASHII
FURUI
KIREI*
BOROI
TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in ei, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.
Below are some common Japanese adjectives that I have found most useful.
可愛 kawai かわい - cute
恐い kowai こわい - scary
近い chikai ちかい - close
鋭い surudoi するどい sharp
賢い kashikoi かしこい - smart
堅い katai かたい - hard
短い mijikai みじかい - short
細い hosoi ほそい - narrow
長い nagai ながい - long
明るい akarui あかるい - bright
太い futoi ふとい - fat
厚いatsui あつい - thick
暑いatsui あつい - thick
熱いatsui あつい - hot
寒いsamui さむい – cold
涼しいsuzushii すずしい – cool
激しいhageshii はげしい - violent
難しmuzukashii むつ"かしい - difficult
簡単kantan かんたん – easy
眠いnemui ねむい - sleepy
眠たいnemutai ねむたい - sleepy
低いhikui ひくい - low
高いtakai たかい - tall
珍しいmezurashii めずらしい - rare
大きいookii おおきいい - big
小さいchiisai ちいさい – small
古いfurui ふるい - old
若いwakai わかい - young
広いhiroi ひろい - wide
安いyasui やすい - cheap, easy
目覚しい mezamashii めざましい - alert
凄いtsumetai つめたい - chilly
強いtsuyoi つよい - strong
弱いyowai よわい - weak
柔らかい yawarakai - soft
早い hayai - fast
遅いosoi - slow
重い omoi - heavy
暗い kurai くらい - dark
重たい omotai おもたい - heavy
軽い karui かるい - light
恥ずかしい hazukashii はずかしい - embarassing
喧しいyakamashii やかましい – loud, obnoxious
静か shizuka しずか - quiet
素晴らしい subarashii すばらしい - wonderful
美味しい oishii おいしい – delicious
酸っぱいsuppai すっぱい - sour
甘い あまい amai あまい - sweet
狭い せまいsemai せまい – narrow
悔しい kuyashii くやしいvexing, mortifying
怪しいayashii – doubtful, suspicious
辛いtsurai つらい – hard, difficult
美しいutsukushi うつくし - beautiful
面白いomoshiroi おもしろい - interesting
chikarazuyoiちからずよい - powerful
かこいkakoi – stylish, handsome
惜しいoshii – regretful
Apr 30, 2008
After Verbing in Base TE + KARA
Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar 109
JPPGG #109
Three Ways of Saying “After Verb’ing” in Japanese.
After, After, and After - 3 ways to say, “after verb’ing” in Japanese –
There are 3 easy ways to say to “after verb’ing” in Japanese
1. verb (base TE) + KARA
2. verb (base TA) + ATO DE
3. verb (base TA) + NOCHI NI
By themselves KARA, ATO DE, NOCHI NI all mean, after similar equivalent expressions for the English terms following or later.
To say that you will do something after doing something else in Japanese, use the following grammar constructions:
1. Verb (Base TE) + KARA – after verb’ing
Take verbs and put them into base TE.
Verbs ending in KU become ITE ~ITE
Verbs ending in GU become IDE ~IDE
Verbs ending in U, TSU, or RU ~ TTE
Verbs ending in BU, MU or NU ~NDE
The verb suru or verbs ending in SU become SHITE ~SHITE
Then add + KARA (after)
HANASU (v. to speak) HANASHITE
CHOTTO HANASHITE KARA IKIMASHO^ -
Let’s go after we talk a little.
YOMU (v. to speak) YONDE
HON O YONDE KARA NERU TO OMOIMASU.
I think I’ll sleep after reading a book.
TABERU (v. to eat) TABETE
TABETE KARA SHUKUDAI O SURU. –
After I eat, I’m going to do homework.
UNDO WO SHITE KARA SHAWA O SURU KOTO GA SUKI DESU.
I like to take a shower after I do my exercise.
2. verb (base TA) + ATO DE - after verb’ing
Take verbs and put them into base TA
NOMU (v. to drink) NONDA
NOMU (base TA) NONDA
Verb ending in either BU, MU or NU
ta nda
NOMU in base TA is NONDA
SAKE O NONDA ATO DE NEMUKUNATTA –
I got sleepy after drinking some* sake.
*NOCHI NI = ATO DE, NOCHI DE
3. verb ( base TA) + NOCHI NI - after verb’ing
SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI IE NI KAETTA –
I went home after drinking some sake.
SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI INU O SAMPO SHI NI ITTA –
(After I drank some sake I took the dog for a walk.)
As you can see from these examples, there are two sides with two verbs comprising this construction. (Predicates and the like.)
Verb 1 in base TE +KARA and Verb 2
Verb 2 can be past, present, negative or positive, but Verb 1 must be in base TE.
As Always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 15
or to continue the training, see
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 17
JPPGG #109
Three Ways of Saying “After Verb’ing” in Japanese.
After, After, and After - 3 ways to say, “after verb’ing” in Japanese –
There are 3 easy ways to say to “after verb’ing” in Japanese
1. verb (base TE) + KARA
2. verb (base TA) + ATO DE
3. verb (base TA) + NOCHI NI
By themselves KARA, ATO DE, NOCHI NI all mean, after similar equivalent expressions for the English terms following or later.
To say that you will do something after doing something else in Japanese, use the following grammar constructions:
1. Verb (Base TE) + KARA – after verb’ing
Take verbs and put them into base TE.
Verbs ending in KU become ITE ~ITE
Verbs ending in GU become IDE ~IDE
Verbs ending in U, TSU, or RU ~ TTE
Verbs ending in BU, MU or NU ~NDE
The verb suru or verbs ending in SU become SHITE ~SHITE
Then add + KARA (after)
HANASU (v. to speak) HANASHITE
CHOTTO HANASHITE KARA IKIMASHO^ -
Let’s go after we talk a little.
YOMU (v. to speak) YONDE
HON O YONDE KARA NERU TO OMOIMASU.
I think I’ll sleep after reading a book.
TABERU (v. to eat) TABETE
TABETE KARA SHUKUDAI O SURU. –
After I eat, I’m going to do homework.
UNDO WO SHITE KARA SHAWA O SURU KOTO GA SUKI DESU.
I like to take a shower after I do my exercise.
2. verb (base TA) + ATO DE - after verb’ing
Take verbs and put them into base TA
NOMU (v. to drink) NONDA
NOMU (base TA) NONDA
Verb ending in either BU, MU or NU
ta nda
NOMU in base TA is NONDA
SAKE O NONDA ATO DE NEMUKUNATTA –
I got sleepy after drinking some* sake.
*NOCHI NI = ATO DE, NOCHI DE
3. verb ( base TA) + NOCHI NI - after verb’ing
SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI IE NI KAETTA –
I went home after drinking some sake.
SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI INU O SAMPO SHI NI ITTA –
(After I drank some sake I took the dog for a walk.)
As you can see from these examples, there are two sides with two verbs comprising this construction. (Predicates and the like.)
Verb 1 in base TE +KARA and Verb 2
Verb 2 can be past, present, negative or positive, but Verb 1 must be in base TE.
As Always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 15
or to continue the training, see
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 17
Apr 29, 2008
kamo ne
Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar (JPPGG) #109
PLAIN FORM + KAMOSHIRENAI - to probably verb
In Japanese, to say that something will most likely happen in the future or to say that something has probably already occurred, we use the word ~kamoshirenai. Both Japanese nouns and Japanese verbs in plain form (i.e. Base III) can be used to which we can attach one of three variable endings which vary in politeness.
When used after nouns, or verbs in plain form, KAMOSHIREMASEN means: maybe noun, maybe verb, might have been noun, might have verb'ed, or probably noun, or probably verb etc. Although by definition, KAMO, by itself, is the word for duck, the origin or roots of the word KAMOSHIREMASEN come mainly from the verb to know, or, SHIRU. In this case, SHIRENAI means unable to know. The KA and the MO pose even more uncertainty when put together because KA is the question mark (?) particle, and MO is the also particle.
KAMO without SHIRENAI or SHIREMASEN is less polite but still understood. To use KAMO by itself is permissible when speaking with close friends or acquaintances. However, since saying just KAMO is less polite, beginners should avoid saying it. Its best to always use the most polite form KAMOSHIREMASEN, but it's ok to say KAMOSHIRENAI when you are in company of close friends etc.
If you were to listen to 10 minutes of any random Japanese conversation, you would most likely or probably (pun intended) hear the word KAMOSHIRENAI within that time. KAMOSHIRENAI is always used in Japanese conversation. Verbs in base III are equivalent to what is known as plain form, of the verb, sometimes designated in JPPGG© Ghetto Grammar as P.F.
P.F. Verb+ KAMOSHIRENAI - most common, but less polite
P.F. Verb+ KAMOSHIREMASEN - more polite
P.F. Verb+ KAMO - least polite and funny to the ear
1. TORARETA KAMOSHIREMASEN
It might have been stolen
2. SOTSUGYO SHISO?
SURU KAMOSHIRENAI
Are you going to graduate?
It's possible! (Maybe!)
3. ARE WA KAMO KAMO
It's a duck, probably.-or-
It's most likely a duck.-or-
It's probably a duck.-etc.
4. OISHII KAMO NE!
Its probably tastes pretty good! (Doesn't it?)
(Tasty duck hunh)
As always, Ganbatte Ne!
Do your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei.
for more on Japanese Grammar please see http://squidoo.com/japanesegrammar89
Brett McCluskey Enjoys sharing his knowledge of Japanese grammar with those serious about second language acquistion. See more of his unorthodox learning methods at http://www.jappermon.com/ or http://squidoo.com/japanesejoy further Japanese grammar study can be found at How to count in Japanese - http://squidoo.com/ichinisan
PLAIN FORM + KAMOSHIRENAI - to probably verb
In Japanese, to say that something will most likely happen in the future or to say that something has probably already occurred, we use the word ~kamoshirenai. Both Japanese nouns and Japanese verbs in plain form (i.e. Base III) can be used to which we can attach one of three variable endings which vary in politeness.
When used after nouns, or verbs in plain form, KAMOSHIREMASEN means: maybe noun, maybe verb, might have been noun, might have verb'ed, or probably noun, or probably verb etc. Although by definition, KAMO, by itself, is the word for duck, the origin or roots of the word KAMOSHIREMASEN come mainly from the verb to know, or, SHIRU. In this case, SHIRENAI means unable to know. The KA and the MO pose even more uncertainty when put together because KA is the question mark (?) particle, and MO is the also particle.
KAMO without SHIRENAI or SHIREMASEN is less polite but still understood. To use KAMO by itself is permissible when speaking with close friends or acquaintances. However, since saying just KAMO is less polite, beginners should avoid saying it. Its best to always use the most polite form KAMOSHIREMASEN, but it's ok to say KAMOSHIRENAI when you are in company of close friends etc.
If you were to listen to 10 minutes of any random Japanese conversation, you would most likely or probably (pun intended) hear the word KAMOSHIRENAI within that time. KAMOSHIRENAI is always used in Japanese conversation. Verbs in base III are equivalent to what is known as plain form, of the verb, sometimes designated in JPPGG© Ghetto Grammar as P.F.
P.F. Verb+ KAMOSHIRENAI - most common, but less polite
P.F. Verb+ KAMOSHIREMASEN - more polite
P.F. Verb+ KAMO - least polite and funny to the ear
1. TORARETA KAMOSHIREMASEN
It might have been stolen
2. SOTSUGYO SHISO?
SURU KAMOSHIRENAI
Are you going to graduate?
It's possible! (Maybe!)
3. ARE WA KAMO KAMO
It's a duck, probably.-or-
It's most likely a duck.-or-
It's probably a duck.-etc.
4. OISHII KAMO NE!
Its probably tastes pretty good! (Doesn't it?)
(Tasty duck hunh)
As always, Ganbatte Ne!
Do your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei.
for more on Japanese Grammar please see http://squidoo.com/japanesegrammar89
Brett McCluskey Enjoys sharing his knowledge of Japanese grammar with those serious about second language acquistion. See more of his unorthodox learning methods at http://www.jappermon.com/ or http://squidoo.com/japanesejoy further Japanese grammar study can be found at How to count in Japanese - http://squidoo.com/ichinisan
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