Introduction to Japanese grammar
All about hiragana, katakana and kanji
Roundish characters derived from kanji - simplification– for grammar
Combination of consonant and vowel (or vowel only) – there is just one consonant only syllable: n
Also derived from kanji - parts
Angular – for foreign words, foreign names and sounds (animals), onomatopoeia (knocking, rain, sensations, adjectives…)
Noun, verb stem, adjectives
Came from China in the 8th century – until that time Japan did NOT have any writing system and all the knowledge was passed down by word of mouth
60,000, 2136 in school (9 years of compulsory schooling) – ministry of education
An average Japanese can usually read around 5000 kanji
Chinese pronunciation on-yomi (yomu = to read)
Japanese pronunciation kun-yomi
Rule of thumb: one word consisting of 1 kanji = kun-yomi,
one word consisting of 2 or more kanji (or kanji + katakana) = on-yomi
Romaji our Latin based alphabet Rome + ji
Kanji have strokes and a stroke order. Horizontal strokes are made from left to right and vertical strokes from top to bottom. The same goes for the stroke order – strokes at the top are drawn first. Strokes on the left side are also written prior to those on the right side.
Particles – show which role a certain word plays in a sentence.
Object, subject, place of action, a means, direction, time etc.
Wa – topic marker (actually hiragana ha is used)
Topic is usually the subject of the sentence – who/what does something?
On whom/what is an action performed?
飲む nomu casual form/base form – dictionary form
飲みます nomimasu (polite masu-form)
Sanzu wa kecchappu wo nomimasu.
Feru sanzu wa masutaado wo nomimasu.
Watashi wa mizu wo nomimasu.
Papirusu wa supagetti wo tabemasu.
Sanzu wa hottodoggu wo tabemasu.
トリエルさんはバタースコッチシナモンパイを食(た)べます。
Torieru-san wa bataasukocchishinamonpai wo tabemasu.
Andain wa sushi o tabemasu.
Feru sanzu wa kecchappu wo nomimasen.
Furisuku wa osake wo nomimasen.
エッジ様はスパゲッティを食べません。ラザニアを食べます。
Ejji-sama wa supagetti wo tabemasen. Razania wo tabemasu.
Arufi wa anime wo mimasu.
Andain mo anime wo mimasu.
Papirusu wa anime wo mimasen. MTT wo mimasu.
Azugoa wa torieru wo mimasu.
Torieru wa furisuku wo mimasu.
Torieru wa hon wo yomimasu.
Hanii wa buruuberii wo mimasu.
Sanzu wa papirusu wo mimasu.
Sanzu wa feru wo mimasen.
