Japanese lesson: The は particle

Apr 28, 2011 22:48

Seeing as how I have two friends who are trying to teach themselves Japanese, I thought I should help them keep motivated with posts about the Japanese language. Also, I need to keep myself motivated, too. XD

Anyway, I thought I'd start with some grammar right away, but if that goes over your head, that's okay. At least you can practise reading hiragana, right? :Dd

First, I'd like to talk about the は particle. No, actually, before we go into that, you have to know what a particle is. Particles work kind of like prepositions in English; they indicate location, movement, subject, direct object, etc. For example, in English we say, "I live in Japan." That "in" is a preposition that indicates a location. Note that it comes before the location it indicates. In Japanese, the particle always comes after. The verb usually comes after, too.

Look at the translation of that example:

にほんに すんでいます。

にほん = Japan
に = "in" (location particle)
すんでいます = live

Literally, it becomes "[I] Japan in live".

Don't worry about this particle yet. I just want you to understand what a particle is. Before we learn about the location particle in detail, there's a more important particle you need to know. The は particle.

If you know your hiragana, you are aware that は is pronounced as "ha". However, when used as a particle, this kana is pronounced as "wa". This may sound a little troubling at first, but don't worry, you'll soon be able to naturally guess when は is "ha" and when it's "wa".

So, what does the は particle do?

It's a topic particle, that is to say, it indicates the topic of a sentence. The topic is usually the subject, but not always. It indicates what (or who) the sentence is about.

So, let's say you want to tell someone your name, or your occupation, or your nationality. That means you want to talk about yourself. That means you're going to put the は particle after the word for "I".

There are many words for "I" in Japanese. If you watch anime, surely you've heard some of them. The standard word, however, is わたし.

This is how you say your name:

わたしは [insert name here] です。

For example:

わたしは きく です。 = I am Kiku.

わたし = I
は = [topic particle, pronounced "wa"]
です = am (also "are" or "is" - Japanese has no verbal inflection for person)

As you can see, your sentence starts with the topic of the sentence (わたし), followed by the particle that indicates the topic (は), then your name, and finally, at the very end, the verb (です).

One important difference between English and Japanese. In English, the subject is (normally) obligatory. You can't say, "Am Kiku," or "Is a book," or "Are going to school?" just like that. You have to state the subject, "I am Kiku," "It is a book," "Are you going to school?"

In Japanese, you don't have to do that, as long as it's obvious from context what you're talking about. In fact, you're strongly advised to refrain from repeating the same topic over and over. If you've already used わたしは in your first sentence, and the following sentences are also about yourself, that was more than enough. In fact, even in the first sentence it's optional. That's why I'll now keep わたしは in parenthesis; because you can leave it out.

So, now that you've said your name, how to tell people your occupation? The structure is the same:

(わたしは)がくせい です。

がくせい = student

Here's a list of common occupations so you can practise your hiragana:

きょうし = teacher
いしゃ = doctor
かんごふ = nurse (female)
べんごし = lawyer
さっか = writer
てんいん = store clerk
かがくしゃ = scientist
けんちくか = architect
ぎんこういん = banker
かいしゃいん = office worker
げいじゅつか = artist

So, if you want to say your nationality? Yep, same structure.

(わたしは)にほんじん です。 = I am Japanese.

Saying your nationality is very easy; all you have to do is add the suffix じん to the name of the country you're from.

にほん (Japan) > にほんじん (Japanese)
アメリカ (America, USA) > アメリカじん (American)
カナダ (Canada) > カナダじん (Canadian)
イタリア (Italy) > イタリアじん (Italian)
フィンランド (Finland) > フィンランドじん (Finnish)
ちゅうごく (China) > ちゅうごくじん (Chinese)

And so on and so forth.

If you want to make it a question rather than a statement, then all you have to do is add か to the end of the sentence.

(あなたは)がくせい ですか?

あなた = "you"

Try to avoid the word あなた with strangers, though. If you know the person's name, use it instead. Don't forget to add the honorific さん to the name, for politeness.

きくさんは がくせい ですか? = Are you a student, Kiku? (Literally, "Is Kiku a student?")

The answer can be either はい (yes) or いいえ (no).

A:きくさんは がくせい ですか?
B:はい、そうです。

そうです = that's right

A:きくさんは アメリカじん ですか?
B:いいえ、にほんじん です。

Oh, but of course, you can't just say your name when you're introducing yourself! Just like in English we should say, "Hello!" or "Nice to meet you!" it is also polite to say certain phrases when you're introducing yourself in Japanese.

はじめまして

This is what you say first of all when you're meeting someone for the first time. It literally means "for the first time".

(どうぞ)よろしく おねがいします。

This is what you say at the end of your introduction, and it's pretty much like the English, "Nice to meet you." If you're meeting someone in person, say this while bowing. By the way, the どうぞ part is optional, for extra politeness.

So, to sum it up, this is what your (basic) self-introduction is going to be like:

はじめまして。(わたしは)[name] です。どうぞ よろしく おねがいします。

Let's see our friend Kiku introduce himself as an example:

はじめまして。きくです。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。

And that's it for now. I tried to keep it simple, though it got kind of long... Let me know if you found anything confusing.

And now, because all that hiragana bothers me and kanji needs more love, here's a list of some of the words I've used in this lesson written in kanji. So that you can at least see what they actually look like and how cool it'll be when you learn them. Don't be scared, they're easier than they look!

私【わたし】= I
学生【がくせい】= student
教師【きょうし】= teacher
医者【いしゃ】= doctor
作家【さっか】= writer
店員【てんいん】= store clerk
銀行員【 ぎんこういん 】= banker
会社員【かいしゃいん】 = office worker
日本【にほん】= Japan
中国【ちゅうごく】= China
人【じん】= (nationality suffix)

Sorry if this lesson was boring. XD

lessons, japanese

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