Ok continuing from last time, we have our sentences properly ordered now and all we have to do to make them into complete sentences is stick on our particles, or what I like to call them “markers”. Because they “mark” the words in a sentence as a subject or object ect.
I, people, punch = ore, hito naguru
I, feet, love = ore, ashi, suki
I’m, to the toilet, going = Ore, toire, iku
I‘ll, this, to you, give = ore, kore, omae, ageru
This, cool, is = kore, kakkoi, da
For those of you who don’t know what particles are yet, here is a quick description of the main 5.
Wa –topic marker (marks what you are talking "about", almost always comes first)
Ga – capital marker (emphasizes a certain word, marks "this" as opposed to something else)
Wo – object marker (marks “thing/person” of sentence, almost always comes second)
Ni – towards marker (marks when something is moving towards something)
E – destination marker (marks where your going)
You can also think of particles as marking the word that came before it as a certain part of the sentence. And how the sentence handles the word.
Let’s start with the first one
Ore(I), hito(people), naguru(punch)
Ore(I)- wa
We use the generic marker “wa” here, since we don’t want to particularly emphasize I’m the one who punches people, as opposed to somebody else. And a little tip is we almost always use “wa” to start with.
Hito(people)-wo
We use the object marker “wo” here since people, are the objects we're punching. Now we could use “ga” here, if we wanted to stress the fact that it’s people, that we punch, as opposed to dogs or something.
So the complete Japanese sentence that comes out is
オレは人を殴る!
Ore-wa hito-wo naguru! = I punch people!
Ok how about the next sentence.
Ore(I), ashi(feet), suki(love)
Ore(I)- wa
Again we use “wa” after I
Ashi(feet)-ga
In this sentence I chose to use ga, instead of wo. So that you can tell that both are correct, and that now this sentence emphasizes that its, feet! I love as opposed to something else
This comes out to…
Ore-wa ashi-ga suki! = I love FEET!
Time for sentence number 3
Ore(I), toire(toilet), iku(go)
First of all you’ll notice, word for word, the “to” and the “the” are gone. This is because there is no “the” in Japanese, which makes things a lot easier. And “to” we will add now.
Ore(I)-wa
Yet again ore is marked by “wa” I told you it almost always comes first.
Toire(toilet)-e
(this is the "to") Ok e is used here, because we are going to the toilet as a destination, I could use “ni” as well, but with “ni” it just mean I’m going towards the toilet, which is cool to say in Japan btw. I just wanted to show you how e was used.
So…
オレはトイレへ行く
Ore-wa toire-e iku! I’m going to the toilet!
Next we have…
ore(I), kore(this), omae(you), ageru(give)
ore(I)-wa
no surprise here.
Kore-wo
Wo is used because kore(this) is what were giving to you, it’s the object.
Omae(you)-ni
We use “ni” because we’re giving kore(this) to/towards you. You don’t use e, because you are not a destination, simply a direction.
Dun du dun…
オレはこれをお前にあげる
Ore-wa kore-wo omae-ni ageru = I’m giving this to you
And last but not least we have…
Kore(this), kakkoi(cool), da(is)
Kore(this)- wa
Wa is used for the usual reasons, or of couse “ga” could be used.
Kakkoi(cool)- none!
Simply because kakkoi is an adjective, in other words a description. And descriptions can’t go anywhere nor do you normally talk about “cool” or descriptions as topic.
Another reason is that da is a special verb called a copula, which means it’s not an action like other verbs, but means “to be” or “is”.
これはかっこいだ
これはかっこいだ
OK hopefully that cleared up a lot of confusion you might be having, again this is a work in progress, and not meant for people who know nothing about Japanese, but as a supplement for those currently studying.
Until next time!
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