Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning

ちょっと今日も書けません。疑問詞と疑問文の中の述語の2つのパラメーターがありますから、例文を考えるのが大変です。後日に回そうと思います。

We are going to learn the following sentence construction in the exercise A1 of the section 40.

[Interrogative word Question], [Main Clause with Verb Predicate].

This is not just a simple question using interrogative word. Putting an interrogative word question on the subordinate clause, the sentence mentions something about that question. An example is as below;

1. Dare ga Satou-sensei ka, Wakari masen. (I don’t know who Sato-sensei is.)

In order to learn this sentence construction, knowing Interrogative word questions is a prerequisite. Therefore, this post is to review Interrogative word question in conjunction with particles that are put behind the interrogative words.

(1) Dare (Who)

1) Dare ga

“-ga” is the particle that indicates the subject.

2. Q : Dare ga Kabin o Kowashi mashita ka. (Who broke the flower vase?)

A : Suzuki-kun ga Kowashi mashita. (Suzuki-kun broke it.)

2) Dare o

“-o” is the particle that indicates an object of action by a transitive verb.

3. Q : Sensei wa Dare o Chu’ui shimashita ka. (Whom did the teacher scold?)

A : Sensei wa Takahasi-kun o Chu’ui shimashita. (Suzuki-kun broke it.)

Note that “-o Chu’ui suru” and “-ni Chu’ui suru” are different in meanings.

3) Dare ni

“-ni” is the particle that indicates destination where an action is heading toward. But sometimes “-ni” indicates who makes giving/receiving, passive, and causative actions. It is a little funny that “-ni” is usually a goal point but sometimes become start point of action.

4. Q : Dare ni Tegami o Okuri masu ka. (Whom do you send the letter?)

A : Satou-sa ni Okuri masu. (I send this to Sato-san.)

“-ni” in this sentence 4 indicates whom the action is heading to.

5. Q : Dare ni Shikarareta n desu ka. (Who were you scolded by?)

A : Kobayashi-sensei ni Shikarare mashita. (I was scolded by Kobayashi-sensei.)

“-ni” in this sentence 5 indicates who made the action of a passive voice.

(2) Nani/Nan (What)

1) Nani ga

“-ga” is the particle that indicates the subject. But sometimes it seems to indicate an object of desire, potential, emotion, and so on when a predicate is a stative word like adjectives.

6. Q : Satou-san wa Ima Nani ga ichiban Hoshii desu ka. (What do you want most right now?)

A : Watashi wa Koibito ga Hoshii desu. (I want a partner.)

“Hoshii” is an I-adjective that expresses one’s desire. An object of desire is usually indicated by “ga”. But don’t forget that an object of transitive verb is indicated by “-o” in the form of “[Subject] wa/ga [Object] o [Transitive Verb].”

2) Nani o

“-o” is the particle that indicates an object of action by a transitive verb.

7. Q : Nani o Tabe masu ka. (What do you eat?)

A : Tamago o Tabe masu. (I eat egg.)

3) Nani ni

“-ni” is the particle that indicates destination where an action is heading toward.

8. Q : Nani ni Kyoumi ga Ari masu ka. (What are you interested in?)

A : Jinkou-Chinou ni Kyouni ga Ari masu. (I am interested in AI.)

Someone may interpret this “-ni,” differently, but you can think “-ni” in the sentence 8 indicates where the interest is heading toward.

4) Nani de

“-de” is the particle that indicates what you use while you are making action such as tools and place.

9. Q : Nani de Kami o Kiri masu ka. (By what do you cut paper?)

A : Hasami de Kami o Kri masu. (I cut paper by scissors.)

You can also use “Nande” as shortened “Nani de”. But “Nande” is frequently used for the question of Why. Therefore, if you say “Nande Kami o Kiri masuka?”, the listener would think that your question is “Why are you going to cut that paper?”

(3) Doko/Dochira (Where)

1) Doko ga

10. Q : Nihon Ryokou nara, Doko ga Ii desu ka. (When it comes to travel in Japan, where is the good place?)

A : Kusatsu no Onsen ga Ii desu yo. (Kusatsu Onsen is a good place to go.)

2) Doko o

11. Q : Kippu o Kau Toki, Doko o Oshi masu ka. (When I buy a ticket, where do I need to push?)

A : Kono Botan o Oshi masu. (Push this button.)

Suppose they are in front of a ticket vending machine in a railway station. “Where” means “which button” on the machine.

3) Doko ni

12. Q : Doko ni Toire ga Ari masu ka. (Where is a washroom?)

A : Aosoko ni Toire ga Ari masu. (It’s over there.)

Suppose they are in front of a ticket vending machine in a railway station. “Where” means “which button” on the machine. By the way, “Where is a restroom?” is the most important sentence when you learning the second language. Any second language textbook must introduce “Where is a restroom” in the early part of the book. This is my belief. In the case of Japanese, the question 12Q is not a best sentence in this regard, every Japanese textbooks introduce “Toire wa Doko desuka.” This is also a good example to show that the particle “wa” needs to be introduced prior to “-ga” as the subject indicator.

4) Doko de

13. Q : Doko de Obentou ga Kae masu ka. (Where can I buy a lunchbox?)

A : Aono Omise de Obentou ga Kae masu. (You can buy a lunchbox in that shop.)

Having looked at the example 12 and 13, you may wonder how to choose “-ni” or “-de” for a place because “Asoko ni” and “Aono Omise de” are both indicating places. Follow the rules below;

– [Place] + ni : Place of existence

– [Place] + de : Place to make action

(4) Dou/Ikaga (How)

So far, the interrogative words “Dare, Nani, Doko” are a kind of Noun. But interrogative word “Dou” is not a noun but an adverb. Therefore, you don’t need a particle behind “Dou”. When it comes to adverbs, you need to pay attention what verb that adverb is related to. Let us check the uses of “Dou” with verbs “yaru(yatte)”, “suru(shimashita)”, and “suru(shimasu)”.

1) Dou yatte (How)

14. Q : Dou yatte Umi ni Iki masu ka. (How do you get to the sea?)

A : Niigata-eki kara Hamauracho-iki no Basu ni Notte iki masu. (I go there getting on a bus for Hamaura-cho at Niigata Station.)

The verb “yaru/yarimasu” is one of giving/receiving verbs with a little roughness. Also, it is used as a little rough alternative for the verb “suru/shimasu”. The example sentence 14 uses “yaru” for the latter meaning. “Yatte” is the Te-form of “yaru/yarimasu” which is a Group 1-R verb because its Nai-form is “Ya<ra>nai”. Te-form of Group1 verbs can be obtained by “I/Chi/Ri=>tte, Bi/Mi/Ni=>nde, Ki=>ite, Gi=>ide, Shi=>shite, Ikimasu=>Itte”. Applying ““I/Chi/Ri=>tte,” to “Ya<ri>masu”, we can get “Yatte” as the Te-form. The important thing is that a verb in Te-form modifies another verb behind. A word modifying a verb is, by definition, an adverbial. Therefore, “Dou yatte” still works as an adverb.

2) Dou shimashitaka (What happened)

15. Q : Dou Shi mashita ka. (What happened to you?)

A : Kinou kara, Netsu ga Dete, Nodo mo Itaku Nari mashita. (I have got high temperature and throat ache since yesterday.)

The interrogative adverb “Dou” is related to the verb “suru/shimasu”.

3) Dou shimasuka (What are you going to do)

16. Q : Nichiyoubi ni Ame ga Futtara, Dou Shi masu ka. (If it rains on Sunday, what are you going to do?)

A : Ie ni Imasu. (I stay at home.)

The interrogative adverb “Dou” is related to the verb “suru/shimasu”.

An adverb and a noun are different. But some adverbs can be predicates of sentences with “desu” which ends up looking like a noun. For example,

– Yukkuri Hashiri masu. ((He/She) runs slowly.)

— the adverb “Yukkrui” modifies the verb “Hashirimasu”.

– Kame no Aruki Kata wa Yukkuri desu. (The way a turtle walks is slow.)

— The predicate “Yukkuri desu.” looks like a noun predicate.

“Dou” also can be a predicate with “desu” and “deshita”. Let’s check the expressions using “dou desuka” and “dou deshitaka”.

4) Dou desu ka (How about?)

17. Q : Satou-sensei no Jugyou wa Dou desu ka. (What do you think about Sato-sensei’s class?)

A : Totemo Ii to Omoi masu. (I think it’s very good.)

5) Dou deshita ka (What was it like?)

18. Q : Nihon Ryokou wa Dou deshita ka. (What was it like your travel in Japan?)

A : Totemo Yokatta desu. (It was very good.)

(5) Doushite/Naze/Nande (Why)

As well as “Dou”, these interrogative words are adverbs. Therefore, they are used without a particle their behind.

1) Doushite

19. Q : Doushite Kinou Jugyouni Konakattan desu ka. (Why you didn’t come to the class yesterday?)

A : Kaze o Hiita n desu. (Because I caught a cold.)

“Doushite” is introduced in the exercise A5 of the section 9 before “-nde/-node” is introduced. However, when asked “Doushite (Why)?” and answering to it, it is better to use an expression to say a reason for the answer. “-nde/-node” has a function to reveal something that sounds like “to tell you the truth”. And “-nde/-node” has also a function to add nuance of explanation. Therefore, “Kaze o Hiita ndesu.” sounds more explanatory than “Kaze o Hikimashita.”

2) Naze

20. Q : Naze Kusuri o Nomanai n desu ka. (Why you didn’t take a medicine?)

A : Totemo Takai kara desu. (Because it’s too expensive.)

The answer 20A also uses an expression to say a reason, which is “kara desu.” Answering questions with Doushite and Naze, it is good to use “-ndesu.” or “-karadesu.”

<to be continued! >

どちら

どれ

どの

どんな

いくつ

いくら

なん（何）

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This post was written with reference to many parts of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

“-node,” is a conjunctive particle to express a cause/reason about what is written in the main clause in the following format.

– [Clause of a cause/reason] + node, [Main Clause].

When it comes to the relationship between subordinate clause and main clause, “-node,” is one of conjunctive particles for the direct connection. Suppose that you have read the subordinate clause, and then you read the main clause. If what is written in the main clause is a predictable and/or an expected one from the subordinate clause, the connection between the two clauses is “direct (sequence) connection”.

In the last post, we learned how to use “-node,”. But those were sentences that had verb predicates in the subordinate clause only (Verb+node,). We are learning today sentences whose subordinate clauses have an I-adjective, a Na-adjective, or a Noun predicate.

– [I-adj]+node, / [Na-adj] + node, / [Noun]+na node,

1. Atama ga Itai node, Kaettemo Ii desuka.

(I have a headache, so may I go home?)

“Itai” is an I-adjective. An I-adjective conjugates like; Itai, Itakatta, Itakunai, Itakereba. But to continue to “-node,” it’s just “Itai”.

2. Ashita no Tenki ga Shimpaina node, Tenkiyohou o Nando mo Mimasu.

(Since I worry about tomorrow’s weather, I frequently check the forecast.)

“Shimpai” is a Na-adjective. Na-adjectives also conjugate, but to continue to “-node”, they also take a form to continue to a noun that is “[Na-adj]+na”.

3. Ashita wa Kimatsu-shiken na node, Komban Benkyou shinakereba narimasen.

(I take the final examinations tomorrow, so I need to study tonight.)

“Kimatsu-shiken” is a noun that means the final exams. I wrote in the last post about “-node” that the connection of the subordinate clause and “-node,” is;

[Short ending style] + node,

But, like this sentence 3, when the predicate of the subordinate clause is a noun, an exception happens.

<Wrong> Kimatsu-shiken da node, — [Short ending style] + node,

<Right> Kimatsu-shiken na node, — This looks similar to “[Na-adj] + na + node,”.

In addition, there are two issues; one is a comparison between “-kara,” and “-node,”. The other is a kind of broad issue about connection between subordinate clauses and conjunctive particles in terms of style.

(1) Comparison between “-kara,” and “-node,”.

Both “-kara,” and “-node,” are conjunctive particles whose function is to express cause/reason of what is written in the main clause. Then a question is what is the difference between the two.

1. Atama ga Itai node, Kaettemo Ii desuka.

(I have a headache, so may I go home?)

4. Atama ga Itai kara, Kaettemo Ii desuka.

If you have got a headache while in the class, and want to say to a Japanese teacher you would like to leave, I recommend you saying 1 not 4. Sometimes “-kara,” and “-node,” are explained as “-kara,” is subjective. while “-node,” is objective. The sentence 4 sounds like the speaker takes it for granted as to leaving the class room because of his/her personal matter.

(2) Speech style just in front of conjunctive particle.

We learned the conjunctive particle “-kara,” for cause/reason at the exercise A5 in the section 9, the example was like below. At that time, “short ending style” for a sentence ending had not been introduced yet. Therefore, an example sentence would have been like the one below;

5. Atama ga Itai desu kara, Ie ni Kaeri masu. (Because my head is aching, I am going home.)

Forget about “-kara,” is subjective, while “-node,” is objective. Anyway, if we use “-node,” we get;

6. Atama ga Itai node, Ie ni Kaeri masu. (ditto)

Putting aside of difference of kara and node, is there any difference between the sentences 5 and 6? Look at just in front of the conjunctive particles.

5’. Atama ga <Itai desu> kara, Ie ni Kaeri masu. — “Desu/masu Style”

6’. Atama ga <Itai> node, Ie ni Kaeri masu.  — “Da/Dearu Style”

The difference is the style of I-adjective predicates in front of conjunctive particles. Again, when “kara” was introduced, the short ending style (Da/Dearu) had not been introduced. Now the leaners know what the short ending style is like, the followings are also possible.

5’’. Atama ga <Itai> kara, Ie ni Kaeri masu. — “Da/Dearu Style”

Or, it is also okay to use the polite ending style (Desu/Masu) for “node”.

6’’. Atama ga <Itai desu> node, Ie ni Kaeri masu.  — “Desu/Masu Style”

At a glance of 5’ through to 6’’, you may think there is a freedom with speech style as to in front of conjunctive particles. But my recommendation is to use the short ending style in front of conjunctive particles for most of the cases.

When you speak Japanese to someone, all the sentence ending must be the polite ending style (Desu/Masu) unless you are talking to verry close friends or to people subordinate to you. Sometimes the polite ending style needs to be used even in the middle of a sentence. For example, in the case of the conjunctive particle “-ga,” it is better to use the polite ending style in front of “-ga,” to make it consistent to the sentence ending as shown below;

7. Shigoto wa Isogashii <desu> ga, Tanoshii desu.

(My Job is busy but enjoyable.)

In the case of “-kara”, both the short and polite ending styles are okay, but it is slightly better to use the polite one;

8. Nihongo ga Yome<masen>kara, Shimbun o Kaimasen.

(Since I cannot read Japanese, I don’t buy newspapers.)

But it is better to use the short ending style in front of conjunctive particles in most of the cases.

9. Ashita wa Hareru node, Yama ni Iki masu. (Since the weather will be fine tomorrow, I am going to a mountain.)

9 is better than “Ashita wa Haremasu node” in terms of conciseness.

10. Ame ga Futta ra, Dekake masen. (If it rains, I won’t go out.)

10 is better than “Ame ga Furimashita ra,” to avoid excessive politeness.

Not only {[short ending style]+[conjunctive particle]}, there are some patterns of connections to conjunctive particles, for example;

[Masu-form eliminating “masu”]+[conjunctive particle]

11. Rajio o Tsuke+nagara, Benkyou shimasu. (I study with a radio turning on.)

Mastering many conjunctive particles is an important part of Japanese learning.

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This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section39 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

What we are going to learn in this post is a conjunctive particle “-node,”. Conjunctive particles are functional words which are placed at the end of a subordinate clause in order to connect a main clause behind.

– [Subordinate Clause] + [Conjunctive Particle], [Main Clause].

 There are several types of conjunctive particles. Let us set aside the classification of whether the subordinate clause is hypothetical or definite condition in conjunction with the main clause. When it comes to the relationships between a subordinate clause and a main clause, there are conjunctive particles for direct sequence, contrast, and parallel connections. “-node,” is one of direct conjunctive particles that are used when what the main clause is saying is expected from what the subordinate clause is saying. More specifically, “-node” is used to explain a reason/cause of the main clause.

Youchien e Kodomo o Mukae ni Iku<node>, Yo-ji San-Juppun ni Kaisha o Demasu.

(Because I am going to the kindergarten to pick up my kid, I will leave the office at 4:30.)

In the sentence1, going to the kindergarten to pick up a kid is the reason of leaving the office at 4:30. We can expect “leaving the office at 4:30” in the main clause from “going to the kindergarten to pick up a kid” in the subordinate clause. We usually don’t say we are leaving the office at midnight to go pick up kids. Therefore, we can tell “-node,” is a conjunctive particle of direct conjunction.

The above explanation regards “-node,” as a conjunctive particle. But there is another explanation about “-node” based on what we learned recently. From my point of view, it is better to regard “-node” is a conjunctive particle. So those who don’t like a lengthy explanation, it is okay to skip the following to the example sentences’ part.

(1) We learned how to turn a conjugation word to be a noun equivalent in the section 38. That was to conjugate the word to the forms that can be placed in front of nouns, and to put “-no” behind. In case of verbs, they need to be dictionary form, Nai-form, Ta-form, or V-nakatta. And putting “no”, you will get noun-equivalent like: “Ikuno”, “Ikanaino”, “Ittano”, and “Ikanakattano”. A particle can follow to these noun equivalents. What we have seen in the section 38 is “no+wa”, “no+ga”, and “no+o”.

(2) We learned a sentence construction to describe a reason/cause using the particle “-de” in the exercise A2, section 39. The word in front of “-de” is a noun which can be a reason/cause, for example, words meaning disastrous thing like earthquake, tsunami, fire, accident, and so on.

From (1) and (2), we can think of the followings. If we put particles behind so-called “noun equivalent” like “nowa”, “noga”, and “no’o”, then how about other particles like “de” or “ni”? Yes, we are learning “node” in this exercise A3 S39 (“noni” will be introduces in A3 S43 and A2 S45.). And if we can express a reason/cause using “[Noun]+de”, can a “noun equivalent” fit in the [Noun] part of “[Noun]+de”? Yes of course, it can be like below;

– Ikuno de (Since I go), Iknaino de (Since I will not go), Ittano de(Since I went), and Ikanakattano de (Since I didn’t go)

Now, I have introduced two perspectives on “node.”

– One is “-node,” as a conjunctive particle.

[Short ending style] + node,

– The other is “no de” as a combination of the formal noun and a particle.

[Noun equivalent] + de => {[Stem of Conjugation Words]+ no} + de,

This post introduces application of “node” to verbs only. Application to I-adjectives, Na-adjectives and Nouns are shown in the next post. The verbs need to be in forms that can be connected to a noun; V-dic, V-nai, V-ta, or V-nakatta. Not that these forms are also the short ending style of verb predicates.

1. Imasugu Sochira ni Iku node, Matte ite Itadake masenka.

(Since I am coming there immediately, would you please wait for me?)

2. Kokuban ga Yoku Mienai node, Mae no Seki ni Suwattemo Ii desuka.

(Since I can’t see the blackboard well, let me have a seat in the front.)

3. Ame ga Agatta node, Soto ni Dekake mashita.

(Since the rain stopped, I went outside.)

4. Sensei ga Konakatta node, Jugyou wa Ari masendeshita.

(Since the teacher didn’t come, there was no class.)

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This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section39 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”