Japanese Learning: Sentence expressing ownership “[Kono] [noun] wa [Person] [No] desu.”; Introduction of one of ko-so-a words’ group.

What we learned yesterday was a sentence that expresses ownership using noun-like “no”.

1. [Pronoun] wa [Person] [no] desu.”

example; Are wa watashi no desu.

The problem of sentence 1 is that it doesn’t say anything about what the person owns. We are going to learn today a sentences construction such that can express what the person owns. In order to do this, another ko-so-a words’ group will be introduced.

We know one ko-so-a words’ group that are pronouns “kore”, “sore”, and “are”.

– Kore : a thing very near to the speaker and the listener

– Sore : a thing a little distant from the speaker. If the thing is very near to the listener, the listener will uses “kore” for the same thing when the listener speaks about it.

– Are : a thing far from both of the speaker and the listener

Today’s ko-so-a words are “noun modifiers” that are placed in front of a noun, and modify the noun. Usually, a word modifying a noun is to be called an adjective. But what I call “noun modifiers” are words that are different from I-adjectives and Na-adjectives of Japanese language.

– Kono + noun — example ; kono hon (This book)

– Sono + noun — example ; sono jisho (The dictionary that is a little distant from me)

– Ano + noun — example ; ano kuruma (That car over there)

Look at the difference between the two sentences of three pairs.

– Kore wa watashi no desu. (This is mine.)

– Kono hon wa watashi no desu. (This book is mine.)

– Sore wa Satou-san no desu. (It is Ms. Sato’s.)

– Sono jisho wa Satou-san no desu. (The dictionary there is Ms. Sato’s.)

– Are wa sensei no desu. (That is (our) teacher’s.)

– Ano kuruma wa Sensei no desu. (That car over there is (our) teacher’s.)

Japanese Learning: Sentence expressing ownership “[Pronoun] wa [Person] no desu.”; “no” that functions as a noun.

What we learned yesterday was a sentence that expresses ownership as below.

1. [Pronoun] wa [Person] no [Noun] desu.

example; Are wa watashi no Hon desu. (That is my book.)

Today, too, we are going to learn a sentence construction that expresses ownership.

2. [Pronoun] wa [Person] no desu.”

example; Are wa watashi no desu. (That is mine.)

The sentence 2 doesn’t say about “what is mine”. And it seems that the sentence 2 is a contracted form of 1. But “-no” in the sentence 1 and “no” in the sentence 2 are slightly different. “-no” in 1 is a particle. But “no” in 2 functions as if it is a noun. In later stage of Japanese learning (but still in beginner’s level), you will see that this kind of “no” has a function to make verbs, I-adjectives, and Na-adjectives “a noun phrase”.  

For today, it is better to think “no” in 2 is a contracted form of noun “mono” that means “a thing”.

Practice and remember the conversation below;

A : Kore wa dare no desuka. (Whose is this?)

B : Sore wa Satou-san no desu. (It is Ms. Sato’s.)

Japanese Learning: Sentence expressing ownership “[Pronoun] wa [Person] no [Noun] desu.”

Actually, today’s sentence is the same kind as yesterday.

1. [Pronoun] wa [Noun1] no [Noun2] desu.

Using a word for a person into [Noun1] as below, sentence “1” can express ownership.

2. [Pronoun] wa [Person] no [Noun] desu.

“-no” is a particle, and basically “A no B” in Japanese is “B of A” in English. However, in this case of 2, “A no B” can be understood as “A’s B” in English.

Example;

– Kore wa watashi no Hon desu. (This is my book.)

– Sore wa Satou-san no Jisho desu. (It is Ms. Sato’s dictionary.)

– Are wa Sensei no kuruma desu. (That is (our) teacher’s car.)

There are three pronouns “Kore”, “Sore”, “Are” in the examples above. You need to choose one of three based on spatial positions of the speaker, the listener, and the object.

Practice and remember the conversation below;

A : Sore wa dare no Nohto desuka. (Whose notebook is it?)

B : Kore wa Suzuki-san no Nohto desu. (This is Mr. Suzuki’s notebook.)

Japanese Learning: Noun predicate sentence; [Pronoun] wa [Noun1] no [Noun2] desu.

Japanese sentences are classified in three by the type of predicates;

1. Noun predicate sentences

2. Adjective predicate sentences (I-adjectives and Na-adjectives)

3. Verb predicate sentences

So far, we have only learned “1. Noun predicate sentences”. Review one of noun predicate sentences that is using particle “-no” as below;

4. [Noun1] wa [Noun2] no [Noun3] desu.

Example;

5. Watashi wa Niigata Daigaku no Gakusei desu. (I am a student of Niigata University)

-Watashi : personal pronoun ( I )

-wa : particle ; topic marker, and in this case, also subject marker

-Niigata Daigaku : proper noun (Niigata University) ; this modifies “Gakusei (student)” to limit the range of meaning of student.

-no : particle ; “A no B” in Japanese is like “B of A” in English

-Gakusei : noun (a student/students)

5. is a sentence with the construction of 4., and also described as below;

5’. [Person] wa [modifier] no [Noun describing types of people] desu.

But the sentence construction 4. has more variations. In addition to sentences about person/people, let’s take a look at sentences about things.

6. Kore wa Nihongo no Jisho desu. (This is a dictionary of Japanese.)

You know three pronouns “Kore”, “Sore”, and “Are”. You need to choose one of three based on spatial positions of the speaker, the listener, and the object. Suppose that both the speaker and the listener are close to the object for the following conversation.

A : Kore wa Nan desuka. (What is this?)

B : Kore wa Nihon no Ringo desu. (This is an apple of Japan)

Japanese Learning: Multiple (Two) choice questions of Noun Predicate Sentence;

We have already learned two types of interrogatives;

1. Yes-No questions

A : Koukousei desuka. (Are you a high school student?)

B : Iie, watashi wa koukousei dewa arimasen. (No, I am not a high school student.)

A : Ja, Daigakusei desuka. (Then, are you a university student?)

B : Hai, Watashi wa Daigakusei desu. (Yes, I am a university student.)

2. Wh-questions

A : Ano hito wa dare desuka. (Who is that person?)

B : Ano hito wa Sato-san desu. (That person is Ms. Sato.)

Today we are going to learn another type of interrogative sentence. It is one of multiple choice questions, but with the least number of choices.

3. Multiple choice questions

A : Sore wa Hon desuka, Jisho desuka. (Is it a book or a dictionary?)

B : Kore wa Hon desu. (This is a book.)

The sentence A is a “Two-choice question”. When you are asked by the A, you cannot answer with “Hai (yes)” or “Iie (no)”. You need to choose one of the two, and to answer by saying the nouns that was used in the question. Perhaps there may be a situation in which you would say like the follows;

B’ : Iie, Hon demo Jisho demo arimasen. Nohto desu.

(No, this is neither book nor dictionary, but a notebook.)

But I want you to learn one at a time. Don’t care much about the answer B’. What you need to learn today is the question A and the answer B.

Japanese Learning: <Answers for yesterday> How to choose Pronouns “Kore”, “Sore”, or “Are”.

– Kore : a thing very near to the speaker and the listener

– Sore : a thing a little distant from the speaker but very near to the listener

– Are : a thing far from both of the speaker and the listener

Answer for Q1 : Ringo is “an apple”

A : Kore wa nan desuka.

B : Kore wa ringo desu.

Answer for Q2 : Banana is “a banana”

A : Kore wa nan desuka.

B : Sore wa banana desu.

Answer for Q3 : Sakana is “a fish”

A : Sore wa nan desuka.

B : Kore wa sakana desu.

Answer for Q4 : Tori is “a bird”

A : Are wa nan desuka.

B : Are wa tori desu.

Japanese Learning: How to choose Pronouns “Kore”, “Sore”, or “Are”.

Kore, Sore, and Are are pronouns and one of the word groups of “Ko-So-A words”.

– Kore : a thing very near to the speaker and the listener

– Sore : a thing a little distant from the speaker but very near to the listener

– Are : a thing far from both of the speaker and the listener

How the person A and B would choose “Kore”, “Sore”, or “Are”? Think about them from Q1 to Q4.

Q1 : Ringo is “an apple”

A : { Kore or Sore or Are } wa nan desuka.

B : { Kore or Sore or Are } wa ringo desu.

Q2 : Banana is “a banana”

A : { Kore or Sore or Are } wa nan desuka.

B : { Kore or Sore or Are } wa banana desu.

Q3 : Sakana is “a fish”

A : { Kore or Sore or Are } wa nan desuka.

B : { Kore or Sore or Are } wa sakana desu.

Q4 : Tori is “a bird”

A : { Kore or Sore or Are } wa nan desuka.

B : { Kore or Sore or Are } wa tori desu.

The answers for Q1 through Q4 will be shown tomorrow.

Japanese Learning: Pronoun “Sore”; A speaker calls a thing “Sore” which is on a listener’s side.

Yesterday we learned “Kore”. Kore, Sore, and Are are pronouns and one of the word groups of “Ko-So-A words”. Yesterday I wrote that Kore, Sore, and Are are corresponding to “This”, “It”, and “That”, respectively. Another definition is like; Kore is a thing here or near, Sore is a thing in middle distance, Are is a thing that is in distant place. However, “Sore” is not so simple. If a speaker and a listener are together in limited space like inside taxi, the definition “Sore is in middle distance” is okay. But in many situations, what is Sore for a speaker can be Kore for a listener.

– Kore : a thing very near to the speaker and the listener

– Sore : a thing a little distant from the speaker but very near to the listener

– Are : a thing far from both of the speaker and the listener

Suppose that there is a dictionary on the table. Person A and B are standing by the table and they are face to face.

A : Kore wa nan desuka. (What is this?)

B : Kore wa Jisho desu. (This is a dictionary.)

This is yesterday’s conversation.

Different from the situation above, suppose that Person A and B are standing face to face with the distance of 2 meters (6 feet) between the two. The person B has a smartphone on her hand.

A : Sore wa nan desuka. (What is it?)

B : Kore wa Sumaatofon desu. (This is a smartphone.)

Japanese Learning: Noun predicate sentences using Pronouns “Kore” for the subject, and using an interrogative word “Nan” for the predicate.

There are groups of words that start with one of Ko-, So-, and A-. Today we are going to learn pronouns “Kore”, which is one of Ko-So-A words “Kore, Sore, and Are”. Simply put, these three are corresponding to “This”, “It”, and “That”. But actually, it is not so simple for “Sore”. Let’s use only “Kore” for today.

Since “Kore” is a pronoun, it can be used in the same way as nouns. Although Kore can be either of a subject or a predicate, just for the sake of simplicity, let’s learn a sentence construction in which Kore is used for the subject today.

1. Kore wa Hon desu. (This is a book)

– Kore : pronoun ; this

– wa : particle ; the topic marker and also the subject marker in this case

– Hon : noun ; a book

– desu : polite ending for present-positive

The sentence 1 is a positive one. The negative one is as below;

2. Kore wa Hon dewa arimasen. /Kore wa Hon ja arimasen. (This is not a book.)

An interrogative sentence is easy to make from 1 as below:

3. Kore wa Hon desuka. (Is this a book?)

Note that 3. is an interrogative sentence of [yes-no question]. If you don’t know what “this” is, you need to make your interrogative sentence a [Wh-question].

4. Kore wa Nan desuka. (What is this?)

Nan is the short form of Nani and an interrogative corresponding to “What”. Although the interrogative “Nan” is used, the ending particle for question “ka” is also used at the end of an interrogative sentence.

Practice and remember in the form of a conversation as follows;

A : Kore wa nan desuka. (What is this?)

B : Kore wa Jisho desu. (This is a dictionary.)

Japanese Learning: How to ask “How old are you?”; Nansai desuka./Oikutsu desuka.

We have already leaned [Wh-question] in the form of noun predicate sentences.

A : Ano hito wa dare desuka : Who is that person?

B : Ano hito wa Sato-san desu : That person is Ms. Sato.

A, as a [Wh-question], is asking “Who?”. Today we are going to learn another [Wh-question], which is “How old?” (, although it’s not Wh- but How).

When you say your age or someone’s age, you need to use number. Numbers in Japanese usually are followed by a “quantifier”. For example, “five years old” is “Go sai”; “Go” is five, and “sai” is a quantifier for ages. In the combination of number and quantifier, pronunciation of numbers often changes to adapt the quantifier. Since it is difficult to remember all the combination of numbers and quantifiers, only [number+age quantifier] are shown below;

One year old : Issai (came from Ichi+sai)

Two years old : Ni sai

Three years old : San sai

Four years old : Yon sai (Don’t say “Shi sai”)

Five years old : Go sai

Six years old : Roku sai

Seven years old : Nana sai

Eight years old : Hassai (came from Hachi+sai)

Nine years old : Kyu sai (Don’t say Ku sai)

Ten years old : Jussai (Old people may say Jissai)

Nineteen years old : Juu kyuu sai

Twenty one years old : Nijuu issai

The number should continue to eighty or ninety, but let us stop here.

When you ask age, you will say;

1. Nansai desuka. (“How old are you?” with normal politeness)

2. Oikutsu desuka (How old are you? as an honorable expression)

Let us use 1. only today, because honorable expressions are to be studied later. And also note that “Anata (=you)” doesn’t appear in the question 1 and 2.

Here is an example of question and answer about age.

A : Nansai desuka. (How old are you?)

B : Kyuu sai desu. (I’m nine years old.)

Also, you can ask someone’s age;

3. Satou-san wa nansai desuka. (How old is Ms.Satou?)

Note that the construction of the 3 is as follows;

—– [subject: Satou-san] + [subject marker: wa] + [interrogative word: nansai]

+ [polite ending for present-positive:desu] + [ending particle for question; ka]

Practice and remember the followings

A : Satou-san wa nansai desuka. (How old is Ms.Satou?)

B : Satou-san wa Nijuu-issai desu. (She is twenty-one years old.)

A : Ja, Suzuki-san wa nansai desuka. (Then, how old is Mr. Suzuki?)

B : Suzuki-san mo Nijuu-issai desu. (He is also twenty-one years old.)