Japanese learning – Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning

Japanese Learning: Numbers for counting something in addition to the numbers for values; Hitotsu, Futatsu, Mittsu, —, To’o.

Numbers had already been introduced;

1 : one => Ichi

2 : two => Ni

3 : three => San

—

10 : ten => Juu

In addition to these numbers, there is another numbering system in Japanese that is used when you counting some objects;

1 : there is one object => Hitotsu

2 : there are two objects => Futatsu

3 : there are three objects => Mittsu

4 : there are four objects => Yottsu

5 : five => Itsutsu

6 : six => Muttsu

7 : seven => Nanatsu

8 : eight => Yattsu

9 : nine => Kokonotsu

10 : ten => To’o

Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Ringo ga Ikutsu Arimasuka. (How many apples are there?)

B : Ringo ga Yottsu Arimasu. (There are four apples.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Sentences describing “Existence” when the speaker and the listener are sharing who the subject is; [Person] wa [Place] ni Imasu.

Yesterday’s construction was like follows;

1. [Noun1] no [Subject] wa [Place] ni Arimasu.

example; Satou-san no Uchi wa Kyoto ni Arimasu. (Sato-san’s home is in Kyoto.)

Today’s construction is as follows;

2. [Person] wa [Place] ni Imasu.

example; Satou-san wa Toire no Mae ni Imasu. (Sato-san is in front of the restroom.)

1 uses “Arimasu”, but 2 uses “Imasu” for verb to describe existence. This difference came from the subjects;

– “Uchi” in 1 is a non-animal subject, therefore “Arimasu” is used.

– “Satou-san” in 2 is an animal/human subject, therefore “Imasu” is used.

I hope that you have already known well about how to choose “Arimasu”or “Imasu” when describing an existence of someone or something. Let us change our focus onto the issue of “which to use wa or ga?”

– Satou-san wa Toire no Mae ni Imasu. (Sato-san is in front of the restroom.)

– Toire no Mae ni Satou-san ga Imasu. (In front of the restroom, Sato-san is there.)

As to which to use “wa” or “ga” for the subject marker, this blog has already shown the followings;

– When the predicate is an important information, “wa” is used as subject marker.

– When the subject is an important information, “ga” is used as subject marker.

another explanation is;

– When the speaker and the listener share what the subject is, “wa” is used as subject marker.

Probably the above implies the following;

– When the subject is a new information to the listener, “ga” is used as subject marker.

Then, let me add other explanations. Maybe I need to call them not explanations but examples.

– If “ga” is used for subject in a question, use “ga” in your answer.

– If “wa” is used for subject in a question, use “wa” in your answer.

Example1 (for “ga”)

A : Toire no Mae ni Dare ga Imasuka.

B : Toire no Mae ni Satou-san ga Imasu.

Example2 (for “ga”)

A : Doko ni Satou-san ga Imasuka.

B : Toire no Mae ni Satou-san ga Imasu.

Example3 (for “wa”)

A : Satou-san wa Doko ni Imasuka.

B : Satou-san wa Toire no Mae ni Imasu.

For the issue of which to use “wa” or “ga” for the subject marker, there are still other explanations. Let me tell them later. But the basic thing is that “wa” is more broadly used as the subject marker than “ga”. So, when starting Japanese learning as a second language, “wa” should be taught first. Teaching “ga” needs to be done later than “wa”.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A5 on Section 10 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Sentences describing “Existence” when the speaker and the listener are sharing what the subject is; [Noun1] no [Subject] wa [Place] ni Arimasu.

Today’s sentence construction for describing existence uses particle “wa” for subject marker. What was the subject marker for yesterday’s sentence construction?

1. [Noun1] no [Noun2] ni [Subject] ga Arimasu/Imasu.

example; Kombini no Tonari ni Ginkou ga Arimasu. (Next to the convenience store, there is a Bank.)

As you can see, “ga” was the subject marker. Both “wa” and “ga” can be subject marker. And most of the time you need to choose “wa” or “ga” for subject marker properly. This issue is very important, but it is difficult to explain how to choose “wa” or “ga” simply. So for today, let me tell you the difference between “wa” and “ga” as subject marker as below;

– When the predicate is the important information, use “wa”.

– When the subject is the important information, use “ga”.

Probably this explanation for “wa” is not enough to say “the speaker and the listener share what the subject is” in today’s title. In a sentence in which “wa” is used as subject marker, the predicate is more important than the subject because the subject is already known and the predicate is new information about the subject. This issue will be discussed soon again.

Practice and remember the following conversation. Suppose neither A or B is Sato-san.

A : Satou-san no Uchi wa Doko ni Arimasuka. (Where is Sato-san’s home?)

B : Satou-san no Uchi wa Kyoto ni Arimasu. (Sato-san’s home is in Kyoto.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 10 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Sentences describing “Existence” using the nouns for positions; [Noun1] no [Noun2] ni [Subject] ga Arimasu/Imasu.

It seems to be a little repetitive, but you need to use properly one of two intransitive verbs for describing an existence of someone or something.

1. Non-animal : [Place] ni [Non-Animal Subject]ga Arimasu.

2. Animals and Human : [Place] ni [Animals/Human Subject]ga Imasu.

For today’s learning, let us make [Place ] above [Noun1] no [Noun2]

3. Non-animal : [Noun1] no [Noun2] ni [Non-Animal Subject]ga Arimasu.

4. Animals and Human : [Noun1] no [Noun2] ni [Animals/Human Subject]ga Imasu.

In 3 nad 4, [Noun2]s are words that describes positions that we had learned two days ago. Check them out in the post two days ago. They are;

Ue, Shita, Migi, Hidari, Mae, Ushiro, Naka, Soto, Tonari

Practice and remember the following sentences. And check for what subject the intransitive verb “Imasu” is used, and for what subject the intransitive verb “Arimasu” is used.

5. Kombini no Tonari ni Ginkou ga Arimasu. (Next to the convenience store, there is a Bank.)

6. Kombini no Naka ni ATM ga Atimasu. (Inside the convenience store, there is an Automatic Teller Machine.)

7. Satou-san no Mae ni Suzuki-san ga Imasu. (In front of Sato-san, there is Suzuki-san.)

8. Satou-san no Hidari ni Takahashi-san ga Imasu. (On left side of Sato-san, there is Takahashi-san.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section 10 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Sentences describing “Existence” using the nouns for positions; [Nouns for positions] ni [Subject] ga Arimasu/Imasu.

At first, the followings are quick review about use of intransitive verbs “Arimasu” or “Imasu” when you describing an existence of non-animal or animal/human subjects.

1. Non-animal : [Place] ni [Non-Animal Subject]ga Arimasu.

2. Animals and Human : [Place] ni [Animals/Human Subject]ga Imasu.

Today’s constructions that can describe existence are as below;

3. For Non-animal : [Noun] no [Position] ni [Non-Animal Subject]ga Arimasu.

example : Kombini no Tonari ni Ginkou ga Arimasu. (A convenience store is next to a Bank.)

4. For Animals and Human : [Noun] no [Position] ni [Animals/Human Subject]ga Imasu.

example : Satou-san no Mae ni Suzuki-san ga Imasu. (Sato-san is in front of Suzuki-san.)

You could see that what is [Place] in 1 and 2 turned to be {[Noun] no [Position]} in 3 and 4. In order to learn the expressions 3 and 4, it is necessary to know some nouns that are used for describing positions. Take a look at illustrations. They are not prepositions but nouns that describe positions.

That’s all for today.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section 10 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Sentences describing “Existence” using the intransitive verb “Imasu”; [Ko-so-a for place] ni [Animals/Human Subject]ga Imasu.

We learned yesterday sentences describing existence of “Non-Animal”. Today, we are going to learn sentences describing existence of “Animals/Human”. Sentences of these two types are both verb predicates sentences, but the verbs are different;

– For Non-animal : [Place] ni [Non-Animal Subject]ga Arimasu.

– For Aninals : [Place] ni [Animals/Human Subject]ga Imasu.

It is difficult for a Japanese learner to use properly Arimasu or Imasu in conjunction with the subject. An error that happens frequently is to use Arimasu for a person. If someone is somewhere, use “Imasu”.

Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Asoko ni Dare ga Imasuka. (Who is over there?)

B : Asoko ni Satou-san ga Imasu. (Sato-san is over there.)

Quiz : Choose Arimasu or Imasu in the following sentence.

Asoko ni Takushii ga { Arimasu or Imasu }

where; takushii is taxi

The answer will be shown tomorrow.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section 10 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Difference between Wa-Ga Construction sentence and Transitive Verb predicate sentence

This series have explained “Wa-ga construction” for several days, because the Japanese textbook “Minna no Nihongo” is dealing with “Wa-ga construction” in Chapter 9. And it is not only an introduction of “Wa-ga construction”, also an introduction of particle “ga”. If you were introduced particle “ga” through “Wa-ga construction”, you might think that the particles “wa” and “ga” could coexist in a sentence. Yes, they can be in a sentence together if the sentence is Wa-ga construction, but most of the time you have to choose one of the two (wa or ga) for subject in a sentence.

1. Watashi wa Nihonjin desu. (I am Japanese.)

2. Watashi ga Nihonjin desu. (I am the person who is Japanese.)

In the both sentence 1 and 2, the subject is “Watashi”. But the subject marker in 1 is “wa”, while the subject marker in 2 is “ga”. How do you properly choose “wa” or “ga” for a subject? The exact explanation would be lengthy. For the simplicity, let me say as below.

– When the predicate is the important information, use “wa” for subject marker.

– When the subject itself is the important information, use “ga” for subject marker.

Anyway, sticking to “Wa-ga construction” would cause a huge damage on your sense about Japanese. The followings are quiz about Wa-ga construction sentences that use verbs for predicate and Verb predicate sentences. Choose “ga” or “o”. And answer the type of verb.

1. Watashi wa Okane { ga or o } arimasu. (I have money.)