Tag Archives: particles

Making Comparisons: Yori, Hodo, and No Hou Ga

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Kenneth

In this lesson, you'll learn the Japanese equivalents of "X is more ___ than Y" and "X is not as ___ as Y". In order to do this, we'll need several new particles. Recommended Background: Japanese Adjectives Yori Yori is a … Continue reading →

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“No”, the Modifying Particle

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Kenneth

The particle の “no” is extremely versatile. It’s used as the Japanese possessive particle, showing ownership, and more generally, as way to turn any noun into a modifier. Recommended background: The Copula “Desu” Nouns, Pronouns, and Plurals “No” as a … Continue reading →

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The Sentence Ending Particles “Ne” and “Yo”

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Kenneth

There are two other sentence ending particles that work much the same way as the question marker ka. Recommended Background: Questions and Negation Asking and Telling The particle ね “ne”, variously translated as “right?”, “huh?”, or “isn’t it?”, can be … Continue reading →

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Questions and Negation

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Kenneth

In this section, you’ll learn how to ask and answer questions of the yes-no sort. Along the way, you’ll also learn how to use the negative form of desu. Recommended background: The Copula “Desu” – intro to the basic sentence … Continue reading →

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The Topic Marker “Wa”

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Kenneth

This is the first of two lessons focusing on several particular grammar topics that are critical for you to understand very early on. Both this and  The Copula "Desu" assume that you are familiar with the more general concepts covered … Continue reading →

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Japanese Word Classes

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Kenneth

You're probably familiar with grammatical word classes such as noun, verb, and preposition. These vary between languages – Japanese word classes are somewhat different than those in English, but the differences are not difficult to understand. This page is just … Continue reading →

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The Structure of a Japanese Sentence

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Kenneth

This lesson introduces the basics of Japanese sentence structure, one of the basic components of the overall grammar. All the background grammatical knowledge and terminology you’ll need is covered in the process. Recommended Background: A Guide to Japanese Pronunciation (so … Continue reading →

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