In Japanese, tte って is a quoting particle. It's sometimes used as the casual counterpart of the to と particle, but it has other uses, too, like mentioning things in order to refer to them.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Sunday, September 8, 2019
~nai to ～ないと
In Japanese, ~nai to ～ないと generally translates to "if not," or "if [you] don't," or "when [you] don't." It's the i-adjective nai ない plus the conditional to と. Note that it could also be another use of the to と particle, or even a different word, like naito ナイト, "night" or "knight."
Some examples:
Some examples:
- benkyou shinai to daburu
勉強しないとダブる
If [you] don't study, [you] will repeat a year. - okane ga nai to komaru
お金が無いと困る
If [you] don't have money, [I] will be troubled. - bakuhatsu shinai to omou
爆発しないと思う
[It] won't explode, is what I think. (this isn't the conditional to と, this is the quoting particle.)
Conditional と
In Japanese, the conditional to と refers to the to と particle when it's used as a conjunction. That's because it often translates to "if X, Y," or "when X, Y."
For example: hashiru to tsukareru 走ると疲れる, means "if [I] run, [I] get tired," or "when [I] run, [I] get tired."
For example: hashiru to tsukareru 走ると疲れる, means "if [I] run, [I] get tired," or "when [I] run, [I] get tired."
Friday, September 6, 2019
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Among verb types, intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive verbs are verbs of varying transitivity. A ditransitive verb has three arguments: subject, direct object, and indirect object. A transitive verb has two: a subject and a direct object. An intransitive verb only has one: a subject.
Normally, you wouldn't have any problem with such verbs, except that in Japanese they work differently from how they do in English, and most people have trouble with transitive-intransitive verb pairs, which take different particles.
Normally, you wouldn't have any problem with such verbs, except that in Japanese they work differently from how they do in English, and most people have trouble with transitive-intransitive verb pairs, which take different particles.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Adverbs
In grammar, adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. For example: to speak quickly, to be very fast, and to run very quickly have the adverbs "very" and "quickly."
In Japanese, "adverbs," fukushi 副詞, do exactly the same thing, except that Japanese adverbs are a bit different from English adverbs..
In Japanese, "adverbs," fukushi 副詞, do exactly the same thing, except that Japanese adverbs are a bit different from English adverbs..
Monday, September 2, 2019
Case Markers
In Japanese, case markers are particles that mark nouns and noun phrases with a "grammatical case," such nominative and accusative, or subject and object.
In Japanese, case marking particles are called kaku-joshi 格助詞.
In Japanese, case marking particles are called kaku-joshi 格助詞.
Parallel Markers
In Japanese, parallel markers are particles that translate to "and" and "or" in English. They're parallel marking particles because they put nouns and nouns phrases in parallel. The Japanese term for them is heiritsu-joshi 並立助詞, "lining-up particles."
と Particle
In Japanese, the to と particle has various functions.
Friday, August 30, 2019
Ergative Verb Pairs
Among verb types, an ergative verb pair refers to an intransitive-transitive verb pair, where the subject of the intransitive is the object of the transitive, and the transitive expresses the causation of the intransitive event. Although there are some exceptions, like ditransitive verbs.
For example: ageru 上げる, "to raise," and agaru 上がる, "to rise," form an ergative verb pair both in English and in Japanese. If "you raise something" (object), you cause: "something rises." (subject)
For example: ageru 上げる, "to raise," and agaru 上がる, "to rise," form an ergative verb pair both in English and in Japanese. If "you raise something" (object), you cause: "something rises." (subject)
Unaccusative Verbs
Among verb types, unaccusative verbs are intransitive verbs whose subject is the patient of the action. For example:
Above, agaru is an unaccusative verb, and ageru is its lexical causative verb counterpart. Together, they form an ergative verb pair. The article about the verb pairs contains details on how both types of verbs work in Japanese.
By the way, the opposite of an unaccusative verb is called an unergative verb, whose subject is the agent, unless in passive voice.
- nan'i-do wo ageru
難易度を上げる
To raise the difficult-level.- nan'i-do wo - patient, accusative case.
- nan'i-do ga agaru
難易度が上がる
The difficult-level rises.
- nan'i-do ga - patient, nominative case.
Above, agaru is an unaccusative verb, and ageru is its lexical causative verb counterpart. Together, they form an ergative verb pair. The article about the verb pairs contains details on how both types of verbs work in Japanese.
By the way, the opposite of an unaccusative verb is called an unergative verb, whose subject is the agent, unless in passive voice.
Lexical Causative Verbs
Among verb types, lexical causative verbs are transitive verbs that form causative sentences without being conjugated to the causative form. For example:
Above, we have the intransitive verb naku 泣く, "to cry," and the lexical causative verb nakasu 泣かす, "to make cry." Together, they form an ergative verb pair. The article about verb pairs explains the grammar in detail. This article will focus only on the verbs themselves.
- musume ga naku
娘が泣く
The daughter cries. - musume wo nakasu
娘を泣かす
To cause: the daughter cries.
To make the daughter cry.
Above, we have the intransitive verb naku 泣く, "to cry," and the lexical causative verb nakasu 泣かす, "to make cry." Together, they form an ergative verb pair. The article about verb pairs explains the grammar in detail. This article will focus only on the verbs themselves.
Causative Sentences
In Japanese, "causatives," shieki 使役, happen when the subject of a sentence causes a causee to perform an action, where "causing" means either "forcing" or "allowing." Causative sentences usually feature verbs in the causative form, like suru する becoming saseru させる.
For example: kekkon saseta 結婚させた is a causative meaning either "[a causer] made [a causee] marry [someone]" or "[a causer] let [a causee] marry [someone]."
For example: kekkon saseta 結婚させた is a causative meaning either "[a causer] made [a causee] marry [someone]" or "[a causer] let [a causee] marry [someone]."
Monday, August 26, 2019
Suffering Passive
In Japanese, the suffering passive is when a sentence in passive voice has a subject that's negatively affected by an action without being directly involved in it. For example:
They're also called adversity passives or "indirect passives," kansetsu-ukemi 間接受身.
- Tarou ga ame ni furareta
太郎が雨に振られた
Tarou is suffering because:- ame ga futta
雨が降った
The rain fell from the sky.
The rain is raining.
It's raining. - Implicature: Tarou is inconvenienced by the rain.
- ame ga futta
- Tarou ga Hanako ni shinareta
太郎が花子に死なれた
Tarou is suffering because:- Hanako ga shinda
花子が死んだ
Hanako died. - Implicature: Tarou was a friend of Hanako.
- Hanako ga shinda
They're also called adversity passives or "indirect passives," kansetsu-ukemi 間接受身.
Passive Voice
In grammar, the passive voice is when the subject and object appear to switch roles. In active voice, the subject is generally the agent and the object is the patient: the cat ate the rat. In passive voice, the subject is the patient instead: the rat was eaten by the cat.
In Japanese, the passive voice, ukemi 受け身, is identified by the verb being in the passive form: suru する "to do," is active voice, sareru される "to be done," is passive voice. The way particles are used in the passive voice is different, and there are different types of passives.
In Japanese, the passive voice, ukemi 受け身, is identified by the verb being in the passive form: suru する "to do," is active voice, sareru される "to be done," is passive voice. The way particles are used in the passive voice is different, and there are different types of passives.
Friday, August 23, 2019
Double Subject Constructions
In Japanese, a double-subject construction is when you have two subjects in a single sentence, called large subject and small subject, where the predicate of the large subject is a predicative clause containing the small subject plus the small subject's predicate.
In practice: zou ga hana ga nagai 象が鼻が長い, "elephants have long noses," or "about elephants: about [their] noses: long," has the large subject zou predicated by the clause hana ga nagai, which contains the small subject hana predicated by nagai.
The patterns AがBがC, AはBがC, AにBがC, AにはBがC, BがC, C, AがBC, AにBC, among others often form double-subject sentences. Among these, some have two nominative subjects, and thus are also called double-nominative sentences.
In practice: zou ga hana ga nagai 象が鼻が長い, "elephants have long noses," or "about elephants: about [their] noses: long," has the large subject zou predicated by the clause hana ga nagai, which contains the small subject hana predicated by nagai.
The patterns AがBがC, AはBがC, AにBがC, AにはBがC, BがC, C, AがBC, AにBC, among others often form double-subject sentences. Among these, some have two nominative subjects, and thus are also called double-nominative sentences.
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