Monday, September 30, 2019

Dislocation

In Japanese, dislocation happens when the subject or object, or other argument, comes after the verb, at the very end of the sentence, even though, normally, they're supposed to come before the verb.

More generally, in grammar, dislocation is when part of a clause, a constituent, shows up outside of that clause. In Japanese, clauses often end at the verb, so anything after that verb is outside of the clause.

唆るぜこれは!
Manga: Dr. Stone, ドクターストーン (Chapter 1, Stone World)
Monday, September 23, 2019

と vs. って

In Japanese, the to と particle and tte って particle are quoting particles: they're used to quote things. It's often said one is the formal quoting particle while the other is the causal quoting particle, but there are various situations where you can't just replace one by the other.

In this article, I'll list the differences between to と and tte って, for reference.

Quoting Particles

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In Japanese, quoting particles are particles used to mark a phrase literally. They're used with verbs that deal with communication: to say, to hear, to write, to read, and also with thoughts: to think, to feel, to plan, to predict. Sometimes, they're also used without verbs at all.

Quoting particles are also called quotative markers. In Japanese, in'you 引用, "quotation," "citation," refers to their function: in'you no joshi 引用の助詞, "particle of quotation."

Quoting particle example.
Manga: Doushirou degozaru 道士朗でござる (Chapter 5, 道士郎、ブチ切れる)
Friday, September 20, 2019

って Topic Marker

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Sometimes, the tte って particle can mark the topic of the sentence under certain circumstances. In Japanese, topic-marking is a function generally associated with the wa は particle, so this article lists the difference between tte って and wa は in this usage.

・・・そうだねシャミ子普通にウィンナー炒めてたもんね
料理はできるもんだね
「は」ってなんですか!!
Manga: Machikado Mazoku まちカドまぞく (Volume 1, Page 113, 普通に加熱することの難しさ)
Wednesday, September 11, 2019

って Particle

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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.
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. 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:

  • benkyou shinai to daburu
    勉強しないとダブる
    If [you] don't study, [you] will repeat a year.
    • benkyou shinai to ikenai
      勉強しないといけない
      If [you] don't study, [it] can't go. (literally.)
      If [you] don't study, [it will be bad]. (therefore...)
      You must study. You have to study.
  • okane ga nai to komaru
    お金が無いと困る
    If [you] don't have money, [I] will be troubled.
    Without 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.)
    [I] think that [it] won't explode.

Conditional と

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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 走る疲れる, means "if [I] run, [I] get tired," or "when [I] run, [I] get tired."
Friday, September 6, 2019

How Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Work in Japanese

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.
Monday, September 2, 2019

Case Markers

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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.

Parallel Markers

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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

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In Japanese, the to と particle has various functions.