The passive is when sometihng is acted upon. For example, "I gave the dog a bone", which is active, compared to, "The dog was given a gift by me" (passive).
Active: トラコはねずみを食べました。Torako ate the mouse.
Passive: ねずみはトラコ食べられた。The mouse was eaten by Torako.
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Group 1 ~ Godan
Remove the ~u sound and replace it with あれる。
Because it now ends in える, it can be conjugated into any other tense just like an Ichidan verb.
Group 2 ~ Ichidan
Remove the る and replace it with られる.
Group 3
する-->させる
来る-->来られる
Friday, 13 August 2010
Thursday, 12 August 2010
Transitive And Intransitive
Most verbs in Japanese can be divided into 2 groups: Transitive and Intransitive. This differentiation is essential for using the particles で and に.
Transitive: a verb accompanied by a direct object, which is done by an active agent and from which a passive can be formed. they often show a continued or progressive action on the part of the active agent.
Intransitive: a verb which does not take a direct object and is not accompanied by a direct object. They have no duration and no distinguished end point. They express a state or condition.
Examples of Transitive Verbs: to eat, to see, to hit, to push. As you can tell, they all need a direct object. I ate an apple; he saw a pig; she hit the dog; they pushed the table.
Examples of Intransitive Verbs: to know, to be, to wonder. As you can tell, they cannot have a direct object. I know how to play tennis. I am British. I wonder what to do.
_____
What does this has to do with で and に?
Transitive: a verb accompanied by a direct object, which is done by an active agent and from which a passive can be formed. they often show a continued or progressive action on the part of the active agent.
Intransitive: a verb which does not take a direct object and is not accompanied by a direct object. They have no duration and no distinguished end point. They express a state or condition.
Examples of Transitive Verbs: to eat, to see, to hit, to push. As you can tell, they all need a direct object. I ate an apple; he saw a pig; she hit the dog; they pushed the table.
Examples of Intransitive Verbs: to know, to be, to wonder. As you can tell, they cannot have a direct object. I know how to play tennis. I am British. I wonder what to do.
_____
What does this has to do with で and に?
- に is used only with used with stative verbs.
- で used by dynamic verbs to convey a the place of action, rather than the place of being.
Hang on, stative and dynamic aren't Intransitive and Transitive! I still don't get what they have to do with で and に.
Most stative verbs are intransitive, most dynamic verbs are intransitive. In fact, for now you can just say they are!
に: I'm at school: 学校にいる。
で: I'm eating at school: 私は学校で食べている。
Oh, and by the way, (and just in case if you have't figured it out already) で and に both mean in or at.
Adjectives: Conjugations and other little bits and bobs.
Conjugation
Adjectives behave very similar to verbs, you could say:
I have a red chair; or, I have a chair that is red. You can boil them down to: red chair and chair is red. These two ways of descirbing something is also present in Japanese, bu conjugation.
Before a noun
Sooo easy, just add the adjective before the noun:
Big cat --> 大きい猫 (おおきい ねこ)
After a noun
This is where things get a little complicated. In Japanese, there are two (arguably three) types of adjectives;
Adjectives behave very similar to verbs, you could say:
I have a red chair; or, I have a chair that is red. You can boil them down to: red chair and chair is red. These two ways of descirbing something is also present in Japanese, bu conjugation.
Before a noun
Sooo easy, just add the adjective before the noun:
Big cat --> 大きい猫 (おおきい ねこ)
After a noun
This is where things get a little complicated. In Japanese, there are two (arguably three) types of adjectives;
- ~ い adjectives, they are proper (true) adjectives.
- ~ な adjectives, they derive from nouns, such as 危険な "is dangerous."
- ~の; they're not really adjectives, but that particle can be used for a noun to describe a noun without the meaning of is, such as eternal darkness 永遠の闇 (eien no yami) which is different from 闇を永遠な (eien o eien na) the darkness is eternal. It doesn't really constitute as a whole group of adjectives, but its worth knowing the difference between the all three.
The complication is that the adjectives get conjugated, as shown below:
~い Adjectives
Non-Past: い
Past: かった
Negative Non-Past: くない
Negative Past: くなかった
~な Adjectives
~い Adjectives
Non-Past: い
Past: かった
Negative Non-Past: くない
Negative Past: くなかった
~な Adjectives
Non-Past: だ
Past: だった
Negative Non-Past: でわない
Negative Past: でわなっかた
Polite
~い Adjectives
Non-Past: いです
Past: かったです
Negative Non-Past: くありません
Negative Past: くありませんでした
~な Adjectives
Non-Past: です
Past: でした
Negative Non-Past: でわありません
Negative Past: でわありませんでした
_____
Adverbs
To make an adjective an adverb (like the ~ly in english, sudden --> suddenly):
い --> く
な --> に
Difficult --> Difficultly
難しい -->難しく
Quiet --> Quietly
静かな --> 静かに
_____
Linking Sentences
In Japanese, verbs and adjectives are linked by conjugation (verbs use the ~て form, which we'll come onto later). Adjectives follow the simple procedure as shown below:
い --> くて
な --> で
Notorious Relative Clauses
Relative Clauses are notorious in that the word order is totally different than English. Also, I have found no single article explicitly explaining Relative Clauses, so I thought, "Hey, I'll make one now."
_____
So, to start, everything that modifies the noun, i.e the relative clause come before the noun it modifies. For example (the relative clause is underlined here with the articles omitted, purely because it makes it easier when you have to translate it):
The house, that is big --> Is big house --> 大きい家
I saw the house, that is big --> I is big house saw --> 私は大きい家を見た。
____
"So, what's the difficulty in that?" you may ask.
Well, I've been using google translator to check my sentences, but since these sentences can be translated in so many different ways, it never gave me a relative clause. There's a lesson to be learnt there, never use a translator, check it yourself :). The second sentence, for example, though "I saw the house, that is big" is perfectly valid, in English we're more likely to say "I saw a big house", which comes from the same sentence.
Secondly, longer, and therefore more complex sentences take longer to translate, and you sometimes end up thinking, "how the bloody hell did I get that!" Such as:
I can see the mountain where the dragon lives --> I dragon lives (is dwelling) mountain see can.
私は竜が住んでいる山を見ること出来る。
This sentence is awfully confusing, as the word is sooooooo different to what we, as English, use.
_____
Some more relative clause practice:
1) I ate cheese which was nice.
2) I slept in a house which was old.
3) I want to see a movie that is new.
_____
1) 私はよかったチーズを食べた。
2) 私は古かった家で寝た。
3) 私は新しい見たい。
_____
So, to start, everything that modifies the noun, i.e the relative clause come before the noun it modifies. For example (the relative clause is underlined here with the articles omitted, purely because it makes it easier when you have to translate it):
The house, that is big --> Is big house --> 大きい家
I saw the house, that is big --> I is big house saw --> 私は大きい家を見た。
____
"So, what's the difficulty in that?" you may ask.
Well, I've been using google translator to check my sentences, but since these sentences can be translated in so many different ways, it never gave me a relative clause. There's a lesson to be learnt there, never use a translator, check it yourself :). The second sentence, for example, though "I saw the house, that is big" is perfectly valid, in English we're more likely to say "I saw a big house", which comes from the same sentence.
Secondly, longer, and therefore more complex sentences take longer to translate, and you sometimes end up thinking, "how the bloody hell did I get that!" Such as:
I can see the mountain where the dragon lives --> I dragon lives (is dwelling) mountain see can.
私は竜が住んでいる山を見ること出来る。
This sentence is awfully confusing, as the word is sooooooo different to what we, as English, use.
_____
Some more relative clause practice:
1) I ate cheese which was nice.
2) I slept in a house which was old.
3) I want to see a movie that is new.
_____
1) 私はよかったチーズを食べた。
2) 私は古かった家で寝た。
3) 私は新しい見たい。
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Forming Basic Sentences
Now you know how to use verbs, let's start forming some simple sentences.
In Japanese, the topic of the sentence is always followed by は、though it's pronounced as わ (this is only when that hiragana character denotes the topic).
I eat.
私は食べます。
_____
The subject of the sentence is followed by が。
I like cats.
猫が好きです。
_____
The object of the sentence is followed by を。
I saw the tree.
私は木を見ました。
The only rule regarding Japanese sentence structure is that the verb go at the end of the sentence. Other than that (and question words which we'll come onto to later), the order does not matter as each idea is following my some kind of particle.
To say "I saw the book", the verb must follow the subject, and either the definite or indefinite article. It is very hard for people outside Japan to understand when to use は or が, not even I know. Once I do, I'll post somewhere.
This hiragana shown here belongs to a group called 'particles'. They show topics, objects, subjects, direction of travel, location, e.t.c. The three listed here are just a very small portion of what is to come.
In Japanese, the topic of the sentence is always followed by は、though it's pronounced as わ (this is only when that hiragana character denotes the topic).
I eat.
私は食べます。
_____
The subject of the sentence is followed by が。
I like cats.
猫が好きです。
_____
The object of the sentence is followed by を。
I saw the tree.
私は木を見ました。
The only rule regarding Japanese sentence structure is that the verb go at the end of the sentence. Other than that (and question words which we'll come onto to later), the order does not matter as each idea is following my some kind of particle.
To say "I saw the book", the verb must follow the subject, and either the definite or indefinite article. It is very hard for people outside Japan to understand when to use は or が, not even I know. Once I do, I'll post somewhere.
This hiragana shown here belongs to a group called 'particles'. They show topics, objects, subjects, direction of travel, location, e.t.c. The three listed here are just a very small portion of what is to come.
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