Particle "No" | ||
Particle "no" in Japanese is not "no" in English. It usually comes after the word and show possession or belonging. Its role is similar to "someone's" or "of" in English. |
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Watashi no hon | My book | |
Anata no hon | Your book | |
Kare/kanojo no hon | His/her book | |
Saitoo-san no hon | Miss. Saitoo's book | |
Nihon no kaisha | A Japanese company | |
Nihon no kaisha no shachoo | The president of the Japanese company | |
As "no" in the sentence of "nihon no kaisha no shachoo" it combine the words and give more information about the words but if it is used many times, it makes the sentence complexed. We don't say "nihon no kaisha no shachoo no tomodachi no neko" (A cat of a friend of the president of the Japanese company) but say, "nihon no kaisha no shachoo wa tomodachi ga ite, kare wa neko wo katteiru." (The president of the Japanese company has a friend and he has a cat.) |
Plurals | |
There are no so strict rules between singular and plural in Japanese except when it is definitely needed. I means there are rules for numerals but when it is easy to understand whether a singular or plural from the context or situation, you don't have to differentiate. |
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Hon | a book |
Watashitachi no hon | Our books |
Saitoo-san wa kaishain desu | Miss. Saitoo is an office worker |
Saitoo-san to Tom-san wa kaishain desu |
Miss. Saitoo and Mr.Tom are office workers |
We have to think "a book", " books" / "an office worker" or "office workers" in English but when it come to Japanese we don't have to think about it. |
Articles | |
There are no articles in Japanese. We say "a" book, "the" book, "an" office worker in English but we don't have to think about it in Japanese. |
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Hon desu | This is a book |
Sagashiteiru hon wa kore desu ka? | Is this the book you are looking for? |
Saitoo-san wa kaishain desu | Miss. Saitoo is an office worker |
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