Introduction to Japanese Study - 日本語学習入門

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"Ka" is also a kind of particle called a sentence particle. A language that uses various elements after verbs Needless to say, verbs are important as well as particles. Verbs are the backbone of sentences in any language, but in Japanese they are especially important, because various elements follow verbs. The basic form of "nomimashita" in the previous sentence is actually "nomu (drink)", and an element "mashita" follows ( u of "nomu" is changed into i before "mashita"). "Mashita" is an element that marks a polite expression (I will explain this later in the series), and the past tense. Let's look at some forms made from "nomu"(drink). "Nomanai (do not drink)" ("nai" marks the negative form), "nonda (drank)" ("da" marks the past tense), "nondeiru (drinking)" ("deiru" marks the progressive form); as you can see, the elements that follow "nomu (drink)" mark various forms, such as the negative and the tense. Moreover, elements that mark potential, causative, passive, modality ("may", "must", "let's" etc. in English) also follow verbs as follows: "nomeru (can drink)" (potential), "nomaseru (force to drink)" (causative), "nomareru (being drunk)" (passive), "nomudaroo (will drink)" (conjectural), "nomoo (let's drink)" (intention). In English, only "-ed", "-ing", and "-s" follow verbs, and elements such as "not", "can", "may" are put separately in front of the verb. All these elements follow the verbs in Japanese. 5 Due to the characteristics of Japanese as mentioned above, particles are very important. Each particle can be generalized, such as "de" being used in one situation, and "to" in another situation, so they can be and are necessary to be learned at early stage. However, there are some exceptions. This is similar to some English prepositions, for example when "in" is used for "on" in certain situations. This can be confuging for non-native speakers of English sometimes. It is advisable to learn "general rule" and "exceptions of rule". There are several types of particles other than the ones that come after nouns. For example, interrogative sentences in Japanese do not change their words orders, but simply put "ka" at the end of the sentence, such as: (5) Tanakasan wa ocha o nomimashitaka. (Did Tanaka drink tea?)