Mid Term Study Guide

Grammar: adverb

An adverb describes how a verb is done. In English, they are often followed by an –ly
ending. For example, “He came quickly”; “She wrote neatly”; “He played the piano
beautifully”. “Quickly”, “Neatly”, and “Beautifully” all describe how the actions were
done.

In Japanese there are basically two ways to make an adverb.

Adjectives: Change the final い to く.

Nouns: Change です to に.

NOTE: Remember that しずか, じょうず, きれい, etc. are all considered nouns in
Japanese.
NOTE: The adverbial form of いい is よく.

The adverb is typically placed right before the verb it modifies.

例:
今日は早く帰りましたね。 You came home quickly today!
しず

静かにしてください。 Please be quiet (literally: please do it quietly).

There are a number of verbs that use the adverb in Japanese in a way that you might not
think of in English. One is なる (to become). With なる, the adverb that appears before
なる is the result of the action of becoming. In other words, the adverb is what
something becomes.
例:
さいきんさむ

最近寒くなりましたね。 It’s gotten cold recently! (literally: it has become cold

recently).
れんしゅう

練 習 しているから、きっと上手になるでしょう。
She’s practicing, so she’s sure to get good (literally: become skillful).
医者さんになりたい。 I want to be a doctor (literally: become a doctor).

NOTE: なる is often used in Japanese in situations where we would say “be” in English.
Grammar: Contrastive wa

Particle は (wa) is highly contrastive. It can be paired with other particles to indicate
contrast, or to indicate that you are not commenting on anything but the thing marked by
は. When using は, it will replace particles が and を. For other particles, such as へ, に,
で, と, etc. は comes after the particle.
例:
すしは食べなかった。 I didn’t eat sushi (but I ate other things).
スペイン語は分からない。 I don’t speak Spanish (but I speak other languages).
先生は来なかった。 The teacher didn’t come (but other people came).
東京には行かなかった。 I didn’t go to Tokyo (but I went other places).
あそこでは食べましたよ。 I did eat there (but there are other places I didn’t eat at).

When は occurs in the subject position, the contrastive reading is usually less strong, as
in 今日はいいお天気ですね or それは何ですか. However, it should be remembered
that even in the subject position は can be contrastive.

Grammar: Deshoo
One way to say “probably” is to use でしょう. Add でしょう to the plain form (普通
形) of verbs, nouns, and adjectives.
例:
山下さんは来年日本へ行くでしょう。 Yamashita-san’s probably going to Japan next
year.
高いでしょう。 It’s probably expensive.
In a noun+です sentence where the plain form is noun+だ, replace だ with でしょう.
あの人は日本人でしょう。 That person is probably Japanese.

NOTE 1: でしょう is not typically used to refer to oneself. For something like “I’ll
probably go”, use かもしれない or と思う.
NOTE 2: でしょう is often used to be indirect, and as a result will often be used just to
be polite.
NOTE 3: The plain form of でしょう is だろう. However, でしょう is often used even
in casual speech, especially among women.
Grammar: modifiers
A modifier describes a noun. In English, some examples of this are: “black pen”;
“beautiful scenery”; “long movie”; “boring book”; “scared person”; etc.

In Japanese there are four different kinds of modifiers: adjectives, verbs, nouns, and na-
nouns.

Adjectives: Put the adjective in front of the noun. NOTHING goes in between.
なが くろ むずか

例: 長い本；黒いペン； 難 しいテスト

Verbs: Put the verb in front of the noun. NOTHING goes in between
ちが ふと

例: 違うところ；太っている人；こわがっている人

Na-Nouns: Put the na-noun in front of the noun, with な in between.

じょうず

例: きれいなところ；上手な人；元気な人

Nouns: Put the noun in front of the noun, with の in between.

例: グレーの車；病気の人；東京の大学

NOTE: While most describing words in Japanese are either adjectives or na-nouns, there
are exceptions, as the examples above show.
NOTE: There is no easy way to tell the difference between a na-noun and a noun. They
must be memorized.
Grammar: n da / no

A common way to either give or ask for an explanation is to use plain form + んです.
Just remember that when the plain form is noun + だ, the だ becomes な.
例: A student is putting her stuff away.
A) 帰るんですか。 Are you leaving?
(i.e. is it because you are leaving that you are putting your stuff away?
B) ええ。残りたいんですけど、 Yeah. I want to stay (part of the explanation) but
ちょっと病気なんです。 I’m kind of sick. (Which is the reason I’m leaving).

When speaking casually, んです can become either んだ or の. There are a couple
restrictions on when to use one and when to use the other.
1) For questions, の must be used. (The reason is that だ, the plain form of desu,
cannot be used in a question).
2) For statements, の sounds feminine, and can only be used by women. (んだ
sounds more masculine, but is used by both men and women).
3) When followed by けど, んだ must be used. (The reason is that けど nearly
always follows a predicate: verb, adjective, or noun+desu)
例: A student is putting her stuff away.
A) 帰るの？。 Are you leaving?
(i.e. is it because you are leaving that you are putting your stuff away?
B - male) うん。残りたいんだけど、 Yeah. I want to stay (part of the explanation) but
ちょっと病気なんだよ。 I’m kind of sick. (Which is the reason I’m leaving).
B - female) うん。残りたいんだけど、 Yeah. I want to stay (part of the explanation)
but
ちょっと病気なのよ。 I’m kind of sick. (Which is the reason I’m leaving).

NOTE: でも is used to mean “but” at the beginning of a sentence. けど is used to mean

“but” in the middle and end of a sentence. (Mistakes related to this will be penalized).

NOTE: To add “some” to a question word (e.g. something, someone, somewhere) add か
to the question word. (Mistakes related to this will be penalized).
例: something = なにか・なんか; somewhere = どこか; someone = だれか.
Grammar: quantifiers

In Japanese, quantity expressions are typically stated as adverbs, and thus placed in the
adverb position (right before the verb it modifies). This is different from English.
Compare the following two examples:

例:
I bought two pens.
に ほ ん か

ペンを二本買いました。 (Literal translation: I bought pens to the extent of two.)

In the English example, “two” modifies the pens. In the Japanese example, “二本”
modifies the buying. So, when expressing a quantity in Japanese, make sure that it is
placed directly preceding the verb, and that there is no particle between the quantity and
the verb*.
いちまい いっぽん ひと いっさつ

This applies to counters (一枚、一本、一つ、一冊、etc.), which give a specific

number, and also quantity expressions that are not specific, such as たくさん and ちょ
っと.

例:
昨日、ピザをたくさん食べたんですよ。 I ate a lot of pizza yesterday.
ちょっと待ってください。 Please wait a little bit.

But what happens when you have more than one object? For example, how would you
say “I bought three pens and two envelopes” in Japanese, if the quantities go in front of
the verb? Follow this pattern: noun + particle + quantity + to, noun + particle + quantity +
to, … noun + particle + quantity + verb.

例:
ふうとう に ま い か

ペンを三本と、封筒を二枚買いました。 I bought three pens and two envelopes.

赤いのを二本と、黒いのを三本と、青いのを五本ください。
Please give me two red ones, three black ones, and five blue ones.

*
While there are some situations that you can have a quantity expression modify a noun
in Japanese, it typically sounds more natural to express a quantity as an adverb. I will
therefore ask you to always express quantities as adverbs.
These are the kanji you should know for the mid-term (to read and write):
事実 じじつ Fact
国民 こくみん Citizen
理由 りゆう Reason
自由 じゆう Freedom
参加 さんか Participation
興味 きょうみ Interest
農民 のうみん Farmer
法律 ほうりつ Law
政府 せいふ Government
政治 せいじ Politics
情報 じょうほう Information
夫 おっと Husband
妻 つま Wife
国際的 こくさいてき International
日記 にっき Journal
政治家 せいじか Politician
軍隊 ぐんたい Army
手紙 てがみ Letter
方法 ほうほう Method

(from last semester: continues on back)

結果 けっか Result
対立 たいりつ Conflict
種類 しゅるい Type/kind
問題 もんだい Problem
質問 しつもん Question
旅行 りょこう Travel
約束 やくそく Promise
船 ふね Boat
説明 せつめい Explain/Explanation
乗る のる Ride
違う ちがう To be different
反対 はんたい Opposite/Disapproval
印象 いんしょう Impression
必要 ひつよう Necessary
必ず かならず Absolutely/Without fail
意見 いけん Opinion
意味 いみ Meaning
服 ふく Clothes
特別 とくべつ Special
通る とおる To go through
通う かよう To commute
通訳 つうやく Interpretation
大統領 だいとうりょう President
伝統 でんとう Tradition
友達 ともだち Friend
仕事 しごと Work/Job
仕方 しかた Way of doing (something)
要る いる To be needed
結ぶ むすぶ To tie, seal, bind
結婚 けっこん Marriage
親類 しんるい Relative