We // had // pizza // at the restaurant // and we went // to buy // a TV set.
What Are Particles?
Particles in the Japanese language are always the same form and usually consist of one or two syllables, such as wa, ga, o, de, ni, no, to, and kara. They have no meaning by themselves. However, they indicate the topic (wa), subject (ga), object (o), etc., when they are used in the sentence. And also they sometimes work like English prepositions; for example, kara is “away from,” ni is “toward,” no is “of,” and de is “in.” They are placed after a noun or a sentence, and link words or sentences to each other and indicate a relationship between them.
EXAMPLES: Amerikajin to Nihonjin (American and Japanese) (To indicates “and”)
boku no tsukue (my desk)
Watashi wa onna. (I’m a woman.)
Practice
A. Divide the following words into syllables, as shown in the example.
| Example: mochiron (of course) | → | mo / chi / ro / n |
| 1) ikura (how much) | → | _________________________________ |
| 2) benri (convenience) | → | _________________________________ |
| 3) ryōshūsho (receipt) | → | _________________________________ |
| 4) saikin (lately) | → | _________________________________ |
| 5) aisukuriimu (ice cream) | → | _________________________________ |
| 6) kyōdai (sibling) | → | _________________________________ |
| 7) osake (rice wine) | → | _________________________________ |
| 8) totsuzen (suddenly) | → | _________________________________ |
B. Listen to the Japanese words of each group on the CD and circle A or B for the appropriate English words.
| 1) grandmother | A | B |
| 2) no | A | B |
| 3) husband | A | B |
| 4) teacher | A | B |
| 5) stamp | A | B |
| 6) hospital | A | B |
| 7) woman | A | B |
| 8) warehouse | A | B |
C. Listen to the words carefully and write them in rōmaji (Roman letters). They are said twice.
| 1) | _________________________________ |
| 2) | _________________________________ |
| 3) | _________________________________ |
| 4) | _________________________________ |
| 5) | _________________________________ |
| 6) | _________________________________ |
| 7) | _________________________________ |
| 8) | _________________________________ |
| 9) | _________________________________ |
| 10) | _________________________________ |
| 11) | _________________________________ |
| 12) | _________________________________ |
| 13) | _________________________________ |
| 14) | _________________________________ |
| 15) | _________________________________ |
| 16) | _________________________________ |
Chapter 2
Wow!
Express Your Emotions! Start with Interjections
An interjection is a word that expresses sudden feelings—such as “Oh” to show surprise or “Wow” for admiration. There are also interjections of address and reply.
An interjection is an independent word and it doesn’t change its form, which makes it easier for you to learn to use. It is placed either at the beginning of a sentence or used by itself.
Here are 3 main ways you’ll use interjections when you’re speaking in Japanese:
| 1 | Exclamation (surprise, admiration, doubt, etc.) | Ǎ, Ě, Ara, Are, Otto, Oya, Mā, Ō, Hē, Fūn, Wā, Hō |
| 2 | Addressing someone (to get someone’s attention) | Moshi-moshi, Sā, Nē, Anō, Oi, Yā, Yō, Hora, Kora |
| 3 | Answering someone (yes/no) | Hai, Ē, Iie, Iya, Un, Uun, Hā, Ā |
Although there are many interjections in Japanese, we’ll start by focusing on these:
Otto (Oops; Oh)
Oya (Oh; Well)
Hā (Yes; Certainly)
Fūn (Oh; Hmm; Well; Huh)
Hō (Oh; Well; Why)
Yō (Hi; Hello; Hey)
Short Dialogues
| FEMININE | MASCULINE | ||
| 1. | Ame! Ē, mata! | Ame! Ē, mata! | It’s raining! What? Again! |
| 2. | Wā, sugoi! Subarashii! | Ō, sugoi! Subarashii! | Wow, that’s cool! How marvelous! |
| 3. | Kore dō? Mā, kirei! | Kore dō? Ō, kirei! | How about this? Oh, how pretty! |
| 4. | Ara! Atash i no keitai (denwa) ga nai. Hora! Koko. | Are! Boku no keitai (denwa) ga nai. Hora! Koko. | Oh, no! My cell phone’s not here. Look! It’s here. |
Shaded items: Check the “Learning from the Dialogues” section in this chapter to learn more about these.
Vocabulary
| ame | rain |
| Ě | What? Huh! Eh! (Int) |
| mata | again |
| Wā | Oh; Wow; Ah; Gee (Int) |
| Ō | Oh; Ah; Wow; Ooh; Oh boy! (Int) |
| sugoi | great; cool; super; awesome; terrible |
| subarashii | marvelous; wonderful; fantastic |
| kore | this |
| dō | how; how about |
| Mā | Oh; Well; Why; My (Int) |