Elle's Lessons - 1.1 Basic Noun Sentences

[Ellembri]

Disclaimer:
I don't mean to confuse anyone who have been following the other lessons on this forum, but I thought I would go at a slightly slower pace and take time to explain things and answer question from the basic structure stand point. I'm not trying to undermine anyone, I just want to help other who want to learn by letting them have other options.
Without further adieu...

As a general note, I will warn beginning students that some basic grammar terms will be used in these lessons from time to time so if you have a good knowledge of English grammar terms, it might be to your advantage, if not, you will learn just as much grammar about your own language as it pertains to Japanese.

To start, I will say that the first major difference between English and Japanese is the order of Subject, Object, and Verb. Every language has a defined order of these three and how they differ can effect how your learn a new language. English (in any dialect) is always a Subject, Verb, Object (SVO) order. the best way to see this order is through simple sentences:

The cat eats the fish.
__S____V____O___

Japanese, however, is in a Subject, Object, Verb (SOV) order and is the main reason why most Western speakers will call is "backwards". This is a common fallacy though, it is not that the language is backwards, it is just how it differs from what we are used to. So to begin we will start with basic noun sentences, keeping this difference in mind.

X　は　Y　です。　--->Noun is Noun.

This is one of the most basic structures and by far the most versatile among noun sentences. When using this, please note that X and Y are both nouns (including pronouns). The most common example of this sentence is telling others who you are:

わたし　は　えつこ　です。 ---> As for me, I am Etsuko.
watashi [wa] Etsuko desu.

わたし (watashi) is the pronoun for I, myself, me. は (pronounced wa) is the topic marker and states that the word or phrase before it is the topic of the sentence, the best translation for は [wa] is "As for...". えつこ (Etsuko) is another pronoun, being a name. And です (pronounced DEH-s or DEH-sue) is the auxiliary verb which coincidentally has the same meaning as the English auxiliary verb "is". This includes "is, am, and are" as well, just like the English equivalent.

A note about particles.
In English, we are used to articles or the fillers in the sentences that defines meaning, setting, spacial relationships, and time such as "a, the, of," etc. The Japanese have something similar to this called particles some of them include "は、が、を、へ、に、で、" etc. The major difference between the two languages is English is a "pre-position" language where as Japanese is a "post-position" language. This means that our article patterns (and most other patterns) go before the word or phrase it is describing or enhancing, whereas the Japanese particles will go after the word or phrase.

Not only can this be used for pronouns but nearly any two nouns that can be related this way:

すし　は　さかな　です。 --->As for sushi, it is fish.
sushi [wa] sakana desu.

たけしさん　は　がくせい　です。 ----->As for Takeshi, he is a student.
Takeshi-san [wa] gakusei desu.

Let's try it out! Try to come up with more sentences using X は Y です。
がんばります！(ganbarimasu) Do your best!  

[im_thean]

I like the way you broke this down. I pretty much already knew what you were talking about. It was all review for me but it really helps. Good job. Btw are you japanese?  

[Ellembri]

Thank you for the encouragement! No, I am not Japanese but I do have a degree in the language and culture *^_^* lol a very expensive piece of paper if you ask me. XD  

[im_thean]

Does that mean you've taken the JLPT??  

[Ellembri]

I actually have not taken the JLPT but I have taken the STAMP test (Standards-based Measurements of Proficiency Test) which was required for me to graduate it on a 6lvl scale. 1 being the lowest (least proficient) and 6 being the highest (most fluent). while I didn't "ace it" with all 6s in reading writing and speaking I got high 5's in all of them.

I would have liked to have taken the JLPT but as things were I did not have the funding before I graduated. I have been thinking about studying for it to maybe take in a year or so. But alas, life is busy. XD  

[im_thean]

That's still pretty awesome tho. I'm no where near as good as you. I hope I will someday though since I wanna go to Japan (without someone translating everything for me lol). I've already gone three times but I don't feel like I experienced it fully. xd  

[Ellembri]

Oh neat! Where did you go? sometimes the location makes all the difference!  

[im_thean]

Well I went to Tokyo so that I could see Akihabara on my first trip. On my second trip I toured Kyushu. And on my most recent trip I toured Hokkaido but I mostly stayed in Sapporo.  

[Ellembri]

Ahh, sounds like great fun! But honestly you won't learn much of the language in the major cities usually because most people can speak some English. If you really want to learn...I would go to the less populated cities, it will really force you to learn. *^_^*

Akihabara was pretty sweet though XD I'm more of an Oosaka girl myself, the Takoyaki in Namba can't be beat! ...Now I'm hungry...  

[im_thean]

Hmmm.... less populated areas huh? I never saw it like that but I'll try it next time I go. Thanks for the advice. biggrin But yeah you're right..... japanese food is yummy lol.  

[Ellembri]

There are alot of my former classmates who did their study abroard program in a place called Hikone, which is a rather small town off of lake Biwa north of Kyoto...this place is really pretty! but it is really quite small comparitively to the larger cities in Japan. Alot of my classmates who went there said they were really forced to learn because not very many people knew english and they constantly had to think about speaking and reading and communicating in Japanese. Honestly I tend to agree with them XD  

[im_thean]

Hai hai sensei! Lol xp I wanna go on vacation now....  

[Ellembri]

先生じゃないよ！　たぶん、先輩だけど、先生になれない。かなしそうな！;_;  

[kaerith 27]

i only know a few words (midori, konichiwa, arigato, etc.)
so.. thanks for the lesson. i hope to learn so much more biggrin