Here are a quick summary of the characteristics of Japanese language, especially in contrast with European languages:
- Is a verb-last language
- Has a case system
- Uses particles extensively
- Uses auxiliary verbs extensively
- Has an extremely complex speech level system
- Has gendered languages (male-speak and female-speak)
- Plurals are optional
- Doesn’t have definite articles like “the”
- Doesn’t have genders for nouns (and adjectives and other words don’t need to agree)
- Verbs do not conjugate for tenses (tenses are expressed by auxiliary verbs and other structures)
Here we discuss briefly about the Japanese case system and particles. The particles are small words like て, に, を, は. They are immutable, never used alone and always come after other words like nouns, verbs and/or clauses.
In the case system, they come after nouns and nominalized clauses, and determine if they are subjects, objects, etc.. These particles are called 格助詞 (かくじょし). Because of the case system, the word order is flexible in Japanese. Japanese speakers often use different word orders to change the emphasis of sentences:
- I read a book
- 私は本を読んだ
- 本を私は読んだ
Unlike the case system of Slavic languages, the particles in Japanese are independent, immutable words, so you don’t have to learn the complex conjugation system like that of Slavic languages.
The particles called 接続助詞 (せつぞくじょし) function as conjunctions:
- 店に行ったが休みだった -> I went to the store but it was closed
- やっても無駄だ -> It won’t do any good even if you try
The particles called 副助詞 (ふくじょし) function like adverbs:
- 私もそう思う -> I think so too
- この店は週日しか営業しない -> This store is open only on weekdays
Lastly the particles called 終助詞 (しゅうじょし) come at the end of the sentences, and control their contexts:
- 彼は日本人です -> He is Japanese
- 彼は日本人ですか？ -> Is he Japanese?
- 何してるんだよ？ -> What the heck are you doing? (Adds a tone of frustration)
- 可愛い赤ちゃんね -> What a cute baby (Female language. The speaker is a woman)
This article is a quick introduction so that you know what you are getting into! The other articles and tools in this website will give you everything you need to learn Japanese more in depth.