PG009

18 Grammar

This is my luggage.    korę w a watakushi no

nimotsu desu

This wal no luggage is.

0

A word followed by o, is the object of the sentence:

1    speak Japanese.    watakushi wa nihongo o

hanashimasu I wa Japanese o speak.

Notę that this is different to the o used as a polite prefix,

which is the equivalent of saying ‘honourable........’ Don’t

add the o when speaking of your own situation.

How are you?    o-genki desu ka?

o health is ka?

ni

The particie ni indicates location:

I live in Japan.    nihon ni sunde imasu

Japan ni live.

de

The particie de indicates activity in a location:

I am travelling in Japan.

nihon de ryokó shite imasu Japan de travel doing am.

e

The particie e indicates movement towards a place:

I’m going to Japan.    nihon e ikimasu

Japan e go.

kara

The particie kara indicates movement away from a place:

Fm going from Japan    nihon kara chukoku e

to China.    ikimasu

Japan kara China e go.

Uh

You will no doubt often hear the words ano and eto during your stay in Japan. They are not actually words, but the Japanese equivalents of the English ‘uh’.

Uh, I don’t know.    ano, wakarimasen

Uh, excuse me.    eto, sumimasen