9 Should-Know Japanese Components of Speech With Charts & Examples

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Studying any language, together with Japanese, means understanding how you can put a sentence collectively. That is the place components of speech are available. Native English audio system might be aware of nouns (individuals, locations, issues, or concepts) and verbs (motion phrases). Japanese components of speech are a lot the identical, making a brand new learner’s job simpler. 

See how components of speech work in Japanese sentences with the Rosetta Stone app. Every lesson contains the spoken sentences in writing, serving to you establish every phrase individually and the way it pertains to different phrases in a larger context. 

What are Japanese components of speech?

Japanese components of speech (hinshi, 品詞) are classes of phrases divided by their operate in a sentence, working the identical means as components of speech in English. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and different English components of speech have near-identical counterparts in Japanese. 

There are a number of important variations between Japanese grammar and English grammar that may make figuring out components of speech difficult for brand spanking new learners.

• Japanese doesn’t use areas, that means phrases seem to run collectively at first look.
• English phrase order typically places the verb after the topic performing the motion. That is known as “SVO” (“subject-verb-object”) phrase order. In Japanese, the verb goes on the finish of a sentence or clause, making it “SOV” (“subject-object-verb”) phrase order.
• Punctuation is used sparingly in Japanese. For instance, commas are virtually solely elective, whereas they’re important in English.
• There are not any articles (“the,” “a,” and “an”) in Japanese, and there are additionally no indicators for plurals most often. Context is vital for figuring out whether or not a noun is singular or plural in Japanese.

Japanese components of speech chart

There are 9 predominant components of speech in Japanese. Conveniently, all of those phrases finish within the suffix -shi (詞), actually that means “a part of speech” or “phrases.”

Joshi (particles) in Japanese

Particles, or joshi (助詞), are quick Japanese phrases that make figuring out the roles of the phrases round them simpler. Every Japanese particle can have a number of makes use of, however all of them operate to tie the items of a sentence collectively. Listed here are a number of frequent ones:

The breakdown of this sentence reveals how particles wa and o work with the phrase earlier than it:

• Inu wa mizu o nomimashita.（犬は水を飲みました。）= The canine drank water.

Meishi (nouns) in Japanese

Japanese nouns, like English, describe an individual, place, or factor. In contrast to English, they often don’t establish amount (plurals), and there are not any articles. Japanese nouns additionally lack grammatical gender like that seen in languages equivalent to Spanish and German.

• Neko wa dōbutsu desu.（猫は動物です。）= Cats are animals.

Nouns may also be used to explain different nouns by utilizing particle no, which signifies possession or possession. The noun earlier than no qualifies the noun that follows it. Within the sentence under, nihongo (日本語) means “Japanese language” and hon (本) means “ebook.”

• Nihongo no hon o yondeimasu.（日本語の本を読んでいます。）= I’m studying a Japanese ebook.

Daimeishi (pronouns) in Japanese

Japanese pronouns embrace such phrases as “I,” “you,” and “they.” Nevertheless, there are a number of completely different phrases for every to differentiate how formal or informal the speaker is being. A handful of suffixes equivalent to -ra (ら) or -tachi (たち) may even be used right here in a uncommon case of pluralization.

The pronoun “I” alone has greater than three frequent choices! Whereas a few of them lean towards the masculine or female, there are not any strict guidelines about what an individual can use in informal dialog—Japanese pronoun use for the person is dependent upon self expression and social conditions.

As soon as a relationship is established, utilizing names instead of pronouns is frequent, even used within the second-person as an alternative of “you.” Pronouns are sometimes dropped in a sentence if the topic being referred to is clear. For instance, when introducing your self as “George,” the “I” or watashi might be omitted within the sentence:

• (Watashi wa) jōji desu.（（私は）ジョージです。）= I am George.

Dōshi (verbs) in Japanese

Japanese verbs are motion phrases and go on the finish of a sentence or clause. The three classes of Japanese verbs are godan (五段) verbs, ichidan (一段) verbs, and irregular verbs. The primary two are differentiated (and conjugated) by the final sound of the phrase: Godan verbs finish in a “u” sound (the character ru (る) is usually included) and ichidan verbs all the time finish within the character ru. 

Like different languages, there are a lot of Japanese verb conjugations to recollect. Nevertheless, the excellent news is that they’re the identical whatever the topic of the sentence. 

In these examples, the conjugation of the verb hanasu (話す) or “to talk” is identical in Japanese whereas the English conjugation modifications. 

• Watashi wa nihongo o hanashimasu.（私は日本語を話します。）= I converse Japanese.
• Tomodachi wa nihongo o hanashimasu.（友だちは日本語を話します。）= My buddy speaks Japanese.

Japanese transitive and intransitive verbs

Inside Japanese verbs is a subset known as transitive and intransitive verbs. Transitive verbs are used when the topic acts instantly on the thing, whereas intransitive verbs are used when an object does one thing by itself.

Right here is an instance of the transitive verb “to open” (akeru, 開ける) in motion:

• Kanojo wa mado o akemashita.（彼女は窓を開けました。）= She opened the window.

In distinction, right here is an instance of the window opening by itself utilizing the intransitive verb for “one thing opens” (aku, 開く):

• Mado ga akimashita.（窓が開きました。）= The window opened.

Keiyōshi and keiyōdōshi (adjectives) in Japanese

Japanese adjectives are available two varieties: i-adjectives (or keiyōshi, 形容詞) and na-adjectives (or keiyōdoushi, 形容動詞). Because the phrases suggest, i-adjectives finish within the character i (い) and na-adjectives are adopted by a na (な) if in entrance of a noun. They’re functionally comparable with each coming earlier than a noun to explain it or accompanying the verb “to be” to label the topic as that adjective.

• Karai tabemono ga suki desu.（辛い食べ物が好きです。）= I like spicy meals.
• Musume wa shizuka na ko desu.（娘は静かな子です。）= My daughter is a quiet youngster.

Like verbs, Japanese adjectives have conjugations. Happily, as a result of there are solely two forms of endings, the conjugations are extra easy than these of Japanese verbs.

Rentaishi (adjectival nouns) in Japanese

Japanese adjectival nouns are a novel set of phrases that describe which noun is being mentioned. They operate like adjectives in a sentence however are distinct from i– and na–adjectives. They might seem like verbs or nouns however finally describe a noun in the identical means an adjective would. 

The commonest rentaishi are the ko-so-a-do (こそあど) sequence of phrases. They’re so named as a result of every phrase begins with a kind of 4 characters, and every one is used primarily based on the gap or relationship to the speaker.

• ko phrases: the place the speaker is
• so phrases: the place the listener is
• a phrases: removed from each the speaker and the listener
• do phrases: query phrases for the given class

Fukushi (adverbs) in Japanese

There are a number of classes of Japanese adverbs, together with people who describe quantity, time, or how a verb is completed. The primary two should not have any particular conjugations.

Adjectives may also be become adverbs. To transform an i-adjective into an adverb, the ultimate i (い) is dropped and changed with ku (く). To transform a na-adjective into an adverb, ni (に) is added to the top of the phrase as an alternative of na (な).

Setsuzokushi (conjunctions) in Japanese

Japanese conjunctions manifest in two methods: by way of particles with particular features (some which contain conjugating a verb) or utilizing a particular verb conjugation known as te-form. 

Frequent particles that act as conjunctions embrace:

On the extra advanced facet, the te-form conjugation is a technique to join two impartial clauses. The verb of the primary clause is conjugated to te-form, whereas the verb of the second clause determines the tense of the complete sentence. That is one case the place commas might or might not be used, relying on if the individual writing the sentence desires to separate the sentence visually and encourage a pause when talking.

• Watashi wa shichiji ni okite, asagohan o tabemashita.（私は七時に起きて、朝ごはんを食べました。）= I awakened at 7:00 and ate breakfast.

Kandōshi (interjections) in Japanese

Japanese interjections or exclamations are a enjoyable means so as to add taste and emotion to a sentence, and you’ll sound extra fluent when you use them naturally! They’re often known as aizuchi (相槌), and it’s frequent for a listener to pepper them right into a dialog whereas another person is speaking as an indicator that they’re listening intently.

Having dwell conversations is the proper technique to follow utilizing Japanese interjections. Discovering a dialog companion by way of Rosetta Stone tutoring is a superb place to begin.

*Extremely versatile, yabai is often used as slang to imply the whole lot from “wonderful” to “terrifying” to “costly.” Context might be your information to understanding this interjection.

Key takeaways for Japanese components of speech

Each a part of speech comes with its personal set of vocabulary, makes use of, and even conjugations. By approaching every one individually, placing all of them collectively will assist you create advanced and pure sentences.

• Japanese has 9 main components of speech: joshi, meishi, daimeishi, dōshi, keiyōshi and keiyōdōshi, rentaishi, fukushi, setsuzokushi, and kandōshi.
• Every Japanese a part of speech has a particular operate and works along with different components of speech to create a whole sentence.
• Primary Japanese phrase order is subject-object-verb (SOV), which offers a framework for the placement of Japanese components of speech in a sentence.