In order to understand one language fundamentally, you need to dig out the deep structure which is ruling all over the activities of the language. However, this is a very boring and tiring process at the beginning. This chapter introduces the corresponding ideas which are important in English, such as pronouns, cases, articles, interrogatives. To tell the truth, these ideas are not essential in Japanese. However, Knowing the correspondence of these idea is a good trigger that you start to learn Japanese with your motivation, because you can compose simple sentences with these ideas.

The following table shows us the parts of speech of Japanese. You do not understand and memorize them just now. However, you may figure out the framework of Japanese from this table. You may use this table for your reference later.

Parts of Speech

conjugation	independent	to express actions		Verbs
		to express properties		Adjectival Verbs
	dependent			Auxiliary Verbs
no conjugation	independent	modicand	to express objects	Nouns
			to express actions	Verbal Nouns
			to express properties	Adjectival Nouns
		no modicand	to demonstrate	Demonstrative
			to modify verbs	Adverbs
			to modify nouns	Adnominals
			to connect sentences	Conjunctives
			no element in sentences	Interjections
	dependent			Particles

In order to compose Japanese sentences correctly, you have to know the word orders well. The rule of the orders is very simple. You only have to know three orders.

Elements

• V: verbal elements
• N: nominal elements
• M: modifier's elements

Operators

• f: final operators
• c: conjunctive operators
• a: attributive operators

Word Orders

• Vf: verbal elements followed by final operators
• {V or N or M}cV: verbal elements followed by conjunctive operators
• {V or N or M}aN: nominal elements followed by attributive operators

Elements Operators V N M f c a Verbs OK OK OK OK Adjectival Verbs OK OK OK OK Auxiliary Verbs OK OK OK OK Nouns OK (*1) Verbal Nouns OK OK Adjectival Nouns OK (*2) Demonstrative OK OK OK Adverbs (*3) OK OK Adnominal OK OK Conjunctives OK OK Interjections OK OK Particles (*4) OK OK OK

(*1) Some of nouns have the property of "Nc" without particles. (*2) Some of adjectival nouns have the property of "N". (*3) Some of adverbs have the property of "V". (*4) Some of particles have the property of "V".

Japanese dose not have the correspondence of personal pronouns and case inflections strictly, However, it can express the same idea by combining several words. In this chapter, you do not have to get serious to understand the details. The following table shows us the same functions which personal pronouns have in English.

Inflections of Personal Pronouns single case marker first second E J K E J K J K subjective I wátashi ga わたしが you ánàta ga あなたが ga が possessive my wátashi no わたしの your ánàta no あなたの no の direct objective me wátashi 'o わたしを you ánàta 'o あなたを 'o を indirect objective wátashi ni わたしに ánàta ni あなたに ni に

E: English J: Japanae K: Japanese Kana

	single
	third
	mascluine			faminin			neuter
	E	J	K	E	J	K	E	J	K
subjective	he	kàre ga	かれが	she	kànojo ga	かのじょが	it	sóre ga	それが
possessive	his	kàre no	かれの	her	kànojo no	かのじょの	its	sóre no	それの
direct objective	him	kàre 'o	かれを		kànojo 'o	かのじょを	it	sóre 'o	それを
indirect objective		kàre ni	かれに		kànojo ni	かのじょに		sóre ni	それに

	plural
	first			second			third
	E	J	K	E	J	K	E	J	K
subjective	we	wátashì-tachi ga	わたしたちが	you	ánàta-tachi ga	あなたたちが	they	kàre-ra ga	かれらが
possessive	our	wátashì-tachi no	わたしたちの	your	ánàta-tachi no	あなたたちの	their	kàre-ra no	かれらの
direct objective	us	wátashì-tachi 'o	わたしたちを	you	ánàta-tachi 'o	あなたたちを	them	kàre-ra 'o	かれらを
indirect objective		wátashì-tachi ni	わたしたちに		ánàta-tachi ni	あなたたちに		kàre-ra ni	かれらに

English has a demonstrative system which separates "near to the speaker" and "near to the hearer". On the other hand, Japanese has a demonstrative system which separates "near to the speaker", "near to the hearer", and "far from both the speaker and the hearer". Japanese demonstrative words must be followed by case markers so that you use them in sentences. However, you may not have to use the plural forms unless you need to clear the number of objects.

Demonstrative Pronouns

		near to the speaker			near to the hearer			far from both
		E	J	K	E	J	K	E	J	K
single	subjective	this	kóre ga	これが	that	sóre ga	それが	that	áre ga	あれが
	possessive(*1)		kóno	この		sóno	その		áno	あの
	direct objective		kóre 'o	これを		sóre 'o	それを		áre 'o	あれを
	indirect objective		kóre ni	これに		sóre ni	それに		áre ni	あれに
plural	subjective	these	kórè-ra ga	これらが	those	sórè-ra ga	それらが	those	árè-ra ga	あれらが
	possessive		kórè-ra no	これらの		sórè-ra no	それらの		árè-ra no	あれらの
	direct objective		kórè-ra 'o	これらを		sórè-ra 'o	それらを		árè-ra 'o	あれらを
	indirect objective		kórè-ra ni	これらに		sórè-ra ni	それらに		árè-ra ni	あれらに

• (*1) You use the special forms when they are used as the possessive case.

Japanese has no articles, however, you can use the following words when you have to express them explicitly. They belong to adnominals classified by Japanese parts of speech.

Articles

	E	J	K
infinite article	a, an	àru	ある
definite article	the	sóno	その

Japanese nouns do not distinguish the forms of the words for numbers and genders. They use perfectly the same form. Furthermore, Japanese verbs do not have any conjugation for numbers and genders, although they have rich conjugations for tenses, aspects, voices and so on.

• dèsuku (デスク): It is only one form to express a desk, desks, the desk and the desks.

In order to ask something, you have to use interrogative words, otherwise, you could not communicate with one another smoothly. English provides typical interrogative words called 5W1H. The following tables show us the correspondence of them. Most of Japanese interrogative words belong to demonstrative classified by the parts of speech.

Interrogative Pronouns person object choice E J K E J K E J K subjective who dàre ga だれが what nàni ga なにが which dòre ga どれが possessive(*1) whose dàre no だれの nàni no なにの dòno どの direct objective whom dàre 'o だれを nàni 'o なにを dòre 'o どれを indirect objective dàre ni だれに nàni ni なにに dòre ni どれに

Interrogative Adverbs E J K time when ìtsu いつ place where dòko de どこで reason why nàze なぜ method how dòu どう

Question Mark

• ka (か): Japanese has an explicit simple question marker. you can construct a simple interrogative sentence by adding "ka" to the end of the sentence

Response Words

• hài (はい): When you agree with a questioner, you use "hai".
• íie (いいえ): When you disagree with a questioner, you use "iie".