Basic Japanese. Eriko Sato

likes Taro’ (It’s HANAKO that likes Taro). The situation usually makes it clear which meaning is called for. If you have both wa and ga in a sentence, the phrase with wa usually comes first: the stage is set before the comment is made.

      Sometimes two topics are put in contrast with each other: Kore wa eigakan desu ga, sore wa ginkō desu ‘This is a movie-theater, but that is a bank.’ (The particle ga meaning ‘but’ is not the same particle as the one indicating the subject.) In this case, the emphasis is on the way in which the two topics contrast—in being a theater on the one hand, and a bank on the other.

2.9. か ka

      The particle ka is placed at the end of a sentence to show that it is a question. It is as if we were pronouncing the question mark:

      あの家です。

       Ano ie desu.

      It’s that house.

      あの家ですか。

       Ano ie desu ka.

      Is it that house?

      A common way of asking a question in Japanese is to give two or more alternatives, one of which the answerer selects.

      あの人は日本人ですか。中国人ですか。

       Ano hito wa Nihon-jin desu ka. Chūgoku-jin desu ka.

      Is he Japanese or Chinese? (Literally, ‘Is he Japanese. Is he Chinese?’)

      Alternative questions are further discussed in Note 7.8.

2.10. の no

      The particle no shows that the preceding noun “modifies” or “limits” the noun following. The particle no is often equivalent to the English translation of, but sometimes it is equivalent to in or other words.

私の本 watashi no hon	my book
日本語の本 Nihongo no hon	Japanese (language) books
私の友達 watashi no tomodachi	my friend
部屋の中 heya no naka	the inside of the room
家の外 ie no soto	the place outside the house
ここの学校 koko no gakkō	the schools of this place, the schools here
東京の銀行 Tōkyō no ginkō	banks in Tokyo
アメリカの新聞 Amerika no shinbun	American newspapers
日本の会社員 Nihon no kaishain	company employees in Japan

      The expression NOUN + no is sometimes followed directly by the copula desu ‘is (equals),’ as in:

「これはだれのですか。」“Kore wa dare no desu ka.”“Whose is this?”

「石田さんのです。」“Ishida-san no desu.”“It’s Ms. Ishida’s.”

2.11. に ni

      The particle ni indicates a “general sort of location” in space or time, which can be made more specific by putting a place or time word in front of it. The phrase heya ni means ‘at the room, in the room.’ To say explicitly ‘in(side) the room,’ you insert the specific place word naka ‘inside’: heya no naka ni. Notice the difference between gakkō ni imasu ‘he’s at school, he’s in school’ and gakkō no naka ni imasu ‘he’s in(side) the school (building).’

      A NOUN PHRASE + ni is not used to modify another noun, and it does not occur before desu ‘is (equals)’; it is usually followed by arimasu ‘(a thing) is (exists)’ or imasu ‘(a person) is (exists in a place).’ To say ‘the people in the room,’ you connect heya no naka ‘the inside of the room’ with hito ‘the people’ by means of the particle no: heya no naka no hito.

      The particle ni is also used figuratively:

      友達に言いました。

       Tomodachi ni iimashita.

      He said TO his friend.

      It sometimes shows “purpose”:

      散歩に行きました。

       Sanpo ni ikimashita.

      He went FOR a walk.

      It is also used to indicate a “change of state” and after an adjectival noun, to show “manner”:

      先生になりました。

       Sensei ni narimashita.

      He became a teacher, he turned into a teacher.

      ネットカフェにしました。

       Netto kafe ni shimashita.

      They made it into an Internet café.

      きれいに書きました。

       Kirei ni kakimashita.

      He wrote neatly.

      Occasionally, a particle like ni will be used in an expression that calls for an unexpected equivalent in the English translation:

      だれに日本語を習いましたか。

       Dare ni Nihongo o naraimashita ka.

      Who did you learn Japanese FROM?

2.12. Words meaning ‘is’

      In this lesson we find three different Japanese words translated as ‘is’ in English: desu, arimasu, and imasu. The word desu is the COPULA and it means ‘equals.’ Whenever an English sentence containing the word is makes sense if you substitute equals for is, the Japanese equivalent is desu.

      あれは富士山です。

       Are wa Fujisan desu.

      That is Mt. Fuji. (That one = Mt. Fuji)

      あの人は私の友達です。

       Ano hito wa watashi no tomodachi desu.

      That person is my friend. (That person = my friend)

      それは私のです。

       Sore wa watashi no desu.

      That’s mine. (That = mine)

      Preceding the word desu, there is always a noun or a phrase consisting of NOUN + no or some other particle, but never wa, ga, o (discussed in 3.6.), de (discussed in 3.5), or ni.

      When an English sentence containing the word is makes sense if you reword it as ‘(something) exists,’ the Japanese equivalent is arimasu:

      ATMがあります。