AGERU

AGERU

Ageru.

Meaning: Give something to a person who is either of equal or lower status.

Other term: Sashiageru is used with a person of higher status or to whom the speaker would like to show respect. While, Yaru is very informally used instead of Sashiageru.

When to use?

1) After noun + o

Kono kaban o agemasu.

= I give you this bag

2) After te-form of verb

Kono kuruma o kashite agemasu.

= I lend you this car.

>

Kare ni kutsu o katte agemashita.

= I bought a shoes for him.

Leer Mas

AIDA

AIDA

Aida.

Meaning: Between, During, From.. through, while, among

When to use?

1) Followed by ni

Aida ni suwatte kudasai.

= Please sit in between.

2) After noun + no, followed by ni

Nete iru aida ni mao-san ga tazunete kimashita.

= Mr. Mao came to see you while your asleep.

3) After noun + to + noun + no, followed by ni

Jimusho wa eki to gakkou no aide ni arimasu.

= The office is between the station and the school.

4) After noun + kara + noun + made no

ka-youbi kara kin-youbi made no aida benkyoushimasu.

= I will study from tuesday until friday.

5) After verb in the progressive tense, followed by ni

Terebi o mite iru aida ni nemutte shimatta.

= I fell asleep while I was watching TV.

6) After dictionary form of adjective, followed by ni

Wakai aida ni motto benkyou shite kudasai.

= Please study well while you are young.

Leer Mas

AMARI

AMARI

Amari.

Meaning: Not much, not many, not enough, not well, not very

When to use?

1) Used with negative verb

Kanojo wa amari tabemasen.

= She don't each much.

Kanojo no koto wa amari shirimasen.

= I don't know much about her.

2) Used with negative adjective

Tenki wa amari yoku arimasen.

= The weather is not good.

Leer Mas

ARE

ARE

Are.

Meaning: That, those, it; It refers to an object far from both the speaker and the listener. It is the polite form of "achira", which also means "that person" or "that direction".

When to use?

1) Followed by particle

Are wa dare desu ka. Are wa Jess-san desu.

= Who is that? He is Mr. Jess.

Achira ni tsuitara renraku shite kudasai.

= Please contact me when you get there.

Uketsuke wa asoko ni arimasu.

= The reception area is over there.

Leer Mas

Arimasen

ARIMASEN

Arimasen.

Meaning: Negative verb used for making the negative form of desu, aru and adjectives

When to use?

1) After (adjectival) noun + dewa

Kore wa kare no kutsu dewa arimasen.

= This is not your shoes.

2) After ku-form of adjective

Soto wa atsuku arimasen deshita.

= It wasn't hot outside.

Leer Mas

Grammar

Grammar - 文法

Japanese grammar is quite simple and straight forward but very different from English grammar so most English speakers find it rather confusing. For instance, the verb always comes at the end. The best thing you can do when learning Japanese grammar is to learn it from the bottom up and not compare it to English grammar.

Japanese grammar uses what we will refer to as particles to mark the various parts of the sentence. The main particles are: (These particles will be described in more detail below)

は wa ( the Hiragana "ha" is pronounced "wa" when it immediately follows the topic) topic marker が ga subject marker を wo (pronounced "o") direct object marker に ni direction marker, time marker, indirect object marker へ e (as mentioned in lesson 1, the Hiragana "he" is pronounced "e" when it immediately follows a place or direction) direction marker

The particles "wa" (は) and "ga" (が): The particle "wa" marks the topic of the sentence and the particle "ga" marks the subject of the sentence. In the example, "I know where you live" (watashi wa anata ga doko ni sunde iru ka shitte iru), "I" would be the topic while "you" would be the subject.

Not all sentences have both a topic and subject and, in many cases, the topic is implied in Japanese (for example, the "I" (watashi wa) would be left out of this sentence because it is implied that since I am talking I am the one that knows where you live). Many Japanese books and teachers teach that "wa" and "ga" are the same thing and it doesn't matter which you use when. This is not the case but I wouldn't worry too much about keeping them straight at first.

The particle "wo" (を): The particle "wo" (or "o") marks the direct object of the sentence. In the example, "I'm going to take her home" (watashi wa kanojo wo ie ni okuru), "her" would be the direct object.

The particle "ni" (に): The particle "ni" can be used to mark the direction, time, or the indirect object of a sentence.

An example of a direction marker can be seen in the previous example "I'm going to take her home" (watashi wa kanojo wo ie ni okuru). In this case, the "ni" acts like a "to" - "I'm going to take her 'to' home". The particle "e" (へ) can be used in this way as well but usually implies more of a general direction as opposed to a specific places.

The particle "ni" is also used to mark time in a sentence. For example, "I'm leaving at 3 o'clock" (watashi wa sanji ni hanareru).

The final use for the particle "ni" is that of indirect object marker. In the example, "I was taken home by him" (watashi wa kare ni ie made okurareta), "him" is the indirect object.

Leer Mas