Structure of Japanese Sentences2013年08月19日 05:03

Typical Japanese sentences have the following structure.
Subject made by Kanjis + Particle made by Kanas + Verb made by Kanjis and Kanas
as
石が転がる。(ISHI GA KORO GARU)
S P V
A Rock rolls.
or Rocks roll.
Japanese does not clarify the subject is single or plural in many cases, which tends to lead troubles, if it is crucial.
Particles separate each component of sentences

Thus the Kanji occupies the center of Japanese sentences.
We have to learn Kanji for the first.

Kanji is a character which has two faces, one is meaning and the other is pronouciation(s).
Japanese introduced Kanji a thousand years ago from China, thus Kanji in Japan has two types of pronouciation. one is Kun-yomi(Japanese type pronouciation), the other On-yomi(Chinese type pronouciation)
For example
石:meaning rock or rocks
:Kun-yomi ISHI
 :on-yomi SEKI
転:meaning roll
:Kun-yomi KORO(garu)
:On-yomi TEN
When we use Kanji for verbs, it usually categorize to two types. One is
Japanese type use. another is Chinese type use.
In Japanese type use, the verb is one Kanji + kanas such as 転がる。
In Chinese type use, the verb is two or more Kanjis + する such as 回転する。(KAITEN SURU).
where 回転 also means roll, but it implies more formal and Chinese type usage some times appears in formal articles or sentences.

The above example is for present tense. For past tense, it changes to the followings.

石が転がった。( ISHI GA KORO GATTA)
石が回転した。( ISHI GA KAITEN SHITA)

Japanese does not have perfect tense, it sometimes leads troubles in communications.

As for subjects, we have two types of words, one is Japanese traditional nouns, the other China origin ones.

Thus, you can choose four kinds of different levels of formality in Japanese sentences. But, in practice, it is enough to learn the most casual one, where the subject and verbe are Japanese type, in which the pronouciation is Kun-yomi, and the most formal one is China origin with On-yomi.

Thus, the most priority how to use Kanji is to identify if you are in formal or not.

If you are in chatting, you use the casual Japanese type, and if you are writing articles or papers, you use the China origin ones.

コメント

コメントをどうぞ

※メールアドレスとURLの入力は必須ではありません。 入力されたメールアドレスは記事に反映されず、ブログの管理者のみが参照できます。

※なお、送られたコメントはブログの管理者が確認するまで公開されません。

名前:
メールアドレス:
URL:
コメント:

トラックバック

このエントリのトラックバックURL: http://yokoyamashindo.asablo.jp/blog/2013/08/19/6950866/tb

※なお、送られたトラックバックはブログの管理者が確認するまで公開されません。