Merry Christmas: メリー クリスマス (meri kurisumasu)
Happy New Year before January 1st: よい おとしを (yoi otoshi o)
Happy New Year after January 1st: あけまして おめでとう (akemashite omedeto)
This blog explains Japanese grammar, words and expressions especially comparing to those of English. The topics are all brought from the questions my students asked me during their Japanese lessons. I hope you will find it beneficial to your Japanese learning.
Merry Christmas: メリー クリスマス (meri kurisumasu)
Happy New Year before January 1st: よい おとしを (yoi otoshi o)
Happy New Year after January 1st: あけまして おめでとう (akemashite omedeto)
Reason (clause): kyo wa ame desu. (It’s raining today.)
Consequence (clause): shiai wa chushi desu. (The game is cancelled.)
Reason (clause) + Consequence (clause): 1) kyo wa ame desu kara, shiai wa chushi desu.
2) kyo wa ame da kara, shiai wa chushi desu. *“desu” becomes “da”, which is the casual form.
(Because it’s raining today, the game is cancelled.)Example 1-B
Reason/cause (noun): ame
Consequence (clause): shiai wa chushi desu. (The game is cancelled.)
Reason/cause (noun) + Consequence (clause): 3) ame de kyo no shiai wa chushi desu. (Because of rain, today’s game is cancelled.)Sentences 1 and 2 mean the same thing as sentence 3.
2) watashi wa byoki da kara, kyo no yoru asobi ni ikenai.
3) byoki de kyo no yoru asobi ni ikenai. (”byoki” is a noun.)
(Because I am sick, I can’t go out tonight.)Example 3-A
Reason (clause): kesa jishin ga atta. (There was an earthquake this morning.)
Consequence (clause): densha ga okureta. (Trains were delayed.)
Reason (clause) + Consequence (clause): 1) kesa jishin ga atta kara, densha ga okureta. (Because there was an earthquake this morning, trains were delayed.)As the previous examples show, “desu kara” becomes “da kara”. However, “Jishin ga atta” doesn’t include “desu”. Therefore, you can’t say “jishin ga atta da kara” and “jishin da kara”. Also, “jishin kara” is missing a verb and is thus incomplete and incorrect.
Reason/cause (noun): jishin
Consequence (clause): densha ga okureta. (Trains delayed.)
Reason/cause (noun) + Consequence (clause): jishin de densha ga okureta. (Because of the earthquake, trains were delayed.)
Kesa jishin ga atta. Dakara, densha ga okureta.Sentence 1. (full stop) Dakara, sentence 2. In other words, the second sentence starts with “dakara”.
Kyo wa ame da kara, shiai wa chushi desu.Can you see the difference?
A: kani wa oishii kedo, tabe nikui.Consider this next example: You can’t eat any more because you’re full but, despite this, food is still being served.
B: onaka ga ippai dakara, zenbu taberu no wa muzukashii.
A. kono wine wa nomi yasui ne.This means that you can drink the wine because it tastes good.
B. futari nara wine o ippon nomu no wa kantan des.It’s not the quality of the wine itself that matters here. It’s your own ability or capacity to drink it that does.
A: Wine no shimi wa ochi nikui.
B: Wine no shimi o otosu no wa muzukashii.Example B means that the stain isn’t likely to come out because you don’t have the knowledge or know the technique to wash it away. “Otosu” (wash away) is your own action, so we can see that any verb used here must be a transitive verb (a tadoushi) or else an intransitive verb (a “jidoushi”) describing someone’s action, such as “iku”, “hashiru”, “hairu” and so on.
“ano hito wa itsumo okotteite, kowasou dakara, hanashi nikui na”.It’s hard to talk to that person because he is always angry and looks scary.
I went to Kyoto.
I: watashi (wa)
went: ikimashita
to: ni
watashi wa Kyoto ni ikimashita. (I Kyoto to went.)You must get used to saying “I Kyoto to went.” Until this Japanese sentence comes out of your mouth naturally as a habit, you consciously need to switch your brain to Japanese mode when you speak in Japanese.