Vocabulary

一般的(いっ・ぱん・てき)

in general

静か(しず・か) na-adj

quiet

狭い(せま・い) i-adj

narrow

彼女(かの・じょ)

she; girlfriend

いい i-adj

good

私(わたし)

me; myself; I

部屋(へ・や)

room

きれい na-adj

pretty; clean

とても

very

好き(す・き) na-adj

likable; desirable

学生(がく・せい)

student

先生(せん・せい)

teacher

田中(た・なか)

Tanaka (last name)

お金持ち(お・かね・も・ち)

rich

かっこいい i-adj

cool; handsome

魅力的(み・りょく・てき)

charming

It is very easy to combine a chain of nouns and adjectives to describe a person or object. For example, in English if we wanted to say, “He is X. He is Y. He is Z.” since all three sentences have the same noun, we would usually say, “He is X, Y, and Z.” In Japanese, we can do the same thing by conjugating the noun or adjective. The last noun or adjective remains the same as before.

Examples

1. 私の部屋は、きれいで、静かで、とても好き。
   My room is clean, quiet, and I like it a lot.

2. 彼女は、学生じゃなくて、先生だ。
   She is not a student, she is a teacher.

3. 田中さんは、お金持ちで、かっこよくて、魅力的ですね。
   Tanaka-san is rich, handsome, and charming, isn’t he?

As you can see, the で attached to お金持ち obviously cannot be the context particle で here because there is no verb. It might be helpful to think of で as merely a substitution for だ that can be chained together.

Vocabulary

学生(がく・せい)

student

買う(か・う) u-verb

to buy

食べる(た・べる) ru-verb

to eat

行く(い・く) u-verb

to go

する exception

to do

遊ぶ(あそ・ぶ) u-verb

to play

飲む(の・む) u-verb

to drink

食堂(しょく・どう)

cafeteria

昼ご飯(ひる・ご・はん)

lunch

昼寝(ひる・ね)

afternoon nap

時間(じ・かん)

time

ある u-verb

to exist (inanimate)

映画(えい・が)

movie

見る(み・る) ru-verb

to see

In a similar fashion, you can express multiple actions. It is usually interpreted as a sequence of event. (I did [X], then I did [Y], then I finally did [Z].) There are two forms: positive and negative. The tense of all the actions is determined by the tense of the last verb.

Examples

1. 食堂に行って、昼ご飯を食べて、昼寝をする。
   I will go to cafeteria, eat lunch, and take a nap.

2. 食堂に行って、昼ご飯を食べて、昼寝をした。
   I went to cafeteria, ate lunch, and took a nap.

3. 時間がありまして、映画を見ました。
   There was time and I watched a movie.

Vocabulary

時間(じ・かん)

time

ある u-verb

to exist (inanimate)

パーティー(pa a ti i)

party

行く(い・く) u-verb

to go

友達(とも・だち)

friend

プレゼント(pu re ze n to)

present

来る(く・る) exception

to come

田中(た・なか)

Tanaka (last name)

どうして

why

山田(や・まだ)

Yamada (last name)

一郎(いち・ろう)

Ichirou (first name)

直子(なお・こ)

Naoko (first name)

ちょっと

a little

忙しい(いそが・しい) i-adj

busy

そろそろ

gradually; soon

失礼(しつ・れい)

discourtesy

する exception

to do

学生(がく・せい)

student

お金(お・かね)

money

ここ

here

静か(しず・か) na-adj

quiet

とても

very

穏やか(おだ・やか) na-adj

calm, peaceful

会う(あ・う) u-verb

to meet

You can connect two complete sentences using から to indicate a reason for something. The two sentences are always ordered [reason] から [result]. When the reason is a non-conjugated noun or na-adjective, you must add だ to explicitly declare the reason in the form of ""(noun/na-adjective)だから. If you forget to add the declarative ""だ to から, it will end up sounding like the から meaning “from” which was first introduced in the section on particles, earlier.

Examples

1. 時間がなかったからパーティーに行きませんでした。
   There was no time so didn’t go to party.

2. 友達からプレゼントが来た。
   Present came from friend.

3. 友達だからプレゼントが来た。
   Present came because (the person is) friend. (This sentence sounds a bit odd.)

Either the reason or the result can be omitted if it is clear from the context. In the case of polite speech, you would treat から just like a regular noun and add です.

Example 1

田中(た・なか)さん Tanaka-san

どうしてパーティーに行きませんでしたか。

Why didn’t you go to the party?

山田(や・まだ)さん Yamada-san

時間がなかったからです。

It’s because I didn’t have time.

Example 2

一郎(いち・ろう) Ichiro

パーティーに行かなかったの？

You didn’t go to the party?

直子(なお・こ) Naoko

うん、時間がなかったから。

Yeah, because I didn’t have time.

Example 3

When you omit the reason, you must include the declarative だ or です.

直子(なお・こ) Naoko

時間がなかった。

I didn’t have time.

一郎(いち・ろう) Ichiro

だからパーティーに行かなかったの？

Is that why you didn’t go to the party?

Notice that we could have also used the explanatory の to express the same thing. In other words, 山田さん could have also said, 時間がなかったのです or 時間がなかったんです while 直子 could have said 時間がなかったの (we’ll assume she wants to use the more feminine form).

In fact, this is where ので possibly came from. Let’s say you want to combine two sentences: 時間がなかったのだ and パーティーに行かなかった. Remember we can treat the の just like a noun so we can use what we just learned in the first section of this lesson. 時間がなかったのだ＋パーティーに行かなかった becomes: 時間がなかったのでパーティーに行かなかった。 In fact, ので is almost interchangeable with から with a few subtle differences. から explicitly states that the sentence preceding is the reason for something while ので is merely putting two sentences together, the first with an explanatory tone.

This is something I call causation where [X] happened, therefore [Y] happened. This is slightly different from から where [Y] happened explicitly because [X] happened. This difference tends to make ので sound softer and slightly more polite and it is favored over から when explaining a reason for doing something that is considered discourteous.

• ちょっと忙しいので、そろそろ失礼します。
  Because I’m a little busy, I’ll be making my leave soon.

（失礼します, which literally means “I’m doing a discourtesy”, is commonly used as a polite way to make your leave or disturb someone’s time.）

1. 私は学生なので、お金がないんです。
   Because I’m a student, I have no money (lit: there is no money).

2. ここは静かなので、とても穏やかです。
   It is very calm here because it is quiet.

3. なので、友達に会う時間がない。
   That’s why there’s no time to meet friend.

Just like how the explanatory の can be shortened to ん, in speech, the ので can be changed to んで simply because it’s easier to slur the sounds together rather than pronouncing the / o / syllable.

1. 時間がなかったんでパーティーに行かなかった。
   Didn’t go to the party because there was no time.

2. ここは静かなんで、とても穏やかです。
   It is very calm here because it is quiet.

3. なんで、友達に会う時間がない。
   That’s why there’s no time to meet friend.

Vocabulary

毎日(まい・にち)

everyday

運動(うん・どう)

exercise

する exception

to do

全然(ぜん・ぜん)

not at all (when used with negative)

痩せる(や・せる) ru-verb

to become thin

学生(がく・せい)

student

彼女(かの・じょ)

she; girlfriend

勉強(べん・きょう)

study

Grammatically, のに is used exactly the same way as ので. When used to combine two simple sentences together, it means “[Sentence 1] despite the fact that [Sentence 2].” However the order is reversed: [Sentence 2]のに[Sentence 1].

Examples

1. 毎日運動したのに、全然痩せなかった。
   Despite exercising every day, I didn’t get thinner.

2. 学生なのに、彼女は勉強しない。
   Despite being a student, she does not study.

Vocabulary

デパート(de pa a to)

department store

行く(い・く) u-verb

to go

何(なに／なん)

what

全然(ぜん・ぜん)

not at all (when used with negative)

欲しい(ほ・しい) i-adj

desirable

友達(とも・だち)

friend

聞く(き・く) u-verb

to ask; to listen

知る(し・る) u-verb

to know

今日(きょう)

today

暇(ひま)

free　(as in not busy)

明日(あした)

tomorrow

忙しい(いそが・しい) i-adj

busy

彼(かれ)

he; boyfriend

まだ

yet

好き(す・き) na-adj

likable; desirable

いい i-adj

good

物(もの)

object

たくさん

a lot (amount)

ある

to exist (inanimate)

見る(み・る) ru-verb

to see

面白い(おも・しろ・い) i-adj

interesting

Used in the same manner as から and ので, が and けど also connect two sentences together but this time to express a contradiction. Just like から the declarative だ is required for nouns and na-adjectives. And just like から and ので, either part of the contradiction can be left out.

Examples

1. デパートに行きましたが、何も欲しくなかったです。
   I went to department store but there was nothing I wanted.

2. 友達に聞いたけど、知らなかった。
   I asked (or heard from) a friend but he (or I) didn’t know.

3. 今日は暇だけど、明日は忙しい。
   I’m free today but I will be busy tomorrow.

4. だけど、彼がまだ好きなの。
   That may be so, but it is that I still like him. [explanation, feminine tone]

It may seem odd but 聞く can either mean “to listen” or “to ask”. You may think this may become confusing but the meaning is usually clear within context. In the second example, we’re assuming that the friend didn’t know, so the speaker was probably asking the friend.

Yet again we see the importance of context in Japanese because this sentence can also mean, “I heard from a friend but I didn’t know” since there is neither subject nor topic. Similar to the difference between ので and から, が has a softer tone and is slightly more polite than けど.

Though this isn’t a rule as such, it is generally common to see が attached to a ～ます or ～です ending and けど attached to a regular, plain ending. A more formal version of けど is けれど and even more formal is けれども, which we may see later when we cover formal expressions.

Unlike the English word for contradiction such as “but” or “however”, けど and が do not always express a direct contradiction. Often times, especially when introducing a new topic, it is used as a general connector of two separate sentences.

For example, in the following sentences, there is no actual contradiction but が and けど are used simply to connect the sentences. Sometimes, the English “and” becomes a closer translation than “but”.

1. デパートに行きましたが、いい物がたくさんありました。
   I went to the department store and there was a lot of good stuff.

2. マトリックスを見たけど、面白かった。
   I watched the “Matrix” and it was interesting.

Vocabulary

どうして

why

友達(とも・だち)

friend

先生(せん・せい)

teacher

年上(とし・うえ)

older

彼(かれ)

he; boyfriend

好き(す・き) na-adj

likable

優しい(やさ・しい) i-adj

gentle; kind

かっこいい i-adj

cool; handsome

面白い(おも・し・ろい) i-adj

interesting

When you want to list reasons for multiple states or actions you can do so by adding し to the end of each relative clause. It is very similar to the や particle except that it lists reasons for verbs and state-of-being. Again, for states of being, だ must be used to explicitly declare the state-of-being for any non-conjugated noun or na-adjective. Let’s look at some examples.

Example 1

Ａ

? : どうして友達じゃないんですか？

Why isn’t (he/she) friend [seeking explanation]?

Ｂ

先生だし、年上だし・・・。

Well, he’s/she’s the teacher, and older…

Example 2

Ａ

どうして彼が好きなの？

Why (do you) like him?

Ｂ

優しいし、かっこいいし、面白いから。

Because he’s kind, attractive, and interesting (among other things).

Notice that 優しくて、かっこよくて、面白いから。 could also have worked but much like the difference between the と and や particle, し implies that there may be other reasons.

Vocabulary

する exception

to do

食べる(た・べる) ru-verb

to eat

飲む(の・む) u-verb

to drink

簡単(かん・たん) na-adj

simple

難しい(むずか・しい) i-adj

difficult

映画(えい・が)

movie

見る(み・る) ru-verb

to see

本(ほん)

book

読む(よ・む) u-verb

to read

昼寝(ひる・ね)

afternoon nap

この

this （abbr. of これの）

大学(だい・がく)

college

授業(じゅ・ぎょう)

class

This is the verb version of the や particle. You can make an example list of verbs among a possible larger list by conjugating each verb into the past tense and adding り. At the end, you need to attach the verb する. Just like the や particle, the tense is determined by the last verb, which in this case will always be する (since you have to attach it at the end). You can also use this with the state-of-being to say that you are a number of things at various random times among a larger list. Similar to regular verbs, you just take the noun or adjective for each state-of-being and conjugate it to the past state-of-being and then attach り. Then finally, attach する at the end.

1. 映画を見たり、本を読んだり、昼寝したりする。
   I do things like (among other things) watch movies, read books, and take naps.

2. この大学の授業は簡単だったり、難しかったりする。
   Class of this college is sometimes easy, sometimes difficult (and other times something else maybe).

As you can see, the tense and negative/positive state is controlled by the last する.

1. 映画を見たり、本を読んだりした。
   I did things like (among other things) watch movies, and read books.

2. 映画を見たり、本を読んだりしない。
   I don’t do things like (among other things) watch movies, and read books.

3. 映画を見たり、本を読んだりしなかった。
   I didn’t do things like (among other things) watch movies, and read books.