Japanese grammar

The grammar of the Japanese language has the following characteristics:

• It is an agglutinative language affixes are written separately in Hiragana and called particles.
• The word order is SOP ( subject - object - predicate ); the predicate is always at the end of the sentence or subordinate clause.
• The functions of all other elements in the sentence is marked by particles.
• Topic and subject are equivalent and are marked by different particles, a set can contain both topic and subject.
• It is a linksverzweigende language that is descriptive elements are usually placed in front of what they determine.
• The language has a complex system of politeness levels.
• It tends to be indirect formulations and ellipses ( omission of parts of sentences ).

Of the modern languages, the grammar of the Korean language most similar, although both languages ​​are very different from the vocabulary. Therefore, the linguists disagree as to whether both languages ​​are classified in a family or not.

The Japanese language is classified as SOP language, but this classification is not entirely true. The predicate true always comes last, but not everyone has a Japanese sentence subject. It is often expressed by the subject, where a subject would stand in a German sentence and the subject particle ga marked in some designs an object. As topic, subject and object are clearly marked by particles also their order can be changed.

In fixed phrases a number of ancient grammatical structures has remained in Japanese, which are no longer productive today.

Sample sentences in this article are mostly kept in the basic form, ie, in informal style.

• 3.1 noun
• 3.2 pronouns 3.2.1 plural

• 3.3.1 Enumeration particles
• 3.3.2 Kasuspartikeln and postpositions
• 3.3.3 Modal particles

• 4.1 Inflection and conjugation 4.1.1 Mizenkei
• 4.1.2 Ren'yōkei 4.1.2.1 Onbinkei

• 4.2.1 Single-stage verbs
• 4.2.2 Five step verbs
• 4.2.3 Suru verbs 4.2.3.1 Suru verbs with a single kanji

• 4.2.4.1 Couples ( selection)
• 4.2.4.2 History form

• 4.3.1 I- adjectives
• 4.3.2 Shii- adjectives 4.3.2.1 Use
• 4.3.2.2 Education
• 4.3.2.3 exceptions
• 4.3.2.4 list

Text components

Syntax

Text (文章Her story is told ) consists of sentences, (文bun ), which in turn are parts of a sentence (文 节bunsetsu ) are divided. The typeface used, the Japanese, like Chinese and Korean Classic, no spaces. Instead, a definition by alternating between supporting meaningful words in Chinese characters and katakana on one side and appended grammatical elements in Hiragana is generated on the other side. Are the appropriate supporting elements also held in Hiragana, the reader must recognize the underlying grammatical structures and then divide the sentence.

In the following examples, the parts of a sentence are separated by vertical bars. Text in small caps in this case indicates the grammatical function of the respective particles:

In the transcription in Latin there are several ways to demarcate sentence components. The first is just to put a space between set members.

The second is to separate meaningful bearing and grammatical components by hyphens:

The usual procedure is, however, appropriate supporting components and particles as single words (単 语tango ) and interpreted as above to separate by spaces. Only auxiliary verbs that are as much ground that they are no longer recognizable as such, as the ending of the perfect aspect -た- ta, are not considered as separate words and therefore not separated from the verb.

The predicate

The predicate is in Japanese sentence always at end of block. As a predicate two different parts of speech can be used: verbs and i- adjectives ( declaration by both word types below). If hereafter it is mentioned how Japanese verbs can be morphologically changed, it always applies to i- adjectives.

Since the Japanese is an agglutinative language, Tempus ( time), aspect, mode, diathesis are ( active / passive ) and negation ( negation ) formed by adding suffixes and auxiliary verbs in the past participle. By other sentence components, however, the verb is not changed, as opposed to inflectional languages ​​( " go " - " I go ").

Agglutinating languages ​​are by their very regular systematic construction, unlike inflected languages ​​, which often have a large number of irregular verbs. The only irregular verbs in Japanese areするsuru ( do ) and来るkuru ( come ).

Conjunctions and subordinate clauses

A subordinate clause can be inserted in two ways in a Japanese sentence. In the first method, a conjunction is added to the past participle of the subordinate clause.

Main difference between blocks and subblocks is that an issue can not be placed in a subordinate clause, so noはcan occur in it. The kyō wa from the above theorem therefore not part of the subordinate clause, but to the fundamental theorem.

Parts of Speech

In Japanese, the word following types can be distinguished.

Verba and qualitatives (i- and na - adjectives ) are collectively referred to as Yogen (用 言), nouns, demonstratives and Numerals together as Taigen (体 言). In some representations even all unflektierbaren independent full words are grouped under the term Taigen. The terminology is not completely fixed: Both between German textbooks as well as between Japanese there are slight differences. The above classification is given in Hashimoto Shinkichi: kokugohōyōsetsu (German plan of the [ Japanese ] language), 1934.

Immutable

In Japanese, all word types except verbs and adjectives are invariable, ie the word itself is no change. It is possible, for example, the attachment of Particles or prefixes to express grammatical functions; see below for more on this.

Noun

The Japanese noun is not, as in German, declined. Gender and number are not marked, the case is expressed exclusively by appending Kasuspartikeln. An article does not exist in the Japanese language.

For expression of Honorativs ( polite form ) a noun Honorativpräfixe can be prefixed.

Pronouns

Unlike, for example, in European languages ​​, there is no grammatical pronouns in Japanese. However, there are nouns which occur exclusively or predominantly for the missing pronoun. This is, however, to note that it is in the Japanese language to a so-called "pro- drop". This means, that the pronoun only be used if the message would not be otherwise evident from the context.

Plural

The Japanese has no plural marking in our sense and therefore does not distinguish between countable and non-countable noun. 人hito can offer both an individual, any number of people or the people generally mean a more accurate distinction is open to only by additional descriptive text or the context. If it is necessary to determine the amount of detail, this must be done by additional provisions in the sentence, for example Takusan (沢 山) = " many".

A small number of nouns have collective forms, in which the word is doubled. 人 々 ( hitobito ) can be quite appropriate as a " crowd " play ,山 々 yamayama makes "mountain" a " mountain ". In contrast to the German plural, which uses already in the number two, these forms denote an indeterminate, coherent larger amount.

Furthermore, there are four suffixes with which the plural can be expressed in humans: - tachi ( polite: - gata, informal: -ra, pejorative: - domo )

Particles

See also: particles ( Japanese)

To characterize the function of nouns in the sentence particles them to be adjusted.

Enumeration particles

The main bullet particles areとto for a complete list ,やya for an incomplete enumeration andかka meaning " or". Also in this category belongsなどnado that is appended to the last link in an incomplete enumeration meaning " for example " or "and so on " bears.

Kasuspartikeln and postpositions

The Kasuspartikeln and postpositions take over the tasks of the cases and prepositions in European languages. Follow directly the noun.

Modal particles

The modal particles follow the Kasuspartikeln / postpositions. The Kasuspartikeln waはandをo often omittedがga rare.

はwa indicates the topic or serving of contrasting.

もmo 'also' means.

Variable

Inflection and conjugation

In Japanese, four types of words are inflected: verbs, auxiliary verbs, i- adjectives and na - adjectives. In the flexion of the trunk remains unchanged, only the ending changed. The grammatical form is then formed by the auxiliary, which determines copula or the particles, which is attached to the conjugated verb. Number, gender or person are not marked in Japanese.

The classic Japanese has six Konjugationsstufen. When switching to modern Japanese are two of them collapsed ( Shūshikei and attributive ), while has been formed by sound shift additional form ( Shikōkei, eg読も うYomou and Onbinkei, eg読ん でYonde ). Depending on the author, the Japanese grammar therefore six or seven Konjugationsstufen. The numbering used below corresponds to the Japanese school grammar. Since there is no standard German translation of Japanese terms, they are listed here under the Japanese name.

• Te - form: also " participle " or " gerund "

Mizenkei

The Mizenkei (Japanese未然 形) occurs in verbs (动词, Doshi ) and adjectives (形容词, keiyōshi ) on. In the Japanese school grammar it is listed by the six conjugation forms in the first place. Five step verbs end in the Mizenkei on -a.

Mizen (未然) literally means " not yet occurred ." Mizenkei is therefore translated into some units with " Indefinitform ". The shape got its name because in the classical Japanese, the auxiliary verb for negation -to and volition or guess -mu were connected to the Mizenkei.

With the Mizenkei on -a form of will expression was in the classic Japanese also u formed with , -au, however, has been changed by a shift in sound -ou, which is why this form in Modern Japanese as an independent form, Shikōkei to German " Intentionalform " is performed.

Ren'yōkei

The Ren'yōkei (Japanese连用 形) occurs in verbs (动词, Doshi ) and adjectives (形容词, keiyōshi ) on. In the Japanese school grammar it is listed by the six conjugation forms in second place. Five step verbs end in the Ren'yōkei to -i.

Ren'yō (连用) literally means " used to connect ".

At the root in the Renyōkei a series of suffixes may be attached to themselves were originally verbs or adjectives.

Also the Renyōkei is used for the suffixes - te, - ta and -tara connection, but here has a sound shift occurred, so that these forms differ from the standard. For details, see Te - form.

Onbinkei

To Renyōkei (连用 形) Onbinkei a variant exists (Japanese音 便 形), which is caused by sound shift ( Onbin (音 便) in Japanese means sound shift ). Some Japanese grammar books therefore lead the Onbinkei not as a separate form, but as a second form of Renyōkei. In the written language, the Onbinkei emerged only after 1945 due to the replacement of the classical Japanese by the Modern Japanese.

The Onbinkei acts with verbs of the five -step verbal inflection ( cf. five-step verb) before Verbalsuffixen and post positions with initial vowel t (te, ta, tara, tari ). In some of these forms also occurs Nigorisierung, ie a change of the initial sound, hard to the soft t d in direct connection to the Onbinkei. All possible forms are given in the following table with the aid of example words. As an extension is an example ta, nigorisiert in some forms there.

The only irregular verb iku (行く, go ). From this the Onbinkei is with the exemplary ending ta also itta (行っ た).

To form the other forms only the ending ta must be replaced in accordance with the Nigorisierung by te, or tara tari. Thus, for the example of the yomu forms: Yonde (読ん で) yondara (読ん だら) yondari (読ん だり) and kiku forms: kiite (聞い て) kiitara (聞い たら), kiitari (聞い たり).

Shūshikei

The Shūshikei (Japanese终止 形) occurs (动词, Doshi ) and adjectives (形容词, keiyōshi ) with verbs. In the Japanese school grammar it is listed by the six conjugation in third place. The Shūshikei forms as an independent form of the final predicate of a sentence. Therefore, the Shūshikei is the form that are listed in the Japanese verbs and adjectives in dictionaries, so it is also called the dictionary form ..

In the presence of all Japanese verbs end in the Shūshikei in-u, i- adjectives ending in- i, na - adjectives are associated with the copula da.

Furthermore, the Shūshikei is in the present language, as opposed to the classic Japanese, coincided with the attributive.

Attributive

The attributive (Japanese连 体形) occurs in verbs (动词, Doshi ) and adjectives (形容词, keiyōshi ) on. In the Japanese school grammar it is listed by the six conjugation forms in fourth place. The attributive is used when a participle is used as the attribute, that is, in relative movements.

In Modern Japanese ( 1945 ) corresponds to the formation of the attributive Shūshikei, so the dictionary form. The only exception are the na - adjectives, where the copula is replaced by da na.

Example:

Kateikei

The Kateikei (Japanese仮 定形) is mainly used to form a conditionalis and a potential form. It occurs in verbs (动词, Doshi ) and adjectives (形容词, keiyōshi ). In the Japanese school grammar it is listed by the six conjugation forms in fifth place. Five-level verbs end in the Kateikei on -e.

Katei (仮 定) literally means hypothesis or conjecture. Kateikei is therefore translated into some of his works as " Hypothetical form." The shape got its name because it is used together with the Konditionalpartikel ba.

By particle ru the Kateikei is the potential form ( "may" ).

By particle domo Kateikei the rarer forms a concessive ( " although" ).

In the old and classical Japanese, the use of particle ba with this form had the meaning of a Provisionals, so that it is referred to these as Izenkei (已然 形, Realisform ). The term is in contrast to Mizenkei (also Irrealisform ) with the ba realized the conditionalis.

Meireikei

The Meireikei (Japanese命令 形) is literally the command form. This Konjugationsstufe occurs only with verbs (动词, Doshi ).

In the Japanese school grammar it is listed by the six conjugation forms in the last place.

Five-level verbs end in the Meireikei in-e, with vocalic verbs - ro or - yo is connected to the stem.

The irregular shapes is suru to shiro or seyo from kuru is koi.

I and na - adjectives were also historically Meireikei forms, but these are no longer in use in modern Japanese. Instead of forming the shape suru ( do ) for na - adjectives and naru (are) used for i- adjectives as auxiliary verbs. From shizuka na (静か な) " quiet " is shizuka ni shiro (静か に しろ) "Be quiet," from yoi (良い) "good" is nare yoku (良く なれ) "Be good."

Verbs

Single-stage verbs

Single-level verbs, also vocalic verbs (Japanese一段 动词ichidandōshi or母音 语 干 动词boin gokan Doshi ) called end in- eru or - iru. However, there are some verbs, for example, or kaeru Hairu that look as if they would end - eru or - iru, but are actually five- verbs ending in- ru. The verbs in - iru are also called " upper stage " (上 一段kami Ichidan ) indicating on - eru as " lower stage " (下 一段shimo Ichidan ).

Single-stage verbs have received their name because in the conjugation, the -ru omitted and the ending is added directly or with a bandage syllable. The word stem ends in the i or e, hence the name vocalic verbs.

The verb miru (見る) to German "see" should serve to illustrate. Root word and syllable binding on one side and the attached suffix are separated in the table by a dot ( · ). In mire · ba for example, mi is the root word, re a syllable, which marks the Konjugationsstufe Kateikei ba and the suffix of the conditionalis.

Five-level verbs

Five-level verbs, also consonantal verbs (Japanese五 段 动词godan Doshi or子音 语 干 动词SHIIN gokan Doshi ) called terminate in the basic form (or the Shūshikei ) on one of the syllables -u,- ku, -gu, -su, -tsu, nu, mu - or -ru.

In the final syllable -ru the division, however, is not unique: in the single-stage or vocalic verbs there is only the endings- eru or - iru, but there are also verbs that end in- eru or - iru and are still five stages.

In conjugation, the final syllable changes at five-stage verbs after the line in the 50- lute - board: from -ku can be depending on the form ka -, -ki, - ke, or -ko. These five different stages gave the five-stage verbs her name. Because in the spelling with Latin letters, the last letter of the unchanged root word is a consonant (in the example the k), they are also called consonantal verbs.

The verb kaku (書く) to German "write" should serve to illustrate:

For verbs ending in- u, there is an irregularity that has arisen in historical sound changes. For them, changes in the Mizenkei the -u ( "talk" ) to a - wa, iu is therefore to Iwanai in the negation.

Through sound shifts, the five -stage verbs form four different Te - forms: verbs ending in- su, have experienced no shift and close the te regularly to the Renyōkei to. The shifted shapes can the following table.

Suru verbs

Suru verbs are formed, is added to the compound to a sino Japanese verb suru ( do). This type of word-formation is very productive, especially in written language are a large part of the Suru verbs verbs. The counterpart to the purely Japanese verbs, ie verbs in the Kun - reading of a character. Most Suru verbs have read purely Japanese synonyms. The Suru verbs are usually stylistically more formal, like the Latin loan words in German, you see this as " participate " " participate " with.

The conjugation of suru verbs corresponds to the verb suru, see the irregular verbs.

Have their origin Suru verbs " do XY" from the construction XY XY oを するsuru. Frequently used phrases of this kind were idiomatic and object particleをo could be omitted. Whether a particular compound forms an Suru verb or must be used with the object particle, is a matter of feeling for language. If in doubt helps here a dictionary next. Due to the vast amount of compound words it is not possible to create a representative list here. In Benkyo suru example, "study", both are possible, including the variant勉強 を するBenkyo o suru.

Suru verbs with a single kanji

Akin to the Suru verbs are verbs that consist of only one, standing in the on- reading kanji and the endings- suru, zuru or jiru. In the variants on zuru the syllable su has become voiced by rendaku. Verbs jiru are an older form of suru verbs and are regularly conjugated verbs than single.

In contrast to the suru verbs from composites there are few characters, where a verb of the above three categories exist. In most cases, the verbs for which there is no purely Japanese verb ( kun - reading).

With the exception of Shinjiru and kanjiru that are also used colloquially, all these verbs are rather formal and textual.

With an asterisk ( *) is verbs are textual.

Transitive and intransitive verbs

The Japanese language differs significantly between transitive and intransitive verbs. Almost all verbs that express an action that occur in transitive - intrasitiv pairs. After a more or less fixed pattern can be achieved by changing the final syllables of a transitive verb is an intransitive are formed and vice versa.

Intransitive verbs ( vi) do not have a direct object, they only make a statement about the condition or action of the subject. Transitive verbs ( vt ), however, require a direct object, as they describe the action of the subject to an object. An example from German is the pair of "wake up" (vi ) - " wake up" ( vt ). The corresponding pair in Japanese is起きるOkiru -起こすokosu. As in the example, the Japanese Verbpaare be written with the same kanji, but differ in the Okurigana, so the appended characters in syllabary. The linguistic term for this type of relations between members is set Directorate.

Couples ( selection)

The following table gives examples. Many of the verbs listed are in addition to the specified additional meanings and can be partially written with alternate characters.

Progressive form

An important difference between transitive and intransitive verbs shows up in the form, which is formed with te iru in Japanese .

With transitive verbs it expresses an action which intransitive a state:

In High German, there is no course form, unlike some dialects. In the Rhenish progressive form would be the translation of the first sentence "I am the door from opening. "

Irregular Verbs

The Japanese language has as agglutinative language only a few irregular verbs. The existing are listed in this article. In part, this regularity but also language reforms of 1900 and 1946 is due to that have smoothed some irregularities.

The two normally conducted as irregular verbs in Japanese verbs suru (為るdo ) and kuru (来るcome ). In Japanese grammar and a sa- ka- conjugation is performed, whose only elements are then suru and kuru.

Smaller irregularities, there is also the verb nasaru, that as an example is here for four verbs from the polite language, nasaru, kudasaru, irassharu and ossharu. They have the same, differing from other five -stage verbs conjugation.

Adjectives

The Japanese has two forms of adjectives: inflected adjectives ( keiyōshi形容词or i- keiyōshi ), which are mostly old Japanese origin and end in the dictionary form ( finite and adnominales present tense) in-i; and nichtflektierende nominal adjectives ( keiyōdōshi形容 动词or na - keiyōshi ), mostly speaking different languages ​​(mainly Chinese or English ) origin and are nominal with the particle na ( rarely also no), adverbial associated with the particle ni. Nominal adjectives behave very much like nouns and must be verbalized at the end of a sentence with a Partikelverb like da or desu therefore like this.

Keiyōshi ( "i- adjectives " )

Keiyōdōshi ( " na - adjectives " )

However, the two i- adjectives chiisai (小さい) and okii (大きい) are often used in everyday use especially when they are Keiyōdōshi. So " Chiisana hon " (The book) and " Okina hon " ( the big book ).

I- adjectives

The name of i - adjectives (Japanese形容词keiyōshi ) is derived from the basic form, here all end i- adjectives in-i.

First, a table of Konjugationsstufen the example of takai (高い, " high"). The dot ( · ) is used to separate the stem with the ending of Konjugationsstufe of an appended suffix.

The conjugation of i- adjectives differs in some respects from that of the five-stage and single-stage verbs. In particular, some forms are not directly but formed via auxiliary verbs.

• The negation with - nai is not connected to the Mizenkei, but to the Renyōkei. Is takakunai From takai.
• Adjectives do not form their own Meireikei ( imperative) that are still present in the classical Japanese form is omitted in Modern Japanese. Instead, the Renyōkei the auxiliary verb naru is (are) connected in Meireikei: Takaku nare means " Get bigger".
• The formed with verbs with the Renyōkei masu form is instead made ​​with Shūshikei and desu.
• The derived from the Renyōkei Te - shape and perfect ( with - ta ) have a sound shift find.
• The nominalization is only available at the i- adjectives. The example Takasa means " height".
• The adjectives chiisai and okii have with Chiisana Okina and the only still a separate attributive.

A special group within the i- adjectives form the Shii- adjectives. In Classical Japanese, these were different conjugated and therefore formed their own group, in Modern Japanese their conjugation, however, coincided with the i- adjectives. In the grammar will therefore not be dealt with separately, but differ in shades of meaning. While the other i- adjectives usually describe objective properties of an object, shii - adjectives have more the importance of feeling sensations.

Shii- adjectives

Shii- adjectives are a special group among the adjectives in the Japanese language. The name comes from the fact that all these adjectives on the syllables - shii ( -しい) end. Grammatically, they are like normal i- adjectives used, the specificity lies in the meaning.

• They express a feeling either a feeling or a sensation such as temperature or taste.
• They are subjective and self-centered.

Use

First, an example: The adjective suzushii translated means not simply " cool ", but " I feel refreshed me. " Sabishii in the dictionary as " lonely ", with the word, however expressed, "I feel lonely. " Since one in Japanese the word " I " usually omits ( a so-called ellipse) and the adjectives can be used as a predicate, a word forms as sabishii already a complete sentence.

In the German language there are no words for this word - to-word equivalent because German adjectives rather express an objective condition. For subjective sensations one accesses phrases such as " I feel ... " or "I feel ... ".

In Japanese, on the other hand you have to resort to circumlocutions, if you want to express that someone else has a certain sensation. To this end, the suffix- garu (がる) is used (the second case i falls away). Akiko wa sabishigaru (明子 は 寂し がる) would therefore be " Akiko feels lonely " or " Akiko 's lonely ." A second possibility is the formation of co- sō ( -そう), which means " it appears that ... " expresses. Example: Japanese like to say oishii to express that they like something. oishii expresses a sensation, here the taste and therefore relates to what you were just in the mouth. If the food comes straight first on the table, one uses oishisō instead, which means "This looks delicious ". When you remove these descriptions when you are talking about another person, it expresses so fully that one identifies with the situation of that person.

If the adjective used attributively, thus expresses that something triggers a subjective feeling. A sabishii tokoro is a lonely place, which itself triggers anxiety at one.

The Shii- adjectives are mainly used in the women's language. Japanese men express themselves tend to be less emotional. Example: oishii, "delicious", is more the woman assigned to language. umai (旨い) also means delicious, but comes from the men language. The word umai also means "clever, well-made " and is more than praise to understand to the chef because as emotional expression.

Education

Some, but not all of the adjectives are derived from a verb. The ending- shii is appended to the a- level of the verb. Example: nozomu (望む), want to " hope " → nozomashii (望ましい), " desirable ".

Some of the words also adverbial forms ending instead of shii - on - shige na exist.

Derived verbs ending in- shimu mean: " create this feeling," Example: tanoshii, " cheerful " → tanoshimu, " jmd cheer ".

Exceptions

Atarashii (新しい), "new" has lost its emotional significance and simply means "new".

List

Na - adjectives

The term na - adjectives (Japanese形容 动词keiyōdōshi orナ 形容詞na - keiyōshi ) is derived from the Konjugationsstufe attributive, in which the Keiyōdōshi have the suffix na. The other adjective group in the Japanese language are the i- adjectives.

While the i- adjectives are continuously ancient Japanese origin, are found among the na - adjectives also many loanwords from Chinese.

The following conjugation (静か な, " calm ") is an example of shizuka na be clarified. The na - adjectives have a firm root word, shizuka in the example, the variable part, depending upon interpretation is an ending or a copula, appended. In the Latin inscription is a space between stem and ending / copula.

The conjugation of the na - adjectives differs in some respects from that of the five-stage and single-stage verbs. In particular, some forms are not directly but formed via auxiliary verbs.

• The negation with - nai is not connected to the Mizenkei, but to the Renyōkei with the particle wa (は). From shizukana is shizuka dewanai (静か で は ない).
• Only the na - adjectives have a separate adverbial form: at the root of the particle ni is connected
• Adjectives do not form their own Meireikei ( imperative), the still existing in the traditional Japanese form is omitted in modern Japanese. Instead, the adverbial form with ni (に) and the auxiliary verb suru ( do ) or naru is connected in the Meireikei: shizuka ni shiro means " Be quiet," shizuka ni nare ' Become quiet ".
• The Te - form is equal to the Renyōkei
• The formed with verbs with the Renyōkei masu form is instead formed with the root word and desu; a shortening of de arimasu.
• The Perfect is formed with stem datta.

Personal pronouns

The Historical Japanese knows exactly taken no personal pronouns. Even today it is common to speak of himself with his own name or the position relative to the interlocutor. Similarly, one can call the other party in the block with its name.

For the self-designation, there are a number of terms that are derived from "self" or "personal". One of these words is watakushi (私; literally "private" ), which represents the highest level of civility in modern Japanese for " I " and a series of increasingly more informal shortenings knows ( watashi, atashi, ashi, etc.). Boku (仆) and ore (俺) are more informal words, the " I " mean and will only be used by men, plus dialectical expressions.

Wherever the personal pronoun is necessary only in German to refer to, who they are, it is more likely to be omitted in the Japanese and from the expressed by auxiliary verbs " direction" of the action ( "up" = towards the listener, "down " = Spokesman out ), as well as from the general context closed to whom it is all about. What is listed in Japanese textbooks as personal pronouns, in Japanese slang has other uses. With kare (彼, polite kareshi彼 氏) and kanojo彼女is sometimes the friend or the girlfriend. Whether someone is single, is so requested by " kare / kanojo ga imasu ka? " ( " Is there a boyfriend / girlfriend ?")

Anataあなたis the only word used in the current Japanese with the meaning "you" as " you " can be used in neutral contexts. It comes from an eponymous salutation of women for their husbands. The direct styling of unknown adults with anata is possible to highly placed people over but this would be regarded as not polite enough. It should also be mentioned in this context that former very polite you - words in the history of the language have often become rude. Examples are:

• Kimi ( lord, ruler ), now term for " you " in the language of men
• Omaeお前( honorable opposite ) before you now, " hey you! " ( exclamation, rude ) or in a familiar context, a simple " you " ( also men's language )
• Kisama贵 様( honorable esteemed Mr. ) is extremely offensive in today's use.

See also: Gender differences in spoken Japanese.

Non-existent grammatical categories

Some grammatical categories do not exist in Japanese. In the speech, there are no articles. Nouns have no grammatical gender, a plural, there are only exceptionally, first, second and third person and declination omitted.

Swell

• Taka Bluhme - Kojima, Johannes Fröhlich: basic grammar of contemporary Japanese language. Japan Special series, Japan Info publishing, Ulm 2001, ISBN 3-924468-26-5.
• Seiichi Makino and Michio Tsutsui: A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. Tokyo:. The Japan Times Ltd., 1986 ISBN 4-7890-0454-6
• Jens Rick Meyer: Japanese morphosyntax. Julius Groos Verlag, Heidelberg, 1995, ISBN 3-87276-718-6