More on Particles

I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted. Lately I've been busy visiting family for Thanksgiving, so I haven't had a chance to do much grammar study. But now that I'm back, I can finish off Chapter 11 of Genki and close in on the last chapter of the first book.

This post is a bit of a mish-mash of various particle usages, so it's not going to flow particularly well.

The particle は is often used in negative sentences for the sake of contrast. For example:

スポーツはしてないよ。
I don't play sports.

I could've used を there (as in スポーツをする, to play sports), but the negative sentence makes the usage of the は particle sound more natural.

It's also common to use は after に and で for a more natural flow. These examples are from Genki.

英語では話したくないです。
I don't want to speak in English.

広島には行ったことがありません。
I've never been to Hiroshima.

In the case of では, having the は is the difference between something like "at high school" and "as for at high school..." It makes the high school sound more significant since it now has the topic marker on it.

For には, having the は again places more emphasis on the prior noun. This could be the difference between "I've never been to Hiroshima" and "I've never been to Hiroshima", perhaps implying that the person has been elsewhere.

Another place には is commonly used is when describing a location and the things that are found there. Again, this is from Genki.

東京にはデパートがたくさんあります。
東京にデパートがたくさんあります。
There are many department stores in Tokyo.

Without the は, the sentence sounds more like a factual statement, or an answer to the question "Where do you find many department stores?" With the は included, it sounds like a more broad statement that discusses what Tokyo is like as a city.

Finally, the particle に can also be used to state the occasion or purpose of an item.

昼ごはんにお菓子を食べた。
I ate candy at lunch.

リーさんの誕生日のパーティにお酒を飲んだよ。
I drank at Lee's birthday party.

プレゼントに手紙を書いた。
I wrote a letter as a gift.

Verb Form - たりする

In Japanese, the て form is used to connect multiple clauses in a sentence. However, I'll give an example that demonstrates the limitations of the て form.

明日はテレビをみて、宿題をする。
Tomorrow I'm going to watch TV and do homework.

Sentences like this suggest that watching TV and doing homework are the only two things that I plan on doing, and that they'll be done in that order. If I want to be more broad in my statement and list TV and homework as just examples, then there's a special verb form I can use.

[verb A] り  +  [verb B] りする

A couple things to note:

• Verbs A and B must be in past tense plain form
• する is conjugated to indicate tense and politeness

This results in a sentence such as the following:

明日はテレビをみたり、宿題をしたりする。
Tomorrow I'm going to do things like watch TV and do homework.

A bit of an awkward translation, but that's the meaning being conveyed with this form. I'll do a few more practice sentences to make sense of it.

先週の週末友達とレストランで晩ごはんを食べたり、カラオケを歌ったりした。
Last weekend I ate dinner at a restaurant with friends and sang karaoke, among other things.

日本に行った時に、お寺を行ったり、友達に合ったりした。
When I went to Japan, I did things like visit temples and meet friends.

夏休みに、阪神に務めたり、隣人の子供に教えたりしました。
Over summer break, I worked for Hanshin and taught my neighbor's kids. (But why?)

ゲームをやったり、辞書を読んだりするのがすきだよ。
I like things like playing games and reading dictionaries. (But why??)

Experiences

There's a specific way to express that a person has or has not had the experience of doing something. I can't remember if I've done a post on this before, but it's frequently used when getting to know people, so it's very handy.

[past tense verb, plain form] + ことがある

More literally, this says something like "I have had the experience of doing X." The verb ある is conjugated to state whether or not that experience exists.

日本に行ったことがある。
I've been to Japan before.

韓国に行ったことがない。
I've never been to Korea before.

The phrase can also easily be transformed into a question.

アリスちゃん、あの映画を見たことがありますか。
Alice, have you ever seen that movie before?

To answer, Alice can either repeat the entire clause, or she can simply say あります or ありません depending on whether she's seen the movie.

リーさん、馬肉を食べたことがありますか。
Lee-san, have you ever eaten horse meat?

ジムは野球をしたことがないよね。
Jim has never played baseball before.

ライト君、ピアノを弾いたことがある？
Laito, have you ever played piano?

あの遊園地に行ったことがあるよ。
I've been to that amusement park before.

Verbs - Expressing Desire

I know I've had at least two other posts on this grammar topic, but Genki has some extra information on it that's important to note.

To indicate "I want to [verb]",  たい can be added to the stem of a verb to put it into the "desire" form.

学校に行きたい。
I want to go to school.

This form is conjugated like an i-adjective to indicate tense and positivity, so it's very simple.

学校に行きたくない。
I don't want to go to school.

学校に行きたかった。
I wanted to go to school.

学校に行きたくなかった。
I didn't want to go to school.

Usage of the を particle can change slightly when using the たい form. The を particle can either stay as を or become が, and the meaning of the sentence will be identical.

このジャガイモを食べたい。
I want to eat this potato.

このジャガイモが食べたい。
I want to eat this potato.

However, the たい form is generally only used when discussing your own personal desires, rather than someone else's. There are a couple ways to express someone else's desires, and one way is to quote that person.

シュウは今夜血を飲みたいと言っていた。
Shuu said he wants to drink blood tonight.

レイジは家に遊びに来たいと言っていた。
Reiji said he wants to come over to play.

Another way is to use a new verb - たがっている. The original form is たがる, and it essentially means "I think this person wants to do X because of the way he's behaving." This verb is added to the stem of the original verb, just like with たい.

It's important to note that when using たがっている, the を particle must be used. It would not be grammatically correct to use が like we can with たい form.

ライトは起きたがっているね。
Laito wants to go to bed.

スバルは美味しい晩ごはんを焼きたがっている。
Subaru wants to cook a delicious dinner.

リーさんは合格したがっているよね。
Lee-san wants to pass the test.

アヤトはあの本を読みたがっているね。
Ayato wants to read that book.

Sentence Practice 11/14/2016

Now that I've reached Chapter 11 of Genki, which has a few grammatical concepts I'm already familiar with, I'm going to do some sentence practice to review a few older points.

来年韓国に行かないでください。
Please don't go to Korea next year.

りんごといちごとどちらのほうが美味しいですか。
Which is tastier, apples or strawberries?

学校に机を持ってきてもいいですか。
Is it okay if I bring my desk to school?

トムは誕生日に犬が欲しいと言っていた。
Tom said he wants a dog for his birthday.

今日もうテレビを二時間みたよ。
I've already watched TV for two hours today.

明日のテストにまだ勉強していない。
I haven't studied for tomorrow's test yet.

シュウはかわいいと思う。
I think Shuu is really cute.

毎日アリスと電話で話すのが大好きだわ。
I love chatting with Alice on the phone every day.

青のほうが赤よりきれいだね。
Blue is prettier than red.

店でバナナと西瓜とにんじんを買ってください。
Buy some bananas, watermelon, and carrots at the store, please.

アヤトせが高いけどカナトせが低いね。
Ayato is tall, but Kanato is short.

友達の部屋に入らないでください。
Please don't go into my friend's room.

今夜ライトとレストランに行ってもいいですか。
Is it okay if I go to the restaurant with Laito tonight?

木の下に座っている男の人はお兄さんですよ。
The man sitting under the tree is my older brother.

モールに服を買いに行く。
I'm going to the mall to buy some clothes.

リーさんは今日クラスにこないと言っていた。
Lee-san said he's not coming to class today.

ビーチに泳ぎに行って、家に帰った。
We went swimming at the beach, then returned home.

スバルはとてもかっこよくて頭がいいですよ。
Subaru is very attractive and clever.

平日学校にアヤトと歩くのが好きだよ。
I like walking to school with Ayato on weekdays.

この教室が温かくなったから、外に行こう。
This classroom's gotten warm, so let's go outside.

ジムとジョンとマイクの仲で、だれが一番頭がいいですか。
Between Jim, John, and Mike, who's the smartest?

ジョンが一番頭がいいですよ。
John's the smartest.

Sentence Practice 11/10/2016

Time to practice a few of the concepts I've learned in Genki Chapter 10.

今朝は友達の家に行くつもりだから、朝ごはんを食べないつもりだよ。
I'm going to a friend's house this morning, so I'm not going to eat breakfast.

春と秋とどちらが寒いですか。
Which is colder, spring or fall?

日本と中国と韓国の中で、どこが一番きれいですか。
Between Japan, China, and Korea, which is prettiest?

私の犬のほうがあなたのよりおおきいね。
My dog is bigger than yours.

野菜と果物とお菓子の中で、どれが一番好きなの？
Which do you like most - vegetables, fruits, or candy?

趣味の中で何が一番好きですか。
What's your favorite hobby?

数学のほうが文学より難しいよね。
Math is more difficult than literature.

二時間ぐらいに日本語を勉強するつもりだから。
I'm going to study Japanese for a couple hours, so.

動物の中で何が一番好きなの？
What's your favorite animal?

リーさんのほうがジムよりあたまがいいね。
Lee-san is smarter than Jim, isn't he?

ゲームとハイキングとどちらのほうが楽しいですか。
Which is more fun, games or hiking?

アヤトとライトとシュウの中でだれが優しいですか。
Between Ayato, Laito, and Shuu, who's the kindest? (Not a hard question at all...)

More on "Something" and "Anything"

Words like 何か and 何も are used in sentences in place of the particles は, が, and を. However, a bit of a strange phenomenon occurs when it comes to the particles に,で, and へ. I'm going to list the words in their respective forms to make this easier.

だれか
どこか

だれにも
どこにも

だれでも
どこでも

ーー
どこへも

The first group is just the "some" form of the words with か added to the end. The other groups are the forms of the words used when they are placed in a sentence with に,で, or へ. The particle is jammed into the middle of the original word ( だれも or どこも ). It is not placed after the word, as it usually is.

だれ__も -> だれにも
どこ__も -> どこにも

Since this is a difficult concept to explain, I'm just going to give a few examples with these words. The last one is partially from Genki.

パーティに行った時に、だれにも会わなかった。
I didn't meet anybody when I went to the party.

リーさんはフランスに来た時に、どこへも行かなかった。
When Lee-san came to France, he didn't go anywhere.

ううん、何もしなかった。
No, I didn't do anything.

I think this is something I need to reinforce with reading practice, because it's tough to understand with so little context.