Explanations 2.0

I'll admit that I've been putting off this final Genki I lesson for two reasons. One, I've done a similar lesson before with Tae Kim's guide that did a better job of explaining the point. And two, it's an awkward lesson in general, because the grammar itself isn't very concrete. But I'll get on with it now.

First, I'm going to link back to these two lessons here and here, which in turn link to Tae Kim's guide. They have some useful info on this topic. I'll still go ahead and give an overview here, though.

Basically, the Japanese I've learned thus far is more of a "reporting mode." It allows me to relay factual statements to people, without putting much emotion or expression into my words. However, there's another type of speech I can use, which is "explanatory."

Using this explanatory style makes your speech sound more lively, more interesting, and more natural. It's far more conversational and thus is constantly used in the world of Japanese.

This is achieved with the explanatory の particle. Genki lists it as ん, but in reality it originates as の and transforms into ん on certain occasions. Using this particle with nouns and adjectives is fairly well-explained in the above two posts, but I hadn't yet done verbs at that point, so I'll do that now.

The の particle can be placed after plain form verbs to provide the explanatory effect. Since it's often followed by です or だ, it contracts to ん, which is far more natural. Some examples:

明日学校がある。
I have school tomorrow. (factual statement)

明日学校があるんだよ。
I have school tomorrow. (So I can't go out tonight)

アヤトに会いたいです。
I want to see Ayato. (declaration of my desire)

アヤトに会いたいんですよ。
I want to see Ayato. (So tell me where he is)

昨日湖で泳いだ。
I swam at the lake yesterday. (factual statement)

昨日湖で泳いだんだよ。
I swam at the lake yesterday. (That's why I'm so tired)

This explanatory tone is very frequently used in response to question words like どうして and どうした. When answering something in response to a どうした question, it's best to mark the subject of the sentence with が.

どうしたの？
What happened? (You look upset)

指輪が無くなったんだよ。
My ring is missing. (That's why I'm upset)