Nominalised potential
3.4 Classical adjectives
This final section is not about how classical adjectives inflect‚ but is actually about what happens when we pair modern verbal adjectives with certain special verbs‚
such as ござる and 出
い
でる. While these very rarely get used on their own‚ there are certain set uses for them‚ where they pair up with specific adverbs‚ derived from verbal adjectives. In these cases‚ the adverbial form of the verbal adjective actually undergoes a sound change‚ the 連用形 く becoming a う instead‚ and leading to four possible classical pronunciation changes (meaning they will potentially change the
More grammar — § 3.4 Classical adjectives 145
pronunciation of the adjective with blatant disregard of their kanji):
If the syllable preceding the 連用形 く is an あ row syllable‚ the adverb gets an
—おう sound instead:
早
はや
い becomes はや[く→う]‚ which contracts to 早
はよ
う.
有
あり
難
がた
い becomes ありがた[く→う]‚ which contracts to 有
あり
難
がと
う.
If the syllable preceding the 連用形 く is an い row syllable‚ the adverb gets an う-glide instead:
大
おお
きい becomes 大き[く→う]‚ which contracts to 大きゅう 美味
おい
しい becomes 美味し[く→う]‚ which contacts to 美味しゅう
If the syllable preceding the 連用形 く is an う row syllable‚ the adverb gets a long う:
安
やす
い becomes 安[く→う]‚ which does not contract and so stays 安う
If the syllable preceding the 連用形 く is an お row syllable‚ the adverb gets a long お by virtue of the お—row syllable + う already being a long お sound:
面白
おもしろ
い becomes 面白[く→う]‚ which does not contract and so stays 面白う
And hopefully you noticed the first two entries‚ which are precisely the ones you may know from the phrases お早
あよ
うございます‚ translating to “good morning”‚
and ありがとうございます‚ translating to “thank you very much”.
146 More grammar — § 3.4 Classical adjectives
Chapter 4
Particles
Particles‚ called 助詞
じょし
‚ or more affectionately referred to as てにをは (after the verb て form and the three quintessential particles に‚ を and は)‚ are the fundamental glue that holds Japanese sentences together‚ indicating how words (or blocks of words) relate to each other. There is no overstating how important particles are in using Japanese: without them‚ there is no Japanese language.
Most particles are suffixes‚ meaning that they follow whatever it is they are marking‚ but there are a small number of prefixes. In this chapter‚ we will first look at some common prefixes‚ then look at what is generally considered the bulk of Japanese particles‚ followed by an entire chapter dedicated to a rather special set of particles: counters.
4.1 Prefixes
4.1.1 The honorific prefix
One of the most used prefixes is probably 御‚ pronounced either as お‚ ご‚ み‚ おん‚ or ぎょ‚ depending on what it is being used with‚ and for:
The reading お is used to make words with a Japanese reading (訓読
くんよ
み) hon-orific.
The reading ご is used to make words with a Chinese reading (音読
おんよ
み) hon-orific.
The reading み is used for imperial and Shinto terminology. In addition‚ it can be used as a stylistic reading to make words sound more poetic.
The reading おん is a rare reading used mainly as a classical honorific prefix.
It can be considered a very formal version of the お reading.
147
148 Particles — § 4.1 Prefixes
The reading ぎょ is also rarely used‚ and is used exclusively for imperial terms.
This prefix is essential in various honorific and humble constructions‚ as we saw in the sections on humble and honorific verb constructions. It should be noted that some words‚ when used in daily speech‚ always get this prefix. A by no means exhaustive list of such words includes:
お茶
warm/hot water (but not boiling water‚ which is called熱湯
ねっとう
でした‚ said when one is done eating) ご飯
はん
food‚ dinner
4.1.2 Negating prefixes
There are also various common prefixes that negate‚ void or otherwise create a counter-concept word when used: 未
み
from the verbal imperfect base‚ the 未然形. This prefix indicates a “not yet” or “has yet to be realised” aspect‚ which explains what it’s doing in a word like 未然形‚ but there are many other words in which we find this prefix:
word meaning composition
is used‚ it expresses a noun negative‚ similar to the English prefixes
“un-”‚ “im-”‚ “a-” or “de-”. Examples of this prefix are:
Particles — § 4.1 Prefixes 149
is used‚ it expresses a non-existential‚ similar to “non-”‚ “not …” or the terms “without” or “devoid of” in English. Examples of this prefix are:
word meaning composition
is used to indicate the equivalent of the English “non-”. Examples of this prefix are:
Aside from these four negating prefixes‚ there are also a few other common prefixes that you will encounter frequently enough to deserve at least mention here‚ even if we don’t look at example words for each of them:
prefix meaning
150 Particles — § 4.2 Particles
prefix meaning 大
だい・おお
∼ “big” (two possible common pronunciations) 小
こ・しょう
∼ “small” (two possible common pronunciations) 再
∼ indicates a boundary or limit 真
ま
っ∼ an intensifying prefix
(Note that the consonant double っ in 真っ becomes an ん when this prefix is paired with words starting with a な—column or ま—column syllable‚ such as 真
ま
ん中
なか
)
There are more‚ mainly due to the fact that many nouns in Japanese are com-pound nouns. Thus‚ any part of a comcom-pound noun that gets used by several words in roughly the same meaning can be considered a prefix of sorts.
4.2 Particles
What most people consider proper particles actually cover a number of subcategories of particles. There are the grammatical particles‚ which map to grammatical inter-pretations such as direct objects‚ verb phrase subjects‚ disambiguation‚ etc. They lack any form of translation to languages that leave grammar implied‚ and as such can be a bit tricky to learn initially‚ as they require actively learning grammar in order to properly understand what they do (something which most people have not really been exposed to in their general education). Aside from these grammatical particles‚
there is the set of particles which perform roles similar to what prepositions do in‚
for instance‚ English. However‚ because of the way the Japanese language describes things happening or being in the world‚ a single Japanese particle in this category might map to a number of prepositions when translated‚ depending on the context in which it is used. Then there are the various particles for emphasis in all its forms‚
so it should be clear that we have quite a bit of ground to cover.
The list of particles covered in this chapter is not an exhaustive list of all par-ticles used in the Japanese language‚ but does represent the bulk of parpar-ticles that you might encounter. They have been ordered in three sections‚ the first covering the ab-solutely essential particles‚ the second and third covering less frequently used and even several ‘rare’ particles and particle combinations.
Particles — § 4.2 Particles 151
4.2.1 Essential particles
The essential particles list consists of the particles か‚ が‚ と‚ で‚ に‚ の‚ は‚ も and を (as well as へ‚ which is not essential but belongs in this list because of the way it contrasts with a particular use of に). Traditionally‚ て would be considered part of this list‚
but we already extensively covered て in the verb section on the て form.
The particles in this section are considered “essential”‚ because they cover the absolute minimum of grammatical roles that you need to understand before you understand Japanese at a basic conversational level. While the list seems short‚ a mere 10 particles‚ most of these particles — in terms of what you might be used to from English — do many different things. While there is typically some unifying idea for that describes what the particle does “in concept”‚ in practice this means having to remember several roles per particle‚ and being able to identify which one is used when.