Lesson #3
Marking possession
The のno particle is used to mark possession.
例えば:tatoeba/ For example
ジョンJon のno ペンPen です。
It is Jon's pen.
アンナAnna のno 犬inu です。
It is Anna's dog.
テヤTeya のno ねこneko です。
It is Téa's cat.
例えば:tatoeba/ For example
ジョンJon のno ペンPen です。
It is Jon's pen.
アンナAnna のno 犬inu です。
It is Anna's dog.
テヤTeya のno ねこneko です。
It is Téa's cat.
Let’s Practice
Answer the questions with just 2 words! To check your answer, click your enter button. You can use Hiragana, Kanji or romaji (try not to mix romaji with Hiragana/Kanji.
1. It is the student's dog.
。
There’s a few words that don’t translate to ‘s! For example:
When marking possession ‘I’, becomes ‘my’.
Let’s take a look at 4 exceptions!
| 私の watashi no My |
あなたの anata no Your |
| 彼女の kanojo no Hers |
彼の kare no His |
日本nihon
のno大学daigaku
Univeristy of Japan
The univeristy is made up
To do this you need to swap the nouns around, and it can be a bit confussing!
Univeristy of Japan
The univeristy is made up
To do this you need to swap the nouns around, and it can be a bit confussing!
My name is…
Noun +
です
desu
alone can be a full sentence.
For example: 私: watashi What is that?
あなた: anata ねこです。 neko desu (that is) a cat.
あなた: anata せんせいsensei です。 desu (she is) a teacher.
For example: 私: watashi What is that?
あなた: anata ねこです。 neko desu (that is) a cat.
私: watashi Who is she?
あなた: anata せんせいsensei です。 desu (she is) a teacher.
は (wa) marks the topic of a sentence。
Some people are naturally great at figuring out the topic of a sentence, but for those of us that are not, a common tip is to think of it as ‘as for’ or ‘speaking of’. Whatever is before the は is what you’re ‘speaking of’.
かのじょkanojoは
がくせいstudent ですis 。
Speaking of her, she’s a student.
Lit: She student is.
You'll get better at figuring out the sentence subject as you study, and eventually you wont have to rely on the little trick.
Note: This particle uses the は(Ha) hiragana but is pronounced as wa. This is only when it’s used as a particle!
かのじょkanojoは
がくせいstudent ですis 。
Speaking of her, she’s a student.
Lit: She student is.
You'll get better at figuring out the sentence subject as you study, and eventually you wont have to rely on the little trick.
Note: This particle uses the は(Ha) hiragana but is pronounced as wa. This is only when it’s used as a particle!
Let’s Practice
Translate the sentences to Japanese! To check your answer, click your enter button. You can use Hiragana, Kanji or romaji (try not to mix romaji with Hiragana/Kanji).
1. I am a student
。
Sentence Structuring
Let’s Practice
Rearrange the sentences to SOV by dragging them into the empty rectangles in. Once correctly placed, the row will turn green and move to the next round!
cake
Leila
eats
