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LearningJapanese — Text: Particle No: Basics
Published: 2011-09-13 02:38:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 1926; Favourites: 31; Downloads: 44
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No

'No' is a particle, just as 'ka' is. However it serves a different purpose. 'No' is the particle that connects two nouns. You can think of it as the 'possessive' particle or as the apostrophe 's'. (It has other meanings as well, but that will come at a later time.)

Let's see some examples.

たけしさんのでんわばんごう
Takeshi san no denwa bangou
Takeshi's phone number

だいがくのがくせい
Daigaku no gakusei
A college student (literally: the college's student)

The first noun is always the noun that owns the second. Takeshi owns the phone number, the college owns the student. Let's try with some complete sentences now.

わたしのせんもんはえいごです。
Watashi no senmon wa eigo desu.
My major is English.

Notice the change in the subject. 'Watashi' is no longer the subject (marked by 'wa'), but instead 'major' is.

'No' is also not limited in the number of times you can use it in a sentence, unlike 'wa'. (As 'wa' is the subject marker.)

たけしさんのおかあさんはこうこうのせんせいです。
Takeshi san no okaasan wa koukou no sensei desu.
Takeshi's mother is a high school teacher.
(Okaasaan = mother)

Try to make a few sentences out of the vocabulary from previous lessons and from any you know now.

わたしのともだちのおなまえはアミです。
Watashi no tomodachi no onamae wa ami desu.
My friend's name is Amy.
(The 'o' in front of 'namae' makes it sound more formal, like you are being polite.)

あなたのせんもんはなんですか。
Anata no senmon wa nan desu ka.
What is your major?

わたしのせんせいはれきしのせんせいです。
Watashi no sensei wa rekishi no sensei desu.
My teacher is a history teacher.

あなたのともだちのでんわばんごうはなんですか。
Anata no tomodachi no denwa bangou wa nan desu ka.
What is your friend's phone number?

See how many sentences you can make out of all the vocabulary you know c:
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Comments: 11

Sensakura [2012-05-07 03:07:59 +0000 UTC]

Arigatou for the mini-lesson! Very helpful!! ^-^

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

LearningJapanese In reply to Sensakura [2012-05-17 17:15:12 +0000 UTC]

Dou itashimashite c: Glad I could help!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Sensakura In reply to LearningJapanese [2012-05-17 22:48:17 +0000 UTC]

^-^ Even though I'm Japanese, I barely know anything about the language! Only a few words! xD

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

LearningJapanese In reply to Sensakura [2012-05-19 15:49:04 +0000 UTC]

That's okay^^ Not everyone knows their native language. My boyfriend's cousins are Russian and they don't know any Russian either.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Sensakura In reply to LearningJapanese [2012-05-19 17:15:46 +0000 UTC]

yea thats true xD I learn slowly from my granparents or my mother because they speak it fluently, because that was their first language

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

LearningJapanese In reply to Sensakura [2012-05-20 14:56:36 +0000 UTC]

Oh, that's great that you have family to practice and learn from c:

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Sensakura In reply to LearningJapanese [2012-05-20 18:17:40 +0000 UTC]

yea thats true xD
My mother is very busy, so she can't teach me.
But my grandparents, especially my grampa is a couch potato so I learn
lots of words and hiragana from him. ^-^

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

LearningJapanese In reply to Sensakura [2012-05-21 15:22:33 +0000 UTC]

Too bad your mother can't help, but won't she be surprised how much you've learned with your grandmother

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Sensakura In reply to LearningJapanese [2012-05-22 00:41:35 +0000 UTC]

yea! thats so true xD

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

xxLexi16182xx [2011-10-16 22:26:43 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for this! I was not quite sure about stuff like no but now, with this I think I will be able to increase my Japanese vocabulary very well !

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

LearningJapanese In reply to xxLexi16182xx [2011-10-17 17:18:52 +0000 UTC]

Happy to help

👍: 0 ⏩: 0