Grammar Notes 4

1: Demonstrative Pronouns

There are three demonstrative pronouns: これ (this one near me), それ (that one near you) and あれ (that one over there). The question word is どれ (which one?).

The following illustrates the typical use of these pronouns.

A:	あれは なんですか。	What is that [over there]?
B:	どれですか。	Which one [do you mean]?
A:	あれです。	That one [over there].
B:	ああ、あれは とけいです。	Oh, that's a clock.
A:	じゃ、それは？	How about that one [near you]?
B:	これは わたしのペンです。	This is my pen.

それ can be used to refer to something just mentioned in the previous part of the conversation.

A:	わたしのせんこうは コンピュータこうがくです。
B:	それは えいごでComputer Engineeringですか。

2: Assertion Particle

Sentence particles appear at the end of a sentence and add extra speech force or nuance to the speaker’s intent. One example is the question particle か, which marks a sentence as a question.

The sentence particle よ is used to assert information or present something as a fact. It can be pronounced as a short よ or an elongated よお. With falling intonation, よ sounds firm and emphatic; with slightly rising intonation, it softens the assertion. よ is often used when the speaker wants to correct, disagree, or provide information emphatically. However, it should generally be avoided when speaking to a superior, as it may sound too assertive.

Note also that そうですか can express acceptance or understanding with falling intonation, or disagreement or surprise with rising intonation.

A:	なんですか。↗	What is it? [Asking]
B:	こたつですよ。↘	It's kotatsu! [Asserting]
or	こたつですよ。↗	It's kotatsu! [Softly asserting]
A:	そうですか。↘	I see. [Accepting]
or	そうですか。↗	Really? [Expressing disagreement]

3: Country

The suffix ご ("language") attached to a country name changes the country name into the language name. For the English language, we use えいご.

にほんご	Japanese language	ドイツご	German language
えいご	English language	フランスご	French language
ちゅうごくご	Chinese language	イタリアご	Italian language
かんこくご	Korean language	スペインご	Spain language
ロシアご	Russian language	アラビアご	Arabic language

4: More on Noun

In Lesson 3, we learned that a noun can modify another noun using the particle の, as in Noun1 の Noun2. This structure is commonly used to indicate affiliation or belonging, such as [company] の [name]. In this use, Noun1 describes the type or category of Noun2, as shown in Sentence 1: にほんごの せんせい (“a Japanese-language teacher”). The particle の can also be used to show a looser association between two nouns, as illustrated in the second example below. にほんじんのせんせい can be an English teacher who happens to be Japanese.

1. にほんごのせんせいです。	Someone is a Japanese-language teacher.
2. にほんじんのせんせいです。	Someone is a Japanese teacher.

5: X

The phrase used to ask What is X called in Japanese? is Ｘは にほんごで なんて いいますか. The question word なんて can be なんと in a formal conversation.

Xはわ	Languageで	なんて なんと	いいますか
これは	にほんごで	なんと	いいますか。	What is this called in Japanese?
Deskはわ	にほんごで	なんて	いいますか。	What is "desk" called in Japanese?
		「つくえ」と 「つくえ」って	いいます。	It's called "tsukue."つくえ

6:

There are two types of adjectives in Japanese: い-adjectives and な-adjectives. We introduce い-adjectives first. い-adjectives (おもしろい, いい, etc.) are placed before a noun to modify it.

おもしろい	テーブル	interesting table
ふるい	たてもの	old building

The following list shows contrasting pairs of い-adjectives. Some adjectives, marked with a green flag, do not have a natural contrasting form as an い-adjective; in those cases, the contrast is expressed using a な-adjective instead. な-adjectives will be introduced later. Adjectives shown in square brackets [ ] will be introduced in a subsequent lesson.

おおきい	large	ちいさい	small
やさしい	easy	むずかしい	difficult
おもしろい	interesting	つまらない	boring
あたらしい	new	ふるい	old
やさしい	kind, gentle	きびしい	strict
たかい	expensive	やすい	cheap
たかい	tall	[ひくい]	low
ひろい	spacious	[せまい]	cramped, narrow
ながい	long	[みじかい]	short
あかるい	bright	[くらい]	dark
あかるい	cheerful	[くらい]	gloomy
おいしい	tasty	[まずい]	bad tasting
いい	good	だめ	no good
いそがしい	busy	ひま	not busy
かわいい	cute

い-adjectives can be embedded in noun sentences as shown below.

Q:	りょうはわ	ふるい	たてもの	ですか。	Is the dormitory an old building?
A-1:	ええ、	ふるい	たてもの	です。	Yes, it's an old building.
A-2:	ええ、		そう	です。	Yes, that's right.
A-3:	いいえ、	ふるい	たてもの	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	No, it's not an old building.
A-4:	いいえ、		そう	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	No, that's not correct.

7: Confirmation/Agreement

The function of the sentence particles ね and ねえ with a falling intonation as in おもしろい テーブルですねえ ("It's an interesting table! (Don't you agree?)") is to seek agreement from the listener about something. ねえ is more emphatic than ね. A typical response is to agree with it by saying そうですねえ (as B does below). Compare the following:

A:	おもしろいですねえ。↘	It's interesting, isn't it?	Seeking agreement
B:	そうですねえ。↘	Yes, it is!	Agreement
C:	そうですか。↗	Really?	Disagreement or doubt

A short ね with a rising intonation is used to confirm something. A rising pitch is often written with a question mark.

A:	たなかさんの へやですね？↗	It's Ms. Tanaka's room, isn't it?	Seeking confirmation
B:	ええ、そうですよ。↗	Yes, it is.	Softly asserting
A:	そうですか。↘	I see.	Accepting

8:

だれ is a question word Who, and だれの＋X means Whose X?. When someone asks それは　だれのかばんですか, それ is marked with the topic particle はわ. By making it the topic, the speaker is treating “that" as already known in the situation. The question だれのかばんですか then asks the listener to identify to whom the bag belongs.

A: それは だれのかばんですか。(“Whose bag is it?”)
B: わたしのかばんです。 (“It’s my bag.”)

Similarly, if A asks にほんごのほんは どれですか, the phrase にほんごのほん is marked with the topic particle はわ. By making it the topic, A is treating “the Japanese-language book” as already known or assumed to exist in the situation. The question どれですか then asks B to identify which object it is among the visible options. Because the identity of the object (which one) is the new information, the natural answer focuses only on that point:

A: にほんごのほんは どれですか。
B: あれです。 (“It’s that one.”)

If B responds あれは にほんごのほんです here, it reverses the information structure. In that sentence, あれ is made the topic, and にほんごのほん is presented as new information—essentially answering a different question, such as: あれは なんですか (“What is that?”). In other words, にほんごのほんは どれですか asks the listener to identify an object, not to classify or explain what the object is. For this reason, あれは にほんごのほんです does not appropriately answer the original question.

9:

な-adjectives can also modify a noun (e.g., "a pretty room") like い-adjectives. な-adjectives require な before the noun as shown below.

な-Adj な	Noun
きれいな	へや	pretty/beautiful room
きれいな	みず	clean water
りっぱな	せんせい	fine teacher
すてきな	いえ	nice house
ゆうめいな	ひと	famous person
らくな	いす	comfortable chair
げんきな	こども	healthy/energetic child

The following are opposite pairs. Some (marked by a ✅) are い-adjectives introduced in the grammar notes above.

しずか	quiet	にぎやか	cheerfully noisy
べんり	convenient	ふべん	inconvenient
✅いい	good	だめ	no good
✅いそがしい	busy	ひま	not busy

な-Adjectives can be embedded in noun sentences as shown below.

A:	あれは	ゆうめいな	え	ですか。	Is that a famous painting?
B:	ええ、	ゆうめいな	え	です。	Yes, that's a famous painting.
B:	ええ、		そう	です。	Yes, that's right.
B:	いいえ、	ゆうめいな	え	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	No, that's not a famous painting.
B:	いいえ、		そう	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	No, that's not correct.

10: Adjectival Sentence 1:

Adjectives can also be used in adjectival sentences (e.g., Sentences that end with な-Adj＋です) as shown below. The negative forms of な-adjective sentences are the same as those used in noun sentences. な-adjective sentences behave more like a noun sentences in this sense.

A:	あれは	ゆうめい	ですか。	Is that famous?
B:	ええ、	ゆうめい	です。	Yes, that's famous.
B:	いいえ、	ゆうめい	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	No, it's not famous.

If な-adjectives conjugate like nouns, why don’t we simply call them な-nouns? One way to identify a true noun in Japanese is that it can be replaced by the demonstrative そう (“so / that”), which refers back to previously mentioned information. For example: それは ペンですか。→ ええ、そうです。 Here, そう stands in for the noun ペン, confirming that ペン functions as a noun. However, this substitution is not possible with な-adjectives as noted by an * below:

A:	カフェテリアは しずかですか。	Is the cafeteria quiet?
B-1:	* ええ、そうです。	[Ungrammatical]
B-2:	* いいえ、そうじゃありません。	[Ungrammatical]
The correct response for B is: ええ、しずかです or いいえ、しずかじゃありません.

The following are additional examples why な-adjectives are not a noun. The adverb like とても (very; See below) can be used with な-adjectives. This cannot be done with nouns.

　それは とても べんりです。 That is very convenient.
* それは とても ほんです。 [Ungrammatical]

The particle の is used for combining a noun with another noun while な is used for combining な-adjective with a noun.

にほんの ひと: a person in Japan
きれいな ひと: a pretty person

These facts show that な-adjectives behave differently from nouns at a deeper grammatical level. For this reason, despite surface similarities in conjugation, な-adjectives are classified as adjectives, not nouns.

11:

な-adjectives can be modified by とても (very) and あまり ([not] very). とても is followed by an affirmative expression and あまり is followed by a negative expression. Note that あまり itself does not contain the negative meaning and it must be followed by a negative expression to become a complete expression. (あまり can also be あんまり which is a casual form of あまり.)

	な-Adj	Affirmative
とても	きれい	です。	It's very beautiful/pretty/clean.
とても	きれいな	へやです。	It's a very beautiful room.
	な-Adj	Negative
あまり	きれい	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	It's not very beautiful/pretty/clean.
あまり	きれいな	へやじゃありません。 へやじゃないです。	It's not a very beautiful room.

12:

Adjectival sentences can be used to answer どんな Ｎounですか questions (What kind of X something is).

Q:	GTは	どんな	だいがく	ですか。	What kind of university is GT?
A:		りっぱな	だいがく	です。	It's a fine university.
		ふるい	だいがく	です。	It's an old university.

13: Adjectival Sentence 2:

い-adjectives can also be used in adjectival sentences as shown below. The negative forms of い-adjective sentences are formed by changing the last い sound to く and adding either ありません or ないです as shown below.

		い-Adj	Affirmative
Q:	これは	あたらしい	ですか。	Is this new?
A:	ええ、	あたらしい	です。	Yes, that's new.
		い-Adj	Negative
A:	いいえ、	あたらしく	ありません。 ないです。	No, it's not new.

Note that the negative of いいです is よく ありません／よく ないです, (not * いくありません／いくないです). FYI: よい is the original form of いい (= conversational form). We use よい in a greeting like this: よいしゅうまつを！ (Have a nice weekend!)

14:

い-adjectives can also be modified by とても (very) and あまり ([not] very) just like な-adjectives.

Affirmative
とても	おもしろい		です。	It's very interesting.
とても	おもしろい	ほん	です。	It's a very interesting book.
Negative
あまり	おもしろく		ありません。 ないです。	It's not very interesting.
あまり	おもしろい	ほん	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	It's not a very interesting book.