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Grammar Notes 6B |
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A) Relative time expressions
Click on the Japanese words to hear the pronunciation.
B) Days of the Week
よう(び) refers to the day part of the days of the week. (び is optional. Both げつよう and げつようび refer to Monday.) The Japanese usually start counting the days of the week from Monday.
In contrast, days of the week are specific (i.e., absolute) time reference. That is, げつようび refers to the same day regardless of which day the speaker says げつようび during that week.
The relative time expressions can be combined with specific time expressions as shown below.
C) Abbreviations for the Days of the Week
When the Japanese count days of the week, they often use the following abbreviated form. Click on the audio button below to listen to the days of the week without the suffix ようび. Utilize this system for easy memorization. Note the insertion of an extra vowel あ /a/ (after か) and お /o/ (after ど) to keep the even two-syllable sound rhythm for all days of the week. (When you type these words into the computer, do not use these extra vowels.)
The verbs introduced in Lesson 5 (Xにあります: "Something is located at X"; Xにいます: "Someone is located at X") can also be used to refer to a scheduled event. The particle に is used to refer to specific or absolute time when something is scheduled.
The particle に is NOT needed with relative time expressions (e.g., きょう, あした, あさって, こんばん, こんしゅう, らいしゅう, etc.) or repeated time expressions (e.g., まいにち, まいしゅう, etc.) or duration (length of time) expressions (e.g., 10じかん, etc.). (Note: ごご works both as a noun (afternoon) and as a prefix (ごご９じ: 9 p.m.), but ごぜん works only as a prefix (a.m.). To refer to the morning hours, use ごぜんちゅう.)
When various time expressions are combined, the time marker に is required if the last element of the time expression is the specific time:
For あさ、ひる、ばん、ごぜんちゅう、ごご、しゅうまつ (or こんしゅうまつ), に is optional.
We will now introduce a group of Japanese verbs that refer to activities that take place at certain time and location. Initially, we will focus on the activities referred to by the verbs that do not take a direct object. These verbs are おきます (wake up)、ねます (go to bed/sleep/lie down)、and あそびます (have fun/hang out/enjoy oneself). Just like あります and います verbs we have seen above, the partile に is used to refer to specific or absolute time of activities. No particle is required to refer to duration/repeated/relative time of activities.
To refer to the location of activities, the particle で (e.g., こうえんで) is used instead of に. If someone does something with someone else, the particle と is used to mark the accompanying agent.
When answering negatively to Yes-No questions, the particle は is added to the particles に, で and と. (This usage of は will be explained more in details in JAPN 1002.)
The frequency expressions can be combined with verbs without particles. The following are commonly used frequency expressions that are normally combined with affirmative ending verbs.
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In Japanese, the verbs for coming and going describe movement relative to a particular point of reference, often the speaker's current location. The verb いきます indicates movement away from the current location toward a different location. It implies that the subject is departing from the point of reference to go somewhere else ("X goes there").
In contrast, the verb きます signifies movement toward the current location or the point of reference. It is used when the subject is approaching or arriving at the location in focus, typically where the speaker is or where the conversation is centered ("X comes here"). Unlike the English verb "come," it is important to note that きます cannot be used to describe the speaker's movement from the current location toward a different location because いきます is the verb to describe it. The following conversation illustrates this point. Which Japanese verb can B use to say "I'm coming!" below? The direction of coming and going is marked by the particle に (or へ pronounced as /e/, not /he/). If the time for いきます is mentioned, it can mean either the time of departure or the time of arrival depending on the context. If the time for きます is mentioned, it can only mean the time of arrival.
When answering negatively to Yes-No questions, the particle は is added to the destination particles に and へ. (This usage of は will be explained further in JAPN 1002.)
The following are commonly used frequency expressions that MUST be combined with negative expressions.
Here is the summary of all frequency expressions introduced so far. The frequency words to the left of the blue line require a negative ending verbs while those to the right of the blue line are normally followed by affirmative ending verbs.
FYI: If the frequency words normally combined with affirmative verbs are combined with negative verbs, the resulting interpretations are similar to "comma" interpretations in English as shown below.
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Now we will introduce verbs of actions (e.g., eating, drinking, doing, etc.) that take a direct object. The direct object the subject acts upon is marked by the particle を (pronounced as /o/). Other parts of speech can be added as shown below.
When answering negatively to Yes-No questions, the particle は is usually used. When は is used, it replaces the particle を, but it is added to the other particles as shown below. (This usage of は will be explained further in JAPN 1002.)
Like other verbs, to express the duration of actions, no particle is required. To reply negatively to a Yes-No question, は is added as shown below.
The verb します (do) can be added to a noun (テニス) and produce a new verb (テニスします). The direct object marker を can also be inserted after テニス.
The last sentence above can be corrected as follows:
Earlier, we learned that そうですね（え） with a falling intonation is a confirmation That is right. This expression is also used as a conversational filler (Well...) to buy time before answering a question. It is similar to ええっとですね（え） (Let me see..). Don't confuse this with an affirmative answer (Yes, that's right).
Coming and going verbs (e.g., いきます, きます, etc.) can also take a noun that expresses a purpose or reason for going (or coming) somewhere. The purpose is also marked by に.
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Caution: The particle 
にほんごを べんきょうを します。