Now that we’re done with numeral classifiers and units of measurement, it’s time to get back to particles. Today’s course is about Japanese logical connectors. Throughout this second season (which is far from over !), we have learned to make Japanese phrases over and over again as we acquire vocabulary and discover new particles. And today, we’re finally going to learn how to link sentences together, string them together with logical links to make sentences a little more complex. And you will see that logical connectors in Japanese are particles too.
And to make things right, we’ll first learn how to link nouns and clauses, then sentences. If you don’t know what exactly a clause is, don’t worry, I’ll explain it all to you when the time comes.
To link nouns, we need connective particles and you know what ? You already know some.
We have the particle と which makes it possible to draw up an enumeration. As a reminder, its use is very simple because it is almost identical to « and » in English. For example :
犬と猫とパンダ。
いぬとねことパンダ。
A dog, a cat and a panda.
You also know the particle や which makes it possible to draw up a non-exhaustive enumeration.
犬や猫やパンダ。
いぬやねこやパンダ。
Among others a dog, a cat and a panda.
And now, if we want to say « or », « or even » in Japanese, so we can draw up a choice. To do this we will use the particle か so we can draw up a choice between different members of a list. It is another use of the particle か than the one we already know which is to put the sentence in the interrogative form. And so, we’ll put it between each element of the list, as with the particles と and や :
犬か猫かパンダ。
いぬかねこかパンダ。
A dog, a cat or a panda.
And if the list is complete, we quote all the proposals of the choice that we make, it is an exhaustive choice. We also have the particle なり which makes it possible to draw up a choice whose list is incomplete, which makes it possible to propose different elements, so we are on something non-exhaustive.
犬なり猫なりパンダなり。
いぬなりねこなりパンダなり。
Among others a dog, a cat and a panda.
In the sentence above, なり is placed after each item in the list. This was not the case previously but here is how it works. And then if after, of course, we want to use a grammatical particle, for example を, we put it after the last なり and so that encompasses the whole noun group.
Know already that the particle なり will be used above all when we are going to give an advice, when we are going to make a proposal. For example :
You should buy a t-shirt, a backpack, a cap or whatever.
For the moment, we have not yet learned how to give advice in Japanese but already remember that we will need the particle なり.
As much the particles と and や, as I told you at the time, can only be applied to nouns; as much the particles か and なり can also be apply on verbs. Just keep it in the corner of your memory. Verb study will be coming for the third season, so we’ll talk about that again when the time comes. Then know that there are other connective particles like these four but which are much less important. We will see them much later.
Well, we’ve learned how to link nouns. Now we will learn how to link clauses. It is therefore necessary to know to begin with what is a clause. To link clauses is to combine two sentences into one. We create what is called a complex sentence; at that point, each sentence becomes a clause, each with its own verb. In this case, we will also need connective particles to link the two clauses but they will not be the same as the ones we saw previously. We will see them one by one with for each example sentences to illustrate my explanations.
We’ll start with the following two sentences :
カサンドラはロンドンにいる
Cassandra is in London.
And the second sentence :
カサンドラはティラミスを食べる。
カサンドラはティラミスをたべる。
Cassandra eats a tiramisu.
How can I get these two sentences together into one ? Well, already I can remove the topic of the second sentence. You remember in the course on the particle は, I explained to you that, when a topic is common to several sentences which are linked together, we do not repeat it. The two sentences will remain intact. In fact, I’ll just unify them by separating them with a single comma, like this :
カサンドラはロンドンにいる、ティラミスを食べる。
カサンドラはロンドンにいる、ティラミスをたべる。
Cassandra is in London eating tiramisu.
So, I have my two clauses. Remember the word « clause » because I will be using it regularly from now on.
To create a logical link between these two clauses, I’m going to have to put a conjunctive particle at the end of the first clause, and there, for the very first time, we have a particle that is going to be placed on a verb. This is something that we have never done before, and so the particle applying to the verb will also apply to the whole clause because the clause is the complements of the verb, it is the details of the verb. Therefore, the particle applies to the verb but also to the entire clause and therefore, we will have different conjunctive particles so we can express different logical links between my two clauses.
We’ll start with the concession. In English, we will translate the logical link « although », with the particle が. We are therefore on another use of the particle が which, until now, was used to indicate the subject of the verb. If I put my particle が of concession at the end of the first clause :
カサンドラはロンドンにいるが、ティラミスを食べる。
カサンドラはロンドンにいるが、ティラミスをたべる。
I indicate a concession link between the first clause and the second. In English, it will translate as :
Although Cassandra is in London, she eats a tiramisu.
In English, it’s easy. The « although » introduces the first clause, so we are on a fairly similar model between Japanese and English.
To express the concession, we also have the particle けれども which we can abbreviate in けれど, which we can also abbreviate けど, when we are in a fairly oral language style. This version of the conjunctive particle, けど, will be used much more in spoken language. It is considered to be a very familiar abbreviation but it is not vulgar.
Now let’s see the sentence below :
カサンドラはロンドンにいるのに、ティラミスを食べる。
カサンドラはロンドンにいるのに、ティラミスをたべる。
Although Cassandra is in London, she eats a tiramisu.
のに indicates a certain shade of surprise, regret, discontent. In the sentence above we express the idea that Cassandra is in London so she eats tiramisu but we are a bit disappointed we would have liked her to eat something a little more English. I hope that with this example you have grasped the nuance that the use of のに.
Beware ! Do not confuse concession and opposition. The opposition is something which, in English, introduces a second clause, which would give us :
Cassandra is in London but she is eating tiramisu.
The meaning between the two, between the concession we have made so far and the opposition is similar. But the concession introduces the first clause, and the opposition introduces the second clause. In Japanese, we cannot make clauses with a conjunctive particle, we have to make a concession. But in this case, yes, we will be able to translate our Japanese sentences by an opposition in English. It’s going to be possible, but don’t mix it up. If you want to be sure which clause to put the conjunctive concession particles on, formulate your sentences in English using « although » : Although Cassandra is in London. And so, you are sure not to confuse the two.
This being done, we will now express a cause relation between the first clause and the second clause. In English, « since ». For this, we will use the conjunctive particle から. So, this is another use of the particle から which initially indicates the starting point. However, the cause and the starting point are two relatively related things :
カサンドラはロンドンにいるから、ティラミスを食べる。
カサンドラはロンドンにいるから、ティラミスをたべる。
Since Cassandra is in London, she eats a Sunday Roast.
Thus, is translated « since » in Japanese. We can also say « AS Cassandra is in London », « BECAUSE Cassandra is in London, she is eating a Sunday Roast. ».
The cause can also be indicated with the conjunctive particle ので. For example :
カサンドラはロンドンにいるので、ティラミスを食べる。
カサンドラはロンドンにいるので、ティラミスをたべる。
Since Cassandra is in London, she eats a Sunday Roast.
And here again, be careful not to confuse cause and consequence which, again, are two closely related things. But the cause, this is what we have just done, introduces the first clause and the consequence introduces the second clause. The consequence in English would be :
Cassandra is in London, so she’s eating a Sunday Roast.
The meaning is similar but in Japanese we don’t have connective particles to express the consequence, we are forced to express the cause. So, once again, if you want to be sure not to confuse between the cause and the consequence, reformulate systematically with « since » in English to find the clause on which to put the particles から or ので.
から expresses a cause from a subjective point of view while ので expresses a cause from an objective point of view therefore ので is felt to be a little more polite than から. Something else important のに and ので are forms in の exactly like the form のだI hope you remember the rule. When we have a だ on which we apply a form in の, it turns into な. For example, if I take the sentence :
Since Johanna and Douglas are fans of Kamen Rider, they watch the series on TV.
We have « Johanna and Douglas are fans of Kamen Rider. ». And I want to make it the cause of, « they watch the series on TV. ».
This gives us :
ヨハンナとダグラスは仮面ライダーのファンなので、テレビでシリーズを見る。
ヨハンナとダグラスはかめんライダーのファンなので、テレビでシリーズをみる。
Since Johanna and Douglas are fans of Kamen Rider, they watch the series on TV.
I put my ので after the verb of the first clause but here it is, since we are on a だ, it becomes a なので. Be careful of this when using のに and ので. So far, our two clauses had the same topic but if we want, we can of course have two different topics for each of them and at that time we will have two particles は. For example :
セドリックは何時も寝室でマンガを読む、ジェシカはリビングのソファーで寝る。
セドリックはいつもしんしつでマンガをよむ、ジェシカはリビングのソファーでねる。
Since Cedric is always reading manga in the bedroom, Jessica sleeps on the sofa in the living room.
Here I have two clauses which the first is the cause of the second and each has its own topic.
Now let’s imagine another sentence a little more complex :
ジミーの寝室でボヤンが寝るので、ジミーはギターをリビングルームで弾く。
ジミーのしんしつでボヤンがねるので、ジミーはギターをリビングルームでひく。
Since Boyan is sleeping in Jimmy’s bedroom, Jimmy is playing guitar in the living room.
Besides, take a good look at the order of the complements.
In the second we have : ギターをリビングルームで弾く. Basically, I should have said リビングルームでギターを弾く. We saw that it was the most logical order in Japanese but here, to reverse the order of the complements, to put リビングルームで. リビングルームで just before 弾く . ひく, it highlights it, it gives it importance and suddenly, it makes it possible to insist on the fact that Jimmy plays the guitar, certainly, but he plays the guitar in the living room. This is the important information, and thus by bringing a complement to the verb, we will be able to give it more importance than the others.
There are other conjunctive particles which will make it possible to establish other logical links between clauses other than the concession and the cause but which will require work directly on the verb. So that’s something we’re not going to do right now. So, between clauses, for the moment, we cannot say everything, we cannot establish other logical links but all this, we will be able to do it thanks to conjunctions when we’ll link two sentences.
We now come to the third scenario. We have two sentences that remain distinct, we are not going to tie them together into a complex sentence. They each remain distinct and simply, at the beginning of the second sentence, we are going to put a conjunction which is a word, an expression that I am going to present to you. This conjunction will introduce the logical link between the first and the second sentence.
I give you a small list of quite useful conjunctions. We have, for example :
然して . そして → and (introduces a union)
その上 . そのうえ → moreover (introduces an addition)
あるいは → or, or even (introduces a choice, and notice that the は, I pronounce it わ because the conjunction is created from the particle は)
しかし → or, or even (introduces an opposition, but this time, we are sure that it is an opposition because the conjunction introduces the second sentence.)
逆に.ギャクに → conversely, unlike (introduces an opposite statement, conversely)
それで → therefore (we are of course on a consequence which introduces the second sentence)
所で. ところで → by the way (introduces a change of topic of conversation)
つまり → in a word, in one word (introduces a summary)
実は. じつは → to tell the truth, in fact (introduces a truth, you see we have again the topic particle は. In fact, the particle は is part of the conjunction but that’s how the conjunction was created, it’s in one word and so, we can then have a theme with its own particle は. It’s possible)
一方 . イッポウ → on the other hand (introduces a paralleling)
There are of course many other logical connectors. I gave you something to start well, after if you want to discover others, I invite you to take a dictionary.
Let’s see now what it gives in sentences :
ピエールはポルトガルにいる。しかし、ポトフを食べる。
ピエールはポルトガルにいる。しかし、ポトフをたべる。
Pierre is in Portugal. But he’s eating a pot-au-feu.
You see, it’s very simple ! The two sentences remain distinct and the conjunction simply arises at the beginning of the second sentence to introduce it and to link it with a logical link to the first Here, once again I insist, we are of course an opposition not to be confused with the concession earlier « although ». Here the opposition « but » introduces the second sentence.
Another example :
ピエールはポルトガルにいる。それで、パステル・デ・ナタを食べる。
ピエールはポルトガルにいる。それで、パステル・デ・ナタをたべる。
Pierre is in Portugal. So, he eats a Belém pastel.
I still insist. それで « therefore », introduce a consequence and earlier « since » introduce a cause.
I insist on that because enormously many learners, and this will also be the case for most of you, confuse opposition and concession, and consequence and cause when it comes to a complex sentence. They never really know where to put the conjunctive particle so try to analyze well in which case we are when it is about an opposition and concession, and in which cases we are when it is about a consequence. and a cause.
In these two example cases, each time the topic was common to the two sentences so it was not necessary to repeat it but of course if we want, we can have two different topics.
Observe the sentence below (with other first names for a change) :
パウロはポトフを食べる。一方、ルイザはドレスを買う。
パウロはポトフをたべる。いっぽう、ルイザはドレスをかう。
Paulo is eating a pot-au-feu. On the other hand, Louisa buys a dress.
Finally, you will see for yourself, by discovering other conjunctions, that there are some that begin with だ. And in fact, they are connective particles preceded by だ.
For example, with the conjunctive particle が, we created だが. With the conjunctive particle けど, we created だけど, and thus, だが and だけど are conjunctions that allow the introduction of a second sentence. In fact, the だ simulates an earlier clause, so we go directly to the next one by putting all this at the start of the sentence. Thus, since we put だけど at the start of the second sentence, this introduces an opposition.
It also works on のに with だのに. Since we are on a だ with a form in の, we get the conjunction だのに. It also works with から and ので, which gives だから and なので which therefore introduce a second sentence with a logical link of consequences.
This course was the penultimate on Japanese particles. We have a very last lesson to see which will simply be a recap of everything we have seen together in this important part before leaving for... uh, new adventures in the land of the Japanese language which I keep the secret for the moment... And I’m really, really tired so I’ll give you your exercises.
As usual, theme and version in which I get you to use logical links between words, clauses and sentences as we have seen today in this course. I gave you rather simple sentences because it was important to focus on the new concepts without complicating things too much. But during these exercises, I enjoyed myself with slightly more complicated sentences. Once again, be careful not to confuse concession and opposition, and cause and consequence. I put some little traps in the exercises for you, so it’s up to you to see if you have understood correctly. In this course, I haven’t told you that but, of course, anything that applies to two separate clauses or two separate sentences can be applied to three separate clauses or three separate sentences. Again, you have examples of use in the exercises.
For those who wonder how to express the condition in Japanese, which also allows us to link two sentences, we will talk about it in season three because the condition in Japanese is formed directly on the verb. And this second season is frankly already very long !
I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that there is the « adverbs », page, available via the button of the same name where you can find more than a hundred explanatory courses embellished with example sentences. Don’t hesitate to go take a look.
Good luck with your revisions, I know this must be tough for many of you but keep up the good work !
Introduction