kon'ichi wa!

RedStormRex · 30 Jul 2004

kon'nichi wa watashi desu Igirisu-jin
(Hello, I am English)
Is that correct?

I'm new to the forums and learning japanese.
Is this the right place to post?. I am self teaching at the moment.
Thanks.

PaulTB · 30 Jul 2004

RedStormRex said:
kon'nichi wa watashi desu Igirisu-jin
(Hello, I am English)
Is that correct?

Not really. Although it could be worse.

RedStormRex said:
Im new to the forums and learning japanese.
Is this the right place to post?.

Yes, for what that's worth.

RedStormRex said:
I am self teaching at the moment.

I suggest you work through a basic set of lessons like those found here. I'm sure that the sentence pattern you want will be covered in the first two or three lessons.

RedStormRex · 30 Jul 2004

Thanks

Thankyou.
Im reading about the sentence structure.
I'm only young and I'm looking at the japanese language.
Thanks.
Subject-Object-Verb.

PaulTB · 30 Jul 2004

RedStormRex said:
Subject-Object-Verb. :?

"kon'nichi wa" is a set phrase. It doesn't fit into the normal sentence structures.

It's more like "topic subject object verb/cupola" (although the topic is very often also the subject).

watashi = topic (and subject)
igirisujin = object
desu = cupola

Don't forget that the topic needs the topic particle.

But you're still better off using a proper lesson site or textbook rather than asking really basic questions.

RedStormRex · 30 Jul 2004

Thank you for your advice!

Glenn · 31 Jul 2004

PaulTB said:
watashi = topic (and subject)
igirisujin = object
desu = cupola

Actually, it's more like this:

watashi = topic
igirisujin = complement
desu = copula

Objects only occur with transitive verbs in Japanese, as far as I know.

Objects in English are a bit trickier, I believe. In Japanese, the objects are clearly marked as dative or accusative, and, as said before, they only occur with transitive verbs. In English, the distinction between accusative and dative was lost with inflection of nouns, so they are just lumped into one new case -- objective. Also, in English there are objects of the preposition, which take the objective case (with the words that do inflect, i.e. personal pronouns). This seems to be a quick rundown of a more complex subject, but I believe that it captures the gist.

PaulTB · 31 Jul 2004

Glenn said:
Actually, it's more like this:

watashi = topic
igirisujin = complement
desu = copula

Which is another very good reason for getting text book / reasonable lessons site instead of asking here. They don't get people like me making stupid mistakes.

Inuyasha-the-kid · 4 Aug 2004

かにいちわよ！！！！！！！！！！

PaulTB · 4 Aug 2004

Inuyasha-the-kid said:
かにいちわよ！！！！！！！！！！

Kid, dude.
I'm making allowances for what I presume your age to be but please think a little more before posting.

P.S. It's still not spelt かにいちわ it's こんにちは which can be typed as kon'nichiha.

kon'ichi wa!

RedStormRex

後輩

PaulTB

Manga Psychic

RedStormRex

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PaulTB

Manga Psychic

RedStormRex

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Glenn

一切皆苦

PaulTB

Manga Psychic

Inuyasha-the-kid

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PaulTB

Manga Psychic

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