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Learn Nouns In Japanese Grammar
Japanese nouns are non-inflecting, have no gender, and take no articles. Thus 猫 (neko) could be translated into English as "cat", "a cat", "the cat", "cats", "some cats", or "the cats", depending on context. A small number of nouns have plurals formed by reduplication (possibly accompanied by rendaku): thus 人 hito "person" and 人々 hitobito "people", although these are typically collective rather than true plurals. Additionally, in respectful speech, the prefix o- is often used with native nouns, as is the prefix go- with Sino-Japanese nouns. Some common nouns have unpredictable respectful forms; a few examples are in the adjoining table.
respectful forms of nouns
| meaning |
plain |
respectful |
| rice |
飯 meshi |
ご飯 go-han |
| money |
金 kane |
お金 o-kane |
| body |
体 karada |
お体 o-karada
御体 onmi |
| word(s) |
言葉 kotoba |
お言葉 o-kotoba
詔 mikotonori |
Although Japanese nouns do not inflect for number, there are "plural" forms to indicate semantic number: 私達 (watashi-tachi) for "we", あなたたち (anata-tachi) for "you (plural)", 僕等 (bokura) for "we (inform. male)". Interestingly, one uncommon pseudopronoun, 我 (ware, "I") has a much more common reduplicative plural 我々 (wareware, "we"). However, 達 (-tachi) and 等 (-ra) are by far the most common pluralizing suffixes -- although 達 (-tachi) is not strictly a pluralizing suffix: for example, 太郎達 (Tarō-tachi) does not mean "some number of people named Tarō" but instead means "Tarō and his friends," or "Tarō and those people who are with him". The suffixes ス (-su) and ズ (-zu), derived from the English plural suffix -[e]s, are also occasionally used to indicate the plural, although this is not even remotely standard Japanese.
Below you will find an useful links to learn Japanese grammar in more details. Good Luck!
Japanese Verbs
Learn Japanese Adjectives
Types Of Adjectives
List Of Japanese Adjectives
Pronouns
Learn About Nouns
Learn About Adverbs
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