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Level: Particles

Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Try though you might, you simply cannot find anything in your Japanese kitchen! You wonder whether your spouse deliberately hides things from you to make your job of preparing a Japanese dinner harder. You call out to her in Japanese and ask, “Honey, these kitchen drawers are an absolute mess. I can’t find anything I need to make a Japanese meal in here!” Your spouse responds in Japanese, “Seriously, everything is in order. You just don’t understand my order for things. What are you looking for?” You reply in Japanese, “Well, I need a special knife to clean the fish for this dish.” Within five seconds, your spouse opens the proper drawer (which you already looked in) and pulls out the knife you’ve been looking for. You look at your spouse with wonder and say in Japanese, “Thanks, dear. How did you do that?”

Learning Japanese with JapanesePod101.com is the most fun and effective way to learn Japanese! This Japanese Particle lesson will teach you the particles that explain that something is a means of doing something. We’ll also teach you how to say in Japanese that an item or ingredient is a part of something else. You’ll definitely want to be a part of the Japanese learning in this lesson! Visit us at JapanesePod101.com where you will find many more fantastic Japanese lessons and learning resources! Leave us a message while you are there!

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Grammar: , | Function: | Topic:


This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Particles . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 Responses to “Particles #15 - Japanese Particles De and Kara Are the Right Tools to Get the Job Done!”

JapanesePod101.com says:

Mina-san,

When it comes to talking about what something is made of, de and kara can get a little confusing. Ask us any questions you may have here!

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Jason says:

So it sounds like it would always just be safer to stick with で. Great lesson. Thanks a lot. These lessons are better than any book I’ve read about particles. Keep up the good work!

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Raymasaki says:

yeah the particals are sometimes hard to catch.
kara - because you have to hear the other words
Usually it means “from” tokyo kara nagoya
then it could mean there for , desu kara.
or sometimes just kara at the end of sentence.
the only partical i really dislike is O, wo

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Raymasaki says:

今わかります
包丁 = houchou - kitchen knife.
i just always heard “knifu”

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alejandro says:

i didnt know you could say nani de… is it just like nande or are they different…

osake ha nani de tsukurimasu ka… does it sound unnatural to ask using tsukuraremasu,it is the passive form so wouldnt it make more sense in that context because youre asking what is sake made from

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Naomi says:

alejandro -san
nan de and nani de are the same.
If you really want to say “What is Sake made from” in a natural way, you have to say お酒は何でつくられていますか。Osake wa nani de tsukurarete imasu ka? or お酒は何でできていますか Osake wa nani de dekite imasuka.
I guess this grammar is too complicated for beginner level students (this course is targeting beginners), plus the target in this lesson is not passive nor continuous so to make this lesson’s grammar point clear I said お酒 は 何でつくりますか。(Literal translation: What do you made sake from? ). :wink:

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alejandro says:

ok, i get it..then is it bad to make this kind of questions in this section? :oops: :sad:

thanks

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Naomi says:

alejandro-san
Not at all. Your question is welcome! :razz:
Your sentence お酒は何でつくられますか is correct. But to sound even more natural, you have to change つくられます to つくられています. :wink:  

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Tess says:

What is the “no” at the end of the sentence “かぼちゃで スープを つくるの”. I understand the usage of the “no” in the previous sentence, however, I don’t think I’ve yet heard of this particular usage. Or is it the “no desu” contraction giving an explanation or reason?

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Naomi says:

Tess-san
You’re right. This “no” is originally a contracted form of “no da”. However this sentence-ending “no” is used to soften the statement and used mainly by women or children.
ex) Rainen, watashi wa nihon ni iku no. -I will be going to Japan next year.
You can find more detailed explanation and a sample sentence in the lesson notes of the previous lesson. (Particle series Lesson 14) :wink:

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