Learn about the starting point marking particle
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| Hi, everyone. |
| Welcome to the Ultimate Japanese Particle Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn the particle... |
| から (kara) |
| This particle is called the starting point particle, because it tells you when or where something begins. |
| It means "from." |
| When meaning "from," this particle comes after a noun. |
| Let's see a sentence. |
| 三時からミーティングがあります。 (San-ji kara mītingu ga arimasu.) |
| Literally, it means "There is a meeting from three," but you can also translate it as “We have a meeting at three." |
| Which expression marks the starting point? |
| 三時から (San-ji kara) |
| Literally, "from three o'clock." Then, it says "there is a meeting." |
| ミーティングがあります。 (mītingu ga arimasu.) |
| Let's hear an example with a place as starting point. |
| ここから駅は近いです。 (Koko kara eki wa chikai desu.) |
| “From here, the train station is close.” |
| Which expression do you think marks the starting point? |
| ここから (Koko kara) |
| Yes, which means "From here." Then, it says "the train station is close." |
| 駅は近いです (eki wa chikai desu) |
| Let's take a look at a few more examples. |
| ベランダから洗濯物が落ちました。 (Beranda kara sentakumono ga ochimashita.) |
| “The laundry fell off the balcony.” |
| 試合は８時からです。 (Shiai wa hachi-ji kara desu.) |
| "The game starts at 8 o'clock." |
| 東京から新幹線で行きました。(Tōkyō kara shinkansen de ikimashita.) |
| "I went (there) from Tokyo by a bullet train." |
| This particle can also indicate materials. |
| Also, in this case, you can translate it as "from." |
| Let's hear an example. |
| ぶどうからワインを作る。 (Budō kara wain o tsukuru.) |
| "I make wine from grapes." Let's hear again the expression which indicates the material. |
| ぶどうから (Budō kara) |
| We saw another particle that could be used for the same purpose... |
| Is there a difference between them? |
| で also indicates the material something is made of or from. |
| Yes, から is only used when the material doesn't appear to be in its original state. |
| So when the nature of the material is obvious, you should use de. |
| When the product is the result of material going through a somewhat complex process, you can mark the material either with de or kara. |
| Let's take a look at a few more examples with the same particle used to indicate materials. |
| 米からお酒を作ります。 (Kome kara o-sake o tsukurimasu.) |
| "I make sake from rice." |
| 私は、木から和紙を作りました。 (Watashi wa ki kara washi o tsukurimashita.) |
| "I made Japanese washi paper from wood." |
| このセーターはペットボトルから作られています。(Kono sētā wa pettobotoru kara tsukura rete imasu.) |
| "This sweater is made from plastic bottles." |
| Now, let's use what you learned in this lesson. |
| We learned how to say “We have a meeting at three." |
| 三時からミーティングがあります。 (San-ji kara mītingu ga arimasu.) |
| Here, the particle から (kara) marks the starting point. The structure is... |
| [starting point] から (kara) |
| Now let's try with "I'll be on a diet starting from today." |
| Here are the words for "today" and "to be on a diet." |
| 今日 (kyō) |
| ダイエットをします(daietto o shimasu) |
| Try to say "I'll be on a diet starting from today." in Japanese. [pause] |
| The answer is... |
| 今日から、ダイエットをします。 (Kyō kara daietto o shimasu.) |
| Did you get it right? In this sentence, the particle から (kara) marks a starting point. |
| Let's try one more. We also learned how to say "I make wine from grapes." |
| ぶどうからワインを作る。 (Budō kara wain o tsukuru.) |
| Here, the particle から (kara) marks the materials something is made of or from. |
| The structure is... |
| [materials] から(kara) [product] を 作ります(o tsukurimasu) |
| Now let's try with "I make tofu from soy beans." |
| Here are the words for "soy beans" and "tofu." |
| 大豆 (daizu) |
| 豆腐 (tōfu) |
| Try to say "I make tofu from soy beans" in Japanese. [pause] |
| The answer is... |
| 大豆から豆腐を作ります。(Daizu kara tōfu o tsukurimasu.) |
| Well done! In this case, the particle indicates a material. |
| In this lesson, you learned about the particle... |
| から |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn about the particle... |
| まで |
| See you in the next lesson. Bye! |
| Bye~ |
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