AdverbialsĪnother of the optional clause elements is adverbials.

For example, if we follow up our example sentence with それから、お母さんがその寿司を一人で食べる (then, my mother eats the sushi all by herself), we can see that the subject of the new sentence is お母さん (marked by が).

This is a little different from a subject, which can change from clause to clause without the topic necessarily shifting. In the example sentence above, the particle は marks 毎週日曜日 as the topic of this sentence, and also the topic of the conversation, until it shifts to something else. Topics are generally marked by the particle は: On the surface, the topic seems quite similar to the subject, but there are some differences. How important this emphasis is varies a lot depending on the context, though. In this sentence, the particle が marks お父さん as the person who makes the sushi, showing that it's him and not anyone else who is going to do it. Subjects are typically marked by the particle が in Japanese: In this sentence, お寿司 is marked as the object by the particle を. In Japanese, this element is marked by the particle を: An object is the element of a clause that is acted upon by a transitive verb. We'll start off by adding an object to the verb 作る (make). Let's check out each of the categories of nonessential clause elements that we can add on to a predicate. While this basic, predicate-only sentence is possible, it's a bit limited when you want to add new information to a context. In Japanese though, the sentence is boiled all the way down to just that 'information about the thing,' or in other words, a predicate verb: 食べる. The English sentence contains a 'thing' (I) and 'information about the thing' (do). She emphatically responds:Īs you can see, there is a pretty big difference between the Japanese example sentence and the English translation. He asks her, よし、お寿司食べる？ (Alright, want to eat some sushi?). For example, your dad (who is known for his sushi making skills) is gearing up to make some sushi for your mom.

This verb could be used all on its own to create a complete sentence in Japanese. Let's start with a simple predicate - the verb 食べる (eat). So what are these nonessential clause elements that we can use to dress up the predicate? There are quite a few, and each of them are complex enough to deserve their own page, but we'll give a simple introduction to each of them here. You can dress up these predicates with other clause elements to add more meaning and complexity, but all that you need in order to form a complete simple sentence in Japanese is a predicate! Nonessential Clause Elements A range of different word types can serve as the predicate of a Japanese sentence: This 'info about the thing you're talking about' is called the predicate. The only essential clause element in Japanese is that second part of the clause - the info about the thing you're talking about. You can include the 'thing' you're talking about if it's not clear from the context of the conversation, but it's not required in the same way that English requires a subject. In the examples above, the thing being discussed is placed in (parentheses) to show that it is optional. This means that, when the thing we want to talk about is known from context, we don't have to mention it at all. As you may know, the subject is often dropped in Japanese. Now let's turn the focus back to Japanese. Of course, the second part of the sentence, or the 'info about the subject' is also required in English. That is, the subject is an essential clause element in English. To put it another way, English requires that every clause have a subject. In a sentence like 'It's hot outside today,' 'it' doesn't really refer to anything, but it has to be there to make the sentence grammatically correct. In English, both the 'thing' and the information about that thing are required for a clause to be complete. In general, we could say that the purpose of a sentence is to state a 'thing' that we want to talk about, and then to give some information about that 'thing.' Thing In this case, the clause and the sentence are the same thing! Yay for simplicity!īefore we jump into the grammatical nuts and bolts of clauses, let's look at it from a somewhat simplified point of view. A simple sentence is a sentence with only one clause. We'll start things out by looking at simple sentences. Being able to recognize clauses in Japanese sentences will make it much easier to parse complicated sentences, and help you to develop a deeper understanding of Japanese grammar. We all know what a sentence is, but have you ever heard of a clause? We're talking about grammar here, not Santa Claus or your cat's claws. Understanding clauses will help you to break down and understand complicated sentences in Japanese.

Sumaru japanese meaning