Making Sense of Japanese Grammar

25. Three reasons not to use phrase particles

25 Three reasons not to use phrase particles Most noun phrases in Japanese seem to require phrase particles, in particular in writing, but there are cases where phrase particles are optional (as we have seen in Unit 23) or may not be used. We summarize the reasons here. Reason One: Clear Functions Phrase particles are optional when the functions of the noun phrases are clear from the context: Chiba-san, kimashita-ka. “Did Mr. Chiba come?” Chiba-san, mimashita-ka. “Did you see Mr. Chiba?” The subject and direct object particles and some uses of -ni are particularly likely to be dropped in speech because their grammatical functions are so fundamental that they can be easily recovered from the context. (For this reason, they are also dropped when followed by -wa or -mo.) Other phrase particles, such as -kara and -made, are not likely to be skipped even in fast speech, because the meanings of the phrases are difficult to recover without them. Reason Two: Expressions of Quantity In two cases, phrase particles are not allowed. Expressions of quantity appear without particles, as shown below: Nimai kudasai. “Please give me two sheets (e.g., of paper).” Chotto tabemashita. “I ate a small amount.” Futsuka imashita. “I was there for two days.” 57 This is because phrase particles make noun phrases refer to specific items. In the above sentences, the expressions of quantity do not refer to specific items. When you ask for two sheets of paper as in the first example above, you will happily accept any two sheets. Particles are incompatible in such cases. On the other hand, when quantity expressions modify or represent a specific item in the context, phrase particles are in fact used. This is shown below: Sono nimai-no kami-o kudasai. “Please give me those two sheets of paper.” Sono futsuka-wa tanoshikatta-desu. “Those two days were enjoyable.” Likewise, in the following examples, the particle -ni must be used because the noun phrases refer to specific points in time: Sen-kyuuhyaku-gojuu-san-nen-ni umaremashita. “I was born in the year 1953.” Sanji-ni kite-kudasai. “Please come at three.” Reason Three: Expressions Relative to the Present Interestingly, expressions in which the speaker’s point of reference is the present are incompatible with the particle -ni. Examples: ima “now” ototoi “the day before yesterday”; kinoo “yesterday”; kyoo “today”; ashita “tomorrow”; asatte “the day after tomorrow” senshuu “last week”; konshuu “this week”; raishuu “next week” sengetsu “last month”; kongetsu “this month”; raigetsu “next month” ototoshi “the year before last”; kyonen “last year”; 58 kotoshi “this year”; rainen “next year” This situation is the same in English: temporal expressions normally require prepositions such as “at,” “on,” and “in,” unless the present is the point of reference. “Tomorrow” and “yesterday,” for example, are incompatible with “at,” “on,” and “in.” Of course, these expressions do require a particle in order to express additional concepts such as “from X,” “by X,” etc., as in the following. ima-kara ni-jikan “for two hours from now” kyoo-kara asatte-made “from today through the day after tomorrow” Checking your comprehension: What is the difference between the following two sentences? Hawai-ni tooka imashita. Hawai-ni tooka-ni imashita. And which assignment would you like better? Why? Ashita-made-ni hyaku-peeji-o yonde-kudasai. Ashita-made-ni hyaku-peeji yonde-kudasai. 59 For related topics, see also Unit 23. ...