Learn Japanese effortlessly! You know by now that some of a language's most important words have only a few letters. In English, a few examples are "no," "or," and "yes." Japanese is no different. If you want to speak clearly and concisely, there are a few words, with just a few letters each, that you must know. In this Newbie Japanese article, you'll master yo, ne, and no. Each of these simple Japanese words can completely change the way you sound. For example, you can use yo to express strong conviction, ne to provoke a tag question, and no to show possession. As you can imagine, it's impossible to speak Japanese correctly and clearly without these three critical particles. Find all the sample sentences and helpful charts you need right here!

Vocabulary: In this article, you'll learn the following words and phrases:

iyaringu - "earrings"

anata - "you"

anata no - "your, yours"

watashi no - "my, mine"

totemo - "very..." (adverb)

kirei (na) - "beautiful" (-na adjective)

Tifanii - "Tiffany's" (jewelry brand)

oshare (na) - "stylish, smartly dressed" (-na adjective)

taipu - "one's type"

hito - "person, people"

otoshimasu - "to drop, to lose" (masu form)

Grammar: In this article, you'll learn the following words and phrases:

Useful Vocabulary

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

totemo - "very"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Totemo is an adverb of degree which corresponds to "very."

Let's also look at some other adverbs of degree.

High degree ["small" = chiisai ]

Sugoku / Sugoku chiisai

Totemo / Totemo chiisai

Honootni / Hontooni chiisai

Middle degree

Maamaa / Maamaa chiisai

Low degree

Sukoshi / Sukoshi chiisai

Chotto / Chotto chisai

Grammar Point

In this article, we are going to review three things.

Particles: yo, ne, and no
Formal past form of a verb
Usage of adjectives

Particles: yo, ne and no

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

yo

ne

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yo is a sentence-ending particle that the speaker uses to express a strong conviction about something or to emphatically declare something.

Ne is a sentence-ending particle that acts as a tag question used to provoke a response from the listening party, usually confirmation of or agreement with the speaker's statement, regarding a topic of mutual knowledge.

Please compare the following sentences.

Kore wa oishii desu. "This is tasty."
Yo: Kore wa oishii desu yo. "This is tasty, I'm telling you."
Ne: Kore wa oishii desu ne. "This is tasty, isn't it?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

no

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We use the particle no between two nouns, indicating that the first noun possesses the second noun or the first noun is modifying the second. Please review the usages of the particle no that we've learned so far.

Possession:

Kore wa watashi no kuruma desu.

Attribution:

Kore wa Toyota no kuruma desu.

Location:

Kuruma wa eki no mae ni arimasu.

Formal Past Form of a Verb

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

otoshimashita

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To create the formal past form of a verb, replace the final -masu with -mashita. See the examples below.

"English" / -masu Form / Formal Past Form

"to go" / ikimasu / ikimashita

"to eat" / tabemasu / tabemashita

"to do" / shimasu / shimashita

Usage of Adjectives

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kirei desu ne.

Kirei na iyaringu desu ne.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please review the pronominal and predicate uses of the adjectives in the following chart.

i-adjective: atarashii ("new")

Pronominal use (adjective before noun): atarashii kuruma "new car"
Predicate use: Kono kuruma wa atarashii desu. "This car is new."

na-adjective: shizuka (quiet")

Pronominal use (adjective before noun): shizuka na kuruma. "quiet car"
Predicate use: Kono kuruma wa shizuka desu. "This car is quiet."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Practice 1

Please change the following sentences to the past tense.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Watashi wa byooin ni ikimasu. (byooin means, "hospital")
Watashi wa soba o tabemasu. (soba means, "buckwheat noodle")
Watashi wa kutsu o kaimasu. (kutsu means, "shoes")

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Practice 2

Please rewrite the following sentences as shown in the example.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Example:

Kono iyaringu wa takai desu.
Rewrite: Kore wa takai iyaringu desu.

Kono iyaringu wa kirei desu. Kore wa...______________________________________________________
Kono soba wa oishii desu. ______________________________________________________________
Kono kutsu wa ookii desu. ______________________________________________________________
Kono tesuto wa kantan desu. (tesuto means, "test") ______________________________________________________________

To instantly access complete 10-15 minute audio lessons (a native Japanese teacher and additional hosts explain the lesson dialogue, vocabulary, phrases, and grammar explanation in detail) and PDF lesson notes (detailed explanation of dialogue, vocabulary, phrases and grammar), and to interact with other Japanese language learners, visit the link below: http://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php?p=1367&src=ezine

JapanesePod101.com is the Fastest, Easiest and Most Fun Way to Learn Japanese!

Start Speaking in Japanese in Minutes! If you're going on a trip, studying for school, or learning to talk with friends, colleagues, or that special someone, then these audio lessons are the perfect solution for you. Fun, convenient, and above all--they work. Your friends and colleagues will be utterly shocked at not only your amazing new language skills, but also the cultural insight, current events, pop culture, history, and many more things you'll learn from each lesson.

With just 15 minutes a day, these audio lessons will arm you with the tools to become fluent fast. Find out why students in 120 countries and territories with over 30 million downloads choose JapanesePod101.com by listening today. http://www.japanesepod101.com