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- "日本語がはなせます。"
"日本語がはなせます。"
Translation:I can speak Japanese.
128 Comments
Particle cheatsheet worth printing out: https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-particles-cheatsheet/
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Japanese sentence structure is subject+object+verb. です means is/am/are. は/が are "postpositions" which are used to denote the role of the previous word/phrase in the sentence. は/が cannot mean is/am/are in any circumstances.
Someone tough me that は was basically "About...". Like, わたしはフランスじんです can be seen as "About me, I'm French." And for the が, it's like a little arrow coming from the verb to say "Hey ! this word is my grammatical subject!". は is the theme of the sentence, while が is the subject of the verb, and some verbs' subjects aren't the one doing them (e.g, "to like" in Japanese is similar to "gustar" in Spanish, the subject of the verb is the liked thing). Hope I helped a little ^^
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@WahahaDrills
が is subject marker and は is topic marker, and は supersedes が if the subject is also a topic. I don't think the course contributors equate these two in the whole Japanese course, but in fact in Japanese there are a lot of times we need to choose whether to use は or が.
I usually give out 2 links for the appropriate usage to は/が. First one for beginners, and second one for advanced.
I was wandering why it wasnt hanashimasu so i did a quick search~
hanaSHImasu = to speak, do speak hanaSEmasu = can speak, to be able to speak
There are 2 phrases that might cause confusion:
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Nihongo o hanaSHImasu ka? Do you speak Japanese?
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Nihongo ga hanaSEmasu ka? Can you speak Japanese?
Oh good god this is gonna be fun.... XD
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There are a LOT of conjugations for verbs in Japanese. I find it weird how Duolingo just threw hanaSEmasu without much explanation. 話せます(hanaSEmasu) is the Potential form of 話します(hanaSHImasu) which is Present Indicative form. It takes a while to learn and is definitely confusing, but eventually you catch on.
Im also beginner but what i know so far. Check Forvo.com, and some words with GA, GE, GI, etc. Some japanese say GA some say NGA. It is more like dialect, depend from region and age. More info : https://gengojeff.com/2013/06/16/japanese-nasal/
Ga in particular is pronounced differently depending on the syllable that precedes it. Sometimes it sounds like ga nga or na. Since I don't really remember the rules, I'll let someone else explain them, you can pick them up through practice, or you can research them (a quick search by me didn't yield good results). It has more to do with the shape of the mouth or placement of the tongue naturally changing the sound slightly, so if you always try to say ga, you should be fine. Also there is a popular dialect that often pronounces it nga, apparently.
I think it's important for people to know ALL Japanese verbs forms to understand clearly each sentence.
All Japanese verbs has 2 basic forms (let's take "hanasu (speak)" as example):
-Informal: Hanasu
-Formal (polite): Hanashimasu
When doing the potential form, we have here even two forms:
-Informal potential: Hanaseru
-Formal potential (polite): Hanasemasu
So it's normal to say "Nihongo ga hanasemasu" in a formal speech.
Anyway I leave here a link explaining the reason why we don't use the particle "o" while using the potential verb form but the particle "ga" or "wa" for those who didn't understand it yet: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/potential.html .
Verbs that take the particle を, can also take the particle が when in their potential form. When you use the particle が it puts more emphasis on the word before the particle. I.E 日本語が話せます= I can speak Japanese (as opposed to Korean). I believe that できる (the potential form of する) takes が almost all of the time
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It adds to the end of a verb in renyou form (in this exercise はなす→はなせ) to express politeness to the listener.
Desu is like the English copula to be. This a pen - kore wa pen desu. Use it whenever you want to say or ask what something is. Masu gets attached to a verb to say that you are doing. Shoukuji (w)o tabemasu - I am eating a/the meal. Shimasu is to do version and can be added to nouns that can be done. Tenisu (w)o shimasu. However desu is never attached to a verb or verbstem tabedesu would wrong.
Para los que hablan español, acá una explicación de un nativo: https://www.espaiwabisabi.com/particulas-wa-y-ga/
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日本語 japanese
が particle representing previous noun is a subject.
話せます(はなせます) polite form of 話せる, which is a potential form of 話す which means to speak.
Potential form means "the state representing the ability of doing an action."
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日 (4 strokes)
day, sun, Japan, counter for days
••Reading•• ▪Kun: ひ(Hi)、 -び (-bi)、 - か(-ka)
▪On: ニチ (Nichi)、 ジツ(jitsu)
▪Japanese names: あ(a)、 あき(aki) 、 いる(iru)、 く(ku)、 くさ(kusa)、 こう(kou)、 す(su)、 たち(tachi)、 に(ni)、 にっ(ni-)、 へ (he)
••Words Starting with 日••
▪日曜《にちよう/Nichiyou》: Sunday
▪日記《にっき/Nikki》: Dairy; journal
▪日常《にちじょう/Nichijou》: Daily; ordinary; routine
••Words Ending with 日••
▪誕生日《たんじょうび/Tanjoubi》:Birthday
▪毎日《まいにち/Mainichi》:Everyday
▪月曜日《げつようび/Getsuyoubi》:Monday
▪火曜日《かようび/Kayoubi》: Tuesday
▪水曜日《すいようび/Suiyoubi》:Wednesday
▪木曜日《もくようび/Mokuyoubi》:Thursday
▪金曜日《きんようび/Kinyoubi》:Friday
▪土曜日《どようび/ Doyoubi》:Saturday
▪日曜日《にちようび/Nichiyoubi》:Sunday
▪今日《きょう/Kyou》:Today
▪明日《あした/Ashita》:Tomorrow
▪昨日《きのう/Kinou》:Yesterday
▪一昨日《おととい/Ototoi》:The day before yesterday
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This is interesting. 日本語で話せる means that you can say something in Japanese, for example a sentence, a message etc. On the other hand, I (can) speak Japanese is in general an ability to communicate.
です is the (polite) copula and roughly translates to "to be". You'll see it in sentences equating something with something else. "A = B"
Kanji・Hiragana・Romaji・Description・English Translation
寿司が好きです・すしがすきです・sushi ga suki desu・Sushi = likeable・"I like sushi"
今日は木曜日です・きょうはもくようびです・kyou wa mokuyoubi desu・Today = Thursday・"Today is Thursday"
今は一時です・いまはいちじです・ima wa ichiji desu・(it now) = 1:00・"It is 1:00 now"
公園は静かです・こうえんはしずかです・kouen wa shizuka desu・Park = Quiet・"The park is quiet"
ます is the polite present/future conjugation verb ending.
Kanji・Hiragana・Romaji・Translation・Dictionary form
食べます・たべます・tabemasu・(I, you, he, she, they) (will) "eat"・informal present/future dictionary form: 食べる taberu
飲みます・のみます・nomimasu・(will) "drink"・from 飲む nomu
します・shimasu・(will) do・する suru
話します・はなします・hanashimasu・(will) speak・話す hanasu
話せます・はなせます・hanasemasu・(will) can speak・話せる hanaseru
*Note that if the plain form doesn't end in iru/eru (such as taberu, becoming tabe + masu, and hanaseru becoming hanasemasu); the last kana changes to its い form before masu is added (nomu becomes nomi + masu, hanasu becomes hanashimasu)
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The -eru or -emasu means "can." Remove the ending u from hanasu and add -eru to form hanaseru/hanasemasu.
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Hi ! What's the difference between はなします and はなせます. Is that maybe "I speak" and "I can speak". I remember I learn the first one, but the second no. Thanks
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はなします is the action of speaking (so I speak, I am going to speak, I will speak)
はなせます refers to the ability of speaking (both I speak and I can speak mean having the ability to speak)
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Do you mean を ? I found a topic about this on internet. https://www.italki.com/question/27751
It seems depending on the verb. With some you'll use を, with others you'll use が. Japanese is tricky lol.
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You have no way to know in Duolingo exercise, but in real life you would probably know it by context.
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May be more appropriate to say it marks the target of hope or preference, but が is the (passive) subject of "be able to speak." See my other reply in this thread.
There is a subject and a topic, in this case the topic is implied to be yourself as in 私【わたし】は and the subject is the language you can speak 日本語【にほんご】が. You are the topic and not the subject because what's important in the sentence is what is being done and not who does it, in this case "being able to speak Japanese" is the information that need to be transferred as "Japanese" being the subject.
You can also use 私は日本語が話せます and declare the topic (I) and the subject (Japanese) and is grammatically correct but a little awkward in Japanese.
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It is often the case to omit the subject and infer it by context. But to explicitly denote the subject, it would be わたしは 日本語が 話せます
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No, because this sentence (including the omitted 私は) has two subjects.
There can be multiple subjects in a sentence. This is the so-called は~が structure in Japanese. It is used to describe traits owned by someone or something.
私は背が高いです I have a trait that my back is high. => I am tall. Both 私 (I) and 背(Back) are subjects (same as the English sentence).
私は英語が話せます。 私 is the larger subject and 英語 is the smaller subject. "I have a trait that English is being able to be spoken"
Would a more literal translation be 'Japanese is spoken'? 日本 means 'Japan' and 語 means language, and combined it means Japanese. が is a subject marker, therefore 日本語 is the subject, not me/私. 話せます or はなせます means to speak. If the sentence was full (including 私) would the sentence be '私は日本語が話せます' (meaning 'As for me, Japanese is spoken')? I know in English it would be more appropriate to say 'I speak Japanese' but if you were trying to give someone a more direct translation, would I be considered correct? Thanks.
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It is a literal translation as I have discussed above but it is too literal to be called as a good translation.(And I don't really think a translation can be classified as "correct" or "incorrect." It should be how good or bad it is, and in terms of scale, not clear cut.)
It is the subject marker putting emphasis on Japanese being the language you can speak.
Wa: "(On the topic of) Japanese - I can speak it"
Ga: "Japanese (is the language) I can speak"
Since the verb is in potential form and intransitive (does not take a direct object) you would not use を here, though in some cases it is becoming more common to. It changes the nuance a bit- putting more emphasis on the active effort put into being able to do something as opposed to a natural ability to do something. I'm not sure Duo accepts this though as it's not standard.
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Please read the tips and notes accessible at the main page before beginning each lesson. They contain important grammar notes auch as the question you asked. が is used to indicate a subject or target of ability. It is replaced by は if he noun is promoted to a topic.
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It is like this https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/30761625/For-Tips-and-Notes-We-Need-Your-Input
I have this tips icon in my android app, although I have not received the Tree 2.0 yet.