Nouns (名詞)

Nouns are words that refer to people, things, and concepts. A noun can serve as the subject or the direct object in a sentence. Japanese nouns can be followed by particles or the copula です desu (to be). It is important to note that, unlike in English, Japanese nouns do not change forms depending on whether they are plural or singular.

Proper nouns (固有名詞)

A proper noun names a specific item, such as a particular person, a specific institution, or a specific place. For example:

Family names, such as 田中 Tanaka (Tanaka), 森 Mori (Mori), and スミス Sumisu (Smith)
Male given names, such as 武 Takeshi (Takeshi) and ジョージ Jōji (George)
Female given names, such as 桜 Sakura (Sakura) and メアリーMearī (Mary)
Country names, such as 日本 Nihon/Nippon (Japan), アメリカ Amerika (the United States), and 中国 Chūgoku (China)
City names, such as 東京 Tōkyō (Tokyo), トロント Toronto (Toronto), and ソウル Sōru (Seoul)
Mountains, such as 富士山 Fujisan (Mt. Fuji)
Corporations, such as ヤマハ Yamaha (Yamaha)

Respectful titles (敬意を表した称号)

When addressing or referring to someone, you add a respectful title after their name. The most neutral respectful title is さん san, which can be used after either a family name or a given name, regardless of the person’s gender or marital status. For example:

田中さん Tanaka-san (Mr./Ms./Mrs. Tanaka)
陽子さん Yōko-san (Yoko)
田中陽子さん Tanaka Yōko-san (Ms./Mrs. Yoko Tanaka)
アレックスさん Alex-san (Alex)
スミスさん Sumisu-san (Mr./Ms./Mrs. Smith)

For young girls or boys, ちゃん chan can be used after the given name to show affection, but 君 kun is more commonly used for boys. 様 sama is used in extremely polite contexts, but is typically used for addressing a business customer or client. Suppose a person has a particular position or function. In that case, his or her professional title, such as 部長 buchō (division manager), 社長 shachō (company president), or 先生 sensei (professor, teacher, medical doctor, etc.), should be used after the family name instead of さん san. For example:

山田社長 Yamada shachō (President Yamada)
スミス先生 Sumisu sensei (Professor Smith)

Do not use a respectful title or a professional title when addressing yourself. When you introduce yourself, simply say your name, without the respectful title. Adults usually say their family name, as in:

山田と申します。 Yamada to mōshimasu. (I’m Yamada.)
山田です。 Yamada desu. (I’m Yamada.)

Common Nouns (普通名詞)

Unlike a proper noun that names a specific item, a common noun refers to a class of items, such as 学生 gakusei (student/students), 犬 inu (dog/dogs), 机 tsukue (desk/desks), 町 machi (town/towns), 川 kawa (river/rivers), and 大学 daigaku (university/universities). However, if you want to refer to a specific item without using a proper name, you can add a demonstrative adjective to a common noun. Different demonstrative adjectives are used, depending on where the item is in relation to the speaker and the listener’s location. If the item is located near the speaker but not near the listener, use この kono. If it is near the listener but not near the speaker, use その sono. If it is far from either of them, use あの ano. If it is not clear which item, you can ask about it using どの dono (which). You can place one of these demonstrative adjectives before any common noun. For example:

あの鞄 ano kaban (that bag over there)
この猫 kono neko (this cat)
その自転車 sono jitensha (that bicycle near you)
どの傘 dono kasa (which umbrella)

Compound Nouns (複合名詞)

Some nouns were made by combining two or more nouns. They are called compound nouns. The following are some examples. Note that the consonant at the beginning of the second word of a compound is voiced in some cases:

手紙 te-gami (handwritten letter) ¬ 手 te (hand) + 紙 kami (paper)
鉄道 tetsudō (railway) ¬ 鉄 tetsu (iron) + 道 dō (road)
新聞紙 shinbunshi (newspaper) ¬ 新聞 shinbun (news) + 紙 kami (paper)
火山 kazan (volcano) ¬ 火 hi (fire) + 山 yama (mountain)

The stems of some verbs can serve as nouns and are used to create many compound nouns. The following nouns contain a verb in the stem form and a noun:

読み物 yomi-mono (reading material) ¬ 読む yomu (to read) + 物 mono (thing)
歩き方 aruki-kata (way of walking, walking style) ¬ 歩く aruku (to walk) + 方 kata (way/method)
見本 mi-hon (sample, example) ¬ 見る miru (to see) + 本 hon (book/sample)

The following nouns are made of two verbs in the stem form:

話し合い hanashi-ai (discussion, talking together) ¬ 話す hanasu (to speak) + 合う au (to meet, to do together)
作り話 tsukuri-bana (made-up story, fabrication) ¬ 作る tsukuru (to make) + 話す hanasu (to speak)

The following nouns contain a na adjective in the stem form:

犬好き inu-zuki (dog lover) ¬ 犬 inu (dog) + 好きな suki na (liking)
虫嫌い mushi-girai (those who dislike insects) ¬ 虫 mushi (insect) + 嫌い kirai (dislike/hate)

Demonstrative Pronouns ( 指示代名詞)

To refer to items that the speaker and the listener can see, use a demonstrative pronoun. The following table lists demonstrative adjectives and frequently used demonstrative pronouns:

When referring to people you and your addressee can see, use a demonstrative adjective directly followed by a common noun like 人 hito (person) or 学生 gakusei (student). For example:

あの学生 ano gakusei (that student)
この人 kono hito (this person)

Alternatively, you can use the demonstrative pronouns こちら kochira, そちら sochira, orあちら achira in relatively formal contexts. If you use これ kore, それ sore, or あれ are to refer to a person, you will sound very rude. These words and phrases can be placed before a topic particle, は wa, or the copular verb です desu. For example:

こちらは田中さんです。Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu. This is Mr./Ms. Tanaka.
そちらは山田さんですか Sochira wa Yamada-san desu ka? Is that Mr./Ms. Yamada (over there)?
あちらが先生です。Achira ga sensei desu. That person over there is the teacher.

Personal Pronouns ( 人称代名詞)

To refer to people in terms of first, second, and third person, use personal pronouns. Although English personal pronouns change form depending on the grammatical case (for example, he and him), Japanese personal pronouns do not because grammatical case is expressed by particles such as が ga andを o. The following table lists frequently used personal pronouns in Japanese:

Note that personal pronouns are usually omitted when understood in the context in Japanese. In fact, you should avoid the use of あなた anata (you) either by dropping it or by replacing it with the name of the person.

Dropped pronouns, lack of articles, and number specification ( 代名詞の省略、冠詞の欠如、および数字の指定)

The Japanese often omit words in a sentence if they are understood to be clear. So they rarely use pronouns such as it, I, you, and he. Articles like a, an, and the are absent, and the singular/plural distinction is not usually clarified. For example, the following sentence means Did you brush your teeth?, but no pronoun corresponds to you or your, and there is no indication whether it means tooth or teeth:

歯を磨きましたか。Ha o migakimashita ka.

The particle の no

In Japanese, you can modify a noun by placing another noun before it. However, you need to add the particle の no at the end of the added noun to indicate that it is a modifier. For example, 学生 gakusei means a student, and 文学の学生 bungaku no gakusei means a student of literature. See how a noun can be modified in the following examples:

私の車 watashi no kuruma (my car)
日本の音楽 nihon no ongaku (Japanese music)
英語の学生 eigo no gakusei (student of English)
子供の服 kodomo no fuku (children’s clothes)
部屋の中 heya no naka (inside the room)
フランスのワイン Furancu no wain (French wine)
大学の学生 daigaku no gakusei (a university student)

You can add multiple such modifiers, as in this example:

ミラーさんはデリ大学の先生です Mirā-san wa Deri daigaku no sensei desu (Miller is a teacher at Delhi University.)

Omitting nouns after の no

You can omit the noun after the particle の no if it is the last noun in the noun phrase and it is understood in context. So, instead of saying わたしのざっしです Watashi no zasshi desu, you can say 私のです Watashi no desu. Similarly, instead of saying 私の友達のカメラですWatashi no tomodachi no kamera desu, you can say 私の友達のです Watashi no tomodachi no desu.

Kinship Terms (親族関係の用語)

There are two sets of kinship terms in Japanese: plain forms and polite forms. Plain forms are shorter and used when referring to one’s own family members in front of a third person. Polite forms, which are longer, are used when referring to someone else’s family members. For example, 母 haha is used to refer to one’s own mother, and お母さん okāsan is used to refer to someone else’s mother. The following table shows some of the essential Japanese kinship terms:

Unless you need to emphasize or clarify, you don’t need to say 私の watashi no (my) before a kinship term in the plain form because it is obvious.