japanese particles niwa and dewa

[danfernold7261]

ここは今ごごじゅういちじごじゅっぷんです。こんばんわ

私がまちがっていたら、私を修正してください、but regarding the particles "niwa" and "dewa" Are they used, in one way, while explaining about traditions, surroundings, etc. in a close vicinity (i.e. town) ("niwa") or in another area (i.e. country) ("dewa")

The thought popped up in my mind, partially because of some of your lessons.

Until your reply ありがとうございます。 あなたはとてもいいですよ

Dan Fernold

[mmmason8967]

Strictly speaking, I don't think "niwa" and "dewa" are particles. They are "ni" and "de" followed by "wa", which is the topic-marking particle. So the difference between "niwa" and "dewa" is the same as the difference between "ni" and "de".

I think the main difference between ni and de when they're used with a location is that ni marks where something is and de marks where something happens. Unlikely example follows:-

にわには犬がいます。
In the garden there is a dog.

にわでは犬が猫を食べています。
In the garden there's a dog eating a cat.

Until your reply ありがとうございます。

On to the nit-picking! You can't use ありがとうございます to mean "thanks in advance". The literal meaning of ありがとう is something very roughly like "you did a great job". It just doesn't work until after the great job has been done.

On the plus side, this is a good place to try out よろしく. It's a difficult word to pin down (i.e. I don't really understand it) but some of its meanings include "I'm relying on you", "I trust in your support" and even "thanks in advance".

マイケル

[danfernold7261]

Ok, so which one you use, depends on the rest of the sentence? (i.e. if something happens, it´s "dewa", and if somthing exists in a place (in general), it´s niwa.)

Until your reply.

Keep up the good work:)

yoroshiku. (correct?)

Dan Fernold

[community.japanese]

Dan-san, マイケルsan,
those are splendid examples, マイケルsan! Thank you!

Basic idear are...
ni (wa): existance, place to go/come
de (wa): place of actions => used with verbs of "action".

Hope this helps

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

Let's see. Let me try, here's two examples.

日本にはひとがたくさんいます
日本では人がらめんやおすしをたべています

Did I get it right?

Dan Fernold

[japanese.innovative]

Dan san,
You almost got it right!

１：日本には人がたくさんいます。 is correct, but if you want to sound more natural, you can say 日本にはたくさんの人がいます。

２：日本では人がらめんやおすしをたべています。makes sense! But since not all Japanese people eat them, you might want to say 日本ではたくさんの人がラーメンやおすしをたべています。 instead!

Nanatsu 菜々津
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

Oh, Ok. Arigatou gozaimasu

Hope I haven´t offended anyone by not including "a lot of"

If I did, Hontouni sumimasen.

Dan Fernold

[community.japanese]

Dan-san,
Oh, no worries; that's not rude or offending in any way

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com