Learn how to recognize an implied subject in Japanese
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Intro |
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| Michael: Is it common to omit the subject in Japanese sentences? |
| Risa: And why? |
| Michael: At JapanesePod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Shin Ishikawa is in front of a ramen shop with her friend, Sasha Lee. Shin points at a menu displayed at the entrance to the shop and says, |
| "This ramen is cheap." |
| Shin Ishikawa: このラーメンは安いですよ。 (Kono rāmen wa yasui desu yo.) |
| Dialogue |
| Shin Ishikawa: このラーメンは安いですよ。 (Kono rāmen wa yasui desu yo.) |
| Sasha Lee: わぁ、本当に安いですね。 (Wā, hontō ni yasui desu ne.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Shin Ishikawa: このラーメンは安いですよ。(Kono rāmen wa yasui desu yo.) |
| Michael: "This ramen is cheap." |
| Sasha Lee: わぁ、本当に安いですね。 (Wā, hontō ni yasui desu ne.) |
| Michael: "Wow, [it] is really cheap." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, we will talk about dropping the subject in a Japanese sentence. Have you noticed how Sasha Lee also didn't say |
| Risa: このラーメンは (kono rāmen wa) |
| Michael: "this ramen." Instead, she just dropped the subject and said |
| Risa: わぁ、本当に安いですね。 (Wā, hontō ni yasui desu ne.) |
| Micheal: Literally, "Wow, really cheap is," but more naturally translated as "Wow, [it] is really cheap." Note how we need to add the subject in our translation as it can't be omitted in English. In Japanese, however, it is perfectly fine to omit the subject when it can be inferred from the context. In the dialogue, both Shin and Sasha know that they are talking about "this ramen," so it is okay for Sasha to omit that part from her response. While it would still be grammatically correct for her to repeat |
| Risa: このラーメン (kono rāmen), |
| Michael: or "this ramen," it wouldn't be very natural. Here, it is clear what Sasha Lee is commenting on as they were talking about "this ramen," but there are also other situations where it's perfectly clear what the subject of the conversation is. For example, if I say something like |
| Risa: 朝、6時に起きます。(Asa, roku-ji ni okimasu.) |
| Micheal: which literally means "Morning, at six wake up," then it's clear that I'm talking about myself. If I was talking about anyone else, I would, most likely, say something like |
| Risa: リーさんは 、朝6時に起きます。(Rī-san wa, asa roku-ji ni okimasu.) |
| Micheal: which means "Mr. Lee wakes up at 6 in the morning." In other words, whenever a person makes a statement with no subject, and it's clear from the context that he or she is not talking about someone else, then they are, most likely, talking about themselves. There is no need to explicitly add |
| Risa: 私は (watashi wa). |
| Micheal: In fact, watashi wa is quite often omitted unless the speaker wants to strongly stress that they are talking about themselves. Languages that exhibit this feature are called pro-drop languages, an abbreviation for pronoun-dropping languages. For most pro-drop languages, dropping the subject is possible because it can be inferred from the inflected verb form. For instance, in Polish, different forms of the same verb will be used with the pronoun "I" and with the pronoun "she." Japanese, however, is a special case, as the subject can't be easily inferred from the verb form. The same form of the verb |
| Risa: 起きます (okimasu), |
| Micheal: or "wake up," will be used with "I," "she," and all other personal pronouns. Thus, in the case of Japanese, the listener usually infers the subject from the context — who is saying what to whom and what was already said. However, even in Japanese, there are cases where we can infer the subject from the verb form, or rather from the verb that is being used. Whenever a speaker uses |
| Risa: あげる (ageru), くれる (kureru), もらう (morau), or いただく (itadaku), |
| Michael: it's usually clear whom the speaker is referring to. These verbs are often used as auxiliary verbs to show the direction of an action. For example, |
| Risa: あげる (ageru) |
| Michael: means "to give," when the speaker (or sometimes someone in the speaker's inner circle) is the giver. So in the sentence |
| Risa: 買ってあげます。 (Katte agemasu.) |
| Micheal: it's clear that the speaker will be the buyer and that he or she will buy something for the listener (or someone in the listener's inner circle). It's unnecessary to add watashi wa to such a sentence. Similarly, |
| Risa: もらう (morau) |
| Michael: means "to receive," when the speaker is the receiver. So in the sentence |
| Risa: ごはんを作ってもらいました。(Gohan o tsukutte moraimashita.) |
| Micheal: it's clear that someone else made a meal for the speaker. |
| Micheal: We've now seen that, in Japanese, the subject of a sentence can be easily omitted when one can infer it from the context or an auxiliary verb. When it's clear that you're talking about yourself, you don't have to use watashi wa, but many learners still opt for using it at the beginning of a statement — to gain some time for building the rest of their sentence. Remember that grammatically it's perfectly correct to always include the subject — it just may sound a little bit unnatural. |
| Review |
| Michael: Let's review the sample conversation: Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud, and then listen carefully as Risa models the correct answer. Repeat after her, with the focus on your pronunciation. Are you ready? |
| How do you say, "This ramen is cheap." |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Shin Ishikawa: このラーメンは安いですよ。 (Kono rāmen wa yasui desu yo.) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again and repeat. Remember to focus on your pronunciation. |
| Risa as Shin Ishikawa: このラーメンは安いですよ。 (Kono rāmen wa yasui desu yo.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Shin Ishikawa: このラーメンは安いですよ。 (Kono rāmen wa yasui desu yo.) |
| Michael: Let's move on to the second sentence. How do you say, "Wow, [it] is really cheap." |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Sasha Lee: わぁ、本当に安いですね。 (Wā, hontō ni yasui desu ne.) |
| Michael: Did you get it right this time? Listen again and repeat. |
| Risa as Sasha Lee: わぁ、本当に安いですね。 (Wā, hontō ni yasui desu ne.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Sasha Lee: わぁ、本当に安いですね。 (Wā, hontō ni yasui desu ne.) |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: While we now know when to omit the subject of a Japanese sentence, it may also be interesting to know that when including the subject in Japanese, many people will use names rather than pronouns such as "I," |
| Risa: わたし (watashi), |
| Michael: or "you," |
| Risa: あなた (anata). |
| Michael: Some Japanese people will even use names when referring to themselves if they want to appear cute. For example, a child may say |
| Risa: マリカはパパが好き。(Marika wa papa ga suki.) |
| Micheal: which literally means "Marika loves daddy." If the person saying that is Marika herself, however, it would be translated as "I love daddy." Here, Marika wouldn't add desu because, as a child, she would likely use informal, simplified language. Similarly, when referring to someone else, it's more common to use that person's name rather than the pronoun "you." For example, a neighbor may ask Marika whether she wants ice cream by saying |
| Risa: マリカちゃん、アイス食べる？ (Marika-chan, aisu taberu?) |
| Micheal: This literally means "Marika, ice-cream eat?" but since the neighbor is talking directly to Marika, this can be translated as "Will you eat ice-cream?" or, in this case, as "Do you want ice cream?" |
Outro |
| Michael: That's all for this lesson. Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Risa: またね！ (Mata-ne!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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