Quote:
Originally Posted by Synchestra
Sorry to be a pain, but since I'm inquiring about linguistics rather than the Japanese language (I don't speak Japanese at all), I really need to know the meanings of each particle and how the sentence is structured  |
The sentence can be broken up into 3 clauses.
(男の子は)(自分で釣った)(魚を焼いた)。
男の子 otokonoko - Boy
は wa - Topic marker particle modifying "Boy", i.e. Boy is now the topic of the sentence. This idea of a topic marker does not exist in English.
自分 jibun - Oneself
で de - Particle indicating means, modifying "Oneself". Translates literally to "Through the use of oneself", interpreted as "by oneself/by himself".
釣った Tsutta - Vt verb, past tense meaning "fished"
魚 sakana - Fish
を wo - Particle indicating object of a trasitive verb, in this case, it is modifying "fish"
焼いた yaita - Vt verb, past tense meaning "cooked"
- Japanese particles modifies whatever PRECEDES the particle
- Clauses can be modified by other clauses by simply stringing 2 clauses together
- Word order in Japanese does not matter as long as the clause ends in a verb (and the right particle is assigned to the right word)
- The idea of a "phrase" does not exist in Japanese as all a Japanese sentence require is at least one word. If the subject/object/verb can be understood from context, it is omitted but the sentence stays grammatical.
男の子は - As for the boy
自分で釣った - Fished by oneself (modifying the next clause)
魚を焼いた。- Cooked fish
In English, "The boy cooked fish which he caught (himself)."