Uh... "no" word....

[Crystalbear]

You know sometimes there's a word "no" in Japanese sentences?

Well, I'm new to learning this... and want to start with learning the "no"'s.

I'll explain why I must learn this.

"Oyama no Monkichi" means "Monkichi of the moutain". So sense people read Japanese backwards, I figured that "no" means "of the".

But I once saw a sentence that had the "no", but I think it meant "the".

HELP!!!!

[geishaboy]

"no" の is a possesive particle in Japanese. Therefore it can mean my, mine, our, ours ect, like "boku no hon" ぼくの本 wich means "my book". The particule no is put after the word "boku" ぼくwich means "me" (In male speach) to show that "boku" is the possesive topic of the sentance and that "hon", book, is the one being possesed

The way you have descibed it is a bit off, lets say you work for or go to Toyko University, you could say "toukyou daigaku no hamstarz"　東京大学のハムスターズ.

The word Daigaku means university, and since the possesive particle no is used after it, it indicates that the university is the possesive topic of the sentance,and hamstarz is the one being possesed, so you could translate that as "hamstarz of tokyo university" or even "hamstarz from tokyo university"

Another common use of the particle no is at the END of sentances, it works like the question marker "ka" but is normally only used when speaking in plain form Japanese

何を食べていますか？
Nani wo tabete imasu ka?
What are you eating? (polite)

何を食べているの？
Nani wo tabete irun no?
What are you eating? (plain)

[Crystalbear]

Hmmm. I see, I kinda get it.

[asdfsdf]

Hmmm. I see, I kinda get it.

Just put it this way:

No = Possession of something

Hoshi no hikari = Star's light. Who's light? The star's. How do we know it's the star's light? Because of that big no :O

Of course this can also mean light of the star, but if you think about it, all "Light of the star" is is another way of saying "Star's light"

You see? lol it's the English that makes it confusin :\
Otherwise there's more complicated particles.

Ha's the one I don't really understand that much...

[silver and cold]

*brain snaps in half*

[Pyrokinetic Singer]

*tips head too much and falls of the building*

[Meirein]

"no" is like this "Hikari no..." which literally means "Hikari's..." Do you get it now?

[Ryukon]

Maybe another way to had it easier for you guys would've been "Watakushi/watashi no..." which means "mine", like "Watakushi/watashi no neko", translating to "My cat" or "cat of me".

But people have different ways of explaining. In the end, it's about the same.

[Chrono Paladin]

No in Japanese is いいえ.

いいえ says "iie (E-yeh)".

[asdfsdf]

This isn't about iie, this is about no =\

[Taisho_Sen]

You've just helped me out so much. I was having trouble too, and then found your post. Thanks guys. /