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

Posted: Jan 31, 2006 9:00pm
by 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!!!!

re: Uh... "no" word....

Posted: Jan 31, 2006 11:06pm
by 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)

re: Uh... "no" word....

Posted: Feb 01, 2006 6:19pm
by Crystalbear
Hmmm. I see, I kinda get it.

Re: re: Uh... "no" word....

Posted: Feb 03, 2006 11:15pm
by asdfsdf
hamstarz wrote: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...

re: Uh... "no" word....

Posted: Feb 10, 2006 9:23am
by silver and cold
*brain snaps in half*

re: Uh... "no" word....

Posted: Feb 10, 2006 3:57pm
by Pyrokinetic Singer
*tips head too much and falls of the building*

Re: Uh... "no" word....

Posted: Apr 06, 2006 10:28pm
by Meirein
"no" is like this "Hikari no..." which literally means "Hikari's..." Do you get it now?

Re: Uh... "no" word....

Posted: Apr 07, 2006 3:38am
by 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". :lol:

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

Re: Uh... "no" word....

Posted: May 06, 2006 8:43pm
by Chrono Paladin
No in Japanese is いいえ.

いいえ says "iie (E-yeh)".

Re: Uh... "no" word....

Posted: May 06, 2006 11:10pm
by asdfsdf
This isn't about iie, this is about no =\

Re: Uh... "no" word....

Posted: May 12, 2006 6:14am
by Taisho_Sen
You've just helped me out so much. I was having trouble too, and then found your post. Thanks guys. :D/