Japanese
Here's a list of features of the Japanese language:
1) Small set of easy-to-pronounce consonants: k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w, g, z, d, b, p
2) Small set of almost totally universal vowels: a, i, u, e, o
3) Extremely simple syllable structure of Consonant-Vowel
* Allows for diphthongs (ai), syllable-initial vowels (ara), geminated consonants (atta), and syllable-final -n (ban).
* Allows for palatalized versions of the consonants: ky, sy (sh), ty (ch), ny, hy, my, ry, gy, zy (j), dy (j), by, and py. None of these are hard to pronounce (except maybe the "ry" but that's learned quickly enough).
* t becomes ch before i, and ts before u.
* s becomes sh before i.
* d becomes j before i, and z before u.
* z becomes j before i.
* there is no wi, wu, or we, nor is there a yi or ye (at least, not in modern Japanese).
4) Word order is Subject-Object-Verb (English word order is Subject-Verb-Object). Japanese verbs ALWAYS go on the end of a clause or sentence (only rhetorical sounds like, "ne" or "yo" etc . . . can follow).
5) Adjectives precede the nouns they modify, just as they do in English.
6) Appositions are postpositional rather than prepositional: English - "in the house"; Japanese - "uchi (house) ni (in)."
7) Japanese does not make any distinction between singular or plural: ringo = an apple, the apple, apples.
cool Japanese uses several postpositions to indicate grammatical function like Latin does, unlike English, which only uses its prepositions to indicate spacial or temporal relationships.
Post positions include:
* wa = topic particle
* ga = subject particle
* no = posessive particle
* ni = to/in/at/on
* e = to/toward
* de = at/with/using (as in hit a ball WITH a bat)
* kara = from
* yori = than/from
* mo = too
* to = and/together/with
* ka = or
there are others.
9) Like English, Japanese makes extensive use of auxillary, or grammatical zed verbs, such as "to be," "to go," "to have," and "to come," as well as many others to perform complex grammatical conjugations:
*English - I am eating an apple.
Japanese - Watashi ga ringo o tabete iru = watash (I) ga (subject-postposition) ringo (apple) o (direct object postposition) tabete (eating) iru (am).
*English - You can't go doing that!
Japanese - Sore o shite wa ikenai! = sore (that) o (direct object postposition) shite (doing) wa (topic postposition) ikenai (cannot go).
10) Japanese, unlike English, aslo has several interesting conjunctions for verbs that allow a wide range of meanings:
* hanasu = to speak
* hanaseru = to be able to speak
* hanasereba = if (someone) speaks
* hanasareru = was spoken
* hanasaseru = makes (someone) speak/ let's (someone) speak
* hanasasareru = (someone) was made or allowed to speak
11) only four verb conjugations for past or non-past. There is no "future" tense - at least not marked in the conjugation, and verbs need not agree with their subjects, as they must in English
* aruku = walks
* aruita = walked
* arukanai = doesn't walk
* arukanakatta = didn't walk
12) There are two kinds of adjectives in Japanese: i-adjectives, and na-adjectives.
i-adjectives act as if there is a built-in "to be" at the end and conjugate much like verbs:
* kawaii = is cute (litereally, kawai-i = cute-is)
* kawaikatta = was cute (kawai-katta = cute-was)
* kawaikunai = isn't cute (literally kawai-ku na-i = cute-ly not-is)
* kawaikunakatta = wasn't cute (kawai-ku na-katta = cute-ly not-was)
Kawaii neko = cute cat
Because of this, i-adjectives do not need a verb "to be" at the end of the sentence to follow them - it's already there.
na-ajectives, on the other hand, are basically nouns (and are used as such as well) that are linked to nouns they describe using "-na":
zankoku na neko = cruel cat
because they're essentially nouns, they do not conjugate, but the na becomes "da" - to be - at the end of the sentence, and "da" then conjugates as it normally does:
* zankoku da = is cruel (cruel is)
* zankoku datta = was cruel (cruel was)
* zankoku ja nai = isn't cruel (cruel not-is)
* zankoku ja nakatta = wasn't cruel (cruel not-was)
13) You can tack entire sentences onto a noun to modify it like a giant adjective - We do this in English too, but we do it using a relative pronoun:
English - The cat, which ate the bird, is now sleeping.
Japanese - tori o tabeta neko wa ima nette iru.
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