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As for the 私/わたし thing, I'll wait 'til I've seen a more credible source that says you shouldn't before I stop using the kanji, 'cause the wiktionary entry for 私 says:

Well, Wikipedia may be unreliable at times, but Jim Breen's says the same thing.

Also, here is a topic I posted about this. It only has a few replies, but I think keat's post clears it up well.

Just a few more comments from me...



Why not? We're all imperfect, have different thinking patterns, learn things differently, etc. If we can make mistakes, she can, too, ne?



All kinds of people, but yes, I'd say mostly female. However, I hardly know anyone who uses あたし.

Also, I've heard that the Japanese don't officially celebrate Halloween, but, as Hermonie said, they celebrate Obon. However, some places hold Halloween themed events, like Tokyo Disneyland.

I'd be interested 3nodding I'm still a beginner (studying for over a year and half, so not a total noob, but definately nowhere near fluent!), and anything you'd be willing to share would be awesome.

Well, looks like there are a few at least that want to keep going.




In english, we say "there is, there are". In Japanese though, you literally say, "___ exists". There are two verbs used for "to exist", いる and ある. いる is used with animate or living things, and ある for inanimate things. The thing that is existing is always marked with が, except for times when it is being emphasized for some reason and は is used.

いる is a compeltely regular る verb.

いる
いない
いた
いなかった

います
いません
いました
いませんでした

いて～


ある is a bit irregular though.

あります
ありました
ありません
ありませんでした

Those are all normal, but in the plain form, note a few irregularities for the negative.

Present affirmative - ある
*Present negative - ない
Past affirmative - あった
*Past negative - なかった

Examples

猫がいる。 - neko ga iru - There is a cat.
車があります。 - Kuruma ga arimasu. - There is a car.
人がいなかった。 - Hito ga inakatta - There were no people.
コンピュータがない。 - Konpyuuta ga nai. - There is not a computer.
犬がいません。 - Inu ga imasen - There is not a dog.
刀がない。 - Katana ga nai. - There is no sword.

Having

To show possesion, you use the old "___は ___がいる/ある". Put は after whatever is doing the having, and が after whatever is being had. You still need to use the right verb. With this construction, you are literally saying "As for ___, ___ exists."

僕は、猫がいます。 - Boku wa, neko ga imasu. - I have a cat.
彼は犬がいない。 - Kare wa inu ga inai. - He dosen't have a dog.
あの人はお金がない。 - Ano hito wa okane ga nai. - That person dosen't have money.
猫は魚はいました。- Neko wa sakana ga imashita. - The cat had a fish.


To say something is somewhere, use "＿＿は、＿＿(の＿＿)にいる、ある/だ" or "＿＿(の＿＿)に＿＿がいる,ある/だ" The first way is more specific to the thing followed by は, so usually there is an implied "the" in that sentence. In the second type, it is a more general statement, more like "some ___s are in the ___" as opposed to "The ___ is in the ___"

To say something is somewhere more specific, instead of just in the library, to say it is behind, on top of, or on fron of the library, you say ”＿＿は、＿＿の＿＿にいる,ある/だ” or ”＿＿の＿＿に＿＿がいる,ある/だ".

There is not equivalent to "of" in japanese, so you say thing is in the ___'s whatever. The cat is in the librarys front, the dog is in that cat's under.

Here are some place words:

前 - mae - front
後ろ - ushiro - behind
右 - migi - right
左 - hidari - left
上 - ue - top, above
下 - shita(sh'ta) - below, beneath
外 - soto - outside
そば - soba - around, near, by
近く - chikaku - close, near
まわり - mawari - around
向こう - mukou - other side of
横 - yoko - side
隣 - tonari - next to
中 - naka - inside
Some of these might sound like adjectives, but they are really all nouns.

Ex:

図書館の上 - toshokan no ue - above, on top of the library
うちの近く - uchi no chikaku - near the house
猫の後ろ - neko no ushiro - behind the house
学校の前 - gakkou no mae - in front of the school
病院のまわり - byouin no mawari - around the hospital

Now to put aaall of that stuff together.

猫は図書館にいます。 - Neko wa toshokan ni imasu - The cat is in the library.
うちの中に、人がいない。 - Uchi no naka ni, hito ga inai. - There are no people in the house.
学生は学校の後ろにいる。 - Gakusei(gak'sei) wa gakkou no ushiro ni iru. - The student is behind the school.
病院に、動物がいなかった。 - Byouin ni, doubutsu ga inakatta. - There were no animals in the hospital.
あの人のポケットにお金がない。 - Ano hito no poketto no, okane ga nai - There is no money in that persons pocket.
魚は、テーブルの上にいました。 - Sakana wa, teeburu no ue ni imashita - THe fish was on top of the table.

Notice in these examples, to say where the thing is, you can just say that the thing "is" the place where it is.

あの人は図書館お前です。 - Ano hito wa toshokan no mae desu. - That person is infromt of the library.
母はうちの中だ。 - Haha wa uchi no naka da. - Mother is inside the house.
魚は、テーブルの上だった。Sakana wa, teeburu no ue datta. - The fish was ontop of the table.
レストランはパブの近くじゃありません。 - Resutoran wa pabu no chikaku jaarimasen. - The pub is not close to the restaraunt.



Some other stuff

When you put いる after a verb in the て form, it makke it mean "___ing" It conjugates normally.

食べている - tabete iru - eating
食べていない - tabete inai - not eating
食べていた - tabete ita - was eating
食べていなかった - tabete inakatta - wasn't eating
食べています - tabete imasu - eating
食べていません - tabete imasen - not eating
食べていました - tabete imashita - was eating
食べていませんでした - tabete imasendeshita - wasn't eating

There are cases when with certain verbs it means "has__'d" instead of "~ing", but I won't go over those now.

Could you guys take the halloween argument somewhere else?