Episode 8
The Possessive Particle の
Learn の — the Japanese particle that connects nouns and shows possession, from 'my family' to 'today's homework'.
Last episode you met が for subjects and existence. Now learn の — the particle that connects nouns together and shows possession. It's one of the most common particles in Japanese.
What You'll Learn#
connects nouns / shows possession
Place の between two nouns. The first noun owns or describes the second: 私の名前 (my name), 今日の宿題 (today's homework). Can be chained: 私の学校は駅の近くです。
New vocabulary: 家族 (family), かばん (bag), 重い (heavy), レストラン (restaurant), ハンバーガー (hamburger), おいしい (delicious), 宿題 (homework), 多い (many/much), 学校 (school), 駅 (station), 近く (nearby)
Lesson Transcript#
Review#
Quick review of が from episode 7: 猫がいます (there is a cat), 猫が好きです (I like cats).
Basic Possession: わたしの = "my"#
The particle の connects two nouns. The first noun owns or describes the second. So わたし + の + なまえ = my name.
私の名前はミキです。 — My name is Miki.
This is my family:
More Personal Possession#
Beyond "My" — Any Noun + の + Noun#
の works between any two nouns, not just わたしの:
This restaurant's hamburger is delicious.
このレストランのハンバーガーはおいしいです。
このレストランのハンバーガーはおいしい。
Time Words with の#
の also connects time words to nouns — just like English "today's":
Chaining Multiple の#
You can use の more than once. This sentence has two:
わたしのがっこう = my school, えきのちかく = near the station — two の particles doing different jobs in one sentence.
Summary#
| Pattern | Meaning | Example | |---------|---------|---------| | わたしの + noun | my + noun | 私の家族 (my family) | | noun の noun | noun's noun | レストランのハンバーガー (restaurant's hamburger) | | time の noun | time's noun | 今日の宿題 (today's homework) | | multiple の | chained | 私の学校は駅の近く (my school is near the station) |
Related Grammar#
- は (topic marker) — Marks the topic of a sentence
- が (subject marker) — Marks the subject
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