Classification of words

Question 1

Name and meaning of: 単語

Answer 1

NAME: word MEANING: a generic, broad name for all Japanese words

Question 2

Name and meaning of: 付属詞 (extra credit, not key word)

Answer 2

NAME: attaching words MEANING: words that prefix or suffix to other words and cannot stand alone in a sentence

Question 3

Name and meaning of: 自立語 (extra credit, not key word)

Answer 3

NAME: independent words MEANING: words that can stand on their own

Question 4

Name and meaning of: 活用する

Answer 4

NAME: to inflect, to conjugate MEANING: a verb that indicates that a word has various inflections (conjugations)

Question 5

Name and meaning of: 用言

Answer 5

NAME: inflecting words, conjugating words MEANING: a broad classification of words for all inflecting words: na-nouns, adjectives, and verbs *The 用 is from 活用する

Question 6

Name and meaning of: 体言

Answer 6

NAME: substantives, nouns MEANING: a broad classification that means a word names something (people, places, things, ideas, etc.) *The 体 means “body”

Question 7

Name and function of: 助詞

Answer 7

NAME: particle (joshi), “helping word” FUNCTION: non-inflecting, attaching words (although they aren’t prefixes or suffixes, they are tightly bound to a word or phrase and meaning nothing without that word or phrase. They have a variety of functions: indicate the grammatical role of a word, relate words/phrases, provide emphasis, and so on.

Question 8

Name and function of: 助動詞

Answer 8

NAME: auxiliary word (jodoushi), predicate suffix FUNCTION: inflecting words that suffix to other inflecting words (adjectives, adverbs, but mostly verbs or other auxiliary verbs) and bring a wide and rich range of nuances and other meanings to words

Question 9

Name of: 形容動詞

Answer 9

NAME: I prefer just to use keiyoudoushi for this class but you will hear me say “na-nouns” sometimes — this word has a number of English equivalents, depending on the grammar book used

Question 10

Name of: 形容詞

Answer 10

NAME: adjective

Question 11

Name of: 動詞

Answer 11

NAME: verb

Question 12

Name and function of: 感動詞

Answer 12

NAME: exclamations, exclamatory particles FUNCTION: they bring emphasis to a word, phrase, or sentence but what “emphasis” means is sometimes counter-intuitive. We will learn a different way to think about this word group but it is true that this is a very common dictionary term

Question 13

Name and function of: 副詞

Answer 13

NAME: adverbs, adverbial particles FUNCTION: modifies a 用言 *While these words are classified as particles they don’t look like the usual one- or two-syllable particles you are used to. They look like normal words or phrases.

Question 14

連体詞 (extra credit, not key word)

Answer 14

Name: Literally “a word that attaches to a noun,” I don’t want to give this a name because we don’t have this type of word in English. If I ever use the word, it will be “rentaishi.” It is a short phrase that modifies a noun and usually cannot itself be modified: あの〜、我が〜、いわゆる〜 and so on. If you are interested, see the Japanese Wiki for 連体詞. The full description of the various types is there.

Question 15

Meaning of: 名詞

Answer 15

MEANING: Refers to the name of an object, person, place, concept, or such.

Question 16

Name and function of: 接続詞

Answer 16

NAME: conjunctions or conjunctive particles (“conjunction” means a brining together) FUNCTION: relates words or phrases in a sentence

Question 17

What are nouns?

Answer 17

When we say 名詞 or noun we might be referring to the name of an object, person, place, concept, or such.

Question 18

What are adjectives?

Answer 18

Adjectives, for us, are words that modify 用言

Question 19

What are adverbs?

Answer 19

Adverbs, for us, are words that modify 用言

Question 20

What are verbs?

Answer 20

Verbs are words that indicate action or states

Question 21

What is a predicate?

Answer 21

In English “the part of a sentence or clause containing a verb and stating something about the subject” In Japanese this would be “the part of a sentence or clause containing a 用言 and stating something about the subject.” In Japanese the subject-predicate pair is 主語述語（しゅごじゅつご）. I sometimes say “shugo” for subject and “jutsugo” for predicate. I sometimes erroneous say “What is the subject-verb” pair when I should say “What is the subject-predicate pair?” Just a bad habit of mine.

Question 22

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 用言

Answer 22

SUBJECT/AGENT: No PREDICATE: yes

Question 23

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 体言

Answer 23

SUBJECT/AGENT: Yes PREDICATE: No

Question 24

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 助詞

Answer 24

SUBJECT/AGENT: No PREDICATE: No

Question 25

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 助動詞

Answer 25

SUBJECT/AGENT: No PREDICATE: No, but it can suffix to a word that is a predicate so, in that sense, it is tightly involved with the predicate.

Question 26

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 形容動詞

Answer 26

SUBJECT/AGENT: No PREDICATE: yes

Question 27

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 形容詞

Answer 27

SUBJECT/AGENT: No PREDICATE: yes

Question 28

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 動詞

Answer 28

SUBJECT/AGENT: It needs to be nominalized. In modern Japanese it would use の or 事 or such to do this. 食べるのは遅い. In premodern it will use the 連体形 or 連用形 to achieve the same grammatical status. PREDICATE: yes

Question 29

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 感動詞

Answer 29

SUBJECT/AGENT: No way PREDICATE: Definitely not.

Question 30

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 接続詞

Answer 30

SUBJECT/AGENT: No way PREDICATE: Definitely not.

Question 31

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 副詞

Answer 31

SUBJECT/AGENT: No way PREDICATE: Definitely not.

Question 32

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 付属詞 (extra credit, not key word)

Answer 32

SUBJECT/AGENT: No way PREDICATE: In the case of inflecting attaching words, they suffix to a word that is a predicate so, in that sense, they are tightly involved with a predicate.

Question 33

Can this word be a subject or predicate: 自立語 (extra credit, not key word)

Answer 33

SUBJECT/AGENT: Some can. PREDICATE: Some can.

Question 34

Japanese word for: a generic, broad name for all Japanese words

Answer 34

単語（たんご）

Question 35

EC—Japanese word for: attaching words (words that prefix or suffix to other words and cannot stand alone in a sentence)

Answer 35

付属詞 (ふぞくし)

Question 36

EC—Japanese word for: independent words (words that can stand on their own)

Answer 36

自立語 (じりつご)

Question 37

Japanese for: to inflect, to conjugate

Answer 37

活用する（かつようする）

Question 38

Japanese for: inflecting words

Answer 38

用言（ようげん）

Question 39

Japanese for: substantives, nouns

Answer 39

体言（たいげん）

Question 40

Japanese for: particle

Answer 40

助詞（じょし）

Question 41

Japanese for: auxiliary word, predicate suffix

Answer 41

助動詞（じょどうし）

Question 42

Japanese for “na-nouns” (this word has a number of English equivalents, depending on the grammar book used)

Answer 42

形容動詞（けいようどうし）

Question 43

Japanese for: adjective

Answer 43

形容詞（けいようし）

Question 44

Japanese for: verb

Answer 44

動詞（どうし）

Question 45

Japanese for those words that refer to the name of an object, person, place, concept, or such.

Answer 45

名詞（めいし）

Question 46

English word for (EC—also Japanese word for): In English “the part of a sentence or clause containing a verb and stating something about the subject” In Japanese this would be “the part of a sentence or clause containing a 用言 and stating something about the subject.”

Answer 46

Predicate 述語（じゅつご）