Page 107 - Easy Japanese - Learn to Speak Japanese Quickly! (TUTTLE)

shio 塩 salt
koshō こしょう pepper
satō 砂糖 sugar

GRAMMAR NOTE Double Subject Structures

A Japanese sentence can have more than one subject phrase. This is called a
double-subject sentence. Consider the following sentences.

Watashi wa [ohashi wa daijōbu I’m fine with chopsticks.
desu.]

Furansu wa [kēki ga oisi’i desu.] France has good cake.
Satō-san wa [Eigo mo jōzu desu.] Ms. Sato is good at English,
too.

In each of these sentences, the bracketed portion describes an attribute or some

fact about the main subject outside of the bracket. Both of the subject nouns
(inside and outside of the brackets) can take the particles ga, wa, mo, or no
particle at all, with a shift in meaning (ga = new information, wa = contrast, mo
= addition, or no particle = neutral).
Special note should be taken of nouns such as suki “like”, and kirai “dislike”,
and a group of verbs such as wakarimasu “understand” and dekimasu “can do”,

which indicate a state rather than an action in Japanese. Therefore, particle o
(object-marker) is impossible with these predicates.
Honda-san wa Eigo ga Ms. Honda can speak English.
dekimasu.

Kodomo wa yasai wa kirai Children do not like vegetables.
desu. (They may like other things.)

PATTERN PRACTICE 7
Cue: Tabemasu yo. I’m going to eat.

Response: Nani o tabemasu What are you going to eat?
ka.

Cue: Suki desu. I like it.
Response: Nani ga suki desu What do you like?
ka.