Omitting Words


English and most European languages have a special type of word called a pronoun. What makes a pronoun so special? They allow us to continually talk about a topic without having to repeat the actual noun over and over again. English has 6 personal pronouns:
I         we
you    
he        they
she
This next paragraph is designed to demonstrate the importance of pronouns to our language. Compare the two versions of the paragraph.

"Cloquet and Brisseau had met years before under dramatic circumstances. Brisseau had gotten drunk at the Deux Magots one night and staggerred toward the river. Thinking he was already home in his apartment, he removed his clothes, but instead of getting into bed, he got into the Seine. When he tried to pull the blankets over himself and got a handful of water, he began screaming."

This next paragraph has had all of its pronouns removed.

"Cloquet and Brisseau had met years before under dramatic circumstances. Brisseau had gotten drunk at the Deux Magots one night and staggerred toward the river. Thinking Brisseau was already home in Brisseau's apartment, Brisseau removed Brisseau's clothes, but instead of getting into bed, Brisseau got into the Seine. When Brisseau tried to pull the blankets over Brisseau's self and got a handful of water, Brisseau began screaming." Sounds weird, doesn't it? But it makes perfect sense. The thing is that in the first paragraph, after Brisseau is established as the topic, he is refered to by pronouns from there on.

However, Japanese doesn't have real pronouns. Instead, when a word is understood (in English when it is replaced by a pronoun) the Japanese remove the word from the sentence entirely. Here's a thrid rendition of the same paragraph modeled after the Japanese rule.

"Cloquet and Brisseau had met years before under dramatic circumstances. Brisseau had gotten drunk at the Deux Magots one night and staggerred toward the river. Thinking was already home in apartment, removed clothes, but instead of getting into bed, got into the Seine. When tried to pull the blankets over self and got a handful of water, began screaming."

Sounds even weirder this time, doesn't it? But it is still understandable. This is exactly the angle Japanese uses. By the way, I took this excerpt from a book entitled "What the Textbooks Don't Tell You" by Jay Rubin. Check it out in my books section.

Also you may have noticed that I have not yet done this in my example sentences. For the sake of keeping your brains from exploding, I have purposely avoided it, but expect to see it used from now on. Here are some examples.

Vocab

ごはん (gohan) = rice
も (mo) = also, too (postposition)
きのもとさんは　りんごを　たべます。ごはんも　たべます。
The first sentence should be really easy except for the exclusive use of kana. きのもと (Kinomoto) is a name. You should have been led on by the さん (-san) after it. Let's assume it means "Mr." here. りんごを (ringo o) means "apples" and たべます (tabemasu) is the polite form of たべる (taberu).

The next sentence is a bit trickier. ごはんも (gohan mo) is the object and it means "rice too" (も [mo] overrides を [o] in this case). And たべます (tabemasu) is the verb which means "eats" again. However, notice there's no subject for the first sentence. Where did it go? We were talking about "Mr. Kinomoto" in the first sentence, and so he is assumed to be the subject of the next sentence unless someone else is stated there. So these two sentences mean together
Mr Kinomoto eats apples. He also eats rice.

Now, consider this next sentence.

がっこうへ　いく。
This sentence might seem terribly confusing at first. But you have to understand this is only because you expect to be spoon-fed certian information about the subject. Whenever you have a pronoun, it tells you if the subject is A) you B) your listener or C) a third person or thing. It also tells you if the subject is A) singular or B) plural. However, in Japanese, you don't get this distinction. So there are a few different translations to this sentence. You just have to pick the one that makes the most sense.
I am going to go to school.
We are going to go to school.
She is going to go to school.
He is going to go to school.
They are going to go to school.

Often, I will translate a sentence like this as so.

(I) am going to go to school.

I do this to save space. Also, "I" is the most common choice among these. However, the others are still possible and the parenthesis let you know it can change depending on context. The key here to understanding what others are trying to say is context.

There's also one thing I want you to try to do. With my example sentences, I often begin my sentences with わたしは (watashi wa). Try to get out of the habit of begining all of your sentences with わたしは。 Treat わたし like any other person. After establishing yourself as the topic, just stop including it in later sentences unless your sentence would be unclear without it.

Also, some will argue that because of this lack of pronouns that Japanese is a "vague" language. Well consider this. When you say りんごを　たべる (ringo o taberu) in Japanese, it can mean either "I ate an apple" "we ate apples" "he ater some apples" "she ate an apple" et cetera. But in English, if you say "he ate an apple," there's still no way you know who "he" is. Sure, you may respond by saying "yes we do, it's the person you're talking about," but the same exact rule goes for Japanese. "Ringo o taberu." Who is the subject of this sentence? It's the person we've been talking about.

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