Hello.I'm Ito from the English Communication Department.I teach Japanese to international students.
When I talk with international students, I often find out about Japanese (language) from their simple questions.And it can also be an opportunity to reconsider foreign languages (English, for example).
Today I will introduce such an example.
International students have “??” in sentences like the following.
XNUMX) A girl with blue eyes.
XNUMX) A boy with a straight personality.
XNUMX) A woman with an attractive voice.
XNUMX) A boy with clear eyes.
The first ``~~shita'' that international students follow is a sentence like the one below, which expresses the past.
XNUMX) He ate rice.
XNUMX) She watched TV.
Why does "had" mean "has"?
However, there are many things like this in English.
You all learn that ~~ed means <past>, right?
What about this expression?
XNUMX) a blue-eyed girl
XNUMX) He is right-handed.
XNUMX) a bad tempered man
10) a red roofed house
The meaning of "past" is completely different.
And if you look closely,
Like ``a girl with blue eyes'', ``a man with a bad personality'', and ``a house with a red roof (is it a bit strange?)'', these can be rephrased as ``~~shita'' in Japanese. There are many.
So, it seems that ``~ed'' and ``~shita'' can also express the meaning of ``past'', and can also express the meaning of ``characteristics and characteristics''.
In this way, there may be commonalities between completely different languages.Thinking about this is one of the interesting things about language.
Of course, without going that far
It will be a good opportunity to learn English expressions like XNUMX) to XNUMX).
For those of you who are learning English, it would be interesting not only to memorize expressions, but also to think about common points with Japanese.
So Ito, Professor, Department of English Communication, Faculty of International Communication
