One of the most important grammar in the Japanese language ③ : Conjunctive Particle

Today’s topic is about “Conjunctive Particle,” one of the most important grammars and you may see it very often.

This is a series of the topic “Postpositional Particle” and I recommend you to check the previous blogs before you read this.

nagara(ながら), ba(ば), to(と), temo(ても), ga(が), keredo(けれど), けれども(けれども), noni(のに), monono(ものの), tokorode(ところで), node(ので), kara(から), shi(し), tari(たり), and te(て) are in this group.

As the name “conjunctive” shows, it connects words and words to make a sentence.

EN : If it rains, the picnic will be canceled.

JP : 雨が降れば、ピクニックは中止です。 (amega fureba, pikunikkuwa chushi desu.)

Bold parts are case particles. We learned “ga(が)” in the previous blog and it gives “雨(ame, rain)” the nominative case.

Here, “ば(ba)” is a conjunctive particle. It connects the 2 phrases and means like “if.”

“は(wa)” is an Adverbial particle and we’re going to learn in the next blog.

Here is the another example.

EN : I(We) don’t give up even if I(we) fail.

JP : 失敗しても諦めない。(shippai shitemo akirame nai.)

Japanese Language can often omit the subject, so we can guess the subject will be “I” or “we” but it’s not clear.
Here, “ても(temo)” is a conjunctive particle and means like “even if” in English.

As it shows, conjunctive particle can be used in a paradoxical way.

Here is the last example.

EN : We have a meeting from now, will you join us?

JP : これから会議がありますが、参加しますか？(korekara kaigiga arigasuga sanka simasuka?)

EN : It rained yesterday but it’s sunny today.

JP : 昨日は雪が降ったが、今日は晴れだ。(kinouwa yukiga huttaga, kyouwa, hareda.)

You can see 3 が(ga), and none of them are the same.

The first が(ga) is a case particle that we learned in the previous blog and it gives “会議(kaigi, meeting)” the nominative case.

The second が(ga) is a conjunctive particle and it just connects 2 sentences.

The third が(ga) is a case particle that we learned in the previous blog and it gives “雪(yuki, snow)” the nominative case.

The fourth が(ga) is a conjunctive particle and it’s used in a paradoxical way. It compares two sentences.

A difference between case particle and conjunctive particle is the word before the particle.

If it’s a case particle, it needs a noun to give a case. If it’s a conjunctive particle, as the word conjunctive shows, it needs two sentences to connect.

I hope you enjoyed learning postpositional particle.

In the next blog, I’m going to introduce Adverbial Particle, a type of postpositional particle.