Expressing Ownership in Japanese: The の Particle
Updated: Feb 4, 2019
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こんにちは、everyone！Welcome back to Teach Me Japanese.
Today we're going to be talking about a key part of Japanese grammar, the possessive particle の.
Let's get started, shall we?
TODAY'S VOCABULARY
particle
の ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- possessive article; of; ～one
noun
本（ほん）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- book
彼（かれ）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- he/him; boyfriend
車（くるま）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ car
お母さん（おかあさん）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ mother
誕生日（たんじょうび）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ birthday
来週（らいしゅう）---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- next week
水曜日（すいようび）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday
財布（さいふ）-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- wallet
教科書（きょうかしょ）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- textbook
学期（がっき）-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- semester
今学期（こんがっき）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ this semester
アート -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- art
先生（せんせい）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- teacher
州（しゅう）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- state
ボールペン ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ball pen; pen
彼氏（かれし）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- boyfriend
スーパー ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- supermarket
今（いま）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- now
先週（せんしゅう）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ last week
友達（ともだち）----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- friend
人（ひと）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- person
同級生（どうきゅうせい）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- classmate
i-adjective
高い（たかい）---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- tall; high; expensive
にくい ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ difficult to～; hard to～
新しい（あたらしい）-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- new
厳しい（きびしい）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- strict
黒い（くろい）---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- black
欲しい（ほしい）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ want
優しい（やさしい）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- kind; nice; easy
いい --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- good; nice
adverb
とても ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- very
question word
誰（だれ）-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- who
どれ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- which
どんな ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- what kind of
何（なに）-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- what
u-verb
分かる（わかる）------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ to understand
会う（あう）---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- to meet
ru-verb
いる ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- to exist; to be present
1)の As a Possessive Particle
の has a few uses in Japanese, but it's main usage is in marking the possessive. We do this by connecting two nouns with の:
これは私の本です。
--->これはわたしのほんです。
--------->This is my book./This book is mine.
Here we have connected the noun 私, meaning I or me, with the noun 本, meaning book. By doing this we get 私の本=My book. The noun preceding の is the possessor, and the noun following の is the thing in possession. Here's a few more similar examples:
彼の車が高そう。
--->かれのくるまがたかそう。
--------->His car looks expensive.
お母さんの誕生日は来週の水曜日です。
--->おかあさんのたんじょうびはらいしゅうのすいようびです。
--------->My mother's birthday is next Wednesday.
*You might find yourself questioning, "if it's My mother's birthday, then why isn't there another possessive の like this : 私のお母さんの誕生日は～?". And while there's nothing wrong with that grammatically speaking, it is a bit redundant. When you say お母さん, it is assumed that you are speaking about your own mother.*
You can also order the sentence like this, especially when asking questions:
～nounはnounの～
この財布はあなたのですか？
--->このさいふはあなたのですか？
---------> Is this your wallet?/Is this wallet yours?
Something important to note is that with questions like this:
この教科書はだれのですか？
--->このきょうかしょはだれのですか？
--------->Whose textbook is this?
Instead of answering like this:
その教科書は私のです。
--->そのきょうかしょはわたしのです。
--------->That textbook is mine.
It is much more natural to simply answer:
私のです。
--->わたしのです。
--------->It's mine.
2) の Meaning "Of"
Sometimes it may be helpful to think of の as meaning "of":
今学期は日本語の教科書がとてもわかりにくいです。
--->こんがっきはにほんごのきょうかしょがとてもわかりにくいです。
--------->The Japanese textbook this semester is very hard to understand.(textbook of Japanese)
あの新しいアートの先生が厳しそうです。
--->あのあたらしいアートのせんせいがきびしそうです。
--------->That new art teacher seems strict.(Teacher of art)
3)の for Location/Places
We can also use の when we talk about Geographical location:
私はアメリカのコロラド州からきました。
--->わたしはアメリカのコロラドしゅうからきました。
--------->I'm from Colorado, America.
It is important to list large>small, the opposite of English:
日本の大阪府の大阪市
--->にほんのおおさかふのおおさかし
---------> Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
東京のディズニーランド
--->とうきょうのディズニーランド
---------> Tokyo Disneyland
4)の Meaning "～One"
の can also carry the meaning of "one"(not the number) by using the adj.の structure:
Aさん：Bさんのボールペンはどれですか？
Bさん：黒いのです。
--->Aさん：Bさんのボールペンはどれですか？
Bさん：くろいのです。
---------->A-san : B-san, which ball pen is yours?
B-san : The black one.
今スーパーにいるよ。ほしいのは何だったっけ？
--->いまスーパーにいるよ。ほしいのはなんだったけ？
---------->I'm at the supermarket now. What was that one thing you wanted again?(this one doesn't translate quite as cleanly, but the idea is the same)
5)Another usage of の
の can also be used in naming people in conversation:
先週は友達のあいちゃんと会いました。
--->せんしゅうはともだちのあいちゃんとあいました。
-----------> Last week I met with my friend, Ai-chan.
You can also use it to introduce someone you know to someone else：
この人は同級生のヘーリーです。
--->このひとはどうきゅうせいのヘーリーです。
---------->This is my classmate, Hayley.
That about wraps it up for today's lesson. Did you learn anything new? Feel free to leave your comments/questions/suggestions in the comments below and check out our resources tab for more fun ways to learn Japanese.
As always, がんばってね！
Lauren
