Japanese has three types of demonstrative pronouns (これ,それ and あれ) while English has only two ("this" and "that").

これ: this one [near me]
それ: that one [near you]
あれ: that one [over there]
(どれ: which one?)

The following illustrates the typical use どれ.

A: あれは なんですか。("What is that [over there]?")
B: どれですか。 ("Which one [do you mean]?")
A: あれです。 ("That one [over there].")
B: ああ、あれは とけいです。 ("Oh, that's a clock.")

それ can be used to refer to something just mentioned in the previous part of the conversation..

A: わたしのせんこうは コンピュータこうがくです。
B: それは Computer Engineeringですか。

Sentence particles appear at the end of a sentence and creates additional "speech force." The question particle か is one of them. The function of the sentence particle よ as in けしゴムですよ is to assert the fact that it's an eraser (not a hamburger!). It can be pronounced short (よ) or long (よお).　Ｉｔ can be spoken in falling intonation () or spoken in slightly rising intonation () to soften the assertion. よ is often used when one tries to disagree or to deliver information emphatically. Avoid using this particle when talking to your superior. Note also that そうですか can be used to express "acceptance" with a falling pitch or to express "disagreement" with a rising pitch .

A:	なんですか。	Asking	What is it?
B:	こたつですよ。	Asserting	It's kotatsu! (heated table)
	こたつですよ。	Softly asserting
A:	そうですか。	Accepting	I see.
	そうですか。	Expressing disagreement or doubt	Really?

We learned that nouns can be modified by another noun with particle の as in [N の N] in Lesson 3. This structure is used to refer to one's affiliation (e.g., [company] の [name]). It can also be used to associate two objects loosely as shown in the second example below. In this case, Noun1 states the kind of Noun2 as in にほんごの せんせい ("Japanese-language teacher ").

N の N

Noun1	の	Noun2	Copula
ジョージアテック	の	きくち	です。	I'm Kikuchi of Georgia Tech.
ハンバーガー	の	けしゴム	です。	(It's) a hamburger-like eraser.

The structure [N の N] can be the topic of a sentence.

N の N

Topic				Comment
Noun1	の	Noun2	は	Noun	Copula
にほんご	の	ほん	は	どれ	ですか。	Which one is the Japanese-language book?

Compare the sentence above with the following.

N の N

Topic		Comment
X	は	Noun1	の	Noun2	Copula
あれ	は	にほんご	の	ほん	です。	That is a Japanese-language book.

The suffix ご ("language") attached to a country name changes the country name into the language name. For the English language, we use えいご.

にほんご	Japanese language	ドイツご	German language
えいご	English language	フランスご	French language
ちゅうごくご	Chinese language	イタリアご	Italian language
かんこくご	Korean language	スペインご	Spain language
ロシアご	Russian language	アラビアご	Arabic language

The phrase used to ask "What is X called in Japanese?" is Ｘは にほんごで なんて いいますか. The question word なんて can be なんと in a formal conversation.

N の N

X	は	Language	で	なんて なんと	いいますか。
これ	は	にほんご	で	なんと	いいますか。	What is this called in Japanese?
Desk	は	にほんご	で	なんて	いいますか。	What is "desk" called in Japanese?
				「つくえ」と	いいます。	It's called "tsukue".
				「つくえ」って	いいます。	It's called "tsukue".

There are two types of adjectives in Japanese: い-adjectives and な-adjectives. We introduce い-adjectives first. い-adjectives (おもしろい, いい, etc.) can be used to modify nouns.

い-Adj	Ｎ
おもしろい	テーブル	interesting table
ふるい	たてもの	old building

The following are contrasting pairs of い-adjectives. The adjectives in blue cells are な-adjectives and they will be introduced later.

おおきい	large	ちいさい	small
やさしい	easy	むずかしい	difficult
おもしろい	interesting	つまらない	boring
あたらしい	new	ふるい	old
やさしい	kind, gentle	きびしい	strict
たかい	expensive	やすい	cheap
たかい	tall	[ひくい]	low
ひろい	spacious	[せまい]	cramped, narrow
ながい	long	[みじかい]	short
あかるい	bright	[くらい]	dark
あかるい	cheerful	[くらい]	gloomy
おいしい	tasty	[まずい]	bad tasting
いい	good [よくない: not good]	See below.
いそがしい	busy	See below.
かわいい	cute

い-adjectives can be embedded in noun sentences as shown below.

		Ｘは	い-Adj	Ｎ	copula
Q:		りょうは	ふるい	たてもの	ですか。	Is the dormitory an old building?
A:	ええ、		ふるい	たてもの	です。	Yes, it's an old building.
A:	ええ、		そう		です。	Yes, that's right.
A:	いいえ、		ふるい	たてもの	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	No, it's not an old building.
A:	いいえ、		そう		じゃありません。 じゃないです。	No, that's not correct.

The function of the sentence particles ね and ねえ with a falling intonation as in おもしろい テーブルですねえ （"It's an interesting table! (Don't you agree?)"） is to seek agreement from the listener about something. ねえ is more emphatic than ね. A typical response is to agree with it by saying そうですねえ (as B does below). Compare the following:

A:	おもしろいですねえ。	"It's interesting, isn't it?"	Seeking agreement
B:	そうですねえ。	"Yes, it is!"	Expressing agreement
C:	そうですか。	"Really?"	Expressing disagreement or doubt

A short ね with a rising intonation is used to confirm something. A rising pitch is often written with a question mark.

A:	たなかさんの へやですね？	"It's Ms. Tanaka's room, right?"	Seeking confirmation
B:	ええ、そうですよ。　or	"Yes, it is."	Asserting
A:	そうですか。	”I see."	Accepting

な-adjectives can also modify a noun (e.g., "a pretty room") like い-adjectives. な-adjectives require な before the noun as shown below.

な-Adj	な	Ｎ
きれい	な	へや	pretty/beautiful room
きれい	な	みず	clean water
りっぱ	な	せんせい	fine teacher
すてき	な	いえ	nice house
ゆうめい	な	ひと	famous person
らく	な	いす	comfortable chair
げんき	な	こども	healthy/energetic child

The following are contrasing pairs. Some (marked by ) are い-adjectives from the previous grammar notes above.

Contrasting Pairs
しずかな	quiet	にぎやかな	cheerfulｌｙ noisy
べんりな	convenient	ふべんな	inconvenient
いい	good	だめな	no good
いそがしい	busy	ひまな	not busy

な-Adjectives can be embedded in noun sentences as shown below.

Adjectives can also be used in adjectival sentences (e.g., Sentences that end with な-Adj + です) as shown below. The negative forms of な-adjective sentences are the same as those used in noun sentences. な-adjective sentences behave more like a noun sentences in this sense.

			な-Adj	copula
Q:		あれは	ゆうめい	ですか。	Is that famous?
A:	ええ、		ゆうめい	です。	Yes, that's famous.
A:	いいえ、		ゆうめい	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	No, it's not famous.

If な-adjectives conjugate like nouns, why don't we say な-adjectives are "な-nouns" instead? One way we can tell something is a noun is the fact that it can be replaced with a pronoun そう like this: それは ペンですか　→　ええ、そうです. We cannot do this with な-adjectives. This is what makes な-adjectives different from nouns.

Ungrammatical (marked by ):
A: カフェテリアは しずかですか。 ("Is the cafeteria quiet?")
B: ええ、そうです or いいえ、そうじゃありません.
(Instead, you need to say: ええ、しずかです or いいえ、しずかじゃありません.)

Another proof that な-adjectives are not nouns. The adverb like とても ("very"; See below) can be used with な-adjectives. This cannot be done with nouns.

それは とても べんりです。 ("That is very convenient.")
(Ungrammatical: それは とても ほんです。)

Another proof that な-adjectives are not nouns. The particle の is needed for combining a noun with another noun while な is needed for combining な-adjective with a noun.

にほん　の　ひと: a Japanese person
きれい　な　ひと: a pretty person

Adjectives can be modified by とても ("very") and あまり ("[not] very"). とても is followed by an affirmative expression and あまり is followed by a negative expression. Note that あまり itself does not contain the negative meaning and it must be followed by a negative expression to becdome a complete expression. (あまり can also be あんまり which is a casual form of あまり.)

	な-Adjective	Affirmative
とても	きれい	です。	It's very beautiful/pretty/clean.
とても	きれいな	へやです。	It's a very beautiful room.
	な-Adjective	Negative
あまり	きれい	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	It's not very beautiful/pretty/clean.
あまり	きれいな	へやじゃありません。 へやじゃないです。	It's not a very beautiful room.

Adjectival sentences can be used to answer どんな Ｎですか questions ("What kind of X something is").

	Ｘは	どんな	Ｎ	copula
Q:	たなかさんの だいがくは	どんな	だいがく	ですか。	What kind of university is Ms. Tanaka's university?
A:	（それは）	りっぱな	だいがく	です。	It's a fine university.
		ふるい	だいがく	です。	It's an old university.

い-adjectives can also be used in adjectival sentences as shown below. The negative forms of い-adjective sentences are formed by changing the last い sound to く and adding either ありません or ないです as shown below (See animation:).　Note that these negative forms (～くありません or ～くないです) are NOT labeled as the copula (です).

			い-Adj		Tense	Polite
Q:		これは	あたらし		い	ですか。	Is this new?
A:	ええ、		あたらし		い	です。	Yes, that's new.
			い-Adj	Neg	Tense	Polite
A:	いいえ、		あたらしく	な	い	です。	No, it's not new.
				ありません。

Note that the negative of いいです is よく ありません／よく ないです, (not いくありません／いくないです).

い-adjectives can also be modified by とても ("very") and あまり ("[not] very") just like な-adjectives.

Affirmative	い-Adj	とても	おもしろい		です。	It's very interesting.
	Noun	とても	おもしろい	ほん	です。	It's a very interesting book.
Negative	い-Adj	あまり	おもしろく		ありません。 ないです。	It's not very interesting.
	Noun	あまり	おもしろい	ほん	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	It's not a very interesting book.