As we learn to speak and understand any language, we also learn to distinguish between the “parts of speech” that make up that language.
For example, we use different “kinds” of words to serve different purposes in language.
You have learned these “parts of speech” or “kinds” of words in English (or another first/native language) but you may not have thought about how they apply in Japanese.
The MAIN parts speech in Japanese are much like those in English speech, including the following:
Nouns: めいし（名詞）People, Places and Things
Verbs: どうし（動詞）Actions, Occurrences, and States of Being
Adjectives: けいようし（形容詞）Modify, Describe, or Name an Attribute of Nouns
Adverbs: ふくし（副詞）Modify or Express a Relation between Verbs, Adjectives or Word Groups
Particles: In Japanese, there is also a whole group of “connectors” and word “markers” and “conjunctions” we generally lump together and call “Particles” in English. Some of these “particles” have parallel meanings in English, but some don’t. There are a WIDE variety of these used for MANY different purposes!
Grammar Introduction
This section provides information and examples on the following topics:
Identification Words (Demonstratives)
This/That/That Over There/Which これ、それ、あれ、どれ
This/That/That Over There/Which (with a Noun) この、その、あの、どの
Here/There/Over There/Where ここ、そこ、あそこ、どこ
This/That/That over There/Which (One) どちら、そちら、あちら、どちら
Question Words
Who? だれ（誰）・どなた
What? なに・なん（何）
Which? どれ・どの・どちら・どんな
When? いつ・なんじ（何時）
Where? どこ
Why? どうして・なぜ（何故）
NEW Particle Usages:
も＝Inclusive Particle
は＝Emphatic, Negative Predicate, Contrastive Particle
で＝Totalizer Particle
REVIEW and NEW Transition Particles:
そして＝And…
それから＝And then…
それとも＝Or…
が・しかし・けど・けれど＝But…
でも＝However…
から・ので＝Because…
から・あと（後）＝After…
まえ（前）＝Before…