An introduction to Japanese - Syntax, Grammar & Language

268 CHAPTER 5. COUNTERS AND COUNTING

mon-wed-fri

tue-thu-sat

Note that contractions occur when pairing with , because of
the in the pronunciation for.

5.3.2 Basic arithmetics

One of the most useful things you can do with numbers is turn them into
other numbers, by applying such wonderful operations as addition, sub-
traction, division and multiplication. These four operations sum up the
basic mathematical operations one can perform on numbers, and covers
what most people consider enough when it comes to doing math. While,
of course, explaining all mathematical operations is well beyond the scope
of this introduction on Japanese syntax and grammar, we will also look at
powers and root, in addition to the four basic arithmetic operations.

Addition

Addition is the root of anything math. The idea of addition is a childishly
simple one: you have something, you get more, you have more. The math-
ematical part of this concept is to determine how much more you have,
and for this we need three things: numbers, something that states addition,
and something that marks an outcome. Luckily (though not unexpectedly)
Japanese has all three of these. Numbers we have already seen plenty of,
the outcome marker is simply , and the verb that we use for addition

is
.

”One plus four is five.”

In this use, acts remarkably western in that even though

is used in
, and should thus be aĴributive, does not say ”a
one-added four”, but merely says ”one plus four” (this is also the case for
the verb used for subtraction).