Chapter 6

Language paĴerns

So far we’ve covered verbal grammar, particles, and counters, as well as a
handful of related ”handy words” that fill in some of the gaps. However,
that still leaves quite a number of constructions that you should be familiar
with if you want to use Japanese to any useful degree, and so the remainder
of the useful Japanese covered in this book will be treated in this chapter.

In this chapter, we’ll look at how to draw comparisons between
things, making choices, indicating possibilities, talking about trying things
and having things done, how to nominalise statements so that we can talk
about them objectively (not an unimportant trick!) and the exceedingly im-
portant rules for the core of true Japanese social language paĴerns: giving,
receiving, humble and honorifics.

6.1 Comparisons, preferences and choice

Comparing and choosing are two very related subjects. Making a choice is
essentially the same as making a subjective comparison, where one thing is
more favourable than the other. This concept is quite obvious in Japanese,
where we encounter two types of choices: the binary choice, and the open
choice.

6.1.1 Binary choices

Thebinarychoice is simply a choice between two things. One’s preference
can swing one way or the other, or one can indicate that either choice is
fine, or both are to be rejected. This binary choice concept in Japanese uses

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