Grammar

[james1254]

彼は電車でロンドンに行きました
heres a sentence that shows all 3

De can be use for By means of/ and at a certain place
I go by train/I play at the park

[DragonShade]

Whats the diff between
図書館へ
図書館にいく

[MMM]

In that situation they are interchangable.

[TalnSG]

In constructing a sentence does an adjective go before or after the noun it modifies?

English examples:
Brass candlestick or candlestick (of) brass
Silver spoon or spoon (made of ) silver

[KitsuneFr]

I would think that adjectives are before the nouns/names:

variable: shiro neko, aka hige (it seems that the -i termination is put away, but I can't confirm all the cases)
unvariable: shizuka-na heya, baka-na hito

warning: that depends if in french "epithète" or "attribute" ->

"épithète" : sono baka-na neko - sono shiro neko
attribute: sono neko wa baka desu - sono neko wa shiroi (or shiro-kunai) desu

in case of "épithète" (sorry, I don't know the good word in english ), it is like in english as it seems. But I didn't practice since two years ago!

[TalnSG]

Originally Posted by KitsuneFr

I would think that adjectives are before the nouns/names:
warning: that depends if in french "epithète" or "attribute" ->
"épithète" : sono baka-na neko - sono shiro neko
attribute: sono neko wa baka desu - sono neko wa shiroi (or shiro-kunai) desu
in case of "épithète" (sorry, I don't know the good word in english ), it is like in english as it seems. But I didn't practice since two years ago!

Merci! It was because of this variation that I was unsure. In English the adjective usually precedes, but in French and Spanish it frequently follows the noun. But your explanation of the variance clarified it for me.

so a silver candlestick would be gin shokudai or ginshokudai?

[Nagoyankee]

Originally Posted by TalnSG

so a silver candlestick would be gin shokudai or ginshokudai?

"Gin" is a noun in Japanese. For the color adjective it becomes "gin no" if something is made of silver. It is "giniro no" when something is not made of silver but is silver-colored.

[KitsuneFr]

Thank you Nagoyankee, as my japanese is a basic one, I could see that the name "iro" (color) is attached to the color (as yellow - ki-iro). I believe with all the little pieces of knowledge we can bring each other, we could help each others.

In a way, I'm not here since very long, but I have to admit that here there are:

- kind people
- kind people with knowledge (in tongue, or other subjects) and who are wanting to share it
- kind people who want to learn this knowledge

So I hope all would stay OK like that, I would help in any subject if I could, don't hesitate to ask me

So about silver, it would be (as I don't know candlelight in japanese, but I know there are silver foxes): koko wa gin iro no kitsune desu yo!

[Nagoyankee]

Originally Posted by KitsuneFr

So about silver, it would be (as I don't know candlelight in japanese, but I know there are silver foxes): koko wa gin iro no kitsune desu yo!

Good try, KitsuneFr! For "silver fox", however, we have the word "Gingitsune". Yes, the K in Kitsune gets voiced to G here.

[KitsuneFr]

Yes, it seems to me that is the same kanji, kin (gold) or gin (silver). This kanji would mean a kind of metal as I believe, and it is the first part of friday (kinyôbi).

Don't worry if I make mistakes, I've so much to learn. But thanks very much to show me my mistakes, it is very kind, and I believe if I see my mistakes once, I've less chances to reproduce them after.

(And I remarked that in composed words, the second word beginning by k-, t-, s-, h-, etc... is often alterated by the tenten ("). So the Kitsune is alterated too, as you say.)

Thanks then