Family in Japanese and saying whose something is

Level A2

Family in Japanese and saying whose something is

A friend shows you a family photo, and there's a book on the desk: whose mother is that, and whose book? In this lesson you answer with の, a tiny word that puts the owner first and never changes. You also find out why Tanaka calls the same woman 母 and his visitor calls her お母さん.

Recap: people, objects and home

Three sentences you already know: は marks who or what you're talking about, です or a verb closes the sentence, and さん follows another person's name. They bring back words you'll need today: 友達 (tomodachi, friend), 本 (hon, book) and 家 (ie, home). Look at the first one: マリアさんは友達です doesn't say whose friend Maria is, and the situation is enough. Now you'll learn to say whose something is when it matters.

New words: の and the family

の (no) links two nouns. 家族 (kazoku) is family, and 友達 you've seen already; it's sometimes written 友だち. 母 (haha) is mother and 父 (chichi) is father. Each of them has a second word, お母さん (okāsan) and お父さん (otōsan), which you'll hear in the model. For now, the family stops at these words: brothers, sisters and grandparents can wait. 学校 (gakkō) is school.

Model: a family photo

Listen once without reading. Tanaka shows Ana a photo, and then she spots a book on his desk. Follow the same woman: Tanaka calls her 母, Ana calls her お母さん. Ana also says 田中さん where English says “your”: in Japanese it's normal to use the name of the person you're talking to. And Tanaka says 学校の先生 (a schoolteacher), not just 先生: on its own, 先生 sounds like a title of respect, and he's talking about his own mother.

Saying whose: A の B

The owner comes first, then の, then the thing: 私の家 is “my home”, 友達の本 is “my friend's book”, アナさんの本 is “Ana's book”. So の works like English 's, and it's the reverse of “the book of my friend”. It works for people too: 田中さんのお母さん is “Tanaka's mother”, a relationship, not ownership. さん stays right after the name, before の. To ask, add か at the end: これは田中さんの家ですか.

私／友達／アナさんの家／本です

の stays the same

English picks his or her by the owner; in this lesson you just say the person's name with の, as in マリアさんの本 and 田中さんの本, man or woman. The thing owned changes nothing either: 私の家 and 私の本 use the same 私の. Plural doesn't show: 私の本 can be “my book” or “my books”, as in これは私の本です and 私の本はここにあります, and the situation decides. In the same way, 友達 doesn't say man or woman, and it doesn't say “my”: the translations here add it because that's the usual reading.

母 or お母さん: whose family is it?

When you speak politely about your own family to someone outside it, say 母 and 父: 母は家で働きます. When you speak about someone else's family, say お母さん and お父さん: 田中さんのお母さんは家で働きます. The end of the sentence is the same; 母 already shows she's your mother, and お母さん that she's someone else's. That's why 母 alone already means “my mother”, so 私の is usually left out, although 私の母 isn't wrong, and why お母さんは先生ですか, said to Tanaka, means “is your mother a teacher?”.

At home it's different: お母さん, as in お母さん！, is what you call your own mother, and children and close friends often use it to talk about their own mother too. The whole family works the same way: for someone else's you'll hear ご家族 (gokazoku), the polite word, which is why this lesson only says 私の家族.

A の B inside a sentence

A の B works as one noun. Whatever came after 家 or 本 stays in place, now after the whole group: 家で食べます becomes 友達の家で食べます. で marks where an action happens, に marks where a thing is, with あります, or where a person or animal is, with います, and は still marks the topic. 本はここにあります combines two sentences you know, 本はここです and ここに本があります: when you're already talking about the book, it comes first with は and the place follows; to introduce something new, keep ここに本があります. With no owner, 家 is understood as the home of whoever does the action: yours in 家で働きます, your mother's in 母は家で働きます. Name the owner when it's someone else's or when it matters.

AのBで／に／は

Your turn, and a summary

Picture a photo of your family on your desk, next to a friend's book. Cover the lines below and say, in this order, that this is your family, what your father does and whose book it is; then ask a classmate whether their mother is a teacher. Only then check. If the job or the owner is different, even better. In short: owner + の + thing, always the same の; 母 and 父 for your own family when you talk to outsiders, お母さん and お父さん for someone else's.

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