14. Adverbs and the も Particle

Index

• 「アリスはとび上がって、ウサギの後を追った」.
• とび上がる = verb joined to い-stem of another.
• とぶ (jump/fly) + 上がる (rise up) = jump up.
• とび上がる = jump up.
• とび上がる is in the て form, in this case it is done to complete the first clause in the sentence.
• 後 means behind, and it is a noun. It’s marked by を　so it is the object of the primary verb 追う　（おう).
• 追う　（おう) is the primary verb meaning to follow. It is in the た form, placing the sentence into the past tense.
• All together, “In relation to Alice (she) jumped up, and followed the rabbits behind.”
• 「しゃべるウサギを見たことがない」。
• しゃべる/喋る means “talk” or “chatter”.
• しゃべる is being used as an adjective to describe the rabbit (しゃべるウサギ = talking rabbit).

ことがある

• Abstract things in Japanese means an abstract thing.
• 見た (seen) is 見る (see) in the past tense. It is modifying the noun こと.
• 見たこと therefore means the fact of having seen/the thing of having seen.
• 見たことがない therefore means the fact of having seen does not exist.
• 「しゃべるウサギを見たことがない」 = The fact of having seen a talking rabbit does not exist.
• ウサギは早く走って、急にウサギの穴にとび込んだ = The rabbit ran quickly and suddenly jumped into a rabbit-hole.
• 「ウサギは早く走って…」
• 走る = Run. It is in the て-form in order to make it complete the clause.
• 早い = Fast.

Adverbs

• An adverb is an adjective that describes a verb.
• Adjective to adverb transformation is completed by transforming an い-ending adjective to the く stem. 早い → 早く.
• 早く走って = fast run, 早く is an adverb describing the primary verb in the clause 走って.
• All together, ウサギは早く走って = “In relation to the rabbit, (it) ran fast and…”
• 「…急にウサギの穴にとび込んだ。」
• 「ウサギの穴」
• 穴 (ana) = hole.
• ウサギ is marked by の, denoting it as something the proceeding noun belongs to. ウサギの穴 = rabbits hole.
• とび込む is a compound verb (とぶ (jump) + 込む (go into)).
• とぶ is placed into い-stem form as required for godan verb combination.
• とび込む = jump into.
• 急に = 急 (suddenly (noun)) + に = adverb.
• に can be added to some nouns to create an adverb.
• All together, 急にウサギの穴にとび込んだ = (it) suddenly jumped into a rabbit hole.
• Full sentence: ウサギは早く走って、急にウサギの穴にとび込んだ = In relation to the rabbit (it) ran quickly and suddenly jumped into a rabbit-hole.
• アリスもウサギの穴にとび込んだ = Alice also jumped into the rabbit hole.

The も particle

• も (particle) is a non-logical topic-marking (“flagging”) particle like は.
• It’s the only other non-logical topic-marking particle.
• も is more specifically a topic-changing particle. It cannot be used unless there is already a different topic in the conversation that can be changed from.
• アリスも
• The topic up until now has been the rabbit, now the も particle is changing that topic to Alice.
• も does not draw a distinction between topics like は does, when using も　one is saying that the comment about this topic is the same about the comment about the previous topic. Sort of like an “In relation to x they also…”, with x being the も flagged topic.
• 穴の中はたて穴だった。アリスはすぐ下落ちた。
• 中 (なか) means “the inside”.
• 穴 (あな) means hole.
• 穴の中 (あなのなか) means “the inside of a hole”. More exactly, “holes inside”.
• たて/縦 = vertical.
• たて穴/縦穴 = vertical hole.
• 穴の中は竪穴だった = “The holes inside was vertical” (it means it went straight down).
• 「アリスはすぐ下落ちた。」
• 下/した = down/below.
• すぐ = Direct.
• すぐ下 = Straight down/directly down.
• 「でも驚いたことにゆっくりゆっくり落ちた」 = “But surprisingly she fell very very slowly”.
• 驚く/おどろく = surprised.
• こと = thing (abstract).
• 驚いたこと = surprising thing.
• ことに is the usage of に to turn a noun into an adverb (surprisingly).
• “驚いたことに落ちた.” = Surprisingly fell.

ゆっくり adverb

• First two kinds of adverb are く-stem adverbs (of adjectives), and に adverbs (for nouns).
• The third kind of adverb is a noun that can be applied as an adverb without extra modification.
• ゆっくり is an example of this kind of adverb, it is fundamentally a noun, however it can be used as an adverb on it’s own.
• “ゆっくりゆっくり落ちた” = slowly slowly fell.
• ゆっくり means slowly/leisurely.