Compound Sentences

In this section, we will learn various ways to combine multiple simple sentences into one complex sentence. For example, we will learn how to chain separate sentences together to express multiple actions or states. In other words, if we have two simple sentences with the same subject, "I ran" and "I ate", we will learn how to group them together to mean, "I ran and ate." We will also learn how to do this with adjectives and nouns. (Ex: He is rich, handsome, and charming.)

Expressing a sequence of states

It is very easy to combine a chain of nouns and adjectives to describe a person or object. For example, in English if we wanted to say, "He is X. He is Y. He is Z." since all three sentences have the same noun, we would usually say, "He is X, Y, and Z." In Japanese, we can do the same thing by conjugating the noun or adjective. The last noun or adjective remains the same as before.

Examples

1. 私の部屋は、きれいで、静かで、とても好き。
   My room is clean, quiet, and I like it a lot.
2. 彼女は、学生じゃなくて、先生だ。
   She is not a student, she is a teacher.
3. 田中さんは、お金持ちで、かっこよくて、魅力的ですね。
   Tanaka-san is rich, handsome, and charming, isn't he?

As you can see, the 「で」 attached to 「お金持ち」 obviously cannot be the context particle 「で」 here because there is no verb. It might be helpful to think of 「で」 as merely a substitution for 「だ」 that can be chained together.

Expressing a sequence of verbs with the te-form

In a similar fashion, you can express multiple actions. It is usually interpreted as a sequence of event. (I did [X], then I did [Y], then I finally did [Z].) There are two forms: positive and negative. The tense of all the actions is determined by the tense of the last verb.

Examples

1. 食堂に行って、昼ご飯を食べて、昼寝をする。
   I will go to cafeteria, eat lunch, and take a nap.
2. 食堂に行って、昼ご飯を食べて、昼寝をした。
   I went to cafeteria, ate lunch, and took a nap.
3. 時間がありまして、映画を見ました。
   There was time and I watched a movie.

Expressing reason or causation using 「から」 and 「ので」

You can connect two complete sentences using 「から」 to indicate a reason for something. The two sentences are always ordered [reason] から [result]. When the reason is a non-conjugated noun or na-adjective, you must add 「だ」 to explicitly declare the reason in the form of 「(noun/na-adjective)だから」. If you forget to add the declarative 「だ」 to 「から」, it will end up sounding like the 「から」 meaning "from" which was first introduced in the section on particles, earlier.

Examples

1. 時間がなかったからパーティーに行きませんでした。
   There was no time so didn't go to party.
2. 友達からプレゼントが来た。
   Present came from friend.
3. 友達だからプレゼントが来た。
   Present came because (the person is) friend. (This sentence sounds a bit odd.)

Either the reason or the result can be omitted if it is clear from the context. In the case of polite speech, you would treat 「から」 just like a regular noun and add 「です」. When you omit the result, you must include the declarative 「だ」 or 「です」.

Example 1

田中さん：どうしてパーティーに行きませんでしたか。
Tanaka-san: Why didn't you go to the party?

山田さん：時間がなかったからです。
Yamada-san: It's because I didn't have time.

Example 2

一郎：パーティーに行かなかったの？
Ichiro: You didn't go to the party?

直子：うん、時間がなかったから。
Naoko: Yeah, because I didn't have time.

Example 3

直子：時間がなかった。
Naoko: I didn't have time.

一郎：だからパーティーに行かなかったの？
Ichiro: Is that why you didn't go to the party?

Notice that we could have also used the explanatory 「の」 to express the same thing. In other words, 山田さん could have also said, 「時間がなかったのです」 or 「時間がなかったんです」 while 直子 could have said 「時間がなかったの」 (we'll assume she wants to use the more feminine form). In fact, this is where 「ので」 possibly came from. Let's say you want to combine two sentences: 「時間がなかったのだ」 and 「パーティーに行かなかった」. Remember we can treat the 「の」 just like a noun so we can use what we just learned in the first section of this lesson.

時間がなかったのだ＋パーティーに行かなかった
becomes:
時間がなかったのでパーティーに行かなかった。

In fact, 「ので」 is almost interchangeable with 「から」 with a few subtle differences. 「から」 explicitly states that the sentence preceding is the reason for something while 「ので」 is merely putting two sentences together, the first with an explanatory tone. This is something I call causation where [X] happened, therefore [Y] happened. This is slightly different from 「から」 where [Y] happened explicitly because [X] happened. This difference tends to make 「ので」 sound softer and slightly more polite and it is favored over 「から」 when explaining a reason for doing something that is considered discourteous.

• ちょっと忙しいので、そろそろ失礼します。
  Because I'm a little busy, I'll be making my leave soon.

（「失礼します」, which literally means "I'm doing a discourtesy", is commonly used as a polite way to make your leave or disturb someone's time.）

Reminder: Don't forget that the explanatory 「の」 requires a 「な」 for both non-conjugated nouns and na-adjectives. Review Particles 3 to see why.

1. 私は学生なので、お金がないんです。
   Because I'm a student, I have no money (lit: there is no money).
2. ここは静かなので、とても穏やかです。
   It is very calm here because it is quiet.
3. なので、友達に会う時間がない。
   That's why there's no time to meet friend.

Just like how the explanatory 「の」 can be shortened to 「ん」, in speech, the 「ので」 can be changed to 「んで」 simply because it's easier to slur the sounds together rather than pronouncing the / o / syllable.

1. 時間がなかったんでパーティーに行かなかった。
   Didn't go to the party because there was no time.
2. ここは静かなんで、とても穏やかです。
   It is very calm here because it is quiet.
3. なんで、友達に会う時間がない。
   That's why there's no time to meet friend.

Using 「のに」 to mean "despite"

Grammatically, 「のに」 is used exactly the same way as 「ので」. When used to combine two simple sentences together, it means "[Sentence 1] despite the fact that [Sentence 2]." However the order is reversed: [Sentence 2]のに[Sentence 1].

Examples

1. 毎日運動したのに、全然痩せなかった。
   Despite exercising every day, I didn't get thinner.
2. 学生なのに、彼女は勉強しない。
   Despite being a student, she does not study.

Expressing contradiction using 「が」 and 「けど」

Used in the same manner as 「から」 and 「ので」, 「が」 and 「けど」 also connect two sentences together but this time to express a contradiction. Just like 「から」 the declarative 「だ」 is required for nouns and na-adjectives. And just like 「から」 and 「ので」, either part of the contradiction can be left out.

Examples

1. デパートに行きましたが、何も欲しくなかったです。
   I went to department store but there was nothing I wanted.
2. 友達に聞いたけど、知らなかった。
   I asked (or heard from) a friend but he (or I) didn't know.
3. 今日は暇だけど、明日は忙しい。
   I'm free today but I will be busy tomorrow.
4. だけど、彼がまだ好きなの。
   That may be so, but it is that I still like him. [explanation, feminine tone]

It may seem odd but 「聞く」 can either mean "to listen" or "to ask". You may think this may become confusing but the meaning is usually clear within context. In the second example, we're assuming that the friend didn't know, so the speaker was probably asking the friend. Yet again we see the importance of context in Japanese because this sentence can also mean, "I heard from a friend but I didn't know" since there is neither subject nor topic.

Similar to the difference between 「から」 and 「ので」, 「が」 has a softer tone and is slightly more polite than 「けど」. Though this isn't a rule as such, it is generally common to see 「が」 attached to a 「～ます」 or 「～です」 ending and 「けど」 attached to a regular, plain ending. A more formal version of 「けど」 is 「けれど」 and even more formal is 「けれども」, which we may see later when we cover formal expressions.

Unlike the English word for contradiction such as "but" or "however", 「けど」 and 「が」 do not always express a direct contradiction. Often times, especially when introducing a new topic, it is used as a general connector of two separate sentences. For example, in the following sentences, there is no actual contradiction but 「が」 and 「けど」 are used simply to connect the sentences. Sometimes, the English "and" becomes a closer translation than "but".

1. デパートに行きましたが、いい物がたくさんありました。
   I went to the department store and there was a lot of good stuff.
2. マトリックスを見たけど、面白かった。
   I watched the "Matrix" and it was interesting.

Expressing multiple reasons using 「し」

When you want to list reasons for multiple states or actions you can do so by adding 「し」 to the end of each subordinate clause. It is very similar to the 「や」 particle except that it lists reasons for verbs and state of being. Again, for states of being, 「だ」 must be used to explicitly declare the state of being for any non-conjugated noun or na-adjective. Let's look at some examples.

Example 1

Ａ：どうして友達じゃないんですか？
A: Why isn't (he/she) friend [seeking explanation]?

Ｂ：先生だし、年上だし・・・。
B: Well, he's/she's the teacher, and older...

Example 2

Ａ：どうして彼が好きなの？
A: Why (do you) like him?

Ｂ：優しいし、かっこいいし、面白いから。
B: Because he's kind, attractive, and interesting (among other things).

Notice that 「優しくて、かっこよくて、面白いから。」 could also have worked but much like the difference between the 「と」 and 「や」 particle, 「し」 implies that there may be other reasons.

Expressing multiple actions or states using 「～たりする」

This is the verb version of the 「や」 particle. You can make an example list of verbs among a possible larger list by conjugating each verb into the past tense and adding 「り」. At the end, you need to attach the verb 「する」. Just like the 「や」 particle, the tense is determined by the last verb, which in this case will always be 「する」 (since you have to attach it at the end).

You can also use this with the state of being to say that you are a number of things at various random times among a larger list. Similar to regular verbs, you just take the noun or adjective for each state of being and conjugate it to the past state of being and then attach 「り」. Then finally, attach 「する」 at the end.

1. 映画を見たり、本を読んだり、昼寝したりする。
   I do things like (among other things) watch movies, read books, and take naps.
2. この大学の授業は簡単だったり、難しかったりする。
   Class of this college is sometimes easy, sometimes difficult (and other times something else maybe).

As you can see, the tense and negative/positive state is controlled by the last 「する」.

1. 映画を見たり、本を読んだりした。
   I did things like (among other things) watch movies, and read books.
2. 映画を見たり、本を読んだりしない。
   I don't do things like (among other things) watch movies, and read books.
3. 映画を見たり、本を読んだりしなかった。
   I didn't do things like (among other things) watch movies, and read books.