Lesson 2: Nouns, pronouns
Japanese has nouns and pronouns, just like english. Pronouns are less special than they are in english, and act like normal nouns most of the time.
Japanese does not have a plural form. Nouns and verbs don't have to agree for plurality, person, or gender. Japanese can explicitly refer to a group by attaching certain suffixes to nouns, but none of them are a true plural, they all convey extra information that plurals don't.
Japanese has tons of personal pronouns (me, you, them) that english doesn't, but the demonstrative pronoun system (this, that, these, those) is much less irregular. Also, japanese pronouns never change form for case like english ones do (he vs him), though you can put suffixes on them.
Don't bother memorizing these word lists. Learn words outside of this guide.
私・わたし me (normal, slightly formal when men use it)
あたし me (casual, feminine)
俺・おれ me (casual, masculine)
僕・ぼく me (casual or polite, masculine)
彼・かれ him
彼女・かのじょ her / lady
あなた you
達 is a suffix. This suffix can be applied to pronouns and nouns. This suffix refers to the group the noun/pronoun is in.
私達・わたしたち Us
ジム達・じむたち Jim and company
ペン達・ぺんたち The pen and stuff
達 is normally for living things, and the usage with "pen" above is considered colloquial, or at least informal. It just shows up enough to mention.
Japanese has compound words. They work the same way as in english.
町・まち town, district
中・なか inside, middle
町中・まちなか downtown, in town, the middle of town
Japanese has prefixes and suffixes just like english. This is different than compound words. Prefixes and suffixes can't stand on their own.
研究・けんきゅう research
研究者・けんきゅうしゃ researcher
者, pronounced しゃ here, is a suffix. It can act like a piece of a compound word, but can't stand on its own as its own word. When 者 appears on its own in a sentence, it's a different word, and not pronounced as しゃ. Thanks, kanji.
昨日, meaning "yesterday", is normally read as きのう, not さくび. But since it's this guide's name, it can have a reading different than the normal word spelled the same way. Watch out for reading variation when you start reading, or you'll be super confused.