Re: japanese particles (Was: Chinese writing systems)

>>I only took 2 semesters of Japanese, and i don't remember learning "eh"
>>(which is how i would probably spell it)... i remember learning
>>something like |~kara ~ made| for "from ~ to ~".
> ..kara  ...made is a very common form to express "from... to..." for
> time, location. and many other things. you can use it for "toukyou kara
> kyouto made densha de ikimasu." i go by train from tokyo to kyoto. or
> "1ji kara 2ji made nemashita" i slept from 1o'clock to 2o'clock. "muko
> made 5fun de ikemasu" you need 5 minutes to get (until) there. "akira
> kara tegami o moraimashita" i recieved a letter from akira. and so on.
> On the other hand, the target of a movement expressed by verbs like to
> come(kimasu) to go(ikimasu) to return (kaerimasu) is usualy inticated
> by e (writen with the "he" hiragana). "eki e ikimasu" i go to the
> station. "kuni e kaerimasu" i go back to my home-land.
You can acceptably use _made_ with _iku_ such as _dewa, sonna ni tooku wa
nai kara, eki made aruite iku yo_ (well, as it's not that far, I'll walk to
the station).  This is a very common use of _made_ with a verb of motive,
at least in central Tokyo where my boyfriend and I live.

Also, I'd opt to say _kikoku shimasu_ in lieu of _kuni e kaerimasu_ to
express that I'm going back to my home country, as it just sounds more
natural to this very accustomed (although non-native) speaker of Japanese!
(Though I know that technically, grammatically, the latter is correct and
used on occasion...)

M.E.S.