NOUNS USED AS ADJECTIVES. 37
IF 59. Many nouns are simply the indefinite forms of verbs used substantively, somewhat like our English nouns in ing, such as " the beginning," properly a part of the verb " to begin." Here are some examples : akinai, "trade;" homakinau, " to trade." hajime, " the beginning;",, hajimeru, "to begin"(trans.). tatanii, "a mat;" ,, tatamu, "to pile up."
tsure, "companions;" ,, tsureru, "to take with one." warai, "laughter;" ,, warau, "to laugh." yorokobi, "joy;" ,, yorokobu,"to rejoice."
NOUNS USED AS ADJECTIVES.
IF 60. The Japanese parts of speech do not exactly coincide with ours (See IT 9), and nouns are much more extensively used in this language than in English. We shall see in the next chapter that the so-called pronouns are really nouns. True adjectives also are scarce, and are frequent- ly replaced by nouns, just as in English we say " a gold chain," " a sitgar-plum," "the Paris fashions," "a thing of beauty." The chief ways in which ajnoun may do duty for an adjective are :
- i 61. I. As first member of a compound, thus :
Amerika-jin, lit. " America person," i.e. " an American." Dpitsu-jin, ,, " Germany person," ,, "a German." doro-ashi, ,, " mud feet," ,, " muddy feet."
doro-michij ,, " mud road," ,, "amuddy road."
kakkoku-koshi, ,, " each country envoys, i.e. " the corps
diplomatique."
Nihon-go, lit. "Japan words," i.e. "the Japanese lan- guage."
