Funny enough, the Japanese doesn’t have the word “the” per say. It most depends on context and how you translate it. Example:
ねこは赤です -> literal translation: Cat red
Now time to add some English words to make it sound ✨better✨
“The cat is red”
"Cat red" makes Japanese sounds way more vague than it really is, you're just not bothering to attempt to transliterate the grammar structures because it's too hard for English speakers to understand without a half-hour lecture.
It's "Cat (topic marker) red (basic copula)", which obviously carries a lot more information than just "cat red" to a person who intuitively understands what those weird grammar markers signify
Japanese not having articles is just as weird as PIE languages not having things like topic markers.
Not really, topic markers are... uh... and case endings... analytical instead of... wait a minute
Der Hund ist rot; 犬は赤いです
Ich esse den Hund; 犬を食べる
no it can't be
Der Knochen des Hundes; 犬の骨
fuck
Ich gebe dem Hund einen Knochen; 犬に骨をあげます
Funny enough, the Japanese doesn’t have the word “the” per say. It most depends on context and how you translate it. Example: ねこは赤です -> literal translation: Cat red Now time to add some English words to make it sound ✨better✨ “The cat is red”
"Cat red" makes Japanese sounds way more vague than it really is, you're just not bothering to attempt to transliterate the grammar structures because it's too hard for English speakers to understand without a half-hour lecture.
It's "Cat (topic marker) red (basic copula)", which obviously carries a lot more information than just "cat red" to a person who intuitively understands what those weird grammar markers signify
Japanese not having articles is just as weird as PIE languages not having things like topic markers.
topic markers are just a fancy way to say case endings
Not really, topic markers are... uh... and case endings... analytical instead of... wait a minute
Der Hund ist rot; 犬は赤いです
Ich esse den Hund; 犬を食べる
no it can't be
Der Knochen des Hundes; 犬の骨
fuck
Ich gebe dem Hund einen Knochen; 犬に骨をあげます