1.
object (grammar); direct object
In grammar, the noun or phrase that receives the action of a verb. In Japanese, the direct object is typically marked with the particle を.
「を」は目的語を示す。
'Wo' indicates the object.
この文の目的語はどれですか。
Which is the object in this sentence?
日本語では目的語は動詞の前に来るのが普通だ。
In Japanese, the object normally comes before the verb.
A grammar term composed of 目的 (purpose, objective) + 語 (word). Used in both Japanese grammar instruction and when discussing foreign language grammar.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 直接目的語: direct object
- 間接目的語: indirect object
- 目的語を取る: to take an object (said of a verb)
- 目的語を省略する: to omit the object
USAGE:
In Japanese grammar, the concept of 目的語 maps roughly to the noun phrase marked by を. However, Japanese linguistic tradition sometimes analyzes sentence structure differently from Western grammar, so the term is most commonly encountered in foreign language education or comparative grammar.
RELATED WORDS:
- 主語: subject — the doer of the action
- 述語: predicate — the part of the sentence that describes the action or state
- 補語: complement — a grammatical element that completes the meaning of the predicate