Made in Japanese is mainly used in four ways, explained with examples

What is “made” in Japanese?

“Made” is an adverbial particle in the Japanese language. Native speakers use it mainly in the four different ways: indicating a destination, indicating the end of a time period, indicating the limit of a state or action, and emphasizing a sentence. In this blog post, I will explain this adverbial particle in detail with four example sentences. My explanations would help Japanese learners to understand “made” and how to use it more clearly. Then, let’s get started!

Contents

• “Made” to indicate a destination
  • Example #1: how to indicate a destination with “made”
• “Made” to indicate the end of a time period
  • Example #2: how to indicate the end of a time period with “made”
• “Made” to indicate the limit of a state or action
  • Example #3: how to indicate the limit of a state with “made”
• “Made” to emphasize a sentence
  • Example #4: how to emphasize a sentence with “made”
• Summary: “made” in Japanese

“Made” to indicate a destination

Let me start with “made” indicating a destination.

• made – まで : an adverbial particle used after a noun to indicate a destination.

Japanese native speakers normally use this type of “made” after a noun referring to a place. Word orders in Japanese and English are different, but the role of this particle is very similar to that of the English preposition, “to”, which is used before a noun to indicate a destination. Let me explain this usage through the example sentence below.

Example #1: how to indicate a destination with “made”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• kare – 彼 (かれ) : a pronoun meaning ‘he’ in Japanese.
• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, this works after “kare” to make the subject word in the sentence.
• kyoto – 京都 (きょうと) : a noun meaning ‘Kyoto’ in Japanese.
• iki – 行き (いき) : one conjugation of the verb, “iku”, which means ‘to go’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
• masu – ます : an auxiliary verb used after a verb to make it sound polite. Probably, this is well known as a part of Japanese masu form. In the example, this is used after “iki” to make it sound polite.

This is a typical usage of this type of “made”. In the example, it works after “kyoto” to indicate the destination. Unlike the other particles used to say where someone or something goes, this adverbial particle makes us feel the way to a destination more realistically. From the sentence above, therefore, we can have a more concrete feeling about the distance to Kyoto. It’s also worth mentioning that this particle sounds very natural even on the way to a destination.

“Made” to indicate the end of a time period

Next, let me explain “made” indicating the end of a time period.

• made – まで : an adverbial particle used after a noun, noun equivalent word, or clause to indicate the end of a time period. This often means ‘until’, ’till’, or such in Japanese.

Japanese native speakers often use this type of “made” after a noun referring to time or a time period. Let me explain this usage through the example sentence below.

Example #2: how to indicate the end of a time period with “made”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• atatakai – 暖かい (あたたかい) : an i-adjective meaning ‘warm’ in Japanese. In the example, this works as a modifier to describe “tenki”.
• tenki – 天気 (てんき) : a noun meaning ‘weather’ in Japanese.
• ashita – 明日 (あした) : a noun meaning ‘tomorrow’ in Japanese.
• tsuzuku – 続く (つづく) : a verb meaning ‘to continue’ in Japanese.

This is a typical usage of this type of “made”. In the example, this works after “ashita” to indicate the end of the time period in which the warm weather continues. This “made” is often translated into English as “until”, “till”, “up to”, or such. When we want to indicate the end of a time period in Japanese, this type of “made” is very useful.

“Made” to indicate the limit of a state or action

Next, let me explain “made” indicating the limit of a state or action.

• made – まで : an adverbial particle used after a noun, noun equivalent word, or clause to indicate the limit of a state or action. This often means ‘to’, ‘up to’, or such in Japanese.

Honestly, the usage of this type of “made” is very similar to that of the last one. Just a word or clause preceding it is different. Let me explain this usage through the example sentence below.

Example #3: how to indicate the limit of a state with “made”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• kion – 気温 (きおん) : a noun meaning ‘temperature’ in Japanese.
• gojū – 五十 (ごじゅう) : a numeral meaning ‘fifty’ in Japanese.
• do – 度 (ど) : a unit for temperature. In the example, this is used after “gojū” to say “fifty degrees” in Japanese.
• agat – 上がっ (あがっ) : one conjugation of the verb, “agaru”, which means ‘to rise’, ‘to go up’, or such in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
• ta – た : an auxiliary verb used after a verb, adjective, or auxiliary verb to make its past tense form. In the example, this is used after “agat” to make its past tense form, “agat ta”.

This is a typical usage of this type of “made”. In the example, it works after “gojū do” to indicate the maximum temperature – the upper limit of the state on that day. Again, but this type of “made” is often translated into English as “to”, “up to”, or such.

“Made” to emphasize a sentence

Lastly, let me explain “made” emphasizing a sentence.

• made – まで : an adverbial particle used after a noun or noun equivalent word to emphasize a sentence. This often means ‘even’, ‘just’, or such in Japanese.

Japanese native speakers use this type of “made” after a noun or noun equivalent word to emphasize a sentence with adding the meaning of ‘even’, ‘just’, or such. Let me explain this usage through the example sentence below.

Example #4: how to emphasize a sentence with “made”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• anata – あなた : a pronoun meaning ‘you’ in Japanese.
• uso – 嘘 (うそ) : a noun meaning ‘lie’ in Japanese. This can also work as a plural noun. Learn more about Japanese plural.
• wo – を : a case particle used to make the object word in a sentence. In the example, this is used after “uso” to make the object in the sentence.
• tsuku – 吐く (つく) : a verb meaning ‘to let [something] out from one’s mouth’. In the example, this works to mean just ‘to tell’, though.

This is a typical usage of this type of “made”. In the example, it works after “anata” to make the subject word in the sentence with emphasizing it. At first glance, this “made” seems to be very different from the others explained above. I think, however, it has more or less the same concept as the others. “Anata” in this example can be considered as the limit of the scope – the last person in the group of those who tell a lie.

Summary: “made” in Japanese

In this blog post, I’ve explained the four different types of “made”. Let me summarize them as follows.

• made – まで : an adverbial particle used after a noun to indicate a destination. Word orders in Japanese and English are different, but the role of this “made” is very similar to that of the English preposition, “to”. Actually, this is often translated into English as “to”. Japanese native speakers normally use this after a noun referring to a place.
• made – まで : an adverbial particle used after a noun, noun equivalent word, or clause to indicate the end of a time period. This often means ‘until’, ’till’, or such in Japanese. When we want to indicate the end of time period in Japanese, this “made” is very useful.
• made – まで : an adverbial particle used after a noun, noun equivalent word, or clause to indicate the limit of a state or action. This often means ‘to’, ‘up to’, or such in Japanese.
• made – まで : an adverbial particle used after a noun or noun equivalent word to emphasize a sentence. This often means ‘even’, ‘just’, or such in Japanese.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.