Japanese lessons, explanations and grammar.

[Ridd]

For the starters, I have to say that I didn't write these lessons by myself, but I still think that they're worth putting up. I've learnt japanese for a few years, but I've had a long pause in it. For a year actually. I went trough the basics just now, and by these lessons, I was able to check what I had forgotten, and what I still knew. There are almost 20 lessons, and I might be a bit lazy with putting them up, but they're all going to come ! (: .. One day... Ahe..

 

Also! These lessons are starting from the very beginning, so it'll be easy even for a total newbie!

There will be lots of theory before the actual learning, so you can just skip the theory parts. Though they are very important too! (;

 

Thouhh, if you know all the theory already, or just don't want to read it for some other reason. (laziness for ex.), scroll down to the bottom of the page, until you see the title: FIRST ACTUAL LESSON. It's also the first text with color. (teal-blue) after those colored texts, there will be a few texts, explaining the grammar of those coloured lessons.

That's where the "meeting for the first time begin. All the posts before that are just boring grammar. (boring, but important!!)

 

 

 

 

General information about Japan

 

Without getting too deeply into details, it's useful to know some information about the country whose language you are learning:

 

Capital : Tokyo

 

Official language : Japanese (spoken by about 98% of the population!)

 

Currency : Yen ('en' (えん) in Japanese)

 

Population : about 128 million (2010)

 

Japan is an archipelago composed of four main islands : Hokkaidou, Honshuu, Shikoku, Kyuushuu. In addition to that, the archipelago has about 3000 other islands.

 

About 75% of the country is mountainous.

 

Bowing

 

Bowing is the Japanese way to say hello, goodbye, thank you, or even sorry. The Japanese bow more or less deeply, and they hold the bowed position for a shorter or longer time depending on the people they are talking to. Factors that may help you choose how to bow can be, for instance, the person's age, the person's social status, or simply how close you are to this person.

 

Children learn very early how to bow in different situations. Some shops even train their employees to make sure they can bow correctly in front of customers. As a foreigner, you are not expected to learn and know all the rules and subtleties of the art.

[Ridd]

THE INDRODUCTION TO THE LANGUAGE (NOT NECESSARILY IMPOTANT)

 

The Japanese language is very different from English, French, Spanish, German, or any other Indo-European language. Japanese is also different from other Asian languages. Even if the Japanese language borrows its writing system from the Chinese language, Chinese and Japanese sound completely different. In many ways, the Japanese language can be complex and subtle, often integrating a cultural aspect that foreigners may have a hard time understanding.

 

Trying to learn Japanese without paying attention to the culture of the country is hardly possible. You will notice many such cases as you improve your Japanese skills.

 

The goal of this Japanese course is to meet the needs of as many people as possible. Some want to learn how to write Japanese kanji, while others only want to learn how to speak the language. How you'll learn Japanese is not as important as why you are here. The reason is personal, and so is the source of your motivation, which you'll need to keep alive to continue studying. This website is here to help you put your knowledge into practice as much as possible through its grade system and statistics, in order to activate your knowledge instead of just reading passively. Even if you read ten grammar books, do you think you will ever be able to speak Japanese? A language is something natural, you need to make it yours by practicing it. It is by no means a collection of lessons that you need to recite by heart. Practice, practice always.

 

The interactive exercises on this website will let you put into action all that you can learn. Do as many exercises as possible. Don't think that reading the lessons is enough, and just assume that you have understood everything clearly. Understanding a lesson is useless if you don't activate your knowledge. Lessons are only a tool that you need to use to make the natural language yours.

 

And as our Chinese friends say, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" (Tao Te Ching, Verse 64). So let's start our journey with that first step.

[Ridd]

THE THREE WRITING SYSTEMS

 

In English, we use the Latin/Roman alphabet. However, the Japanese use three systems:

 

Hiragana Katakana Kanji

 

You must understand that you don't have the choice of which one you want to use, because all of those writing systems can be used in the same sentence! Even if you only wish to speak the language, you need to understand the differences amongst the alphabets and how they are used.

 

Hiragana

 

Hiragana is what one could call the Japanese alphabet. There are 46 basic forms in modern Japanese with which you can transcribe any Japanese sound. In fact, each form is a syllable of the language (ku, fu, mi, etc.).

 

This writing system can be used in several situations:

 

if no kanji exists for the word (we'll see together soon what a kanji is). For instance the particle まで(made = until) has no equivalent in kanji. if you don't know how to write the kanji for the word, or if the kanji is so rare that most people may not be able to read and understand it. whenever a verb is used as an auxiliary (grammatical stuff, don't worry you'll understand later).

 

Hiragana look like this: に(ni) - さ(sa) - つ(tsu) - ほ(ho). They can easily be recognized by their rounded form.

 

Katakana

 

Katakana is very similar to Hiragana, since it is a kind of Japanese alphabet too. For each Hiragana, a Katakana exists. Nevertheless, Katakana is used in completely different situations.

 

Here are some situations very common for Katakana:

 

if the word is borrowed from a foreign word (there are MANY of them). For example ネクタイ (nekutai = necktie, the Japanese word comes from the English word). if the word is an onomatopoeia (a word whose pronunciation imitates what it represents). Example ワンワン (wanwan = dog barking), リンリン (rinrin = phone ringing). to create a particular effect such as softening or emphasizing the meaning of a word.

 

Katakana look like this: ニ(ni) - サ(sa) - ツ(tsu) - ホ(ho). They can easily be recognized by their sharp form.

 

Kanji

 

Kanji are the third Japanese writing system. Literally Kanji means "Chinese Character". If you compare a Japanese and a Chinese text, you'll notice that the characters look much the same. While some of them are exactly alike, others are a little different because of the distinctive historical evolution of each country. As China was a prestigious nation in antiquity (Silk Road), Japan imported their writing system.

 

There are many Kanji, and they constitute one of the main difficulties of learning Japanese. Moreover, each Kanji can be read in different ways depending on the word it forms. Mastering them takes much time and patience.

 

When leaving school, a young Japanese person knows about 2000 Kanji. A grown-up knows about 3000 to 4000 of them. A Japanese literature teacher can know as much as 7000 Kanji! For each Kanji, you'll have to learn :

 

the stroke order (how to draw the Kanji) its different pronunciations its meanings

 

Kanji look like this : 中国(China) 日本 (Japan).

 

Sometimes the Kanji pronunciation is given using small Hiragana characters on the top or bottom of the Kanji. This is often the case in books or TV programs for children. Those small reading indicators are called Furigana.

 

Roomaji

 

There is one last way to write Japanese: Roomaji. This is not exactly a Japanese writing system, because Japanese people don't use it. Roomaji is rather a writing system for foreigners as it uses the Roman letters to write Japanese. We all know some of them: Suzuki, Honda, Kanji, Sushi, etc.

 

Of course, using Roomaji may help you learn how to speak the language faster. But that approach is not advised, because it will prevent you from finding a good dictionary (most of them only exist in Hiragana and Kanji). That is why you should at least learn the Hiragana and Katakana characters. The first lessons will present the texts in Roomaji to make your first steps here easier. But progressively, Roomaji will disappear, so get into a good habit now.

 

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My comment: FOR THESE WRITING SYSTEMS, YOU'LL FIND LOTS OF GREAT GUIDES FROM THE OTHER THREADS, MADE BY OTHER USERS! USE THEM PLEASE! THEY'RE NOT AS BAD AS THEY SEEM TO BE + WHAT'S BEST, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AFRAID TO TRY, THEY WON'T BITE YOU

 

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AN OVERVIEW OF THE LANGUAGE

 

The following points are examples of some differences that may exist between English and Japanese. We are not giving a grammar lesson here, but just simply giving you a quick overview of the language.

 

plural and singular don't exist in Japanese. There is no difference between "cat" and "cats". But the way you can figure out whether they're talking about one thing or many things can sometimes be expressed with some words using certain suffixes. For instance: Kodomo (a child) / KodomoTACHI (group of children). verb conjugation has only one form for all personal pronouns (tabemasu = I eat, you eat, she eats, etc.) the verb is often placed at the end of the sentence or clause (as in German sometimes). verbs can only be conjugated in present or past forms. The future tense is expressed using the conjugation of the present tense. there are two sorts of adjectives. One sort behaves like nouns, and the other sort behaves like verbs! (in other words adjectives can be conjugated!) a Japanese sentence is articulated by particles that supply information about the role of each word or group in a sentence. politeness is expressed in different ways, and in different degrees, and is one complex aspect of the language Japanese is said to be an agglutinative language. A verb can be modified by adding an auxiliary that will itself be modified by another auxiliary for example. there are only 2 irregular verbs in Japanese!! (good news, right?).

[Ridd]

As we've seen, the Japanese culture is tightly rooted in the Japanese language. It is not possible to learn the language without learning the culture.

 

Most of the lessons contain a section dedicated to a cultural aspect of Japan. This information will help you avoid misunderstandings, understand people's behavior better, and stop you from behaving rudely without even realizing it (don't worry, Japanese people are very open-minded towards foreigners).

 

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INTRODUCING THE "HOST FAMILY" (this isn't necessary. It's part of the lesson and I didn't want to leave it out.

 

 

The Matsumotos will be your host family in Japan. They live in a beautiful Japanese-style villa on the outskirts of Tokyo. Before you meet them, to make your first encounter easier, take a look at some information about them:

 

HIROSHI: The father of the family, Hiroshi is 48. He is an employee in a computing company. He enjoys watching baseball on TV, cycling, jogging and fishing with his son Takuya.

 

KEIKO: The mother of the family, Keiko is 41. She is a part-timer in a supermarket. When she is off, she enjoys cooking and looking after her garden and her kids.

 

AYUMI: She is the elder daughter. She has been studying in Tokyo for two years, and is now 20 years old. Like many girls her age, Ayumi likes listening to music, especially J-Pop, watching Dorama (Japanese TV series), and going shopping with her friends. Always good-humored, she often looks after her younger brother when her parents are out or busy.

 

TAKUYA: 8 years old, he's the brat of the family! Soccer, video games, mangas, playing with friends: that could be a summary of Takuya's life. Even if he might seem a little shy at first, Takuya is quite out-going and nosy. That often leads him to get into mischief. If you want to learn a few slang words, just spend the week-end with him!

 

CHIRO: She is the 3-year-old female dog of the family. Chiro is an Akita Inu.

[Ridd]

VOWELS

 

 

The Japanese language has 5 vowels: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/ and /u/. First of all, these signs are phonologic signs, which means that you should not pronounce them as you would naturally in English. Instead, they are international notations that are used to describe a sound. For example, /i/should be pronounced like "eel" or "ego", and NOT like "aisle" or "ice". The good news is that this lesson will give you lots of English references so that way you can easily understand how you should pronounce the words along with an audio example.

 

Abunai (Dangerous) A as in "fAther" AUDIO

 

Egao (a smile) E as in "Element"

 

Itai (painful) I as in "Illusion"

 

Ocha (tea) O as in "turbO"

 

The particularity of /u/

 

This phonologic sign indicates that the sound should be pronounced as in "root". But if you focus on the way you pronounce that word in English, you will notice that you completely round your lips. Japanese people never round their lips, but relax them instead.

 

susumu (to go forward) [My comment: try to pronounce this with relaxed lips, NO ROUNDING THEM!]

 

Moreover, this sound is hardly heard when placed after voiceless consonants (k,t,p,s).

 

gakusei (student) is almost pronounced "gakksei"

 

suizokukan (aquarium) is almost pronounced "suizokkkan"

 

Finally, when the sound is placed at the end of a word, again it can barely be heard.

 

Tabemasu (to eat) is almost pronounced "tabemass"

 

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SEMI VOWELS

 

The semi-vowels /y/ and /w/ also exist in English. In Japanese, /y/ can be attached to /a/, /o/ and /u/ to create the syllables /ya/, /yo/ and /yu/. They are often used:

 

yameru to stop

 

yoku often

 

yume a dream

 

And those two semi-vowels ("Y" and "W") are sometimes combined with the following consonants: "K, P, H, G, R, B, N" to form other syllables.

 

hyaku hundred

 

ryokou travel

 

As for /w/, it can only be seen in modern Japanese when coupled with /a/. WO only exists in one word, which is the particle WO を used to indicate the direct object (more explanation later). But the /w/ sound is never pronounced in that word, を is pronounced /o/ and not /wo/.

 

wakaru to understand

 

warui bad

[Ridd]

CONSONANT

 

Compared to the English language, Japanese has a limited number of consonants. Most of them will be easy to pronounce because they are very similar to the English pronunciation, with a few exceptions.

 

Here are the Japanese consonants: k, g, t, d, p, b, m, n, j, h, f, s. Therefore, you will never see the letters c, v, l or q in Japanese. Besides that, the sound /v/ does not exist either, and when Japanese people have to pronounce this letter when reading a foreign word, they will naturally switch it with its Japanese counterpart, that is, /b/. (Video in Japanese would actually be pronounced "bideo").

 

Here are a few comments about consonants that might be problematic for an English speaker:

 

SHI: is pronounced as in "SHe"

 

shiawase happiness

 

CHI: is pronounced as in "CHeese"

 

chigaimasu to be different

 

GI: is pronounced as in "GIve"

 

gin silver

 

JI: is pronounced as in "JEANS"

 

jikan time

 

HI: is pronounced as in "HIt".

 

hikkoshi moving

 

FU: the sound F in Japanese is not pronounced like in "fish", but rather like the H you can hear in "WHO", almost as if you were blowing a candle out.

 

fukin dustcloth

 

R: this sound is quite different from English. It is actually closer to the English L.

 

raamen Chinese noodles

 

N: you can pronounce this sound as you would in English, excepted when it is placed before p, b or m, where it would be pronounced like an M. For instance shinbun (newspaper) is pronounced shimbun, sanpo (a walk) is pronounced sampo.

 

shinbun newspaper

 

HA/WA: most of the time は is pronounced "Ha" but there are some stuations where it is pronounced "WA", mainly when は is a grammatical particle in the sentence. We will look at that together later.

 

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SYLLABIC PARTICULARITIES

 

 

Vowel lengthening

 

Words transcribed from Hiragana

 

In Japanese, the length of a vowel can be doubled. To indicate that (this kind of vowel is called a 'tense vowel' in phonetics), Japanese speakers use the vowel U after /o/ and /u/. We get this pattern "O or U + U" = "tense vowel". This U is not pronounced like the /u/ we talked about, but simply indicates that the vowel just before should last twice as long as usual.

 

Toukyou (Tokyo, とうきょう, 東京) is pronounced Tookyoo. The first and the second /o/ are tense vowels. This is particularly important, otherwise your interlocutor might understand another word. It is the same as "bitch" and "beach" in English... In roomaji, this lengthening is also sometimes written Tôkyô, Tookyoo or even Tōkyō depending on books you are using.

 

To double the length of the vowels /a/or /i/, you should not use U, but simply write the vowel a second time to get AA or II. For instance subarashii (wonderful, すばらしい), okaasan (mother, おかあさん).

 

Last particularity: in a few words, the tensed O is written OO and not OU. Example Oosaka (Osaka, おおさ か, 大阪), tooi (loin, とおい). You should be aware of that. If you read the word in Hiragana, you can notice that the U う is not used, but O お is used instead. In fact, the O is repeated, and that is why you might think it is a tensed O.

 

Toukyou

 

Oosaka

 

okaasan

 

Words transcribed from Katakana

 

When you write in Katakana, the lengthening of a vowel is written with a bar ー after the vowel. If you write in Roomaji, you should not use /U/ in this case, but instead write the vowel twice right next to each other. For instance, in Katakana, the words "biiru" (beer, ビール), "buutsu" (boots, ブーツ), and "paatii" (party, パー ティー). However, when writing it in Hiragana, it would be "gyuunyuu" (milk, ぎゅうにゅう).

 

biiru

 

buutsu

 

paatii

 

gyuunyuu

 

Note about the written form

 

As seen in the example Toukyou, some words can be written in different ways in roomaji. Those transcriptions are based on a system called Hepburn, which exists in many different forms. I chose to write Toukyou that way for several reasons:

 

This system offers the possibility to differentiate the double vowels in "tooi" (とおい) from the tense vowel in "Toukyou" (とう きょう) This system offers the possibility to write Kana and Kanji on a computer simply by typing the letters as indicated by the word in roomaji. This system offers the possibility to know from the roomaji form whether a word is usually written in Katakana or in Hiragana.

 

The double consonant

 

Consonants can last twice as long! You only need to write them twice (kk, tt, ss, etc.). As for the pronunciation, you should pronounce the consonant as if you got stuck on it, then slide toward the next syllable of the word. For instance "gaKKou" (school). To double a consonant in Hiragana, you need to place a small TSU つ kana right before the consonant it modifies. The small TSU is actually represented as っ. This kana is not pronounced "tsu", it is only a graphical indication for you to know that you need to make the consonant last twice as long. The word "gakkou" is then written がっこう and not がつ こう.

 

gakkou school

 

happa leaf

 

matto doormat

 

Syllable N

 

/N/ is a consonant and a syllable in Japanese, even though it is just a single letter. In English, it is impossible to have a syllable without a vowel, but in Japanese, it is possible. The syllabic structure of "konbanwa" (good evening) for example is KO-N-BA-N-WA and not KON-BAN-WA. If you listen to Japanese music, you might notice sometimes the singer pronounces the N in a word very clearly.

[Ridd]

FIRST ACTUAL LESSON!!

 

 

 

You've arrived at Narita Airport, Tokyo. Mr. Hiroshi Matsumoto and his daughter Ayumi have come to welcome you.

 

 

Roomaji

 

{You} Matsumoto-san desu ka.

 

Hiroshi Hai, Matsumoto desu.

 

{You} Hajimemashite.

 

Hiroshi Hajimemashite. Douzo yoroshiku.

 

{You} Kochira koso douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

 

 

 

Kana

 

{You} まつもとさん で す か。

 

ひろ し はい、まつもとで す。

 

{You} はじめまして。

 

ひろ し はじめまして。 ど うぞ よろしく。

 

{You} こちら こそ どう ぞ よろしく おね がいします。

 

 

 

Kanji

 

{You} 松本さん です か。

 

浩志 はい、松本 です。

 

{You} はじめまして。

 

浩志 はじめまして。 ど うぞ よろしく。

 

{You} こちら こそ どう ぞ よろしく お願 いします。

 

 

Translation

 

{You} Are you Mr. Matsumoto?

Hiroshi Yes, I am Mr. Matsumoto.

You} Nice to meet you.

Hiroshi How do you do? [literally: how do you do, thank you for being nice to us]

{You} [literally: it's I who should say that, thank you for being nice to me]

[Ridd]

This first text is a perfect example of how deeply the Japanese culture can be rooted in the language, and how much the language can be different from ours. The text illustrates several typical Japanese phrases used when meeting someone for the first time.

 

Hajimemashite - はじめまして

 

Every time you meet someone for the first time in Japan you can use the phrase はじめまして the same way as you say "nice to meet you". If someone says to you はじめまして, simply answer the same.

 

Douzo yoroshiku - どうぞよろ しく

 

This phrase is often used after はじめ まして when you're introducing yourself. Yoroshiku means "good". By using this phrase you're asking your interlocutor to be nice to you so that your relationship will get on well. This phrase could be translated as: "thank you to be nice to me". Your interlocutor should answer the same. There is no perfect equivalence in English for this phrase. It's very common to add Onegaishimasu (おね がいします) to make the phrase more polite.

 

Kochira koso - こちらこそ

 

In Japan, being humble in social relationships is much appreciated. When your interlocutor shows you respect, you can say こちらこそ, which means "It's I who should say that" to show that you respect them, too.

 

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Personal pronouns

 

There are many personal pronouns in Japanese, but for the time being it's useless to know them all. Here is a list of the main ones you should know:

 

I watashi わたし you (singular) anata あなた

 

he kare かれ she kanojo かのじょ

 

we watashitachi わたした ち

 

you (plural) anatatachi あなたた ち they (men) karera かれら they (women) kanojotachi かのじょ たち

 

Notice that the Japanese language uses the suffix -TACHI (たち) to express the idea of a group in some cases (except for KARERA here).

 

You need to know that the Japanese language doesn't use the personal pronouns if they are not required to understand the sentence, similar to the Italian language.

 

Copula DESU

 

DESU (です) at the end of the sentence expresses politeness in Japanese. It can often be translated as the verb TO BE, but not systematically. There will be many more opportunities later to see this copula in detail. Just remember for now that it must be put at the end of the sentence.

 

まつもとさんです。 Matsumoto-san desu. It's Mr. Matsumoto.

 

だいじょうぶです。 Daijoubu desu. I'm all right.

 

Asking a question with KA

 

The particle KA (か) is used to form questions. You only need to put this particle at the end of the sentence to turn the sentence into a question. No other structural modification is needed.

 

まつもとさんですか。 Matsumoto-san desu ka. Is it Mr. Matsumoto?

 

だいじょうぶですか。 Daijoubu desu ka. Are you all right ?

 

Suffix SAN

 

SAN (さん) is a suffix to express politeness and respect, which corresponds to Mr. or Mrs. It must be added to the end of the first name or family name (in some other cases too sometimes). Only context will let you know whether SAN refers to a man or a woman.

 

Be careful! SAN cannot be used to talk about yourself or even someone of your family if your interlocutor is from another family. If you do that you are openly honoring yourself, and that would be quite arrogant from the Japanese point of view. But as a foreigner, you'll make the mistake for sure, and thank God, the Japanese won't mind at all.

 

Compare those two sentences :

 

やまださんです。 Yamada-san desu. It's Mr./Mrs. Yamada.

 

やまだです。 Yamada desu. I'm Mr./Mrs Yamada

[Ridd]

As you are walking to the airport parking lot together, Hiroshi helps you carry your suitcase, and you start to talk with his daughter Ayumi.

 

 

 

Roomaji

 

{You}

 

Watashi wa furansujin desu. Nihongo no daigakusei desu. Anata mo daigakusei desu ka.

 

AUDIO

 

Ayumi Hai, watashi mo daigakusei desu. AUDIO

 

{You} Nan nen sei desu ka. AUDIO

 

Ayumi Ni nen sei desu. AUDIO

 

Kana

 

{You}

 

わたし は フラン スじん です。 に ほんご の だいが くせい です。 あ なた も だいがく せい です か。

 

AUDIO

 

あゆ み はい、 わたし も だいがくせい で す。 AUDIO

 

{You} なん ねん せい です か。 AUDIO

 

あゆ み に ねん せい で す。 AUDIO

 

Kanji

 

{You}

 

私 は フランス人 です。 日本語 の 大学生 です。 あなた も 大学 生 です か。

 

AUDIO

 

あゆ み はい、 私 も 大 学生 です。 AUDIO

 

{You} 何年生 です か。 AUDIO

 

あゆ み 二 年生 です。 AUDIO

 

Translation

 

{You} I'm French. I study the Japanese language at the university. Are you a student, too? Ayumi Yes, I am a student, too. {You} What year are you? Ayumi I'm a second year student.

 

 

 

(Don't mind those audios. I was just too lazy to erase them with my mobile... >_

[Kasuku]

Thank You

 

This will surely help me

 

I wish to learn more from you sensei.

 

I'll check this thread once in a while

[Ridd]

Anata wa? - あなた は?

 

Notice that this phrase is not in the dialog, but it could very well have been used there. We’ll explain the phrase here because it’s very useful. In the text, Ayumi is asked "Anata mo daigakusei desu ka" to find out if she's a student too. The same thing could have been asked this way: "anata wa", which is the equivalent to "And you?". "Anata wa" is used to send back the question to one’s interlocutor without having to repeat the complete question. The intonation must rise at the end of the question just like in English, to let your interlocutor know it is a question. Once you have given some information about yourself such as your name, age, and where you come from, “anata wa" is used to get the same information about your interloculor.

 

Nan nen sei desu ka - 何年生 です か

 

This is a question used in an educational context. Actually, it is pretty much used like the English question "what grade are you in?" except that in Japanese, it literally means "what year student are you?" (year is almost understood as an adjective).

[Ridd]

The reason why I put this lesson in a whole different colour is because it has got both grammar and important things to learn!

 

 

Counting from 0 to 10

 

0 zero, rei ゼロ (零) 1 ichi 一 2 ni ニ 3 san 三 4 shi/yon 四 5 go 五 6 roku 六 7 shichi/nana 七 8 hachi 八 9 kyuu/ku 九 10 juu 十

 

Several pronunciations do exist for some numbers. Context and training will let you to know which one to use. We'll learn them gradually. But don't worry. Even if you make a mistake, your Japanese interlocutor will easily understand you, which is the main goal, isn't it ? For phone numbers for example, "zero, yon, nana, kyuu" are used. Spaces or hyphens between numbers in a phone number are pronounced NO. Although Kanji exist for all numbers, Japanese people often use Arabic numbers in everyday's written communication. Their Kanji counterparts are very frequent in official documents, historic research materials, displayed prices in traditional restaurants, and in other specialized fields.

 

One last thing you should be aware of: decimal numbers are written with a dot just like in English (some other languages use a comma).

 

JAPANESE 15.6 ENGLISH 15.6 FRENCH 15,6

 

The NO Particle

 

Particles in Japanese are short words that don't really mean anything by themselves, but they articulate the syntax and the general meaning of the sentence. This phenomenon is similar to words like "OF" (the United States OF America) in English, where "OF" is used to link two elements semantically. Particles in Japanese are numerous, but for now, let's study the NO (の) particle.

 

NO is the most frequent particle. As we have just seen, it is used to create a link between two elements of the sentence. This link can express possession, or origin. No wonder it's the particle used to create the Japanese possessive pronouns (my, your, his/her, etc.). Notice that the order of the words may be different from the English order sometimes.

 

にほんごのだいがくせい Nihongo no daigakusei Japanese student ((a student OF Japanase))

 

アメリカのくるま Amerika no kuruma American car (a car FROM America)

 

せんせいのめがね Sensei no megane The teacher's glasses (the glasses OF the teacher)

 

わたしのくるま Watashi no kuruma My car

 

my/mine watashi no your/yours anata no his/her/hers kare no/kanojo no

 

our/ours watashitachi no your/yours anatatachi no

 

their/theirs karera no/kanojotachi no

 

Japanese basic sentence structure and the particle WA

 

The common Japanese sentence pattern is: "topic WA information DESU". 'Topic' indicates the main element of the conversation, what we are talking about. It may be a place, a person, an event, etc. The WA (は) particle is used to indicate the topic in a sentence, so this particle could mean 'regarding' or 'speaking about'. As any particle in Japanese, WA is placed right after the element it's related to.

 

Just after WA, 'information' is something that we learn about the topic. This information can be a noun, an adjective, etc. As for DESU, remember that it is a marker for politeness and that it can often be translated as TO BE even if that's not always its real meaning (let's keep things easy for now).

 

わたしはにほんじん です。 Watashi wa nihonjin desu. I am Japanese.

 

そらはあおいです。 Sora wa aoi desu. The sky is blue.

 

Be careful not to mix up TOPIC and SUBJECT in the sentence. Even if it's true that the topic will also be the subject of the sentence most of the times, this is not always the case. So don't say that WA indicates the subject, but rather that WA indicates the topic. It is possible that the direct object might be the topic of the sentence.

 

Translating "too" using MO

 

As we've seen together, the basic structure in japanese is "topic WA information DESU". Here, instead of the WA particle, comes the MO particle, which means "too". Be careful : don't ever use the WA particle and the MO particle at the same time. To translate "too", you must remove WA.

 

わたしはだいがくせいです。 Watashi wa daigakusei desu. As for me, I'm a student.

 

わたしもだいがくせいです。 Watashi mo daigakusei desu. I'm a student too.

 

まつださん もだいがくせいですか。 Matsuda-san mo daigakusei desu ka. Mrs., Ms., Mr. Matsuda, are you a student too?

 

Interrogative pronoun NAN

 

The interrogative pronoun NAN (な ん) is used to ask the question WHAT. The full form of NAN actually is NANI, but the I is often removed depending on the way it's used.

 

なんですか Nan desu ka What's that?

 

NAN is also widely used before what is called counters. No need to ask, "what the heck is a counter?". We'll have time to get back to that. For now, some examples will be enough:

 

なんようび Nan-youbi Which day of the week?

 

なんにち Nan-nichi Which day of the month?

 

なんがつ Nan-gatsu Which month?

 

Subject omission

 

When the topic of a sentence is obvious, it is omitted most of the time, especially orally. Watashi (I) is almost always omitted, and so is Anata (you), especially when addressing someone hierarchically or socially above us. In that case, it's better to use this person's last name, her rank, or her professional function to address her directly. The は particle is added in the conversation when it is really necessary: each time the topic changes.

 

[たなかさんは]にほんじんですか。 [Tanaka-san wa] nihonjin desu ka. Are you Japanese, [M. Tanaka]?

 

だいじょうぶですか。 Daijoubu desu ka. Are you OK?

[Justme]

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Thanks for the lesson! The audio desn't work

[Ridd]

Hahah, you're very welcome

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! Like I said, these lessons aren't wrotten by my hand, but I just thought that I should put these up for other people to learn from them (:

 

+ I'm happy that you found it useful. A reason for me to continue posting them. (:

[Ridd]

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Thanks for the lesson! The audio desn't work

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You're welcome (: Yeah, I'm aware of the fact that the audios don't work.. :/ But that's the reason why I erased them from the lessons before. As for the unerased "AUDIO"'s, I'm sorry, but it's one hell of a work to try and erase them with my mobile, without accidentally erasing the kana's or kanji's as well.. So as the lazy ass I am, I left that for later, when I get the acces to comp.. XD sorry !

[chiakaiyuki]

thanks

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! very simple and interesting explanations

 

I was wondering where you got the lessons from? I've been looking for some more advanced lessons but it's not easy to find them for free. XD

[OnyxAriezz]

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: hontoni arigatou gozaimasu. And, I am looking forwards more lecture. Dagara Onegai shimasu. *bow*

[Ridd]

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, ah! Going to post more right now then !

[Ridd]

The business card

 

The business card is the ultimate weapon for doing business in Japan. If you’re working for a company and go to a business appointment for example, be sure to carry your business cards. Your interlocutor won't fail to hand over hers to you as soon as you’ve met. It’s considered polite to take the card with both hands.

 

Even if you can't read the characters on it, show your interest to your interlocutor's card by asking her a few questions before putting it in your jacket. These first few words exchanged are also useful to break the ice.

 

Of course this way of doing is only seen in a professional context. Don't start to distribute your business card to each person you meet there!

 

 

 

 

YES AND NO IN JAPANESE

 

 

HAI (はい) is pretty much an equivalent for YES. IIE (いいえ) is the opposite, that is to say NO. However, it’s not always that easy in Japanese. You’d better consider the meaning of HAI as "it's correct" and IIE as "it's wrong". Otherwise, in a negative question, you might come across a few misunderstandings.

 

Example :

 

Kudamono wa arimasen ka. Don't you have any fruit?

 

Hai, arimasen. No, we don't. (That's correct, we don't have any)

 

Kudamono wa arimasen ka. Don't you have any fruit?

 

Iie, arimasu. Yes, we do. (It's wrong, we have some)

 

For IIE, be sure to pronounce a long double I, don't say IE (which means "house").

 

Generally speaking, Japanese people don't like to answer with a straight "no" in most of situations, whether in a professional or a private context. Try to leave some space for a possible negotiation.

 

If you ask a Japanese person for something, and he looks a bit troubled answering your question, don't insist! He is trying to make you understand that he's not willing to accept what you're asking him for. In such situations, Japanese people often say "CHOTTO..." meaning "it's a bit...". Consider this a "no". They often don't finish the sentence in order not to be too straightforward.

 

テニスはちょっと Tenisu wa chotto… Tennis, yes, well… (I don't feel much like playing now)

 

The other ambiguity in negative questions is similar to what we've just seen above. In the Japanese language, a negative structure is often used to invite someone to drink or do something. (Won't you take a cup of coffee? / Do you want some coffee?). If you answer HAI to that question, you'll never have your cup of coffee because your interlocutor will understand "Yes, I won't take any"! Foreigners often make this mistake. To avoid any misunderstanding, try to answer with a complete sentence instead of simply saying HAI or IIE. That way you'll be sure to have your cup of coffee and enjoy your day!

One last thing: YES can also be translated into EE in Japanese. The difference between HAI and EE is that EE is less formal. That doesn't mean that EE isn't polite! Also, EE sounds somewhat feminine

 

 

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Hiroshi introduces his family while driving home.

 

 

Roomaji

 

Hiroshi

 

Watashi no kazoku wa yonin kazoku desu. Watashi no namae wa Hiroshi desu. Kaishain desu. Tsuma wa Keiko desu. Paato taimaa desu. Kodomo ga futari imasu. Musume wa Ayumi desu. Daigakusei desu. Musuko wa Takuya to iimasu. Shougakusei desu. Inu mo imasu. Chiro desu. Anata no kazoku wa dou desu ka.

 

 

 

Kana

 

ひ ろ し

 

わたし の かぞく は よにん かぞく です。 わたし の なまえ は ひろし です。 かい しゃいん です。 つま は けいこ です。 パート タイマー で す。 こども が ふた り います。 むすめ は あゆみ です。 だ いがくせい です。 む すこ は たくや と い います。 しょうがく せい です。 いぬ も います。 チロ です。 あなた の かぞく は どう です か。

 

 

 

Kanji

 

浩 志

 

私 の 家族 は 四人 家族です。 私 の 名 前 は 浩志 です。 会 社員 です。 妻は 恵 子 です。 パートタイ マー です。 子供 が 二人 います。 娘は あゆみ です。 大学生 です。 息子 は 拓哉 と 言います。 小学生 です。 犬 も いま す。 チロ です。 あ なた の 家族は どう です か。

 

 

 

Translation

 

Hiroshi

 

We’re a family of four. My name is Hiroshi, I’m an employee in a company. My wife's name is Keiko. She is a part-timer. We have two children. Ayumi is my daughter. She is a student. My son is called Takuya. He’s a schoolboy. We also have a dog. Her name is Chiro. How about your family?

 

 

[Ridd]

The NIN counter

 

Before going any further, many people must be wondering, "What the heck is a counter?". Let's start by clarifying this point. In the Japanese language, common nouns are classified according to some of their own attributes (the category of long and thin objects, the category of small-sized animals, etc.). In Japanese grammar, those "categories" are expressed using counters.

 

A counter is used when you want to count the kind of objects it represents: "one person, two people, three people, etc.". The syntactic construction is:

 

QUANTITY + COUNTER (+ NOUN)

 

As you will notice, the QUANTITY and the COUNTER often stick together side by side, thus creating a morphological modification of QUANTITY. In the lesson, we have "YONIN KAZOKU" where YONIN is formed with YON (number four, the quantity), and NIN (counter for people). Notice that the N from YON disappears.

 

NIN is a very important counter because it’s very common, but it is also an irregular counter. Here is how to use it:

 

1 person hitori 一人

 

2 people futari 二人 3 people san-nin 三人 4 people yo-nin 四人 5 people go-nin 五人 6 people roku-nin 六人

 

7 people shichi-nin or nana-nin 七人

 

8 people hachi-nin 八人 9 people kyuu-nin 九人 10 people juu-nin 十人

 

11 people juu-ichi-nin 十一 人 12 people juu-ni-nin 十二 人

 

You will have to pay extra attention to HITORI and FUTARI, as others are not so difficult since they are regular.

 

Lesson after lesson, other counters will be presented. Don’t worry, Japanese people don’t master them all either. The important thing for now is to learn the most common ones first.

 

The polite form -MASU (ます)

 

As you know, Japanese verbs have:

 

a neutral form (a.k.a. the dictionary form because it is the form used in dictionaries), which can end in -iru, -aru, -eru, -nu, -bu, -gu, -uru, etc. a polite form built using the -MASU suffix (do not pronounce the U too much, it is actually hardly heard and should be pronounced like the end of the English word "mass").

 

For example, the verb to eat "TABERU" (dictionary form) is written TABEMASU in its polite form. This –MASU form indicates that the whole sentence is in the polite form, not only the verb by itself. This works differently than English where politeness is expressed using some formulas (please…) and auxiliaries (may I, could you…). Japanese verbs will be analyzed to a greater extent in later lessons. For the time being, it is more about getting familiar with these forms and becoming aware that the Japanese language works differently than English.

 

IRU, ARU verbs and DESU copula

 

The verb « to be » can be translated in different ways in Japanese. We learnt that DESU (です) could often be translated as « to be » even if that is not its real meaning. In addition to DESU, there are also IRU いる (polite form : IMASU) and ARU ある (ARIMASU), which are two verbs that are used a lot in Japanese, and that can be translated as "to be" or "there is". The difference between IRU and ARU is that IRU is used if the subject is an animate being, and ARU if it is an inanimate thing.

 

INANIMATE バナナはありますか。 Banana wa arimasu ka. Do you have bananas?

 

ANIMATE 犬はどこにいますか。 Inu wa doko ni imasu ka. Where is the dog?

 

ANIMATE 犬がいます Inu ga imasu. There is a dog.

 

INANIMATE バナナがあります。 Banana ga arimasu. I've got a banana.

 

The NI (に) and GA (が) particles will be studied later.

 

You can see that ARIMASU can be translated as TO HAVE here, but it is better to think about the sentence as: "banana, is there any?". All that will become clearer after a few more lessons. For instance, the sentence "Banana ga arimasu" has been translated as "I’ve got a banana" here, but depending on the context, it could have been understood as "you’ve got a banana", "he has got a banana", "we’ve got bananas" (in a shop for example). The verb ARIMASU does not express so much the possession as the existence, so do not make the mistake of believing that IRU expresses the existence (TO BE) and ARU the possession (TO HAVE). Both express the existence.

 

One exception: even though plants are animate (living) things, the Japanese grammar consider them as inanimate objects, so the use of ARU is mandatory when discussing them.

 

Bara ga arimasu. There is a rose.

 

DOU (どう)

 

Depending on the context and the meaning of the sentence, DOU (どう) can be translated as "how", "what" or "which way". There are no rules, it all depends on the context of the sentence. Observe the different meanings in the following examples:

 

WHICH WAY (OF DOING) ここからどう行きますか。 Koko kara dou ikimasu ka. How do we get there from here?

 

WHAT このレストランをどう思うか。 Kono resutoran o dou omou ka. What do you think of this restaurant?

 

HOW 今日はどうでしたか。 Kyou wa dou deshita ka. How was your day?

 

At the end of the text, the sentence "Anata no kazoku wa dou desu ka" is translated as "How is your family?" but it literally means, "About your family, how?". Here, DOU means "how"

 

 

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Family roles

 

Regarding the family, there are three distinct language levels, each one with its own vocabulary. In fact, there is a difference in the way you speak depending on whether you are talking about members of your own family to a third party (case A), about members from another person’s family (case B) or when speaking to members of your own family (case C). The following table shows the differences.

 

When speaking about your own family to somebody for example (case A), saying "Watashi no chichi" is redundant because the word "Chichi" is enough to indicate that you are talking about your own father and not about somebody else’s father.

 

case A case B case C

 

Father chichi otousan papa /otousan

 

Mother haha okaasan mama /okaasan

 

Grandfather sofu ojiisan ojiisan /ojiichan

 

Grandmother sobo obaasan obaasan /obaachan

 

Son musuko musukosan "first name"

 

Daughter musume musumesan "first name"

 

Grandchild mago omagosan "first name" Older brother ani oniisan oniisan /oniichan

 

Older sister ane oneesan oneesan /oneechan Younger brother otouto otoutosan "first name" Younger sister imouto imoutosan "first name"

 

Husband shujin /otto goshujin anata /"first name"

 

Wife kanai /tsuma okusan "first name"

 

As you can see, all the words used to talk about someone else’s family members have the suffix -SAN (except goshujin), which is, as you know, used as a mark of respect. Do not use it to talk about your own family to someone outside your family.

 

This suffix does not appear when talking to your own family except obaasan, ojiisan, oniisan, aneesan, otousan and okaasan, which express respect towards elders (for older brothers and sisters and parents and grand-parents too).

 

When a couple has kids, it is natural for Japanese to call each other by their role in the family. This means that the wife will call her husband "otousan/papa" and the husband will call his wife "okaasan/mama".

[Ridd]

In parallel to the Hiragana and Katakana writing systems, Kanji is the third writing system of the Japanese language and is by far the most complicated. The word "Kanji" literally means "Chinese character", simply because Japanese people started using the Chinese writing system many centuries ago.

 

Here are a few examples of Kanji:

 

Kanji Sens 友 friendship 山 mountain 梨 pear

 

Kanji are ideograms. This means that beyond a simple audio and graphic representation, they each convey one or more meanings. The Roman alphabet by itself has no meaning unless you use it to create words, whereas in Japanese, each Kanji always has its own meaning.

 

It is also important to notice that Kanji cannot be used without Hiragana and Katakana in a sentence. When learning the language you will see that the verb forms are always written in Hiragana, and most foreign words are written in Katakana. And quite often, the name of cities that are generally written in Kanji will also be shown in Hiragana on flyers, billboards, etc. The 3 writing systems are used in parallel in written Japanese, and the choice of using one instead of the other for a word is set by usage conventions or for stylistic reasons.

 

 

 

"Is each Kanji different? Do I have to learn how to write Kanji that will all be different from one another?" In fact, the more Kanji you know, the easier it gets. Why? Because Kanji are composed of one graphical element or more that will also be used in other Kanji. There are thousands of Kanji, but there are only 214 elements that compose them. With these 214 elements we are able to draw every Kanji.

 

The following example shows how the Kanji for « bark » is constructed from two elements that belong to the list of 214 radicals.

 

mouth + dog = to bark 口 + 犬 = 吠

 

Among the elements that compose a Kanji character, one is more important than the others. This is called the radical. It is that part that often carries the main meaning of the character. Knowing that radical often makes it easier to memorize a Kanji.

 

雪 This character means SNOW and its radical is 雨 which means RAIN

 

 

 

 

Although Kanji originated from China, the way you read Japanese Kanji and Chinese Kanji is different since there are different ways to pronounce a Japanese Kanji. It is the word in which the Kanji is included and the context in which it is used that indicates the correct way to read each Kanji. It is complicated: that’s why it is more interesting to learn Kanji when found in a word instead of learning Kanji on their own.

 

In Japanese, there are two main types of reading for Kanji: the ON reading, which is the Chinese pronunciation, and the KUN reading, which is the Japanese pronunciation. You will need to know when to use one or the other. Once again, if you learn the Kanji when you encounter them within a word, you will not have to worry about that. It is undoubtedly more efficient to know a lot of words without knowing each and every pronunciation for the kanji used in it, rather than mastering all the possible ways to read a Kanji character without knowing a word that uses it.

 

 

 

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You cannot simply write Kanji any way you want. Fortunately, respecting the stroke order is not that hard since there are rules on that matter, and these rules really make the learning process easier. Furthermore, the rules concerning the strokes will be well assimilated once you have learned a hundred Kanji or so, and they become almost natural. Ultimately, that constraint is not really a constraint and greatly helps to memorize the Kanji. In fact, writing a character the same way every time rather than drawing Kanji on the spur of the moment will let you quickly acquire automatic reflexes when it comes to writing Kanji

 

In addition, these rules help define the count of strokes used in writing a character. In most dictionaries a character can be found according to the number of strokes used to write it, so being able to count the number of strokes is important, even if it's only for the sake of looking up a Kanji character in a dictionary. By mastering the 214 radicals, you will know the number of strokes used in a Kanji very easily. But, if you do not master the radicals, practice with writing Kanji and experience will let you acquire this skill quickly too.

 

 

 

 

 

Although there are thousands of Kanji that exist, they are organized according to their usage to form the Jouyou Kanji. The different Jouyou can be seen as levels. Jouyou 1, for example, is a list of Kanji that a Japanese student learns at the beginning of his schooling. Knowing every Jouyou leads you to master around 2000 Kanji. Japan-Activator website offers a Kanji training tool organizing them in levels matching the different levels found in the Jouyou list.

 

In Japan, knowing a lot of Kanji is a sign of intelligence. And in the same way, making a mistake on a Kanji, or even worse, using hiragana when a kanji could have been used is a sign of ignorance.

 

Another property of Kanji is frequency. As implied by the name, it organizes Kanji from the most frequently used to the less commonly used (a frequency of 1 indicates the Kanji that are most frequently used). It is set according to how many times a Kanji character appears in the Japanese newspapers. In fact, this method is a major issue because it distorts the real frequency of some of the Kanji. In newspapers you will often find articles dealing with politics for example, which gives Kanji related to politics a higher frequency than some of the Kanji more frequently used outside the newspapers. For that reason, even though frequency is interesting, you should not make the mistake of learning Kanji by their order in the ranking of frequency.

 

[chiakaiyuki]

Thank you again

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! There's a lot of vocab in your last lessons that I need to practice. >

 

One question, in the monologue, it talks about family as 'kazoku' but I was taught another person's family should be referred to as 'gokazoku'. Is this correct?

[Ridd]

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, thanks once again for reading!

And for your question, that's correct. When you talk about you own family, you use the word 'kazoku' using the 'gokazoku would be awkward, and the other way around when talking about someone else's family.

 

Good that you noticed it ! I didn't pay attention to it myself, only now that you mentioned it, I noticed.

 

But as a tourist/foreigner, you don't have to be that worried about those kind of things. Japanese people forgive us stupid foreigners lol.

 

But you point was correct!

[chiakaiyuki]

Thanks for clarifying that! :3

[mecayoyen]

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thank you for the lessons.. I am a total newbie but your lessons helped a lot.. I am also studying the lessons

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gave from the brother site of YO thank so much for sharing I will be looking forward for more lessons