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Butabara (c) Edo
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1. In America, we say "Sensei [last name]" but really it is "[last name] Sensei."
2. You can transcribe 23 additional sounds in hiragana by adding diacritical
marks " these are called "tenten."
3. h changes to p with a small circle o. This circle is called "maru."
4. Small ya, yu and yo characters follow after letters in the second column
(i-vowel hiragana, except "i") and are used to transcribe contracted sounds. The
contracted sound represents a single syllable
5. There is anothersmall letter "tsu", which is used when transcribing double
consonants such as pp and tt
6. Note that double consonant n's, as in sannen [3 years] are written with "n"
and a hiragana with an initial sound
7. When the same vowel is placed one right after the other, the pronunciation of
the vowel becomes about twice as long as the single vowel. Be sure to hold
the sound long enough, because the length of the vowel can change on word
to another.
ex. obaasan - grandmother
obasan - aunt
8. The long ee sound is usually transcribed by adding an "i" to an e-vowel
hiragana. There are few words, however, in which "e" is used instead of "i."
ex. eega - movie
oneesan - big sister
9. The long oo sound is in most cases transcribed by adding an "u" to an
o-vowel hiragana. There are, however, words in which the long vowel is
transcribed with an "o" for historival reasons.
ex. Hooritsu - law
oosama - king
too - ten
10. "n" is treated like a full syllable, in terms of length. Its pronunciatioin
varies, however, depending on the sound that follows it. Japanese are not aware
of the different sound values of "n". Therefore, you do not need to worry about
your pronunciation of "n."
11. Ohayoo and arigatoo are used between friends and family. Students speak
the longer variants when speaking to their sensei.
12. There are several goodbyes:
Sayoonara means goodbye until tomorrow or death.
Jaa, mata is used by friends and means see you soon.
oyasuminasai means good night.
13. Sumimasen means: excuse me - to get attention
I am sorry
Thank you [to show apprectiation]
14. iie is primarily no but can also express "don't mention it" or "you are
welcome"
15. ittekimasu and itterashai is a common exchange at home when a family
member leaves. The person leaving says ittekimasu and the person(s) staying
reply with itterashai.
16. tadaima and okaerinasai are used when a person comes home. The
person coming home says tadaima and the person(s) at home reply with
okaerinasai.
17. itadakimasu is said before consuming a meal and is said in thanks for the
meal. gochisoosama is said after consuming a meal and is also said in thanks
for the meal.
18. Languages are written with the country name + go
ex. Nihongo
19. Where a person is from is written and said as the country name + jin
ex. Nihongo
20. Time is represented by a number from 1 to twelve ending with -ji.
21. Gogo and gozen are written and said before the time.
ex. gogo ichi-ji desu
22. han means half past and comes after the hour.
ex. gogo ichi-ji han desu
23. There are several different ways to show affection in Japanese. Here are
some:
Anata ga suki desu - I like you
Aishiteru - I love you
Suki daioh - I love you [colliguial; informal]
24. These sentences will all be translated into Japanese using an appropriate
noun and the word desu [is]
Note that none of these sentences has a "subject" like the "it", "I", and
"my major" found in their English counterparts.
sentences without subjects are very common in Japanese
______ wa nihongo desu. - ______ is the Japanese language.
Where ___ stands for the thing that is talked about, or the "topic" which is
later in the sentence identified as nihongo.
_ senmon _ wa nihongo desu
_ (my) major _ is the Japanese language.
similarly, one can use the pattern X ha Y desu to identify a person or a thing X
as item Y.
X[subject] ha Y[noun] desu
X is Y. As for X, it is Y
I am Rebecca Kim - Watashi wa Rebecca Kim desu.
Ms. Iwakawa is a teacher. - Iwakawa-san wa sensei desu.
25. WA[ha] is a member of the class of words called "particles"
Particles attach themselves to phrases and indicate how the phrases relate to
the rest of the sentence.
26. Note also that nouns like gakusee and sensei in the above examples
stand alone, unlike their English translations "student" and "teacher," which
are preceded by "a"
27. To make a question, add ka
1. I am an international student - ryuugakusei desu.
2. Are you an international student? - ryuugakusei desu ka.
3. Is that a cat? neko desu ka.
4. Are you Olivia Dove? Oribia Dobu desu ka.
5. Are you a Chinese? Chuugoku desu ka.
Ryuugakusee desu ka is a "yes/no" question. Question sentences may
also contain a "question word" like nan(what). In this lesson, we learn how to
ask, how to answer, questions using the following question words: nanji [what
time], nansai [how old], nannensee [what year in school]
In Japanese, the word order is different than English.
1. What time? - nanji
2. How old? nansei
3. what year in school? nannensei
Person of what nationality? - nanijin desuka.
What language? - nanigo desu ka.
what is your major? - Senmon wa nan desu ka.
(My major) is English. - Eego desu.
What time is it now? - ima, nanji desu ka.
It is nine o'clock. - ku-ji desu
How old are you Vince? - Binsu, nansai desu ka.
I am 15 years old. - juugo sai desu.
What year in high school? - nannensei desu ka.
I am in 9th grade. - Kyuu nensei desu.
28. what time is it? - nanji desu ka.
It is 12 o'clock - Juuni-ji desu.
ichijikan - 1 hour
nijikan - 2 hours
sanjikan - 3 hours
How many hours do you study? - nanjikan benkyooshimasuka.
When using the "be verb"[desu] with "to___" change desu to masu
I will study 2 hours - 2-jikan desu OR 2-jikan benkyooshimasu.
29. Minutes