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Welcome to our first lesson, we hope you have enjoyed learning hiragana. Now it is out of the way we can get on with some real fun. If you haven't already done so, we recommend going to our Hiragana study page as this course avoids romaji as you will never use it in Japanese.
In this lesson we will be;
This is going to unlock something very useful from the get go. The ability to ask what something is, so we can learn vocabulary naturally through conversation. It goes without saying that the more you hear, say, read and write something the more likely you will retain the word. When asking what something is, repeat it back aloud and even write it down. Now you have used the word 3 times instead of once.
If you have no one to speak with yet then playing both members of the conversation will be beneficial.
* From lesson one we will be introducing katakana, however we appreciate that it is probably something that you may have not learnt yet. Any katakana that is used will be followed by the romaji in brackets (romaji). This will help you learn katakana along the way. You learnt hiragana so katakana should be a breeze. It is the same pronunciations, just different characters.
If you still have not learnt it you should check out our Katakana study page.
what?
yes
no
apple
carrot
fruit
vegetable
Thomas
Suzuki
なに
はい
いいえ
りんご
にんじん
くだもの
やさい
トーマス*
すずきさん
何
林檎
果物
野菜
鈴木さん
photograph
painting
car
bike
monster
book
shampoo
conditioner
しゃしん
え
くるま
じてんしゃ
ばけもの
ほん
シャンプー
コンディショナー
写真
絵
車
自轉車
化け物
本
The use of です
Using です after any noun or name will translate to, depending on the context, as, "it is", "this is", "those are", "we are", "I am", "she is" etc.
です is always at the end of the sentence.
(word)です = it is a/an (word)
or
(name)です = I am (name)
The pronunciation of です is a little different to what you may think. The う sound at the end of the word is very soft or not there at all. Therefore would sound more like DES.
It is an apple
It is a fruit
I am Thomas
The use of か
Now we want to be able to confirm what something is.
Adding か after です to make ですか will imply a question.
Asking the question would then receive a response of either "yes" or, "no" with the correct answer.
(noun)ですか = Is it a/an (word)?
(name)さんですか = Are you (name)?
As you can see we have さん placed after a name. The use of this word is a suffix and used like we use the Mr, Mrs, Miss, etc.
It can also be used as an honorific for job titles.
Is it a photograph?
No, it is a painting
Is it a fruit?
No, it is a vegetable
Are you Mrs Suzuki?
Yes, I am Mrs Suzuki
You may have noticed that the last example person B does not use さん when referring to themselves. さん is only to be used when referring to other people.
The use of なに
なに on its own just means "what?" and can be used for example when someone may call you for your attention to something. You can reply with "なに".
Example, Person A may call their friends name "トーマス”, (Thomas) would reply with "なに”
なに can also be shortened to なん, which can not be used on its own. It must connect to another word.
Example for this lesson is;
なんですか = "what is it?"
However it is used in other questions such as;
なんさいですか = How old are you/he/she?
What is it?
It is a bicycle
What is it?
It is a monster
What is it?
It is a book
We highly recommend learning the polite forms for every piece of grammar first. However if you visit Japan it would be important to learn casual Japanese. In the real world friends and family members speak to each other differently compared to lets say, people in a work environment.
This is most likely the same case where you are from. Speaking to elderly relatives would most definitely be different to the way you speak to your siblings and friends.
Speaking to your boss would be very formal compared to your colleagues which would most likely be polite/casual, and speaking to your friends outside of work would be almost completely casual.
Use of any public services would count as a formal situation. Speaking to the police, doctor, train station attendant etc you would want to try to be as formal as possible.
We have placed the casual styles at the bottom of each lesson. This way, you can refer back to the grammar without searching for a completely different lesson.
In this case.
です can be changed to だ
Example
It is a carrot.
ですか can be changed to なの？
Example
Is it shampoo?
No, it is conditioner.