じこしょうかいします！
In this lesson, you will learn about the Japanese language, your first words and sentences. You will learn basic sentences, how to introduce yourself, state your age and talk about your profession and hobbies. You will also learn your first particles, は (wa) and も (mo). At the end of this class, you will be able to talk about yourself in very limited situations.
BEFORE DIVING IN...
The Japanese language is spoken by 99% of people in Japan. It has its own language family, the Japonic family language. It is close to Turkish and Korean as its roots. Here is some useful information that will help you understand how this language works!
SUBJECT - OBJECT - VERB
The first thing you should know about Japanese is that it has a S-O-V sentence order (subject-object-verb). English has a S-V-O sentence order (subject-verb-object), which makes Japanese a little bit confusing at first. Verbs are always at the end of a clause or a sentence. It can be hard at first to know how to form sentences in Japanese, but you should keep in mind that even though everything is inverted in Japanese, Japanese actually has a sentence structure that is very flexible compared to English. You will know more about the sentence structure during the lessons!
HONORIFICS
Japanese is also a language that works on familiarity levels, or honorifics (keigo). Honorific speech can be divided as follows: polite language, respectful language, and humble language. And of course, you have the familiar form and the vulgar form!
The regular polite form (teineigo) is the form students first learn in Japanese. This form is the basic of the honorific form and the easiest one to master. You will see these forms manifest themselves in verb endings, and expressions.
Take this verb for instance: 見る (miru), which means ‘to see’. 見る, as is, is in its dictionary form, which is the basic form of verbs, a bit like the infinitive in English, ‘to eat’, ‘to sleep’, ‘to run’, etc. In the teineigo form, 見る becomes 見ます (mimasu). The masu form of verbs is the regular polite form. All verbs will end this way in the future and habitual action tense.
In the respectful language, sonkeigo, 見ます becomes ご覧になる (goran ni naru). The sonkeigo language is an honorific that is a bit more challenging to master, and you will mostly hear this form if you go shopping in Japan. Any clerk working at a shop, restaurant, corner store, or any place with customers, has to use this level of politeness when talking to customers. In the sonkeigo form, almost every verb changes form completely.
In the humble language, kenjougo, 見ます becomes 拝見する (haiken suru). As you could have guessed, this form of politeness is superior to sonkeigo and teineigo. We will go over the different honorific levels throughout the lessons.
Here is a schema of the different familiarity levels in Japanese:
Humble language
Kenjougo
Used when speaking to someone important, like the emperor, prime minister, or a master.
Respectful language
Sonkeigo
Used when speaking to customers, or a boss.
Polite language
Teineigo
Used when speaking to someone older, a teacher, or someone you want to be polite to.
Familiar language
Plain form
Used when speaking to friends, or family. Used in anime and manga.
Vulgar language
Used by Yakuza.
Sometimes, people will mix two honorifics together. Be careful! We will talk about honorifics more in depth in later lessons.
You will also see the prefixes o and go placed before some words in honorific language. These prefixes usually show the cultural significance of something. Not all words can acquire o and go, and usually, the prefix o is used before words that are of Japanese origin, and go is used before words that are of Chinese origin.
Osushi / Gosenmon
Sushi / Major (study)
Oshigoto / Gochuumon
Job / Order (restaurant)
Omizu / Gojuusho
Water / Address
All these words can work without the prefixes.
PARTICLES
Japanese also uses particles; their function is to pinpoint the roles nouns have in a sentence, what the subject or object is in a sentence, where an action takes place, how something is done, etc. They are often one or two-syllable words, and they cannot be translated into English. We will see them in due time.
There are many of them, and they can have different functions in a sentence.
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じこしょうかいさせていただきますよ！
Jikoshoukai sasete itadakimasu yo!
This means ‘please, let me introduce myself’, or ‘I would like to introduce myself’! In this first lesson of N5, you will learn how to introduce yourself, how to say your name, state your age, discuss your career, and your hobbies.
First thing first, you should know that, even though we do have pronouns in Japanese, we seldom use them. In English, pronouns are always used; we cannot omit them. But in Japanese, we can, and you will see that pronouns are omitted at least 90% of the time, especially the pronoun ‘I’. ‘I’ (わたし - watashi, in Japanese) is not used often in Japanese, because Japanese is a language that is context-based.
What does that mean?
It means that if we know the context, we have a tendency to omit certain things that are obvious.
Let’s say that I am introducing myself. In English, I can say ‘hi, I am Hotaru’! I will use the pronoun ‘I’, because I cannot omit it in English. But in Japanese, I will omit it, and say:
ほたるです！
Hotaru desu!
In this sentence, I did not use わたし. Typically, you will see わたしは (watashi wa), and not just わたし. We will see the particle は (wa) shortly.
Be careful when talking about yourself in Japanese! If you use わたしは (watashi wa) like you use the pronoun ‘I’ in English (that is, at all times), you will sound like ‘me, me, me’ in Japanese, and that can be rude. Take わたしは as meaning ‘as for me’; in English, you cannot always be saying ‘as for me, as for me’.
The same goes for the pronoun ‘you’, あなた (anata). In Japanese, we prefer to address the person we are with by their name. It might sound weird to English speakers, but in Japanese, this is very normal.
For instance, let’s say that I am telling my friend that her birthday is coming soon and that she will turn 18 years old.
バーバラはじゅうはっさいになりますよね？
Baabara wa juuhassai ni narimasu yo ne?
You will turn 18, right, Barbara?
I will be talking to my friend in the third person in Japanese. Some people in Japan even speak in the third person when talking about themselves as well!
There can be different pronouns as well in Japanese. Let’s learn them all for a start!
I
私 (watashi - general)
わたくし (watakushi - formal)
あたし (atashi - feminine version)
*僕 (boku - masculine version)
俺 (ore - masculine, vulgar)
You
あなた (anata - general)
あんた (anta - contracted version)
君 (kimi - masculine version)
お前 (omae - masculine, vulgar)
He, she
彼 (kare)
彼女 (kanojo)
We
**私達 (watashi tachi - general)
我々 (wareware - formal)
You
あなた達 (anata tachi)
They
彼ら (karera - he plural)
彼女ら (kanojora - she plural)
*More and more women nowadays use this pronoun.
**The plural たち can be attached to the other pronouns.
THE COPULA VERB です
です (desu) is the verb ‘to be’ in Japanese. Its dictionary form is である (dearu), but you will often see it in its keigo form です, or its familiar form だ (da).
We call です a copula verb, because it is used to describe someone or something. It will be the equivalent of the verb ‘to be’ as a descriptive entity. This verb is very important, because it is also very versatile. You will see it sometimes in polite expressions that have nothing to do with the verb ‘to be’.
In this lesson, you will see it as a verb meaning ‘to be’ in a descriptive way.
ほたるです。
Do you remember this sentence? It means ‘I am Hotaru’. When introducing yourself, you can simply state your name and add です at the end. The pronoun ‘I’ is not necessary, as it is clear that it is you who introduce yourself.
こんにちは！えいこです。
Konnichiwa! Eiko desu.
Hi! I’m Eiko.
You can also introduce yourself by saying ‘my name is….’
私のなまえはえいこです。
Watashi no namae wa Eiko desu.
My name is Eiko.
By adding the particle の after every pronoun, it will turn them into a possessive pronoun. なまえ means ‘name’.
There is a more formal way to introduce yourself, and it is with the expression ともうします (to mou shimasu).
かみさとともうします。
Kamisato to mou shimasu.
I am Kamisato.
This way of introducing yourself is more reserved for interviews and very formal settings.
Now, to ask someone what their name is, you can just say:
おなまえはなんですか？
Onamae wa nan desu ka?
What is your name?
The お in front of なまえ is an honorific. We will also sound more polite if we use it. なん (nan) means ‘what’. なに (nani), which means ‘what’, will become なん in front of です. This expression can also be shortened to:
おなまえは？
Onamae wa?
And your name is?
The verb です will also be used to say where we come from. The word しゅっしん (shusshin) means ‘origin’, ‘originated’, where we are from. You can put this word after any country, city, or town.
東京しゅっしんです。
Toukyou shusshin desu.
I am from Tokyo.
カナダしゅっしんです。
Kanada shusshin desu.
I am from Canada.
こんにちは！えいこ です。かごしま しゅっしん です。よろしく おねがいします！
こんにちは！さくら です。とうきょう しゅっしん です。こちら こそ よろしく！
Did you understand this conversation?
Romaji transcript:
Konnichiwa! Eiko desu. Kagoshima shusshin desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
Konnichiwa! Sakura desu. Toukyou shusshin desu. Kochira koso yoroshiku!
English translation:
Hello! I'm Eiko. I am from Kagoshima. Nice to meet you!
Hello! I'm Sakura. I am from Tokyo. Likewise, nice to meet you!
こちらこそ (kochira koso) is an expression you will see often, meaning 'likewise'.
HOW OLD ARE YOU?
To ask in Japanese how old you are, there is two ways: you can say いくつですか (ikutsu desu ka), or you can say なんさいですか (nan sai desu ka).
さい means ‘age’, and it is also a counter. To count things, Japanese use counters. This will be your first counter!
Before diving into the explanation of how counters work, let’s see the numbers in Japanese. Japanese numbers are relatively easy as they have a pattern. Here is a table of the numbers from 1 to 100.
It is important to note that there are actually two ways to say the number 4 and the number 7. よん (4) can also be し (shi). なな (7) can also be しち (shichi). This difference will be noted in some words, such as the month of April しがつ (shigatsu - literally, the fourth month) and the month of July しちがつ (shichigatsu - the seventh month). In general, when counting, we will use the default numbers よん and なな, but not always.
The counter for ‘age’ is さい (sai).
To say your age, simply put the number, add さい, and the verb です.
二十五さいです。
Nijuugo sai desu.
I am 25 years old.
When counting things, it is important to remember that the numbers might undergo a change. Depending on the counter, some numbers will not be pronounced as expected. Take a look at this table for instance.
As you can see, to say one year old, we will say いっさい (issai), and not ichisai, as expected. The same goes for eight years old, はっさい (hassai), and not hachisai.
You will encounter a lot of these exceptions when counting with counters. In English, counting things is easy, as you simply have to say the number and the noun you want to count, for instance, one rabbit, two rabbits, three rabbits, etc. Unfortunately, in Japanese, we cannot do that. We need counters, and there are hundreds of them. But do not panic! Not all counters are used.
Did you know? The age of adulthood in Japan is 20 years old. This number has a special word, which is はたち (hatachi). When reaching maturity, Japanese people celebrate at the beginning of January by putting on a kimono and going to the temple. So, in January, you might see a lot of young people gathering at the temple, celebrating はたち!
きょう、はたちになりました！
Kyou, hatachi ni narimashita!
Today, I turned 20 years old!
Young people celebrating hatachi.
WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION
‘Work’ in Japanese is おしごと (oshigoto), or simply しごと (shigoto). Asking about other people's work will be similar to asking about their age.
おしごとはなんですか？
Oshigoto wa nan desu ka?
What is your job?
Answering this question is pretty simple, simply state your job and add the verb です (desu).
きょうしです。
Kyoushi desu.
I am a teacher.
いしゃです。
Isha desu.
I am a doctor.
べんごしです。
Bengoshi desu.
I am a lawyer.
れんきんじゅつです。
Renkinjutsu desu.
I am an alchemist.
ジャーナリストです。
Jaanarisuto desu.
I am a journalist.
マジシャンです。
Majishan desu .
I am a magician.
In Japanese, there is no article, like ‘a, an, the’ in English. There is no gender either, like in French and German, and there is no plural either.
DISCUSSING ABOUT YOUR HOBBIES
The word ‘hobby’ is しゅみ (shumi) in Japanese. Since most hobbies will be verbs, we will need to learn a special construction, along with some verbs.
The expression we will use will be:
(hobby - verb in dictionary form) + こと + です
こと (koto) in this context is a verb nominalizer. Its function will be to turn verbs into nouns. It acts a little bit like the ‘ing’ in English. As is, the word koto means 'thing', something abstract. Let’s see an example where koto is a verb nominalizer.
(私のしゅみは)ほんをよむことです。
(Watashi no shumi wa) hon o yomu koto desu.
My hobby is to read books.
Watashi no shumi wa is ‘my hobby’. Hon o yomu is 'to read books'; hon is 'book', o is the object particle that we will see in another lesson, and yomu is 'to read' in its dictionary form. This clause is followed by the verb nominalizer koto, and the verb desu.
よいみやのしゅみはなんですか？
Yoimiya no shumi wa nan desu ka?
What is your hobby, Yoimiya?
はなびをみることです。
Hanabi o miru koto desu.
(My hobby) is to watch fireworks.
This construction is a bit more complex. But don't worry! You just need to stick with this grammatical structure, and you will be doing just fine.
If you want to say more than one hobby, for example if you like reading books and watching movies, you can use this construction:
(hobby - verb in dictionary form) + こと + で + (other hobby) + こと + です
ほんをよむことでえいがをみることです。
Hon o yomu koto de eiga o miru koto desu.
(My hobbies are) reading books and watching movies.
The first part is hon o yomu koto de, which mean 'reading books'. で (de) will be a connector. The second part is eiga o miru koto, which means 'watching movies'. Eiga is 'movies' and miru is 'to watch'.
In the event your hobby is a noun, you can drop こと.
私のしゅみはつりです。
Watashi no shumi wa tsuri desu.
My hobby is fishing.
In this case, 'fishing' - tsuri is a noun.
PARTICLES は (WA) AND も (MO)
Throughout this lesson, we bumped into the particle は (wa) in sentences, such as おなまえはなんですか？ (onamae wa nan desu ka?), おしごとはなんですか？ (oshigoto wa nan desu ka?). But what is the particle は (wa) exactly?
We pronounce this particle wa even though we write it with the hiragana ha. That is because the writing system was revised in 1946 to keep the traditional spelling of particles. It is the same thing with the object particle を (written wo, but pronounced o). You will also find some words where wa is written ha, such as こんにちは (konnichiwa - hello) and こんばんは (konbanwa - good evening).
The particle は has several functions in a sentence, such as: pinpoint the theme of a sentence, pinpoint a contrast, and putting emphasis on a specific thing. In this lesson, you will see the particle は as a topic marker, which is used to pinpoint the theme of a sentence.
ATTENTION: Students often mix up the particles は (wa) and が (ga). We will see the particle が in another lesson. The reason why these two particles get mixed up is because the particle が is the subject particle, but so is the particle は in a way. We won't get too much into detail in this lesson, but keep in mind the functions of the particle は.
In the cases above, the particle は is required, because of this construction: (something) はなんですか (what is...). It tells us that, in the next sentence, a specific thing will be the topic of the sentence.
おなまえはさくらです。
Onamae wa Sakura desu.
My name is Sakura.
さくらはしょうがくせいです。
Sakura wa shougakusei desu.
Sakura is an elementary school student.
In this sentence, Sakura is the topic marker.
The particle も (mo) is a particle that means 'too'. It will be used after nouns only, and will be used to substitute the particles は or が.
さくらはしょうがくせいです。ともよもしょうがくせいです。
Sakura wa shougakusei desu. Tomoyo mo shougakusei desu.
Sakura is an elementary school student. Tomoyo is also an elementary school student.
VOCABULARY AND USEFUL EXPRESSIONS
おはようございます (ohayou gozaimasu) - good morning
こんにちは (konnichiwa) - hello (afternoon)
こんばんは (konbanwa) - good evening
おやすみなさい (oyasumi nasai) - good night (said before bed)
さようなら (sayounara) - goodbye
またね (mata ne) - see you later
おねがいします (onegai shimasu) - please
ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu) - thank you
どういたしまして (douitashimashite) - you're welcome
すみません (sumimasen) - excuse-me
ごめんなさい (gomen nasai) - I'm sorry
はい (hai) - yes
いいえ (iie) - no
いただきます (itadakimasu) - said before eating
ごちそうさまでした (gochisousama deshita) - said after eating
はじめまして (hajimemashite) - nice to meet you
よろしくおねがいします (yoroshiku onegai shimasu) - please take care of me
ようこそ (youkoso) - welcome (general)
いらっしゃいませ (irasshaimase) - welcome (said by clerks when customers enter an establishment)
おかえりなさい (okaerinasai) - welcome home
ただいま (tadaima) - I'm home
いってらっしゃい (itterasshai) - see you later
きをつけて (ki o tsukete) - be careful
おじゃまします (ojama shimasu) - I'm sorry for the trouble (when entering someone else's place)
だいじょうぶです (daijoubu desu) - it is alright
わかります (wakarimasu) - I understand
わかりました (wakarimashita) - I understood
わかりません (wakarimasen) - I don't understand
わかりませんでした (wakarimasen deshita) - I didn't understand
もういちどおねがいおねがいします (mou ichido onegai shimasu) - one more time, please
ゆっくりでおねがいします (yukkuri de onegai shimasu) - slowler, please
しごと (shigoto) - job
しょくぎょう (shokugyou) - profession
キャリア (kyaria) - career
きょうし (kyoushi) - teacher
いしゃ (isha) - doctor
じゅうい (juui) - veterinarian
はいしゃ (haisha) - dentist
けいさつかん (keisatsukan) - police officer
しょうぼうしゃ (shoubousha) - firefighter
きゅうきゅうたいいん (kyuukyuutaiin) - paramedic
かんごし (kangoshi) - nurse
べんごし (bengoshi) - lawyer
かいしゃいん (kaishain) - office employee
こうむいん (koumuin) - government employee
エンジニアー (enjiniaa) - engineer
けんきゅうしゃ (kenkyuusha) - researcher
ほんやくしゃ (hon'yakusha) - translator
かしゅ (kashu) - singer
はいゆう (haiyuu) - actor
せいゆう (seiyuu) - voice actor
さっか (sakka) - writer
レジ (reji) - cashier
がくせい (gakusei) - student
しゅみ (shumi) - hobby
ほんをよむ (hon o yomu) - to read books
えいがをみる (eiga o miru) - to watch movies
ゲームをする (geemu o suru) - to play games, video games
つり (tsuri) - fishing
うたう (utau) - to sing
ダンス (dansu) - dancing
えをかく (e o kaku) - to draw
うんどうする (undou suru) - to exercise
ブログをかく (burogu o kaku) - to write a blog
おんがくをきく (ongaku o kiku) - to listen to music
さんぽする (sanpo suru) - to go for walks
べんきょうする (benkyou suru) - to study
りょこうする (ryokou suru) - to travel
りょうりする (ryouri suru) - to cook
スキーをする (sukii o suru) - to ski
とうき (touki) - pottery
かぎばりあみ (kagibari ami) - crochet
CONVERSATION PRACTICE
Kanji:
こんにちは！桜です。東京出身です。二十三歳です。私のお仕事は会社員です。私の趣味は釣りです。宜しくお願いします！
はじめまして！知世です。二十二歳です。札幌出身です。お仕事は教師です。趣味は漫画を読むことで、アニメを見ることです。こちらこそ宜しくお願いします！
Hiragana:
こんにちは！さくらです。とうきょうしゅっしんです。にじゅうさんさいです。わたしのおしごとはかいしゃいんです。わたしのしゅみはつりです。よろしくおねがいします！
はじめまして！ともよです。にじゅうにさいです。さっぽろしゅっしんです。おしごとはきょうしです。しゅみはまんがをよむことで、アニメをみることです。こちらこそよろしくおねがいします！
Romaji:
Konnichiwa! Sakura desu. Toukyou shusshin desu. Nijuusan sai desu. Watashi no oshigoto wa kaishain desu. Watashi no shumi wa tsuri desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!
Hajimemashite! Tomoyo desu. Nijuuni sai desu. Sapporo shusshin desu. Oshigoto wa kyoushi desu. Shumi wa manga o yomu koto de, anime o miru koto desu. Kochira koso yoroshiku onegai shimasu!
English:
Hello! I'm Sakura. I am from Tokyo. I am 23 years old. I am an office employee. My hobby is fishing. Nice to meet you!
Nice to meet you! I'm Tomoyo. I'm 22 years old. I am from Sapporo. My work is being a teacher. My hobbies are reading manga and watching anime. Likewise, nice to meet you!
