ひとりで / じぶんで

We learned how to say 'together with someone'. Now, we will learn how to say 'by oneself'. This expression will consist of the words ひとり (which means 'one person') or じぶん (which means 'oneself') and the particle で. We saw that で has the function of pinpointing a location where an action would take place. In this case, it will roughly be translated as 'by'.

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ひとりでイギリスへいきます。

Hitori de igirisu e ikimasu.

I am going to England by myself.

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You can also use it for other people.

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れいなはひとりですしをたべています。

Reina wa hitori de sushi o tabeteimasu.

Reina is eating sushi by herself.

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いまさゆみはひとりであるけます。

Ima Sayumi wa hitori de arukemasu.

Now, Sayumi can walk by herself.

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This expression has a meaning that someone can do things without the help of anyone, or that someone is doing something alone. It can also means 'being alone'.

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ひとりではありません。

Hitori dewa arimasen.

You are not alone.

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On the other hand, じぶんで has more the meaning that you can do something without the help of somebody. It doesn't have the meaning that you are doing something alone. 

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じぶんでかんじをよめます。

Jibun de kanji o yomemasu.

I can read kanji by myself.

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カタリナはじぶんでこうくうけんをかいました。

Katarina wa jibun de koukuuken o kaimashita.

Katharina bought plane tickets by herself.

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じぶん also has a sense of oneself, as talking about yourself.

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じぶんにまかせてください。

Jibun ni makasete kudasai.

Please, leave this to me (myself).

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じぶんにしんじてください。

Jibun ni shinjite kudasai.

Please, believe in yourself.

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Adjectives and adverbs

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Here is a list of very useful words that will help you develop more complex sentences! We will see adjectives more into details later, but for now, remember that there are い-adjectives and な-adjectives. な-adjectives will lose their final な when in front of verbs and will retain their final な in front of nouns.

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やすい - easy
むずかしい - hard, difficult
やすい - cheap
たかい - expensive
ひくい - low
たかい - high
ながい - long
みじかい - short
ひろい - wide
せまい - narrow
しずかな - quiet
にぎやかな - lively
きれいな - clean, pretty
きたない - dirty
かんたんな - simple
たいへんな - difficult
おいしい - delicious
まずい - bad (flavour)
やさしい - nice, good, easy
わるい - bad
おおきい - big
ちいさい - small
とおい - far
ちかい - near, close
あつい - hot (temperature)
さむい - cold (temperature)
あたたかい - warm (to the touch)
つめたい - cold (to the touch)
うるさい - loud
しずかな - quiet
くらい - dark
あかるい - bright

げんきな - energetic
びょうきな - sickly

おそい - slow, late
はやい - fast, early

おおい - a lot
すくない - few

あんぜんな - safe
きねんな - dangerous

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とにかく - anyway
ちなみに - by the way
それに - and then
しかし - however
つまり - in other words

さらに - moreover, furthermore
まずは - firstly
さいごに - lastly

かならず - definitely

きっと - surely
ぜひ - please
ずっと - forever

ぜったい - absolutely
いつも - always
よく - well
ときどき - sometimes
たまに - rarely
ぜんぜん - not at all, never
いっしょけんめい - seriously, hard (as in work hard)
たいてい - usually
たぶん - maybe, probably
たくさん - a lot (amount)
すこし - a little
ほんとうに - really
ほとんど - largely

すごく - very
とても - very
ちょっと - a bit

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You can also change adjectives into adverbs. For the い, replace the final い by く, and for な adjectives, you drop the な and replace it with に.

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はやい - fast
はやく - rapidly
きれいな - beautiful
きれいに - in a beautiful way