RJ Grammar1 v1.01

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Minasan, Konnichiwa
Hello and Welcome to the Rocket Japanese Grammar Lessons.
Grammar Lesson 1
Ykoso! Welcome to your first installment of the Rocket Japanese Grammar Lessons.
These lessons act as the perfect complement to the conversational Japanese you have learned in
the Interactive Audio course!!
In each of these grammar lessons, you can expect detailed grammar examples,
and invaluable cultural notes (that not only help you with what to say and when
to say it but also how to act). Youll get an insight into written Japanese as well.
The mission today is to help you make sense of some of the grammar and vocabulary in the most
basic Japanese conversations you have learned.
Are you ready to get started? Here we go then
I. Greetings and Politeness in Japanese Culture

So you learned how to say a few greetings in Japanese yesterday.
Please remember, in Japanese culture, it is considered very important to be able to say these
simple greetings when you see people everyday - just as important as saying thank you and
please in Western culture.
Ohay gozaimasu
greeting in the morning
Konnichiwa
greeting during the day
Konbanwa
greeting after dark
Theres another thing you need to remember about Japanese culture: it is being polite and humble.
In spoken Japanese, there are different levels of formality and politeness.
You need to always be aware of the relationship between you and the person you are speaking to.
Are they a friend? A member of your family? A customer? Your boss? A colleague?
Of the three greetings you learned yesterday, Ohay gozaimasu is a good simple example.
Every morning I go to work, I say Ohay gozaimasu to my colleagues.
Every morning I go to the kitchen to have my breakfast, I say Ohay to my family.
To a few of my colleagues I am very friendly with, I say Ohay.
To my boss or my teacher, I definitely say Ohay gozaimasu.
To a stranger I walked past on the street in the morning, I say Ohay gozaimasu.
For Konnichiwa and Konbanwa, theres only one version for everyone.
Lets look at the picture below. Can you tell what theyre saying?
The paperboy would definitely be saying Ohay gozaimasu:

1) because the person hes speaking to is possibly a customer.
because the person hes speaking to is much older than him and he needs to pay respect
2)
to older generations.
3) or simply because he is a stranger.
On the other hand, the older man may be saying Ohay gozaimasu but he can get away with
saying Ohay if he knows the young man even slightly because he is much older.
II. Names and using san

You
probably
have
heard
a
Japanese
name
mentioned
followed
by
san.
San is an address showing a sign of respect. You might say its like Mr. Mrs. and Ms.
San, however, can be used both after family names or given names.
Theres a very important thing to remember, though. Never put san after your own name.
As I mentioned above, it is important to be humble and as san is a sign of respect, you should
not use it after your own name.
III. Japanese Writing Systems

Many people tell me that Japanese is not such a difficult language to learn to speak well enough
to get by. When it comes to reading and writing, however, it is a totally different story! And they
are right!
The reason some people find Japanese reading and writing difficult is because we use THREE sets
of characters.
Characters, unlike the letters in the English alphabet, are like pictures.
So, letters represent sounds, but characters each represent a word - or if not a word then at least
a meaningful unit of language, such as a syllable (a sound cluster).
For example, a Chinese character that means mountain would have originated from a drawing
of a mountain. Lets have a brief look at what kind of characters we use in Japanese.
1) Kanji (Chinese characters)
When the Japanese first wrote down their language many centuries ago, they borrowed characters from the Chinese language and we still use them in our modern Japanese language. Every
Chinese character has a meaning.
2) Hiragana and 3) Katakana
As the Chinese characters alone did not fit the Japanese language very well, they next invented
hiragana and katakana. These two sets represent sounds. Each character represents a syllable.
Unlike kanji, these characters do not have any meaning on their own - beyond the sound clusters they represent.
There are 46 hiragana and katakana characters each and both are used to represent the same
sounds. Hiragana came to be used mainly in the Japanese language in conjunction with kanji and
katakana came to be reserved for foreign original words.
Since these two sets are phonetic, anything you can say you can write down using these characters (within the sound system of Japanese).
Lets take a persons name as an example. One of the most common Japanese family names,
Tanaka, and a very common girls name, Yoshiko.
1)
2)
3)
4)
Tanaka Yoshiko
1) Written in kanji
As I mentioned before, every kanji has a meaning.
First kanji
means a rice field. It is read as ta.
Second kanji
means inside or middle. It is read as naka.
Third kanji
means good. It is read as yoshi.
The last kanji
means a child. It is read as ko.
So this persons name can mean A good child in the middle of a rice field!
But it is read as Tanaka Yoshiko.
Another Yoshiko, however, may use different kanji, .
This kanji means beautiful child. But it still is read as Yoshiko.
So someone may ask me What does Yoshiko mean? I can only answer, It depends on what kanji
characters they use!
2) Written in hiragana
Here, each character represents a sound cluster:
=
=
=
=
=
=
ta
na
ka
yo
shi
ko
Easy, right
3) Written in katakana
The same name written this time in katakana.
A Japanese name is usually not written in katakana. A foreign name, for example, will be usually
written using katakana. But since katakana characters are phonetic, anything can be written
down using them.
One more Way to Write in Japanese (the Easy Way!)
Did you wonder how youre going to be able to read Japanese? Well, dont worry. We have this
system called rmaji (literally Romanized characters) which allows us to write down what we say
using the letters you use in the English alphabet. In your next newsletter, you will learn the rules
of pronouncing the Japanese words written in rmaji. For now, lets just see how the same name
looks when written in rmaji.
4) Tanaka Yoshiko Written in rmaji
.this is how Japanese names will be expressed when they are used in English.
Ok. Lets get back to characters, kanji, hiragana, and katakana. You might still be a bit baffled as
to how the three systems are used together.
Heres an example.
You see, we use ALL of these THREE sets of characters. Can you spot which ones are kanji? hiragana? katakana?
Did you also notice something else?
Traditionally we write vertically, from right to left.
Newspapers, magazines, novels, and formal personal letters are usually written vertically and
textbooks, casual personal letters, and business correspondence are usually written horizontally
from left to right, top to bottom.
Grammar Lesson Part 2

Welcome to your second Rocket Japanese grammar lesson. Today we will be learning all about the
writing system we call Rmaji and the sounds in the Japanese language. Well also find out how
to ask someones name and where they are from, and well tell you everything you need to know
about you no, not about YOU, but about using the Japanese word for you in conversation.
Now lets dig our hands into some basics of the Japanese language
I. Rmaji and the Sounds in the Japanese Language

Japanese pronunciation is not difficult. The most important pronunciations are those of the five
vowels. As long as you can distinguish the five vowels clearly, youll be alright! All other syllables
consist of consonants and these vowels.
a sounds like
a as in art
i sounds like
ea as in eat
u sounds like
oo as in food
e sounds like
e as in bed
o sounds like
o as in orange
But keep them all SHORT and CLIPPED. And WHENEVER you see those vowels written in rmaji,
ALWAYS pronounce them in the same way.
Add the consonant k before each of these vowels.
aiueo
ka ki ku ke ko
The shape of your mouth should be the same because the vowels are the same.
Below is the chart of basic Japanese syllables
a
ka
ki
ku
ke
ko
sa
shi
su
se
so
ta
chi
tsu
te
to
na
ni
nu
ne
no
ha
hi
fu
he
ho
ma
mi
mu
me
mo
ya
yu
yo
ra
ri
ru
re
ro
wa
wo
Some important things to note:

The sound n without a vowel can be used at the end of a word or in the middle of a word.
Usually say it as it looks to you and you will be fine.
When you see the symbol: above a vowel, make it a long sound.
For example: saynara.
When you see double consonants like tt and kk, insert a little gap before a t or k
sound. For chotto, insert a gap between cho and to. For gakk, insert a gap between
ga and k.
There are some other combinations such as kya and kyo. Pronounce them as one
syllable, not two. For example: kyto, tky
Sometimes vowels i and u sound like they are missing, like desu. But enough is there to
know it is su and not sa or any other vowel. The name Yoshiko I used in the previous
newsletter also has a missing i. It is pronounced with an accent on the first syllable. But
enough is there to know it is not sha but shi.
Lastly, try to say the following Japanese words written in rmaji. Remember to pronounce the
vowels! Dont confuse them with English words!!!!
are
kite
sake
me
to
II. Whats Your Name and Where are You From?

Before we get into the more grammatical side of todays lesson, lets look at the following country
names and see if you can recognize them. Some of them you can sound out and guess what they
are
nihon
Japan
amerika
America
kanada
Canada
igirisu
England
furansu
France
doitsu
Germany
indo
India
kankoku
Korea
chgoku
China
Just add jin after each of these country names, and then you have a person from that country.
- 10 www.rocketlanguages.com
nihon jin
= Japanese person
[]desu is the most basic sentence in Japanese language.

Nihon jin desu can mean:
I am Japanese.
You are Japanese.
He/she is Japanese.
We are Japanese.
They are Japanese.
That is because we tend to drop the subject part of the sentence. Actually, its not just the subject
part that is often omitted. Many things that have been previously mentioned or understood are
omitted.
If I am standing in front of a group of people and have just introduced myself and said Nihon jin
desu, then it is obvious that I mean I am Japanese.
If I am pointing at my friend standing next to me and say Nihon jin desu, then I mean she is
Japanese.
The basic sentence structure is this.
[ A ] wa [ B ] desu.
[A]=[B]
A (I) =
B (Japanese)
Watashi wa nihon jin desu.
A (Kenny) =
B (English)
Ken san wa igirisu jin desu.
A (I) =
B (Sayaka)
Watashi wa Sayaka desu.
A (I) =
B (well)
Watashi wa genki desu.
As I mentioned before, the subject part is often dropped. So we end up with:

Nihon jin desu.
Sayaka desu.
Genki desu.
We know how to make these into questions, dont we?
Nihon jin desu ka.
Sayaka san desu ka.
(Remembering to add san to someone elses name)
O genki desu ka.
(Remembering to add o to genki )
If you replace it with a question word that means what, you get:
Nan desu ka. What is it?
What is it?
O namae wa nan desu ka?
What is your name?
Next lets go back to the names of the countries and learn to say where you are from.
Nihon
kara
kimashita.
from
came
Literally, it is saying I came from Japan. But watashi wa has been omitted because it is
obvious.
Watashi wa nihon kara kimashita.
Ken san wa igirisu kara kimashita.
Pru san wa doitsu kara kimashita.
Ken san wa amerika kara kimashita ka?
Lets replace amerika with another question word that means where.
A: Ken san wa doko kara kimashita ka?
Keni san, where are you from?
B: Igirisu kara kimashita.
Im from England.
III. All About the Word You

The Japanese translation for the English word you is anata. However, many people will choose
to avoid using this word whenever we can.
How? We usually use the persons name instead of anata.
Sayaka:
Anata wa amerika jin desu ka.
Are you American?
Kenny:
e, kanada jin desu.
No, Im Canadian.
Sayaka:
Ken san wa amerika jin desu ka.
Are you American?
Kenny:
e, kanada jin desu.
No, Im Canadian.
If I am talking to Paul, Kennys friend, about Kenny, what would I say

Sayaka:
Ken san wa amerika jin desu ka.
Is Kenny American?
Paul:
e, kanada jin desu.
No, hes Canadian.
Thats right. On the surface, these two sentences can be exactly the same. It all depends on the
context.

I hope youre enjoying the lessons so far. Grammar is not everyones favorite topic, but if you
take it in bite-sized bits, it can be easy to digest. And it will be rewarding when you start to see
patterns emerging in the way the language is structured and really begin to understand the mechanics behind it.
Our objective in this lesson is to examine some of the pieces of the common Japanese
conversations - and youll notice that many of these words and phrases are the same ones that
appear in the early lessons of the Interactive Audio Course.
Today were learning how to order food or drink, and how to say thank you in different ways. Well
also have a brief look at how some Chinese characters were made up.
Lets dig into it...
I. How to ask for Something

Of course its important in any culture to be able to ask for things you want or need. In Japanese,
as you know, you need to be polite and use the right expression in the right situation.
Heres three ways to ask for what you want when you want it - AND be sure you get.
The first one will allow you to ask others what they have, the second will allow you to say please
could I have, and the third will allow you to ask for something in a very pleasant way!
Lets learn about the ga arimasu structure first:
ga arimasu.
There are
or I have
You can use this structure to ask to see if they have the drink you want.
Kh ga arimasuka.
In conversation, the particle ga (another subject particle) is often omitted.
Kh, arimasuka.
Do you have coffee?
Kcha, arimasuka.
English tea?
O-cha, arimasuka.
green tea?
Jsu, arimasuka.
juice?
Wain, arimasuka.
wine?
Note that arimasu is used only with inanimate objects, meaning things that can not get up and
walk away by themselves. Trees, though they are living objects, can not get up and walk away, so
they are inanimate objects. But people and animals are not inanimate objects.
With these things, imasu is used instead.

Nihon jin, imasu ka.
Is there a Japanese person?
Ken san, imasu ka.
Is Kenny there?
Neko, imasu ka.
Are there cats?
Now lets learn about the kudasai phrase:

o kudasai.
Please give me
You can use this structure to order or ask for the drink you want.
Aka wain o kudasai.
Please give me some red wine.
In conversation, the particle o (object particle) is often omitted.

Shiro wain, kudasai.
Please give me some white wine.
Mizu, kudasai.
water
Kra, kudasai.
cola
Bru, kudasai.
beer
Nihon no bru, kudasai.
Japanese beer
The particle no in the above example is a useful joining word. It joins two nouns.
beer can
bru no kan
wine bottle
wain no bin
tea from India
indo no kcha
And finally, lets add the onegai shimasu phrase to our conversational toolbox:
o onegai shimasu
please
Onegai shimasu is an expression similar to please that you use when you are asking for something.
The particle o, again, can be omitted in conversation in this structure as well.
Kh, onegai shimasu.
Coffee, please.
II. More than one Way to Say: Thank you!

Lets talk about the word: Sumimasen
Sumimasen is possibly one of th first phrases picked up in Japan because it is used a lot. It can
mean excuse me Im sorry and thank you. No wonder!
A] dropped a handkerchief on the street
[B], a stranger, notices it and picks it up.
B: Sumimasen! (getting As attention)
(B hands over the handkerchief.)
A: Aaaa, sumimasen(showing gratitude)
[A]bumps into [B] on the street.
A: A, sumimasen(apologizing)
This phrase is a good example of how the Japanese language heavily relies on the situation and
context.
How polite is your thank you?
There are many ways to say thank you in Japanese, depending on how formal you want to thank
them and the relationship between you and the person youre thanking.
Heres some of the ways listed in the order of politeness and formality:
Arigat
Dmo sumimasen
Do not use with superiors or strangers.

Can be used with strangers and sometimes to
superiors.
Somewhat apologetic thank you but very common.
Can be used with strangers and superiors but not
too formal.
Same as above but slightly more thankful.
Arigat gozaimasu (gozaimashita)
Polite and formal
Dmo arigat gozaimasu (gozaimashita)
Very polite and formal.
Dmo
Sumimasen
III. Picture Kanji

Some of the basic kanji are originally derived from pictures.
These are some examples.
Its a mountain!
The Japanese word for a mountain is yama.
Most kanji in the Japanese language have more than one reading: the original Japanese reading
and the original Chinese reading. When the kanji for mountain is used on its own, it is a word.
The word that means a mountain in Japanese is yama. So when this kanji is used as a word,
it is read as yama.
There are other words that are composed of more than one kanji, for example, . It is a word
composed of three kanji characters. is used only as a part of the word. By the way, the word
refers to the tallest mountain in Japan and it is read fujisan. The same kanji in this case is read
as san. This reading, san, is the Chinese original reading.
So when you look at the kanji , the basic meaning of the kanji is obvious. But how you go about
reading it is not as obvious, and usually it depends on how its used in a sentence. Is it used as a
word on its own? Or is it used as a part of a compound word, consisting of two or more kanji?
:
a word that means a car and pronounced kuruma
a word that means a Japanese car and pronounced nihonsha
The same kanji is read kuruma in the first word but sha in the second word because its a compound
word. Kuruma is a word that means something whereas sha is merely a sound and a part of another word.
Its a river!
The Japanese word for a river is kawa.
Its a tree!
The Japanese word for a tree is ki.
Those are some easy ones. But its about starting simple, especially because the Japanese language will be so well, foreign to many people. Writing with characters is challenging, but theres
nothing wrong with a challenge - and Rocket Japanese makes it fun!

This is my fourth grammar lesson and Im sure youre starting to get a grasp of what the Japanese
language is all about. And I hope that youre having a great time learning a new language!
Todays topic is what we all like doing, well, what I like doing - eating!
For us Japanese, eating is not just feeding ourselves with essential nutrients. Its an experience!
In the audio conversation about going to eat sushi, you covered quite a bit. Today, Id like to explain in more details about what you learned in that conversation. Youll be able to talk about what
you like and dont like, use some adjectives like delicious and difficult, and invite someone to
go do something.
So lets move right on!
I. Grammar
a) Talking about what you like or dont like I like
Sushi wa suki desu ka?
Do you like sushi?
Hai, suki desu.
Yes, I do.
e, suki ja arimasen.
No, I dont
My answer is definitely Hai, suki desu!

We have learned before that desu is like I am, it is, he is, you are, and so on. You might think
that theres no am in I like! I want you to note, here, when two languages are so different like
Japanese and English, sometimes things like this happen. So lets not get too hung up on little
things and learn how to say I like in Japanese.
Now that you know how to say you like sushi, lets try talking about your favorite drinks, sports,
and so on. All you need to do is substitute sushi with what you want to talk about.
In my previous newsletters, we studied vocabulary for drinks. Lets first substitute sushi with
drinks.
Coffee
Kh wa suki desuka?
Hai, suki desu.
Tea
Kcha wa suki desu ka?
Green tea
Nihoncha wa suki desu ka?
Hai, suki desu.
Wine
Wain wa suki desu ka?
Please try substituting with other drinks. Ganbatte ne.

Next, lets talk about what sports you like. Many sports are katakana words. That means, chances
are that Japanese people will understand the English names for the sports you like.
Tennis
tenisu
Soccer
sakk
Baseball
yaky
Basketball
basukettobru
American football
amerikan futtobru or amefuto (for short)
Rugby
ragub
Sakk wa suki desu ka?
Do you like soccer?
e, amari suki ja arimasen.
No, I dont like soccer very much.
Demo yaky wa totemo suki desu.
But I like baseball very much.
or
Demo yaky wa daisuki desu!
But I love baseball!
Amari when used in a negative sentence means not very much.

Totemo, on the other hand, is used in an affirmative sentence. It means very much.
By making suki desu into daisuki desu, you changed it to love it!
Great! Now youre able to talk about what you like and dont like and even how much about a lot
of things!
b) Adjectives difficult / delicious
Adjectives are words that describe nouns, such as difficult, delicious, spicy, and sweet. Japanese
adjectives are not too different from English in the way they are used.
Muzukashii desu.
It is difficult.
Oishii desu.
It is delicious.
Karai desu.
It is spicy.
Amai desu.
It is sweet.
When you want to say Its NOT difficult or Its NOT delicious, its a different story!
Do you remember how to make desu negative? Yes, its ja arimasen. But its different with these
adjectives listed above.
Muzukashii desu.
Take the last i in the adjective and change it to kunai.
Muzukashii desu.
muzukashikunai desu
oishii desu
oishikunai desu
karai desu
karakunai desu
amai desu
amakunai desu
Ill give you a list of some more adjectives so that you can practice making them negative. Ganbatte ne.
Expensive
Takai desu.
Cheap
Yasui desu.
Cute
Kawaii desu.
Great
Sugoi desu.
Big
kii desu.
Small
Chsai desu.
Enjoyable
Tanoshii desu.
Do you remember totemo and amari we learned above? We can use these words with these
adjectives as well!
Kono kar wa karai desu ka?
Is this curry spicy?
e, amari karakunai desu yo.
No, its not very spicy.
Kono ringo wa amai desu ka?
Are these apples sweet?
Hai, totemo amai desu.
Yes, theyre very sweet.
Great! Sugoi desu ne!

c) Inviting someone to go do something Shall we
O sushi o tabe ni ikimash ka?
Hai, zehi!
Now that is a long and complex sentence. Lets break it down so that you can use this sentence
structure to invite someone to go do something else like go see movies, go grab a cup of coffee,
etc.
O sushi
tabe ni
iki mash ka
o: object marker
This is not the o you put before sushi to make it honorific. This is the o that comes after the word
o sushi. It means whatever the word that comes before this o is the object of the sentence. Mean- 20 www.rocketlanguages.com
ing, in this case, it marks whatever you are eating, that is, sushi.
O sushi o tabemasu.
Ill eat sushi.
O sakana o tabemasu.
Ill eat fish.
O niku o tabemasu.
Ill eat meat.
Kh o nomimasu.
Ill drink coffee.
Kcha o nomimasu.
Ill drink tea.
Wain o nomimasu.
Ill drink wine.
ga o mimasu.
Ill watch a movie.
I feel really funny about telling you what Im about to tell you after all this
This is another particle (little grammatical word) that can be omitted in conversation! Well, its
good to know about it but Im all for making it simple!
O sushi o tabemasu.
or
O sushi, tabemasu.
Kh o nomimasu.
or
Kh, nomimasu.
mash ka: Shall we ?
iki + mash ka
stem of the verb
go ikimasu
Then can you say Shall we eat? and Shall we drink?
O sushi o tabemasu.
or
O sushi, tabemasu.
Kh o nomimasu.
or
Kh, nomimasu.
ni: purpose of going somewhere
tabe + ni + ikimash ka
stem of the verb
eat tabemasu
Then can you say Shall we go drink coffee? and Shall we go see a movie?
Kh o nomi ni ikimash ka?
ga o mi ni ikimash ka?
O sushi
o
object
marker
tabe
stem of
eat
ni
purpose of
going
iki
stem of
go
mash
shall we?
ka
Great! Now you can invite someone to go eat something, go drink something, and go see a
movie!
O sushi o tabe ni ikimash ka?
Kh o nomi ni ikimash ka?
ga o nomi ni ikimash ka?
You can also reply to the invitation like this.
Ii desu ne! Ikimash!
Sounds good! Lets go!
II. Culture
a) At a Japanese dining table
A traditional Japanese meal consists of:
a bowl of rice (gohan)
a bowl of miso soup (miso shiru)
and other small dishes that change every meal (okazu)
Okazu may be fish (sakana) or meat (niku) or vegetable (yasai) dishes.

Japanese meals are very low in fat but slightly high in salt as we use soy sauce (shyu) a lot
Often the meal is accompanied with pickled or fermented vegetables (tsukemono).
A bowl of rice is usually placed on the left to the front and a bowl of miso soup on the right to the
front. And, of course, we eat using chopsticks (o hashi).
And we pick up the bowls off the table when we eat.
At a typical western home, you may have a favorite coffee mug that only you use and not any
other members of your family. But you would usually use any plate, any fork, and any knife. At a
typical Japanese home, however, we often have our own rice bowls, our own chopsticks, and our
own cups for drinking Japanese green tea. All those would come in different sizes and would have
slightly different designs so that we know which ones belong to whom.
b) Phrases used before and after eating at the Japanese table

Do you say grace before you start eating?
Theres a phrase that a Japanese person would say before they start eating.
Itadakimasu!
Literally, it means I humbly receive. Were simply thanking those who prepared the food, those
who grew or farmed the food, and everyone else involved in bringing the food to us!
Also, when someone shouts you some food, you would direct this phrase to whoever is paying.
Theres also a phrase you say when you finished eating.
Gochissama!
Literally, it means It was a feast!
Again, you can say this to the chef or direct it to everyone involved in bringing the food to you.
You can also direct this to whoever is paying that check!
You can teach other members of your family these phrases so that you can practice it every time
you eat! If you practice three times a day, you should learn them in no time!
III. Writing
a) Hiragana of the day
These are the first five hiragana characters in our chart. They represent the five vowels in Japanese.
There are some words that only consist of these characters. Can you read them?
love
house
top / up
blue
b) Kanji of the day
Ill eat.
tabemasu
Japanese food
nihonshoku
Heres a good example of how we use kanji Chinese characters.
The basic meaning of the kanji in bold above is eating or food.
When it is used as a verb like tabemasu, Ill eat, like in the first example, it is usually written in
combination of kanji and hiragana.
When it is used as a noun like nihonshoku, Japanese food, like in the second example, it CAN be
all kanji.
And as explained in previous newsletter, the same kanji is read differently, ta in the first word
and shoku in the second word.
Grammer Lesson Part 5

O genki desu ka? I hope you have been practicing itadakimasu and gochissama every time you
ate? Maybe you went to a Japanese restaurant and tried out some oishii Japanese food! Maybe
you asked someone out to a cup of coffee or to the movies! Omedet, congratulations!
Today Id like to give you some complementary lesson on Lesson 1.4 of your Interactive Audio
Course. Well learn to talk about what you can and cannot do. Well also learn to give compliments
on how well people are doing and talk about things you are good at while being humble at the
same time. By the end of the lesson, you will be able to talk about how long you have been doing
some things in number of months. At the same time, you will also be able to count 1 to 12.
Its exciting! Lets move right on!
I. Grammar
a) Talking about what you are able to do
Nihongo ga hanasemasu ka?
Can you speak Japanese?
Hai, sukoshi hanasemasu.
Yes, I can a bit.
Iie, hanasemasen.
No, I cant
Of course, your answer at this stage should be Hai, sukoshi hanasemasu!

Before going into the grammar explanation of the form for being able to lets first see how to say
I will speak Japanese along with other basic verbs like drink, read, and write.
Nihongo o hanashimasu.
I will speak Japanese.
O sake o nomimasu.
I will drink sake (Japanese rice wine).
Kanji o yomimasu.
I will read kanji (Chinese characters).
Hiragana o kakimasu.
I will write hiragana.
O hashi o tsukaimasu.
I will use chopsticks.
Then lets compare them with the able to equivalents.

Nihongo ga hanasemasu. I can speak Japanese.
O sake ga nomemasu.
I can drink sake.
Kanji ga yomemasu.
I can read kanji.
Hiragana ga kakemasu.
I can write hiragana.
O hashi ga tsukaemasu.
I can use chopsticks.
First of all, you probably noticed that the particle o has been replaced with
tention to the syllable immediately before masu.
ga. Secondly, pay at-
hanashimasu
hanasemasu
nomimasu
nomemasu
yomimasu
yomemasu
kakimasu
kakemasu
tsukaimasu
tsukaemasu
If you remember the conversation at the sushi bar, you now know that you had already learned
one example of this form in that dialogue.
Between the particle change and the syllable replacement, the syllable replacement is much
more crucial. Remember that I said in the previous newsletter that the particle o is often omitted in the conversation anyway. So if you want to keep things simple, you can forget about these little particles at the moment, but that crucial syllable, you cannot forget!
At the very beginning of the course, I mentioned that the five vowels are very important in the Japanese language. This is one of the reasons why. Just by changing the vowel of this syllable, you change the meaning.
So I hope you can clearly distinguish the vowels i and e.
But what about the verbs that already have vowel
what do we do to make it able to?
Sushi o tabemasu
e before masu like tabemasu (eat)? Then
Sushi ga taberaremasu.
Japanese is a language where you need to conjugate verbs. That means changing the forms of
the verbs. Some European languages require much more conjugation when you compare them to
English. But lets not get bogged down in conjugation at the moment. For now, please just keep
in mind that Japanese verbs are classified into two types. Those we listed at the top belong to a
different type from tabemasu where the vowel e is already used before masu.
Two types of verbs 1-dan (pronounced ichidan) verbs
5-dan (pronounced godan) verbs
b) How long have you been
Dore gurai nihongo o benky shite imasu ka How long have you been studying Japanese?
In the audio lesson, we mentioned te form. Thats another form of conjugation. Its a big task to
learn the te form of all the verbs. So lets concentrate on the verbs that are similar to benky
shite imasu and are possibly useful.
Benky shimasu
I will study
Rensh shimasu
I will practice
Taizai shimasu
I will stay
Ryok shimasu
I will travel
These are all verbs that use

been doing these things?
shimasu (to do) in them. Can you ask someone how long theyve
How long have you been practicing piano?

How long have you been staying in Japan?
How long have you been traveling?
Dore gurai piano o rensh shite imasu ka?
Dore gurai nihon ni taizai shite imasu ka?
Dore gurai ryok shite imasu ka?
c) Numbers 1 to 12 and Months
1 ichi
1 month
ikka getsu*2
2 ni
2 months
ni ka getsu
3 san
3 months
san ka getsu
4 yon or shi*1
4 months
yon ka getsu
5 go
5 months
go ka getsu
6 roku
6 months
rokka getsu*2
7 nana or shichi*1
7 months
nana ka getsu
8 hachi
8 months
hachi ka getsu
9 ky or ku*
9 months
ky ka getsu
10 j
10 months
jukka getsu*2
11 j ichi
11 months
j ikka getsu*2
12 j ni
12 months
j ni kagetsu
*1 There are two readings listed for numbers 4, 7, and 9. While one of these two readings is always used with the word ka getsu (months), the other may be used for counting other things.
*2 Note the slight pronunciation variation in the number part.
II. Culture
Being humble and talking about what youre good at
In the Japanese culture, it is very important to be humble. People avoid sounding too confident.
Complimenting other people on how well theyre doing is done very often as portrayed in the dialogue but talking about things you are good at gets a bit tricky.
Nihongo ga o jzu desu ne.
Your Japanese is good!
Anata hodo ja nai desu.
Not as good as you.
The word jzu means being good at something. You can definitely use this word to others when
youre complimenting.
When someone praises you with this word, you can deny the compliment like Ken san in the
dialogue. Anata hodo ja nai desu Not as good as you!
Another possible way is to reply that youre not really good but you like it very much.
Jzu ja nai desu kedo suki desu.
Im not good but I like it.
While it is always good idea not to go on and on about what you are good at, there are times that
you do want to convey to someone that you have certain skills. For such occasions, you could use
tokui desu.
Jzu and tokui both mean being good at but jzu should be used when youre complimenting
others and tokui can be used with your own skills.
Watashi wa nihongo ga tokui desu.
What skills do you have? Are you good at horse riding? Musical instruments? Sports?
Jba ga tokui desu.
Im good at horse riding.
Piano ga tokui desu.
Im good at piano.
Tenisu ga tokui desu.
Im good at tennis.
Heres an ultimate humility. When we give a gift to someone, we tell them its such a worthless
thing.
Tsumaranai mono desu ga,dzo. Its such a worthless thing but please take it.
You may wonderwhy are you then giving it to me?
Dont take it literally! You may be surprised!
III. Writing
The second set of hiragana were going to look at is the ka set, ka ki ku ke ko.
ka
ki
ku
ke
ko
Here are some words that use some of these five along with the five we studied last lesson. Can
you read them? Yomemasu ka?
chrysanthemum
shell fish
red
autumn
station
b) Kanji of the day
Ill speak / Ill talk

hanashimasu
telephone
denwa
In the first example, the kanji is read hana and in the second example the same kanji is
read wa. The basic meaning of this kanji is talking and speaking.
The first
kanji of the second example means electricity.
When you join the
kanji for electricity and kanji for talking, you get a telephone!

Have you been practicing telling someone how long you have been practicing Japanese??? How
about the numbers 1 to 12 and months? Have you tried telling someone in Japanese what youre
good at? Youre not particularly good at anything? Dont be silly! Im sure there are plenty of
things youre great at. Besides, you should be able to add speaking Japanese to your list of many
skills any day now!
For those of you who are studying Japanese, Im sure it is one of the goals or dreams to actually
get to Japan one day. Or it could already be in your plan for near future. This grammar lesson,
well be studying expressions and phrases that will be very useful in such occasions. You will learn
how to ask for directions. You might want to know how long it takes to a certain sight seeing spot.
So well go over how to say the hours and minutes. Youll also learn a bit about the Japanese public
transportation system.
Lets start! Hajimemash!
I. Grammar
a) How do I get there?
Kyto eki wa d yatte ikimasu ka?
How do I get to Kyto station?
Basu de ikimasu.
By bus.
When you arrive in Japan, you will most likely use the public transportation system there. So
these expressions will certainly come in handy. There are buses, taxis, and trains. And in larger
cities, there will be a subway.
In the above excerpt from the Audio Lesson dialogue, de in the basu de part indicates by
means of.
Taxi
Takush de ikimasu.
Car
Kuruma de ikimasu.
Train
Densha de ikimasu.
Bullet train
Shinkansen de ikimasu.
Subway
Chikatetsu de ikimasu.
Airplane
Hikki de ikimasu.
On foot
Aruite ikimasu.
b) Minutes and hours

Koko kara ti desu ka?
Is it far from here?
Basu de j go fun gurai desu.
Its about 15 minutes by bus.
The counter (suffix) for the number of minutes is fun. However, this is one of those times where
variation in pronunciation occurs depending on the number that comes before it. Ill show you
how to say 1 to 3 minutes as an example.
1 minute
ippun
2 minutes
ni fun
3 minutes
san pun
You see. Sometimes its fun. Sometimes its pun. And sometimes even the number part changes.
But how often do you need to say 17 minutes? You probably only need to know how to say, 5
minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, etc. The below is a list of some more useful examples.
5 minutes
go fun
10 minutes
juppun
15 minutes
j go fun
20 minutes
ni juppun
25 minutes
ni j go fun
30 minutes
san juppun
35 minutes
san j go fun
40 minutes
yon juppun
45 minutes
yon j go fun
50 minutes
go juppun
55 minutes
go j go fun
How long does it take from your home to work? By what? It takes me about 20 minutes by car.
Kuruma de ni juppun gurai desu.
It takes me about 10 minutes on foot from my home to the nearest railway station.
Aruite juppun gurai desu.
Now thats minutes done!
But if youre going from Tky to saka using trains. It will definitely take longer than 60 minutes.
So lets learn how to say the number of hours.
The counter (suffix) for the number of hours is jikan. This one is much more straight forward. You
just need to put the number you learned in the Newsletter Part 5 before jikan. Do you remember
from that lesson that numbers 4, 7, and 9 had two possible readings? I will list how to say these
numbers when used with jikan below.
1 hour
ichi jikan
4 hours
yo jikan (Note that its yo jikan and NOT yon jikan.)
7 hours
shichi jikan
9 hours
ku jikan
The biggest city in Japan is Tky, as you probably know. The second biggest city in Japan is
saka. And it takes about three hours by Bullet train.
Tky kara saka made Shinkansen de san jikan gurai desu.
Do you know how many hours it takes to fly from your country to Japan?
It takes about 9 hours from Hawaii to Tky
Hawai kara T ky made hikki de 9 jikan gurai desu.
Amari tku nai desu ne!
Not very far, is it?
c) Where is it?
Basut wa doko desu ka?
Wheres the bus stop?
Kono michi no hantai gawa desu.
Its on the other side of this road.
Once you get off the bus or any other form of public transportation, you will need to find the place
you want to get to on foot. You might need to find the station or bus stop to get to the transportation in the first place. You might want to pick up a few living essentials from a store. You might
want to find the nearest bank to get extra cash so that you can buy the beautiful souvenirs you
found in the store. Doko desu ka, this phrase will be very useful for you, indeed.
You might find it easy to find a friendly face on the street and say these few words, doko desu ka,
but what about all those directions that come back to you? Dont worry. As long as you get the
basic direction right, all you need to do is walk a bit further and ask another person!!!!
Nevertheless, these are a few examples of direction phrases that may be useful to know.
Q: Basut wa doko desu ka?
A: Kono michi no hantai gawa desu. The other side of this road.
A: Depto no tonari desu.
Next to the department store.
A: Gink no mae desu.
In front of the supermarket
II. Culture
Public transportation in Japan
The public transportation system in Japan is very good. There are buses, trains,
and subway in larger cities such as Tky, saka, Nagoya and a few more.
And it is known for being very reliable.
The JR, Japan Railway, runs throughout Japan except for Okinawa. There are other privately run
railway lines operating in major cities. If youre traveling long distance, like from Tky to Kyto,
then you would take the JR. The Shinkansen, the bullet train, will not stop at most stations in
between and will be very fast.
Most major stations in large cities are sign posted in English and helpful station masters are usually very visible. Just remember to get on the right train that is going in the right direction! Another
thing to remember is, if you are not too familiar with traveling on trains, that local trains stop at
every station but other fast trains skip minor stations. If you get on a very fast train by mistake,
it may not stop at where you want to get off!
If youre traveling on trains in rush hours, 7 to 9 am in the morning, please expect to be squashed
between strangers! Sometimes the travelers are literally pushed in the door by station masters.
It is not a very pleasant experience. I do not recommend it to anyone!!!
III. Writing
The third set of hiragana were going to look at is the sa set, sa shi su se so.
sa
shi
su
se
so
Here are some words that use some of these five along with the ten we studied up to now. Can
sushi
sake (Japanese rice wine)
world
over there
morning
b) Kanji of the day

a car
kuruma
an electric train / street car
densha
The
The
The
you
basic meaning of this kanji is a car or a wheel, like a wheel of a wheelbarrow.

same kanji is read kuruma in the first word and sha in the second word.
first kanji of the second word means electricity. When you join electricity with a wheel
get an electric train!
I hope you enjoyed todays lesson about public transportation.

Do you have public transportation in your country? Do you use it? Please pick many places and
practice saying how long it takes to get there by what transportation. Practicing with things you
are personally familiar with is the best way! Maybe next time you get in your car, you can tell
yourself how long its going to take to get to your destination by car before you turn that ignition
key.

Minasan o genki desu ka? Great to see you again!!!! This is our seventh grammar lesson. Have
you been listening to your audio lessons? You may be very excited about your progress and may
be in the mood to move on to next lessons as soon as you can! Thats great. But please remember
its always good to go back and listen to the previous lessons, too.
Last lesson we went over asking for directions and how long it takes to your destination. We
studied minutes and hours. We also learned a bit about Japanese public transportation. How long
does it take to your work? To your nearest supermarket? To your childrens schools? I hope you
are able to answer in Japanese!
Today, I would like to provide supplementary explanation on Lesson 2.2 of the Rocket Japanese
Interactive Audio Course, the Perfect Tourist. Well learn how to ask for permission. We will also
learn to politely ask someone to do something. And we will be introducing you to the strange
world of Japanese counting!
Sounds interesting? Lets start, then! J, hajimemash!
I. Grammar
a) Politely asking for permission
When you are traveling, there will be occasions that you need to ask for permission. For example,
you may be in some kind of a museum and are not sure if you are allowed to take a photo.
Shashin o totte mo ii desu ka? May I take a photo?
Lets break down that sentence.
Ii desu ka?
The word ii means good or all right. So with ii desu ka, you are asking if its all right. If anything, please remember this expression. Even if you forgot all the other parts of this sentence,
you can point at the camera youre holding and say Ii desu ka, then anyone will understand what
you mean.
Shashin o toru
to take a photo
Shashin o totte mo ii desu ka?

You changed toru to totte. What form of a verb do you think totte is? If you said te form, then you
guessed right! Sugoi desu ne!
As to HOW to get the te form, we will not get into that today because it involves slightly complicated conjugation. Instead, we will go over some other situations where you may have to ask for
permission.
1) May I smoke?
2) May I open the window?
3) May I close the window?
4) May I use the toilet?
5) May I borrow the phone?
1) tabako o suu
Tabako o sutte mo ii desu ka?
2) mado o akeru
Mado o akete mo ii desu ka?
3) mado o shimeru
Mado o shimete mo ii desu ka?
4) toire o tsukau
Toire o tsukatte mo ii desu ka?
5) denwa o kariru
Denwa o karite mo ii desu ka?
Great! Now you can be a polite tourist asking for permission before smoking.
b) Politely asking someone to do something for you
Shashin o totte mo ii desu ka?
May I take a photo?
Shashin o totte moratte mo ii desu ka?
Could you take a photo for me?
Please compare the two sentences above.

The first one is asking for permission to take a photo. The second one is asking someone to take
a photo for you. The only difference between the two is the word moratte. Moratte means receiving. In this case, you are receiving a favor.
Can you ask someone:
1) to open the window for you?
2) to close the window for you?
3) to speak slowly?
4) to speak in English?
5) to write in rmaji?
1) mado o akeru
Mado o akete moratte mo ii desu ka?
2) mado o shimeru
Mado o shimete moratte mo ii desu ka?
3) yukkuri hanasu
Yukkuri hanashite moratte mo ii desu ka?
4) go de hanasu
go de hanashite moratte mo ii desu ka?
5) rmaji de kaku
Rmaji de kaite moratte mo ii desu ka?
c) Here, there, and over there!

Koko de shashin o totte mo ii desu ka? May I take a photo here?
koko
here
kore
this
soko
there
sore
that
asoko
over there
are
that over there
doko
where
dore
which
These words are called ko so a do words in Japanese, taking the first syllable of each word.
When the speaker is pointing at a place near the speaker, they will use koko.
When the speaker is pointing at a place near the listener, they will use soko.
When the speaker is pointing at a place far from both of them, they will use asoko.
Similarly, when the speaker is pointing at an object near the speaker, they will use kore.
When the speaker is pointing at an object near the listener, they will use sore.
When the speaker is pointing at an object far from both of them, they will use are.
Pretty much similar to English.
d) Counting
Counting in Japanese is not as simple as it sounds.
I know you have learned numbers already. But they are just numbers. You use them for phone
numbers, page numbers, addresses, money, and so on. But when you are actually COUNTING
things, like one apple, two apples, and so on, a concept of a counter gets involved. A counter is
a suffix you put after a number when you are counting things. You already know some counters
like minutes (fun), hours (jikan), and months (ka getsu).
What makes Japanese counting very confusing is..when you count objects, you use different counters depending on the shape of the objects!!!! For example, you use certain counter for
counting long slender objects like pencils, belts, and bottles. You use another counter for counting
thin flat objects like paper, stamps, and plates. And there are many many many counters!!!!
But we wont get into that today. I will, instead, give you the general counters we use for many
things as well as when we are not sure which counter to use! Yes, thats right. Even a native
speaker is sometimes not sure which counter to use.
1
hitotsu
futatsu
mittsu
yottsu
itsutsu
muttsu
nanatsu
yattsu
kokonotsu
10 t
In Grammar Lesson Part 3, we learned how to order drinks. Do you remember how to order a
coffee?
Kh o kudasai.
Please give me coffee.
Now we can order two cups of coffee!

But please note where you put the counter.
Kh o futatsu kudasai.
Please give me two cups of coffee.
Thats right. We dont put the quantity before the word kh as you would in English.
Can you ask for the following things in the following quantity?
Three apples
Ringo o mittsu kudasai.
Four cups of tea
Kcha o yottsu kudasai.
Five glasses of wine
Wain o itsutsu kudasai.
Six beers
Bru o muttsu kudasai.
Yoku dekimashita! Well done! Now you dont have to go thirsty when you want those six cans of
beer!!!
II. Culture
1) Shoes
In Lesson 2.2 of the Rocket Japanese Interactive Audio Course, the Perfect Tourist, Kenny mentioned the toilet slippers! To tell you the truth, I have forgotten to get out of those toilet slippers
once or twice myself
Some of you may already know but in Japan, we NEVER go inside a home with our shoes on. It is
possibly the rudest thing you can do to go into someones home with your shoes on.
When you move homes, you may hire removal people. Or when you buy a new bed, you may get
it delivered to your home. Those people will also take their shoes off before they go inside. I have
heard that some burglars also take their shoes off!!!! We love slip-on shoes for that purpose! I
have a pair of lace up boots. I bought them in Japan so they have fasteners so that I dont have
to undo the laces every time I go into someones home!
You may think If I have to take them off all the time, I wont bother to wear them in the first
place! Well, the Japanese will not do that either! And if you walk outside without shoes on, then
your feet must be cleaned before going inside.
When you enter someones house, you will often be offered indoor slippers. Those are expected to
be worn on the linoleum or wooden floors. When you walk into a traditional Japanese room with
tatami mat floor, youre expected to take those slippers off.
So you have slippers you wear in some parts of the house and slippers you wear only inside the
bathroomsee it does get confusing sometimes.
My advice to you. If youve been invited to a Japanese home, it may pay to check that you dont
have holes in your socks!!!
2) Toilet
Kenny
also
mentioned
the
fun
you
can
have
with
the
toilet
in
Japan.
Some hotels have a very fancy toilet with many controls. I suggest that you try and have fun!
Many people become a fan of those toilets!
While many modern homes are now equipped with a Western style toilet, public bathrooms will
often have both the Western style toilets and Japanese style toilets. Heres an example of a traditional Japanese style toilet.
III. Writing
The fourth set of hiragana were going to look at is the ta set, ta chi tsu te to.
ta
chi
tsu
te
to
Here are some words that use some of these five along with the others we studied up to now.
Can you read them? Yomemasu ka?
song
one
five
hand
sound / noise
b) Kanji of the day
female
onna
male
otoko
The above are kanji that represents female and male. While some public bathrooms have signs in
English, it may prevent some embarrassing situations if you know these two characters!
So thats it for today. Youre learning so much!
Now that you know how to ask for permission and how to politely ask someone to do something
for you, I really hope that you get to be a real perfect tourist in Japan in a very near future! Keep
practicing until then! Ganbatte ne! en shiteimasu! Im rooting for you!

O genki desu ka? Im having a great time talking to you about the Japanese language and culture.
I hope you are being more and more interested in Japanese and Japan as weeks go by.
Last lesson you have learned how to be a perfect tourist! You can now ask permission before smoking
or taking a photo as well as politely asking people to do something for you. Dont want to be obnoxious
travelers and offend people, do we! We also learned general counters so that we can ask for six cans of beers!
Also I hope I was able to convey the importance of taking shoes off at someones home.
Today, you will learn how to tell someone what you want to do and ask for assistance in a very natural Japanese way. You might want to book a room at a hotel or call a taxi. We will also learn how
to count people. Yes, another counter! This one is a bit more straight forward, I think..^^)
We will also look into different types of Japanese accommodations and what to do in a Japanese
hot spring!
J hajimemash!
I. Grammar
a) Telling someone what you want to do I want to
Heya o yoyaku shitai no desu ga.
Id like to book a room.
Last lesson you learned how to ask for permission. In similar situations, instead of asking for permission, you may want to simply tell them what you want to do and ask for assistance. The above
is how it was used in the dialogue.
Heya o yoyaku shimasu.
shi + tai
want to
stem of the verb
do shimasu
I will book a room.
Heya o yoyaku shitai no desu ga.

*1 no desuattached after shitai indicates you are explaining your situation. You often attach it
when you are telling someone what you want to do. For now, lets just remember the whole phrase
tai no desu.
*2 ga at the very end literally means but and the Japanese often end the sentence with but.
It is put there to avoid strongly stating something and it also prompts the other person to say
something back. In this case it sounds like saying Id like to book a room but (can you help me).
It is the Japanese way not to spell out everything and end a sentence in a hanging manner like
this. And it is up to the listener to respond properly.
Just like last lesson, lets go over some other situations where you may want to tell someone what
you want to do in order to gain some assistance.
1)
Id like to go to the bathroom.
2)
Id like to read English newspapers.
3)
Id like to buy some cigarettes.
4)
Id like to call a taxi.
1) toire ni ikimasu
Toire ni ikitai no desu ga.
2) go no shinbun o yomimasu
go no shinbun o yomitai no desu ga.
3) tabako o kaimasu
Tabako o kaitai no desu ga.
4) takush o yobimasu
Takush o yobitai no desu ga.
Yoku dekimashita! Well done!

When you tell someone what you want to do, ending with tai no desu ga, in the above fashion,
the listener will respond by giving you assistance or telling you where you could go to get the
assistance.
b) How many people?
Nan m sama desu ka?
How many people?
Watashi dake desu.
Only me.
Last lesson you were introduced to the concept of Japanese counting.

Nan m sama, how many people, used in the dialogue is a fairly polite version as it is used by a
hotel receptionist.
The nan m part indicates how many and sama, is a politer version of the word you are already familiar with, san.
While you may not have an opportunity to use this expression in this polite manner yourself,
you will encounter it many times during your stay in Japan.
As in the dialogue, when youre booking a room at a hotel.
When you enter a restaurant, you will be asked how many people are in your group.
In the dialogue, Kenny was traveling by himself. You may travel with your family. So lets learn
how to count one to ten people.
The left hand side shows the polite version the hotel receptionist would use and the right hand
side shows the neutral version that you can use.
M is the counter for the polite version and nin is the counter for the neutral version.
How many? Nan m sama desu ka?
Nan nin desu ka?
o hitori sama
Hitori
o futari sama
Futari
san m sama
san nin
yon m sama
yo nin
go m sama
go nin
roku m sama
roku nin
nana m sama
nana nin
hachi m sama
hachi nin
ky m sama
ky nin
10
j m sama
j nin
As you can see, the Japanese words for one person and two persons are irregular but the rest are
the numbers you are already familiar with followed by the respective counters.
Heres a typical conversation as you enter a restaurant.
Waiter:
Irasshaimase! Nan m sama desu ka?
Customer:
Futari desu.
Waiter:
O futari sama desu ne. Kochira e dzo.
Waiter:
Welcome! How many people?
Customer:
Two people.
Waiter:
Two people (confirming). This way please.
If the number of you standing there and the total number who is eventually going to be at the
table is different, it may become very important to convey the number correctly! Dont hesitate to
use your fingers. Dont worry. I usually use my fingers, too!
II. Culture
a) Hotels and ryokan
There are different types of accommodations available in Japan. For budget travelers, there are
youth hostels just like the ones that can be found in most parts of the world.
For those of you who seek a bit more privacy and comfort, there are hotels and ryokan, traditional
Japanese style inn.
In some ryokan, you may have to take your shoes off at the entrance and wear the slippers provided. In each room, there will be an entrance area where you can take off those slippers and step
up into the actual room. The Japanese style rooms have the tatami floor. As I told you last lesson,
you do not wear slippers on the tatami floor.
In each room, you can find yukata. Thats a cotton sleepwear kimono. Find the size that fits you
and you can wear it to relax in the room at night and also sleep in it. Dont forget to leave them
behind, though. They are usually not part of your amenity set.
In a proper ryokan, dinner and breakfast are included. It depends on the ryokan but you will often
be served dinner in your room.
The first thing you may notice in the room may be that there are no beds!
Yes, the Japanese bedding, futon, is packed away in the closet called oshiire and they will be laid
down on the floor for you before bed time by the room service. Those of you who are used to a
very soft bed may have a sleepless night or a sore back next morning!
b) Japanese style bath
It is my personal opinion that you MUST experience a hot spring while you are in Japan! There are
so many of them throughout Japan and we all love it!
It may be popular to bathe in hot springs in your country but there may be different protocols!
First of all, we do not wear anything in the hot springs.

Nothing at all! No bathing suit is allowed in the hot springs. Before jumping into the hot spring, we
usually clean ourselves first. Every bathing room is provided with a space for that with a shower.
Once you cleaned yourself, and thoroughly rinsed off the soap thuds, then you can jump in the
hot spring. But be careful! Some hot springs are very hot! If you stay in them too long, you can
get sick.
Please enjoy many health benefits of the natural hot springs!
III. Writing
The fifth set of hiragana were going to look at is the na set, na ni nu ne no.
Na
ni
nu
ne
no
Here are some words that use some of these five along with the others we studied up to now. Can
eggplant
(my) older brother
dog
money
ax
b) Kanji of the day

Last lesson I showed you the characters for female and male. Today I will show you another set
of characters that are often used on the public bathrooms and bath house.
ladies
fujin
gentlemen
tonogata
Please have a look at the first kanji of fujin, . Doesnt the left hand side look familiar? Yes, its
the kanji for female we looked at last lesson, .
Kanji often works this way. It is made up of parts. And the parts often tell you what the meaning
of the kanji is related to.
These sets are complicated kanji but if you can spot this part, then you know this one is for ladies
and the other one must be for gentlemen!

Minasan, o genki desu ka? Watashi wa totemo genki desu!
This is my ninth grammar lesson. I hope youre enjoying the improvements youre making every
day!
In the last lesson, you learned how to say I want to in a way so that you will be given some kind
of assistance. You also learned how to count people. I hope you enjoyed the information about
the Japanese accommodations and the etiquettes regarding the hot springs!
Today, Id like to talk about a very basic activity in our lives, coming and going. Also another fundamental activity in our lives, occupation. Yes, coming, going, and working!
J hajimemash!
I. Grammar
a) Coming and going
Tkoku Hoteru ni ikimasu.
Im going to Teikoku Hotel.
ni: destination particle

[place name]
ni ikimasu.
Im going to
[place name]
ni kimasu
Im coming to
Particle ni has many meanings but when used after a place name along with ikimasu (iku: go) or
kimasu (kuru: come), it works as a destination particle, meaning to.
Lets go to places! What place names do you know?
Japan
Nihon ni ikimasu.
Public bathroom
Toire ni ikimasu.
Park
Ken ni ikimasu.
Temple
O tera ni ikimasu.
Shinto shrine
Jinja ni ikimasu.
Castle
O shiro ni ikimasu.
Bank
Gink ni ikimasu.
Post office
Ybinkyoku ni ikimasu.
Station
Eki ni ikimasu.
Do you remember how to say I want to? We used the expressions in our last lesson when we
wanted to book a room at a hotel. Its Hoteru o yoyaku shitai no desu ga. The want to part is
tai no desu ga.
Can you then say to someone that you want to go to some of these places listed above and seek
some assistance?
Public bathroom
Toire ni ikitai no desu ga.
Bank
Gink ni ikitai no desu ga.
Post office
Ybinkyoku ni ikitai no desu ga.
Station
Eki ni ikitai no desu ga..
made: until / up to / as far as

[place name]
made ikimasu.
Im going as far as
When you are traveling on the train, bus and so on, the particle made which means until or as
far as is often used instead of ni. Ni indicates a point of destination where as made indicates
more like end of your travel. Imagine a long railway. The Ginza station may be where you are
getting off the train, meaning thats as far as youre going. But the railway will continue with or
without you.
Machi made iku takush o matte imasu ka?
Are you waiting for a taxi that goes to the city?
Heres another handy expression.
You want to know how much it costs to ride a train to the Ginza station.
Ginza eki made ikura desu ka?
How much is it to the Ginza station?
b) Are you coming or are you going?

When two languages are as different as Japanese and English, you often cannot translate word
for word. Have you ever read the English that has been machine translated from Japanese? A lot
of editing by human translator is still required!
Well, the two words we are talking about this lesson, coming and going, are also used a little bit
differently in one situation between English and Japanese.
In English, if the speaker is going to the listeners house later on, the speaker will say:
Im coming to your house later!
But in Japanese, if the speaker is the one who is physically moving, then the speaker will say:
Atode anata no uchi ni ikimasu!
Just remember this little story.
A Japanese high school student, Akio, is in America staying with a homestay family. Hes upstairs
in his room. His host mother screams from downstairs Akio, the dinner is ready! to which Akio
replies Im going!
You know what he meant, though, dont you? He meant to say Im coming! but he, being a
Japanese person, literally translated what he wanted to say.
When he came downstairs a few minutes later to the dining room, his plate was not set up. He
said to his host mother Where is my plate? The innocent looking mother says But you just said
you were going!
You might have noticed by now, that the Japanese and English sentence orders are often back to
front. Yes, coming and going can be back to front as well!!!!
II. Culture Occupation

O shigoto wa nan desu ka? What is your occupation?
When someone asks you what your occupation is, how do you answer? For example, when you enter a foreign country, you must fill in the immigration form. It usually has a box for your occupation. What do you write in the box?
Many Japanese people write these two words in the box company employee.
Is that an occupation?
For many years, Japanese men were employed for life. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on
how you look at it, things have changed in recent days and many people change jobs during their
working career. But before that, once you work for a company, you work for the same company
until you retire. And what you do within the organization may change. I am an employee of this
company is how they identify themselves. The Japanese words for company employee is kaishain. Kaisha is company and in is a suffix meaning member. These people are often referred
to as Sarar Man, a Salary Man.
Anata no o shigoto wa nan desu ka? What is YOUR occupation? Maybe you fall into a category of
kaishain, too.
III. Writing
The sixth set of hiragana were going to look at is the ha set, ha hi fu he ho.
ha
hi
fu
he
Ho
flower
to pull
clothes
boat
bone
b) Kanji of the day

Im going
ikimasu
Im coming
kimasu
The kanji of the day is of course none other than coming and
These two verbs in the form found in the dictionary, called the dictionary form, are:
go
iku
come
kuru
Note that for the second word, the kanji stayed the same but the reading changed.
going!

O genki desu ka?
Have you practiced the verbs ikimasu and kimasu? Where did you go in the past week? Work,
shopping mall, movies? Did anybody come to your place? Before going to any place from now on,
I hope you say to yourself where youre going in Japanese!
Today, we will look more closely into the grammar of the adjectives as used in the Lesson 2.5 of
the Rocket Japanese Interactive Audio Course, Visiting the History. You will learn about the two
types of adjectives in the Japanese language and how to use them. You will also learn to make a
suggestion such as when choosing a restaurant to go to or a date for getting together with friends.
In addition, you will see what o tera and jinja are!
J hajimemash!
I. Grammar
a) Adjectives
What are adjectives? Adjectives are words that describe nouns. Some example adjectives in
English are big, small, beautiful, famous, and so on.
There are adjectives in the Japanese language as well. We talked about them a bit in grammar
lesson Part 4.
The Japanese adjectives are classified into two types: I adjectives and NA adjectives. The adjectives we learned in grammar lesson Part 4, are all I adjectives. Lets have a look at them.
muzukashii
difficult
oishii
delicious
karai
spicy
amai
sweet
sugoi
great
kii
big
You can see that they all end with a vowel i and thats why they are called I adjectives.
Some examples of NA adjectives are:
shizuka
quiet
nigiyaka
lively, bustling
ym
famous
kir
clean, beautiful
These adjectives above do not end with a vowel i and they are called NA adjectives. But, I know,
they do not end with na either! Well, well get into that in a minute!
There are a lot more of I adjectives than NA adjectives. Nevertheless, whenever we talk about
the conjugation of adjectives, we always have to ask ourselves, Is it an I adjective or is it a NA
adjective?
How do we use adjectives in a sentence?
Lets study English adjectives first.
The adjective big can be used in the following two ways.
a) This dog is big.
b) This is a big dog.
You might think they are exactly the same! Well, youre right. They MEAN the same thing but
when you look at them from the grammatical point of view, the adjective is used in two different
ways. In the example (a), the word big is used at the end of the sentence following the word
is. In the example (b), the word big is used before a noun dog. Thats the difference.
The Japanese adjectives can be used in these two ways just like English.
a) Kono inu wa kii desu.
b) Kore wa kii inu desu.
In the example (a), the word kii is used just before desu but in the example (b) the word kii is
used before the noun inu.
Please note, however, the word kii did not change whether it is used before desu or before the
noun. Thats because the word kii is an I adjective.
Lets take a NA adjective as an example.
a) Kono ken wa kir desu.
b) Kore wa kir na ken desu.
This park is beautiful.
This is a beautiful park.
What happened in the example (b)?

I have inserted na between the adjective kirr and the noun ken.
And this is why they are called NA adjectives!
Kono aka chan wa shizuka desu. Shizuka na akachan desu.
This baby is quiet.
Its a quiet baby.
Tky wa nigiyaka desu.
Nigiyaka na machi desu.
Tokyo is bustling.
Its a bustling city.
Fuji san wa ym desu.
Ym na yama desu.
Mt. Fuji is famous
Its a famous mountain.
Kono resutoran wa kir desu.
Kir na resutoran desu.
This restaurant is beautiful.
Its a beautiful restaurant.
b) Making a suggestion How about ?

Raish wa d desu ka?
How about next week?
When youre making a suggestion, use the phrase d desu ka. In the dialogue, Kenny wanted me
to go to a temple with him. And I suggested the time next week.
If youre going out for dinner and are trying to decide what kind of food to eat, you can make a
suggestion using this phrase.
Chka ryri wa d desu ka? How about Chinese food?
You can respond to this by saying:
Ii desu ne!
Sounds good!
II. Culture Temples and Shrines

While some Japanese people may not think of themselves as not particularly religious, most of
them follow some traditional customs that involve religious ceremonies or visits to the religious
institutions at sometime in their lives. The two main religions in Japan are Buddhism and Shinto.
The Buddhism temples are called o tera and the Shinto shrines are called jinja.
There are many temples and shrines throughout Japan and some of them are major tourist spots.
In some temples, there may be an area where you purify your hands with water. Or there may
be an area where you try to put the smoke from burning incense to the parts of your body that
need to get better. You will notice, lots of people putting smoke onto their head, hoping they will
get smarter!!!!
At the entrance of a jinja, you will see a red gate called torii.
Many Japanese people visit a Shinto shrine on the New Years Day and pray and make a wish for
the new year.
III. Writing
The seventh set of hiragana were going to look at is the ma set, ma mi mu me mo.
ma
Mi
mu
me
mo
name
meaning
chest/breast
eyes
peach
b) Kanji of the day

Buddhist temple
o tera
Shinto shrine
jinja
The kanji for o tera is used in the name of temples as well even when it is not pronounced tera.
The first kanji for jinja means god and the second kanji means a shrine.

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www.rocketlanguages.

A Rocket Languages Limited & Libros Media Limited production:

I. Greetings and Politeness in Japanese Culture

greeting in the morning

greeting during the day

greeting after dark

The paperboy would definitely be saying Ohay gozaimasu:

II. Names and using san

III. Japanese Writing Systems

means a rice field. It is read as ta.

means inside or middle. It is read as naka.

means good. It is read as yoshi.

The last kanji

means a child. It is read as ko.

Grammar Lesson Part 2

I. Rmaji and the Sounds in the Japanese Language

Some important things to note:

II. Whats Your Name and Where are You From?

[]desu is the most basic sentence in Japanese language.

You are Japanese.

They are Japanese.

Watashi wa nihon jin desu.

Ken san wa igirisu jin desu.

Watashi wa Sayaka desu.

Watashi wa genki desu.

As I mentioned before, the subject part is often dropped. So we end up with:

Sayaka san desu ka.

(Remembering to add san to someone elses name)

O genki desu ka.

(Remembering to add o to genki )

O namae wa nan desu ka?

What is your name?

Keni san, where are you from?

B: Igirisu kara kimashita.

III. All About the Word You

Anata wa amerika jin desu ka.

Are you American?

e, kanada jin desu.

Ken san wa amerika jin desu ka.

Are you American?

e, kanada jin desu.

If I am talking to Paul, Kennys friend, about Kenny, what would I say

Ken san wa amerika jin desu ka.

e, kanada jin desu.

No, hes Canadian.

Grammar Lesson Part 3

I. How to ask for Something

Do you have coffee?

With these things, imasu is used instead.

Is there a Japanese person?

Ken san, imasu ka.

Neko, imasu ka.

Are there cats?

Now lets learn about the kudasai phrase:

Please give me some red wine.

In conversation, the particle o (object particle) is often omitted.

Please give me some white wine.

Nihon no bru, kudasai.

tea from India

II. More than one Way to Say: Thank you!

Do not use with superiors or strangers.

Arigat gozaimasu (gozaimashita)