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Absolute Beginner S1
Asking a Japanese Question

9 Kanji
Kana
Romanization
English
2
2
2
2
Vocabulary 2
Grammar Points 3
Cultural Insight 5
 

  

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Kanji

 
 

  
 

  
 

  
   
! 

 ""#$"#!%

Kana

  
 

  
 

  
&'! 

  
   
! 

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Romanization
Teir Kore wa... o-kashi desu ka.
Masato Hai, s
Kaori S
Teir Y
2
English
Taylor Are these sweets?
Masato Yes, that's right. They're Japanese sweets.
Kaori Right. They're "yokan."
Taylor Yo-ka-n?

Vocabulary

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Kanji
&

Kana Romaji English
   niku meat
    kore this
  & ' ! Hai, s Yes, that's right.
  


  Nihon
okashi
Japan
sweets, snacks,

 !
 ! y
candy
soft sweet red bean
     jelly
 
yasai vegetables

 &'! sakana
Nihon no
fish
Japanese (item,
thing)

Vocabulary Sample Sentences


  This is meat.
 % wa
niku
Kore

desu.
 
  Huh? Is this mine?
  ! 
 
    
Are? Kore wa watashi no desu ka.
     Are you Mr. Tanaka? -Yes, I am.

3 

 
 
Tanaka-san desu ka. Hai, sou desu.
This is a Japanese car.
   
 
Kore wa Nihon no kuruma desu.
These are American snacks.



! 
Amerika no okashi desu.
This is soft sweet red bean jelly.


Kore wa y
      That's a vegetable.


Sore wa
  yasai
  desu. That's fish.


 

  
Sore wa sakana desu.
These are Japanese sweets.
Kore wa nihon no okashi desu.

Grammar Points

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The Focus of This Lesson Is Asking Questions.


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Kore wa... o-kashi desu ka.

"Are these sweets?"

In Lessons 7 and 8, you learned how to say what something is with the sentence
pattern [A] wa [B] desu ("A is B," for example "This is water"). In this lesson,
you'll learn how to turn that very sentence into a question: "Is A B?" ("Is this
water?") In English, turning a statement into a question requires changing the
sentence order all around, but not in Japanese! We'll show you how easy it is.

Lesson Focus: Making Questions

Let's take a sentence that uses our "A is B" sentence pattern that we learned in
Lesson 7.

For Example:
 

1. Kore wa okashi desu.

    
"These are sweets."


      
 
    
 
    
       
Let's say you have a plate of snacks in front of you that look sweet...but you
4 can't really tell! To turn the sentence above into a question ("These are sweets"
ka to the end of the sentence.
So now you can ask:
 

  
 
1. Kore wa okashi desu ka.

"Are these sweets?"

Let's try it with some other sentences:

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Sentence "English Question "English"

 %
"


Kore
 wa
mizu

 desu. "This is Kore

wa
mizu
 desu

ka? "Is this

  %
( water." ( water?"
Kore

&
 desu.
 wa niku "This is Kore
&
 desu


wa niku 
ka? "Is this

 %
( meat." ( meat?"


Kore
 
 desu.
 wa  sakana "This is Kore  
 desu

wa sakana 
ka? "Is this

  %
( fish." ( fish?"


Kore
 wa  yasai   desu. "This is Kore

wa  yasai  desu

ka? "Is this a

 
   
   
   

( a vegeta ( vegetable?"
ble."
 
   

 
   

 
 
 ka? "Is

Kore wa fur "This is Kore wa fur this a
( a
fruit."
%
( fruit?"

Examples from This Dialogue


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1. Kore wa.. o-kashi desu ka.

"Are these sweets?"

Language Tips: Saying "Yes" or "No"

5
phrase s  

We have touched on how to say "yes" (hai) in previous lessons and also learned the
, which we also use to affirm something. Let's take a look at how to
say "no" as well:

1. "Yes"
   
Hai./Hai, so desu.

2.

   Iie./Iie,
"No"
  
chigaimasu.
Cultural Insight
What's Y

  ?

In the dialogue, Kaori gave Taylor a gift of y


  , which is sweet, jellied,

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red-bean paste. It is sold in block form, and we often eat it in slices. There are
many different varieties of yokan. Definitely try some if you get a chance!

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