This page is not meant to be comprehensive.

It is merely a brief summary of a few points about Japanese grammar that beginners might find useful. If you have no clue about Japanese grammar, this is the place to start.
Japanese Word Order Articles (a, an, the) Nouns and Pronouns Particles Counters Name Suffixes

Japanese Word Order In English sentences words are generally placed SVO (subject, verb, object). Ex: The girl eats the apple. The girl is the subject, eats is the verb, and the apple is the object. In Japanese sentences, however, words are generally arranged SOV (subject, object, verb). Ex: Kore wa pen desu. Kore (this) is the subject, desu (is) is the verb, and pen is the object. (The use of wa is explained further down this page.) In general, the beginner can assume Japanese word order to take the form of TTOPV - Topic/Time Object Place Verb. Just a note on translating here. When beginning to study Japanese, people often make the mistake of translating too literally. For example, a person will read 'Pen desu.', which translates in English as 'It is a pen.'. But, the person will translate it as 'Pen it is.' because they don't allow for the change in word order between the languages. It may be hard at first, but please try not to 'cut and paste' between the two languages. That will only be difficult to unlearn later on.
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Articles (a, an, the) Japanese doesn't use any equivalent of a, an, or the. In translating from English to Japanese these can simply be dropped. In translating from Japanese to English be careful to put the correct article back in though. Since Japanese doesn't use them there may be cases where more than one of the articles is OK. For example, the sentence Inu wa koko ni iru. can mean either 'A dog is here.' or 'The dog is here.'

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Nouns and Pronouns Most Japanese nouns do not change form as they can in English. For instance, most nouns (with the exception of nouns referring to people) have no plural form. Thus 'cat' and 'cats' are both the same word neko. There are ways to show there is more than one of something if necessary. There are counters or words like takusan (many/a lot) or samazama (various). Pronouns also don't change form as they do in English. As an example, she, her, and hers indicate the same person. However, in Japanese she, her, and hers are all indicated with the word 'kanojo' and a particle is used to determine which of the English equivalents is being used. Pronouns do usually have a plural form.
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Particles One of the first things that often throws English speakers when studying Japanese is particles. What is a particle? Well, it's something that the English language doesn't have that Japanese does. Particles help you tell which part of a sentence is which. Particles always follow the word or clause they modify. Particles really have no meaning on their own; they just serve to modify sections of a sentence. (Some particles have a rough equivalent in English if they are of the 'preposition' variety.) One of the most basic mistakes when starting to learn Japanese is to 'translate' the particles. Unfortunately there is often no good English equivalent. (For instance, Japanese uses a spoken question mark.) Thus translating too literally will make the English tend to come out strange. It may be difficult for English speakers who are used to every word having meaning, but try and think of most particles more as 'function' words as opposed to 'meaningful' words.
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Counters

As stated in the nouns section, most words in Japanese do not have a 'plural' form. Instead different types of things have different counters. This is something similar to saying 'five glasses of water' in English. You wouldn't just say 'five water'. The difference with Japanese is that everything requires this type of qualifier. To see some types of counters, see the Counters page.
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Name Suffixes There are several name suffixes that are generally added to the end of names in Japanese. -San is the usual suffix placed after names. It is a respectful term. This suffix is kind of like Ms. or Mr. but it is gender-neutral and makes no reference to marital status. -San should never be used after your own name. -Sama is a more honorific form of -san. This is most often heard in the word okyaku-sama, honored guest/customer. -Chan is a diminutive form of -san. It is usually used after the given name of close friends or younger family members. It is also used after the names of pets. -Kun is a casual suffix. It is usually used after the names of peers in a casual situation. In schools, boys will often be addressed by this suffix. In office situations, higher ups will often address subordinates with this suffix. All of the suffixes can be used for either sex. -San and -sama are also often used after titles in addition to names. The example of okyaku-sama is given above.

This simplest structure in Japanese is the "...desu." structure. Desu is usually pronounced 'dess' as the u becomes silent. Simply put, desu means "It is", "Those are", or "I am." ____ desu. It's ___. Note: In Japanese, cat = neko, dog = inu. Neko desu. It's a cat. or Those are cats. Inu desu. It's a dog. or Those are dogs. John desu. I am John. There is usually no difference between plural and singular things in Japanese. To distinguish what

is being said, one must rely on context or add an adjective to describe how many dogs or cats or whatevers you have. To make a sentence a question in Japanese, you add "ka" to the end. Neko desu ka. Is it a cat? Inu desu ka. Is it a dog? John-san desu ka. Are you John? Is it John? Note that the suffix 'san' was added to the end of John when it became a question. This is because you are reffering to someone else, rather than yourself. It is considered polite to add -san to people's names other than your own. Be very carefull not to add it to the end of your own name though, as it is considered very rude and unusual. To say "It's not a cat." or "I'm not John." you have to use the form dewa arimasen or janai desu. Either form means the same thing, but dewa arimasen is more formal. Neko dewa arimasen. It's not a cat. Neko janai desu. It's not a cat. Inu dewa arimasen. It's not a dog. Inu janai desu. It's not a dog. John-san janai desu. I'm not John. Note: In the example above, you are not John, therefore refering to him with -san is ok. If someone asks you "Is it a cat?" you can respond with yes (hai) or no (iie). Neko desu ka? Hai, neko desu. Iie, neko dewa arimasen. Is it a cat? Yes, it is a cat. No, it's not a cat.

If you don't know what something is, you can point to it and ask "Nan desu ka?" Nan means 'what', so the sentence means "What is it?" Do not use nan to refer to people. It is very rude. Examples: Nan desu ka? Inu desu. Nan desu ka? Neko desu. What is it? It's a dog. What is it? It's a cat.

Lesson 1 Vocabulary:

-san ... desu. ... janai desu. ... dewa arimasen. hai iie nan ka neko inu

polite ending for other people's names It's a ... It's not a ... It's not a ... yes no what particle added to the end of a sentence to make it a question cat dog Lesson 1 Review Page Lesson 2 >>
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Lesson 2: Who is it?

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First, we should establish who you are. If you want to say "I am Sally." You would say: Watashi wa Sally desu. Watashi means 'I.' Wa is a particle which marks the subject of a sentence. It roughly means 'as for' so, the sentence translates to "As for me, I'm Sally." You can also just say "Sally desu." which just means 'I am Sally.' Men and boys can also use the form "Boku wa ___ desu." Boku also means I, but is used by males only.The word 'you' in Japanese is anata, but be careful not to use it unless you're very familiar with someone as it is slightly personal. It's better to just use the person's name when referring to them.

Watashi wa Hana desu. Watashi wa Smith desu. Hana desu. Smith desu. Watashi wa John desu. Boku wa John desu.

I am Hana. I am Mr./Ms Smith. I am Hana. I am Mr./Ms Smith. I am John. I am John.

If you want to ask someone's name, you say "Onamae wa nan desu ka?" Namae means 'name'. The 'o' is added to make it honorific (used only for other people, not yourself). Remember from lesson one that 'nan desu ka 'means what is it?' So the sentence literally means "As for your honorific name, what is it?" To tellsomeone

your name, you can use the above replies or you can say 'Namae wa Hana desu.' or 'Watashi no namae wa hana desu.' The shorter form is usually used in less formal situations. The particle 'no' in this case is similar to the English " 's ". It indicates ownership. Watashi no namae means "my name". Anata no namae would be 'your name.' Examples: Onamae wa nan desu ka? Watashi no namae wa Heather desu. Namae wa John desu. Inu no namae wa nan desu ka? Inu no namae wa Spike desu. What's your name? My name is Heather. My name is John. What is the dog's name? The dog's name is Spike. To ask "Who is it?" you say "Dare desu ka?" Dare means 'who.' To ask "Whose is it?" you say "Dare no desu ka?" Dare desu ka? Dare no desu ka? To indicate ownership of an object, the possessive 'no' particle is used. Who is it? Whose is it?

Examples: Dare no inu desu ka? Watashi no inu desu. Dare no neko desu ka? Watashi no desu. Dare no neko desu ka? Susan-san no neko desu. Anata no desu ka? Iie, Mike-san no desu. Whose dog is it? It's my dog. Whose cat is it? It's mine. Whose cat is it? It's Susan's cat. Is this yours? No, it's Mike's.

Lesson 2 Vocabulary:
watashi boku anata wa namae o I I (used by males only) you subject marker particle name prefix added to some words to make them honoriffic

no dare inu neko

possesive particle ('s) who dog cat

Lesson 2 Review Page << Lesson 1 || Lesson 3 >>

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Lesson 3: I am Japanese.
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The word for Japan in Japanese is Nihon. (Or Nippon) Ni means sun and hon means root. So,Nihon means "origin of the sun." Japan is also known as the "Land of the Rising Sun." There are several words for 'person' in Japanese. Hito is the noun 'person.' If you wanted to say "Who is that person?" you would say "Ano hito wa dare desu ka?" Ano means 'that over there.' (This will be discussed more in Lesson 4.) Likewise, one says onna no hito for 'woman' and otoko no hito for 'man.' These mean 'female person' and 'male person' and are much more polite than just sayingonna or otoko which sound insulting alone. The other two ways of indicating people are the suffixes -nin and -jin. Adding the suffix -jin to the name of a country makes the name of the nationality of that country. Nihon-jin means 'Japanese person.' We will discuss the use of -nin later. Similarly, one can add the suffix -go to the end of a country word and it becomes the language of the country. Note that there are exceptions to this as some countries share common languages. Examples: Japan The U.S. Germany France Italy Australia Canada England Country Nihon Amerika Doitsu Furansu Itaria Oosutoraria Kanada Igirisu People Nihonjin Amerikajin Doitsujin Furansujin Itariajin Oosutorariajin Kanadajin Igirisujin Language Nihongo Eigo Doitsugo Furansugo Itariago Eigo Eigo/Furansugo Eigo

Mexico Spain Portugal Brazil Korea, S.

Mekishiko Supein Porutogaru Burajiru Kankoku

Mekishikojin Supeinjin Porutogarujin Burajirujin Kankokujin

Supeingo Supeingo Porutogarugo Porutogarugo Kankokugo

Lesson 3 Vocabulary: nihon hito -jin -go nihongo eigo Japan person suffix added to country to describe nationality suffix added to country to describe language Japanese language English language Lesson 3 Review Page << Lesson 2 || Lesson 4 >>
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Lesson 4: Here and There

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In this lesson, we will discuss identifying one's general location as well as the location of objects being spoken about. First let's start with some general location vocabulary. koko soko asoko doko here, next to me there, next to you over there, away from us where

From here on out 'here' will be koko, 'there' will be soko, and 'over there' will be asoko, but don't forget that the words are in reference to the speaker and who is being spoken to. Now we can instert our location words into the 'X wa Y desu' patterns.

Examples: Hon wa doko desu ka? Where is the book? Hon wa koko desu. The book's here. Enpitsu wa doko desu ka? Where is the pencil? Enpitsu wa asoko desu. The pencil is over there. Watashi no pen wa doko desu ka? Where is my pen. Koko desu. It's here. One can also describe objects given their location. If you want to indicate a pencil you are holding or one near to you 'this pencil' (as opposed to a pen near someone else) you say kono enpitsu. If you are indicating a pencil near the person you are speaking to (and not yourself) you say sono enpitsu. And finally, if you are indicating a pencil away from both of you, you say ano enpitsu. To ask which pencil (out of more than one indicated pencil), you say dono enpitsu. NOTE: Kono, sono, ano, and dono must be followed by a noun that they are describing. They cannot stand alone.

kono sono ano dono Examples:

this ___ (next to me) that ___ (next to you) that ___ over there (away from us) which ___

Kono inu wa watashi no desu. This dog is mine. Ano hito wa dare desu ka? Who is that person over there? Sono enpitsu wa dare no desu ka? Whose pencil is that? Dono hon desu ka? Which book is it? If the subject is already understood, one can simply say 'this', 'that,' or 'that over there.' Kore is 'this',sore is 'that', and are is 'that over there.' Dore is 'which' (of several things). Examples: Kore wa nan desu ka? Sore wa hon desu. Are wa nan desu ka? Dore desu ka? Lesson 4 Vocabulary: koko soko here (here next to me) there (there next to you) What is this? That is a book. What is that over there? Which is it?

asoko doko kono sono ano dono kore sore are dore hon enpitsu

over there (away from us) where this ___ (next to me) that ___ (next to you) that ___ over there (away from us) which ___ this (next to me) that (next to you) that over there (away from us) which book pencil

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Lesson 5: Numbers
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In this lesson, we will study Japanese numbers. Let's start with one through ten. 1 - 10 rei or zero ichi ni san shi or yon go roku nana or shichi hachi kyuu or ku juu zero one two three four five six seven eight nine ten

Note that several of the numbers have two pronunciations. Each pronunciation is used in specific situations. Sometimes either pronunciation is acceptable. 11 - 19 The numbers from 11 to 19 are formed by putting the appropriate number after ten. Thus 11 is juu + ichi = juuichi. juu-ichi juu-ni juu-san juu-shi or juu-yon juu-go juu-roku juu-nana or juu-shichi juu-hachi juu-kyuu or juu-ku 20 - 90 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

The numbers from 20 to 90 are formed by putting the appropriate number before ten. Thus 20 is ni + juu = nijuu. Think of it like saying 'two tens.' ni-juu san-juu yon-juu go-juu roku-juu nana-juu hachi-juu kyuu-juu twenty thirty fourty (Not shi-juu) fifty sixty seventy eighty ninety (Not ku-juu)

Other numbers can be formed in ways similar to the 1-19 and 20-90 ways. For example, 21 is formed by making twenty, then adding one. 21 = ni + juu + ichi = nijuuichi. Or, 'two tens and one' is twenty one. Examples: san-juu-ni roku-juu-nana yon-juu-hachi kyuu-juu-ku 32 67 48 99

100 - 900 One hundred is hyaku. The numbers from 200 to 900 are formed like the numbers from 20-90. Be careful as there are some exceptions in pronunciation. nihyaku 200 sanbyaku 300 * yonhyaku 400 gohyaku 500 roppyaku 600 * nanahyaku 700 happyaku 800 * kyuuhyaku 900 Note the exceptions in pronunciation for the numbers with asterisks. Larger Numbers: sen man juu-man hyaku-man sen-man oku thousand ten thousand hundred thousand million ten million hundred million Lesson 5 Review Page << Lesson 4 || Lesson 6 >>
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Lesson 6: I don't read books.

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This lesson is about the Japanese particle wo. Wo is pronounced 'o' and will be spelled 'o' in romanized Japanese but should not be confused with the vowel o. (W)o is only used as a particle. It is used to mark the object of a sentence. The particle comes after the object and before the verb. Basically, you have "noun o action verb" which means: "do/does the action verb to the noun." nihongo o benkyou shimasu study Japanese language hon o yomimasu read a book zasshi o yomimasu read a magazine

niku o tabemasu ringo o tabemasu terebi o mimasu koora o nomimasu ongaku o kikimasu

eat meat eat an apple watch TV drink cola listen to music

One can also attach a subject to the sentence to explain who or what is doing the action. Examples: Watashi wa hon o yomimasu. Annasan wa Nihongo o benkyou shimasu. Yoshisan wa ongaku o kikimasu. Ano neko wa ringo o tabemasu. I read books. Anna studies Japanese. Yoshi listens to music. That cat over there eats apples.

Well, that's all well and good, but what if you want to say you don't eat meat? or don't drink coffee? Notice that all of the verbs above end in masu. That is called the masu ending. (It's pronounced like the 'moss' that grows on the ground.) That is the positive present (or future) form of the verb in polite form. If you want to use the negative present form of the verb you change the masu to masen. So "I listen", "Watashi wa kikimasu", becomes "I don't listen", "Watashi wa kikimasen." Examples: Watashi wa hon o yomimasen. Meerisan wa ringo o tabemasen. Watashi no neko wa banana o tabemasen. Maikusan wa Nihongo o benkyou shimasen. Lesson 6 Vocabulary: (w)o ringo banana terebi koora ongaku benkyou shimasu tabemasu kikimasu object marker (particle) apple banana TV cola music to study to eat to hear or listen I don't read books. Mary doesn't eat apples. My cat doesn't eat bananas. Mike doesn't study Japanese.

yomimasu nomimasu mimasu ~masu ~masen

to read to drink to watch, look, or see present positive verb form present negative verb form

Lesson 6 Review Page << Lesson 5 || Lesson 7 >>

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Lesson 7: I go to school.
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This lesson is about direction verbs. For our purposes, a direction verb is one that indicates movement to or from somewhere. In example: I go to the store. In other words, you are moving from somewhere to the store. In order to say "to the store" you have to use the particle ni or e. Ni and e mean 'to' when they come before a direction verb. (Note that the particle e is only pronounced as e; it is spelled with the character he.) Examples: ikimasu to go kimasu to come kaerimasu to return home The sentence pattern for direction verbs is as follows: location e/ni direction verb :=: direction verb to location Examples: Gakkou ni ikimasu. Mise ni ikimasu. Daidokoro ni ikimasu. Paati ni kimasu. Go to school. Go to the store. Go to the kitchen. Come to the party.

Gakkou ni kimasu ka. Will you come to school? Hai gakkou ni ikimasu. Yes, I'll go to school. Iie, gakkou ni ikimasen. No, I won't go to school. It should be remembered that the response to "will you come?" should be "I will go." or "I won't go." because the two people speaking are assumed to be in different locations. One can then add time to indicate when one will go or come. This is generally more useful information that "I will go." Recall that the basic Japanese sentence structure is TTOPV. This stands for Topic/Time Object Place Verb. Our sentences will use T/TPV as there is no object in these sentences. Examples: Kyou, watashi wa gakkou ni ikimasu. Watashi wa gakkou ni ikimasen. Ashita, watashi no paati ni kimasu ka. Hai, ikimasu. Konya, mise ni ikimasu ka. Hai, mise ni ikimasu. Today I will go to school. I won't go to school. Will you come to my party tomorrow? Yes, I'll go. Will you go to the store tonight? Yes, I'll go to the store.

Note that the above examples are all in future tense in English. In Japanese, there is no difference between future tense and present tense. Lesson 7 Vocabulary: ikimasu kimasu kaerimasu kyou ashita konya gakkou mise paati daidokoro uchi ni (h)e to go to come to return home today tomorrow tonight school store/shop party kitchen house particle that means 'to' particle that means 'to'

Lesson 7 Review Page << Lesson 6 || Lesson 8 >>

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Lesson 8: I didn't eat meat.

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This lesson deals with past and present verb tenses. We have already studied the present and future tense for positive and negative verbs. As a refresher: -masu positive present/future -masen negative present/future Examples: Paati ni ikimasu. Paati ni ikimasen. Koora o nomimasu. Koora o nomimasen. Niku o tabemasu. Niku o tabemasen. I will go to the party. I won't go to the party. I drink cola. I don't drink cola. I eat meat. I don't eat meat.

Note that desu is an exception to this because the negaive of desu is dewa arimasen or janai desu. To change from present positive to past positive, take off the masu ending and replace it withmashita. To change from a negative present to a negative past, use the masen ending and adddeshita to the end. Examples: Kouen ni ikimashita. Kouen ni ikimasen deshita. Omizu o nomimashita. Omizu o nomimasen deshita. Niku o tabemashita. Niku o tabemasen deshita. I went to the park. I didn't go to the park. I drank water. I didn't drink water. I ate meat. I didn't eat meat.

Hon deshita. It was a book. Hon dewa arimasen deshita. It wasn't a book. Note that again desu is an exception. You cannot say janai deshita. This rule will be explained later. Note also the word omizu. Mizu means water. The o is only added to be respectful. Many words often have this 'honorific' o added to the front. Lesson 8 Vocabulary: -masu -masen -mashita -masen deshita desu dewa arimasen deshita dewa arimasen deshita ikimasu nomimasu tabemasu paati koora niku kouen mizu hon positive present/future verb tense negative present/future verb tense positive past verb tense negative pase verb tense is isn't was wasn't to go to drink to eat party cola/soda meat park water book Lesson 8 Review Page << Lesson 7 || Lesson 9 >>
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Lesson 9: I want to drink cola.

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In this lesson, you will learn how to tell someone that you want to do something. Recall that present tense verbs have the -masu ending. In order to change these to the 'want to' ending, drop the -masu and replace it with -tai. Examples: masu form tabemasu nomimasu ikimasu kaimasu yomimasu kakimasu mimasu kikimasu English to eat to drink to go to buy to read to write to watch/see to listen/hear tai form tabetai nomitai ikitai kaitai yomitai kakitai mitai kikitai English want to eat want to drink want to go want to buy want to read want to write want to watch/see want to listen/hear

Examples: Kouen ni ikimasu. Kouen ni ikitai. Gakkou ni ikimasu. Gakkou ni ikitai. I will go to the park. I want to go to the park. I go to school. I want to go to school.

Now for one more twist. When you use tai with verbs that take o, you can also change the o to ga for emphasis if you want.

Examples: Ringo o tabemasu. I eat apples. Ringo o tabetai. I want to eat an apple. Ringo ga tabetai. I want to eat an apple. In the above example, the second sentence just means that you want to eat apples. The third sentence means that you want to eat apples as opposed to something else. It's not really that important of a difference so you can stick with just o if you're more comfortable with it. Lesson 9 Vocabulary: ringo tegami hon kouen gakkou koora o ni ga -masu -tai apple letter book park school cola object marker particle particle meaning 'to' emphatic object marker positive present/future verb tense 'want to' verb ending Lesson 9 Review Page << Lesson 8 || Lesson 10 >>
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Lesson 10: I study every day.

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The word for school is gakkou. Teachers are sensei and students are gakusei (or seito). College is daigaku (literally "big school"). A college student is daigakusei. In order to say what grade you are in, or whether you're a freshman-senior, you say "I'm a --year student." Where -- is replaced with the correct year. ichinensei ninensei sannensei yonensei nen Ninensei desu. first year student second year student third year student fourth year student year I'm a second year student.

For some other useful school vocabulary go here. To say "I am a student at the University of ----" you say: ---- daigaku no gakusei desu. or ---- daigaku no seito desu. This also works for other types of schools like high schools, junior highs and elementary schools. Just insert the name of the school in place of ---- and the type of school in place of daigaku. Note that elementary school students are not generally called seito or gakusei, but jidou(children or juveniles). West koukou no seito desu. I'm a West High School student. Recall from Lesson 6 that Nihongo o benkyou shimasu. means 'I study Japanese.' Recall fromLesson 7 that the basic Japanese sentence structure is TTOPV. This stands for Topic/Time Object Place Verb. We will now add a few more general times to our sentences. Examples: mainichi every day kinou yesterday asatte the day after tomorrow Students of course also do a lot of shukudai (homework). To do homework is shukudai o shimasu. The verb "to do" is shimasu. Let's try a few sample sentences now. Examples: Mainichi, nihongo o renshuu shimasu. Mainichi, eigo o benkyou shimasu. Asatte, nihongo o renshuu shimasu. Every day I practice Japanese. I study English every day. I will practice Japanese the day after tomorrow.

Kinou, suugaku o benkyou shimashita. Asatte, nihongo no shukudai o shimasu. Kinou, suugaku no shukudai o shimasen deshita. Lesson 10 Vocabulary: ichinensei ninensei sannensei yonensei daigakusei seito gakusei sensei nen mainichi kinou asatte daigaku koukou suugaku shukudai benkyou shimasu renshuu shimasu

Yesterday, I studied math. The day after tomorrow I will do Japanese homework. I didn't do the math homework yesterday.

freshman/first year student sophomore/second year student junior/third year student senior/fourth year student university student student student teacher year every day yesterday the day after tomorrow university/college high school math homework to study to practice Lesson 10 Review Page << Lesson 9 || Lesson 11 >>
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Lesson 10: I study every day.

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The word for school is gakkou. Teachers are sensei and students are gakusei (or seito). College is daigaku (literally "big school"). A college student is daigakusei. In order to say what grade you are in, or whether you're a freshman-senior, you say "I'm a --year student." Where -- is replaced with the correct year.

ichinensei ninensei sannensei yonensei nen Ninensei desu.

first year student second year student third year student fourth year student year I'm a second year student.

For some other useful school vocabulary go here. To say "I am a student at the University of ----" you say: ---- daigaku no gakusei desu. or ---- daigaku no seito desu. This also works for other types of schools like high schools, junior highs and elementary schools. Just insert the name of the school in place of ---- and the type of school in place of daigaku. Note that elementary school students are not generally called seito or gakusei, but jidou(children or juveniles). West koukou no seito desu. I'm a West High School student. Recall from Lesson 6 that Nihongo o benkyou shimasu. means 'I study Japanese.' Recall fromLesson 7 that the basic Japanese sentence structure is TTOPV. This stands for Topic/Time Object Place Verb. We will now add a few more general times to our sentences. Examples: mainichi every day kinou yesterday asatte the day after tomorrow Students of course also do a lot of shukudai (homework). To do homework is shukudai o shimasu. The verb "to do" is shimasu. Let's try a few sample sentences now. Examples: Mainichi, nihongo o renshuu shimasu. Mainichi, eigo o benkyou shimasu. Asatte, nihongo o renshuu shimasu. Kinou, suugaku o benkyou shimashita. Asatte, nihongo no shukudai o shimasu. Kinou, suugaku no shukudai o shimasen deshita. Every day I practice Japanese. I study English every day. I will practice Japanese the day after tomorrow. Yesterday, I studied math. The day after tomorrow I will do Japanese homework. I didn't do the math homework yesterday.

Lesson 10 Vocabulary: ichinensei ninensei sannensei yonensei daigakusei seito gakusei sensei nen mainichi kinou asatte daigaku koukou suugaku shukudai benkyou shimasu renshuu shimasu freshman/first year student sophomore/second year student junior/third year student senior/fourth year student university student student student teacher year every day yesterday the day after tomorrow university/college high school math homework to study to practice Lesson 10 Review Page << Lesson 9 || Lesson 11 >>
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Lesson 12: It's in the car.

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Recall from Lesson 4 that we learned how to say that the location of something is here, there, or over there. This is useful information if you can see something or are pointing at something. However, what if you can't see the location you are talking about, or you want to explain where something is in relation to something else? First, there are two different ways of saying something exists. One is for animate things (people and animals) and one is for inanimate things. These are the verbs imasu and arimasu. These both

mean "to exist." Imasu is used for animate things and arimasu is used for inanimate things. To ask where a place or inanimate object is, one can use the form: XX wa doko ni arimasu ka. Where is XX? For people and animals, imasu is used instead: XX wa doko ni imasu ka. Where is XX? Note the use of ni. Ni was previously shown in lesson 7; its meaning here is slightly different. Ni in this case means 'at.' Doko ni means 'at what location.' Similarly, koko ni would mean 'at this location.' The above sentences literally translate as 'As for XX, at what location does it exist?' In order to say where something or someone is, just replace the 'doko' with the location.

Examples: Maiku-san wa doko ni imasu ka. Maiku-san wa gakkou ni imasu. Neko wa doko ni imasu ka. Neko wa asoko ni imasu. Watashi no ringo wa doko ni arimasu ka. Koko ni arimasu. Kaban wa doko ni arimasu ka. Kaban wa Arasuka ni arimasu. Where is Mike? Mike is at school. Where is the cat? The cat is over there. Where is my apple? It's here. Where is the briefcase? The briefcase is in Alaska.

OK, now we can move on to specific locations. Where exactly is the cat? Is it under the desk? Inside of a box? Is the book in the bookshelf or on top of it? We will need some more vocabulary in order to say these things. mae ushiro yoko ue shita naka soto aida front back, behind next to, along side top, above bottom, under inside, middle outside between, interval

mukou tonari hidari gawa migi gawa

beyond next door, neighboring left side right side

Now that we have more location words to work with, we can make more location sentences. Just place the correct location word in the sentence. Examples: Neko wa doko ni imasu ka. Where is the cat? Soto ni imasu. It's outside. Naka ni imasu. It's inside. Now we need to combine the location words with objects to create such locations as 'in the bag' etc. We do this using the particle no. Recall from lesson 2 that no indicates possesion. Examples: kuruma no ue on the car kuruma no shita under the car kuruma no naka in the car kuruma no soto outside of the car kuruma no ushiro behind the car Note that where in English these phrases are indicated with prepositions these are more likepostpositions. OK, now that we have our new locations, we can insert them in our location sentence as before.

Examples: Neko wa doko ni imasu ka. Kuruma no ue ni imasu. Kuruma no shita ni imasu. Kaban wa doko ni arimasu ka. Kuruma no naka ni arimasu. Where is the cat? It's on the car. It's under the car. Where's the bag? It's in the car.

Lesson 12 Vocabulary: arimasu imasu ni to exist (for inanimate things) to exist (for animate things) particle meaning at

no mae ushiro yoko ue shita naka soto aida mukou tonari hidari gawa migi gawa kaban Arasuka kuruma

possessive particle front back, behind next to, along side top, above bottom, under inside, middle outside between, interval beyond next door, neighboring left side right side bag, briefcase Alaska car Lesson 12 Review Page << Lesson 11 || Lesson 13 >>
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Lesson 13: I came by bus.

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Recall from Lesson 7 that "I go to the store." is "Watashi wa mise ni ikimasu." This means that "I went to the store." is "Mise ni ikimashita." To add a bit more information to this, we can say how we got to the store. To do this, we need to use the particle de. De roughly means "by means of", "at" or "in" depending upon how it's used. In this lesson, we'll be using the 'by means of' meaning. De is a particle and therefore it follows the term it modifies. Examples: kuruma de by car jitensha de by bike basu de by bus densha de by train Now we can insert these new phrases into our direction sentences.

Examples: (Watashi wa) kuruma de mise ni ikimashita. Basu de kouen ni ikimasu. Jitensha de ginkou ni ikimashou. Watashitachi wa basu de kimashita. Lesson 13 Vocabulary: jitensha basu densha mise ginkou watashitachi de I went to the store by car. I'll go to the park by bus. Let's go to the bank by bicycle. We came by bus.

bicycle bus train shop/store bank we/us particle meaning 'by means of' << Lesson 12 || Lesson 14 >>
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