Common Japanese words you must know

Before making your first sentence, you need to know a few vocabularies. Let’s start off with the most common words.

わたし、私watashi　＝　I、me

あなたanata　= You

これkore = this

それsore = that

かばん、鞄kaban = bag

こんにちはkonnichiwa = hello, good afternoon

おはようございますohayou gozaimasu = Good morning

いきます、行きますikimasu = to go, will go

きます、来ますkimasu = to come, will come

どこdoko = where

のみます、飲みますnomimasu = to drink, will drink

たべます、食べますtabemasu = to eat, will eat

かきます、書きますkakimasu = to write, will write

おしえます、教えますoshiemasu = to teach, will teach

かれ、彼kare = He, him

せんせい、先生sensei = teacher

ケーキke-ki = cake

がっこう、学校gakkou = school

みず、水mizu = water

のno = a particle to show ownership

にni = a particle to show location or time

はwa = subject marker (notice that the hiragana is written as ha, but this should be pronounce as “wa”)

でde = at, by, via, through

The above vocabularies are the most commonly used and easiest to learn. So remember them all before you go to the next lesson.

Learn how to connect Japanese sentences using ga, kedo and dakara

Sometime back ago we learned about the -te てform, which is use to connect or continue sentences, or also known as “and”. In today’s post we shall learn more on how to connect Japanese sentences using connective words. The use of “but”, “because” and “so” will be covered today.
Let’s start with using “but”. There are 2 ways to express “but” in Japanese. One is ”けど” the other is ”が”. Both can be use to connect to other Japanese sentences. See the two examples below.

くるま　が　ほしい　ですが、　おかね　が　ありません
I want a car but I don’t have money.
くるま　が　ほしい　ですけど、　おかね　が　ありません
I want a car but I don’t have money.

It’s quite easy to understand this. Just simply put the が or けど after the sentence, くるま　が　ほしい　です, and then you can continue to state the reason after that. This is very commonly use in the Japanese conversation, so remember this well 
Let’s learn how to use “because” in Japanese. There are 2 ways to say it. Let’s look at the examples

おかね　が　ありません ので、　くるま　が　かえません
Because I don’t have money, I can’t buy a car.
おかね　が　ありません から、　くるま　が　かえません
Because I don’t have money, I can’t buy a car.

To state reasons, use the ので or から. Just like けど or　が , simply add the ので or　から after stating your reasons. Japanese tend to express the reasons first before telling the listeners the things they do. If you remember in my earlier post, Japanese tend to express the important or big things first. That is why if you were to see a perishable Japanese product, their expiry date is base on yy-mm-dd format.
Finally let’s head to the last connective word for today

あした　テスト　が　あります。　だから いま　べんきょう　しています
I have a test tomorrow. So I am studying now.
あした、明日 means tomorrow
テスト means test
べんきょう、勉強 means study
しています means doing (something)

The word　だから　means “so”, or “that is why” It’s similar to　から or ので. But it should be added after you have finish talking about the event that will happen.

Learning Japanese takes time, so don’t rush. Or else you will quickly forget what you have learned earlier. Enjoy learning Japanese!

How to show preference in Japanese using “hoshii” and -tai form

There are 2 ways to show preference in Japanese. One is the adjective word call “hoshii”　ほしい、欲しい. Or using the -tai たいform.

Some quick examples below.

くるま　が　ほしい - I want a car.

いぬ　が　ほしい - I want a dog.

ねこ　が　ほしい - I want a cat.

When you want to show that you want an object that is a noun, you use the が particle together with the adjective, ほしい. Remember, Japanese sentences are post-position, so the most important objects that are desirable should be place first. Therefore, nouns like cat, dog or car should be express first then follow by adding a が　ほしい after.

So what if you want to express something that you want to do? That means using Japanese verbs to show preference. That is where the -tai たいforms comes in. Look at the examples below.

ケーキ　が　たべたい - I want to eat cake.

コーラ　が　のみたい - I want to drink coke.

To change a verb into a -tai たい form. Use the -masu stem and add the たい after it.

たべます　becomes たべたい　want to eat

のみます becomes のみたい want to drink

ねます becomes ねたい want to sleep

To show preference for certain objects that you want to do, add the が after the noun then follow by the verb with the -tai form behind it.

What if you want someone to do something instead? That topic shall be covered in the coming posts. Look out for it. Till then, enjoy learning Japanese!

Japanese learners tend to be confuse with wa and ga

Many Japanese learners tend to be confused with using the は and the が particle. As previously mention, the は particle is use for introducing new information to the listener, like a topic marker. The Japanese may also use this to emphasis certain things.

While for the が particle, it is use as a subject marker, or use for certain things that are already known between the speakers and listeners. Let’s take a look at some examples between the は and the が particle.

これ は　わたし　の　ほん　です

This is my book.

この　ほん　は　わたし　の　です

This book is mine.

Before we get into the は explanations, there are some more explanations. この means “this”. The Japanese use この for telling which object to referring to.

For example

この　こ -> This child

この　パソコン -> This computer

この　パン -> This bread

The Japanese don’t say これ　ほん, its not correct. Only by saying これ　は is correct and this word and particle will always be together. If you want to say “This book”, then say この　ほん.

So from the above sentences you can see the は is used for introducing new information or changing topic.　これ is new information. この　ほん is also new information. But when the Japanese want to talk about the current or previous information regarding certain matters of objects, the Japanese will use the が to mark the subject.

Aさん：これ　は わたし　の　ほん　です

This is my book.

Bさん：これ　が あなた　の　ほん　です　か？

Is this your book?

A introduce new information, telling B that this is his book. And B just learned about book, so he confirms the matter by asking A about the book.

So this is a very clear understanding of how to use は and が. I will cover more information in the future posts. Happy learning Japanese 

Learn Japanese using the “Able” or “not able” forms

 

How do you say, “Are you able to drink beer?” in Japanese? Let’s take a look.

ビールがのめますか、ビールが飲めますか？

ビール means “Beer”

The か is a particle added at the end to mark the sentence as a question

As for が, this particle is use together with the -eru form. This particle will be covered later.

and のめますか means “Able to drink?” or “can drink?”

So let’s take a closer look at the word のめます.

のめます comes from the plain word のむ, which means “to drink”

So to make it “able to drink” Simply add the -eru　sound like this.

のむ becomes のめる. The む is changed into め.

So you get のめる. And to make it into a polite form, you add the -masu form.

So のめる becomes のめます(can drink), finally to make it into a question, add the か after it. So it becomes のめますか, “Can you drink?”

Let’s practice changing a few verbs. Learn these Japanese verbs one by one, memorizing them until can acutally say it out by yourself. 

すむ、住む becomes すめる、住める (able to live)

いく、行く becomes いける、行ける (able to go)

まがる、曲がる becomes まがれる、曲がれる (able to turn, bend)

つかう、使う becomes つかえる、使える (able to use)

For this verb,　つかう the う is replace by the える, This rule applies to all verbs. But there are some verbs group which need special attention to when changing them to -eru.

Let’s practice another group of verbs

たべる、食べる becomes たべられる、食べられる (able to eat)

おしえる、教える becomes おしえられる、教えられる (able to teach)

おきる、起きる becomes おきられる、起きられる (able to wake up)

You can see from the change that a ら is added after the べ or い. Any verb that has a え or い sounding, should be added with a られる after it.　But Japanese tend to use the -eru sounding even for this verb group. They tend to say たべれる instead of the actual たべられる. Or おきる becomes おきれる. Learn to be able to use this Japanese forms, its very very useful.

If you feel that its just too complicating to learn all that. Then just simply add -eru for all verbs. The Japanese will still understand you 

And here are some final special verbs that you must take care of

くる、来る becomes こられる、来られる (able to come)

する becomes できる、出きる (able)

This group of Japanese verbs are fix, so you have no other choice but to learn and remember them well. 

That’s all for today’s guide to Japanese learning post.

Learn How to Change Adjectives to paste Tense

Today I’m going to teach on changing Japanese adjectives into negatives. So what adjectives did we learn in the last post?

For い adjectives
あつい、熱い becomes あつかった　です(was hot, was warm)
さむい、寒い becomes さむかった　です(was cold)

To make an い adjective into a past tense, you simple drop the い and replace it with かった　です. Note that you are learning the polite form because there is a です. If you want to make it a plain form because you are talking with your good Japanese friend, remove the です. So it’s just simply さむかった

For な adjectives
きれい、綺麗 becomes きれい　でした(was pretty)
かんたん、簡単 becomes かんたん　でした(was easy)
And for な adjectives, you simply add a でした after it, without the な. The でした is actually a past tense for です. So for example:
For present tense -> わたし　の　ほん　です　(It’s my book)
For past tense -> わたし　の　ほん　でした (It was my book)
To make it into plain forms
です　becomes だ　Example：　わたし　の　ほん　だ (It’s my book)
でした becomes だった Example: わたし　の　ほん　だった (It was my book)

There you have it. Now let’s learn how to change negative adjectives into past tense.

For い adjectives
あつくない、熱くない becomes あつくなかった (Was not hot)
さむくない、寒くない becomes さむくなかった(Was not cold)

So you can see, you can change it into a negative past tense by dropping the い in the ない, and replacing it with かった again.

And for な adjectives
きれい　じゃない　becomes きれい　じゃなかった
かんたん　じゃない becomes かんたん　じゃなかった

You probably have notice, the ない form which also means “not or nothing” can also be made into a past tense. So ない　becomes なかった.
So this is how you learn Japanese:) That’s all for today’s post. We shall learn more new Japanese words in the next post
While you learn Japanese, make sure to have a good lighting, a proper table and good pen and paper. Till then, enjoy learning Japanese

がんばって！

Changing Japanese Adjectives to the Negative nai form

 

Let’s learn some adjectives today. There are 2 kinds of adjectives. The な adjectives and the い adjectives.

For い adjectives

あつい、熱い warm, hot

さむい、寒い cold (use to describe weather only)

As you can see that for the い adjectives, there is an い sound at the end. That is why its call the い adjective. So let’s make a negative adjective.

あつい becomes あつくない(not warm or not hot)

さむい becomes さむくない (not cold)

What can you tell? The い becomes くない. Difficult? Not really. This is the rule. So remember it well. 

For な adjectives

きれい、綺麗（な） (pretty)

かんたん、簡単（な） (simple, easy)

What about the な adjectives? As you can see that I’ve made brackets on the な adjective. If you want to describe something pretty. Just add な after it. Here are two examples.

きれいな ふく　です　(A pretty dress.)

きれいな おんな　の　こ　です　(A pretty girl)

Just in case you didn’t know. おんな　の　こ means girl. But let me break up this for you. This is not exactly a word. おんな、女 means female and こ、子 means child. And the の is to show ownership. So you can see from here it literally means “female child” which also means “a girl”. As for boy, おとこ　の　こ、男の子.

So how do we make it into a negative form? Just simply add a じゃない after it.

Like this->きれいじゃない(not pretty) And for かんたん, it becomes かんたんじゃない(not simple)

Or you can add a -dewanaiではない too. So, きれいではない and かんたんではない has the same meaning as the above.

That’s all for today’s post. In the next post, I will teach on how to change the adjectives to become past tense, and negative past tense.

Till then, have fun learning Japanese

がんばって！

Basic forms for Japanese learners part 3 - Using nai form

 

Previously we touch on ます、て、た and plain forms. In this post, we will learn a new form call the ない form. This form is use to express negation. Let’s take a look at some of the examples.

たべる、食べる becomes たべない、食べない (don’t eat)

おしえる、教える becomes おしえない、教えない (don’t teach)

Let’s take a closer look!

In the verb, たべる, the る is drop and replace with the ない form. As long as you see an　え before a the る sounding. Just simply drop the る and add the ない in. This is one of the rule to making a negation on any verb. So same for おしえる. There is an え before the る, so る is drop and replace with a ない form. So you get おしえない.

What about this one -> ねる、寝る　(to sleep, will sleep) becomes ???

Let’s take a look at the next verb group

よむ、読む becomes よまない、読まない( don’t read)

すむ、住む becomesすまない、住まない (don’t live)

The verb, よむ has a む sounding at the end. So this む should be change to a ま, where you can hear the あ sounding. And then add the ない form after you have change to ま. It becomes よまない. Same goes to すむ.

Ok, let’s head to the next verb group

つかう、使う(to use, will use) becomes つかわない、使わない (don’t use)

すう、吸う becomes すわない、吸わない(don’t smoke)

So what difference can you tell from this verb group? The う becomes わ! The わ sound has a あ sound too. So in this verb, つかう, you change the う to わ and add ない behind it. Same thing goes to すう.

One more verb group to introduce 

うつ、打つ (to hit, will hit) becomes うたない、打たない ( don’t hit)

まつ、待つ (to wait, will wait) becomes またない、待たない (don’t wait)

Now, what difference can you see from this verb group? The つ becomes た. Then add ない behind it. Simple! 

You probably have already notice, just by simply changing the う sounding to becomes the あ sounding and then adding the ない form will allow you to create the negative verbs. Here are few more examples, see if you can change them to the negative verb.

はなす、話す(to speak) becomes ???

いく、行く(to go) becomes ???

はる、貼る(to paste, to stick) becomes ???

しぬ、死ぬ(to die) becomes ???

Here comes the special verb groups you will have to memorize them by heart.

する becomes しない( don’t do, not do)

くる、来る becomes こない、来ない (don’t come)

いる (to be around.) becomes いない (not around, not there)

That’s it for today’s post. More forms coming up.