lesson-1_romaji

This is free lesson-1 to you. Please read well and send me your answers of exercises in this lesson

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Before you start to study basic Japanese language conversation and grammar
I would like to show you Japanese sound list. I shall use Romaji letters for this.
Roma-ji letters is the system of latin characters used to write Japanese.
In Roma-ji , there is a total of 101 sounds and most of them are consonat-vowel combination.

(Please click HERE to listen to these sounds)

shi

chi

tsu

kya	sha	cha	nya	hya	mya	rya	gya	ja	bya	pya
kyu	shu	chu	nyu	hyu	myu	ryu	gyu	ju	byu	pyu
kyo	sho	cho	nyo	hyo	myo	ryo	gyo	jo	byo	pyo

*I advise you to recite this table in columns thus :
< a,i.u.e.o.ka,ki,ku,ke,ko,sa,shi,su,se,so-- > untill you feel familiar with it.
* "wo" sound is the same as "o" sound.

Example; Watashi ( wa+ta+shi)= I, Anata (a+na+ta)=you , Nihon(ni+ho+n)=Japan
Te= hand, Me= eye,

Like other languages, Japanese has adopted many English words used in
daily life. They are pronounced in a Japanese way. You can understand them without difficulty.
But they might sound funny for you.

Example ; speed--supiido, taxi--takushii, table--teeburu, milk--miruku, calendar--karendaa

*Question, Please indicate next Japanese words into English equivalent words. < Please click HERE to hear these words>

A, aisukuriimu == B, erebeitaa== C, rajio== D, kaaten==
E, maneejaa == F, ookesutora== G, koohii== H, taoru==

We start to study a very basic Japanese sentence ( --wa --desu/desu ka? / dewaarimasen.)

Please read the following conversation between A and B. < Please click HERE to hear this conversation >

A, Watashi wa Tanaka desu. ( I am Tanaka.)
Anata wa Gumi-san desu ka ? ( Are you Mr.Gumi?)
B, Hai, watashi wa Gumi desu. ( Yes, I am Gumi.)
A, Anata wa Amerika-jin desu ka ? ( Are you American?)
B, IIe, watashi wa Amerika-jin dewaarimasen. ( No, I am not American.)
Watashi wa Nihon-jin desu. ( I am Japanese. )

    *As you see the above sentences, Japanese language puts "wa " after subject .
      This "wa " is called adverbial particle, which indicates that the preceding word ( eg Watashi,
      Anata in the above conversation ) is the subject of the sentence. or the topic of the
      dialogue and so on.
    * "desu"is copula verb which means "is " "am " This is positive form .
       Be sure to place it at the end of the sentence.
    * "dewa arimasen" is negative form of "desu"
    * "Hai" is yes , "iie" is no . sometime people say "ie"instead of "iie"
    * "Amerikajin "means American "jin"means person, people.
        You can make many nationalities with "jin" like
        Nihon(Japan)+Jin =Japanese, Furansu(France)+jin = French, Doitsu ( Germany)+Jin= German
    * Question sentence put "ka" at the end of the sentence.

1 A, Are you students ? (you = anata-tachi, student= gakusei)
B, Yes, we are students. ( we = watashi-tachi)

3 A, Are you Chinese ? ( Chinese = Chuugoku-jin)
B, No, I am not Chinese. I am Japanese..

4, A, Is he Mr. Suzuki ? ( he=kare )
B, No, he is not Mr. Suzuki. He is Mr. Tanaka.

In the Japanese language｡､Particles have very important rules in the sentence.
Each particle indicates the rule of the preceding word ( subject,object etc)
in the sentence. As seen in our previous sentences, "wa " has the very important rule as
indicator of the subject or topic in the sentence.
Now｡､you will study another important particle "no"

1 watashi no musuko (my son)
anata no musuko (your son)
watashi no kazoku (my family)
anata no kazoku ( your family) *kazoku=family

2 gumi-san no hon (Mr. Gumi's book) *hon=book
chichi no uchi( father's house) *chichi=father *uchi=house

3 nihongo no jisho ( Japanese dictionary) *jisho=dictionary
eigo no benkyou (study of English) *eigo=English *benkyou=study

As you see in the above phrases｡､"no" has the important function of connecting two words
and showing the relationship between words.
One of the two words modify the another word. In such a case, the particle "no"
is put after the modifying word, followed by modified word.
Generally speaking, when you say "A of B "in English , you can say "B no A"in Japanese.

    1, Your school ( anata, gakkou)
    2, My teacher ( sensei, watashi)=
    3, English book ( hon, eigo )=
    4, Our car( kuruma, watashitachi)=
    5, Study of Japanese (nihongo, benkyou)=
    6, Your name ( namae, anata)=
    7, Today's news ( nyuusu, kyoo)=

So,"no" has the important function of connecting words. sometime,you will use more than
one "no" in one phrase to connect few words . For example,

If you follow the formula " A of B "in English = "B no A "in Japanese,
A=school, B=my son so, " watashi no musuko(B) no gakkou(A)"

    1, the car of my friend ( friend = tomodachi)
    2, the teacher of your school
    3, the book of Japanese history ( history= rekishi)
    4, my friend's company ( company= kaisha)
    5, the house of our family
    6, the language of his country (language=kotoba)

Now, let's try to make sentences with the particle"wa" and "no" and verb "desu" and so on.

When you make Japanese sentence, please make sure the predicate part comes at the end of
sentence. And note that Japanese nouns and pronouns have no number and gender.
They have no inflectional signs of case,either.
Instead, they are followed by particles like "wa"."no"which indicate the rule of the word in sentence.

< how to make this sentence>
1) "My name" is " watashi no namae".This is the subject of the sentence.
2)The subject is followed by the particle "wa "( watashi no namae wa ).
3)The predicate part of this sentence is "is Nakata." which is mentioned about the subject.
     In Japanese sentence structure, the verb "desu"(is) needs to be placed at the end of sentence.
     So, the predicate part of this sentence is "nakata desu"
4)Finally, you can connect the subject part with the predicate part as "watashi no namae wa nakata desu."
     If the sentence is negative, "desu" can be replaced by "dewaarimasen."

   <how to make this sentence>
1) "your country " in Japanese is "anata no kuni ".
2)This is the subject of this sentence which is followed by the particle "wa". ( anata no kuni wa ).
3)This sentence is a question form in which ends with " desu ka ".
     "nihon "(Japan) is the predicate word which precedes "desu ka" ( nihon desu ka)
4)You can connect the subject part "anata no kuni wa" with the predicate part "nihon desu ka" and
     thus become "anata no kuni wa + nihon desu ka"

1, My father is Japanese. But, my mother is not Japanese. My mother is American.
( mother = haha ) ( but = demo ,, this word should be put at the top of the second sentence.

2, Is Hong-Kong the capital of China ? No, Hong-Kong is not the capital of China.
( capital = shuto) (Hong-Kong= honkon)

3, Is Sumou the Japanese sport ? Yes, Sumou is the Japanese sport.
( sport = supootsu )

4, My hobbies are cars and music. My car is a German car.
( hobby/hobbies = shumi ) ( music =ongaku ) ( cars and music = kuruma to ongaku )

5, The president of my company is my father. I am not the president.
( president= shachou) (company = kaisha )

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* Supplement :Country name and nationarity and language name in Japanese language

1, When you say a country's name in Japanese, you are recommended to pronounce the names in a Japanese
way , Some country names are different from English names
2, When you say nationality of the people, you can just add "jin " after country name.
3, When you say language name, you can just add " go" after country name generally

I can show you some examples

Country name	japanese	nationality	language
England	Igirisu	Igirisu-jin	Eigo
Russia	Roshia	Roshia-jin	Roshiago
Korea	Kankoku	Kankoku-jin	Kankokugo
Holland	Oranda	Oranda-jin	Orandago
Australia	Oostoraria	Oostoraria-jin	Eigo
Greece	Girisha	Girisha-jin	Girishago
U S.A	Amerika	Amerika-jin	Eigo or Beigo

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