TIẾNG NHẬT CƠ BẢN A B C

Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc

TIẾNG NHẬT CƠ BẢN A B C (SƯU TẦM TRÊN INTERNET)
LESSON 1 - Meeting the New Neighbor
This lesson will teach you how to greet and to carry out a conversation in Japanese. In
this dialog, Yota Suzuki and Jason Miller meet for the first time at Jason's house in
Tokyo.

Yota:

Kon'nichi wa.
Hello.

Jason:

Kon'nichi wa.
Hello.

Yota:

Watashi wa Suzuki Yota desu. Hajimemashite.
I am Yota Suzuki. Nice to meet you.

Jason:

Watashi wa Jeson Miraa desu. Hajimemashite. Doozo yoroshiku.
I am Jason Miller. Nice to meet you.
(May I ask you to be kind to me.)

Yota:

Miraa-san, anata wa Amerika-jin desu ka.
Mr. Miller, are you an American?

Jason:

Hai, watashi wa Amerika-jin desu. Anata wa.
Yes. I am American. How about you?

Yota:

Nihon-jin desu.
I am Japanese.

Listen to Dialog up to this point. (.wav file)

Jason:

Suzuki-san, anata wa daigaku-sei desu ka.
Mr. Suzuki, are you a college student?

Yota:

Hai, soo desu. Miraa-san wa.
Yes. How about you, Mr. Miller?

Jason:

Watashi wa kookoo-sei desu.

1


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc

I am a high school student.

Yota:

Otomodachi mo kookoo-sei desu ka.
Is your friend also a high school student?

Jason:

Hai. Suzuki-san wa nan'nen-sei desu ka.
Yes. Mr. Suzuki, what year are you in college?

Yota:

Daigaku ninen-sei desu.
I am a sophomore (second year student).

Listen to Dialog up to this point. (.wav file)

kon'nichi wa

hello

watashi

I, me, myself

desu

am, are, is

anata

You

Amerika-jin

American (person)

Nihon-jin

Japanese (person)

daigaku-sei

college student

kookoo-sei

high school student

otomo-dachi

friend

nan'nen-sei

what grade level, what year (in school, college)

ninen-sei

second level, second year (in college = sophomore)
Listen to Vocabulary. (.wav file)

1. Watashi wa Suzuki Yota desu.

This sentence means "I am Yota Suzuki." It is standard for Japanese to use their family
name first followed by their given name. The sentence pattern is "Noun wa noun desu"
which translates as "Noun is Noun". The wa is a particle indicating a subject or a topic,
while desu is an equivalent to "am", "are", and "is".
Examples:

Watashi wa Sumisu desu.

2


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc
(I am Mr. Smith.)
Watashi wa Tanaka desu.

(I am Mr. Tanaka.)

2. Anata wa Amerika-jin desu ka.

This sentence means "Are you an American?" The word ka is a particle which makes a
sentence a question.
Examples:

Anata wa Nihon-jin desu ka.
(Are you Japanese?)
Anata wa Suzuki-san desu ka.
(Are you Mr. Suzuki?)

3. Otomo-dachi mo kookoo-sei desu ka.

This sentence means "Is your friend also a high school student?" The word mo is a
particle and means "also".
Examples:

Sumisu-san mo Amerika-jin desu ka.
(Is Mr. Smith also an American?)
Watashi mo daigaku-sei desu.
(I am also a college student.)

4. Nihon-jin desu.

This sentence means "I am Japanese". The word Nihon-jin is a compound of the two
words, Nihon and jin. Nihon means "Japan" and jin means "person". The word jin is
added to the end of a country's name to signify a person of that country.
Examples:

Gaadana-san wa Igirisu-jin desu.
(Mr. Gardiner is English. [Igirisu=England])
Rozenbawa-san wa Doitsu-jin desu.
(Mr. Rosenbauer is German.[Doitsu=Germany])

5. Watashi wa kookoo-sei desu.

This sentence means "I am a high school student". The word kookoo-sei is a compound
of the two words, kookoo and -sei. Kookoo is a shortened form of the word
kootoogakkoo which means "high school" and -sei is an ending which means "student".
Examples: Waatamanu-san wa daigakuin-sei desu.
(Mr. Waterman is a graduate student.[daigakuin=graduate
school])
Rassoru-san wa daigaku-sei desu.
(Mr. Russell is a college student.)
Listen to the sentences in Grammar notes. (.wav file)

Japanese Language Lessons

LESSON 2 - Yota's Room
In this lesson, Yota Suzuki and Jason Miller discuss items in Yota's room. This lesson
will teach you how to greet and to carry out a conversation in Japanese. In this dialog,
Yota Suzuki and Jason Miller meet for the first time at Jason's house in Tokyo.

3


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Jason:

Đào Ngọc Sắc

Ohayoo Gozaimasu.
Good morning.

Yota:

Ohayoo Gozaimasu.
Good morning.

Jason:

Sore wa nan desu ka.
What is that?

Yota:

Kore desu ka. Kore wa kamera desu.
This? This is a camera.

Jason:

Dare no kamera desu ka.
Whose camera is it?

Yota:

Watashi no kamera desu.

It is my camera.

Jason:

Sore mo anata no desu ka.
Is that also yours?

Yota:

Iie, kono konpyuutaa wa tomodachi no desu.
No, this computer is my friend's.

Jason:

Kore wa Nihon-go de nan desu ka.
What is this (item) in Japanese?

Yota:

Nihon-go de sore wa "denwa" desu.
In Japanese, that is a telephone.

Jason:

Jaa, are wa.
Then, how about that over there?

Yota:

Are wa hon de, kore wa zasshi desu.

That over there is a book and this is a magazine.

4


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc

Listen to Dialog up to this point. (.wav file)

ohayoo gozaimasu

good morning

sore

that

kore

this

are

that over there

nan

what

kamera

camera

dareno

whose

kono

this (possessive)

konpyuutaa

computer

Nihon-go

Japanese

denwa

telephone

hon

book

zasshi

magazine
Listen to Vocabulary. (.wav file)

1. Kore wa Kamera desu.

The sentence means literally "As for this, it is a camera". A better English translation
would be "This is a camera". The sentence pattern is Kore wa noun desu, which
translates as "This is Noun". Kore, sore, are and dore are a group of related words
meaning "this", "that", "that over there" and "which"
kore this
sore that
are

that over there (further away)

dore which

Examples: Sore wa konpyuutaa desu.
(That is a computer.)
Are wa daigaku desu.
(That over there is a college.)

2. Kore desu ka. Kore wa denwa desu.

5


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc

This sentence means "This? This is a telephone". The pattern "Noun desu ka" in the
beginning of the sentence is for emphasis.
Examples: Watashi desu ka. Watashi wa Itaria-jin desu.
(Me? I am Italian [Itaria = Italy])
Are desu ka. Are wa tomodachi no konpyuutaa desu.
(That over there? It is my friend's computer.)

3. Dare no kamera desu ka.

This sentence means "Whose camera is it?" Dare means "who" and dare no implies
"whose". No is a particle that shows possession between two nouns. In this sentence,
the subject sore wa is omitted because in Japanese, if the subject is already mentioned,
it is not necessary to repeat it.
Examples: Dare no konpyuutaa desu ka.
(Whose computer is it?)
Dare no denwa desu ka.
(Whose telephone is it?)

4. Watashi no kamera desu.

This sentence means "This is my camera". Again, the subject is omitted for the same
reason as seen in #3. Watashi no implies "my" and anata no implies "your". The
sentence pattern with no has the first noun possessing the second. For instance, Miraasan no zasshi means "Miller's magazine".
Examples: Sore wa anata no denwa desu.
(That is your telephone.)
Kore wa Waatamanu-san no hon desu.
(This is Mr. Waterman's book.)

5. Iie, kono konpyuutaa wa tomodachi no desu.

This sentence means "No, this computer is my friend's". The words tomodachi no mean
"friend's", with konpyuutaa being understood since it was already mentioned as a topic.
Kono konpyuutaa means "this computer". Kono, sono, ano and dono are a group of
related words that show possession of a noun, meaning "this", "that", "that over there",
and "which". Kore, sore, are and dore cannot show possession but stand alone in their
meaning. Kono, sono, ano and dono can only show possession and cannot stand alone.
Examples: Sono zasshi wa Kaatan-san no desu.
(That magazine is Mr. Cartin's.)
Ano denwa wa Miraa-san no desu.
(That telephone over there is Mr. Miller's.)
Dono hon wa Suzuki-san no desu ka.
(Which book is Mr. Suzuki's?)
Kono hon wa tomodachi no desu.
(This book is my friend's.)
Kore wa tomodachi no desu.
(This is my friend's.)

6. Kore wa Nihon-go de nan desu ka.

This sentence means "What is it in Japanese?" or "How do you say it in Japanese?" The
word de is a particle that signifies "in" when referring to a language.
Thus, Nihon-go de means "in Japanese". The word Nihon-go is a compound of the two
words, Nihon and go. Go means "language" and when added to the end of a country

6


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc

name, it signifies the language of that country.
Examples: Kore wa Doitsu-go de nan desu ka.
(What is this in German? [What do you call this in German?])
Itaria-go de sore wa "libro" desu.
(In Italian, that is "libro".)

7. Jaa, are wa.

This sentence means "Then, how about that over there?" The sentence should be Jaa,
are wa nan desu ka. Again, since nan desu ka is already mentioned and understood, it
can be omitted. If you do not want to omit it, it is perfectly fine to say Jaa, are wa nan
desu ka.
Examples: Kore wa nan desu ka.
(What is this?)
Sore wa hon desu.
(That is a book.)
Jaa, kore wa.
(Then, what is this?)
Sore wa denwa desu.
(That is a telephone.)

8. Are wa hon de, kore wa zasshi desu.

This sentence means "That over there is a book and this is a magazine". De, in this
case, is a shortened form of desu. It means "something is X, and something is Y".
Examples: Kore wa kamera de are wa konpyuutaa desu.
(This is a camera and that over there is a computer.)

Waatamanu-san wa Amerika-jin de Rozenbawa-san wa Doitsu-jin desu.
(Mr. Waterman is American and Mr. Rosenbauer is German.)
Listen to the sentences in Grammar notes. (.wav file)

A. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words.

1. kore wa ( ) desu ka.
2. ( (this) ) wa kamera desu.
3. Are ( ) watashi ( ) desu.
4. Kono konpyutaa wa ( (whose) ) desu ka.
5. Are ( ) denwa ( ), kore ( ) kamera desu.
B. Say the following in Japanese.

1. What is this?

2. Whose camera is it?

3. Is this yours?

4. This is my friend's computer.

5. This is my magazine.

7


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc
Click here to check the answers!!

Japanese Language Lessons

LESSON 3 - Meeting Mary
In this lesson, Jason introduces Yota to Mary from Australia.

Yota:

Miraa-san, ano kata no namae wa nan desu ka.
Mr. Miller, that person over there, what is her name?

Jason:

Ano hito wa Mearii-san desu.
That person over there is named Mary.

Yota:

Mearii-san mo Amerika-jin desu ka.
Is Mary also American?

Jason:

Iie, Mearii-san wa Oosutoraria-jin desu.
No, Mary is Australian.

Yota:

Oosutoraria no doko desu ka.
Where in Australia (is she from)?

Jason:

Saa, watashi wa shirimasen.
Well, I don't know.

Jason and Yota walk over to Mary.
Jason:

Mearii-san, kochira wa Suzuki-san desu.
Mary, this is Mr. Suzuki.

Mary:

Suzuki-san desu ka. Hajimemashite.
Mr. Suzuki? I am pleased to meet you.

8


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản
Yota:

Đào Ngọc Sắc

Suzuki desu. Yoroshiku.
I am Mr. Suzuki. Nice to meet you.

Mary:

Suzuki-san wa Tookyo-umare desu ka.
Mr. Suzuki, are you from Tokyo?

Yota:

Iie, Kyooto desu. Mearii-san wa.
No, (I'm from) Kyoto. How about you, Mary?

Mary:

Watakushi wa Oostoraria no Meruborun-umare desu.
I'm from Melbourne, Australia.

Listen to Dialog up to this point. (.wav file)

kata

person (formal)

hito

person (informal)

namae

name

Oosutoraria

Australia

doko

where

shirimasen

I do not know

shiru

to know

kochira

this person, this direction

Tookyoo

Tokyo

Tookyoo-umare

born (in) Tokyo

Meruborun

Melbourne
Listen to Vocabulary. (.wav file)

1. Ano kata no namae wa nan desu ka.

This sentence means literally " As for the name of that person over there, what is it?" a
better English translation would be "That person over there, what is her name?" The
sentence pattern is "Noun wa nan desu ka?" which translates as "What is noun"
Examples: Sore wa nan desu ka.
(What is that?)

9


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc
Ano inu no namae wa nan desu ka.
(What is that dogs name? [inu=dog])

2. Oostoraria no doko desu ka.

This sentence means "Where in Australia?" The construction is "Noun no doko desu ka."
Doko means "where" and doko desu ka is a familiar way of asking where a place is. The
particle no refers to the noun and can mean "within", so you also could say "What part
of Australia?". Wa can be used in place of no to ask where a person or something is.
Examples: Itaria no doko desu ka.
(Where in Italy?)
Waatamanu-san no inu wa doko desu ka.
(Where is Mr. Waterman's dog?)

3. Saa, watashi wa shirimasen.

This sentence means "Well, I don't know (but can find out)." Shirimasen is the present
negative form of the verb shiru which means "to know". Shirimasen can mean "I don't
know", "He/She doesn't know", "We don't know", or "They don't know", depending on
the context of the sentence. Since watashi wa is here as the subject, the meaning is
clear.
Examples: Sumisu-san wa shirimasen.
(Mr. Smith doesn't know.)
Watashi no tomodachi wa shirimasen.
(My friend doesn't know.)

4. Meariisan, kochira wa suzuki-san desu.

This sentence means "Mary, this is Mr. Suzuki". Kochira literally means "this direction".
But, in this case, it has a special meaning which is "this person". Kochira is used when
introducing people.
Examples: Mearii-san, kochira wa Miraa-san desu.
(Mary, this is Mr. Miller.)
Kimura-san, kochira wa Sumisu-san desu.
(Mr. Kimura, this is Mr. Smith.)

5. Suzuki-san wa Tookyoo-umare desu ka.

This sentence literally means "Mr. Suzuki, is Tokyo the place of your origin?" A better
translation into English would be "Mr. Suzuki, is your home in Tokyo?" or "Were you
born in Tokyo?". Adding umare, which means "born", to the end of a place designates
the place as the person's home.
Examples: Rozenbaawa-san wa Munhen-umare desu.
(Mr. Rosenbauer is from Munich [Munchen].)
Gaadana-san wa Rondon-umare desu.
(Mr. Gardner is from London.)

6. Iie, Kyoto desu.

This sentence means "No, it is in Kyoto", referring to where Mr. Suzuki's home is. As
has been explained before, you do not have to repeat watakushi wa Kyoto-umare desu.
The subject (I) is clear. You can say Kyoto desu or Kyoto-umare desu, if the previous
statement explains the situation clearly.

10


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc
Examples: Waatamanu-san wa Daarasu-umare desu ka.
(Mr. Waterman,is your home in Dallas?)
Iie, Rondon desu.
(No, it is in London.)
Listen to the sentences in Grammar notes. (.wav file)

A. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words.

1. ( (that) ) kata wa ( (who) ) desu ka.
2. ( (this) ) kata no namae wa ( (what) ) desu ka.
3. Suzuki-san wa ( (where) ) umare desu ka.
4. America no ( (where) ) desu ka.
B. Answer the question based on the dialogue.

1. Mearii-san wa Amerika-jin desu ka.

2. Mearii-san wa doko-umare dusu ka.

3. Suzuki-san wa kyoto umare desu ka.
Click here to check the answers!!

Japanese Language Lessons

LESSON 4 - Discussing the Weather
This lesson will teach you how to greet and to carry out a conversation in Japanese. In
this dialog, Yota Suzuki and Jason Miller meet for the first time at Jason's house in
Tokyo.

Yota:

Miraa-san, Shibaraku desu ne.
Mr. Miller, it's been a long time.

Jason:

Aa, Suzuki-san, kon'nichiwa.
Oh, Mr. Suzuki, hello.

Yota:

Ogenki desu ka.
Are you in good spirits? (are you healthy?)

11

Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Jason:

Đào Ngọc Sắc

Hai, genki desu.
Yes, I am.

Yota:

Saikin isogashii desu ka.
Have you been busy lately?

Jason:

Ee, chotto isogashii desu.
Yes, I am a little busy.

Yota:

Kyoo wa ii tenki desu ne.
It's nice weather today, isn't it.

Jason:

Hai, demo chotto atsui desu ne.
Yes, but it is a little hot.

Yota:

Soo desu ne. Ima Amerika mo atsui desu ka.
So it is. Is it also hot in the United States now?

Jason:

Hai, atsui deshoo.
Yes. It is probably hot.

Yota:

Amerika no fuyu wa samui desu ka.
Is it cold in the winter in the United States?

Jason:

Ee. Watashi wa Shiatoru-umare desu ga, totemo samui desu yo.
Yes. My home is in Seattle, it is very cold.

Listen to Dialog up to this point. (.wav file)

shibaraku

it's been a long time

ne

(particle used when expecting agreement)

Aa

Oh!

O-genki

feeling in good spirits (formal)

genki

feeling in good spirits (informal)

saikin

recently

12


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc

isogashii

busy

chotto

a little

kyoo

today

tenki

weather

ii

good

demo

but

atsui

hot

Soo desu ne

so it is; yes (an expression of agreement)

ima

now

deshoo (form of desu)

it is probably

fuyu

winter

samui

cold

ee

yes (more information than hai)

totemo

very

yo

(particle used for emphasis)
Listen to Dialog up to this point. (.wav file)

1. Miraa-san, shibaraku desu ne.

The sentence means "Mr. Miller, it's been a long time". Shibaraku is used when two
people who know each other meet after not seeing each other for a significant amount
of time. Ne is added to the end of the sentence when expecting agreement.
Examples: Moriyama-san, shibaraku desu ne.
(Mr. Moriyama, it's been a long time.)

Sumisu-san, shibaraku desu ne.
(Mr. Smith, it's been a long time.)

2. Ee, chotto isogashii desu. / Ee, totemo isogashii desu.

The first sentence means "Yes, I am a little busy." The second sentence means "Yes, I
am very busy." Chotto is a descriptive that means "a little". It can be added to any
adjective to de-emphasize an expression. Totemo is the opposite; it means "very". It
can be added to any adjective to emphasize an expression . Totemo is used to really
emphasize an expression.
Examples: Ee, chotto samui des.
(Yes, it is a little cold.)
Ee, totemo samui desu.
(Yes, it is very cold.)

Here you learn a new sentence pattern: Noun wa Adjective desu. It is almost
the same as noun wa noun desu in the present tense.
Examples: Kyoo wa samui desu.

13


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc
(Today, it is cold.)
Anata wa isogashii desu ka.
(Are you busy?)

3. Kyoo wa ii tenki desu ne.

The sentence above means "The weather is pleasant today." Kyoo wa is the topic and
is used to emphasize that the following sentence refers to this day. Ii tenki is a
frequently used expression in conversation. Usually, comments about the weather
immediately follow a greeting.
Examples: Kyoo wa totemo atsui desu.
(It is very hot today.)
Kyoo wa chotto atsui desu.
(It is a little hot today.)

4. Soo desu ne.

This expression means "So it is", "Yes, it is", or simply "yes". It is used frequently in
conversation to agree. Soo desu ka is a variation meaning "Oh, really?" and is used
when the speaker is hearing new information.
Examples: Tanaka-san wa Kyooto-umare desu ne.
(Mr. Tanaka is from Kyoto, isn't he?)
Soo desu ne.
(Yes, he is. [He refers back to the previous statement.])

5. Ima, America mo atsui desu ka.

This sentence means "Is it also hot in the United States now?" Ima means "now" and is
used often to emphasize an occurrence that is happening at this point in time.
Examples: Ima, Waataman-san wa daigaku-sei desu.
(Mr. Waterman is a college student now.)
Ima, Doitsu mo samui desu ka.
(Is it also cold in Germany now?)

6. Hai, atsui deshoo.

This sentence means "Yes, it is probably hot". Deshoo is a variation of desu and means
"it is probably". In this sentence, Jason is commenting that he thinks it is hot in the
United States now because of past experience. He uses deshoo because he is not
positive since he is not there at this moment.
Examples: Waarasu-san wa Rondon-umare deshoo.
(Mr. Wallace is probably from London.)
Are wa Akutsu-san no kamera deshoo.
(That camera over there is probably Mr. Akutsu's.)

7. Ee, Totemo samui desu yo.

This sentence means "Yes, it is very cold". The particle yo is used to emphasize a
statement. This should be used with caution as sometimes, it may be considered rude
or impolite. It should only be used with someone that the speaker knows well. Ee is a
more informal way of saying "yes" than hai.
Examples: Ee, ano hito wa Shaafu-san desu.
(Yes, that person over there is Mr. Shauf.)
Ee, totemo atsui desu, yo.
(Yes, it is very hot.)

14


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc
Listen to the sentences in Grammar notes. (.wav file)

A. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words.

1. Suzuki-san, ( ).

(It has been a long time.)

2. Saikin ( ) desu ka.

3. Ee, ( ) desu.

(busy).

(a little busy)

4. Kyoo wa ( ) tenki desu ne.

5. Amerika ( ) samui desu.

(bad)

(also)

B. Answer the following questions according the question given.

1. Ogenki desu ka.
2. Saikin isogashii desu ka.
3. Kyoo wa ii tenki desu ne.
4. Amerika mo atsui desu ka.
5. Nihon mo atsui desu ka.
Click here to check the answers!!

LESSON 5 - Yota's Birthday and Mary's Parents
In this lesson, Mr. Suzuki asks Mr. Miller about his age and Mary about her parents.

Yota:

Miraa-san wa nansai desu ka.
Mr. Miller, how old are you?

Jason:

Jyuu-nana-sai desu. Suzuki-san wa.
I am seventeen (years old). How about you, Mr. Suzuki?

Yota:

Jyuu-kyuu-sai desu. Kinoo wa tanjoobi deshita.
I am nineteen (years old). Yesterday was my birthday.

Jason:

Soo desu ka. Omedetoo gozaimasu.

15


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc

Oh really? Happy birthday.

Yota:

Arigatoo. Miraa-san no otoo-san to okaa-san wa ogenki desu ka.
Thank you. Are your father and mother doing well (in good spirits)?

Jason:

Hai, genki desu.
Yes, they are fine.

Yota:

Mearii-san, otoo-san to okaa-san wa doko desu ka.
Mary, where are your father and mother?

Mary:

Meruborun desu.
They live in Melbourne.

Yota:

Oshigoto wa nan desu ka.
What do they do for a living?

Mary:

Chichi wa kaisha-in de, haha wa kookoo no kyooshi desu.
My father is a businessman and my mother is a high school instructor.

Yota:

Aa, sensei desu ka.
Oh, a teacher?

Mary:

Hai, rekishi no sensei desu.
Yes, she is a history teacher.

Listen to Dialog up to this point. (.wav file)

nansai

how old

-sai

number suffix for age

ichi

one

ni

two

san

three

shi, yon

four

go

five

roku

six

16


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc

shichi, nana

seven

hachi

eight

kyuu, ku

nine

jyuu

ten

kinoo

yesterday

tanjoobi

birthday

deshita

was; were (past tense of desu)

omedetoo-gozaimasu

congratulations

otoo-san

father (someone else's)

okaa-san

mother (someone else's)

shigoto

job (informal)

oshigoto

job (formal)

chichi

father (the speaker's)

haha

mother (the speaker's)

kaisha-in

businessman; white collar worker

kyooshi

instructor

sensei

teacher

rekishi

history
Listen to Vocabulary. (.wav file)

1. Miraa-san, nan-sai desu ka.

The first sentence means, "Mr. Miller, how old are you?" Nansai is a compound of the
word nan, meaning "what" and the ending -sai, meaning "age." The second sentence
means "I am seventeen (years old)." The addition of -sai to jyuu-nana changes the
meaning of jyuu-nana from simply the number seventeen to seventeen years old.

Examples: A: Shaafu-san, nan-sai desu ka.
(A: Mr. Shauf, how old are you?)
B: Ni-jyuu-nana-sai desu.
(B: I am twenty-seven [years old].)

2. Miraa-san no otoo-san to okaa-san wa ogenki desu ka.

This sentence means, "Mr. Miller, are your father and mother well?" This sentence
introduces a new pattern: Noun to noun wa. To is a particle which is the Japanese
equivalent of the English "and."
Examples: Wootaaman-san to Furiimanu wa tomodachi desu.
(Mr. Waterman and Mr. Freeman are friends.)
Sumisu-san to Tanaka-san wa sensei desu.

17


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc

(Mr. Smith and Mr. Tanaka are teachers.)

3. Chichi wa kaisha-in de, haha wa kookoo no kyooshi desu.

This sentence above means, "My father is a businessman and my mother is high school
instructor." This introduces the pattern: noun de noun desu. De is a shortened form of
desu which acts as a connector of two sentences, adding the conjunction "and" to the
meaning.
Examples: Woorasu-san wa rekishi no sensei de Gaadana-san wa eigo no sensei desu.
(Mr. Wallace is a history teacher and Mr. Gardner is an English teacher. [Eigo=English])
Mearii-san wa ni-jyuu-go-sai de Jyuuri-san wa ni-jyuu-roku-sai desu.
(Mary is twenty-five [years old] and Julie is twenty-six [years old].)
Listen to the sentences in Grammar notes. (.wav file)

A. Say the following numbers in Japanese.

1. 7
2. 10
3. 15
4. 20
5. 23
6. 34
7. 57
8. 68
9. 81
10. 96
11. 100

12. 121
13. 135
B. How do you say the following?

1. I am sixteen years old.
2. I am twenty-two years old.
3. Are you twenty-five years old?
4. How old are you?
C. Fill in the following blanks.

1. Sumisu-san ( ), Tanaka-san ( ) gakusei desu.

2. Chichi ( ) kyoshi ( ), haha wa kaisha-in desu.
Click here to check the answers!!

Japanese Language Lessons

18


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản

Đào Ngọc Sắc

LESSON 6 - The Weekend / Japanese Writing
(しゅうまつ / ひらがなとカタカナ)
Today, before you learn a dialogue, you are going to learn how to write Japanese
characters. There are three Japanese writing systems:
1. Kanji: Characters imported from China long ago, each conveying an idea, usually
having two readings. A set of more than 7,000 ideographic characters used to represent

concrete concepts such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
2. Hiragana: A phoenetic alphabet, or syllabary (a set of characters, where each
character represents a syllable) used to represent particles in sentences, verb inflexions
(this usage is called okurigana), and other words not written in kanji. Another use is to
write them above Japanese text to indicate the pronunciation of Kanji (this usage is
called furigana).
3. Katakana: Another phonetic alphabet or syllabary used primarily for foreign names
or places and words of foreign origin. Katakana are written using straight lines.
Besides these three writing systems, Japanese is sometimes written in Roman letters
called roomaji. The three systems of writing above are used together (mixed) in written
Japanese.
For those of you who would like to view the romaji for this lesson, you can click here to
download or view a text file that contains the romaji. (Right click the link if you would like
to save the file to your computer instead of viewing online.) If the file shows in your
browser, click "Back" to return to this lesson. We recommend this only be used as a
study aid, as we believe it is more beneficial when learning Japanese to learn the kana.
Get the Romaji for this lesson.

ようた:

メアリー さん、こんど の しゅうまつ なに を します か。
Mary, what will you do this weekend?

メアリー:

かいもの に いきます。
I'm going shopping.

ようた:

どこ へ いきます か。
Where will you go (shopping)?

19


Tiếng Nhật cơ bản
メアリー:

Đào Ngọc Sắc

しんじゅく へ いきます。
I will go to Shinjuku.

ようた:

なに を かいます か。
What will you buy?

メアリー:

まだ わかりません が、たぶん ようふく を かいます。
I don't know yet, but perhaps I will buy some clothes.

メアリー:

すずきさん は なに を しますか。
Mr. Suzuki, what will you do?

ようた:

うち で べんきょう します。
I will study at home.

メアリー:

どう して です か。
Why?

ようた:

げつようび に しけん が あります から。
I have a test on Monday.

メアリー:

なん の しけん です か。
What kind of test?

ようた:

けいざい です。
An economics test.

メアリー:

そう です か。がんばって ください。
Oh really? Good luck.

Listen to Dialog up to this point. (.wav file)

こんど

this(the upcoming)

しゅうまつ

weekend

20