Lesson 1: A is B
Topics: A is B, Intro to Plain vs Polite, Nouns, Intro to wa Particle, Question Words Nani, Question Particle ka, Ko-So-A Series
Okay, time for Lesson 1!
This will be a simple lesson, even if it might be a little lengthy ^^ . Well, I suppose they’ll all seem a little lengthy in tumblr posts.
In this lesson, we’ll learn how to say what objects and people are, and ask what things are. The more vocabulary you know, the more you’ll be able to say! But we could go on forever about vocabulary nouns, so if there are specific kinds of words you want to know, feel free to ask! But for now *looks around* we’ll stick to what we can find in the Agency office! ヽ(o＾▽＾o)ノ
(Find the rest of the lesson under the cut!)
武装探偵社• ぶそうたんていしゃ• Busoutanteisha • Armed Detective Agency
In Japan, your choice of words (mainly verb conjugation) will depend on the level of politeness that you decide to use in your conversations. Just like in English, when talking to one’s Boss, we tend to use language that is a bit more polite than if we’re talking and joking around with friends, or even having a casual conversation among coworkers. The relative level of seniority also affects the choice of words and politeness level each partner in a conversation will use. Just like I mentioned in the previous lesson, I will use more polite language when talking to Dazai-san, and he will use more informal language when talking to me ^^
A is B. A wa B desu
In Japanese, the basic sentence ending, if no other verbs are being used, is:
だ da (Dictionary/Plain form)
of which the polite form, for normal, polite conversation is:
です desu (Polite)
wa•は
The wa particle is used to mark the topic that you are talking about. A literal translation into English could be specifically ‘as for’, or, more generally, ‘is’. But the reason it’s important to remember that ‘wa’ isn’t exactly just ‘is’ is because in later lessons, you’ll see that it can be used to highlight contrast between different things, and you can have several wa’s in a sentence. But don’t worry about that right now.
Here’s a simple example:
私は鏡花です。
わたしはきょうかです。
Watashi wa Kyouka desu.
Lit: As for me, I am Kyouka.
Or, more colloquially, simply: I am Kyouka.
彼は太宰さんです。
かれはだざいさんです。
Kare wa Dazai-san desu.
Lit: As for him, he is Dazai.
Or, simply: He is Dazai.
私•わたし• watashi = polite ‘I’, used by males and females
彼•かれ• kare = he/him
A Bit About Politeness
This is a good time to talk a bit about politeness level! I can say ‘I am Kyouka’ in several different ways:
Watashi wa Kyouka desu.
Watashi wa Kyouka da. this one sounds masculine with the ‘da’ ending ^^
Watashi wa Kyouka.
Watashi Kyouka.
The general trend is that the longer the sentence, the more polite it is! That is not always the case, but it is most of the time!
If it’s understood that I’m the topic, I don’t need to use ‘watashi wa’. Dropping the topic of the sentence does not make it less polite, but it does introduce ambiguity if you don’t know who people are referring to.
Kyouka desu.
Kyouka da.
Kyouka.
Japanese is interesting in that, I can pick up a book and say ‘Hon desu.’, and it’s a complete sentence! Literally, I’m only saying ‘Book’! But it would be translated as ‘This is a book.’
Ko-so-a
Speaking of the word ‘this’ or ‘that’…. There are 9 different words!
Yes! There are nine! And their use depends on several things!
1: the relative location of the object between you and your listener
2: whether the word ‘that’ is modifying a noun: that dog, this pencil
3: if you’re talking about a person or an object!
Don’t worry, this is not as hard as it sounds (* ^ ω ^)
Ko~ for things located closer to the speaker (yourself, if you are the speaker)
So~ for things located closer to the listener
A~ for things far from both the speaker and listener
これ• kore = this
それ• sore = that
あれ• are = that over there
This will make more sense with some examples!
For example, if I pick up a book, and I’m talking to Atsushi-san, and I want to say, “This is a book”, I could say:
これは本です。
これはほんです。
Kore wa hon desu.
This is a book.
Plain:
Kore wa hon da.
More plain:
Kore wa hon.
Even:
Kore, hon!
‘Hon desu.’ and ‘Hon da.’ can also be used, since it’s clear we’re referring to the book in my hand!
As for Atsushi-san, since the book is closer to me than to him, he would say, when referring to the same book:
Sore wa hon desu.
That is a book.
And Dazai-san would also say:
Sore wa hon desu!
That is a book!
Because the book is also closer to me than to him. But, if we’re talking about a book on the desk across the room, all of us would say:
Are wa hon desu!
That over there is a book!
Because the book is not really close to any of us!
We can do the same thing with any object!
鉛筆•えんぴつ• enpitsu • pencil
Kore wa enpitsu desu.
Sore wa enpitsu desu.
Are wa enpitsu desu.
予定表•よていひょう• yoteihyou • schedule
Kore wa yoteihyou desu.
Sore wa yoteihyou desu.
Are wa yoteihyou desu.
これは予定表です。Kore wa yoteihyou desu. This is a schedule. *This is not a schedule, this is an IDEAL!*
Question word Nani
Two other important words we need are ‘nani = what’, so we can make questions, and ‘ka’, which is like a spoken question mark!
何•なに• nani = what
か• ka = question particle
*Important point: Nani becomes ‘nan’ when it is in front of desu or da. Nani desu ka sounds weird~
*points at something closer to Dazai*
Dazai-san, sore wa nan desu ka?
Dazai: Kore? Kore wa konpyuuta desu.
(This? This is a computer.)
*points again to something closer to Atsushi*
Atsushi-san, sore wa?
Atsushi: Kore desu ka? Kore wa kami desu!
(You mean this? This is paper!)
*picks up an object*
Kore, nani?
Atsushi: Sore wa enpitsu desu.
As you can see, there are several different ways you can ask ‘What is that?/this?’ and they have varying levels of politeness.
What is that?
Sore wa nan desu ka?
Sore wa nani?
Sore wa?
Sore, nani?
You mean this?
Kore desu ka?
Kore desu?
Kore?
You can see that ‘kore’, ‘sore’, and also ‘are’ can be used alone to refer to an object that is being indicated by an action such as pointing or holding.
How about referring to people? It is very rude to say:
“Kore wa Dazai-san desu.” (⌒_⌒;)
when referring to a person, because ‘kore, sore, are’ are used only for things! So instead, we use:
こちら• kochira = this (person)
そちら• sochira = that (person)
あちら• achira = that (person) over there
“Kochira wa Dazai-san desu.”
Is much more polite! <(￣︶￣)>
Sochira isn’t used often for people, because usually when you’re introducing someone, you’re standing next to the person you’re introducing, so ‘sochira’ is a little odd. You could use ‘achira’ when referring to someone across the room, though.
Go ahead, grab an imaginary friend (or a real friend), sit them down next to you, and practice asking, pointing out, and telling each other what various items in your room are (or use the photo of the Agency, pretending you’re various people in the room)! Remember, you ‘kore’ for items closer to you than your friend, your friend uses ‘kore’ for items closer to them; you use ‘sore’ for items closer to your friend, and your friend does the same for items closer to you; and you both use ‘are’ for items relatively farther from both of you. It’s pretty relative, so use your judgement – you don’t actually have to get out a ruler to measure whether an item is closer to you or your friend if it’s on the other side of the room, just use ‘are’!
Here is a list of words:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
机•つくえ•tsukue•Desk
鉛筆•えんぴつ•enpitsu•Pencil
ペン•pen•Pen
紙•かみ•kami•Paper
包帯•ほうたい•houtai•Bandages
ノート•nooto•Notebook (like the lined kind used for school)
手帳•てちょう•techou•Notebook (small pocket sized for keeping schedules, appointments, Kunikida-san’s notebook is actually this)
予定表•よていひょう•yoteihyou• schedule
椅子•いす•isu•Chair
窓•まど•mado•Window
ドア•doa•Door
床•ゆか•yuka•Floor
壁•かべ•kabe•Wall
天井•てんじょう•tenjou•Ceiling
帽子•ぼうし•boushi•Hat
携帯電話•けいたいでんわ•keitaidenwa•Cell phone
電話•でんわ•denwa•Telephone
コンピュータ•konpyuuta•Computer
本•ほん•hon•Book
小説•しょうせつ•shousetsu•Novel
文庫•ぶんこ•bunko•Small novel of the kind usually produced in Japan. All the BSD novels are bunko! ^^
虎•とら•tora•Tiger
人虎•じんこ•jinko•Weretiger
鉢植えの花•はちうえのはな•hachiue no hana•Potted plant
カップ•kappu•Cup
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, so say you want to say “this book”. This is not the same thing as saying “This is a book”, because you know it’s a book, now you’re just specifying ‘this’ book. When using ‘this’ or ‘that’ like an adjective to modify a noun, we use:
kono = this (+ thing)
sono = that (+ thing)
ano = that (+ thing) over there
Kono hon
This book
Sono hon
That book
Ano hon
That book over there
Kono, sono, and ano cannot be used by themselves, they always have to be attached to a noun of some sort! ‘Kono wa hon’ makes no sense! Well….it would probably still be understood but….it would sound very weird!
That’s it for today~! I know it was kind of long, so I’ll try to keep it shorter for next time. I have a major test this week, so the next one will be out next weekend!
頑張って！ がんばって！ Ganbatte~! Do your best~! ☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆