LESSON 1: How do you do? I''''m Smith. Greetings potx

Tanaka : Susan-san wa gakusei desu ka?. Tanaka : Iie, Susan-san wa Amerika-jin janai desu.. The negative form and the past tense of desu are as followings respectively: Ja arimasen and j

Level 1

Objectives

1 Hajimemashite

How do you do?

2 Watashi wa Smith desu

I'm Smith

3 Watashi wa Amerika-jin desu

I'm an American

4 Tanaka : Susan-san wa gakusei desu ka?

Susan : Hai Watashi wa gakusei desu

Tanaka : Are you a student?

Susan : Yes, I'm a student

5 Yamada : Susan-san wa Amerika-jin desu ka?

Tanaka : Iie, Susan-san wa Amerika-jin janai desu

Susan-san wa Kanada-jin desu

Opening Dialogue

Susan : Hajimemashite Susan desu Doozo yoroshiku

Tanaka : Hajimemashite Tanaka desu Doozo yoroshiku

Susan-san wa gakusei desu ka?

Susan : Hai, soo desu

Tanaka : Okuni wa dochira desu ka?

Susan : Kanada desu

Tanaka : Soo desu ka

Susan : How do you do? I'm Susan Nice to meet you

Tanaka : How do you do? I'm Tanaka I'm glad to meet you

Are you a student?

Susan : Yes, I am (lit That's right)

Tanaka : Where are you from? (lit Where is your country?)

Susan : I'm from Canada (lit It's Canada.)

Tanaka : I see

Tanaka : Konnichiwa

Yamada : Konnichiwa Atsui desu ne

Tanaka : Ee, atsui desu ne

Tanaka : Hello

Yamada : Hello It's hot, isn't it?

Tanaka : Yes, it is

Objectives

1

How do you do?

2

I'm Smith

3

I'm an American

4

Tanaka : Are you a student?

Susan : Yes, I'm a student

5

Opening Dialogue

Susan : How do you do? I'm Susan Nice to meet you

Tanaka : How do you do? I'm Tanaka I'm glad to meet you

Are you a student?

Susan : Yes, I am (lit That's right)

Tanaka : Where are you from? (lit Where is your country?)

Susan : I'm from Canada (lit It's Canada.)

Tanaka : I see

Tanaka : Hello

Yamada : Hello It's hot, isn't it?

Tanaka : Yes, it is

[A] wa [B] desu

This means "Noun A is noun B" Wa is a particle and a topic marker The noun followed by a particle wa is the topic of a statement or a question The topic often refers to the same thing as

the subject, but not necessarily

Desu identifies a person or a thing It can be translated into "is/are/am" in English Desu is not

affected by gender or number The negative form and the past tense of desu are as followings respectively: Ja arimasen and ja arimasendeshita are more formal

Non-past tense

(Present / Future) desu janai desu

ja arimasen

ja arimasendeshita

1 Watashi wa Chris Norman desu

I am Chris Norman

2 Satoo-san wa sensei janai desu

(Mr./Ms.) Satoo is not a teacher

3 Kimura-san wa sensei deshita

(Mr./Ms.) Kimura was a teacher

Question marker ka?

Ka is a question marker Ka added to the end of a sentence makes it into a question

The word order does not change Hai means "yes" and iie means "no"

Ee is also commonly used for "yes" in casual situation

Satoo : Smith-san wa Amerika-jin desu ka?

Smith1 : Hai, watashi wa Amerika-jin desu

Smith2 : Iie, watashi wa Amerika-jin janai desu

Satoo : (Mr Smith,) Are you an American?

Smith1 : Yes, I'm an American

-Honorific title -san

-san is a honorific title like "Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms." This can be added to either a surname or

a first name, of a male or a female San shows respect to the person, so it should not be used

with one's own name and one's family

How to say "You"

"You" is anata In English, "you" is commonly used in any situation

However, in Japanese, Anata is sometimes regarded as a sign of "disagreement", "criticism"

or "dissatisfaction" In Japanese conversation we usually call one's name instead of using

anata

Norman : Anata wa tsuuyaku desu ka?

Norman : Yoshida-san wa tsuuyaku desu ka?

Yoshida : Hai, watashi wa tsuuyaku desu

Norman : Are you an interpreter?

Yoshida : Yes, I am

Omission of the subject

In Japanese, the subject is often omitted when it is clearly understood by the speakers from the context of the sentence

Yamada : Norman-san wa puroguramaa desu ka?

Norman : Hai, (watashi wa) puroguramaa desu

Yamada : Are you a computer programmer?

Norman : Yes, I'm a computer programmer

Hajimemashite "How do you do?"

Hajimemashite "How do you do" and Doozo yoroshiku "It's nice to meet you" are greeting

expressions They are used when meeting someone for the first time

"Name" is namae "My name is Smith" is Watashi no namae wa Smith desu, however, this

expression is rarely used for greetings When you introduce your name, you should say

Watashi wa Smith desu "I'm Smith"

Katoo : Hajimemashite Katoo desu Doozo yoroshiku

Norman : Hajimemashite ABC no Norman desu Doozo yoroshiku

Katoo : How do you do? I'm Katoo It's nice to meet you

Norman : How do you do? I'm Norman from ABC I'm glad to meet you

How are you?

English speaking people naturally want to know how to say "How are you?" because it is used

as a daily greeting in English

An exact translation is O-genki desu ka? "Are you well?", however, the usage is quite different from the English phrase "How are you?" O-genki desu ka? is used to inquire about

the health of someone you haven't seen in a long time Therefore it is not used as a general greeting like the English phrase "How are you?"

Japanese people usually say just Ohayoo gozaimasu "good morning", Konnichiwa "good afternoon" or Konbanwa "good evening" to someone they often see

1 Ohayoo gozaimasu

Good morning

2 Konnichiwa

Good afternoon

3 Konbanwa

Good evening

Atsui desu ne "It's hot, isn't it?"

Atsui means "hot" and desu ne is the tag question asking an agreement

Phrases about weather such as atsui desu ne "It's hot, isn't it?" or samui desu ne "It's cold,

isn't it?" are common greeting phrases among friends and colleagues

Atsui, samui and ii are adjectives Adjectives are introduced in Lesson 8

1 Atsui desu ne.

It's hot, isn't it?

2 Samui desu ne.

It's cold, isn't it?

3 Ii tenki desu ne.

It's a fine day, isn't it? (lit Nice weather, isn't it?)

4 Ame desu ne.

It's raining, isn't it?

Soo desu "Yes, it is" vs Soo desu ka "I see"

Soo desu means "Yes, it is" or "That's right" Soo desu ka with the lower-ending is not a

question, but it means "I see"

Katoo : Susan-san wa gakusei desu ka?

Susan : Hai, soo desu

Katoo : Okuni wa dochira desu ka?

Susan : Kanada desu

Katoo : Soo desu ka

Katoo : Are you a student?

Susan : Yes, I am

Katoo : Where are you from? (lit where is your country?)

Susan : I'm from Canada (lit It's Canada.)

Katoo : I see

Okuni wa dochira desu ka? "Where are you from?"

You may be often asked about where you are from by a Japanese The common phrase for this

question is Okuni wa dochira desu ka? which literally means "What is your country?"

Kuni means "country" and o-kuni is the respectful form Dochira means "which", but this is

often used as "where" in formal speech

One's nationality such as a Japanese or an American is made by adding -jin to a country name

Countries Countries People (Nationalities) Langauges Japan Nihon Nihon-jin Nihongo

America Amerika Amerika-jin Eigo

Canada Kanada Kanada-jin -

United Kingdom Igirisu Igirisu-jin Eigo

France Furansu Furansu-jin Furansugo

Germany Doitsu Doitsu-jin Doitsugo

Spain Supein Supein-jin Supeingo

Italy Itaria Itaria-jin Itariago

Netherlands Oranda Oranda-jin Orandago

Denmark Denmaaku Denmaaku-jin Denmaakugo

China Chuugoku Chuugoku-jin Chuugokugo

Korea Kankoku Kankoku-jin Kankokugo

India Indo Indo-jin -

Australia Oosutoraria Oosutoraria-jin Eigo