Reviewer in Midterm Exam

ALAN21a - GREETINGS & USEFUL EXPRESSIONS

WHEN YOU MEET OR LEAVE SOMEONE

- Hello.- Konnichiwa.
Pronounce "n" and "ni" separately. It's like "kon-nichiwa".
- Good morning. - Ohayō gozaimasu.
The last vowel "u" is not clearly pronounced. It's like "gozaimas".
Informal Style: Ohayō.
-Good evening. - Konbanwa.
Used at the beginning of the conversation, not at the end.
-Good night. - Oyasuminasai.
Informal Style: Oyasumi.

-Goodbye. - Sayōnara.
In general, used when people will not see each other for some time.
Informal Style: Sayonara(short "o" after y).
-See you. - Dewa mata.
-See you tomorrow.- Dewa mata ashita. /ashta/
-See you next week.- Dewa mata raishū.
dewa: well, now or so
mata: again

WHEN YOU THANK AND APOLOGIZE TO SOMEONE

-Thank you. - Arigatō gozaimasu.

-Thank you very much. - Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu. (Emphasize)
-Thank you. (past) - Arigatō gozaimashita.
-Thanks. - Dōmo.
The last vowel "u" is not pronounced. gozaimas(u).
Arigatō gozaimashita.: To thank for something in the past.
Dōmo.: To thank for a small favor.
Informal Style: Arigatō.
-You're welcome. - Dōitashimashite.
-Don't mention it. - Iie.
Iie. (literally means "No.") also can be used with the rising accent if it's not a big deal.

- Excuse me. - Sumimasen.

-Yes. - Hai.
Used when you talk to someone, and to apologize for small faults (Sorry).
Hai. (Yes.) can be used to answer someone's call.
-I'm sorry. - Gomennasai.
-I'm sorry. - Dōmo sumimasen.
-Don't be sorry. - Iie.
Dōmo sumimasen. is also used. It sounds more polite. As a response, Iie. can be used if it's not a big
deal.
 WHEN YOU START OR FINISH EATING

-before eating) - Itadakimasu.

Literally means "I accept (the food)". Used when you start eating as a signal "Let's start". You can say this
to the person who is treating you the meal.

-(after eating) Gochisōsamadeshita.

Literally means "It was a wonderful feast". Used when you finished eating. You can say this to thank the
person who treated you the meal.

BASIC RULES

How to address a person

In general, add "san" after one's family name. "san" is like Mr., Mrs., or Miss..
For example, Mr. Tanaka is Tanaka-san. But for foreigners (westerners), people add san after the first
names such as Paul-san or Kate-san. Except for the close relationships, people address almost anybody
with san. Ex: Hello, Mr. Tanaka. : Tanaka-san, konnichiwa.

Yes and No

Yes is "hai". No is "iie". As shown on the Expressions page, Hai. and Iie. can be used in different contexts.

USEFUL EXPRESSIONS
(HOW ARE YOU)

-Are you well? Ogenki desuka?

-Yes, I'm well. Hai, genki desu.
-No, I'm not well. Iie, genki dewa (ja) arimasen..
-Yes, I'm very well. Hai, totemo genki desu.
-So so. Māmā desu.
-genki: well

"o" in front of genki is a prefix which makes the word more polite.
-Genki desu.: I'm well.
-Genki dewa (ja) arimasen.: I'm not well.
"ja arimasen" sounds more casual, and is used more in daily conversation.
Informal: Genki?

UNDERSTAND?
- Do you understand? - Wakari masuka?
-Yes, I understand. - Hai, wakari masu.
-No, I don't understand - Iie, wakari masen.
-I understand a little - Sukoshi wakari masu.
-Do you understand Japanese?
- Nihongo ga wakari masuka?
-Do you understand English?
-Eigo ga wakari masuka?
-wakaru: to understand, to know
-Wakari masu.: I understand.
-Wakari masen.: I don't understand.
-Wakari mashita.: I understood. (I got it. All right.)

-I understand [Japanese]. - Nihongo ga wakari masu

ga: Particle which comes after the object. Used with the verb "wakaru".

PLEASE. (TO OFFER)

-Please. - Dōzo.
Used to offer something. (Here you are. After you. etc.)
WAIT!
-One moment, please. – Chotto matte kudasai.
Chotto: a little
matte kudasai: Please wait.
Informal: Chotto matte.
WHAT?
-What is it? - Nan desuka?
-What's this? (in speaker's hand) - Kore wa nan desuka?
-What is it? (in the listener's hand) - Sore wa nan desuka?
-What's that? (in the sky) - Are wa nan desuka?

- [Kore] wa nan desuka?: What is [this]?

wa: Particle which comes after the subject.
kore: this (something close to you - the speaker)
sore: it (close to the person you are talking to - the listener)
are: that (some distance away from the both)
nan (nani): what

WHAT TIME?
What time is it? - Nanji desuka?
What time is the departure? - Shuppatsu wa nanji desuka?
What time is the arrival? - Tōchaku wa nanji desuka?
[Shuppatsu] wa nanji desuka?: What time is [the departure]?

WHERE?
Where is it? - Doko desuka?
Where is the toilet? - Toire wa doko desuka?
[Toire] wa doko desuka?: Where is [the toilet]?

IS THERE...?
Do you have? Is there? - Ari masuka?
Do you have vegetarian dishes? Bejitarian ryōri wa ari masuka?
Is there an internet cafe? Intānetto kafe wa ari masuka?
[Bejitarian ryōri] wa ari masuka?: Do you have [vegetarian dishes]?
[Intānetto kafe] wa ari masuka?: Is there [an internet cafe]?
HOW MUCH?
How much is it?Ikura desuka?
How much is a double room? Daburu rūmu wa ikura desuka?
[Kore] wa ikura desuka?: How much is [this]?

WHY?
Why is it? Naze desuka?
Informal: Naze? Dōshite? Nande?

OK?
Are you all right? Daijōbu desuka?
Yes, I'm all right. Hai, daijōbu desu.
Informal: Daijōbu?

WORD ORDER
Usually, the subject is placed at the beginning, and the verb at the end of the sentence.
-Watashi wa Nihongo ga wakarimasu. : I / Japanese / understand
The subject (sometimes the object too) of the sentence is usually omitted when it can be clearly known
from the context. (Anata wa) eigo ga wakari masuka? : Do (you) understand English?

PARTICLES (JOSHI)
Particles (joshi in Japanese) are usually attached after a word to indicate the function of that word.
For example, "wa" in the following sentence indicates that "watashi (I)" is a subject, and "ga" indicates
that "Nihongo (Japanese)" is an object of the verb "wakarimasu (understand)".
Ex. : Watashi wa Nihongo ga wakarimasu. : I understand Japanese.

Each particle has different functions and meanings. And some are used with the particular verbs.
When you are not sure which particle should be used, you can try to say without it like "Watashi,
Nihongo, Wakarimasu.". In most cases, people will understand if the word order is correct.

SENTENCE FORMS
You can easily make different forms by changing the end of the sentence. Word order stays the same.

Affirmative
Affirmative sentences normally end with "desu" or "masu".
You can assume that the sentences with the verb "be" (am, is, are...) end with "desu". And the
sentences with other verbs end with "masu".

Negative
Change "desu" into "dewa arimasen" or "ja arimasen". "ja" sounds more casual, and is used more often
in daily conversation.
Change "masu" into "masen".

Question (Interrogative)
To make a question sentence, add "ka" at the end of the sentence.
This "ka" is pronounced with a rising intonation.
 INTRODUCTION TO NIHONGO

HISTORY

Japanese is most widely believed to be connected to the Ural-Altaic family, which includes Turkish,
Mongolian, Manchu, and Korean within its domain.

Korean is most frequently compared to Japanese, as both languages share significant key features such
as general structure, vowel harmony, lack of conjunctions, and the extensive use of honorific speech, in
which the social rank of the listener heavily affects the dialogue.

HISTORY

The adaptation of Chinese characters during the sixth to ninth centuries A.D. was the most important
event in the development of the language.

“hiragana” and “katakana”, were created out of “kanji”

Since the mid-18th century the Japanese have adopted a huge amount of “gairaigo”: foreign words
mainly from English. These include “teburu” (table), “biru” (beer), “gurasu” (glass), “aisu” (ice), “takushi”
(taxi) and “hoteru” (hotel).

HISTORY

There are also a few words from Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish, such as “pan” (bread) and “igirisu” (the
UK), from the Portuguese “po” and “ingles”. Such words arrived in Japan mainly during the 16th and
17th centuries, when missionaries and merchants started to visit the country.

CHARACTERISTICS

VOCABULARY

The Japanese language is written with a combination of three different types of scripts: Chinese
characters, kanji, and two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana. The Latin alphabet, rōmaji, is also
often used in modern Japanese, especially for company names and logos, advertising, and when
inputting Japanese into a computer.

CHARACTERISTICS

Japanese vocabulary has been heavily influenced by loans from other languages. A vast number of
words were borrowed from Chinese, or created from Chinese models, over a period of at least
1,500 years. Since the late nineteenth century, Japanese has borrowed a considerable number of words
from Indo-European languages, primarily English.
SOUND OF THE LANGUAGE

The Japanese has an open-syllable sound pattern, so that most syllables end in a vowel. There are five
vowels. /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/. Vowel length often distinguishes words, as in to for “door” and too for
“ten”. The basic consonants are: /k/, /s/, /t/, /n/, /h/, /m/, /y/, /r/, /w/, and the syllabic nasal /N/. Many
of these consonants can be palatalized in front of the vowels /a/, /u/, and /o/, for example, /kya/,
/kyo/ /kyo/. When the two consonants, /s/ and /t/ occur with the vowel /i/, these consonants are
automatically palatalized as /shi/ and /chi/. The /t/ is pronounced as /ts/ in front of the vowel /u/.

WRITING SYSTEM

Japanese consists of two scripts (referred to as kana) called Hiragana and Katakana, which are two
versions of the same set of sounds in the language. Hiragana and Katakana consist of a little less than 50
“letters”, which are actually simplified Chinese characters adopted to form a phonetic script.

CHARACTERISTICS

Hiragana is used mainly for grammatical purposes. We will see this as we learn about particles. Words
with extremely difficult or rare Kanji, colloquial expressions, and onomatopoeias are also written in
Hiragana. It’s also often used for beginning Japanese students and children in place of Kanji they don’t
know.

While Katakana represents the same sounds as Hiragana, it is mainly used to represent newer words
imported from western countries (since there are no Kanji associated with words based on the roman
alphabet). The next three sections will cover Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.

VARIATIES

REGIONAL DIALECT

There are a large number of dialects throughout the four main islands and the smaller islands of
Okinawa and others. Some dialects such as those spoken in the southern parts of Japan (Kyushu,
Okinawa) are virtually incomprehensible to the speakers of other dialects, requiring the use of the
standard dialect for communication. The two dialect families with the largest number of speakers are
the dialect spoken in and around Tokyo, which is equivalent to the “common” dialect, and the dialects of
the Kansai region in western Japan in cities such Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe.

SOCIAL STYLES OF SPEECH

Unlike most western languages, Japanese has an extensive grammatical system to express politeness
and formality. Broadly speaking, there are three main politeness levels in spoken Japanese: the plain
form (“kudaketa”), the simple polite form (“teinei”) and the advanced polite form (“keigo”).

VARIATIES

Since most relationships are not equal in Japanese society, one person typically has a higher position.
This position is determined by a variety of factors including job, age, experience, or even psychological
state. The person in the lower position is expected to use a polite form of speech, whereas the other
might use a more plain form. Strangers will also speak to each other politely. Japanese children rarely
use polite speech until their teens, at which point they are expected to begin speaking in a more adult
manner.

HIRAGANA

Hiragana is one of 3-character sets used in the Japanese language. Each Hiragana letter represents
particular syllable. Letter itself has no meaning and is used widely to form a sentence. Hiragana was
developed in the 8-10th century by simplifying the form of particular Kanji symbols.

In modern Japanese, there are 46 basic Hiragana letters. In addition to these 46 basic letters called
gojūon, there are modified forms to describe more sounds - 20 dakuon, 5 handakuon, 36 yōon, 1 sokuon
and 6 additional letters.

GOJŪON-ZU

In Japanese, syllables are organized in the form of a table (5 x 10). This table is called gojūon-zu (literally
means table of 50 sounds).

Letters い, う and え appear more than once in the table. These 5 duplicates (gray colored) are usually
skipped or ignored. Another syllable ん is included. It doesn't belong to any row or
column.

In total, 46 letters (45+1) are counted as gojūon (50 sounds).

HIRAGANA

The first row - あ [a], い [i], う [u], え [e] and お [o] are five vowels of the Japanese language.
Letters in the same column contain the same vowel.
Letters in the same row are considered to contain the same consonant.
Letters お and を represent the same sound [o]. を is used only as the particle in a sentence.

DAKUON

Dakuon literally means turbid or murky sound. It is the voiced sound of か [ka], さ [sa], た [ta] and は
[ha]-row syllables.
Dakuon is indicated with two small dots.
Pronunciation of じ and ぢ, ず and づ are the same.

HANDAKUON

Handakuon literally means half-turbid or half-murky sound.

Handakuon is indicated with a small circle.

YŌON
Yōon is a combination of the consonant of i-column syllables and ya, yu or yo. For example, k + ya = kya.
Yōon is described by i-column letters plus small や, ゆ or よ. For example, き + ゃ = きゃ [kya].
Pronunciation of じゃ, じゅ, じょ and ぢゃ, ぢゅ, ぢょ are thesame.

SOKUON

Sokuon is a pause (no sound) between two syllables.

Sokuon is described by small つ.
Ex: さっき [sakki], ひっし [hisshi], いった [itta], やっぱり [yappari]

ADDITIONAL LETTERS

These additional letters are invented in modern era to describe the sounds of foreign language. Foreign
words are usually written in Katakana. These additional Hiragana letters are rarely used.

Ex: ふぁ [fa], てぃ [ti], どぅ [du], うぇ [we], ふぉ [fo]

Small あ [a], い [i], う [u], え [e] and お [o] are attached after
particular letters.
Ex: う゛ぁ [va], う゛ぃ [vi], う゛ [vu], う゛ぇ [ve], う゛ぉ [vo]

KATAKANA

Katakana is one of three characters used in the Japanese language and is also a phonetic alphabet - each
letter represents the sound of a syllable (like English ABC). Letter itself has no meaning.

Katakana and Hiragana represent exactly the same set of sounds. It is used mostly for foreign loan
words. Katakana was developed in the 8th century by simplifying the form of Kanji
symbols.

In modern Japanese, there are 46 basic Katakana letters. In addition to these 46 basic letters called
gojūon, there are modified forms to describe more sounds - 20 dakuon, 5 handakuon, 36 yōon, 1 sokuon
and 6 additional letters.

GOJŪON-ZU

Traditionally, sounds of basic syllables are organized in the form of a table (5 x 10). This table is called
gojūon-zu (literally means table of 50 sounds). To describe these sounds, Katakana and Hiragana
alphabets are used.

Letters イ, ウ and エ appear more than once in the table. These 5 duplicates (colored in gray) are
usually skipped or ignored. Another syllable ン is included. It doesn't belong to any row or column.

KATAKANA
In total, 46 letters (45+1) are counted as gojūon (50 sounds). The structure is exactly the same as the
Hiragana table. The first row - ア[a], イ[i], ウ[u], エ[e] and オ[o] are five vowels of the Japanese
language. Letters in the same column contain the same vowel.

Letters in the same row are considered to contain the same consonant. Letters オ[o] and ヲ[o]
represent the same sound. Letter ヲ is rarely used.

DAKUON

Dakuon literally means turbid or murky sound. It is the voiced sound of カ[ka], サ[sa], タ[ta] and ハ[ha]-
row syllables.

It is indicated with two small dots. Pronunciation of ジ[ji] and ヂ [ji], ズ[zu] and ヅ[zu] are the same.
Letters ヂ and ヅ are rarely used.

HANDAKUON

Handakuon literally means half-turbid or half-murky sound. It is indicated with a small circle.

YŌON

Yōon is a combination of the consonant of i-column syllables and ya, yu or yo. For example, k + ya = kya.
It is described by i-column letters associated with ャ(small ya), ュ(small yu) or ョ (small yo). For
example, キ + ャ = キャ[kya].

Pronunciation of ジャ[ja], ジュ[ju], ジョ[jo] and ヂャ[ja], ヂュ [ju], ヂョ[jo] are the same. Letters
ヂャ, ヂュ, ヂョ are rarely used.

SOKUON

Sokuon is a pause (no sound) between two syllables. It is described by ッ(small ツ[tsu]).

Ex: サッカー[sakkā] メッセージ[messēji] ポケット[poketto] カップ

[kappu]

ADDITIONAL LETTERS

These additional letters are invented in modern era to describe the sound of foreign languages.

Ex: ファ[fa] ティ[ti] ドゥ[du] ウェ[we] フォ[fo]

ァ, ィ, ゥ, ェ and ォ(small ア[a] イ[i] ウ[u] エ[e] オ[o]) are attachedafter particular letters.
Ex: ヴァ[va] ヴィ[vi] ヴ[vu] ヴェ[ve] ヴォ[vo]
ヴ is used for [v] sound.