A Bit of the Language Contents Introduction Vowel Pronunciation Guide Consonants Alphabets Japanese Onomatopoeias and Mimetic Words What the Animals Say Fractured English Introduction As the title suggests, this is not an in-depth look at all the complexities of the Japanese language. I simply intend to provide a brief look at the language in order to introduce some of the fun and quirks that budding students of Japanese can look forward to. (And also so they'll have a little idea of what they're in for....) Vowel Pronunciation Guide Japanese vowels are easy. If you have taken Spanish, you'll quickly see that they're the same. Unlike crazy English, vowels in Japanese are always pronounced the same, so once you've got them down you'll be well on your way to correct-sounding Japanese. (And then you can attack the consonants.) Here are the five basic Japanese vowels, in Japanese alphabetical order: a - pronounced "ah" i - pronounced "ee" u - pronounced "oo" e - pronounced "eh" o - pronounced "oh"
Transcript
A Bit of the Language
Contents
Introduction Vowel Pronunciation Guide
Consonants
Alphabets
Japanese Onomatopoeias and Mimetic Words
What the Animals Say
Fractured English
Introduction
As the title suggests, this is not an in-depth look at all the complexities of the Japanese language. I simply intend to provide a brief look at the language in order to introduce some of the fun and quirks that budding students of Japanese can look forward to. (And also so they'll have a little idea of what they're in for....)
Vowel Pronunciation Guide
Japanese vowels are easy. If you have taken Spanish, you'll quickly see that they're the same. Unlike crazy English, vowels in Japanese are always pronounced the same, so once you've got them down you'll be well on your way to correct-sounding Japanese. (And then you can attack the consonants.)
Here are the five basic Japanese vowels, in Japanese alphabetical order:
a - pronounced "ah" i - pronounced "ee"
u - pronounced "oo"
e - pronounced "eh"
o - pronounced "oh"
Let's look at the word "house." In Japanese it's ie. Just say "ee-eh." Now a little faster. Got it?
The next important thing you must remember about vowels is to elongate double vowels, giving each one its own "time." Again, "house" in Japanese is ie. The word for
"no" is iie. It's not as hard as it looks. Said slowly, "house" is "ee-eh," and "no" is "ee-ee-eh." Said at natural speed, the "ee" in iie should sound about twice as long as the "ee" in ie.
While we're at it, let's look at two more that foreign speakers seem to have a tough time with: obasan and obaasan. Obasan (aunt) is pronounced "oh-bah-san," and obaasan (grandmother) is "oh-bah-ah-san." Just remember to give each vowel equal time and you'll be all right.
Consonants
The consonants used in Japanese are k, g, s, z, t, d, n, h, f, b, p, m, y, r, and w; and they are pronounced the same as you would in English, except for the following:
r - this is like the Spanish r, so ri should sound like a lightly pronounced dee d - because r sounds like a light d, d has a more distinct d sound
Japanese consonants are not thought of as having their own sound, except for n. All of the others always appear combined with a vowel, with the vowel coming after the consonant, like ka, for example. This combination of one consonant and one vowel makes only one "letter" in the Japanese alphabet, and to the Japanese mind represents only one sound. This is a very important point to remember when studying Japanese.
There are also a few letters which have combined consonants like shi, chi, and tsu. Again, each of these look like 3 letters to us, but they are each viewed as one in Japanese.
As with vowels, consonants also have doubles. Doubled consonants are found in compound words like ippun, which means "one minute." The difficulty in pronouncing the double consonant is that there's nothing to pronounce; it's just the trick of "holding" the pronunciation so that the "time value" of the double is recognized, just like with the vowels. When pronouncing ippun, you should be giving equal time to the 4 syllables: i-p-pu-n, with the second syllable being just a silent rest and preparation to pronounce the third. This will be barely noticed during normal speech, but it is important. Doubles not pronounced correctly will be noticed by native listeners. When said correctly, ippun will be heard as "eep-poon," not "ee-poon."
Alphabets
| Hiragana | Katakana | Kanji | Romaji |
There are 4 alphabets used in Japan today: hiragana, katakana, kanji, and romaji. Here they are in a nutshell:
Hiragana
Hiragana is the first system you want to learn, as they are phonetic symbols or "pronunciation guides" for kanji, and have an extensive role in Japanese grammar.
Hiragana is the first alphabet that children learn, and, at any age, is the "default" alphabet used when a particular kanji is unknown or forgotten.
Here are the basic 46 hiragana with their readings:
The nice thing about Japanese is that once you can read and say these, you can read and say longer words, which are simply combinations of the individual letters. Let's try some:
Easy, right? Now let's move on to the modified hiragana.
There are 4 groups of hiragana that are modified by two small quote-like marks added just above and/or to the right of the letter. They are the ka, sa, ta, and ha groups. The ha group alone has an additional mode of modification which is made by adding a small degree-like circle. Here are the modified hiragana with their readings:
It will be noticed that two ji 's and two zu 's are created, but the ones in the sa group are used most of the time. Accurate knowledge concerning differentiation and use of these is not important until the student is well into the study of kanji.
Let's try these:
Next up are the combined hiragana, which are made by adding a small ya, yu, or yo to letters in the second line, namely ki through ri, including the modified ones mentioned above. For example, ki + ya = kya; chi + yu = chu; and so on. Here they all are:
The ri group is usually the hardest for foreign speakers to master, but that's because they're still trying to pronounce the r like the English r. If you just pronounce them dya, dyu, dyo, with just a light d, they'll sound fine.
Try these:
The last thing that needs to be mentioned about hiragana at this time is the small tsu, which indicates double consonants. As one becomes familiar with kanji, this will become easier to understand. Here are some good examples. Remember to hold the double as mentioned in consonants.
This should be enough about hiragana for the time being. All the examples used here are words that are usually written in kanji, but are shown in hiragana to show what they look like and how they work together.
Hiragana also play an important role in Japanese grammar as subject and object indicators, prepositions, and other particles.
You can learn or review hiragana using my Hiragana Driller.
Katakana
For every hiragana there is a corresponding katakana, which are more angular. Here they are:
Katakana are used to write foreign words and names, and the names of some Japanese companies. They are also often seen expressing the sounds of various noises in comic books.
Most of the rules that apply to hiragana also apply to katakana. One exception is when a vowel sound is elongated: katakana vowels are not doubled, but use a dash (—) to show an extended vowel sound.
Here are a few that are often seen:
The worst thing about katakana is that they are sometimes used as a phonetic guide for pronouncing English words. Tiny katakana can sometimes be seen running above or below English sentences in textbooks — books that I would never recommend. While it is true that katakana will give Japanese students of English an idea of how a word is pronounced, those who rely on katakana to learn English form bad habits in pronunciation that become very difficult to overcome in the future.
You can learn or review katakana using my Katakana Driller.
Kanji
Kanji are characters which were originally adopted from the Chinese. Though similarities still exist, Japanese kanji have evolved and changed differently than their Chinese counterparts, and now have forms and readings all their own. Kanji are used for the core parts of a sentence: nouns and the root forms of verbs and adjectives. Hiragana are used as the "cement" between the kanji to indicate their relationship to each other, and to conjugate verbs.
You need to know around 2,200 kanji to read a Japanese newspaper. The study of kanji can be fascinating, however, and the more you study them the more sense they make (excepting the exceptions), making it easier to learn more.
This just barely scratches the surface, but here are a few of the easiest kanji of the 76 taught to first graders in elementary school:
Romaji are simply the ABC's we all know and love, but the Japanese like to use them, too. Large, international companies usually have logos and emblems with their names written in the Roman letters. Internationally known organizations and other names and titles like OPEC, FBI, NASA, AIDS, and VIP are left as-is.
Finally, there is a certain "fashion appeal" in using foreign words on products and product packaging, and it is practically impossible to buy something here that doesn't have some silly message written in English. It may be in poor English but comprehensible, or it may have no clear meaning at all. It's for fashion only, I've been told. English letters, words and phrases may be combined just as an artist doing an abstract will combine colors together. In this way, romaji become an enemy to the serious student of English in pretty much the same way as katakana do, as mentioned above. The successful student will always keep "fashion English" and correct English completely separate.1
Japanese Onomatopoeias and Mimetic Words
Students of Japanese often find the Japanese giseigo and gitaigo amusing and fun to use. These words are made up of 2 Japanese syllables said twice in succession, for a total of 4. The giseigo are onomatopoeias: words used to describe a sound. Gitaigo are mimetic words which describe a certain feeling or condition.
Here are some that are often heard in everyday conversation, arranged in Japanese alphabetical order. Remember to pronounce those vowels correctly!
This list is only a sample of the hundreds that are actually used. Some are dialectal and will be heard only in specific regions. Some will have meanings which overlap with others, with some being both giseigo and gitaigo. Also, some will have a dialectal usage that has evolved from its original one. For example, according to the dictionary bishobisho is used for "it drizzles," but people in the area where I live use it to describe their clothes after they come in from the rain without an umbrella: "soaked to the skin."
korokoro: rolling over and overzakuzaku: walking on gravel or similar surfacejabujabu: splash and play in waterjanjan: clang-clang; a jangling sounddondon: beating (drums); heavy rainfallbatabata: flap; to bustle aboutbishobisho: drizzle; soakedpichapicha: water lapping against a shore or objectberabera: chatter; jabberpotsupotsu: (rain) falling in drops
Gitaigo
iraira: to be impatientgyugyu: to squeeze; packguragura: loose, as in a loose toothgungun: steadilysakusaku: a light crispnesssarasara: light; smooth; dryzarazara: rough, like dry skin or sandpapersansan: to shine brilliantlyjimejime: damp; wet; moistsoyosoyo: gently; softlysowasowa: to be restlesstsuntsun: to be stuck-up; stiff-mannereddokidoki: nervousness; a fast heartbeatnukunuku: warmly; snugly; comfortablyhakihaki: quick; smart; briskharahara: to be in suspense; thrillingbishibishi: severely; rigorouslypichipichi: livelypyonpyon: hop; skip alonghirahira: flutterhirihiri: smart; tingle; burnpiripiri: to be on edge; testyfurafura: to feel dizzy or light-headedfuwafuwa: light; softbetabeta: to feel stickyperapera: fluentlyhokahoka: warmbotsubotsu: graduallyhodohodo: in moderationmukamuka: to feel sick; be disgustedmeramera: go up in flamesmeromero: to be terribly upsetwakuwaku: to be excited
What the Animals Say
These are just some of the sounds that animals make, according to the Japanese. It is interesting to note that there are some that do not exist in English, like the elephant's paoon. (I verified this with the people at Webster's, just to make sure.) These are written in romaji (Romanized Japanese), so please remember to pronounce them correctly. For example, the horse's hi-hiin is pronounced "hee-heen," etc. If necessary, go back and review vowel pronunciation.
A real kick, right? These are great to memorize and bring out at boring parties.
Fractured English
When I first began working in Japan there was a strange word that I would hear several times a day. It was pasokon, and it didn't sound like Japanese to me. That's because it wasn't, and isn't; but in a way it is. It has to be, because it's not English, nor any other language for that matter. In fact, it's only one of the thousands of wasei eigo words (Japanized English) that are used all the time here, with more and more coming in every year.
The paso in pasokon is the Japanese pronunciation of the first part of the word "personal," and the kon is short for "computer." So when you hear pasokon in Japan you know that someone is talking about personal computers. Yes, it would be much easier to say "PC," but that's not used very often; pasokon or konpyuuta is preferred.
There are thousands and thousands of these, from simple ones like keeki (cake) to ones a bit more complex like puranetariumu (planetarium). When the English is made up of two words, the Japanese will usually be a compound made from the beginnings of both, like rimokon (remote control), eakon (air conditioning), dejikame (digital camera), and pasokon mention above. And there are oddballs like baito, which comes from arbeit, the German for "work"; but in Japanese it means only a "part-time job."
sooseeji: sausagesuteeki: steakorenji: orangeshatsu: shirtmasukomi: mass communicationfuakkusu: faxmarason: marathonsofuto: softwarehoteru: hotelshinpojiumu: symposiumkurejitto kaado: credit cardchokoreeto: chocolaterasshu awaa: rush hourintaanetto: internet
Lesson 1Introduction to Japanese Adjectives
Japanese adjectives come in two basic flavors: "true" and "quasi." In some circles they are also known as "i adjectives" and "na adjectives" because those are the suffixes they get when they're followed by a noun. Nevertheless, I prefer calling them "true" and "quasi" and will do so throughout these lessons.
Some examples of true adjectives are:
ii: good yoi: good
warui: bad
takai: expensive; high; tall
yasui: cheap
hikui: low
nagai: long
mijikai: short
katai: hard
yawarakai: soft
atsui: hot
samui: cold (used for weather or room temperature)
tsumetai: cold (used for tangible objects, food, drinks, and unfriendly feelings between people: a cold look, a cold reply, etc.)
hiroi: wide; spacious
semai: narrow; cramped
tsuyoi: strong (used for things which are powerful or sturdy, etc.)
yowai: weak (used for the opposite of the above)
kitsui: strong (usually used for "too strong," as in flavors, medicines, personalities, etc.)
abunai: dangerous
akarui: bright
kurai: dark
karui: light
omoi: heavy
furui: old (not used with people or animals)
hayai: fast; early
osoi: slow; late
omoshiroi: interesting
Many true adjectives end in shii:
oishii: delicious muzukashii: difficult
utsukushii: beautiful
tanoshii: fun
ureshii: happy
kanashii: sad
kurushii: hard; painful
isogashii: busy (This is Japan's most popular adjective — you'll hear it used several times an hour.)
kibishii: strict; severe
yakamashii: noisy
mabushii: too bright; glaring
sabishii: lonely; desolate
hazukashii: ashamed; shy
atarashii: new
The basic colors are often used as true adjectives:
akai: red aoi: blue
kiiroi: yellow
shiroi: white
kuroi: black
And now let's look at some good quasi-adjectives:
kantan na: easy, as in easy to do raku na: easy, as in an easy situation; comfortable
kara na: empty
kirei na: pretty; clean
kechi na: stingy (not generous)
binbou na: poor; destitute
hinpan na: frequent
benri na: convenient
fuben na: inconvenient
busaiku na: clumsy; awkward
tanki na: impatient; quick-tempered
ganko na: stubborn
byouki na: sick
genki na: healthy; to be feeling well
shizen na: natural, proper
yutaka na: full; abundant
anzen na: safe
kanzen na: perfect
As you can see, there are quasis that end in i when the na is omitted, which is why I avoid calling them "i adjectives" and "na adjectives." It could be too confusing at first.
There are even a few adjectives that can be used as true or quasi, like:
ookii / oki na: big chiisai / chiisa na: small
Many quasi-adjectives are made by adding teki na to a noun:
kokusaiteki na: international kagakuteki na: scientific
rekishiteki na: historical
ippanteki na: general
rakkanteki na: optimistic
It's time for some examples. From a grammatical angle, adjective use in Japanese is very similar to English. With both true and quasi you include the final i or na when placing them before a noun. Here are some with true adjectives:
Sore wa ii hon desu. (That's a good book.) Douzo, tsumetai gyuunyuu o nonde kudasai. (Please, have some cold milk.)
Omoi hako desu ne. (This is a heavy box, isn't it. [with dropping intonation])
And here are some examples using quasi-adjectives:
Sore wa kirei na inu desu. (That's a pretty dog.) Kare wa ganko na hito desu. (He's a stubborn person.)
Ichiban kantan na houhou o oshiete ageru. (I'll show you the easiest way to do it.)
Now, when a true adjective comes after the noun it modifies it usually does not change:
Sono hon wa ii desu yo. (That book is good.) Kono gyuunyuu wa tsumetai desu ka. (Is this milk cold?)
Kono hako wa omoi desu ne. (This box is heavy, isn't it. [with dropping intonation])
But, when a quasi-adjective comes after its noun, leave off the na:
Sono inu wa kirei desu ne. (That dog is pretty, isn't it. [with dropping intonation]) Kare wa ganko! (He's stubborn!)
Kore wa kantan. (This is easy.)
Now it's time to introduce the quirks. First, there are some strange quasi- (quasi-quasi?) adjectives that, according to the dictionaries and grammar books, use the multi-purpose no particle instead of na:
tokubetsu no: special tokutei no: specific
fumei no: unclear; vague
However, I have heard native speakers use na with these. When I ask about the discrepancy, I am told that na is normal. So, while it's true that the books say no, and official documents use no, in everyday "unofficial" life it is perfectly acceptable — even preferred — to use na, so don't concern yourself with it until you have to be official.
There are, however, colors which use no and never na after them when modifying a noun:
midori no kasa: a green umbrella murasaki no hana: a purple flower
nezumiiro no boushi: a gray hat
It's only natural to think that adjectives which exist in English should exist in Japanese. Sure, most do, but many don't. In these, the "adjectival idea" is conveyed through verbs. Some examples of these are:
Naka literally means "middle," and suku means "to be empty," so you're saying "my middle is empty" when you put these together. Nodo is "throat," and kawaku means "to be dry," so these together equal "I'm thirsty." Here, the ta form of the verb is used for the present, which will be a bit confusing to beginners because this form is normally used for the plain past. Just do what I do: think of this as "a verb in an adjective's role," and, as such, the rules slightly change.
Using hungry, let's take a look at the different popular tenses. Note the verb changes:
O-naka (ga) suku deshou. (We'll probably get hungry.) (Base 3 for infinitives and the future tense)
O-naka (ga) suita deshou? (You're hungry, right?) (Ta Form for the present)
O-naka (ga) suite inai. (I'm not hungry.) (Te Form + inai / imasen for the present negative)
O-naka (ga) suite ita. (I was hungry.) (Te Form + ita for the past)
O-naka (ga) suite inakatta. (I wasn't hungry.) (Te Form + inakatta / imasen deshita for the negative past)
The ga is optional, and is usually omitted in familiar situations.
Note also how naka gets the honorable o- prefix and nodo doesn't. I guess our throats aren't as honorable as our stomachs. The next time you're at a party with native speakers and run out of topics to discuss, ask about this. It will keep them hemming and hawing for a while.
Here are two more that are often used:
yaseru: to lose weight; become thin futoru: to gain weight; become fat
There are true adjectives for "fat" and "thin" (futoi and hosoi), but they, like their English counterparts, have to be used carefully because they can be offensive. When commenting about others, use the verbs:
Sukoshi futotta mitai. (Looks like you've put on a little weight.) Yasemashita ka. (Have you lost weight?)
There are a couple of strange, colloquial "-tai adjectives" that I should mention: nemutai and omotai. Actually, they are:
nemui: sleepy omoi: heavy
However, nemutai and omotai are used often in daily conversation. As far as I know, these are the only adjectives that can do this. By the way, this -tai ending on these two adjectives has nothing to do with the "want to do" -tai ending used on Base 2 verbs. "Want to sleep" is netai.
Finally, when used as simple exclamations, native speakers will often leave the final i off of some adjectives:
Now let's make all these negative. Like the verbs, adjectives use nai to do this. True adjectives drop their final i and add ku before adding nai:
Oishiku nai. (It's not good. [not delicious]) Atsuku nai. (It's not hot.)
Muzukashiku nai. (It's not difficult.)
Note: The exception is ii (good). It is always used as it is and never conjugated.
Quasis add de and then nai:
Benri de nai. (It's not convenient.) Raku de nai. (It's not comfortable.)
Kantan de nai. (It's not easy.)
Note: Although de is standard after quasis in negative constructions, dewa or ja can be used instead. Use ja only in familiar settings.
Now let's look at some endings and combinations which can be added to plain adjectives. (There are others, but these are the most used in my opinion.) If you've already been through my Japanese Verbs, these should look familiar.
Group A
deshou?: ..., right? (request for agreement) deshou: it probably is
Yoi ka dou ka wakaranai. (I don't know if it's good or not.)
Mari no kaban wa ookii to omou. Chiisai no wa Keiko no. (I think Mari's bag is big. The small one is Keiko's.)
Yasui kara katta. (I bought it because it was cheap.)
With quasis, it gets a bit trickier. Those in Group A are added without any particle:
Kara deshou. (It's probably empty.) Benri kamo shirenai. (It might be convenient.)
Byouki nara byouin ni ikinasai. (If you're sick, go to the hospital.)
Note: In Japan you don't "go see a doctor," you "go to the hospital."
Those in Group B are added after first adding na:
Motto kantan na hazu. (It's supposed to be easier.) Ryokou wa raku na hou ga ii. (A relaxing trip is best.)
Carl wa byouki na noni gakkou ni kita. (Carl came to school even though he's sick.)
And add da before adding those in Group C:
Kirei da kara, kanojo wa ninkimono desu. (She's popular because she's pretty.)
Ron wa ganko da kedo, seikaku ga ii. (Ron's stubborn, but he has a good personality.)
Kono mondai wa kantan da to omou. (I think this problem is easy.)
Da is actually the plain form of desu, which could be used with kara or kedo (keredomo) instead of da to make it more polite. For more about desu, please see Lesson 7 of my Japanese Verbs.
Now let's do some negative ones. First some with true adjectives:
Oishikunai deshou? (It's not very good, is it. [with dropping intonation]) Shirokunai hou ga ii deshou. (It would probably be best if it weren't white.)
Muzukashikunai rashii. (I hear it's not difficult.)
Mari no kaban wa ookikunai to omou. (I don't think Mari's bag is big.)
Yasukunai kamo shirenai. (It might not be cheap.)
And here are some with quasi-adjectives:
Kara de nai deshou. (It's probably not empty.) Benri de nai kamo shirenai. (It might not be convenient.)
Kantan de nai hazu. (It's not supposed to be easy.)
Bob wa byouki de nai noni gakkou ni konakatta. (Bob didn't come to school even though he's not sick.)
Joe wa ganko de nai kedo, seikaku ga muzukashii. (Joe's not stubborn, but he has a difficult personality.)
There are two more handy negative add-ons that I'd like to introduce here. They are:
nakereba naranai: it must be (literally, "if it's not..., it won't do") nakutemo ii: it doesn't need to be (literally, "even if it's not..., it's good")
Here they are with a true adjective:
Ookiku nakereba naranai. (It has to be big.) Ookiku nakutemo ii. (It doesn't have to be big.)
And with a quasi:
Kantan de nakereba naranai. (It has to be simple.) Kantan de nakutemo ii. (It doesn't have to be simple.)
Note: In written Japanese there are no spaces between "words." In my lessons I usually use what is most common for romanized Japanese, but may add spaces for clarification in long constructions. This is why there will sometimes be inconsistencies.
Because colors are usually used as adjectives, and because Japanese colors have their own strange set of rules, I thought I'd make a separate lesson out of them.
Here are ten popular colors as they are used when not preceding a noun, which is most of the time:
aka: red ao: blue
kiiro: yellow
midori: green
murasaki: purple
daidaiiro: orange
chairo: brown
shiro: white
kuro: black
nezumiiro: gray
Please keep in mind that iro means "color," and that four of the above are made by adding iro to a noun:
kiiro: yellow (ki [sulfur] + iro [color]) daidaiiro: orange (daidai [a kind of orange] + iro [color])
chairo: brown (cha [tea] + iro [color])
nezumiiro: gray (nezumi [mouse] + iro [color])
While it is possible to leave off the iro in some instances, this is how these colors are used most of the time. It is also possible to add iro to the others which usually don't use it: midori iro (green, greenish); shiro iro (white, whitish); etc.
Here are a few examples where the color comes after the noun it modifies:
Rick no kuruma wa aka. (Rick's car is red.) Watashi no inu wa shiro to chairo. (My dog's white and brown.)
Kondo jitensha o kattara ao ga ii. (The next time I buy a bicycle I want a blue one.)
Again, most of the time the color of something is mentioned in Japanese, it's after the subject or object in question, like in the above examples. When you want to put a color
directly before the object, add i to aka, ao, shiro and kuro; add no — not na — to midori, murasaki, daidaiiro and nezumiiro; and you can add either i or no to kiiro and chairo:
Kanojo no utsukushii kuroi kami o mite. (Look at her beautiful black hair.) Watashi wa shiroi kutsu o kaitai. (I want to buy some white shoes.)
Junko wa kiiroi kasa o motte iru. (Junko's holding a yellow umbrella.)
Kono akai jisho wa dare no? (Whose red dictionary is this?)
Kono murasaki no fuusen wa mise de moratta. (I got this purple balloon at the store.)
Bob wa ooki na nezumiiro no tsukue o katta. (Bob bought a big gray desk.)
Colors with i added become and behave the same as true adjectives; those with no behave like quasis.
There's a handy prefix that works especially well with three colors. It's ma, and it means "true." Note how the pronunciation changes with ma added:
makka: bright red masshiro: pure white
makkuro: jet black
These are usually handled as regular quasi-adjectives, and use na before the noun they modify:
Ano makka na hana ga kirei desu ne. (That bright red flower is pretty, isn't it?)
And here's a useful suffix: -ppoi. It works like "-ish" in English, and comes in handy when you don't know what to call a color. All colors become true adjectives with it attached:
Kanojo wa midorippoi boushi o kabutta. (She wore a greenish hat.) Sono kiiroppoi sushi wa mazui. (That yellowish sushi is nasty.)
By the way, you will find that the names for colors in Japanese, especially the primary ones, have a more abstract role than their English counterparts. Aka can mean anything from dark orange to copper or reddish purple; ao from green to bluish purple; and kiiro from light orange to pale yellow. In Japan, you stop when the light's aka, and go when it's ao.
Lesson 4Adjectives suki, kirai, hoshii, jouzu and heta
These five adjectives play by their own set of rules. Since they are used regularly, I think it would be good to get used to their weird ways as soon as possible.
Suki means "to like" and kirai means "to dislike." Yes, that's right — just as there are ideas conveyed through verbs in Japanese where adjectives would be used in English, as mentioned in Lesson 1, the reverse is also true. If you'll check your dictionary, you'll see that both of these exist in verb form: suku and kirau; but the chances are very slim that you'll ever hear them used that way. You will, however, hear them used in passive constructions, like:
Kazuko wa doko ni itte mo sukareru. (Kazuko is liked wherever she goes.) Nattou wa takusan no hito kara kirawarete iru. (Nattou [fermented soybeans] is
disliked by many people.)
For regular, straightforward talk about what you and others like and don't like, use suki and kirai in quasi-adjective form:
Nihon no aki ga suki. (I like autumn in Japan.) Nihon no natsu wa mushiatsui kara suki dewa nai . (I don't like summers in Japan
because they're hot and humid.)
Mina gokiburi ga kirai. (Everyone hates cockroaches.)
Note that ga is used to link suki or kirai to their object when there is no other necessary element between them.
You can put dai (a lot; very much) before suki or kirai to emphasize them:
Linda wa ichigo ga dai suki. (Linda loves strawberries.) Beth wa kumo ga dai kirai. (Beth really hates spiders.)
When you put the object in question after suki or kirai, use the quasi indicator na:
Sore wa boku no suki na ongaku. (That's the music that I like.) Tanaka-san wa boku no kirai na tabemono bakari tsukuru. (All the food Mrs.
Tanaka makes is the stuff I don't like.)
Interestingly, and mainly colloquially, these can also be used to modify the indirect object:
Yasai no suki na kodomo ga sukunai. (There are few kids that like vegetables.) Sashimi ga kirai na hito ga takusan imasu. (There are many people that don't like
raw fish.)
While hoshii is a true adjective, it's used to represent the English verb "want." It also uses ga when following its object, but remains alone when preceding it:
Fuusen ga hoshii! (I want a balloon!) Watashi no hoshii iro ga nai. (They don't have the color I want.)
Akai fuusen no hoshii kodomo ga ooi. (There are many kids who want a red balloon.)
Although hoshii isn't necessarily a kid's word, outside of familiar circles it could make you sound like one when expressing your own desires, so you'll want to be careful with it.
I should mention here that hoshii can be used with verbs in the Te Form to imply "want (someone) to...," just like -te moraitai. It's not used on yourself. It's used like this:
Boku wa ima kono heya o souji shitai. Soshite kimi ni tetsudatte hoshii. (I want to clean this room now, and I want you to help.)
Motto eigo o benkyou shite hoshii. (I want you to study English more.)
Kore o yonde hoshii. (I want you to read this.)
This is very plain and familiar, however. Be sure to upgrade to something like -te kudasai or -te itadakitai when necessary. (See Japanese Verbs Lessons 55 and 61.)
Like suki and kirai, jouzu and heta are quasi-adjective opposites that fill the role of ideas usually expressed by verbs in English. They also use ga before or na after in the same manner. Jouzu means "to be good at; well done," and heta means the exact opposite:
Kanojo wa ryouri ga jouzu desu ne. (She's a good cook, isn't she. [with falling intonation])
Sore wa jouzu na e. (That's a nicely done painting.)
Watashi wa piano ga hontou ni heta desu. (I'm really bad at playing the piano.)
Heta na uta! (What a poorly done song!)
Karaoke ga jouzu na hito ga sukunai. (There aren't many people who are good at karaoke.)
There are a few expressions with jouzu where the ga is often omitted:
Kare wa eigo jouzu. (He speaks English well.) Sachi wa ryouri jouzu deshou? (Sachi's a great cook, isn't she?)
Lesson 5Adverbial Forms
Making adverbs from adjectives is quite easy. With true adjectives, just replace the final i with ku before adding the verb. With quasis, just add ni :
Ojii-san wa itsumo osoku taberu. (Grampa always eats slowly.) Hayaku shinasai! (Do it quickly!)
Kazuya wa e o jouzu ni kakeru. (Kazuya can draw pictures well.)
Kono shigoto wa kantan ni dekiru yo. (You'll be able to do this job easily.)
The verb naru (to become) is often used with adverbs:
Shinpai shinaide! Dandan jouzu ni naru yo. (Don't worry! You'll gradually become better at it.)
Mai toshi boku no shigoto wa muzukashiku narimasu. (My job gets more difficult every year.)
Lisa wa kaigai kara kaeru to, itsumo byouki ni naru. (Lisa always gets sick after returning from overseas.)
Use suru with descriptive adverbs for "to make":
Ookiku shite kureru? (Would you make it bigger?) Atatakaku shite agemashou. (I'll make it warmer for you.)
Watashitachi wa anzen ni shinakereba naranai. (We must make it safe.)
Lesson 6Conditional Forms
To make positive conditionals, replace the final i with kereba in true adjectives, and add nara to quasis:
Yasukereba kaimashou. (If it's inexpensive, let's buy it.) Soto wa atsukereba detakunai. (I don't want to go out if it's hot outside.)
Inu wa byouki nara, juui ni tsurete ikou. (If the dog's sick, let's take him to the vet.)
Note: Naraba can also be used after quasi-adjectives, but nara is more common.
For negative conditionals, use ku nakereba (the negative-forming ku nai + kereba) with true adjectives, and de nakereba (the negative-forming de nai + kereba) with quasis:
Ashita wa samuku nakereba ikimashou. (If it's not cold tomorrow, let's go.) Kono pasokon ga hoshiku nakereba, betsu no mise ni ikimashou. (If you don't
want this computer, let's go to another store.)
Mise no basho wa benri de nakereba, kyaku ga sukunai deshou. (If the store isn't in a convenient location, it probably won't get many customers.)
Please see Lesson 2 for more about negative structures.
Use katta and datta to make adjectives plain and past. Datta is the universal plain form of deshita, and can be used at the end of many sentences to make them plain and past. Katta is for true adjectives only, however, and is added after removing the final i.
Here are a few true adjective examples:
Kyou wa atsukatta! (It was hot today!) Suugaku no shiken wa totemo muzukashikatta. (The math test was very
difficult.)
Kinou no ryokou wa tanoshikatta. (Yesterday's trip was fun.)
And here are some quasi examples:
Kinou byouki datta. (I was sick yesterday.) Juu nen mae ni John wa binbou datta. (Ten years ago John was poor.)
Rekishi no shukudai wa kantan datta. (The history homework was easy.)
Now, having done this, you can further conjugate using the endings and combinations applicable to other plain forms, like those in Lesson 2:
Samukatta deshou? (It was cold, wasn't it?) Chiisakatta hazu. (It was supposed to be small.)
Kare wa totemo ganko datta rashii. (It seems he was very stubborn.)
If you are ending a sentence with an adjective and want to make it past and polite, just add desu after katta in true adjectives, and use deshita instead of datta with quasis:
Kaigi wa nagakatta desu. (The meeting was long.) Shokuji wa kanzen deshita. (The meal was perfect.)
Note: The adjective ii (good) is not conjugated into the past tense. Use yokatta to say that something "was good."
Finally, in case you need the plain past negative, just change the nai covered in Lesson 2 to nakatta :
Kinou wa atsuku nakatta. (It wasn't hot yesterday.) Sore wa kantan dewa nakatta. Totemo muzukashikatta! (That wasn't easy. It was
very difficult!)
To upgrade these to polite, use arimasen deshita instead of nakatta.
This lesson should clarify sou (I hear that [something] is [adjective]) and sou ([something] looks/sounds/seems [adjective]).
Here's how they work: Sou (I hear that [something] is [adjective]) is basically used to report hearsay or the reports of others without the involvement of your personal senses or opinion. It is added after both true and quasi-adjectives with no change to the adjective itself:
Ano daigaku no nyuugaku shiken wa muzukashii sou desu. (I hear that that university's entrance exam is difficult.)
Sono hon wa takai sou desu. (I hear that book's expensive.)
Ano atarashii mise no basho wa fuben sou desu. (I hear that the new store is in an inconvenient location.)
The other sou ([something] looks/sounds/seems [adjective]) is used to express your own impression of something based on hearsay, seeing a picture, etc. This one takes the place of the final i in true adjectives, and is added after quasis, just like the other sou:
Oishisou! (Sounds delicious!) Sono jitensha wa takasou. (That bicycle looks expensive.)
Kare wa ganko sou na ojii-san desu ne. (He seems like a hard-headed old man, doesn't he?)
Thanks to various unwritten rules, these two sous are fairly easy to keep straight. In the first sou outlined above, sou is said without stress, in a matter-of-fact kind of way. Also, I've noticed that native speakers will usually add desu or da after it. (That's why I added desu in the examples.) The second sou is stressed and drawn out, and said with at least a little excitement if it's describing something good. It doesn't need desu or da, and is often used as a simple exclamation:
Tanoshisou! (Sounds fun!) Samusou! (Looks cold! [as one might say while watching a program about
Alaska])
Mazusou! (Sounds nasty! [not good to eat])
Kantan sou! (Looks easy!)
Raku sou! (Looks comfortable!)
Note: The adjective yoi is an exception with this sou. You need to add sa first: yosasou (sounds good). This, by the way, is how you add sou to the negative nai as well, for example: yoi (good) + nai = yokunai (not good) + sou = yokunasasou (doesn't sound good).
Sugiru means "too (much of something)," and is also used a lot. It works like the second sou above, meaning it replaces the final i of true adjectives:
Kono o-cha wa atsusugiru! (This tea is too hot!) Ano hako wa omosugiru! (That box is too heavy!)
Kyou no shiken wa muzukashisugita. (Today's test was too difficult.)
Kore wa kantan sugiru! (This is too easy!)
Kanojo wa kechi sugiru kara, tomodachi ga inai. (She doesn't have any friends because she's too stingy.)
Lesson 10Adjective Modifiers
In this last lesson we will look at the bits and pieces needed to adjust the meaning of adjectives so they convey exactly what we want. Everything here applies to both true and quasi-adjectives.
Comparatives
In sentences where an adjective is used to compare two things, use yori after the object which is used for comparison. Note how the compared object (underlined) sits between the subject and adjective of the main idea:
Ken no inu wa Shizuka no inu yori ookii. (Ken's dog is bigger than Shizuka's dog.) Kyou no shiken wa kinou no yori kantan datta. (Today's exam was easier than
yesterday's.)
...but how it comes before other objects which are not a part of the subject:
Watashi wa yakisoba yori yakimeshi ga suki. (I like fried rice more than fried noodles.)
Alternately, yori can be placed after the subject in structures that follow other finalized statements:
Shizuka no inu wa ookii desu ga, Ken no inu wa yori ookii. (Shizuka's dog is big, but Ken's dog is bigger.)
Kyou wa atsukatta kedo, ashita wa yori atsukunaru sou desu. (Today was hot, but they say it's going to be hotter tomorrow.)
Note: Mo is sometimes added to yori — yorimo. It's completely optional and does not change the meaning of the sentence.
Another popular way to compare things is to use motto, which is roughly the equivalent of "more" in English. It is placed directly before the adjective it modifies, and could be used to replace yori in the last set of examples above:
Shizuka no inu wa ookii desu ga, Ken no inu wa motto ookii. (Shizuka's dog is big, but Ken's dog is bigger.)
Kyou wa atsukatta kedo, ashita wa motto atsukunaru sou desu. (Today was hot, but they say it's going to be hotter tomorrow.)
Superlatives
Mottomo or the well-known ichiban (number one) can be placed before adjectives to make them superlative. Ichiban without an adjective can be used to simply mean "the best":
Kore wa kono mise no mottomo yasui pasokon desu. (This is the cheapest computer in this store.)
Sore wa boku no ichiban suki na hon desu. (That's my favorite book.)
Nakajima-san no ramen wa ichiban! (The ramen Ms. Nakajima makes is the best!)
Negative Comparatives and Superlatives
Negative comparatives and superlatives are not used that much in Japanese. In fact, there is no equivalent to the least. To convey something in a negative superlative way, just use an adjective with that meaning, or make the adjective negative, as in:
Kore wa mottomo warui. (This is the worst.) Kore wa ichiban oishikunai. (This is the least delicious.)
For negative comparatives where "less" is implied, you can put hodo, which means "to the extent of," after the object of comparison. You must also make the adjective negative. Let's do this to the first two examples used in the Comparatives section above. Note how the subject and compared object change places in order to convey the same meaning:
Shizuka no inu wa Ken no inu hodo ookikunai. (Shizuka's dog isn't as big as Ken's dog.)
Kinou no shiken wa kyou no hodo kantan dewa nakatta. (Yesterday's exam wasn't as easy as today's.)
Two More
There are two other handy modifiers I'll mention here because they're used a lot: toku ni and amari. Toku ni means "especially" and amari means about the opposite of that. Here's how they're used:
Kyou wa toku ni isogashikatta. (Today was especially busy.) Ano eiga wa amari omoshirokunai. (That movie is not really that interesting.)
Kenji no seiseki wa toku ni warui. (Kenji's grades are particularly bad.)
Kyou wa amari atsukunai ne. (Today's not that hot, is it. [with dropping intonation])
Japanese Verbs
Introduction
For several years I have been writing tutorials on the Japanese language for relatives and students of the language, and wish to convey my thanks to all those who have given me their compliments and support in making this online version possible. I sincerely hope that this is, and will continue to be, a clear, concise, and convenient resource for those learning or reviewing Japanese, especially the more commonly used verb conjugations with their various add-ons and combinations. Each lesson will be kept short, with a gradual and natural introduction of new words and phrases.
Please have an English-Japanese/Japanese-English dictionary and notebook handy as you study. As new words are introduced, use your dictionary to learn or check their meanings, and make a word list in your notebook to add new vocabulary to. Write down the root word as well as any conjugated forms. It's a proven fact that the process of looking up and writing vocabulary will help the learning process, along with regular reviewing. A Word Check section will be added to the bottom of some lessons to aid the reviewing process.
Please see A Bit of the Language for pronunciation guides and other relevant information.
Questions and comments are welcome, and may be sent to me by e-mail.
Please note: In order to avoid getting too technical at an early stage of learning, only the most general translations and explanations of words and verb forms are given. There will always be exceptions and more to learn. Also, romaji (romanized Japanese words) used herein are written in their true, romanized form: elongated vowels are shown as such, etc.
Table of Contents
| Base 1 | Base 2 | Base 3 | Bases 4 & 5 | Te Form | Ta Form | Notes |
Please note: This page is intended for intermediate to advanced students of Japanese who are already comfortable with the material presented in my Japanese Verbs.
Base 2 - Continuing StatementsBase 2 - Compound Verbs as VerbsBase 2 - Compound Verbs as NounsBase 2 - Very Polite Form with the o PrefixVery Polite Form with the go PrefixBase 1 - Very Polite Form with reru / rareruBase 2 - Unspecified Things Using monoCancelling Actions with yameruThe Many Faces of you ni / naExpressing Characteristics with suruBases 3 & 4 - Expressing Results for Continued Actions with Base 4 + ba and Base 3 + hodoTe Form - Expressing No Results for Continued ActionsBase 2 - Wanting to Do Things with tai
Base 2 - Continuing Statements
Base 2 can be used to end phrases or clauses within a sentence as long as something follows. Base 2 is not used to end a sentence:
Shizu ni denwa shi, heya o katazuke, kaimono ni iku. (I'm going to call Shizu, straighten up the room, and go shopping.)
The Te Form can also be used to do this:
Shizu ni denwa shite, heya o katazukete, kaimono ni iku. (I'm going to call Shizu, straighten up the room, and go shopping.)
Please see Lesson 71 of my Japanese Verbs for more.
Base 2 - Compound Verbs as Verbs
Verbs in Base 2 can be followed by other verbs in order to create compound verbs. Some of these are relatively easy to grasp and can be used quite freely, like Base 2 + hajimeru (to begin) or owaru (to finish):
Kumi wa juu ka getsu ni natta toki arukihajimeta. (Kumi began walking when she turned 10 months old.)
Tabeowattara hachiji datta. (When I finished eating it was 8:00.)
Kristi wa itsumo shaberisugi. (Kristi always talks too much.)
(Sugiru is often cut to sugi. This is an exception and cannot be done indiscriminately with other verbs.)
Base 2 + naosu (repair; redo):
Kore yomenai kara, kakinaoshite kureru? (I can't read this, so would you write it again?)
Yarinaoshi. (Do it over.)
(Yarinaoshi is a "set" mild command, often used by teachers to students or bosses to subordinates.)
Base 2 + naosu means to do something over again because the first time was sloppy or unsatisfactory, and should not be used to ask for a repeat of something done well. In that case, use something like Mou ichido (verb in the te form) kudasai.
Base 2 + tsuzukeru (continue):
Yomitsuzukete kudasai. (Please continue reading.)
Kazu wa juuji made hatarakitsuzuketa. (Kazu continued working until 10:00.)
And there are those that are more specialized. I cannot make an exhaustive study of them here, but will list many of those that I see or hear often as examples. Many of these can be combined with many other verbs, while others are limited or very specialized in their use.
miwakeru : to distinguish by sight (miru + wakeru)
kikiwakeru : to distinguish by sound (kiku + wakeru)
miwatasu : to look over a wide area (miru + watasu)
arukimawaru : to walk around (aruku + mawaru)
mimawaru : to walk around and inspect (miru + mawaru)
kikiwasureru : to forget to ask (kiku + wasureru)
uketoru : to receive (ukeru + toru)
toritsukeru : to install (an appliance, etc.) (toru + tsukeru)
hanashiau : to speak together (hanasu + au)
mochikaeru : to take out (fast food, etc.) (motsu + kaeru)
toiawaseru : to inquire (tou + awaseru)
uchiawaseru : to arrange for (this usually implies making verbal arrangements for something beforehand) (utsu + awaseru)
makimodosu : to rewind (a tape, etc.) (maku + modosu)
haraimodosu : to refund (harau + modosu)
sashikaeru : to replace (A with B) (sasu + kaeru)
atehamaru : to be applicable to (ateru + hamaru)
mochiageru : to raise up (motsu + ageru)
mochiyoru : to bring (together with others, as with a potluck dinner) (motsu + yoru)
hakobidasu : to carry out (to carry something out of a building, etc.) (hakobu + dasu)
All of the above compounds are Base 2 verbs combined with Base 3 verbs for consistency. However, many of these will often be used as a noun with a Base 2 ending, such as uchiawase (a planning meeting) or haraimodoshi (a refund). (See the next section.)
Please don't confuse these with the ones which use the particle ni in between, like tabe ni iku (go out and eat) and asobi ni kuru (come for fun). (See Lesson 13 of my Japanese Verbs.)
Finally, although it will be tempting to create your own combinations — combinations which seem perfectly understandable to you — they probably will not be understood by native speakers unless they have a linguistically free mind. It is always best to check your dictionary to see if it exists beforehand.
Base 2 - Compound Verbs as Nouns
Many verb combinations exist that are used mainly as nouns (Base 2 + Base 2), such as:
yomikaki : reading and writing (yomu + kaku)
kaiage : a purchase (kau + ageru)
uriage : a sale (uru + ageru)
deiri : entering and exiting (deru + hairu)
ikiki : coming and going (iku + kuru)
uketsuke : reception (as in a hotel or other business) (ukeru + tsukeru)
Komu alone means "jammed" or "crowded," but is combined with many other verbs to add other nuances, such as "entering into" something, involvement, attachment, or resolve. For example, regular suwaru means "to sit," but suwarikomu means "to sit with a resolute attitude of immovability," such as a sick person, a spoiled child, or someone demonstrating would do.
Base 2 - Very Polite Form with the o Prefix
There are two o+Base 2 verb forms I'd like to introduce. Both of them start by adding an "honorific o" prefix to the Base 2 form of the verb, which makes it act like a noun. (Incidentally, I use a hyphen to attach this o in my lessons for clarity, but in written Japanese there is no hyphen.)
The first is only used when the subject is I (stated or implied) and you are speaking to another person who is the indirect object, the recipient of the action. For example, let's use the verb okuru, which means "to send." All of the following sentences mean the same thing — "I'll send you the paperwork." — but each conveys a different level of politeness or "honor," which expresses your opinion of the other person or the relationship you have with him or her. Note the differences:
Shorui o okuru. (Base 3, plain) Shorui o okurimasu. (Base 2 + masu, polite)
Shorui o o-okuri shimasu. (Base 2 with o prefix + shimasu, honorific and polite)
Shorui o o-okuri itashimasu. (Base 2 with o prefix + itashimasu, honorific and more polite)
As you can see, the third and fourth examples use this Base 2 form with the o prefix and shimasu (polite form of suru) or itashimasu (polite form of itasu) to show respect to the other person. There are not really a lot of verbs that can be used this way. Just remember that it must be one used in an "I will do (something) for you" construction, like:
o-tsukuri shimasu / itashimasu ("I'll make it [for you]," from tsukuru, to make) o-mise shimasu / itashimasu ("I'll show you," from miseru, to show)
o-shirase shimasu / itashimasu ("I'll let you know," from shiraseru, to notify)
With suru verbs, you just add the o and change the suru or replace it with itashimasu, as in:
o-denwa shimasu / itashimasu ("I will telephone you.") o-henji shimasu / itashimasu ("I will reply [to you].")
The second form is for the opposite flow of action — you request the other person to do something for you. Here, you simply add kudasai directly after the verb/noun:
Shorui o o-okuri kudasai. (Please send me the paperwork.) O-tsukuri kudasai. (Please make one [for me].)
O-mise kudasai. (Please show me.)
O-denwa kudasai. (Please call me.)
If you are already familiar with the Te Form + kudasai ending, you will probably be tempted to create something like o-okutte kudasai or o-okuri shite kudasai. Both are incorrect, so be careful.
Both forms introduced here illustrate the mixed blessing of the Japanese language not needing a subject in many cases. Since the o-Base 2 verb + suru form would only be used in (and automatically imply) an "I do for you" action, "I" and "you" are understood and are therefore omitted. Likewise, since the o-Base 2 verb + kudasai form would only be used in (and automatically imply) a "you do for me" action, "you" and "me" are not needed. While this can be handy for the speaker, it is sometimes hard for the listener.
Very Polite Form with the go Prefix
I add this form here because it is similar to the second form covered in the above section. It really has nothing to do with "bases." In fact, we could call this "baseless."
There is an "honorific go" prefix that certain verbs use instead of o. This is only for asking favors and shows special respect to the one you're asking. The pattern is simple: go+noun or suru verb without suru + kudasai. Here are some:
go-ran is a specialized form which does not exist with suru as a plain verb. It is used instead of miru to talk up to someone.
And there are the ones which use the o prefix — never go — some of which were introduced in the last section. These can include yodan and ichidan verbs (in the Base 2 form) as well as the suru verbs (without suru), like:
The most difficult part about this form is probably learning which suru verbs use o and which use go. There is no rule concerning this; you just have to memorize them as they come.
To make things even more fun, when you get deep enough into your kanji studies you will find that the same one is used for both o and go — the reading changes according to the verb it's attached to. However, these days this prefix is rarely seen in its kanji form; it's usually written in hiragana.
Base 1 - Very Polite Form with reru / rareru
Above we covered polite forms for giving or asking favors. This section introduces verb conjugations which show respect for the actions of another person even though that action may have nothing to do with yourself. To become familiar with the general levels of politeness, look at these three examples:
Nanji ni shuppatsu suru? Nanji ni shuppatsu shimasu ka?
Nanji ni shuppatsu saremasu ka?
All of these mean "What time will you leave?" using the "suru verb" shuppatsu suru, which means "to leave; depart." The plain suru ending is, of course, plain, being suitable for talking with family or friends. The shimasu ka ending is polite, and should be used when speaking to superiors and people you don't see that often. Saremasu ka, which is actually Base 2 of sareru with polite masu attached, is even more polite, and is used to show special respect when you desire to do so.
As for the conversion rules, you only need to remember four things: Yodan verbs use Base 1 + reru; ichidans use Base 1 + rareru; the suru of suru verbs changes to sareru (like the example above); and kuru changes to korareru.
After conversion, you will notice that they have all become plain ichidans, and will therefore require further conjugation as such, according to need. There are no special rules for these "created" ichidans — they are converted like any other ichidan verb. Here are some yodan examples:
Ashita Kyoto ni ikaremasu ka. (Are you going to Kyoto tomorrow?) Sakamoto-san wa kaeraremashita. (Mr. Sakamoto has left for the day.)
Nani o nomaremasu ka. (What will you have to drink?)
Some ichidan:
O-sushi taberaremasu ka. (Will you have some sushi?) Sono eiga miraremashita ka. (Did you see that movie?)
Some more suru examples:
Kimiko ni denwa sareta hou ga ii to omoimasu. (I think it would be a good idea for you to call Kimiko.)
Nan nen kan furansugo o benkyou saremashita ka. (How many years did you study French?)
And one kuru:
Raishuu no doyoubi ni koraremasu ka. (Will you come next Saturday?)
You can use this form in many, many cases, but, as in everything else, there are exceptions. For example, when asking a person if they will be in a certain place, do not use irareru; use orareru: Shibaraku koko ni oraremasu ka. "Will you be here for a while?" You will pick up these exceptions as you go along. Be sure to keep an ear out for them.
The conjugation rules here are identical to the ones used in forming passives, as briefly mentioned near the bottom of my Notes on Japanese Verbs. Just remember that the very polite form outlined here acts on the subject — always a person — while the passive form acts on an object. Same conjugation rules, different use.
Base 2 - Unspecified Things Using mono
There are several nouns used for unspecified things which are made by putting the relevant verb in Base 2 and adding mono, which means "thing." Probably the best known example of this is kimono, which literally means "wearing thing" (kiru + mono). Other examples are nomimono : something to drink (from nomu), as in:
Nomimono wa ikaga desu ka. (How about something to drink?)
And norimono : something to ride in; a vehicle (from noru), as in:
Are wa tanoshii norimono da. (That's a fun ride.)
Here are a few more:
tabemono : something to eat; food (from taberu) ikimono : a living thing; creature (from ikiru)
kaimono : shopping (not something bought; from kau)
iremono : a container (not whatever is put inside; from ireru)
tsumemono : stuffing; filling (including filling for a decayed tooth; from tsumeru)
Unfortunately, you can't just slap mono onto any verb in Base 2. Like the ones above, they have already been decided upon and set aside, so please check your dictionary before using.
Using Base 3 or the Ta Form with hou ga ii to convey things which should be done has been covered in Lessons 26 and 73 of my Japanese Verbs. When you want to advise someone, even yourself, to not do something, to not go ahead with a plan, use the verb yameru (to stop) in Base 3 (plain) or in the Ta Form:
Ojii-san wa ima tsuri o yameru hou ga ii to itte iru. (Grandpa is saying that it would be better not to go fishing now.)
Yameta hou ga ii yo! (It would be best not to do it.)
In my own experience, yameta hou ga ii is preferred in conversation. Depending on the tone of voice, it could mean a friendly "It would be best not to do it" or a more command-like "Don't do it!" Because yameta is past tense, this often causes confusion. What I do is think of it as meaning "after all is said and done, you will look back and see that it was good (ii) to have cancelled (yameta) it."
By the way, if you go ahead with something and regret it later, wishing you had not done it, express that feeling by putting ii (yoi) into past tense: ...o yameta hou ga yokatta. (It would have been best to cancel...) Here are some other handy expressions with yameru and yokatta:
...o yamete yokatta (I'm glad I cancelled... / It was a good thing that we cancelled...)
...o yamenai hou ga yokatta (It would have been best not to cancel...)
Please see the hou ga ii section of Lesson 73 of my Japanese Verbs for more information.
The Many Faces of you ni / na
Between verbs, you ni conveys "in order to," "so that," etc., as in:
Piano o jouzi ni hikeru you ni mainichi renshuu shite iru. (In order to be able to play the piano well, I practice every day.)
Furansugo o jouzi ni hanaseru you ni naritai. (I want to be able to speak French well. [you ni naritai = want to become so that...])
One very handy aspect of you ni is that it can be used to start an idea which is completed (mentally) by the other party. Compare these examples, with their literal translations:
Ashita rokuji ni okireru you ni, mezamashidokei o setto shite ne. (So that you can get up at six tomorrow, set the alarm clock, okay?)
Ashita rokuji ni okireru you ni, shite ne. (Do whatever so that you can get up at six tomorrow, okay?)
Ashita rokuji ni okireru you ni, ne. (So that you can get up at six tomorrow, okay?)
Ashita rokuji ni okireru you ni... (So that you can get up at six tomorrow...)
These Japanese sentences are all perfectly viable. Although unfinished, what the ending will be is easily guessed. This is similar to the much-used unfinished English expression "You shouldn't have!" A student of English will wonder "shouldn't have what?"; but seasoned English speakers know it means "shouldn't have gone through so much trouble for me."
This "add your own ending" is seen a lot in birthday cards and year-end nenga greeting cards, where it means "Best wishes for...," "I hope you have...," etc. Here it can act on a whole sentence:
Tanoshii o-tanjoubi de arimasu you ni... ([May] you have a fun birthday.) Go-kazoku ni totte, rainen wa taihen yoi o-toshi de gozaimasu you... ([I hope] next
year is a very good one for your family.)
Please notice that I purposely left the ni off the last example. This is also seen a lot, especially in the written language.
Another function of you ni is to convey "seems to," "appears to be":
Kenzo wa yopparatte iru you ni aruite iru. (Kenzo is walking like he's drunk.) Beth wa wakaranai you ni mieru. (Beth looks as if she doesn't understand.)
(You never omit the ni in this use.)
If a noun is described, use na instead of ni :
Beth wa wakaranai you na kao o shite iru. (Beth's face looks as if she doesn't understand. [...kao o shite iru = to do (make) a face])
Nenryou wa takusan tsukau you na kuruma desu ne. (It seems to be a car that uses lots of fuel.)
There's still more. You can use you ni after nouns to describe verbs. Add a no after the noun:
Kanojo wa uma no you ni taberu. (She eats like a horse.) Kare wa usagi no you ni hashiru. (He runs like a rabbit.)
And you can use you na after nouns to describe nouns:
Inu no you na neko. (That cat's like a dog.) Kanojo wa moderu no you na kao o shite iru. (She has a face like a model's.)
This should sufficiently cover the popular uses of you ni/na between verbs, nouns, or their combinations, as well as at the end of well-wishing words. It is involved in so many functions that I fear I may have forgotten one or two. If I find that I have, I'll add them later on.
Expressing Characteristics with suru
Although a bit hard to grasp at first, there is a form of suru which is used to show characteristics, mainly outward features which are visible or can be easily sensed. This use of suru was already hinted at in examples used in the section above, so I will bring those two examples down here:
Beth wa wakaranai you na kao o shite iru. (Beth's face looks as if she doesn't understand.)
Kanojo wa moderu no you na kao o shite iru. (She has a face like a model's.)
In the first example, Beth is confronted with something hard to understand, and so makes a face — on purpose or not — which shows that. To be true to suru, you could think of it as meaning "does a face," but the natural English would be "makes a face" if intentional, or "has a face" if not. In either case ...o shite iru is used. In the second example, her face's looking like a model's does not rely on any forced facial expression, yet the same ...o shite iru form is used. Here are a couple more based on ...o suru :
Sonna iya na kao o shinakutemo ii yo! (You don't have to make such a disagreeable face!)
Ano koinu wa kawaii kao o shite iru. (That puppy has a cute face.)
For other "sensed" natural or passive things, especially sounds, smells, tastes and feelings, use ...ga suru :
Ame ga furu you na nioi ga suru. (It smells like it's going to rain.) Obaa-san ga kaetta you na oto ga suru. (It sounds like Grandma is back.)
Kare wa yurusanai you na ki ga suru. (I have the feeling that he won't allow it.)
Bases 3 & 4 - Expressing Results for Continued Actions with Base 4 + ba and Base 3 + hodo
This one is easier than the title makes it look. To convey "the more you (do something)..." put the verb in Base 4 with ba followed by the plain form (Base 3) of the same verb with hodo, then add your result:
Noboreba noboru hodo samukunaru. (The higher you climb the colder it gets.) Amai mono o tabereba taberu hodo futokunaru yo. (The more you eat sweet things
the fatter you'll get!)
With suru verbs only suru needs to be repeated:
Benkyou sureba suru hodo kashikokunaru. (The more you study the smarter you'll get.)
Te Form - Expressing No Results for Continued Actions
Let's now do the opposite of the above section and convey no change after the effort. One way to do this is with ikura + Te Form of the verb + mo :
Ikura yatte mo dekinai. (No matter how many times I try, I can't do it.) Kore o ikura tabete mo futoranai. (You won't gain weight no matter how much of
this you eat.)
Ano bangumi o ikura mite mo kashikokunaranai yo. (No matter how often you watch that program, you won't get any smarter.)
Kanojo wa ikura piano o renshuu shite mo issho. (No matter how much she practices the piano, there's no improvement.)
Issho means "together; with," but is often used as it is in the above example to mean "the same," "no change," or "no progress."
Base 2 - Wanting to Do Things with tai
Base 2 + tai was covered briefly but not sufficiently in Lesson 8 of my Japanese Verbs. Please remember that tai is only for wanting to do actions, and not wanting things. The following examples show a wide range of constructions possible using tai along with other conjugations. Please note how tai changes depending on these conjugations. Here I use iku (to go) in all the examples, but any verb could be used as long as it is in its Base 2 form.
Mise ni ikitai. (I want to go to the store.) Boku wa ikitakunai. (I don't want to go.)
Issho ni ikitakatta. (I wanted to go with you.)
Hontou wa, ikitakunakatta. (Actually, I didn't want to go.)
Ikitakereba, issho ni ikimashou. (If you want to go, let's go together.)
Ikitakunakereba, ikanakute mo ii yo. (If you don't want to go, you don't have to.)
Kare no hanashi o kiitara, ikitakunatta. (After hearing what he said, I now want to go.)
Tenki wa warui kara, ikitakunakunatta. (The weather's bad, so now I don't want to go.)
Ikitakunattara, denwa shite kudasai, ne. (If you decide that you want to go, please call me, okay?)
Raishuu ikitakunaru kamo shirenai. (Maybe I'll want to go next week.)
The naru element is sometimes difficult to grasp in English, but means "to become" something from either nothing or something else. Accordingly, ikitakunaru means
literally "to become to want to go" and is used where there was or might be a previous state of not wanting to go or indecision about going. Natta is the past tense of naru.
English Phrasal Verbs to Japanese Dictionary
Phrasal verbs can sometimes be challenging and hard to find in English-Japanese dictionaries, if they are listed at all. Here you should be able to find most of the common ones used every day.
Each phrasal verb will be followed by vi (intransitive verb, not taking a direct object) or vt (transitive verb, taking a direct object), a short definition for clarification if needed, the Japanese equivalent, and an example sentence in Japanese along with its English translation.
Please keep in mind that this is not meant to be comprehensive. In many cases there are other Japanese words which can be used instead. However, the ones listed here are those which I feel are the most preferred. Please cross-reference using other dictionaries in order to get a good feel for the total scope of each word or phrase. Also, please remember that not all English verb forms will translate into a Japanese verb form. Sometimes the commonly used Japanese equivalent will be an auxiliary or something else entirely.
Example sentences will use a wide variety of verb conjugations. Please use my Japanese Verbs as a guide for these. While I have taken care to choose examples which translate over in a straightforward manner, there are some that are not a perfectly literal match. They will be, however, close enough to convey the meaning shown while being commonly used in both languages. Even though Japanese tends to prefer passive structures much more than English, I have kept some active simply to keep the structure true to the English in order to be more easily understood. If further clarification is necessary, or if there are others which you would like to see included here, please feel free to contact me.
Contents
| be l blow | call | catch | cheer | come | cut | drop | fill | get | go | hang | keep | look | make | put | show | take | tell | turn | wear | work | write |
be about to 1 vt (to be on the verge of doing) ...tokoro: Ima kara yuushoku o taberu tokoro. (I'm just about to eat dinner.)
be up to 1 vt (to be doing) shite iru: Kimiko wa nani o shite iru ka na? (I wonder what Kimiko is up to.) 2 vt (to be planning to do, often something devious) takuramu: Ano futari wa kitto nanika takurande iru. (Those two are surely up to something.) 3 vt (to feel like doing) ...ki ga aru: Kouen made aruku ki ga aru? (Are you up to a walk to the park?)
blow away 1 vt fukitobasu: Kaze wa kare no boushi o fukitobashita. (The wind blew his hat away.) 2 vt (to surprise) odorokasu: Sore o itte mina odorokashita. (I said that and blew everyone away.)
blow out 1 vt (to extinguish) fukikesu: rousoku o fukikeshite ne. (Blow out the candles, okay?) 2 vi (for a tire to blow out) panku suru: Jitensha no tire ga panku shita yo. (The bicycle tire blew out.)
Panku is borrowed from the English "puncture."
blow over 1 vt fukitaosu: Kaze wa sanbon no denchuu o fukitaoshita. (The wind blew over three telephone poles.) 2 vi (to die away) toorisugiru: Kono arashi ga toorisugiru made matsu shika nai. (All we can do is wait for this storm to blow over.)
blow up 1 vi (to explode) bakuhatsu suru: Kyonen, kouba no tanku ga bakuhatsu shimashita. (A tank at the factory blew up last year.)
call off 1 vt (to cancel) chuushi suru: Asu ame ga futtara, yama e no haikingu o chuushi suru. (If it rains tomorrow I’m going to call off the hike in the mountains.)
call on 1 vt (to visit) houmon suru: Kurashiki ni itta toki yuujin o houmon shita. (I called on a friend when I went to Kurashiki.)
call out 1 vt yobidasu: O-namae o yobidashitara, kountaa ni kite kudasai. (When I call out your name please come to the counter.)
call up 1 vt denwa suru: Karen ni denwa shita no? (Did you call up Karen?)
catch it 1 vi (to be scolded) shikarareru: Yameta hou ga ii. Shikarareru yo. (You better not do it. You’ll catch it.)
catch on 1 vi (to understand) rikai suru: Sono uchi rikai suru. (You’ll catch on in time.)
catch up 1 vi oitsuku: Saki ni itte. Oitsuku kara. (Go ahead. I’ll catch up.)
As in the last example above, there are words used in Japanese simply for “colloquial smoothing,” which would usually not be used in the English counterpart. The literal translation of oitsuku kara would be “because I’ll catch up,” but that would sound unnatural in English. Oitsuku alone would sound equally as odd in Japanese; kara would naturally be added. Kara, ga, ne, and yo are just some of the Japanese words that are
often added for feeling but do not have a simple counterpart in English.
cheer up 1 vi (to show renewed spirit or energy) genki o dasu: Genki o dashite ne. (Cheer up, okay?) 2 vt (to cause someone to show renewed spirit or energy) genki zukeru: Kanojo wa shibaraku no aida kare ni hanashite genji zukete kureta. (She was nice enough to talk to him for a while and cheer him up.)
cheer on 1 vt ouen suru: Ouen shimasu yo. (I’ll be cheering you on.)
come across 1 vi (to give an impression) inshou o ataeru: Kare wa totemo majime na hito da to iu inshou o ataeru. (He comes across as being a very sober person.) 2 vt (to find) mitsukeru: Souko no naka ni totemo furui hon o mitsuketa. (I came across a very old book in the storage shed.)
When something is found which was intentionally searched for, the intransitive verb mitsukaru is usually used: Mitsukatta! (I found it!)
come after 1 vt (to follow) …no ato ni kuru: Daitai tsuyoi kaze ga ame no ato ni kuru. (Usually strong winds come after the rain.) 2 vt (to come to get) tori ni kuru: Kanojo wa mou sugu kasa o tori ni kuru deshou. (She will surely come after her umbrella soon.)
come again 1 vi mata kuru: Mata kite kudasai. (Please come again.)
come along 1 vi (to accompany) tsuite kuru: Yokereba tsuite kite. (Come along with me if you like.) 2 vi (to progress) susumu: Yoku susunde imasu ne. (It’s coming along quite nicely, isn’t it?)
come and go 1 vi ittari kitari suru: Benchi ni suwatte, hito ga ittari kitari suru koto o miru no ga suki. (I like sitting on a bench and watching the people come and go.)
come apart 1 vi barabara ni naru: Denwaki ga katte ni barabara ni natta. (The telephone came apart on its own.)
come around 1 vi mawatte kuru: Maitoshi kono jiki ni tsubame ga mawatte kuru. (Every year about this time the swallows come around.)
come back 1 vi (to return) kaette kuru: Nanji goro kaette kuru deshou? (About what time will you come back?) 2 vt (to be remembered) omoidasareru: Chotto matte. Chotto shitara omoidasareru deshou. (Just a minute. It’ll probably come back to me in a bit.)
come from 1 vt …kara kuru: Doko kara kimashita ka. (Where did you come from?)
come in 1 vi / vt hairu: Douzo, haitte kudasai. (Please come in.)
come in handy 1 vi yaku ni tatsu: Denshi jisho o kattara yaku ni tatsu ni chigainai. (If you buy an electronic dictionary it will surely come in handy.)
come close to 1 vt (to approach) …ni chikazuku: Ippiki no saru ga boku ni chikazuita. (One of the monkeys came close to me.) 2 vt (to just miss an occurrence) … tokoro: Hikouki ni noriokureru tokoro datta. (I came close to missing my plane.)
come off 1 vi hazureru: Jitensha no cheen ga hazureta. (My bicycle chain came off.)
come on 1 vi (used to hurry someone up) isogu: Isoginasai! (Come on! Hurry!) 2 vi (for lights or electrical appliances to start working) tsuku: Denki ga mou sugu tsuku deshou. (The lights will probably come on in a minute.)
come out 1 vi dete kuru: Sakuban nezumi ga kurozetto kara dete kita. (Last night a mouse came out of the closet.)
come over 1 vi kuru: Watashi wa shichiji han goro kuru. (I’ll come over around 7:30.)
come to 1 vt (to result in) …ni naru: Kesshite konna koto ni naru to omowanakatta. (I never thought it would come to this.) 2 vt (to total in money) …ni naru: Go hyaku juugo en ni narimasu. (That comes to 515 yen.)
come up 1 vi (to rise) agaru: Douzo, agatte kudasai. (Please come up. [Please come in.]) 2 vi (to happen) okoru: Ano mondai ga okoru made, raku na ichi nichi ni narisou datta. (Until that problem came up, it looked like it was going to be an easy day.)
Since the inside of Japanese houses are traditionally much higher than the outside, you are literally asked to “rise up” when asked to come in.
come up against 1 vt butsukaru: Ritsuko wa Hawaii de hatarakihajimeta toki, iroiro na mondai ni butsukatta. (Ritsuko came up against various problems when she began working in Hawaii.)
come up with 1 vt (to suggest) teian suru: Kono mondai o kaiketsu suru tame, ii houhou o teian suru koto ga dekinai ka. (Can’t you come up with a good way to solve this problem?)
cut corners 1 vi (to make tasks easier; to not do a task completely) te o nuku: Kare wa itsumo te o nuite iru. (He is always cutting corners.)
cut down 1 vt (to cut down a tree) kiritaosu: Kare wa niwa ni atta furui matsu no ki o kiritaoshita. (He cut down that old pine tree that was in his yard.) 2 vt (to decrease) herasu: Shuppi o herasanai to ikenai. (We've got to cut down our spending.)
cut off 1 vt (to interrupt) chuudan saseru: Chuudan shinaide kudasai. (Please don’t cut me off.) 2 vt (to discontinue service) tomeru: Karera wa gasu dai o harawanakatta node,
tomerareta. (They didn’t pay their gas bill, so it was cut off.) 3 vt (to hang up and end a telephone call) denwa o kiru: Watashi no kyuuka ni tsuite hanasou to omotta kedo, kanojo wa denwa o kitta. (I was going to tell her about my vacation, but she cut me off.)
cut out 1 vi (for a machine to stop) kyuu ni tomaru: Enjin ga kyuu ni tomatta. (The engine just cut out.) 2 vt (to make a way through) kirihiraku: Karera wa kawa made no michi o kirihiraita. (They cut out a path to the river.)
cut out for 1 vt (to be good at) muite iru: Boku wa sou iu seikatsu ni muite inai. (I’m not cut out for that kind of life.)
drop by / drop in 1 vt tachiyoru: Mise ni iku tochuu, Sachiko no ie ni tachiyorimashou ne. (Let's drop by Sachiko's place on the way to the store, okay?)
drop off 1 vt orosu: Yuubinkyoku no mae ni oroshite kudasai. (Please drop me off in front of the post office.)
drop out 1 vi (to quit school) taigaku suru: Kare wa juugo sai de taigaku shita. (He dropped out of school when he was 15.)
fill in 1 vt (to write information) kinyuu suru: Kono moushikomisho o kinyuu shite kudasai. (Please fill in this application.) 2 vt (to inform) oshieru: Kinou no kaigi no naiyou ni tsuite oshiete ageru. (I’ll fill you in on what we talked about in yesterday’s meeting.) 3 vi (to substitute for) …no kawari ni suru: Kyou wa, Ishii-san no kawari ni shimasu. (Today I will fill in for Ms. Ishii.)
fill out 1 vt (to write information) kinyuu suru (see fill in) 2 vi (to gain weight or fullness) yutaka ni naru: Kyonen made wa inu no ke ga sukunakatta ga, daibun yutaka ni natta. (Up until last year our dog’s coat was scanty, but it has filled out pretty well.)
fill up 1 vt (to fill a container) ippai ni suru: Kappu o ue made ippai ni shite choudai. (Please fill my cup up all the way.) 2 vt (to fill a hole) umeru: Inu ga hotta ana o umete kureru? (Would you please fill up the hole that the dog dug?)
get across 1 vt (to cross a road, river, etc.) wataru: Kare wa booto de mizuumi o watatta. (He used a boat to get across the lake.) 2 vt (to make something understood) rikai saseru: Yatto boku no gakusei ni ano suugaku no mondai no kaiketsuhou o rikai saseta. (I finally got the solution to that math problem across to my students.)
get after 1 vt (to nag) shitsukoku iu: Obaa-chan wa itsumo shukudai o suru you ni shitsukoku itte iru. (Grandma's always getting after me to do my homework.) 2 vt (to scold) shikaru: Bill wa gakkou ni okurete kita node, sensei ni shikarareta. (The teacher got after Bill for coming to school late.)
get ahead 1 vi (to make progress) susumu: Nihongo no benkyou wa, sukoshi zutsu susunde imasu. (As far as my Japanese studies are concerned, I'm getting ahead little by little.)
get along 1 vi (to exist together well) nakayoku yatte iku: Karera wa nakayoku yatte itte iru. (They are getting along well together.)
This is usually expressed with the adjective form naka ga ii: Karera wa naka ga ii.
get around 1 vi (to spread) hiromaru: Sono uwasa ga hayaku hiromatta. (That rumor got around quickly.)
get away 1 vi nigeru: Kanojo wa ano iya na shigoto kara nigeru koto ga dekita. (She was able to get away from that wretched job.)
get back 1 vi (to return) modoru: Goji made ni modorimasu. (I'll get back by 5:00.) 2 vt (to take back) torimodosu: Kenji no ie ni itte, watashi no jisho o torimodosu. (I'm going to Kenji's to get back my dictionary.) 3 vi (to step back) ushiro e sagaru: Keikan wa 'ushiro e sagarinasai!' to sakenda. (The police officer shouted 'Get back!') 4 vi (to reply later) (ato de) henji suru: Asu no gozenchuu henji shimasu. (I'll get back to you sometime tomorrow morning.)
get behind 1 vi (to be slower than planned) okureru: Zannen nagara, boku wa yotei yori okurete kita. (Unfortunately, I have gotten behind schedule.) 2 vt (to move back behind something) ...no ushiro ni sagaru: Kiiroi sen no ushiro ni sagatte kudasai. (Please get behind the yellow line.) 3 vt (to support a person or idea) shiji suru: Suzuki san no an o shiji shimashou. (Let's get behind Suzuki's proposal.)
get by 1 vi (to make do) nantoka kurashite iku: Kibishikatta kedo, Tokyo ni sunde ita toki nantoka kurashite iku koto ga dekita. (It was tough, but we were able to get by when we lived in Tokyo.)
get down 1 vi (to move from an elevated location to a lower or normal one) oriru: Ojii-chan wa hitori de kaidan o oriru koto ga dekinakunatta. (Grandpa can't get down the steps by himself anymore.) 2 vt (to swallow) nomikomu: Ano shokuji wa mazukatta! Nomikomenakatta yo! (That food was awful! I couldn't get it down!)
get home 1 vi (to return home) ie ni kaeru: Kinou no yoru no juuichiji han goro ie ni kaetta. (I got home last night at around 11:30.)
get in 1 vi / vt (to enter into) hairu: Kagi o wasureta node hairenakatta. (I forgot the key so I couldn't get in.)
get it 1 vi (to understand) rikai suru: Nankai mo setsumei shita ga, kanojo wa rikai dekinai. (I explained it again and again, but she cannot get it.)
get off 1 vt (to get out of a train, bus, etc.; to get off of a bicycle, table, or object higher than the floor or ground) oriru: Takamatsu eki de orite kudasai. (Get off at Takamatsu Station.)
get on 1 vt (to get into a train, bus, etc.; to get onto an object higher than the floor or ground.) noru: Hayaku! Densha ni norinasai! (Hurry up! Get on the train!)
get out 1 vi / vt (to leave a room or other enclosed area) deru: Dete mo ii? (Can I go out?) 2 vi (to esape) nigeru: Inu ga nigeta. Issho ni sagashimashou. (The dog got out. Let's look for him together.) 3 vi (to go out for entertainment) asobi ni dekakeru: Konogoro amari asobi ni dekakenai. (We don't get out very often these days.)
get over 1 vt (to climb over a physical obstacle; to get through a difficult period) norikoeru: Taihen na jiki deshita ga, yatto norikoemashita. (It was a difficult time, but I've finally gotten over it.)
get through 1 vi / vt (to pass through a physical area) toorinukeru: Ano mori o toorinukeru no ni, itsuka kan kakatta. (It took five days to get through that forest.) 2 vi (to make contact with someone) tsuujiru: Nankai mo denwa shite mita ga, sanji goro yatto tsuujita. (I called many times, and finally got through around 3:00.) 3 vt (to make someone understand) wakatte morau: Hai, densha wa hachiji han ni deru koto ga, kare ni wakatte moratta. (Yes, I got through to him that the train leaves at 8:30.) 4 vt (to finish) oeru: Raishuu no mokuyoubi made ni kono shigoto o oeru yotei da. (I plan to get through this job by Wednesday of next week.)
get together 1 vi (to assemble) atsumaru: Doyoubi no ban atsumarou yo. (Hey, let's get together Saturday night.) 2 vt atsumeru: Oya no kekkon kinenbi ni kazoku zenin o atsumeru yotei da. (I plan to get together the whole family on my parents' wedding anniversary.)
get up 1 vi (to get out of bed; to rise from a sitting position) okiru: Hayaku okinasai! (C'mon, get up!) 2 vt (to get someone else up) okosu: Ima kara ojii-san o okosu kara, tetsudatte ne. (I'm going to get Grandpa up now, so give me a hand, okay?)
go after 1 vt (to chase) ou: Inu ga dete itta. Hayaku, otte choudai. (The dog got out. Hurry and go after him.)
go against 1 vt (to oppose) hankou suru: Boku wa nani o shiyou to shite mo, kare ga hankou suru. (He goes against whatever I try to do.)
go along 1 vi (to accompany) tsuite iku: Tsuite itte mo ii no? (Can I go along?) 2 vt (to agree) doui suru: Yoi keikaku ka dou ka mada wakaranai ga, ichiou doui shimasu. (I don’t know yet whether or not it’s a good plan, but I’ll go along for the time being.)
go away 1 vi (to leave) saru: Ano norainu wa dokoka satte itta mitai. (It looks like that stray dog went away somewhere.) 2 vi (to vanish) nakunaru: Itami ga yatto nakunatta. (The pain finally went away.)
When referring to people, nakunaru means “to die,” so be careful when using it.
go back 1 vi / vt modoru: Itsu o-kuni ni modorimasu ka. (When will you go back to your home country?)
When talking to someone about their own country — as well as many other things — the honorific o prefix is often used.)
go down 1 vi (to descend) oriru: Chikashitsu ni orimashou. (Let’s go down to the basement.) 2 vi (to break down) kowareru: Konpyuuta wa kinou no gogo kowareta. (The computer went down yesterday afternoon.)
go off 1 vi (to leave) tachisaru: Kare wa sayonara mo iwazu ni tachisatta. (He went off without saying good-bye.) 2 vi (for food to spoil [British]) kusaru: Zannennagara, niku ga kusatta. (Unfortunately, the meat has gone off.) 3 vi (for an alarm to ring) naru: Boku no mezamashidokei ga rokuji han ni natta. (My alarm clock went off at 6:30.) 4 vi (for electric lights to be extinguished) kieru: Denki ga mata kietara komaru. (I’ll be at a loss if the lights go off again.)
go on 1 vi (to continue) tsuzuku: Kono ame wa itsu made tsuzuku kana. (I wonder how long it will go on raining.) 2 vt (to continue) tsuzukeru: Kyuukei suru you ni itta ga, kanojo wa shigoto o tsuzuketa. (I told her to take a break, but she went on working.) 3 vi (to talk about) shaberitateru: Kanojo ni au tabi ni kodomo ni tsuite shaberitateru. (Whenever I meet her she goes on about her kids.) 4 vt (to take a trip) tabi ni deru: Kotoshi no natsu kanada made tabi ni deru yotei. (This summer I’m planning to go on a trip to Canada.)
go out 1 vi dekakeru: Konban dekakemasu. (I’m going out this evening.) 2 vi (for a light or fire to be extinguished) kieru (see go off)
go over 1 vt (to climb/pass over) koeru: Inu wa hei o koete nigeta. (The dog went over the fence and got away.) 2 vt (to inspect) tenken suru: Kuruma o kau mae ni tetteiteki ni tenken suru yo. (You can bet that I thoroughly go over cars before buying them.)
go through 1 vt (to experience) keiken suru: Nido to sore o keiken shitakunai. (I don’t ever want to go through that again.)
go too far 1 vi yarisugiru: Erika wa paatei o hiraku to, itsumo yarisugiru. (Whenever Erika throws a party, she always goes too far.)
go up 1 vi agaru: Ni kai e agatte kudasai. (Please go up to the second floor.)
go without 1 vt …nashi de yatte iku: CD o wasureta node, konkai wa ongaku nashi de yatte iku shika nai. (I forgot my CDs, so we’ll have to go without music this time.)
hang about / hang around 1 vi / vt burabura suru: Kinou shoutengai de burabura shite jikan o tsubushita. (Yesterday I hung around the mall and killed time.)
In case you didn’t catch it, jikan o tsubusu is a handy idiom for “to waste / kill time.”
hang back 1 vi (to hesitate) tamerau: Sore o teian shitakatta ga, doushite mo tameratte shimatta. (I wanted to suggest that, but for some reason hung back.)
hang in there / hang on 1 vi (to keep trying) ganbaru: Ato mou sukoshi. Ganbatte! (Only a little more. Hang in there!)
hang on 1 vi (to wait) matsu: Cindy ni sukoshi matsu you ni itte kureru? (Would you please tell Cindy to hang on just a bit?) 2 vt (to depend on) …shidai: Umi ni iku ka douka wa, otenki shidai. (Whether we go to the beach or not hangs on the weather.) 3 vt (to listen carefully) chuui shite kiku: Gakusei wa Tanaka sensei no hanashi o chuui shite kiita. (The students hung on every word that Mr. Tanaka said.) 4 vt (to grasp) nigiru: Tesuri o shikkari nigitte yo! (Hang on to the handrail tightly!) 5 vt (to keep something) tebanasanai: Ano furui jitensha o suteyou to omotta ga, ima tebanasanai. (I thought of getting rid of that old bicycle, but now I want to hang on to it.)
Tebanasanai is the negative form of the compound tebanasu, from te (hand) and hanasu (to release).
hang up 1 vt (to put up for display, etc.) kakeru: sono e o terebi no ue ni kakemashou. (Let’s hang up that picture above the TV.) 2 vi / vt (to end a telephone conversation) denwa o kiru: Jaa, denwa o kiru. Mata ashita. (Well, I’m going to hang up. See you tomorrow.)
keep after 1 vt shitsukoku iu: Kare wa heya o souji suru you ni, shitsukoku iwanakereba naranai. (I have to keep after him to clean his room.)
keep ahead 1 vi sakinjiru: Ken wa itsumo doukyuusei yori sakinjiyou to shite iru. (Ken is always trying to keep ahead of his classmates.)
keep at 1 vt (to continue) tsuzukeru: Kanojo ni totte piano o narau no wa taihen deshita ga, kanojo ga tsuzukete imashita. (Learning the piano was hard for her, but she kept at it.)
keep away 1 vi / vt chikayoranai: Ano kodomo ni inu ni chikayoranai you ni iinasai. (Tell those kids to keep away from the dog.)
keep down 1 vt (to allay a problem) osaeru: Kono kusuri wa kayumi o osaeru. (This medicine will keep down the itching.)
keep from 1 vt (to avoid) shinaide iru: Gomen. Warawanaide irarenai. (Sorry. I can’t keep from laughing.)
keep going 1 vi ganbaru: Taihen na shigoto da to wakatte imasu ga, owaru made ganbarinasai. (I know it’s a tough job, but keep going until it’s finished.)
keep off 1 vt (to quit or control the use of) hikaeru: Osake o hikaeta hou ga ii yo. (You had better keep off the booze.)
keep on 1 vt tsuzukeru: Yameru you ni iimashita ga, kare wa tabetsuzuketa. (I told him to stop, but he kept on eating.)
keep out 1 vi hairanai: Heya ni hairanaide kudasai. (Please keep out of the room.) 2 vt irenai: Shako ni karera o irenai you ni. (Keep them out of the garage.)
keep together 1 vi / vt issho ni iru: Kengakuchuu, issho ni ite kudasai. (Please keep together during the tour.)
keep to oneself 1 vi kousai shinai: Kanojo wa hotondo kousai shinai. (She pretty much keeps to herself.)
keep up 1 vi / vt (to continue) tsuzukeru: Nihongo no benkyou o tsuzukete yo. (Keep up your Japanese studies.) 2 vi (to maintain pace with) tsuite iku: Tokidoki tsuite ikenai you ni kanjiru. (Sometimes I feel that I just can’t keep up.)
look after 1 vt (to take care of) sewa o suru: Itsumo kodomo no sewa o shite, arigatou gozaimasu. (You're always looking after the kids. Thank you.)
Sewa o suru is very flexible, and can be used for just about anything from a simple task to the full-time chore of caring for children or the elderly. The set phrase O-sewa ni narimasu! (You help me!) is often used as a greeting, even to the point of becoming meaningless. Another expression, mendou o miru, which has the same meaning, is not quite as flexible, being usually reserved for real acts of caring: children, animals, etc.
look all over 1 vi achikochi sagasu: Are o achikochi sagashite ita yo. (I tell you, I looked all over for that.)
look as if 1 vt …you ni mieru: Komatte iru you ni mieru. (You look as if you're confused.)
look back 1 vi furikaette miru: John wa arukinagara nankai mo furikaette mita. (John looked back again and again as he walked.)
look for 1 vt sagasu: Tebukuro o sagashita kedo, mitsukaranakatta. (I looked for the gloves, but couldn't find them.)
look forward to 1 vt tanoshimi ni suru: Kondo no Hawaii no tabi o tanoshimi ni shite iru. (I'm looking forward to my upcoming trip to Hawaii.)
look into 1 vt (to look inside) naka o miru: Neko wa heya no naka o mite iru. (The cat is looking into the room.) 2 vt (to examine or verify) shiraberu: Ato de shirabete ageru. (I'll look into it for you later.)
look like 1 vt ...no you ni mieru: Kanojo wa watashi no itoko no you ni mieru. (She looks like my cousin.)
look out 1 vi chuui suru: Chuui shinasai! (Look out!)
look through 1 vt (to search or check) me o toosu: Honyaku ga dekiagarimashita node, jikan ga areba me o tooshite kudasai. (I've finished the translation, so please look through it when you have time.)
look up 1 vt (to search for something in reference books or on the internet, etc.) shiraberu: Ano kotoba o jisho de shirabemashou. (Let's look up that word in our dictionaries.) 2 vt (search for and visit a person) sagashite tazuneru: London ni iru aida, Jones-san o sagashite tazuneta. (While in London, I looked up Mr. Jones.)
look up to 1 vt (to respect) sonkei suru: Boku no nihongo no sensei o hontou ni sonkei shite imasu. (I really look up to my Japanese language teacher.)
make do 1 vi ma ni au you ni suru: Tanonda kazu dewa nai ga, ma ni au you ni shimasu. (There aren’t as many as I asked for, but I’ll make do.)
make do without (see go without)
make it 1 vi (to get by) dounika yatte iku: Saisho wa kibishikatta kedo, dounika yatte itta. (At first it was tough, but I made it.) 2 vi (to be on time) ma ni au: Okureru ka to shinpai shita ga, ma ni atta. (I was afraid that I would be late, but I made it.)
make out 1 vt (to see; to discern) mieru: Bouenkyou de mitara, getsumen no kureetaa ga mieru. (If you look through a telescope, you can make out the moon’s craters.) 2 vt (to understand) rikai suru: Sensei no itte iru koto o rikai suru koto ga dekinai. (I can’t make out what the teacher is saying.)
make up 1 vt (to compensate) tsugunau: Kabin o watta koto o tsugunau tame ni, kare wa atarashii kabin to ooki na hanataba o katte kureta. (To make up for breaking the vase, he bought a new one and a big bouquet of flowers.) 2 vt (to lie) uso o tsuku: Jody wa shigoto ni tsuite uso o tsuita. (Jody made up what she said about her job.) 3 vt (to
create) sakusei suru: Rainen no jugyou no tame ni atarashii kyouzai o sakusei shinakereba naranai. (I’ve got to make up new teaching materials for next year’s classes.) 4 vi (to be reconciled) nakanaori suru: Ano futari wa senshuu oogenka shita ga, sono ato sugu nakanaori shita. (Those two had a big fight last week, but made up soon afterwards.)
put aside 1 vt (to stop doing for the time being) waki ni oku: Jisho o waki ni oite, kyoukasho o dashinasai. (Put aside your dictionary and take out your textbook.)
put away 1 vt (to clear things away) katazukeru: Kono shokki o katazukemashou. (Let’s put away these dishes.) 2 vt (to save money) chokin suru: Dekiru dake chokin shinasai. (Put away as much money as you can.)
put back 1 vt (to return) modosu: Ima sugu modoshinasai. (Put that back right now!)
put down 1 vt (to set down) orosu: Sore o koko ni oroshite kudasai. (Please put that down here.)
put in 1 vt (to place inside) ireru: Hako ni hon o irete kudasai. (Please put the books in the box.) 2 vt (to spend time or money on) tsukau: Anata wa kore ni takusan no jikan o tsukatta deshou. (I’ll bet you put a lot of time into this.)
put off 1 vt (to reschedule for a later date) enki suru: Ryokou wa aki made enki shimashita. (We put off the trip until fall.) 2 vt (to make wait) mataseru: Matasenaide kudasai. (Please don’t put me off.)
put on 1 vt (to wear) kiru: Chotto samui. Jaketto o kita hou ga ii. (It’s a little cold. You had better put on a jacket.) 2 vt (to gain weight) futoru: Futoru no wa itsudemo kantan da. (Putting on weight is always easy.) 3 vt (to deceive) damasu: Uso yarou. Damashite wa ikenai yo. (Come on. Don’t put me on.) 4 vt (to play music) kakeru: Kono atarashii jazu CD o kakete ne. (Put on this new jazz CD, okay?) 5 vt (to put over heat to cook) (hi ni) kakeru: Kono jagaimo o hi ni kakemashou. (Let’s put these potatoes on.)
To put on clothing requires various different verbs in Japanese: boushi o kaburu (to put on a hat); nekkutai o shimeru (to put on a tie); kutsushita o haku (to put on socks); megane o kakeru (to put on glasses); yubiwa o hameru (to put on a ring).
put out 1 vt (to place outside) dasu: Inu o dashite choudai. (Please put the dog out.) 2 vt (to extinguish) kesu: Hi o keshite, hai ni suna o kakenasai. (Put the fire out, then cover the ashes with sand.) 3 vt (to annoy) meiwaku o kakeru: Go-meiwaku o kakete, gomen nasai. (I’m sorry for putting you out.) 4 vt (to make efforts) doryoku suru: Karera wa hontou ni doryoku shita koto o shitte iru yo. (I know they put out their best efforts.) 5 vt (to produce) seisan suru: Ano kouba wa mainichi yaku gohyaku nijuu dai no jidousha o seisan shite iru. (That factory puts out around 520 cars per day.)
Meiwaku o kakeru is a very polite set phrase and is usually used with the honorific go prefix added to meiwaku.
put through 1 vt (to cause to endure) keiken saseru: Kyonen kare wa kanojo ni iroiro keiken saseta. (He really put her through a lot last year.)
put together 1 vt (to assemble) kumitateru: Bill wa gareeji no naka de jitensha o kumitatete imasu. (Bill’s in the garage putting together his bicycle.)
put up 1 vt (to fix in a relatively high location; to attach to a wall or ceiling) kakeru: Ano tokei o kabe ni kakete kudasai. (Please put that clock up on the wall.) 2 vt (to build a structure) tateru: Atarashii shoppingu sentaa wa ni san ka getsu dake de taterareta. (The new shopping center was put up in just a few months.) 3 vi (to stay at) tomaru: Satogaeri shitara oya no ie de tomaru. (When I go back to my home town, I’ll put up at my parents’ house.) 4 vt (to provide a place to stay) tomeru: Asobi ni koretara tomete ageru yo. (If you can visit, I’ll put you up.)
There are various Japanese verbs used to convey “to set / put up”: Kurisumasu tsurii o kazaru (to put up a Christmas tree); tento o haru (to put up a tent); kasa o sasu (to put up an umbrella), etc.
put up with 1 vt (to endure) gaman suru: Ureshii! Ano furui reizouko o mou gaman shinakutemo ii kara. (I’m so happy because I won’t have to put up with that old refrigerator anymore!)
show off 1 vi / vt misebirakasu: Kenta wa itsumo misebirakashite iru ne. (Kenta is always showing off, isn’t he?)
show around 1 vi / vt annai suru: Takamatsu ni kitara annai shite ageru yo. (When you come to Takamatsu I’ll show you around.)
show up 1 vt (to embarrass) hazukashii omoi o saseru: Kare wa itsumo douryou ni hazukashii omoi o saseyou to shite iru. (He is always trying to show up his colleagues.)
take after 1 vt (resemble) niru: Kare wa kare no ojii-san ni nitte iru. (He takes after his grandfather.)
take apart 1 vt bunkai suru: Kore o bunkai shite katazukete kudasai. (Please take it apart and put it away.)
take away 1 vt torisaru: Kare wa senshuu no shuumatsu, sore zenbu torisatta. (He took it all away last weekend.)
take back 1 vt torimodosu: Kanojo wa zasshi o torimodoshita. (She took the magazine back.) 2 vt (to apologize for something said) torikesu: Gomen! Yutta koto o torikesu. Honki de nai yo! (I'm sorry! I take back what I said. I really didn't mean it!)
take down 1 vt (to lower something) orosu: Kanojo wa nichibotsu mae ni kokki o oroshita. (She took down the flag before sunset.) 2 vt (to write down) kakitomeru: Shizu wa sensei no yutta koto no subete o kakitometa. (Shizu took down everything the teacher said.)
take it easy 1 vi kiraku ni suru: Kiraku ni shite kudasai. (Please take it easy.)
take it out on 1 vt yatsuatari suru: Kare wa itsumo jibun no shippai o boku ni yatsuatari suru. (He always takes out his failures on me.)
take off 1 vt (to remove clothing or accessories) nugu: Boushi o nuide kudasai. (Please take off your hat.) 2 vi (to leave) deru: Rokuji han goro demashou, ne. (Let’s take off around 6:30, okay?) 3 vi (for an aircraft to leave the ground) ririku suru: Hikouki wa hachiji juugo fun ni ririku shita. (The plane took off at 8:15.)
take on 1 vt (to accept as an assignment) hikiukeru: Ima watashi wa atarashii shigoto o hikiukerenai. (I cannot take on any new projects now.)
take out 1 vt dasu: Gomi o dashite kureru? (Would you please take out the trash?)
take over 1 vi / vt (to carry on a responsibility in place of someone else) hikitsugu: Iketani wa boku no kawari ni kono shigoto o hikitsuide kureru. (Iketani will take over this job for me.)
tell apart 1 vt shikibetsu suru: Kono nidai no pasukon wa onaji moderu da to omou. Shikibetsu suru koto ga dekimasu ka. (I think that both of these computers are the same model. Can you tell them apart?)
tell off 1 vt (to scold) shikaru: Kare wa amarinimo shitsurei datta node, kanojo ga shikatta. (She told him off for being so rude.)
tell on 1 vt tsugeguchi suru: Kanojo wa boku no koto o itsumo tsugeguchi shite iru. (She is always telling on me.)
turn around 1 vi mawaru: Skeeto o shite iru onna no ko wa kurukuru mawatte iru. (The girl skating is turning around and around.) 2 vt mawasu: Sono tsukue o mawashite kudasai. (Please turn that desk around.)
turn down 1 vt (to decrease the volume of sound) oto o chiisaku suru: Terebi no oto o chiisaku shite ne. (Turn down the TV, okay?) 2 vt (to decrease the flow of water, etc.; to
decrease the amount of heat or air conditioning) yowaku suru: Mizu no de o yowaku shite kureru? (Would you turn down the water?) 3 vt (to reject a person or thing) kotowaru: Boku no teian o kotowaranaide kudasai. (Please don't turn down my suggestion.)
turn in 1 vt (to hand in) teishutsu suru: Shorui o kinyuu shi, suiyoubi made ni teishutsu shinasai. (Fill out the documents and turn them in by Wednesday.)
turn inside out 1 vt uragaesu: Mite. Kono boushi o uragaesu koto ga dekiru yo. (Look. You can turn this hat inside out.)
turn loose 1 vt (to release) hanasu: Kouen de inu o hanashite wa ikenai. (Don't turn your dog loose in the park.)
turn off 1 vt kesu: Heya no denki o keshita? (Did you turn off the lights in the room?)
turn on 1 vt tsukeru: Terebi o tsukenaide kudasai. (Please don't turn on the TV.)
turn out 1 vi (to result in becoming) ...to naru: Kanojo wa rippa na sensei to naru deshou. (I'm sure she'll turn out to be a fine teacher.) 2 vt (to produce) seisan suru: Yaku hyaku nen kan jidousha o seisan shite kita. (They’ve been turning out cars for almost 100 years.)
turn over 1 vt hikkurikaesu: Hotto keeki o hikkurikaeshite kureru? (Would you turn over the pancakes?) 2 vi hikkurikaeru: Katte ni hikkurikaetta. (It turned over on its own.) 3 vi (to turn over in one's sleep) negaeri o utsu: Toshi o toru to, dandan negaeri o utanakunaru. (As we grow older, we turn over in our sleep less.)
turn up 1 vt (to increase the volume of sound) oto o ookiku suru: Ongaku no oto o ookiku shite kureru? (Would you please turn up the music?) 2 vt (to increase the flow of water, etc.; to increase the amount of heat or air conditioning) tsuyoku suru: Danbou o tsuyoku shinaide kudasai. (Please don't turn up the heater.) 3 vi (for something to be found) dete kuru: Shinpai shinaide. Dete kuru deshou. (Don’t worry. It’ll turn up.)
wear off 1 vi shidai ni nakunaru: Chotto nemuke ga sasu kamo shiremasen ga, shidai ni nakunaru. (You may feel drowsy, but it will wear off.)
Nakunaru alone means "to cease to exist." Shidai ni or equivalent is necessary to convey the fact that it will be gradual.
wear out / wear down 1 vt (to wear something out) tsukai furusu: Kyonen katta jitensha o mou tsukai furushita. (I’ve already worn out the bicycle I bought last year.) 2 vt (to wear someone out) tsukaresaseru: Kim o haikingu ni tsurete itte, tsukaresasemashita. (I took Kim hiking and wore her out.)
Tsukai furusu is mainly for things besides clothing: tools, appliances, etc. For clothing, since there are several different verbs for "to wear on the body," the correct one will
have to be used with furusu: ki furusu (to wear out a shirt, jacket, suit, etc.); haki furusu (to wear out pants, shoes, etc.), etc.
wear well 1 vi mochi ga ii: Kono kutsu wa mochi ga ii. (These shoes wear well.)
work loose 1 vi yurumu: Kono neji ga itsumo yurumu. (This screw is always working loose.) 2 vt yurumeru
work off 1 vt (to gradually decrease) torinozoku: Kono zeiniku o dandan torinozokanakucha. (I’ve got to work off this flab.) 2 vt (to work in order to pay back a loan) hataraite… kaesu: Juugatsu no getsumatsu made ni hataraite, kono shakin o kaesu tsumori da. (I plan to work off this loan by the end of October.)
There really isn't a simple word to convey the gradual "working off" of something in Japanese. Torinozoku actually means "to remove" and can be used concerning something to be removed instantly. To convey the fact that it will take time, something for "gradually" will be needed, like dandan, sukoshi zutsu, shidai ni, etc.
-nakucha is an informal contraction for nakereba naranai.
work on 1 vt (to focus on solving a specific problem) torikumu: Ohiru o tabetara ano mondai o torikumu yotei. (I plan to work on that problem after lunch.)
work out 1 vi (to exercise) undou suru: Mainichi undou suru no ga daiji. (It’s important to work out every day.) 2 vt (to solve a problem) kaiketsu suru: Sono mondai o yatto kaiketsu shita. (We finally worked out that problem.)
work over 1 vt (to give someone a hard time) hidoi me ni awaseru: Kanojo wa hontou ni kare ni hidoi me ni awaseta, ne. (She really worked him over, didn’t she?)
work toward 1 vt …ni mukete doryoku suru: Tom wa Nihongo Nouryoku Shiken Ni Kyuu ni mukete doryoku shite imasu. (Tom is working toward passing Level 2 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.)
write back 1 vi henji o kaku: Bob oji-san ni henji o kaku. (I’ll write back to Uncle Bob.)
write down 1 vt kakitomeru: Kono jusho o kakitomenasai. (Write down this address.)
write in 1 vt (to write on a line or designated space) kakikomu: Douzo, koko ni onamae o kakikonde kudasai. (Please write in your name here.)
write out 1 vt (to write in detail) kuwashiku kaku: Onamae, jusho, denwa bangou o kuwashiku kaite kudasai. (Please write out your name, address, and telephone number.)
Japanese Numbers and Counting
Basic Numbers
The simple, standard numbers from one to ten in Japanese are:
Above these, yon is preferred for "four" and nana for "seven." (There are a few exceptions, but shi is avoided because it is also the word for "death." Due to relevant superstitions, buildings can be found without a fourth floor, room numbers with no fours, etc.)
11 juu ichi (This is literally "ten, one.")12 juu ni13 juu san14 juu yon15 juu go16 juu roku17 juu nana18 juu hachi19 juu kyuu20 ni juu (This is literally "two, ten." Think of it as "two tens.")21 ni juu ichi22 ni juu ni23 ni juu san
The pattern should now be easy to see. Accordingly:
27 ni juu nana35 san juu go48 yon juu hachi56 go juu roku63 roku juu san72 nana juu ni89 hachi juu kyuu94 kyuu juu yon100 hyaku
111 hyaku juu ichi135 hyaku san juu go167 hyaku roku juu nana
200 ni hyaku
208 ni hyaku hachi242 ni hyaku yon juu ni290 ni hyaku kyuu juu
300 san byaku
350 san byaku go juu385 san byaku hachi juu go
400 yon hyaku
423 yon hyaku ni juu san
500 go hyaku600 roppyaku700 nana hyaku800 happyaku900 kyuu hyaku1,000 sen (or issen)
1,200 sen ni hyaku1,632 sen roppyaku san juu ni
2,000 ni sen
2,800 ni sen happyaku
3,000 san zen4,000 yon sen5,000 go sen6,000 roku sen7,000 nana sen8,000 hassen9,000 kyuu sen10,000 ichi man (Not juu sen. Man is the Japanese for units of 10,000. Unlike hyaku and sen, ichi always precedes man for numbers 10,000 to 19,999.)
17,000 ichi man nana sen18,570 ichi man hassen go hyaku nana juu
20,000 ni man
25,000 ni man go sen
30,000 san man50,000 go man100,000 juu man200,000 ni juu man250,000 ni juu go man1,000,000 hyaku man2,000,000 ni hyaku man5,000,000 go hyaku man10,000,000 issen man100,000,000 ichi oku (Oku is the next major unit jump when reaching ichi man man, or "ten thousand ten thousands.")
0 zero or rei
Special Numbers
Fractions & Decimals
A half is hanbun.A quarter (1/4) is yon bun no ichi, literally "one of four parts."Three-fourths (3/4) is yon bun no san, or "three of four parts."Two-thirds (2/3) is san bun no ni, and so on.
A decimal point is called ten, so:
1.5 itten go (ichi and ten are contracted)2.5 ni ten go4.78 yon ten nana hachi11.36 juu ichi ten san roku
Days of the Month
The days of the month are in a group all their own. Some are similar to other numbers or counters, while some are completely unique. The final ka or nichi means "day." Please keep in mind that these are not ordinal numbers in the English sense, and cannot be used to express the order of other things in a series. Take note of each one; there are some surprises.
The first day of the month: tsuitachi (some people use ippi)The second: futsukaThe third: mikka4th yokka5th itsuka6th muika (some people use miuka)7th nanoka8th youka9th kokonoka10th touka11th juu ichi nichi12th juu ni nichi
13th juu san nichi14th juu yokka15th juu go nichi16th juu roku nichi17th juu nana nichi (some people use juu shichi nichi)18th juu hachi nichi19th juu ku nichi20th hatsuka21st ni juu ichi nichi22nd ni juu ni nichi23rd ni juu san nichi24th ni juu yokka25th ni juu go nichi26th ni juu roku nichi27th ni juu nana nichi (or ni juu shichi nichi)28th ni juu hachi nichi29th ni juu ku nichi30th san juu nichi31st san juu ichi nichi
Months of the Year
Sadly, the ancient Japanese names for the months are no longer used except in poems and other special literature. In daily writing and conversation the number of the month with the Japanese for month (gatsu) is used instead:
January ichi gatsuFebruary ni gatsuMarch san gatsuApril shi gatsu (never yon gatsu)May go gatsuJune roku gatsuJuly shichi gatsuAugust hachi gatsuSeptember ku gatsuOctober juu gatsuNovember juu ichi gatsuDecember juu ni gatsu
Years
Years are expressed in either seireki, the western reckoning, or wareki, which follows the Japanese eras of the reign of the emperors. In either reckoning, the word for "year" (nen) follows the year. Years in seireki are expressed the same as any other number; there are no special abbreviations. This year, 2008, is ni sen hachi nen; 1996 would be sen kyuu hyaku kyuu juu roku nen; 1872 is sen happyaku nana juu ni nen, and so on.
In the wareki reckoning, this year is the 20th year of the present emperor, and his era has been named Heisei. In Japanese it is called Heisei ni juu nen. If you were born in 1975, you were born in the 50th year of the Showa Era, or, in Japanese, Shouwa go juu nen. For year conversions see my Handy Tables of Japanese Years.
If you need to express B.C., use kigen zen before the number: 723 B.C. is kigen zen nana hyaku ni juu san nen.
Room Numbers & Floor Numbers
Room numbers are usually read one number at a time. Interestingly, zeroes are usually read maru, which means "circle":
310 san ichi maru407 yon maru nana1227 ichi ni ni nana1502 ichi go maru ni
The floors of a building use kai:
first floor: ikkaisecond floor: ni kaithird floor: san gaifourth floor: yon kaififth floor: go kai
Telephone Numbers
Telephone numbers are also often read one number at a time. A very clever invention the Japanese have, however, is saying no where hyphens usually are. This makes listening to a long number easier. For example, 067-892-7813 would be read: zero roku nana no hachi kyuu ni no nana hachi ichi san.
Flight Numbers
Flight numbers use bin:
Flight 26: ni juu roku binFlight 183: hyaku hachi juu san bin
Trains and buses use gou after their numbers, not bin.
CountingThere is a set of what could be loosely called "ordinal numbers" which are sometimes used for counting up to ten items. Similarities will be found between these and the days of the months introduced above:
These are used mainly by small children to count things or say how old they are. Adults will sometimes use these in short requests or replies:
A: Yobi no denchi aru? (Are there any spare batteries?)B: Hai. Mittsu aru yo. (Yes. There are three.)
However, it will sometimes be preferable to use the correct counter when counting things, especially in formal settings. The counter for batteries and similar irregularly-shaped, relatively small objects is ko. Counters are used with the basic numbers which were introduced at the top of this page. Here is the previous conversation made a bit more formal:
A: Yobi no denchi arimasu ka? (Are there any spare batteries?)B: Hai. San ko arimasu. (Yes. There are three.)
There are many of these counters — many more than are mentioned on this page. These should be considered the absolutely essential ones that you need to learn and master first. The more counters you memorize and use correctly, the more literate and fluent you will sound.
ko
Ko was just mentioned. It is used to count things like apples, oranges, blocks, boxes, and many other things which are pretty much the same size in all dimensions. People often use ko in place of other counters. If you use ko to count bananas instead of the technically correct hon, it's no big deal, but using it to count cars or animals would really show a lack of knowledge.
hon
Use hon for relatively long and narrow things: pens, pencils, rulers, sticks, bottles, etc. Take note how the pronunciation changes according to the number:
1 ippon2 ni hon3 san bon4 yon hon5 go hon6 roppon7 nana hon8 happon9 kyuu hon10 juppon
Boku wa enpitsu ni hon motte iru kara, ippon kashite ageru. (I have two pencils so I'll lend you one.)
Note how the number of an item retains its counter even when the name of the item is known and omitted.
Please keep in mind that this is a general guide and there will be people who use other expressions. For example, there are people who will say hachi hon instead of happon. This applies to everything on this page.
hai
Hai is for cups or glasses filled with a drink: ippai, ni hai, san bai:
O-cha ni hai kudasai. (Two cups of tea, please.)
satsu, mai, dai
For the number of books use satsu: issatsu, ni satsu, san satsu, etc.For flat things like sheets of paper, photographs, and tiles use mai: ichi mai, ni mai, san mai, etc.For cars, bikes, and other machines use dai: ichi dai, ni dai, san dai, etc.
Animals & People
Small animals up to dogs use hiki: ippiki, ni hiki, san biki, yon hiki, go hikiLarger animals from sheep on up use tou: ittou, ni tou, san touBirds use wa: ichi wa, ni wa, san waFish use bi: ichi bi, ni bi, san bi
Watashi no itoko wa inu san biki, neko happiki to niwatori go wa o katte imasu. (My cousin has three dogs, eight cats, and five chickens.)
For people use hitori for one person, futari for two people, and then the counter nin for three or more:
3 people: san nin7 people: nana nin12 people: juu ni nin65 people: roku juu go nin
Futari no ane to san nin no otouto ga imasu. (I have two big sisters and three little brothers.)
Telling Time
For time, add ji after the hour and fun/pun after the minutes:
1:25 ichi ji ni juu go fun3:51 san ji go juu ippun11:47 juu ichi ji yon juu nana fun
Four o'clock is yoji, not yonji. Also, han (meaning "half") is often used for 30 minutes:
4:30 yoji han
Periods of Time
Although omitted in some cases, add kan to indicate a period of time:
years: ichi nen kan, ni nen kan, san nen kan, etc.months: ikka getsu kan, ni ka getsu kan, san ka getsu kan, etc.weeks: isshuu kan, ni shuu kan, san shuu kan, etc.days: ichi nichi (kan is usually omitted), futsuka kan, mikka kan, etc., following their names as days of the month.hours: ichi jikan, ni jikan, san jikan, etc.minutes: ippun kan, ni fun kan, san pun kan, etc.seconds: ichi byou, ni byou, san byou, etc.
Kare wa juu ni nen kan doitsu ni sunda. (He lived in Germany for 12 years.)Chiisai koro, natsu yasumi wa san ka getsu kan datta. (When I was little our summer vacations were three months long.)Sono shigoto wa ni jikan han kakarimashita. (That job took two and a half hours to do.)
Times & Attempts
Use kai to express the number of times something is experienced, tried, or done:
Ni kai toukyou ni ikimashita. (I've been to Tokyo twice.)Mou ikkai kanojo ni denwa shite miru. (I'll try calling her one more time.)
Kai is also used to show frequencies:
every other day: futsuka ni ikkaionce every three days: mikka ni ikkaitwice a week: shuu ni ni kaionce every two weeks: ni shuu kan ni ikkaionce every three months: san ka getsu ni ikkaithree times a year: nen ni san kai
Bokutachi wa ni ka getsu ni ikkai bouringu o yaru. (We go bowling every two months.)Watashi wa nen ni ni kai amerika ni iku. (I go to America twice a year.)
Rankings & Placings
Rankings within a group or placings for contest winners use i:
first place: ichi isecond place: ni ithird place: san i
Numbers in Succession
Use ban to show the number of something in a succession:
number one (or "the best"): ichi bannumber two: ni bannumber three: san ban
Ban is also sometimes used instead of i to show rankings.
A Specific Number in a Series
To specifically point out the number of something in a series, add me:
the second person: futari methe third day: mikka methe fifth machine: go dai me
Imouto wa migi kara san ban me desu. (My sister is the third one from the right.)
Vague Numbers
a few dogs: inu ni, san biki4 or 5 students: shi, go nin no gakusei (not yon, go)around 25 people: ni juu go nin gurai50 or more: go juu ijouseveral years: suu nen kanhundreds of birds: suu hyaku wa no tori (or nan byaku wa no tori)thousands of liters: suu sen litoru (or nan zen litoru)
Time Related Nouns and Expressions
Present
the present: genzainow: imatoday: kyouthis morning: kesathis afternoon: kyou no gogothis evening: konbantonight: konya; kyou no yoruthis week: konshuuthis month: kongetsuthis year: kotoshi
Past
the past: kakoyesterday: kinouyesterday morning: kinou no asayesterday afternoon: kinou no gogoyesterday evening: kinou no banlast night: sakuya; sakubanthe day before yesterday: ototoi; ototsuitwo days ago: futsuka maethree days ago: mikka maea few days ago: ni, san nichi maethe other day: senjitsulast week: senshuuthe week before last: sensenshuuone week ago: isshuu kan maetwo weeks ago: ni shuu kan maethree weeks ago: san shuu kan maea few weeks ago: ni, san shuu kan maelast month: sengetsuone month ago: ikka getsu maetwo months ago: ni ka getsu maethree months ago: san ka getsu maea few months ago: ni, san ka getsu maelast year: kyonenAugust of last year: kyonen no hachigatsuspring of last year: kyonen no haruone year ago: ichi nen maetwo years ago: ni nen maethree years ago: san nen maefour or five years ago: shi, go nen maehundreds of years ago: suu hyaku nen maemillions of years ago: nanbyaku man nen mae
Future
the future: (near future; a person's future) shourai; (far-off future; science fiction type of future) miraitomorrow: ashita; asutomorrow morning: ashita no asatomorrow afternoon: ashita no gogotomorrow evening: ashita no bantomorrow night: ashita no yoruthe day after tomorrow: asattethe day after the day after tomorrow: shiasattetwo days from now: futsuka gothree days from now: mikka goa few days from now: ni, san nichi gonext week: raishuu
the week after next: saraishuuone week from now: isshuu kan gotwo weeks from now: ni shuu kan gothree weeks from now: san shuu kan goa few weeks from now: ni, san shuu kan gonext month: raigetsuthe month after next: saraigetsuone month from now: ikka getsu gotwo months from now: ni ka getsu gothree months from now: san ka getsu goa few months from now: ni, san ka getsu gonext year: rainenthe year after next: sarainenApril of next year: rainen no shigatsusummer of next year: rainen no natsuone year from now: ichi nen gotwo years from now: ni nen gothree years from now: san nen gofour or five years from now: shi, go nen gohundreds of years from now: suu hyaku nen gomillions of years from now: nanbyaku man nen go
Japanese Particles
Particles in Japanese act like the "cement" of a structure, holding the major components together and serving as indicators for the words they follow or are stuck between. There are even times when they have their own meaning, usually as prepositions. They can be friendly at times and pesky at others, and some can even be omitted in familiar conversation.
This is a general guide for using the particles. I trust that it will serve nicely for daily conversation and writing, but I really must emphasize general here because of the many exceptions and surprises that do exist. In fact, there are some exceptions that defy all reason. While some particles more or less follow certain rules regarding use, others do not and must be learned "case by case" and remembered as such. I have spent hours with native speakers trying to get straight, logical answers concerning the strange behavior of some of the particles, but I often just get blank stares and the "case by case" answer. I will do my best to point these out, but it will be impossible to cover everything here.
One thing that is nice about Japanese is that it's not as "grammatically fussy" as English. If you happen to omit or make a mistake concerning particles, you won't sound as ridiculous or illiterate speaking this "broken Japanese" as you would if you did the same thing in English. (That's not meant to be an excuse; it's just to assure you that it's okay to make mistakes along the way.)
Contents
Subject indicators wa and gaDirect object indicator oIndirect object indicator niDestination indicator eAction indicator dePossession indicator noConnectors to and yaIncluder moQuestion maker kaEmpasizer yoTerribly overused neQuasi-adjective indicator na
Subject indicators wa and ga
Wa and ga indicate subjects by coming after them. You could say that wa is the "standard" subject indicator. It indicates the general topic and, if anything, emphasizes what comes after it:
Nihon no natsu wa atsui desu. (Summers in Japan are hot.)
In this example, wa tells us that the topic of conversation is summers in Japan, and that the important thing about them is the fact that they are hot.
Kimiko wa mainichi eigo o benkyou shite imasu. (Kimiko studies English every day.)
Here we are talking about Kimiko, and want her diligence concerning English studies to be made known.
Ga points to "active" subjects, emphasized subjects, and subjects within a larger topic:
John ga suru shigoto wa muzukashii desu. (The job that John does is difficult.)
In this one, wa tells us that we're talking about a job, and that it's a difficult one, and ga tells us that it's not just any job we're talking about, but the job that John does.
Ima Seiko ga shite imasu. (Seiko is doing it now.)
This one, which is a reply to someone's question, needs to point to Seiko as the person doing whatever, so ga is used. The thing she is doing is already known, so it needs no emphasis.
Ga is used with simple question subjects in many cases:
Dare ga kono gyuunyuu o koboshita? (Who spilled this milk?) Nani ga tabetai no? (What do you want to eat?)
And ga is used to emphasize the answers to those questions:
Tommy ga yatta. (Tommy did it.) Gyouza ga tabetai. (I want to eat gyouza.)
Sanji ga ii. (Three o'clock's good.)
...unless there's something still indefinite about it:
Gyouza o tabemashou ka. (Shall we have gyouza?) Gyouza wa dou desu ka. (How about some gyouza?)
Rokuji wa dou? (How about six o'clock?)
As you can see, it can really get confusing. More than trying to remember set rules, I've found that memorizing "set phrases" is the safest way to go, even though it does take some time. Here's where learning "case by case" becomes necessary, because the particle used will sometimes change depending on what is being emphasized, as well as the verb tense and conjugation used.
Ga sometimes indicates "but":
Watashitachi wa pikuniku o tanoshimi ni shite ita ga, ame ga futta. (We looked forward to the picnic, but it rained.)
Notice how the three ga's are used here:
Keeki ga tabetakatta ga, onaka ga ippai datta. (I wanted to have some cake, but I was too full.)
Wa could replace the third ga here.
As a strange particle quirk, subject indicator wa is always written using the hiragana for ha. For reference, please see my hiragana table here.
Direct object indicator o
You could call o a "limited use" particle. Its only job is to show us what the direct object is:
Jisho o kashite kureru? (Would you please loan me your dictionary?) Atarashii kamera o katta. (I bought a new camera.)
Pizza o tabemashou ka. (Shall we get a pizza?)
However, ga is usually preferred when using the -tai ending:
Also, use ga, not o, before the verbs iru (to be present; to exist), iru (to need), aru, wakaru, dekiru, and the weird quasi-verb/adjectives suki, kirai and hoshii:
Bob no heya ni tokage ga iru. (There's a lizard in Bob's room.) Boku wa atarashii kasa ga iranai. (I don't need a new umbrella.)
Shizu wa jitensha ga arimasu ka. (Does Shizu have a bicycle?)
Kenji no itte iru koto ga wakaranai. (I don't understand what Kenji's saying.)
Emiko wa ryouri ga dekiru? (Can Emiko cook?)
Chuuka ryouri ga suki desu ka. (Do you like Chinese food?)
Tom wa hikouki ga kirai. (Tom hates airplanes.)
Ano nuigurumi ga hoshii! (I want that stuffed animal!)
It is sometimes easy to confuse the particle o with the o- prefix which is used as an honorific indicator for some selected nouns, so be careful. Some of these are:
o-tenki: the weather o-cha: tea
o-mizu: water
o-niku: meat
o-naka: stomach
o-kuruma: car
These can be very interesting. Some use the o- prefix only in some instances and not in others. For example, when talking about your own car or cars in general, you would never use the o- prefix. You will probably only hear it when salespeople or servicepeople are talking about the car you are going to buy or have bought from them. Some, like o-tenki and o-cha, are almost always used with the honorific prefix.
I might as well mention here that there is a verb conjugation that uses this honorific prefix. It's o- + Base 2, and has several endings. Here are examples of two:
Douzo, o-cha o o-nomi kudasai. (Please, have some tea.) O-niku wa o-tabe ni narimashita ka. (Did you have some meat?)
These are very polite constructions. Can you sense the honor and respect oozing from them?
Although this particle is usually written o in romaji these days, in older documents it may be seen written wo. It's the same particle with the same role, but with an alternate spelling in romaji. You may also hear some Japanese pronounce it more like wo than o.
Indirect object indicator ni
Ni shows us what the indirect object is — who or what an action is directed to:
John ni jisho o kashite kureru? (Would you please loan John your dictionary?) Susan ni atarashii kamera o ageta. (I gave Susan a new camera.)
Inu ni esa o yarinasai. (Feed the dog.)
Ni is also a preposition which indicates destinations, places, dates and times:
Nihon ni kono hako o okuritai desu. (I want to send this box to Japan.) John wa Okayama ni ikimashita. (John went to Okayama.)
Neko wa isu no shita ni iru. (The cat is under the chair.)
Kare wa suiyoubi ni kuru. (He'll come on Wednesday.)
Kaigi wa shichi gatsu touka ni arimasu. (The meeting will be on July 10.)
Bob wa rokuji han ni tsuku. (Bob will arrive at six thirty.)
Ni, not o, is used with the verbs noru (to ride) and noboru (to climb):
Hayaku! Densha ni notte! (Hurry! Get on the train!) Kenji wa jitensha ni noru koto ga dekiru. (Kenji can ride a bicycle.)
Ki ni noborimashou. (Let's climb up the tree.)
Kinou kodomotachi wa yama ni nobotta. (The kids climbed the mountain yesterday.)
Ni is often combined with wa to show that something exists or is included in the subject:
Nihon niwa chiisai shima ga takusan arimasu. (There are many small islands in Japan.)
Suzuki-san niwa san nin no kodomo ga imasu. (Mrs. Suzuki has three children.)
Destination indicator e
While not as flexible as ni, e is sometimes used in place of it to emphasize a destination:
Soto e ikitai. (I want to go outside.) Kyou wa doko e? (Where are you going today?) (Yes, the verb can be omitted
here.)
Ashita bijutsukan e ikimasu. (We're going to the art museum tomorrow.)
As another strange particle quirk, destination indicator e is always written using the hiragana for he. For reference, please see my hiragana table here.
Particle de is a preposition that shows us where an action takes place:
Kyou ie de taberu. (I'll eat at home today.) Kodomotachi wa kouen de asonde imasu. (The kids are playing in the park.)
Some exceptions are: Use ni when the verb shows attachment to an object or place, and o when the action passes a place or intentionally covers a wide area:
Kana wa ano isu ni suwatte iru. (Kana is sitting in that chair over there.) Bill wa Nagoya ni sunde imasu. (Bill lives in Nagoya.)
Futatsu me no kado o magatte kudasai. (Please turn at the second corner.)
Kouen o sanpo shimashou. (Let's take a walk in the park.)
De is used for "among":
Watashi no yuujin de, piano o hikeru hito ga inai. (There is no one among my friends that can play the piano.)
De also indicates a method:
Onamae wa pen de kaite kudasai. (Please write your name with a pen.) Genkin de haraimashou. (Let's pay with cash.)
Eigo de hanashite kureru? (Would you please speak English?)
De is sometimes used before ii to say that something is good or sufficient as it is:
Kore de ii. (This is okay. [It's good enough.]) Ashita de ii. (Tomorrow will be okay.)
De is sometimes combined with wa to show that something is done within the subject:
Tokushima dewa maitoshi yuumei na matsuri ga okonawareru. (A famous festival is held in Tokushima every year.)
Possession indicator no
This one also has many roles in Japanese grammar. It shows possession:
Sore wa Keiko no kasa desu. (That's Keiko's umbrella.) Jack no inu no namae wa Aki desu. (Jack's dog's name is Aki.)
It can sometimes replace ga, and is used especially in clauses that modify a noun:
Hontou ni mondai no nai tabi deshita. (It really was a trouble-free trip.)
Watashi no oshieru gakusei wa, eigo no dekinai ko bakari desu. (None of the kids that I teach can speak English.)
It comes after some adjectives:
Kyoto no matsuri ni takusan no hito ga ita. (Many people were at the festival in Kyoto.)
Kumi wa midori no fuusen ga hoshii. (Kumi wants a green balloon.)
It makes informal questions:
Yuushoku wa tabenai no? (Aren't you going to eat dinner?) Nanji ni kuru no? (What time will you come?)
And it is also used between prepositions and nouns to make the noun the object of the preposition. Compare the following sentences:
Kono tegami wa Yuuko kara kita. (This letter came from Yuuko.) Kore wa Yuuko kara no tegami desu. (This is a letter from Yuuko.)
And these:
Kono tegami o Yuuko ni okuru. (I'm going to send this letter to Yuuko.) Kore wa Yuuko e no tegami desu. (This is a letter to Yuuko.)
Note: Ni is not used with no in this way.
Connectors to and ya
These work like "and" in English. Use to to include only what is actually mentioned, and ya to include other things which are not mentioned but may be relevant or supposed:
Ashita boushi to undou gutsu o motte kite kudasai. (Bring a hat and athletic shoes tomorrow.)
Gakkou ga hajimattara, pen ya nooto ya jisho ga hitsuyo desu. (When school starts, you'll need things like a pen, a notebook, and a dictionary.)
To also indicates quotes and thoughts, whether they are direct or indirect:
Jane wa konban gaishoku shitai to itta. (Jane said she wants to eat out tonight.) Sore wa totemo ii keikaku da to omoimasu. (I think that's a very good plan.)
Some oddball adverbs use to optionally:
Ken wa hakkiri (to) kotowatta. (Ken flatly refused.) Motto yukkuri (to) hanashite kureru? (Would you please speak more slowly?)
Sometimes to is used to mean "with":
Dare to kouen ni iku? (Who are you going with to the park?)
Kimiko wa Sally to issho ni kaimono ni ikimashita. (Kimiko went shopping with Sally.)
Note: Issho (ni) means "together (with)" and is often used after to. Use it when there's a chance that to alone might not be clearly understood.
After verbs, to often means "if" or "when":
Massugu iku to Ritsurin Kouen ga miemasu. (If you go straight you'll see Ritsurin Park.)
Watashi wa soba o taberu to byouki ni naru. (I get sick whenever I eat buckwheat noodles.)
Includer mo
Forgive me for making up my own English, but "includer" just works perfectly here because mo includes things, the way "also" and "too" do:
Watashi mo ikitai! (I want to go, too!) Yasuko mo atarashii pasokon o katta. (Yasuko also bought a new computer.)
Mo is also used to emphasize "any," sometimes being combined with other particles:
Ima watashi wa nani mo taberenai. (I can't eat anything now.) Kare wa doko nimo ikitakunai. (He doesn't want to go anywhere.)
Paul wa nan demo dekimasu. (Paul can do anything.)
Note: There are also elongated mou's that have totally different usages. One is used to mean "already," and another is used for whining about something:
Watashi mou shimashita. (I already did it.) Mou, anata itsumo osoi! (Oh, you're always slow!)
By the way, mou is what Japanese cows say.
Question maker ka
Ka makes questions, both plain and polite:
Kodomotachi wa mou tabemashita ka. (Have the kids already eaten?) Jennie no kasa o karita ka. (Did you borrow Jennie's umbrella?)
When it comes to making questions, there are both written and unwritten rules that will keep you wondering. While ka can be used in most instances, there are times when no is preferred. These can be interchangeable in some cases, but not in others. Both of them — no ka — are even used together sometimes.
Empasizer yo
Yo is usually used at the end of a short phrase or sentence. Its nuances are not easy to define, but it generally has two purposes: to emphasize an action, or to brag about one:
Heya o souji shimashita yo. (I DID clean the room.) Eigo no shiken, goukaku shita yo. ([Of course] I passed the English exam.)
Note: As in English, to correctly use the "brag" version you have to keep a straight, matter-of-fact, "no big deal" face.
Terribly overused ne
The correct place for ne is at the end of a sentence, where it is used to check or request the agreement of the listener:
Ashita watashitachi to issho ni ikimasu ne. (You're going with us tomorrow, right?) Ii otenki desu ne. (Nice weather, isn't it. [with a falling intonation])
However, like "y'know" in English, too many people have the habit of grossly overusing ne. I've even heard speeches where it was put between almost every word. Be careful not to overdo it.
Quasi-adjective indicator na
In the world of Japanese adjectives, there are "true" and "quasi" types. When a "quasi-adjective" modifies a noun in a straightforward manner, na goes in between:
Sono mise wa benri na basho ni aru. (That store's in a convenient place.) Ooki na inu desu ne. (That's a big dog, isn't it. [with a falling intonation])
Changing na to ni converts quasi-adjectives to adverbs:
Dare demo kantan ni dekimasu yo. (Anyone can do it easily.)
See my Japanese Adjectives for more.
Na may sometimes be heard here and there in familiar situations as a substitute for ne. This is considered impolite at best, and should be avoided.
Japanese Prepositions
Due to several recent requests, I have put together this overview of Japanese prepositions. This should cover the main ones, but please contact me if you can think of any not listed here. Be sure to see my page on particles, because many of them also
have "prepositional attributes," and it will help explain the difference between the particles used on this page, for example ni and de.
Naka is used to express inside:
Neko wa hako no naka ni iru. (The cat is in the box.) Keeki wa sono fukuro no naka ni aru. (The cake is inside that bag.)
Hasami wa hikidashi no naka ni aru. (The scissors are in the drawer.)
When a large room or building is referred to, the no naka is usually omitted:
Bob wa toshokan ni iru. (Bob's in the library.) Bideo dekki wa san maru nana kyoushitsu ni aru. (The VCR is in Room 307.)
Naka is also used for among:
Yamamoto Sensei wa gakusei no naka de ninkimono desu. (Mr. Yamamoto is popular among the students.)
Kono kasa no naka kara erande kudasai. (Please choose from among these umbrellas.)
Soto is used for the outside of things or places:
Kodomotachi wa soto de asonde iru. (The kids are playing outside.) Neko o soto ni dashite kureru? (Would you let the cat out?)
Ayako wa taiikukan no soto de taberu no ga suki. (Ayako likes eating outside the gym.)
Ue is for things sitting on things, the top of things, as well as above things:
Jisho wa tsukue no ue ni aru. (The dictionary is on the desk.) Tokei wa tsukue no ue ni kakemashou. (Let's hang the clock [on the wall] above
the desk.)
Ki no ue made nobotta. (We climbed to the top of the tree.)
Shita is the opposite of ue:
Inu wa teeburu no shita ni iru. (The dog is under the table.) Ano hon no shita ni sen en satsu ga aru. (There's a thousand-yen bill under that
book.)
Mae is used for in front of:
Eki no mae de matte ne. (Wait in front of the station, okay?) Jitensha wa ie no mae ni oite kudasai. (Please park your bicycle in front of the
house.)
Ushiro or ura is used for behind:
Kuruma wa ie no ura ni aru. (The car is behind the house.) Hako no ushiro ni nezumi ga iru. (There's a mouse behind the box.)
Soba, yoko, and tonari are used for next to:
Shako wa ie no soba ni aru. (The garage is next to the house.) Miki wa tonari no ie ni sunde imasu. (Miki lives in the house next door.)
Gakkou no yoko ni kouba ga aru. (There's a factory next to the school.)
Aida shows that something is between two other things:
Yuubinkyoku wa toshokan to eigakan no aida ni aru. (The post office is between the library and the movie theater.)
Watashi no kasa wa reizouko to kabe no aida ni atta. (My umbrella was between the refrigerator and the wall.)
Mawari is used for around a thing or area:
Kare no ie no mawari ni tambo ga aru. (There are rice paddies around his house.) Bokutachi wa Takamatsu no mawari o doraibu shita. (We drove around
Takamatsu.)
Please note that in the second example above mawari does not mean "around the perimeter of Takamatsu" only, but "in and around," just the same as the English equivalent.
Ni shows motion directed towards something:
Kouen ni ikimashou. (Let's go to the park.) Sono okane wa fuutou no naka ni irete ne. (Put that money in the envelope, okay?)
Ashita Osaka ni iku. (I'm going to Osaka tomorrow.)
Ni is also used for in, on, at specific times, days, dates, seasons, etc:
Rokuji ni kite ne. (Come at 6:00, okay?) Senshuu no kayoubi ni tsuita. (I arrived last Tuesday.)
Sen kyuuhyaku hachijuu ichi nen ni nihon ni kita. (I came to Japan in 1981.)
Kara shows motion from something:
Kono hon o amerika kara motte kita. (I brought this book from America.) Ano hako kara ringo o totte kudasai. (Please take an apple from that box.)
Chikai or chikaku ni is used for near:
Kuukou wa chikai. (The airport is nearby.)
Watashitachi no ie no chikaku ni takusan no mise ga aru. (Near our house are many stores.)
Tooi (pronounced like "toy") or tooku ni is used for far:
Eki wa koko kara tooi. (The train station is far from here.) Kare wa tooki ni sunde imasu. (He lives far away.)
Mukai is used for opposite something:
Honya wa kouen no mukai ni aru. (The bookstore is opposite the park.) Kanojo wa gakkou no mukai ni sunde imasu. (She lives across from the school.)
While mukou is used for beyond:
Minato wa hoteru no mukou ni aru. (The harbor is beyond the hotel.) Shokudou wa kaigishitsu no mukou ni arimasu. (The cafeteria is on the other side
of the conference room.)
Japanese "Bikkuri Adverbs"
In Japanese there is an interesting set of adverbs which are all made up of four hiragana, the second of which is the small tsu, which "doubles" the following consonant, and the fourth of which is ri. I have asked a few Japanese if there is a name for this set of words, but have received only negative replies, which is surprising to me because there are so many of them. Since I feel that they need a name, and since it is surprising to me that they don't have one, I have decided to call them "bikkuri adverbs" because bikkuri means "surprise" and is itself a good example of one.
As with most points of grammar, there are exceptions. I call these adverbs because of the role they play in most Japanese constructions. Some of these are seen or heard as adjectives; some are combined with the verb suru (usually as shite iru or shita) to create adjectives. Some are "specialized" and only appear with a certain verb as a set phrase. Some of these are followed by to when used by some people. (The optional to does not change the meaning.) Some don't sound right unless they are followed by to.
There are a couple in here that are not adverbs, but I included them because they fit the pattern.
I have create three groups. Group 1 is what I would call the "everyday group": the ones which are used the most and so should be learned first. The ones in Group 2 should be tackled next. They are also used often enough, but not as often as the ones in Group 1. I would call Group 3 the "obscure group." I personally have rarely or never heard these used, but they are in the dictionary. The words are arranged in Japanese alphabetical order within each group, followed by an example sentence or two.
The "groupings" have been done totally from my own experience. Your experience with the language will most likely be different to a certain degree. Good luck!
Group 1
gakkari: to be disappointed
Sean wa shiken o subeta kara gakkari shite iru. (Sean is disappointed because he failed the exam.)
gussuri: to sleep soundly
Sakuya gussuri nemashita. (I slept great last night.)
shikkari: strong, firm, solid
Shikkari shite kudasai. (Get a hold of yourself. / Snap out of it. / Don't die.) (This is always said to dying people in movies and dramas.)
Shikkari shita hako aru? (Do you have a sturdy box?)
sokkuri: just alike; identical (or close to it)
Kanojo wa Michiko ni sokkuri. (She looks just like Michiko.)
hakkiri: clear; plain; distinct
Iitai koto o hakkiri iinasai. (Clearly say what you want to say.) Kare wa hakkiri kotowatta. (He distinctly refused.)
bikkuri: to be surprised
Mayonaka denwa ga natta node, bikkuri shita. (I was surprised because the phone rang in the middle of the night.)
pittari: tightly; fit perfectly; exactly
Kono boushi wa pittari au. (This hat fits perfectly.)
yappari (slang form of yahari, and not an adverb): as expected; of course
Yappari, Kumiko wa okurete kita. (As usual, Kumiko came late.) Yappari... (It figures...) (used to show that something dreaded has happened)
yukkuri: slowly; taking one's time
Douzo, yukkuri shite kudasai. (Please relax and make yourself at home.) Motto yukkuri hanashite kudasai. (Please speak more slowly.)
Group 2
assari: simple, light, frank; light (food)
Ojii-san wa assari shita tabemono ga suki. (Grandpa likes light, simple food.) Kanojo no seikaku wa assari shite iru. (She has a frank personality.)
ukkari: carelessly, absent-mindedly; by mistake
Sumimasen. Ukkari shite jisho o wasureta. (I'm sorry. I carelessly forgot my dictionary.)
Kanojo wa ukkari shite machigatta densha ni norimashita. (She took the wrong train by mistake.)
gisshiri: tight, full, close
Kyou no densha wa gisshiri desu ne. (The train is packed today, isn't it?)
kitchiri: punctually, sharp
Kitchiri shichiji desu. (It's now seven o'clock sharp) Sono tokei wa itsumo kitchiri desu yo. (That clock is always right on.)
Kare wa kitchiri juuji ni kita. (He arrived at ten exactly.)
kossori: secretly, quietly
Ano futari ga maiban kossori atte iru. (Those two meet secretly every night.) Kare wa jugyouchuu kossori zasshi o mite ita. (He was hiding a magazine and
Sappari shita hito ga suki. (I like frank, uncomplicated people.) Ofuro ni haitte sappari shita. (I took a bath and now feel refreshed.)
Tanaka-san no iu koto wa sappari wakaranai. (I can't understand a word Mr. Tanaka says.)
shakkuri: (noun) hiccup (hiccough)
sukkari: completely, all
Aa! Sukkari wasureta! (Oh, no! I completely forgot about it!) Kanojo wa sukkari kawatte shimaimashita yo. (I tell you, she has completely
changed.)
sukkiri: neat, clear, refreshed
Sachiko no heya wa sukkiri shite iru. (Sachiko's room is neat and tidy.) Kare no iu kotoba niwa itsumo sukkiri shinai tokoro ga aru. (There's always
something unclear in everything he says.)
tappuri: full; plenty of...
Tabemono ga tappuri aru yo. (There is plenty to eat.) Jikan tappuri aru. (We have lots of time.)
battari: suddenly; with a thud; to run into someone unexpectedly
Kouen de Suzuki-san ni battari atta. (I ran into Mrs. Suzuki in the park.) Kare wa battari taoreta. (He suddenly fell over.)
bisshori: get wet, soaked
Kasa o wasureta node, bisshori nureta. (We forgot our umbrellas, so we got soaking wet.)
yuttari: easy; comfortable; relaxed
Kore wa hontou ni yuttari shita heya desu. (This really is a comfortable room.)
Group 3
uttori: entranced, fascinated
Mina wa kanojo no subarashii ensou ni uttori shimashita. (Everyone was entranced by her wonderful performance.)
ottori: gentle, quiet, calm
Bob wa ottori shite imasu. (Bob is an easy-going guy.)
kakkiri: prompt, sharp; exactly (same as kitchiri)
Kono jitensha wa kakkiri san man en deshita. (This bicycle cost exactly 30,000 yen.)
Watashi no hikouki wa goji kakkiri ni touchaku shimashita. (My plane arrived right at five o'clock.)
gakkuri: collapse; break down
Shiken no kekka de Kenji wa gakkuri kita. (Kenji collapsed in shock after finding out about the exam results.)
gasshiri: stout, strong, solid (same as shikkari)
Kono furui isu wa totemo gasshiri dekite imasu. (This old chair is very sturdy.)
gatchiri: firmly, securely (usually used in connection with being tightfisted in money matters)
Ichirou oji-san wa saifu o gatchiri nigitte iru. (Uncle Ichirou is tight with his money.)
kikkari: exactly, punctually (same as kakkiri)
Hachiji kikkari ni demashou. (Let's leave right at eight o'clock.)
kippari: definitely, positively; (refuse) flatly
Bob no teian wa kippari kotowarareta. (Bob's suggestion was flatly refused.) Kanojo wa kippari to henji shimashita. (She gave a definite answer.)
kukkiri: distinctly, clearly
Kyou wa Fuji-san ga kukkiri to mieru. (Today Mt. Fuji stands out clearly.)
guttari: be dead tired
Mou guttari da. (I'm dead tired.) Kare wa guttari to beddo ni taoreta. (He collapsed exhausted onto his bed.)
kokkuri: nod; doze (Kokkuri is usually doubled when used. It conveys the motion of "nodding off.")
Ano gakusei wa jugyouchuu kokkuri kokkuri shite ita. (That student was dozing off during class.)
gossori: all, entirely
Houseki ten ni dorobou ga hairi, houseki o gossori nusunde ita. (A thief broke into a jewelry store and stole everything.)
kotteri: thick, heavy, rich (opposite of assari)
Bataa o tsukatta ryouri wa kotteri shite iru. (Food made with butter is rich.)
zakkuri: thick and rough
Kare wa zakkuri shita fuku ga suki. (He likes roughly made clothes.)
shikkuri: exactly (usually used negatively)
Bokutachi wa shikkuri shinai. (We don't get along well.)
jikkuri: closely; without hurry
Jisho o tsukatte, jikkuri shiraberu no ga taisetsu. (Using your dictionary and studying carefully without hurry is important.)
shittori: gentle, graceful; moist, damp
Watashitachi wa shittori shita funiki de hanashita. (We spoke together in a quiet way.)
Shibafu wa ame de shittori nurete iru. (The lawn is wet from the rain.)
suppari: flatly; once and for all
Kare wa tabako o suppari yameta. (He quit smoking completely.)
suppori: cover one's head completely
Kimiko wa suppori zukin o kabutte ita. (Kimiko covered her head completely with a hood.)
chakkari: nervy, cheeky
Kanojo niwa chakkari shita tokoro ga aru. (There is something shrewd and cheeky about her.)
choppiri: a little bit (slang for chotto)
Obaa-chan wa ame o choppiri kureta. (Grandma gave me just a little candy.)
tekkiri: surely, beyond doubt
Tekkiri Bob wa issho ni iku to omotta. (I was certain that Bob would go with us.)
deppuri: portly, plump
Sore wa deppuri futotta neko desu ne. (That's a fat cat, isn't it?)
dosshiri: composed; dignified
Kare wa itsumo dosshiri shite iru. (He is always composed.)
nikkori: smile at; beam at
Kanojo wa nikkori shite aisatsu shimashita. (She greeted us with a smile.)
nettori: sticky; clammy
Kare no te wa nettori shite kimochi warukatta. (His hands were clammy and felt gross.)
nossori: heavily; sluggishly
John wa nossori okiagatta. (John got up sluggishly.)
pattari: abruptly, suddenly
Kare wa kanojo to pattari tsukiawanakunatta. (He suddenly stopped seeing her.)
patchiri: having bright eyes or eyes wide open
Yumiko wa me o patchiri aketa. (Yumiko opened her eyes wide.)
hissori: quiet, silent
Machi wa kurakute hissori shite ita. (The town was dark and quiet.)
hyokkori: by chance (like battari); unexpectedly
Kinou kaimono shinagara hyokkori Nagao-san ni atta. (Yesterday I ran into Mr. Nagao while shopping.)
Kenji wa hyokkuri boku no ie ni kita. (Kenji came to my place unexpectedly.)
puttsuri: entirely; utterly
Kanojo kara no renraku wa puttsuri nakunatta. (All communication from her totally ended.)
bettari: sticky; thick
Ano futari wa itsumo bettari shite iru. (Those two are always together.)
bettori: soaked; covered with
Kare no shatsu wa bettori penki ga tsuite ita. (His shirt was covered with paint.)
pokkiri: only; no more than
Watashi wa gohyaku en pokkiri shika motte inai. (I've only got 500 yen with me.)
pokkuri: to die suddenly
Kare wa pokkuri shinimashita. (He died suddenly.)
hossori: slim; slender
Kanojo wa hossori shite imasu ne. (She's slim, isn't she?)
potteri: plump; chubby (opposite of hossori, same as deppuri)
Potteri shita inu desu ne. (That's a chubby dog, isn't it?)
misshiri: hard, earnestly, severely
Sensei wa gakusei ni eigo o misshiri oshieta. (The teacher earnestly taught the students English.)
mitchiri: hard, earnestly, severely (same as misshiri above)
mukkuri: get up suddenly (opposite of nossori)
Neko ga mukkuri okiagatta. (The cat got up suddenly.)
mutchiri: portly, plump (same as deppuri and potteri)
muttsuri: glum; sulky
Kare wa kanojo no kotoba o kiitara, muttsuri damatte shimatta. (After listening to her, he became moody and silent).
mekkiri: considerably; remarkably
Saikin mekkiri samukunatta. (It has recently become quite cold.)
A Very Short Study in Modern Japanese
As each year goes by, we see more and more English being adopted into the language, and true Japanese disappearing. It's a sad fact of life. Besides tackling the grammar, vocabulary, and writing systems, students of Japanese must become familiar with the ways foreign words, especially wasei eigo (Japanized English), are used, because they really are used a lot. An excellent example of this is a label I found recently on a bread product.
This is from a small bread roll, a "Milk France" bread roll. I wouldn't call it french bread, because it doesn't look, feel, or taste like french bread. In fact, it's a cream-filled snack roll — pretty good, but definitely not like any french bread I've ever tasted.
Anyway, take a look at the writing at the bottom of the label. Directly under FRANCE it simply says, in white katakana1, the same thing that's written above: MILK FRANCE.2 And under that is the following sentence:
The amazing thing about this sentence is that there's very little Japanese in it. To illustrate this I have colored the English or English-based words blue, the Japanese red, and the one word which is neither green. In Roman letters this sentence would look like this:
Sofuto na furansu pan ni, miruku fuumi no kuriimu o sando shimashita.
Though the English words in blue are probably unrecognizable to beginners, they are soft, france, milk, cream, and sandwich, but are written in romaji 3, which show pretty much how they are pronounced in Japanese or by the Japanese.4 The Japanese have the tendency to shorten longer English words to suit their fancy, which is why "sandwich" becomes sando.5 The only Japanese word here is fuumi, which means "flavor," and the overall structure is Japanese, making necessary the use of particles na, ni, no, and o, which indicate adjectives and objects.6 Shimashita at the end simply indicates past tense. The word pan means "bread," which Japan borrowed from the Portuguese.
Now, if we convert all this to English while keeping the Japanese order and colored elements, it would look like this:
Soft france bread in, milk flavor cream sandwiched.
A very interesting and often convenient point about the Japanese language is that a sentence can have its subject omitted and still be correct. This sentence is a good example. Finally, starting with the implied subject we, let's now complete the translation into English while retaining the color coding:
We sandwiched milk-flavored cream inside soft french bread.
We sandwiched milk-flavored cream inside soft french bread. Sentences like this on food packages are very common here — lots of "katakana English" and very wordy.
I believe this is a great example of how Japanese works. Though a simple sentence, it shows concisely and accurately the roles and association of kanji, hiragana, and katakana, the three Japanese writing systems. Kanji are used to write the core words, when they are not replaced with English or other foreign vocabulary; katakana are used to write those foreign words when they are used; and hiragana act as "grammatical cement," indicating the role of the core words and giving verbs their conjugations.7
As we can see, six of the seven core words here are not Japanese, which is why there are many more katakana than kanji. But this is the direction that Japanese is going, for better or worse. You used to hear that one needs to know around 2,200 kanji in order to read a Japanese newspaper, but if the popularity of foreign words continues to increase, we may see that number shrink.
Students of the language need to not only learn the writing systems, words, and how to put them together, they also have to re-learn their own language in order to successfully make it work as a vital element of modern Japanese.
Notes
1. Katakana is the Japanese alphabet used mainly to write foreign words and names. For more click here.
2. Almost all consumer goods in Japan have the product name written in both English and Japanese on the package. The English shows that they are making some effort towards "internationalization," and since most people ignore or can't read the English, Japanese is necessary in order to maintain product identity.
4. Sadly, too many Japanese think that this is how English is really pronounced, creating problems when attempting conversation with native speakers. To be fair, though, this is a two-way problem: most native English speakers don't pronounce Pokemon or karaoke correctly, either.
5. For more examples click here.
6. For more see my Japanese Particles.
7. Please see Alphabets for a more in-depth look.
About You and Name Suffixes
In Lesson 9 of my Japanese Verbs anata is introduced in the last example sentence as meaning "you." Actually, the word "you" is not used in Japanese as often as in English, especially when talking to an individual. Once a person's name is known, it is usually used in place of "you" (as a native English speaker would consider it) when speaking to that person, which may sound a bit childish until you get used to it. For example, an English speaker usually wouldn't turn to his friend Bob and ask, "What does Bob want to eat for lunch?" but in Japanese that is exactly what you do.
Additionally, names are usually not used alone. "Name suffixes" are attached depending on the person and situation. The ones you'll hear the most are san, sama, chan, and kun. Generally speaking, san is the "default" suffix for a person when none of the others are suitable. You will most likely want to use san with neighbors and business associates that you see regularly but perhaps not every day. San denotes friendliness and perhaps even familiarity while still including at least a touch of respectful distance.
Sama is an "honorific" suffix which is attached to the names of superiors or people you want to show special respect to, real or pretended. Customers who go into new car dealerships will have the luxury of hearing sama added to their names — for a while, at any rate. After the sale is made, time passes, and the car is brought in for routine checks or service, the customer will find that he or she is no longer a "sama," but is now a "san." This is normal and good, however, because san shows that a closer, more familiar (and, hopefully, a more trusting) relationship has been created between customer and service provider.
Among close friends and family members chan is usually heard. Parents add chan to their children's names, and children add it to the words for father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, older brother or sister (but not younger), aunt, uncle, etc. Customarily, within families chan is added to the first names of those younger than yourself and to the names of cousins, but to the title of those older. Also, names are often shortened before adding chan. For example, a girl named Emiko would probably be called Emiko-chan or Emi-chan by older family members, cousins, and playmates, as well as classmates and co-workers later in life. A boy named Hiroki might go by Hiro-chan unless he's going by Hiroki-kun or Hiro-kun. For those older, these are commonly used:
Chan is also used with the names of pets, and even sometimes with special possessions and things like dolls, toys, bicycles, cars, etc.
Among male friends kun is used as the name suffix, unless an individual prefers chan. Teachers add kun to the names of male students, chan to female students. Bosses add these to the names of subordinates sometimes, though san is probably more common for females. Family customs, company size and type, and personal preferences all come into play when choosing these suffixes.
As a safe rule, use san with colleagues' names and older girls, kun with boys, and chan with younger girls. You most likely won't use sama unless you meet a company president or owner. Even then, their title, such as shachou (company president) will normally be used instead of a generic suffix. Being observant and attentive will be the best guide for mastering name suffixes for the people you work with or know. And, you can always ask.
Now, let's get back to you. Again, "you" normally wouldn't be used when speaking to an individual when his or her name is known. If I wanted to ask my student Hiroki if he did his homework, the literal translation of the English sentence "Hiroki, did you do your homework?" would be: "Hiroki, anata wa anata no shukudai o shimashita ka", where anata is used for "you." This Japanese would be understood, of course, but would also sound very stiff, formal, and very odd. A native Japanese speaker would never use this kind of construction. The natural Japanese would be:"Hiroki-kun wa shukudai o shimashita ka," where the name of the person is used in place of the subject you. So, even though I used anata in Lesson 9 of Japanese Verbs, it is seldom actually used in daily conversational Japanese.
It's when speaking to groups that "you" becomes useful. Anatatachi could be used, but it conveys a certain distance, even displeasure: a teacher reprimanding a class might use this. So, the one left would be kimitachi, which shows familiarity, even some affection, toward the group concerned. There may be a certain feeling of "being talked down to" when kimi or kimitachi is used, but as long as the situation and the relationship between speaker and listener(s) warrants it and makes it sound natural, there's no problem. When I first came to Japan and was only several years older than my students, I really didn't feel comfortable using kimitachi, but now that I'm old enough to be their father it feels very natural and fitting. I would not use this with a class of people my age or older, I'd probably use mina-san (everyone), which is the best choice when talking to large, mixed groups.
Japan, for better or worse, puts a lot of emphasis on a "vertical society" — knowing whether or not a person is above (me-ue) or below (me-shita) yourself. Much more could be said concerning all the various words and "levels" used when addressing others, but this should suffice for most students of Japanese for the first year or so.
