俺の嫌いな人です ore no kirai na hito desu - The person I hate.
俺 (ore) is an informal, masculine way of saying I or me.
嫌いな (kirai na) is a な (na) adjective meaning hate.
人 (hito) means person.
Alexandra
嫌いな人ですか kirai na hito desu ka - The person you hate?
Hunter
ああ、迷惑な人です aa, meiwaku na hito desu - Yeah, a bothersome person.
ああ (aa) is another way of saying yes.
迷惑な (meiwaku na) is a な (na) adjective meaning troublesome, bothersome or annoying.
そして、天然です soshite, tennen desu - And an airhead.
そして (soshite) is a conjunction, similar to and.
天然な (tennen na) is a な (na) adjective literally meaning natural but it can also be used as a colloquialism to mean ‘airhead’.
Alexandra
誰ですか dare desu ka - Who is it?
Hunter
アンバーさんです anbaa san desu - Amber.
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
Alexandra
誰の写真ですか dare no shashin desu ka - Who’s photo is that?
写真 (shashin) means photograph.
Amber
私の好きな人の写真です♥
watashi no suki na hito no shashin desu ♥
It’s the person I like’s photo♥
好きな (suki na) is a な (na) adjective meaning like.
Alexandra
どんな人ですか donna hito desu ka - What kind of person is he?
どんな (donna) means what kind of and is placed in front of nouns.
Amber
かっこいいです！kakkoii desu! - He’s cool!
かっこいい (kakkoii) is an い (i) adjective meaning cool, good-looking or stylish.
そして、優しいです soshite, yasashii desu - And kind.
優しい (yasashii) is an い (i) adjective meaning kind or gentle.
Alexandra
へぇ～ hee - You don’t say.
誰ですか dare desu ka - Who is it?
Amber
ハンターさんです♥ hantaa san desu ♥ - It’s Hunter♥
Alexandra
可愛そうです kawaisou desu - Poor thing.
可愛そうな (kawaisou na) is a な (na) adjective literally meaning pitiable, however it is not necessarily thought of as harshly as it is in English. It’s more often used in the same way that we would say ‘poor thing’.
Amber
ん？nn? - Hm?
I hope you found this useful. If there’s anything you’re unsure of then feel free to comment. Or, if you’d like to go into more detail about this grammar aspect then check out the services page to see more about my one on one online tutoring.
Hi! I’m Hannah from japanesejoshi.com and welcome to lesson 4 of my Japanese language tutorials. Today I’m going to teach you a little bit about adjectives. There are two types of adjectives in Japanese, い (i) adjectives and な (na) adjectives. I’ll use an example of each to show you the differences. The い (i) adjective I’m going to use is 可愛い (kawaii) which I’m sure you already know means ‘cute’. The な (na) adjective I’m going to use is 元気な (genki na), which means along the lines of energetic, fine or healthy.
可愛い元気な
kawaii genki na
When using these with です (desu), い (i) adjectives stay as they are, just adding です (desu) at the end. So, when you want to say something like ‘That’s cute’ or ‘This is cute’ all you need to say is 可愛いです (kawaii desu). But with な (na) adjectives you have to remove the な (na) before adding です (desu). So, if you want to say something like ‘I’m fine’ all you need to say is 元気です (genki desu).
可愛いです元気です
kawaii desu genki desu
You can also use adjectives in a slightly different way allowing you to expand on the A は (wa) B です (desu) sentence structure but giving you more variety. The way to do this is by keeping the adjective in its original form and putting it in front of a noun you want to describe. For example;
可愛いじゃが芋 元気なじゃが芋
kawaii jagaimo genki na jagaimo
(a) cute potato (a) healthy potato
Another thing to bear in mind is that in Japanese, like and hate are not verbs, they’re adjectives. 好きな (suki na) means like and 嫌いな (kirai na) means hate. So you could say for example:
好きなじゃが芋
suki na jagaimo
(The) potato (I) like
Of course, there’s a lot more to using these adjectives but I don’t want to confuse you too much at the moment, so I’ll come back to adjectives later on. For now, make sure you know how to use the two different types of adjectives in the ways I’ve explained and practice as much as possible.
Here are some conversations showing how adjectives are used in real life.
If you don’t understand the vocabulary, then click herefor extra information.
Alexandra
怖いです！kowai desu! - That’s scary!
誰ですか dare desu ka - Who is that?
Hunter
俺の嫌いな人です ore no kirai na hito desu - The person I hate.
Alexandra
嫌いな人ですか kirai na hito desu ka - The person you hate?
Hunter
ああ、迷惑な人です aa, meiwaku na hito desu - Yeah, a bothersome person.
そして、天然です soshite, tennen desu - And an airhead.
Alexandra
誰ですか dare desu ka - Who is it?
Hunter
アンバーさんです anbaa san desu - Amber.
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
Alexandra
誰の写真ですか dare no shashin desu ka - Who’s photo is that?
Amber
私の好きな人の写真です♥
watashi no suki na hito no shashin desu ♥
It’s the person I like’s photo♥
Alexandra
どんな人ですか donna hito desu ka - What kind of person is he?
Amber
かっこいいです！kakkoii desu! - He’s cool!
そして、優しいです soshite, yasashii desu - And kind.
Alexandra
へぇ～ hee - You don’t say.
誰ですか dare desu ka - Who is it?
Amber
ハンターさんです♥ hantaa san desu ♥ - It’s Hunter♥
Alexandra
可愛そうです kawaisou desu - Poor thing.
Amber
ん？nn? - Hm?
I hope you found this useful. If there’s anything you’re unsure of then feel free to comment. Or, if you’d like to go into more detail about this grammar aspect then check out the services page to see more about my one on one online tutoring.
これはハナさんの置物ですか kore wa hana san no okimono desu ka - Is this your ornament?
置物 (okimono) means ornament.
いや、兄のデビッドの友達のジョンのお母さんのシャーリーの友達のカレンのお婆さんのミリアムの置物です
iya, ani no debiddo no tomodachi no jon no okaasan no shaarii no tomodachi no karen no obaasan no miriamu no okimono desu
No, it’s my brother David’s friend John’s mother’s friend Shirley’s friend Karen’s grandmother Miriam’s ornament.
いや (iya) is a more informal way of saying ‘no’.
兄 (ani) means older brother.
友達 (tomodachi) means friend.
お母さん (okaasan) means mother.
お婆さん (obaasan) means grandmother.
あっ、そうですか aa, sou desu ka - Ah, is that so?
ええ ee - Yes.
ええ (ee) is another way of saying ‘yes’.
I hope you found this useful. If there’s anything you’re unsure of then feel free to comment. Or, if you’d like to go into more detail about this grammar aspect then check out the services page to see more about my one on one online tutoring.
Hi! I’m Hannah from Japanesejoshi.com! And welcome to lesson 3 of my Japanese language tutorials! If you haven’t seen lesson 1 or lesson 2 yet, then I’d advise looking at them first! In this tutorial I’m going to teach you about another particle, の (no). Here’s an example of how it’s used.
それはじゃが芋ですか
sore wa jagaimo desu ka
Is that a potato?
はい
hai
Yes.
私のじゃが芋です
watashi no jagaimo desu
私の (watashi no) – my
じゃが芋です (jagaimo desu) – potato
私のじゃが芋です (watashi no jagaimo desu) - (It is) My potato.
Now, you might be thinking that 私の(watashi no) is its own word meaning ‘my’ but it’s actually not. As you hopefully remembered from last time, 私 (watashi) means I or me. の (no) is another particle, like は (wa) and か (ka) but の(no) is possessive. It makes the word after it belong to the word before it. In this case, the first word is 私 (watashi) / me and the second is じゃが芋 (jagaimo) / potato. The potato belonging to me. Let’s look at the sentence again in a bit more detail.
私 (watashi) – I/me
の (no) – [possessive]
じゃが芋 (jagaimo) – potato
です (desu) – [politeness]
私のじゃが芋です (watashi no jagaimo desu) – (It is) My potato.
The only problem with this example is that, since there are no words meaning ‘my’ or ‘mine’ in Japanese, the translation of の(no) into English is slightly different than it would normally be. As a general rule, の(no) is the equivalent of ‘s, of or from. For example;
japanesejoshi.comのハナです (japanesejoshi.com no hana desu)
This could easily be translated into any of the following English sentences:
I’m Hannah from japanesejoshi.com.
I’m japanesejoshi.com‘s Hannah.
I’m Hannah of japanesejoshi.com.
の(no) is an extremely useful and versatile particle. You can use more than one の(no) if you need to and it can also be used when telling someone a person’s name. Here’s a conversation showing how it can also be used in these ways.
If you don’t understand the vocabulary, then click herefor extra information.
Aiko
ねぇ、ハナさん？ nee, hana san? - Hey, Hannah?
Hannah
はい？ hai? - Yes?
Aiko
これはハナさんの置物ですか kore wa hana san no okimono desu ka - Is this your ornament?
Hannah
いや、兄のデビッドの友達のジョンのお母さんのシャーリーの友達のカレンのお婆さんのミリアムの置物です
iya, ani no debiddo no tomodachi no jon no okaasan no shaarii no tomodachi no karen no obaasan no miriamu no okimono desu
No, it’s my brother David’s friend John’s mother Shirley’s friend Karen’s grandmother Miriam’s ornament.
Aiko
あっ、そうですか aa, sou desu ka - Ah, is that so?
Hannah
ええ ee - Yes.
I hope you found this useful. If there’s anything you’re unsure of then feel free to comment. Or, if you’d like to go into more detail about this grammar aspect then check out the services page to see more about my one on one online tutoring.
さん(san) is a polite suffix for names. Notice that there is no need to specify the topic of the sentence. This is because Aiko is already looking at and talking to Hannah, so it is obvious that Hannah is the topic.
はい、そうです hai sou desu – Yes, that is right.
はい hai means ‘yes’. そう sou means ‘right’ or ‘so’.
あの・・・どなたですか？ ano…donata desu ka – Uhm…Who are you?
あの ano means ‘uhm’. どなた donata is a polite way of saying ‘who’.
ルームメイトです！ruumu meeto desu – I’m your roommate!
ルームメート ruumu meeto means ‘roommate’.
よろしくお願いします！yoroshiku onegaishimasu – Please treat me kindly!
こちらこそ kochira koso – Same here.
こちらこそ kochira koso is a set phrase said as a response to よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu – Please treat me kindly.
あの・・・お名前は何ですか ano…o namae wa nan desu ka – Uhm…What is your name?
お o is an honorific prefix added to nouns. However, it can’t be added to every noun. If you’re not sure whether it should be used then it’s best not to use it. In this case, Hannah is trying to be polite towards Aiko, since she is not familiar with her. Therefore, has added お o in front of 名前 namae which means ‘name’. 何 nan means ‘what’.
あっ、ごめんなさい！aa, gomen nasai – Ah, I am sorry!
ごめんなさい gomen nasai means ‘I am sorry’.
愛子です aiko desu – I am Aiko
はじめまして！ hajimemashite – Nice to meet you！
はじめまして hajimemashite – Nice to meet you.
学生ですか gakusei desu ka – Are you a student?
学生 gakusei means ‘student’.
はい、大学生です hai, daigakusei desu – Yes, I am a university student.
大学生 daigakusei means ‘university student’.
そうですか sou desu ka – Is that so?
専攻は何ですか senkou wa nan desu ka – What is your major?
専攻 senkou means ‘major (subject)’.
英語です eigo desu – English.
英語 eigo means ‘English (language)’.
ハナさんは？hana san wa? – How about you (Hannah)?
Notice that there is no か(ka) but this is still a question. She cannot add か(ka) since she has not finished her sentence but there is also no need to finish it. This is because all she is doing is redirecting the previous question towards a different topic. In this case, Hannah is the new topic.
日本語です nihongo desu – Japanese.
日本 nihon means ‘Japan’. 語 go is the suffix for languages. 日本語 nihongo means ‘Japanese (language)’
へぇ、そうですか hee, sou desu ka – Heeh, is that so?
へぇ hee is an interjection, showing a small degree of surprise.
ねぇ、「ハナ」はあだ名ですか nee, hana wa adana desu ka – Hey, is ‘Hannah’ your nickname?
ねぇ nee is an interjection, similar to ‘hey’ or ‘say’. あだ名 adana means ‘nickname’. The reason why Aiko is confused about Hannah’s name is because the English pronunciation of ‘Hannah’ is the same as the Japanese girl’s name ‘Hana’.
いいえ、本名です iie, honmei desu – No, it is my real name.
いいえ iie means ‘no’. 本名 honmei means ‘real name’.
あれ、日本人ですか？ are, nihon jin desu ka – Huh? Are you Japanese?
あれ are is an interjection similar to ‘huh?’. 日本人 nihon jin means ‘Japanese (person)’.
イギリス人です igirisu jin desu – I am British.
イギリス人 igirisu jin means ‘British (person)’.
オーマイガー！oo mai gaa! – OH MY GOD!
o_O;
Don’t forget to go back to the original tutorial and see if you can understand it without looking at the English translations!
I hope you found this useful. If there’s anything you’re unsure of then feel free to comment. Or, if you’d like to go into more detail about this grammar aspect then check out the services page to see more about my one on one online tutoring.
Hi, I’m Hannah from Japanesejoshi.com! And welcome to lesson 2 of my Japanese language tutorials! If you haven’t already seen lesson 1, then I’d adviseclicking here and starting from there!
So, you now know how to use the Aは(wa)Bです(desu) sentence structure but it might be a bit weird if you just go around shouting out random statements.
私はじゃが芋です!
watashi wa jagaimo desu!
I am a potato!
So this time I’m going to teach you how to turn a sentence into a question using the particle か(ka). All you have to do is add か(ka) onto the end of any statement and it becomes the equivalent of a question mark. Example!
じゃが芋ですか
jagaimo desu ka
Are you a potato?
As I explained in the last video, you can leave out Aは(wa) if the topic of the sentence is obvious or if it has already been stated. In this case, there’s no need to say ‘you’, since I was clearly looking at and talking directly to the potato. Another reason I left it out is because Japanese people don’t tend to say ‘you’. No matter what website, textbook or person told you that the Japanese word for ‘you’ is ‘あなた’(anata) – NEVER SAY IT! I’ll do another video later, on some of the Japanese words for ‘you’, explaining why you shouldn’t just say them to any old person. For now, just pretend that there is no word for ‘you’ and avoid saying it at all costs. If, for some reason, you find you have no other choice but to say it then just use the person’s name instead.
じゃが芋さんはじゃが芋ですか
jagaimo san wa jagaimo desu ka
Mr. Potato, are you a potato?
It’s that simple! And now you can have a conversation in Japanese!
If you don’t understand the vocabulary, then click herefor extra information.
Aiko:
ハナさんですか hana san desu ka - Are you Hannah?
Hannah:
はい、そうです hai sou desu – Yes, that is right.
あの・・・どなたですか？ ano…donata desu ka – Uhm…Who are you?
Aiko:
ルームメイトです！ruumu meeto desu – I’m your roommate!
よろしくお願いします！yoroshiku onegaishimasu – Please treat me kindly!
Hannah:
こちらこそ kochira koso – Same here.
よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu – Please treat me kindly.
あの・・・お名前は何ですか ano…o namae wa nan desu ka – Uhm…What is your name?
Aiko:
あっ、ごめんなさい！aa, gomen nasai – Ah, I am sorry!
愛子です aiko desu – I am Aiko
はじめまして！ hajimemashite – Nice to meet you！
Hannah:
はじめまして hajimemashite – Nice to meet you.
学生ですか gakusei desu ka – Are you a student?
Aiko:
はい、大学生です hai, daigakusei desu – Yes, I am a university student.
Hannah:
そうですか sou desu ka – Is that so?
専攻は何ですか senkou wa nan desu ka – What is your major?
Aiko:
英語です eigo desu – English.
ハナさんは？hana san wa? – How about you (Hannah)?
Hannah:
日本語です nihongo desu – Japanese.
Aiko:
へぇ、そうですか hee, sou desu ka – Heeh, is that so?
ねぇ、「ハナ」はあだ名ですか nee, hana wa adana desu ka – Hey, is ‘Hannah’ your nickname?
Hannah:
いいえ、本名です iie, honmei desu – No, it is my real name.
Aiko:
あれ、日本人ですか？ are, nihon jin desu ka – Huh? Are you Japanese?
Hannah:
イギリス人です igirisu jin desu – I am British.
Aiko:
オーマイガー！oo mai gaa! – OH MY GOD!
Hannah:
o_O;
I hope you found this useful. If there’s anything you’re unsure of then feel free to comment. Or, if you’d like to go into more detail about this grammar aspect then check out the services page to see more about my one on one online tutoring.
はじめまして hajimemashite is a set phrase, used when meeting someone for the first time. It’s similar to ‘nice to meet you’.
ガブリエルです gaburieru desu - I am Gabrielle.
Japanese people tend to find some foreign sounds hard to pronounce since they’re not used in their own language. So, like Gabrielle, you’ll probably find that your name has more vowel sounds in it when it’s pronounced in Japanese. If you’re not sure how your name would be pronounced in Japanese then leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
NOTE:
You may have noticed that Gabrielle didn’t say ‘watashi wa’ at the beginning of her sentence. This is because it’s obvious that she’s talking about herself and therefore doesn’t need to specify that she is the topic.
フランス人です furansu jin desu - I am French.
フランス furansu means ‘France’. 人 jin means ‘person’ and can be used as a suffix when added to the end of a country, turning it into a person from that country. So, in this case, フランス人 furansu jin means French person.
１９歳です juu kyuu sai desu - I am 19 years old.
十 juu is ten. 九 kyuu is nine. So, 十 juu (ten) plus 九 kyuu (nine) equals 十九 juu kyuu, nineteen. To find an easy way of remembering the numbers from one to ten, don’t forget to check out my tutorial here. 歳 sai means ‘years old’ and is a suffix, like 人 jin. However, there are some occasions when adding 歳 sai changes the pronunciation of the number before it. Examples of these occasions are explained later on.
趣味は料理です shumi wa ryouri desu - My hobby is cooking.
趣味 shumi means ‘hobby’. 料理 ryouri means ‘cooking’.
NOTE:
趣味 shumi (hobby) has now become the topic of the sentence. There’s no need to say ‘my hobby’, because she’s already been talking about herself, it’s obvious that the hobby is hers.
よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu - Please treat me kindly.
よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu is another set phrase, used when asking for someone’s favour. It can be used in various contexts and is almost always said when meeting someone for the first time.
はじめまして hajimemashite - Nice to meet you.
アレクサンドラです arekusandora desu - I am Alexandra.
ロシア人です roshia jin desu - I am Russian.
ロシア roshia means ‘Russia’.
２１歳です ni juu issai desu - I am 21 years old.
二 ni is two. 十 juu is ten. 一 ichi is one. So, 二 ni (two) lots of 十 juu (ten) equals 二十 ni juu, twenty. Plus 一 ichi (one) equals 二十一 ni juu ichi, twenty-one. As I said earlier, 歳 sai sometimes changes the pronunciation of the number before it. 一 ichi (one) is one of these numbers. When you add 歳 sai after 一 ichi the ‘chi’ turns into a small ‘tsu’ which creates a brief pause. So, it becomes ‘issai’.
趣味はバレエです shumi wa baree desu - My hobby is ballet.
バレエ baree means ‘ballet’.
よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu - Please treat me kindly.
はじめまして hajimemashite - Nice to meet you.
アンバーです anbaa desu - I am Amber.
アメリカ人です amerika jin desu - I am American.
アメリカ amerika means ‘America’.
２０歳です hatachi desu - I am 20 years old.
二十歳 hatachi means ‘twenty years old’. This is the only age which has its own separate, illogical reading. This is because in Japanese culture, turn twenty means that you are becoming an adult and is therefore a special age.
趣味はピアノです shumi wa piano desu - My hobby is piano.
ピアノ piano means ‘piano’.
よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu - Please treat me kindly.
はじめまして hajimemashite - Nice to meet you.
ハンターです hantaa desu - I am Hunter.
カナダ人です kanada jin desu - I am Canadian.
カナダ kanada means ‘Canada’.
２５歳です ni juu go sai desu - I am 25 years old.
趣味はハンティングです shumi wa hantingu desu - My hobby is hunting.
ハンティング hantingu means ‘hunting’.
よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu - Please treat me kindly.
はじめまして hajimemashite - Nice to meet you.
カイリーです kairii desu - I am Kylie.
オーストラリア人です oosutoraria jin desu - I am Australian.
オーストラリア oosutoraria means ‘Australia’.
２３歳です ni juu san sai desu - I am 23 years old.
趣味は音楽です shumi wa ongaku desu - My hobby is music.
音楽 ongaku means ‘music’.
よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu - Please treat me kindly.
はじめまして hajimemashite - Nice to meet you.
クルトです kuruto desu - I am Kurt.
ドイツ人です doitsu jin desu - I am German.
ドイツ doitsu means ‘Germany’.
１８歳です juu hassai desu - I am 18 years old.
趣味はゲームです shumi wa geemu desu - My hobby is (computer) games.
ゲーム geemu means ‘(computer) games’.
よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu - Please treat me kindly.
はじめまして hajimemashite - Nice to meet you.
キュードンです kyuu don desu - I am Kyu Dong.
韓国人です kankoku jin desu - I am Korean.
韓国 kankoku means ‘Korea’.
２４歳です ni juu san sai desu - I am 24 years old.
趣味は読書です shumi wa dokusho desu - My hobby is reading.
読書 dokusho means ‘reading’.
よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu - Please treat me kindly.
はじめまして hajimemashite - Nice to meet you.
ハナです hana desu - I’m Hannah.
イギリス人です igirisu jin desu - I’m British.
イギリス igirisu means ‘United Kingdom’. Unfortunately, the Japanese don’t usually differentiate between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, so we just have to settle for being British.
２２歳です ni juu ni sai desu - I’m 22 years old.
趣味はプランキングです shumi wa purankingu desu - My hobby is planking.
プランキング purankingu means ‘planking’.
よろしくお願いします yoroshiku onegaishimasu - Please treat me kindly.
Don’t forget to go back to the original tutorial and see if you can understand it without looking at the English translations!
If you would like to practice this grammar point then why not try out one of my practice quizzes:
I hope you found this useful. If there’s anything you’re unsure of then feel free to comment. Or, if you’d like to go into more detail about this grammar aspect then check out the services page to see more about my one on one online tutoring.
Hi, I’m Hannah from Japanesejoshi.com! Today I’m going to teach you a simple way of counting up to 10 in Japanese. Let’s go!
ichi = 1
ni = 2
san = 3
yon = 4
go = 5
roku = 6
nana = 7
hachi = 8
kyuu = 9
juu = 10
I hope you found this useful. If there’s anything you’re unsure of then feel free to comment. Or, if you’d like to go into more detail about this grammar aspect then check out the services page to see more about my one on one online tutoring.
