about these.
| Hajimemashite. | How do you do?; Nice to meet you |
| kyō | today |
| ii (= yoi) | nice; good; okay |
| tenki | weather |
| ne/nē | isn’t it? (P) → |
| sō nē | Yes, it is; that’s right |
| totemo | very; extremely; really |
| aozora | blue sky |
| da | is/are/am (plain form of desu) |
| asoko | that place; over there |
| kara | from; through (P) |
| kuru | come |
| Buraun | Brown |
| -san | suffix for Mr.; Mrs.; Miss; Ms. |
| kashira | I wonder (P) |
| shitteru/shitte iru | know (DF) → shiru |
| no | informal question marker |
| shujin - (goshujin) | my husband (someone’s husband) |
| to | as; from; to (P) |
| onaji | same |
| kaisha | company |
| Yā | Hi; Hello; Oh (Int) Ⓜ→ |
| Oshiro | Japanese family name |
| Hisashiburi | It’s been a long |
| desu nē. | time since I saw you. |
| desu | is/are/am (polite form of da) |
| Konnichiwa | Hello; Good afternoon |
| gokazoku | someone else’s family |
| go- | polite prefix → |
| kazoku | family |
| ka | question marker (P) |
| kanai - (okusan) | my wife(someone’s wife) |
| Naomi | female first name |
| musuko ( | son ( |
| Kazuko | female first name |
| kochira | this person; this one; this way |
| otomodachi | friend/friends |
| o- | polite prefix → |
| Miyagi | Japanese family name |
| Dōzo yoroshiku | Nice to meet you; How do you do? |
| Kochira koso | Glad/Nice to meet you, too |
| onegai shimasu | please (do); request; ask (NS) → onegai suru |
| onegai | favor; request; wishing |
| kawaii | cute; pretty; lovely |
| okosan | someone’s child |
| oikutsu | how old; how many; prefix o- |
| mittsu | three (years old) |
| ōkii | big; large |
| kore kara | from now on; after this time |
| okaimono | shopping; prefix o- |
| jā | well; well then |
| watashitachi | we |
| watashi | I |
| -tachi | plural suffix for people |
| kore de | now; then; under the situation |
| shitsurei shimasu | Goodbye; Excuse me (NS) → shitsurei suru |
| shitsurei | rudeness; impoliteness |
Tag Questions
Tag questions in English are short questions tacked onto the end of a sentence, to request confirmation or agreement:
“It is, isn’t it?”
“You’re not American, are you?”
In Japanese, the particle ne is used the same way as a tag question.
Learning from the Dialogue
USING NE/NĒ
At the end of a sentence, the particle ne is usually used when asking for confirmation or agreement from the listener—the same way that English-tag questions are used. And ne is sometimes used just to add a soft and friendly tone. The particle nē is used to express an exclamation such as admiration or surprise. The ne or nē particle is used by both male and female speakers.
| Kimi gakusei da ne?Ⓜ | You’re a student, aren’t you? |
| Kawaii wa ne? | It’s pretty, isn’t it? |
| Jā, mata ne! | See you! |
| Wā! Kirei da nē! | Oh! How pretty! |
“I WONDER…”: USING KASHIRA/KANA
The particle kashira as in Buraun-san kashira is used only by women at the end of a sentence. It means “I wonder” and it is used when the speaker is not sure about something or when talking to oneself. In men’s speech kashira turns into kana or kanā. (Younger women also tend to use kana/kanā.)
Notice that kashira/kana always occurs directly after nouns, adjectival nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs.
| Ara, kore okurimono kashira? | Oh, I wonder is this a present? |
| (N) | |
| Naomi-san, genki kashira?Ⓕ | I wonder if Naomi is okay? |
| (Adj N) | |
| Kore ōkii kana?Ⓜ | I wonder is this too big? |
| (Adj) | |
| Buraun-san kuru kana?Ⓜ | I wonder if Mr. Brown is coming? |
| (V) | |
| Naze kashira?/Naze kanā? | I wonder why? |
| (Adv) (Adv) |
“HEY THERE”—USING YĀ
When running into friends or acquaintances, Yā is used as a greeting like “Hi” or “Hello.” Yā has a very masculine sound. It is used only by men.
| Yā, Buraun-san!Ⓜ | Hello, Mr. Brown! |
| Yā, hisashiburi da nē!Ⓜ | Oh hi, I haven’t seen you for a long time! |
USING THE PREFIXES GO- AND O-
In the dialogue, notice the words gokazoku and otomadachi. The go- of gokazoku and o- of otomodachi are polite prefixes. (Sometimes o- is just used to make sounds gentler.)
The prefixes go- and o- are added to a noun, and they add a level of politeness to one’s speech. These prefixes cannot be added to just any noun, and they are also not interchangeable. You have to know the right one to use with whatever word you are saying. Normally go- is added to a word if it has a Chinese reading, and o- is added to a word if it has a Japanese reading. So it is easier to distinguish the usage of these two prefixes if you understand kanji characters. (See the sidebar on page 3.)
Look at these examples:
| goshujin (someone’s husband) | → | go + shujin | ご主人 |
| gokyōdai(someone’s sibling) | → | go + kyōdai | ご兄弟 |
| gohan(cooked rice/meal) | → | go + han | ご飯 |
| okaimono(shopping) | → | o + kaimono | お買い物 |
| omizu(water) | → | o + mizu | お水 |
| okane(money) | → | o + kane | お金 |
There are a few exceptions such as odenwa (telephone) お電話, oshokuji (meals) お食事, oryōri (cooking) お料理, and so on.
Go- and o- are also added before some adjectival nouns and adjectives but they are not explained in this book.
Practice
Write the appropriate prefix (go- or o-) in the blanks. To know which is appropriate (based on the character’s reading—review p. 3), check back through the dialogues.
Correct answers are given at the back of the book, so that you can check your work.
1. _______mizu
(water)
2. _______shujin