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Males and Females Say It Differently
You’ve already figured out that the informal style of speech has feminine and masculine forms. These two distinctions generally are shown by differences in how you use three things: 1. interjections, 2. personal pronouns, and 3. sentence-final particles/patterns.
1. INTERJECTIONS
| A woman would say: Ara, Sumisu-san! | Ah! Mr. Smith! |
| A man would say, instead: Ǎ, Sumisu-san!Ⓜ | Oh! Mr. Smith! |
2. PERSONAL PRONOUNS
| A woman would say: | |
| Atashi wa anata no tsuma ja nai. | I’m not your wife. |
| A man would say, instead: | |
| Boku wa kimi no otto ja nai.Ⓜ | I’m not your husband. |
3. SENTENCE-FINAL PARTICLES/ENDING PATTERNS
| A woman would say: | |
| Kono kitte atarashii wa yo! | This stamp is certainly new. |
| A man would say, instead: | |
| Kono kitte atarashii zo.Ⓜ | This stamp is certainly new. |
Practice
Write the Japanese equivalent of the following expressions, using rōmaji (Roman letters). If you are male, write it using the male speech form; if you’re female, use the female speech form.
1. How do you do?
_______________________________
2. Help me!
_______________________________
3. Here you are!
_______________________________
4. Nice to meet you, too.
_______________________________
5. Watch out!
_______________________________
6. What could it be?
_______________________________
Chapter 6
What’s This? It’s a Cat: Using Da (“To Be”)
Da is a plain form of desu (“to be”) and is equivalent to the English linking verb “to be” such as is, are, and am. It comes in handy. You’ll see how.
A Few Things to Know about Nouns
1. Nouns or pronouns can be used as the predicate of a sentence with da, as shown here:
| Neko da. | It’s a cat. | Tōkyō da. | It’s Tokyo. |
| Ginkō da. | It’s a bank. | Okurimono da. | It’s a gift. |
| Sumisu-san da. | It’s Mr. Smith. |
2. Japanese nouns, unlike English nouns, do not usually change to be singular or plural. Also, there are no articles used as in English—no “a” or “the”—but the situation usually makes clear which meaning is intended. So in Japanese, the word neko can be translated in a few different ways:
neko → a cat or cats / the cat or the cats
3. Nouns become the topic or subject of a sentence when followed by the particle wa, ga, or mo.
| Sumisu-san wa gakusei da. | Mr. Smith is a student. |
| Ginkō ga aru. | There is a bank. |
| Tōkyō mo tokai da. | Tokyo is also a city. |
“Is It a Gift?”: Asking Questions with Nouns
To make a question out of a present-tense, affirmative sentences like those given above, leave out the final da and just say the single word with a rising intonation.
| Neko? | Is it a cat? |
| Ginkō? | Is it a bank? |
| Sumisu-san? | Is it Mr. Smith? |
| Tōkyō? | Is it Tokyo? |
| Okurimono? | Is it a gift? |
ANSWERING THEM
In response to the above questions, let’s answer using Un and Uun which mean “Yes” and “No” respectively.
1. Affirmative answers: → Un, ___.
| Un, neko. | Yes, it’s a cat. |
| Un, ginkō. | Yes, it’s a bank. |
| Un, Sumisu-san. | Yes, it’s Mr. Smith. |
| Un, Tōkyō. | Yes, it’s Tokyo. |
| Un, okurimono. | Yes, it’s a gift. |
2. Negative answers: → Uun, ___ ja (dewa) nai.
To make a negative answer, add the negative form ja nai or dewa nai at the end of the sentence. Either one can be used; dewa nai is a little bit more polite, but they mean the same thing.
| Uun, neko ja nai or Uun, neko dewa nai. | No, it isn’t a cat. |
| Uun, ginkō ja nai or Uun, ginkō dewa nai. | No, it isn’t a bank. |
| Uun, Sumisu-san ja nai or Uun, Sumisu-san dewa nai. | No, it isn’t Mr. Smith. |
| Uun, Tōkyō ja nai or Uun, Tōkyō dewa nai. | No, it isn’t Tokyo. |
| Uun, okurimono ja nai or Uun, okurimono dewa nai. | No, it isn’t a gift. |
Now, Let’s Try the Past Tense!
Past tense of da → ___ datta.
Try replacing the present form da with datta, which is the past form of da.
| Neko datta. | It was a cat. |
| Ginkō datta. | It was a bank. |
| Sumisu-san datta. | It was Mr. Smith. |
| Tōkyō datta. | It was Tokyo. |
| Okurimono datta. | It was a gift. |
Now you are saying things in the past tense. Easy, right?
ASKING QUESTIONS IN THE PAST TENSE
To form questions using datta in the past tense simply say affi rmative statements with a rising intonation on the last part of datta.
| Neko datta? | Was it a cat? |
| Ginkō datta? | Was it a bank? |
| Sumisu-san datta? | Was it Mr. Smith? |
| Tōkyō datta? | Was it Tokyo? |
| Okurimono datta? | Was it a gift? |
ANSWERING THEM
1. Affirmative answers: → Un, ___ datta.
| Un, neko datta. | Yes, it was a cat. |
| Un, ginkō datta. | Yes, it was a bank. |
| Un, Sumisu-san datta. | Yes, it was Mr. Smith. |
| Un, Tōkyō datta. | Yes, it was Tokyo. |
| Un, okurimono datta. | Yes, it was a gift. |
2. Negative answers: → Uun, ___ ja (dewa) nakatta.
Replace the past form datta with ja nakatta or dewa nakatta which is the past negative form. (Again, just as with ja and dewa in your negative answers above, it doesn’t matter whether you choose ja nakatta or dewa nakatta; they mean the same thing.)
| Uun, neko ja nakatta or | |
| Uun, neko dewa nakatta. | No, it wasn’t a cat. |
| Uun, neko ja nakatta or | |
| Uun, neko dewa nakatta. | No, it wasn’t a cat. |
| Uun, ginkō ja nakatta or | |
| Uun, ginkō dewa nakatta. | No, it wasn’t a bank. |
| Uun, Sumisu-san ja nakatta or | |
| Uun, Sumisu-san dewa nakatta. | No, it wasn’t Mr. Smith |
| Uun, Tōkyō ja nakatta or | |
| Uun, Tōkyō dewa nakatta. | No, it wasn’t Tokyo. |
| Uun,
|