Guide to Grammar: 'Japanese for Busy People:' Lesson 1

Now let's move on to Lesson 1 and the kana columns for ta （た、ち、つ、て、と）na (な、に、ぬ、ね、の, ha (は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ) and no （な、に、ぬ、ね、の).

Review
If we were to put the words in the previous exercises into kana order it would be as follows:

• aoi, akai, aki, ika, ue, eki, ōkī, kao, kaki, kiku, kūki, Keiko, koe,  
• aoi, Akasaka, asa, ashi, eki, ōkī, kagi, kaku, kaze, kiku, kūki, Keiko,  koe, koshi, sake, shio, shiso, sushi, zō 

Now practice writing them in hiragana.

More hiragana

You may have noticed something. Long vowels are not always expressed the way you would think. Usually, you can use an kana from the same row as the long vowel and the kana from the "a" (あ）column. For example:

• くうき
• おおきい

A long ō sound can be expressed with a syllabary from the "o" row and an "u" (う）or the syllabary from the "o" row and "o" （お). Examples of this are:

• おおきい
• おはようございます

The other exception would be with the え column.

• せいこ
• ぜいひ
• けいこ

So you take a syllabary from the "e" row and add "i" (い).

Now let's move on to practice with hiragana from あ to ほ. 

Here's more to practice:

• Old words: aoi, Akasaka,  ashi, eki, ōkī, kagi, kaku, kaze, kiku, kūki, Keiko,  koe, koshi, sake, shio, shiso, sushi, zō 
• New words: Asahi, kasa, Hamamoto, Haneda, hebi, mimi, Mikimoto, Momotarō, Nakamura, nanika, nomimono, Ōsaka, roku, Sapporo, sashimi, tadaima, tame, Tanabata, tatemono、tatsukete, tonari

しかしきさみくたみおたにあ

さぎみかけもあろみきなかか

きみぞさあのしうたいばあさ

かきうとしたはあめたたおか

ぜもろなたてねさけだはいお

さとくりすもだひいいまなお

っかくすけのへしこまもかさ

ぽくうしてこびそもしとむか

ろこきさええのきもおおらな

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrMkJAzbWQc

Lesson 1

If you have the kana version of "Japanese for Busy People" you'll see the usage of hiragana and katakana. Think of this as an opportunity to immerse yourself in the language. You may not recognize everything, but by repeated exposure, you'll become familiar with things much like children in Japan. While learning your hiragana, to help you along with katakana, write the corresponding hiragana above the katakana.

You will notice that foreign words are put into katakana such as the names of countries and the names of foreign people. Originally, Japan had Japanese words to express the names of countries and these are still used, especially in abbreviations and in newspapers. 

Remember that previously we discussed that Japanese is an SOV language (subject-object-verb) while English is an SVO (subject-verb-object) language. The basic sentence structure we are looking at for the next few chapters is:

• X は　Y　です。
• X は　Y　ですか。

For the first chapter, we are using a noun for both X and Y. So the basic equation is X=Y. For this we chapter we are going to talk about nationalities and countries as well as occupations or schools.

While it is tempting to translate です as "is" or "to be" remember that in English "is" has various functions. It is used to express existence, a progressive action or a passive voice. Japanese has other verbs for these functions. 

• There is a restaurant around the corner. (existence)
• I am at home. (existence)
• He is reading a book. (progressive)
• In the movie, Lincoln is shot by Booth. (passive voice)

When I am teaching a class with this book,  I usually like to add some words to both lists. See my lists below.

Countries: 

• にほん
• ちゅうごく
• ドイツ
• イギリス
• アメリカ
• オーストラリア
• タイ
• スペイン (Spain)
• メキシコ (Mexico)
• カナダ (Canada)
• フランス (France)
• かんこく(Korea)
• たいわん (Taiwan)

Nationalities: 

• にほんじん
• ちゅうごくじん
• ドイツじん
• イギリスじん
• アメリカじん
• オーストラリアじん
• タイじん
• スペインじん
• メキシコじん
• カナダじん
• フランスじん
• かんこくじん
• たいわんじん

Notice how easy it is to make the word for nationality. You use the country name and then add じん。Be careful that you don't add an "n" sound before じん。

• アメリカじん
• NOT アメリカんじん

Work:

• べんごし
• ひしょ
• がくせい
• エンジニヤ
• かしゃいん
• せんせい (teacher)
• おくさん (housewife)
• いしゃ (medical doctor)
• かがくしゃ (scientist)
• けんきゅうしゃ (researcher)