Download Conversation 1 - Japanese Studies Program @ York University

Notes for Lecture 1



Target
Items:
sentences that include verbs in the “V-masu” form
particles wa, o, e, ga, mo, and to
wh-question words nani, doko & itsu; words that describe time and frequency
Word Order:
 Generally, Japanese sentences are made up
of several noun + particle sequences
followed by a verb (or an adjective), which
is often followed by a sentence-final particle
such as ka (asking a question) and ne
(seeking for agreement).
Noun
P
Noun
P
Noun
P
Verb
Translate (The alphabet indicates the dialogue
in which the answer can be found):
As for the weekend, what did you do? (G)
I went to Edmonton. (H)
(P)
あしたはだいがくへきますか。
Ashita wa daigaku e kimasu ka.
(As for tomorrow, are you coming to university?)
Verbs in “V-masu” Form:
 The ending –masu makes verbs polite: it is
used in formal style conversation.
Affirmative
Non- V-ます
past V-masu
Past V-ました
V-mashita
Negative
V-ません
V-masen
V-ませんでした
V-masen deshita
よみます。（I read/I will read.）
Yomimasu.
よみません。(I don’t read/I won’t read.)
Yomimasen.
よみました。(I read/I have read.)
Yomimashita.
よみませんでした。(I didn’t read.)
Yomimasen deshita.
ざっしをよみますか。(Do you read magazines?)
Zasshi o yomimasu ka.
はい、よみます。/ええ、よみます。(Yes, I do).
Hai, yomimasu. /Ee, yomimasu.
いいえ、よみません。(No, I don’t)
Iie, yomimasen.
Translate:
Do you speak Japanese? (04-E)
I studied a little. (04-E)
As for English, I do not speak (it). (04-E)
I am not coming. (04-B)
I am not going. (A)
I watched a movie. (G)
I played tennis. (G)
Did you understand?
-- No, I didn’t understand. (D)
Verbs introduced in up to Conversation 1:
mimasu (see), yomimasu (read), hanashimasu
(speak), tabemasu (eat), nomimasu (drink),
kaimasu buy), wakarimasu (understand),
shimasu (do), benkyoo-shimasu (study), untenshimasu (drive), ikimasu (go), kimasu (come),
kaerimasu (return), arimasu (there is…)
Particles:
 wa presents the topic of one’s utterance (“As
for item X, it is such that…).
りょこうはいいですねえ。(As for travelling, it’s nice.)
Ryokoo wa ii desu nee.
 o indicates the grammatical “object” of the
sentence.
すしをたべます。(I eat sushi.)
Sushi o tabemasu.
 e indicates the direction of movement. Note
that the verbs ikimasu, kimasu, and kaerimasu
are used with noun + e.
スーパーへいきました。(I went to a supermarket.)
Suupaa e ikimashita.
 ga indicates the grammatical “subject” of the
sentence. Note that the verb arimasu is used
with noun + ga.
しつもんがありますか。(Are there any questions?)
Shitsumon ga arimasu ka.
 mo indicates “too” or “also.”
わたしもかえります。(I am going home, too.)
Watashi mo kaerimasu.
 no connects two regular nouns.
えいごのほん (English book)
eego no hon
 to indicates “and,” connecting nouns.
パンとミルク (bread and milk)
pan to miruku
Time/Frequency Adverbs:
 You can add a time/frequency adverb such as
ashita (tomorrow) to a sentence to describe
when or how often you do/did something.
every day
usually
often
sometimes
not so…
not at all
Translate:
As for today, it is cool. (03-A)
I will study Japanese. (05-A)
I will buy a Japanese dictionary. (04-A)
Are you going to university tomorrow? (A)
Do you have a car? (05-C)
There is a test tomorrow. (03-D)
Then, I will eat sushi, too.(03-E)
Do you speak English, too? (04-E)
Ottawa and Montreal (H)
まいにち
mainichi
たいてい
taitee
よく
yoku
ときどき
tokidoki
V-ます
V-masu
Translate:
Q: メアリーさんはよくテレビをみますか。
Mearii-san wa yoku terebi o mimasu ka.
A: はい、ときどきみます。
Hai, tokidoki mimasu.
Q: じゃあ、よくビデオゲームをしますか。
Jaa, yoku bideo geemu o shimasu ka.
A: いいえ、あまりしません。
Iie, amari shimasen.
あまり
amari
ぜんぜん
zenzen
V-ません
V-masen
Translate:
Yes, I sometimes drive. (05-C)
Do you often read books? (05-D)
I usually read magazines. (05-D)
Do you watch TV every day? (E)
Are you going to university tomorrow? (A)
Will you study Japanese next year? (B)
Wh-Question Words nani, doko, and itsu:
 Question sentences may also contain a “question
word” like nani (what), doko (where) and itsu
(when). Note that the word order remains the same
in a question sentence as in a regular sentence.
Q: なにをたべますか。(What are you going to eat?)
Nani o tabemasu ka.
A: てんぷらをたべます。(I’ll eat tempura.)
Tenpura o tabemasu.
Q: しゅうまつはどこへいきましたか。
Shuumatsu wa doko e ikimashita ka.
(Where did you go over the weekend?)
A: オタワへいきました。(I went to Ottawa.)
Otawa e ikimashita.
Q: いつべんきょうしますか。(When will you study?)
Itsu benkyoo-shimasu ka.
A: あしたべんきょうします。(I will study tomorrow.)
Ashita benkyoo-shimasu.
Translate:
What did you do over the weekend?
– I watched a movie. (G)
Where did you go last week?
-- I went to Ottawa and Montreal. (H)
When are you coming tomorrow? (04-B)
Prepared by N. Yabuki-Soh