Thursday, January 6, 2005

yay, you guys liked my nihongo lesson! well i've decided to put up lesson 2. also i'd like to say that 4 more visits, and i have 1000 hits, so i'm putting up a picture, thank you all ^^


Lesson 2: Who is it?

First, we should establish who you are. If you want to say "I am Sally."
You would say: Watashi wa Sally desu.
Watashi means 'I.' Wa is a particle which marks the subject of a sentence.
It roughly means 'as for' so, the sentence translates to "As for me, I'm Sally."
You can also just say "Sally desu." which just means 'I am Sally.'
Men and boys can also use the form "Boku wa ___ desu."
Boku also means I, but is used by males only.
The word 'you' in Japanese is anata, but be careful not to use it unless you're very familiar with someone as it is slightly personal. It's better to just use the person's name when referring to them.

Watashi wa Hana desu. I am Hana.
Watashi wa Smith desu. I am Mr./Ms Smith.
Hana desu. I am Hana.
Smith desu. I am Mr./Ms Smith.
Watashi wa John desu. I am John.
Boku wa John desu.I am John.

If you want to ask someone's name, you say "Onamae wa nan desu ka?" Namae means 'name'.
The 'o' is added to make it honorific (used only for other people, not yourself).
Remember from lesson one that 'nan desu ka 'means what is it?' So the sentence literally means "As for your honorific name, what is it?"
To tell someone your name, you can use the above replies or you can say 'Namae wa Hana desu.' or 'Watashi no namae wa hana desu.' The shorter form is usually used in less formal situations.
The particle 'no' in this case is similar to the English " 's ". It indicates ownership.
Watashi no namae means "my name". Anata no namae would be 'your name.'

Examples: Onamae wa nan desu ka?What's your name?
Watashi no namae wa Heather desu. My name is Heather.
Namae wa John desu.
My name is John.
Inu no namae wa nan desu ka?
What is the dog's name?
Inu no namae wa Spike desu.
The dog's name is Spike.

To ask "Who is it?" you say "Dare desu ka?" Dare means 'who.'
To ask "Whose is it?" you say "Dare no desu ka?"
Dare desu ka? Who is it?
Dare no desu ka? Whose is it?
To indicate ownership of an object, the possessive 'no' particle is used.

Examples:
Dare no inu desu ka?
Whose dog is it?
Watashi no inu desu.
It's my dog.
Dare no neko desu ka?
Whose cat is it?
Watashi no desu.
It's mine.
Dare no neko desu ka?
Whose cat is it?
Susan-san no neko desu.
It's Susan's cat.
Anata no desu ka?
Is this yours?
Iie, Mike-san no desu.
No, it's Mike's.

Lesson 2 Vocabulary:
watashi I
boku I (used by males only)
anata you
wa subject marker
o particle name prefix added to some words to make them honoriffic
namae name
no possesive particle ('s)
dare who
inu dog
neko cat


p.s. to sad-reflectionx question, sayonara is only suppose to be used for long goodbyes, or to someone you don't expect to see again, also known as an interjection.
japanese word of the day, otaku: two meanings,

1. hard core 'anime' freak, or someone who devotes all their time to one thing (note that this can be taken as an insult for being a nerd)
2. house (polite) yes, it's true, look it up in dictionary and you'll find it, it's in mine.

~heruchigu~

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