Japanese lessons 12 Nihongo no joshi  “de”  /  Japanese particle “de”   ①　watashi  wa  keiko  desu. ＝ I am Keiko Yamada. →「wa」： Subject marker (“wa” indicates the main topic of a sentence.) ②　watashi  wa  kaban  o  kai-mashita. ＝ I bought a bag. →「o」： Object marker (“o” is placed after a noun and it indicates the noun is the direct object.) ③　watashi  wa  depaato  de  kaban  o  kai-mashita. ＝ I bought a bag at a department store. →「de」：Place marker (“de” indicates the place where an action or an event take place.) ④　watashi  wa  3gatsu  3ka  ni  depaato  de  kaban  o  kai-mashita. ＝ I bought a bag at a department store on March third. […]

Japanese lessons 11 Dooshi no kakokei  /  verb past tense in Japanese     tense  affirmative  negative form   non-past tense  (present / future )  tabe　masu      tabe　masen   past tense  tabe　mashita     tabe 　masendeshita    Nihongo  no  “kakokei (past tense) ” o  tsukuru  no  wa  totemo  kantan  desu. 「masu」o「mashita」ni  kaeru  dake  desu.  shita  no  rei  o  mite-mimashoo!   To make Japanese past tense is very simple. Just change the masu ending to mashita. Look at the examples below. ① watashi  wa  kinoo  raamen  o  tabe-mashita. わたしは　きのう　ラーメンを　たべました。 I ate (had) Ramen yesterday.   Affirmative past tence :  masu →  mashita Negative past tense : masen ＋ deshita = masendeshita.   ② watashi  wa  kinoo  […]

Learn how to use and where to place adverbs of frequency in Japanese!   kaiwa  /  Conversation  「yoku  eiga  o  mi-masu」”How often do you watch movies”   A:  John-san,  yoku  eiga  o  mi-masu  ka? B:   hai,  yoku  mi-masu. horaa  to  komedii  o  yoku  mi-masu.   Yamada-san  wa? A:   iie,  amari   mi-masen. watashi  wa  geemu  no  hoo  ga  suki-desu. B:  watashi  wa  zenzen  geem  o  shimasen. A:  eh?  dooshite?  geemu  wa  omoshiroi  desu  yo.   <translation> A: John, do you often watch movies? B: Yes, I often do.  I often watch horror movies and comedy movies. How about you,  Mr. Yamada? A: No, I don’t often watch (movies). I prefer (playing) games. B: I […]

Japanese verbs /  Basic 10 verbs   Let’s learn Japanese verbs!   Dooshi  verbs  1  たべべます  tabe-masu  to eat  2  のみます  nomi-masu  to drink  3  みます  mi-masu  to look, to watch  4  よみます  yomi-masu  to read  5  ききます  kiki-masu  to listen  6  かきます  kaki-masu  to write  7  かいます  kai-masu  to buy  8  はなします  hanashi-masu  to talk, to speak  9  つくります  tsukuri-masu  to make  10  します  shimasu  to do, to play   ■　Bun no koozoo /  Sentence  Structure   ① Watashi  wa  mainichi  terebi  o  mi-masu.  (I watch TV every day. ) →　Subject + time expression + verb + object   ② Ashita  watashi  wa  tenisu  o  shimasu.     (Tomorrow,  I will (or am going to) […]