Basic Japanese
Basic Japanese
Basic Japanese
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Basic Japanese phrases
OK, so you've decided, that you'd like to learn some of the most common and well-
known phrases in Japanese. Or you already know some words, but are not quite sure
about their meaning. his is the right section for you.
Greetings
English !oma"i Kana
ice to meet you ha"ime mash'te
good morning ohayoo #go$aimas'%
good afternoon konnichiwa
good evening konbanwa
good night
oyasumi #nasai%
see you "aa
goodbye sayonara
&n the phrase 'ha"ime mashite' the second 'i' is not pronounced. &n 'ohayoo
go$aimasu' the 'u' is not pronounced. &n general, when 'su' is at the end of a word,
'u' is never pronounced. he double 'o' in 'ohayoo' stands for prolongation of the
sound, like in 'door' in english. he words in brackets can be omitted.
Polite phrases
English !oma"i Kana
How are you? Ogenki desuka(
I'm fine than!s.
)atashiwa genki desu.
*rigato.
!" #$
%&#
"han! you *rigato
$%&
"han! you very
much
+omo arigato
go$aimasu
'( $%&
#lease $re%uesting
s'thing&
Kudasai )*
#lease $offering
s'thing&
+o$o '+
E'cuse me $to get
attention&
,umimasen ,
(orry $mista!e& Gomen nasai
)o you spea!
english*japanese?
*natawa eigo-nihongo
o hanashimasuka(
" -/. /
+es*no*a little .ai-iie-chotto /-/01&
)o you understand? )akarimasuka( !$
I understand*I don't
understand
)akarimasu-
wakarimasen
!$/
!$,
I don't !now ,hirimasen $,
Basic grammar
he Japanese grammar has lots of specific features, mostly because it is so scarcely
related to other languages. On the other hand it is very sensible, logically very well
connected. ,ome of its features are/
0. in Japanese the predicate always stands at the end of the sentence
1. the verbs don't change depending on the person, gender or number
2. the nouns don't have plural or gender
3. the dependence between words in a sentence is e4pressed thru particles which
follow the words affected.
Personal pronouns
5irst, the personal pronouns will be covered/
singular plural
I watashi !" 2 we watashitachi
!""
23
you anata " you anatatachi
""
"3
he
she
kare
kano"o
4 5
60 57
they karera
4 5