Lesson #4: Basic Statements and Questions

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This page was created on 6 June, 2007.

Statements

Simple statements such as "I am a student" or "He is a big man" all use a noun combined with the word desu (です).

Examples:

６じです。　It is 6 o'clock.

Rokuji desu.

がくせいです。 I am a student.

Gakusee desu.

おおきいひとです。 He is a big person.

Ookii hito desu.

None of these sentences has a subject in it, like "it," "I," and "he." Japanese sentences often do no explicitly state their subjects unlike English sentences do. The context of a sentence is often sufficient to provide the subject of a statement.

However, if you would like to specify the subject of a statement, you can do so by inserting the subject + は (wa) at the beginning of the sentence.

Example:

わたしはがくせいです。 I am a student.

Watashi wa gakusee desu.

The pattern for forming statements is:

XはYです。

This means: X is Y.

Example:

やまださんはせんせいです。 Mr. Yamada is a teacher.

は is a particle. A particle attaches intself to a phrase and shows how the phrase relates to the rest of the sentence.

Japanese does not use "a" or "the" or the plural "s."

Question Sentences

Question sentences are very simple. Once you have learned how to make a statement, you simply need to ad か (ka) to the end of the statement.

So, taking the previous example, Mr. Yamada is a teacher, we can change it into a simple question by adding ka to the end of the statement.

やまださんはせんせいですか。 Is Mr. Yamada a teacher?

Japanese does not use question marks to signify questions like English does.

Additional example:

６じです。 becomes ６じですか。

It is 6 o'clock. -> Is it 6 o'clock?

The Particle の

The particle の has a variety of purposes. The main uses of this particle are:

1. Possessive

2. Connecting phrases

Now, we'll take a look at の used in both of these ways.

Possessive の：

たけしさんのほんです。 It is Takeshi's book.

Connecting の：

にほんのだいがくです。 It is a college in Japan.

The idea being modified always comes after the の particle and the description is placed before it.

When の is attached to a noun, the expression "noun の noun" behaves like a noun itself. For example, こうこうのせんせい is literally high school の teacher. This expression is then treated as the noun "high school teacher."

Expressions

はい and ええ both mean "yes" in response to yes-no questions. However, ええ is a little less formal and more conversational than はい.

The phrase そうですか is often used to acknowledge understanding when someone else has just spoken. It is the English equivalent of "Is that so?" or "I see."

さん is often placed after a name as a generic title for a person. However, you do NOT refer to yourself as san. It is like a "Mr." or "Ms." except that it is placed after a name instead of before it.

Pronunciation

The particle は is pronounced "wa" instead of "ha." This is also true within the greetings こんいちは and こんばんは which are respectively pronounced "Konnichiwa" and "Konbanwa."

Vocabulary

Please memorize the vocabulary words for this lesson.

せんせい	sensei	teacher
わたし	watashi	I
せんもん	senmon	major
はい	hai	yes
いいえ	iie	no
がくせい	gakusee	student
だいがく	daigaku	college
ばんごう	bangoo	number
なまえ	namae	name
ともだち	tomodachi	friend
にほん	nihon	Japan
そうですか。	soodesuka.	Is that so?
～じ	~ji	~o'clock
でんわ	denwa	phone
こうこう	kookoo	high school

Assignment
Please record a clip of yourself reading the following statements. Also record your translation of the statements. E-mail this clip as an attachment to your instructor at: eunnah@stanford.edu in order to receive personal feedback on your pronunciation.

こんにちは。わたしはせんせいです。やまださんはせんせいですか。

Note: せんせい means teacher and is included in this lesson's vocabulary list.

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Tokoro created and updated by Eunice Lee