Learn Japanese ( Lesson 8 ) Simple Phrases and Useful Essential Terms

CALENDAR
Shogatsu (New Year's holidays) is a time when everybody takes a few days off to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.
Days	Months
What day is it today? Kyou wa nan youbi desu ka?	Months are basically numbers (1-12) + gatsu. Pay attention to April, July and September. April is shigatsu not yongatsu, July is shichigatsu not nanagatsu and September is kugatsu not kyuugatsu. Note: There is no capitalization in Japanese.
Sunday nichiyoubi Monday getsuyoubi Tuesday kayoubi Wednesday suiyoubi Thursday mokuyoubi Friday kinyoubi Saturday Doyoubi Seasons four seasons Shiki spring haru summer natsu fall aki winter fuyu	January ichigatsu February nigatsu March sangatsu April shigatsu May gogatsu June rokugatsu July shichigatsu August hachigatsu September kugatsu October juugatsu November juuichigatsu December juunigatsu
TIME
What time is it? What time is it now?		Nan ji desu ka? Ima nan-ji desu ka?
one o'clock ichi ji two o'clock ni ji three o'clock san ji four o'clock yo ji five o'clock go ji six o'clock roku ji seven o'clock shichi ji eight o'clock hachi ji nine o'clock ku ji ten o'clock juu ji eleven o'clock juuichi ji twelve o'clock juuni ji		time Jikan minutes fun, pun a.m. Gozen p.m. Gogo noon Shougo midnight Mayonaka It's one o 'clock. Ichiji desu. It's 9 a.m. Gozen ku ji desu. It's 3:30 p.m. Gogo san ji han desu. Seconds Minutes １ ichi-byoo ip-pun ２ ni-byoo ni-fun ３ sam-byoo sam-pun ４ yom-byoo yom-pun ５ go-byoo go-fun ６ roku-byoo rop-pun ７ nana-byoo nana-fun ８ hachi-byoo hap-pun hachi-fun ９ kyuu-byoo kyuu-fun １０ juu-byoo jup-pun
COLOURS
What is your favorite color?		Sukina iro wa nan desu ka?
colors iro blue ao red aka brown chairo orange daidaiiro gray haiiro yellow kiiro light green kimidori black kuro green midori light blue mizuiro pink momoiro purple murasaki white Shiro
NUMBERS In Japanese there are two numerical system. One is the ichi-system and the other is the hitotsu-system known as the native Japanese numbers. The native Japanese numbers are limited to one through ten only.
ichi-system		hitotsu-system
1. ichi 2. ni 3. san 4. shi, yon 5. go 6. roku 7. shichi, nana 8. hachi 9. kyuu, ku 10. juu Hon o san-satsu yomimashita. I read three books. Inu ga ni-hiki imasu. There are two dogs.		1. hitotsu 2. futatsu 3. mittsu 4. yottsu 5. itsutsu 6. muttsu 7. nanatsu 8. yattsu 9. kokonotsu 10. Too Hako o futatsu kaimashita. I bought two boxes. Mondai ga hitotsu arimasu. There is one problem.
To form numbers from 11~19, start with "juu" (10) and then add the number you need. 11 (10+1) juu-ichi 12 (10+2) juu-ni 13 (10+3) juu-san 19 (10+9) juu-ku Twenty is "nijuu" (2X10) and for twenty one, just add one. 20 nijuu 30 sanjuu 40 yonjuu 21 nijuu-ichi 31 sanjuu-ichi 41 yonjuu-ichi 22 nijuu-ni 32 sanjuu-ni 42 yonjuu-ni With "hyaku" (100) and "sen" (1000), the pattern is basically same. However there are some sound change occurred. 100 hyaku 1000 sen 200 nihyaku 2000 nisen 300 sanbyaku 3000 sanzen 400 yonhyaku 4000 yonsen 500 gohyaku 5000 gosen 600 roppyaku 6000 rokusen 700 nanahyaku 7000 nanasen 800 happyaku 8000 hassen 900 kyuuhyaku 9000 kyuusen		The Japanese uses 10,000 as a counting unit. Each unit of 10,000 is called "man." This continues until 100,000,000 (ichioku). 10,000 ichiman 100,000 juuman 1,000,000 hyakuman 10,000,000 senman 100,000,000 ichioku "Man" and "oku" follow a regular rule except for 10,000 and 100,000,000. They are always "ichiman" and "ichioku" not just "man" and "oku." In most cases, the Japanese use the Arabic (Western) numbers when they write horizontally. Let's look at how to say these numbers. 45 yonjuu go 132 hyaku sanjuu ni 3,687 sanzen roppyaku hachijuu nana 94,256 kyuuman yonsen nihyaku gojuu roku 285,719 nijuuhachiman gosen nanahyaku juu kyu
WEATHER
How's the weather?		Tenki wa dou desu ka?
It's fine. Tenki ga yoi It's raining. Ame ga futteimasu. It's cloudy. Kumori desu. It's pouring. Doshaburi desu. It's windy. Kaze ga fuiteimasu. It's cold. Samui. It’s hot. Atsui. It's cool. Suzushii. It's warm. Atatakai. It's humid. Shikke ga arimasu. It’s snowing. Yuki ga futteimasu. It’s freezing. Kogoeru youni samui.

ENGLISH		JAPANESE
CALENDAR
Nana	What day is it today?	Kyo wa nan nichi desu ka?
Ren	Today is Sunday.	Kyo wa nichiyoubi desu.
Nana	A friend is coming from Singapore.	Tomodachi ga Singapore kara kimasu.
Ren	Is that so? About how long is he staying?	So desu ka? Nan nichi gurai ni Nihon imasu ka?
Nana	For two weeks.	Ni shuu kan desu.
Ren	How much longer will you be in Japan, Nana?	Nana-san wa mo dono gurai Nihon ni imasu ka?
Nana	Six months.	Rokka getsu desu.
Ren	How is Japan?	Nihon wa do desu ka?
Nana	It is fun.	Tanoshii desu.
TIME
Kyohei	Are you going to school tomorrow?	Ashita gakkou e ikimasu ka?
Sunako	Yes, I am.	Hai, ikimasu.
Kyohei	What time are you going?	Nan ji ni ikimasu ka?
Sunako	About eight o'clock.	Hachi ji goro desu.
Kyohei	Wow, that's early. What time does class start?	Hayai desu ne. Kurasu wa nan ji ni hajimarimasu ka?
Sunako	At eight thirty. But before class I'm going to meet a friend.	Hachi ji han desu. Demo kurasu no mae ni tomodachi to aimasu kara.
Kyohei	What time are your classes over?	Kurasu wa nan ji ni owarimasu ka?
Sunako	At three o'clock.	San ji desu.
Kyohei	Well, after that can you come over? Let's watch TV.	Jaa, sono ato uchi e kimasen ka? Terebi o isho ni mimasho.
Sunako	What's on?	Nani ga arimasu ka?
Kyohei	There's a Japanese movie. Yuki's coming, too.	Nihon no eiga ga arimasu. Yuki-san mo kimasu.
Sunako	Okay, after that we can study history.	Jaa, sono ato rekishi o benkyo shimasho.
WEATHER
Ryuzaki	Mr Fuji, it's been a long time.	Fuji-san, Shibaraku desu ne.
Fuji	Oh, Ms Ryuzaki, hello.	Aa, Ryuzaki-san, konnichiwa.
Ryuzaki	How are you?	Ogenki desu ka?
Fuji	Yes, I am.	Hai, genki desu.
Ryuzaki	It's nice weather today, isn't it?	Kyo wa ii tenki desu ne.
Fuji	Yes, but it is a little hot.	Hai, demo chotto atsui desu ne.
Ryuzaki	So it is. Is it also hot in Japan now?	So desu ne. Ima Nihon mo atsui desu ka?
Fuji	Yes. It is probably hot.	Hai, atsui desho.
Ryuzaki	Is it cold in the winter in Japan?	Nihon no fuyu wa samui desu ka?
Fuji	Yes. It is very cold.	Ee. Samui desu yo.
NUMBERS
Miaka	Excuse me.	Sumimasen.
Salesperson	Yes.	Hai.
Miaka	Send this by air mail, please.	Kore koukubin de onegaishimasu.
Salesperson	It is for Singapore, isn't it?	Singapore desu ne.
Miaka	Yes.	Ee.
Salesperson	It is 500 yen.	Gohyaku en desu.
Miaka	How long will it take?	Donogurai kakarimasu ka?
Salesperson	It will take for about a week.	Isshuukan gurai kakarimasu.
Miaka	And please give me five 40 yen stamps and three postcards. How much is it?	Sorekara yonjuu en no kitte o go-mai to hagaki o san-mai kudasai. Ikura desu ka?
Salesperson	The total is 451 yen.	Zenbu de yonhyaku gojuu ichi en desu.
Miaka	Ok, please take the amount here.	Ja, kore de onegaishimasu.
Salesperson	Your change is 30 yen.	Sanjuu en no okaeshi desu.
Miaka	Thanks.	Doumo.