Lesson 3: Introducing Yourself
Read this page briefly and spend most of your time on drill exercise.
Expressions
Click to play audio.
| I'm from ... | ||
|---|---|---|
| I'm from Brazil. | Burajiru kara kimashita. | |
| South Korea | Kankoku kara kimashita. | |
| China | Chūgoku kara kimashita. | |
| Australia | Ōsutoraria kara kimashita. | |
| U. S. A. | Amerika kara kimashita. | |
kara: from kimashita: came |
||
| See Nations page for other countries. | ||
| Nationality | ||
|---|---|---|
I am Japanese. |
Watashi wa Nihon-jin desu. |
|
| Is Ms. Wang Australian? | Wan-san wa Ōsutoraria-jin desuka? | |
| He is not American | Kare wa Amerika-jin dewa arimasen. | |
| What nationality is she? | Kanojo wa Nani-jin desuka? | |
watashi: I / anata: you / kare: he / kanojo: she Country name + jin = nationality Nihon-jin: Japanese Nani-jin desuka?: What nationality? |
||
| Profession | ||
|---|---|---|
We are also students. |
Watashi tachi mo gakusei desu. |
|
| Are they also engineers? | Kare ra mo enjinia desuka? | |
| Are you (all) also officeworkers? | Anata tachi mo kaishain desuka? | |
watashi tachi: we / anata tachi: you (all) / kare ra: they (men) / kanojo tachi: they (women) mo: also (comes after the subject instead of "wa") gakusei: student kaishain: office worker enjinia: engineer Hai, so desu.: Yes, it is so. Iie, chigai masu.: No, it isn't so. |
||
| Name | ||
|---|---|---|
| His name is Paul. | kare no namae wa Pōru desu. |
|
| What is (your) name? | Onamae wa nan desuka? | |
| What is her name? | Kanojo no namae wa nan desuka? | |
| What is (your) job? | Oshigoto wa nan desuka? |
|
| What is Ms.Wang's job? | Wan-san no shigoto wa nan desuka? | |
noun + no = possessive watashi no: my / anata no: your / kare no: his / kanojo no: her namae: name shigoto: job onamae wa nandesuka?: What is (your) name? oshigoto wa nandesuka?: What is (your) job? "o" (prefix to make the word polite) is usually attached when you ask name or job directly to the person. |
||
| Who? | ||
|---|---|---|
| Who is that person? | Ano hito wa dare desuka? | |
| Who are those people? | Ano hito tachi wa dare desuka? | |
| Who is her boyfriend? | Kanojo no boifurendo wa dare desuka? | |
hito: person / hito tachi: people kono (hito): this (person) / sono (hito): that (person) / ano (hito): that (person) dare: who tomodachi: friend kazoku: family bōifurendo: boyfriend / gārufurendo: girlfriend |
||
| Whose? | ||
|---|---|---|
| Whose pen is this? | Kore wa dare no pen desuka? | |
| Whose friend is he? | Kare wa dare no tomodachi desuka? | |
| It's not his family's book. | Sore wa kare no kazoku no hon dewa arimasen. | |
pen: pen hon: book dare no: whose |
||
Basic Rules
Articles and Nouns
Japanese language does not have articles (a, an, the).
You can assume that nouns don't change the form. Basically, there is no plural form, and no gender (feminine, masculine, neuter etc.).
In English, "apple" can be "an apple", "apples" or "the apple". In Japanese, it is just "apple". To mention how many, you say "one apple", "two apple" or "many apple"...
Verbs
Verbs don't change the form depending on the person or the number of the subject.
In English, "I am", "he or she is" and "we, you or they are", and also "I speak" and "he or she speaks". There is no such changes in Japanese.
But they do change the form for other purposes such as tense (past, present, present progressive, etc.). You will learn more in the following lessons.
