Learn Japanese Conversation

Key Sentences

Grammar Note

[A] wa [B] desu

This means "Noun A is noun B". Wa is a particle and a topic marker.
The noun followed by a particle wa is the topic of a statement or a question. The topic often refers to the same thing as the subject, but not necessarily.

Desu identifies a person or a thing.
It can be translated into "is/are/am" in English. Desu is not affected by gender or number. The negative form and the past tense of desu are as followings respectively: Ja arimasen and ja arimasendeshita are more formal.

Question marker ka?

Ka is a question marker.
Ka added to the end of a sentence makes it into a question. The word order does not change.
Hai means "yes" and iie means "no". Ee is also commonly used for "yes" in casual situation.

Honorific title -san

-san is a honorific title like "Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms.".
This can be added to either a surname or a first name, of a male or a female.
San shows respect to the person, so it should not be used with one's own name and one's family.

How to say "You"

"You" is anata. In English, "you" is commonly used in any situation.
However, in Japanese, Anata is sometimes regarded as a sign of "disagreement", "criticism" or "dissatisfaction".
In Japanese conversation we usually call one's name instead of using anata.

	Norman	:	Anata wa tsuuyaku desu ka?
	Norman	:	Yoshida-san wa tsuuyaku desu ka?
	Yoshida	:	Hai, watashi wa tsuuyaku desu.

Omission of the subject

In Japanese, the subject is often omitted when it is clearly understood by the speakers from the context of the sentence.

Hajimemashite "How do you do?"

Hajimemashite "How do you do" and Doozo yoroshiku "It's nice to meet you" are greeting expressions. They are used when meeting someone for the first time.

"Name" is namae. "My name is Smith" is Watashi no namae wa Smith desu, however, this expression is rarely used for greetings.
When you introduce your name, you should say Watashi wa Smith desu "I'm Smith".

Particle no in Watashi no namae, ABC no Norman

See the next lesson

How are you?

English speaking people naturally want to know how to say "How are you?" because it is used as a daily greeting in English.

An exact translation is O-genki desu ka? "Are you well?", however, the usage is quite different from the English phrase "How are you?".
O-genki desu ka? is used to inquire about the health of someone you haven't seen in a long time. Therefore it is not used as a general greeting like the English phrase "How are you?".

Japanese people usually say just Ohayoo gozaimasu "good morning", Konnichiwa "good afternoon" or Konbanwa "good evening" to someone they often see.

See Words & Phrases - Greetings

Soo desu "Yes, it is" vs. Soo desu ka "I see"

Soo desu means "Yes, it is" or "That's right". Soo desu ka with the lower-ending is not a question, but it means "I see".

Okuni wa dochira desu ka? "Where are you from?"

You may be often asked about where you are from by a Japanese. The common phrase for this question is Okuni wa dochira desu ka? which literally means "What is your country?".

Kuni means "country" and o-kuni is the respectful form. Dochira means "which", but this is often used as "where" in formal speech.

One's nationality such as a Japanese or an American is made by adding -jin to a country name.

See Data On Japan - Country Names

Learn more

For your further study, we have published Japanese@Once, book and Audio e-Book.
This material has the three parts;

Part 1 : Building Up Conversation (40 chapters)
Part 2 : Words & Expressions (40 chapters)
Part 3 : Grammar Focus (45 chapters)

	Greetings	:	Part 1 Chapter 1, Parts 2 Chapter 34
	A particle wa, no	:	Part 3 Chapter 3
	Sentence Structures	:	Part 3 Chapter 1