Japanese grammar - Japanese Intensifiers

Intesifiers in Japanese
Japanese intensifiers


Put a Japanese verb into its extensor form, Base II, then add + any of these to make the verb easy or hard to perform:


1. yasui – easy; simple
2. tsurai – hard to deal with, handle; hardship; difficult.
3. nikui – difficult;hard


1a. add yasui to yaru
やりやすい – yariyasui  - easy to play, do


1b. add yasui to suru
しやすい – shiyasui - easy to do


1c. add yasui to taberu
食べやすい - tabeyasui – easy to eat


1d. add yasui to noru
乗りやすい - noriyasui– easy to ride


2a. add tsurai to suru
しづらい - hard to do

2b. add tsurai to yaru
やりづらい - hard to play, do

3a. add nikui to hiku
引きにくい – hikinikui - hard to play, or pull

3b. add nikui to hanasu
 話しにくい– hanashinikui - hard to speak

3c. add nikui to miru
見にくい– Minikui - hard to look at; ugly


* tsu becomes dzu or zu when compounded
or しづらい not しつらい.
dzu not tsu after the shi in shidzurai (shizurai). Yarizurai – hard to do, shitsurai or shizurai – hard to do*

x dake ja naku y (mo)

X dake ja naku Y (mo) – Not only X, but y (also)

 The word dake (pronounced dah - kay) means only. Ja naku is one form of the negative present copula “to be”. Ja naku is an abbreviated version of the more formal expression for “isn’t” dewa nakute, or dewa naku. Dewa has over the years become ja for all intents and purposes. So this is a good point to remember-  as dewa tends toward the contracted form ja, other Japanese words that start with the sound d tend toward j forms when in contraction.

Examples

Ringo dake ja naku banana mo kaimashita.
Not only apples but I also bought banana’s.

kohii dake ja naku o-cha mo suki desu.
Not only coffee but I also like tea.


Towards Better Japanese
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki

Japanese seafood discussion

Since carp and shark are two items of the sea that the Japanese don't have a habit of making into sushi, I will discuss them first then extrapolate on couple of thoughts concerning sushi. The word koi is more oftened used to indicate love, or the act of falling in love more than it is used to mean Koi or Carp.

Same* - shark *(Not pronounced as in English but with long ah as in saw and meh as used in the word men.)

The following items, usually taken from the sea, are occasionally used as sushi.

Kurage - jellyfish

Unagi - Unagi is Eel, or snakes of the sea. The fish with no real fins more similar to a snake than a fish. and the best I have ever had and came away saying, "Boy that sure was tasty Unagi." I thought Unagi particularly well prepared in the quaint town of Isahaya, which isabout a forty five minute drive away from Nagasaki. Nagasaki and the surrounding area is reknown for its excellently prepared eel. The unagi used as sushi is always cooked and is white meat that with a hint of brown.

Uni - taste like poo-poo of the sea until you acquire a taste for it. I love it. It is rather expensive, because it is a pain in the behind to get.

Tako - in Japanese is the word for kite, the flight wielding one or it can mean an octopus. Tako is pronounced like taco, a favorite Mexican food that even the Japanese know.

A lot of people have pre-conceived notions concerning the sushi. They seem to think of stinky, rotten raw fish that has been dead for a month. And anybody who thinks of sushi in this way couldn't be thinking of it in a worse manner. The look and taste of well prepared sushi by iron chefs in my opinion can be compared to lustrousand precious jewels. Served on a plate, arranged like art and appearing like rubies, saphires and diamonds.

Another myth about sushi is that the octopus sushi is served raw. This is not the case. It shoud be stated at the gate that is very rare to eat octopus raw. I myself having the privalege only twice out of about 300 eatings to try raw octopus. Raw octopus is not boiled. The octopus westerners traditionally associate with the sushi turns a light shade of purple because it is boiled. I grant you permission to safely approach octopus sushi with a smile and a glad heart, knowing that it is boiled. To reiterate, octopus used as sushi is boiled, and its good. Don't knock it before you try it. Or give it to Mikey he'll like it... he likes everything.

If sushi didn't have such a bad image, that more people could enjoy it's truly redeeming qualities. Just thinking about sushi and talking about it in this lense makes my mouth water,... try it and see. It is the images, stigmata and the English words we use to describe sushi that block our minds preventing us from ever attempting to try such delicious and delectably marvelous jewels. I must admit raw octopus was nasty when I tried it and don't recommend it, but it needs to be stated again to reverse the damage we westerners have of sushi in general to remember that the octopus served as sushi is purple because it is boiled. It is not raw as is usually typified in the prejudices of western thought.

kazu no ko - this is the yellow, and crunchy roe of the herring fish. There never seems to be a lack of kazu no ko although it is one of the few sushi items that won't make my mouth water just thinking about. In other words I never developed a keen taste for kazunoko nor is it one of my favorites.

Natto - This is one of my personal favoites. It is a breakfast food worth mentioning. Although it is a live moving creatue it has the potential to become one. Natto is fermented soy beans served with hot mustard served in a styrofoam cup. Served with mustard it is a great morning food. Just make sure to add all the tare that comes with it and add the mustard mix it up, it looks a little grody but it is worth every mouth full. At only ¥103 (one hundred and three yen), it is the most economical breakfast food readily available to those living in Japan. Natto is a budget minded food. You can buy it in family packs of three for even less money. Natto with its tare sauce(not the heavy soy sauce but the lighter and salty sweet tare(sauce)I grew to love the stuff. mmm oishii... This is occasionally used in sushi and is known as nattozushi.

The following are usually not used as sushi.

Mentaiko - Better than chile picante hot sauce on your rice. This stuff could burn a hole in your tongue but it makes plain rice so tasty, even more than ... I like it as a breakfast food on my bowl of rice in the morning, it is quite expensive but to me is always well worth its weight in gold. It usually comes in a pack of 3 sacks for around ¥900-1300 or $10-$12 U.S. dollars.

As far as I know the following items are usually never part of the sushi menu but are worth mentioning in this lense that began as a discussion on how Godzilla got It's name.

Shita - meaning tongue and implying cow tongue, not human tongue. The human tongue is more oftened known as a bero. (Watch the pronunciation of the ro in bero.)

kimo (pronounced like chemo in chemothreapy) - is otherwise known as reebah or liver rather than the anatomical kind.

Stay tuned for a future lense devoted to the foods of yaki-niku and o-konomiyaki. As always, Do Your Best! Ganbatte Ne! Makurasuki Sensei.

Towards Better Japanese
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki

Godzilla and how she/he got his/her namo

If you aren't quite sure how Godzilla got It's name, let me put it into a formula for you. You might also be curious to know or have wondered where the z or d in the name Godzilla came from then if Godzilla actually is just Gojira. The reason for the d and the z stems from the various ways westerners have come to represent graphically the sounds of the Japanese language. I personally think the z is for pizzazz. I mean what kind of killer, giant monsters don't have a z in their name.

In Japanese, Godzilla is pronounced Gojira, a combination of the words gorilla and whale. Gorira + Kujira = Gojira. Gorira meaning Gorilla + Kujira meaning whale combined becomes Godzilla. The ji of Gojira is sometimes written zi, to distinguish it from si or shi which is what it would be without the ten-ten mark. If you don't already know, the ten-ten mark is a single quotation mark put after other syllables to change the vocalization. IPA website on vowels here

Adding a " ten-ten mark to to the sa, shi, su, se, so line of of the Japanese syllabary *(See Mora(e): syllable like entities of which Japanese has 46.)transforms them into za, zhi, zu, ze, zo, or ja, ji, ju, je, jo, depending on the particular romanization used.

Ok I also wanted to mention here the proper nouns ikura written in Katakana which is the roe of salmon , and iruka is the word for a Porpoise. Avoid mixing these type of word together but use a tactic to memorize them. Here is a way I thought of to practice this kind of word in a phrase and being able to memorize them on long term memory for good. The way to memorize a word and not forget is to figure out a personal method, one which works best for you, something you can make memorable through associations you infer upon it.

If you thought that was easy then you might want to mix upo them up. If you were to say, "Iru ka?", it could mean, "Are you there? So all in all, there are three things iruka could mean.

Definitions of iruka:

1. (is) somebody or something (i.e. an animal since they too use iru in the form of to be etc.) there...

2. a porpoise, a dolphin

Towards Better Japanese
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki

Words for I or me in Japanese

Japanese words for self

Watakushi 私 is the universal polite Japanese word represting one's self or "me". Watakushi 私 is seldom heard in conversations except the stately diplomatic kind of speeches, banquets and dinners.

Washi -わし is used by older, much older men as an abbreviated form of watakushi

Ore - pronounced like a mix between 'oh Ray', and 'oh day', is used by younger and older men who are tough, and sometimes mean and nasty, or just tough. Any cool male can used this word for me.

Watashi (even atashi)- used by feminine people to signify "me".

Boku 僕 (ぼく)- Me for boys

Ware 我- I, me for the samurai, or Emporers etc.

Watakushi tachi 私たち - Us

Warera 我ら われら - Us (more honorific ort old style)

Waga 我が (Old style)- my

Jibun Jishin 自分自信 - myself

all the above + NO (の) = my. or ours

Towards Better Japanese
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki

Some useful Japanese words and phrases

Here are some useful Japanese words and phrases and their colloquial English equivalents.

1. とんでもない -
ton demo nai - It is nothing at all or, no big deal.

2. 大したもんじゃない -
taishita mon ja nai - It is no big thing or, nothing special at all.

3.  多分-
tabun - probably

4.  その通りです-
sono to^ri desu - That's it Watson!. That is it exactly, precisely.

5. たしかに -
tashika ni - For sure, surely, definately.

6. もちろん -
mochiron - Of course.

7. そんなことないよ ! -
sonna koto nai yo! - No way Jose! That isn't right! It isn't like that at all.

8.  成程 -
naruhodo - I see..., or now I get it.

9. やっぱり-
yappari - As you would think, or I thought so, or after all, naturally, obviously etc.

Basic Japanese Grammar - Verb Base II + Nasai

Basic Japanese Grammar Crash Course
Accelerated Japanese Mastery
Base II + NASAI なさい – Lesser command form

To boss people around, or tell people what to do, commanding them in Japanese you will need to know this Japanese Grammar construction:

Verb (base II) + NASAI なさい - Do verb! Command form.

Examples
1.Suwarinasai! 坐りなさい!
“Take your seat!”
a.Suwaru 座る - v. to sit down
b.Suwaru 座るin base II is suwari 坐り
c.Suwari坐り + nasai なさい = suwarinasai坐りなさい Sit!

2.Shukudai o shinasai! 宿題をしなさい
“Do your homework!”
a.suruする – v. to do
b.suru in base II = shiし
c.shiし + nasaiなさい = shinasaiしなさい “DO IT!”


3.Ikinasai!行きなさい
“Go!”
a.iku 行く– v . to go
b.iku 行く in base II is iki 行き
c.iki行き + nasaiなさい = ikinasai行きなさい “GO!”

Plug in your favorite Japanese verbs into this Japanese Grammar Construction and start making your own cool sentences then test them on your Japanese friends.

As always,
Ganbatte Ne! 頑張ってね
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki まくらすき

Odds and Ends thoughts on Learning Japanese

Why would anyone think that Japanese is harder than any other language to learn?

Why the learning of the Japanese language has been unfairly labeled as a difficult language, I'll never know. I feel that if you want to learn a language you should try the Japanese language. There are plenty of reasons why but let me first tell you a few of the reasons why I think that Japanese is in fact one of the easier languages to learn.

One reason why Japanese might be an easier language to learn is because there are only four tenses in which a verb can take. A lot less than English which has a multitude of various irregularities to deal with. Another big reason why Japanese might be easier to learn than other languages is because, there are so many common words that are exactly the same in Japanese as they are in English. It only takes a little bit of time before one can start getting use to Japanese pronunciation, but when one does then a plethora of vocabulary words will be at your command.

The Japanese language is a fascinating language to learn. They use different letters and script for writing their words. Their system for writing words and communicating through ideographs is very old. The kanji (symbols-ideographs-ideas represented by pictures or even pictographs) has been used in Japan for quite a long time. is a very ancient tradition and the language has evolved Let me tell you something: You can do anything you put your mind to! Now having said that, I would like to give a couple of reasons why I feel that Japanese is in fact an easier language to learn than English.

The symbol shown above is the Kanji, or Chinese character, which represents the word ai, or love in Japanese. Start today to recognize parts of the kanji as you would a constellation. The ai kanji itself is made up of various components (the heart kanji among other ones) that will become easier to recognize the more times you see it. Who said a little drill and kill will hurt you?

There are a lot of reasons why people might think that the Japanese language is a hard language to learn. People seem to think that learning Japanese is too big a task. A mountain can be moved with a little persistence and some good goals, so get to setting them up!
A couple of more Ideas on how to overcome the fear of learning Japanese
How to study Japanese for the first week and why kanji is so cool.
There is spoken language and the written language. Kanji has deep meanings contained within each one. This is much different from what we are expecting, because we have become through continuous use of our own native language, stifled by the alphabet. We can see the meaning of things inside the kanji. Therefore from the get go, we should try to wean ourselves from the temptation to look up words in Romaji to decipher meaning. We should use a dictionary like Sanseido's daily concise wa-ei jiten.

Week 1

Verbs - Drink, Sleep, Eat, Go, Work (nomu, neru, taberu, hataraku).
- Be able to put learned verbs in all their bases. Bases I - V
- create sentences using all base forms from I - V
- Test your created sentences on an actual Nihonjin to make sure they really work.

Nouns: coffee, tea, milk, water, coca cola, sake, Aquarius, beer, juice (KO-hi, o-cha, gyu^nyu^, mizu, koka kora, sake, akuariusu, bi-ru, ju-su

Adjectives - oishii, suteki na, benri na, okii, nagai, samui, atsui, chisai, mijikai. (Delicious, cool, convenient, big, long, cold, hot, small, short etc.)
- Adjectives- are fun to play with. Practice putting the adjectives in front of nouns etc

Grammar - Know the masu, masen, mashita, masen deshita etc (polite formations of verbs)
- Become acquainted with the various levels of politeness; humble, honorific, plain form

Example Grammar Construction -

Verb (Base II) + Tai desu = I want to verb - polite form. - Without desu, its plain form or P.F.

Verb (Base II) + masho^ = Shall we +verb or let's +verb

Pronunciation - (distinguish between long and short vowel sounds) =

Be careful when studying Japanese for the first couple of times to make sure and pay attention to detail. The Romanization methods employed by the various types of Romanization of the Japanese Syllabary should be duly noted. For example in Japanese vowels can extend themselves into their double impressions where two vowels are connected into one yet the true pronunciation will be an elongated double vowel sound.
Amazon Spotlight on Sanseido English Japanese Dictionary
Wa Ei or Ei Wa, Either way, you are covered!
The mother load when it comes to Japanese to English or English to Japanese Dictionaries. Essential for any serious Japanese language student.

Sanseido's New Concise Japanese English Dictionary
The biggest and most worthy of Dictionaries available to you. The mother load is in Blue. Sanseido has always been my reliable back pocket friend. I love my sanseido. Mua!

Japanese grammar noun ga hoshii

Japanese noun fun with hoshii

noun ga hoshii = noun is wanted


so that

ringo ga hoshii = I want an apple

suteki na bo^shi ga hoshii = I want a cool hat

okii ie ga hoshii - I want a big house

okane ga hoshii - I want some money

to make these Japanese phrases polite, add desu to hoshii so that the entire construction becomes noun ga hoshii desu

itchi oku en ga hoshii desu etc.
etc. have a decent day

Japanese Grammar Verbs in Base II + Hajimeru

Japanese Grammar – Fusing verbs to make new ones.
Verb(Base II) + Hajimeru – To begin to verb


You can usually make new Japanese words, verbs, or phrases by fusing two verbs together; The first verb in base II and the last verb conjugated normally. Let’s take some verbs and put them into base II then see what kind of new words, verbs and different Japanese phrases we can come up with.

1.Hatasu 果たす – to accomplish
2.settoku suru 説得する – to persuade
3.hiyakeru 日焼ける– to get sun burnt
4.kau 買う– to buy
5.umareru 生まれる– to give birth

Proceeding we will put these Japanese verbs into base II to form the extensor. As explained in previous lessons, base II extensor form for yo^dan verbs is made with the 2nd Japanese vowel i, pronounced ee. A verb in Base II will always end in the i vowel unless it is an chidan verb. Below, 1,2 and 4 are yo^dan verbs while 3 and 5 are ichidan verbs:

1.hatasu in base II = hatashi 果たし
2.settoku suru説得する is suru する in base II = shiし
3.hiyakeru日焼ける in base II = hiyake日焼け(In ichidan verbs, just drop the final ru)
4.kau 買う in base II = kai 買い (replace u with i)
5.umareru生まれる in base II = umare生まれ (ichidan)

Now we can proceed to make new verbs in Japanese to test on our Japanese friends, just to make sure that this makes sense. So we use the above Japanese grammar plug and Play construction Verb (base II) + hajimeru – to begin to verb, to make new Japanese words, verbs and phrases.

1.hatashi果たし + hajimeru始める= hatashihajimeru果たし始める – to begin to accomplish
2.settoku shi 説得し+ hajimeru 始める= settoku shihajimeru 説得し始める – to begin to persuade
3.hiyake日焼け+ hajimeru 始める = hiyakehajimeru日焼け始める – to begin to get sunburnt
4.kai 買い+ hajimeru始める = kaihajimeru買い始める – to begin to buy
5.umare 生まれ + hajimeru 始める = umarehajimeru 生まれ始める – to begin to be born

There you have the Japanese grammar plug and play for making new phrases in Japanese. Continue by plugging in your own verbs and making your own new sentences. As always, Ganbatte Ne! Do Your Best! Makurasuki まくらすき.

How to really say please in Japanese - Japanese Phrases

Ghetto Grammar supplement #95
How to say good-bye in Japanese

There are many different ways to say goodbye in English. Same in Japanese, there are many different ways of saying sayo^nara. It’s strange because of all the expressions used by the Japanese, which could be considered equivalent ways of the saying the same thing, phrase matches etc., for the understanding communication that I am leaving now and will not see you for a while. That is to say goodbye;

I would do a literal translation of the phrase and compare with modern day terminology to determine a more equivalent terminology to express some same meaningful word. Sayo^nara has meaning of So long for a long time, or farewell for a couple of seasons. Sayo^nara is the ancient form and way of saying the so yu form of the a yu ko yu etc. Because A sayo^ de gozaimasu would be the super equivalent of the honorific form of the same phrase as above the In the time I have spent in Japan only on rare occasions(and I mean super rare occasions, {besides Karaoke of course}), have I ever heard the traditional term for goodbye, ‘sayonara’.

Sayo^nara differs from English’s goodbye in a direct translation also because sayo^ is to say “so” versus the English’s term good;The conditional subject marker “nara” has not changed its shape since around 600 A.D. (western reckoning). For nara is still nara of modern Japanese and still functions the same way. However the sayo^ part is much older and more traditionally Japnanese.

The words sayonara and goodbye both have a y in them. That in itself could be a coincidence but I think it proves that at some point in our languages past, but they have similiarities too.

I also remember being a kid in an American elementary school growing up in Southern California and pretending to be asian, I would pull my eyes to make them appear slanted and having the look of an oriental person I would go around saying A so, A so, A so. It wasn’t until I actually visited Japan, that I realized that somehow the phrase or nuance given from the words A so is actually meaningful in the same way as it is mocked. When the Japanese inquire, “A so …?”, they are implying , “Is that right?”, or, “. . . is that so?” It is a short abbreviated way of saying the complete phrase of , “A so^ desu ka? Desu ka is, as you know, is the question mark phrase ending form of the verb, to be, and so^ is of the form –(a yu) , (ko^ yu) , and (so^ yu ), where a – placement over there, ko^ is placement over here and so^ yu is placement there.

So the main point I’m trying to make is, and hopefully show some real life examples of how we say goodbye in both languages.
In English we might say something like the following to signal to another that we are leaving for now and may or may not see them at some point in the future:
Ways of saying – goodbye-- in English
Later dude!
See ya (spoken best when chewed, as in bubble-gum)
See ya later @lligator!
Late my Peeps!
Peace Out!!
Adios - We even say adios taken from the Spanish
If we were elegant we might periventure say
Adieux (…to you and you and you) with a French nasality but we are talking English here, and modern tech English at that. . .
So Long…
Farewell, old chap…
Hit the road! Jack! And don’t you come back no more no more no more
Till next time (…America) gross – Maury P.
Til’ we meet again…
Bye now…
B’ Bye because goodbye takes too long to say anyway.
You say Hello but I say b’bye
Later on Holmes depending on whether you are of latin or Spanish, Conquistadores, Azteca, or Mayan descent
I’m Outta’ here
I’m Splittin’
Tell ‘so and so’ I said hi!
If you all will excuse me, I surely must get going.
Thanks for your hospitality.
Cheerio
Come along now.
See you on the flipside…
Catcha tomorrow
Til den –
I Ketchup wif y’all later ,or, (on the flipside.)
Get outta here
Move it or lose it.
Good Bye

Instead of going back through this great list of ways to say good-bye in English I’m just going to throw out at you instead some similar types of ways to say sayo^nara In Japanese, because languages don’t grow from the alphabet or the symbolic transference of meaning to ink, or written forms of communication; but that it comes from the environment in which the communicators find themselves. So although very similar type ways of saying goodbye exist, they are only rough estimations, playing themselves like a tennis ball bounced from racket to racket, volleying to and fro acting as a feedback mechanism upon which colloquial speech thrives in real time with real meanings backing these distinct phrases and the words which compose them in both languages.

Ways of saying Sayo^nara in Japanese
1. ja ne!
2. ja mata!
3. ja mata ne!
4. Sore Dewa!
5. Go- Chiso Sama Deshita
6. Dewa Mata!
7. Kashikomarimashita
8. Hai Wakarimashita
9. Shitsurei Shimasu
10. Mata O- tanoshimi ni shite imasu
11. Gokuro^ sama deshita
12. Shitsurei Itashimasu
13. Ja mata kondo!
14. Ii desu
15. Kekko Desu
16. Sayo na
17. Kondo ne!
18. Sono toki ni ne!
19. H~~~~ai
20. Wakatta
21. Bow – lowering of the head and exiting
22. Osu
23. Heikai itashimasu
24. Sore ja!
25. Goo buy
26. Dete ike!
27. ii kara
28. ki o tsukete ne
29. buy buy

And that’s a rap, stay tuned for more crazy linguistics, as the world of languages shrinks around us merging as it may into one eventual world tongue.

As always,
Ganbatte Ne! Do your Best

Makurasuki Sensei
Brett McCluskey

How to say you should in Japanese

How to say, “You should…” in Japanese.

Ho^ or Hou (方 ) (Pronounced like a Santa’s chuckle …ho, ho, ho…) is the focus of today’s Japanese grammar lesson. I always associated the Japanese word Hou (方 ) to the English word, “way” or “the way”. The kanji for hou (The Chinese character printed next to the word) looks as if it were indicating some direction or person offering a path or showing the way. I also associated Hou to another Japanese word Houhou (方法)which means method or the way of doing things. When we say in English that you ought to lean this way or that way, I could replace them straight way with the Japanese words kono hou or sono hou.

Today’s grammar uses hou after a verb in base TA (た) to help form sentences that indicate that you should, or shouldn’t do something. This isn’t a way of telling someone that they must do something, but only that they should do something.

To say that you should do something in Japanese, use the following Japanese grammar plug and play construction to make your own interesting Japanese sentences:

Verb TA (た) + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです) – …should verb…

First, put a Japanese verb into base TA then add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)

Example –
Dasu (出す) – v. to send
Dasu (出す) in base TA = dashita (出した)
Add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)
And presto… a new interesting sentence has been born.

You should send that letter. – ano tegami o deshita hou ga ii desuあの手紙を出した方がいいです

To say that you should not do something in Japanese, use the following Japanese grammar plug and play construction to make your own interesting Japanese sentences:
Verb base I+nai (ない) + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです) – …shouldn’t verb…

Example –
Dasu (出す) – v. to send
Dasu (出す) in base I + nai (ない) = dasanai (出さない) don't send
Add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)
And presto… a new interesting sentence has been born.

In the negative construction, you first put a verb into base I, add nai (ない), then add hou ga ii desu (方がいいです), desu being the polite form of the copula verb to be

1.Ume o tabeta hou ga ii desu. 梅を食べたほうがいいです – “You** should eat a Japanese plum.” (ume 梅 - plum)* They make sake out of ume called umeshu^ it is delicious

2.Byo^in ni itta hou ga ii desu. 病院に行ったほうがいいです “You should go to the hospital.” or “You better get yourself to a hospital.” *If someone tells you this, you should go anyway.

3.Nakanai hou ga ii desu. 泣かないほうがいいです “It is better not to cry.”, or “You shouldn’t cry.”

4.Konai hou ga ii desu. 来ないほうがいいです “You shouldn’t come.”

**In English, subject pronouns are rarely omitted during a two way conversation. In Japanese, however, the subject is almost always omitted. In Japanese, it is more common to omit the subject than to say specifically who, or what was doing the action in a sentence. Unless you get specific, there is no need to say as for me, or as for you, or as for them etc. Since it is generally understood in the course of a Japanese conversation, who or what is doing the action in a sentence.The Japanese usually omit subject pronouns,

As always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki まくらすき,

Words and terms of Family In Japanese

Quick Japanese Vocabulary Chart demonstrating humble and exalted forms for family related terms for those serious in making Japanese their SL2.


Family words Humble –when speaking of ones own, of oneself Exalted – when inquiring of others
Father chichi - 父 (ちち) o-to^san (long o) - お父さん(おとうさん)
Mother haha - 母 (はは) o-ka^san (long a) - お母さん (おかあさん)
Older Brother ani - 兄 (あに) o-ni^san (long i) - お兄さん(おにいさん)
Younger Brother oto^to - 弟 (おとうと) o-to^tosan - 弟さん (おとうとさん)
Older Sister ane –
姉 (あね) o-ne^san (long e) - 姉 (あね)
Younger Sister imo^to –
妹 ( いもうと) imo^tosan (long o) 妹さん (いもうとさん)
Parents ryo^shin (long o) –
両親 (りょうしん) go-ryoshin (long o) - 御両親 (ごりょうしん)
Husband shujin (lit. my lord) -主人 (しゅじん) go-shujin 御-主人(しゅじん)
Wife kanai – (lit. inside the house)
家内 (かない) okusama, or less exalted okusan - (lit. the person in the far back) 奥さん (おくさん) but still polite and most commonly used as with any word in this column, the suffix san can be exchanged for sama in any case Sama being more honorific.

Also frequently heard is the term for husband or danna. Dannasan or dannasama being the exalted forms.

For other various Japanese language learning needs, see the following websites

http://squidoo.com/ghettogrammar

http://squidoo.com/japanesevocabularyindex

http://saketalkie.blogspot.com

http://squidoo.com/japanese1



Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei