Kaze Uta Budo Kai Forum Archive

Basics #2

The be verb and sentence structure.

New Words

pronouns
Watashi - "I"
Anata - "You"
Kare - "He"
Kanojo - "She"
Watashitachi - "We"
Karera - "They (all men, or mixed men and women)"
Kanojotachi - "They (all women)"

verbs
desu - "be verb"

adjectives
wakaii - "young"
toshiue - "old"

yes/no
hai - "yes"
iie - "no"

Part 1

Japanese has a unique structure that is almost 180 degrees opposite of English.

Let's take a look at a simple sentence.

I am John.

The Japanese would say this.

Watashi ha John desu.

Watashi meaning I
Ha meaning the subject of a sentence.
John meaning John
desu meaning is/am/are

subject verb object becomes subject object verb.

Kanojo ha wakaii desu.

She is young.

Kare ha toshiue desu.

He is old.



Part 2

Almost any Japanese sentence can become a question with the addition of the syllable ka.
It's kinda like a spoken question mark.

So, let's turn some of our sentences above into questions.

Kare ha wakaii desu.

He is young.

Kare ha wakaii desu ka?

Is he young?

Notice how the structure barely changed at all.


Practice -

Ask each other 10 questions and answer them.

For example.

Q: Anata ha Kyle desu ka?
A: Iie, watashi ha John desu.

Q: Anata, ha wakaii desu ka?
A: Hai, watashi ha wakaii desu.

In this example, you're asking as person if their name is Kyle.
Q: Anata ha Kyle desu ka?
A: Iie, watashi ha John desu.

How would I ask someone their name?

Hey Kyle,

That's right, in the example I was asking someone named John if their name was Kyle.
Q: Are you Kyle?
A: No, I am John.

You can ask someone their name by saying.

Anata no namae ha nan desu ka?

Let's take a look at it.

Anata - you
no - possesive pronoun.

So
Anata no = your
namae = name
ha - subject
nan - what
desu - is
ka -?

You'll also hear.

Onamae ha nan desu ka?

This is the same meaning as above but instead of saying
anata no namae - your name
you just say
Onamae - your name, but being honorable just like in O-sensei

So
Q: Anata no namae ha nan desu ka?
A: Watashi no namae ha (John) desu.

Q: Onamae ha nan desu ka?
A: Watashi no namae ha (John) desu.

John,

Sorry to come so late to the table. I noticed you are using "ha" for the subject indicator ("watashi ha itama ga itai desu") which is how it is written, but at least in Tokyo it is pronounced "wa". Where did you stay in Japan? Did they pronounce it like that? Or is that just a preference in romaji?

Thanks,
Jack B.

When I studied Japanese, the hiragana character used for 'wa' was the same as 'ha', but when used in a sentence to indicate a subject it was always pronounced 'wa'. Are there dialects that pronounce it as 'wa' instead?

Ignore my question in lesson 3....I didn't see this post on it.