Learn Japanese Cheat Sheet

{ short phrases } Dōmo arigatoo gozaimasu – Thank you very much. Iie, kekkou desu. – No thanks. Dō itashimashite – You’re welcome Irasshaimase – Welcome. Dozo o sakini - pls go ahead. {Please} Dōzo – [ when offering ] Kudasai - [ when requesting something ] { Acknowledgements } ee desu ka – ready? | alright? a, sō desu ka – I see. so desu ne – let me see. a ii des ne. – ok. Daijobu desu ka – Is it okay? Daijobu desu – its okay. Ja – well then (Ja mata ) a – oh. ne – is that right?

a, so desu ka

“Kore wa eigo de nan to yomi masu ka.” – How do you read this in English Kaite kudasai – pls write it. sukoshi hanashimasu – I speak a little. sukoshi wakarimasu – I understand a little.

Chotto matte kudasai – one moment pls. Ikimasho – let’s go. Ikimasho ka? - Shall we go? Sore o kudasai – pls give me this. Kore o kudasai – pls give me that.

{ Directions – doko desu } Hidari (left) |  Massugu (Straight) | Migi (Right)  Harijuku eki wa doko desu ka. – Where is Harijuku stn. a, so desu ne.

suki desu – I like it. suki desu ka – you like it? kirai desu – I don’t like it. (kee lie) * kirei desu – It’s beautiful. (kee lay)

{ greetings } • Ohayo gozaimasu – Good morning • Konichiwa – Good Afternoon | Hello. • Kombanwa – Good evening • Oyasuminasai – Good night namae – (nama aye) namae wa kudasai. – Your name pls.

{ Chat Weather } Ee, otenki des ne. – Nice day. Isn’t it? Atsui ee des ne. – Hot, isn’t it Samui ee des ne – Cold, isn’t it.

{ communications - help} mo ichido onegaishimasu – one more time pls. yukkuri onegaishimasu – slowly pls. Eigo ga wakarimasu ka. – speak English Wakarimasu. – I understand Iie, wakarimasen. – I don’t understand. “Kore wa eigo de nan to imasu ka” – How do you say this in English

{ Persons } • Otoko – Man • Onna – Woman • Kodomo - Child

{ Exclamations } Abunai - Watch out! Tasukete – Help! kaji - fire Osewani narimashita – Thank you for your assistance ki tie desu. – I want to buy this. Tadaima – I’m back. • •

yoi – good warui - bad

• • • •

okagi – money ocha – tea o’mizu – water kami – paper

Atarashii – new Furui - old { Singular interrogatory kikimasu – to ask } • • • • •

nani. dare to naze desu ka? itsu desu ka? doko desu ka?

- What? - Who? - Why? - When? - Where?

{ Particles } :: grammatical function of Nouns (N1); not prepositional like in English, but postpostional – coming after.

Tōkyō de – at Tokyo Hitori de – alone (lit: “by one person”) jūgo-nichi ni – on the 15th { 4 forms } present form desu – to be, is, are (affirmative) dewa arimasen – is not (negative) past forms deshita dewa arimasendeshita •

desu – to be

{ motion verbs forms } present/future forms -masu -masen past forms -mashita -masendeshita

• • •

ikimasu – to to kimasu – to come kaerimasu – to return (to go home)

o o

{ introducing yourself } Hajimemashite. ABC Fuzū no Sumisu desu. Watashi wa James desu. { introducing others }

„ „ „ „

Do not use when referring to yourself

-san

denwa - phone bango - number

desu (is, are) dewa arimasen (is not) deshita ( was ) past dewa arimasedeshita (was not)

Kochira wa Nihon Ginkō no Sumisu-san desu. Gurei-san wa bengoshi desu. Sumisu-san wa ABC Fuzu no bengoshi desu. Nozomi Depato no Takahasi desu Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu [namae] desu. { don’t use –san referring to yourself }

Possessi ve

no

Q: Hofuman-san wa Igirisu-jin desu ka. A: Iie, Doitsu-jin desu. Q: Sumisu-san wa gakusei desu ka. A: Hai, gakusei desu. • • • •

gakusei - student hisho – secretary bengoshi – lawyer enjinia - engineer

• • • • • •

ka (particle denotes question) no (partical denotes affliation or ownership) anata – informal ‘you’ Rondon – London Ginkō – bank Tokyō Daigaku – Tokyo University

{ Pronouns - PN } Kore wa – This | Kono (used before noun) Sore wa – That | Sono (ex. Sono aoi T-shatsu desu) Are wa – That over there| Ano (ex. Ano ōkii ringo) Q: Kore wa hon desu ka. A: Hai, hon desu. Q: Kore wa tokei desu ka. A: Iie, tokei dewa arimasen

[ N1 + wa + N2 + desu] Q: Sumisu-san wa Nihon-jin desu ka, Chugoku desu ka A: Chugoku desu.

Q: Kore wa nan desu ka. A: Kagi desu.

P1: Donata desu ka. P2: Nakamura desu. P1: Hai, dozo

{Belongs to someone: N1 wa N2 no N3 desu ka } Q: Kore wa Sasaki-san no kasa desu ka. A1: Hai, Sasaki-san no desu. A2: Iie, Sasaki-san no dewa arimasen.

(can use dare [ informal ] )

dōzō – please dōmo arigato gozaimasu – thank you • • • • • • • •

watashi no – my meishi – business card namae - name ee – (informal yes ‘eeh’) sō desu. – that’s right kaisha – company, office jūsho – address merū-adoresu

• • • • • • •

keitai – cell phone kasa – umbrella hon – book shimbun – newspaper kagi – key tokei –watch denwa bango

{Who’s is it} Q: Kore wa dare no hon desu ka. A: Chan-san no desu.

Dare - who

{State phone number} Sumisu-san no denwa-bangō wa zero san no san-yonroku-roku no ichi-ni-hachi-yon desu. Q: Takahashi-san no denwa-bango wa nan-ban desu ka. • • Q: A: Q: A:

Taishikan – embassy nan-ban – what number Kore wa Nakamura san no hon desu ka. Iie, watashi no dewa arimasen. Dare no hon desu ka. Chan-san desu.

Q: Kore wa Takahashi-san no techō desu ka. A: Ee, sō desu. (Yes. it is) Domo. {Find out times – ji (nan-ji)} Q: Sumimasen, ima nan-ji desu ka. A: Ku-ji gojuppun desu. Q: Na-ji ( kara | made ) desu ka. (open|close) Q: Depato wa nan-ji kara desu ka A: Ju-ji kara desu. (it opens at 10) Q: Nan-ji made desu ka. A: Gogo hachi-ji made desu ka. • • •

ima – now nan-ji – what time ji – o’clock

Gogo kyu-ji made desu. Gozen hachi-ji kara desu. gozen yo-ji (4am) gogo go-ji (5pm) • • • • •

depāto – dept. store sūpā - supermarket resutoran - restaurant yūbinkyoku – post office ginkō - bank

•

onna no hito – woman o onna - female o hito - person

• •

kara – particle From made – particle Until

Q: Shigoto wa nan-ji kara nan-ji made desu ka. A: Shigoto wa gozen roku-ji kara juji made desu. Q: Suzuki-san no Pātī wa nan-ji kara desu ka. • • • • •

shigoto – work kaigi – meeting [kind nee] Pātī – party Eiga – movie [ain ya]

asa-gohan – breakfast o asa: morning o gohan: meal

•

•

hiru-yasumi (hiru-gohan– lunch break/lunch meal) o hiru: afternoon o yasumi: break ban-gohan o ban: evening

• • • •

pūru – pool jimu – gym foronto – front desk hoteru – hotel :: hoteru de – at the hotel

• • •

sō desu. – that’s right. ee desu ka. – Are you ready? sō desu ka. – I see / Is that so? {Numbers to 100 – jū }

rei, zero (0) ichi (1) ni (2) san (3) yon(4) go (5) roku(6) nana(7) hachi(8) kyu/kū (9) jū (10); jūichi (11) ; jūni (12); jūsan (13) jūsan (14) jūgo (15) jūrokū (16) • • • • • • • • •

nijū (20) sanjū (30) yonjū (40) gojū (50) rokuju (60) nanaju (70) hachiju (80) kyuju (90) hyaku (100)

• • • • • • • • • • •

{Time – ji } ichi-ji (1:00) ni-ji (2:00) san-ji (3:00) yo-ji (4:00) go-ji (5:00) shichi-ji (7:00) hachi-ji (8:00) ku-ji (9:00) ju-ji (10:00) ju-ichi-ji (11:00) ju-ni –ji (12:00)

[ o’clock+ number + fun / + juppun / + han ] yo-ji go-fun (4:05) san-ji jugo-fun (3:15) san-ji gojū go–fun (3:55) ju-ji juppun (10:10)

• • • • • •

san-ji nijuppun (3:20) -juppun sanjuppun(30) ; yonjuppun (40); gojuppun (50) ni-ji han (2:30) • han – half past { Shopping } Sore o misete kudasai – pls show me that one Ja, kore o kudasai – well the, I’ll take this one. Kore mo sanzen-en desu - That one is 3k also. • • • • • •

mo – also, too ja – well then, well mise – shop, store, restaurant irashaimase – may I help you. welcome sore – that one ikura – how much

•

number-en – yen

{High Numbers } (-hyaku) • hyaku • nihyaku • sambyaku • yonhyaku • gohyaku • roppyaku • nanahyaku • happyhyaku • kyūhyaku

(100) (200) (300) (400) (500) (600) (700) (800) (900)

(-sen) • • • • • • • • •

(1000) (2000) (3000) (4000) (5000) (6000) (7000) (8000) (9000)

sen nisen sanzen yonsen gosen rokusen nanasen hassen kyūsen

(-man) • ichiman • niman • samman • yomman • goman

rokuman nanaman hachiman kyūman jūman hyakuman

(60K) (70K) (80K) (90K) (100k) (1 Million)

{decimals – ten(.) } rei ten nana hachi (0.78) { Products } • terebi – TV • rajio – radio • pasokon – PC • dejikame – digital camera • bideo-kamera – video camera • CD-purēya – CD Player • zasshi – magazine Don’t forget

{ identifying objects } Q: (Sore/Kore/Are) wa N1 desu ka. A: (Sore/Kore/Are) wa N1 desu.

desu

{ identify cost of objects } (Sore/Kore/Are) wa ikura N1 desu ka. (Sore/Kore/Are) cost-en desu. Sore wa terebi desu – This is a TV. Are wa pasokon desu. – That over there is a PC Kore wa CD desu. Are mo CD desu. – That is a CD. That over there is also a CD • • • • • •

DVD [dibuidi] – DVD shāpupenshiru – mechanical pencil bōrupen – ballpoint pen Furansu-go – French language jisho – dictionary Eigo - English

•

kādo – credit card

Kore wa ikura desu ka? – How much is this? kādo demo ii desu ka. – Is a Credit card alright? demo ii desu ka – Is it alright? ii desu ka – it it ok? Hai, kekkō desu. – That’s fine.

(10,000) (20K) (30K) (40K) (50K)

• •

ano – that over there aio – blue (ah ee oooh)

(Pronouns (PN) Kono/Sono/Ano) PN + N1 + wa + N2 + desu

PN Always precedes the noun

Kono hon wa watashi no desu. - This book is mine. Q: Ano aoi T-shatsu wa ikura desu ka. – How much is that blue T-shirt? A: Dore desu ka – which one? Q: Ano aoi t-shatsu. – That one. A: Sen-en desu. – 1K. Q: Sono akai t-shatsu wa ikura desu ka. - How much is that red t-shirt? Ja, sore o ni-mai kudasai. – Well then, give me two of those. dore – which one? hagaki – postcard kitte – stamp T-shatsu – t-shirt akai – red aoi – blue kuroi – black { Counting Things } -mai :: used to count thin or flat things -pon/hon/bon :: used to count long slender items -tsu/ō :: used for everthing else 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

ichi-mai ni-mai san-mai yon-mai go-mai roku-mai nana-mai hachi-mai kyū-mai jū-mai

ippon ni-hon sam-pon yon-hon go-hon roku-hon nana-hon happon kyū-hon juppon

hitotsu futatsu mittsu yottsu itsutsu muttsu nanatsu yattsu kokonotsu tō

Asking for things: Sore o futatsu kudasai. – I’ll have two of those pls. Sore o go-mai kudasai. – I’ll have Ringo o futatsu kudasai. Sono ringo o futatsu kudasai. – Give me two of those apples.

{Days of the Week – Yōbi } • • • • • • •

nichi-yōbi getsu-yōbi ka-yōbi sui-yōbi moku-yōbi kin-yōbi do-yōbi

(Sunday) (Monday) (Tuesday) (Wednesday) (Thurs) (Friday) (Saturday)