Welcome back to Japanese Weekly!
Sorry about the delay! In the last lesson, we learned numbers, colors, and some new vocabs. You should be able to make a basic self-introduction in Japanese. In grammar, you should be able to describe who you are, where you're from, and what you like.
Objectives of this lesson:
Learn about Katakana
To learn vocabs centering around school
To learn new verbs
Learn how to describe the existence of an object at a place
Katakana (カタカナ), like Hiragana, is a writing system in Japanese language. The basic mechanics of katakana is almost exactly the same as that of hiragana, with the same pronunciations and changes when the dakuten and handakuten are applied. The major difference of Hiragana and katakana is their usages. Hiragana is used for everything -- from sentences to names; katakana, on the contrary, is used mostly for foreign loanwords. For example, the nouns you learned last lesson about different countries are more than often written in katakana, with only Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan as exceptions (those use KANJI, chinese characters adapted by the Japanese). Other examples include: saizu (size), asupirin (aspirin), basukettobooru (basketball), etc. However, in recent years, a trend of using katakana even if the word could originally be written in hiragana is surfacing among young people.
Rules of katakana:
Foreign loanwords often retain its original pronunciation, with some modifications for the Japanese so they can pronounce it more understandably among themselves, as seen in the three examples above.
There is no definite rule about adapting loanwords into Japanese katakana words, however, there are several consistencies:
1) If the word ends in d or t, such as "land" or "ticket", the katakana adaptation often uses "do" or "to" as the last syllable: "rando" or "chiketto"
2) For an x sound, it is often translated into "kusu" or "kkusu", ie: box -- bokkusu
3) When there is a drawn-out sound in the word, such as "waakushiito" (worksheet), instead of writing out the second vowel on its own as you would in hiragana (わあくしいと), you'd write a dash on wherever the second vowel is: ワークシート
4) If the word ends in l or ll, such as "pearl" or "ball", the katakana adaptation will end in "ru": "paaru" or "booru".
Katakana can be hard as a result of the lack of specific rules and its tendency to depend upon the feel of the sound of the word. Beginners should try to memorize some basic katakana loanwords in order to get the feel of how Japanese people adapt foreign words into katakana.
Vocabs:
School: gakkou
Kindergarten: youchien
Elementary/Primary school: shougakkou
Middle School/Junior high: chuugakkou
High school: koukou
University/college: daigaku
Student (before university): seito
student (university): gakusei
Friend: yuujin
Friends: tomodachi
Major: senkou
Subjects: kamoku
Pencil: enpitsu
Pen: booru pen
Eraser: keshigomu
Notebook: nooto
Blackboard: kokuban
Clock: tokei
Ruler: Ruura
Pencil case: fudebako
Desk: tsukue
Chair: isu
Classroom: kyoushitsu
Teacher (general): Sensei
Teacher (describing the profession): kyoushi
Paper: kami
Book: hon
Schoolbag: kaban
Calendar: karendaa
Verbs:
Japanese verbs come in various forms. The most basic form is the dictionary form. Verbs in their dictionary forms always end with an alphabet from the "u" row. The part of the verb before this alphabet is called the root of the verb, and is retained while the "u" end can be changed into a different alphabet in the same column to form different forms.
The second most useful form is the conjugate form. In this form, the "u" end is either completely dropped or changed into the alphabet from the "i" row in the same column. With this conjugate form, "masu" can be added afterwords to indicate politeness.
Conjugation of verbs will come later.
Verbs: dictionary/polite
to have/exist (inanimate objects): aru/arimasu
to be/exist (animate): iru/imasu
to sit (in a seat): suwaru/suwarimasu
to rest/be absent from school: yasumu/yasumimasu
to write: kaku/kakimasu
to see: miru/mimasu
to raise: ageru/agemasu
to erase: kesu/keshimasu
to say: iu/iimasu
to speak: hanasu/hanashimasu
to use: tsukau/tsukaimasu
to read: yomu/yomimasu
Notice that for "iru", "miru", and "ageru", the "ru" end is completely dropped in the polite form. This is because they are group 2 verbs.
Group 2 verbs ALWAYS end in "ru"; this "ru" will be dropped in its conjugate form and only the root will remain for any verb modifications.
Verbs "aru", "suwaru", "yasumu", "kaku", "kesu", "iu", "hanasu", "tsukau", "yomu" are all group 1 verbs.
If a verb ends in ANY "u" alphabet OTHER THAN "ru", then it MUST BE a group 1 verb.
However, if a verb ends in "ru", it can be either group 1 or group 2, depending on the verbs' nature.
In group 1 verbs, the "u" alphabet is changed to the "i" alphabet in the same consonant column to make it a conjugate form. For example in "kaku", the "ku" is changed to "ki"; in "yasumu", the "mu" is changed to "mi"; in "iu", the "u" is changed to "i", etc.
There are also group 3 verbs, which only contains three verbs:
to do: suru/shimasu
to come: kuru/kimasu
to go: iku/ikimasu
"iku/ikimasu" is not always a group 3 verb, it switches in between group 1 and 3 depending on context. Notice that none of the group 1 or group 2 rules work for "suru" and "kuru"; you'll just have to memorize for these two verbs.
Sentence structures:
1) There is A.
2) A is located at B.
3) A [verb] B.
4) A [verb] B at C.
1) There is A.
A ga arimasu. (inanimate object)
A ga imasu. (animate objects, ie: people, animals)
"ga", the same particle used for "A likes B/A ha B ga suki desu", is also used here to indicate presence.
Example: Enpitsu ga arimasu -- There is a pencil/There are pencils/[I have] pencils.
Seito ga imasu -- There is a student.
Seitotachi ga imasu -- There are students.
"tachi" is a suffix added after animate objects (people, animals, etc.) to indicate a plural noun. However, there are no plural verbs in Japanese.
2) A is located at B.
A ha B ni arimasu.
A ha B ni imasu.
Example: Sensei ha kyoushitsu ni imasu -- Sensei/Teacher is in the classroom.
Keshigomu ha fudebako ni arimasu -- The eraser is in the pencil case.
"ni" is a new particle; it is most closely translated to "at". It is used to indicated the existence of an object at a place.
3) A verb B.
A ha B wo verb.
Example: Watashi ha ruura wo tsukaimasu -- I use a ruler.
Sensei ha kokuban wo keshimasu -- Sensei/teacher erases the blackboard.
"wo" is an action particle, used after an object and before a verb to indicate that the object is being acted upon.
There are several exceptions: when you "write in notebook", it will be "nooto ni kakimasu" instead of "nooto wo kakimasu"; when you "sit in a chair", it is "isu ni suwarimasu", not "isu wo suwarimasu".
For riding onto a vehicle, it will be "vehicle ni noru" (noru means to ride).
4) A verb B at C.
A ha C de B wo verb.
Example: Watashi ha gakkou de hon wo yomimasu. -- I read a book at school.
Watashi no tomodachi ha daigaku de nihongo wo hanashimasu. -- My friends speak Japanese in college.
"de", similar to "ni", is a positional particle; however, it is different from "ni" in that it describes an action being taken place at a certain location, whereas "ni" only describes the existence of an object at a location.
Summary:
Katakana rules
New vocabs related to school
New verbs
Sentence structures: 1) There is A; 2) A is located at B; 3) A verb B; 4) A verb B at C.
The next lesson will be the last one to be taught with only romaji!
