Japanese I-28

Vocabulary


English
since
ago
since … ago

day
four
four days

time
interval
interval of time
interval of 3 hours

I’m alone
(doing) alone

sort of
meaning
sort of meaning
spoken quotes

to spend (time)
masu (formal)
dict (casual)
-te (imperative)


romaji
kara
mae
… mae kara

-ka
yon
yok-ka

ji
kan
ji-kan
san ji-kan

hitori desu
hitori de

i
mi
i-mi
to

 
sugoshimasu
sugosu
sugoshite


kana
から
まえ
…まえ から


よん
よっか


かん
じかん
さん じかん

ひとり です
ひとりで



いみ

 
すごします
すごす
すごして


kanji
 

前から



四日



時間
三時間

一人です
一人で

 
 
 

 
 
 
 


Sample sentences

Jap: ‘mikka’ wa dou iu imi desu ka?
‘3 days’ to iu imi desu

lit: ‘mikka’? How is it said its meaning?
the meaning is said ‘3 days’.

Eng: What does ‘mikka’ means?
It means ‘3 days’.


formal
「mikka」 wa dou iu imi desu ka?
‘3 days’ to iu imi desu.

「みっか」は どう いう いみ ですか。
‘3 days’ と いう いみ です。

「3日」はどういういみですか。
‘3 days’といういみです。

casual
「mikka」 wa dou iu imi?
‘3 days’ to iu imi da.

「みっか」は どう いう いみ。
‘3 days’ と いう いみ だ。

「3日」はどういういみ?
‘3 days’といういみだ。



Eng: I don’t have time.

lit: There is no time.


formal
ji-kan ga arimasen.

じかんが ありません。

時間がありません。

casual
ji-kan ga nai.

じかんが ない。

時間がない。


Comments

The following comments explain some of the grammar in more detail.

Particles

to, tte

We can use ‘to’ to indicate that the previous statement is in quotes. We don’t have a similar indicator in English so, instead, we might signal the quotes with our fingers, or explicitly say ‘… and I quote’. The と particle marks the location of the final quotes, while we have to figure out the location of the beginning quotes from context. In japanese, the written quotes are 「 … 」.


English
It means today
I’m called Tanaka

romaji
kyou」to iu imi desu
tanaka」to moushimasu


The casual version of ‘to’ (と) is ‘tte’ (って), as in this shot from ‘Eyeshield 21’:

screenshot from ‘Eyeshield 21’

The question is “What is ‘Christmas Bowl’?”;here it is, in both formal and casual forms:


romaji
kurisumasubouru‘ to nan desu ka?
kurisumasubouru‘ tte nani?


Japanese
クリスマスボウル」となんですか?
クリスマスボウル」ってなに?


Nouns

hitori vs hitori de

‘hitori’ means ‘1 person’, and it also means ‘alone’. When we are saying that we are alone, with no action attached to it, we use ‘hitori’, but when we are saying that we are doing something by ourselves we used ‘hitori de’:


English
Are you alone?
Yes, I am alone.

Are you going alone?
I am eating alone.

romaji
hitori desu ka?
hai, hitori desu.

hitori de ikimasu ka?
hitori de tabemasu.