Using “if” in Japanese

In English, the word “if” is used often.

Consider these examples:

If you don’t do your homework you teacher will be mad.

If you break the vase your mother will be unhappy.

If you don’t wash the car your father will not give you your pocket money.

To do this in Japanese, you need to use the word to.

This is the same one you use for the word “and”.

Here’s what you do:

Sentence 1 to Sentence 2

For example:

ruii bitton no saifu wa takai to kaimasen

If the LouisVuittion purse/wallet is expensive I won’t buy it

Let’s break that down:

ruii bitton Louis Vuitton

no ownership particle/noun as adjctive particle

saifu wallet/purse

wa topic marker particle “as for”

takai expensive

to if

kaimasen negative polite for of kau “to buy”

Let’s try another one:

kabin o kowasu to okaasan ni okorareru

If you break the vase your mother will get angry

Let’s break that one down:

kabin vase

o direct object particle

kowasu break (dictionary form)

to if

okaasan mother

ni okorareru get angry

Try and make a few sentences of your own.

The only strict rule is that any verb in Sentence 1 must not be past. If the sentence is past tense then that is indicated by the tense of Sentence 2.

See you next time.

David

“Together” in Japanese

Hi All,

Short lesson today.

In this lesson we are going to cover the word for “together”.

In English you can say, “I’m going to Tokyo on Sunday. Would you like to come with me?”

To say “come with” or “be with” or “join” in Japanese you use the word together.

The Japanese for together is issho ni.

So, let’s look at the invitation in Japanese:

nichi youbi ni tokyo ni ikimasu. issho ni ikimasenka?

Let’s break that down:

nichi youbi Sunday

ni direction particle

ikimasu to go

issho ni together, with, join with

ikimasenka to go (suggestion)

The “ands” of Japanese

In Japanese there are many ways that you can say and. In today’s lesson we will discuss two common ways and their differences.

You are probably familiar with the normal Japanese word for and.

It is to (pronouned “toh”)

This and is used in cases where you are describing a finite list.

For example, we would use to in the following sentence:

There is a book and a pencil on top of the table (but nothing else on the table)

hon to enpitsu ga teburu no ue ni arimasu

But, in the following example we need to use a different “and”. The following example is of an infinite list:

There is a book and a pencil on top of the table (but there’s other stuff on top of the table too)

hon ya enpitsu ga teburu no ue ni arimasu

So, the simple rule to follow is if you are creating an infinite list use ya, otherwise use to.

Let’s look at each word individually:

hon book

enpitsu pencil

to and (used for finite lists, ie. the list includes everything)

ya and (used for infinite lists, ie. the list doesn’t include everything)

ga subject marker particle

teburu table

no possessive particle

ue top

ni direction particle

arimasu to exist (there is)

See you next time,

David

Nagara - “while doing” in Japanese

Today’s lesson we are going to look at the following kind of sentence structure:

“I listened to music while I jogged”

“I watched tv while I ate dinner”

The while sentence structure is pretty easy to put together if you know a few -masu form verbs.

We use nagara like this:

STEM OF MASU VERB + nagara + VERB

watashi wa jogingu shinagara ongaku o kikimashita

watashi wa ban gohan o tabenagara terebi o mimashita

Let’s break down the words:

watashi  me/I

wa  “as for” particle

o/wo  “direct object” particle

jogingu  jogging

shinagara  doing while (stem of masu verb shimasu + nagara)

ongaku  music

kikimashita  listened

ban gohan  evening meal

tabenagara  eat while (stem of masu verb tabemasu + nagara)

terebi  television

mimashita  watched/looked

NOTE: The tense of the last verb in the sentence indicates the tense of the whole sentence, ie. masu or mashita

Make a Japanese sentence with this one:

“I drank beer while watching baseball” (answer at the bottom)

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watashi wa yakkyu o minagara biiru o nomimashita

 

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1. “Mr Tanaka is wearing the same shoes as Mr Yamada’s.”

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