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)
watashi wa yakkyu o minagara biiru o nomimashita
“Can I Try This On?”
If you currently live in Japan, or ever plan to visit, you will probably want to do some clothes shopping.
Here’s a great phrase you can use when you want to try on clothes:
“cause” in Japanese
In the Japanese language, the particle de is often used as the equivalent of the English words at and by. For example, “I went by car” is translated as kuruma de ikimashita. However, the particle de can also be used to indicate cause. When one thing causes another to happen we can create a Japanese sentence using de.
See, Show, Look In Japanese
There are a few “seeing” verbs in Japanese that are useful in everyday Japanese conversation.
They are:
Japanese Grammar - Asking For Someone
The following Japanese grammar video will explain how to ask for someone in Japanese.
The video is short, but kind of cool.
Japanese Sentence Structure
Japanese sentence structure is different to the structure used for English. It can become really confusing, so it’s helpful to have some lessons just on this point.
Below is a video that will take you through some basic Japanese sentence structure and make you more confident in your communication.
onaji desu - saying something is the same
When you think about the rules of the Japanese language, they can be pretty straight foward. It is just a matter of memorizing them all! In today’s Japanese lesson, we are going to take a look at the word onaji.
We can say something is the same as something else or ask if something is the same as something else very simply in Japanese. We need to use onaji for this. Consider the following sentences in English:
1. “Mr Tanaka is wearing the same shoes as Mr Yamada’s.”
2. “Are Tokyoites the same as Osakans?”
3. “Is Italian pizza the same as American pizza?”
Let’s put these sentences into Japanese using onaji:

