Practice Makes Perfect: Basic Japanese, Premium Third Edition
By Eriko Sato
Contents:
Introduction xi
1 Let’s say and write Japanese words! 1
Basic Japanese sounds and kana characters 1
The first 10 hiragana 2
The second 10 hiragana 4
The third 10 hiragana 6
The last 16 hiragana 9
Basic vocabulary with simple sounds 10
Words for body parts 10
Words for nature 11
Double consonants, long vowels, and family terms 12
Small つ 12
Adding a vowel 12
Addressing older family members 12
Diacritics for voiced and plosive sounds and food terms 13
Diacritics ゛ and ̊ 13
Names of Japanese food 14
Palatalized sounds 14
Using small や ya, ゆ yu, or よ yo 14
Japanese words you might already know 15
Reading basic katakana 15
Special katakana combinations 18
Country names written in katakana 18
Writing sentences 20
Kanji 20
2 Getting to know someone 23
Introducing yourself with はじめまして Hajimemashite 23
Occupational and respectful titles 23
Asking どちらからですか Dochira kara desu ka (Where are
you from?) 24
The question word どちら dochira and the particle から kara 24
Personal pronouns あなた anata, 私 watashi, and 僕 boku 24
Names for countries, regions, and cities 24
Describing the nationality of a person 26
To say “x is y” with . . . は wa . . . です desu 27
To express additional items with . . . も mo 27
Nationality 27
Languages 27
Referring to someone with あの ano . . . 29
あの ano 29
Words for people 29
Describing the occupation of a person 29
Creating a modifier using a noun and の no 30
Words for occupation 30
Words for institutions 30
Talking about family members 32
Asking questions 33
Asking yes/no questions 33
Answering with “yes” or “no” 33
Asking “who?” 34
Greeting and parting 36
Greeting 36
Parting 36
Thanking and apologizing 37
Saying “thank you” 37
Apologizing 38
Referring to things around you 39
Demonstrative adjectives 39
Things around you 39
Demonstrative pronouns これ kore, それ sore, and あれ are 39
Asking “which?” “what?” and “whose?” 40
The question word どの dono or どれ dore (which) 40
The question word 何 nani/nan (what) 41
The question word だれの dare no (whose) 41
3 Using numbers 44
Numbers from 1 to 10 44
Numbers from 11 to 99 45
Numbers from 100 to 99,999 46
Expressing age with the counter 歳 sai 47
Telephone numbers 48
Telling time 50
Counters for time: 時 ji and 分 fun 50
Relative time expressions 50
Daily time frames 51
The calendar 53
Days of the week 53
Months 53
Days of the month 53
Asking “when?” 54
Question word いつ itsu (when) 55
Japanese national holidays 55
Asking “how much?” at a store 57
Things you might buy at an electronics store 57
Asking “how much?” with いくら ikura 57
Shopping by saying . . . をください o kudasai 58
Listing nouns with と to 58
Asking “how many?” with counters 59
Using number phrases in a sentence 59
Frequently used counters 59
4 Around town 63
Basic verb forms and verb classes 63
Dictionary and masu forms of verbs 63
Ru and u verbs 63
Frequently used verbs 65
Going to the supermarket 68
Showing the destination with に ni or へ e 68
The polite non-past negative suffix ません masen 68
The negative scope marker は wa 68
Places around town 68
Stores: . . . 屋 ya 69
Asking “where?” and saying anywhere, somewhere,
and nowhere 70
Asking “where?” 70
Existential pronouns 71
Negative pronouns 71
Asking about habitual actions with よく yoku (often) 73
Frequency adverbs 73
Making suggestions 74
. . . ませんか masen ka and . . . ましょう mashoˉ 74
Specifying an absolute time with に ni 75
Saying approximately 75
Expressing the purpose of going with . . . に行く ni iku 75
Transportation 77
Specifying the form of transportation with で de 77
Words for transportation 77
Counters for hours and minutes 78
Sentence-ending particles ね ne and よ yo 78
5 Talking about activities 81
Recurring activities 81
Words for proportional frequency 81
The direct object marker を o 81
Daily routines 81
Specifying the location of activities with で de 82
Activities on weekends 82
The verb to play 83
Identifying the action performer 86
Specifying the action performer with the subject marker が ga 86
Specifying the accompanying action performer with と to 87
Talking about the past 89
. . . ました mashita and ませんでした masendeshita 89
The conjunctions それから sorekara，でも demo，and
ですから desukara 89
Expressing your plans 90
. . . つもりです tsumori desu 90
Nai form 91
Telling what you can do: Potential form 92
Making requests 94
Te form 95
Requesting with . . . てください te kudasai 95
Talking about “now” with . . . ている te iru 97
Progressive state 97
Habitual state 97
Resulting state 97
Adverbs for intervals 98
Adverbs for the aspects of an action 98
6 Talking about people and things and their
locations 101
Existential verbs ある aru, いる iru, and
いらっしゃる irassharu 101
Pronouns for locations 102
Animals 102
Plants 102
. . . に(は) . . . があります／います . . . ni (wa)
. . . ga arimasu/imasu 102
. . . は . . . にあります／います . . . wa . . . ni arimasu/imasu 103
In a house 105
Rooms and areas in a house 105
Household items 106
Things in a bedroom 106
Expressing where things are 108
Relative location words 108
Compass directions 109
Giving directions 111
Useful landmarks for giving directions 111
Actions needed for giving directions 111
Marking the area covered by movement with を o 111
Marking the direction with に ni 111
The conjunction そうすると soˉ suruto (then) 112
The ordinal counter creator . . . 目 me 112
Expressing human relationships 113
Expressing events and incidents 115
Words for scheduled events 116
Words for accidents, incidents, and disasters 116
The conjunction それで sorede (as a result) 116
7 Describing things 119
Adjective types 119
Describing buildings and rooms 120
Adjectives in the non-past forms 120
Describing buildings 121
Describing rooms 121
Encouraging someone to do something with どうぞ doˉzo 121
Entering your friend’s house with おじゃまします ojamashimasu 121
Character of a person 123
Personality 123
Question words for state: どんな donna and どう doˉ 124
Adverbs of degree 124
Appearance of a person 126
Double subject 126
Words for describing the appearance of people 126
Language learning 128
Expressing degree of difficulty with . . . にくい nikui and
. . . やすい yasui 128
Words for describing courses 128
The conjunction それに soreni 129
Deciding on a travel destination 130
Sightseeing attractions 130
Description of places 130
Seasons and climates 130
Listing examples with や ya 130
Places you may visit in Japan 131
Describing a meal at a restaurant 132
Adjectives in the past tense 132
Words for ethnic cuisine 132
Words for tastes 132
Preferences and skills 134
Indicating what you like and dislike with が ga 134
Words for preferences 134
Nominalizing a verb with の no 134
Words for skills 134
Saying what you want 136
Expressing desire with ほしい hoshii 136
Expressing desire with . . . たい tai 136
Clothing 137
Words for colors 137
Words for sizes 137
Descriptions of clothing 137
Showing excessiveness with . . . すぎる sugiru 138
Words for clothing and accessories 138
Verbs for wearing 138
Trying on clothing:. . . みる miru 139
Polite shop language: ございます gozaimasu 139
Adverbs 141
Adverbs derived from adjectives 141
The adverb + する suru 142
Comparisons 143
Comparing two items to each other 143
Equivalent-degree comparisons 143
Superlative comparisons 144
Words for classes of items 144
8 Making connections 147
Stating what you think with 思います omoimasu 147
The quotation particle と to 147
Plain forms in the non-past tense 148
Using a relative clause 149
Using . . . んです n desu for making connections in
conversation 151
Asking “why?” 152
Asking for a reason with どうして doˉ shite 152
Stating a reason with からです kara desu 152
Possible reasons for studying Japanese 152
Sharing experiences 155
Expressing experience with ことがあります koto ga arimasu 155
Experiences you might have 155
The counter kai (. . . times) 156
Forecasting weather 157
Expressing probability with でしょう deshoˉ 157
Words for weather 158
Talking about sickness 159
Talking about a possible case with
かもしれません kamoshiremasen 159
Symptoms of illness 159
Diagnosis of illness 159
Listing and connecting actions and states by using the
te form 161
The clause conjunctions が ga and から kara 164
The conjunction が ga 164
The conjunction から kara 164
9 Review exercises 167
Appendix 1: The stations on the Yamanote Line in Tokyo 181
Appendix 2: Prefectures in Japan 182
Appendix 3: Some commonly used verb forms 183
Answer key 185