日本語の学習
Ch. 5
Here is a list of all the key concepts you need to master in order to ace those exams!
Go through and see where you need to practice some more.
1) 漢字 (Kanji)
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Can you write all these kanji characters? Here are some of the most common words you'll see the characters appear in.
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日 ~day, sun
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日（ひ）= day
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日曜日（にちようび）= Sunday
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月~month, moon
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月（つき）= moon
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月曜日（げつようび）= Monday
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何月（なんがつ）= which month?
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火 ~fire
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火（ひ）= fire
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火曜日（かようび）= Tuesday
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水 ~water
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水曜日（すいようび）= Wednesday
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清水寺（きよみずでら）= Kiyomizudera; a famous temple in Kyoto
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水（みず）= water
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When people order water, they usually add 『お』and say 『おみずください』
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木~ tree
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木（き）= tree
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木曜日（もくようび）= Thursday
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金 ~metal, gold
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金（きん）= gold
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金曜日（きんようび）= Friday
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金色（きんいろ）= golden
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金（かね）= money
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When speaking, people always add 『お』and say 『おかね』.
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土 ~dirt, soil
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土（つち）= dirt, soil
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土曜日（どようび）= Saturday
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山~mountain
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山（やま）= mountain
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川~river
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川（かわ）= river
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神奈川（かながわ）= Kanagawa; a popular prefecture to visit
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州~state
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州（しゅう）= state (always add at the end of a state name in America)
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田~rice field, rice paddy
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田（た）= rice field
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田中（たなか）=Tanaka; a common surname
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人~person
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人（ひと）= person
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外国人（がいこくじん）= foreigner(s)
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人気（にんき）= popular
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人々（ひとびと）= people
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What is the meaning of 『々』? You don't need to know this character for this class, but it's important to know since it's used in a lot of words. All it does is indicate that the first character is repeated, oftentimes with a dukuten (ie. " or ﾟ).
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Examples:
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日々 --> ひび
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時々 --> ときどき
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昔々 --> むかしむかし
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口 ~mouth
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口（くち）= mouth
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山口（やまぐち）= Yamaguchi; a common surname
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車 ~car, vehicle
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車（くるま）= car
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電車（でんしゃ）= train
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自電車（じてんしゃ）= bike
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門 ~gate
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専門（せんもん）= specialty, area of expertise
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子~child, sometimes used as the character for the year of the rat
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子供（こども）= kid
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女の子（おんなのこ）= little girl
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男の子（おとこのこ）= little boy
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女~women, female
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女（おんな）= female
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女性（じょせい）= woman
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学
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学校（がっこう）= school
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大学（だいがく）= undergraduate college
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学ぶ（まなぶ）= to learn
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『まなぶ』is equivalent to "to learn" (eg. I'm learning Japanese).
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『べんきょうする』is equivalent to "to study" (eg. I'm studying Japanese).
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『ならう』can be used for skills (eg. I learned how to play the piano)
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校 ~school
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学校（がっこう）= school
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生~life, genuine, birth
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生きる（いきる）= to live
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生まれる（うまれる）= to be born
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先生（せんせい）= teacher/professor
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先 ~before, previous
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先週（せんしゅう）= last week
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先生（せんせい）= teacher/professor
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高 ~tall, high, expensive
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高い（たかい）= tall or expensive (depending on context)
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2) Grammar
a) Stem + たいです (I want to. . . )
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Can you tell people what you would like to do?
1) Take the stem of a verb (ie. conjugate to 『ます』 form and take off the 『ます』). If you don't remember how to conjugation ichidan-doushi (1) and godan-doushi (5) verbs, you can refer back to point B in ch. 4 of this website.
Example:
いく (5) --> いきます --> いき
かえる (5) --> かえります --> かえり
ねる (1) --> ねます --> ね
2) Add 『たいです』.
Example:
いきたいです
かえりたいです
ねたいです
b) Location (pg. 182-183)
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Can you indicate where things are?
うえ（上）= on, above, over vs. した（下）= under, beneath
うしろ（後ろ）= on, above, over vs. まえ（前）= under, beneath
ひだり（左）= left vs. みぎ（右）= right
なか（中）= inside vs. そと（外）= outside
となり（隣）= next to vs. よこ（横）= adjacent to (sounds a bit closer than 『となり』
ちかく（近く）= nearby vs. とおい（遠い）= far away
あいだ（間）= in between vs. まんなか（真ん中）= perfectly in the middle
Grammar Structure
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"X is (location) of Y" --> 『object 1 はobject 2のlocationにあります or います』
Examples:
1) "object 1 is on top of object 2" --> 『object 1はobject 2のうえにあります』
"object 1 is behind object 2" --> 『object 1はobject 2のうしろにあります』
2) "It's to the left of object 2" --> 『object 2のひだりにあります』
"It's below object 2" --> 『object 2のしたにあります』
3) "It's inside" --> 『なかにあります』
"It's to the right" --> 『みぎにあります』
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If you can't remember the difference between 『あります』and 『います』, review point G in chapter 4 of this website.
c) Double particles （に/へは、では、に/へも、でも）(pg.193)
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Double particles follow the same rules as the single particles you can read about in chapter 3 of this website. However, what exactly is the difference between a single particle and a double particle?
A double particle provides more contrast. #4 in Chapter 3 of this website shows that one of the functions of 『は』is to provide contrast. The same rule still applies except you're just adding 『に/へ』or 『で』depending on the sentence. The most important thing to just remember is that there is some sort of contrast being implied even if you don't verbally say it.
1) Example: "I have a room in my house you can stay in!" --> 『うちにはへやがありますよ！』
This sounds like the speaker is offering the listener a room because they don't have anywhere else to stay.
vs.
1) Example: "I have a room in my house you can stay in!" --> 『うちにへやがありますよ！』
This sounds like the speaker is just stating that there's a room that's available in their house for the listener to
stay in.
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Reminder: you need to listen to the context which is why double particles become tricky. Is someone asking you a question that makes you compare something to other things? For example, saying "Where do you eat lunch?" is a straightforward statement that doesn't require any comparisons. However, if someone asked, "What do you do in the school cafeteria?" then you'll most likely start stating some things you wouldn't normally do in other places.
『がくしょくではなにをしますか？』
2) Example: "I eat with my friends in the school cafeteria" --> 『がくしょくではともだちとたべます』
『日本にいきましたか？』
3) Example: "Yes, I went to Japan" --> 『はい、日本にいきました』
vs.
3) Example: "No, didn't go to Japan" --> 『いいえ、日本にはいきませんでした』
This sounds like the speaker didn't go to Japan but they visited another country. If you say 『いいえ、日本にいきませんでした』implies that you didn't leave your hometown at all.
Now, let's imagine you're asking a what-is-there question
- When you're asking someone a what-is-there question, you usually expect someone to answer with something that is relatively unique to that place right? For example, if you ask someone what is at Disney Land, you wouldn't expect someone to say "a building, a drinking fountain, and a fence." Instead, you may expect an answer like "there are people dressed up as characters, there's something called the Cinderella Castle, and there are fun rides."
This is why the Japanese usually use 『には』or 『では』when asking a what-is-there question since it tells the listener to say what stands out and list things most other places may not have.
4) Example: "What is there at Mount Holyoke College?" --> 『マウントホリヨーク大学にはなにがありますか？』
Someone may then respond with "A pretty library, a school goose named Jorge, and various traditions" as opposed to thinking you're asking for generic things like a cafeteria, academic buildings, and a library.
(school cafeteria)
D) Duration: ごろ vs. ぐらい
ごろ= around (what time?) vs. ぐらい= approximately (how much? what age?)
1) Example: "Around what time do you go to bed?" --> 『なんじごろねますか？ 』
2) Example: "Approximately how many hours of sleep do you get?" -->
『なんじかんぐらいねますか？』
3) Example: "Approximately how much money do you have?" -->『おかねはどの
ぐらいありますか？』
4) Approximately how old do you think he is? --> 『かれはなんさいぐらいとおもいますか？』
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If you want to turn time (ie. o'clock) into hours, you would add 『かん』. If you also have minutes, add 『かん』directly after 『じ』. For example, 1:30 is いちじはん but if you want to say 1 and a half hours you make it いちじかん.はん.
E) 『も』(pg.193)
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『も』means "also."
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In the places where you can put 『は』、『が』、or 『を』, you would completely replace those particles with 『も』. However, in the places where you can put 『に』or 『で』, you would add 『も』next to the particles. If you can't remember which particles you should use, you can refer to chapter 3 of this website!
1) Example: "I have a cat at home. I also have a dog" --> うちにねこがいます。いぬがいます。 --> 『うちにねこがいます。いぬもいます。』
2) Example: "I studied in Blanchard. I also studied in Ciruti" --> Blanchardでべんきょうしました。Cirutiでべんきょうしました。-->
『Blanchardでべんきょうしました。Cirutiでもべんきょうしました。』
3) Ch. 5 Vocab
A) Ch. 5 Vocab
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To make sure you've memorized all the vocab, you can print the list and fold it in such a way that you can quiz yourself.