Learn the key pattern to ask for a word in Japanese
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| Let’s take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Ben asks, |
| "How do you say “textbook” in Japanese?" |
| Textbookは、にほんごで なんと いいますか。(Textbook wa, Nihon-go de nan to iimasu ka.) |
| First is the English word, "textbook." |
| Next is は (wa), the topic-marking particle. は. は. |
| Here, は (wa) marks "textbook" as the topic of the sentence. Think of it as "as for," like in "As for the "Textbook." |
| After this is にほんご (Nihon-go), "Japanese," as in "the Japanese language." に-ほ-ん-ご. にほんご. |
| Next is the particle で (de), which marks the thing you use to do something で.. で. |
| In this sentence, で marks にほんご, "Japanese," as the language used to speak. |
| Together, にほんごで (Nihon-go de) translates as "in Japanese." にほんごで. |
| Note, when the context is clear, you may omit にほんごで. |
| Next is the phrase, なんといいますか。(nan to iimasu ka) "How [do you] say?" なんといいますか。 |
| First is なんといいます (nan to iimasu) "How [do you] say…" なんといいます。 |
| At this point in your language learning journey, remember this as a set phrase. |
| Last is the particle, か, the question-marking particle. か. か. |
| This particle turns the sentence into a question. |
| Together, なんといいますか。"How do you say…?" なんといいますか。 |
| All together, Textbookは、にほんごで なんと いいますか。(Textbook wa, Nihon-go de nan to iimasu ka.) literally means, "As for textbook, in Japanese how [do you] say, " but translates as "How do you say ‘textbook’ in Japanese?" |
| Textbookは、にほんごで なんと いいますか。 |
| In many cases, you can omit にほんごで from the question pattern. Since you’re asking the question in Japanese, and it’s about an English word, it’s understood that you’re asking for the Japanese word. |
| The simplified variation to ask about the Japanese word for "textbook" is, |
| Textbookは, なんと いいますか。 |
| You should be aware of this shortcut, but for this lesson, we’ll use the full sentence pattern. |
| Textbookは、にほんごで なんと いいますか。(Textbook wa, Nihon-go de nan to iimasu ka.) |
| Let’s take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Hana says, "It’s "textbook." |
| きょうかしょです。(Kyōkasho desu.) |
| First is きょうかしょ (kyōkasho), "textbook." きょ-う-か-しょ. きょうかしょ。 |
| After this is です (desu), in this case, it’s like the "is" in "It is." It’s a linking verb. で-す. です. |
| Together, きょうかしょです (Kyōkasho desu.) literally means "textbook [it] is," but it translates as, |
| It’s “textbook.” |
| きょうかしょです. |
| きょうかしょです is the shortened version of the sentence, Textbookは きょうかしょです。 |
| The first part, "textbookは," meaning "As for textbook," is omitted since the context is clear, as Hana is responding to a question about the "textbook." |
| きょうかしょです。(Kyōkasho desu.) |
| The pattern is |
| {English word} は、にほんごで なんと いいますか。(wa, Nihon-go de nan to iimasu ka.) |
| How do you say {English word} in Japanese? |
| {English word} は、にほんごで なんと いいますか。(wa, Nihon-go de nan to iimasu ka.) |
| To use this question pattern, simply replace the {English word} placeholder with the word you want to know. |
| Imagine you want to know the Japanese word for "pen." |
| Ask |
| "How do you say "pen" in Japanese?" |
| Ready? |
| Penは、にほんごで なんと いいますか。 (Pen wa, Nihon-go de nan to iimasu ka.) |
| "How do you say "pen" in Japanese?" |
| Penは、にほんごで なんと いいますか。(Pen wa, Nihon-go de nan to iimasu ka.) |
| If you want to keep the conversation completely in Japanese, you can say, "How do you say this in Japanese?" Simply replace the English word with これ (kore), "this." こ-れ. これ. |
| これは、にほんごで なんと いいますか。(Kore wa, Nihon-go de nan to iimasu ka.) |
| "How do you say this in Japanese?" |
| If the thing is far away from you, you can use それ (sore), that. それ. それは、にほんごで なんと いいますか。(Sore wa, Nihon-go de nan to iimasu ka.) |
| "How do you say that in Japanese?" |
| Again, this is a very useful pattern for using Japanese to learn Japanese. |
| Keeping the conversation in Japanese as long as possible is a great tactic to learn a language. These questions will help with that. |
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