Learn the key pattern to order two or more of something
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| Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how the server says, |
| "Your order, please?" |
| ごちゅうもんを どうぞ。(Go-chūmon o dōzo.) |
| This is a standard way of prompting a customer for an order. |
| First is ごちゅうもん (go-chūmon), meaning "order," as in to place an order for food. ごちゅうもん. |
| There are two parts to this. |
| Let's start with ちゅうもん (chūmon), "order." ちゅうもん. ちゅうもん. |
| Before ちゅうもん is the honorific prefix ご (go). The server uses this to show the customer more respect and increase the politeness level. |
| Note, you may be familiar with another honorific prefix お (o), as in おかいけい (o-kaikei). A general rule of thumb, the prefix お (o) is used with native Japanese words, while ご (go) is used with words with Chinese roots, Sino-Japanese words. |
| In the case of ちゅうもん, ごちゅうもん. |
| After this is を(o), the object-marking particle. を.を. |
| Think of を as a marker for the thing receiving the action. In this sentence, it marks ごちゅうもん "[your] order," as the thing being requested. |
| And last is どうぞ (dōzo), which translates as "Please," in this context. どうぞ. どうぞ. |
| どうぞ is used to make a request very polite. |
| All together, it's ごちゅうもんを どうぞ。This literally means, "Order, please." but translates as, "Your order, please." |
| ごちゅうもんを どうぞ。(Go-chūmon o dōzo.) |
| This sentence is the shortened version of: |
| ごちゅうもうんを どうぞいってください (Go-chūmon o dōzo itte kudasai.), which translates as, "Please say your order." |
| いってください (itte kudasai) means "Please say." いってください。 |
| However, the phrase いってください is omitted as this is understood from the context of the situation and question. |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Karen says, |
| "Two of these, please"? |
| これを ふたつ ください。(Kore o futatsu kudasai.) |
| First is これ (kore), meaning "this," or in this case, "these." これ. これ. |
| In Japanese, there's no plural form for most words, so これ can be both singular and plural depending on the context of the situation. In this case, it's plural, so will translate as "these." |
| Next is を (o), the object-marking particle. を. |
| In this sentence, it marks これ, "these," as the things being requested. |
| After this is ふたつ (futatsu), "two." ふたつ. ふたつ. |
| Last is the word ください (kudasai), meaning "please." ください.ください. |
| Together it's これを ふたつ ください。This literally means, "These two please," but translates as, "Two of these, please." |
| これを ふたつ ください。(Kore o futatsu kudasai.) |
| The pattern is |
| これを {NUMBER} ください。(Kore o {NUMBER} kudasai.) |
| "{NUMBER} of these, please." |
| これを {NUMBER} ください。 |
| To use this pattern, simply replace the {NUMBER} placeholder with the number of the item you're requesting. |
| Imagine you'd like three of something. |
| みっつ (mittsu). "Three." みっつ. みっつ. |
| Say, "Three of these, please." |
| Ready? |
| これを みっつ ください。(Kore o mittsu kudasai.) |
| "Three of these please." |
| これを みっつ ください。(Kore o mittsu kudasai.) |
| In Japanese, you use special counters when you count objects. The counter used depends on the shape or characteristic of the object. |
| For example, こ (ko) is used for small or round objects. ほん (hon) is used for long objects. まい (mai) is used for flat objects. |
| There is also a general counter, which is つ (tsu), as in ひとつ (hitotsu), ふたつ (futatsu), みっつ (mittsu), よっつ (yottsu), いつつ (itsutsu). This set of general counters can be used when there is no specific counter or when you don't know the counter. |
| Note: the set only goes up to ten. |
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