Learn about talking about one's child
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jessi: Take Your Japanese Questions to New Heights with Particles Ka and No! |
| Naomi: こんにちは。直美です。(Kon’nichiwa. Naomi desu.) |
| Jessi: Jessi here. |
| Naomi: In the previous lesson, you learned the particle の (no). In this lesson we’ll look at the particles か (ka) and の (no) when used in questions. |
| Jessi: The conversation is between two colleagues, right? |
| Naomi: そうです。あきらさんとけいこさんです。(Sō desu. Akira-san to Keiko-san desu.) |
| Jessii: The conversation is between Akira and Keiko. |
| Naomi: 二人は同僚です。(Futari wa dōryō desu.) |
| Jessi: When does this conversation take place? |
| Naomi: 職場です。(Shokuba desu.) |
| Jessi: At work. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 田中明: けい子さんは、お子さんがいますか。(Keiko-san wa, o-ko-san ga imasu ka.) |
| 佐藤けい子: はい。4才の男の子がいます。(Hai. Yon-sai no otoko no ko ga imasu.) |
| 田中明:本当ですか？うちの子も4才。(Hontō desu ka? Uchi no ko mo yon-sai.) |
| : あ、今週の日曜日、時間がありますか。(A, konshū no nichi-yōbi, jikan ga arimasu ka.) |
| : バーベキューをしませんか。(Bābekyū o shimasen ka.) |
| 佐藤けい子: はい！是非。(Hai! Zehi.) |
| もう一度お願いします。今度はゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 田中明: けい子さんは、お子さんがいますか。(Keiko-san wa, o-ko-san ga imasu ka.) |
| 佐藤けい子: はい。4才の男の子がいます。(Hai. Yon-sai no otoko no ko ga imasu.) |
| 田中明:本当ですか？うちの子も4才。(Hontō desu ka? Uchi no ko mo yon-sai.) |
| : あ、今週の日曜日、時間がありますか。(A, konshū no nichi-yōbi, jikan ga arimasu ka.) |
| : バーベキューをしませんか。(Bābekyū o shimasen ka.) |
| 佐藤けい子: はい！是非。(Hai! Zehi.) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 田中明: けい子さんは、お子さんがいますか。(Keiko-san wa, o-ko-san ga imasu ka.) |
| Jessi: Do you have any kids, Keiko? |
| 佐藤けい子: はい。4才の男の子がいます。(Hai. Yon-sai no otoko no ko ga imasu.) |
| Jessi: Yes, I have a four-year-old son. |
| 田中明:本当ですか？うちの子も4才。(Hontō desu ka? Uchi no ko mo yon-sai.) |
| Jessi: Oh, really? My child is also four! |
| : あ、今週の日曜日、時間がありますか。(A, konshū no nichi-yōbi, jikan ga arimasu ka.) |
| Jessi: Oh, do you have any time on Sunday this week? |
| : バーベキューをしませんか。(Bābekyū o shimasen ka.) |
| Jessi: Would you like to have a barbecue? |
| 佐藤けい子: はい！是非。(Hai! Zehi.) |
| Jessi: Yes! Definitely. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Naomi: ジェシーさんはバーベキューしますか。(Jeshī-san wa bābekyū shimasu ka.) |
| Jessi: そうですね。たまにします。(Sō desu ne. Tama ni shimasu.) I occasionally have a barbeque with my friends or something like that. |
| Naomi: にくをやきますか。(Niku o yakimasu ka.) |
| Jessi: はい。 (Hai.) Usually something like hamburgers, or hotdogs. (laughs) |
| Naomi: いいですね。(Ii desu ne.) |
| Jessi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Naomi: 私はときどきさかなをやきます。(Watashi wa tokidoki sakana o yakimasu.) |
| Jessi: Oh, at a barbeque? |
| Naomi: そうそうそう。(Sō sō sō.) |
| Jessi: So you make fish. |
| Naomi: はい。おいしいです。(Hai. Oishii desu.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn two sentence ending particles used in questions. You'll also learn another usage of the particle が [ ga ], which you were introduced to in Lesson 2. |
| Naomi-sensei, which particle are we going to start with? |
| Naomi: How about the question marking particle か (ka)? |
| Jessi: OK, sounds good. The particle ka attaches to the end of a sentence and turns that sentence into a question. Unlike question sentences in English, when a statement becomes a question in Japanese, the word order stays the same. The best way to illiterate this is with an example. How do you say “Ken is Japanese“? |
| Naomi: ケンは日本人です。(Ken wa Nihon-jin desu.) |
| Jessi: So to ask “Is Ken Japanese?”, all you have to do is add か (ka) at the end of the sentence. |
| Naomi: Right. ケンは日本人ですか。(Ken wa Nihon-jin desu ka.) You have to use the rising intonation at か (ka) though. |
| Jessi: Right. In English you have to change the word order. “Ken is Japanese” to “Is Ken Japanese?” But in Japanese, you don’t have to do that - just add か (ka) to the sentence. Let’s do one more example. How do you say “Ken can speak Japanese”? |
| Naomi: ケンは日本語ができます。(Ken wa Nihon-go ga dekimasu.) |
| Jessi And to ask “Can Ken speak Japanese?” |
| Naomi: ケンは日本語ができますか。(Ken wa Nihon-go ga dekimasu ka.) |
| Jessi: Now those sentences that we just gave were all formal sentences. How about informal sentences? |
| Naomi: It’s the same - you just add か (ka) at the end of the sentence. |
| For example, クミは英語がわかる。(Kumi wa Eigo ga wakaru.) “Kumi understands English.” becomes クミは英語がわかるか。(Kumi wa Eigo ga wakaru ka.) “Does Kumi understand English?” |
| But you have to be careful for na-adjective and noun sentences. |
| Jessi: Right. For na-adjectives and nouns sentences, you use the copula だ (da) at the end of the sentence, right? |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Jessi: Such as … |
| Naomi: 電車は便利だ。(Densha wa benri da.) “Trains are convenient.” |
| Jessi: But when you turn the sentence into a question, you have to drop the copula だ (da) and add か (ka). |
| Naomi: So…電車は便利だ。(Densha wa benri da.) becomes 電車は便利か。(Densha wa benri ka.) |
| Jessi: Can we have an example of a noun sentence? |
| Naomi: それは、本当だ。(Sore wa, hontō da.) “It is true.” becomes それは、本当か。(Sore wa, hontō ka.) ”Is it true?” |
| Jessi: Because this sentence ending particle か (ka) changes an affirmative sentence to a question, it’s often called the question marking particle. |
| Naomi: When this question marker か (ka) is attached to a negative sentence, it forms a negative question. Ah… do we have to explain what a negative question is? |
| Jessi: Yes, I think we should. A negative question is often used to make a suggestion or an invitation, like “Do you want to see a movie tomorrow?” or “Do you want to take a break?” |
| Naomi: Right. 映画をみます (eiga o mimasu) is “to see a movie” 映画をみません (eiga o mimasen) is “not see a movie”, and if you add か (ka) to it, that would be 映画をみませんか (eiga o mimasen ka). |
| Jessi: Literally this would mean ‘Won’t you see a movie?’ but in Japanese it acts as an invitation ‘ Do you want to see a movie?’ |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Jessi: And ‘Why don’t we go and see a movie?’ |
| Naomi: うんうんうん。(Un un un.) |
| Jessi: OK. What’s the other sentence-ending particle that’s used in questions? |
| Naomi: の (no). |
| Jessi: And you may remember this particle. Previously you learned the usage of this particle where it appears between two nouns, and in this lesson, you'll learn how to use の (no) when it appears at the end of a sentence. |
| Naomi: The sentence ending particle の (no) indicates a colloquial question. |
| Jessi: When の (no) is attached to the end of an informal sentence, the sentence turns into a question. The intonation rises at の (no). For example |
| Naomi: クミは英語ができる。(Kumi wa Eigo ga dekiru.) “Kumi understands English.” becomes クミは英語ができるの？(Kumi wa Eigo ga dekiru no?) “Does Kumi understand English?” |
| Jessi: But… Naomi-sensei, we just learned that you can attach the particle か (ka) to the end of an informal sentence to make it a question, for example クミは英語ができるか。(Kumi wa Eigo ga dekiru ka.) |
| Naomi: Good point! Even though it’s a grammatically correct sentence, I’d say the informal sentence plus か (ka) sounds a bit rough, if you use it for a regular question. To me, の (no) sounds much softer and nicer. |
| Jessi: Hmm, I see. So you recommend that we use クミは英語ができるの？ (Kumi wa Eigo ga dekiru no?) rather than クミは英語ができるか。(Kumi wa Eigo ga dekiru ka.) |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) It really depends on how you want to sound but basically…そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Yes. |
| Jessi: And for na-adjective and noun sentences, you also have to be careful of something, right? |
| Naomi: はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) Right. You have to change the copula だ (da) to なの (na no)？For example, 電車は便利だ。(Densha wa benri da.) “Trains are convenient.” becomes 電車は便利なの? (Densha wa benri na no?) “Are trains convenient?” |
| それは本当だ。(Sore wa hontō da.) “It’s true.” それは本当なの？(Sore wa hontō na no?) “Is it true?” |
| Jessi: So the sentence ending particles か (ka) and の (no) turn the sentence into a question. Basically, you add か (ka) to formal and informal sentences. You add の (no) to informal sentences. OK the last particle we’ll be looking at in this lesson is |
| Naomi: が (ga). |
| Jessi: As you learned in Lesson 2, the particle が (ga) marks the object for verbs of ability. In this lesson, you'll learn the usage of ga that indicates existence. |
| Naomi: OK. First of all, let us introduce two verbs that express existence. |
| ある (aru) and いる (iru). |
| Jessi: They both mean “to be” or “to have”, but ある (aru) is used for inanimate objects whereas いる (iru) is used for animate objects. |
| Naomi: The people or items that exist are marked by the particle が (ga) |
| For example, わたしは時間がある。(Watashi wa jikan ga aru.) “I have time.” |
| わたしは子供がいる。(Watashi wa kodomo ga iru.) “I have a child.” |
| Jessi: Now here I translated ある (aru) and いる (iru) as “to have”, but they can be translated as “there is” or “there are”, right? |
| Naomi: そうですね (Sō desu ne), right. トイレがありますか。(Toire ga arimasu ka.) “Is there a restroom?” 警察がいます。(Keisatsu ga imasu.) “There is a policeman.” |
| Jessi: So to recap, the particle が (ga) marks the object for verbs of ability and it indicates existence. |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) Right. I think it would be a good idea to remember that が (ga) is used with いる (iru) and ある (aru). |
| Jessi: Right, I agree. OK then let’s take a look at a sentence from the dialogue. |
| Naomi: けい子さんは、お子さんがいますか。(Keiko-san wa, o-ko-san ga imasu ka.) “Do you have any kids, Keiko?” |
| Jessi: If you want to say this sentence casually but nicely, how would you say it? |
| Naomi: けい子さんは、おこさんがいるの？(Keiko-san wa, o-ko-san ga iru no?) |
| Jessi: います (imasu) became いる (iru) which is the dictionary form of います (imasu), and then の (no) was added instead of か(ka). |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) Right. |
| Jessi: In this lesson you learned the two sentence ending particles か (ka) and の (no). They’re both used in questions. Now let’s recap this lesson with a quiz. |
| 時間があります。(Jikan ga arimasu.) means “I have time.” So, how would you say “Do you have time?” in formal Japanese? |
| Naomi: ・・・・ |
| Jessi: The answer is? |
| Naomi: 時間がありますか。(Jikan ga arimasu ka.) |
| Jessi: ‘Do you have time?’ Now since あります (arimasu) is the –ます(masu) form, this sentence is quite polite isn’t it? How do you ask the same question more casually and friendly? |
| Naomi: The hint is the dictionary form of あります (arimasu) is ある (aru). |
| Jessi: OK. And the answer is? |
| Naomi: 時間があるの？(Jikan ga aru no?) |
| Jessi: Of course you could also say 時間があるか？(Jikan ga aru ka?) but 時間があるの？(Jikan ga aru no?) sounds softer, right? |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Jessi: OK, well that’s all for this lesson. See you next time. |
| Naomi: じゃまた。(Ja mata.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| 田中明: けい子さんは、お子さんがいますか。(Keiko-san wa, o-ko-san ga imasu ka.) |
| 佐藤けい子: はい。4才の男の子がいます。(Hai. Yon-sai no otoko no ko ga imasu.) |
| 田中明:本当ですか？うちの子も4才。(Hontō desu ka? Uchi no ko mo yon-sai.) |
| : あ、今週の日曜日、時間がありますか。(A, konshū no nichi-yōbi, jikan ga arimasu ka.) |
| : バーベキューをしませんか。(Bābekyū o shimasen ka.) |
| 佐藤けい子: はい！是非。(Hai! Zehi.) |
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