Learn about asking where something is
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| In today’s lesson, we will cover an extremely important phrase. Where is the bathroom? Without this, you could have serious bladder problems. In Japanese, where is the bathroom is Toire wa doko desuka? Toire wa doko desuka? Broken down by syllable, it’s To-i-re-wa-do-ko-de-su-ka altogether it’s Toire wa doko desuka? Now let’s take a look at the components. First we have toire which is the katakana word for toilet. Now this might sound a little bit crude to our US listeners but the word is actually pretty acceptable in Japanese. So let’s just break it down. |
| To-i-re, toire This is followed by the topic marking particle Va and then the interrogative where which is Doko. do-ko. So to recap what we have so far Toire wa doko literally toilet where and this is followed by desu the polite form of the rough equivalent to the English verb To Be. Finally we have ka a particle that indicates that the sentence is an interrogative all the parts put together give us Toire wa doko desuka? Toire wa doko desuka? Now there is another way to say bathroom which is Otearai, o-te-a-ra-i, Otearai. This word is made up of the honorific prefix O and the words for hand and wash. |
| To use this, we would substitute Otearai for the toilet to get Otearai wa doko desuka? Otearai wa doko desuka? Now when you finally get to the bathroom, there might be one last hurdle. In some cases, only the Kanji or the Chinese characters are written on the doors. Oohh! What to do, what to do? Well you can stop by the website and find the characters for man and woman. Find them inside the PDF or if you have an iPod, click the center button and you could find them there. |
| Be sure to do that or else you would be walking into the wrong bathroom. All right. That’s going to do it for today. See you later which in Japanese is Matane. |
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Comments
HideHi everyone! "Doko" is probably the most important question word to know! Do you know how to use it now?
Hi Benjamin,
Thank you for your message.👍
Please check this Pathway to learn the essentials in Japanese:
https://www.japanesepod101.com/lesson-library/level-1-japanese/
If you are looking for specific grammar points, please check these features:
https://www.japanesepod101.com/lesson-library/absolute-beginner
https://www.japanesepod101.com/japanese-grammar/
Have a great day!😄
Cheers,
Lena
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hello JapanesePod101. I haven't Used Doko Before. And I probably Should use it And Remember it😅 Can I still Get More Advice On Grammar?
Or Just An Advice On Speaking? I'm sorry Too make This Comment Sound Like a Rant/Complaint. I'm Just Kind of Struggling a Little.
-Benjamin Cooley San
Hi Graeme,
Thank you for the comment. To me, the last い for おてあらい is clearly pronounced. Most words ending with い is sounded out clearly. When there are two い together, then you are correct about it becomes like a long ī sound.
いいえ
格好（かっこう）いい
言います（いいます）
Regards,
Miki H
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hi,
I'd like to ask a pronunciation question. When I read the word おてあらい - the last part of the word is pronounced like the English "rye", but there's an い on the end. However we don't pronounce い like we normally would in a word such as いいえ.
Is there a pronunciation rule for words with endings like おてあらい where the い isn't sounded?
Hi Marianne,
Thank you for the comment and sorry for our late reply!
Here are the kanji you are looking for:
Men 男
Women 女
For bathrooms, you often see signs say 男性用 (For men) and 女性用(For women). As long as you recognize the first kanji and the meaning, you are good to go!
Good luck travelling with 12 others to Japan. Enjoy your trip!!
Miki H
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hi,
I am looking for the kanji for mens and ladies toilet. I cannot find it in the PDF. Can you help me?
I will be travelling to Japan with 12 other Aussies next year, for three weeks.
Elizabeth Hamilton san,
konnichiwa!
I think that was 'o-benjo'. It's not very commonly used though:sweat_smile:
It's not wrong, so you can still use it. :wink:
Natsuko (奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com
Kon'nichi wa, I studied a little Japanese in the early 1960's. I learned the word "o-benji" for bathroom in a home. Is this old usage or is it still current? Great lesson. ありがとう ございます?
Ruth M san,
Konnichiwa.:smile:
Ganbatte kudasai.
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com
"Ohayo,YUKI-san!":thumbsup::smile:
"Hai. Wakarimashita!:thumbsup:(Eng.Yes.I understand!) :thumbsup:
"Hoteru,doko desu ka?"(Eng.Where is the hotel?:innocent:)
ARIGATO GOZAIMASU!:thumbsup:MATA NE!:thumbsup::heart::thumbsup:
:shock::smile::???:confused here help
grace michiko -san
化粧室 （けしょうしつ）keshou shitsu = powder room
keshou = makeup
shitsu= room
As you can probably tell from the meaning of the word, keshoushitsu is exclusively used by women.:wink:
What a topic, huh ??? but very necessary... I work with senior citizens in Japantown/sSan Francisco (oldest person is 105yrs old and clear as a bell) and hear many terms from this older generation... very politely phrased terms also... isn't there a newer term now becoming more popular (most likely by women) - "powder room"? Someone from Japan just told me but Iforgot what it was... "keshyo...(something)... Does anyone know this one ???
そうですね！便利なことばがたくさんあります！:mrgreen:
日本人につかってください！:dogeza:
Dear Yuki Sensei,
私 はこのレッソン を好きじゃ なくてとても便利 なことわざ とおもいま. でも
この ようなことわざ を 利用 するからにほんへ来て だけ話てもいいですね
ありがとございます.
ランジャナ
I like the new intro song to the lesson! Much better than some of the others!!
Bob-san,
ご不浄・gofujou used to be used about 60-70 years ago which is our grand parents generation. And it seems the word was often used by women.
And there are others describing "toilet" such as はばかり・habakari,せっちん・secchin...
I think people know it, but rarely been used nowadays.:smile:
Bennittaさん,
Yes, it does!! :mrgreen:
Bobさん,
I'd never heard this word used to talk about the bathroom, so I don't think it's used anymore! :shock: It sounds like a fairly old term :smile:
amyさん,
Thanks for the feedback! We're taking this into consideration for upcoming courses :grin:
Actually, I don't like the new series in this season(all about Japan, survival phs).Both of them are too simple for advanced learner. So far we need to wait for half week to get the upper intermediate or onomatopoeia lesson. In my opinion, new series should not only care about new learners. It has to be balanced to have the same percentage bwt newbie users and advanced users. Can we have more detail classes about Japanese grammar "anuansu"....etc.I really like the period time that we have lower- intermediate, and upper intermediate classes.
どう言っても,Japanesepod101の皆さんいつもいい授業を準備してくれてありがとうございます。お疲れさまでした。私たちも日本語の勉強を続けたいと思って頑張ります。
Many years ago when I was in Japan we used "gofujo" for toilet. Is that a word that is still used in some cases?