にほんご — Lesson 2

The volitional — "let's"

The volitional means "let's do X" or "shall we?" — the friendliest way to suggest doing something together.

RU verbs — drop -ru, add -you

Base	Meaning	Let's
taberu	eat	tabeyou
miru	watch	miyou
neru	sleep	neyou
okiru	wake up	okiyou

U verbs — change final -u to -ou

Base	Meaning	Let's
nomu	drink	nomou
kau	buy	kaou
tsukau	use	tsukao
iku	go	ikou

Irregulars

Base	Let's
suru	shiyou
kuru	koyou

anime o miyou

Let's watch anime.

ikou

Let's go.

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Suru + nouns

Take any noun describing an activity, add suru, and you have a verb. Then conjugate suru normally — except "can", which uses dekiru.

Noun	Meaning	+ suru	Can form
shigoto	work	shigoto suru	shigoto dekiru
benkyou	study	benkyou suru	benkyou dekiru

Form	benkyou suru
polite present	benkyou shimasu
polite past	benkyou shimashita
negative	benkyou shinai
want to	benkyou shitai
can	benkyou dekiru
let's	benkyou shiyou

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Numbers 1–99

#	Japanese	Note
1	ichi
2	ni	sounds like "knee"
3	san
4	shi / yon	yon more common in daily speech
5	go
6	roku
7	nana / shichi	shichi for times & months
8	hachi
9	kyuu / ku	ku for times & months
10	juu

11+ = just say the pieces: juu-ichi (11), ni-juu (20), yon-juu-hachi (48).

Months: number + gatsu → shi-gatsu = April.

Age: number + sai → nan-sai desu ka? = How old are you?

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Telling time

Nanji = "what time?" (nan + ji). Use particle ni after clock times.

Unit	Pattern	Example
hours	number + ji	ku-ji = 9:00
minutes	number + fun/pun	go-fun = 5 min

nanji ni cafe ni ikimasu ka?

What time are you going to the cafe?

ku-ji ni nemashita

I slept at 9.

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Question words — full set

Word	Meaning	Particle
nani	what	o
doko	where	ni / de
itsu	when	none
nanji	what time	ni

itsu (when) takes no particle — just like kinou/kyou/ashita.

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Yes and no

hai	yes
iie	no

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Quick reference

Concept	Pattern	Example
let's (RU)	stem + you	miyou
let's (U)	u → ou	nomou
let's (suru)	shiyou	shiyou
noun + suru (can)	noun + dekiru	benkyou dekiru
o'clock	number + ji	ku-ji = 9:00
what time?	nanji (ni)	nanji ni ikimasu ka?
when?	itsu (no particle)	itsu ikimasu ka?
age	number + sai	ni-juu-go sai

Exercises

Translate into Japanese:

1. Let's watch anime
2. Let's go to Japan
3. Let's study Japanese
4. Let's drink tea
5. I worked today
6. I can study Japanese
7. I can't study Japanese
8. I don't work
9. What did you do today?
10. What do you want to do tomorrow?
11. When are you going to Japan?
12. What time did you wake up?
13. What time did you go to work?
14. What time are you going to the cafe?
15. I woke up at 8
16. I went to work at 9
17. How old are you?
18. I am 25 years old
19. Can you drink beer?
20. I don't use this

こたえ

1. 1.anime o miyou
2. 2.nihon ni ikou
3. 3.nihongo o benkyou shiyou
4. 4.ocha o nomou
5. 5.kyou shigoto shimashita
6. 6.nihongo o benkyou dekimasu
7. 7.nihongo o benkyou dekimasen
8. 8.shigoto shinai
9. 9.kyou nani o shimashita ka
10. 10.ashita nani o shitai desu ka
11. 11.itsu nihon ni ikimasu ka
12. 12.nanji ni okimashita ka
13. 13.nanji ni shigoto ni ikimashita ka
14. 14.nanji ni cafe ni ikimasu ka
15. 15.hachi-ji ni okimashita
16. 16.ku-ji ni shigoto ni ikimashita
17. 17.nan-sai desu ka
18. 18.ni-juu-go sai desu
19. 19.biiru o nomemasu ka
20. 20.kore o tsukawanai

語彙 — Lesson 2

yes / no	hai	yes
	iie	no
questions	itsu	when	no particle
	nanji	what time	+ ni
time units	-ji	o'clock	ku-ji = 9:00
	-fun / -pun	minutes	go-fun = 5 min
	-sai	years old	nan-sai = how old?
numbers	ichi	1
	ni	2
	san	3
	shi / yon	4
	go	5
	roku	6
	nana / shichi	7
	hachi	8
	kyuu / ku	9
	juu	10
nouns	shigoto	work	shigoto suru = to work
	benkyou	study	benkyou suru = to study
	ocha	tea
verbs	okiru	to wake up	RU