Lesson 2

Recap — what you already know

Before going further, here’s the full conjugation map from Lesson 1. Every verb fits into one of three groups:

The new forms in this lesson — let’s, numbers, and time questions — all slot into this same structure. Nothing changes about the verb groups.

The volitional — “let’s”

The volitional form means “let’s do X” or “shall we?” It’s the friendliest, most casual way to suggest doing something together.

How to form it

RU verbs — drop -ru, add -you

U verbs — change the final -u to -ou

Irregulars

Examples

anime o miyou — Let’s watch anime.

shiyou — Let’s do it.

ikou — Let’s go.

nomou — Let’s drink.

Note: the volitional is plain-form and casual. In polite speech you’d use -mashou instead (tabemashoo, ikimashoo), but you don’t need that yet — plain form is fine for now.

Suru — the workhorse verb

Suru means “to do” and it’s irregular. You already know its polite forms. What’s new here is how it combines with nouns to create verbs.

In Japanese, you can take almost any noun describing an activity and add suru to make it a verb:

This pattern is extremely productive — you’ll encounter it constantly.

Conjugating noun + suru

Because suru is at the end, you just conjugate suru normally:

The “can” form is special: suru → dekiru. This is the one irregular conjugation. For everything else, just conjugate suru normally.

kyou shigoto shimashita — I worked today.

nihongo o benkyou dekimasu ka? — Can you study Japanese?

benkyou shiyou — Let’s study.

Numbers — 1 to 99

Japanese uses a simple decimal system. Once you know 1–10, everything else builds on it.

1–10

11–99: just say the pieces

Japanese numbers are completely logical. 11 is “ten-one”, 20 is “two-ten”, 48 is “four-ten-eight”:

Months — -gatsu

Months are just numbers + gatsu (month):

ichi-gatsu (January), ni-gatsu (February) … shi-gatsu (April), shichi-gatsu (July), ku-gatsu (September) …

Note: April uses shi, July uses shichi, September uses ku — these are the alternate number readings.

Age — -sai

nan-sai desu ka? — How old are you?

ni-juu-go sai desu — I am 25 years old.

Nan is the question word for “what number?” You’ll see it again with time.

Telling time — nanji

The question

Nanji means “what time?” — nan (what number) + ji (o’clock).

nanji desu ka? — What time is it?

nanji ni ikimasu ka? — What time are you going?

The particle ni marks a specific point in time — use it after clock times, just like you use ni for destinations.

Hours — -ji

Just put the number before ji:

Minutes — -fun / -pun

Minutes use fun or pun depending on the preceding number — this is just a pronunciation smoothing rule:

For now, the main thing to know is the pattern. You don’t need to memorize every exception immediately — you’ll pick them up through use.

ku-ji ni nemashita — I slept at 9 o’clock.

hachi-ji ni shigoto ni ikimashita — I went to work at 8 o’clock.

juu-go-ji ni cafe ni ikimasu — I’m going to the cafe at 15:00.

Question words — expanded

You now have four ways to ask “what/where/when/what time”:

Important: itsu (when) takes no particle. It works like kinou / kyou / ashita — just drop it at the start of the sentence or before the verb.

itsu nihon ni ikimasu ka? — When are you going to Japan?

ashita ikimasu — I’m going tomorrow.

Yes and no

Simple but essential:

In casual speech, un (yeah) and uun (nope) are common, but hai / iie are the standard forms.

Putting it all together — example sentences

kyou nani o shimashita ka? — What did you do today? kyou shigoto o shimashita — I worked today.

ashita nani o shitai desu ka? — What do you want to do tomorrow? ashita anime o mitai desu — I want to watch anime tomorrow.

kyou nihongo o benkyou dekimasu ka? — Can you study Japanese today?

itsu nihon ni ikimasu ka? — When are you going to Japan? ashita ikimasu — I’m going tomorrow.

nanji ni cafe ni ikimasu ka? — What time are you going to the cafe? juu-go-ji ni cafe ni ikimasu — I’m going to the cafe at 15:00.

nanji ni nemashita ka? — What time did you sleep? ku-ji ni nemashita — I slept at 9.

nanji ni okimashita ka? — What time did you wake up? juu-ji ni okimashita — I woke up at 10.

kyou nani o nomimashita ka? — What did you drink today? ocha o nomimashita — I drank tea.

Full conjugation tables — new verbs

okiru — to wake up (RU verb)

tsukau — to use (U verb)

nomu — full table (U verb)

Quick reference — Lesson 2