Lesson 4

Opening dialogue

Kyou wa nani o shimashita ka? — What did you do today?

Daigaku ni ikimashita. — I went to university.

Daigaku wa dou deshita ka? — How was university?

Dou deshita ka = “How was it?” — dou (how) + deshita (past of desu) + ka (question).

I-adjective past tense — drop い, add かった

Japanese i-adjectives end in -i. To say something was [adjective], drop the final -i and add -katta.

Formula: [adj stem] + katta

Special case — ii (good)

Ii uses an old stem yoi for all conjugations:

Daigaku wa yokatta! — University was good!

Ryouri ga oishikatta des. — The food was delicious.

Eiga wa omoshirokatta des. — The film was interesting.

Chotto takakatta des. — It was a bit expensive.

Note: kirei (pretty / clean) looks like an i-adjective but is a na-adjective — its past is kirei deshita, not kireikatta.

-tai / -takatta — want to / wanted to

To express wanting to do something, replace the -masu ending with -tai. This turns a verb into an adjective, so it also follows the i-adjective past rule.

Formula: verb stem + tai (present) / takatta (past)

Ringo o tabetai. — I want to eat an apple.

Ringo o tabetakatta. — I wanted to eat an apple.

Nihon ni ikitai des. — I want to go to Japan.

Arubaito o shitai des. — I want to do a part-time job.

docchi / dore / dono — which

Japanese has two “which” words depending on how many options you’re choosing between.

Dono and docchi no always come directly before a noun. Dore and docchi stand alone (no noun follows).

Dono ice cream o tabemashita ka? — Which ice cream did you eat?

Banira ice cream o tabemashita. — I ate vanilla ice cream.

Docchi no iro ga suki des ka? — Which colour do you like?

or = ka (between two nouns)

Choko ka cookie no ice cream ga suki des. — I like chocolate or cookie ice cream.

this (standalone) = kore / this + noun = kono

Kore wa oishii des. — This is delicious.

Kono ice cream wa oishii des. — This ice cream is delicious.

ichiban — the most / best

Ichiban (literally “number one”) acts as a superlative: put it before an adjective or suki to mean “most” or “best.”

Formula: [noun] ga ichiban [adjective/suki] des

Dono nomimono ga ichiban suki des ka? — Which drink do you like most?

Ryokucha ga ichiban suki des. — I like green tea the most.

Dono ice cream ga ichiban suki des ka? — Which ice cream do you like the most?

Ku-gatsu ga mecha yasui des. — September is really cheap.

mecha = super / really (very casual intensifier, like “hella”)

-mono words — compound nouns with もの

Mono (もの) means “thing.” It combines with verb stems to make category nouns:

Noru (to ride / to board) is a U verb:

Dono norimono de ikimasu ka? — How (by which transport) do you go?

koto ga aru — have you ever…?

To ask about past experiences — “have you ever done X?” — attach koto ga arimas ka to the plain past form of the verb.

Formula: verb (plain past) + koto ga arimas ka?

Nihon ni itta koto ga arimas ka? — Have you ever been to Japan?

Iie, demo honto ni ikitai des. — No, but I really want to go.

Austria ni kita koto ga arimas ka? — Have you ever come to Austria?

Houjicha o nonda koto ga arimas ka? — Have you ever drunk houjicha?

Time — years, duration, months

Duration with nen-kan (for N years)

Nen = year, kan = for (a period of). Together they mark a duration.

Ni-nen kan UK ni sundeimashita. — I lived in the UK for two years.

Osai kara yon-sai made Tokyo ni sundeimashita. — I lived in Tokyo from age 0 to 4.

Next year / next week

Rainen Nihon ni ikimas. — I’ll go to Japan next year.

Rainen no itsu ikitai des ka? — When next year do you want to go?

Months — [number] + gatsu

Shi-gatsu ni ikitai des. — I want to go in April.

Ku-gatsu ga mecha yasui des. — September is really cheap.

syourai — in the future

Syourai doko ni sumitai des ka? — Where do you want to live in the future?

Watashi no tomodachi no ani wa Nihon ni sundeimas. — My friend’s older brother lives in Japan.

Ani = older brother (of someone else). Possessives chain with no: A no B no C = C of B of A.

New vocabulary

Verbs

Hanaseru = potential form of hanasu (to speak) — “can speak.” The potential of U verbs replaces -u with -eru.

Nouns

Adjectives

Time words

Useful expressions

Quick reference — Lesson 4