LESSON NOTES

Absolute Beginner S1 #21

Do You Eat Sushi in Japan?

CONTENTS
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5

Kanji
Kana
Romanization
English
Vocabulary
Sample Sentences
Vocabulary Phrase Usage
Grammar

21

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KANJI
1.

(Sarah cries)

2.

3.

4.

5.

(Sarah laughs)

6.

(Dog whines)

7.

(FAR

AWAY):

KANA
1.

(Sarah cries)

2.

3.

4.

5.

(Sarah laughs)

6.

(Dog whines)

CONT'D OVER
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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #21 - DO YOU EAT SUSHI IN JAPAN?

7.

(FAR

AWAY):

ROMANIZATION
1.

(Sarah cries)

2.

KAORI:

A, Sara-chan, onaka ga sukimashita ka?

Teir-san, Sara chan wa banana o tabemasu ka.

3.

TEIR:

Hai. Tabemasu. Sara wa banana ga daisuki desu.

4.

KAORI:

S desu ka. Hai, Sara-chan. Dzo.

5.

(Sarah laughs)

6.

(Dog whines)

7.

MASATO (FAR
AWAY):

Teir san, Mator wa banana o tabemasu ka.

ENGLISH
1.

(Sarah cries)

2.

KAORI:

Oh, Sarah, are you hungry~?

Taylor, does Sarah eat bananas?

3.

TAYLOR:

Yes, she does. Sarah loves bananas!

4.

KAORI:

Oh, really? Okay, Sarah. Here you go.

CONT'D OVER
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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #21 - DO YOU EAT SUSHI IN JAPAN?

5.

(Sarah laughs)

6.

(Dog whines)

7.

MASATO (FAR
AWAY):

Taylor, does Muttley eat bananas?

VOCABULARY
Kanji

Kana

R omaji

English

onaka

stomach

tabemasu

to eat; masu form

banana

banana

dzo

go ahead, here you

are

daisuki

love, really like;Adj

(na)

or

or

j or ja

well, well then, okay

onaka ga
sukimashita

I got hungry.

S desu ka.

Really? Is that so?

SAMPLE SENTENCES

O-naka wo kowashita.

Maiasa, natt o tabemasu.

I got an upset stomach.

I eat natt every morning.

Saru wa banana ga suki da.

Hai, dzo.

Monkeys like bananas.

Here you go.

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #21 - DO YOU EAT SUSHI IN JAPAN?

Watashi wa suptsu ga dai-suki desu.

Ja, mata.

I love sports.

See you later.

Totemo onaka ga sukimashita.

E? S desu ka?

I got very hungry.

Huh? Is that so?

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

tabemasu ( )
This is the first verb describing an action we have learned in this series. Tabemasu means "to
eat," and it is a polite verb. Note that the polite forms of verbs end in -masu.
s desu ka ( )
In Lesson 9, you first learned the phrase s desu, which means "yes/that's right." Here, we
have just added the particle ka to make it a question. S desu ka means "Really?" or "Is that
so?" and we use it to respond to what someone has said.

GRAMMAR
T he Focus of T his Le sson Is Talking about Doing an Act ion.
Te ir-san, Sara chan wa banana o t abe masu ka.

"Taylor, doe s Sarah e at bananas?"

You've already covered the two verbs for existence of animate (people, animals) and
inanimate things (objects, buildings): imasu and arimasu. In this lesson, we'll introduce
some more Japanese verbs so that you can talk about more actions, such as "eat," "drink,"
"go," and so on! We'll also show you how to use these verbs to make more complex
sentences, such as "I go to the bank" or "I eat an apple."
Making Pre se nt Te nse Ve rbs in Japane se

Just as with imasu and arimasu, the polite/formal form of present tense verbs in Japanese
ends with -masu. Compared to European languages such as English, French, and German,
Japanese verbs are very easy because they don't change form depending on who the verb
is talking about. For example, in English, we say "he eats" but "they eat" (no "-s"). In
Japanese, "he eats" is tabemasu

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #21 - DO YOU EAT SUSHI IN JAPAN?

(), while "they eat" is also tabemasu (). The verb ending stays the same!
Plain f orm

Masu Form

"English"

taberu
()

tabemasu
()

"eat"

nomu
( )

nomimasu
()

"drink"

hanasu
()

hanashimasu
()

"speak"

miru
()

mimasu
()

"see"/"watch"

tsukau
()

tsukaimasu
()

"use"

Sample Se nt e nce s

1.

Watashi wa t abe masu.

2.

"I eat."

3.

4.

Kare wa t abe masu.

"He eats."
Watashitachi wa t abe masu.

"We eat."

Talking about Doing an Act ion Using Pre se nt Te nse Ve rbs

Now we're going to look at how to make a sentence in Japanese describing an action
involving an object or a thing.
Se nt e nce Pat t e rn

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #21 - DO YOU EAT SUSHI IN JAPAN?

[subje ct /pe rson] wa [obje ct /t hing] o [ve rb]

( o-mizu ) + ( o ) + ( nomimasu ) = "[some one ] drinks wat e r"

Subje ct /
Pe rson

Teir
(

Kaori (

watashi
()

Imto (

Ot to (

wa

wa ()

Obje ct /
T hing

sushi ()

wa ()

wa ()

wa ()

wa ()

o ()

mizu
()

o ()

"English"

tabemas
u. (

"Taylor
eats
sushi."

)
nomimas
u.
(

nihon-go
()

terebi
()

konpy ta
(

Ve rb

o ()

o ()

o ()

hanashim
asu. (

mimasu.
(
)

tsukaimas
u. (

"Kaori
drinks
water."
"I speak
Japanese.
"
"My
younger
sister
watches
TV."
"My
younger
brother
uses the
compute
r."

You already learned in Lesson 7 that wa () marks the subject of a sentence in Japanese,
but let's have a quick reminder of what wa does. literally means "as for [subject/
person]." When you see right after a word, you know that the sentence is going to be
about that word.
For Example :
1.

sara wa banana o tabemasu

literally, "As for Sarah, she eats bananas." = "Sarah eats bananas."

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #21 - DO YOU EAT SUSHI IN JAPAN?

You may not have seen wo () before. Sometimes we write wo () as wo but we

pronounce it as ["o"]. It comes between the noun and the verb in a sentence and tells you
what is done to the object.
Example s f rom T his Dialogue

1.

2.

3.

Sara-chan wa banana o tabemasu ka?

"Does Sarah eat bananas?"

Hai. (Sara wa banana o) tabemasu.

"Yes, she does (eat bananas)."

Mator wa banana o tabemasu ka.

"Does Muttley eat bananas?"

Sample Se nt e nce s

1.

2.

3.

Watashi wa niku o tabemasu.

"I eat meat."

(Anata wa) niku o tabemasu ka.
()
"Do you eat meat?" *Anata = "you"
Ot to wa eigo o hanashimasu.

"My younger brother speaks English." * Eigo = "English language"

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #21 - DO YOU EAT SUSHI IN JAPAN?