LESSON NOTES

Learn Japanese Grammar Video -

Absolute Beginner S1 #2
Asking Simple Questions in
Japanese

CONTENTS
2 Kanji
2 Kana
2 Romanization
2 English
3 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
4 Grammar

# 2
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 KANJI

1.

2.

3.

KANA

1.

2.

3.

ROMANIZATION

1. Kore wa mizu desu ka.

2. Hai, s desu.

3. Iie, chigaimasu.

ENGLISH

1. Is this water?

2. Yes, it is.

CONT'D OVER

JAPANESEPOD101.COM LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #2 - ASKING SIMPLE QUESTIONS IN JAPANESE 2
3. No, it isn't.

VOCABULARY

Kanji Kana R omaji English

niku meat, flesh

S desu That's right.

mizu water

furtsu fruit

sakana fish

yasai vegetables

Chigaimasu That's wrong

sweets, snacks,
okashi candy

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Niku ga daisuki desu. Hai, s desu.

I love meat. Yes, that's right.

Mizu o onegai shimasu. Ringo wa furtsu desu.

Please give me water. Apples are fruit.

Sakana wa suki desu. Burokkor wa midori no yasai desu.

I like fish. Broccoli is a green vegetable.

JAPANESEPOD101.COM LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #2 - ASKING SIMPLE QUESTIONS IN JAPANESE 3

Sore wa chigaimasu. Amerika no okashi desu.

That's not right. These are American snacks.

GRAMMAR

T he f ocus of t his le sson is Asking Simple Que st ions in Japane se

Asking "Is A B?"

Let's take a sentence that uses our "A is B" sentence pattern that we learned in Lesson 7.

For Example :

1. Kore wa okashi desu.

"These are sweets."

Let's say you have a plate of snacks in front of you that look sweet...but you can't really
tell! To turn the sentence above into a question ("These are sweets" "Are these
sweets?"), we simply add ka to the end of the sentence.

So now you can ask:

1. Kore wa okashi de su ka.

"Are t he se swe e t s?"

Let's try it with some other sentences:

Se nt e nce "English" Que st ion "English"

Kore wa mizu Kore wa mizu

desu. desu ka?
( "This is water." ( "Is this water?"
) )

JAPANESEPOD101.COM LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #2 - ASKING SIMPLE QUESTIONS IN JAPANESE 4
Kore wa niku Kore wa niku
desu. desu ka?
( "This is meat." ( "Is this meat?"
) )

Kore wa Kore wa
sakana desu. sakana desu
( ka?
"This is fish." "Is this fish?"
) (
)

Kore wa yasai Kore wa yasai

desu. desu ka?
"This is a "Is this a
( (
vegetable." vegetable?"
) )

Kore wa Kore wa
fur tsu desu. fur tsu desu
( ka?
"This is a fruit." "Is this a fruit?"
) (
)

Re plying "Ye s, it is"/"Ye s, t hat 's right "

If you want to reply to the question "A wa B desu ka ?" ("Is A B?") with an affirmative
answer, all you have to do is sa y...

Hai, s desu.

"Yes, it is." / "Yes, that's right."

This literally means "Yes, it is so."

Re plying "No, it isn't "/"No, t hat 's wrong"

If you want to reply to the question "A wa B desu ka ?" ("Is A B?") with a negative answer,
you simply say...

Iie, chigaimasu.

JAPANESEPOD101.COM LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #2 - ASKING SIMPLE QUESTIONS IN JAPANESE 5

"No, it isn't." / "No, that's wrong."

Iie means "No", and chigaimasu () is a verb literally meaning "to be

different".

For Example :

Kore wa kusuri desu ka?

Is this medicine?

- Hai, s desu.

"Yes, it is."

- Iie, chigaimasu.

"No, it isn't."

JAPANESEPOD101.COM LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #2 - ASKING SIMPLE QUESTIONS IN JAPANESE 6