INTRODUCTION:

GENERAL FEATURES OF JAPANESE LANGUAGE:

1. PARTS OF SPEECH:

Japanese language is comprised of verbs, adjectives, nouns, adverbs, conjunctions and particles.

2. WORD ORDER:

A predicate always comes at the end of a sentence. A modifier always comes before the word or phrase to be
modified.

3. PREDICATE:

There are three types of predicates in Japanese; noun, verb and adjective. a predicate changes according to
whether it is (1) affirmative or negative and (2) past or non-past.

4. ADJECTIVE

Adjectives are divided into two types according to their type of inflection. They are called; I-adjectives and Na-
adjectives. In Japanese language, words do not change for person, gender or number.

5. PARTICLE

A particle is used to show grammatical relation between words, shows speaker's intention and to connect
sentences.

6. OMISSION OF WORDS

Words and phrases are often omitted if they are understood from the context.

Even the subject and object of a sentence are often omitted.

JAPANESE SCRIPT:

There are 3 kinds of script in Japanese: “hiragana, katakana and kanji”

Hiragana

Phonetic representations of sounds, and each letter basically corresponds to one “Mora”

(a unit of sound). Hiragana is used to write particles, suffixes, prefixes, conjugation, etc.

Hiragana is also used as a Japanese reading aid which is called “Furigana”.

It is a smaller hiragana , or syllabic characters, printed next to kanji or other character to indicate its
pronunciation. It is typically used to clarify rare, non-standard or ambiguous readings, or in children’s or
learner’s material.
 YOKOGAKI TATEGAKI

　　　　かん　　じ

　　　 漢字 漢 か
　ん

　　　　　　　　 　　　 字 じ

Hiragana can be used to express and write all Japanese words without the use of kanji since hiragana is like an
alphabet. If you can’t remember the right kanji for a word, you can just spell it out in hiragana.

The major function of hiragana is to add grammatical structure to sentences.

Other than these, Romaji (Roman letters) are sometimes used for the convenience of foreigner.

A I U E O

　　あ 　　い 　　う 　　え 　　お

　　K　 　　か 　　き 　　く 　　け 　　こ

S 　　さ 　　し　shi 　　す 　　せ 　　そ

T 　　た 　　ち chi 　　つ tsu 　　て　　　 　　と　

N 　　な 　　に 　　ぬ 　　ね 　　の

H 　　は 　　ひ 　　ふ fu 　　へ 　　ほ

M 　　ま 　　み 　　む 　　め 　　も

Y 　　や 　　ゆ 　　よ

 R　　 　　ら 　　り 　　る 　　れ 　　ろ

W 　　わ 　　を

N 　　ん

EXCEPTIONS: When used as Particle

The Hiragana は (ha) is pronounced "wa" when it immediately follows the topic of the sentence.

Ex.: watashi wa gakusei desu. I am a student.

私　は　学生　です

This character is only pronounced "ha" when it is part of a word.

Ex.: Hatarakimasu to work

はたらきます

The Hiragana へ (he) is pronounced "e" when it immediately follows a place or direction.

Ex.: Nihon e ikimasu. I will go to Japan.

日本　へ　いきます。

The Hiragana を (wo) is pronounced “o” when it immediately follows an object of the transitive verb.

Ex.: ramen o tabemashita. I ate ramen.

ラメン　を　食べました。

KATAKANA

Like Hiragana , katakana is also a phonetic representations of sounds, and each letter corresponds to one “Mora”
(a unit of sound).

“katakana is mainly used for foreign words such as foreign names and words that have been borrowed from other
languages such as ;　コンピューター (konpyu ー ta ー).
 A I U E O

　　ア 　　イ 　　ウ 　　エ 　　オ

　　K　 　　カ 　　キ 　　ク 　　ケ 　　コ

S 　　サ 　　シ　shi 　　ス 　　セ 　　ソ

T 　　タ 　　チ chi 　　ツ tsu 　　テ 　　ト

N 　　ナ 　　ニ 　　ヌ 　　ネ 　　ノ

H 　　ハ 　　ヒ 　　フ fu 　　ヘ 　　ホ

M 　　マ 　　ミ 　　ム 　　メ 　　モ

Y 　　ヤ 　　ユ 　　ヨ

R　　 　　ラ 　　リ 　　ル 　　　レ 　　ロ

W 　　ワ 　　ヲ

　　N 　　ン

Kanji:

Conveys meanings and sounds. and corresponds to a word.

Ex: 車 (kuruma-car)　電 (den- electricity)

Used for writing nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs.

There are about 50,000 Kanji exist. However, around 2,500 to 3000 required to understand newspaper and are
actually used in daily life.

Japanese Ministry of Education specified 1,945 Kanji as the jōyō kanji (Kanji letters in common use).

EXAMPLE OF COMBINED SCRIPT.

Tanaka san wa Mira ー san to depa ー to e ikimasu

田中　　さん　　は　　ミラー　さん　　と　　デパート　　　へ　　　行きます。

　　　　　　Mr. Tanaka is going to the department store with Mr. Miller.

CLASSROOM INSTRUCTIONS

Let’s begin HAJIMEMASHOU

Let’s finish (the lesson) OWARIMASHOU
Let’s take a break YASUMIMASHOU
Do you understand? WAKARIMASU KA
　 ...yes, I do HAI, WAKARIMASU
　 ...no, I don’t IIE, WAKARIMASEN
Once more/ again MOU ICHIDO
Fine / good KEKKO DESU
That’s not ok / that’s wrong DAME DESU
Exam SHIKEN
Homework SHUKUDAI
Do you have a question? SHITSUMON GA ARIMASU KA
… yes, I have ….. Hai, arimasu
… no, nothing ….. Iie, arimasen
Answer KOTAE
Please answer KOTAETE KUDASAI
Example REI

GREETINGS AND EXPRESSIONS

OHAYOU GOZAIMASU good morning

KONNICHIWA good afternoon/hello
KONBANWA good evening
OYASUMI(NASAI) goodnight
SUMIMASEN excuse me/ sorry
GOMENASAI/GOMEN Casual expression of apology
DOUZO please
ONEGAISHIMASU please
KIOTSUKETE lit. "be careful", To the person who will go to travel like "Have a
nice trip" in English.
ODAIJINI take care
OSAKI NI SHITSUREI SHIMASU When you leave office earlier than others.
OTSUKARESAMA DESHITA  Reply to o-saki ni shitsurei shimasu when you finished
something which you did with others such as a meeting.
O SAKI NI DOUZO Go ahead
OMEDETOU GOZAIMASU Congratulations
DOUMO ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU thank you very much.
DOUITASHIMASHITE you’re welcome
KI NI SHINAIDE don’t mention it
DOUZO O-HAIRI KUDASAI Please come in
DOUZO O-KAKE KUDASAI Please have a seat
DOUZO O-SUWARI KUDASAI Please sit down, Please have a seat
GANBATTE! Good Luck!, do your best, try hard
SAYOUNARA Goodbye - used when you want to sgoodbye to someone and
you're not sure when or if you will see them again
[O]GENKI DESU KA how are you
….. Genki desu I’m fine/ I’m good
….. Genki dewanai I’m not good
….. Maa maa it’s a so so
“Ittekimasu” expresses that “I will be going now but do not worry, I will safely return” 
“Itterasshai” indicates that “You will be leaving soon but please do come back safely”.

“tadaima” (literally)means “right now”. However, in this specific context, the phrase is the shortened version of
“tadaima kaerimashita” which translates to “I’m home now”. 

“Okaeri” and the polite version “okaerinasai” means “welcome home”, “welcome back”. 

These two lovely phrases express the feelings of “I am back, safely” and “You have finally returned, welcome
back”. It gives one a warm feeling that someone has been waiting for one’s safe return.

“Itadakimasu” is one of the first words you’ll hear after coming to Japan. It’s sort of the Japanese equivalent to
“saying grace” before eating a meal. The phrase “itadakimasu,” however, is universal in Japan. Its derives from a
word いただく (Itadaku) meaning “to take.”

It is very disrespectful to eat someone else’s meal without properly giving thanks to them for making such food.
Even if you made the meal yourself, you are still giving respect to the lives used in its creation.

”Gochisousama or Gochisousama deshita”

The word gochisou refers to a feast. luxurious food or a good meal. It´s another appreciation for the food and the
people who’s involved in the meal. In other countries, it´d be, “Thank you for the meal” or “That was delicious!".
As well as Itadakimasu, Japanese people are strictly taught to say, Gochisousama after eating.