Describing Places Describing Skills and Talents Preferences and Desires The Nominalizers no and koto The Suffix –tai Expressing Time with ji and fun Japanese 1100-L13a Class Session 13a Chapter 8

Japanese 1100-L13a Describing Places You can use X wa Y ga Z desu to describe countries and cities Examples: nihon wa sakana ga oishii desu. As for Japan, fish are delicious. igirisu wa tatemono ga furui desu. As for England, the buildings are old. chūgoku wa jitensha ga ooi desu. As for China, bicycles are numerous.

Japanese 1100-L13a Describing Skills and Talents Useful phrases for describing people’s skills and talents: jōzu nagood at… tokui nagood at … (use for one’s own skills) umaigood at … heta nabad at … nigate nabad at … Examples: yamada-san wa sukii ga jōzu desu. Mr. Yamada is good at skiing. watashi wa gorufu ga tokui desu.I’m good at golf. ani wa uta ga heta desu.My older brother is bad at singing. otōto wa me ga ii desu.My younger brother has good eyes. sofu wa mimi ga warui desu.My grandfather has bad ears. tanaka-san wa atami ga ii desu.Mr. Tanaka has a good head (is smart).

Japanese 1100-L13a Preferences and Desires In English, one’s likes and dislikes are typically expressed by verbs (e.g., to like, to love, to hate, and to want). In Japanese, likes and dislikes are commonly expressed by adjectives: suki nato like daisuki nato like very much kirai nato hate hoshiito want These adjectives can be used in the X wa Y ga Z desu format; examples: watashi wa momo ga suki desu.I like peaches. imōto wa aisukuriimu ga daisuki desu.My younger sister likes ice cream. otōto wa neko ga kirai desu.My younger brother hates cats. watashi wa atarashii purintā ga hoshii desu. I want a new printer. hoshii cannot be used with actions; use –tai (discussed later) for this purpose

Japanese 1100-L13a The Nominalizers no and koto To express the activity that you are good at using a verb, you must first nominalize the verb (i.e., make it like a noun) by adding the particle no or by adding the abstract noun koto The verb must be in the plain present (dictionary) form in this case Examples: watashi wa hashiru no ga suki desu. watashi wa hashiru koto ga suki desu. I like running. chichi wa o-sake o nomu no ga suki desu. My father likes drinking sake. haha wa tomodachi to shaberu no ga suki desu. My mother likes chatting with (her) friends. ani wa uta o utau koto ga suki desu. My older brother likes singing songs. In this case no and koto are interchangeable, but this is not always the case Note: no seems to be used more often than koto in common speech

Japanese 1100-L13a The Suffix –tai To say you want to do something, use the verb stem (the pre-masu form) and add the suffix –tai:taberu  tabe  tabe-tai The output is an i-adjective that you can use as any other i-type adjective (i.e., it can have a negative form, it can be in past tense, etc.) The tai suffix should followed by desu to keep the construction in polite form Examples: nihon de hataraki-tai desu.I want to work in Japan. isha ni nari-tai desu.I want to become a doctor. ookii ie ni sumi-tai desu.I want to live in a big house. tomodachi to furansu ni iki-tai desu.I want to go to France with (my) friend. When the verb has a direct object it can be marked with either o or ga: sakana ga tabe-tai desu. (emphasis on what you want to eat) sakana o tabe-tai desu.(emphasis on what you want to do)

Japanese 1100-L13a Expressing Time with ji and fun To express time, use ji (o’clock) and fun (minutes) Examples: ichi-ji desu.1 o’clock. ni-ji-san-juu-go-fun 2:35 yo-ji4:00 go-ji jū-go-fun 5:15 gozen () is AM. and gogo is PM; they are placed at the beginning of the time phrase (when used): gozen roku-ji jū-go fun6:15 am gogo jū-ji ni-jū-ni-fun10:22 pm The notion of quarter is not used in Japanese, but half is represented by han: gogo san-ji han3:30 pm

Japanese 1100-L13a Expressing Time with ji and fun To express “before” and “after” use mae and sugi respectively: yo-ji juppun mae10 ‘til (until, before) 4 yo-ji juppun sugi10 after (past) 4 Note: In common speech, if neither mae nor sugi is used, sugi is assumed The hours from 1 to 12 are regular in pronunciation: ichi-ji, ni-ji, san-ji....jū-ji There are some pronunciation changes in the minutes: ip-punrop-punni-jup-pun ni-funnana-funsan-jup-pun san-bunhap-punyon-jū go fun yon-punkyū-fun go-funjup-pun