Language Course 1

[ekalin]

Here am I, after a long time doing the exercises...

EXERCISE 7: Now read this passage about what Michiko did on Saturday and Sunday and then answer (in English) the questions below:

1. Doyōbi ni doko ni ikimashita ka? (doko = where)

Saturday she went to work.

2. Nan de shigoto ni ikimashita ka? (nan de = here: how)

She went by car.

3. Daitai nan de ikimasu ka?

Generally she goes by bus.

4. Nomiya de nani o nomimashita ka?

She drank wine.

5. Beddo de nani o yomimasu ka?

She reads a magazine.

6. Dōshite nichiyōbi ni shigoto ni ikimasen deshita ka? (dōshite = why)

Because it's Saturday and she went to the supermarket.

7. Doko ni ikimashita ka?

She went to the supermarket.

8. Donata ni kakimashita ka? (donata = who)

She wrote to her boyfriend.

**********

EXERCISE 9: Join these two sentences together with ga and then translate into English:

1) Watashi wa machimashita. Kare wa kimasen deshita.

Watashi wa machimashita ga kare wa kimasen deshita.
I waited but he didn't come.

2) Kinō gakusei wa Furansugo o benkyō shimashita. Kyō daigaku e ikimasen deshita.

Kinō gakusei wa Furansugo o benkyō shimashita ga kyō daigaku e ikimasen deshita.
Yesterday I studied French, but today I didn't go to the university.

3) Haha Chūgokugo o hanashimashita. Kakimasen deshita.

Haha wa Chgokugo o hanashimashita ga kakimasen deshita.
My mother spoke Chinese, but she didn't write it.

4) Ima hon o yomitai desu. Tomodachi wa yomimasu.

Ima hon o yomitai desu ga tomodachi wa yomimasu.
Now I want to read a book, but my friend reads it.

5) Inu wa neko o mimashita. Neko wa inu o mimasen deshita.

Inu wa neko o mimashita ga neko wa inu o mimasen deshita.
The dog say the cat, but the cat didn't see the dog.

***********

EXERCISE 10: This exercise is going to be a little bit tricky so please take your time and read carefully before translating into Japanese:

1) You don't sleep at the cinema but you read a magazine and a book.

Anata wa eigakan de nimasen ga zasshi to hon o yomimasu.

2) My friend and I watch a film at school.

Watashi no tomodachi to watashi wa gakkō de eiga o mimasu.

3) Mother taught at the university and the school.

Haha wa daigaku to gakkō de oshiemasu.

4) I didn't go by bus to work but I went with a friend by car.

Watashi wa shigoto e basu de ikimasen deshita ga tomodachi to kuruma de ikimashita.

5) I didn't write the letter to my boyfriend but I wrote to you and a friend.

Watashi wa bōifurendo ni tegami o kakimasen deshita ga anata to tomodachi ni kakimashita.

***********

EXERCISE 11: All the verbs below are in plain forms, please change them into the -masu forms:

1) Gakusei wa hon o kau.

kaimasu

2) Watashi wa eiga o miru.

mimasu

3) Mainichi Chūgokugo o benkyō suru.

shimasu

4) Itsumo sensei wa hanasu.

hanashimasu

5) Ginkō de tomodachi ni au.

aimasu

***********

EXERCISE 12: The verbs below are all in -masu forms. Can you change them back into the plain forms?

1) Maiban nomiya de bīru o nomimasu.

nomu

2) Sushi o tabemasu ka?

taberu

3) Anata no sensei wa daigaku de oshiemasu ka?

oshieru

4) Uchi ni ikimasu.

iku

5) Beddo de nemasu.

neru

**********

EXERCISE 13: Now try and change these verbs into the plain negative forms:

1) kaku

kakanai

2) kau

kawanai

3) yomu

yomanai

4) kaeru (=to return, come back)

kaeranai

5) neru

nemai

6) iku

ikanai

7) oshieru

oshienai

*************

EXERCISE 14: Translate into Japanese, using the plain forms:

1) You don't sleep at the cinema. You read the magazine.

Anata wa eigakan de nenai. Zasshi o yomu.

2) I don't buy books.

Watashi wa hon o kawanai.

3) He doesn't write the letter.

Kare wa tegami o kakanai.

4) The student isn't going to university today. (kyō - today)

Kyō gakusei wa daigaku ni ikanai.

5) I am not a teacher.

Watashi wa sensei ja nai.

[ekalin]

More exercises...

EXERCISE 15: Now change the present plain forms into the past plain forms:

1) Hon o kau.

katta

2) Haha ni hanasu.

hanashita

3) Gakkō e iku.

itta

4) Tegami o yomu.

yonda

5) Neru.

neta

*********

EXERCISE 16: Translate into English:

1) Doyōbi ni watashi wa shigoto ni itta.

Saturday I went to work.

2) Terebi o minakatta.

I didn't watch TV.

3) Maiban haha wa beddo de zasshi o yomu.

Every night in bed my mother reads a magazine.

4) Watashi wa cha o nomanakatta.

I didn't drink tea.

5) Chichi ni tegami o kakanai. (chichi = (my) father)

I don't write a letter to my father.

******

EXERCISE 17: Now this time, do the same exercise again changing them into the -masu forms to see how well you can remember...

1 - ikimashita
2 - mimasen deshita
3 - yomimasu
4 - nomimasen deshita
5 - kakimasen

********

For this one I'll be writing also the past positive form... I hope you don't mind correcting a little more.

EXERCISE 18: Check that you can change the verbs below into negative past plain forms:

1) kaku

kakanakatta - kaita

2) oshieru

oshienakatta - oshieta

3) kuru

konakatta - kutta

4) neru

nenakatta - neta

5) da

ja nakatta - datta

6) kau

kawanatta - katta

7) yomu

yomanatta - yonda

8 ) nomu

nomanatta - nonda

9) kaeru

kaeranakatta - katta

10) hanasu

hanasanakatta - hanashita

*****

EXERCISE 19: Translate:

1 ) Watashi wa kinō umi de oyoida.

Yesterday I swam in the ocean.

2 ) Ashita tomodachi wa mura e arukanai ga kuruma de iku.

Tomorrow I won't walk to the village; I'll go by car.

3 ) Mainichi haha wa hatarakimasu.

Everyday my mother works.

4 ) Kare wa zenzen ha o migakanakatta.

He never brushed his teeth.

5 ) Itsumo watashitachi wa disuko de odorimasu.

We always dance at the disco.

6 ) Ima watashi wa anata to yakyū o asobitai desu.

I want to play baseball with you now.

7 ) Kesa chichi wa hataraita ga haha wa sūpā ni itta.

This morning my father worked but my mother went to the supermarket.

8 ) Ashita watashi wa hayaku okinai.

Tomorrow I won't get up early.

[biskofski]

Hello, Daniel. Thanks a lot for being a Japanese tutor here. I know the classes began some time ago, but if it's OK with you, I will start with lesson 1.

[biskofski]

1. anata wa kohi o nimimasu.
2. Inu wa neko o mimasu.
3. Onna no hito wa keki o tabemasu.
4. Kare wa konpyuta o kaimasu.
5. Gaihuseo wa hon o yomimasu.

1. あなた輪子費尾に見ます
②．犬輪猫おみます
③．女の人輪毛気尾たべます
④．彼輪今ぴゅたおかいます
⑤　害布施おわ本およみます

[Rmc]

Those are incorrect, Biskofski... good try though, you used a lot of kanji I don't know. Did you use a romaji to kanji translator?

Unfortunately, I cannot type in Japanese on this computer, or I could show you the correct methods of writing these sentences.

[biskofski]

Thank you for checking my work, Bryan. Are the sentences in romanji incorrect? As for the other sentences, and all I did was write the sentences in romanji and the IMU program did the rest.

Anyway, I'm on to lesson 2.

1. Watachi wa biru o nomimasen.
2.Otoko no hito wa tegami o kakimasen.
3. Gakusei wa terebi o mimasen.
4. Onna no hito wa keki o tabemasu.
5. neko wa imu o nimasen.

More sentences:

1.I read the book - watashi wa hon o yomimasu.
2. I don't read the book - watashi wa hon o yomimasen.
3. You buy a computer. - Anata wa compyuta o kaimasu.
4. He doesn't buy the computer - Kare wa compyuta o kaimasen.
5. The woman isn't a teacher - Onna no hito wa sensei de wa arimasen.

[hiro]

1. anata wa kohi o nimimasu.
2. Inu wa neko o mimasu.
3. Onna no hito wa keki o tabemasu.
4. Kare wa konpyuta o kaimasu.
5. Gaihuseo wa hon o yomimasu.

1. あなた輪子費尾に見ます
②．犬輪猫おみます
③．女の人輪毛気尾たべます
④．彼輪今ぴゅたおかいます
⑤　害布施おわ本およみます

Here are correct sentences.

１．あなたはコーヒーを飲みますか。
２．犬は猫を見ます。
３．女の人はケーキを食べます。
４．彼はコンピューターを買います。
５．学生は本をよみます。（gakusei wa hon o yomimasu.)

[biskofski]

Thank you, Hiro, for correcting my work. I did lesson 1 again the best I could. As you can see, I can't write wa or o. The second line is what you wrote and I tried my best to copy it in the third line. Thanks again for your time and your kindness.

1. anata wa kohi o nimimasu.
１．あなたはコーヒーを飲みますか。
あなた　（when　I　Write　wa,　I　get　わ）コヒ　（when　I　write　o,　I　get　お）に見ます　（that　is　what　I　get　when　I　Writｅnimimasu）

2. Inu wa neko o mimasu.
．犬は猫を見ます。
犬　wa　猫　o　見ます。
　　
3. Onna no hito wa keki o tabemasu.
３．女の人はケーキを食べます。
女の人　wa　ケキ　ｏ　食べます。

4. Kare wa konpyuta o kaimasu.
彼はコンピューターを買います。
彼　wa　コンピュタ　ｏ買います。

5. Gaihuseo wa hon o yomimasu.
．学生は本をよみます。（gakusei wa hon o yomimasu.)
学生　ｗａ　本　o　よみます。

[Psi-Lord]

when　I　Write　wa,　I　get　わ

That's one of the few irregularities of Japanese spelling — even though the topic marker is pronounced 'wa', it's actually spelt 'ha' (は). A similar thing is found in two other particles — 'e', which is spelt 'he' (へ), and 'o', which is spelt 'wo' (を).

[Saikou]

Yoroshiku! Atashi no namae wa Saikou desu. Hajimemashite... I'll be learning here in the future, if that's okay.

[Strigo]

Konbanwa!

Watashi wa Karurosu desu

I saw "The last Samurai" (Tom Cruise) at the cinema, and I fell in love with Japanese... so nice!

Do you think I might start my Japanese knowledge from here?

[Varislintu]

I haven't posted any answers here yet, but I've still been participating in these lessons. They're really great, you're good at teaching, Daniel! I appreciate that you started with basic grammar, intead of scaring everybody off with long vocabularies right at the beginning. I think all languages should be taught this way -it's idiotic to confuse students with hundreds of words before they even know how to use them. It's so much more rewarding this other way!

Anyway, as nobody else seems to be posting any answers, I thought I'd have a go. By the way, you haven't corrected ekalin's answers for exercises 15-19. I got the same answers in 16 and 17, so I hope they're correct. But my 18 and 19 were a bit differrent:

EXERCISE 18:

1. kakanakatta
2. oshienakatta
3. konakatta
4. nenakatta
5. ja nakatta
6. kawanakatta
7. yomanakatta
8. nomanakatta
9. kaeranakatta
10. hanasanakatta

EXERCISE 19:

1. I swam in the ocean yesterday.
2. (My) friend does not walk to the village tomorrow, but (he) goes by car.
3. Every day my mother works.
4. He never brushed his teeth.
5. We always dance at the disco.
6. I want to play baseball with you now.
7. My father worked this morning, but my mother went to the supermarket.
8. Tomorrow I won't get up early.

EXERCISE 20:

1. I went to a bar and drank beer.
2. Tomorrow we'll walk to the village and play baseball.
3. Every day he swims in the ocean and eats with his girlfriend in the restorant.

The next one was tricky (what's kara?), so I only understood part of it.
4. The student always... school... returned home and does his homework (?).
5. I get up early every morning and eat breakfast.

EXERCISE 21:

1. Watashi wa eki de kaban to saifu o nakushita.
2. Watashi wa kyoo kissaten de chichi to haha mita ga watashi ni hanasanakatta.
3. Kinoo kare wa tegami o katte yuubinkyooku ni iku.
4. Kare wa kissaten de shimbun o nonde keekii o taberu.
5. Watashi wa umi to yama o mite tori to hitsuji o kiku.

Thanks !

[NekonoPaw]

It's the first time i write here , Nice to meet you all if we haven't met b4. I speak japanese and i feel like helping now hehe.
I wanna correct something...
Daniel said that Varislintu's answers were correct on excercise 21. They are very good, but she has 2 mistakes:

3. Kinoo kare wa tegami o katte yuubinkyooku ni iku.
4. Kare wa kissaten de shimbun o nonde keekii o taberu.

In no. 3, she is saying Kinou (yesterday), but her verb ended in present (iku). so it should be "itta".
No. 4 is grammaticaly correct... but the original sentence is also in past tense... so the final verb should be "tabeta".

Ganbatte ne.

[NekonoPaw]

Great, so from now on, (if you want me to) I will be reading all posts to help you answer doubts or check possible mistakes. So if anyone has a question, I can answer too.
Daniel, you are great. I kinda don't know how to teach or arrange a program for a course like this

[BobMaster0]

I'll provide support too if you would like me to. I'm rather new around here and I'd like to start helping out.

[Varislintu]

Daniel and NekonoPaw, thanks for your help and corrections! I noticed I wrote "kaka" instead of "kara" back there, luckily you understood anyway . I'll edit that so others won't get confused...

I finished another two exercises, but now I'll have to concentrate on repetition for a while. It seems I've begun to forget the content of the earliest lessons (like "kara" -yikes! ).

EXERCISE 22:

1. Hakubutsukan wa omoshiroi (desu).
2. Denwa wa totemo furui (desu).
3. Kono biiru wa atatakai (desu).
4. Sono kuruma wa ookii (desu).
5. Jisho wa takai (desu).

EXERCISE 23:

1. The fish is delicious.
2. The window is new.
3. ??? is cheap.
4. Chinese is very difficult.
5. The village is very far.

I didn't know what teeburu means, so I replaced it with questionmarks. By the way, how does one get that line above the vowel using the keyboard? I couldn't find it on mine... Or do you have to use the "special sign"-funtion in MSWord?

As a sidenote: NekonoPaw, how did you know I'm a she ? It's not that I mind, I just started wondering if it shows in my language somehow...

Keep learning, everybody !

[NekonoPaw]

LOL, I dunno how, but I just knew you were a she
Congratulations Varislintu! everything is correct. and... I hadn't noticed the "kaka" thing, glad you fixed it.
by the way, Te-buru (テーブル) is just what it is, Table
I have no idea how Daniel types that thing over "e". We'll have to wait for his answer.
Ganbatte ne!

[Varislintu]

LOL, I dunno how, but I just knew you were a she

Okay ! I guess there must be something feminine in my choice of words, then... Funny...

Well, thanks for explaining teeburu, NekonoPaw. It was pretty obvious, wasn't it. But how come there is a jinglistic word for such a simple thing as a table in Japanese? Do not the Japanese have a word of their own for it? Perhaps this has something to do with tables' different hights..?

And Daniel, thanks for shedding light on the mysterious origins of the "top-line" (or whatever it's called). I guess I could pre-wright my posts with MSWord, but just using the "ee"s and "uu"s seems much simpler, so I think I'll stick to that .

[Nov]

こんにちは。　日本語を勉強してる人がいますか？日本語で話しませんか？
ところで、日本人がここにいますか？
（私の間違いを直してくれてくださいね。^^)
konnichi wa. nihongo wo benkyou shiteru hito ga imasu ka? nihongo de hanashimasen ka? tokorode, nihonjinga koko ni imasuka? watashi no machigai wo naoshite kurete kudasai ne.

Is there anybody who wants to practice Japanese conversation?
Besides, do we have any native speakter here...?

[BobMaster0]

僕も日本語で話したいです。ここにおそらく日本人がいないと思います。でも、間違っているかもしれません。
Boku mo nihongo de hanashitai desu. Koko ni osoraku nihonjin ga inai to omoimasu. Demo, machigatteiru kamoshiremasen.