Japanese is Possible!
Lesson 7
Wait a minute
q Basic espressions
q Nationality
q Two more particles: yo and ne
q Kara
q Some more useful words
q How are you doing so far?
Basic expressions
All of this time, you've been going along learning Japanese
vocabulary and grammar, but there's a chance that you don't
even know simple Japanese greetings yet (through no fault of
your own). So here they are, learn them well:
ohayou (gozaimasu) - good morning
konnichi wa - hello
konban wa - good evening (said when meeting someone)
oyasumi (nasai) - good night (said when departing)
hajimemashite - I'm pleased to meet you, how do you do?
sayounara - good bye
dewa mata - good bye, later (more informal than sayounara)
jaa mata - see you later (more informal than dewa mata)
(doumo) arigatou (gozaimasu) - thank you (add the words in ()
to increase politeness)
dou itashimashite - you're welcome, don't mention it
(o)genki( desu ka)? - how are you? (lit. are you well?)
Not the shortest list in the world, but an important one. Learn
those expressions well as soon as you can.
Nationality
Another important topic you should know before we go any
further is the way to express nationality. In English, we use
suffixes like -ish, -ese, -an and sometimes it's completely
irregular (Holland<->Dutch?) In Japanese, you simply add the
suffix -jin to the name of a country:
Amerika + jin = Amerikajin American person
