LESSON 1 1

Level 1

How do you do? I'm Smith.
Greetings

2 LESSON 1
Objectives
1. Hajimemashite.
How do you do?

2. Watashi wa Smith desu.
I'm Smith.

3. Watashi wa Amerika-jin desu.
I'm an American.



Tanaka : Konnichiwa.
Yamada : Konnichiwa. Atsui desu ne.
Tanaka : Ee, atsui desu ne.

Tanaka : Hello.
Yamada : Hello. It's hot, isn't it?
Tanaka : Yes, it is.

4 LESSON 1
Objectives
1. 󲤳󲤜󲥅󲥂󲤛󲤪󲣰
How do you do?

2. 󲥓󲤣󲤛󲤳󲅸 󲥵󲦛󲥵󲤫󲤝󲣰
I'm Smith.

3. 󲥓󲤣󲤛󲤳󲅸 󲥞󲦝󲦦󲥧󲤜󲥗󲤫󲤝󲣰
I'm an American.

4. 󲤣󲤮󲤏 󲧻 󲥵󲦸󲥲󲦯󲤙󲥗󲤳󲅸 󲤐󲤓󲤟󲤈󲤫󲤝󲤏󲣰
󲥵󲦸󲥲󲦯 󲧻 󲤳󲤈󲣰󲥓󲤣󲤛󲤳󲅸 󲤐󲤓󲤟󲤈󲤫󲤝󲣰
Tanaka : Are you a student?
Susan : Yes, I'm a student.

5. 󲥈󲥂󲤤 󲧻 󲥵󲦸󲥲󲦯󲤙󲥗󲤳󲅸 󲥞󲦝󲦦󲥧󲤜󲥗󲤫󲤝󲤏󲣰
󲤣󲤮󲤏 󲧻 󲤈󲤈󲤌󲣯󲥵󲦸󲥲󲦯󲤙󲥗󲤳󲅸 󲥞󲦝󲦦󲥧󲤜󲥗󲤜󲥇󲤮󲤈󲤫󲤝󲣰
󲥵󲦸󲥲󲦯󲤙󲥗󲤳󲅸 󲥧󲦆󲥼󲤜󲥗󲤫󲤝󲣰
Yamada : Is Susan an American?
Tanaka : No, she is not an American.

6 LESSON 1

 [A] wa [B] desu

Noun A
wa
Noun B
desu

This means "Noun A is noun B". Wa is a particle and a topic marker. The noun followed by a
particle wa is the topic of a statement or a question. The topic often refers to the same thing as
the subject, but not necessarily.

Desu identifies a person or a thing. It can be translated into "is/are/am" in English. Desu is not
affected by gender or number. The negative form and the past tense of desu are as followings
respectively: Ja arimasen and ja arimasendeshita are more formal.

Affirmative Negative
Non-past tense
(Present / Future)
desu
janai desu
ja arimasen
Past tense
deshita
janakatta desu
ja arimasendeshita

1. Watashi wa Chris Norman desu.
I am Chris Norman.

Yoshida
: Hai, watashi wa tsuuyaku desu.
Norman : Are you an interpreter?
Yoshida : Yes, I am.
 Omission of the subject
In Japanese, the subject is often omitted when it is clearly understood by the speakers from the
context of the sentence.
Yamada : Norman-san wa puroguramaa desu ka?
Norman : Hai, (watashi wa) puroguramaa desu.
Yamada : Are you a computer programmer?
Norman : Yes, I'm a computer programmer.
 Hajimemashite "How do you do?"
Hajimemashite "How do you do" and Doozo yoroshiku "It's nice to meet you" are greeting
expressions. They are used when meeting someone for the first time.
"Name" is namae. "My name is Smith" is Watashi no namae wa Smith desu, however, this
expression is rarely used for greetings. When you introduce your name, you should say
Watashi wa Smith desu "I'm Smith".
Katoo : Hajimemashite. Katoo desu. Doozo yoroshiku.
Norman : Hajimemashite. ABC no Norman desu. Doozo yoroshiku.
Katoo : How do you do? I'm Katoo. It's nice to meet you.
Norman : How do you do? I'm Norman from ABC. I'm glad to meet you.

ABC no Norman means "Norman of/from ABC". No is a particle indicating an attribution or
belonging. When a noun modifies another noun, no comes between them.
See Lesson 2 for more about no.

8 LESSON 1

 How are you?
English speaking people naturally want to know how to say "How are you?" because it is used


 Soo desu "Yes, it is" vs. Soo desu ka "I see"
Soo desu means "Yes, it is" or "That's right". Soo desu ka with the lower-ending is not a
question, but it means "I see".
Katoo : Susan-san wa gakusei desu ka?
Susan : Hai, soo desu.
Katoo : Okuni wa dochira desu ka?
Susan : Kanada desu.
Katoo : Soo desu ka.
Katoo : Are you a student?
Susan : Yes, I am.
Katoo : Where are you from? (lit. where is your country?)
Susan : I'm from Canada. (lit. It's Canada.)
Katoo : I see.
 Okuni wa dochira desu ka? "Where are you from?"
You may be often asked about where you are from by a Japanese. The common phrase for this
question is Okuni wa dochira desu ka? which literally means "What is your country?".

Kuni means "country" and o-kuni is the respectful form. Dochira means "which", but this is
often used as "where" in formal speech.
One's nationality such as a Japanese or an American is made by adding -jin to a country name.

Countries Countries People (Nationalities) Langauges
Japan
Nihon Nihon-jin Nihongo
America
Amerika Amerika-jin Eigo
Canada
Kanada Kanada-jin
United Kingdom