Gengo Japanese Lesson #15 - Stand out from the Crowd with these Language
Learning Tricks and Tips
でも、英語はとても上手です。
Demo, eigo wa totemo jōzu desu.
"But I'm very good at English."
In this lesson, you will:
● Learn how to describe things using adjectives
● Learn more about formal and informal speech
Describing Things Using Adjectives
Using adjectives to describe things can really make your Japanese more colorful.
There are 2 types of adjectives:
● i-adjectives
● na-adjectives
In this lesson, you'll learn basic sentence structure using nouns and adjectives.
Informal
Affirmative
Negative
[ topic ] wa
[ noun/na-adjective ] (da)
[ topic ] wa
[ noun/na-adjective ] ja nai
[ topic ] is [ noun/na-adjective ]
[ topic ] is not [ noun/na-adjective ]
Da (だ) is the informal version of the copula desu (です), but we cannot use it after all
adjectives. Please see the next lesson for more information on i-adjectives and
na-adjectives.
Example:
1. アシュリーは学生だ。
Ashurī wa gakusei da.
"Ashley is a student."
2. アシュリーは元気だ。
Ashurī wa genki da.
"Ashley is fine."
3. アシュリーは学生じゃない。
Ashurī wa gakusei ja nai.
"Ashley isn't a student."
4. アシュリーは元気じゃない。
Ashurī wa genki ja nai.
"Ashley isn't fine."
Now, let's take a look at the formal versions of the phrases above:
Formal
Affirmative
[ topic ] wa [ noun/na-adjective ] desu
Negative
[ topic ] wa [ noun/na-adjective ] ja
arimasen
[ topic ] wa [ noun/na-adjective ] ja nai
desu
[ topic ] is
[ noun/na-adjective ]
[ topic ] is not
[ noun/na-adjective ]
Example:
1. アシュリーは学生です。
Ashurī wa gakusei desu.
"Ashley is a student."
2. アシュリーは元気です。
Ashurī wa genki desu.
"Ashley is fine."
3. アシュリーは学生じゃありません。
Ashurī wa gakusei ja arimasen.
"Ashley isn't a student."
4. アシュリーは元気じゃありません。
Ashurī wa genki ja arimasen.
"Ashley isn't fine."
Formal and Informal Speech (Verbs)
In the last lesson, we briefly introduced the concept of the dictionary form (informal) and the
masu form (formal) of verbs, using iku/ikimasu ("to go") as an example. For information
about conjugating between the masu form and the dictionary form of a verb ⇒ See
Conjugation Lesson 5.
In this lesson, you'll learn the conjugation rule for Class 1 verbs.
● When the verb is in the masu form
⇒ Change the final -imasu to -u
● When the verb is in the dictionary form
⇒ Change the final -u to -imasu
Informal
aru (ある)
nomu (飲む)
iku (行く)
Formal
arimasu (あります)
nomimasu (飲みます)
ikimasu (行きます)
English
to exist
to drink
to go
Being Modest in Japanese
In Japan, being modest is considered a virtue. When complimented, Japanese people
usually deny or downplay the compliment, even when there is some truth to it. Ashley was
being modest in her introduction speech when she said:
日本語はちょっと分かります。でも、まだ上手じゃありません。
Nihon-go wa chotto wakarimasu. Demo, mada jōzu ja arimasen.
"I understand...a little Japanese. But I'm not good at it yet."
Even though Ashley understands more than just "a little" Japanese, she downplays her
ability by saying she only understands a little and is not that good at it. Being modest and
using these kinds of phrases will go a long way in Japan!
O-tsukare-sama desu (お疲れさまです)
In the dialogue, Mr. Matsuda started speaking to his group of subordinates with the phrase
o-tsukare sama desu (お疲れさまです). This phrase literally means, "You must be tired," and
is used to appreciate someone's hard work and effort. It is commonly used as a greeting in
the workplace. When recognizing someone's hard work that has already been completed,
the copula desu can also be changed to the past tense, deshita, to create the phrase
O-tsukare-sama deshita (お疲れさまでした).