Konnichiwa minna-san!

This forum is to ask questions about the Japanese language while the website-proper is still under construction, which may take some time :D

Here are a few of the most important words and phrases for everyday conversation:

Ohayo - Hello, good morning. It's early!
Konnichiwa - Hello, used until late afternoon
Konbanwa - Hello, good evening.
Oyasumi - Good night
Sayoonara - good bye
Ja ne, Ja mata ne - good bye, casual - only used to close friends.

Sumimasen - Sorry, oops.
Gomen nasai - Sorry, I did wrong.
Domo - Thanks.
Arigatou - Thank you.
Arigatou gaziamasu - Thank you, politely.
Domo arigatou - Thank you very much.
Domo arigatou gaziamasu - Thank you very much politely :)

hai - Yes
iie - No.

Itai! - Ouch, that hurts.

Baka! - Idiot
Kawaii - Cute
Sugoi - Cool

Wakarimasen - I don't understand.

1 ichi
2 ne
3 san
4 shi (or yon)
5 go
6 roku
7 shichi (or nana)
8 hachi
9 kyuu (or ku)
10 juu

nice very useful for wehn if i ever get in touch with...

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Its more like Nihon ... as in the University http://www.nihon-u.ac.jp/

I don't know why Nippon is is still used... its just that you can't write down how to say it, I guess :(

heh, i use some of these phrases at work!

(i work in a hotel where we get a lot of japanese tourists come through, so we like to be able to at least say good morning, etc....it's a nice touch i think)


good stuff though, i can expand my vocab a bit now!

unless some of those phrases are naughty, and you're lying to us :huh: <_<

i have a question *puts up hand*

whats dose san, chan, sama on the end of names mean. i've never know.

Hey there Adam :)

I know this I know this!

-chan means Friend
-san means Mister or Mrs or Miss, its the polite thing to say.
-sama is the most polite ending... used for honorable people, elders and gods.

Note that these are "honorifics" which you use when addressing other people. You never ever use them when talking about yourself! English fans do... but its wrong!

Minna - Everyone
Sensei - teacher
Senpai is a term of respect for a more senior classman

chichi - father
haha - mother
ani - older brother
otooto - younger brother
ane - older sister
imooto - younger sister
sohu - grandfather
sobo - grandmother

A wife or a servant may call her husband dama-sama, meaning honerable master... not used often :rolleyes:

(I copied some of them from another site... gonna check them later!)

Ahhh! Danielsan! Now I get it!

Also:

A note about basic sentence structure.

wa is a word used immediatley after a word to denote that it is the subject of the sentence.

desu is a word meaning "is" that applies to the previous word.

e.g.

Sakana wa shiroi desu.

Fish (the subject) white is.

The fish is white.

Also there is no word for "the" or "a"

Tada.

Other words:

kai = red
shiroi = white
sakana = fish
han zubon = shorts
ka (I think) = room

the suffix -kun is a term like -sama etc, and is used by children as an endearment for friends.

iiya = no as far as i can remember :/

One I forgot... another one as well as -kun perfectly described above :lol:

-tan

Babies can't say -chan ... it comes out -tan ...

Hence my avatar being Dos-tan hehe

It's a baby talk thing :lol:

No = iie = iiya ... ne? you'd say it the same?

i thought tan was more of a cute thing....well thats what the notes on Binchou-tan say.

baby talk = cute :P

*googles binchoutan*

*gets it very wrong and tries again*

Awww - very kawaiii!!!

aint she cute.

She looks about pocket sized.

I WANT ONE!!!

:lol:

you should get a dew eps. well there are only two out but still.

ahh



i will now attempt to stop posting binto stuff.

I want one tooo......its....tooo...damn....kyoooooot

But why does she have a lump of wood strapped to her head?? :blink:

That's a good question!

hold on, there is a reasion.

*go's to find out*

so there. that why she has the charcoal on here head.

ワタシ　ワ　ナマエ　ハッリエット！

ワタシ　ワ　スゴイ！

my kanji is terrible ~_~

er.......?????

JJ someone.......anyone. WHAT DOSE IT SAY>

i'm scared. fire. need fire. burn thing i don;t know. grrr.

¬_¬ pwned

*pokes writing with stick*

what is it!

*runs away...............well sort of*

It says:

my name is Harriet

I am great!

It's all in Katakana though.

(Sorry digging up an old thread but is very relevant to me now :))

In Japanese the sentence would all be written in Hiragana apart from your name :)

Woot! Japanese is cool!!!

According to Dawson it says:

my name is harriet,

i am cool


edit: oops didnt see she put what she said, oh well :P