Week 4

The topics for this lesson were:

• talking about past, (+mashita) as well as the future and habits using +masu form.
• describing where things are
• particles

We listened to the conversations for chapters 9,10,11 and practiced reading the conversations.

Some words for expressing frequency:

mainichi - every day

maishuu - every week

maiasa - every morning

maiban - every evening

maishuu no nichiyoubi - every Sunday

yoku - often

tokidoki - sometimes

zenzen + negative - never

amari + neg - not often

In a question you'd use "yoku" - terebi o yoku mimasu ka - do you watch TV often?

To reply - in Japanese it is normal to respond to a yes/ no question by repeating the VERB either in positive or negative form, rather than use hai or iie on its own.

eg. Jitensha ni mainichi norimasu ka - Do you ride a bike everyday?

(Hai ) Norimasu - Yes I do

(Iie*) Norimasen - No I don't

*Often iie is pronounced more like "ya"

Particles easily overlooked and easy to get wrong, but worth studying occasionally:

wa - topic marker

ga - subject marker

o - object marker

ni - to/ in the direction of also used with time phrases like 3ji ni/ nichiyoubi ni

e - to/ towards

kara - from as in 3ji kara. Also means because when at the end of a sentence. chokoreto ga suki desu. Oishii desu kara.

made - until

ka - question marker

mo - as well

to - with/ and

mo - also

ya - used like and but implying that the list has not finished. asagohan wa tosuto ya tamago o tabemasu - I eat toast and eggs and other things for breakfast

TASK FOR FEEDBACK

To write a paragraph about your family, your hobby, your everyday life, the everyday life of another person (fictional or real)

The purpose is to show off how much Japanese you know, so use as many different contructions and vocabulary as you can. Include kanji where possible. It does not have to be true!