Episode 11 – Japanese Made Easy

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Exercises Only

Welcome to Japanese Made Easy Episode 11. If you are just joining us I want to mention that the lessons are cumulative and it’s assumed everything has been mastered up to this point. So please be sure to start with Episode 1.

Alright let’s jump right in. Let’s get a new purely Japanese word that we can use with today’s new particle.

友達(ともだち)　友達  (tomodachi) 

This is Kevin, and this is Steve. I’ve known them since first grade. They are two of my closest

友達 (tomodachi) 

Jennifer Aniston became famous for her role in the hit TV show

友達 (tomodachi) 

So in English we would say friend or friends. Either way in Japanese it’s just

友達 (tomodachi) 

Let’s put our new word to use.. Emi and Mayumi have a college class together. After class Emi went home, but Mayumi had plans to go somewhere. The next day Emi asked her…

どこに行ったの？(Doko ni ittano?) She replies with a bit of an explanation…

友達とデパートに行(い)ったよ。(Tomodachi to depāto ni ittayo.) 

That’s a friend or friends, with, department store, ni went. Let’s change that to polite Japanese. Focusing on the last part of the sentence. Just listen…

デパートに行きました。(Depāto ni ikimashita.) to a friend or family member.

デパートに行ったよ。(Depāto ni ittayo.)   To an adult we don’t know all that well…

デパートに行きました。(Depāto ni ikimashita.) Ok, You give it a try, department store ni went.

First to a friend or family member…

デパートに行ったよ。(Depāto ni ittayo.)  

and to an adult we don’t know all that well…

デパートに行きました。 (Depāto ni ikimashita.) 

Let’s add “with a friend.” Casual Japanese, try saying…

Friend with, department store ni went.

友達とデパートに行ったよ。(Tomodachi to depāto ni ittayo.) 

Previously we learned how to ask just, Who with?

誰(だれ)と？(Dare to?) 

But now if we want to, we can ask the entire question. Who did you go with?

誰と行ったの？ (Dare to ittano?) 

Remember, this の on the end can be a simply inquiry. It can be really questioning, or even accusatory. In English, depending on the situation…

Who’d you go with? Who’d you go with? Who’d you go with?

誰と行ったの？ (Dare to ittano?) 

So how would we turn the polite version into a question?

To say I went was

行きました (ikimashita) 

Which is the past tense of the masu form.. and for polite questions we add what?

か (ka) 

So if we put it all together… Literally we have.. Who with, went, ka..

Try saying that in Japanese…

誰と行きましたか？(Dare to iki mashita ka?) Just listen…

誰と行ったの？ (Dare to ittano?) 

誰と行きましたか？ (Dare to iki mashitaka?) 

We’ve also covered the verbs…

見る(みる)(miru)、飲む(のむ)(nomu)、and 食べる(たべる)(taberu)。

So, let’s work with those in past tense casual Japanese.

I want to leave the を (o) particle in place for these next sentences, so you can get used to where it belongs grammatically.

After this first bit of practice we’ll be dropping it. Regarding breakfast…

オレンジジュースを飲む。(Orenji jyūsu o nomu.)  But speaking of yesterday..

オレンジジュースを飲んだ。(Orenji jyūsu o nonda.) I drink coffee every day, so tomorrow..

コーヒーを飲む。(Kōhī o nomu.)    Speaking of last week

コーヒーを飲んだ。(Kōhī o nonda.) 

In Japanese the word “juice”, doesn’t always mean fruit juice. It can be that, but also other non carbonated drinks. So if you tell somebody, “I drank juice.” it might mean a fruit juice, and it might not. Just keep that in mind.

ジュース ジュース (jyūsu) 

Speaking of what you usually do in the morning, tell a friend… “I drink juice.”

ジュースを飲む。(Jyūsu o nomu.) But yesterday, tell them.. I drank orange juice.

オレンジジュースを飲んだ。(Orenji jyūsu o nonda.) 

Here’s an easy cognate. After a long run, sometimes I drink Gatorade or at least some kind of

スポーツドリンク スポーツドリンク (Supōtsu dorinku) 

Speaking of what you usually do after a marathon, I mean a Japanese study marathon… tell them, “I drink some sort of sports drink.”

スポーツドリンクを飲む。(Supōtsu dorinku o nomu.) 

Yesterday you watched a marathon on TV. Watching other people run always makes me thirsty. Tell somebody I drank some sports drink.

スポーツドリンクを飲んだ。(Supōtsu dorinku o nonda.) 

So that’s a “two words for the price of one” effort cost. The word for sports in Japanese is just

スポーツ スポーツ (Supōtsu) 

We won’t work with that one yet, but I just wanted to mention it for now.

We are familiar with

テレビを見る。(Terebi o miru.) Yesterday though…

テレビを見た。(Terebi o mita.) Notice that the sound isn’t extended, it’s not

みった(mitta)、but just 見た(mita)。

テレビを見た。(Terebi o mita.) In Japan there are streaming services including

ネットフリックス  (Netto furikkusu) I live in Japan, and I do subscribe to

ネットフリックス (Netto furikkusu)  That one is kind of tricky, so let’s break it down really slow…

ネット(netto)…フリ…ックス(furi…kkusu) ネット…フリ…ックス

Real quick, listen carefully to the type of show I watched last night..

Here’s a hint. It was funny.

コメディ コメディ (komedi)

Jerry was telling Kevin the types of shows he watches on

ネットフリックス (netto furikkusu)

He said.. I watch comedies.

コメディを見る。 (Komedi o miru.) 

Kevin said, I watched a comedy.

コメディを見た。 (Komedi o mita.) 

Then he added. I watch dramas.

ドラマを見る。 (Dorama o miru.) 

ド..ラ..マ.. を見る。(Do..ra..ma.. o miru.)  ドラマを見た。(Dorama o mita.) 

How would Jerry say, “I watched a drama?”

ドラマを見た。(Dorama o mita.) 

Tell somebody, I watched a comedy and a drama.

コメディとドラマを見た。(Komedi to dorama o mita.) 

Let’s review all those new words real quick… Please repeat.

スポーツドリンク (Supōtsu dorinku) So that’s sports drink.

スポーツ (supōtsu)  sports..

ジュース (jyūsu)  juice…

ネットフリックス(netto furikkusu) Netflix

コメディ (komedi)  comedy or comedies

ドラマ (dorama)  a drama or dramas

This will be an interesting combination. Casual Japanese, tell somebody, I drank sports drink and juice.

スポーツドリンクとジュースを飲んだ。 (Supōtsu dorinku to jyūsu o nonda.)

and add… I watched a comedy and a drama.

コメディとドラマを見た。(Komedi to dorama o mita.) 

In an upcoming episode we’ll learn to expand all of this to say things like, “I watched a comedy and a drama on Netflix.”

For now though, I want to focus on how the verbs change.

———————————— Tip Of The Day

Since we’re talking about Netflix and watching things, I have a tip for practicing that will help maximize any video learning material you might be using.

For example, if you’re watching something in Japanese on Netflix, and the character in the show says in Japanese, “I don’t want pizza.” When you identify a phrase that is new or worth practicing such as that, hit the pause button on the show you are watching right away, and practice the new construction right then and there.

Don’t just listen to it and think… “Oh, Ok I understand that.” and then move on. Quickly turn it into a construction and substitution exercise.

So you might say..

“I don’t want sushi.” “I don’t want a car.” “I don’t want a sandwich.”

Run through the new phrase with four or five words. This type of practice will help to solidify the new phrase in your memory.

Then continue to watch, but a couple minutes later, stop and see if you can recall the phrase and run through some words again. And of course as soon as the show is finished, do a final review of any of the phrases you picked-up.

This is a really good habit to get into when you are listening to or watching media in Japanese.

———————————— Tip Of The Day

Let’s get a new cognate. These are red and you’ll find them in the fruit and vegetable section at the grocery store.

トマト トマト (tomato) I don’t really like them but every now and then…

トマト食べる。(Tomato taberu.) Yesterday I lost a bet so…

トマト食べた。 (Tomato tabeta.) 

This next fruit is yellow and easy to remember.

バナナ　バナナ (banana) 

We’ll go ahead and drop “を” (o)  in the following super short and casual sentences.

A friend is talking about what he eats in general.

How would you translate this..

バナナ食べる。(Banana taberu.) I eat bananas. What are the two possible translations of

バナナ食べた。(Banana tabeta.) That could be, “I ate a banana.” or “I ate some bananas.”

Either way, you thought Kenji never eats bananas. Maybe he’s allergic to yellow or something. So expecting a bit of clarification, how would you ask..

You ate a banana?

バナナ食べたの？ (Banana tabetano? )

Getting in a little more practice. Generally speaking, when Mayumi watches movies she

ドラマ見る。(Dorama miru.) Watches dramas. But, yesterday

コメディ見た。(Komedi mita.) Tomorrow after a jogging…

スポーツドリンク飲む。(Supōtsu dorinku nomu.) Last weekend…

スポーツドリンク飲んだ。(Supōtsu dorinku nonda.) For dinner tonight…

トマト食べる。(Tomato taberu.) With breakfast yesterday…

バナナ食べた。(Banana tabeta.) 

With and without の (no) on the end, I’ll answer the questions…

ピザ食べた？ (Piza tabeta?)  You ate pizza?

うん。(Un.) So I just said.. “Yep.”

But.. If I’m supposed to be on a diet, the question might be delivered another way.

ピザ食べたの？(Piza tabetano?)  So I explain my reasoning…

めちゃおいしそうだったから、(Mecha oishisou dattakara, ) 食べちゃったよ。 (tabechattayo.) 我慢(がまん)できんかった。。。(Gaman dekinkatta…)

Moving on. Let’s get all the polite past tense versions of the verbs so far. Earlier we heard…

行きます (ikimasu)  or will go… but yesterday

行きました。 (ikimashita)  Telling somebody I will drink

コーヒー(kōhī)　 コーヒーを飲みます。(Kōhī o nomimasu.)

Can you change that to… “drank coffee?”

コーヒーを飲みました。(Kōhī o nomimashita. )

If we take the words for tomato, and juice and squeeze them together we get…

トマトジュース (tomato jyūsu) 

Tell somebody in polite Japanese.. You will drink tomato juice.

トマトジュースを飲みます。(Tomato jyūsu o nomimasu.) Same thing, but change it to “drank”…

トマトジュースを飲みました。 (Tomato jyūsu o nomimashita.) 

バナナを食べます。(Banana o tabemasu.) Becomes what?

バナナを食べました。 (Banana o tabemashita.) 

The dentist…

田中先生(たなかせんせい) (Tanaka sensei) is looking at Roberts teeth. The dentist is wondering whey there is a huge piece of lettuce covering Roberts back molars. How would Robert apologize, for inconveniencing the dentist in some small way, and then tell him… “I ate a sandwich.”

すみません。(Sumimasen) サンドイッチを食べました。 (Sandoicchi o tabemashita.) 

And let’s round it out with your plans for the upcoming weekend.

映画(えいが)を見ます。(Eiga o mimasu.) Will see a movie… If we change it to last weekend, it becomes what?

映画を見ました。(Eiga o mimashita.) Try asking a person if they will see a movie…

映画を見ますか？(Eiga o mimasu ka?) and if they did see a movie..

映画を見ましたか？ (Eiga o mimashita ka? ) 

Alright we’re getting towards the end, but let’s get a new super useful question word…

何(なに)？ (Nani) 何？ (Nani) As always the meaning from context.

Johnny who was 10 years old thought he’d try out a really bad word on his mom. Testing the limits so to speak. His mother asked him to clear the table and do the dishes after dinner.

He said… “Nah, I don’t think so. And you know what else mom? You can go straight to (bleep). “

Shocked, his Mother said..

何(なに) (Nani)  did you just say to me? His dad, overhearing this said…

何 (Nani) did you just say to your mother?!? Johnny hasn’t been heard from since, and we have a new Japanese question word.

何？(Nani?) 

In Japan, it’s not uncommon for grandparents to reside in the same place as the rest of a family. So one night at dinner, Grandma really didn’t really catch what Keiko said, so grandma asks…

何飲んだ？(Nani nonda?) and again, Keiko answers…

コーヒー飲んだ 。 (Kōhī nonda.)      How would you translate the question…

何飲んだ？ (Nani nonda?) Literally, what, drank? Of course “you” is implied. What did you drink?

Ask a friend.. What did you eat?

何食べた？(Nani tabeta?) What did you watch, or see?

何見た？(Nani mita? ) Staying on our toes, how would you ask.. Where did you go?

どこ行った？ (Doko itta?) 

Well, that’s just part of language learning. You never know what somebody is going say or ask so you’ve got to think fast sometimes.

At work, two people are talking about going to see a movie over the weekend. In polite Japanese, ask them what they are going to see?

何を見ますか？(Nani o mimasuka?) 

The office phone rings before they could answer. Now it’s Monday and back at work, ask them.. What did you see?

何を見ましたか？ (Nani o mimashitaka?) 

Still at the office and talking about lunch, you ask a new co-worker what they are going to eat. How would you ask that?

何を食べますか？(Nani o tabemasuka?) 

Then, on the phone talking a girlfriend or boyfriend, so casual Japanese, how would you ask what they ate?

何食べた？(Nani tabeta?) 

or.. if wanting a bit more of an answer…

何食べたの？ (Nani tabetano?) 

At a company party, it would be common for somebody to start things off by asking everybody…

何を飲みますか？ (Nani o nomimasuka?) 

How would you translate that? Literally, I’d say “what” and then “is the thing” drink. What do you all want to drink?

What does everybody want to drink? With everybody implied.

Alright good job. That was a lot of practice.

If that made you thirsty, go grab some

トマトジュース とスポーツドリンク (Tomato jyūsu to supōtsu dorinku) 

No idea what that would taste like.. and no plans to find out.

Let me know if you try it though.

As always, practice audios and downloads are available at

Japanese Made Easy.com

For questions, comments, or feedback, feel free to drop me a message at Greg, or support at Japanese Made Easy (dot) com or find our

Facebook page which is Japanese Made Easy.

See you in the next episode.