Episode 24 – Japanese Made Easy

Full Episode Audio (download link is to the right of the volume icon)

Exercises Only

Hi this is Greg, welcome to Japanese Made Easy episode 24. We haven’t added any new は or が particles uses in a while, so, time for a new usage of が(ga) in combination with some は(wa).

In episode 6 we learned to ask where things are, for example a casual “Where’s the remote?”

リモコンどこ？(Rimokon doko?)  and when polite with particles asking a store employee.. “Where’s the ketchup?”

ケチャップはどこですか？ (Kechappu wa doko desuka?) 

And hopefully you recall the core idea that If you are asking where something is.. we want to use the は particle and どこ together.

Literally, Ketchup, regarding it, where is?

With that, let’s get another need to know question word. Just listen.

いつ　　いつ (itsu) Based on the answers you should be able to figure this one out.

バレンタインはいつ？(Barentain wa itsu?) 

a possible answer to that question.

Valentines? It’s a couple weeks from now on the February 14th.

And another question.

ハロウィンはいつ？(Harowin wa itsu?)  And the answer…

Halloween is around the end of October, the 31st I believe.

Somebody asks me, Greg, a question about my birthday party…

グレッグの誕生日(たんじょうび)パーティーはいつ？(Gureggu no tanjyoubi pātī wa itsu?) 

My birthday party… is Next Saturday.

And just a little reminder that instead of you, or your, we can use the person’s name when speaking directly to them. There are a couple of ways to say birthday in Japanese, one of which we just heard.

誕生日(たんじょうび)　誕生日 (tanjyoubi) and attach the word for party, and you get

誕生日パーティー (tanjyoubi pātī ) Try saying all of that after our native speaker

誕生日 (tanjyoubi) 

パーティー (pātī )  put it together

誕生日パーティー (tanjyoubi pātī)

For those three examples, the new question word was…

When?

It’s easy to remember too. Ask, whenare you going to eat soup…? Get it?

いつ いつ (itsu)　sounds like.. “eat soup”.

We did that one in Japanese Mastery Method. It’s too easy not to include it here. With that, try translating the same sentences.

バレンタインはいつ？ (Barentain wa itsu?)  That would be, Valentines, regarding it, when?

When is Valentines day?

ハロウィンはいつ？(Harowin wa itsu?)  In natural English. When is Halloween?

If talking directly to Masaharu, how would you translate this?

正治(まさはる)の誕生日(たんじょうび)パーティーはいつ？ (Masaharu no  tanjyoubi pātī wa itsu?) 

Literally, Masaharu’s birthday party, when? Natural English though. When is your birthday party?

Anyway, your good friend Emi’s birthday is coming up. Try asking,

“When is your birthday Emi?”

恵美(えみ)ちゃんの誕生日はいつ？ (Emi-chan no tanjyoubi pātī  wa itsu?) 

That required a mental flip flop to get the word order I bet. So let’s try again… Same thing, but add party, ask

When is your birthday party Emi?

恵美ちゃんの誕生日パーティーはいつ？ (Emi-chan no tanjyoubi pātī  wa itsu?) She answers… fairly literally,

Next weeks, Saturday.

来週(らいしゅう)、の土曜日(どようび)。　(Raishuu, no doyoubi.) 　　How would she say,

“Sunday of next week?”

来週、の日曜日(にちようび)。(Raishuu, no nichiyoubi.) How would she say, “Next weekend?”

来週末(らいしゅうまつ)。(Raishuumatsu) 

And how about just, “Next month?”

来月(らいげつ)。(Raigetsu) 

So all of that aside, the real point here is… just as we say

something はどこですか？(wa doko desuka?) we have

something はいつですか？(wa itsu desuka?) 

Something regarding it, where is?

Something regarding it, when is?

Same wa question pattern for when and where.

Something はいつ? (wa itsu?) Something はどこ? (wa doko?) 

Ok, let’s get into some new particle usages. First, a new word we can use.

好(す)き 　　　好き (suki) 

Megumi, which do you 好き？ (suki) Hot weather or cold weather?

I really don’t 好き(suki) cold weather. I 好き (suki) warm weather.

So in English, to like something is a verb…I like it. I liked it. In Japanese though, 好き (suki)  is not a verb. So, let’s find out what’s going on.

Emi’s friends James and Lars are playing a sold out gig at Tokyo Dome. Before the show they all meet up to have coffee and chat.

Naturally, the conversation turns to music. Emi looks at James and asks…

ロックは好(す)き？ (Rokku wa suki?)  Rock music, regarding, like? James answers…

うん、ヴァン・ヘイレンが好きだよ。(Un, ban heiren ga suki dayo.) He says he likes Van Halen. This だよ ending is typically used by guys. Emi can sense that Lars is feeling left out, so she looks at him and says…

ロックは好き？ (Rokku wa suki?) Lars answers in the affirmative…

うん、レッド・ツェッペリンが好きだよ。(Un, reddo tuepperin ga sukidayo.)  He says he likes Led Zeppelin. Listen one more time, and pay careful attention to the particles used in the questions and answers.

ロックは好き？ (Rokku wa suki?) 

うん、ヴァン・ヘイレンが好きだよ。(Un, ban heiren ga sukidayo.) 

ロックは好き？ (Rokku wa suki?) 

うん、レッド・ツェッペリンが好きだよ。(Un, reddo tsepperin ga sukidayo.) 

Focusing on the question… we heard

ロックは好き？(Rokku wa suki?) 

Rock music, regarding it, like? and earlier we reviewed..

Something regarding it, where?

Something regarding it, when? and now..

Some thing regarding it, like?

All these question words get the same pattern.

But here’s an important point.

We did not say the persons name, and then ask the question. Who we are talking to is understood, and so this pattern is just some thing, some genre, some food, some person, regarding it, is liked?

As in, I could look right at Kenji, who is sitting right next to Mayumi, and ask Kenji without using his name…

真由美(まゆみ)は好(す)き？(Mayumi wa suki?)  I’d be asking Kenji, if he likes Mayumi. If he likes her, he could answer…

うん、好き。or..(Un, suki.) 

うん、好きだよ。(Un, suki dayo.)  or similar to the previous examples…

うん、真由美が好きだよ。　(Un, Mayumi ga sukidayo.) 

Of course that wouldn’t really be an appropriate question since in this case it carries the nuance of romantic liking, not just liking as a friend. So keep that point in mind if telling somebody you “like” them, in Japan.

Let’s practice just the questions for a bit.

Not using the person’s name, ask somebody in polite Japanese if they like sushi…

寿司(すし)は好(す)きですか？ (Sushi  wa sukidesuka?) Very casual…

寿司好き？ (Sushi suki?)  We’ll go all polite for all of these.

Again, not using the person’s name, ask if they like baseball.

野球(やきゅう)は好きですか？ (Yakyuu wa sukidesuka?)  …if they like natto…

なっとうは好きですか？(Nattou wa sukidesuka?)  …if they like Jazz.

ジャズは好きですか？ (Jyazu wa sukidesuka?) …If they like pizza

ピザは好きですか？ (Piza wa sukidesuka?) …If they like Tom.

トムは好きですか？(Tomu wa sukidesuka?) 

Switching it up a bit. Ask, where is Tom?

トムはどこですか？(Tomu wa doko desuka?) Ask, when is Tom’s party.

トムのパーティーはいつですか？ (Tomu no pātī wa itsu desuka?)  When is Tom’s birthday party?

トムの誕生日(たんじょうび)パーティーはいつですか？(Tomu no tanjyoubi pātī  wa itsu desuka?) 

Ok, let’s take a break

———————————– Tip Of The Day

Remember, we do these tips after we’ve learned new material because it’s a way of not thinking about the stuff you just learned. You take a little break and then try to recall what you just learned. That’s the tip I explained in the very first podcast of this series, as a way of quickly developing your long term memory.

And speaking about this series…I’m going to have to put it on hold after Podcast 25. I’m going to be working on adding courses and podcasts to supplement the Japanese Mastery Method courses.

I’m also thinking about doing a podcast that focusses on particles but in a conversational sense. Basically, I have a ton of ideas that I’d like to get to that require a lot of time and attention.

And although this is only twenty five episodes long, since you’ve made it this far with the variety of particles, and counters, you can use, and with a good foundation on how to switch between polite and casual Japanese you have definitely shaved a lot of time off the learning process. It took me years to get down some of the basic concepts that you are now comfortable with.

So what’s the tip? Well, it’s simple. Keep it up! If you keep practicing the way I’ve shown you, with a focus on finding the patterns of what is being said, and practicing those, more so than just reading about grammar and moving on, you really can become a fluent, conversational Japanese speaker.

———————————– Tip Of The Day

Time for a new word. Just listen

音楽(おんがく)　音楽　 (ongaku)

If I asked B.B. King, what kind of 音楽 (ongaku) he likes, he’d probably say, “I like blues.”

If I asked Slash what kind of 音楽 (ongaku) he likes, he’d probably say, “I like rock.”

If I asked Charlie Parker what kind of 音楽 (ongaku) he likes, he’d probably say “I like Jazz.”

Ok, your turn. Listening to it, etc is implied in the question. Try asking somebody if they like music.

音楽は好(す)きですか？(Ongaku wa sukidesuka?)  and what would the casual version be?

音楽好き？(Ongaku suki? ) 

Alright, so back to Emi’s conversation with James and Lars. She asked

ロックは好き？(Rokku wa suki?)  and James answered

うん、ヴァン・ヘイレンが好きだよ。(Un, ban heiren ga sukidayo.) Yeah, Van Halen (which is the name of a rock band) が(ga) like is. だ(da) is the casual form of “is” or です(desu),

We’ll get into the grammar in just a minute, but again and as always when it comes time to having a conversation in Japanese, you don’t want to be thinking about the grammar. Understand it at some point, but just practice the patterns like crazy.

So, lets simplify the thinking so you can keep these two particle uses straight.

For the question.. we’ll call this pattern

Starting with the item, and asking if it’s liked with “Somethingは好き？(wa suki?)”

Right? In all of these questions we are not starting with the person’s name, as in “Steve, do you like rock?”

We are starting with the item… sushi, jazz, pizza

寿司は好きですか？(Sushi wa sukidesuka?) 

ジャズは好きですか？(Jazu wa sukidesuka?) 

ピザは好きですか？ (Piza wa sukidesuka?) That’s an important point for this grammar. So again, that’s

Starting with the item, and asking if it’s liked with “Somethingは好き？ (wa suki?)”

With that, let’s look a bit closer at possible answers where we heard が. If the question is…

ピザは好きですか？(Piza wa sukidesuka?) We could give a super short, not very friendly or conversational answer… Just.

うん。(Un.)Yeah. We could give a bit longer of an answer.

うん、好き。(Un, suki.) Yeah, like. Still not very conversational though. We can give a bit longer of an answer than that.

うん、好きだよ。(Un, sukidayo.) Yeah, like is. Or, we can say yes, and continue with a more conversational answer.

うん、ペパロニが好きだよ。(Un, peparoni ga sukidayo.)  Yeah, pepperoni が like is. Yeah, pepperoni が is liked. In natural English, “Yeah, I like pepperoni.”

We’ll get to the weird “is liked” grammar in a minute. First let’s do the short answers without a particle.

ジャズは好きですか？ (Jazu wa sukidesuka?) Answer just.. “Yeah.” or “Yes.”

うん。(Un) or.. はい。(hai.)

ジャズは好きですか？(Jazu wa sukidesuka?) Answer, “Yeah, I like it.”

うん、好きだよ。(Un, sukidayo.) Polite

はい。好きです。(Hai, sukidesu.) 

So, for these we don’t need a particle. Since we are just saying… “Yes, I like it.” But, that’s not very conversational and we love particles so let’s see what’s going on with が(ga).

Listen to these examples, which if they were Japanese, would require が(ga),

What do you notice about my answers, in relation to the question?

Do you like pizza? Yeah, I like pepperoni.

Do you like music? Yeah, I like blues.

Do you like sports? Yeah, I like baseball.

Do you like science fiction movies? Yeah, I like Alien.

So, back to Lars and his answer to the question.

ロックは好き？(Rokku wa suki?) 

うん、レッド・ツェッペリンが好きだよ。(Un, reddo tsepperin ga sukidayo.) 

Do you like rock?

Yeah, I like Led Zeppelin.

So, he answered the question with “yeah”, or “yes”, and then continued on with a related statement.

Led Zeppelin が(ga) like.

Do you like pizza? Yeah, pepperoni が (ga)like.

Do you like music? Yeah, jazz が (ga)like.

You try a couple with your own ideas…

Do you like sports?

Yeah, something related to sports, the name of a sport or a team for example が (ga) like.

Do you like music?　

Yeah, something related to music, a genre, or maybe an artist が(ga) like.

Do you like sushi?

Yeah, some type of sushi が(ga) like.

Ok, now, we are ready for all Japanese. I’ll prompt the answers to use.

スポーツは好き？ (Supōtsu wa suki?)  basketball…

うん、バスケが好きだよ。(Un, basuke ga sukidayo.) and polite…

はい。バスケが好きですよ。(Hai, basuke ga sukidesuyo.)  and another one…

音楽(おんがく)は好き？ (Ongaku wa suki?) Jazz…

うん、ジャズが好き。(Un, jazu ga suki.) 

うん、ジャズが好きです。(Un, jazu ga sukidesu.) and one more… movies…

映画(えいが)は好き？(Eiga wa suki?) answer with the name of a movie you like.

うん、スターウォーズが好きだよ。(Un, sutāwōzu ga sukidayo.) 

That’s masculine sounding. Feminine sounding would be…

うん、スターウォーズが好きよ。(Un, sutāwōzu ga sukiyo.)  and polite…

はい。スターウォーズが好きです(よ)。(Hai, sutāwōzu ga sukidesuyo.) 

Ok, I’ll make an acceptation for this usage of が and get into actual grammar. Essentially, が tells us who or what is the doer or be-er in a sentence.

The word “like”, in English is a verb. “I like this. I liked that.”

But in Japanese it’s a type of adjective. So, in response to the question. Do you like music? ..and the answer…

うん、ジャズが好き。(Un, jazu ga suki.) 

Since が (ga) tells us who or what is the be-er or do-er in a sentence, が (ga)tells us that jazz, is the thing that is either doing something, or being something.

In this case…jazz is the thing that is being liked.

In English the person is the one doing the liking of jazz. In Japanese, since like is an adjective, it’s jazz が(ga) is liked. が(ga) tells us that jazz being liked.

With that, you may be saying… “Oh, ok makes sense.” But, even though it might make sense now, in the future after seeing a lot of wa and ga comparison examples, it will get confusing again when trying to speak.

Because what is missing from text examples… is nuance. In this case が(ga) also gives the feeling of focusing on something from a broader group, or genre or options.

Pizza being discussed… pepperoniが (ga) is being liked.

Music being discussed… bluesが(ga) is being liked from the broader category of music.

This is the feeling, it will give a Japanese speaker. This nuance that が(ga) carries is why if the question is “Do you like Rock?” We don’t want to answer using が(ga) with “Yes, I like rock.” Rock is not something within the overall category of Rock and so saying Rock が好き(ga suki)。when asked about Rock, would feel a bit off to a native speaker.

So now that I’ve said all that, let’s just get a simple pattern name, and go with it.

We’ll call this,

Stating that something from a broader category is liked with

“somethingが好き(ga suki).”

Put that in your notes or flashcards if you have them.

A little more practice then we’re done.

A couple days later, Emi goes to karaoke with her good friends, Nikki and Vince. Before placing their drink orders she wants to know what they like. She looks at Vince and asks… Cola wa like? How would she say that?

コーラは好き？(Kōra wa suki?)    He says yeah, and adds that Pepsi is being liked.

How would he phrase that?

うん、ペプシが好きだよ。(Un, pepushi ga sukidayo.) 

Then she asks Nikki if he likes juice which is a common option in at a karaoke box. Nikki does. Try asking both the question about juice, and then answering “orange juice is being liked.”

ジュースは好き？(Jyūsu wa suki? )

うん、オレンジジュースが好きだよ。(Un, orenjijyūsu ga sukidayo.) 

Orange juice is under the main category of juice. Ok, try, both the question and the answer, ask about sports, then baseball

スポーツは好き？(Supōtsu wa suki? )

うん、野球(やきゅう)が好きよ。(Un, yakyuu ga sukiyo.) 

うん、野球が好きだよ。(Un, yakyuu ga sukidayo.) 

Ask about Starbucks, then white moka.

スタバは好き？(Sutaba wa suki? )

うん、ホワイトモカが好きだよ。(Un, howaitomoka ga sukidayo.) That’s what I always order here in Japan, and notice the pronunciation starts with ho..

ホ. ワ.イ.ト.モ.カ (ho. wa. i. to. mo. ka) 

うん、ホワイトモカが好きよ。 (Un, howaitomoka ga sukiyo.) 

I didn’t mention the “No, I don’t.” answers as “no”, answers often require a fair degree of tact and cultural sensitivity so as to not come across as too strong.

So, if you don’t like something you can just kind of grimace slightly and say..

Hmmm… Starbucksは。。いや(iya)。。。ちょっと(chotto)。。。Starbucks… nah… they’re a little… and in Japanese that’s enough to give the listener the message without being too direct or strong.

One final thing… Do you recall the names we gave these two patterns?

Starting with the item, and asking if it’s liked with

Somethingは好き？ (wa suki?) 

And…

stating that something from a broader category is liked with

Somethingが好き (ga suki).

This is a good pattern to know because the grammar behind this pattern and specific が(ga) usage will come up a lot as you pursue the language.

Alright, practice audios available as always at JapaneseMadeEasy.com, and your speaking homework is to ask a real or imaginary person if they like something, and then answer the question with something related to the thing in the question.

Three questions in the morning, three in the afternoon, and three at night.

After doing that… you can safely… yet cautiously move on to the next episode. See you there.