Episode 4 – Japanese Made Easy

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

Exercises Only

Welcome to Japanese Made Easy episode 4. Keep in mind that these lessons are cumulative, so please be sure to start at lesson 1.

As usual we’ll start with some review.

カナダ人 (kanada jin) Are from what country?

カナダ (Kanada) That アメリカ人(じん) (Amerika jin) is from what country?

アメリカ (Amerika)  How would you translate this…

メキシコとカナダ (Mekishiko to kanada) Mexico and Canada.

Walk into a shop with a friend, point out and Mention that sandwiches and donuts exist

サンドイッチとドーナツあるよ。　(Sandoicchi to dōnatsu aruyo.) 

Also in line at the shop you notice Pat and Chris. Point out their existence パットとクリスいる。　(Patto to kurisu iru.) 　パットとクリスいる。

I think we’ll cover different parts of the world in groups, so let’s head down-under for these next two… The land famous for koalas and kangaroos is

オーストラリア　　オー ス ト ラ リ ア　　オー ス ト ラ リ ア  (Ōsutoraria) 

Also notice the consonant vowel, consonant vowel, repetition so you can self check your own pronunciation later

オー ス ト ラ リ ア (Ōsutoraria) 

Even if we are practicing a country name that you don’t have much relation to don’t skip these, as at some point you will want to be able to talk about places you’ve been, or want to go, and of course need to understand them when you hear them from others.

The next country is near Australia.. True story.. 10 years or so ago, I travelled from Japan to

ニュージーランド ニュージーランド (Nyūjīrando) 

The first city we stayed in was Auckland. It was about an 11 hour flight from Japan to

ニュージーランド  (Nyūjīrando)  Here it is super slow.

ニュー　ジー　ラ　ン　ド (Nyūjīrando) 

Do go if you have the chance, it was very nice. 　

If a person is from

オー ス ト ラ リ ア  (Ōsutoraria) 　regarding their nationality they are what?

オー ス ト ラ リ ア人(じん) (Ōsutoraria jin)  If a person is from

ニュージーランド (Nyūjīrando)  they are

ニュージーランド人 (Nyūjīrando jin) 

In casual Japanese point out the fact that there is a person from Australia and a person from New Zealand.

オー ス ト ラ リ ア人とニュージーランド人いる。 (Ōsutoraria jin to Nyūjīrando jin iru.)and polite..

オー ス ト ラ リ ア人とニュージーランド人がいます。(Ōsutoraria jin to Nyūjīrando  jin ga imasu.)

Let’s add to our vocabulary a bit, and as always through context.

When I was a kid there was no internet, so I watched my favorite programs in the living room on the

テレビ テ レ ビ (terebi) so in English we’d say Television or TV. In Japanese cognates are often shortened so it’s just

テレビ テレビ (terebi) My desktop computer works ok, but I can’t watch Netflix on it because my computer

モニター (monitā)  is broken.

モニター モニター (monitā)

Rather than get it fixed, since they are cheap these days I’ll just buy a new

モニター(monitā)

Now, the before the holidays Black Friday sales are coming up, so me Chris and Annie are going to go shopping for some electronics. We put on our protective hockey gear and head to the electronics store hoping to get some good deals… the plan is to buy a new

テレビとモニター (terebi to monitā)

We get there and it’s complete chaos. We see a bunch of people fighting over a Sony big screen

テレビ (terebi) we get close enough only to discover that… they are all gone, everything is gone.

Chris points to the area where the TV’s should have been, on the ground is just dust, torn up cardboard boxes, and a random wig. Speaking outloud and not to anybody in particular..

He says… テレビない。(Terebi nai.) 

Annie seeing the same scene repeats the phrase..

テレビない。(Terebi nai.)  I say, Oh well, maybe we get lucky and get a deal on some

モニター (monitā) lets hurry over there.

We battle our way through the crowd, and make it to the computer area. No luck. Faced with rows of empty shelves where the monitors used to be.. I say

モニターない。(Monitā nai.) So, you should have a feel for it now. Let’s recap the battle of the electronics shop.

Chris pointed out and mentioned that

テレビない。(Terebi nai.) ..and later I pointed out and mentioned that

モニターない。(Monitā nai.) In your own words how would you translate

テレビない。?(Terebi nai.) 

We could say.. There aren’t any TV’s, or literally “TV’s don’t exist.” The store doesn’t have any TVs. So, you probably guessed by now that this is simply the opposite of pointing out that something does exist.

When we want to point out that something we were expecting to be there, isn’t there, we can use the negative version of our existence verb aru, which is nai. Let’s work with that simple idea real quick.

You point out that there are sandwiches to somebody…

サンドイッチある。(Sandoicchi aru.)  You thought there were sandwiches but turns out there aren’t any. Literally mentioning that sandwiches don’t exist

サンドイッチない。サンドイッチない。(Sandoicchi nai.) 

Mention that there is coffee

コーヒーある。 (Kōhī aru. )  So for these maybe we are just saying it outloud or to ourselves, or just stating a fact. That is, if I were there with a friend the friend would hear what I said, but I’m not saying it to them or with them in mind or for their benefit necessarily. Like, “Hmm… there’s coffee.” Or, “Hmm… no coffee.” So, those just feel like a no よ delivery vs. “Hey, there’s coffee.” “Hey, there’s coffee よ”. So continuing without よ on the end…

You thought there was coffee but turns out there isn’t. Mention this fact

コーヒーない。 (Kōhī nai. ) Point out the fact that there are donuts

ドーナツある。 ドーナツある。(Dōnatsu aru.)  Point out the fact that there aren’t any donuts

ドーナツない。(Dōnatsu nai.)  Point out that the store you just entered has TV’s

テレビある。(Terebi aru.) Point out that the store you just entered, doesn’t have TV’s as was expected

テレビない。(Terebi nai.)  The store has computer monitors

モニターある。(Monitā aru.)  The store that should have computer monitors doesn’t, so you mention it

モニターない。 モニターない。(Monitā nai.) 

So, you may be wondering, why do I keep talking about the idea of.. pointing out and mentioning when there is something, or when there isn’t something that was expected to be there. Why not just say.. There’s a TV. or There isn’t a TV?

Simply put, the particle might be different if the reason for saying it is different.

Basically, I’m trying to make it confusion proof for your future studies. Part of the reason they remain confusing is most books and videos out there don’t provide this important part of the learning process. That is, to keep the situation in mind, and that’s why I keep mentioning it over and over. It’s important for staying un-confused in the long run, and in English you just feel naturally what to say in a given situation.

So this is how we can, in and audio format, start to develop that same type of sense for you in Japanese. So, think of this as

Pointing out or bringing up the fact that something does, or does not exist with ga aru or ga nai.

If you are a member of my Japanese Mastery Method course, this next part will be review. But, no such thing as being too good at the basics, so follow along anyway.

Let’s run through those again, but in polite Japanese. First, pointing out that there are sandwiches to somebody.　

サンドイッチがあります。 サンドイッチがあります。(Sandoicchi ga arimasu.)  

Now, pay close attention to how arimasu changes when there aren’t any. You thought there were sandwiches, but turns out there aren’t any. Literally mentioning that sandwiches don’t exist .

サンドイッチがありません。 サンドイッチがありません。(Sandoicchi ga arimasen.)  

Point out the fact that there are donuts

ドーナツがあります。(Dōnatsu ga arimasu.)  Point out the fact that there aren’t any donuts.　　

ドーナツがありません。 ドーナツがありません。(Dōnatsu ga arimasen.) 

Point out that the store you just entered has TV’s.

テレビがあります。 (Terebi ga arimasu.)  Point out that the store you just entered, doesn’t have TV’s as was expected

テレビありません。(Terebi arimasen.)  The store has computer monitors

モニターがあります。(Monitā ga arimasu.)   The store that should have computer monitors doesn’t, so you mention it

モニターがありません。(Monitā ga arimasen.) Alright, let’s take a break.

—————————— Tip Of The Day —————————

There’s something in linguistics known as a construction. That’s the fancy term they give to the simple idea of a fill-in-the-blank phrase.

For example, the English phrase…I’ll have ______…is a very common construction for ordering food. And you can fill in all sorts of things in the blank:

I’ll have the soup. I’ll have the lobster. I’ll have the pancakes.. and so on.

If a person were trying to learn English, they’d be smart to master such a common construction. And if you practice the right way, you’ll quickly become fluent with that construction. If you do this for all the major constructions, you can quickly become fluent in the language.

In short: Constructions are the most efficient tool for developing fluency in a language, and it’s no different for Japanese. Later we’ll be doing what is called “construction branching” which is an organized way to expand on what you can say.

—————————— Tip Of The Day —————————

Continuing on… I guess you can guess what’s next. We talked about things that don’t exist. Now lets talk about people that we expect to be someplace but aren’t.

Mayumi texted Kenji telling him that she was at a party. You and Kenji get there, but don’t see Mayumi anywhere.. Kenji says..

まゆみいない。(Mayumi inai.) 

Kenji texts her, but no response. Not knowing anybody there, you both decided to leave. Turns out Mayumi had just stepped out to the convenience store. When she gets back and doesn’t see Kenji anywhere she says to herself..

Hmm.. 健司(kenji)いない。(inai) 

So that’s easy enough, for people or animals we use

いる (iru) and いない いない (inai) 

and similar to

あります (arimasu) and ありません (arimasen) we’ll use

います (imasu)  and いません (imasen) 

Recalling our two new country names from the beginning of the lesson

オー ス ト ラ リ ア (Ōsutoraria)  and ニュージーランド (Nyūjīrando) 

Perhaps you were expecting to see some

オー ス ト ラ リ ア人 (Ōsutoraria jin)  at the international party, but there isn’t anybody from there. In casual Japanese, how would you bring up and mention the unexpected, non existence of Australians?

オー ス ト ラ リ ア人いない。(Ōsutoraria jin inai.)  Point out that there aren’t any people from New Zealand…

ニュージーランド人いない。 (Nyūjīrando jin inai.) 

Let’s keep our casual and polite practice balanced… Seems everybody was looking forward to meeting some

オー ス ト ラ リ アとニュージーランド (Ōsutoraria  to Nyūjīrando) Because you overhear a person say in polite Japanese.. “There aren’t any Australians.” How would they have said that?

オー ス ト ラ リ ア人がいません。 オー ス ト ラ リ ア人がいません。(Ōsutoraria  jin ga imasen. )

You overhear another disappointed person point out that lack of New Zealanders…

ニュージーランド人がいません。 ニュージーランド人がいません。(Nyūjīrando jin ga imasen.)

Casual Japanese… Looking in the refrigerator you expected to see a sandwich, but there isn’t one.. how would you mention it?

サンドイッチない。 サンドイッチない。(Sandoicchi nai.) 

Walking into the classroom, you expected to see

小川先生(おがわせんせい) (Ogawa sensei) but he or she isn’t there

小川先生(おがわせんせい)いない。(Ogawa sensei inai.)  Mention that there is coffee

コーヒーある。(Kōhī aru.)  You thought there was coffee but turns out there isn’t, mention this fact

コーヒーない。 コーヒーない。(Kōhī nai.) 

At a social event, point out a group of people from Mexico..

メキシコ人いる。(Mekishiko jin iru.) Point out the fact that there aren’t any donuts

ドーナツない。(Dōnatsu nai.)  Point out that the electronics store you just entered has TV’s

テレビある。テレビある。(Terebi aru.) 

Still at the electronics shop, you notice some interesting people. Point out that there are both Australians and New Zealanders.

オー ス ト ラ リ ア人とニュージーランド人いる。(Ōsutoraria jin to Nyūjīrando jin iru.) 

Polite Japanese and then we’re done. Point out that the store you just entered, doesn’t have TV’s as was expected

テレビがありません。(Terebi ga arimasen.)  Point out that there aren’t any Americans where you were expecting some to be

アメリカ人がいません。(Amerika jin ga imasen.)  The store that should have computer monitors doesn’t, so you mention it

モニターがありません。(Monitā ga arimasen.)  There isn’t a dog with the friendly yo

犬（いぬ）がいませんよ。(Inu ga imasenyo.) No sandwiches

サンドイッチがありません。(Sandoicchi ga arimasen.) 

In Casual Japanese, wanting to sound friendly say.. There isn’t a cat.

猫(ねこ)いないよ。(Neko inaiyo.) Change it to polite…

猫がいませんよ。(Neko ga imasenyo.) 

Alright that was a great workout and the end of the lesson. Take a long break and let things settle in, and then…Your speaking homework for this lesson is to imagine that people or things are missing from where you expect them to be.

Throughout the day mention that something, or somebody,

doesn’t exist with ga nai, or ga inai

and with the masu forms.

Also, I’ve made an extra practice version of todays lesson. You can grab that over at Japanese Made Easy.com For questions or comments, feel free to drop me an e-mail at greg at Japanese Made Easy (dot) com. See you in the next episode.