Episode 6 – Japanese Made Easy

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Exercises Only

Hi Greg here, welcome to Japanese Made Easy episode 6. Keep in mind that these lessons are cumulative and everything needs to be mastered up to this point, so please be sure to start at lesson 1.

In the last episode we learned to say where we are going. In this episode we’ll focus on asking a variety of related questions. First, let’s learn our first question word. Please repeat.

どこ　どこ (doko) 

Searching and searching you say… “I can’t find my keys!

どこ (doko)  did I put them?

Just as I got home, my roommate was getting ready to leave. “I’m heading out,” he said. “Want to come?” I replied.. “Well, it depends…

どこ (doko) are you going?” I asked. So in English we’d say “where” in Japanese

どこ (doko) 

Here’s is a trick most polyglots and memory experts use, and it really does help when dealing with a lot of new vocabulary. When possible I like to make what I call a power-phrase to help with recall in case I get stuck. Basically a power-phrase is a mnemonic device that contains the pronunciation and meaning of the word. This one is taken directly from the Japanese Mastery Method course… The power-phrase for doko I like to use is…

Where are you going? Don’t go… Of course don’t go, isn’t exactly

どこ (doko) 

but it’s close enough to remind you if necessary. So just remember…WHERE are you going? Don’t go! From…don’t go, we get Doko.

So let’s get a feel for how it’s used… Keiko can’t find the TV remote so she asks her husband.

リモコンどこ？ (Rimokon doko?) 

リモコン リモコン (Rimokon)  sounds like a short version of remote control to me.

Try asking somebody where the remote is.

リモコンどこ？(Rimokon doko?)  Try asking a family member where the sandwiches are.

サンドイッチどこ？ (Sandoicchi doko?)  Try asking your roommate where Kenji is.

健司(けんじ)どこ？ (Kenji doko?) 

So those are really casual short sentences with particles dropped. We’ll come back to these types of questions in a bit.

We haven’t officially covered the の particle, but I’m guessing you are familiar with it as it’s generally taught early on in Japanese studies. Just in case those let’s run through some examples really quick. I’ll just use the pattern and then you take over.

Tom grabbed lunch at the convenience store for a bunch of friends that were over. As he hands people their food he says who they are for. He sets a sandwich in front of Jill, saying…

ジルのサンドイッチ。(Jiru no sandoicchi) As he sets a hotdog in front of Kevin, he says…

ケビンのホットドッグ。(Kebin no hottodoggu) As he sets a pieced of pizza in front of Ron he says..

ロンのピザ。(Ron no piza)  Bill just wanted coffee, so as Tom sets the coffee in front of Bill what would he say…?

ビルのコーヒー。(Biru no kōhī)  So this usage of の is used for possession or ownership, as in Jill’s sandwich, Jill の sandwich.

The thing is though, there are a variety of different uses of the “の” particle that have nothing to do with possession and we’ll get into a new one later in the lesson.

Before we do that though, let’s pick-up a usage of the “wa” particle. Just as we are doing with “ga” and “ni” and “no” we are going to learn little bite sized easy to digest, usages of particles as we go. Then we will master the ability to use it when speaking, and only then do we want to add a new and different usage. So, follow along.

Recalling our “Where’s the remote?” question…

リモコンどこ？ (Rimokon doko?)  Again, this is very casual and very short, so the particle is dropped in natural speech. If the particle hadn’t been dropped though, grammatically speaking we would have this.

リモコンはどこ？ (Rimokon wa doko?)  We then heard…

サンドイッチどこ？(Sandoicchi doko?) Gramatically speaking though, with the particle in place…

サンドイッチはどこ？(Sandoicchi wa doko?)   Then we heard the short and casual

健司どこ？(Kenji doko?) And what would it be if we weren’t dropping the particle?

健司はどこ？(Kenji wa doko?) 

So far so good, and do we care that wa is a topic marker, or wait is it the subject marker, or wait is Kenji and object and so we want to use a marker on him.. no.. no and no.

It doesn’t help when you are in the middle of a fast conversation. Forget that stuff. Here’s the huge grammatical take away you need to remember.. are you ready?

If you are asking where something is.. use the は particle and どこ (doko) together. It’s just that simple. Not dropping the particle just for practice. Ask..

Where’s the remote? リモコンはどこ？ (Rimokon wa doko?) 

Why did you use “wa” and not some other particle? Because when we are asking where something is, we use “something.. wa doko.”

Speaking of your family pet, you haven’t seen in a while.. Ask.. Where’s the cat?

猫(ねこ)はどこ？ (Neko wa doko?)  Really, you would probably use the cat’s name. So let’s ask.. Where’s Momo?

ももちゃんはどこ？(Momo-chan wa doko?)  Search Google for “momo” in Japanese and I’m sure some pics will come up. Not of the cat, but the fruit… Notice the use of “chan”, which is an attachment for names used for female friends, or younger things, pets, kids, etc.

Really quick quiz. Two questions. What particle and what question word do we use when asking where something or someone is?

は(wa) and どこ(doko) . We will talk about the SLT for this usage of “wa” but for now just keep your focus on the idea that … Asking where something is, is a something wa doko .. pattern.

Ok so with that let’s get into the polite version of the question. This is another thing that is pretty much picked up on day one of Japanese studies, so we won’t spend too much time on it.

What’s important is to be skilled enough in Japanese to be able to switch between polite and casual without too much thinking about it. So, with that in mind.

Chuck just came to Japan and needs to buy some small appliances for his apartment. He asks an employee where various things are. First he wants one of these…

コーヒーメーカー コーヒーメーカー (kōhīmēkā) 

He can’t find them so he engages an employee saying…

すみません すみません (Sumimasen) and then

コーヒーメーカーはどこですか？(Kōhīmēkā wa doko desuka?) 

The employee leads the way, and Chuck is all set.

Needing to stock the refrigerator, Chuck heads to do some grocery shopping.

He wants some

マヨネーズ マヨネーズ (Mayonēzu) 

First he practices his pronunciation…

マヨネーズ　(Mayonēzu)   then he asks…

マヨネーズはどこですか？(Mayonēzu wa doko desuka?) 

The employee leads the way and shows him the mayonnaise options. By the way, customer service in Japan is really really good. So when I mention that the employee leads the way, they really do.

Now that you are comfortable with it, let’s go ahead and talk about the SLT for this particular usage of “wa”.

In this example,

コーヒーはどこですか？(Kōhī wa doko desuka?) 

We can replace wa with the idea of “regarding”. So if we are looking for coffee in a grocery store, literally this would be asking… Coffee, wa, where is ?

Replacing wa.. Coffee , (regarding it) where is?

This idea of wa as “regarding” will come into play a lot, but that’s not the only usage, so again, now that you know that, still just focus on the idea of the pattern…

Asking where something is, is a “something wa where is it?” pattern.

We have mayonnaise so let’s round it out by getting some…

ケチャップ ケチャップ ケチャップ (Kechappu) 

Unable to find the ketchup, that is he didn’t notice it sitting right there next to the mayonnaise, how would Chuck ask where it is?

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

At the previous store, how did he ask where the coffee makers are?

コーヒーメーカーはどこですか？(Kōhīmēkā wa doko desuka?)  and.. at the beginning of the lesson Keiko asked

リモコンどこ？ (Rimokon doko?) 

That was short and casual, so the wa is in there grammatically but just dropped.

Try asking a store employee where the remotes are.

リモコンはどこですか？(Rimokon wa doko desuka?) 

And do you recall the word he used before that…

すみません (Sumimasen) Most books or videos these days, will tell you that

すみません (Sumimasen) means either excuse me, or I’m sorry. It can translate as that depending on the situation. It could also translate as “Thank you.”

I like to think of the Super Literal Translation which is… “Sorry to have bothered you in some way.” Here are some examples.

You walk into a small shop, and there isn’t a clerk. You want to let somebody know you are there, and that they should come out of the back room to help you. To get somebody’s attention, you could loudly say…

“すみません” (Sumimasen) or… you accidently step on a person’s toe.

“すみません” (Sumimasen)  I was at the park another parent helped my kid get a drink from the drinking fountain. I thanked them for helping my kid out by saying…”

“すみません” (Sumimasen) 　That is… “Sorry to have bothered you in some way.”

Ok last one and we’ll take a break. First, just listen.

ノートパソコン ノートパソコン (Nōtopasokon) 

I have a desktop computer at home, but I’m thinking of buying a smaller, more portable ノートパソコン(Nōtopasokon) 

Finally I did get one. Now when I want to get stuff done while having coffee at a coffee shop, I work on my ノートパソコン(Nōtopasokon) 

We are kind of getting two words for the language input cost of one. A desktop or computer generally speaking is

パソコン パソコン (pasokon)

and from the idea of notebook computer, we get

ノートパソコン ノートパソコン (Nōtopasokon) or laptop.

Try saying it. Excuse me. Where are the laptop computers?

すみません。(Sumimasen) ノートパソコンはどこですか？(Nōtopasokon wa doko desuka?) 

And referring to computer in general, or desktop computers…

パソコン (pasokon)

Try.. “Excuse me, where are the computers?

すみません。パソコンはどこですか？ (Sumimasen. Pasokon wa doko desuka?) 

And…I can’t resist. Why did we use “wa” and not some other particle for these questions? Because when we ask where something is, we use は and どこ(doko) . It’s just that simple.

——————————— Tip Of The Day ————————

Before coming to Japan the first time, I figured knowing how to ask where something is would be good, so I memorized how to ask.. “Where’s the train station?”

Then I added words such as “entrance” and “exit”. That was my first construction. A week before going to Japan, I remember walking around my apartment practicing asking where things are, basically just talking outload to myself.

Where’s the train station? Where’s the exit?, Where’s the entrance? and I knew the word for spinach… I started adding words I didn’t know in Japanese to the construction.

Chair はどこですか？ (wa doko desuka?) 

Refrigerator はどこですか？ (wa doko desuka?) 

Toe nail clippers　はどこですか？ (wa doko desuka?) 

So, me and a few other Americans get to Japan for the job we had. And a few days into training we had some time off, so we went to a nearby botanical garden. Later, we decided to leave, but weren’t sure which direction the exit was as the place was kind of like a maze.

I thought… “This is my chance! I got this!” So, I walked up to a Japanese person and asked, “Where is the exit?”

出口(でぐち)はどこですか？ (Deguchi wa doko desuka?) 

And they started giving directions. I didn’t understand, and ultimately they ended up pointing us in the right direction. But, it was a great feeling. I had communicated successfully.

So what’s the language learning point here? Practice grammatically correct constructions, and just get good at substituting vocabulary where it fits. It was that type of practice before I went to Japan, that enabled me to ask where the exit was, correctly and with confidence. And if need be, I could always ask where the spinach was too.

——————————— Tip Of The Day ————————

Ok… imagine you are walking and looking at your phone and you accidentally bump somebody’s arm. No big deal, but best to say something. What might you say?

すみません (sumimasen) If you end up holding the door for somebody who has kids, or is carrying a bunch of stuff, or giving up your seat on the train for somebody… How might they thank you for the little bit of percieved trouble they may have cause you?

すみません。(Sumimasen) and yes.. there are other ways to say thank you… but, I just wanted to give you the inside scoop and SLT for this one.

I want to add another usage of the の particle. This is completely unrelated to the previous idea of belonging to or ownership.

Kenji tells his girlfriend that he’ll handle finding a place to eat for dinner. She’s waiting and ready to go. So he searches on his phone and finds a good place.

“Ok, I’ve decided.” His girlfriend asks..

どこ行く(いく)？ (Doko iku?) So let that simmer for a second, and listen to this one…

Kenji is headed out the door, and his girlfriend is on the couch in her pajamas with a really bad cold. As Kenji heads out the door she asks..

どこ行くの？ (Doko ikuno?) Let’s do one more set. We’ll stick with Kenji being the one to do things, so it doesn’t get confusing. This time pay attention to the answers to get a feel for the difference between just

どこ行く？ (Doko iku?) and どこ行くの？ (Doko ikuno?) 

Kenji has been looking for places they can go on the weekend. He tells his girlfriend that he’s found a good place. She asks him

どこ行く？(Doko iku?) 

The answer is along the lines of “We’re going to go to some hot-springs in Osaka.”

Compared to… Kenji is headed out the door and his girlfriend just got out of the shower, her hair is dripping wet. Clearly, she is not about to go anywhere. She asks…

どこ行くの？ (Doko ikuno?) He responds,

ビルとバーガーキングに行くよ。(Biru to bāgākingu ni ikuyo.)  Literally, Bill then the particle と then Burger King, に (the target location of)　行く (iku) go.

ビルとバーガーキングに行くよ。 (Biru to bāgākingu ni ikuyo.)  We’ll talk about this slightly different usage of と in just a bit.

So to recap, when we heard

どこ行く？ (Doko iku?) the situations were that both Kenji and his girlfriend were going to go to a place. And so the translation would be.. Where are we going to go?

When we heard

どこ行くの？(Doko ikuno?) 

The first time, Kenji’s girlfriend was sick and on the couch. Not going anywhere. The second time, just out of the shower, hair still wet, clearly not going with him. So, she’s asking…Where are you going? or Where are you going to go? I’ll come back to why these are translated differently in just a minute.

Like よ(yo), の(no) in this situation acts as a sentence ending particle. In this case a common way of asking questions in Japanese, and the feeling is that the listener is being asked for some sort of response or explanation of their actions, vs. pure small talk.

Like asking a checkout person at the grocery store in Western countries. “How are you?” we don’t really expect or care about an answer, it’s just small talk. To keep the idea clear, let’s call this…

Asking for some degree of clarification with the casual question ending の. 

I mention “clarifying” because these questions will often carry the nuance of the speaker wanting some degree of clarification. It can be anywhere from just a normal question, to wanting some clarification, all the way to an accusation. It really just depends on the context of the situation, and how the question is asked. That sounds confusing, but I’ll give an example in English so you get the feel.

The question is… You ate the last cookie? It could be I was wondering who it was that ate it, and not a big deal.

You ate the last cookieの? Yeah, I didn’t think anybody else would want one.

Or, maybe the person just got done saying how they were being really strict about their diet, so I ask…

You ate the last cookieの? A little surprising, inviting some clarification on why this is…I know, I was just saying all of that but I was really hungry.

Or… I had a note on that cookie, it said.. GREG’S COOKIE. DO NOT EAT. With a picture of a skull and cross bones. So I deliver the question this way… basically an accusation.. OMG. You ate, the last cookie no?

Don’t worry too much about that, as it is nuance you’ll get used to. Simply put, we are just using “の” to ask questions of another person regarding something about their situation.

This is the reason for the different translations of…

どこ行く？ (Doko iku?) and どこ行くの？(Doko ikuno?) 

The “no” on the end is asking a question of a person about their deal, what they did, or a situation relating to them and wanting a bit of an explanation.

Let’s do a couple examples then we’ll wrap it up. Let’s flip the script. Kenji is now asking his girlfriend. She’s been texting on her phone, and is headed out the door.. Kenji asks.

どこ行くの？(Doko ikuno?) She replies.

恵子(けいこ)とスタバに行くよ。(Keiko to sutaba ni ikuyo.) 

Literally, Keiko, と Starbucks に (ni) go よ。(yo)  In natural English we’d translate this as.. I’m going to Starbucks with Keiko.

In episode 3, we learned that と was “and”, but it’s not much of stretch to think of it as “with” after all, we could say, “Me and Keiko, are going to Starbucks.” So, と (to) can translate as and, or with, depending on the situation.

One more time, Kenji asked..

どこ行くの？ (Doko ikuno?)  and the reply was…

恵子とスタバに行くよ。(Keiko to sutaba ni ikuyo.) The next day, Kenji and his girlfriend are at the mall, and she says she want’s to have McDonald’s for lunch. Kenji remembers a Burger King in the mall, but not McDonalds, he wants to clarify so asks..

マックあるの？(Makku aruno?) A McDonalds exists? There’s a McDonalds? She replies..

うん。あるよ。(Un, aruyo.) Literally.. Yeah, exists? or… Yeah, there is one.

So those are a few examples of using の to make questions in casual speech. We’ll get into the polite version in the next episode. For now see if you can say the following… first try saying..

I’m going to Mr. Donuts with Keiko. The word order will be, Keiko with, Mr. Donuts, target location of go. Give that a try.

恵子とミスドーに行く。(Keiko to Misudō ni iku.) 

As a person heads out the door, ask… Where are you going?

どこ行くの？ (Doko ikuno? You can put に in there if you want to, but in a such a short casual sentence, it’s more natural to drop it.

Try this one. Where are we going to go? or Where do you want to go, but implying that we are going together?

どこ行く？(Doko iku?) A friend says they’re going to Tokyo.

東京(とうきょう)に行く。(Tōkyō ni iku.)  That’s new, interesting, surprising, or you are just curious to know more about it so how would you ask..

You’re going to Tokyo?

東京に行くの？(Tōkyō ni ikuno?)   and finally.. How would you translate this reply

うん。健司(けんじ)と。(Un, Kenji to.) Litterally, Yeah, Kenji with. Naturally, Yeah, with Kenji.

Alright, great job with all of that. I’ve got some pretty big news to announce. In addition to the main Japanese Mastery Method course, we also have a new course available called Fluency in Casual Japanese.

The fluency course is basically just as the title says, a lot of construction practice and speaking exercises, and all in casual Japanese.

It’s essentially designed to develop your speaking speed, along with your ability to say longer sentences, and expand what you are able to talk about.

That course is live and ready to at the main Japanese Mastery Method site.

I’ve also started working on the Wa Ga masterclass. Those two particles are such a headache for students, that they really deserve an entire mini-course.

Anyway, sorry for the bit of promotion there, but the Fluency in Casual Japanese course is really good, and it will help you improve.

As usual, I’ve made an extra practice version of todays lesson. You can grab that over at Japanese Made Easy.com See you in the next episode.