Japanese 1 Module 2 Lesson 4 Grammar Notes

1. ぶんぽう： レッスン 4
Grammar:
Lesson
4

2. nan
nin
desu
ka
なん にん です か。
HOW
MANY
PEOPLE?

3. なん にん です か。
How
many
people?
にん nin
is
the
counter
for
people.
Take
a
look
at
the
table
to
the
right:
Note
that
there
are
two
major
excep?ons
where
you
do
not
use
the
counter
word
にん nin:
one
person
ひとり
(hitori)
AND
two
people
ふたり
(futari)
For
example:
かぞく は ふたり です。
Kazoku
wa
futari
desu.
I
have
two
people
in
my
family.
Romaji
ひらがな
Hiragana
English
TranslaDon
Hitorii
ひとり
1
person
Futarii
ふたり
2
people
San
nin
さん にん
3
people
Yo
nin
よ にん
4
people
Go
nin
ご にん
5
people
Roku
nin
ろく にん
6
people
Nana
nin
なな にん
7
people
Hachi
nin
はち にん
8
people
Kyuu
nin
きゅう にん
9
people
Jyuu
nin
じゅう にん
10
people

4. なん にん です か。
How
many
people?
(ConDnued)
• To
ask
someone
how
many
people
there
are,
we
use
the
expression
なん にん
nan
nin to
ask
“how
many
people?”
• なん
nan
is
the
form
of
the
word
“what”
that
comes
before
a
counter
word.
In
this
case,
it
translates
to
“how
many.”
– For
example:
• ごかぞく は なん にん です か。
• Gokazoku
wa
nan
nin
desu
ka.
• How
many
people
are
in
your
family?
– Note
how
the
character
ご go
has
been
added
before
the
word
かぞ
く kazoku,
family.
Because
you
are
asking
about
someone
else’s
family,
this
prefix
is
added
to
make
the
word
sound
more
polite.
It
is
similar
to
the
honorific
お
o
from
Lesson
1.

5. ご にん です。
5
people.
• To
respond
to
the
ques?on
“how
many
people
are
in
your
family?”
replace
なん にん
nan
nin,
with
the
correct
counter
for
people:
– For
example:
• わたし の かぞく は ろく にん です。
• Watashi
no
kazoku
wa
roku
nin
desu.
• I
have
6
people
in
my
family.
• (lit.
“My
family
is
6
people.”)
– When
responding,
simply
use
かぞく kazoku,
to
refer
to
your
own
family.

6. ima
・ mae
いま ・ まえ
NOW ・ BEFORE

7. いま ・ まえ
Now
・
Before
• In
this
lesson,
いま ima,
now,
and
まえ mae,
before,
are
being
used
as
adverbs,
therefore,
you
will
not
need
to
use
any
par?cles
with
them.
– For
example:
• ちち は いま いしゃ です。
• Chichi
wa
ima
isha
desu
• My
father
is
a
doctor
now.
• When
using
まえ mae,
you
will
be
talking
about
things
that
happened
before,
which
will
require
the
past
tense.
The
past
tense
of
ですdesu
=
is/am/are
…is:
でした deshita
=
was/were
– For
example:
• はは は まえ かいしゃいん でした。
• Haha
wa
mae
kaishain
deshita.
• My
mom
was
a
company
employee
before.

8. Remember
all
of
those
par?cles
from
Lessons
1,
2,
and
3?
Let’s
take
some
?me
to
review
a
couple
now:
• の
no
–
the
possessive
par?cle
(Lesson
2)
• と
to
–
the
“and”
par?cle
(Lesson
3)
jyoshi
fukushuu
じょし ふくしゅう
PARTICLES
REVIEW

9. の
no
–
the
Possessive
ParDcle
(Review)
• In
lesson
2,
we
learned
the
par?cle
の
no
indicates
possession
or
ownership,
of
something.
• It’s
like
using
an
apostrophe
+
s
(
…‘s
)
in
English.
– For
example:
• これ は わたし の かぞく の しゃしん です。
• Kore
wa
watashi
no
kazoku
no
shashin
desu.
• This
is
my
family’s
picture.
– Let’s
break
it
down
even
more!
Look
at
the
sentence
divided
in
“chunks”
:
ひらがな
hiragana
これ は
わたし の
かぞく の
しゃしん
です。
romaji
Kore
wa
watashi
no
kazoku
no
shashin
desu.
Literal
transla?on
This
my
family’s
picture
is.

10. と to
-­‐
the
“and”
ParDcle
(Review)
• The
par?cle
と to
means
and
when
lis?ng
items,
people,
animals,
etc.
• It
can
act
like
a
comma
when
lis?ng
more
than
two
nouns
in
the
same
sentence.
– For
example:
• かぞく は ちち と はは と あね と あに と いもうと
と わたし です。
• Kazoku
wa
chichi
to
haha
to
ane
to
ani
to
imouto
to
watashi
desu.
• The
family
is
my
dad,
my
mom,
my
older
sister,
my
older
brother,
my
younger
sister,
and
me.
• You
can
have
as
many
と
to
in
a
sentence
as
you
need,
but
don’t
get
carried
away!

11. おわり
This
is
the
end
of
the
Grammar
Notes
for
this
lesson.
You
can
print
these
notes
for
your
reference
using
the
link
above
this
slideshow.