This document provides an introduction to basic Japanese grammar structures for introducing oneself and asking questions. It covers how to say countries and nationalities, occupations, and basic sentence structures using the particle "wa" to identify topics. Examples are given for introducing oneself using "Sum X desu" and asking yes/no questions using "ka" at the end of a statement. Answering yes is "hai" and no is "iie". Information is also provided on omitting subjects in Japanese and ambiguities without additional context.

1. JAPANESE FOR BUSY PEOPLE Vol.1
UNIT 1
MEETING PEOPLE

2. LESSON 1
INTRODUCTION

3. 1. Countries and nationalities
イギリス
igirisu ドイツ
doitsu ちゅうごく
chuugoku アメリカ
amerika
にほん
nihon
タイ
tai
オーストラリア
oosutoraria

4. name of a country + jin nationality
にほん じん にほんじん
nihon + jin nihon jin
ちゅうごく じん ちゅうごくじん
chuugoku + jin chuugoku jin
ドイツ じん ドイツじん
doitsu + jin doitsu jin
イギリス じん イギリスじん
igirisu + jin igirisu jin
アメリカ じん アメリカじん
amerika + jin amerika jin
オーストラリア じん オーストラリアじん
oosutoraria + jin oosutoraria jin
タイ じん タイじん
tai + jin tai jin

5. 2. Occupations
べんごし ひしょ
bengoshi hisho
がくせい エンジニア
gakusei enjinia

6. Basic Noun Sentence
1. XはYです
"I'm Smith.", "I'm an American.", and "I'm a lawyer." These sentences will all be
translated into Japanese using an appropriate noun and the ending word "desu".
∼です。 It is . . . / I am . . .
スミスです。 (I am) Smith.
sumisu desu
アメリカじんです。 (I am) an American.
amerika jin desu
べんごしです。 (I am) a lawyer.
bengoshi desu
Note that none of above sentences has a "subject" like the "I " found in their English
counterparts. Sentences without subjects are very common in Japanese; Japanese
speakers actually tend to omit subjects whenever they think it is clear to the listener
what or who they are referring to.

7. What are we to do, then, when it is not clear what is being talked about? To make
explicit what we are talking about, we can say:
は アメリカじんです。 is an American.
wa amerika jin desu
Where stands for the thing that is talked about, or the "topic", which is later in
the sentence identified as amerika jin.
スミスさんは アメリカじんです。 Mr. Smith is an American.
sumisusan wa amerika jin deus
Similarly, one can use the pattern " X wa Y desu" to identify a person or a
thing X as item Y.
X は Y です。 X is Y. As for X, it is Y.
wa desu
わたしは たかはしです。 I am Takahashi.
watashi wa takahashi desu
ブラウンさんは ひしょです。 Ms. Brown is a secretary.
braun san wa hisho deus
リンさんは ちゅうごくじんです。 Ms. Lin is a Chinese.
rin san wa chuugoku jin desu

8. "は (wa)" is a member of the class of words called "particles." So is the word "の (no)",
which we will turn to later in this lesson. Particles attach themselves to Phrases and
indicate how the phrases relate to the rest of the sentence.
Note also that nouns like "ひしょ (hisho)" and "ちゅうごくじん (chuugokujin)",
which are preceded by "a ". In Japanese, there is no item that corresponds to
"a ", nor is there any item that corresponds to the plural " -s " at the end of a
noun. Without background situations, a sentence like "ひしょです (hisho
desu)" is therefore ambiguous between the singular and the plural
interpretations; it may mean "We are/you are/they are secretary", as well
as "I am/you are/she is a secretary".

9. 2. Question Sentences
It is very easy to form questions in Japanese. Basically, all you need to do is add "か(ka)"
at the end of a statement.
がくせいです。 (I am) a student.
gakusei desu
がくせいですか。 (Are you) a student?
gakusei desu ka
The above sentence, " がくせいですか " , is a " yes / no " question. If the question is
gakusei desu ka
correct, you answer "はい" as "yes", and if it's not correct you answer "いいえ" as "no".
hai iie
Question: がくせいですか。= (Are you) a student?
gakusei desu ka
Yes answer: はい。= Yes, I am. or はい、がくせいです。= Yes, I am a student.
hai hai, gakusei desu
No answer: いいえ。= No, I'm not. or
iie
いいえ、がくせいでは ありません。= No, I'm not a student.
i ie, g aku se i de w a ari mase n
Please note that "は" in the negative ending of a sentence "ではありません"
d ewa ar ima se n
should be pronounced as "wa" just like the particle "は". "は" itself standing
wa
alone or in a word is pronounced as "ha" as one of hiragana "は".
ha