Japanese: たなか: スミスさん　は　アメリカじん　です　か。  スミス: いいえ、イギリスじん　です。 たなか: イギリス　の　どちら　から　です　か。 スミス: ロンドン　に　すんで　います。　たなかさん　は　どちら　から　です　か。 たなか: きゅうしゅう　です　が、　いま　とうきょう　に　すんで　います。
Romaji: Tanaka    Sumisu san wa Amerika-jin desu ka?  Sumisu    Iie, igirisu-jin desu.  Tanaka    Igirisu no dochira kara desu ka? Sumisu    London ni sunde imasu. Tanaka-san wa dochira kara desu ka. Tanaka    Kyuushuu desu ga, ima wa Toukyou ni sunde imasu.	English: Tanaka    Are you an American?  Smith   No, I am British. Tanaka   Where from, in Great Britain, are you? Smith   I live in London. Tanaka, where are you from?  Tanaka   Kyuushuu, but now I live in Tokyo

Vocabulary

• In Japanese, it is marked what country you come from by adding the ending '-jin' to the country. For example, a Swedish person would be a Suwe-den-jin, and a French person furansu-jin. See a table of some countries in the end of the chapter.
• The word ga is used in the end of a sentence to express a hesitation or to soften the sentence. Often it can be translated with but or though.
• The word ni is in this case a marker for a place. It is used for expression of where you live (sunde imasu/sumu/sumimasu), and can also be used to mark the place being at, coming to or going to. E.g. gakko ni ikimasu  (to go to school) or koko ni kimasu  (to come here). 
• sunde imasu is the present progressive form of sumimasu, "to live".
• The word no is a marker (particle) for something belonging to another thing, you can read more about possessive form no in the article Possessive Form. 
• The word kara  is a marker for origin. The pattern is "... A kara ..." . E.g. (I) came from Japan, "nihon kara kimashita" or a car from America, Amerika kara kita (=kimashita) kuruma.
• Also note that the way Japanese answer yes or no on questions may differ from the way it is in your country. When Japanese say yes "Hai", it is an affirmation of the question and no, "Iie" means not agreeing to the question. This may be confusing if the question is negative. E.g. if the question was "Are you not Japanese?", "Nihonjin dewa arimasen ka?", the answer "Hai" would mean that you are not Japanese.

List of Countries

Links

• Check out the full list of Country and Region Names in Japanese.
• Also, check out the list of Language Names in Japanese.
• When you feel ready, continue to the next lesson.

Comments (21)

ni, e and de Written by tony, on 01-11-2008 09:57 You could say "gakkou e ikimasu", but not "gakkou de ikimasu." "e" is used to indicate moving towards a place. "ni" and "e" are often interchangeable. However, "de" is used for an action occurring at a place, so "gakkou de ikimasu" would mean "I walk at school" (that is, somewhere in the school building or on the school grounds) rather than "I walk to school."

"de" and "ni" Written by sakura さくら, on 01-11-2008 08:05 I still confuse about using "de" and "ni" as an particle (to mark the place). E.g. "gakko ni ikimasu". Why don't we use "gakko de ikimasu" (that's the same meaning, right?). Please tell me the different

Written by wen, on 02-09-2008 23:08 this site is so super!

Thank you. Written by Bazzi, on 20-08-2008 03:58 Arigato.

ga = but etc Written by johan, on 15-08-2008 21:48 Thanks for the comments. I have updated the lesson to make the user aware of the difference.

"ga" or "demo" Written by tony, on 15-08-2008 10:55 There are many ways of saying "but." "ga" and "demo" can both be used this way-- although "ga" has other important uses. Some other words for "but" are "kedo", "keredo" and "keredomo."   "Ga" can only be used to mean "but" when it is connecting two sentences, as in the final sentence of this dialogue. I believe that "kedo", "keredo" and "keredomo" can be used at the beginning or end of a sentence, and that "demo" can be used at the beginning of a sentence or in the way "ga" is used above.

"ga" or "demo"? Written by Kenlaw, on 15-08-2008 04:40 is it "ga" or "demo" that have the meaning "but"?

hajimemashite Written by hienbigcat, on 09-07-2008 02:24 betonamu kara kimashita

Singapore Written by johan, on 08-07-2008 23:43 tatoru-chan> We have added a list of names of countries and regions. Find the link in the end of this lesson. There you will see how to write Singapore in Japanese.

i wan to know how to know wad is singapo Written by tatoro-chan/ tatoro kano, on 01-07-2008 07:39 i can find anything i wan and i really wan to know how to say singapore in japanese and i quite okay in it as i still got learn a bit some whr

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