Field Notes

きゅう vs く

きゅう is the safe default (counting, age) while く is a specialized variant used for month (September: kugatsu くがつ), time (9 o’clock: くじ), and certain counter words (The 9th of a month is kokonoka ここのか).

While English uses a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structure, Japanese uses a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) structure.

English: I ate an apple. Japanese: 私はリンゴを食べました。 (watashi wa ringo o tabemashita)

Breakdown:

• Watashi (私) - I (subject)
  
• Ringo (リンゴ) - Apple (object)
  
• Tabemashita (食べました) - Ate (verb)
  

Sometimes, the subject is omitted if it's clear from the context. So, リンゴを食べました (ringo o tabemashita).

The Japanese language also uses small grammatical markers called particles to indicate the role of a noun in a sentence.

• は (wa) - topic marker
• を (o) - direct object marker
• が (ga) - subject marker
• に (ni) - location, time, direction marker
• で (de) - location of action marker

The "ー" symbol is called a chōonpu (long vowel mark). It is a symbol used to stretch the preceding sound.

In デパート (depāto / department store), you extend the "de" and the "pa" sound, pronouncing it like "de-paa-to".

Adding a " (dakuten/double quote)

1. Turns "s" to "z":

• す (su) → ず (zu)
• せ (se) → ぜ (ze)
• さ (sa) → ざ (za)
• そ (so) → ぞ (zo)

2. Turns "h" to "b":

• は (ha) → ば (ba)
• へ (he) → べ (be)
• ほ (ho) → ぼ (bo)
• ひ (hi) → び (bi)

3. Turns "k" to "g":

• か (ka) → が (ga)
• く (ku) → ぐ (gu)
• こ (ko) → ご (go)
• き (ki) → ぎ (gi)

4. Turns "t" to "d":

• た (ta) → だ (da)
• と (to) → ど (do)
• て (te) → で (de)

が (ga) - subject marker, "the (thing/person) that..."
に (ni) - location, time, direction, "to/at/in"
で (de) - location of action, "at/in/by"
な (na) - connects adjectives to nouns, example: 元気な人 (genki na hito) "An energetic person."
の (no) - possessive, "of"

する (su-ru) is "to do" (present tense)
した (shi-ta) is "did" (past tense, completed action)
しましょう (shi-ma-sho-u) is "let's do" (suggestion)
しません (shi-ma-se-n) is "will not do" (negative present/future)

More examples:

わかります (wa-ka-ri-ma-su) - I understand
わかりません (wa-ka-ri-ma-se-n) - I don't understand
わかりました (wa-ka-ri-ma-shi-ta) - I understood
わかりましょう (wa-ka-ri-ma-sho-u) - Let's understand

食べます (ta-be-ma-su) - I eat
食べません (ta-be-ma-se-n) - I don't eat
食べました (ta-be-ma-shi-ta) - I ate
食べましょう (ta-be-ma-sho-u) - Let's eat