Lesson II
3
Lesson II
1. Memorize the following interrogatives:
| dare | who? |
| nani (nan) | what? |
| doko | where? |
| itsu | when? |
| naze | why? |
| dōshite | how? |
| ikutsu | how many? how old? |
| ikura | how much? |
| [1]desu; de arimasu (de aru) | am; are; is |
2. Memorize:
| watakushi | I; me | ||
| anata | you | ||
| teppō | rifle; gun | ||
| kore | this; these | wa----desu | am; are; is |
3. The fact that a question is being asked is indicated by adding ka to the sentence and a rising inflection.
| ka | ? |
4. Type sentences:
| Kore wa teppō desu | This is a gun. |
| Kore wa anata desu | This is you. |
| Kore wa watakushi desu. | This is I. |
“Wa” is a nominative case ending, and completes a sentence with the final verb, “desu.” In other words, English “am,” “is” or “are” is expressed by wa-----desu. In general there is no number in Japanese. Therefore the sentences: This is a rifle or These are rifles in Japanese are expressed in the identical form: Kore wa
- ↑ Desu is the contracted form of de arimasu.
Disregard the verb forms in parentheses in this and the following several chapters. Explanation will be given in Lesson VI. Actually desu and masu are pronounced closer to des’ and mas’.
