Lesson 7

This lesson will require the knowledge of Hiragana. The Starter Level is not needed, but the vocabulary may prove useful with practice sessions.

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Conversation Piece

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Introduction

A: ruby|皆|みな| さん、こちらは　マイク・ミラーさんです
B: おはよう　ごさいます。　マイク・ミラーです。 ABCの ruby|社員|しゃいん| です。どうぞ　よろしく　おねがいします。

A: Everyone, this is Mr. Mike Miller.
B: Good morning. I'm Mike Miller. ABC employee. Nice to meet you.

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Grammar

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The topic marker

The topic marker is written with the hiragana は, but when used as a particle it is usually pronounced わ. It is placed after the topic of the sentence to indicate that the preceding word is the subject.

The English phrase "as for" is often used to convey the connotation of は, though in many cases it sounds unnatural if used in English. It does, however, convey some senses of the particle, one of which is marking changing topics. If you were just talking about someone else, and you switched to yourself, you should say わたしは, "as for me...". After that, it wouldn't be necessary to mention again that you were talking about yourself.

kana	english
Examples
`私わたし`　は　`明あきら`　です。	I am Akira.

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The question marker

The kana か is used at the end of the sentence, after a verb, to indicate that the sentence is a question. The use of the "?" is optional, and most times a 。is used. Some people tend to substitute the か with the, "?" symbol, but even in these cases the sound is still spoken.

kana	english
Examples
お`名前なまえ`　は　`何なん`　です　か？	What's your name?
あの　`方かた`　は　どなた　です　か？	Who's that person?

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NOUN の NOUN

The particle の allows one noun to modify another to either describe it or show possession. This particle has other uses, which will be described in other lessons.

**Examples**
kana	english
`私わたし`　の　ペン	My pen

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Pronouns

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Demonstratives and Interrogatives

Demonstratives have three prefixes, which denote the distance from the speaker: こ~ for near the speaker, そ~ for near the addressee, あ~ for neither near the speaker nor the addressee. For the interrogatives, ど~ is used.


こ-	そ-	あ-	ど-
-れ	これ this one	それ that one	あれ that one over there	どれ which one?
-の	この (of) this	その (of) that	あの (of) that over there	どの (of) what?
-んな	こんな like this	そんな like that	あんな like that over there	どんな how? what sort of?
-こ	ここ here	そこ there	あそこ * over there	どこ where?
-ちら	こちら this way	そちら that way	あちら that way over there	どちら which way?
-う	こう in this manner	そう in that manner	ああ * in that (other) manner	どう in what manner?
* irregular formation

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Volitional verb form

Volitional or presumptive verbs are generally used to express intention. Volitional conjugation for the godan verbs are done by changing the last kana to the お kana of that line and adding the kana う.

Conjugation Table for godan verbs	dictionary form	volitional	example
～う	～おう	`会うあう` → 会う
～く	～こう	`行くいく` → 行こう
～す	～そう	`出すだす` → 出そう
～つ	～とう	`打つうつ` → 打とう
～む	～もう	`休むやすむ` → 休もう
～る	～ろう	`座るすわる` → 座ろう