When you are meeting different teachers to find the one that’s best for you, do teachers ask questions in your first session? Are they almost always the same questions? A few of my students suggested I let beginning Japanese students know how to describe or introduce themselves. I agree, because every time you meet a person you’ve never met before, most people ask questions and introduce themselves in the same way.

 

I will show you some common questions and how to answer them.

 

Introduction

What’s your name?

Q: お名前はなんですか？

(Onamae wa nan desu ka?)

A: ________です。

Q: What is your name?

 

A: I’m ________ .


Adding「お」before the noun makes it polite.


Where are you from?

Q: 出身はどちら/ どこですか？

(Shusshin wa dochira/doko desuka?)

A: _______です。

Q: Where are you from?

 

A: I’m from _______ .


出身 is the place/country where you were born. どちら is where and it is more polite than どっち. If the question was 「なにじんですか？」, you could answer _______じんです。

Ex: 中国人（chuu goku jin）, アメリカ人 (amerika jin), イギリス人(igirisu jin).
Adding じん after the name of a country means the nationality.

 

How old are you?

Q: 何歳ですか？

(Nansai desuka?)

A: _______さいです。

Q: How old are you?

 

A: I’m ________ years old

 

20   はたち 26   にじゅう　ろくさい
21 にじゅう　いっさい   27 にじゅう　ななさい
22 にじゅう　にさい 28 にじゅう　はっさい
23 にじゅう　さんさい     29 にじゅう　きゅうさい
24 にじゅう　よんさい 30 さんじゅっさい
25 にじゅう　ごさい    


Not にじゅっさい but rather はたち、and not にじゅう　いちさい but にじゅう　いっさい.Find your age in the table above to see the proper way to respond to "How old are you?"

 

What is your hobby?

Q: 趣味はなんですか？

(Shumi wa nan desuka?)

A: ______を ______ことです。

Q: What is your hobby?

 

A: To _________ .


If you only use a noun you can simply say _______です。But, if your hobby is listening to music, and if you answer just 「音楽です(ongaku desu)」, people may wonder “to play” or “to listen”? Use noun + verb + こと. Adding こと after a verb makes it a noun.

(For more information about how to use こと, see my italki Article: 5 Usages of こと )

Ex: 音楽を聴くことです。(Ongaku wo kiku koto desu.)
To listen to music.
本を読むことです。(Hon wo yomu koto desu.)
To read books.
日本語を勉強することです。(Nihongo wo benkyou suru koto desu.)
To study Japanese.

 

Common Questions


How long have you been studying Japanese?

Q: どのくらい、日本語を勉強していますか？

(Dono kurai nihongo wo benkyou shite imasu ka?)

A: ______かんです。

Q: How long have you been studying Japanese?

 

A: ________ .

 

どのくらい/どれくらい means “how long”. かん means “period” or “term”.

See the period table below:

いっかげつ　かん One month はちかげつ　かん Eight months
にかげつ かん Two months きゅうかげつ　かん   Nine months
さんかげつ　かん Three months じゅっかげつ　かん Ten months
よんかげつ　かん Four months いちねん　かん One year
ごかげつ　かん Five months いちねんはん One year and a half
はんとし Six months / half a year   よねん　かん Four years
ななかげつ　かん Seven months    

 

When you use “half”, be careful, we do not use かん. 「いつから日本語の勉強を始めましたか？(itsu kara nihongo no benkyou wo hajime mashita ka?)」is the same question and it means “When did you start studying Japanese?"

You can answer ______まえからです。まえ means “before” or “ago”, から means “from” or “since”.

Ex: いっかげつ　まえからです。
　　One month ago.

You can also say せんげつからです, which means “since last month”. To refer to a specific month, say something like 今年(kotoshi)のさんがつからです, which means “since this March”. Do not add まえ in those two cases.



Why did you start learning Japanese?

Q:なぜ、日本語の勉強を始めましたか？

(Naze nihongo no benkyou wo hajime mashita ka?)

A:なぜなら________だからです。

Q: Why did you start learning Japanese?

 

A: Because __________ , that’s why.



Ex: なぜなら、アニメが好きだからです。(Nazenara anime ga suki dakara desu.)

Because, I like anime, that’s why.

 

Image by andrechinn (CC BY 2.0)