日本語勉強トピックの三番

[Kei]

これは日本語勉強トピックです。英語で書かないで下さい。日本語だけで書いた方がいいです。でも、日本語勉強質問があるですが、英語はいいんです。一緒に、日本語を勉強しましょ！

[Translation: This is the Japanese Study Topic. Please don't write in English here. You should use only Japanese. However, if you have a Japanese question, English is fine. Let's study Japanese together!]

[Basically, this is a topic for Japanese practice and study. Everyone is encouraged to try their hand at writing Japanese here. Don't worry about making mistakes; it's all part of the learning process. If you have a Japanese question, you can post it here as well. However, please don't post translation requests unless its something very short.]

[Yuuki]

(im really really sry i tryed translatiing this but im not good enough sry )
imhaveing trouble writing kanamoji without my alphabet sheet, any advice
(sry)

[Kei]

Well, let's begin with a basic kanji lesson.

What follows are all the kanji I used in the sentence above, followed by their hiragana equivalent, their romanji, and a brief explanation of their meaning.

日 (に) (ni) This kanji literally means "sun", but is most frequently used to write the word "day", in which case it is read "nichi".

本 (ほん) (hon) This kanji means "book" or "origin". When put together with "ni", it reads "nihon", or "origin of the sun", which means Japan.

語 (ご) (go) This kanji means "language". To say any language name, simply stick the country's name in front of "go". For example, French is "France-go" and Spanish is "Spain-go". Therefore, Japanese is "nihongo".

勉強 (べんきょう) (benkyoo) This word means "study". If you stick the verb "suru" (polite form "shimasu") at the end, it becomes the verb "to study". For example, "benkyoo shimashita" would be "I have studied" (shimashita is the past-tense form of shimasu).

英語 (えいご) (eigo) This means English. It is an exception to the "country + go = language" rule, so remember it.

書く (かく) (kaku) This is the plain form of the verb "to write". Polite form is kakimasu.

質問 (しつもん) (shitsumon) This means "question". If i were to ask "shitsumon ga arimasuka", that means "Are there any questions?"

一緒に (いっしょに) (Issho ni) This means "together". It is usually placed at the beginning of a declarative sentence. For example, "Issho ni, nihongo wo kakimasho!" means "Let's study Japanese together!"

Study all of this, because there will be a test tomorrow!

[Yuuki]

は! せんせー

[Kei]

It's spelled せんせい. Using the － to make long vowel sounds is only done in katakana.

The kanji for せんせい is 先生.

[Kei]

Dunno why this was posted in the spam forum...

hyaku

...これわいくらですか。
さんびやえんです。

i know this aint the japanese forum either. how do you do small や again?
ah you put 'l' in front...ta jasper.

lets see...

さんびゃくえんです。

it seems it does it automatically in firefox, but not in microsoft word...

Your version of Word might have an outdated language pack. Also, when wa is used as a particle, it's written は、even though it's still pronounced wa.
So your sentence should have been これはいくらですか。　さんびゃくえんです。　(How much does this cost? It costs 300 yen.)
Or, in kanji,　これはいくらですか。　三百円です。

[Kagami]

そうですか。どもありがと。
Well my software packages are near new, office 2007 and vista's IME. just my grammar is stoneage ^^

[Kei]

That phrase actually contains two long vowels.
どうもありがとう。

[Kagami]

どうもありがとう。

why double vowels? im at uni in class (^^) and am not near a textbook

oo = う
aa = あ
uu = う i think...

[Kei]

aa = ああ
ii = いい
uu= うう
ee=　えい　example: せんせい (sensee (often romanized sensei))
oo = おう　example: とうきょう (Tookyoo (often romanized Tokyo))

So, for example,
かあ (kaa)
しい (shii)
ふう (fuu)
へい (hee)
ほう (hoo)

[Kagami]

あした　でんしゃで　RMIT に　いきます
how would you say 'tomorrow, im going <<somewhere>> by <<method of transport>>?
im going to try to apply some more japanese in every my day life, starting with nouns and sentences that could describe what i do.

[Yuuki]

aa = ああ
ii = いい
uu= うう
ee=　えい　example: せんせい (sensee (often romanized sensei))
oo = おう　example: とうきょう (Tookyoo (often romanized Tokyo))

So, for example,
かあ (kaa)
しい (shii)
ふう (fuu)
へい (hee)
ほう (hoo)

once again ryoko your made of awsomeness.
ive been stuck on this for a while.buuuut i still have a question;
how would you spell double counterparts??? this kind with the small break be for the vowel>tta, ttsu, kku.ect because i cant find out how

[Kei]

You spell those with a chisai tsu, or a small tsu. For example:

tta = った
ttsu = っつ
kku = っく
sshi = っし

The one example to this rule is nn. Example: nna is んな

[Yuuki]

hey thanks your still made of awsomeness!!

[Kagami]

aaah ok. double consonant = chisai tsu unless double n.

おんな　　　　　　　

あさって

that would actually be a very easy mistake to make if you are sounding it out in your head like I do. will have to make up a jingle to jog the memory

[Yuuki]

yea i found that out pretty easy but i was just lost with the others, thanks though
infact i think you AAALLL MADE OF AWESOMENESS

[Taiga]

((Maikeru... i think the rulre of this thread was to only7 post in japanese or the actual questions. One 'Domo arigatou, Ryoko-sama' would have sufficed.))

[Kei]

りょこさまか。あたしはまんぞくさせますね。

[Kagami]

((reads))

ryoko sama ka, atashi wa manzoku sa semasu ne?

...

I should be grateful to you, ryoko (sama = respectful honorific) since you are teaching me this stuff

ug i need a dictionary...

[Kei]

A rough translation is "Ryoko-sama? This pleases me!"
Generally, -sama is an honorific reserved for people of high status.

[Yuuki]

since i just got the game すす゛みやハルヒのちょくれつ along with both らきすたもえと゛りる(yes i did cheak that it is indeed hira) i thought id give ago translating some of them, although my lack of kanji knowlage kicked in. i must apologise for such a vage question, but do you think you could show me some basic kanji for my studies please?

[Taiga]

In the way of games to translate... I would suggest getting ahold of a Japanese Pokemon game. The RPG games contain exactly NO kanji AT ALL.

It's all hiragana and katakana. For this reason I plan on getting a Japanese copy of one of the new games (Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver) upon release.

[Yuuki]

no no no you've got it wrong, im acually more interested in playing the game(s) but all three reminded me how much japanese use kata and kanji, so i thought i might convers it into my studes...but ill give pokemon a try anyhow.

[Kei]

The "basic" kanji are known as the Joyo Kanji... and there are 1,945 of them.

If you're looking for a good learning resource to translate Kanji, I recommend this DS application. It lets you write out the kanji using the stylus, and looks them up for you. Of course, it only works if you know the kanji's stroke order...

[Yuuki]

ありか゛とうこ゛さ゛います 涼子ーさま

[Yuuki]

i was learning suffixes yesterday (and today) and i was wandering, could you have 2 suffixes on one word, (EG. たへ゛る-て゛しょ-て゛ます(the - equels the clear separation of suffixes, and not used when actually writing) is trying to say "i probably should eat") not that i would think it was possible, nor use it in conversation, but its just one of those things in the back of my head, bugging me.

[Kei]

No, only one suffix (or "ending") per verb. Furthermore, each verb must be conjugated before the ending is used; for example, たべる is the plain (or dictionary) form of "to eat". The formal form, which is most commonly used, is たべます. Here are some common formal conjugations of たべます.

わたし: I
Present Tense
わたし　たべます: I eat.
わたし　たべません: I do not eat.
わたし　たべますか: Am I eating?

Past Tense
わたし　たべました: I ate.
わたし　たべませんでした: I did not eat.
わたし　たべましたか: Did I eat?

"Let's eat", as a suggestion, is たべましょ. It's also common to say たべませんか, which roughly translates to "Don't you want to eat?"

[Yuuki]

im happy because i knew that...also, some suffix's only work on particular forms

for example.(みる=to watch/look.etc)

the suffix's (みる)-て゛しょ (I'll probably watch) and (みる)-とき (when i watch), only work in the forms dictionary, negative, past and negative past and not in stem or te- form.

and the same with stem and te-, specific suffix's only work in a specific form.

[Yuuki]

this may yet be the stupidest question ive ever asked.
but i'm having trouble with my handwriting.
are there any websites or advice someone can throw at me?

sorry.