Comments on: Beginner Lesson #11 - I like It!

by: トーマス

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:16:20 +0000

ピーターさん、質問があるですけど。世界中で区別な料理がありますね。インド料理やドイツ料理やタイ料理や日本料理や韓国料理や中華料理などありますね。ピーターさんはアメリカ人ですね。「アメリカ料理」もありますか。そして、あれば、「アメリカ料理」はどんな料理ですか。分かりますか。

by: Phillip Lober

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:08:00 +0000

Little typo in the lesson notes on the grammar points. You specified to put a “na” particle, hehe.

by: アニカ

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:04:13 +0000

I am from India!!!!!!!

by: lechocolatier

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 03:48:03 +0000

私は地中海料理が好きです。

by: おう

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:45:52 +0000

私は日本語が好きです。
貴方は何が好きですか。
また明日ね。

by: Francesco Gallarotti

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 03:20:27 +0000

This message is for Peter - not sure if he is still around.
I first listened to this lesson a few months ago, just before my trip to Japan with my wife to visit her family in Nagoya. The one thing I remembered about this lesson was, guess what? Mos Burger!! So, while driving, I saw a Mos Burger and asked my wife to stop and have a try. I can now say, like you, 私はモスバーガーがとても好きです！！

by: Francesco Gallarotti

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 02:38:37 +0000

My wife, who is Japanese, corrected the short dialogue saying that instead of が in the first two questions?
she says that if you say ピーターは日本が好きですか it’s correct, but if you remove ピーターは then we should say 日本は好きですか

Can someone explain this in detail? I understand that the difference between は and が might be a bit difficult to explain, but I believe that a good beginner class should focus on this difference.

I have heard that は marks the topic of the sentence and I have heard that が is used to mark the topic when there is a change of topic in the discussion (i.e. if we have been talking about Italian food until now and then I want to switch to Japanese food then I would use が)

I have also heard that が is used to mark, to stress, to underline the object of a sentence. For example if you ask me if I like Italian food and I want to reply that no, I don’t like Italian, but I like Japanese food, I could say: いえ、日本料理が好きです。

Please advise

by: paula

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 01:47:16 +0000

I can view the lesson notes now! It works without a hitch. Doumo Arigatou!

by: JapanesePod101.com

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 16:18:01 +0000

Paula, sorry for the inconvenience. This sounds like a temporary network hiccup. I am able to download the Lesson Notes now. Are you still facing these issues?

by: Paula

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 04:25:14 +0000

Help! I’m new to this. I just signed up for the 7-day trial, and I can’t view the Lesson Notes. It keeps on saying SERVER IS NOT AVAILABLE AT THIS MOMENT. IT MAY BE OFFLINE. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER. Is it because I’m still in the trial period?

by: Kathy

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 04:37:12 +0000

Katさん, thank you for your patient explanation and suggestion; it eases my struggle with the Japanese grammar, especially when to use the certain particle. Thank you very much! Ja Mata Ne!

by: Kat

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 02:06:32 +0000

Kathyさん：　Thanks for your comment! Uh oh… you just put your finger on one of the hardest things to explain in Japanese grammar - the difference between ‘wa’ and ‘ga’! (Well, I think so, anyway!)

私はイタリア料理が好きです - (As for me,) I like Italian food.

This sentence is just a statement of preference. You could be emphasizing the fact you like ITALIAN food rather than any other kind of cuisine, but those other cuisines have not been mentioned. You are not comparing Italian food to anything else, and Italian food has not been the topic of discussion up until now.

ジョンはインド料理は好きですか? Does John like Indian food? / John, do you like Indian food?

When you use ‘wa’ rather than ‘ga’ in a sentence like this, it can be for several reasons.

1. You’re comparing Indian food to other types of cuisine. For example, John may have just said that he doesn’t like Thai food, so you respond by asking if he likes Indian food (instead).

2. You’re referring to something (Indian food) which has already been mentioned. For example, the previous discussion may have been all about a really good Indian restaurant, and then you ask John if he likes Indian food (as a continuation of that).

But generally I would say you should stick to ‘ga’ when pairing it with ’suki’ for now, as you will never be ‘wrong’ when doing so, and your meaning will get across.

Hope this helps! Please feel free to ask any further questions you may have. (’-'*)♪

by: Kathy

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 12:56:28 +0000

I just found the following sentences from the notes and got confused:
私はイタリア料理が好きです and ジョンはインド料理は好きですか
Why in the second sentence we use WA instead of use GA after the 料理? I thought if we use the verb 好き, the partical GA will be used all the time. Do I understand correctly? Thank you!

by: Jessi

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:14:27 +0000

Farizuさん,
I would say that it’s actually not that common - it just happens to be the case for common words like “suki” and “kirai”. I can’t actually think of any others at the moment.
One thing to keep in mind is that all Japanese verbs end in “u”. The last syllable could be any one of the following: ru, su, tsu, mu, bu, nu, ku, or gu. If you see a word that ends in one of these, chances are it is probably a verb. (There are words that end in these syllables that aren’t verbs too though, so be careful)

by: Farizu

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:48:22 +0000

@ Jessi
Thanks a bunch. That cleared up a lot of things:)
But i have another question though, is this phenomenon where english verbs are actually adjectives in japanese common? or is there a set of rules that we can follow to determine the lexical category of a word in japanese? Thanks