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You use can and can’t in English all the time. Japanese is no different. “Can I have your contact info?” “No, you can’t smoke in here.” Trust me, these words come up more than you realize. And, you can’t master Japanese until you can correctly use these two powerful words!

In this beginner Japanese lesson, learn to ask for and give permission using the Japanese grammatical structures mo ii desu (you may do) and mo ii desu ka (may I do). You need this Japanese lesson if you will want to ask, “May I come in?” or “May I take pictures?” This JapanesePod101.com lesson also provides helpful Japanese vocabulary words. You’ll learn to use these Japanese words to ask all sorts of questions and give appropriate responses.

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Grammar: , | Function: | Topic: | Politeness Level:


This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Beginner Season 4 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

24 Responses to “Beginner Lesson S4 #15: - Cans and Can’ts: Asking for and Giving Permission”

JapanesePod101.com says:

Mina-san, how would you utilize what you learned in today’s lesson?

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Bob1 says:

お父さんも美雨さんも好き嫌いありますね。But will somebody offer to light his cigarette when he steps out to smoke?

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Angela Bush says:

We have just covered this topic and I was a little confused but this is perfect to help me understand and build on what we learned in class. I don’t smoke but I occasionally drink !!! well done - Bushey
:dogeza:

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JKid says:

When asking if it is OK to sit next to someone in a crowded Moss Burger. :)

Angela Bush-san,
That’s good to hear! :) This grammar point is one that you will find yourself needing to use often in Japan.

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natalia says:

こんにちわ みんなーさん

Is there any ipod specially for woman conversation?.

thanks!

バイバイ

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gilin rueda says:

can i use this to any thing other than smoking and drinking??

:dogeza: :nihon:

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Hiroko says:

natalia san> こんにちは! Great idea! It’s going into our JP101 “idea bank” :dogeza:

gilin rueda san> Sure! For example,
写真を撮ってもいいですか?<i>Shashin o totte mo ii desu ka?</i>
Can I take a picture here?
この美術館の中で食べてはいけません。<i>Kono bijutsukan no naka de tabe te wa ike masen</i>
You are not allowed to eat inside the museum.
:mrgreen:

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maxiewawa says:

Another example for gilin:

使ってもいいです。(You may use (it))

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gilin rueda says:

Hiroko san and maxiewawa…!!! arigatou!! hehehehe,,, :dogeza:

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elizabeth says:

Thanks a lot this site is really helpful to me and to my husband.

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JKid says:

Elizabeth-san,
Glad you guys find the site helpful! :)

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Kobukuro says:

Hello everyone :smile: !

In the pdf one sample sentence is:
灰皿ありますか。

The “ga” is missing. Is it ok for the formal speech or should I better ask:
灰皿がありますか。

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Kobukuro says:

Well, I don’t know how to answer the grammar questions correctly.

Especially the questions for:

とる(toru)= to take; class1

Actually every answer is possible and I marked the answers in the way I thought it could be right, but everything was wrong and now I am wondering why… :roll: .

There are many of those grammar questions in the lessons, which don’t make it easy to answer. The answer is correct, but the site says “wrong”…. because “why”?!?

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Jessi says:

Kobukuroさん>
Thank you for pointing that out! We have fixed the questions so that you can see the English translation. Now you can go give it another try! :wink:
And as for your が question, it’s okay to leave it out in this case! Even in formal speech it’s acceptable. :smile:

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Kobukuro says:

Ahh…. thank you Jessi :grin: !

Now these questions are making much more sense. How should I know, what to translate, when nothing is written there :lol: ! So it is possible, that in those other cases I have mentioned, the english question isn’t written, too? There are some exercises with the same problem :oops: .

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timt. says:

i haven’t really started to study kanji yet… but, i noticed the kanji for “ash” looks a little bit like a volcano - perhaps the origin of it represents the ash from a volcano? maybe i’m just way out there…http://www.japanesepod101.com/wp-images/smilies/icon_confused.gif

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Ced says:

Regarding one of your earlier questions in another lesson, for me, I try not to read the lesson notes before listening to the conversations. That’s because listening and understanding Japanese is the most difficult aspect for me. So I would try to comprehend as much as possible from the spoken words, before reading the notes.

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Mayumi says:

Ced-san,
That’s good practice for listening and understanding the spoken language! :wink:

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チィ says:

タバコは嫌いですから、家で「タバコ禁止」と言いました。 :evil:

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Naomi says:

チィ-san
:lol: :lol: :lol:

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Doug says:

First of all, really love your iphone apps! Ialso enjoy following along with the lesson notes as I listen, it helps me to learn the kanji and to remember the grammer. BYW when I was in Japan I enjoyed to smoke Cabin brand but I do not smoke anymore.

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wael says:

if someone ask me
hon o karite mo desu ka

my positive answer
hon o karite mo desu
but
my negative aswer will be
hon o karite mo ikemasen
or
hon wa chotto

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Motoko says:

wael-san,
The answers would be these below;
Q. Hon o karite mo ii desu ka.
Positive. Ii desu yo.
Negative. Ima wa chotto….
We often omit the shared information, so you can omit “hon o karite mo” in the positive sentence.
~chotto… is appropriate and friendly way to decline someone’s request, so it is recommended.
By the way, the opposite expression to ~te mo ii desu ka, “May I..?”, is ~te wa ikemasen, “you are not allowed to ~”
I hope this helps.

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亀井 says:

私は十五ヶ月前、巻タバコをすうてやめています。山川さんはちょっと意地が悪いでしょう。

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