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Level: Particles

Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Your friend asks in Japanese, “What are you going to do after school?” You respond in Japanese, “Do you mean today?” Frustrated, you reply in Japanese, “No, I mean after you graduate…what are you going to do?” Having successfully avoided this conversation for quite some time, you can’t help but be annoyed as you answer in Japanese, “I don’t know what I’m going to do. Do you know?” Your friend confidently answers in Japanese, “Yes, I’m going to get married. I want some children - two boys and two girls. Do you want to have children?” Wondering if your friend has been talking to your mother you answer sharply in Japanese, “I don’t know!” Your friend sure is full of questions. She continues in Japanese, “How much longer until you’re graduated? Have you met anyone special that you’d like to marry? What if you don’t find someone right away? Do you think you’ll find someone anytime soon? If you don’t find someone, what will you do then?” Feeling short of breath and thinking you may pass out soon, you explode in Japanese, “I’m not sure! I haven’t thought that far ahead. I won’t finish school for a while yet, and I’m focusing on school. I have to finish school before I think of anything else, and I’m late for my Japanese class now. I’ve got to go. We can talk later, and I’ll answer your questions then! Are you done?!”

Learning Japanese with JapanesePod101.com is the most fun and effective way to learn Japanese! This Japanese Particle lesson focuses on asking questions in Japanese. The fastest way to learn anything is to ask questions, and this lesson will teach you some of the grammar of the Japanese particles you use to ask questions. Visit us at JapanesePod101.com where you will find many more fantastic Japanese lessons and learning resources! Leave us a message while you are there!

learn Japanese, asking questions, having a barbeque


This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Particles . 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.

25 Responses to “Particles #4 - Take Your Japanese Questions to New Heights with Particles Ka and No!”

JapanesePod101.com says:

みなさん、 今回のレッスンはどうでしたか? :mrgreen: Ask us a question using か!

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Martha says:

The grey text in the PDFs is very faint and therefore illegible. It’s great that they are included in a different color, but perhaps blue or red would also work and still print nicely.

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Jessi says:

Marthaさん,
Thank you for the feedback! We’ll look into making it darker so that it will be easier to read.

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Stewart says:

Jessiさん、さしみがすきですか?

I’m really liking the lesson notes these days

直美先生の質問はやくにたつです

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Daniel says:

男の人は”no”と言っていたとちょっと面白そうですか。
ありがとうございます。

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Joey says:

問題4は、ひっかけですか?はをつかわなくてはなりません。
この問題では、’が’と’か’と’の’しかつかえません。

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プチクレア says:

I like this series very much. And teaching the usage of が in small, bite-size chunks is a great idea… I guess otherwise you could spend a whole series on the は/が combined usage alone… :oops:

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Naomi says:

Joey -san
Thank you for pointing out the mistake. I’ll fix it right away. :razz:

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クリストフ says:

As for me the light grey text for romanji is a major improvement. I prefer to read kana as it’s certainly needed to get a working knowledge on Japanese. Now my eyes are no longer distracted, but if I need romanji to confirm thinks, I still can do so.

I really like these lessons on particles.

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Jessi says:

クリストフさん,
Thanks for the feedback!
Glad you are enjoying the lessons ;)

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コンスタンティン says:

今回のレッソンもすごく楽しかったらありがとう。

Just one question: When can I use 「かな」 as question marking particle? I remember I learned that this can be translated like “I wonder if …” as in 「これ美味しいかな。」 - “I wonder if that’s gonna be tasty…”. Is that true?

Joeyさん, as far as I can remember, using 「の」as a question marking particle is fine for both boys and girls, it’s just the usage of 「の」 at the end of statements that’s more female language. Or should I be mistaken here? :???:

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コンスタンティン says:

あ、違いました。Danielさんは「の」の問題を聞きましたね!ごめん…  :oops:

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Eniac says:

I love those particle lessons, always making my vocabulary come together :smile:

By the way, a little english mistake there:
“Wondering if you’re friend has been talking to your mother you answer sharply in Japanese”
“your friend” :wink:

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Jessi says:

コンスタンティンさん,
Yes, you’re absolutely right! かな(which we will also cover later in this series) is used to mean “I wonder…”. When used in this way, usually you’re not actually asking something that question, you’re just voicing your thoughts out loud.
In informal speech, you can also use かな after ~てもいい to ask someone if it’s okay to do something, as in 「聞いてもいいかな」 (I was wondering if I could ask you something/Is it okay to ask something?).

Eniacさん,
Glad you are enjoying them! :mrgreen:
And thank you for pointing out the typo!

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テレント says:

今週のレッソンは面白かったです。
I finally understand why people say の and なの at the end of sentences!

来週はお楽しみですね。

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Pessi says:

Hello,

Two of my native Japanese teachers, one male and the other female, have instructed me as a guy not tu use the “no” -question since, according to them, it sounds feminine. Yet, this lesson doesn´t mention this genre issue at all. What do you think?

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コンスタンティン says:

Pessiさん、
if I remember correctly from an older JPod101.com lesson it is the の at the end of statements which is rather feminine language, not so much the の at the end of questions…

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Jessi says:

Pessiさん,
What コンスタンティンさん says is correct :smile: In this lesson, we go over using の as a question, which can be used by both genders. I would just say don’t overuse it. It’s when using の at the end of a statement that it comes across as a bit feminine:

A: どこに行くの?/ Doko ni iku no? ← (question; can be used by both genders)
B: 学校に行くの。/ Gakkō ni iku no. ← (statement; sounds feminine)

We actually cover this の that comes at the end of statements in a later lesson, so please stay tuned! :mrgreen:

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Paddy says:

Jessi

I have to say this series is the best ever!! :lol:

I struggled so much with particles for JLPT4 last year, but I passed by 1.2% hee hee

This is really helping me understand the differences between them, keep up the good work!

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snorlax says:

In the dialogue and in the lesson notes, you use “子がいます” for saying “have children. But, isn’t this an exception where you would say “私は子が三人あります。”?

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Mayumi says:

snorlax-san,

Basically, you would say “something ga iru” to mean “to have your family or friends” because “いる” is used to mean “to have animate things” and on the other hand ある is used to mean “to have inanimate things.” So, we say “子がいます” to mean “to have a kid.” :wink:

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chris says:

先生, すみません ごめんなさい

” にく を 灼き ます か . ” [ にく を やきます か . ] is this what you meant in the lesson ?

During the introduction you said “よこそ Japanese101 dot com no…” not sure about よこそ

ありがと ございます

クリス

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Naomi says:

chris-san
I said 肉を焼きますか。[ niku o yakimasu ka? ]. “Do you grill/barbecue meat?”
In Japan, people grill not only meat, but also seafood or vegetables. Sometimes we make fried noodles at a barbecue. That’s the reason  I asked this question.
The phrase I said at the beginning of the lesson is “ようこそ. Japananesepod101…”. As you could probably guess from Jessi’s translation, ようこそ is “welcome (to)”. :wink:

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chris says:

ありがとうございました NAOMI SAN

はい、 肉がおいしいです, 猫はおいしいくない

I tried booking a ryokan on Yakushima yesterday. My question was fine but I drowned in the reply !

So I said: すみません ごめんなさい もっとゆっくり話してください

and drowned again - so I called my friend Kumi in Himeji - phew !

That would make a great lesson series - “Travelling in Japan”

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Shan says:

I really appreciate these particle lessons! So much to learn, but so exciting!

In the dialog, why did you use “Uchi no” rather than “Watashi no” to say “My” or belonging to me?

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