Learn the key pattern to talk about your nationality
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| Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Ms. Sasaki asks, |
| "Are you Japanese?" |
| にほんじんですか。 (Nihon-jin desu ka.) |
| First is にほんじん (Nihon-jin) "Japanese," as in a Japanese person. にほんじん (Nihon-jin). |
| There are two components. |
| This starts with にほん (Nihon), "Japan." に-ほ-ん. にほん. |
| After this is じん (jin), "person." じ-ん. じん. |
| Together, にほんじん (Nihon-jin) literally means "Japan person," but translates as "Japanese" as in a Japanese person. にほんじん. |
| Note: にほんじん (Nihon-jin) is a noun, not an adjective. |
| Next is です(desu). Here, it's like the "are" in "are you." で-す. です. |
| Last is the particle, か (ka), the question-marking particle. か. か. |
| This turns the sentence into a question. |
| All together, it's にほんじんですか。This literally means "Japanese person [you] are?" but it translates as "Are you Japanese?" |
| Note the [you] is understood from context, as this is a two person conversation. |
| にほんじんですか。 (Nihon-jin desu ka.) |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Ms. Nagaoka says, |
| "Yes, I'm Japanese." |
| はい、にほんじんです。 (Hai, Nihon-jin desu.) |
| The first part is はい, meaning, "yes." は-い. はい. |
| It answers Ms. Sasaki's yes-or-no question, "Are you Japanese?" |
| にほんじんですか。 |
| Next is にほんじん (Nihon-jin), "Japanese," as in a person from Japan. にほんじん (Nihon-jin). |
| After this is です. Here, it's like the "am" in "I am." です. |
| Note: the "I" is understood through context. |
| All together, it's はい、にほんじんです。 (Hai, Nihon-jin desu.) This literally means "Yes, Japanese person [I] am," but it translates as "Yes, I'm Japanese." |
| はい、にほんじんです。 (Hai, Nihon-jin desu.) |
| The pattern is |
| {NATION} じんです。 (-jin desu.) |
| I'm {NATIONALITY}. |
| {NATION} じんです。 |
| To use this pattern, simply replace the {NATION} placeholder with the country you're from. |
| Imagine you're from the United States of America. アメリカ (Amerika), an abbreviated form of "the United States of America." ア-メ-リ-カ. アメリカ. |
| Say |
| "I'm American." |
| Ready? |
| アメリカじんです。 (Amerika-jin desu.) |
| "I'm American." |
| アメリカじんです。 (Amerika-jin desu.) |
| In the conversation, the response to the yes-no question was "yes." |
| In the case the answer were "no," the corresponding Japanese response would be いいえ, meaning, "no." |
| い-い-え. |
| いいえ. |
| For example, if Ms. Sasaki asks |
| アメリカじんですか。 (Amerika-jin desu ka.) |
| "Are you American?" |
| Ms. Nagaoka would answer |
| いいえ、にほんじんです。 (Iie, Nihon-jin desu.) |
| "No, I'm Japanese." |
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