Learn the key pattern to give your phone number
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how the civil servant says, |
| "Mr. Lee, your phone number, please." |
| リーさん、でんわばんごうを おねがいします。 |
| (Rī-san, denwa bangō o onegai shimasu.) |
| First is the name, リーさん, Mr. Lee. リーさん. |
| This starts with Mark's family name, リー, Lee. リー (slow version - breakdown by syllable). リー. |
| After this is さん, a polite suffix attached to a person's name. さ-ん (slow version - breakdown by syllable). さん. |
| This suffix can be used with any gender and translates as "Mr." in Mark's case. |
| Together, it's リーさん, "Mr. Lee." リーさん. |
| Next is でんわばんごう, "phone number." でんわばんごう. |
| This starts with でんわ, "phone." で-ん-わ (slow version - breakdown by syllable). でんわ. |
| Next is ばんごう, "number." ば-ん-ご-う (slow version - breakdown by syllable). ばんごう. |
| Together, it's でんわばんごう. "Phone number." でんわばんごう. |
| Remember this because you'll see it again in Mark's response. |
| Next is を, the object-marking particle. を. を |
| Think of を as a marker for the word or phrase receiving the action of the sentence. In this sentence, it marks でんわばんごう, "phone number," as the object of the request. |
| Last is おねがいします, "please." おねがいします. |
| All together, it's リーさん、でんわばんごうを おねがいします。 |
| This literally means, "Mr. Lee, phone number, please," but it translates as, "Mr. Lee, your phone number, please." |
| Maki Matsumoto: リーさん、でんわばんごうを おねがいします。 |
| Note, the "your" in "your phone number" is understood from context, as it's a two-person conversation. In Japanese, it's common to omit such understood information. |
| Remember this request. You'll hear it again later in this lesson. |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Mark says, |
| "My phone number is 090-0123-4567." |
| Mark Lee: わたしの でんわばんごうは 090-0123-4567です。 |
| First is わたしの, "my." わたしの. |
| This starts with the word, わたし. "I." わ-た-し (slow version - breakdown by syllable). わたし. |
| After this is の, the possessive-marking particle. の. |
| Think of の as a way to indicate possession. The word it follows possesses the thing that comes after it. In this sentence, it marks わたし, "I," as the possessor. |
| Together, わたしの. "My." わたしの. |
| Next, do you remember how to say "phone number?" |
| でんわばんごう. "Phone number." でんわばんごう. |
| Together, it's わたしの でんわばんごう, "my phone number." わたしの でんわばんごう. |
| After this is は, the topic-marking particle. は. は. |
| It marks わたしの でんわばんごう, "my phone number," as the topic of the sentence. Think of it like "as for" in the expression "as for my phone number." |
| Next is Mark's phone number, 090-0123-4567 (in Japanese). 090-0123-4567 (in Japanese). |
| Notice how Mark says his phone number: |
| First, he says each number independently instead of in groups of two or more digits. |
| Second, in Japanese, hyphens are read as no. |
| ゼロ, きゅう, ゼロ, の. |
| Last is です. In this case, it's like the "is" in "my phone number is." It's a linking verb. です. |
| All together, it's わたしの でんわばんごうは 090-0123-4567です. This literally means, "As for my phone number, 090-0123-4567 is," but it translates as "My phone number is 090-0123-4567." |
| The pattern is |
| わたしの でんわばんごうは {PHONE NUMBER} です。 |
| "My phone number is {PHONE NUMBER}." |
| わたしの でんわばんごうは {PHONE NUMBER} です。 |
| To use this pattern, simply replace the {phone number} placeholder with your phone number. |
| Imagine your phone number is 03-1212-3434. ゼロ-さん-の-いち-に-いち-に -の-さん-よん-さん-よん (slow break-down by syllable). ゼロさんの いちにいちにの さんよんさんよん. |
| Say |
| "My phone number is 03-1212-3434." |
| Ready? |
| まつもと まき: わたしの でんわばんごうは 03-1212-3434 (ゼロさん の いちにいちにの さんよんさんよん)です。 |
| (Watashi no denwa bangō wa 03-1212-3434 (zero san no ichi ni ichi ni no san yon san yon) desu.) |
| Maki Matsumoto: "My phone number is 03-1212-3434." |
| まつもと まき: わたしの でんわばんごうは 03-1212-3434 (ゼロさん の いちにいちにの さんよんさんよん)です。 |
| (Watashi no denwa bangō wa 03-1212-3434 (zero san no ichi ni ichi ni no san yon san yon) desu.) |
| Japanese has several numbers that sound alike, such as the number 7, しち, and the number one, いち. |
| To avoid confusion, Japanese users often use alternative pronunciations when giving the digits of a phone number. |
| The number "four," shi, tends to be pronounced yon, |
| "seven," shichi, tends to be pronounced nana, and |
| "nine," ku, tends to be pronounced kyū. |
Comments
Hide