Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hi everyone, I'm Eric.
Risa: And I'm Risa.
Eric: And welcome to Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 4. Asking About Location or Position.
Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for asking about location or position.
PATTERN
Eric: For example,
Eric: "Where is the bathroom?"
Risa: トイレはどこですか。 (Toire wa doko desu ka.)
Risa: [slow] トイレはどこですか。 (Toire wa doko desu ka.)
Eric: The pattern for asking about location or position has 4 elements. First, bathroom.
Risa: トイレ (Toire).
Eric: Second, a topic marking particle, literally meaning "as for".
Risa: は (wa).
Eric: Third, an interrogative word meaning "where".
Risa: どこ (doko).
Eric: And last, a linking verb + question marker, in this case, "Is~?" .
Risa: ですか (desu ka).
Eric: Altogether, we have.. "Where is the bathroom?"
Risa: トイレはどこですか。 (Toire wa doko desu ka.) [slow] トイレはどこですか。 (Toire wa doko desu ka.) [normal] トイレはどこですか。 (Toire wa doko desu ka.)
Eric: To ask “Where is Noun A?” in Japanese, the topic, in this case “the bathroom”, literally, “the toilet”
Risa: トイレ (toire)
Eric: comes first; Noun A is followed by the topic marking particle
Risa: は (wa),
Eric: then the interrogative pronoun
Risa: どこ (doko)
Eric: with the linking verb
Risa: です (desu),
Eric: and finally add the question marker
Risa: か (ka)
Risa: トイレはどこですか。 (Toire wa doko desu ka.)
Eric: So remember that to ask about the location or position of something, say Noun A, the topic marking particle
Risa: は (wa),
Eric: an interrogative pronoun
Risa: どこ (doko),
Eric: a linking verb
Risa: です (desu)
Eric: and add the question marker
Risa: か (ka)
Eric: at the end.
Eric: Here is another example meaning, "Where is the station?" First, station.
Risa: 駅 (Eki).
Eric: Second, a topic marking particle, literally meaning "as for."
Risa: は (wa).
Eric: Third, an interrogative word meaning "where."
Risa: どこ (doko).
Eric: And last, a linking verb + question marker, in this case, "Is~?" .
Risa: ですか (desu ka).
Eric: Altogether we have..
Risa: 駅はどこですか。 (Eki wa doko desu ka.) [slow] 駅はどこですか。 (Eki wa doko desu ka.) [normal] 駅はどこですか。 (Eki wa doko desu ka.)
Eric: "Where is the station?"
[pause]
Risa: 駅はどこですか。 (Eki wa doko desu ka.)
Eric: How do you say - "Where is the park?" To give you a hint, "park" is..
Risa: 公園 (kōen). [slow] 公園 (kōen). [normal] 公園 (kōen).
Eric: “Where is the park?”
[pause]
Risa: 公園はどこですか。 (Kōen wa doko desu ka.) [slow] 公園はどこですか。 (Kōen wa doko desu ka.) [normal] 公園はどこですか。 (Kōen wa doko desu ka.)
[pause]
Risa: 公園はどこですか。 (Kōen wa doko desu ka.)
REVIEW
Eric: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will give you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Japanese. Here we go.
Eric: "Where is the bathroom?"
[pause]
Risa: トイレはどこですか。 (Toire wa doko desu ka.)
[pause]
Risa: トイレはどこですか。 (Toire wa doko desu ka.)
Eric: "Where is the station?"
[pause]
Risa: 駅はどこですか。 (Eki wa doko desu ka.)
[pause]
Risa: 駅はどこですか。 (Eki wa doko desu ka.)
Eric: "Where is the park?"
[pause]
Risa: 公園はどこですか。 (Kōen wa doko desu ka.)
[pause]
Risa: 公園はどこですか。 (Kōen wa doko desu ka.)

Outro

Eric: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for asking about location or position, as in..
Risa: トイレはどこですか。 (Toire wa doko desu ka.)
Eric: meaning "Where is the bathroom?"
Eric: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on JapanesePod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time!
Risa: じゃ、また。(Ja, mata.)

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