Kaede's thread of practice sentences.
 

A thread for practicing Japanese sentences. Hopefully it will come in useful for others as well. I'm going to edit this first post and compile a list of correct sentences for practice, keeping everything in one useful spot! Please let me know if you spot anything wrong with these sentences.

Regards,
Kaede

#1
sensei wa watashi ni okashi o kudasaimashita
せんせいは わたしに おかしをくださいました 　
Teacher gave me sweets. (respectful to teacher)

#2
tomodachi kara purezento o itadakimashita
ともだち からプレゼントをいただきました　　
I received a present from my friend. (respectful to my friend)

#3
hana ni mizu o yarimashoo ka
はなにみずをやりましょうか　　
Should I give water to the plant? (humbling the plant)

#4
watashi wa minna ni omiyage o ageru tsumori desu
わたしはみんなに おみやげをあげるつもり です 　
I planned to give everyone a souviner.

#5
nisen nananen ni tokyo e ryokoo shimashita. tanoshikatta desu kara, nisen juuninen ni kaeru tsumori desu.
にせんななねんにとうきょうへりょこお しました。たのしかったですからにせん じゅうにねんにかえるつもりです　
I travelled to Tokyo in 2007. Because it was fun, I plan to return in 2012.

#6
Yabe san wa oyogumasu ka
やべさんはおよげますか。　
Can Mr. Yabe swim?

ＯＲ

Yabe san wa oyogu koto dekimasu ka
やべさんはおよぐことができますか。
Is Mr. Yabe able to swim.

#7
yoru eigakan de eiga o mi tsumori desu
よるえいがかんでえいがをみるつもりです
I intend to watch a movie at the cinema tonight.

#8
hon o yomi ni toshokan ni ikimasu
ほんをよみに としょかんにいきます
I'm going to the library to read a book.

#9
kyoo wa nanyoobi desu ka
きょうはなんようびですか
What day is it today?

#10
ringo o ikutsu kaimasu ka
りんごをいくつかいますか
How many apples will you buy?

#11
fuyuyasumi ni yama e iku tsumori desu
ふゆやすみにやまへいくつもりです
I plan to go to the mountains in my winter vacation.

#12
sumimasen. chotto ohanashide kimasu ka.
すみません。ちょっとおはなしできますか。
Excuse me. Can I speak to you? (a little)

[1]
sensei wa watashi ni okashi o kudasaimashita
せんせい は わたし に おかし お くださいました 　おかしお　＞　おかしを
Teacher gave me sweets. (respectful to teacher)

[2]
tomodachi kara purezento o itadakimashita
ともだち から プレゼント お いただきました　　お　＞　を
I received a present from my friend. (respectful to my friend)

[3]
hana ni mizu o yarimashoo ka
はな に みず お やりましょお か　　It's を for the particle.
Should I give water to the plant? (humbling the plant)

[4]
watashi wa minna ni omiyage o ageru tsumori desu
わたし は みんな に おみやげ お あげる つもり です 　 をI plan to give everyone a souvineir.

[5]
nisen nananen ni tokyo e ryokoo shimashita. tanoshikatta n desu kara, nisen juuninen ni kaeru tsumori desu.
にせん ななねん に ときょ え りょこお しました. たのしかった ん です から, にせん じゅうにねん に かえる つもり です
ときょ　＞　とうきょう　　Romaji influence!. え　＞　へ。　お　＜　を。　かったん　＞　かった。 　　
I travelled to Tokyo in 2007. Because it was fun, I plan to return in 2012.

[6]
Yabe san ga oyogu ni dekimasu ka
やべ さん が およぐ に できます か
やべさんはおよげますか。　ＯＲ　やべさんはおよぐこ とができますか。
Can Mr. Yabe swim?

[7]
yoru eigakan de eiga o mi tsumori desu
よる えいがかん で えいが お み つもり です
お　＞　を。　　み　＞　みる。

I intend to watch a movie at the cinema tonight.

[8]
hon o yomu ni toshokan ni ikimasu
ほん お よむ に としょかん に いきます
お　＞　を。　　よむに　＞　よむために　ＯＲ　よみ に

I'm going to the library to read a book.

Sashimister, thanks very much for the reply. I can only apologise for my awful use of particles. It's been too long since I've written in hiragana.

I'll make that my next revision session. ;)

Regards

If you use Microsoft IME controler (type in Romanji way) if you want to type the particle を　it's wo not o

o = お
wo = を

Actually I have a question about this sentence:

I know the sentence structure is right because my study book says so. But why isn't it:

I would have thought that because I am going to the library I should use the particle へ. Can anyone tell me why in this instance we use に ?

Many thanks

K

Both are correct in Modern Japanese.

The study of the subtle difference really belongs in advanced Japanese. Technically, へ　emphasizes the place you are going to a little bit more than に. In real life, however, I assure you that 99% of us native speakers use them interchangeably.

Nice one. Thanks for clearing that up. :)

I've also updated my first post. ;)

Sorry to say I've found another mistake that I had overlooked.

#3 はなにみずをやりましょお か

It's しょう.

True it's pronounced like しょお or しょー but it's written しょう.

Ah yes, to be honest I should have noticed that too. I'll update the post.

Thanks once again.

3 more quick ones before I leave for home...

#9
kyoo wa nanyoobi desu ka
きょうはなにょおびですか
What day is it today?

#10
ringo o ikutsu kaimasu ka
りんごをいくつかいますか
How many apples will you buy?

#11
fuyuyasumi ni yama e iku tsumori desu
ふゆやすみにやまへいくつもりです
I plan to go to the mountains in my winter vacation.

There is only one mistake.

I didn't state this last time but I'm only looking at (and correcting) your Kana sentences. I don't read or write romaji.

#9
kyoo wa nanyoobi desu ka
きょうはなにょおびですか 　なにょおび　＞　なんようび. There is no small kana in this
What day is it today?

Thanks again! Yes I understand this point too. When I read it back I managed to confuse myself when I couldn't find the なん. :D

The romaji is there as this is the style of the book I am learning from. However, as I'm finding out, it can make translating to hiragana that bit more confusing. I need to pay more attention.

Here's one I was thinking about yesterday that could come in useful:

#12
sumimasen. anata o chotto hanashimasu ka.
すみません. あなたをちょっと はなします か
Excuse me. Can I talk to you? (a little)

I think this is correct, but I'm sure this isn't the best way of saying it? :confused:

This is one of the reasons that I say what I say in my signature. :) Dependence on romaji will forever cause you "wrong spelling" in Japanese as you have proved it to yourself with "Tokyo".

When you go on to learning kanji later on, you won't be able to get 東京 unless you first spell it とうきょう and convert it to kanji. Typing ときょ first will not get you 東京 as ときょ is simply a non-existing word.

We use a different particle to say "talk to someone".

あなたを　＞　あなたと

はなしますか　＞　おはなししてもいいですか or おはなしできますか
There are better and politer ways of saying this but it will be this long at the very least.

In real life, though, native speakers rarely use pronons, so we would say:

すみません。ちょっとおはなしできますか。

Great! I didn't know that 'と' could be used in that sense!

And yes, I must remember to use the pronouns less. As an English native speaker, I use far more words than I actually need to get my point across! ;)

Now to find out how re-enable signatures.....

Ok further to my previous sentences I'd like to try and say something a little bit different. Currently, I know how to say:

えいがはすきです
I like movies

But I'd like to be able to say something like 'I like to watch movies' or 'I like to do x' etc. I think the sentences below would get the idea across, but I'd like to check!

#13
えいがをみにすきです
I like to watch movies.

#14
さっかをするにすきです
I like to play soccer.

To say "I like ~~ing." or "I like to (verb)", you need to add the verb nominalizer の directly after the verb. Once that's done, you can treat it like a noun.

Understood. So using that method, would the following be correct?

#15?
でもサッカーをするのがあまりじょうずじゃありません
However, I am not very skillful at soccer.

I also have a question regarding the use of 'みる' found in my text book:

これからみにいきましょうか
Shall we go to see them now?

I've noticed you use 'みるに' rather than 'みに' for sentences like this. Could you explain to me why this is? (Just for clarification, the Japanese dialogue in my book is written in romaji, so it is definitely using 'mi ni' rather than 'miru ni'.)

As always, many thanks!

Correct.

To be anal-retentive, though, I would change じゃ　to では for stylistics. じゃ sounds a little too casual to go with ありません, which isn't casual by any standards. I've noticed that many learners outside of Japan are taught to use じゃ in a sentence like this one, so I don't really know what to say to them. :) It's "correct" but isn't too natural-sounding is what I'm going to stop at.

Where have you seen us (me?) use みるに? :confused:

これからみにいきましょうか is entirely correct. You cannot replace みに by みるに.

Ah! Please accept my apologies, I think I became confused somewhere in translating the hiragana. You didn't use this.

:o

Thanks for the tip regarding 'ではありません', I have seen both used in my book but no distinction has yet been made between the two.

One last question, it's great to say 'I like watching movies', but how could i say:

'X is my favourite movie.'

:confused:

ＸＸＸがわたしのすきなえいがです。

わたしのすきなえいが = my favorite movie
___________

There is a more refined way of saying this but it would belong to Intermidiate, I would suppose.　Just ignore this for now if you wish.

ＸＸＸが（わたしの）おきにいりのえいがです。　= XXX is my favorite movie.

おきにいり（お気に入り） means "favorite" as a noun.

おきにいりの means "favorite" as an adjective.

Fantastic! Thanks again for your help, Sashimister. That should be enough to keep me occupied for today!

EDIT: ロストインツランスラチオンがおきにいりのえいがです

Haha!

Cheers!

This should be ロスト・イン・トランスレーション

You can find out spellings for these things by searching it on wikipedia, then in the left hand menu click on 日本語

So find:
Lost in Translation (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Then click 日本語 to get:
ロスト・イン・トランスレーション - Wikipedia

Haha! Thanks for the tip, yuriyuri. I was close! (kinda)

That would be ロスト・イン・トランスレーション.

(I live near that hotel, by the way....:)

EDIT: yuriyuri beat me to it.

Really? That's cool. I stayed at the Shinjuku Washington when I visited a couple of years ago. Not as nice as the Park Hyatt down the road, but great for my wallet! :D

Man, that's where I used to play pachinko!

Haha! I know the place you mean. I had a curious look round the parlour, but the machines seem completely inaccessible to us Westerners. :confused:

The racket those things make is one of those 'Tokyo sounds' I just love though. :o

Sashimister, is the prefix お necessary? I've used 気に入る as the predicate of a sentence (i.e., 数学を気に入った), but I've never used it as an adjective, so I'm unfamiliar with it.

Thank you.

Yes, the お is "necessary". It's used 99.9% of the time or more so I might as well call it necessary. I can't remember when I heard someone use the word without the お the last time. I probably heard it said by a tough man in a period drama a few years ago.

It's just like the お in お茶（おちゃ = tea） in that we use it without even thinking about being polite.

Thanks. I had a feeling. It's one of those instances where the お has "become" part of the word over time, like in お茶 and, to a lesser extent, お金.

Don't many women say お水 to sound a bit more feminine? Or am I misremembering? I think I remember being taught that, but I'm not sure how often I actually heard it when I lived in Japan.

Well, women do but so do men in certain situations.

In restaurants, almost everybody says お水 regardless of the gender, but no one uses the お to refer to the water in a swimming pool or a flood.

When talking to babies and small children, a lot of men use お水 as well. Both men and women tend to speak extra-politely to small kids. e.g. おともだち (friend)、ごほん (book)、おさら (plate)、おえかき (drawing)、おかたづけ (tidying up)、etc.