Intro
 

I'm new to the forum and don't have any questions at the moment, but I thought I may as well introduce myself. I've recently bought An Introduction to Modern Japanese Grammar Lessons and the associated Exercises and Word Lists in the hope of self-teaching myself Japanese. Unfortunately these books where never intended for that purpose and are instead the layouts for a course which requires a native Japanese speaker to be of any use.

Over the coming weeks (or more likely months) I'm hoping that the people here will be the "answer" section that is lacking from the end of book two. Since I'm completely new to the subject I'm sure I'll be asking some incredibly basic questions at first and I hope I don't frustrate too many people with any of the basic questions I may ask and any of the silly mistakes I may make.

Anyway, by for now. :ywave:

日本語コーナーへようこそ！

The easier the questions, the better. We need to save energy!

DO NOT worry about making mistakes. Those who do will always be the slowest learners. That's exactly why I never learned English too well....

I think I got through the first lesson fine, which is good because I was beginning to get annoyed at that guy who kept asking me if a pen was a book. The second lesson was about two of the ways the no particle can be used and I think I've made a few mistakes here so could somebody please go though my answers and point out any mistakes and provide the correct answers:

1) Question: Translate "that wooden desk is my elder brother's"
My answer: kore wa ani no moku no tsukue desu

(follows the same pattern after this)

2) My father's car is Japanese
Watashi no outosan wa Nihon no kuruma desu

3) Is your mother a teacher?
(Totally lost on this one)

4) These are English flowers
Kore wa igirisu no hana desu

5) These pencils are not my elder sister's
Kore wa aneesan no enpitsu de wa arimesan

6) That boy over there is my younger brother's friend
(Totally lost again)

7) These televisions are not Japanese. They are British.
Kore wa Nihon no teribi de wa arimasen. Kore wa igirisu desu.

8) Is that picture yours? No, it's my grandfather's.
Dere wa anata no e desu ka? Iie, kore wa ojiisan no desu.

I'm fine with kana but please don't use kanji, I've barely learned any yet! Thanks for your help.

[quote=TwentyPercentCooler;874575]
1) Question: Translate "that wooden desk is my elder brother's"
My answer: kore wa ani no moku no tsukue desu[quote]Correct (although whom you are talking to has an effect on whether "ani" is correct).

A remarkable construction. Most new learners would say "chichi no kuruma wa nihonsei desu" (which is correct) or something like that. Yours is almost correct. Remove the "watashi no." Also, depending on whom you're speaking to, "otousan" may be incorrect. If you're talking to someone in the "out-group," you would say "chichi" to refer to your own father. If you're talking to your brother, "otousan" is fine. I think you're talking to a stranger here, so "chichi" is most likely better.

Okaasan wa sensei desu ka

First, it's "oneesan." Second, it's the same issue as with your "elder brother" sentence above. Oneesan/Ane/aneue/etc. usages vary by whom you're talking to.

That boy over there = what?
My younger brother's friend = what?
Now put them together with wa!

1. Kore wa is unnecessary the second time. It's not wrong, just unneeded and sounds off. It's like how you don't say "John is my friend. Yesterday John went to the store. Then John ate some pizza." You'd use "he" the last two times or something. Not wrong otherwise, just...off. Also "igirisu no desu." Otherwise I think it sounds like "This is England," not "this is English."

"Dere"? "Kore." Also, if "picture" is "photograph," you want "shashin." "E" is a picture like a drawing/painting/illustration.

Haha, I wish I'd seen that before making this comment! I hate romaji!

Thanks for all your help there. I'll print that out and make that my "answer" section now.

Just so I can be sure is

chichi no kuruma wa nihonsei desu

Literally "father (owns) car (wa) Japan(true) is"? As I said the book I've got at the moment is a bit vague (I'm planning on buying some more books, better suited for self study.)

If so, why not use it?

I'm not sure where "true" comes from in your translation. A somewhat literal translation in the fashion of a linguist would be: my father-POSSESSION car-TOPIC made in japan COPULA.
〜せい means "made in ~."
アメリカ製 made in America
ベトナム製 made in Vietnam
日本製 made in Japan

So "My father's car is made in Japan."

He was probably thinking of 「正」 instead of 「製」.