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Japanese Learning: “Kakarimasu” a verb to say How long it does take (1); Expressions about time

Suppose you are working in a company. You need to go the company every day through Monday to Friday. You leave your home early in the morning, and get on a train. If it takes only ten minutes on the train, and then you can soon get to your working place from the station, you are lucky. But if it takes one hour and a half on the train, you would be exhausted even at the time when you get to your working place. So, it is very important for you as to how long it takes on your commute. How would you say about this in Japanese?

1. Watashi no Ie kara Kaisha made Densha de Yon juppun Kakarimasu.

Let me tell you about grammatical things about this sentence tomorrow. For today, learn the expressions about time period as a preparation to learn the sentence 1.

– one minute => Ippun

– two minutes => Ni fun

– three minutes => Sampun

– four minutes => Yompun

– five minutes => Go fun

– six minutes => Roppun

– seven minutes => Nana fun

– eight minutes => Happun

– nine minutes => Kyuu fun

– ten minutes => Juppun (Jippun)

– twenty minutes => Ni Juppun

– thirty minutes => San Juppun

– forty-four minutes => Yon Juu Yompun

– fifty-five minutes => Go Juu Go fun

– one hour => Ichi Jikan

– two hours => Ni Jikan

– three and a half hours => San Jikan Han

– four hours and thirty minutes => Yo Jikan San Juppun

– twelve hours => Juu Ni Jikan

<to be continued>

This post was written with reference to the exercise A6 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Expression to say how long an action takes

Look at the following sentence which we learned recently.

1. Ichi nichi ni San kai Gohan o Tabemasu. (I eat meals three times a day.)

The word “Ichi nichi” with particle “-ni” works as a reference time when talking about frequency.

However, today’s expression doesn’t have the particle “-ni” for a word of time period. It is because;

– Time period in the sentence is not a reference time to talk about frequency.

– The purpose is to talk about the time period itself.

– Even without the particle “-ni”, the word of time period can work as an adverbial.

Look at the following conversation and try to remember it;

A : Daigaku de Donokurai Nihongo o Benkyoushimashitaka.

 (How long did you study Japanese in the university?)

B : Daigaku de Yo nen Nihongo o Benkyoushimashita.

 (I studied Japanese four years in the university.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A5 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Quantifier “kai” to count number of times

Yesterday we learned the following sentence;

1. Ichi nichi ni San kai Gohan o Tabemasu. (I eat meals three times a day.)

This sentence is introduced in order to show one of functions of particle “-ni”. The function was to mark something that is an object to allocate numbers. And for this function, if a word of time period is placed in front of “ni”, the sentence can express frequency.

In the sentence 1, the frequency is three times a day. And you find the word “San kai” for three times. The followings are examples of uses of quantifier “-kai”.

– once => Ikkai

– twice => Ni kai

– three times => San kai

– four times => Yon kai

– five times => Go kai

– six times => Rokkai

– seven times => Nana kai

– eight times => Hakkai

– nine times => Kyuu kai

– ten times => Jukkai (Jikkai)

Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Satou-san wa Isshuukan ni Nan kai Sentaku o Shimasuka.

(Sato-san, how many times do you wash cloths a week?)

B : Watashi wa Isshuukan ni San kai Sentaku o Shimasu.

(I wash cloths three times a week.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Particle “-ni” to make a word a base to allocate number when describing frequency

Functions of Particle “-ni” are shown below.

1. Time of Action

example; Watashi wa Maiasa Roku-ji ni Okimasu. (I get up at six every morning.)

2. Place of Existence

example; Panda wa Ueno Doubutsuen ni Imasu. (A Panda is in Ueno Zoo.)

3. Place where an action is going(getting) to

example; Watashi wa Mainichi Gakkou ni Ikimasu. (I go to school every day.)

4. Object to allocate number

example; Ichinen ni San kai Kuni ni Kaerimasu. (I go to my hometown three times a year.)

There are more functions of particle “-ni”, but this time, let us focus on the function 4, which is to mark something that is an object to allocate numbers.

Take a look at the example below;

example; Ichi nichi ni San kai Gohan o Tabemasu. (I eat meals three times a day.)

In the example, you see the particle “-ni” is attaching just behind the word “Ichi-nichi”. Japanese particles (also known as postpositions) attach to just behind a word, and give the word a function in the sentence. Since we are learning about the function of “-ni” that is 4 above, “Ichi-nichi ni” is a word to which numbers are allocated about how many times the person eats meals in that particular sentence. Although many kinds words can be followed by this type of “ni”, let us limit “time periods” as to the word before “ni”.

(in/per) one hour => Ichi jikan ni

(in/per) one day => Ichi nichi ni

(in/per) one week => Isshuukan ni

(in/per) one month => Ikkagetsu ni

(in/per) one year => Ichi nen ni

Using these [ time period + ni ] words, you can describe frequencies as below;

– Ichi jikan ni Ikkai Toire ni Ikimasu. (I go to a restroom every hour.)

– Ichi nichi ni San kai Gohan o Tabemasu. (I eat meals three times a day.)

– Isshuukan ni Yon kai Nihongo no Jugyou ga Arimasu. (I have Japanese class four times a week.)

– Ikkagetsu ni San kai Gurai Machi ni Ikimasu. (I go to the downtown about three times a month.)

– Ichi nen ni San kai Gurai Ryokou ni Ikimasu. (I travel about three times a year.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Numbering System for Counting Number of People; Hitori, Futari, San’nin —

The numbering system fir counting number of people in Japanese is as below;

– one = Ichi, one person = Hitori

– two = Ni, two people = Futari

– three = San, three people = San-nin

– four = Yon, four people = Yo-nin (Don’t say Shi-nin which means a dead person)

– five = Go, five people = Go-nin

– six = Roku, six people = Roku-nin

– seven = Shichi, seven people = Shichi-nin

– eight = Hachi, eight people = Hachi-nin

– nine = Kyuu, nine people = Kyuu-nin, Ku-nin

– ten = Juu, ten people = Juu-nin

As shown above, you need to remember Hitori and Futari, but for three and more, you just use the quantifier “-nin”.

Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Kono Kyoushitu ni Ryuugakusei ga Nan-nin Imasuka. (How many international students are in this classroom?)

B : Kono Kyoushitsu ni Ryuugakusei ga Yo-nin Imasu. (Four international students are in this classroom.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning: Quantifier “mai” to count “sheet-like” objects.

We have already learned numbering system when counting objects;

Hitotsu, Futatsu, Mittsu, Yottsu, Itsutsu, —, To’o

Using this numbering system, you can express how many objects there are, as below;

1. Ringo ga Yottsu Arimasu. (There are four apples.)

Note that there is no particle used right behind “Yottsu”. If you apply “Wa ga construction” as below, it is completely WRONG;

<WRONG> Ringo wa Yottsu ga Arimasu.

<RIGHT>  Ringo ga Yottsu Arimasu.

Actually “Ringo wa Yottsu Arimasu” is also right, but let me use “ga” to be consistent with the sentence 1 above. And it is important to know that “Yottsu” is descriptive for the verb “Arimasu”. Therefore, we can think “Yottsu” has a function as an adverbial.

In addition to numbering system “Hitotsu, Futatsu, Mittsu —”, there are more detailed numbering systems in Japanese. That is to use a quantifier in accordance with shape and/or nature of the object.

Today we are going to learn one of quantifiers, “mai”, which is to count “sheet-like” objects. Take a look at the following examples;

– There is one sheet of paper => Kami ga Ichi-mai Arimasu.

– There are two postcards => Hagaki ga Ni-mai Arimasu.

– There are three towels => Taoru ga San-mai Arimasu.

– There are four stamps => Kitte ga Yon-mai Arimasu.

– There are five photographs => Shashin ga Go-mai Arimasu.

– There are six tickets => Kippu (or Nyuujouken) ga Roku-mai Arimasu.

As well as “Yottsu” functions as an adverbial in the sentence 1, these [number-mai]s are also functioning as adverbials for the verb “Arimasu”. “Arimasu” is an intransitive verb. Let us use a transitive verb for today’s conversation;

A : Hachi juu Go en no Hagaki o Nan-mai Kaimashitaka. (How many “85 yen postcards” did you buy?)

B : Hachi juu Go en no Hagaki o Kyuu-mai Kaimashita. (I bought nine “85 yen postcards”.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

I didn’t think I was so exhausted.

I got up at 5:30a.m. this morning. I had to attend my mother because she was going to move to another hospital today. Since the end of February, she had been hospitalized because of cerebral infarction. Now it is the time for her to move to the next hospitalization to get rehabilitation. I got on a train at 7:30 and a bus at 7:57. I quickly gathered her belongings in the hospital, and we left there at around 9 by a taxi modified for transporting sick people. All through the morning after we got to the new hospital, I got a lengthy explanation, did consultations, and signed on a lot of documents. I left the new hospital at 12:20 by the free shuttle bus of the hospital.

 Getting off a local train at my village, I went to a supermarket and bought packages of Sushi and fresh sardines. I took my late lunch at 1:30, eating Sushi. Then I just wanted to take a short nap on the bed to get rid of my fatigue. But it couldn’t be a short one. I found that it was already 6 p.m. when I awoke from the nap. I got out of my bed and I called to two uncles to let them know that my mother had moved to another hospital.

 Then, I started to cook sardines.

It was terrible that I couldn’t find a function to rotate an image 90, 180, or 270 degrees on the editor of wordpress. I had to rotate images on my computer and upload them again.

Japanese Learning: Numbers for counting something in addition to the numbers for values; Hitotsu, Futatsu, Mittsu, —, To’o.

Numbers had already been introduced;

1 : one => Ichi

2 : two => Ni

3 : three => San

—

10 : ten => Juu

In addition to these numbers, there is another numbering system in Japanese that is used when you counting some objects;

1 : there is one object => Hitotsu

2 : there are two objects => Futatsu

3 : there are three objects => Mittsu

4 : there are four objects => Yottsu

5 : five => Itsutsu

6 : six => Muttsu

7 : seven => Nanatsu

8 : eight => Yattsu

9 : nine => Kokonotsu

10 : ten => To’o

Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Ringo ga Ikutsu Arimasuka. (How many apples are there?)

B : Ringo ga Yottsu Arimasu. (There are four apples.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”