Kids Web Japan

Grammar

1. Affirmative (yes) and negative (no) sentences
   You have already learned how to make a sentence with desu (to be):
   

   Watashi wa Lucy Kent desu.

   I am Lucy Kent.

   But the negative form of desu is a little different from the negative verbs you learned in Lesson 4. Let's take a look at how to make the negative form of the sentence, "I am 13 years old":
   

   Juusansai desu.	[I] am 13 years old.
   Juusansai dewa arimasen.	[I] am not 13 years old.

   
   
   Here are some more examples of sentences that use desu, and their negative forms:
   

   Kyoo wa getsuyoobi desu.	Today is Monday.
   Kayoobi dewa arimasen.	[It] is not Tuesday.
   Ashita wa kinyoobi desu ka.	Is tomorrow Friday?
   Iie, kayoobi desu.	No, [it] is Tuesday.
   Kyoo wa yasumi desu.	Today is a holiday.

2. Days and dates
   Saying a date in Japanese is much like saying it in English: You just put the day of the month after the month itself. For instance, if today's date were November 11, you would say:
   

   Kyoo wa juuichigatsu juuichinichi desu.

   As you have already learned, it's easy to make a question out of the sentence by adding a :
   

   Kyoo wa juuichigatsu juuichinichi desu ka?

   
   
   If you want to ask today's date, or what day of the week it is, you use the word [nan, the alternate form of the word "what"] and add either [nichi], if you want to know the date, or [yobi] if you would like to find the day of the week:
   

   	Kyoo wa nannichi desu ka.
   	Kyoo wa nanyoobi desu ka.

   
3. Asking people's ages
   [sai] is a counter for age-you add it to a number to express how many years old someone is. Like the words in 3-2, you can add "what" to this word to ask how old a person is: [nansai].
   

   Nansai desu ka.	How old are you?
   Lucy wa juusansai desu.	Lucy is 13 years old.

4. When?
   In Lesson 2 you learned how to ask someone's name: Namae wa nan desu ka. Now let's take a look at how to ask someone's birthday using the word [itsu], "when":
   

   Tanjoobi wa itsu desu ka?	When is [your] birthday?
   Hachigatsu yokka desu.	August fourth.

5. time particle [ni]
   [ni ] has a function similar to in, on, or at in English. If you do something at a certain time, or on a certain day, you put [ni] after the time or day to express that.
   

   Nichiyoobi ni tenisu o shimashita.

   I played tennis on Sunday.