Adjectives in Japanese: Present Positive

Hello Everyone. It's been a while! Having already discussed Japanese verbs, I thought we could continue to expand on your sentences by learning about adjectives in their present positive form next. Though they might seem a little confusing at first, they're very simple to use and will be very helpful in expressing yourself.

When to use iru or aru?

There are a lot of differences in how the Japanese language is used compared to English. One of these differences is in the verb "to be". Lets take a look at how to use "to be", some confusions about using it, and some example sentences.

First, there are 3 different ways to say "to be" in Japanese:

Back from Japan

Hello everyone! It's been a while! I just got back form Japan yesterday and am still a little jet lagged. It was quite the adventure and was full of surprises and fun! I was staying close by to Kasukabe in Saitama. Kasukabe is well known for Lucky Star and Crayon Shin-chan. I'll be sure to post some photos later and get back on schedule right away!

Thank you

Japanese Verbs: Present Tense

Hello again. I was in the middle of writing up the next topic when I realized, I haven't talked about verb conjugation yet. So I think this is as good a time as any to introduce polite verb conjugation. Unlike verbs in English, the basics are very easy to learn and almost all verbs follow one of the two conjugation rules.

Going to Japan

Sorry for the delay! There were some issues with my modem and my ISP took a very long time to get everything back up and running. I hope to be posting again as soon as possible! Also, next week I will be going to Japan. Please let me know if there's anything you think I should do, any pictures you want me to talk, or if there's anything you want to know about while I'm over there.

Thank you again for your patience and keep practicing!

Math in Japanese: Division

You finally made it to the last equation you will be doing in the set. You've done a great job and soon you're going to have all the skills you need to count up to 99,999,999. Quite the jump, don't you think? This is the point where numbers will take a turn from what you're used to.

Math in Japanese: Multiplication

It's that time again! More numbers! More Math! This time, you're going up to the thousands in Japanese and there are going to be some pronunciation changes again. Nothing you can't already handle, right? Let's get started!

Math in Japanese: Subtraction

It's time for more numbers in Japanese and that means another math word so you can practice your numbers! You're going to go up to the hundreds but you have to look out for two changes pronunciation this time.

Math in Japanese: Addition

For the 25th Japanese Word of the Day, I wanted to do something special for you! I know for a lot of people, numbers in Japanese are very basic and you've heard it all before so let's mix it in with how to say some math equations in Japanese.

Word of the Day #24

There's been a lot of hype  in Japan over a comedy duo named クマムシ (KUMAMUSHI) for their musical comedy sketches performed in a Japanese Idol style. The title of one of their songs published by Universal Music Japan will be our focus for today.

Word of the Day #23

You're going to get two Japanese words again today since you're all so awesome. Given how hot the last word of the day was, I think we should cool off with the opposite word and cool off a bit.

Word of the Day #22

Summer's coming up and it's time to let people know how you're feeling! I'm late giving you new Words of the Day and I'm going to make it up to you with two new Japanese words that will help you out this summer!

Great Free Apps for Learning Japanese

Since there was really good feedback to books for learning Japanese, I've decided to make another post for you on what I think are some great free apps for learning Japanese. I have used several apps to look at how people are trying to teach Japanese and I feel these apps offer the best learning experience for all levels of Japanese, are simple to use and understand, and are most importantly, free. They are in no particular order and all of them can benefit you depending on how you like to learn.

Days of the Week in Japanese

For the last 6 Word of the Day posts, you've been learning kanji that will help you write the days of the week in Japanese. By learning just one more kanji, you will be able to write out every day. I'll also show you some tips and tricks to memorize and use them in everyday life.

Word of the Day #21

The last 5 Word of the Day Japanese lessons have been preparing you on how to write the days of the week. This next character will be the last character you need to read and write days of the week in Japanese.

The Japanese word for today is "soil". This word also can mean "earth" or "ground" but always represents the idea of soil.

Kanji: 土
Kana: つち
Romaji: tsuchi

Example:

Kanji: 土に水をやって下さい
Kana: つちにみずをやってください
Translation: Please water the soil.

After today, I will be trying a new format for the Word of the Day: Japanese lessons. I hope you all find them much more enjoyable and I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Asking questions in Japanese

The Japanese language has a different way of asking questions than in English and it is surprisingly simple. In some sentences, all it takes is adding one character to the end and you're using perfect Japanese grammar.


Lets try something simple like "Is this water?"

Books for Learning Japanese

One of the things I've been asked about is what study materials would I recommend so that you are able to go at your own pace. I looked through my old books and I've put together a list of books to learn Japanese that I feel will be very helpful for beginners.

Word of the Day #20

The Japanese word for today is "Money". This word is another one of the Japanese words which will usually add お to the beginning as we saw with 水.

Kanji: 金
Kana: かね
Romaji: kane

Example
Kanji: お金がありますか？
Kana: おかねがありますか？
Translation: Do you have money?

New Poll and Word of the Day #19

There is a new poll posted on the Google+ page. Make sure to check it out and vote!

The Japanese word for today is "tree". Again, this character is going to be very useful later on in learning more words in the future. Be careful not to confuse this character with 本.

Kanji: 木
Kana: き
Romaji: ki

Example
Kanji: その木は大きいです。
Kana: そのきはおおきいです。
Translation: That tree is big.

Word of the Day #18

The next Japanese word we will be learning today is "Water". While expanding your vocabulary, it's a good idea to learn some essential words. When asking for a drink of water, you should add the honorific お to the beginning of the word. You will see this in other words too.

Kanji: 水
Kana: みず
Romaji: mizu

Example
Kanji: お水お願いします。
Kana: おみずおねがいします。
Translation: Water please.