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Daily lessons · Day 19 of 90

At the hotel: checking in

Arrive, check in, ask for what you need

Checking into a Japanese hotel is a short, formal exchange with a fixed script. You give your name, they confirm the booking, you hand over a passport, you get a key and a breakfast time. Almost everything you need you already have from earlier days; today mainly adds the vocabulary and puts the pieces in order.

Arriving

The first thirty seconds:

chekku in o onegaishimasu.
I'd like to check in.
Opens the exchange. チェックアウト for checking out.
yoyaku ga arimasu.
I have a reservation.
よやく reservation, and あります because it is not a living thing.
namae wa Debiddo desu.
The name is David.
Same pattern as day 1, with なまえ as the topic.
nihaku onegaishimasu.
Two nights, please.
はく from yesterday. いっぱく one night, さんぱく three.
Why it works

よやくが あります uses が, and now you can see why: あります always marks what exists with が. It is the same rule you met with すき and ほしい, and the same one behind いぬが います. Three different situations, one particle rule. This is the point at which が starts to feel less arbitrary.

What they will ask

Two questions, near enough every time:

pasupōto o onegaishimasu.
Your passport, please.
Required for foreign guests. Have it out.
kochira ni gokinyū kudasai.
Please fill this in here.
きにゅう filling in a form. こちら is the polite ここ.
asagohan wa nanji kara desu ka.
What time is breakfast from?
から from, exactly as on day 9.
chekku auto wa nanji made desu ka.
What time is checkout until?
まで until. The から and まで pair again.
Why it works

から and まで are doing a lot of work in this lesson. Breakfast from seven, checkout until ten, a two-night stay from Friday to Sunday. If you take one grammatical thing from today, notice how often a hotel conversation is really about ranges, and that Japanese marks both ends of a range explicitly where English often leaves one implied.

In the room, and asking for things

What to say when something is missing or wrong:

waifai no pasuwādo wa nan desu ka.
What's the wi-fi password?
の linking two nouns, from day 9.
taoru o mō ichimai kudasai.
One more towel, please.
まい for flat things, and もう meaning one more.
eakon ga tsukimasen.
The air conditioning won't come on.
つきます to switch on. が again, marking the subject.
nimotsu o azukatte moraemasu ka.
Could you keep my luggage?
A more polite request than ください. Very common at checkout.
Why it works

もらえますか is a softer request than ください and you will hear it constantly. It literally asks whether you could receive the favour of something being done, which is why it sounds more deferential. You do not need to build it yet; recognise it, and use it as a set phrase with にもつを あずかって, because leaving bags after checkout is something you will almost certainly want to do.

chekku in o onegaishimasu.
I'd like to check in.
yoyaku ga arimasu.
I have a reservation.
asagohan wa nanji kara desu ka.
What time is breakfast from?
taoru o mō ichimai kudasai.
One more towel, please.

Check yourself

8 questions. Nothing is saved unless you finish.