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Daily lessons · Day 30 of 90

Review: your first month

Where you are, and what comes next

Thirty days in. This is a stocktake rather than a lesson: what you can actually build, what the particles are doing, and what is worth fixing before month two. If any line here makes you pause, the day it came from is still there to go back to. Nothing below is new.

The five sentences you own

Almost everything you have learned is one of these five, with more attached:

watashi wa deibiddo desu.
I'm David.
X は Y です. The frame behind every introduction.
toire wa doko desu ka.
Where is the toilet?
Topic, question word, ですか. Day 6.
mizu o kudasai.
Water, please.
Thing, を, request. Day 5.
ashita tōkyō ni ikimasu.
I'm going to Tokyo tomorrow.
Time, place, verb. The verb goes last, always.
takakatta desu.
It was expensive.
An い-adjective carrying its own tense. Day 22.
Why it works

Long Japanese sentences are not different in kind from these; they are these with extra pieces slotted in front of the verb. When a sentence you hear feels overwhelming, find the verb at the end first, then work backwards. The skeleton is usually one of the five above.

The particles, one line each

Five particles cover most of what you have said so far:

kōen ni ikimasu.
I go to the park.
に where something goes, and when it happens.
kōen de hashirimasu.
I run in the park.
で where an action takes place.
densha de ikimasu.
I go by train.
The same で, now marking the means.
kōhī ga suki desu.
I like coffee.
が marks what the liking is about. Day 10.
Why it works

に and で are the pair worth getting straight now, because day 33 leans on them. に points at a place as a destination or a location where something simply is. で points at a place as a stage where something happens. The park in こうえんに いきます is a target; the park in こうえんで はしります is a venue.

Four repair phrases

What keeps a conversation alive when you run out of Japanese:

mō ichido onegaishimasu.
Once more, please.
Politer and shorter than explaining that you did not catch it.
yukkuri onegaishimasu.
Slowly, please.
Usually more useful than asking for a repeat at the same speed.
nihongo ga sukoshi wakarimasu.
I understand a little Japanese.
Sets expectations without ending the conversation.
eigo de daijōbu desu ka.
Is English all right?
A fair last resort. Ask, rather than switching without warning.
Why it works

These four buy you time, and time is what turns half understood Japanese into understood Japanese. Learners who use them stay in conversations and keep improving; learners who freeze and apologise tend to get switched to English and lose the practice.

Carry over, from earlier days

ashita tōkyō ni ikimasu.
I'm going to Tokyo tomorrow.
kōen de hashirimasu.
I run in the park.
mō ichido onegaishimasu.
Once more, please.
nihongo ga sukoshi wakarimasu.
I understand a little Japanese.

Check yourself

8 questions. Nothing is saved unless you finish.