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Daily lessons · Day 9 of 90

Your job & where you are from

Say what you do and where you come from

Two questions come up in every first conversation you will have in Japan: where are you from, and what do you do. Today gives you both, in a form you can answer without thinking, and the の particle that lets you build far more of your own sentences than you might expect from one small word.

Where you are from

One pattern, and a list of countries you can slot into it:

doko kara kimashita ka.
Where have you come from?
The question you will be asked. どこ is where, から is from.
igirisu kara kimashita.
I came from the UK.
Swap the country. アメリカ America, オーストラリア Australia, ドイツ Germany, カナダ Canada.
watashi wa igirisu-jin desu.
I'm British.
From day 1. じん attached to a country means a person from it.
Why it works

から means from, and it is doing exactly what the English does. It appears again with times: くじから, from nine o'clock. Pair it with まで, until, and you have a whole range: くじから ごじまで, from nine to five. Two small words that unlock a lot of sentences.

What you do

Jobs are nouns, so they drop straight into the pattern you already know:

oshigoto wa nan desu ka.
What is your job?
The お in front of しごと is a politeness marker. Do not add it when talking about your own job.
watashi wa enjinia desu.
I'm an engineer.
Many job names are borrowed and written in katakana: デザイナー designer, プログラマー programmer.
kaishain desu.
I'm an office worker.
The default answer in Japan, and a genuinely useful one. かいしゃ company, いん member.
gakusei desu.
I'm a student.
No わたしは needed. Japanese drops the topic once it is obvious.
Why it works

Notice that わたしは disappears in the last two. Japanese leaves out anything the listener can already work out, and after you have been asked about yourself the topic is obvious. Beginners tend to say わたしは far more often than a Japanese speaker would. Once you are comfortable, drop it.

The の particle

One character that links two nouns, and it does more work than almost anything else at this level:

watashi no namae
my name
Owner first, then の, then the thing owned.
nihongo no sensei
a Japanese teacher
Category first. A teacher of Japanese.
tōkyō no hoteru
a hotel in Tokyo
Place first. の covers of, 's, and in.
Why it works

The order is the reverse of English of. 日本の車 is literally Japan's car, which is a Japanese car. English speakers reliably get this backwards on the first attempt, so when you build a phrase with の, put the describing word first and the main noun last.

Carry over, from earlier days

doko kara kimashita ka.
Where have you come from?
igirisu kara kimashita.
I came from the UK.
oshigoto wa nan desu ka.
What is your job?
kaishain desu.
I'm an office worker.

Check yourself

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