Useful Expressions for eTutoring

Sakura

こんにちは。Konnichi wa. おげんきですか。Ogenki desu ka.

Here's a list of expressions that will come in handy for your eTutoring session. 

1. きいてください。Kiite kudasai.

Please listen.

2. いってください。Itte kudasai. 

Please speak.

3. もういちどいってください。Moo ichido itte kudasai. 

Please repeat it again.

4. みてください。Mite kudasai. 

Please look.

5. しゃしんをみてください。Shashin o mite kudasai. 

Please look at the photograph.

6. えをみてください。E o mite kudasai. 

Please look at the drawing.

7. しつもんしてください。Shitsumon shite kudasai. 

Please ask a/the question.

8. しつもんはありますか。Shitsumon wa arimasu ka. 

Do you have any questions?

9. きこえますか。Kikoemasu ka. 

Can you hear me?

10. きこえません。Kikoemasen. 

I can't hear you.

To be continued on the next post. It seems that there is a limit on the number of characters I can post at once!

Sakura

Okay, here's the part II...

11. どうぞ。Doozo. 

Please go ahead.

12. かきますね。Kakimasu ne. 

Let me write it down.

13. わかりません。Wakarimasen. 

I don't understand.

14. わかりました！Wakarimashita. 

I got it!

15. ...はにほんごでなんといいますか。...wa nihongo de nanto iimasu ka. 

How do you say ... in Japanese?

16. そうです。Soo desu. 

That's right. 

17. そうですか。Soo desu ka. 

Is that right?

18. よくできました！Yoku dekimashita! 

You did very well!

You don't have to try memorizing them! Just keep this list handy for your reference. As you take more eTutoring sessions, you'll eventually remember them naturally! 

If there is any expression that's not listed here, but you think will be useful, please post your question here.

I'll talk to you soon at eTutoring!

-Sakura

AlanN

Shitsumon ga arimasu. In number 7 above:

Shitsumon shite kudasai. (Please ask the/a question)

Why isn't there the object marker o? Is it because of the verb shite, or the noun shitsumon? How would you say 'I don't understand the question?'

Shitsumon wakarimasen, or

Shitsumon o wakarimasen?

(Or something totally different that I have no idea about?)

Sakura

Oooh, good questions! 

As you know, shitsumon means "question". This noun comes from Chinese. The Japanese language uses a lot of words of foreign origin, mostly Chinese and English. We often use foreign words as Japanese verbs by adding shimasu (means "do") to them. I wrote about it on this forum, and you can click here to visit the thread if you're interested!  

Anyway, so, by adding shimasu to shitsumon, we get the verb shitsumonshimasu (to ask a question). You can regard this as a single verb; that's why you don't need the particle o. I realize that, in the above, I put a space between shitsumon and shite. I probably shouldn't have. My fault! 

And by the way, shite is the so-called "te-form" of the verb shimasu. You need to use this form when you make requests, describe on-going events, and various other things. You'll learn about the "te-form" in Intermediate Japanese. 

Going back to shitsumonshimasu, it is in fact fine to say shitsumon o shimasu. So you can definitely say, Shitsumon o shite kudasai. I give you another example: Benkyoo means "study" (noun); if you want to say "to study", you can say either benkyooshimasu or benkyoo o shimasu. 

However, it is not the case that every "word of foreign origin + shimasu" allows this flexibility; i.e. some always require the particle o, and yet some can never take the particle o. So you have to learn case by case basis. 

Okay, now to your second question!

There is a small number of verbs in Japanese which do not take the particle o, even though they seem to be "transitive verbs". The verb wakarimasu is one such example; even though it means "understand", which takes a direct object, wakarimasu doesn't! (Don't worry, this is such a rare case, and you are not going to see even a few more of this type!)

So if you want to say, "I don't understand the question", it will be:

Shitsumon ga wakarimasen. 

You may ask, "Why are you using the particle ga even though this is a negative sentence? Don't you want to use wa instead?" Well... for now, just take wakarimasu as an odd verb in Japanese, and the usual rule doesn't really apply. That's good enough for now! 

I hope I didn't confuse you! Please ask if you have any follow-up questions!

  

AlanN

Wakarimashita! Arigatoo!

The compound object+verb verbs make perfect sense. (The variability with o is another thing, but I guess that's just Language.)

I want to ask more about this negative wa construction, but I'll put it on hold until I've at least gotten through Essential!

Sakura

Some follow-up comments on the shitsumonshimasu / shitsumon o shimasu variations:

Let's take the pair benkyooshimasu / benkyoo o shimasu as an example here. If you want to say "I study Japanese", what will it be? 

If you want to use the single verb, benkyooshimasu, it will be:

• 日本語を勉強します。 Nihongo o benkyooshimasu.

This is pretty straightforward. Nihongo (”Japanese language”) is the object noun here. So you mark it with the particle o. 

But what if you want to use the expression benkyoo o shimasu to say "I study Japanese"?

It will be:

• 日本語の勉強をします。Nihongo no benkyoo o shimasu.

The thing is, there is already an object in the expression benkyoo o shimasu, and thus you cannot add any more direct object; you cannot say, "Nihongo o benkyoo o shimasu". Instead, what you can do is to modify the noun benkyoo; i.e. nihongo no benkyoo ("studying of Japanese"). So, Nihongo no benkyoo o shimasu is literally saying, "I do studying of Japanese". 

A bit of an advanced topic, but I hope this is interesting!   

AlanN

That makes perfect sense. And it is interesting!