Donggui Xishi
Learning JapaneseTranslation

Even Simple Japanese Contains a Lot of Knowledge

When I was in language school, Japanese teachers often started class or greeted us by talking about the weather, asking how we felt, or asking whether we had eaten.
If you think about it, that is not very different from China.

Since childhood, I have disliked rote memorization. Even with simple things, I always want to understand why. Only after thinking it through can I put it into my head. This means that when I learn many things together with others, I am often a step slower.

Japanese Opening Phrases

Today I will share one type of opening phrase mentioned above.

  1. 皆さん、食べましたか。
  2. 何を食べましたか。
  3. 何か食べましたか。

These are similar to saying in Chinese:

  1. Have you eaten?
  2. What did you eat?
  3. Did you eat anything?

The corresponding replies might be:

  1. Yes, I ate.
  2. I ate ramen.
  3. Yes, I ate a set meal at KFC.

In Japanese, the replies are:

  1. はい、食べました。
    いいえ、食べませんでした。
  2. ラーメンを食べました。
    何も食べませんでした。
  3. はい、KFCで定食を食べました。
    いいえ、何も食べませんでした。

Pay attention to the differences: whether there is a question word, and which particles are used. The more you think about Japanese particles, the more interesting they become.

Different Kinds of Negation

Here is another very basic point related to eating and drinking:

If a beginner wants to say “I have never eaten sushi,” it is easy to say 寿司を食べません.
Logically, this is not completely impossible, but it is not the right expression.

Let’s first look at Chinese:

We can easily feel the difference among these three.

Japanese works similarly. To say that you have never eaten sushi, you should not simply negate the action “eat sushi.” You need to negate the experience of having done it.

だから、「寿司を食べたことがない」と言う、もっと正確に。

Five Principles for Taking Out Household Garbage

Eating and drinking naturally produce garbage, so let’s look at a Japanese notice about household garbage disposal. I think these sentences are designed so that everyone can understand them quickly, which makes them suitable for beginners to read.

家庭ごみの出し方5原則:

正しく分別
市指定袋にいれて
決められた收集日に
早朝から朝8時までに
決められた場所へ

These simple lines cover many beginner-level Japanese points, so I think they are especially useful: