Learn Japanese Pod

The podcast teaches phrases and expressions for talking on the phone in Japanese, including 'moshi moshi', 'ganky', and 'saikin dole'. It also explores phone-related phrases like 'magia', 'kitei demwa', and 'machi gagame'. The hosts discuss shortened Japanese words like 'shamet', 'smahawk', and 'gara care'. They also cover making phone calls in Japanese and how to connect with the Learn Japanese Pod community.

In this podcast, Ami and I, teach you some fun conversations you can have with your friends in Japanese.  The first thing you need to know when speaking on the phone in Japanese is the word Moshi moshi which is hello but used exclusively for the phone. You can use this for both casual and polite conversations. Listen to the podcast and read the dialogs below to get a better idea of how to have a conversation on the phone in Japanese with your friends. Phone Dialog 01 Dialog 01 Japanese Pronunciation English A: もしもし Moshi moshi Hello B: もしもし、あみ元気？ Moshi moshi, Ami genki? Hello, how are you Ami? A: 元気だよ Genki da yo I’m good. B: 最近どう？ Saikin dō? How have you been recently? A: 最近は仕事漬けの毎日! Saikin wa shigotozuke no mainichi! Recently, I’ve been so busy at work. B: そうなんだ……大変だね。 Sō nan da…Taihen da ne. Oh really…that’s tough. A: 全然平気！ Zenzen heiki! I’m totally fine! Phone Dialog 02 Dialog 02 Japanese Pronunciation English A: もしもし Moshi moshi Hello B: もしもし、あみ元気？ Moshi moshi, Ami genki? Hello, how are you Ami? A: 元気だよ Genki da yo I’m good. B: 最近どう？ Saikin dō? How have you been recently? A: 最近、彼女ができたよ Saikin kanojo ga dekita yo Recently I got a new girlfriend B: そうなんだ！良かったね！ Sō nan da! Yokatta ne! Oh really? That’s great! A: 毎日楽しすぎる！ Mainichi tanoshisugiru! It’s so much fun everyday!   Phone Dialog 03   Dialog 03 Japanese Pronunciation English A: もしもし Moshi moshi Hello B: もしもし、あみ元気？ Moshi moshi, Ami genki? Hello, how are you Ami? A: 元気だよ Genki da yo I’m good. B: 最近どう？ Saikin dō? How have you been recently? A: 最近、ジムに通い出したよ Saikin jimu ni kayoidashita yo Recently I started going to the gym. B: そうなんだ！良いね！ Sō nan da! Ii ne! Oh really? That’s good! A: 毎日筋肉痛がやばいよ！ Mainichi kinnikutsuu ga yabai yo! The muscle soreness is really bad everyday!   Extra Phone Phrases 携帯電話 – Keitai denwa – Mobile phone 携帯番号 – Keitai bangō – Mobile number メアド – Meado – Mail address 待受画面 – Machiukegamen – Standby screen (for phone) 写メ – Shame – Mobile phone picture スマホ – Sumaho – Smart Phone ガラケー – Garakeh – Flip phone   Polite Phone Phrases 田中さんはいらっしゃいますか – Tanaka san wa irasshaimasu ka Is Tanaka san there?  / Can I speak to Mr. Tanaka?   田中は出かけております – Tanaka wa dekakete orimasu. Tanaka is out right now.   伝言をお願いします – Dengon o onegaishimasu. Can I leave a message please?   折り返しお電話いただけますか – Orikaeshi odenwa itadakemasu ka? Could you ask them to call me back please?

In this podcast, I talk to Andy, a great friend of mine whom I have known for over 10 years here in Japan. As we are both long term residents of Tokyo, we wanted to record a podcast outlining the best and the worst of life here in the capital city of Japan. We decided to look at the good, the bad and the ugly to give an honest and balanced discussion of what it is really like to live here. If you are thinking about moving to Tokyo to live or just want to come for a brief visit, we hope there is some useful information for you here. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

In this podcast Ami and Alex discuss in detail everything you need to know about becoming fluent in Japanese. For more podcasts visit http://learnjapanesepod.com

Everything You Need to Know to Speak Japanese Fluently My speaking fluent Japanese…sort of… One of the most common questions I get at Learn Japanese Pod is “How do I learn to speak Japanese fluently?”. The usual problem I hear is that although students study lots of vocabulary and grammar, they can’t seem to put it together to hold even a simple conversation. Fluency seems out of the question. Well, I hear you because I used to be in the same situation. I was really frustrated. However, after a lot of trial and error… and coffee, I eventually began to discover some effective study techniques, strategies and the mindset that actually worked. Now, fluency didn’t happen overnight but my ability to hold natural flowing conversations with my Japanese friends got noticeably better and my progress definitely sped up. So if you are feeling confused, frustrated and your motivation is crumbling, it’s time to get your Japanese back on track. So this is why I decided to make this podcast and guide to show you absolutely everything you need to know to speak Japanese fluently. You can listen to the podcast here where Ami sensei and I discuss this topic in detail. Then keep reading below for more in-depth information with links to useful resources. Podcast Dialog – How to Speak Japanese Fluently Japanese Pronunciation English  A: 先生、質問しても良いですか？  Sensei, shitsumon shite mo ii desu ka.  Teacher, may I ask a question?  B: はい、どうぞ。  Hai dōzo.  Sure, go ahead.  A: どうすれば日本語を流暢に話せるようになりますか？  Dō sureba nihongo o ryuuchō ni hanaseru you ni narimasu ka?  How can I become fluent at speaking Japanese?  B: そうですね。やっぱり教材はもちろんですが、日本のテレビを観たり、日本の音楽をたくさん聴いてみてください。  Sō desu ne. Yappari kyōzai wa mochiron desu ga, nihon no terebi o mitari, nihongo no ongaku o takusan kiite kudasai.  Let me see. Well of course you need study materials but you should watch Japanese TV, listen to a lot of music, stuff like that.  A: なるほど。  Naruhodo.  I see.  B: 私の友達は、日本に住んだことはないですが、そうやって日本語を結構覚えましたよ。  Watashi no tomodachi wa nihon ni sunda koto ga nai desu ga sō yatte nihongo o kekkō oboemashita yo.  I have a friend who never lived in Japan. However, he learned a lot of Japanese that way.  A: 他に何かアドバイスはありますか？  Hoka ni adobaisu ga arimasu ka?  Do you have any other advice?  B: 日本語が話せる友達を作って、積極的に日本語で会話をしましょう。  Nihongo ga hanaseru tomodachi o tsukutte, sekkyokuteki ni nihongo de kaiwa o shimashou.  Make Japanese speaking friends and proactively try to have conversations in Japanese.  A: 分かりました。頑張ります！  Wakarimashita. Ganbarimasu.  I understand. I will do my best. The Secret to Speaking Japanese Fluently Here’s the brutal truth. There is no secret to speaking fluent Japanese. And if anyone tells you there is a magical course that teaches you how to speak perfect Japanese in 3 days, buy a fire extinguisher because someone’s pants are on fire. It takes time, commitment and hard work…and coffee…I mentioned coffee right? Anyway, I can’t give you a magic pill BUT… And this is a big but… I can tell you the dumb things I did so you don’t have to. And that’s going to save you a LOT of time and frustration. Plus there are more efficient and effective ways to study that will further save time. But what do we actually mean by “fluency”? What does “fluent Japanese” mean? Fluent doesn’t necessarily mean native speaker level. To me, fluency simply means you can express what you want to say, clearly, easily and quickly without getting stuck or stumbling over your words. If you can order sushi or do a simple self introduction in Japanese, you have a basic level of fluency. No, you’re not native level but you could survive in Japan with a limited number of phrases. So don’t feel overwhelmed. Remember fluency isn’t how much you know, it’s how well you use it. So, let’s move to the first step you need to take on your journey to Japanese fluency. 1. Set Specific Goals Perhaps the biggest mistake students of Japanese make is not being clear about what they want to achieve. You need to set clear, specific goals, broken down into small achievable steps with deadlines. And here are my personal reasons: Set it and forget it – This avoids stress and decision fatigue worrying over what you should study next. It keeps it simple. Focus equals momentum – A focused goal gets you to where you want to go more quickly. Goals avoid waste – If you get super specific about what to achieve you avoid wasteful and irrelevant study Deadlines make it real – Set a date to increase the chances of success. A deadline further focuses you and makes your goals more concrete. Breaking things into small steps with many deadlines can help to avoid feeling overwhelmed. What’s a good Japanese Study Goal? So what’s a good goal? If you say “I want to speak kick ass, ninja level Japanese” that’s all well and good but it’s too vague and lacks a clear goal. Something better would be “I want to be able to say 100 travel related phrases fluently for my trip to Japan in three months”. Now you know the following: Exactly what you will study Exactly how much you need to study When your deadline is Breaking down your goal into small achievable steps will increase your chances of success. So learning 100 phrases in 3 months is a pace of just over 1 phrase a day, totally achievable. Try to set a goal that inspires and motivates you. Also, try to pick a goal that allows you to be able to do something. You want to build skills rather than simply piling up words. Here are some examples: I want to learn all the phrases to order food at a Japanese restaurant within 2 weeks. I want to be able to ask and understand directions in Japanese in one month. To really demonstrate how a short and laser focused goal can help you make progress more quickly, try out my completely free 5 Day Japanese Challenge. It emails you a new lesson every day and if you follow the course properly you will be able to give a natural self introduction in flawless Japanese in five days. If you are still not sure what goal to set, choose something, anything, simply to get started. For example, you could attempt to pass the N5 Japanese Language Proficiency Test in 6 months. And even if you fail the test, you will have still improved your Japanese. 2. Get the Right Japanese Study Materials Now you have a clear goal, you will need good materials and resources to study with. This depends on your goal and level of Japanese. For beginners, I recommend buying a  good standard Japanese textbook. Now, this won’t guarantee fluency, however, a good textbook will teach you the basic grammar and vocabulary you need to build your base before you can attempt conversations. Here are some of my top recommendations: Recommendations for basic Japanese textbooks GENKI I – This is good  standard textbook used in university Japanese courses. This is more grammar heavy so it will give you a good language base to build on. It includes an audio CD which you can use to listen and practice with. Japanese for Busy People is another widely known text good for teaching you the basics. Nihongo Fun and Easy – A smaller but awesome little Japanese conversational textbook that focuses more on daily situational dialogs and includes a CD to practice with. This is not as comprehensive as Genki but might get you speaking basic Japanese more quickly. NIHONGO Breakthrough – Another really good Japanese conversational textbook that focuses on real life situations and natural language to improve you basic level of fluency. Again, these textbooks won’t make you fluent over night. However,  they will give you the essential base  Japanese grammar and vocabulary you need to work towards fluency. And textbooks on their own are not enough. We need to look at some effective techniques to get you speaking more fluently in less time. 3. Drill, Drill and Drill Again If there was only one single technique I could teach you that would massively help your fluency, that would be drilling. It’s an incredibly powerful technique that will build you vocabulary, speed, pronunciation and fluency. Drilling is simply repeating phrases out loud over and over again until you can say them easily and without thinking. I first started studying Japanese on my own. I bought a random Japanese conversation textbook, read the dialogs, listened to the audio and repeated every phrase and conversation until I could say them automatically. The book wasn’t that great and some of the conversations were kind of boring and not even that useful. Here is a reconstruction of the silly things I drilled: Japanese Pronunciation English A: 田中さんの車はどこの車ですか Tanaka san no kuruma wa doko no kuruma desu ka Mr. Tanaka, what make of car is that? B: トヨタの車です Toyota no kuruma desu It’s a Toyota A: あ、そうですか A sou desu ka Oh really? One would have thought a more interesting conversation would have been: A: Hey Tanaka, what make of car is that? B: See the sign that says Toyota on the front? Yeah that means it’s a Toyota…you idiot! ANYWAY… It wasn’t the best textbook in the world. However, drilling the dialogs out loud repeatedly really helped it all stick in my head. And as I discovered it improved my memory, pronunciation, speed and fluency. I didn’t become fluent immediately but my progress noticeably did speed up. Gap Fill Drills Another effective technique I discovered was gap fills. A gap fill is drilling a sentence and changing one word every time you repeat it. Take the following sentence and say this as many times as it takes to stick in your head: 日本語を上達させるためには勉強が大事だ Nihongo o jōtatsu suru tame ni wa benkyō ga daiji da To improve your Japanese fluency, study is important. Now you have learned that, you can say it again but this time change the word in red to something else so you can make a new sentence. 日本語を上達させるめには読書が大事だ Nihongo o jōtatsu suru tame ni wa dokusho ga daiji da To improve your Japanese fluency, study is important. You can also use a little humour to make things fun and memorable. 日本語を上達させるためにはコーヒーが大事だ Nihongo o jōtatsu suru tame ni wa kōhii ga daiji da To improve your Japanese fluency, coffee is important. The reason I love this technique is it allows you to drill and learn useful patterns of speech. But it also allows you to create an almost infinite number of new unique sentences. This is how fluency begins. Shadowing One last technique is shadowing. Shadowing involves playing audio and repeating out loud exactly what you hear. So just listen and repeat. The textbooks I mentioned earlier have audio CDs you can use. You could also shadow using youtube videos and even music CDs if you have them. Karaoke is also a great way to build your listening and speaking skills. So the are various ways to drill and all very effective in building your spoken muscle memory so you can develop automatic recall which is what you will need to speak Japanese fluently. 4. Paraphrase to develop Japanese Fluency Paraphrasing is the ability to express the meaning of something using different words. Being able to say the same thing using different words or phrases massively boosts your fluency because it forces you to expand your spoken vocabulary.  It’s not an easy skill and requires a fair amount of study. However it is worth it because it is a powerful technique for boosting your fluency. There are various ways you can paraphrase. Here are my favourite three. Explain a Japanese word in Japanese Being able to define a Japanese word in Japanese is a great exercise. For example, let’s use the word 暑い – Atsui – which as you probably know means hot. But can you describe what it means in Japanese? You could say 温度の高いもの – Ondo no takai mono – something with a high temperature. To do this yourself, use a good online Japanese dictionary such as the Goo dictionary at dictionary.goo.ne.jp Japanese Synonyms The second way is to find a synonym, that is another word which has a similar meaning. So you could use the word 熱 – Netsu – which means heat or fever. Or perhaps you can use the word 暖かい – Atatakai – which means warm. Japanese Antonyms The third way is to find an antonym, a phrase that means the opposite. If you use the negative form, it’s another way to paraphrase a word. For example, instead of 暑い you could say 寒くない which means not cold. You don’t have to use all these techniques but being able to define a Japanese word in Japanese is a really powerful skill you should study towards. Again, use a good Japanese dictionary to help you. There’s a good chapter on paraphrasing in Japanese in the book 13 Secrets for Speaking Fluent Japanese by Giles Murray. 5. Practice with Native Japanese Speakers Now, I know some of you might be shy, attached to your textbook or live in an area where there are very few Japanese people. One of the most common complaints I hear is “I have no Japanese friends to practice with”. However, if you really want to eventually be able to speak Japanese fluently you HAVE TO get out there and practice with native speakers. I know what you’re going to say; it’s impossible because [insert reason here…]. So here are some ideas that might possibly work for you. Get a Japanese teacher or enrol on a Japanese course. Use Meetup.com to locate and join a Japanese study group in your area. If not, make your own group. You never know, there may be other people interested in studying Japanese. Attend Japanese cultural events. Institutions such as The Japan Society based in New York hold regular events for promoting Japanese culture. There may be an event closer to you than you think! Use online language exchange sites. Although this is not an endorsement, you MIGHT find sites such as Lang-8 and iTalki useful for making online Japanese friends to practice with. If those methods don’t work for you, then there is only one option left… 5. Go to Japan I was incredibly lucky to be able to study Japanese intensively for one year in Tokyo when I was in university. I was able to take advantage of the language exchange program between my university in London and Tokyo. When I got to Japan, I had studied Japanese for a year. However, after living in a dormitory of Japanese guys who spoke next to no English and studying intensively everyday, my Japanese fluency rapidly improved. Not only that, it was one of the most enjoyable years I had at university. In fact if I hadn’t had that year, I don’t think my Japanese would be anywhere as good as it was today. So I highly recommend coming to Japan to fully immerse yourself in the culture, language and life in Japan. If you keep studying and practicing I guarantee you will make speedier progress than just studying on your own at home. If a year of intensive study sounds daunting, time consuming and expensive, I wont lie, it is. However, even if you can only manage to go for only a few months or weeks and enrol in a Japanese program, I recommend it as one of the most effective ways to make progress to Japanese fluently. These days there are lots of small colleges that do short Japanese courses for quite a reasonable price. Some of them will also help you with visa applications and a place to stay. So, if you haven’t, go to Japan my friend! 6. Extra Japanese Fluency Strategies and Mindset Let me finish this guide with a few more observations, strategies and mindsets that might help you to achieve your goal of learning to speak Japanese fluently. It’s about consistency, not intensity If you go to the gym on Monday and exercise for 10 hours, you won’t get fit. It’s much better to exercise a little everyday over the long term. In the same way, you want to study and use Japanese on a regular basis. Don’t just study Japanese, USE Japanese Of course you have to lay the groundwork and study Japanese regularly. However you also need to get out there and use it in real life. Always ask yourself, what will I be able to do if I study a particular lesson rather than trying to randomly cram words. This is also why you need to make Japanese friends if you haven’t! Japanese Grammar is essential, but limited When you start out in Japanese you have to study grammar to give you a framework to use to construct your own basic sentences. However, the more advanced you become, the less you will be able to rely on your textbook to learn natural patterns of speech. So get as much real speaking and listening practice as you can to pick up the real Japanese not in your textbooks. Learn the culture behind the words One thing I wished I had learned earlier was to have a deeper understanding of the culture behind the grammar and vocabulary I was learning. Learning more about Japanese culture gives you a much deeper understanding of the language and will make you a much better speaker. For example, understanding different levels of politeness in Japanese will give you a really good insight into the culture and make your Japanese sound more natural. Don’t be the foreigner who can speak fluent Japanese but just doesn’t “get it” and offends everyone. That’s called KY or Kuuki Yomei – someone who literally can’t “read the air” and is culturally unaware. You have been warned! Make you studies fun! This is kind of obvious but it’s worth saying. You have to make your studies fun, engaging and relevant to your interests. Don’t get too serious, have fun and good luck!

Learn Japanese Pod Fun Friday: Our Favourite Japanese Bands In our latest Fun Friday Podcast, Ami and I talked about our favourite Japanese bands and other recent news that has been happening in our lives Welcome to Learn Japanese Pod and the Fun Friday episode where we temporarily put down our Japanese textbooks and talk about Japanese culture and anything else to do with Japan that floats into our heads. In this episode, Ami sensei and I talked about our favorite Japanese bands. I kinda showed my age with some of my selection with some old classic Japanese bands most older people know. But Ami Sensei also likes some of those old classics too so we have a lot of music in common that we like. So here is a break down of some of the music we talked about. 1. Utada Hikaru – Fantome If you don’t know who Utada Hikaru is, you must have been living in a cave. She is a diva megastar of Japanese pop and has a long career spanning all the way back to the late 90s. Her latest album is Fantome and features quite an eclectic range of styles on the album. It’s definitely worth a listen and for me Utada is one of those go-to classic J-Pop stars you should have in your Japanese music collection. 2. Kick The Can Crew – Super original I hadn’t heard of Kick the Can Crew until Ami introduced them to me on the podcast. And on the first listen I really liked them. Japanese are masters of importing foreign culture and recreating it with their own unique interpretation. And rap is no exception. Japanese rap has come into its own and is considered to be a unique and innovative genre. If you like Kick the Can Crew and want to check out more great Japanese rap bands then you won’t go wrong with Rip Slyme and Dragon Ash. 3. Super Fly – Ai O Komete Hanataba O Super Fly is often called the Janis Joplin of J-Pop. She sings a mix of J-pop and rock and has a wide range and present vocal stle which is a refreshing break from your typical female Japanese singer. She has some pretty solid albums and songs out there and one of my favorites is 愛をこめて花束を Ai o komete hanataba – a song that really showcases some great song writing and powerful singing. That’ll definitely get your toes tapping. 4. Wednesday Campanella – Diablo Wednesday Campanella is a Japanese pop group headed by the super talented KOM_I, a singer and rapper with an hilarious sense of humour and a very original and creative style. In terms of genre it mixes rap, hop hop, electronic music and J-pop. Their videos are also pretty funny and worth a listen. 5. Okuda Tamio – Marshmallow Okuda Tamio is a singer song writer, guitarist and producer. He was formerly in a band called Unicorn which was pretty famous in Japan. He later quit to follow his own career. If you ask most Japanese people they will have heard of him and is also known for producing the hit band Puffy. The reason I like him is simple. In a word: guitar. As a nerdy guitarist I love the way he produces rock and gets an incredibly fat guitar sounds. Worth a listen! 6. Dry and Heavy – New Creation Back in the 90s, reggae hit Japan in a big way and the Japanese reggae scene was born. Today you have some really big reggae music events in Japan including the Reggae Sun Splash festival. One really solid Japanese reggae band I love is “Dry and heavy” which has an incredibly well produced and tight sound. One thing I have found is their albums age really well so they are always a good go to band of summer parties and something to listen to on the beach. 7. Urufuruzu – Osaka Strut ウルフルズ Urufuruzu are a rock band from Osaka and “Osaka Strut” is one of their big hits. The band is headed by the charismatic Tortoise Matsumoto who has also tried his hand at acting. They enjoyed their biggest initial success with the song “Guts Da Ze”, a song you should attempt only when you have achieved your black belt in Karaoke. 8. Southern All stars Southern All Stars are perhaps one of the most, if not, the most famous band in Japan. They have a long career stretching back to the late 70s and are still active now performing live and having their music featured in adverts and on TV. They have over 15 number one hits and, in short, are a legendary band. Go check them out, there’s a lot of music to choose from! 9. Begin Begin are one of my favorite bands for their great song writing and singing. Their music is influenced by the culture and history of Okinawa. You can hear the traditional San Shin in a lot of their music. It’s a 3 stringed guitar unique to Okinawa. Their most well known songs are “San shin no hana” and “Shimanchu nu takara”. 10. Mr Children Mr. Children (ミスターチルドレン Misutā Chirudoren)is rock group from Japan who are another mega group with a career going back to the early 90s. Known more commonly as “Misu-Chiru” (ミスチル), they are a band just about everyone has heard of in Japan. They have a large discography and an impressive share of number one hits. All I can say is, do a google search and see where that takes you as they have a fair bit of music out there.    

In this podcast, Ami Sensei and I teach you how to describe people’s personalities in natural Japanese. For more podcasts visit http://learnjapanesepod.com  

Topics include describing personalities in Japanese, discussing nationalities and age, and highlighting similarities among different individuals

Learn about using the casual form of the verb 'taberu' meaning 'to eat' in Japanese. Discover how to order coffee in Japanese and join the Learn Japanese Pod forum. Explore different forms of the verb 'taberu' and learn about 'kuki yomene' and 'ky' in Japanese culture.

In this podcast, Ami sensei and I teach you about using the verb 食べる in the casual form which is used between people who know each other well in an informal situation. This is how you conjugate the verb taberu in plain form or “dictionary form”. Plain form verb – Taberu Positive Negative Present 食べる Taberu (To eat) 食べない Tabenai (Not eat) Past 食べた Tabeta (Ate) 食べなかった Tabenakatta (Didn’t eat) Japanese Verbs – Taberu Dialog A: ね、食べる？ Ne taberu? You wanna eat? B: 食べない Tabenai. I don’t want to eat A: 食べないの？ Tabenai no? You don’t want to eat? B: もう食べたから。食べなかったの？ Mo tabeta kara. Tabenakatta no. Already ate. You didn’t eat? A: うん、食べなかった。食べようよ Un Tabenakatta. Tabeyō yo. I didn’t eat. Let’s eat! B: いらない、ひとりで食べて！ Iranai, hitori de tabete. I don’t want any. You eat by yourself. Grammatical Breakdown of Dialog Rule 1 – You can drop the subject before a Japanese verb The dialog starts with ね – Ne which means “Hey” and used to get attention to start a conversation. Then the next word is 食べる？ Taberu with a rising intonation. This literally means “Eat?”. One important thing to remember is that you don’t need to use the subject of the sentence as the meaning is understood from the context of the situation. If someone is looking at you and simply says “Taberu” with a rising inflection. You can be pretty sure that they mean “Do you want to eat”? which is what it means in this situation. In fact, this entire dialog is completely devoid of sentences with the words you or I in them. And this because… Rule 2 – You have to guess the meaning from the context As we continue to the next line in the dialog we have 食べない tabenai which means “not eat”. Again, from the context, you can guess this means “I don’t want to eat”. And context is everything here. This aspect of Japanese can make it easier for you to say more with less because minimalism is the key. It can also make it devilishly hard to understand what is being said because if you don’t understand the situation you won’t understand the conversation. Continuing we have 食べないの？Tabenai no which is literally “Not eat” + のno which signifies a question. This means “Not eat?” or “Don’t you want to eat?” Next we haveもう食べた Mō tabeta kara – This literally means “Already ate because” or “No because I already ate”. Then 食べなかったの Tabenakatta no – which means “didn’t eat” with the の question marker so “Didn’t you eat?”. Rule 3 – Yes means no and no means yes The answer to the question “Didn’t you eat” is うん 食べなかった Un Tabenakatta – Yes, I didn’t eat. This might be confusing as in English you would usually say: A: Didn’t you eat? B: No, I didn’t However in Japanese you have to say “Yes, I didn’t eat”. This is because in Japanese, when you say yes, you are agreeing directly with the statement that was just made so you could think of it as “Yes, it is true that I didn’t eat”. Rule 4 – Verbs ending in ō mean “Let’s do something” Next we hear 食べよう Tabeyō. This form of the verb is used to suggest or propose an idea. So it means “Let’s eat”. Theよ Yo at the end emphasizes the meaning more. Here are some more examples: 飲もうよ Nomō yo – Come on, let’s drink! 行こうよ Ikō yo – Come on, let’s go! やろうよ Yarō yo – Come on, let’s do this! Rule 5 – Verbs ending in “Te” can be an order to do something The last line of this dialog is いらいない Iranai – Not needed or more naturally “I don’t want any”. Finally we have 一人で食べて Hitori de tabete. Hitori means one person or in this case by yourself. 食べて Tabete is what’s called the “Te” form of the verb and is an order or request to do something so Tabete means “Eat!”. In this case the speaker is saying, “I don’t want any, you go ahead and eat by yourself”. What is Japanese plain verb form? In Japanese, there are various forms of politeness from very direct to extremely polite. Plain form verbs are considered to be less formal and are often used in casual conversation between friends and people of similar social rank in society. When looking up verbs in the dictionary, you will always find the plain form of the verb which is why they are also know as “dictionary form” verbs. The more formal and polite form is the -masu form which is conjugated for the verb Taberu like this: -Masu form verb – Taberu Positive Negative Present 食べます Tabemasu (To eat) 食べません Tabemasen (Not eat) Past 食べました Tabemashita (Ate) 食べませんでした Tabemasendeshita (Didn’t eat) The -masu form of the verb is used in more formal situations when to talking to people of senior rank. You will often here service staff use the -masu form of verbs to customers. Why study Japanese plain form verbs? When studying Japanese for the first time it is quite common to study -masu form verbs first. This may be because of tradition and perhaps Japanese teachers would rather give you all the polite Japanese first before you go out and offend people with the wrong level of politeness. This is not necessarily a bad idea and I would advise you to definitely learn polite -masu form verbs. However, in my experience, after studying almost exclusively polite Japanese in my first year of university, I found that around 90% of the conversations I was having was in plain form. That means, if you only learn the polite form, you will have difficulty understanding taking part in conversations and discussions with your Japanese friends, family and even coworkers. Should you learn the safer polite form or the more plain form first? Great question and I will let that heated debate continue as it always has. Of course, you should learn learn both verb forms. However learning plain form verbs is your key to understanding daily conversation and being able to speak Japanese more fluently.