Daily Life

Your day in Japanese

This module is about daily life: the times of day, the things you do, and the places you go. As before, every word is shown three ways: the script, the sound (romaji, our letters, in brackets), and the English.

Times of day

The parts of the day: - 朝 あさ (asa) = morning - 昼 ひる (hiru) = daytime - 夕方 ゆうがた (yuugata) = evening - 夜 よる (yoru) = night

Match each word to its meaning

Everyday activities

Some common things you do each day (in the dictionary form): - 食べる たべる (taberu) = to eat - 飲む のむ (nomu) = to drink - 寝る ねる (neru) = to sleep - 行く いく (iku) = to go

Match each verb to its meaning

Spot the verb

Which word means "to eat"?

• 食べる たべる (taberu)
• 飲む のむ (nomu)
• 寝る ねる (neru)
• 行く いく (iku)

Places

Two places that fill a day: - 学校 がっこう (gakkou) = school - 家 いえ (ie) = home / house So 学校に行く がっこうにいく (gakkou ni iku) means "to go to school".

Spot the word

Which word means "school"?

• 学校 がっこう (gakkou)
• 家 いえ (ie)
• 朝 あさ (asa)
• 夜 よる (yoru)

Actions, not things

Select the THREE words that are activities (verbs).

• 食べる たべる (taberu)
• 飲む のむ (nomu)
• 寝る ねる (neru)
• 朝 あさ (asa)
• 学校 がっこう (gakkou)
• 夜 よる (yoru)

A day in order

Put this simple daily routine in order, from the start of the day to the end.

• 朝 あさ (asa) - morning
• 学校に行く がっこうにいく (gakkou ni iku) - go to school
• 食べる たべる (taberu) - eat
• 寝る ねる (neru) - sleep

How the writing works

Japanese is written with three scripts at once: hiragana and katakana (syllable signs), and kanji (meaning-based characters that often stand for whole words). The romaji in brackets simply spells out the sounds using our own letters, to help you read.

The small particles do the work

The routine words become sentences once you add the small particles and put the verb at the end. The plain forms you have learnt become polite ones ending in ます:

Japanese puts the verb at the end and に after the time word

Japanese puts the verb at the end and に after the time word. Which of these says "I sleep at night"?

• 私は夜に寝ます わたしはよるにねます (watashi wa yoru ni nemasu)
• 寝ます私は夜に ねますわたしはよるに (nemasu watashi wa yoru ni)
• 私は夜寝ます わたしはよるねます (watashi wa yoru nemasu)
• 私は朝に食べます わたしはあさにたべます (watashi wa asa ni tabemasu)

Describe a day

Choose the right word to describe each part of the day.

• To talk about the morning, which word?
• To say to go (to school), which verb?
• To say to sleep at night, which verb?

The right word

Using the Japanese, complete: "morning" is _____, "school" is _____, "to eat" is _____, and "to sleep" is _____.

Daily life summary

Japanese uses _____ scripts together: hiragana, katakana and kanji. The word for morning is _____, and the word for school is _____. To say to eat, you use _____.