Travel and Tourist Transactions

きっぷを ください

Japanese words rarely change their shape. What changes the meaning of a sentence is the tiny word that comes AFTER each noun, and this module is about three of them. Every word below is shown four ways: the kana reading first, then the kanji where there is one, then romaji in brackets, then the English. Learn the kana reading, because that is the form the exam board puts first, and remember that work written in romaji earns no credit.

Travel words in Japanese

The nouns a traveller needs:

Match each word to its meaning

The three little words

A particle goes AFTER the noun it belongs to and says what job that noun is doing. を marks the thing itself: きっぷを かいます, I buy a ticket. Note that を is used only ever as this particle, and it is pronounced o. The other two decide where and how.

Which particle?

You want to say "I go to the station". Which is right?

• えきに いきます (eki ni ikimasu)
• えきで いきます (eki de ikimasu)
• えきを いきます (eki o ikimasu)
• えき いきます (eki ikimasu)

Choose the particle

きっぷ_____ かいます。えき_____ いきます。でんしゃ_____ いきます。

Asking and buying

Three expressions finish the transaction:

Order the exchange

Put a short transaction at the ticket window into a sensible order.

• Ask for what you want: きっぷを ください
• Ask the price: いくらですか
• Hand over おかね, the money
• Ask where to go next, using どこ
• Say where you are going: えきに いきます

Which are right?

Select the TWO sentences that use the right particle.

• きっぷを かいます, I buy a ticket
• でんしゃで いきます, I go by train
• えきを いきます, I go to the station
• きっぷに かいます, I buy a ticket

えきで

You are at the station and heading for the airport. Choose the right Japanese each time.

• You want to ask for a ticket. Which is right?
• You want to say you are going to the airport (くうこう).
• You want to say you are going BY train (でんしゃ).

Tickets and particles in Japanese

The Japanese for a ticket is _____ and for a station is _____. A particle goes _____ the noun it belongs to. The thing you buy takes _____, the place you are going to takes _____, and the way you travel takes で.

Where the ticket took you

Write in English about a journey where you bought a ticket and travelled somewhere. Say what you bought, where you went and how, and explain what Japanese makes you mark that English does not.

• Say where you were going and how you travelled
• Say what you had to buy, and which Japanese particle would mark it
• Explain the difference between えきに いきます and えきで かいます
• Say where a Japanese particle sits in relation to its noun, and why leaving it out does not work