Who Am I? - Family and Personal Characteristics

Reading Japanese

Japanese is unusual: it is written with three scripts at once, mixed inside the same sentence. - Hiragana and katakana are sets of syllable signs. - Kanji are meaning-based characters that often stand for a whole word. 私, 父 and 家族 are kanji. Every word here is shown three ways: the script, the sound in brackets (romaji, written with our letters), and the English. Romaji is a tool for learners, not a fourth script: no Japanese text is written in it.

The words

Five words to start with. The first two introduce you, and the others are the people around you:

Match each word to its meaning

Read the script

父 ちち (chichi) means my _____, and 母 はは (haha) means my _____. 家族 かぞく (kazoku) is the whole _____, while 友達 ともだち (tomodachi) is a _____, who is not part of it.

Older or younger?

Japanese has no single word for "brother" or "sister". It insists on knowing whether they are older or younger than you, so English speakers have to supply information they are not used to thinking about:

Which two words?

Your brother is two years OLDER than you, and your sister is three years YOUNGER. Which two words do you need?

• 兄 あに (ani) and 妹 いもうと (imouto)
• 弟 おとうと (otouto) and 姉 あね (ane)
• 兄 あに (ani) and 姉 あね (ane)
• 弟 おとうと (otouto) and 妹 いもうと (imouto)

Two sentences to keep

These words become sentences with the help of small particles and a closing verb: - 私の名前はアンナです わたしのなまえはアンナです (watashi no namae wa Anna desu) = "my name is Anna". の links 私 わたし to 名前 to make "my name", は marks that as what the sentence is about, and です closes it. - 私は兄と弟がいます わたしはあにとおとうとがいます (watashi wa ani to otouto ga imasu) = "I have an older brother and a younger brother". と joins the two people, が marks them as what exists, and います is "there is" for people. Both end with the verb, which is where English would never put it.

Inside the sentence

Here is the same sentence written in kana only, わたしのなまえはアンナです, split into its parts. Tap the particle that LINKS two nouns, and the word that CLOSES the sentence.

• わたし
• の
• なまえ
• は
• アンナ
• です

Pick the sentence

Which of these says "my name is Anna"?

• 私の名前はアンナです わたしのなまえはアンナです (watashi no namae wa Anna desu)
• 私名前はアンナです わたしなまえはアンナです (watashi namae wa Anna desu)
• 私の名前はアンナ わたしのなまえはアンナ (watashi no namae wa Anna)
• 私は兄と弟がいます わたしはあにとおとうとがいます (watashi wa ani to otouto ga imasu)

Build the sentence

Put these six parts in the right order to say "my name is Anna".

• 私 わたし (watashi) - I
• の (no) - the linking particle
• 名前 なまえ (namae) - name
• は (wa) - the topic particle
• アンナ (Anna) - the name itself
• です (desu) - is

Say it properly

You are introducing yourself and your family in Japanese. Work through three decisions.

• You want to say "my name is Anna". Which word has to come LAST?
• Which particle links 私 わたし to 名前 なまえ to make "my name"?
• You have one brother older than you and one younger. Which sentence says so?

Having and existing

私は兄と弟がいます says "I have an older brother and a younger brother". と (to) joins the two _____ together, が (ga) marks them as what exists, and います (imasu) means "there _____" and is the form used for people. Now notice what is missing: Japanese has no separate verb for "_____", so where English says "I have a brother", Japanese says something closer to "as for me, a brother _____".

Four words for two

English has two words, "brother" and "sister". Japanese has four. Explain to somebody starting Japanese what the extra distinction is, and why English speakers keep getting it wrong.

• Name the four Japanese words and say what each one means
• Say what information Japanese requires that English does not
• Give an example of an English sentence you could NOT translate without more information
• Say what question you would have to ask before you could translate it

Japanese summary

Japanese is written using _____ scripts together: hiragana, katakana and kanji. The word for family is _____, an older brother is _____, and a sentence like 私の名前はアンナです わたしのなまえはアンナです is closed by _____, which comes last.