Rocket Japanese Newsletter Series
Konnichiwa and welcome to the Rocket Japanese Newsletter Series!
In this lesson, you’re going to look at how to answer personal questions, like how old you are, and whether you’re married or single. You’re going to learn how to say how many siblings you have, if you have children, and what your address and phone number are.
 |
Trouble Displaying Japanese Characters? |
 |
Being able to give personal details will be very useful for filling out forms or sharing your contact details.
You’ll have to know some numbers to be able to complete this lesson. Fortunately, you can answer most questions in this chapter with the basic numbers from one to ten and adding the appropriate counting suffixes.
Listen to the link below to hear the numbers from one to ten…
| 1- | ichi | 6- | roku | |||
| 2- | ni | 7- | nana | |||
| 3- | san | 8- | hachi | |||
| 4- | yonn/shi | 9- | kyū | |||
| 5- | go | 10- | jyū |
Let’s go through some of the most common questions you might be asked, whether you’re filling out a registration form in a hotel or at the consulate getting a new passport. In these situations, you’ll be addressed with ”Anata” the formal form of “you.” So, though you have seen some of these questions before, all the questions below are expressed formally.
| What’s your name? | Anata no namae wa nan desuka? | |
| Where are you from? | Anata no shusshin wa doko desuka? | |
| What’s your nationality? | Anata no kokuseki wa doko desuka? | |
| How old are you? | Anata wa o ikutsu desuka? / Anata wa nansai desuka? | |
| What is your date of birth? | Anato no o tanjyō bi wa itsu desuka? | |
| Do you have siblings? | Go kyōdai wa imasuka? | |
| How many siblings do you have? | Go kyōdai wa nan-nin desuka? | |
| Do you have children? | (Anata ni wa) O kosan wa imasuka? | |
| How many children do you have? | O kosan wa nan-nin desuka? | |
| Are you married? | (Anata wa) kekkon shite imasuka? | |
| What is your address? | Anata no jyūsho -wa nan desuka? / -o oshiete kudasai | |
| What is your telephone number? | Anata no denwa bangō wa nanban desuka? | |
| What is your cell phone number? | Anata no keitai bangō wa nanban desuka? | |
| What is your passport number? | Anata no ryoken bangō wa nanban desuka ? | |
| What is your email address? | Anata no mēru adoresu wa nan desuka? |
Answers
When you’re responding, you can follow one of the simple formats below. Just insert the appropriate information in the brackets. When you talk about your date of birth you have to add the ending after year, month, and day – nen – gatsu – nichi or ka, accordingly to the number. For example: “Watashi no tanjyō bi wa 1984-nen Go-gatsu Itsu-ka desu.” (05.04.1984).
| My name is [your name]. | Watashi no namae wa [your name] desu. | |
| I’m from [country name]. | Watashi wa [country name] kara kimashita. | |
| I’m [nationality]. | Watashi wa [nationality] -jin desu. | |
| I am [number] years old. | Watashi wa [number] –sai desu. | |
| My birthday is on the [day] of [month] [year]. | Watashi no tanjyō bi wa [year] –nen [month] –gatsu [date] –ka/nichi desu. | |
| Yes, I have siblings / No, I have no siblings. (I am an only child) |
Ee, kyōdai ga imasu / Iie, kyōdai wa imasen. (Watashi wa hitori-ko desu) | |
| I have [number] siblings. | Watashi wa [number]-nin kyōdai ga imasu. | |
| Yes, I have [number] children / No, I have no children. | Ee, [number-hitori, futari, san] –nin kodomo ga imasu / Iie, kodomo wa imasen. | |
| I have [number] children. | [number] –nin kodomo ga imasu. | |
| Yes, I’m married / No, I’m not married. (I am single) | Ee, kekkon shite imasu/ Iie, kekkon shite imasen. (Watashi wa dokushin desu) | |
| My address is [your address]. | Watashi no jyūsho wa [your address] desu. | |
| My telephone number is [your number]. | Watashi no denwa bangō wa [your number] desu. | |
| My cell phone number is [your number]. | Watashi no keitai bangō wa [your number] desu. | |
| My passport number is [your number]. | Watashi no ryoken bangō wa [your number] desu. |
Filling out Forms
If you find yourself being asked to fill out forms with your personal details, you won’t get the complete questions that you’ve studied above. Instead, you’ll get short words or phrases.
| Name | Namae | Matsuura Sayaka | |
| Nationality | Kokuseki | nihon (japan) | |
| Gender | Sei | onna (female) | |
| Age | Toshi | 24 | |
| Date of birth | Tanjyō bi | 1982.6.26 | |
| Address | Jyūsho | Shibuya-ku go-chōme | |
| Telephone number | Denwa bangō | 03-555-555 | |
| Mobile number | Keitai bangō | 090-555-555 | |
| Passport number | Ryoken bangō | 1111111 |
That’s it for today’s lesson.
Sayaka Matsuura
Rocket Japanese
|
P.S. Don't forget to check out my special bonus offer only available for 6 Day Course subscribers:
http://www.rocketlanguages.com/japanese/trial_special_offer2.php |
P.P.S. If you’d like to practice what you’ve learned in this lesson, just read on!
Exercise 1. Pretend that you are in Japan checking in to the Hotel Miyako. Write in your response in Japanese to the questions below. (There isn’t one single right answer.)
| Receptionist: | O namae wa? |
| You: | _________________________________ |
| Receptionist: | Anata no kokuseki wa? |
| You: | _________________________________ |
| Receptionist: | Anata no jyūsho wa nan desu ka? |
| You: | _________________________________ |
Exercise 2. Read the following conversation and translate it into English below.
| Guest: | Ee, san-nin kodomo ga imasu. |
| Host: | O kosan wa imasuka? |
| Guest: | Ee, kekkon shite imasu. |
| Host: | Kekkon shite imasuka? |
| Guest: | _______________________________________ |
| Host: | _______________________________________ |
| Guest: | _______________________________________ |
| Host: | _______________________________________ |
Previous Newsletters
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09
