Listing family members
So, you know vocabulary about who is in your family, but how do we put it into practice? Let's go ahead and answer the question:
かぞく は だれ ですか。
With the person next to you, complete the following to break down this sentence. Write your answers in your notebook.
- In your notebook, write the above question.
- Use your vocabulary lists to find the meaning of かぞく and だれ.
- What do the particles highlighted in red do? Think back to your work on your じこしょうかい (self introduction) and look for similarities in question structure. Take a look at your じこしょうかい notes and workbook for a hint.
Great work!
Now that you've broken down the sentence, you can use it as a model to create your response.
Notice how かぞく (family) comes before the particle は. This is because the particle は identifies the subject of the sentence (i.e., who/what this sentence is about) and comes directly after the person/thing you want the sentence to be about. In this case, you are talking about your family, so, just like the question, you put かぞく (family) directly before particle は. So we get:
かぞく は___________________です。
かぞく は___________________です。
Remember: です goes at the end of Japanese sentences that state or describe something.
If you don't have です, you haven't finished your sentence!
If you don't have です, you haven't finished your sentence!
Next, we need to specify who's family it is. In Japanese, if you don't specify whose object/thing it is, it is generally assumed you are talking about yours or the person who you've been talking about previously from context. However, it's always good to get more particle practice, so let's be specific!
Remember the particle の? It functions exactly like an 's for the person/thing that comes directly before it. For example:
かぞく
Family
わたし の かぞく
My family (feminine)
ぼく の かぞく
My family (masculine)
きむさん の かぞく
Kim's family
So, if we add that to the previous section, we get:
わたしのかぞくは______ です。
ぼくのかぞくは_______です。
Notice how the response has removed か from the end of the question. Why don't we use か when responding to a question?
Remember the particle の? It functions exactly like an 's for the person/thing that comes directly before it. For example:
かぞく
Family
わたし の かぞく
My family (feminine)
ぼく の かぞく
My family (masculine)
きむさん の かぞく
Kim's family
So, if we add that to the previous section, we get:
わたしのかぞくは______ です。
ぼくのかぞくは_______です。
Notice how the response has removed か from the end of the question. Why don't we use か when responding to a question?
Introducing particleと
In order to list people/objects/things, Japanese uses particle と. You can think about と as the Japanese equivalent of "and". You use と when you are listing people/objects/things, and it is an exhaustive list (i.e., you are listing every single item).
That's great, but how do we use と now?
You can use と in between the words for family members to explain who is in your family! For example:
わたしのかぞく は ちちとははとあに です。
My family is my father, my mother, and my older brother.
まりこさんのかぞく は おとうさんとおかあさんといもうとさんとおとうとさん です。
Mariko's family is her father, mother, younger sister and younger brother.
Why are there different words used for my family members and Mariko's family members?
わたしのかぞく は ちちとははとあに です。
My family is my father, my mother, and my older brother.
まりこさんのかぞく は おとうさんとおかあさんといもうとさんとおとうとさん です。
Mariko's family is her father, mother, younger sister and younger brother.
Why are there different words used for my family members and Mariko's family members?
So, we get the grammar structure:
subject は [list of family members] です。
Where the subject is family (yours or someone else's)
*** Please write this down in your notebook ***
subject は [list of family members] です。
Where the subject is family (yours or someone else's)
*** Please write this down in your notebook ***
Activity
Translate the following into English:
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Translate the following into Japanese:
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Write a sentence in Japanese to state Lisa's family members in the picture below. Be sure to use appropriate in-group/out-group vocabulary!
You're done!
Great job! Move on to Module 2.