Let's start with the basics. When you do a じこしょうかい (self introduction), you will often be asked to say a little bit about your family. In Japan, family is very important, and people will often be curious as to how many people are in your family, how old they are, what they do for work and/or study etc. One question you will hear very often is:
かぞく は なんにん 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 何人 (なんにん).
- 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.
- Are there any other times you have used 何 (なん/なに) in your じこしょうかい unit? Take a look back and see if you can work out a rule for when 何 is read as なん and when it is read as なに.
Responding:
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. Confused? Module 1.2 and your grammar notes have further explanation of particle の 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 there is no か at the end of the sentence. When か is at the end of the sentence, it acts as a question mark. Therefore, we do not need it in the response as we are not asking another question! |
*** Remember, even though they both mean "I" or "me", わたし is feminine, ぼく is masculine *** |
Congratulations! You have the subject of your sentence!
You're halfway there!
You've got the subject part of the sentence, now you need to answer the question. Let's take a look at the question again:
かぞく は なんにん ですか。
So, you've worked out how to phrase the subject of the sentence (i.e., your family). How do we do the rest? Well, that's where your awesome samurai counting skills come in!
Take a look at the underlined section of the question. Notice how the two parts of なんにん (何/なん and 人/にん) are very similar to your counting people vocabulary? That's where you will put the number of people in your response. For example:
かぞく は さんにん です。There are 3 people in (my) family.
わたし/ぼくのかぞく は さんにん です。 There are 3 people in my family.
あきらくんのかぞく は さんにん です。 There are 3 people in Akira's family.
Take a look at the underlined section of the question. Notice how the two parts of なんにん (何/なん and 人/にん) are very similar to your counting people vocabulary? That's where you will put the number of people in your response. For example:
かぞく は さんにん です。There are 3 people in (my) family.
わたし/ぼくのかぞく は さんにん です。 There are 3 people in my family.
あきらくんのかぞく は さんにん です。 There are 3 people in Akira's family.
So, we get the grammar structure:
subject は [number of people] です。
Where the subject is family (yours or someone else's)
*** Please write this down in your notebook ***
subject は [number of people] 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 one sentence answering the question: かぞく は なんにん ですか。
Class activity
Using the question 「かぞく は なんにん ですか。」interview three of your classmates. Write their responses using the following grammar point:
subject は number of people です。
HINT: You will need to specify whose family you are talking about, and use appropriate in-group/out-group vocabulary.
subject は number of people です。
HINT: You will need to specify whose family you are talking about, and use appropriate in-group/out-group vocabulary.
You're done!
Great job! Move on to Module 3.