Sentence Starter Pack 1
So I was sitting there, thinking…”it’s pretty mean to tell people to go find sentences and not even throw them a freaking bone”. So here it is, a few sentences to get you started, or, if you are started, to help you along the way.
They’re based on Yale Anime Society’s list of the 100 Most Essential Words in Anime. These are the first 10 words (1 - 10) on that list.
If you like, I can add more, just let me know (via comment or email) whether you like them or not. I made a point of making this list small, and most of it is based on the Goo dictionary entries, so there shouldn’t be any mistakes. If there are, flame me with nasty correctional comments and/or email.
Q: 道路で遊ぶのは危ない
A: どう・ろ で あそ・ぶ のは（のわ）あぶない (PL2)
Street [in] play [business as-for] dangerous
It is dangerous to play in the street
Q: 子への愛
A: こ への あい (PL3)
Child [toward] love
Love toward a child
Q: 結婚の相手
A: けっ・こん の あい・て (PL3)
Partner [in] marriage
Marriage partner
Q: 教えてくれて有り難う
A: おし・えて 呉れて あ・り がと・う (PL2)
Teach [you-give-me] thanks
Thanks for teaching (me) (教える can mean teach or inform/tell, depending, of course, on the context)
教える（おし・える）
呉れる（く・れる）
Q: 馬鹿な奴
A: ば・か な やつ (PL2)
Stupid [adjective-suffix] guy
Dimwit!
Q: 馬鹿か、お前は！
A: ばか か お・まえ は（わ） (PL1, PL2)
Retard [question] you [as-for]
Are you a retard or what?
→You flipping retard!
→What’s wrong with you?
Q: 化け物が出た
A: ば・け もの が でた (PL2)
Monster [subject] appeared
A monster appeared
出る（で・る）
Q: べーだ
A: ♪Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah♪ (PL2)
Q: あの娘、美人じゃない
A: あの こ び・じん じゃない (PL2)
That girl babe [isn’t she]
That girl’s a total babe, huh.
→That girl’s a total babe, isn’t she
じゃない comes from では(わ)ない
では（わ） frequently gets shortened to じゃ
娘 is usually pronounced むすめ and means “daughter”, but this is a common exception.
Q: 「アメリカの方ですか?」 「あっ！ 違います、カナダの者です」
A: 「あめりか の かた です か」 「あっ。ちがいます かなだ の もの です」 (PL4)
“Are you, honorable Sir/Madam, an American?” “Oh dear no, I am humbly Canadian.”
違う（ちが・う）
This is an example of 敬語（けい・ご）, super-polite Japanese.
There are 4 basic elements to 敬語（けい・ご）, two of which are:
1. 尊敬語（そん・けい・ご） respectful words, used when referring to other people, their property and actions
2. 謙譲語(けん・じょう・ご) humble words, used when referring to oneself, one’s property and actions.
方(かた) is the 尊敬語(そんけいご) for 人（ひと）= person
者 is the 謙譲語（けんじょうご） for 人(ひと) = person
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Andrei said,
November 6, 2006 @ 8:26 am
I, for one, like the idea. More phrases won’t be a bad idea
Jo said,
November 6, 2006 @ 9:54 am
I also think this is a great idea, and extremely usefull. Thanks already for all the great content you already posted.
Charley Garrett said,
November 6, 2006 @ 10:51 am
Thanks for the sentences! I’ll add them to my growing collection! I still have the majority of the 1 万 sentences ahead of me.
faB said,
January 28, 2007 @ 1:17 am
Thank you,
what does (PL1), (PL2), etc mean ?
dddave said,
February 21, 2007 @ 5:42 pm
Q: 教えてくれて有り難う
A: おし・えて 呉れて あ・り がと・う (PL2)
I spent ten minutes trying to figure out what 教えてくれて is before noticing the answer section. Is the くれて supposed to be 呉れて?
furrykef said,
March 8, 2007 @ 9:14 pm
faB - PL1 through PL4 indicate politeness level.
PL1 - rude or very colloquial language (use with extreme caution).
PL2 - normal plain speech, often marked by using plain forms of verbs, like “da” instead of “desu”, “aru” instead of “arimasu”, etc.
PL3 - polite speech, the kind foreigners are encouraged to learn first. Often marked by using polite forms like “desu” instead of “da”, etc.
PL4 - very formal/honorific speech, used when addressing superiors and the like. Instead of “desu” you might use “de gozaimasu”, etc.
As an example, I think “doumo” is probably around PL2, “doumo arigatou” is certainly PL3, and “doumo arigatou gozaimasu” is probably around PL4, although I think all three of them are fairly close to PL3. Not having any real command of the language, though, I could be wrong.
It’s used to mark the sentence as a whole, not the words used in the sentence. For instance, using a humble verb in reference to yourself may be PL4, but using the same verb in reference to who you’re talking to could be PL1!
I learned this system from “Learn Japanese Through Comics” and related books. I don’t know where else it might be used.
- Kef
Hans said,
September 12, 2007 @ 7:05 am
Are you saying that in the MEMO, the question field will have something like this:
Q: 道路で遊ぶのは危ない
and the answer will contain this:
A: どう・ろ で あそ・ぶ のは（のわ）あぶない (PL2)
Street [in] play [business as-for] dangerous
It is dangerous to play in the street
I’m confused about how you’ve suggested avoiding english
khatzumoto said,
September 12, 2007 @ 7:07 am
>avoiding english
It’s OK in the beginning. Later, it would be best to avoid it…
Smilax said,
November 4, 2007 @ 10:07 pm
I aksed my Japanese friend about the “Are you a retard or what?” phrase and he said it usually works without the “yo”. Is this true? I can’t write in Japanese on this computer, sorry. @_@
khatzumoto said,
November 5, 2007 @ 11:57 am
Yeah, he’s right. Both ways work, I think. But now that you mention it, without the よ sounds better (and gets more Google hits, too).
BTW, trust your friend over me, [in all things but kanji…lol].
Low Key said,
February 13, 2008 @ 12:33 am
How important is the second line in the definition? I’m finding it really hard to translate each word and particle directly without relation to each other. Especially since some words have no English equivalent. It’s basically impossible without looking up grammar rules, and then I end up with confusing messes like this:
“とう・きょう と おお・さか と どちら の ほう が たくさん あめ が ふりますか
Tokyo [and] Osaka [and which] [the way of] [sub. marker] much rain [sub. marker] falls [question]
Which has more rain, Tokyo or Osaka?”
Doesn’t this fall into the trap of attempting to dissect the language? Could I skip this part and just include definitions of new words? ps. This website is an amazing resource
I wish I’d found it months ago. The way I used to learn Japanese was cringe worthy.
khatzumoto said,
February 14, 2008 @ 8:40 am
>Doesn’t this fall into the trap of attempting to dissect the language?
You’re right, it does.
>Could I skip this part and just include definitions of new words?
Yes, you could. If you still need a translation you could just keep a “natural” translation.
Roderik said,
March 21, 2008 @ 3:01 am
I would like to second Jo on “I also think this is a great idea, and extremely useful.” More sentences, especcialy sentences like these which are actually both a lot of fun to use and very helpful in day-to-day conversations are highly wanted :).
Apart from that, thanks a lot for this website of infinite motivation.
Stephen said,
May 21, 2008 @ 1:03 am
Hey Khatz, looks like the 100 Most Essential Words in Anime link has moved: http://www.yale.edu/anime/essential-words.pdf
Also, on your sidebar, you have a link to http://www.japanese.carliek.com/. Looks like carliek.com is gone for good.
Spanish sentences - starter pack « Spanish Only said,
June 12, 2008 @ 11:36 pm
[…] you, are 100 nice, not too hard, sentences to start with and on which you should build further (Khatzu had something like this, but didn’t provide much sentences, which I […]
Ezra Martinez said,
August 22, 2008 @ 10:36 pm
wait wait so for the question i put the Japaneses sentence as is with no alteration and for the answer i put the translation to each individual word in english + a kana version too or just the english translation only????
o and whats that dot you put between these characters for? どう・ろ
kev said,
October 22, 2008 @ 2:31 pm
I don’t suppose anyone out there would be so wonderfully and splendidly willing to make audio snippets of these phrases being said at an approximately native rhythm/stress? I have come across a lot of phrases but, as I’m just beginning, it’s really difficult to look at a random phrase and know how to say it correctly… And as Anki has nice audio accompaniment for its flashcards this would be an excellent combo!
Cheers!
-kev