Practice
“This, That, & That Over There”
Wow. Cool. So you’re starting to make your sentences more like sentences. It’s like you’ve graduated from baby talk and now you’re doing toddler talk. Not bad, considering you probably didn’t take two to three years to get here, right? Dumb babies.
Let’s start with sentences for this chapter. It includes things you’ve learned up to this point, so as long as you’ve stayed up to date on your decks, you should be somewhat okay!
Sentences
Read through the sentences. Make sure you can say them all and read them all (out loud). Then, after you’re done, we’ll worry about the meaning.
a これ は えんぴつ です。
a それ は えんぴつ です。
a あれ は えんぴつ です。
a これ は いす です。
a あれ は みず じゃありません。
a それ は たべもの じゃありませんでした。
a あれ は にほん でした。
a あれ は でんしゃ ですか？・はい、あれ は でんしゃ です。
a これ は でんわ です。
a これ は あさごはん ですか？
a あれ は じてんしゃ ですか？
a これ は のみもの です。
a これ は なん ですか？
a それ は なん ですか？
a あれ は なん ですか？
a それ は なに？
a これ は なん ですか？ ・ それ は めがね です。
a あれ は よしかわせんせい ですか？
a わたくし は あゆみ です。
a これ は にく じゃありません！
a なかだせんぱい は がくせい です。
a これ は ふゆ です！
Now that you’re able to read all of these (and probably understand quite a few of them, too), let’s get to testing yourself on the meaning. Of course, this involves importing the next Sentences deck.
Import this deck into your “TextFugu Sentences” deck on Anki, then go through a round. When you’re done, you can move on to the next section.
Adding To The Passion List
Now we’re going to add to your passion list a little. Because you know これ, それ, and あれ, you can talk about the nouns in your list more effectively. Chances are, if you’re passionate about something, you have some of those things. Gather some of those things around you, and (knowing the words for those things already) pick them up, look at them, and say:
“これは＿＿＿＿です。”
Then, take those things and move them around your room, away from you. Now say:
“あれは＿＿＿＿です。”
Then, lastly, if you have someone else, give some of those things to them. Say:
“それは＿＿＿＿です。”
Make sure you get the これ, それ, and あれ stuff right. It’s the grammar we’re mostly focusing on right now. Main thing is that I want you to try (in real life) the different distances in regards to things you already have and know. By doing it in real life, you’ll see and understand the differences (and distances) between これ, それ, and あれ, making them stick more nicely in your mind.
Plus, don’t you want to see the look on someone’s face when you hand them a random object and then tell them what it is in Japanese? Kind of priceless.
Before You Move On
Before you move on, you should make sure you’ve done the following things:
- Know これ, それ, and あれ (their differences, how to say them, which one is which, etc)
- Know なに・なん
- Be able to ask “what is this/that/that over there?”
- Be able to ask “Is that a ____” (or “is this a ____?” or “is that over there a ____?”)
- Know the first five 3-stroke kanji meanings.
- Know a decent number of the 3-stroke kanji vocab (from the kanji you’ve learned in this chapter).
- Be able to read and say out loud the sentences on the practice page.
- Know the meanings of the practice page sentences.
- Go through the “passion list” exercise.
When you’re able to do all these things, move on to the next chapter. Time to learn to count to a bajillionish.