* 何かできることがありますか？ – nanika dekiru koto ga arimasuka? – Is there anything I can do?
This is good to learn because grammatically it is useful, and because it is a good phrase to know if you’re around Japanese people a lot.
* コーヒー飲む人？ – koohii nomu hito? – Does anyone want coffee?
You can replace “drink coffee” with whatever you want. 牛丼食べる人？ gyuudon taberu hito? “Who wants to eat a beef bowl?”
You’re using the sentence “drink coffee” to modify the noun “person” and are using that to ask if anyone here wants to drink coffee. You’re technically leaving off half the sentence, which would be something like, “koohii nomu hito ga imasuka?”
* 寝た方がいいと思う – neta hou ga ii to omou – I think you should sleep
This is how you say “should” while not being rude. Just ignore things like “beki” for now. past tense verb + “hou ga ii” works in pretty much any situation without sounding rude. “I think you should eat” – “tabeta hou ga ii to omoimasu.”
* 寝ない方がいいと思う – nenai hou ga ii to omou – I don’t think you should sleep
Same as above, just including this because when you say the negative you don’t use the past tense.
* 聞き取りなかった – kikitorinakatta – I didn’t catch that
If you say “mou ichido itte kudasai” it literally means “Say that one more time” but people hear that and think, “They don’t speak Japanese, so I better switch to English or rephrase my sentence.”
This phrase, “kikitorinakatta” literally just means, “I didn’t hear you,” and when people hear you say that, they’ll be much more likely to actually just repeat what they said.
* 聞き取りませんでした – kikitorimasen deshita – I didn’t catch that
Same as above, just more polite.
* 食べてもいいですか？ – tabetemo ii desuka – May I eat it?
“te” form of a verb plus “mo ii desuka” makes it into a “May I?” question.
写真とってもいいですか？ – shashin tottemo ii desuka – May I take a picture?
試してもいいですか？ – tameshitemo ii desuka – May I try it?
3 comments
any of the “who/what/when/where/why/how” sentence structures
Xは何ですか？何って/何と呼びますか？何X？
Xは誰ですか？
いつX？
どこにXか？Xはどこですか？
どうやってX？
なんで/どうしてX？
どういう意味ですか
これなんというんですか
* 何かできることがありますか？ – nanika dekiru koto ga arimasuka? – Is there anything I can do?
This is good to learn because grammatically it is useful, and because it is a good phrase to know if you’re around Japanese people a lot.
* コーヒー飲む人？ – koohii nomu hito? – Does anyone want coffee?
You can replace “drink coffee” with whatever you want. 牛丼食べる人？ gyuudon taberu hito? “Who wants to eat a beef bowl?”
You’re using the sentence “drink coffee” to modify the noun “person” and are using that to ask if anyone here wants to drink coffee. You’re technically leaving off half the sentence, which would be something like, “koohii nomu hito ga imasuka?”
* 寝た方がいいと思う – neta hou ga ii to omou – I think you should sleep
This is how you say “should” while not being rude. Just ignore things like “beki” for now. past tense verb + “hou ga ii” works in pretty much any situation without sounding rude. “I think you should eat” – “tabeta hou ga ii to omoimasu.”
* 寝ない方がいいと思う – nenai hou ga ii to omou – I don’t think you should sleep
Same as above, just including this because when you say the negative you don’t use the past tense.
* 聞き取りなかった – kikitorinakatta – I didn’t catch that
If you say “mou ichido itte kudasai” it literally means “Say that one more time” but people hear that and think, “They don’t speak Japanese, so I better switch to English or rephrase my sentence.”
This phrase, “kikitorinakatta” literally just means, “I didn’t hear you,” and when people hear you say that, they’ll be much more likely to actually just repeat what they said.
* 聞き取りませんでした – kikitorimasen deshita – I didn’t catch that
Same as above, just more polite.
* 食べてもいいですか？ – tabetemo ii desuka – May I eat it?
“te” form of a verb plus “mo ii desuka” makes it into a “May I?” question.
写真とってもいいですか？ – shashin tottemo ii desuka – May I take a picture?
試してもいいですか？ – tameshitemo ii desuka – May I try it?
飲んでもいいですか？ – nonndemo ii desuka – May I drink it?