Kaede's thread of practice sentences.

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by Kaede

3 more quick ones before I leave for home...

There is only one mistake.

I didn't state this last time but I'm only looking at (and correcting) your Kana sentences. I don't read or write romaji.

#9
kyoo wa nanyoobi desu ka
きょうはなにょおびですか 　なにょおび　＞　なんようび. There is no small kana in this
What day is it today?

[Kaede]

Thanks again! Yes I understand this point too. When I read it back I managed to confuse myself when I couldn't find the なん.

The romaji is there as this is the style of the book I am learning from. However, as I'm finding out, it can make translating to hiragana that bit more confusing. I need to pay more attention.

Here's one I was thinking about yesterday that could come in useful:

#12
sumimasen. anata o chotto hanashimasu ka.
すみません. あなたをちょっと はなします か
Excuse me. Can I talk to you? (a little)

I think this is correct, but I'm sure this isn't the best way of saying it?

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by Kaede

The romaji is there as this is the style of the book I am learning from. However, as I'm finding it out it can make translating to hiragana that bit more confusing. I need to pay more attention.

This is one of the reasons that I say what I say in my signature. Dependence on romaji will forever cause you "wrong spelling" in Japanese as you have proved it to yourself with "Tokyo".

When you go on to learning kanji later on, you won't be able to get 東京 unless you first spell it とうきょう and convert it to kanji. Typing ときょ first will not get you 東京 as ときょ is simply a non-existing word.

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by Kaede

#12
sumimasen. anata o chotto hanashimasu ka.
すみません. あなたをちょっと はなします か
Excuse me. Can I talk to you? (a little)

I think this is correct, but I'm sure this isn't the best way of saying it?

We use a different particle to say "talk to someone".

あなたを　＞　あなたと

はなしますか　＞　おはなししてもいいですか or おはなしできますか
There are better and politer ways of saying this but it will be this long at the very least.

In real life, though, native speakers rarely use pronons, so we would say:

すみません。ちょっとおはなしできますか。

[Kaede]

Great! I didn't know that 'と' could be used in that sense!

And yes, I must remember to use the pronouns less. As an English native speaker, I use far more words than I actually need to get my point across!

Now to find out how re-enable signatures.....

[Kaede]

Ok further to my previous sentences I'd like to try and say something a little bit different. Currently, I know how to say:

えいがはすきです
I like movies

But I'd like to be able to say something like 'I like to watch movies' or 'I like to do x' etc. I think the sentences below would get the idea across, but I'd like to check!

#13
えいがをみにすきです
I like to watch movies.

#14
さっかをするにすきです
I like to play soccer.

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by Kaede

Ok further to my previous sentences I'd like to try and say something a little bit different. Currently, I know how to say:

えいがはすきです is correct but more naturally, は　＞　が
Your sentence means "I like movies (but I don't like 'another thing')" You're automatically making a comparison by using は.　
I like movies

But I'd like to be able to say something like 'I like to watch movies' or 'I like to do x' etc. I think the sentences below would get the idea across, but I'd like to check!

#13
えいがをみにすきです ＞　えいがをみるのがすきです
I like to watch movies.

#14
さっかをするにすきです　サッカーをするのがすきです
I like to play soccer.

To say "I like ~~ing." or "I like to (verb)", you need to add the verb nominalizer の directly after the verb. Once that's done, you can treat it like a noun.

[Kaede]

Understood. So using that method, would the following be correct?

#15?
でもサッカーをするのがあまりじょうずじゃありません
However, I am not very skillful at soccer.

I also have a question regarding the use of 'みる' found in my text book:

これからみにいきましょうか
Shall we go to see them now?

I've noticed you use 'みるに' rather than 'みに' for sentences like this. Could you explain to me why this is? (Just for clarification, the Japanese dialogue in my book is written in romaji, so it is definitely using 'mi ni' rather than 'miru ni'.)

As always, many thanks!

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by Kaede

#15?
でもサッカーをするのがあまりじょうずじゃありません
However, I am not very skillful at soccer.

Correct.

To be anal-retentive, though, I would change じゃ　to では for stylistics. じゃ sounds a little too casual to go with ありません, which isn't casual by any standards. I've noticed that many learners outside of Japan are taught to use じゃ in a sentence like this one, so I don't really know what to say to them. It's "correct" but isn't too natural-sounding is what I'm going to stop at.

I also have a question regarding the use of 'みる' found in my text book:

これからみにいきましょうか
Shall we go to see them now?

I've noticed you use 'みるに' rather than 'みに' for sentences like this. Could you explain to me why this is? (Just for clarification, the Japanese dialogue in my book is written in romaji, so it is definitely using 'mi ni' rather than 'miru ni'.)

Where have you seen us (me?) use みるに?

これからみにいきましょうか is entirely correct. You cannot replace みに by みるに.

[Kaede]

Ah! Please accept my apologies, I think I became confused somewhere in translating the hiragana. You didn't use this.



Thanks for the tip regarding 'ではありません', I have seen both used in my book but no distinction has yet been made between the two.

One last question, it's great to say 'I like watching movies', but how could i say:

'X is my favourite movie.'