Let's all type in Hiragana!

[fatum]

I believe that I'm finally able to read and write all of the Hiragana characters. I'm going to be picking up a Kanji book soon to begin my Kanji character studying, but I want to ensure that I'm able to comprehend sentences. I've read through small amounts of text on Hiragana Times, but I want to try out conversation too.

I can recognize just a few Kanji characters, but not nearly enough to read any text intended for people with a comprehensive understanding of Japanese.

Currently I only understand 私, 猫, 犬, 日本, 日本人& 日本語, so I might use some of these characters in the text as I think it helps with reading and they look nicer than their ひらがな alternatives. I can't really read much Katakana either, I recognize the flow of symbols to make out words though.

I'll go ahead and start by typing up some simple text. While it might not all be true, I'm just going to throw in different nouns and adjectives to see if I can make a logical flow of ideas. I'll type up what I believe to be the English translation underneath. Hoping for critique so that I can improve my comprehension.

もしもし！
私のなまえTimです。
猫です。
まいにちすしをすきです。
わたしはアメリカ人ですと私のごひき猫。
日本語をちいさわかります。

Hi!
My name is Tim.
I'm a cat.
I like to eat sushi (lol not really, I've actually never tried it) everyday.
I live in the United States and I have five cats.
I understand a little bit of Japanese.

I'm sure most of the text feels unnatural. I'm hoping for tips on improving the choice of words and grammar. I defined the subject (私) only once, as I think it's redundant to define the subject more than once.

Google translator yields a laughable result:

Originally Posted by Google Translator

Hello!
Identification of us is Tim.
Immediately to my likes sushi.
I also attract your cat I have is American.
Know little Japanese.

Hopefully the post isn't tl;dr. Hoping for responses too in Hiragana.

[edit 1] - I used も as "and" -- I feel that this usage is incorrect. I went ahead and replaced も with と, I believe this is the correct method to express and.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by fatum

I believe that I'm finally able to read and write all of the Hiragana characters. I'm going to be picking up a Kanji book soon to begin my Kanji character studying, but I want to ensure that I'm able to comprehend sentences. I've read through small amounts of text on Hiragana Times, but I want to try out conversation too.

I can recognize just a few Kanji characters, but not nearly enough to read any text intended for people with a comprehensive understanding of Japanese.

Currently I only understand 私, 猫, 犬, 日本, 日本人& 日本語, so I might use some of these characters in the text as I think it helps with reading and they look nicer than their ひらがな alternatives. I can't really read much Katakana either, I recognize the flow of symbols to make out words though.

I'll go ahead and start by typing up some simple text. While it might not all be true, I'm just going to throw in different nouns and adjectives to see if I can make a logical flow of ideas. I'll type up what I believe to be the English translation underneath. Hoping for critique so that I can improve my comprehension.

もしもし！
私のなまえTimです。
猫です。
まいにちすしをすきです。
わたしはアメリカ人ですも私のごひき猫。
日本語をちいさわかります。

Hi!
My name is Tim.
I'm a cat.
I like to eat sushi (lol not really, I've actually never tried it) everyday.
I live in the United States and I have five cats.
I understand a little bit of Japanese.

I'm sure most of the text feels unnatural. I'm hoping for tips on improving the choice of words and grammar. I defined the subject (私) only once, as I think it's redundant to define the subject more than once.

Google translator yields a laughable result:


Hopefully the post isn't tl;dr. Hoping for responses too in Hiragana.

[edit 1] - I used も as "and" -- I feel that this usage is incorrect.

If you're running Firefox or Chrome, there's an add-on you should install. It's called Rikai-chan for FF and Rikai-kun for Chrome. When you mouseover a word, it will give you the reading for the word and the meaning. You can turn the dictionary part off and just get the reading if you want.

Then no one has to type only in hiragana to you, but you can see it in all hiragana.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by fatum

もしもし！
私のなまえTimです。
猫です。
まいにちすしをすきです。
わたしはアメリカ人ですも私のごひき猫。
日本語をちいさわかります。

1. もしもし is used when answering on the telephone only. Since this is an introduction, you want はじめまして ("Beginning,").

2. You need a は　 between なまえ and Tim. Also Tim is チム.

3. すき is an adjective, not a verb, so すしをすき is grammatically incorrect.

4. アメリカにすんでいます。いえにはねこがごひきいます 。 I live in America. At my home are five cats.
も means "too" when tagged on to a noun. You can't tag it on to a sentence like you did. Usage: カイルも (Kyle, too), テキサスにも (to Texas, too), etc.

5. You cannot use を with わかる—only が. So when you understand X, it's Xがわかる, not をわかる. Also, ちいさい is an adjective meaning "small" or "little." すこし is the adverb you're looking for for "a little."
にほんごがすこしわかります。

[fatum]

Thanks for the reply! The Rikai-chan plugin is really useful. Really useful information, I believe that I was able to correct the post.

Would this be a valid sentence?

あなたは日本語わかりますか
Do you understand Japanese?

I'm not sure if I need to add a preceding particle to 日本語. Also, is わかります the correct verb to use? I believe I remember reading that わかります is only for understanding a class, but it could also work for other ideas outside of a class?

[KyleGoetz]

It's correct, but it sounds slightly colloquial because you didn't add が after 日本語.

Explaining the difference between わかる and しる for "to know" is not very easy, but a general rule of thumb is that if you can substitute "understand" for "know" without getting a weird sentence, it's わかる. わかる is more knowing concepts and しる is more knowing facts.

Do you know Japanese? わかる
Do you know the word for "tomboy" in Japanese? しる

Also, Japanese people use pronouns a lot less than we do. Compounded with that is using あなた is pretty rare. You should, instead, say 〜さんは... instead of あなたは when speaking with someone, where 〜 is his name.

[Pogopuschel]

You don't need あなた or the name at all. 日本語がわかりますか is totally fine. It's implied who the other person is. Actually, I have almost never heard あなた being used. It's not wrong, but not common at all. An yes, it's a bit rude.

[fatum]

That makes sense, referring to the person あなた almost sounds like you're being condescending. "Hey you there" is what I make out of it.

If this sentence logical or phrased correctly?
ば日本語がわかりますその後、大好きあります。
If you understand Japanese, then I love you.

I'm not sure if ば and その後 are in the right place. Google translator yields:
Then if you know Japanese, I love you.

as the translation.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by fatum

That makes sense, referring to the person あなた almost sounds like you're being condescending. "Hey you there" is what I make out of it.

If this sentence logical or phrased correctly?
ば日本語がわかりますその後、大好きあります。
If you understand Japanese, then I love you.

I'm not sure if ば and その後 are in the right place. Google translator yields:
Then if you know Japanese, I love you.

as the translation.

I'm sorry to say that almost no part of that sentence is grammatically correct. First off, when using an "if," the ば form is a different conjugation of the verb. You don't just put it in the sentence as-is.

Second, 大好き goes with です, not あります.

No その後 is needed, and, even if it were, the general structure for "after X occurs" is past-tense-of-verb-in-plain-form+後で. 食べた後で = "after eating" for example

Finally, you generally won't use the polite form of a verb in the middle of a sentence. So no わかります in the middle. (Technically, you can, but you're not at the level where you need to worry about mid-sentence polite structures, which indicate a much higher level of politeness than you're intending.)

Here's a correct way of saying what you want: 日本語がわかるなら、好きです。

なら basically means "in the case of X." "If it is the case that you understand Japanese..."

There are four conditional forms: たら、ば、と、なら. They are different, but overlap sometimes. You'll learn the difference as you progress. You're not there yet.