Tell time + Future vs. habitual actions 〜 ます (〜 masu) vs. Present time 〜ています (〜teimasu) + Particle を (wo)

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はちじにおしごとにいきます！

Hachi ji ni oshigoto ni ikimasu!

I go to work at 8 o'clock!

Telling time

We will now learn how to tell time in Japanese. We will also review the numbers.

In Japanese, 'time' is じかん (jikan).

You can now tell people that you do or don't have time!

じかんがあります！

Jikan ga arimasu!

or...

じかんはありません。。。

Jikan wa arimasen...

Let's start with hours: 'hour' is じ (ji).

*よじ and くじ are irregular. Thus, we don't say よんじ or きゅうじ.

We don't tell time like in French in Japanese, so you will never hear 'thirteen o'clock, twenty o'clock...' We will tell the difference between morning and afternoon with these two words: ごぜん (gozen) (a.m) and ごご (gogo) (p.m). We will place them before the time.

It is 9 a.m.

ごぜんくじです。

Gozen kuji desu.

It is now 8 p.m.

いまはごごはちじです。

Ima wa gogo hachi ji desu.

'Minute' is ふん (fun) in Japanese.

Some numbers will be irregular, so be careful.

You might have noticed that there are two ways of saying 'four' (よん or し) and 'seven' (しち and なな). There are no way to really know which one to use. I would personally just remember which one is used for which words.

To say 'half', as in '10:30 a.m', you can say ごぜんじゅうじはん (gozen juu ji han). はん (han) is 'half'. 

There is no way to say 'quarter' really, so we will say the number 15 + minutes.

With that in mind, let's learn the verb 'to meet' in order to practice telling time.

'To meet' is あいます（あう）(aimasu) (au) and this verb requires the use of the particle に at all times.

I meet Reina at 5:30 p.m.

ごごごじはんにれいなにあいます。

Gogo go ji han ni Reina ni aimasu.

Yes, I will meet with Watanabe-san at 6 o'clock here.

はい、ろくじにここにわたなべさんにあいます。

Hai, roku ji ni koko ni Watanabe-san ni aimasu.

To ask what time it is, simply say なんじですか？(Nan ji desu ka?)

To ask at what time, like 'at what time are you meeting up with Reina?' you can use the question word いつ (itsu), which means 'when'.

When do you meet Reina?

いつれいなにあいますか？

Itsu Reina ni aimasu ka?

I meet her at 4 o'clock.

よじにあいます。

Yo ji ni aimasu.

Since we can now tell time, we should also learn the days of the week and the months. We should also be able to say what day it is and what month it is.

The days of the week in Japanese all have a meaning and the week typically start on Monday and not Sunday.

げつようび (Getsuyoubi) - Monday (day of the moon)

かようび (kayoubi) - Tuesday (day of the fire)

すいようび (suiyoubi) - Wednesday (day of the water)

もくようび (mokuyoubi) - Thursday (day of the tree)

きんようび (kin'youbi) - Friday (day of the gold)

どようび (doyoubi) - Saturday (day of the earth)

にちようび (nichiyoubi) - Sunday (day of the sun)

The months are relatively easy. 

いちがつ (ichigatsu) - January

にがつ (nigatsu) - February

さんがつ (sangatsu) - March

しがつ (shigatsu) - April

ごがつ (gogatsu) - May

ろくがつ (rokugatsu) - June

しちがつ (shichigatsu) - July

はちがつ (hachigatsu) - August

くがつ (kugatsu) - September

じゅうがつ (juugatsu) - October

じゅういちがつ (juuichigatsu) - November

じゅうにがつ (juunigatsu) - December

Yes, you read that right. Months use the numbers + the word for months... how original! That makes it easy to learn, but maybe a bit hard since you need to know that March is the third month, August the 8th month, etc..

Now, I won't really teach you how to say the 9th day of the month, because this is a bit complicated and I think with this lesson, you will have enough for a while.

One more thing...

きょう (kyou) - today

あした (ashita) - tomorrow

あさって (asatte) - the day after tomorrow

きのう (kinou) - yesterday

おととい (ototoi) - the day before yesterday

あさ (asa) - morning

けさ (kesa) - this morning

ひる (hiru) - afternoon

こんばん (konban) - this evening

よる (yoru) - night

こんや (kon'ya) - this night

ゆうべ (yuube) - last night

こんしゅう (konshuu) - this week

せんしゅう (senshuu) - last week

らいしゅう (raishuu) - next week

しゅうまつ (shuumatsu) - weekend

こんげつ (kongetsu) - this month

せんがつ (sengatsu) - last month

らいがつ (raigatsu) - next month

ことし (kotoshi) - this year

きょねん (kyonen) - last year

らいねん (rainen) - next year

さき (saki) - previous

つぎ (tsugi) - next

In October of next year, I am going to Japan.

らいねんのじゅうがつににほんにいきます。

Rainen no juugatsu ni nihon ni ikimasu.

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Future, habitual actions and present tense

A lot of people, when they first learn Japanese, they get a bit confused with the ending 〜ます (〜masu) when it comes to verbs. A lot make the mistake of thinking that this verb ending represents the present tense, but it doesn't. 

There are two meanings to this verb ending: it can represent the future or a habitual action.

Future use

Take the examples we did with the verb 'to meet' あいます: in all examples, we were talking in the future tense. This tells you it is in the future because of the time markers. This verb cannot really be in the present tense anyway. 

It is the same for です (desu), あります (arimasu) and います (imasu). These are state verbs, thus, they are automatically in the present tense and cannot be in the future tense.

If you want to say 'I will be in Japan in 2 months', you will need to say 'I will be going to Japan in two months.' We cannot use the verb です in this situation.

I'm going to Japan.

にほんにいきます。

Nihon ni ikimasu.

I will meet Reina.

れいなにあいます。

Reina ni aimasu.

I will eat an apple.

りんごをたべます。

Ringo o tabemasu.

Habitual action use

The ending 〜ます can also represent a habitual action.

I read the newspaper every morning.

まいあさ、しんぶんをよみます。

Maiasa, shinbun o yomimasu.

In this case, it tells us that you do a repeated action. You are used to read the newspaper every morning.

*まいあさ is 'every morning', しんぶん is 'newspaper' and よみます is 'to read'.

I go to work everyday.

まいにち、おしごとにいきます。

Mainichi, oshigoto ni ikimasu.

いきます（いく）is 'to go'.

Like in English, to say that you are doing something right now will be another tense.

Present tense

If you want to use the present, as in 'I am doing something right now', we will have 

to use the 〜て (〜te) form of verbs, 〜ています (〜te-imasu).

I am reading a book right now.

いま、ほんをよんでいます。

Ima, hon o yondeimasu.

よみます will become よんでいます in this form. You will notice that the 〜て form will change a little bit depending on the verb endings at the infinitive. Thus, since よむ (yomu) is a verb ending in 'mu' at the infinitive, it will be よんでいます and not よています.

We will see all verb endings in due time.

I am eating an apple.

りんごをたべています。

Ringo o tabeteimasu.

Thus, 〜ます form of verbs represents either the future or a habitual action.

For the present tense, we use the 〜て form of verbs.

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Particle を

We saw a little bit of this particle. Now, it is time to explain it.

The particle を is an object marker. It will be used mostly with action verbs such as 'to read', 'to eat', 'to take (something)', 'to drink', 'to look', 'to see', etc.

We write it を, but we pronounce it 'o' and not 'wo'.

I read the newspaper.

しんぶんをよみます。

Shinbun o yomimasu.

I eat an apple.

りんごをたべます。

Ringo o tabemasu.

I take a picture.

しゃしんをとります。

Shashin o torimasu.

I drink tea.

おちゃをのみます。

Ocha o nomimasu.

Do not think of this particle as being 'a' or 'an' in English! Some of my students made this mistake, because in some verb cases, you would use 'a' or 'an' in English, but not 'o' in Japanese. There is no articles in Japanese, as such the particle 'o' shouldn't replace 'a' or 'an' in English. 

As we saw in the lesson about existential verbs, when we use action verbs that require the use of the object particle in the negative, then we will use the particle は (wa) instead of を (o).

The negative form of the verb ending 〜ます is 〜ません.

I do not read newspapers.

しんぶんはよみません。

Shinbun wa yomimasen.

I do not eat apples.

りんごはたべません。

Ringo wa tabemasen.

I do not take pictures.

しゃしんはとりません。

Shashin wa torimasen.

I do not drink tea.

おちゃはのみません。

Ocha wa nomimasen.

Again, this is a matter of putting an emphasis on the negative. Technically speaking, we can use the particle を with the negative, but we will often need something else.

Look at these examples:

I do not drink tea everyday.

まいあさ、おちゃはのみません。

Maiasa, ocha wa nomimasen.

まいあさは、おちゃをのみません。

Maiasa wa, ocha o nomimasen.

They both mean the same thing, but the emphasis will change.

In the first example, we put the emphasis on 'ocha'. In the second example, we put the emphasis on 'maiasa'. Which means that in the first example, we do not drink tea every morning, but we could be drinking something else in the morning.

In the second example, we could be drinking tea, but not every morning, which means we do not have the habit of drinking something every morning.

Keep in mind that different verbs will require different particles. But don't panic! It isn't witchcraft to know which particle goes with which verb.

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You have completed lesson 6!

レッシュン6ができました！

Past tense 〜ました (〜mashita) and negative form + Particles から (kara) and まで (made) + ... but

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おしごとからいえまであるきました。

Oshigoto kara ie made arukimashita.

I walked from work to home.

Past tense

We saw the form  〜ます of verbs, which was the future or a habitual action, in earlier lessons. We also said that 〜ません was the negative ending of verbs in the 〜ます form. 

It is now time to learn the past tense with 〜ました. To do so, we just replace 〜ます with 〜ました.

In December, I went to Canada.

じゅうにがつにカナダにいきました。

Juunigatsu ni Kanada ni ikimashita.

What did you eat?

なにをたべましたか？

Nani o tabemashita?

I ate poutine.

プーティンをたべました。

Puutin o tabemashita.

Japanese does not make a distinction between simple past and past perfect. In English, these sentences 'I went to Mexico' and 'I have gone to Mexico' are different, but in Japanese, there is no such thing.

We can, however, turn the past to past continuous with the 〜て form of verbs, 〜ていました.

Look at this sentence, for instance:

When my mother came home, I was studying.

ははがかえってきたとき、わたしはべんきょうしていました。

Haha ga kaette kita toki, watashi wa benkyou shiteimashita.

We can't use the simple past here. Think of this tense as 'was ...ing'.

To say that we have already done something in the past, such as 'I have been to Mexico before', we will use a different construction in Japanese. This construction will emphasise our experience of having done something before. We will see this construction later.

In the case of the verb です, the past form is でした.

It was a black cat.

くろいねこでした。

Kuroi neko deshita.

To put the past in the negative, change 〜ません to 〜ませんでした. 

I did not go to Canada in December.

じゅうにがつにカナダにいきませんでした。

Juunigatsu ni Kanada ni ikimasen deshita.

We use the verb でした to make the past negative. This maybe sounds weird for English people. It is because です in reality is a versatile verb and will not only mean 'to be', but it will also work with other constructions that have nothing to do with the verb 'to be'.

It is the same way for the verb 'to be' in the past negative form.

It is not a black cat.

くろいねこじゃありません。

Kuroi neko ja arimasen.

It was not a black cat.

くろいねこじゃありませんでした。

Kuroi neko ja arimasen deshita.

Do not confuse this sentence as being affirmative just because there is でした. The ending 〜ません always represents the negative. でした will only tell you that it is in the past.

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Particles から and まで

These particles means 'from A to B'. から means 'from' and まで means 'to' or 'until'.

I walked from the company to the bank.

かいしゃからぎんこうまであるきました。

Kaisha kara ginkou made arukimashita.

I will play games until my birthday.

おたんじょうびまでゲームをします。

Otanjoubi made geemu o shimasu.

I will walk from the Ikebukuro Station.

いけぶくろのえきからあるきます。

Ikebukuro no eki kara arukimasu.

They are not always together as you can see.

From March to May, you can see the cherry blossoms in Japan.

にほんにはさんがつからごがつまでさくらをみえます。

Nihon ni wa sangatsu kara gogatsu made sakura o miemasu.

から can also be used to say where we are from.

I come from the United States.

アメリカからきました。

Amerika kara kimashita.

The verb きました means 'to have come' and in this case, it is always used in the past when we say where we are from.

I come from Australia. I am Australian.

オーストラリアからきました。オーストラリアじんです。

Oosutoraria kara kimashita. Oosutoraria jin desu.

To say you are of one ethnicity, the word じん (jin) which means 'person' is used.

にほんじん (nihonjin) - Japanese

カナダじん (Kanadajin) - Canadian

アメリカじん - Amerikajin) - American

ちゅうごくじん - Chuugokujin) - Chinese

かんこくじん (Kankokujin) - Korean

インディアじん - Indiajin) - Indian

ドイツじん (Doitsujin) - German

イギリスじん (Igirisujin) - British

This construction is not used a lot, however. Normally, to state where you are from, even though we do say 'Amerika kara kimashita', we will be more inclined to say 'Amerika shusshin desu'. 'Shusshin' is like 'the state of' or 'the country of'.

から can also mean 'from' as in 'from someone', if you receive a gift.

I received chocolate from my mother!

ははからチョコレートをもらいました！

Haha kara chokoreeto o moraimashita!

To say 'to' as in 'to someone', we can say に.

I gave chocolate to my father.

ちちにチョコレートをあげました。

Chichi ni chokoreeto o agemashita.

In a letter, we will mostly address the addressee with へ and end it with より.

To Sakura....

.... from Tomoyo

さくらへ。。。

。。。ともよより

Sakura he....

..... Tomoyo yori

Don't forget that the particle へ is pronounced 'e' and not 'he'. 

This construction is only used in letters or messages (i.e. emails).

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Conjunction が

We saw が as a particle, but が can also act as the conjunction 'but'. There are other ways to say 'but', but this one is the standard one. It will be used in more polite setting.

I am a little bit sleepy, but I am okay.

ちょっとねむいですが、だいじょうぶです。

Chotto nemui desu ga, daijoubu desu.

ちょっと means 'a little bit' and ねむい means 'sleepy'. 

As you can see, が is attached to the first sentence as opposed to the second one like in English.

This pizza in this restaurant is expensive, but delicious.

このレストランでのピザはたかいですが、おいしいです。

Kono resutoran de no piza wa takai desu ga, oishii desu.

Uuh, sorry to be rude, but I have a question.

あの、しつれいですが、しつもんがあります。

Ano, shitsurei desu ga, shitsumon ga arimasu.

あの in this sentence means something like a 'uuhh' or a hesitation.

I eat with chopstick, but I am not very good at it.

はしでたべますが、ちょっとへたです。

Hashi de tabemasu ga, chotto heta desu.

Be careful with が as it can be a particle or a conjunction. Most of the time, the context itself will be obvious, so you shouldn't confuse them.

There is another word we can use for 'but' and it is けど (kedo). In fact, you may have heard this one more often in anime. It works the same way as が.

I am a little bit sleepy, but I am okay.

ちょっとねむいですけど、だいじょうぶです。

Chotto nemui desu kedo, daijoubu desu.

I would say that が is really formal, whereas けど is more conversational. Both work with the keigo form, so you won't sound rude to someone if you decide to use けど. が is not really used in casual speech, since it is so formal.

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とにかく - Anyway

それに - Beside

ちなみに - By the way (on a side note)

そして - Also, furthermore

しかし - However

ちらずに - In no time

かならず - Always

ずっと - All the time

きっと - Surely

やっぱり - On second thoughts, now that I think about it...

ぜひ - Be sure to..., please

まずは - First of, firstly

つまり - In other words

ばっかり - All the time

ばかり - Just, approximately

いつも - Always

ときどき - Sometimes

でも - But

ちょっと - A little bit

あまり - Not really

とても - Very

すごく - Very

よく - Often

ほんとう - Really

ほとんど - Nearly, largely, almost

さいごに - Lastly

そうですか？ - Ah, really?

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You have completed lesson 8!

レッシュン8ができました！