Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lesson 1
the alphabet.

The Japanese alphabet is very different from our own (english alphabet).
I will not be posting Kanji because there are like over 60,000 of them i think it's 2000 of them that you have to know to be able to read most Japanese Literature. I'm only posting katakana and hiragana and it will be up to you if you want to memorize them.
This Lesson is only for people who really want to learn how to read Japanese. As for learning kanji you can buy books or there are a number of sites even free sites that teach you how to read kanji.

Katakana is only used for foreign names and words.





Hiragana is used for other writing.





Most words are in kanji they either have one kanji or are combined with other kanji to make a word.

Lesson 3
greetings

*ohayo gozaimasu (oh-ha-yo go-za-mas) - good morning
**konnichiha (ko-n-ni-chi-wa) - good afternoon
**konbanha (ko-n-ba-n-wa) - good evening
oyasuminasai (oiya-sumina-sigh) - good night
sayonara (sigh-yo-na-ra) - goodbye
dewa mata (daywa-mata) - see you later
***mata ashita (mata-ash-ta) - see you tomorrow
*genki desu ka (gen-ki-des-ka) - how are you? (literally means are you in
good spirits)
watashi wa [your name] desu (wa-tah-shi wa [your name] dess) - I am [your name]



* as you may have noticed the u is silent in this word. u's especially when they come at the end of a word are usually silent.
**as you may have noticed the "ha" is pronounced "wa" most people would write this word konnichiwa but if you were writing it in hiragana it would have the "ha" symbol.

*** as you may have noticed in this word the "i" is silent, often in japanese words the i is silent, but not all the time.

Lesson 5
Particles
wa, ga, o, ni, de

wa - overall topic particle -
shows the main topic of the conversation [NOTE: it is a hiragana ha but
pronounced as "wa"]

anata wa yasashii.

You are nice.

[Makes "you" the main topic]


ga - the subject
particle - sometimes the difference between wa and ga are
hard to tell. Sometimes they can be used interchangeably with only a
slight change in meaning. Don't worry about this now!

neko ga hen.
The cat is strange.

[Makes the "cat" the subject]


o - The Direct
Object particle

hon o yomimashita.
(I) read a book.

[NOTE: it makes "book" the object. If we were to say
"I" it would be watashi wa at the beginning.]


ni -
usually shows movement (to)

nihon ni ikimashou!
Let's go to Japan

[There is movement going to Japan]

or shows time (at)

roku ji ni
ikimashou!
Let's go at 6.


de - Shows location (at, in)

nihon de asobimashou!
Let's play (have fun) in Japan!

[Notice there is no movement]

Lesson 7
titles + family

Titles
san - used for most people
sama - used for royalty, important people and customers of stores.
chan - used for young girls
kun - used for young boys
sensei - used for teachers, doctors and professionals

your family

oni - older brother
ane - older sister
imouto - younger sister
otouto - younger brother
chichi - father (dad)
haha - mother (mom)
sofu - grandfather (grandpa)
sobo - grandmother (grandma)
oji - uncle
oba - aunt
otto - husband
tsuma - wife
musuko - son
musume - daughter
itoko - cousin

someone esls's family

otousan - father
okaasan - mother
oniisan - older brother
oneesan - older sister
otoutosan - younger brother
imoutosan - younger sister
ojiisan - grandfather
obaasan - grandmother
ojisan - uncle
obasan - aunt
goshujin - husband
okusan - wife
musukosan - son
ojousan - daughter


kazoku - family
ryoushin - parents
kyoudai - siblings
kodomo - child
shinseki - relatives

Kekkon shiteimasu ka. - are you married?
Kekkon shiteimasu. - I am married.
Dokushin desu - I am single
Kyoudai ga imasu ka. - do you have siblings?
Kodomo ga imasu ka. - do you have children?

Lesson 9
numbers

0 -
1 - ichi
2 - ni
3 - san
4 - shi/yon
5 - go
6 - roku
7 - shichi/nana
8 - hachi
9 - ku/kyuu
10 - juu
11 - juuichi
12 - juuni
13 - juusan
14 - juushi
15 - juugo
16 - juuroku
17 - juushichi
18 - juuhachi
19 - juuku
20 - nijuu

counting in japanese is pretty simple. You may have noticed a pattern when counting to 20. 20 is number 2 + number 10 = ni + juu = nijuu.
to get 33 in japanese it would be 3(san) + 10 (juu) + 3(san) = sanjuusan(33).

30 - sanjuu
40 - yonjuu
45 - yonjuugo
50 - gojuu
55 - gojuugo
60 - rokujuu
70 - nanajuu
77 - nanajuushichi
80 - hachijuu
90 - kyuujuu
99 - kyuujuuku
100 - hyaku
150 - hyakugojuu
157 - hyakugojuushichi
200 - nihyaku
1000 - sen
1500 - sengohyaku
1567 - sengohyakurokujuushichi

10,000 - ichiman
100,000 - juuman
1,000,000 - hyakuman
10,000,000 - senman
100,000,000 - ichioku