Unit 3

I meant to post this over Thanksgiving, but I left my CD and my notes both at work ;) I had this already typed up, so I'll post Lesson 1 now. If you're reading this, and it ends at Lesson 1, please note that lessons 2 and 3 are going to be edited onto this post afterward, so keep checking back ;)

Unit 3, Lesson 1

Nempai no onnanohito – Elderly woman
Wakai no onnanohito – Young woman
Wakai no otokonohito – Young man
Nempai no otokonohito – Elderly man

Dansaa no ichidan – A group of dancers (Dansaa = Dancers, ichidan = a group, a party, a body, or a troupe)
Futari no dansaa – Two dancers
Soosha no ichidan – A group of runners (The word is “sousha” in hiragana, and it means Runner)
Futari no soosha – Two runners

Kono wakai otokonohito wa kami ga mijikai desu – This young man has short hair
Kono wakai otokonohito wa kami ga nagai desu – This young man has long hair
Futari no wakai onnanohito wa kami ga nagai desu – The two young women have long hair
Hitori no wakai onnanohito wa kami ga nagakute, moo hitori no wakai onnanohito wa kami ga mijikai desu – One young woman has flowing hair, and one young woman has short hair. (nagakute is a strange word, but one of the translations is flowing, and I like the way it sounds, so :P)

Dare ga kami ga mijikaikute kuroi desu ka – Who has short black hair?
Dare ga kami ga nagakute kimpatsu desu ka – Who has flowing blonde hair? (kimpatsu is spelled “kinpatsu” in Hiragana, and means Blonde)
Dare ga kami ga nagakute chairoi desu ka – Who has flowing brown hair? (chairoi = brown)
Dare ga atama ga hagete imasu ka – Who has a bald head? (base verb hageru means “to go bald”, hagete is the command form)

Kono wakai onnanohito wa kami ga kaaru shite imasu – This young woman has curled hair. (kaaru = a curl, the whole phrase “kami o kaaru shite iru” means “to curl one’s hair”)
Kono wakai otokonohito wa kami ga kaaru shite imasu – This young man has curled hair
Kono wakai onnanohito wa kami ga sutoreeto desu – This young woman has straight hair (sutoreeto = straight)
Kono wakai otokonohito wa kami ga sutoreeto desu – This young man has straight hair

Dare ga kami ga mijikaikute sutoreetode kuroi desu ka – Who has short, black, straight hair?
Dare ga kami ga nagakute kaaru shite ite kuroi desu ka – Who has flowing, black, curled hair?
Dare ga kami ga mijikaikute kaaru shite ite kuroi desu ka – Who has short, black, curled hair?
Dare ga kami ga nagakute sutoreetode kuroi desu ka – Who has flowing, black, straight hair?

Migi no otokonohito wa futotte imasu. Hidari no otokonohito wa yasete imasu – The man on the right is growing fat. One man is lean/thin. (migi = right, the base verb futoru = to get fat, the base verb yaseru = to become lean)
Onnanohito tachi wa yasete imasu – The women are lean/thin
Onnanohito tachi wa totemo futatte imasu – The woman are quite fat. (heh…totemo = “quite”, “utterly”, or “absolutely”)
Hidari no otokonohito wa futatte imasu. Migi no otokonohito wa yasete imasu – One man is fat. A man on the right is thin.

Hidari no piero wa se ga hikui desu. Migi no piero wa se ga takai desu – One clown is short. The clown on the right is tall. (piero = clown, hikui = short in stature, takai = tall in stature)
Hidari no piero wa se ga takai desu. Migi no piero wa se ga hikui desu – One clown is tall. The clown on the right is short.
Akai fuku o kite iru onnanohito wa se ga hikui desu – The woman wearing the red shirt is short.
Akai fuku o kite iru onnanohito wa se ga takai desu – The woman wearing the red shirt is tall.

Dochira no se no takai otokonohito ga megane o kakete imasu ka – Which tall man is wearing glasses?
Dochira no se no takai otokonohito ga megane o kakete imasen ka – Which tall man is not wearing glasses?
Dochira no se no hikui hito ga megane o kakete imasen ka – Which short person is not wearing glasses?
Dochira no se no hikui hito ga megane o kakete imasu ka – Which short person is wearing glasses?
(These four are a bit literal, but this is verb conjugation again which is still a bit hard for me. Basically, once you learn conjugation, it’s actually very simple…if you think about it, most Japanese people don’t actually know the rules, just as most Americans don’t know the rules about English verbs. We’re so used to saying them in context that we don’t have to think about them. This is why verb conjugation in Japanese is so difficult to learn, because we can’t simply say the phrase without having to think about the rules of how the verbs change, so sentences are easier or more difficult as a result.

Think about it this way: “I am going to run.” “I am running.” “Watashi wa hashiru desu.” “Watashi wa hashitte imasu.” We’ve been saying the first two our whole lives in English, so learning how to automatically say the last two is where verb conjugation is important…once we get the hang of that, a lot of the language will flow faster than before.)

Onnanohito wa kami ga kuroi desu – The woman has black hair.
Onnanohito wa kami ga sutoreetode kimpatsu desu – The woman has straight blonde hair.
Onnanohito wa kami ga kaaru shite ite kimpatsu desu – The woman has hair that is blonde and curled. (Kind of a weird one, I know...remember above, with kaaru shite iru, this is conjugation yet again)
Onnanohito wa kami ga haiiru desu – The woman has grey hair (haiiru = grey)

Notes: As with before, these lessons are going to start onto verb conjugation very heavily now. Volume 1 of Rosetta Stone really focuses on a lot of the vocabulary, while volumes 2 and 3 are what will get us into conversational Japanese more and more, working us towards fluency. That said, here's some things that my friend told me to get me on the right track before:

"(verb)-te +iru/imasu is VERY common grammar in Japanese, so if you see that pattern and can conjugate (or un-conjugate) verbs, you'll be able to look it up in an instant."

Also...

"Learn verb conjugation, and at that level there shouldn't be any words that aren't in your dictionary. The school I studied at taught the basic rules of verb conjugation alongside Minna no Nihongo book 1. I started from absolute zero, so I studied it hardcore for my first three months here. After my first three months, all my classmates changed. I studied with most of those new classmates for the next two years, but because they came in at Minna no Nihongo book 2, they were never very good at conjugation."

I'm currently studying Minna no Nihongo book 1 alongside Rosetta Stone, so I can honestly say that it's been a very useful item to have along in my work. It also has been crucial in identifying Hiragana and Kanji, so I highly recommend it. There are a few different versions, since they also teach Kanji and the like, but anyone who gets it wants to start with this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Minna-Nihongo-Honyaku-Translation-Grammatical/dp/4883191079/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227938065&sr=8-5

Unit 3, Lesson 2

Oozee no otokonoko - A great/large number of boys (it's spelled "oozei" in hiragana and means a large or great number of ~)
Hitori no otokonoko - One boy
Takusan no fuusen - A large quantity of balloons (takusan = a large quantity (of) ~, fuusen = balloon. We're back to counters now...these suck, so pay attention!)
Sukoshi no fuusen - A small quantity of balloons (resist the urge to just say "three", since the picture in Rosetta only shows 3 balloons. Sukoshi = a small quantity (of) ~, not a specific number of items. It does, however, mean there are plurals involved, so you should not be using "sukoshi" in reference to one item, from what I understand)

Takusan no booshi - A large quantity of hats
Hitotsu no booshi - One hat
Takusan no kasa - A large quantity of umbrellas (is Umbrelli a word? It could be, if umbrellas ever learn to attack us. Oh...I'm rambling again...)
Ippon no kasa - One umbrella

Ikkin no pan - One bread
Takusan no pan - A large quantity of bread
Nikin no pan - Two breads
Pan wa arimasen - No bread

Ittoo no uma to issho no kaubooi - One horse together with a cowboy (issho = together, with, along [together] with)
Uma to issho ni inai kaubooi - There is not a horse together with the cowboy
Nantooka no uma to issho no futari no kaubooi - Three horses together with two cowboys
Kaubooihatto ga takusan arimasuga, kaubooi wa imasen - There are a large quantity of cowboy hats, but no cowboy. (Try pronouncing that one in Rosetta Stone...it'll take you a long time to say the words the way the program thinks that they're perfect, I can tell you!)

Koin ga nammai arimasu ka. Takusan arimasu - How many coins are there? A large quantity. (koin = coin, obviously. "nammai" is "nanmai" in Hiragana, but the definition is a bit unclear...best I can figure, it's a counter for money, but don't quote me on that.)
Biidama ga nanko arimasu ka. Ikko arimasu - How many marbles are there? One. (Biidama = marble, ikko = one, a piece, or a unit. Nanko is basically asking how many units)
Biidama ga nanko arimasu ka. Sukoshi arimasu - How many marbles are there? A small quantity.
Biidama ga nanko arimasu ka. Takusan arimasu - How many marbles are there? A large quantity.

Takusan no tomato to sukoshi no banana - A large quantity of tomatos and a small quantity of bananas.
Ringo wa takusan arimasuga, banana wa arimasen - There are a large quantity of apples, but not any bananas.
Tomato wa takusan arimasuga, banana wa arimasen - There are a large quantity of tomatos, but no bananas.
Banana wa takusan arimasuga, ringo wa arimasen - There are a large quantity of bananas, but no apples. (Quite note on these last 3...here's a brief explanation from Minna no Nihongo about the letter "ga" in grammar: "The object of a transitive verb is marked with "o" (or "wo" if you type it into a Japanese dictionary). However, objects of the verbs "arimasu" and "wakarimasu" are marked with "ga". Such adjectives as "sukidesu", "kiraidesu", "jouzudesu", and "hetadesu" require objects, and these are marked with "ga" too. The verbs and adjectives whose objects are marked with "ga" are those kinds that describe preference, ability, possession, and the like."

I bring this up because "arimasuga" is actually "arimasu" and "ga" all in one, but "ga" is fairly complicated in and of itself. For instance, it can be used to mark the subject in some sentences, such as "Otokonohito ga imasu" for "There is a man." It could also be used to express desire, such as "Watashi wa tomodachi ga hoshii desu" for "I want a friend." You'll be seeing words linked with "ga" a lot in Japanese, so take note of it now."

Teeburu yorimo isu no hoo ga ooi desu - There are lots of chairs in each direction of the table.. (complicated one, isu = chairs from before, "hoo" is "hou" in hiragana and means "direction", "a way" or "a side", and ooi means "lots of [things]". Yorimo won't show up in a dictionary, so don't look, but in most cases it means "than" or "of".)
Kuruma yorimo basu no hoo ga ooi desu - There are lots of busses in the way of the car.
Banana yorimo tomato no hoo ga ooi desu - There are lots of tomatos to the side of the banana.
Onnanohito to onaji kazu no otokonohito ga imasu - There are the same number of men as woman. (I got these really wrong and had to be educated. "~ to onaji" means "the same as ~", "kazu" means "figure" in the numerical sense. So "to onaji kazu" is saying that "~ is the same number as ~")

Uma yorimo hito no hoo ga ooi desu - There are lots of people to the sides of the horse.
Hito yorimo uma no hoo ga ooi desu - There are lots of horses to a side of the person.
Hito to onaji kazu no kasa ga arimasu - There are the same number of umbrellas as people
Kasa yorimo hito no hoo ga ooi desu - There are lots of people under an umbrella. (I'm cheating here a bit, since "hou/hoo" can mean direction, I'm substituting out of laziness ;) )

Hito yorimo uma no hoo ga sukunai desu - There are very few horses to the side of the people. (sukanai = very few)
Uma yorimo hito no hoo ga sukunai desu - There are very few people to the side of the horses.
Hito yorimo kasa no hoo ga sukunai desu - There are very few umbrellas over the people.
Hito to onaji kazu no uma ga imasu - There are the same number of horses as people.

Otokonoko to onaji kazu no onnanoko ga imasu - There are the same number of boys as girls.
Otokonoko yorimo onnanoko no hoo ga sukunai desu - There are very few girls to the side of the boy.
Otokonoko yorimo onnanoko no hoo ga ooi desu - There are lots of girls to the side of the boy
Onnanoko mo otokonoko mo imasen - There is not a girl or a boy.

Notes: AAAAAAHHHHHH! I should note that I hate "onaji kazu", and my definition is quite possibly wrong. If I find out it is, I'll correct it later, but I remember getting so pissed at this lesson, I just found a workable definition and moved on. It's one of my complaints about Rosetta Stone, it gives "onaji kazu" far too few times in this lesson, and it never does it alongside another example that could help explain the words, so it's a very hard one to nail down properly. That said, until I find out I'm wrong...my definition stays there ;) If it changes, I'll post some notes as to why.

Edit: Haha, I was way off ;) Look above, I fixed my definitions using "to onaji kazu" in the sentence, and added some notes as to what the definition is really supposed to be. That's a tough one!

Unit 3, Lesson 3

Otokonohito wa aoi seetaa o kite imasu - The man is wearing a blue sweater (seetaa = sweater)
Onnanoko tachi wa wampiisu o kite imasu - The girls are wearing dresses (wampiisu, btw, is spelled "wanpiisu" in hiragana and literally means "one-piece dress")
Otokonoko wa akai seetaa o kite imasu - The boy is wearing a red sweater
Onnanohito wa murasakiiro no seetaa o kite imasu - The woman is wearing a purple sweater.

Onnanohito wa kuroi shatsu o kite imasu - The woman is wearing a black shirt.
Onnanohito wa kuroi zubon o haite imasu - The woman is wearing black pants.
Otokonoko wa aoi shatsu o kite imasu - The boy is wearing a blue shirt.
Otokonoko wa aoi zubon o haite imasu - The boy is wearing blue pants.

Issoku no kutsu - A pair of shoes
Katahoo no kutsu - One of a pair of shoes (katahoo = literally "one of a pair)
Issoku no kutsushita - A pair of socks
Katahoo no kutsushita - One of a pair of socks

Kanojo wa aka to shiro no seetaa o kite imasu - She is wearing a red and white sweater
Kanojo wa murasakiiro no uwagi o kite imasu - She is wearing a purple jacket
Kare wa seetaa o kite imasu - He is wearing a sweater
Kare wa seetaa o kite imasen - He is not wearing a sweater

Kanojo wa aka to shiro no seetaa o kite, jiinzu o haite imasu - She is wearing a white and red sweater, and jeans.
Onnanohito wa akai wampiisu o kite imasu - The woman is wearing a red dress.
Onnanohito wa akai kooto o kite imasu - The woman is wearing a red coat.
Onnanohito wa akai sukaato o haite imasu - The woman is wearing a red skirt.

Kare wa kuroi tampan o haite, shiroi shatsu o kite imasu - He is wearing black shorts and a white shirt.
Hitori wa kiiroi uwagi o kite ite, moo hitori wa akai uwagi o kite imasu - One wearing a yellow jacket, and one wearing a red jacket (note, "uwagi" can mean "Coat", "jacket", or "outerwear")
Hitori no onnanohito wa kiiroi wampiisu o kite ite, moo hito no onnanohito wa akai wampiiso o kite imasu - One woman is wearing a yellow dress, and one woman is wearing a red dress.
Kanojo wa nanimo kite imasen - She is wearing nothing/She is not wearing anything (nanimo = no, nothing, or not ~ anything)

Wampiisu o kite imasu - Wearing a dress
Zubon o haite imasu - Wearing pants
Tampan o haite imasu - Wearing shorts
Sukaato o haite imasu - Wearing a skirt

Aoi shatsu o kite imasu - Wearing a blue shirt
Aoi zubon o haite imasu - Wearing blue pants
Aoi seetaa o kite imasu - Wearing a blue sweater
Aoi uwagi o kite imasu - Wearing a blue coat/jacket/outerwear

kutsushita o haite iru tokoro desu - Putting on socks
Kitsu o haite iru tokoro desu - Putting on shoes
Shatsu o kite iru tokoro desu - Putting on a shirt
Zubon o haite iru tokoro desu - Putting on pants

Piero wa zubon o haite imasu - The clown is wearing pants
Piero wa zubon o haite iru tokoro desu - The clown is putting on pants
Megane o kaketa otokonohito wa seetaa o kite imasu - The man wearing glasses is wearing a sweater.
Megane o kaketa otokonohito wa seetaa o kite iru tokoro desu - The man wearing glasses is putting on a sweater.

Notes: Don't try to find "tokoro" in a dictionary, you won't get the right definition. Well, you might, but it's a bit tricky...the sentences above actually leave a little bit out for simplicity. "Tokoro" more or less means "a place" or "a spot", so you could say "Zubon o haite iru tokoro desu" would mean "Putting pants on the legs" or something similar, but it's easier to just put the general meaning there for now.

Unit 2, end

Unit 2, Lesson 10

(2 lessons to go in Unit 2, so let's move forward, shall we?)

(In my last post, at the end, I talked a bit about this...these are conjugated verbs, and they won't show up in a dictionary. Take "tobikoemashita", the verb there is "tobikoeru" in its base form, the command form is "tobikoete", and the past-tense verb is "tobikoemashita". The link from my last post helps a lot in figuring this out.)
Onnanohito wa tonde imasu - The woman is jumping
Onnanohito wa tobimashita - The woman jumped (base form of the verb is "tobu")
Uma wa tobikoete imasu - The horse is jumping over
Uma wa tobikoemashita - The horse jumped over

Otokonoko wa korobikakete imasu - The boy is starting to trip/fall down (the verb is "kororu", but verb + kakeru is like "starting to do ~")
Otokonoko wa korobimashita - The boy fell down (past tense again, signified by "mashita")
Kaubooi wa uma kara ochisoodesu - The cowboy looks like he is going to fall from the horse (Kaubooi = Cowboy, the verb is "ochiru" but verb + sou (for example, shisou) means "looks like it's going to ~")
Kaubooi wa uma kara ochimashita - The cowbow fell off the horse (again, past-tense)

Onnanoko wa kami o kitte imasu - The girl is cutting the paper (base verb is "kiru", and the "kami" here is important. It is the word for hair, but also for paper, and in this case it is referring to paper. The kanji for "paper" is notably different than "hair", which is how you will eventually be able to tell the difference in written word later on.)
Onnanoko wa kami o kirimashita - The girl cut the paper. (past tense, same verb)
Otokonoko wa mizu ni tobikonde imasu - The boy is jumping into the water
Otokonoko wa mizu ni tobikomimashita - The boy jumped in the water.

Uma wa tobikoeru tokoro desu - The horse will jump over a place. (Tokoro = lit. "a place" or "a spot". In this case, he would not already be jumping over, as the verb does not use the command form (-te form))
Kodomo wa tobikoeru tokoro desu - The boy will jump over a place.
Uma wa tobikoete imasu - The horse is jumping over
Uma wa tobikoemashita - The horse jumped over

Onnanoko wa kami o kiru tokoro desu - The girl will cut a spot in the paper (base form)
Onnanoko wa kami o kitte imasu - The girl is cutting the paper (command form)
Onnanoko wa kami o kirimashita - The girl cut the paper (past-tense form)
Onnanoko wa tobiorite imasu - The girl is jumping down

Otokonoko wa mizu ni tobikomu tokoro desu - The boy will jump in a spot of the water
Otokonoko wa mizu ni tobikonde imasu - The boy is jumping in the water
Otokonoko wa mizu ni tobikomimashita - The boy jumped in the water
Otokonoko tachi wa mizu ni tobikonde imasu - The boys are jumping in the water

Kishu wa suberiochisoodesu - The rider looks like he is slipping from the horse. (Kishu = rider or horseman. Suberi is the word for slipping, in this case)
Kishu wa suberiochite imasu - The rider is slipping off the horse.
Kishu wa suberiochimashita - The rider slipped off the horse.
Otokonohito wa korobikakete imasu - The man is starting to fall down.

Onnanoko tachi wa tobiorite imasen. Otokonoko wa tobioriru tokoro desu - The girls are not jumping down. The boy is about to jump down from a place.
Onnanoko tachi wa tobiorite imasen. Otokonoko wa tobiorite imasu - The girls are not jumping down. The boy is jumping down.
Onnanoko tachi wa mada tobiorite imasen. Otokonoko wa tobiorimashita - The girls are still not jumping down. The boy jumped down. (mada = still)
Otokonoko to onnanoko tachi wa tobiorite imasu - The boy and girls are jumping down.

Otokonohito wa gyuunyuu o nomu tokoro desu - The man will drink milk in a place
Otokonohito wa gyuunyuu o nonde imasy - The man is drinking milk
Otokonohito wa gyuunyuu o nomimashita - The man drank milk
Otokonoko wa pan o taberu tokoro desu - The boy will eat bread in a place

Otokonoko wa pan o taberu tokoro desu - The boy will eat bread in a place Otokonoko wa pan o tabete imasu - The boy is eating bread
Otokonoko wa pan o sukoshi tabemashita - The boy ate a little bread (sukoshi = little, part of)
Otokonoko wa booshi o kabutte imasu - The boy is wearing a hat

(One lesson left, daijoubu desu ka?)

Unit 2, Lesson 11

Onnanohito wa hohoende imasu - The woman is smiling
Onnanohito wa yubisashite imasu - The woman is pointing a finger
Onnanohito wa shimbun o yonde imasu - The woman is reading a newspaper
Onnanohito wa denwa o hanashite - The woman is speaking on the telephone

Kodomo dewa nai hito - The person is not a child
Otona dewa nai hito - The person is not a girl
Neko dewa nai doobutsu - The animal is not a cat
Inu dewa nai doobutsu - The animal is not a dog

Ookina hako - Big box
Ookina fune - Big ship/boat
Chiisana hako - Small box
Chiisana fune - Small ship/boat

Aoi en wa akai en yorimo chiisai desu - The blue circle is smaller than the red circle
Akai en wa aoi en yorimo chiisai desu - The red circle is smaller than the blue circle
En wa seehookee yorimo chiisai desu - The circle is smaller than the square
Seehookee wa en yorimo chiisai desu - The square is smaller than the circle

Hitori no onnanohito ga yubisashite imasu. Kanojo wa migite de yubisashite imasu - One woman is pointing her finger. She is pointing with her right hand.
Hitori no onnanohito ga yubisashite imasu. Kanojo wa hidarite de yubisashite imasu - One woman is pointing her finger. She is pointing with her left hand.
Onnanohito wa dochira mo yubisashite imasu. Hitori wa migite de, moo hitori wa hidarite de yubisashite imasu - Two women are pointing their fingers. One is pointing with her right hand, the other with her left hand.
Onnanohito wa dochira mo yubisashite imasen - Two women are not pointing

Onnanohito wa denwa o tsukatte imasu - The woman is talking on a telephone
Onnanoko wa denwa o tsukatte imasy - The girl is talking on a telephone
Onnanohito wa yubisashite imasu - The woman is pointing her finger
Onnanohito wa denwa o tsukatte mo inaishi, yubisashite imasen. - The woman is not talking on a phone, nor is she ponting her finger.

Otokonohito tachi to onnanohito tachi wa tatte imasen - The men and women are standing
Onnanohito tachi wa tatte ite, otokonohito tachi wa suwatte imasu - The women are standing, but the men are sitting
Onnanohito tachi to hitori no otokonohito wa tatte ite, moo hito no otokonohito wa suwatte imasu - The women and one of the men are standing, but one of the men is sitting.
Otokonohito tachi to hitori no onnanohito wa suwatte ite, moo hitori no onnanohito wa tatte imasu - The men and one of the women are sitting, but one of the women is standing.

Otokonohito wa futari no onnanohito no yoko ni imasu - The man is to the side of two women.
Otokonohito wa futari no onnanohito no aida ni imasu - The man is between two women
Inu wa futari no aida ni imasu - The dog is between two people
Inu wa futari no yoko ni imaru - The dog is to the side of two people

Hana o sawatte imasu - Touching the nose
Kuchi o sawatte imasu - Touching the mouth
Me o sawatte imasu - Touching the eye
Ago o sawatte imasu - Touching the chin

Onnanoko tachi wa tobiorite imasen. Otokonoko wa tobioriru tokoro desu. - The girls are not jumping down. The boy will jump down from a place.
Onnanoko tachi wa tobiorite imasen. Otokonoko wa tobiorite imasu - The girls are not jumping down. The boy is jumping down.
Onnanoko tachi wa mada tobiorite imasen. Otokonoko wa tobiorimashita - The girls are still not jumping down. The boy jumped down.
Otokonoko to onnanoko tachi wa tobiorite imasu - The boy and girls are jumping down.

Unit 2, DONE!

Continuing on...

Alrighty, this is as good a time as any to continue onward with re-printing my notes here. Incidentally, I find myself wondering why I didn't type them all to begin with...this would be so much faster if I could copy and paste. Oh well. Also, I went back onto the previous notes and made some small corrections, I had mistyped a few things (for instance, someone pointed out that I mistakenly said "mado" meant "square" when I meant to type "window". Anyway, here we go.

Unit 2, Lesson 8

Otokonohito wa torakku no naka ni imasu - The man is in the truck.
Banana wa kago no naka ni arimasu - The banana(s) are in the basket.
Hitobito wa booto no naka ni imasu - The people are in the boat (Hitobito = People. There's also a word, "meimeino" that means "each person")
Hitobito wa booto no naka ni imasen - The people are not in the boat.

Otokonoko wa saku ni suwatte ite, otokonohito wa jitensha ni suwatte imasu - The boy is sitting on a fence, the man is sitting on a bicycle. (Quick note, "saku" also works for "railing" or "a paling". In the case of the example in this lesson, they are referring to a fence.)
Otokonoko wa booshi o kabutte imasu - The boy is wearing a hat on his head.
Kodomo tachi wa teeburu no ui ni imasu - The children are on the table.
Booru wa otokonoko no ue ni arimasu - The ball is on the boy. (as noted from a comment in my first blog back in January, this is not a real sentence; there is no verb in the sentence, so it's incomplete for now)

Otokonoko wa jitensha ni notte imasu - The boy is riding a bicycle
Otokonoko wa jitensha no yoko ni imasu - The boy is beside (or on the side of) a bicycle
Otokonohito wa uma ni notte imasu - The man is riding a horse
Otokonohito wa uma no yoko ni imasu - The man is beside (or on the side of) a horse

Roba wa otokonohito no shita ni imasu - The donkey is under the man
Roba wa otokonohito no shita ni imasen - The donkey is not under the man
Kyandii wa tana no shita ni arimasu - The candy is under the shelf (Kyandii = Candy, tana = shelf)
Kyandii wa otokonohito no te no naka ni arimasu - The candy is in the man's hand (te = hand)

Kono otokonoko wa ki no ushiro ni imasu - This boy is in the back of a tree (behind a tree) (ki = tree, ushiro means "the back" or "the rear")
Kono otokonoko wa ki no mae ni imasu - This boy is in front of a tree
Kono otokonohito wa kuruma no ushiro ni imasu - This man is at the rear of a car
Kono otokonohito wa kuruma no mae ni imasu - This man is at the front of a car

Futatsu no booru wa tonari awase ni arimasu - The two bowls are next to each other. (tonari awase = literally "live next door to each other". In this case, just next to each other. Booru is used in this sentence for "bowl" instead of "ball")
Kono kappu wa sara no ue ni arimasu - This cup is on the plate.
Go wa ichi to zero no aida ni arimasu - The five is between a one and a zero. (Aida is a hard word to place, and I'm honestly still not 100% that I got this answer right, but it fits with the pictures. "Between" is the best I could do, but I think it's right.)
Chuukurai no ookisa no booru wa ookina booru to chiisana booru no aida ni arimasu - The medium size bowl is between a large bowl and a small bowl. (Lots of notes...Chuukurai no = Medium, ookisa = size, ookina = ookii = large, and chiisana = chiisai = little/small)

Otokonohito wa futari no onnanohito no yoko ni imasu - The man is to the side of two women.
Otokonohito wa futari no onnanohito no aida ni imasu - The man is between two women (this one is what convinced me that "aida" meant "between" above, though the next entry did make me wonder if it means "in the middle". It's probably both.)
Inu wa futari no aida ni imasu - The dog is in the middle of two people
Inu wa futari no yoko ni imasu - The dog is to the side of two people (futari is a counter, but specifically can mean "two people")

Megane o kakete iru futari - Two people are wearing glasses
Megane o kakete inai futari - Two people are not wearing glasses
Boo o motte iru otokonoko - The boy is holding a stick
Boo o motte inai otokonoko - The boy is not holding a stick (Note time again, this is another one that Rosetta Stone lists weird. In Romaji it says "Boo", in Hiragana it says "Bou" which can confuse things if you're trying to look up the word. I specifically remember spending about 10 minutes on these two pictures trying to figure it out until I finally learned how to read the Hiragana, then everything got easier)

Hikooki wa chijoo ni arimasu - The plane is on the ground (yet ANOTHER one, "chijoo" in Hiragana is "chijou" meaning "on the ground")
Hikooki wa kuuchuu ni arimasu - The plane is in the air
Sakana wa daibaa no mawari ni imasu - The fish are surrounding the diver (daibaa = diver, mawari = "surroundings" among other things)
Isu wa teeburu no mawari ni arimasu - The chairs are surrounding the table.

Otokonohito wa jitensha no ushiro ni imasu - The man is at the rear of a bicycle
Otokonohito wa jitensha no yoko ni imasu - The man is to the side of a bicycle
Jitensha wa kuruma no yoko ni arimasu - The bicycle is to the side of a car
Jitensha wa kuruma no ushiro ni imasu - The bicycle is at the rear of a car

Notes: Tough lesson, a lot of annoying words here. The biggest issue I had with this lesson originally is that there are some words I just could not find in any dictionary, some of them because they did not use the same spellings as the hiragana characters. "Aida" is still a word I'm not sure about, since the picture implies that the correct term is "middle" or "between", but one of the exact definitions of the word is "Space" or "Interval". There is also a word, "aidawotoru", that means "take the middle (between the two)" which led me to believe that the meaning I have above was correct. If I'm wrong, I'll come back and edit this part, so keep that in mind for later, readers!!!

Unit 2, Lesson 9

Me - Eye
Hana - Nose
Kuchi - Mouth
Kao - Face

Ashi - Foot/Feet
Mimi - Ear
Otokonohito ga uma no mimi o sawatte imasu - The man is touching the horse's ear
Zoo no ashi - Elephant Feet (I never noticed before, but this is another weird word, in hiragana it's "Zou" instead of "Zoo")

Onnanohito no atama - Woman's head
Te - Hand
Otokonohito no atama - Man's head
Te to ashi - Hands and feet

Mittsu no te - 3 hands
Yottsu no te - 4 hands
Yonhon no ude - 4 arms (ude = arms)
Sambon no ude - 3 arms

(Edit: May have made a mistake here, will correct later...have to re-read my notes)
Otokonohito no te wa hiza ni notte imasu - The man's hand is on his knee
Otokonohito wa te de atama o sasaete imasu - The man's hands are supporting his head (sasaete = support/prop)
Otokonohito no ryoote wa teeburu no ue ni notte imasu - The man has both hands on the table (Another word, ryoote is "ryoute" in hiragana)
Otokonohito wa katate ni kao o nosete, moo ippoo no te o hiji ni atete imasu - The man is holding his face with one hand, and his elbow with one hand (Katate = one hand, kao = face, ippoo (ippou in hiragana) = one side, hiji = elbow.)

Onnanohito no ude wa hiza ni notte imasu - The mans arms are on his knees
Otokonohito no te wa atama ni notte imasu - The mans hand is on his head
Wakai otokonohito no hiji wa teeburu ni notte imasu - The young mans elbow(s) is/are on the table
Otokonohito no te wa teeburu ni notte imasu - The mans hands are on the table

Me to hana - Eye(s) and nose
Hana to kuchi - Nose and mouth
Kao - Face
Mimi - Ear

(EDIT: Ok, I finally got some help with these next sections. Here's the rundown: The words I had trouble with in this section and the next section (which isn't here yet) are conjugations of verbs; they won't show up in any dictionary as a result. My friend gave me this page to help with that:

http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa031101a.htm

So, "atete" is the command form of "ateru", meaning to hit/to touch to. Haitte is the command form of Hairu, meaning to enter/go inside. Sawatte, below, is indeed "Sawaru", so I'd gotten those right.)
Kodomo wa koppu o kuchi ni atete imasu - The child is holding a cup to their face.
Onnanohito wa koppu o kuchi ni atete imasu - The woman is holding a cup to her face.
Kono wakai otokonohito no kuchi niwa tabemono ga haitte imasu - There is food in this young man's mouth
Kono wakai otokonohito no kuchi niwa tabemono ga haitte imasen - There is not food in this young man's mouth

(Note, for these next four, I'm still (even lessons later) having a lot of trouble pinpointing the word "sawatte" down. It's not in any dictionary, and the closest thing I can find is "sawaru" which means "touch" or "feel". As a result, these four translations may be completely wrong! That said, they are also note complete sentences either way. EDIT: I got these right ;))
Hana o sawatte imasu - Touch the nose
Kuchi o sawatte imasu - Touch the mouth
Me o sawatte imasu - Touch the eye
Ago o sawatte imasu - Touch the chin (ago = Chin)

Onnanohito wa kami o burashi de tokashite imasu - The woman is coming her hair with a brush (burashi = Brush, tokashite = to comb one's hair)
Onnanohito wa onnanoko no kami o burashi de tokashite imasu - The woman is combing the girls hair with a brush
Onnanohito wa kami o kushi de tokashite imasu - The woman is combing her hair with a comb (kushi = comb)
Onnanohito wa onnanoko no kami o kushi de tokashite imasu - The woman is combing the girl's hair with a comb

Notes: As you'll notice above, this lesson gave (and gives) me quite a bit of trouble. I can memorize the words and repeat them perfectly, but the problem is I still haven't quite figured out what the pictures mean. The general idea is clear on them (a girl/woman with a cup to their lips, a guy crouching eating food, a guy standing and NOT eating food), but figuring out their exactly proper meanings is difficult for me. I'll update these at some point once I get some help, but there are some things I really wish I could have someone constantly at my disposal for. That said, I try not to impose on my friends who do speak Japanese too much, so it'll take a bit.

The link I posted above is going to be very important moving on, conjugation on verbs really confused me, but the link my friend gave me helped out a lot. For instance, in the next section, new forms of verbs like this wonderful phrase:

Uma wa tobikoemashita - The horse jumped over

It took some work right at first, since I knew "tobikoeru" from earlier lessons (which would've made it "jumping over"), and the shift into past-tense threw me off. Verb conjugations can appear to be extremely confusing, but are actually quite simple in practice once you get the hang of them. That said, in addition to the link above, I figure it's finally time to post this link:

http://www.dicts.info/2/english-japanese_romaji.php?e=mc2

Remember, some of the words in Rosetta Stone do not come up in this dictionary, since they are spelled differently in hiragana than it shows them spelled in Romaji. I actually use an electronic dictionary that goes more in-depth than this site, but it's a good substitute if any of you need it. The next post will cover lessons 10 and 11, finishing off Unit 2, and Lesson 10 starts immediately with conjugated verbs like the one I posted above, so study up on that first link now. It's going to be very helpful in a moment.

A long awaited update!

I haven't added any Japanese stuff in here for a long time, I actually forgot about this page. However, I've decided that it was time to go back through my Rosetta Stone notes and post up some translations for anyone who wanted some help. I'm getting better and better at Japanese, but I figure I might as well keep this page around for anyone who wanted to use it. It's certainly helped me memorize some vocabulary over time, so by all means...enjoy! I'll start things off right where I ended with my last translations post.

Unit 2, Lesson 6

Onnanohito wa hashitte imasu – The woman is running
Onnanohito wa hashitte imasen – The woman is not running
Kono otokonohito wa kaminoke ga arimasu – This man has hair
Kono otokonohito wa kaminoke ga arimasen – This man does not have hair

Onnanoko wa nonde imasu – The girl is drinking
Onnanoko wa nonde imasen – The girl is not drinking
Kono otokonohito wa herumetto o kabutte imasu – This man is wearing a helmet
Kono otokonohito wa herumetto o kabutte imasen – This man is not wearing a helmet

Kono onnanohito wa shiroi booshi o kabutte imasu – This woman is wearing a white hat
Kono onnanohito wa kuroi booshi o kabutte imasu – This woman is wearing a black hat
Otokonohito wa shiroi booshi o kabutte imasu – The man is wearing a white hat
Otokonoko wa kuroi booshi o kabutte imasu – The boy is wearing a black hat

Kono onnanohito wa kuroi booshi o kabutte imasen. Shiroi booshi o kabutte imasu – This woman is not wearing a black hat. She is wearing a white hat.
Kono onnanohito wa shiroi booshi o kabutte imasen. Kuroi booshi o kabutte imasu. – This woman is not wearing a white hat. She is wearing a black hat.
Otokonohito wa kuroi booshi o kabutte imasen. Shiroi booshi o kabutte imasu. – This man is not wearing a black hat. He is wearing a white hat.
Otokonoko wa shiroi booshi o kabutte imasen. Kuroi booshi o kabutte imasu. – This boy is not wearing a white hat. He is wearing a black hat.

Kono onnanohito wa kuroi booshi o kabutte imasen – This woman is not wearing a black hat
Kono onnanohito wa shiroi booshi o kabutte imasen – This woman is not wearing a white hat
Otokonohito wa kuroi booshi o kabutte imasen – The man is not wearing a black hat.
Wakai otokonohito wa shiroi booshi o kabutte imasen – The young man is not wearing a black hat.

Kono hikooki wa tonde imasu – This plane is flying
Kono hikooki wa tonde imasen – This plane is not flying
Otokonoko tachi wa tobikonde imasu – The boys are jumping in
Otokonoko tachi wa tobikonde imasen – The boys are not jumping in.

Kono otokonoko wa oyoide imasen. Hikooki no naka ni suwatte imasu. – This boy is not swimming. He is sitting inside a plane.
Kono otokonoko wa hikooki no naka ni suwatte imasen. Oyoide imasu – This boy is not sitting inside a plane. He is swimming.
Kono onnanohito wa aruite imasen. Uma ni notte imasu – This woman is not walking. She is riding a horse.
Kono onnanohito wa uma ni notte imasen. Aruite imasu – This woman is not riding a horse. She is walking
Kono otokonoko wa oyoide imasen – This boy is not swimming.
Kono otokonoko wa hikooki no naka ni suwatte imasen – This boy is not sitting in a plane.
Kono onnanohito wa aruite imasen – This woman is not walking.
Kono onnanohito wa uma ni notte imasen – This woman is not riding a horse.

Onnanohito wa denwa o tsukatte imasu – The woman is talking on the phone
Onnanoko wa denwa o tsukatte imasu – The girl is talking on the phone
Onnanohito wa yubisashite imasu – The woman is pointing
Onnanohito wa denwa o tsukatte mo inaishi, yubisashite mo imasen - The woman is not talking on the phone, also she is not pointing. (forgot to fill this in somehow...see notes below for more information though)

Onnanohito wa denwa o tsukatte imasen – The woman is not talking on the phone
Onnanohito wa yubisashite imasen – The woman is not pointing
Otokonohito wa jitensha ni notte imasu – The man is riding a bicycle
Otokonohito wa jitensha ni notte imasen – The man is not riding a bicycle.

Notes: When writing in Hiragana, it can be very confusing right at first to see the letter "tsu" in many written forms, as the letter can sometimes appear smaller than usual. This is very difficult to show in Blogspot as I don't have pictures of all the letters handy on short notice, however a small "tsu" character simply stands in for simply the "t" sound. So, "tsukatte" would look something like this in the hiragana form:

Note, the latters are "tsu" "ka" "t" "te" in this form...the "t" is the smaller "tsu" I was talking about. Please excuse my poor penmenship, I'm still working on that part...

EDIT: I should also note that the symbol for "t" also works for "k" and appears exactly the same. So it would appear in the word "torakku" (Truck) with the same symbol. The same is true of "p" as a lone letter.

Another note from above, regarding the sentence "Onnanohito wa denwa o tsukatte mo inaishi, yubisashite mo imasen". Rosetta Stone connects the words a bit strangely in that sentence as far as the Romaji writing is concerned, which made it a bit hard to read at first. First, the command form (-te form) of the verb + "inai" (imasen) = not doing.

The sentence makes a bit more sense in romaji if you split up the words a bit: "denwa o tsukatte mo inai shi, yubi sashite mo imasen." "mo" is similar to "also" in most cases.

"Shi" can be used in a number of ways...you may have seen "kara" or "desu kara" meaning "because" in other lessons. "Shi" can be used instead of "kara" if there are several reasons for something. I'll give the humorous example my friend gave me to explain this whole thing to me originally ;)

"Kanojyou wa sei mo takai shi oppai mo dekai desu kara kanojyou to chome chome shitai desu."

"She's tall and has big tits, so I'd like to bump uglies with her" (basically ;) )

Moving right along, Unit 2, Lesson 7

Otokonohito to onnanohito wa odotte imasu - The man and woman are dancing
Otokonohito tachi to onnanohito tachi wa odotte imasu - The men and women are dancing.
Otokonohito tachi wa odotte imasu - The man are dancing
Onnanohito tachi wa odotte imasu - The woman are dancing

Otokonohito wa jitensha ni suwatte ite, otokonoko wa saku ni suwatte imasu - The man is sitting on a bike, but the boy is sitting on a fence.
Otokonohito to otokonoko wa jitensha ni suwatte imasu ga, jitensha o koide imasen -
Otokonohito to otokonoko wa jitensha ni notte imasu - The man and boy are riding a bicycle.
Otokonohito to onnanohito wa jitensha ni notte imasu - The man and woman are riding bicycles. (Ha ha, plurals again! I guess you could just say "a bicycle" but it's easier for me to write it this way since they are on separate bikes. Could also say they are each riding a bicycle)

Otokonoko wa jimen ni suwatte imasu - The boy is sitting on the ground (jimen = ground)
Otokonoko to onnanoko wa jimen ni suwatte imasu - The boy and girl are sitting on the ground
Otokonoko wa jimen no ue ni yoko ni natte imasu - The boy is horizontal on the ground (Note, yoko was kind of a pain in this sentence, and one that can be confusing. The literal definition is "the side" or "the flank", but it can also be taken to mean "horizontal" depending on the use.)
Onnanohito wa jimen no ue ni yoko ni natte imasu - The woman is horizontal on the ground (Another note, remember "ue" from before can be used to determine where she is in relation to the ground...in this case, clearly above.)

Onnanoko tachi to otokonoko wa hashitte imasu - The girls and boy are running.
Onnanoko tachi wa teeburu no ue ni tatte ite, otokonoko tachi wa jimen no ue ni tatte imasu - The girls are standing on the table but the boys are standing on the ground. (Having fun yet? That "tatte" in there pissed me off originally too ;) Tatte = Standing)
Otokonoko tachi to onnanoko tachi wa teeburu no ue ni tatte imasu - Both the boys and girls are on the table.
Otokonoko to hitori no onnanoko wa jimen no ue ni ite, moo hitori no onnanoko wa teeburu no ue ni tatte imasu - The boy and one girl are both on the ground, but one girl is on the table.

Onnanohito to inu wa aruite imasu - The woman and dog are walking.
Otokonohito to onnanohito wa suwatte imasu - The man and woman are sitting.
Otokonohito to onnanohito wa aruite imasu - The man and woman are walking.
Otokonohito to kodomo tachi wa aruite imasu - The man and children are walking. (note, remember "kodomo" refers to a child regardless of their sex, and can be used for boys and girls. The shortened version of "ko" also works, and it's applied to both "otokonoko" and "onnanoko" to mark them as children. "Hito" means person regardless of sex, and signifies the adult rather than the child. You've all picked this up by now, I'm sure, but maybe someone's forgotten ;) )

Otokonohito to otokonoko wa hikooki no naka ni imasu - The man and boy are sitting inside the plane.
Onnanohito wa aruite ite, otokonohito wa jitensha ni notte imasu - The woman is walking, and the man is riding a bicycle.
Otokonoko tachi to onnanoko tachi wa teeburu kara tobiorite imasu - The boys and girls are jumping off of the table. (Note, there's the "kara" I mentioned above, but it would not mean "because in this sentence, obviously. How the word appears matters a whole lot in Japanese.)
Otokonoko tachi to onnanoko tachi wa teeburu no ue ni tatte imasu - The boys and girls are on top of the table.

Booru ga onnanohito to otokonoko no atama no ui ni arimasu - There is a ball on the head of the boy and the woman (atama = head)
Booru ga otokonohito to otokonoko no atama no ue ni arimasu - There is a ball on the head of the man and the boy.
Onnanohito to otokonoko wa isu ni suwatte imasu - The woman and the boy are sitting on a chair (chairs) (isu = chair)
Otokonohito to otokonoko wa suwatte imasu - The man and boy are sitting.

Otokonohito tachi to onnanohito wa kuruma no naka ni suwatte imasu - The men and woman are sitting in a car.
Otokonohito to onnanohito wa kuruma no naka ni suwatte imasu - The man and woman are sitting in a car
Otokonohito to onnanoko to akachan wa torakutaa ni suwatte imasu - The man, girl, and baby are sitting on the tractor. (akachan = baby, torakutaa = tractor...another borrowed word)
Otokonohito to otokonoko wa torakutaa ni suwatte imasu - The man and boy are sitting on the tractor. (Note, it's very easy here to look at the picture in Rosetta Stone and accidently say "sitting in" instead of "sitting on", remember to look for the words "no naka" before you try to translate it)

Otokonohito tachi to onnanohito tachi wa tatte imasu - The men and women are standing.
Onnanohito tachi wa tatte ite, otokonohito tachi wa suwatte imasu - The women are standing, but the men are sitting.
Onnanohito tachi to hitori no otokonohito wa tatte ite, moo hitori no otokonohito wa suwatte imasu - The woman and one man are standing, but one man is sitting.
Otokonohito tachi to hitori no onnanohito wa suwatte ite, moo hitori no onnanohito wa tatte imasu - The man and one woman are sitting, but one woman is standing.

Otokonohito to onnanohito wa hee no ue ni tatte imasu - The man and woman are standing on the wall (NOTE: Rosetta Stone spells wall has "hee", but in hiragana it is actually written as "hei". This can make it rather confusing, but it clears up if you look at the hiragana text instead of the romaji. There was a similar word, "oushi" in Unit 1 that is usually spelled just "ushi" (Cow), so this is not the only time this happens.)
Otokonohito to onnanohito tachi wa hee no mae ni tatte imasu - The man and women are standing in front of the wall (mae = front)
Onnanohito tachi wa hee no ue ni tatte imasu - The women are standing on the wall
Onnanohito tachi wa hee no mae ni tatte imasu - The women are standing in front of the wall

Notes: This lesson in particular brought in a lot of vocabulary, but it was very confusing to me until I learned to read the hiragana script when I couldn't figure out a word. One of the few flaws in Rosetta Stone is that it does not always explain the difference between the feminine and masculine, and there is a very distinct difference in Japanese. In the version I have, there is no way to have the program teach only the masculine and neutral words, and ignore the feminine (or vice-versa), so it can get very confusing. My example above of "oushi" vs. "ushi" sticks out as an example, when I asked my friend what "oushi" meant, he had no idea. Simply removing the O made it much clearer to him.

I said this in my notes for lesson 6, but if anyone wants to figure out the Hiragana script, see my previous blog "Nihongo". There is a picture linked onto the bottom of the post that has a full listing of the hiragana, katakana, and romaji scripts from the book Minna no Nihongo I, which is a brilliant resource for learning how to read those scripts. I highly recommend a copy, part of my studies involved going page-by-page and translating the symbols into Romaji script, half for pronounciation, and half for memorization.