Food & Orders
Food is really important, so I learn about how to talk about it in Japanese!
Recap
In my last session, titled Hobbies & Interests - I learned about how to talk about my, well, you guessed it! Hobbies & Interests, so I talked about video games a lot!
Homework
From the last lesson, I was tasked to write 2 sentences about my favourite food! I have lots of favourite foods, so it was hard to pick! I began this homework like I have done before by writing down everything in English!
I love eating sushi, my favourite sushi is salmon sushi.
I also like tomato soup.
To begin, I knew how to write about something I love.
I love sushi
Watashi wa sushi ga daisuki desu
わたし わ すし が だいすき です
From here, I didn't really know how to say "eating" in Japanese, so I had to search that up, and I found the word "Taberu"
So, I added this to the current sentence
I love eating sushi
Watashi wa taberu koto sushi ga daisuki desu
わたし わ たべる こと すし が だいすき です
I then had to write the second part of the sentence, which was easier as it was using words I knew, and followed some familiar patterns!
Salmon sushi is my favourite
Watashi no okiniiri wa salmon sushi desu
わたし の お気に入り わ salmon すし です
The second sentence was following the same pattern as well.
I like tomato soup
Watashi wa tomato soup ga suki desu
わたし わ tomato soup が すき です
I then had to combine these together, and from the previous lesson I learnt about the word "dashi" - and I also got told that "dashi" is used to combine something positive with something positive, or something negative with something negative, but it's never used when combining something positive with something negative, "de" is used in that instance.
I love eating sushi. Salmon sushi is my favourite and I like tomato soup.
Watashi wa sushi ga daisuki desu. Watashi no okiniiri wa salmon sushi dashi, tomato soup ga suki desu.
Feedback
If I wanted to talk about something I like the structure usually goes:
I like ____
____ wa ____ ga suki desu
I like games
Watashi wa game ga suki desu
I like tennis
Watashi wa tennis ga suki desu
The particle “de” is used to indicate the place at which an action or event takes place, it is somewhat translated as “at”, “in” or “on”
I play on games
Watashi wa game de asobimasu
“Dashi” is used to connect sentences.
“To” is used to connect things.
If I’m writing about multiple things, I don’t need to keep using “watashi wa”.
With all of that in mind, this is how I should’ve written my sentences for my homework:
I love sushi and my favorite is salmon sushi and tomato soup.
Watashi wa sushi daisuki de, okiniiri wa tomato soup to salmon sushi desu.
わたし わ すし だいすき で、お気に入り わ tomato soup と salmon すし です。
Study Notes
Do you make food?
There are many questions someone might ask you in relation to food, for example - making food!
___, do you make sushi?
___ wa sushi wo tsukurimasu ka?
___ わ すし を 作ります か？
In this sentence, “tsukurimasu ka?” means "do you make/cook/create" - and if we break this down further, “tsukuru” means "make/cook/create" and “masu ka?” means "do you?" - So “tsukurimasu ka?” is a combination of those words.
You might reply to this with either a yes or a no…
I don’t cook
Iie, tsukurimasen.
いいえ、 つくりません
I do cook
Hai, tsukurimasu!
はい、つくります
There is a pattern here, where “-masen” means don’t and “-masu” means do!
Where do you eat?
There are so many places to eat, at home, at a restaurant - and there are so many ways you can have both of those! With buffets, or ordering takeaway, or making your own food!
Where do you eat ___?
Doko de ___ wo tabemasu ka?
どこ で ___ を たべます か？
In this sentence, “doko” means "where", and “taberu” means "eat", but we use “tabemasu” as that is more formal.
My reply to that would be:
I order ____ and eat it at home
Watashi wa ___ wo chumon shite ie de tabemasu.
わたし わ ___ を 注文 して 家 で たべます
Here, “chumon/tyumon” means "order", and “shite” means "do", “ie” means "home/house" and “de”, as discussed above, means "at" - So the direct translation is a bit confusing - I sushi order do home at eat - But in Japanese, this makes sense!
If you want to say you eat at a restaurant, you can just say
Restaurant o mise
レストラン お 店
Where “Resturant” means "restaurant" (obviously!) and “o mise” means "shop"
Manners
When you’re at a restaurant, and you want the attention of the staff, you can just ask…
Order, please
Chumon onegaishimasu! (or) Chumon kudasai!
注文 おねがいします (or) 注文 ください
“Onegaishimasu” and “Kudasai” both mean the same thing, which is the word please.
Favourites
Someone might want to know what else you like! In my case, I’ve talked a lot about sushi, and there are loads of different types of sushi, so I could be asked:
What is your second favourite sushi?
Nibanme ni sukina sushi wa nan desuka?
セカンド に すきな すし わ なに ですか？
In this sentence “nibanme” means "second" and “sukina” means "favourite", combining those as we have in the sentence means the second favourite! The rest of the sentences are words that we have seen before.
Different types of food
When you’re in a sushi restaurant, you may get served sushi on a conveyor belt- in Japanese, this is called:
Conveyor Sushi
Kaiten Sushi
回転 すし
Where “Kaiten” means "conveyor".
There are lots of different types of sushi, and one of these is called “Nigri Sushi” - which is also used commonly on menus in the UK as well!
Grab sushi
Nigri Sushi
にぎり すし
“Nigri” here means "grab" - I’m not too sure why it’s called grab sushi, perhaps it’s because of the small grabbable size of the sushi?
(hand)roll sushi
(te)maki sushi
（て）巻 すし
This one makes a lot more sense! “Te” means "hand", “maki” means "roll" - This means sushi which is made and rolled by hand!
Some additional food words are “Nori” which means "seaweed", “Onigiri” which means "rice ball" and “Omisoshiru”, which, if we break it down “O” means respect but hasn't got a direct translation “miso” is "soy-paste", and “shiru” means "soup"!
Meals
In English, we have breakfast, lunch and dinner, but these aren’t really directly translated into Japanese! Instead in Japan, the word “Gohan” which means "meal", is used in addition to the time of the day to indicate the three different meals of the day.
Morning meal
Asa-gohan
あさ ごはん
Noon meal
Hiru-gohan
ひる ごはん
Night meal
Yoru-gohan
よる ごはん
From this, you can see “Asa” means "morning", “Hiru” means "noon", and “Yoru” means "night"!
Additional words/phrases
Beautiful person
Kirei na hito
きれい な ひと
“Kirei” means "beautiful", “na” is a particle, and “hito” means "person", the kaji for this is
人
And this is easy to remember as it looks a little bit like a person!
Easy question
Kantan na mondai
かんたん な もんだい
“Kantan” means "easy", or "simple", and “mondai” means "question".
Cute person
Kawaii hito
かわいい ひと
I already knew what kawaii meant before this as it’s used a lot in general on the internet! “Kawaii” means "cute".
amy.elliott2002@yahoo.co.uk
Portsmouth, United Kingdom