Family
Family is part of our everyday lives! So, I learn about how to talk about them in Japanese!
Recap
In my last session, titled Food & Orders - I learnt about how to talk about food that I like!
Homework
For my homework, I was tasked to write 2 sentences about my family, and this was challenging! I began by writing this in English:
I have 5 people in my family; my mum, my dad, my two brothers, and me.
I started this homework with the first part, researching how to say 5 people - I thought it would be “Go-hito”, as “Go” means "five", and “Hito” means "people", but this is wrong.
I googled this and how I can say it, and I found the word “Go-nin” and “Go-ri” which both mean "5 people", but I wasn’t too sure which one was right!
I also had to find out how to say family, and this was much easier. “Kazoku” means "family".
With all of this, I was able to write:
I have 5 people in my family.
Watashi wa gonin kazoku desu.
わたし わ ５人 かぞく です
I then began to learn the different family member names in Japanese.
Mother
Okasan
おかさん
Father
Otosan
おとうさん
Brothers
Kyodai
兄弟
From that, I tried to form together a sentence to talk about the people in my family, but I didn’t know how to, I did write down this though:
Two Brothers
Ni ri no kyodai
I’m not too confident that I have this right, so the feedback is going to be really useful!
Feedback
I was told about the other family types as well as what I’ve currently learned:
Older brother
Oni-chan (or) Ani
おにいちゃん (or) 兄
For the word Older Brother, “Ani” is more formal, but “Oni-chan” is used in general conversation.
Younger brother
Oto-to
弟さん
And, more information on the word I used “Kyodai” - This usually is only used to describe male siblings, and in my case, that’s correct, but if you wanted to describe female siblings, you would use “Shimai”
Female Siblings
Shimai
しまい
And of course, I don’t have any sisters, but these are the words for sisters.
Older sister
One-Chan (or) Ane
おねちゃん (or) あね
This one is similar to Older Brother in Japanese as well, with “Ane” being used in a more formal setting.
Younger sister
Imo-to
妹さん
Just like the word Younger Brother in Japanese, this word uses the same “-to” part!
Twins
Futago
双子
The word twins in Japanese is similar to how you say words describing ‘two’ of something.
Two People
Futari
ふたり
Two Things
Futatsu
二つ
Another word that’s useful is baby in Japanese, as you might have a baby brother or something!
Baby
Aka chan
あかちゃん
And some more additional words, because grandparents are part of the family too!
Grandma
Oba-chan
おばちゃん
Grandpa
Oji-chan
おじちゃん
For my homework, I struggled to write out the list of the people in my family, and through my feedback, I got told how this would be done.
There are a mother and father and two brothers
Oka-san to oto-san to hutari no kyodai ga imasu
おかさん と おとさん と ふたり の きょだい が います
Study Notes
Where Do They Live?
You might want to know where someone's family lives, or someone might want to know where your own family lives.
Where does your family live?
(Anato no) kazoku wa doko ni sunde imasu ka?
あなた の 家族 は どこ に すんで います か?
In this sentence “sunde imasu ka?” means "do they live", with “sunde” meaning "live".
Without giving away the exact locations, my family all live nearby London, so my reply to this would be:
It is located near/close to London
London no chikaku ni arimasu
London の ちかく に あります
It is close to London
London no chikaku desu
London の ちかく です
In these sentences, “Chikaku” means "near", and another way of saying near is with “Chikai”, so something else I could say is:
London is close
London wa chikai desu
London は 近い です
But if my family lived inside of London, I would say:
It is London
London desu
London です
The above sentences aren’t really complete, here’s an example of how I would actually reply if my family lived somewhere in Japan.
My family lives in Tokyo, Japan
Watashi no kazoku wa Nihon no Tokyo ni sunde imasu.
わたし の かぞく わ Japan の Tokyo に すんで
Someone might want to know where one of your specific family members lives! They can ask this by saying:
Where does ___’s grandma live?
___ no oba-chan wa doko ni sunde imasu ka?
___ の おばちゃん は どこ に すんで います か?
Asking about hobbies
When you talk to others about your family, they might want to know what some of them like or dislike!
What do ___’s brothers like?
___ no Kyodai wa nan ga suki desuka?
___ の 兄弟 わ なに が すき ですか？
If someone asked me this, I would reply
My older brother likes science
Oni-chan wa kagaku ga suki desu
おにいちゃん は かがく が 好き です
My younger brother likes cricket
Oto-to wa kuriketto ga suki desu
弟さんちゃん は クリケット が 好き です
In these two sentences there are two new words. “kagaku” means "science", and “kuriketto” means "cricket". Some other words which might be useful to mention are “sakka” which means "football/soccer" and “gakuse” which means "student".
Knowing about the word student, now I could say:
My younger brother is a student but my older brother is not a student.
Watashi no oto-to wa gakusei desu ga, oni-chan wa gakusei dewa arimasen.
わたし の 弟さんちゃん わ がくせい です が、おにいちゃん わ がくせい でわ ありません
The above is a bit more of a formal way of saying this, so I could also say the second part more casually like this:
But my older brother is not a student
Desu ga, oni-chan wa gakusei jyanai desu
In these sentences, the words “desu” + “ga” is like saying "but". The words “Jyanai” + “desu” is like saying is "not", but you could also use “dewa” to say "is not" as well.
Additional words/phrases
There are multiple instances where someone might want to know if you have questions! My Japanese tutor usually asks me this by saying:
Do you have questions?
Shitsumon ga arimasu ka?
しつもん が あります か？
And you can answer this by saying “hai” for "yes", or “iie” for "no"! But you could also say:
I have a question
Shitsumon ga arimasu
しつもん が あります
I haven’t got a question
Shitsumon ga arimasen
しつもん が ありありませ
But! What if you want to ask a question? You could use “Shitsumon ga arimasu” above, but you could also say:
Can I ask a question?
Shitsumon iidesuka?
質問 いいですか？
amy.elliott2002@yahoo.co.uk
Portsmouth, United Kingdom