Shopping
Shopping is fun to do! Here are some useful sentences and phrases I’ve learnt which you might be able to use if you are shopping in Japan!
Recap
In my last session, titled Travel - I learnt about how to talk about places I want to travel to!
Homework
For my homework I had to write 2 sentences about stuff that I would like to buy in Japan, so to start this, I wrote out what I wanted in English first.
I want to buy stationery in Japan.
I want to buy video games in Japan.
These are pretty basic sentences to start off with, but I looked into how to say “I want to buy” in Japanese and found a few useful words!
I want to buy
Kaitai
This is the word which I need but this word is another word using “...itai” which was talked about in the previous lesson! This word is a combination of “Kau” which means “purchase” and “...itai” - The words “Kaimasu” and “Kaimasen” can be used to say “buy” (formally) and “Don’t buy” (formally) as well.
With this in mind I changed my sentences a bit:
I want to buy stationery in Japan because it’s cute
I want to buy video games in Japan because it has beautiful art.
From here, I looked into a few more words I would need to know “Bunbougu” means “Stationary” and “Bijutsu” means “Art”, but also art could be “Aato”
I want to buy stationery in Japan because it’s cute
(Nihon no) kawaii nanode, watashi wa bunbougu wo kaitai desu.
I want to buy video games in Japan because it has beautiful art.
(Nihon no) bijutsu/aato wa kirei nanode, watashi wa bideogemu wo kaitai desu
Feedback
I could write my first sentences in two parts like this instead:
Because (Japanese) stationary is cute. (I) want to buy.
(Nihon no) bunbougu wa kawai node.
(Watashi wa) sore wo kaitai desu.
For the next sentence, I used the word for art, but it would make more sense if I used the word design instead.
“Dezain” is “Design” and an additional word I could use too is “Karafuru” which means “Colourful”.
Like before, I could break this up into two sentences.
Because (Japanese) colourful designs are beautiful. (I) want to buy video games.
(Nihon no) karafuru na dezain wa kirei nanode.
(Watashi wa) bideogemu wo kaitai desu.
Study Notes
Shopping Questions
There is a lot of questions you might have to ask if you step into a new shop which is filled with lots of different things! Here is how you can say a few of those things in Japanese.
Where is the (stationary)?
(Bunbougu) wa doko desuka?
With this sentence, you can replace the word “Bunbougu” which means “Stationary” with anything else which you’re wanting to find.
Where is the bathroom?
Otearai wa doko desuka?
If we break down the word “Otearai” it makes more sense. “O” is a form of respect, “te” means “hands” and “arai/arau” means "wash".
Another important question which you might want to ask is this:
How much is it?
Ikura desuka?
In this phrase, “Ikura” means “How much”. Here is another way you can say this:
How much is this pen?
Kono pen wa ikura desuka?
Or, you could simply ask:
How much is this?
Kore wa ikura desuka?
And then, someone would reply to you with a price!
This is 100 yen
Kore wa hyaku yen desu.
In this sentence, “hyaku” means “100”, but also “ni-hyaku” means “200”, and “san-hyaku” means… you’ve guessed it - “300”!
When you’re ready to purchase, it’s really important to confirm your purchase! You can do this by saying:
This one please
Kore onegai shimasu
If you want to ask for something, for example, some items which are behind the counter, you would say something like this:
Please give me 3 (pencils)
(Enpitsu) wo sanko kudasai
Where “Enpitsu” can be replaced with anything, “sanko” means “3” and “kudasai” means “please”
Counting Terms
Counting gets weird because, in the above sentence, we should’ve used “Sanbon” instead of “Sanko” because we are asking for a pencil.
Counting Straight Items
“Hon”, “Pon” and “Bon” counting terms are used for straight things, for example, pencils, bottles, or a phone.
One
Ippon
Two
Nihon
Three
Sanbon
Four
Yonhon
Counting General Things
“Ko” is used for general things, for example, cups and apples.
One
Ikko
Two
Niko
Three
Sanko
Four
Yonko
So, here is how you could ask for 2 cups:
Please give me 2 cups
Cup wo niko kudasai
Ordering at a Restaurant
When you’re at a restaurant you might want to order something, and there are two ways you could do this using the two different “please” words.
(Tea) please
(Ocha) onegaishimasu
(Ocha) kudasai
“Onegaishimasu” and “Kudasai” both mean “Please”, but “Onegaishimasu” is more formal and is usually used when requesting a favor.
I really like ramen, and by really like, I should instead say I really “daisuki” ramen! It’s one of my favorite dishes ever! If I’m at a restaurant and I’m struggling to understand the menu, or the menu doesn’t have prices on it, I could ask:
How much is this (ramen)?
Kono (ramen) wa ikura desuka?
Another thing you might ask if you’re struggling to understand a menu is:
What is this?
Kore wa nan desuka?
And the reply to this is varied, but it would usually be:
This is…
Kore wa … desu
Additional words/phrases
Cold
Samui
Today it is cold
Kyou wa samui desu
Snow
Yuki
Today it is snowing
Kyou wa yuki desu
amy.elliott2002@yahoo.co.uk
Portsmouth, United Kingdom