[OBAASAN] だいじょうぶ です か？

daijoubu desu ka?

いいえ、だいじょうぶ じゃ ない。
iie, daijoubu ja nai

[FRANK] <Frank forgot her name>

なまえ は なん です か？
namae wa nan desu ka?

わたし の なまえ は おばあさん

です。
watashi no namae wa obaasan desu.
[OBAASAN]

あなた は フランクさん です ね。
anata wa furanku san desu ne.

[FRANK] はい。 わたし は フランク です。

hai. watashi wa furanku desu.

[OBAASAN] なにか のみます か？

nanika nomimasu ka?

[FRANK] はい。 のみます。

hai. nomimasu.

<Obaasan gives him a drink>

[OBAASAN]
はい、どうぞ。
hai, douzo.

[FRANK] なん です か？
nan desu ka?
 [OBAASAN] カルピス です。
karupisu desu. [spelled in katakana]

[FRANK] カルピス は なん です か？
karupis wa nan desu ka?

[OBAASAN] カルピス は のみもの です。

karupisu wa nomimono desu.

[FRANK] そうか。
souka.

translation
Obaasan - Are you alright?
Frank - No, I am not fine. What's your name?
Obaasan - My name is "obaasan." You are Mr. Frank, aren't you?
Frank - Yes, I am Frank
Obaasan - Will you drink something?
Frank - Yes, I will drink
Obaasan - Here you are.
Frank - What's this?
Obaasan - It's Calpis.
Frank - What is Calpis?
Obaasan - Calpis is a drink.
Frank - Ah!

じゃ ない。 ja nai - Not...; Negates whatever was before; Used at the end of sentences
なまえ namae - Name; sounds similar to the English
なん です か？ nan desu ka - What is it? This is a very useful expression
なん nan - What? Another way to write NAN is NANI
なにか nanika - Something; Notice there is a relation to NAN (what); the KA adds the unknown
(SOMEthing)

のみます nomimasu - To drink; it can also mean, "I will drink."

はい、どぞ。 hai, dozo - Here you are; another very useful phrase used when offering things
to guests

カルピス karupisu - Calpis - Japanese drink made from milk and water; This is spelled with
katakana. This has a strange name. It is spelled "Calpis" but pronounced more or less as "cow piss" - pardon
the low educational value of this entry... The very first day I came to Japan, I met a foreigner at the airport and
he told me of this drink. Our conversation went as follows: "You know there is a drink here called Calpis." I
answered, "No... really?" "Yes, it is spelled C-A-L-P-I-S but it's Calpis!"

そうか。 souka - really, is that so? I see ; This is said to show that you are still interested in what
the speaker has to say and you are not sleeping. It also has the feel you learned something new.

• だいじょうぶ です か？ daijoubu desu ka? - [Are you ok?] As we

discussed in Chapter 1, adding a か ka to the end of a sentence makes it a question. Without the
 ka this would mean, "(I) am fine."
daijoubu can mean "fine,ok, good, safe..."

• いいえ、だいじょうぶ じゃ ない。 iie, daijoubu janai -

[No, I am not fine.] Lit. "No, fine not." First comes the "No" which is iie. And lastly comes the negating
factor which negates daijoubu. You can play tricks, by saying "daijoubu... [wait a few seconds] ja
nai!" This is kind of similar to the movie "Wayne's World" where the character is always negating his
sentences by adding "NOT!" at the end. Only this is normal Japanese

• なまえ は なん です か？ namae wa nan desu ka? - [What is

your name?]
namae - name
wa - particle which is after the main topic of the sentence; note it is pronounced as wa when used as
a particle
nan - what
desu - is
ka - question marker
"nan desu ka" [What is it?] is a very useful question. You can just point to an object and say, "nan
desu ka" or you can start with "... wa nan desu ka?" [What is ...] as in the example

• わたし の なまえ は おばあさん です。

watashi no namae wa obaasan desu - [My name is "Obaasan."]
watashi no - [my] remember this as a one-set. Remember the no is a possessive particle which
shows relation between two things. So whenever you have watashi + no it always equals "my."
This phrase is also very useful for introducing yourself. "watashi no namae wa ...[your name] desu."

• あなた は フランクさん です ね。 anata wa

furanku san desu ne - [You are Mr. Frank, aren't you?]

• はい。 わたし は フランク です。 hai. watashi

wa furanku desu. - [Yes, I am Frank.] An important point is when speaking of oneself, one never
uses san

• なにか のみます か？ nanika nomimasu ka? - [Would you like

something to drink] [lit. something to drink?]
Would you like something to eat is "nanika tabemasu ka?"
Would you like to see something (tv or movies) is "nanika mimasu ka?"

• はい。 のみます。 hai. nomimasu - [Yes, I will drink] This is a good example
of how in Japanese repeated information is usually not repeated. We know the topic (something to
drink) and we know the subject (I) so we don't have to say them again. In fact it is clumsy to do so.

• はい、どぞ。 hai, dozo - [Here you are] Remember these words together. The hai is
'yes' but in this case with dozo it means, "Here you are."

• なん です か？ nan desu ka? - [What is it?] We saw this before and we will
see it again! What is it?

• カルピス です。 karupisu desu - [It's Calpis] As mentioned before, Calpis is a

popular Japanese milk drink.

• カルピス は なん です か？ karupisu wa nan desu ka? - [What

is 'Calpis'?] Another way of asking what something is is "... tte nani?" This is a very common way of
asking what something is. The first way is more polite. (note there are 2 t's in tte this is because
there is a short pause between what you are asking and the te)

• カルピス は のみもの です。 karupisu wa nomimono

desu. - [Calpis is a drink] Because the main topic of "Calpis" is known, you really don't have to say it.
You could just say, "nomimono desu."
nomimono - this is a compound word of nomi ('drink' from 'nomimasu') + mono (thing) = a drink
thing or a drink

• そうか。 souka - [is that so?] As mentioned before, this is added to act like you are
listening and interested in what the speaker has to say. It has a feeling of "Oh, I didn't know that!
Thank you for informing me of that fact."