Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 3

10 Ashita no apo wa nan-ji da kke? Negative: Ashita no apo wa go-ji ja arimasen deshita kke? Isn’t tomorrow’s appointment at five? Ashita no apo wa go-ji ja nakatta kke? 9-2-3 Classifier for Counting People The classifier ~ ri/nin is used to count the number of people. The ~ ri plus the Japanese number is used for the number one and two ( hito-ri, futa-ri ), and the ~ nin with the Chinese numbers is used for three and above ( san-nin, juuichi-nin, hyaku-nin , etc.) The question word is nan-nin ’how many people.’ The classifier for counting (small) animals like dogs, cats, insects, fish, etc.is ~ hiki/piki/ biki. This sound change of / h-p-b / is similar to the classifier ~ hon/pon/bon . 9-2-4 Family Terms For each family term, there is at least one plain term and one formal term in Japanese. The plain terms are used to refer to one’s own family. They are also used in legal documents. The formal terms are used to refer to other people’s family. Thus uchi no chichi means ‘my father’ and otaku no otoo-san ‘your father.’ While one refers to her mother as uchi no haha when talking to people outside of her family, she uses okaa-san when directly addressing her mother or talking to another member of her family about her. This is because within the family, generally speaking, the older members call the younger members by their given names while the younger members call the older members by the formal family terms. Therefore, an older brother calls a younger brother by his given name while the younger brother calls the older brother as onii-san or onii-chan ‘big brother.’ Another characteristic of Japanese family terms is that each family member can be referred to and addressed by the family term that is to be used by the youngest member of the family---from the viewpoint of the youngest member. It’s therefore not uncommon for a husband and wife to call each other okaa-san ‘mom’ and otoo-san ‘dad’, or for a parent to call the older son as onii-chan ‘big brother’ and the youngest son as boku ‘me.’ Sometimes, non-family members address strangers by the family terms that typically represent the age groups. Obaa-san ‘grand-ma’ and Ojii-san ‘ grand-pa’ are often used to address seniors, and onee-san ‘big sister’ and onii-san ‘big brother’ to address young people. Strangers often call a woman accompanying a little child okaas-san ‘mom.’ One caution is in order: Oba-san ‘auntie’ implies a middle-aged woman. Make sure the woman is not too young to be called that, or you’ll be in trouble. Formal term Plain term English equivalent 奥 おく さん 家内 か な い （妻 つま 、女房 にょうぼう 、ワイフ） wife ご主人 しゅじん 、旦那 だ ん な さん 主人 しゅじん ( 夫 おっと 、旦那 だ ん な ) husband 娘 むすめ さん お嬢 じょう さん 娘 むすめ daughter 息子 む す こ さん、ぼっちゃん 息子 む す こ son