Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 1

66 Daijoubu desu. I’m fine. だいじょうぶ 大丈夫です。 Honda: Hontou desu ka. Terebi wa? No kidding. How about a television? ほんとう 本当ですか。テレビは？ Michael: Aa, terebi wa irimasen. Oh, a television I don’t need. ああ、テレビはいりません。 Vocabulary isu いす chair toka とか such (things) as tsukue つくえ 机 desk isu toka tsukue いすとかつくえ いすとか机 things like chairs and a desk ~mo ~mo 〜も〜も both ~ and ~ isu mo tsukue mo いすもつくえも いすも机も both chairs and desks daijoubu だいじょうぶ（な）大丈夫 fine, safe, okay hontou ほんとう 本当 truth, reality, fact terebi てれび テレビ television ＋ ya や such (things) as ＋ teeburu てえぶる テーブル table ＋ beddo べっど ベッド bed ＋ reizouko れいぞうこ 冷蔵庫 refrigerator ＋ sentaku (shimasu) せんたく 洗濯 laundry ＋ sentaku-ki せんたくき 洗濯機 washing machine ＋ souji (shimasu) そうじ 掃除 cleaning ＋ souji-ki そうじき 掃除機 vacuum cleaner ＋ eakon えあこん エアコン air conditioner Grammar Notes 3-4-1 X toka Y, X ya Y /Noun to ka Noun/ means that the referenced nouns are examples of the category under discussion. /Noun ya Noun/ is its more formal version. More than two examples can be listed, but it’s unusual to have more than three or four. Isu toka tsukue, arimasu ka. Do you have things like chairs and desks? Isu ya tsukue arimasu ka. Do you have things like chairs and desks? Isu toka tsukue toka terebi, arimasu ka. Do you have things like a chair, desk, and TV? Toka does not require another noun to follow it while ya does. Therefore, the following are possible.