One of the best ways to approach translating a Japanese sentence into English is by breaking it down to its component parts. We start by isolating the subject from the direct object from the verb. Then, we swap out the words for their Japanese counterparts, add the appropriate particles, and reorder the sentence structure as needed.
As you are beginning to learn kanji, you will no doubt notice that individual kanji can often be read in different ways. For example, the kanji ‘時’ can be read as ‘とき’ or as ‘じ’ depending on the situation. Your professor has probably talked to you about why this is, and as you continue your study of Japanese, you will learn how to predict what reading to use and when. For now, however, it is probably the best use of your time to simply memorize each reading of each kanji that you learn and figure out through practice when to use each one. Even native Japanese speakers get the reading wrong from time to time, so it is important to remember that predicting the correct reading is more of an art than a science.
First, we need to mark ourselves as the topic of the sentence with the particle ‘は.’ Next, we’ll look for any frequency or time words in the sentence. Sure enough, there is one, ‘every day,’ so we slot that in right after the topic. There isn’t a specific time, so we can move on to the next parts of the sentence. This sentence includes a direct object in the word ‘Japanese,’ so we mark it with the particle ‘を.’ Finally, we end with the verb, conjugated in the present affirmative form. We arrive at this sentence:
私は毎日日本語を話します。
わたしはまいにちにほんごをはなします。

First, we need to mark ourselves as the topic of the sentence with the particle ‘は.’ Next, we’ll look for any frequency or time words in the sentence. Sure enough, there is one, ‘every day,’ so we slot that in right after the topic. There isn’t a specific time, so we can move on to the next parts of the sentence. This sentence includes a direct object in the word ‘Japanese,’ so we mark it with the particle ‘を.’ Finally, we end with the verb, conjugated in the present affirmative form. We arrive at this sentence:
私は毎日日本語を話します。
わたしはまいにちにほんごをはなします。

One of the best ways to approach translating a Japanese sentence into English is by breaking it down to its component parts. We start by isolating the subject from the direct object from the verb. Then, we swap out the words for their Japanese counterparts, add the appropriate particles, and reorder the sentence structure as needed.
As you are beginning to learn kanji, you will no doubt notice that individual kanji can often be read in different ways. For example, the kanji ‘時’ can be read as ‘とき’ or as ‘じ’ depending on the situation. Your professor has probably talked to you about why this is, and as you continue your study of Japanese, you will learn how to predict what reading to use and when. For now, however, it is probably the best use of your time to simply memorize each reading of each kanji that you learn and figure out through practice when to use each one. Even native Japanese speakers get the reading wrong from time to time, so it is important to remember that predicting the correct reading is more of an art than a science.
First, we need to mark ourselves as the topic of the sentence with the particle ‘は.’ Next, we’ll look for any frequency or time words in the sentence. Sure enough, we find ‘tonight,’ so we slot that in right after the topic. There isn’t a specific time, so we can move on to the next parts of the sentence. This sentence includes a direct object in the word ‘TV,’ so we mark this with the particle ‘を.’ Finally, we end with the verb, conjugated in the present negative form. We arrive at this sentence:
私は今晩テレビを見ません。
わたしはこんばんテレビをみません。

First, we need to mark ourselves as the topic of the sentence with the particle ‘は.’ Next, we’ll look for any frequency or time words in the sentence. Sure enough, we find ‘tonight,’ so we slot that in right after the topic. There isn’t a specific time, so we can move on to the next parts of the sentence. This sentence includes a direct object in the word ‘TV,’ so we mark this with the particle ‘を.’ Finally, we end with the verb, conjugated in the present negative form. We arrive at this sentence:
私は今晩テレビを見ません。
わたしはこんばんテレビをみません。

One of the best ways to approach translating a Japanese sentence into English is by breaking it down to its component parts. We start by isolating the subject from the direct object from the verb. Then, we swap out the words for their Japanese counterparts, add the appropriate particles, and reorder the sentence structure as needed.
As you are beginning to learn kanji, you will no doubt notice that individual kanji can often be read in different ways. For example, the kanji ‘時’ can be read as ‘とき’ or as ‘じ’ depending on the situation. Your professor has probably talked to you about why this is, and as you continue your study of Japanese, you will learn how to predict what reading to use and when. For now, however, it is probably the best use of your time to simply memorize each reading of each kanji that you learn and figure out through practice when to use each one. Even native Japanese speakers get the reading wrong from time to time, so it is important to remember that predicting the correct reading is more of an art than a science.
The verbs for ‘to go’ and ‘to come’ in Japanese (‘いく’ and ‘くる’) work slightly different in Japanese than they do in English. We use ‘いく’ to express that someone or thing is moving toward the listener, while we use ‘くる’ to express that someone or thing is moving toward the speaker. Therefore, it is grammatically correct in English to say ‘I’m coming toward you’ but grammatically incorrect to say the same in Japanese. If you want to learn more about this, check out page 94 of your Genki I textbook.
Japanese does not often differentiate between singular and plural nouns—often, we only have context to figure it out. In later chapters, we will learn some words that have plural forms, as well as some ways to make it clear that we are talking about more than one person, place, or thing, but for now, you simply do not need to worry about pluralizing your nouns in Japanese.
First, we need to mark Mary as the subject of the sentence with the particle ‘は.’ Next, we’ll look for any frequency or time words in the sentence. There is not frequency word in this sentence, but there is a time word, ‘Saturdays.’ Because this refers to a specific day of the week, we mark it with the particle ‘に.’ This sentence includes a location toward which the subject is acting, so we mark the location with the particle ‘へ.’ ‘に’ would also be acceptable, and perhaps even more natural in speech, but we’ll use ‘へ’ to contrast the previous use of ‘に.’ Finally, we end with the verb, conjugated in the present negative form. We will assume that we are also a student who does not attend school on Saturdays, indicating that Mary would be moving away from us (the speaker) to go to school. Thus, the use of the verb ‘to come’ becomes ungrammatical in Japanese, and we instead use ‘to go.’ We arrive at this sentence:
メアリーさんは土曜日に学校へ行きません。
メアリーさんはどようびにがっこうへいきません。

First, we need to mark Mary as the subject of the sentence with the particle ‘は.’ Next, we’ll look for any frequency or time words in the sentence. There is not frequency word in this sentence, but there is a time word, ‘Saturdays.’ Because this refers to a specific day of the week, we mark it with the particle ‘に.’ This sentence includes a location toward which the subject is acting, so we mark the location with the particle ‘へ.’ ‘に’ would also be acceptable, and perhaps even more natural in speech, but we’ll use ‘へ’ to contrast the previous use of ‘に.’ Finally, we end with the verb, conjugated in the present negative form. We will assume that we are also a student who does not attend school on Saturdays, indicating that Mary would be moving away from us (the speaker) to go to school. Thus, the use of the verb ‘to come’ becomes ungrammatical in Japanese, and we instead use ‘to go.’ We arrive at this sentence:
メアリーさんは土曜日に学校へ行きません。
メアリーさんはどようびにがっこうへいきません。