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- "ごはんをください。"
"ごはんをください。"
Translation:Rice, please.
89 Comments
Actually, while learning English (in Europe, it's a mandatory subject) the teacher told us: "if you cannot count something in units, then it's proceeded by some". In this case, you can't say "one rice, two rices" so it should have some before. It happens the same way with most liquids ("one water, two water..."). Of course, you can say "one glass of water", but you can count glasses.
At a resturaunt it's possible to say, "I'll have two waters with that." Or "Can I have to waters with that?" But I mean your point still stands.
I've heard that one of the differences between Japanese and many other languages is that it only emphasizes the number one or more. For example, when there are two glasses, it emphasizes the number two, while when there is only one glass, it omits the number one
You could interpretate it like that. Beacause literaly it says rice, please. ください Doesnt mean please, its a polite way of requesting something
"Could I have some rice please ?" That is how I said request. It was marked wrong, correcting mgs with "Can I have some rice, please?" I say it both ways, using "can" as more informal and sloppy, and "could" as a little more polite or formal, or even sheepish.
I think both are acceptable in English for said request.
I agree with you, and Duo probably just didn't come up with all the possible ways people would answer this question.
That said though, as you pointed out, "could" is slightly more polite/formal, and there are definitely more polite ways to phrase requests in Japanese. However, prescribing how to match the different levels in politeness between English and Japanese is a difficult task, so Duo should just accept "could" too f(^_^;
I have a pronunciation question. Normally, I thought the particle を was supposed to be pronounced like お and that it was only supposed to be pronounced like を in full words, not in use as an isolated particle, much like how は is pronounced like わ when used as a particle.
But it sounds like it's being pronounced like を in these sentences. Is this a bug or glitch?
I agree that the recorded voice reads "wo." In addition, if you listen carefully to words containing は (in cases where the correct pronunciation is "ha"), you will find the occasional mispronounciation "wa."
My theory is that the pronunciation is determined automatically by the app/web app and that it is necessary to enter the correct exceptions manually.
While I agree with JosuaLore9 that the pronunciation among Japanese speakers plausibly varies, I don't think the inconsistency is intentional.
I was also confused aswell, but i finally have an answer. は will we pronounced ha when it is part of a word, like はじめなして (nice to meet you). は will then be pronounced as wa when it is connecting other words, like how it sometimes means "is" Ex. If you were saying これは, "this is..." Then you would pronounce it as "kore wa" because it is connecting the words "this" and whatever object it is refering to.
Hope this helps!
Came to the comments for this question as well. Best answer I could find while searching the internet is the "w" is pronounced in this case because "を" is preceded by "ん", and saying "wo" helps to differentiate from saying "の" without having to take a pause after "ん". Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
I hear the "wo" pronunciation as well, but I think it's correct, not a bug/glitch.
I could be wrong here, but I believe Japanese speakers will tell you that お and を are pronounced differently. I think how strongly the "w" sound is pronounced varies regionally, as well as by person, but the reason it's taught as "o" to English speakers is that most people will tend to pronounce it with a hard "w" when the Japanese "w" is much softer.
Is it correct to say that, as it is a question that there should be a か at the end? This seems like what you would say if someone initially asked you what you wanted. Would you say anything different if you just walked into a shop and asked for some rice? It seems to me that it literally translates to "rice please". Which seems like more of a response than a question.
Please correct me if i am wrong or explain this to me a little more :)
The English translation is a question, but the original Japanese sentence is not a question, it's more of a request, I suppose.
An English example would be going into a restaurant, and when you order, there are a few different ways of ordering. We'll look at two different ones.
"Can I get some rice?" or "Rice, please."
Now, I realize that the translation given is actually "Can I get some rice?", but I would say that ごはんをください would actually translate better to the second one, "Rice, please." It's not exactly a demand, but it's certainly not a question. Maybe a polite demand, an order, a request.
So you're correct in your observation that it would translate to "rice please".
Kudasai does not mean please, its a polite way to ask for something. Please gets added in translations to show politeness.
Kudasia is a form of kudasaru which is to condescending to do something. It is a humble way of asking someone to give you something. Not a question but a request.
I think "か" is basically used to help separate questions from statements. Most questions I see that have "か" at the end would be a statement without it.
This sentence directly translated says "rice please." While it is a request it is not a question. Therefore か is not used. The feeling behind it is more like "please pass the rice" or "I would like some rice please."
1191
は (wa) is to mean that the previous word is the main subject or topic.
を (o) is to denote that previous word is the direct object, the receiver of the verb.
I understand. The app has taught me these two phrases.
Gohan wo tabemasu Gohan wa tabemasen
Is there a reason why each one has a different particle? Are they interchangeable in this scenario?
In that situation, yes they are interchangeable. は can be used to replace another particle, fulfil that particle's grammatical role, and elevate the thing indicated by the particle to the "topic". This is usually done to add emphasis to a negative sentence or a question.
It should be noted however, that ください is a special class/conjugation of verbs and it follows its own rules, so the direct object must be indicated by を; 〜はください is simply ungrammatical.
It must be を(o) because it marks the object of the request. In this case, that's the rice--the thing being requested.
Technically, yes you could translate this sentence as "Can I have a meal" in very particular circumstances, but in the large majority of situations it would be used, it should be translated as "Can I have some rice".
That's because ごはん refers to "a meal" mainly when it is used colloquially (e.g. ごはんまだ？), or as a suffix (e.g. 朝ごはん)
What would "ごはんはください" mean? Is that near like "whenever you got rice, give it to me please"?
It's frustrating that ご飯 is not accepted as correct since it was taught that way during the previous lesson.
"ご" is the honorific suffix. The honorific suffix お (which can be written in kanji as 御) is also pronounced as ご in certain contexts, i.e. typically in front of Chinese-derived words. 御飯 (ごはん) comes from the Chinese word for rice, 飯 fàn, so the honorific is pronounced ご. *Note: there are a few exceptions to this rule, but it holds true for the most part.
Personally I think "get rice" is kind of a crude way of speaking and very impolite.
Agreed. In English, "get rice"/"get some rice" sounds like what a crude man would shout at a poorly dressed waitresses inside the dirty bar of some movie scene.
Would saying "ごはんください", dropping the を also be acceptable? Both in formal and informal speech?
Yes, it's acceptable, but the use of ください makes the phrase slightly formal.
Informal versions of this statement include ごはんちょうだい and ごはんくれる？
ごはん more correctly translates to 'cooked rice' as there is another word which means uncooked rice, and it does not mark 'cooked rice' as correct...
I think that's just a Duolingo thing. Often times, Duolingo will "correct" you when you're actually not wrong. This is largely due to the site learning the language better as the course matures.
On most of the other sentences with ください (kudasai) Duo accepted "I'd like this one/that one/water/tea." but here it insisted on "Can I get...?" Is one a better translation than the other?
This is most likely an oversight on the part of the course developers; flag it for them to fix :)
Personally, I think "I'd like ~" is a better translation of ～をください than "can I get ~?", but I don't think one is "more correct" than the other.
"ごはんをください。" (Gohan wo kudasai) Literally translates to "Rice please" or "Please can I have some Rice" The 'correct' answer is actually "Watashi wo gohan kudasai" I think... again, please correct me if I made a mistake.
I don't think you made a mistake, but explicitly adding the わたし (私) は at the beginning serves more to emphasize that it is you who would like some rice (as opposed to a person next to you, say). This is due to the highly context-sensitive nature of spoken Japanese. Anything that is implied from context should be dropped, especially when it comes to explicitly naming a person (i.e., using わたし or あなた).
As a native English & German speaker, I'm sorry to say I'm not fully familiar with this. I've just heard this fact emphasized from so many different places that it has to be true.
Yes, it can, but ごはん refers to "a meal" mainly when it is used colloquially (e.g. ごはんまだ？), or as a suffix (e.g. 朝ごはん). The majority of the time, it means "(cooked) rice".
How come 'I'd like some tea' works with the tea question but 'I'd like some rice' is incorrect here :/
This course is still in Beta; things like this should be flagged/reported, not just commented on because the course developers don't necessarily read these comments.
This is most likely an oversight on the part of the course developers; flag it for them to fix :)
Personally, I think "I'd like ~" is a better translation of ～をください than "give me ~ please?", but I don't think one is "more correct" than the other.
This is most likely an oversight on the part of the course developers; flag it for them to fix :)
Personally, I think "I'd like ~" is a better translation of ～をください than "could I get ~?", but I don't think one is "more correct" than the other.
"Can I get some rice." is a sloppy, casual translation. "I'd like rice, please." is better English and more closely matches the Japanese, yet this app tells me it's incorrect.
I've heard that one of the differences between Japanese and many other languages is that it only emphasizes the number one or more. For example, when there are two glasses, it emphasizes the number two, while when there is only one glass, it omits the number one
I've heard that one of the differences between Japanese and many other languages is that it only emphasizes the number one or more. For example, when there are two glasses, it emphasizes the number two, while when there is only one glass, it omits the number one
"Rice on please"? As in, "please continue to rice"? That doesn't make sense in English, let alone as a Japanese translation.
To me, the voice sounds like the "w" is pronounced in "を" after SOME sounds. Am i hearing it wrong or are there times when the "w" is pronounced?
Can someone explain why を is pronounced wo and oh in different situations? This is really confusing me.
I just noticed that it doesn't accept ご飯をください (along with the kanji vers. of numbers, Duo accepts なな but not seven). Why is that...?
Why isn't 「ご飯を下さい。」 accepted? 「下さい」 is the kanji form of 「ください」, it should've been accepted.
Wondering, since gohan can be translated as food; is, "food, please" correct as well?
I personally would think that "may I have some rice please?" is a bit too polite for ごはんをください, but semantically there's nothing wrong and politeness is very difficult to equate for English and Japanese. I would recommend flagging your answer for the course developers to add to this list of accepted answers.
I wrote "Lunch, please", but then it turns out it was rice. How am I supposed to know it's rice and not lunch in this exercise?
Lunch is 昼ごはん【ひるごはん】, literally "noon rice". In some contexts, you can colloquially refer to any meal as just ごはん, but the default interpretation of ごはん on its own is "cooked rice".
