- Forum >
- Topic: Japanese >
- "Mr. John is American."
"Mr. John is American."
Translation:ジョンさんはアメリカ人です。
49 Comments
Two questions here:
1- I missed the "wa" particle; is it really necessary? I thought that in Japanese you could avoid pointing things if it was understood by the context (and I think here it is).
2- Shouldn't "amerikajin" carry any particle? Or is it because the verb "desu" doesn't need because it is not actually a verb?
Arigatō!
2421
-
Yes, the "wa" particle is absolutely necessary.
-
"amerikajin" does not need particle, because it is a complement. "desu" is a verb.
The symbol that comes up in my screen between John and America is the hiragana for HA, not WA
The character は is often pronounced "wa" so it essentially has both pronounciations.
I missed です at the end, and got a success anyway. Is that partirle only for politeness, or can it be missed? How does it sounds if we remove it (too rude)?
By how much? Is it like not calling someone Mr. or Ms. or is it more like saying "I ain't too 'fraid of y'all" in a business meeting?
"desu" and "-masu" verb forms are generally used with people you don't know well or someone who is in any sense your senior. So I guess the equivalent in English would be calling your teacher or boss by their first name (when they haven't expressed it to be okay) and speaking too casually in a formal setting. Keep in mind though that the rules are more bent for foreigners. I've often been told and heard that they don't really care when foreigners make mistakes about using honourifics because they are doing their best (and even Japanese make mistakes when using the more difficult honourific forms).
it says that it indicates the topic so I think it's like "Mr. John, who is the subject, is american."
Yeah but isn't that already implied?? In other examples it isn't nescaserry it's so confusing to me:(
in certain contexts the subject can be inferred, so you don't need to say the subject (and therefore don't need to identify the subject with 'wa'), but if you do say the subject you must identify it with wa. John Amerikajin desu is definitely wrong in all cases.
Yeah i thought that at first, that it wasn't in the other examples on duolingo, but i think the difference is they were talking about yourself "MY name is maria" "I am John, I am American", whereas here you are talking about someone else. Super confusing to give you the same two names over and over, both as a hypothetical name for yourself and again for hypothetical other people, if you ask me.
What is the purpose of 人 at the end of country names - is this like how on English one adds "an" or "ese" to indicate nationality over country name?
I put the exact translation shown as correct (ジョンさんはアメリカ人です) , but it counted it wrong saying that the translation was actually ジョンさんはアメリカじんだ。What happened? did I do something wrong?
While technically correct, nobody would ever say that in Japanese. At least not spoken. It’s not a natural sounding sentence.
My answer matched the correct one, but was still counted wrong. Why you gotta do me like that Duolingo.
Yes katakana is used for foreign words which not in the Japanese vocabulary
The は character seems to be pronounced as either "ha" or "hwa"depending on the context. When it's in the middle of a sentence, it sounds just like "wa".
The Japanese might say Mr. John, but a native English speaker would never say Mr. John, unless that was his last name. So the English is wrong here...
How 'bout accepting 米人 and 米国人 for "american person" ? It is technically correct I think, that's how I learnt it and I've been checking it in a japanese dictionnary. If someone could confirm/tell me I'm wrong, I think the meaning of 米国人 hits closer to the U.S. than アメリカ人.
So, you're right (congrats!), but there's another point to be aware of. It's only used in writing. What's more is that it's only for being formal or honorific. You'd never say 「私は米国人(べいこくじん)です」. I just asked my Japanese roommate and he said that it'd be super strange to here someone say that, but he uses that for writing formal documents or when being super polite about a high-superior's country...
Its used for politeness
So when you dont really know the person or when speaking to soneone with a higher status
That's because there is no other way to translate さん to English with just a name.
First time i tapped this. I wish i was alerted to this applucation sooner :)
リ... It says that this character is wrong yet its in the word Amerika and i cant change it??? Why???
I always forget the は every time. I just end up putting it where it doesnt belong or just skipping it entirely. When am i suppose to us it! Lol
