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- "学生です。"
"学生です。"
Translation:I'm a student.
52 Comments
Say the four sounds like you think they should be. Then say it again with u silent, but still leaving the same amount of space for it. You just pronounced Japanese. You'll find that it's light years more regular and predictable than English.
No, the u in the ku of gakusei is pronounced, it's only the u in the terminal su of desu that is dropped habitually.
Actually, rather than quickly its more like barely. like you're 1/4 of the way from saying "u", then you kinda just stop (I'm realizing I'm making this much more complicated than it is so I'll just stop)
in some words like がくせい, せんせい （sensei) the い isn't really pronounced it's more of stretching out the え sound.
considering they use syllabaries and kanji, which by definition makes their writing system not be phonetic, I find it to be extremely phonetic.
So when you don't say わたしは, is your being the subject just implied anyway since you're speaking?
Also, this might be a sentence put in after introducing the topic, yes?
As I understand it, in Japanese you continually introduce "topics" and they will remain the topic until you change them.
So for example, if you say.. わたしは田中です. (I'm Tanaka) then you don't have to include the わたしは again if you're still talking about yourself...it's implied.
I might be very wrong, so correct me if so!
No, you're absolutely correct! I will just say that, when you don't say わたしは, in this course you are implied as the subject because you're speaking. This isn't always the case when you're speaking in Japanese. As you pointed out, the topic could have previously been introduced as something else, so if you are still talking about that topic, you don't need to say it again.
So a more accurate translation here could be "am/is a student" since the subject is variable based on topic
Why is 生 pronounced like せい but if I tab on it an even google sais it's なま? I knew that one Kanji can have multiple meanings but can it have multiple completely different pronouncation as well?
Yes, the pronunciations vary sometimes depending how the kanji stands, whether it be alone or different kanji. For example: 誕生日 : tanjoubi (birthday) uses the same character 生 , but is pronounced different in comparison to 先生: sensei (teacher). Its really going to learn kanji apart from this and learning the meaning and where its used.
Individuals Kanji can be pronounced many different ways depending on what they're paired with (or if they are alone). It's easier to just learn the word as a whole instead of reading kanji separately
1330
I am sure if you say that to every English speaker, they will understand. But it is just grammatically wrong, so that's why it is not accepted.
"a" is an indefinite article. This proceeds the noun to indicate a none specified now.
Such as:
- a cat (over there).
- a dog (over there).
These show that there is none specific cat and dog. Where as "the", a definite article, shows a specific noun.
- the cat (over there).
- the dog (over there).
this specifies which cat or dog.
I may be wrong, but が is used to indicate who is doing the ACTION, as far as I know... for example: [私が寿司を食べます] Which means "I eat sushi".
The correct particle should be は。 [私は学生です]
What if you wanted to add a nationality? Would it be "わたしは日本学生 人です｡" or "わたしは学生日本人です。?
You do, but they're quick and quiet and almost disappear, unless you're deliberately trying to emphasize each syllable, such as when being sarcastic. "Hai ge-n-ki de-su!"
So, considering there is no "私は" in front of this sentence why is "a student" not applicable?
- 1330
A student in japanese is 「学生」. If they add 「です」into it, then it must imply that someone is a student depending to the context. It could be I, he, she, etc.
Duolingo is telling me two ways to say it..
' Gakusei desu ' and ' watashi wa gakusei desu. ' The both mean ' I am a student ' . Which one do I use?
- 1235
The subject in Japanese is often omitted when it is already understood. Therefore you say "watashi wa..." when it is not clear that you are talking about yourself.
If you just say "Gakusei desu", you may also be saying someone else is a student.
- 1235
The first one has the subject specified and it can only be about "I" am student. The second one has the subject omitted, and thus it depends on who the subject understood for the sentence is. e.g. If the sentence is an answer for the question "Who are you?", then using the 2nd sentence is enough. The 1st sentence would still be used in some occasions, when the subject is not understood yet or to make an emphasis.
Are these characters Kanji? Or is it in the Katakana and I haven't noticed...
the only katakana weve seen so far are when were referring to john, maria, america, and the uk. so yeah this is kanji right now
Can some one pleas help me, i dont understand why when duolingo wants me to translate from englush to japanese the correct answer for i am a student is 私は学生です but when its asking me.to rranslate a different japanese phrase (学生です) to english it ends up the same? What im asking in short is whats the difderence, formality? Can someone please explain?
Late reply, and you may have figured this out by now, but the difference between the two phrases you posted is the absence of 私は (Watashi wa) in the second phrase. Watashi wa would mean "I am" and omitting the subject ("I") is common. The subject (the speaker) is inferred in the second case. Both should be correct. I think in a more formal setting saying 私は is more polite.
Not at all, in Japanese the subject (so in this case "I") is often dropped if it can be easily assumed by the context of the sentence/conversation but it's not wrong to keep it in.
I'd avoid dropping subjects until you have a good grasp on using them, and then when you are pretty comfortable with them and have listened to a lot of Japanese and have sort of developed an ear for when to drop them try it out yourself because using them too much especially, "私は" can sound off to a native speaker's ear (think about how in English saying something like, "I have a dog. My dog is brown. My dog is cute. My dog is funny" sounds off or very childish too.
Because in English student is a countable noun and therefore it requires an article like 'a' or 'the'.
