I received a few requests to post this in my journal for the general public so here it is.

I have a lot of friends online who've said they were interested in learning Japanese so I wrote up a word document covering some of the basics I've learned from my Japanese class. THERE'S A LOT TO IT! I think the word document was about 5 pages long?

Anyways, here it is! Enjoy~

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AN INTRODUCTION TO BASIC JAPANESE

Hajimemashite [“Hah-jii-mei-ma-shi-te”] – How do you do? (Literally: This is the first time we’ve met; ALWAYS USED the first time you meet someone new.)

Watashi wa *Name here* OR *Name here* desu. – I am *name here*. (NOTE: Japanese structure their names as ‘last name, first name’ but English people are expected to stick to ‘first name, last name’ like usual. It is common to introduce yourself by last name only.)

Douzo yoroshiku [“Do~oh-zoh yo-ro-shi-ku” ; LONG sound at “Dou”.] – Its nice to meet you. (Literally: Please be kind to me. ALWAYS USED AFTER INTRODUCING YOURSELF TO SOMEONE YOU JUST MET AND AFTER “HAJIMEMASHITE”.)

O-namae wa? – What’s your name? (Literally: Your name is….?)

O-denwa bangou wa? – What is your phone number?

Ohayou gozaimasu [“Oh-HA-I-YO-OOH goh-za-i-mas”; ‘u’ at the end is silent; INCLUDE THE ‘Y’ SOUND IN “OHAYO” but the “ooh” at the end is unnecessary and unused in SPEECH. Written is different.] – Good Morning (Formal – used when speaking to teacher, parent, older acquaintance, etc.)
Ohayou – Good Morning (Informal – used with friends and classmates.)
[So when spoken, sounds like “Oh-ha-i-yoh”]

Konnichi wa – Hello (Literally: Good Afternoon – usually used in afternoons when its no longer morning but too early to be evening.)

Konban wa – Good evening

O-genki desu ka? – How are you?
Okage sama de, genki desu – Thanks to you, I’m fine.
Hai, genki desu – I’m fine.
*Insert name of person who asked here* wa? – and you?

*Insert noun here* ga suki desu ka? – Do you like *noun*?
Hai, suki desu. – Yes, I do like it.
Iie, suki ja arimasen. – No, I don’t like it.
Iie, kirai desu. – No, I hate it.
(Uncommon: Hai, daisuki desu! – Yes, I love it!)
(Another uncommon form: Ee, kirai ja arimasen. – Well, I don’t dislike it.)

~*IMPORTANT NOTE: “Desu” is pronounced like “Des-“; because the ‘u’ is at the end of the word, it becomes voiceless and is not pronounced. The same sometimes applies to other vowel sounds when placed in the middle of a word; for example: “Suki” can be pronounced “s-ki”. In “Hajimemashite”, the ‘i’ in ‘shite’ IS SILENT, JUST LIKE the ‘i’ in “yoroshiku”.)~

Sayonara – Good-bye. (Usually used when you most likely will never meet that person again.)

Ja ne! OR Ja mata! OR Mata ne! – See you; See you later! (Used with friends and family – people you know you will see again.)

ii o-tenki desu ne? – Its nice weather, isn’t it? (“desu ne?” can in added to the end of most statements to make it a question as if asking “Isn’t it?” or “Didn’t you?” and is commonly used as part of the response if you are agreeing with the statement.)

VERBS:

Shimasu – do
Nemasu – go to bed
Okimasu – wake up
Mimasu – watch
Yomimasu – read
Tabemasu – eat
Nomimasu – drink
Kikimasu – listen
Ikimasu – go to
Kimasu – come to
Kaerimasu – return to [“Kah-eh-ri-mahs”]

Past tense: change “masu” to “mashita”
Negative: change “masu” to “masendeshita” OR “masen” depending on the type of sentence.
Example: “Benkyou o shimasen ka?” – Shall we study? ~Negative form is used because we are inviting someone to study with us. Changing “shimasen” to “shimasu” would be asking them “Are you studying?” instead.
Another Example: “Benkyou o shimashita ka?” – Past tense! “Did you study?” A normal response to a “Did you….?” question in which you did NOT, the answer would include “shimasendeshita” meaning “I did not.” A positive response would simply be “Hai, shimashita.” meaning “Yes, I did.”

Numbers:

Ichi, Ni, San, Yon, Go, Roku, Nana, Hachi, Kyuu, Juu. = One through ten.
Juu-ichi, Juu-ni, Juu-san, etc… = eleven through 19.
Ni-juu, Ni-juu-ichi, Ni-juu-san, Ni-juu-yon, Ni-juu-go, etc… = twenty through twenty-nine.
Same pattern through to ninety-nine followed by Hyaku which is one-hundred. (Sounds like “hyah-kuu” – Is only TWO syllables!)

HOW TO TELL TIME.

Ima nan-ji desu ka? – What time is it now?

Ichi-ji – one o’clock
Ni-ji – two o’clock
San-ji – three o’clock
Yo-ji – four o’clock [Shortened form of “Yon”]
Go-ji – five o’clock
Roku-ji – six o’clock
Shichi-ji – seven o’clock [Note: “Shichi” is another form of “Nana”]
Hachi-ji – eight o’clock
Ku-ji – nine o’clock [Shortened form of “Kyuu”]
Juu-ji – ten o’clock
Juu-ichi-ji – eleven o’clock
Juu-ni-ji – twelve o’clock

To tell minutes:
[Important: If the time ends with a five, as in “go”, the sound ends with the suffix “hun” or “fun” (which sound like "hoon" and "foon" ). Other times end with suffix "pun". ( "POOHN" not "puhn" )]
Example: It is 2:35. “Ni-ji san-juu-go-hun desu.”

5 – “go-hun”
10 – “juu-pun”
15 – “juu-go-hun”
Etc.

1 – “ichi-pun”
6 – “roku-pun”
21 – “ni-juu-ichi-pun”
43 – “yon-juu-san-pun”
Etc.

(Need clarification? Just ask: puritytrinity@gmail.com)

Days of the week:

Nichiyoubi – Sunday
Getsuyoubi – Monday
Kaiyoubi – Tuesday
Suiyoubi – Wednesday
Mokuyoubi – Thursday
Kin’youbi – Friday
Douyoubi – Saturday

Months:

Ichi-gatsu - January
Ni-gatsu - February
San-gatsu – March
Shi-gatsu – April
Go-gatsu – May
Roku-gatsu – June
Shichi-gatsu – July
Hachi-gatsu – August
Ku-gatsu - September
Juu-gatsu - October
Juu-ichi-gatsu - November
Juu-ni-gatsu – December

How to ask where something/someone is.

*Noun* wa doko desu ka? – “Where is *noun*?” (Doko = where)

Example: Where is the umbrella? (Umbrella = Kasa) “Kasa wa doko desu ka?”
Where is my friend? (Friend = tomodachi) “Tomodachi wa doko desu ka?”

[A useful question to know if you visit japan  “Toire wa doko desu ka?” Where is the bathroom?”; “toire” = “toilet” = “Bathroom”. Sounds like “toy-rei”]

Asking if someone has something/ if something is available at the store.

Do you have soda? – “Koula wa arimasen ka?”
Do you have ramen? – “Ramen wa arimasen ka?”

Basically: Do you have *Noun*? = “*noun* wa arimasen ka?”
“Arimasu” = “exist”

PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

Onegai/Onegaishimasu = please//please do/bring/give/etc.
“Miite kudasai” = Please look
“Kitte Kudasai” = Please listen

[NOTE: I’m still not sure what the difference between “Onegai” and “Kudasai” is but I’ll edit and fill that in here when I know for sure. Sorry about that!
EDIT: I may need some correcting still but I've noticed from class that "Kudasai" is generally used after asking someone to do an ACTION such as look somewhere, stand up, repeat, etc. "Onegaishimasu" is what Sensei uses after asking us to pass her something or correct something on our papers? I'm still not entirely sure about the difference. I'll make sure to ask Sensei... xD]

Example: “May I have a menu please?” (At a restaurant maybe?) = “Menu onegaishimasu.”
[Please note: “Onegai” + “Shimasu” (to do) = “Onegaishimasu”]

Thank you (Informal – toward friends/family) – “Arigatou”

Thank you very much – “Doumo arigatou” (Still informal.)

Formal thank you – “Arigatou gozaimasu”
“Doumo arigatou gozaimasu”


And I believe that is most of it. There’s a lot more to it than just this – these are only the basics! Please email me if you have questions or can find somewhere I can elaborate on this guide and I hope you found it useful! Thanks for readin’~

P.S. – I can include the Japanese writing if you’re interested but it would take a while to put together – just let me know if you need or want it and I will see what I can do. Bai~
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And that's it! If you have any questions or need any sort of assistance with this, please either NOTE or EMAIL ME! puritytrinity@gmail.com

I may or may not be adding more to this as I learn - there's so much to remember!
You may also find these links useful:
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The difference between Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji: Hiragana is the basic Japanese alphabet. Katakana is very similar to Hiragana except that it is used ONLY for foreign words, such as english names. KANJI on the other hand, is based off of chinese writing - a single kanji is a whole word and may have many syllables, unlike Hiragana.

I hope this was helpful, even a little bit, to those of you interested and please let me know if I can assist in any way!