How do you
say Me
in Japanese?
If you answered Watashi wa (わたしは), well you are right and wrong at the same time.
Watashi wa is actually an incomplete sentence. Watashi wa by
itself does not make any sense.
The wa (は) after watashi in watashi wa is a particle that indicates the
subject or the topic of the sentence.
Therefore, to say Me or I in Japanese, we would say Watashi and
watashi only.
わたし Watashi
Wait a second, what is a
particle?
Particles are one, or sometimes two Japanese letters that follow a
word. The purpose of the particle is to define the role of the word it follows,
the role it plays in the sentence. The particles are always positioned after the word
they are attached to.
Particles are like body joints. The words are bones, but bones
only cannot make the body move. They need joints. Particles articulate the
sentence and give it its full meaning.
In this lesson, we will talk about the particle wa only.
The particle wa (は) indicates the subject of the sentence. When I start my sentence
with watashi wa, the interlocutor knows I am about to say something about
myself, to express what I did or I am going to do. The particle wa after
watashi indicates that I is
the actor of the verb in the sentence.
If you know how to read hiragana you
have noticed that the letter used for the particle wa is actually the letter
ha (は). This is something that often occurs when we write particles.
Ok, enough
talking. Let’s actually use it in a sentence.
The first thing you might want to use the particle wa (は) for is
stating your name. That might indeed be useful.
My name is David. So if I want to say “I’m David”, I would start
with Watashi wa David.
(わたしはDavid)
Good, however our sentence is still incomplete here. To finish a
sentence in Japanese, we need a verb that explains what is the action being
performed. Here, we are not really doing an action. We are just being David.
So, we are going to use the word Desu ですat the end of
our sentence.
I don’t want you to think that Desu is the equivalent of the verb
Be in English, because it’s not.
Actually, one of the things I will often ask you not to do in this
course is trying to think in the English sentence pattern when building a
sentence in Japanese.
The structure of the sentence in Japanese is the complete opposite
of the English structure or other Germanic and Latin based languages. In other
words, do not try to copy the English words order and paste it in the Japanese
sentence or you would do what I call a “Google translation”, and your sentence
would not make any sense.
Desu is a polite word you would use at the end of the sentence
when you don’t have a real verb.
So, we have the subject, Watashi, followed by the particle for the
subject, Wa.
Then my name David.
And at the end, Desu.
わたしはDavidです。
Watashi wa David desu.
Now, it’s your turn. How would you say your name?
Very good!
We can use this sentence pattern to express many things.
For instance, if you want to say your profession, and let us
pretend that you are a company employee.
A company employee= Kaisha in かいしゃいん（会社員）
Try to make the sentence by yourself now. Look for the answers at
the end of this lesson.
1) I am a
company employee
-------------------------------------------
If you are a housewife ( yes, housewife is also a profession, actually a full time position
without remuneration)
Housewife = shufu しゅふ（主婦）
2) I am a
housewife
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Now, the last thing we are going to do in this lesson is stating
information about a third person. Since we are learning about professions, we
are going to try and say Mr John is a company employee.
One thing you must know before we try it, people’s names must be
used with San （さん） after their
names. San is a mark of respect to the person we are referring to.
3) Mr John is a company employee.
---------------------------------------------
Check the correction at the end of this lesson. Did you get it
correctly? Or did you forget to put the particle wa after John san?
San is also used for ladies. There is no Mister or Miss in
Japanese. So if you want to say
4) Helena is a doctor. (Doctor= Isha) いしゃ（医者）
-------------------------------------
Did you have it right?
Look in the English Japanese dictionary to find how to say your
profession and apply this pattern to say it.
If you have any question, please feel free to contact me at
Japanese.lessons.okinawa@gmail.com
Answers to the drills
1) Watashi wa kaisha-in desu
わたしは かいしゃいん です。
わたしは会社員です。
2) Watashi wa shufu desu
わたしは しゅふ です。
わたしは主婦です。
3) John san wa kaisha-in desu
ジョンさんは かいしゃいん です。
ジョンさんは会社員です。
4) Helena san wa isha desu
エレナさんは いしゃ です。
エレナさんは医者です。
