#2

Introducing yourself with name and occupation

タムです。学生です I’m Tam. I’m a student.

  • Skit
  • Video
Subtitles
  • English
  • Japanese
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The residents of "Haru-san House" take Tam there after running into her on the street.

Skit
Vocabulary

ただいま

tadaima

I'm home

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新しい

atarashii

new

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住人

juunin

resident

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着く

tsuku

arrive

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はい

hai

yes

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ようこそ

yookoso

welcome

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いらっしゃる

irassharu

come (polite)

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e

oh

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ロボット

robotto

robot

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そう

soo

that's right

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大家

ooya

landlord/landlady

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はじめまして

hajimemashite

hello

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学生

gakusee

student

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よろしくお願いします

yoroshiku onegai-shimasu

nice to meet you

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Key Phrase

Introducing yourself with name and occupation

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As in "[name/occupation] desu," "desu" comes after a noun to make a sentence. In "A wa B desu" or "A is B," A is the topic or subject and B explains that. In the key phrase, the "A wa" part, which is "watashi wa" or "I am" is omitted.

Omitting the topic or subject:
If the topic or subject is clear from the context, it’s often left out. For example, "watashi wa" or "I am" can be omitted from a self-introduction. So, just "Tamu desu" is fine. No need to say "Watashi wa Tamu desu" or "I'm Tam."

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Try It Out!

Try introducing yourself

1Which of these three choices is the correct way to say this sentence in Japanese?

Hello. I’m Thomas. I’m a company employee.

Thomas | company employee

トーマス | 会社員

Toomasu | kaishain

2Say the sentence in Japanese, using the following word(s).

Hello. I'm [name]. I'm a/an [occupation].

はじめまして。【name】です。【occupation】です。

Hajimemashite. 【name】 desu. 【occupation】 desu.

Erin | teacher

エリン | 教師  

Erin | kyooshi

3Say the sentence in Japanese, using the following word(s).

Hello. I'm [name]. I'm a/an [occupation].

はじめまして。【name】です。【occupation】です。

Hajimemashite. 【name】 desu. 【occupation】 desu.

Singh | engineer

シン | エンジニア

Shin | enjinia

Bonus Phrase

You say this to a person who'll be taking care of you. It's often used in self-introductions. If the person you're speaking to is a friend or someone younger than you, you can shorten it to just "yoroshiku."

Kanji

Ai (love)

Culture

Haru-san’s Bagful of Advice

Japanese Characters

Japanese has three types of characters: Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. For example, in Japanese "Watashi wa Tamu desu" or "I'm Tam" would be:

私はタムです

"" is a Kanji, "" and "です" are Hiragana, and "タム" is a Katakana.

Katakana is used to write names and words from other languages. Hiragana is used for other things. The phonetic letters of Katakana and Hiragana were made from Kanji. Kanji are ideograms used to write out major ideas.

Katakana: a

Hiragana: a

Kanji: yama (mountain)

Signboards written in Japanese

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