ぶんぽう：　レッスン　 5

Grammar: Lesson 5

ごかぞくは　なん　にん　です　か。HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE IN YOUR FAMILY ?

Gokazoku wa nan nin desu ka

ごかぞく　は　なん　にん　です　か。How many people are in your family?• To respond to the question “how many people are in your family?” replace

なん　にん nan nin, with the correct counter for people:

For example:

• わたし　の　かぞく　は　ろく　にん　です。• Watashi no kazoku wa roku nin desu.• I have 6 people in my family. • (lit. “My family is 6 people.”)

– When responding, simply use かぞく kazoku, to refer to your own family.

– Note how the character ご go has been added before the word かぞく kazoku, family. Because you are asking about someone else’s family, this prefix is added to make the word sound more polite. It is similar to the honorific お o from Lesson 1.

なん　にん　です　か。 - How many people? (Review)Remember: にん nin is the counter for people.

Take a look at the table to the right:

Note that there are two major exceptions where you do not use the counter word にん nin:

one person ひとり (hitori)AND

two people ふたり (futari)

For example:

かぞく　は　ふたり　です。Kazoku wa futari desu.I have two people in my family.

Romaji ひらがな　Hiragana

English Translation

Hitorii ひとり 1 person

Futarii ふたり 2 people

San nin さん　にん 3 people

Yo nin よ　にん 4 people

Go nin ご　にん 5 people

Roku nin ろく　にん 6 people

Nana nin なな　にん 7 people

Hachi nin はち　にん 8 people

Kyuu nin きゅう　にん

9 people

Jyuu nin じゅう　にん

10 people

もALSO, TOO, NEITHER

The particle も mo can be translated a few different ways. In this lesson we’ll learn three different patterns using も mo.

Included are some “double mo” sentence structures you will need to watch out for, too!

mo

も - Also, too, neitherDepending on how you use it in a sentence, the particle も can be translated as:

– Also– Too– Neither

• Notice two things in the example sentence below: 1. The word “too” translates to も . 2. The particle も comes after the topic, “my dad.”

–ちち　も　ごじゅう　さい　です。–Chichi mo gojyuu sai desu.–My dad is 50 years old, too.

も - Also, too, neither (Continued)

• Another example:

– あに　も　せんせい　です。– Ani mo sensei desu.– My older brother is also a teacher.

も . . . も＋ Negative – Neither. . .norAnother pattern using the particle も mo is も…も + Negative. This pattern uses the particle も mo twice in a sentence to express 　“ Neither…nor.”

• For example:– はは　も　ちち　も べんごし　では　ありません。– Haha mo chichi mo bengoshi dewa arimasen. – Neither my mother nor my father is a lawyer.

＊ Note:that you use the negative sentence ending では　ありません , (dewa arimasen) for this construction.

も . . . も＋ Affirmative – Both… and

However, when the end of the sentence is in the affirmative, (as opposed to the negative), the も…も pattern does NOT have the same meaning.

When used with the affirmative, it changes the double も mo sentence to “Both … and”

• For example:– あね　も　あに　も　だいがくせい です。– Ane mo ani mo daigakusei desu. – Both my older brother and my older sister are college students.

*Remember: – です　 desu = affirmative (is/am/are)– では　ありません dewa arimasen = negative (is/am/are not)

おわり

This is the end of the Grammar Notes for this lesson.

You can print these notes for your reference using the link above this slideshow.