Hover a line for its reading in kana and its translation; hover a word for its meaning. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
Yuki shows Alex a photo of her family on her phone.
Japanese has two words for each family member: a plain one for your own (兄, 妹, 両親) and a polite one for someone else's (お兄さん, 妹さん, ご両親). Using the polite form about your own family sounds like boasting; using the plain form about theirs sounds rude.
How do I read these pronunciations? See the pronunciation guide.
1. います and あります — there is
Two verbs for existence, split by what exists: います for people and animals, あります for objects and plants. 兄がいます but 写真があります. A dog takes います; a photo of a dog takes あります.
2. Your family and theirs
The polite forms take お or ご on the front and さん on the end: お兄さん, 妹さん, ご両親. Yuki says 兄 about her own brother and Alex says お兄さん about hers — in the same conversation, about the same person.
3. …に住んでいます — lives in
に marks the place of residence and 住んでいます is the ongoing state of living there. Note that it is に, not で: で would mark where an action happens, and living somewhere is a state rather than an action.
4. Stacking の
の can chain, and the chain reads right to left in English: 私の家族の写真 is 'a photo of my family'. Start from the last noun and work backwards to unpick any long string of の.
A. Fill in the Blank · 空欄をうめましょう
Fill in the blank with a word from this lesson's vocabulary.
- 1.兄と妹が。there are (people)
- 2.家族ですか。how many people
- 3.大阪に。live
- 4.これは私の家族のです。photo
B. Multiple Choice · えらびましょう
Choose the best answer.
- 1.Which verb goes with 犬?
- 2.How do you refer to YOUR OWN older brother?
- 3.Complete: 大阪___住んでいます。
- 4.What does 私の家族の写真 mean?
C. Rearrange the Sentence · ならべかえましょう
Rearrange the words into a correct sentence, adding the punctuation shown in parentheses.
- 1.Tap tiles below…
- 2.Tap tiles below…
- 3.Tap tiles below…
- 4.Tap tiles below…
D. True or False · ○か×か
Based on the dialogue, mark each sentence T (true) or F (false).
- 1.There are five people in Yuki's family.
- 2.Yuki's older brother is a doctor.
- 3.Yuki's parents live in Tokyo.
- 4.The family has a dog called Momo.
E. Matching · せんでむすびましょう
Match each line on the left with the best response on the right.
F. Translation · やくしましょう
Translate items 1–2 into Japanese, and items 3–4 into English.
- 1.My brother is a doctor.
- 2.They live in Osaka.
- 3.何人家族ですか。
- 4.妹はまだ学生です。
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Two words for brother
Japanese has two words for an older brother, and the choice says whose brother he is. 兄 is the plain form, used about your own family when speaking to someone outside it; お兄さん is the polite form, used about someone else's — or when addressing your own brother directly. The same split runs through the family: 母 and お母さん, 父 and お父さん. Behind it sits a habit that shapes a great deal of Japanese: speak humbly about your own side, respectfully about the other person's.