moto, so, su This character implies a natural state or something undecorated. If you like simple and natural things, this is for you. Such things are described as soboku. Boku means plain. Material is called sozai. Sozai also means ingredients and subjects you write about. Images and illustrations for a website is called sozai, too. [...]

fuku The word “fuku” means wealth or fortune but we use this word only when we quote ancient wisdom. For example, the proverb, “warau kado niwa fuku kitaru” means that wealth comes where smiles are. Kado is the gate of a house. Niwa is a particle that indicates a place. If you do “wazawai (wo) [...]

yu-ku, i-ku, okona-u, kō, gyō, an “Let’s go” is “ikō” or “ikimashō” in Japanese. Also, you can say, “yukō” or “yukimashō.” The English verb “go” is “iku” or “yuku.”　The suffix “–mashō” makes words polite. “Ichi gyō” means one row or one line. “Ni gyō” means two rows or two lines. Since the suffix –me makes [...]

na-i, na-kusu, mu, bu Being a student studying English, I memorized the word “nothing” as the Japanese “nashi,” which comes from the adjective “nai.”　Things either exist or not. In Japanese, they are “aru” or “nai” respectively. “Nanimo nai” means “there is nothing.” “Nanimo nakatta” means “there was nothing.” Learning conjugations is tedious. Let me show [...]

taba, taba-neru, soku, tsuka This character means a bunch or a number of things tied together. Taba is the noun meaning a bunch and taba-neru is the verb meaning to bind. You can count bunches with taba. like, “hitotaba (one), hutataba (two), santaba or mitaba (three), yo(n)taba (four), gotaba (five).” As it means “to bind,” [...]

haha, kā-san, bo, mo When you mention your mother in front of others, call her “haha.” We call Mother “o-kā-san” when we talk to her. “Haha” sounds polite and humble. “O-kā-san” is more common. If you want to call somebody’s mother or to talk to your own mother very politely, call her “o-kā-sama.” Even the [...]

chii-sai, shō, ko, o Chii-sai is “small.” Sai is in hiragana. The small size is shō. An elementary school is shōgakkō. Gakkō means a school. An elementary school student is shōgakusei. Gakusei is a student. Shōshin means timidity. Small things have ko as a prefix. A small bird is kotori. A pebble is koishi. A lane is [...]

tomo, yū Tomodachi, yūjin, and tomo are all friends. Tomo sounds classical. Tomodachi sounds friendly. Dachi comes from tachi which forms plurals when added to human beings. For example, while kodomo is a child, kodomotachi means children. If this rule is applied to tomo, it is natural to guess tomodachi means friends. However, tomodachi exceptionally [...]