6.5 The house and daily things — Epoché
What you will be able to do Name the rooms of a house and the things in them — fifty-two words. Say where something is, using the position words うえ , した , なか and the rest. Know that those are nouns , not prepositions, and build them correctly: "on the desk" is literally "the desk's top". Describe a Japanese house, which is not laid out like a Western one and does not use the same words. Prerequisites : lesson 6.4 — food and drink, and the pairs where the native and borrowed words differ. Two things in one lesson. The vocabulary is the house, and the grammar is position — which in Japanese is not grammar at all but nouns, joined with the particle の you learned in lesson 4.4. Getting that shape right makes a large family of sentences available at once. Word list Rooms and the building Word Meaning Notes いえ ja ie a house, the building うち ja uchi home — where you belong, rather than the structure へや ja heya a room あなたのへやはどこですか。 Where is your room? このへやにはテレビがある。 There is a television in this room. げんかん ja genkan the entrance hall where shoes come off だいどころ ja daidokoro kitchen しんしつ ja shinshitsu bedroom いま ja ima living room わしつ ja washi tsu a Japanese-style room, with matting on the floor おふろ ja ofuro the bath, and the bathroom it is in トイレ ja toire the lavatory — a separate room from the bath にわ ja niwa garden ベランダ ja beranda balcony このへや、ベランダがあるのよ。 This room has a balcony. かいだん ja kaidan stairs まど ja mado window と ja to a door — a Japanese sliding one ドア ja doa a door — a Western hinged one かぎ ja kagi a key; a lock そのかぎはつくえのうえにある。 The key is on the desk. かべ ja ka be wall ゆか ja yuka floor てんじょう ja tenjō ceiling Furniture and things Word Meaning Notes つくえ ja tsukue a desk つくえのうえにペンがあります。 There is a pen on the desk. つくえのうえにほんがあります。 There is a book on the desk. テーブル ja tēburu a table テーブルのしたにいぬがいる。 There is a dog under the table. いす ja isu a chair そのいぬはいすのうえにいる。 The dog is on the chair. ソファ ja sofa a sofa — also spelled ソファー ソファーのうえにおいてあるよ。 It's on the sofa. ベッド ja beddo a bed ベッドのしたにねこがいる。 There is a cat under the bed. ふとん ja futon bedding laid on the floor and put away in the morning たな ja tana a shelf ほんだな ja hon da na a bookshelf おしいれ ja oshiire a sliding-door cupboard for bedding ひきだし ja hikidashi a drawer とけい ja tokei a clock, a watch でんき ja denki the light; electricity かがみ ja kagami a mirror タオル ja taoru a towel せっけん ja sekken soap かばん ja kaban a bag, a briefcase これはかばんのなかにしまって。 Put this in your bag. ごみ ja gomi rubbish せんたく ja sentaku the washing, laundry そうじ ja sōji cleaning スリッパ ja surippa slippers — worn indoors, and a different pair for the lavatory Position Word Meaning Notes うえ ja ue the top, above, on ほんはつくえのうえにあります。 The book is on the desk. そのホテルはおかのうえにある。 The hotel stands on a hill. した ja shita the underside, below, under どうしてつくえのしたにいるの。 Why are you under the desk? なか ja naka the inside, in そと ja soto the outside まえ ja ma e the front, in front of; before うしろ ja ushiro the back, behind となり ja tonari the next one along, immediately beside よこ ja yoko the side, beside あいだ ja aida the space between two things ちかく ja chikaku the vicinity, near みぎ ja migi the right ひだり ja hidari the left How English does it English position words are prepositions : single words, before the noun, and grammatically a category of their own. On the desk — one word, then the noun. Japanese position words are nouns . うえ is a thing: "the top". To say "on the desk" you make a possessive — "the desk's top" — and then mark that with a particle: Japanese Literally つくえのうえに at the desk's top — "on the desk" テーブルのしたに at the table's underside — "under the table" かばんのなかに at the bag's inside — "in the bag" いえのまえに at the house's front — "in front of the house" えきのちかくに at the station's vicinity — "near the station" So the shape is always the same: thing, の , position word, particle . Three pieces where English has one, and the order is the reverse of English — which is exactly what lesson 4.1 said about modifiers coming first. Two things follow from position words being nouns, and both are useful. They can be the subject of a sentence. うえがいい — "the top one is better" — is a perfectly ordinary sentence, and no English preposition can do that. The particle is chosen by the verb, not by the position. つくえのうえに あります uses に because it is existence; つくえのうえで たべます would use で because eating is an activity. That is the rule from lesson 4.3, applying as normal — the position word does not change it. And one English habit to drop. English says "in the box" and "on the table" and worries about which; Japanese picks the noun that describes the geometry — inside, top, underside — and the choice is not idiomatic but literal. If it is inside something, なか . If it is resting on the surface, うえ . There is nothing to memorise. A Japanese house is not a Western one Several words in this list have no clean English equivalent, and the reason is architecture rather than language. げんかん is the sunken entrance where shoes come off, a step below the floor of the house. It is not a hall or a porch; it is a threshold with a function, and the line between outside and inside runs across it. This is the physical version of the うち and そと division from lesson 6.2 — and the shoes are the proof that the division is real and not a metaphor. わしつ is a room floored with たたみ matting, in which you do not put heavy furniture and in which bedding can be laid out at night and put away in the morning. Which is why ふとん and おしいれ exist as words: the bedding is not a fixture, and the cupboard it lives in is a specific kind of cupboard. おふろ is the bath, and in a Japanese house the room it is in contains only the bath and a place to wash before getting in. The lavatory is a separate room, which is why トイレ and おふろ are never used interchangeably — and why asking for the bathroom in Japan may get you the room with the bath in it. And スリッパ is worth one line. Indoor slippers are normal, and there is usually a second, separate pair kept inside the lavatory that must not leave it