Doing something or ordering something
You know です (DESU), simple questions and polite interaction from lessons 02–05. This is a small bridge ahead into verbs. You will learn four useful forms, not every conjugation rule or past tense yet.
1. A verb says what you do
Until now, you mainly said what something is or where it is. Now you want to name an action, such as drinking. A verb is a word for an action or state. In this lesson we use four actions: drinking, eating, buying and taking. Their Japanese forms all end in ます (MASU).
First learn のみます (NOMIMASU), たべます (TABEMASU), かいます (KAIMASU) and とります (TORIMASU) as whole forms. They are already polite, so do not add です (DESU). With context they can describe a habit or a future action. ‘I drink’ and ‘I will drink’ can therefore share the same form. For ‘I am drinking right now’, lesson 07 introduces a different fixed form.
のみます。
たべます。
2. What do you drink, eat or buy?
First learn the products you want to mention with an action. みず (MIZU), たんさんすい (TANSANSUI), おちゃ (OCHA) and コーヒー (KOOHII) are drinks. パン (PAN) and おにぎり (ONIGIRI) are things you can eat. Listen for both long vowels in coffee, written with ー in katakana. You do not need perfect spelling of every product immediately to understand the sentence structure.
Then pair a product with a sensible action. You can drink water, eat bread and buy either one. とります (TORIMASU) here means taking or picking up an object. It is not about taking photographs; that is a different use you can learn later. A product does not always have just one required verb: the intended situation determines what fits.
3. The object of the action
In ‘I drink water’, water is what you drink. In grammar, it is the direct object here. In this Japanese pattern, that object comes before the verb. Put を directly after it. Type WO when entering it with a Japanese input method, but pronounce the particle O.
The diagram below means ‘water — object marker — drink’. When the person acting is clear, Japanese can omit ‘I’. This makes みずをのみます (MIZU O NOMIMASU) a usable complete statement in this context. You can use the same pattern with bread and eating. Change the object first, then the action; keep を between them.
みずをのみます。
パンをたべます。
4. A statement is not yet an order
With みずをのみます (MIZU O NOMIMASU), you say that you drink or will drink water. That does not automatically ask someone to give you water. For that request, learn a new fixed pattern: product + をください (O KUDASAI). みずをください (MIZU O KUDASAI) means ‘Water, please’ or ‘Please give me water’. Learn ください here as the ending of a request for an object.
これをください (KORE O KUDASAI) works too: point to something and ask for ‘this’. You then do not need to know its name. Do not add のみます or an extra です after ください. This lesson only practises asking for objects, not instructions such as ‘please drink’. Distinguishing an action statement from a request is central to the final check.
みずをください。
これをください。
5. A short conversation at the counter
Start an order with すみません (SUMIMASEN), as in lesson 05. Name the product and use をください (O KUDASAI). The staff member can confirm with はい (HAI), ‘yes’. When you receive what you asked for, you can say ありがとうございます (ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU). This gives you a complete short exchange without needing new verb rules.
Read the lines below with support first, then play both roles without a model. Replace water with a rice ball, then with tea. Keep the distinction from a statement clear: order a product, then separately say what you do with it. The application and final check below only use this foundation. The longer reading and listening dialogue contains extra words; the last chapter provides optional preparation.
すみません。みずをください。
はい。
ありがとうございます。
6. Choose an action or a request
Choose two products from the vocabulary list. With the first product, say what you do; then order the second product. Use を in both sentences, but deliberately choose a different ending. Read your sentence back and identify its purpose in English: stating something or requesting something. This helps you notice whether you are only copying a pattern or understand its purpose too.
Then do the four tasks in the final check. Each writing task asks for a small, clearly specified sentence. You do not need quantities, prices or past tense. Help remains available, but a final check completed with help does not yet demonstrate independent mastery. Lesson 07 continues with a few fixed forms for actions happening now; the fuller verb bridge can organise the endings afterwards.
7. Extra support for the longer dialogue
This chapter is not needed for the final check. In the existing longer dialogue, Bram orders water and then a rice ball. ひとつ (HITOTSU) means ‘one item’ here; learn it as a fixed quantity for now. それから (SOREKARA) means ‘and then’ and adds another order. ですね (DESU NE) politely checks here whether the staff member understood the order correctly.
The rice ball has the flavour しゃけ (SHAKE), salmon; this is not the English word ‘shake’. Learn しゃけでおねがいします (SHAKE DE ONEGAI SHIMASU) here as a whole expression: ‘salmon, please’. ぜんぶで (ZENBU DE) means ‘in total’. さんびゃくえん (SANBYAKU EN) is 300 yen. You do not yet need to independently form the different uses of で, counters or prices; use this support to follow what is ordered first.
みずをひとつですね。
しゃけでおねがいします。
ぜんぶでさんびゃくえんです。