Survival Japanese: how to order and ask for things. Two patterns — “___, please” and “I want ___” — and you can get fed.
Understand this — tap “Hear it”
mizu o kudasai
Water, please.
みず mizu — waterを o — (object)ください kudasai — please give
koohii ga ほしい desu
I want coffee.
コーヒー koohii — coffeeが ga — (subject)ほしい hoshii — wantです desu — is
menyuu o kudasai
The menu, please.
メニュー menyuu — menuを o — (object)ください kudasai — please give
The pattern you can now use
___ を ください
___ o kudasai
___, please.
を marks the thing; ください = “please give me.” Point and say it — it always works. To say you *want* something rather than ask a person, use ___ が ほしいです. ほしい is an い-adjective like すき, so it takes です, not a verb.
Words to use today — tap a row to hear
mizumizu
water
koohiikoohii
coffee
ochaocha
tea
menyuumenyuu
menu
biirubiiru
beer
korekore
this one
kudasaikudasai
please give
ほしいhoshii
want
Your turn — say it, then check
Say: “Coffee, please.”
koohii o kudasaikoohii o kudasai
Say: “Tea, please.”
ocha o kudasaiocha o kudasai
Say: “I want water.”
mizu ga ほしい desumizu ga hoshii desu
Quick check
What particle comes before ください?
を
How do you say you want something (not asking a person)?
___ が ほしいです
⤷ Kana side-quest — ~2 min · tap to hear, watch the strokes
👀 Today’s input · ~5 min — where fluency actually comes from
Train your ears
You can’t read much yet — so listen. Put on one “Complete Beginner” video from Comprehensible Japanese: all visual, all Japanese, zero English. You’ll understand more than you’d expect, and this is where real fluency actually comes from — a little every day.