This lessons has two purposes: 1) it's a vocab builder, and 2) it's a great topic for practicing the sentence structures from the last few lessons.
Recommended Background:
Words for School Subjects
You should definitely know these subjects in Japanese. For a more comprehensive list, see this post.
Note: the word for "subject" is 科目 (kamoku).
| Kanji | Kana | Romaji | English | |
| 英語 | えいご | Eigo | English | |
| 1 | 日本語 | にほんご | Nihongo | Japanese |
| 2 | 数学 | すうがく | suugaku | math |
| 3 | 科学 | かがく | kagaku | science |
| 歴史 | れきし | rekishi | history | |
| 社会 | しゃかい | shakai | society (social science) | |
| 体育 | たいいく | taiiku | physical education | |
| 音楽 | おんがく | ongaku | music | |
| 美術 | びじゅつ | bijutsu | (visual) art |
1 In Japan, "Japanese" as a school subject is known as 国語/Kokugo ("national language") rather than Nihongo.
2 In elementary school, "math" is 算数/sansuu ("arithmetic") rather than suugaku.
3 Kagaku also means "chemistry" – in this case the Kanji is 化学. In elementary school, "science" is 理科/rika rather than kagaku.
Examples
In the following example sentences we'll use the following adjectives:
| Kana | Romaji | Meaning |
| やさしい | yasashii | easy |
| むずかしい | muzukashii | difficult |
| おもしろい | omoshiroi | interesting |
| つまらない | tsumaranai | boring |
| すき（な） | suki(na) | to be liked |
| きらい（な） | kirai(na) | to be disliked |
And the following particles and conjunctions:
| Kana | Romaji | Meaning |
| ～より | …yori | (more) than ___ |
| ～ほど～[neg] | …hodo…[neg] | not as ___ as ___ |
| そして～ | Soshite… | Also… |
| でも～ | Demo… | However… |
| だから～ | Dakara… | Because of that… |
| ～が、～ | …ga… | although, but |
| ～から、～ | …kara… | because, so |
| ～から。 | …kara. | That's because… |
If you need a refresher on any of these, here are the relevant lessons:
- Suki and Kirai: Likes and Dislikes (suki, kirai)
- Making Comparisons (yori, hodo)
- Conjunctions and Compound Sentences (ga, kara)
Now for the examples.
| 1. | しゃかいは かがくより やさしいです。 Shakai wa kagaku yori yasashii desu. Social studies is easier than science. |
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| 2. | スペインごは にほんごほど おもしろくないです。 Supein-go wa Nihongo hodo omoshirokunai desu. Spanish is not as interesting as Japanese. |
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| 3. | A: | にほんごは おもしろいですか。 Nihongo wa omoshiroi desu ka? Is Japanese interesting (to you)? |
| B: | (Several possible answers)
はい、おもしろいです。そして やさしいです。 はい。でも むずかしいです。 はい。だから すきです。 |
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| 4. | A: | れきしが すきですか。 Rekishi ga suki desu ka? Do you like history? |
| B: | いいえ、すきじゃありません。つまらないですから。 Iie, suki ja arimasen. Tsumaranai desu kara. No, I don't like it. Because it's boring. |
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| 5. | すうがくは むずかしいです。でも おもしろいです。 Suugaku wa muzukashii desu. Demo omoshiroi desu. Math is hard. But, it's interesting. |
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| 6. | すうがくは むずかしいですが、おもしろいです。 Suugaku wa muzukashii desu ga, omoshiroi desu. Math is hard, but it's interesting. |
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| 7. | おんがくは やさしいです。だから すきです。 Ongaku wa yasashii desu. Dakara suki desu. Music is easy. That's why I like it. |
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| 8. | おんがくは やさしいですから、すきです。 Ongaku wa yasashii desu kara, suki desu. I like music because it's easy. |
See Also
What Next?
Coming Soon:
- Japanese Verbs