ThePete’s 12 Second Japanese Lesson #10 Please on 12seconds.tv

Here’s the hiragana for this lesson:

おねがい

Here’s the romaji:

onegai (oh-neh-ga-ee)

The “shimas” on the end is to be a little less informal. That looks like this in hiragana:

します

and in romaji:

shimasu

Lots of times in Japanese you drop the final vowel sound from the end of words. Like that last “す” or “su”.

Actually, lots of times throughout a word in Japanese you’ll drop vowels. The word you say when you love someone is “daisuki” but sounds more like the English words: “die” and “ski” shoved together.

So, the full phrase to be generally polite when asking for something is:

おねがいします

or in romaji:

onegaishimasu (oh-neh-ga-ee-shee-mah-su)

But you can probably get away with just the “onegai” with friends and maybe even strangers. I’ve always heard they let gaijin (foreigners) get away with stuff. :)

That’s it for Lesson 10!

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke’s LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he’s up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I’ve got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. ありがとうございます！ (arigatou gozaimasu - thank you very much!)