Asking for something in a store while shopping in Japan can be a daunting experience for new language learners. Even if you can read basic hiragana or katakana the different font styles and designs can make reading labels confusing.
If you’re looking for something specific, asking a clerk will save you a lot of time and be less stressful so let’s learn the key-sentence to ask for something in a store.
Sample sentence:
傘、ありますか。Kasa, arimasu ka? (Do you have umbrellas?)
あります (arimasu) is the polite form of the verb ある (aru) meaning “to be” “exist” but also “to have”. You can use this verb to refer to inanimate object only. If you’re talking about people, animals, animate being, you use the verb いる (iru). To form a question, end your sentence with the particle か (ka) and raise your pitch. Once again, the particle は (ha) which is the topic marker, can be omitted.
Kumar: すみません、傘（は）ありますか。– Sumimasen, kasa arimasu ka?
店員: はい、あります。こちらです。– Hai, arimasu. Kochiradesu.
Kumar: ありがとうございます。– Arigatou gozaimasu.
Kumar: Excuse me, do you have umbrellas?
Clerk: Yes, we do. They’re right here.
Kumar: Thank you very much.
こちら (kochira) translates “here” and is the polite version of ここ (koko).
Kumar: すみません。英語の新聞、ありますか。-Sumimasen. Eigo no shinbun, arimasu ka?
店員: 申し訳ありません。英語の新聞は、ないんです。– Mōshiwake arimasen. Eigo no shinbun wa, nai ndesu.
Kumar: 分かりました。 – Wakarimashita.
Kumar: Excuse me. Do you have English newspapers?
Clerk: I’m very sorry, but we don’t have any English newspapers.
Kumar: Okay.
申し訳ありません (Mōshiwake arimasen) is an extremely polite way to say you’re sorry in Japanese. The literal meaning is “I have no excuse”. It’s built with the verb 申す (mousu) which means “to say”, し訳 (wake), the word for “excuse” and the formal negative form of the verb ある(aru).
ない (nai) is the informal negative form of the verb ある (aru), “there isn’t”. んです (ndesu) is the contraction of the polite のです(nodesu), a structure used to emphasize the previous statement and more precise explanations of a cause, reason etc. んです (ndesu) can also be used to soften a negative answer.
分かりました (wakarimashita) is the past polite form of 分かる (wakaru), ‘to understand’, ‘to know’. The phrase is very often used with the nuance “I got it”, “okay”.
Vocabulary:
- 英語の新聞 (eigo no shinbun)ー English newspaper. We previously saw that the particle の indicates the possessor. Here the function is a little bit different. の explains the relation between two nouns. Here, the word newspaper (新聞) is modified with the noun English Language (英語).
- 切手 (kitte)ー stamp
- はがき (hagaki)ー postcard
- ボールペン (bo-rupen)ー ball-point pen
- 地図 (chizu)ー map
- 牛乳 (gyuu nyuu)ー milk
- 塩 (shia)ー salt
- 薬 (kusuri)ー medicine
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