Beginner review — what you can already do in a convenience store

A bag and a receipt. Beginner Japanese already works here.

In this lesson you will

• Order with これ / それ and ください without switching to English
• Handle a clerk’s 袋 and 温め questions with はい / いいえ and a です sentence
• Mix one たい, one adjective, and one number in the same visit

Today’s scene

How it works

What you reuse: です and は for “this is…”, ます for あります / います / 食べます, てください if you must ask a human to wait or look, たい for what you want to eat, い and な adjectives for hot, delicious, convenient, が好きです, numbers for 円 and 時, katakana for サンドイッチ and コーヒー, から / まで if you ask hours.

Clerk lines to receive: 袋はいりますか。温めますか。ポイントカードはありますか。You do not need to produce those questions. You need はい / いいえ, お願いします, 大丈夫です, これです. いりますか here is “do you need”, not いる existence as a person. Answer the job, not the textbook chapter.

Your lines to produce: すみません。これとこれをください。温めをお願いします。袋は大丈夫です。いくらですか。ありがとうございます。 That set survives a night arrival when restaurants are shut.

Register Japanese is loud and kind. Finish sentences. Do not dump a noun on the counter and look hopeful. です and ください are how you pay with language, not only with a card.

A convenience store is not a beginner’s toy. It is where Japanese is fast, repetitive, and fair. The clerk will not grade your て-form chart. The clerk will sell you a rice ball if you can point and close a polite sentence. This lesson is a bag you pack with what you already paid for in beginner-01 through 19.

Walk in with すみません even if the automatic door already said いらっしゃいませ for the clerk. すみません is how you start a request. Then point. これとこれをください. と is “and” between nouns. をください is the give-me closer. Two items is enough. A third とこれ is allowed if your hands are large and your mouth is ready.

温めますか is a yes-no about the microwave the store owns. はい、お願いします if you want it hot. いいえ、大丈夫です if you do not. Do not invent 温めてください unless you need to; answering their ますか question is cleaner. If you do produce a request, 温めてください is legal てください. Both paths are polite. Matching their question is faster in a queue.

袋はいりますか. Japan’s bag question has politics and manners and a fee in some cities. Language first: いりますか = do you need. はい、お願いします = yes, a bag. いいえ、大丈夫です = no, I’m fine. 大丈夫です is a Swiss army polite. It can mean “I’m okay”, “no thanks”, “it’s all right”. Tone and the question behind it decide. At 袋はいりますか, いいえ、大丈夫です is the common no.

Numbers: 八百円です. 八 is はち, 百 is ひゃく, together はっぴゃく in real speech — はっぴゃくえん. If 八百 collapses, you can still pay by looking at the screen. Still try to hear 円. いくらですか is your rescue question. You met digits in beginner-11. 円 will return in travel money talk. Today, receive 八百円です as a price, nod, tap, thank.

Katakana on the shelf: サンドイッチ, コーヒー, サラダ, アイスクリーム, ホットスナック as a type you can point at even if the word is long. Read what you can. Point at what you cannot. Then still say これをください so the pointing is attached to Japanese, not a silent mime.

Adjectives belong here. あついです. おいしいです. この店は便利です. あついのが好きです uses の to mean “the hot one” — a noun-like shell on an い-adjective. が好きです remains law. Past おいしかったです is for the sidewalk after the first bite, or for tomorrow morning. Inside the store, present is enough.

たい: 何か食べたいです is vague. おにぎりを食べたいです or あついコーヒーが飲みたいです is a plan. You may think the たい before you enter, then order with ください at the counter. Want versus request: たい is your inner list. ください is the line the clerk can fill.

ている: 並んでいます I am queuing. 探しています I am looking for (something). You may not say them. You may be them. If a friend texts, 今、コンビニにいます or 今、並んでいます is honest ている / います. コンビニにいます uses existence います because you are a person in a place. That beginner-05 split still matters.

からまで: この店は二十四時間です you already heard. If you need a different shop: 何時までですか. The review is that you can ask.

What not to do. Do not say 俺. Do not drop です to sound cool. Do not use English “bag?” as a proud bilingual shortcut if you can say 袋は大丈夫です. Do not film the clerk. Do not unpack a grammar lecture at the PIN pad. Buy the thing. Thank. Leave.

Korean speakers: convenience-store Korean is also fast; still produce Japanese particles. Chinese speakers: 这个和这个 map onto これとこれ, then add をください. English speakers: “just these” is not a sentence in Japanese until you dress it. Spanish speakers: esto y esto, por favor — then still ください, not por favor as a loan.

In the dialogue, Mina uses が好きです on あついの while paying. That is ambitious and allowed. If the queue is six people, skip the like and keep お願いします. Grammar is for when the room has air. Manners are for when it does not. Both are Japanese.

八百円 in the line is はっぴゃくえん. The kanji 八百 is 八 + 百. You can read it. 十 百 円 will grow in travel. For tonight, hear えん.

Practice as a play at home. Be the clerk: 温めますか。袋はいりますか。八百円です。 Be the guest: これとこれをください。はい、お願いします。いいえ、大丈夫です。ありがとうございます。 Switch. If you laugh, good. The real store is brighter and shorter.

You now have a beginner mouth: name things with です, deny and past with adjective machines, ask people to act with てください, name wants with たい, make a we with ましょう, put edges with からまで, like with が, stand in a now with ている, read a katakana label, and pay. The next series puts that mouth in an airport. Rest tonight. Tomorrow, すみません is still the first word.

Run a full silent rehearsal before you sleep. Door: いらっしゃいませ in your ear. You: すみません。これとこれをください. Clerk: 温めますか. You: はい、お願いします. Clerk: 袋はいりますか. You: いいえ、大丈夫です. Clerk: 八百円です. You: はい。ありがとうございます. That is eight lines, like the lesson, and it is a complete night meal.

Add optional muscles only after the base is fast. サンドイッチはありますか. あついコーヒーが飲みたいです. ちょっと待ってください. いくらですか. この店は便利です on the sidewalk. If the base is slow, do not add. Speed at a register is manners toward the queue.

温め is a noun in 温めをお願いします and a verb in 温めますか. Japanese does that. You do not need to explain it. Answer the verb question with はい、お願いします or offer the noun request. Both heat the snack.

Receipts and screens mix 円, Arabic numerals, and maybe ポイント. ポイントカードはありますか — いいえ、ありません or いいえ、大丈夫です. Do not freeze. A no is a no. The clerk will continue.

If you drop something, すみません. If you block the door, すみません. If you need the clerk’s eyes, すみません. The beginner series began with that word in spirit even when the grammar was です. It is still the first tool in the store.

Travel-01 will put you in an airport with more English around, which is a trap. People switch to English and then cannot switch back in a smaller shop. Finish this review in Japanese even if your imaginary clerk answers in English. Your mouth is the student, not the clerk.

Hindi, Arabic, Korean, Chinese, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Indonesian: all of you can point. Pointing plus ください is already a sentence. Pointing alone is a weekend. You did not study nineteen lessons for a weekend.

Write a three-line diary after a real or imagined store: what you asked for, whether it was hot, whether you took a bag. サンドイッチを買いました。あつかったです。袋は大丈夫でした. Mix ました from beginner-08, adjective past from 18, and 大丈夫. That diary is the series in miniature.

You are allowed to be slow. You are not allowed to be silent on purpose. Slow です is still です. The travel series assumes you will speak. Start at the microwave.

A working set at the counter

すみません。 Excuse me.
これとこれをください。 This and this, please.
温めをお願いします。 Please heat it.
袋は大丈夫です。 A bag is fine / I’m okay (on bags — match the question).
いくらですか。 How much is it?

Receive, then answer

袋はいりますか。 Do you need a bag?
温めますか。 Shall I heat it?
はい、お願いします。 / いいえ、大丈夫です。
Match はい to a yes you mean. 大丈夫です often means “I’m fine without that”.

Sentences you can use

Close, but not this

OK これとこれをください。
NG これこれ。

Two これ without と and without ください is a gesture, not a sentence. The clerk can guess. You are trying not to live on guesses.

OK あついのが好きです。
NG あついのを好きです。

Even at a register, 好き keeps が. の here turns あつい into “the hot one”.

Say it out loud

Beginner grammar ends at this counter. Next series: travel Japanese, starting at the airport — immigration, bags, SIM, cash. You already have です, ます, and ください. Take them through the gate.

Write one sentence today