Lesson 6: Going Places & Clock Time

[verb]-masu ka. — “Do you / will you / does it [verb]?”

The simplest frame in the course: a verb alone is a sentence, so a verb + ka is a question — and the answer echoes the same verb back. This is also the polite way to ask about someone else’s plans, the job Lesson 5 told you -tai desu ka must never do. Meet the verbs of motion:

Ikimasu.

ikimasu — go. The single most useful verb in travel.

Ikimasu ka.

Verb + ka. Asked of a person, it’s “are you going?”; asked of a bus with a point, it’s “does it go (there)?”

Kimasu ka.

kimasu — come.

Kaerimasu.

kaerimasu — return / go home. The end-of-day verb.

Basu ni norimasu.

norimasu — ride/board — and basu — bus. What you board takes ni (Lesson 4’s location particle, moonlighting).

Tomarimasu ka.

tomarimasu — stop. Point at a station on the route map and ask.

Eki ni ikitai desu.

eki — station — and there’s Lesson 5’s -tai keeping its promise: ikimasu → ikitai desu. Destination takes ni. Say this to any local and watch the pointing begin.

___ wa nan-ji desu ka. — “What time is ___?” ___ wa nan-ji kara / made desu ka. — “From / until what time is ___?”

nan-ji — what time. But first, the answers: the hour set, drilled as twelve fixed items — not assembled from numbers. Three of them refuse to match the numbers you learned in Lesson 3; drilling the set whole makes the irregulars invisible. Steady rhythm, all twelve:

ichi-ji ni-ji san-ji yo-ji

Irregular #1: yo-ji, never “yon-ji.” Four o’clock simply has its own name.

go-ji roku-ji shichi-ji

Irregular #2: shichi-ji — the one place shichi appears in this whole course.

hachi-ji ku-ji

Irregular #3: ku-ji, never “kyuu-ji.” That’s all three — the rest are exactly number + ji.

juu-ji juuichi-ji juuni-ji

Now the frame in action:

Ima, nan-ji desu ka.

ima — now. The everyday version of the frame.

San-ji han desu.

han — half past. And here is the minutes rule of this course: you will never say minutes. Hour + han covers half past; everything else rounds with the next word —

San-ji goro desu.

goro — approximately (for times). Hour, han, goro: that’s every time you’ll ever need to say. Exact minutes come from pointing at your phone — or kaite kudasai. (You’ll still need to hear minutes; that’s in the script section.)

Gogo san-ji han goro desu.

gogo — p.m. — stacks on the front (gozen is its a.m. twin). The full polite answer, assembled from four pieces you now own.

Mise wa nan-ji kara desu ka.

kara — from. Opening hours are “from when?”

Ku-ji kara go-ji made desu.

made — until. X kara Y made — from X to Y — works for hours, days, and (as you’ll see in the set pieces) places.

The hard English idea: tense lives inside the verb — go, went, will go, would have gone… The MiniCore move: a time word up front carries the when; the verb barely changes. One new ending for the past — -mashita — kept for clarity, and the four-form paradigm is complete: -masu, -masen, -mashita, -masen deshita. Every verb you know, and every verb still coming, uses exactly these four.

Kyou, ikimasu.

kyou — today.

Ashita, ikimasu.

ashita — tomorrow. Same verb, no future tense — the time word did all the work.

Kinou, ikimashita.

kinou — yesterday — and -mashita, the past shape: ikimasu → ikimashita.

Ikimasen deshita.

-masen deshita — the negative past: the no-shape plus deshita. That’s the fourth and final form; the conjugation table of this course is now closed.

Kyou, eki ni ikimasu. Sorekara, konbini ni ikimasu.

sorekara — “after that” — chains plans as separate, complete sentences. No clause grammar; just say them in order.

Kinou, sushi o tabemashita. Soshite, biiru o nomimashita.

soshite — “and (then).” And look at the retrofit: tabemashita, nomimashita — Lesson 5’s verbs took the past ending without being asked. All of them do.

The one-sentence grammar lesson: in Japanese, a question word sits in exactly the slot where the answer will sit. No reordering, no “do-support,” nothing. Take any frame, replace any noun with nani/nan, dare, doko, itsu, ikura — done. Every frame you’ve learned just became a question factory.

Doko ni ikimasu ka.

Eki ni ikimasu → doko ni ikimasu ka. The answer will sit right where doko is.

Nani o kaimasu ka.

Same move with nani in the object slot.

Itsu ikimasu ka.

itsu — when — for days and dates. (Clock time stays with nan-ji: itsu → “tomorrow,” nan-ji → “9:30.”)

But should you ask? Cheap questions invite expensive answers. The full ladder, from safest to riskiest — pick the lowest rung that gets what you need:

1. Yes/no — the answer is hai / iie / arimasen: always parseable.
2. Choice enumeration — offer the options yourself; the answer is one of your own words echoed back:

Basu desu ka, densha desu ka.

densha — train. Whatever they answer, you already know the word — you said it first.

3. Closed-set answers — ikura (a number), nan-ji (the hour set), doko (a point + a direction word): open in form, small in answer space.
4. True open questions (nani, dou) — last resort, with kaite kudasai standing by.

Kono densha wa kuukou ni ikimasu ka.

kuukou — airport (a Lesson 0 rhythm word, now boarding). The rung-1 masterstroke: you don’t need to know where this train goes — you need to know if it goes where you’re going. Ask that, get hai or iie, done.

One more particle finishes the transit kit: de — “by means of / at.” It marks how you go or where an action happens.

Basu de ikimasu.

VEHICLE de ikimasu — by bus, by train, by taxi.

Takushii de ikimasu.

takushii — taxi (four beats, long final vowel — Lesson 0 again).

Kuukou e ikimasu.

e — toward. You’ll hear it everywhere (kochira e douzo!); in your own mouth, ni does the same job fine — knowing e is mostly for your ears.

chikai — near.

Kuukou wa tooi desu.

tooi — far. The pair that decides between walking and the next pair:

Densha wa hayai desu. Basu wa osoi desu.

hayai — fast (also “early”) — and osoi — slow (also “late”). Lesson 3’s comparison-by-enumeration, planning your route.

Kippu wa ikura desu ka.

kippu — ticket. You’ve had its held-beat rhythm since Lesson 0; now it has a price.

Hikouki wa nan-ji desu ka.

hikouki — airplane, meeting today’s new frame.

Migi desu.

migi — right. Its partner hidari — left — has been in your mouth since Lesson 0’s tap-drill; both slot into ___ desu. when you’re the one pointing.

Koko de machimasu.

machimasu — wait — with de marking where the waiting happens. (The matte inside Lesson 7’s request chunks is this verb; consider it previewed.)

Ni-jikan desu ka. Nagai desu.

-jikan — hours of duration (ni-jikan = two hours; don’t confuse with ni-ji, 2 o’clock) — and nagai — long (pair: mijikai, short). Echo-check the wait, then editorialize.

made + Lesson 5’s request frame: the complete taxi instruction. Swap in any destination — Hoteru made onegaishimasu. — or just show the written address (Lesson 4’s advice stands).

Kono basu wa eki ni ikimasu ka.

The yes/no flip as a reflex. Drill it against its open twin (Kono basu wa doko ni ikimasu ka → route recitation at native speed) until the flip is what comes out under pressure.

Nan-ji kara desu ka.

Point at the shop, the museum, the noren curtain — ask.

Nan-ji made desu ka.

Its twin — last entry, last order, last train. The answer comes from the hour set you drilled above.

Kinou ikimashita. Demo, kyou mo ikimasu.

Past tense + demo — “but” — your first taste of chaining sentences with connectives (Lesson 9 makes a system of it). For now, memorize the shape whole; note Lesson 5’s mo sneaking in too.