In this lesson
Lesson 9 closed the grammar — twenty frames, and everything after is vocabulary. This is the one exception you hope never to open: no new frames, just the words for the worst day. Everything here is built from frames you already own — X onegaishimasu, X ga arimasu, X wa doko desu ka, an adjective plus desu — so there is nothing new to parse, only new nouns to keep on a card in your wallet.
By the end of this lesson you can:
- call for help, and get an ambulance or the police,
- say you’re hurt — and how badly,
- find the nearest embassy or evacuation shelter,
- say you have insurance at a hospital desk,
- and recognize an earthquake or tsunami alert for what it is, without needing to translate a word.
As always: play every sentence before reading it, repeat it aloud, then tap to check the meaning. Drill this lesson cold, hope you never need it, and be grateful it’s there if you do.
Warm-up
Lesson 8’s problem kit, recombined. Listen cold first.
Every one of those is Lesson 8 material. Today it goes up a gear.
Calling for help
The one bare cry in this course. It’s technically a -te form, and this course otherwise forbids those outside the six -te kudasai chunks — but Tasukete! is a fixed exception, memorized whole like Abunai!, for a moment when there’s no time for a polite sentence. Shout it; heads turn.
Kyuukyuusha, onegaishimasu!
kyuukyuusha — ambulance — on Lesson 1’s onegaishimasu. No new grammar for the most important request you’ll ever make: name the thing you need, add onegaishimasu.
Keisatsu, onegaishimasu!
keisatsu — police. Same shape. (For minor trouble — a lost bag, directions — the kouban from Lesson 8 is the friendlier door; keisatsu is for something actually wrong.)
Jiko desu.
jiko — accident — in the plainest frame you own, X desu. Point at what happened; the word plus the scene is a complete report.
Ichi-ichi-kyuu.
119 — fire and ambulance. Say the digits — ichi-ichi-kyuu, all from Lesson 3 — or better, show the number written: panic wrecks recall first, and three digits on a screen never come out wrong.
Ichi-ichi-zero.
110 — police. Same move: say ichi-ichi-zero, or show it. Keep both numbers written in your phone where you can point at them.
Saying what’s wrong
kega — injury — with Lesson 7’s X o shimasu, in Lesson 6’s past: kega o shimashita = “I did an injury” = “I got hurt.” Two lessons of grammar, no new machinery.
Totemo itai desu.
totemo — very. It sits in front of any adjective to dial it up — the same slot Lesson 9’s chotto used to dial down. Lesson 8’s itai (“it hurts”) becomes totemo itai desu (“it really hurts”). That’s the whole severity system.
Itai desu!
For any body part you never learned: point at it and say itai desu. Finger plus this sentence is complete and unambiguous — the same pointing strategy that’s carried you since Lesson 2, now doing triage.
Kega desu.
kega desu — “it’s an injury” — point at the wound. Between itai desu (it hurts), kega desu (it’s an injury), and taihen desu (this is serious), a pointing finger tells medics what they need before anyone finds a shared word.
Getting to safety
taishikan — embassy — in Lesson 4’s doko frame. A lost passport, a real crisis: your own country’s embassy is the address that fixes it, and this is how you ask the way there.
Hoken ga arimasu.
hoken — insurance — owned via Lesson 4’s arimasu, exactly like yoyaku ga arimasu (a booking) and netsu ga arimasu (a fever). Say it at a hospital desk and the paperwork relaxes.
Jishin desu.
jishin — earthquake. In Japan the ground moves often; usually it passes in seconds. Jishin desu names it calmly — and cues the next question.
Hinanjo wa doko desu ka.
hinanjo — evacuation shelter — the doko frame again. Every neighborhood posts the way to its shelter (often a school or park); after a big quake, that sign is what you follow. Ask it, or follow the crowd walking calmly the same direction.
Dialog
A fall on the street, and a stranger who stops. Everything the traveler says is a frame he already owned — the emergency is all vocabulary. Listen to the whole dialog cold first.
Sumimasen! Tasukete! Daijoubu desu ka. Kega o shimashita. Totemo itai desu. Kyuukyuusha o yobimasu ka. Hai, onegaishimasu. Wakarimashita. Matte kudasai. Hoken ga arimasu. Wakarimashita. Daijoubu desu yo. Arigatou gozaimasu.Read the traveler’s side: a cry, an injury report, a want answered hai, an insurance line, a thank-you — every one a shape you’ve owned for lessons. The vocabulary was new; the grammar never was.
What they’ll say to you
Two alerts you will only ever hear — from a loudspeaker, a train PA, or your own phone screaming its emergency tone. Don’t translate them; catch the one word that names the danger (jishin, tsunami) and do what everyone around you does. The screen carries the details — a map, the district, the wave height — exactly as it does with train times.
Jishin desu. Ochitsuite kudasai. Tsunami no osore ga arimasu. Takai tokoro e nigete kudasai.You never say these — they’re for your ears. The verbs in them (ochitsuite, nigete) are outside your kit on purpose; you only need to recognize the danger word and move.
Repair drill
At a hospital reception, the reply comes back in full keigo about forms and cards. You are not expected to parse it. Deploy the kit; the paper does the rest.
Kega o shimashita. Hoken ga arimasu. Moushiwake gozaimasen. Hokenshou to mibunshoumeisho no goteiji o onegai itashimasu. Sumimasen. Yukkuri onegaishimasu. Hoken to pasupooto, onegaishimasu.Slowed down, the request collapsed to nouns you own plus onegaishimasu. You had hoken and pasupooto in your bag the whole time — the repair chunk just cleared the keigo out of the way.
How to behave: when it’s serious
- Know the two numbers, and which is which. 119 is fire and ambulance; 110 is police. For a medical emergency or a fire, 119; for a crime or an accident with the authorities, 110. Operators can find English help, but the fastest thing you can do is state the city and show your location on a map.
- Kouban for small, 119/110 for serious. The neighborhood kouban (Lesson 8) is for directions, lost items, and minor trouble — walk in freely. It is not the number you call when someone collapses. Match the door to the size of the problem.
- In an earthquake: drop, cover, hold on — indoors. Get under a sturdy table, cover your head, and wait out the shaking; don’t run outside mid-quake (falling glass and signage hurt more people than buildings do). When it stops, follow the posted signs to the nearest hinanjo.
- Do the safety paperwork before you land. Buy travel insurance that covers medical evacuation, and register your trip with your country’s embassy if it offers it. Keep your insurance number and the embassy’s address saved offline — the worst day is not the day to be searching for them.
Checkpoint
Can you, right now, out loud:
- call for help, and ask for an ambulance or the police? (Tasukete! / Kyuukyuusha / Keisatsu, onegaishimasu!)
- say the two emergency numbers — and know which is which? (ichi-ichi-kyuu = 119, ichi-ichi-zero = 110)
- say you’re injured, and how badly? (Kega o shimashita. Totemo itai desu.)
- point and report a hurt you have no word for? (Itai desu! / Kega desu.)
- ask the way to the embassy or a shelter? (Taishikan / Hinanjo wa doko desu ka.)
- say you have insurance at a hospital desk? (Hoken ga arimasu.)
- recognize an earthquake or tsunami alert — and know it means move, not translate? (the script section)
If any box stayed empty, replay that section. This is the one lesson worth over-drilling for a day you’ll probably never have.
Vocabulary reference
| # | Romaji | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tasukete! | Help! | the one bare cry — memorized whole |
| 2 | kyuukyuusha | ambulance | Kyuukyuusha, onegaishimasu! |
| 3 | keisatsu | police | Keisatsu, onegaishimasu! — 110 |
| 4 | jiko | accident | Jiko desu. |
| 5 | kega | injury | Kega o shimashita. / Kega desu. |
| 6 | totemo | very | dials any adjective up; totemo itai desu |
| 7 | hoken | insurance | Hoken ga arimasu. |
| 8 | taishikan | embassy | Taishikan wa doko desu ka. |
| 9 | jishin | earthquake | Jishin desu. |
| 10 | hinanjo | evacuation shelter | Hinanjo wa doko desu ka. |
Recognize only — never say these. The disaster alerts, for your ears exclusively:
| Script line | It means | You do |
|---|---|---|
| Jishin desu. Ochitsuite kudasai. | earthquake — stay calm | drop, cover, hold on |
| Tsunami no osore ga arimasu. Takai tokoro e nigete kudasai. | tsunami risk — flee to high ground | move uphill now, follow the crowd |
Anki deck
Drill this lesson’s audio anywhere: download the Lesson 10 Anki deck. Sentence cards are the course; vocab cards are backup — suspend them unless a word won’t stick.