Saying where you work and eat in Japanese

Level A1

Saying where you work and eat in Japanese

By the end of this lesson you can say where you work and where you eat: 家で働きます (ie de hatarakimasu), "I work at home", and ここで食べます (koko de tabemasu), "I eat here". One idea does the work: the place where an action happens takes で (de), while the place where something exists, with あります or います, keeps に (ni). Every sentence here is in the polite register, with です or ます.

A quick warm-up: places, に and を

Three pieces come back today, even if this is the first time you've seen them. ここ (koko) is here, near the speaker; そこ (soko) is there, near the listener; あそこ (asoko) is over there, far from both. ここです (koko desu) says "It's here". ここに本があります (koko ni hon ga arimasu), "There's a book here", says what exists in a place: に (ni) follows the place, が (ga) follows what exists, and あります (arimasu) is the verb for things; for people and animals it's います (imasu). ご飯を食べます (gohan o tabemasu), "I eat rice", states an action: を (o) follows what you eat, and the verb closes the sentence.

Today's words: 家 and 働きます

家 (ie) is home, the place where you live. Like 本 (hon), book, and 猫 (neko), cat, it needs no "a" or "the", so 家で is simply "at home". 働きます (hatarakimasu) is "I work", and like 食べます it keeps one form for I, you and she. If you open the verb's card you'll see 仕事をする (shigoto o suru), another common way to say "work", and 働く (hataraku), the dictionary form of 働きます. In this lesson, 働きます is all you need.

  • 家(いえ)home
  • 働(はたら)きます。I work.

Model: where do you work?

Two people who have just met on a course chat during a break, and one asks about the other's routine. Listen once without reading. どこ (doko) means "where", か (ka) at the end turns a sentence into a question, and はい (hai) means "yes". Notice that they use で with 働きます and 食べます, but に when they talk about the cat. With action verbs like these, the ます form says what you usually do and also what you're going to do, so 家で食べます can be "I eat at home" or "I'm going to eat at home".

Where an action happens: place, で, verb

Say the place, put で (de) right after it, and close with the verb. で works like "at" or "in", but it comes after the place, so 家で is word for word "home で". English says "I eat here" with nothing around "here", but Japanese still needs the particle: ここで食べます. Swap the place for 家, ここ, そこ or あそこ, and the verb for 働きます or 食べます.

There's no word for "I" in these sentences: when it's clear who you mean, Japanese leaves the person out. Here 働きます talks about a routine or a plan; for a regular job, Japanese often uses another form of the verb, which comes later.

ここで食べます。

で or に? Look at the verb

Compare 家に猫がいます (ie ni neko ga imasu), "There's a cat at home", with 家で働きます, "I work at home". The place is the same and English says "at home" both times, but Japanese splits them. In this lesson, あります and います say that something is in a place, so the place takes に; 働きます, 食べます and 飲みます (nomimasu, "drink") say that someone does something there, so the place takes で, and 家に働きます is wrong. To choose in these sentences, ask whether something exists there or someone does something there. で and に have other uses, which later lessons bring in one at a time.

A place and a thing in one sentence

With を, the sentence gains one more piece and nothing else changes: the place with で, the thing with を, and the verb at the end. 家でご飯を食べます (ie de gohan o tabemasu) is "I eat rice at home". ご飯 also means a meal, so this can also be "I have my meal at home". English usually leaves the place until last; in this lesson it comes first. 水 (mizu) is water, 飲みます (nomimasu) is "drink" and パン (pan) is bread. Combine what makes sense: 水 goes with 飲みます, and ご飯 or パン with 食べます.

家でご飯を食べます。

Asking where, and saying who

To ask, put どこ where the place goes, keep で and close with か: どこで働きますか (doko de hatarakimasu ka), "Where do you work?". The word order stays the same, unlike English, so the answer replaces どこ with a place and drops か: 家で働きます.

When it isn't clear who you mean, or to set someone apart, start with the person and は (wa): 私は家で働きます (watashi wa ie de hatarakimasu), "As for me, I work at home", or アナさんはここで食べます (Ana-san wa koko de tabemasu), "Ana eats here". 私 (watashi) is "I", and さん (san) goes after another person's name, never your own.

Your turn, and a summary

Say each sentence aloud before you look at its line below. First, say that you drink water at home. Next, say that there's a cat here. Last, ask someone where they work.

In short: for where an action happens, use the place, で, then the verb, with the thing and を before the verb if there is one. For where something exists, use the place, に, what exists with が, then あります or います. To ask where someone does something, use どこで and か.

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