はじめまして (How do you do?) and どうぞよろしく (Nice to meet you.) are typical introductory phrases used when you meet someone for the first time. You start with はじめまして followed by your name and other information you would like to add. どうぞよろしく completes your introduction.

1.	はじめまして。 How do you do? (Lit. It's the first time [we meet].)
2.	おの けいこです。 I am Keiko Ono.
3.	どうぞ、よろしく。 Nice to see you. (Lit. Please regard me favorably.)

すみません here is used to attract someone's attention as in Excuse me in English. It is also an expression of apology (I'm sorry) or of appreciation (Sorry for troubling you. I appreciate [your help].).

To reply affirmatively, use ええ or はい. Both はい and ええ are a polite yes. (はい has other uses such as Here you go. ええ can NEVER be used to hand over something.) The reply そうです (That's right.) is a noun sentence. そう can be replaced by the actual name as shown below. The use of そうです (That's right) is limited to a reply to a noun sentence question that requires a Yes/No answer.

ええ or はい	Nounです。
はい、	そうです。		Yes, that's right.
ええ、	けいこです。		Yes, I'm Keiko.

にほん means Japan.にほんじん means Japanese person/people. The suffix じん (person or people) attached to a country name changes the country name into the nationality.

にほん じん	Japanese person/people		ドイツ じん	German person/people
アメリカ じん	American person/people		フランス じん	French person/people
ちゅうごく じん	Chinese person/people		イギリス じん	British person/people
かんこく じん	South Korean person/people		メキシコ じん	Mexican person/people
ロシア じん	Russian person/people		スペイン じん	Spain person/people

To reply negatively to a Yes-No question, いいえ (No) can be used. ちがいます can follow いいえ. ちがいます means That's incorrect or That's different. It is used to point out an error.

A:	スミスさんですか。		Are you Mr./Mrs. Smith?
B:	いいえ、ちがいます。		No, I'm not. (Lit. That's incorrect.)

　

しつれいしました is a more formal and apologetic way to say I'm sorry than すみません. It literally means I committed a rudeness. You can replace this with すみません.

お in front of なまえ (name) is an honorific prefix to a noun. おなまえ is used to refer to people's names other than the speaker himself/herself (your name, his name, her name, etc.). Do not put お in front of any nouns. Only a limited number of nouns can have this prefix お.

When we ask someone's name, we can use the /おなまえ (your name) + は？/ pattern with a rising intonation to indicate that it is a question. The は is a particle (pronounced as /wa/), and it functions as the topic marker. The particle は /wa/ is never written in hiragana わ. A normal answer to this question is to say Name + です without the subject/topic (e.g., I or My name).

	Nounは？
A:	おなまえは?		Your name? (Lit. As for your name?)
	Nounです
B:	スミスです。		(I) am Smith.

FYI: おなまえ consists of an honorific prefix お and the noun なまえ (name). There is no confusion as to whose name the speaker is referring to without saying your here because of the social understanding that a polite form is used to refer to something that belongs to others.

Particle から follows a place name and indicates from (location) as in アメリカから from America. Place から + きました means (I) came from America. We will introduce the verb form (きました) formally later. To ask other's hometown, one can use どこ (where) or its polite equivalent どちら as shown below. We will learn more about から later.

Q:	どこ (or どちら)	から	きましたか。		Where did you come from?
A:	アメリカ	から	きました。		I came from America.
Q:	どこ (or どちら)	から	ですか。		Where are you from?
A:	アメリカ	から	です。		I'm from America.

わたし is a proper noun I or me. Here, it functions as the subject of the sentence, but it is often dropped without making the sentence incomplete. In fact, the subject I is often dropped in Japanese sentences. The topic particle は can follow わたし as in わたしは りゅうがくせいです (I am a foreign student.) = /XはYです/ pattern.

To introduce yourself by stating your affiliation, say:

[Institution]	の	[last name]です
ダートンカレッジ	の	きたむらです。		I am Kitamura of Darton College.
ジョージアテック	の	きくちです。		I am Kikuchi of Georgia Tech.

In general, a noun phrase XのY combines two nouns with the particle の in between and creates a /modifying Nの + modified N/ pattern (e.g., X's Y; Y of X; Y at X; Y from X; Y about X; Y written in X, etc.)

Modifying Noun	の	Modified Noun
ソニー	の	たなか	Sony's Tanaka, Tanaka of Sony
わたし わたし わたし	の の の	なまえ せんこう ともだち	my name my major my friend
すずきさん ともだち	の の	ともだち すずきさん	Ms. Suzuki's friend My friend, Ms. Suzuki
たなかさん	の	めいし	Mr/s. Tanaka's business card
だいがく	の	せんせい	a university/college teacher; professor
にほん にほんじん にほんご	の の の	せんせい せんせい せんせい	a teacher in Japan a Japanese teacher (nationality) a Japanese-language teacher
おとこ おんな	の の	ひと ひと	man woman
アメリカ にほん	の の	くるま くるま	American cars, cars in America Japanese cars, cars in Japan
すずきさん せんこう	の の	せんこう けいざいがく	Ms. Suzuki's major My major, economics

The modifier-nounの phrase can be repeated.

• アメリカの にほんの くるま (Japanese cars in America)
• スミスさんの にほんごの せんせい (Mr. Smith's Japanese-language teacher)

In general, the Japanese particles function somewhat like English prepositions. Since they are placed immediately AFTER a noun, they might be called "postpositions."

When we ask for information, we often use the following topic-comment pattern: Xは + なんですか. The word なん is a question word (noun) meaning what.

	Topic Nounは	Comment Nounです	Q (か)
A:	せんこうは	なんです	か。		What is your major?
B:		けいざいがくです。			(It) is Economics.

The topic part represents familiar/known information, and it is made of a noun and the topic particle は. The comment part represents new/unknown information about the topic, and it can be a noun sentence as shown above or other types of sentences to be introduced later.

Topic	Comment
わたしは	がくせいです。		I am a college student.
すずきさんは	りゅうがくせいです。		Ms. Suzuki is a foreign student.

The negative forms of Nです is Nじゃありません or Nじゃないです as shown below. Both ～じゃありません and ～じゃないです can be used only as a reply to a noun sentence question that requires a Yes-No answer.　(The symbol ～ means so-and-so often pronounced as なになに.)

		Noun Noun	じゃありません じゃないです
A:	けいこさんは	がくせい	ですか。		Is Keiko a college student?
B:	いいえ、 いいえ、	そう そう	じゃありません。 じゃないです。		No, she is not.
	いいえ、 いいえ、	がくせい がくせい	じゃありません。 じゃないです。		No, she is not a college student.

When two topics are presented to emphasize the differences between them, the particle は is used in both sentences. The particle は functions not only to introduce a topic, but it functions to contrast what is different about them. We call it the contrastive use of は.

Topic	Comment
アリスさんは	アメリカじんです。		Alice is American.
リーさんは	かんこくじんです。		Lee, in contrast, is Korean.

When the two topics share the same comment, the second sentence uses the particle も instead of は to emphasize the similarities. も adds the meaning of also/in addition/too as shown below.

Topic	Comment
アリスさんは	だいがくせいです。		Alice is a college student.
リーさんも	だいがくせいです。		Lee is also a college student.
アリスさんは	アメリカから きました。		Alice came from America.
リーさんも	アメリカから きました。		Lee also came from America.

The particle と can be used to combine two nouns: NとN (N and N) or more than two nouns as in Nと Nと Nと..., etc. (Caution: The Japanese と (and) combines only nouns. It cannot be used to combine adjectives and verbs.)

Topic	Comment
アリスさんは	だいがくせいです。		Alice is a college student.
リーさんも	だいがくせいです。		Lee is also a college student.
アリスさんと リーさんは	だいがくせいです。		Alice and Lee are college students.

When two similar sentences are presented one after another, the connective そして (and) can be used to relate the sentences. そして is placed at the beginning of the second sentence. (Note that the particle と can never be used for relating sentences this way.)

スミスさんは アメリカじんです。 ブラウンさんも アメリカじんです。		Smith is American. Brown is also American.
↓
スミスさんは アメリカじんです。 そして、ブラウンさんも アメリカじんです。		Smith is American, and Brown is also American.

ねんせい is the counter for the year/grade in school. We will learn how to count in Japanese later.

いちねんせい		Freshman (first-year student)
にねんせい		Sophomore (second-year student)
さんねんせい		Junior (third-year student)
よねんせい		Senior (fourth-year student)