はじめまして ("How do you do?") and どうぞよろしく ("Nice to meet you.") are 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 tell the other. 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, or of appreciation ("I'm sorry" and "Thank you," accordingly).

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 ("be correct") is limited to a reply to an identity question that requires a Yes/No answer.

Affirmative reply	ええ or はい	Noun	です。	Yes, it is N.
Examples	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 (USA only)	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. No, 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？	What is N?
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.

どこ (or どちら)	から	きましたか。	Where did you come from?
どこ (or どちら)	から	ですか。	Where are you from?

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 marker 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。		I am [name] of [institution].
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 /modifier-noun の + modified noun/ pattern (e.g., X's Y; Y of X; Y at X; Y from X; Y about X; Y written in X, etc.)

Noun Phrase: X の Y

Modifying Noun	の	Modified Noun	X's Y Y of X
ソニー	の	たなか	Sony's Tanaka Tanaka of Sony
わたし	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	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	せんせい	a teacher in Japan a Japanese teacher (nationality) a Japanese-language teacher
おとこ おんな	の	ひと	man woman
アメリカ にほん	の	くるま	American cars, cars in America Japanese cars, cars in Japan
すずきさん せんこう	の	せんこう けいざいがく	Ms. Suzuki's major My major, economics

More than one modifier + 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	アメリカじんの	にほんごの	せんせい	Mr. Smith's American, 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."

	Topic (familiar/known)		Comment (new/unknown)
	Noun	は	Noun	です	(か)	What is N?
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 marker 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.

		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、	そう	じゃありません。 じゃないです。	No, she is not.
	いいえ、	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 highlight the differences, the particle は is used in both sentences. The particle は functions not only to introduce each topic, but it functions to contrast what is different (comment parts) 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 an American.
リーさん	は	かんこくじんです。	Lee, in contrast, is a Korean.

When two topics share the same comment part, the particle も replaces the second particle は and adds the meaning of "also/in addition" 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.

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..., etc.

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 an American. Brown is also an 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 an American, and Brown is also an American.

Number ねんせい

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