The vocabulary course for the day is about the means of transport.
You will find below a selection of the most well-known means of transport. The list includes twenty-three vocabulary words including many words from English as always. This list is long but it is not difficult, you will quickly understand why.
These new words will be very useful for you to express the means used to move around. For example, "I go to the hotel by taxi". This is a great opportunity to review your lesson on the particle で while enriching your vocabulary.
車 .
くるま
. the car, the automobile
自動車 .
ジドウシャ
. the car, the automobile
電気自動車 .
デンキジドウシャ
. the electric car
電動自動車 .
デンドウジドウシャ
. the electric car
スポーツカー
. the sport car
消防車 .
ショウボウシャ
. the fire truck
救急車 .
キュウキュウシャ
. the ambulance
トラック
. the truck
ゴミ収集車 .
ゴミシュウシュウシャ
. the garbage truck, the dump truck
ダンプトラック
. the garbage truck, the dump truck
タンクローリー
. the tank lorry, the tank truck
パトロールカー
. the patrol car, the police vehicle
白バイ .
しろバイ
. the police motorcycle
オートバイ / バイク
. the autobike, the bike
スクーター
. the scooter
電気スクーター .
デンキウスクーター
. the electric scooter
電動スクーター .
デンドウスクーター
. the electric scooter
タクシー
. the taxi
電気タクシー .
デンキウタクシー
. the electric taxi
電動タクシー .
デンドウタクシー
. the electric taxi
バス
. the bus
電気バス .
デンキウバス
. the electric bus
電動バス .
デンドウバス
. the electric bus
Before leaving you, a few comments on four words that you have just seen. First of all, the word タンクローリー which means "tank truck" most often refers to gasoline transport trucks.
Then, the word パトロールカー. the patrol car is often abbreviated パトカー.
Finally, you will have noticed the presence of two words in Japanese that I put for you below and which are very important to remember :
電気 .
デンキ
. electric
電動 .
デンドウ
. electric
In the first one, we have the kanji 電 which means "electricity" and 気 which means "energy", therefore 電気 . デンキ literally means "electric energy".
In the second, we have the kanji 電 which means "electricity" and 気 which means "movement", therefore 電気 . デンドウ literally means "electric motion", which brings us back to "electric energy".
In English, these two Japanese words translate to the adjective "electric", and by that I mean that, from the point of view of English grammar, we will translate and consider these two words as adjectives. But in Japanese, from the point of view of Japanese grammar, 電気 and 電動 are NOT adjectives, they are nouns. And when they end up as a suffix attached to other nouns, it creates new nouns. To make you better understand, I take as an example a word from the list above :
電気自動車 .
デンキジドウシャ
. the electric car
This, in Japanese, is one word, ONLY ONE word. It is a whole word made up of five kanji.
In English, we will translate it as "the electric car". We have the determinant "the", the noun "car" and the qualifying adjective "electric" because only in this way can we translate 電気 . デンキ in the word 電気自動車 . デンキジドウシャ. So, that does not mean that the Japanese word 電気 . デンキ (or even 電動 . デンドウ) will be systematically translated by the qualifying adjective "electric" in English.
I give you another new word to make you understand :
電気屋 .
デンキや
. the appliance store
Above, the word 電気 . デンキ is translated into English as "the appliance store", and it is not an adjective !
What we call qualifying adjectives according to Japanese grammar, we will only see this from season three or four so you can rest easy until then !
That’s all for this list. There are other means of locomotion that I haven’t included here. For example, boats, cruisers, small boats, canoes, helicopters, planes... I will devote these words to other vocabulary lists to come. Besides, for everything related to trains, I can already tell you that you will have a vocabulary course entirely devoted to this subject in season three. There is a whole lexicon revolving around the railway industry and I prefer to devote an entire vocabulary course to it.
With that, take the time to memorize these new vocabulary words well, take the opportunity to review the lesson on the particle で and you could also take the opportunity to practice creating new sentences in Japanese. I think that would be a good initiative. I wish you good luck in your revisions, hang in there again and again, and see you in the next course.
Introduction