Does this train go to ～?
First, numbers:
一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八、九、十、十一、十二
いち、に、さん、し、ご、ろく、しち、はち、きゅう、じゅう、じゅういち、じゅうに
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
十二、十一、十、九、八、七、六、五、四、三、二、一
じゅうに、じゅういち、じゅう、きゅう、はち、なな、ろく、ご、よん、さん、に、いち
12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
一つ、二つ、三つ、四つ、五つ、六つ、七つ、八つ、九つ
ひとつ、ふたつ、みっつ、よっつ、いつつ、むっつ、ななつ、やっつ、ここのつ
1 (thing), 2 (things), 3 (things), 4 (things), 5 (things), 6 (things), 7 (things), 8 (things), 9 (things)
Second, lesson:
In the last lesson, we saw how to ask a person for directions.
Now, let's imagine that you're at a train station in Kyoto, and, using the language we saw in the last lesson, you successfully got directions to Nara.
As such, you now find yourself standing at a train platform waiting for whichever train you're supposed to board.
There's just one problem: There are lots of different trains stopping there, and you're not 100% sure which one you're supposed to get on. The helpful station attendant is no longer with you, so English won't likely get you very far.
And now another train's pulling up! Agh!
You turn to a random Japanese person and, after a quick すいません, "excuse me" (すみません works too), ask:
この電車は奈良駅に行きますか？
この でんしゃ は ならえき に いきます か？
Does this train go to Nara Station?
Literally: “this + train + は + Nara Station + に + go + か?”
Let's break this down. We have:
この（this）
電車（でんしゃ // train）
は（[topic-marking particle (pronounced wa!)]）
奈良駅（ならえき // Nara Station）
に（[destination-marking particle]）
行きます（いきます // go）
か（[question-ending particle]）
この is the adjectival form of "this" (e.g. in a sentence like "This pizza is good").
The nominal form of "this" (e.g. in a sentence like "This is a good pizza") is これ.
Adjectives:
この（this）
その（that）
あの（that [over there]）
Nouns:
これ（this）
それ（that）
あれ（that [over there]）
We'll see all of these in future lessons. Specifically, these are useful when trying to buy things at shops.
Since we're just covering basics right now, I probably shouldn't do this... but I'm a nerd, so let's look at how we could have said basically the same sentence we saw above, only with the noun これ instead of the adjective この：
この電車は奈良駅に行きますか？
この でんしゃ は ならえき に いきます か？
Does this train go to Nara Station?
Literally: “this + train + は + Nara Station + に + go + か?”
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
これは奈良駅に行く電車ですか？
これ は ならえき に いく でんしゃ です か？
Is this the train that goes to Nara Station?
Literally: “this + は + Nara Station + に + go + train + です + か?”
Feel free to nerd out over the varying structures of those two sentences. Or just ignore me if I'm giving you a headache.
You can find more information about この, これ, and so on, as well as a bit about the particles は and が, back in this lesson: [NDL #328] - Basics: こ、そ、あ.
電車 (でんしゃ) means "train."
The kanji 電 means something like "electricity."
車 means something like "car" or "vehicle." In fact, in isolation, the kanji 車 becomes the word 車 (くるま // car).
For example, you could say:
車で行きます。
くるま で いきます。
I'll go by car. // We'll go by car.
Literally: “car + で + go.”
The concept of knowing when a kanji is its own word and when it's a part of a bigger word is really intimidating as a beginner, but you develop a natural sense for it fairly quickly into your studies.
Since I'm having trouble focusing today, I'm gonna go on another tangent.
You might be wondering why they use the kanji for "electricity" in the word "train." Well, 電車 only refers to electrical trains, technically speaking.
There are a couple of other words for "train" in Japanese that you hear much, much less often than 電車：
列車（れっしゃ // [general word for] train）
汽車（きしゃ // [steam] train; [fuel-powered] train）
I come across 列車 every now and then in Japan, but I almost never hear the word 汽車... I suppose because there are so few steam-powered trains around these days?
は (wa)、に、and か are all particles.
Studying particles bores me to death, so let's skip it!
Speaking of which, lower-level students of Japanese waste a lot of time fretting about understanding particles. But if you continue to study Japanese, you cannot not learn them. You'll see them so often that you will start to understand them eventually.
奈良 (なら) is a place name, yeah?
They have famous temples, a giant deer park, and so on. It's in all the travel books.
駅 (えき) means "station."
This can be a word in isolation:
駅にはどう行けばいいですか？
えき に は どう いけば いい です か？
How do I get to the station?
Literally: “station + に + は + how + should I go (=if (I) go + good) + です + か?”
↑ This sentence pattern is from the last lesson.
駅 (えき) can also serve as a suffix to place names when you want to say "[Place] Station."
Some places:
東京（とうきょう // Tokyo）
品川（しながわ // Shinagawa）
渋谷（しぶや // Shibuya）
上野（うえの // Ueno）
Some stations in those places:
東京駅（とうきょうえき // Tokyo Station）
品川駅（しながわえき // Shinagawa Station）
渋谷駅（しぶやえき // Shibuya Station）
上野駅（うえのえき // Ueno Station）
I always found it interesting that the kanji for "horse," 馬, is embedded in the kanji for 駅, "station." I can't help but imagine this "station" where horses gathered hundreds of years ago. ^_^
The word for "horse" is 馬 (うま), by the way.
The verb 行く (いく) means "to go," and we saw it in the ます-form, which is 行きます (いきます), "go."
You can learn all about ます-form conjugations in this lesson: [NDL #545] - Basics: -ます Form.
ます-form is used for present and future tense in polite language.
Well, that breakdown took a bit more time than I was intending.
Let's look at a sentence pattern:
この＿＿は奈良駅に行きますか？
この ＿＿ は ならえき に いきます か？
Does this ＿＿ go to Nara Station?
Literally: “this + ＿＿ + は + Nara Station + に + go + か?”
We used 電車, "train:"
この電車は奈良駅に行きますか？
この でんしゃ は ならえき に いきます か？
Does this train go to Nara Station?
Literally: “this + train + は + Nara Station + に + go + か?”
But we also could have put バス, "bus":
このバスは奈良駅に行きますか？
この バス は ならえき に いきます か？
Does this bus go to Nara Station?
Literally: “this + bus + は + Nara Station + に + go + か?”
Another pattern:
この電車は＿＿＿に行きますか？
この でんしゃ は ＿＿＿ に いきます か？
Does this train go to ＿＿＿?
Literally: “this + train + は + ＿＿＿ + に + go + か?”
Using words we saw above, we could say:
この電車は東京に行きますか？
この でんしゃ は とうきょう に いきます か？
Does this train go to Tokyo?
Literally: “this + train + は + Tokyo + に + go + か?”
この電車は東京駅に行きますか？
この でんしゃ は とうきょうえき に いきます か？
Does this train go to Tokyo Station?
Literally: “this + train + は + Tokyo Station + に + go + か?”
この電車は渋谷に行きますか？
この でんしゃ は しぶや に いきます か？
Does this train go to Shibuya?
Literally: “this + train + は + Shibuya + に + go + か?”
この電車は渋谷駅に行きますか？
この でんしゃ は しぶやえき に いきます か？
Does this train go to Shibuya Station?
Literally: “this + train + は + Shibuya Station + に + go + か?”
With this, you now have one more useful sentence pattern to utilize during your travels in Japan. ^_^
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