souvenir お土産 おみやげ omiyage
present プレゼント purezento
birthday present
たんじょうびの プレゼント
present プレゼント purezento
birthday present
たんじょうびの プレゼント
tanjōbi no purezento
デパートで depaato de
In the department store
Mr and Mrs Shimada go shopping for a birthday present, so a present of some beautiful Noritake porcelain seems just the present for their best friend. In the department store there is so much choice and it makes it difficult to choose. How many will they choose?
おきゃくさん okyakusan customers
おきゃくさま okyakusama customers (staff language)
さら sara dishes
おさら osara dishes (very polite language)
おさら osara dishes (very polite language)
花 はな hana flowers
お花 おはな ohana flowers (very polite language)
たくさんのおさらがあります。
takusan no osara ga arimasu
There are lots of dishes.
すみませんが、このおさらはいくらですか。
sumimasen ga, kono osara wa ikura desu ka
Excuse me, but how much do these dishes cost?
きれいですね。。。何がほしいですか。
kirei desu ne… nani ga hoshii desu ka
Beautiful, isn’t it… what would we like to have?
カードもいりますね。
kaado mo irimasu ne
We also need a card, don’t we?!
すみませんが、このカードはいくらですか。
sumimasen ga, kono kaado wa ikura desu ka
Excuse me, but how much do these cards cost?
あっ、このカードにしました。
ah, kono kaado ni shimashita
Oh, we have decided to have this one.
あかいばらのカードがすきです。
akai bara no kaado ga suki desu
We would like this card with the red rose.
お花もすきです。買いたいです。
o-hana mo suki desu kaitai desu
We like some flowers too. We want to buy some.
このあかい花がすきです。
kono akai hana ga suki desu
We like these red flowers.
If you want to count items without any particular purpose in mind, or if you are not too sure about the exact counter, you use the following system. Certain is that Japanese do not count, while asking for a certain quantity, by using いち、に、さん etc. Maybe surprising, but true!
Here is the counter list for cups, when they are filled with liquid
Lami Japan 
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