こんにちは！ Welcome back to my Japanese Skyrim adventure. This time, I found myself in リバーウッド (Riverwood) after escaping Helgen. I met a guard who helped me out—and even ran into his 子供 (kodomo, child). Join me as I learn new Japanese words and phrases while trading with merchants, exploring a house, and sorting through my overstuffed inventory!
First, I decided to check in with the guard who guided me here. His child was also around, so I tried out a few Japanese sentences:
When I approached the guard to talk, I saw the prompt 「話す (hanasu)」 on my screen, which means “to talk” or “to speak.”
Next, I headed to the local merchant’s house. In Japanese, a vendor or merchant is often called 商人 (shōnin). Inside, there were a few new words to learn:
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
|---|---|---|
| 売る | uru | to sell |
| 買う | kau | to buy |
| 商人 | shōnin | merchant |
| 子供 | kodomo | child |
| 宝箱 | takarabako | (treasure) chest |
| タンス | tansu | dresser / chest |
| 調べる | shiraberu | to examine/search |
| 取る | toru | to take |
I discovered that when checking a container like a タンス (tansu, chest of drawers or dresser) or a 宝箱 (takarabako – treasure chest), the game often uses 調べる (shiraberu) meaning “examine” or “search.” If you want to actually take/loot something like a Nestle or an Arrow on the ground, you’ll see 取る (toru).
While trading, I noticed some items in my inventory:
I only had the Wolf pelt but since I know what Wolf (おおかみ) and Pelt (かわ) is, combining that logic with Bear or Rabbit also makes sense! It’s great to understand something and then change parts of the sentence to form new ones. This way, you don’t need to know many words but can form multiple sentences at ease. Also if you know more words you can instantly build more sentences.
I sold some of these to lighten my load, but soon realized:
荷物が多すぎる！
Nimotsu ga oosugiru!
(I’m over-encumbered / carrying too much!)
When you carry too many items, you become omosugiru (too heavy) to run freely:
Inside the merchant’s house, I saw a bed (ベッド) I could sleep in. In Japanese:
After dealing with my inventory, I realized I was hungry (if you’re using survival mode or just role-playing):
おなかがすいた！
Onaka ga suita!
(I’m hungry!)
If you want to say “I want to eat,” you can use:
I found 三つのパン (mittsu no pan) on the table. In Japanese, you often use special counters for objects, but if you don’t know the specific counter the go-to is the “-つ” (-tsu) counter:
| Number | Japanese | Reading | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一つ | ひとつ (hitotsu) | パンを一つ買う (ぱんをひとつかう) – Buy one bread |
| 2 | 二つ | ふたつ (futatsu) | リンゴを二つ食べる (りんごをふたつたべる) – Eat two apples |
| 3 | 三つ | みっつ (mittsu) | 本を三つ拾う (ほんをみっつひろう) – Pick up three books |
| 4 | 四つ | よっつ (yottsu) | コインを四つ集める (こいんをよっつあつめる) – Collect four coins |
| 5 | 五つ | いつつ (itsutsu) | 矢を五つ作る (やをいつつつくる) – Craft five arrows |
| 6 | 六つ | むっつ (muttsu) | 花を六つ売る (はなをむっつうる) – Sell six flowers |
| 7 |
