Lesson 21 - Sports

When speaking about sports, you never say you "play" a sport. Instead of using the verb "play", they use the verb "do", or shimasu. So therefore, if you wanted to ask "Do you play tennis?", you would ask TENISU o shimasu ka, with TENISU meaning "tennis". To say sports, simply say SUPOOTSU. Some other sports are BAREEBOORU (volleyball), FUTTOBOORU (football), SAKKAA (soccer), and BASUKETTOBOORU (basketball).

Let's have another small conversation.

Mana: Konnichi wa. Nani o shimasu ka.
Tetsu: Konnichi wa. BASUKETTOBOORU to SAKKAA o shimasu. SAKKA o shimasu ka.
Mana: Iie. BAREEBOORU o shimasu.
Tetsu: Sou desu ka.
Mana: Sou desu.

In this very simple conversation. Mana asks what Testu does. Tetsu replies that he does basketball and soccer. He then asks, "Do you play soccer?" Mana replies no, he plays volleyball.

Please note that music and sports are taken too serious to only say you "play" them. Therefore, it is more proper to say you "do" them.