VocabularyJLPT N5 · core

バナナ

バナナ
hepburn banana

banana

Part of speech · noun

Pattern visualization

no decomposition available

Examples

  1. バナナを一本食べました。
    I ate one banana.
  2. 朝はバナナとヨーグルトです。
    For breakfast I have banana and yogurt.

Collocations

バナナ (banana, banana — loanword)バナナジュース (banana juusu, banana juice)朝バナナダイエット (asa banana daietto, "morning banana diet")一本 (ippon, one stick — counter)バナナの皮 (banana no kawa, banana peel)

Mnemonic

バナナ banana — borrowed in the 16th century from Portuguese (same era as パン). Fixed in katakana. Counter trap: long thin objects take ~本 (hon/bon/pon) — 一本 (ippon), 二本 (nihon, careful: homophone of "Japan" Nihon!), 三本 (sanbon). Pens, bananas, umbrellas, legs all use this counter. The 2008 "朝バナナダイエット" (Morning Banana Diet) fad caused nationwide banana shortages — a social phenomenon. One word compresses loan-history, counter grammar, and diet trends.

Quick check

  1. Correct Japanese counter for "two bananas"?

Listed inJLPT N5 · core
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