Page 373 - Basic Japanese

Watashi no heya wa go-kai no erebētā kara futatsu-me

no heya desu.
My room is the second room from the elevator
on the fifth floor.

Instead of using a specific ordinal number, you can add -
me to the numbers made with the counter -ban, and use

these with any noun: ichiban-me no heya ‘the first room,’ niban-
me no hon ‘the second book,’ sanbam-me no hito ‘the third

person.’

Another way to make words meaning ‘first, second,
third,’ etc., is to prefix-dai to any primary numeral: dai-ichi,

dai-ni, dai-san, dai-yon, etc. These words are less commonly
used than the ones given above with -me, but you will often

hear daiichi in proper names: Daiichi-Hoteru, Daiichi-Birudingu.

7.20 Particle ほど hodo

The particle hodo means ‘extent, to the extent of, as much
as.’ It is used in negative comparisons. To say ‘I am not as

young as he,’ a Japanese person says Watashi wa ano hito hodo
wakaku arimasen ‘As for me, I’m not young, as much as that

person.’

To say ‘as much as’ in an affirmative sentence, you use
either no yō ni ‘in the manner of, to onaji yō ni ‘in the same

manner as,’ or gurai ‘about (as much as)’:

東京はマンハッタンのように人が多いですか。

Tōkyō wa Manhattan no yō ni hito ga ōi desu ka.
Is Tokyo crowded like Manhattan?

東京はマンハッタンと同じように人が多いですか。