The days of the week in Japanese each pair an element or celestial body with the suffix 曜日 (youbi, "day of the week"). 月曜日 (げつようび / getsuyoubi, Monday) is associated with the moon, 火曜日 (かようび / kayoubi, Tuesday) with fire, 水曜日 (すいようび / suiyoubi, Wednesday) with water, 木曜日 (もくようび / mokuyoubi, Thursday) with wood, 金曜日 (きんようび / kinyoubi, Friday) with gold or metal, 土曜日 (どようび / doyoubi, Saturday) with earth, and 日曜日 (にちようび / nichiyoubi, Sunday) with the sun. This element-based system reflects an East Asian tradition and makes the pattern easy to remember once the seven elements are learned.
Months are simpler still. Japanese months are formed by combining a number with 月 (gatsu, "month"): 一月 (いちがつ / ichigatsu) is January, 二月 (にがつ / nigatsu) is February, and so on through 八月 (はちがつ / hachigatsu) for August. There are no separate month names as in English. A few readings shift from the basic numbers, so 四月 is しがつ (shigatsu) rather than よんがつ, and 七月 is しちがつ (shichigatsu) rather than なながつ. These exception readings are worth memorizing, especially since April marks the beginning of the Japanese school and fiscal year.
A handful of survival phrases round out beginner Japanese. "Yes" is はい (hai), also used as a polite "uh-huh," while "No" is いいえ (iie), with ううん (uun) as the casual alternative. The phrase わかりません (wakarimasen) means "I don't understand," and えいごをはなせますか (eigo wo hanasemasu ka) asks "Do you speak English?" To find a place, use …は どこですか ("... wa doko desu ka," "Where is ...?"), and for prices, いくらですか (ikura desu ka, "How much?") is essential when shopping. Politeness markers include おねがいします (onegaishimasu) for general requests and ください (kudasai) for requests following a verb's te-form, as in みずを ください (mizu wo kudasai, "Water, please"). The demonstratives これ (kore, "this"), それ (sore, "that"), and あれ (are, "that over there") form the ko-so-a-do system for indicating distance. Common adjectives include おいしい (oishii, "delicious") and きれい (kirei, "beautiful" or "clean"), and in emergencies, たすけて (tasukete, "Help!") is the word to call out.