How to Talk About Your Plans for the Year in Japanese: Goals and Tsumori

The questions you will hear about the year ahead

The first two questions belong to January and to any fresh start; the third is how a friend asks, with the particles dropped and aru left plain; the fourth uses hōfu, the slightly formal word for a resolution that you will hear at a New Year gathering at work or in a class. Learn to recognise all four, because the answer shape is the same.

Model answer 1: one goal, one deadline

A beginner's answer is one goal with ~tai desu, one thing you will do for it with ~masu, and one deadline with made ni. Three sentences, and the listener already knows what you are working on and when you hope to get there. Notice that the deadline goes before the verb.

Shiken o ukeru is to sit an exam; ukaru, with no o, is to pass it. Jūnigatsu made ni ukemasu is a plan; jūnigatsu made ni ukaritai desu is the hope behind it.

Model answer 2: a calendar and an intention

The second level separates what is scheduled from what is only decided. Yotei desu goes on the trip that is booked, tsumori desu on the job change you have made up your mind about, and ~yō to omotte imasu on the gym habit you are still negotiating with yourself. Shū ni sankai, three times a week, is the frequency pattern that makes a habit sound measurable.

Ato at the start of a sentence means and also, and is how people add one more item to a list without a connector. In writing it would be sore kara; in speech ato is what you will hear.

Model answer 3: last year's failure and this year's smaller goal

The intermediate answer tells a story: a resolution that did not survive, a lesson, and a smaller, more honest goal. The grammar is ~mashita ga, I did but, tsuzukimasen deshita, it did not last, ~koto ni shimashita, I decided to, and a conditional with ~tara for the reward. Japanese listeners enjoy this version because it is modest; a big confident goal can sound like boasting.

The grammar this topic needs: the ladder of certainty and made ni

Plans for a year run on two pieces of grammar. The first is the ladder from a wish to a fixed schedule; pick the rung that matches how sure you are, because Japanese listeners hear the difference. The second is the deadline: made ni means by, made means until, and the two are not interchangeable. The table shows the ladder; the phrase rows after it show made ni, made and the two words for sometime this year.

Nennai ni and kotoshijū ni both mean within this year and are interchangeable; nennai is a touch more formal and common at work. De after a length of time, hantoshi de, in six months, marks how long something takes, not a deadline.

Follow-up questions and the reactions you will hear

After you state a goal, the first reaction is almost always ii desu ne, and the second is a question about whether you have started. Mō, already, and mada, not yet, do most of the work in your reply. Ganbatte kudasai and ōen shite imasu are the encouragement phrases; both are warm, and neither implies they doubt you. The last two rows are how you return the question.

Sore ni shita n desu ka, with n desu, asks for the reason behind a choice and invites a story; dōshite desu ka alone can sound abrupt. Kyonen to onaji, the same as last year, is a self-deprecating line that Japanese speakers use about their own resolutions too.

Mistakes and register notes

• Using tsumori for a vague wish. Nihon ni sumu tsumori desu tells the listener you have decided to live in Japan; if it is a dream, say sumitai to omotte imasu. Tsumori on something you then never start sounds odd in hindsight.
• Using tsumori about someone else's plans as a statement. Tanaka-san wa yameru tsumori desu claims to know their mind; in a question it is fine, as a statement use yotei or sō desu, I hear that.
• Made where you mean made ni. Jūnigatsu made benkyō shimasu means you will study continuously until December; jūnigatsu made ni is the deadline for a result. Deadlines take ni.
• Putting ni after kotoshi. Kotoshi takes no particle, or wa to set it up as the topic: kotoshi wa, this year, as opposed to last year. Kotoshi ni is a learner's tell.
• Answering ganbatte kudasai with arigatō alone. Hai, ganbarimasu, yes, I'll do my best, is the expected reply; arigatō gozaimasu can follow it.
• Replying to a casual nanika yaritai koto aru? in full masu form. Among friends, use the plain form: Nihon ni ikitai, mainichi benkyō suru tsumori. Keep masu for coworkers and teachers.

Put the year's goals somewhere they get checked

A goal said once in January is a sentence; a goal said every week is a habit. The useful trick is to tell someone who will ask you about it again. Mocchi, Unihongo's study assistant, is built for exactly this: type /plan and tell it your goal for the year in your own words, for example that you want to hold a ten-minute conversation by December, and it turns the goal into a personal plan of small daily tasks that fit the time you have. It keeps notes on what you finish and what you skip, so when you say /adjust-plan in March it starts from what actually happened, not from what you promised.

To practise saying the goal out loud, open AI Sensei and ask Hana-sensei to play a classmate at a New Year gathering who asks everyone their mokuhyō, reacts, and asks whether you have started. Ask her to use kotoshi no hōfu wa the second time, so you hear both versions of the question. Everything here starts with a free account at unihongo.com/login; the plan itself takes a minute to set up.

Your turn: say your year aloud

• Kotoshi no mokuhyō wa nan desu ka. Answer with one goal and one deadline using made ni.
• Name three plans at three strengths: one ~tai to omotte imasu, one ~tsumori desu, one ~yotei desu, each with a month.
• Kyonen no mokuhyō wa dō deshita ka. Say what happened last year with ~mashita ga.
• Mō hajimemashita ka. Answer with mō or mada and say when you start.
• Ask someone back: kotoshi no yotei wa arimasu ka, then react to their answer with ii desu ne and one follow-up question.