The Conversation and Expression section (会話と表現) looks like the easy one. There is no passage to read and no audio to follow — only a situation and four things you might say.
It is also where candidates who studied from grammar tables lose marks, because all four options are usually grammatical. What separates them is who is speaking, to whom, and when. That is a different kind of knowledge, and it can be learned deliberately.
Almost every question in this section comes down to one of four things.
1. Set phrases come in pairs
Japanese has fixed phrases for fixed moments, and many of them have a fixed reply. The wrong answer on the test is very often the other half of the pair.
| Situation | One person says | The other replies |
|---|---|---|
| Leaving work before others | お先に失礼します | おつかれさまでした |
| Leaving home | いってきます | いってらっしゃい |
| Coming home | ただいま | おかえりなさい |
| Before / after eating | いただきます | ごちそうさまでした |
| Being thanked | ありがとうございます | どういたしまして |
| Someone is ill | お大事に | ありがとうございます |
| Asked how you are | お元気ですか | おかげさまで |
And the ones that stand alone:
| Phrase | When |
|---|---|
| 失礼します | Entering a superior’s room; ending a phone call |
| おじゃまします | Entering someone’s home |
| お忙しいところすみません | Interrupting someone who is working |
| 申し訳ありません | A serious or workplace apology |
| お待たせしました | Apologising for a wait — and only for a wait |
| 助かりました | Thanking someone whose help made a real difference |
| よろしくお願いします | After asking for something; when starting to work together |
How to learn them: never as a single flashcard. Write the situation, who speaks, and the reply on the same card. If you only know that おつかれさまでした “is something about work”, the test will catch you.
2. Who does the action?
This is the most useful question you can ask in this section. Four request patterns look similar and point in different directions:
| Pattern | Meaning | Who acts |
|---|---|---|
| 〜てください | Please do… | The listener |
| 〜てもいいですか | May I…? | You |
| 〜ていただけませんか | Could you please…? | The listener, as a favour to you |
| 〜ましょうか | Shall I…? | You, as an offer |
Take a situation: you want to use the office computer. The options might be 使ってください, 使いましょうか, and 使ってもいいですか. All three are correct Japanese. Only one has you using the computer with permission — the first tells your colleague to use it, and the second offers to use it for them.
The same logic covers the forms built on giving and receiving:
- 〜てあげます — you do something for someone. Rarely right when speaking to a superior; it sounds like you are doing them a favour.
- 〜てくれます — someone does something for you.
- 〜てもらいます — you receive someone’s action. In 田中さんに手伝ってもらいました, Tanaka did the helping.
And one more that is worth having ready: 〜させていただけませんか asks to be allowed to do something. 休ませていただけませんか is the set way to ask for a day off.
3. Keigo points in a direction
You do not need the whole keigo system for JFT-Basic. You need to know that polite verbs come in two kinds and that they are not interchangeable:
- Honorific (尊敬語) raises the other person. Use it for their actions.
- Humble (謙譲語) lowers you. Use it for your own actions.
| Plain | Honorific — their action | Humble — your action |
|---|---|---|
| 見る (see) | ご覧になる | 拝見する |
| 行く・来る (go, come) | いらっしゃる | まいる |
| いる (be) | いらっしゃる | おる |
| 言う (say) | おっしゃる | 申す |
| 食べる・飲む (eat, drink) | 召し上がる | いただく |
| する (do) | なさる | いたす |
Two general patterns extend this to ordinary verbs:
- お + stem + ください — an honorific request. お待ちください: please wait.
- お + stem + します — a humble statement. お待ちします: I will wait. お持ちします: I will bring it.
So if a customer needs to wait, お待ちください is right and お待ちします is wrong — not because one is more polite, but because it changes who is waiting.
Two details the test returns to:
ございます is for things. It is the polite form of あります. いらっしゃいます and おります are forms of います and are for people only. “Do you have this in a larger size?” is answered はい、ございます.
Your own colleagues take humble language when you speak to an outsider. If a caller asks for your manager, you say 山田は席を外しております — no さん, humble verb — even though you would use honorific language to Yamada’s face. The customer is the one being raised; your company is “you”.
4. No is rarely said as no
Refusals and acceptances are the other reliable source of questions, because Japanese handles them indirectly.
Refusing an invitation or request:
- ちょっと…… — trailing off. This is a no.
- ちょっと用事があって…… — “I have something on…”. Also a no, with a reason.
- すみません、今日は…… — the unfinished sentence does the refusing.
Accepting or declining an offer:
| You say | Meaning |
|---|---|
| お願いします | Yes, please |
| けっこうです | No, thank you |
| 大丈夫です | I’m fine — usually a no |
| おかまいなく | Please don’t go to any trouble — a no |
けっこうです is the one that catches learners, because けっこう sounds positive. In reply to an offer, it declines.
Asking again is also tested. If you did not catch an instruction, もう一度お願いします is correct. もういいです looks similar and means “that’s enough” — not something to say to a supervisor.
The service phrases
If your work will involve customers, a small set of phrases covers a great deal, and the test draws on them:
- いらっしゃいませ — welcome
- かしこまりました — certainly (accepting a request)
- 少々お待ちください — please wait a moment
- お待たせしました — sorry to have kept you waiting
- 申し訳ございません — I am very sorry
- こちらへどうぞ — this way, please
- ありがとうございました — thank you (as the customer leaves)
Each one belongs to a moment in the exchange. いらっしゃいませ is for arrival — it cannot acknowledge an order that has already been placed; that is かしこまりました.
How to answer these questions
A method that works under time pressure:
- Read the situation line first, in full. It tells you who you are and who you are talking to.
- Decide the direction before looking at the options: who acts, and who is senior or outside.
- Eliminate by direction, not by politeness. The most polite-looking option is often wrong.
- Check for the pair. If two options are the two halves of an exchange, the question is asking which half is yours.
These questions are quick when you know the phrase and slow when you try to reason them out from grammar. That makes this the section where preparation saves the most time — time you will want for reading.
Practise it
Each of our JFT-Basic mock tests has five conversation questions with the direction explained for every option:
- JFT-Basic Mock Test 1
- JFT-Basic Mock Test 2
- JFT-Basic Mock Test 3
- JFT-Basic Mock Test 4 — the most keigo-heavy of the four
Next steps
- JFT-Basic test format — all four sections, with examples
- JFT-Basic study plan — where this section fits in eight weeks
- How to read JFT-Basic notices fast
Exam Sensei is an independent study resource. The content of the test is set by the Japan Foundation, which publishes official sample questions on the JFT-Basic site.