メニューと看板: A Menu and Shop Signs

Menus and shop signs are the register that ambushes learners: after months of practicing full です／ます sentences, you walk into a restaurant and the printed language has almost no verbs and no copulas at all. A menu is a stack of noun phrases and prices; a sign is a two-kanji status word or a fixed polite notice. Nothing is conjugated because there is nothing to conjugate — the information is the noun. Decoding this telegraphic style is a distinct skill, and it rests on three things: reading noun-and-price layouts, recognizing the 〜中／〜済み status-suffix system, and knowing the set imperative-polite phrases. Here is a lunch menu and a set of everyday signs, decoded piece by piece.

The menu: noun phrases and prices

A whole menu line with not one verb. 日替（ひが）わり ("daily-changing") + 定食（ていしょく, a set meal) names the dish; the parenthetical lists what comes with it, closed by 〜付（つ）き ("with, included") — itself a noun-forming suffix, not a verb. Then the price, with the 円 counter in Sino numbers (850 = happyaku-gojū). Note ご飯 is read gohan as one lexicalized word (the bare 飯 isn't used alone), while お新香（しんこ, pickles）carries the detachable honorific お-.

The katakana ハンバーグ is a loanword, and menus are dense with them. Two reading points a native takes for granted: the long vowel bar ー lengthens to hanbāgu, and — this is the guide's romanization rule — ん before b is written n, giving hanbāgu, not hambāgu. On how loans get reshaped into Japanese sounds, see How Loanwords Are Adapted, and on why the katakana script is used at all, When Katakana Is Used.

Three nouns, zero grammar words, and yet a complete, unambiguous offer. 大盛（おおも）り ("large serving," ōmori with a long ō) + 無料（むりょう, free of charge). The reader supplies the missing "is": the copula だ is simply omitted on signage and menus, as it is in headlines. You are meant to read "(rice, large serving) = free."

Another pure loan phrase — ドリンクバー — priced. The bar ー appears twice (in バー).

お子様（こさま）is the polite word for "child" (お- + 子様), stitched to the loanword ランチ. Menus routinely mix native, Sino, and katakana vocabulary in a single line without blinking. 600 = roppyaku, sound-changed.

What the staff say

The menu is silent, but the server speaks — and their lines are keigo, aimed down the counter at you, the customer.

Two honorific prefixes in one short question: ご注文（ちゅうもん, your order）and お決（き）まり ("decided"). The frame is "Is [your order] decided?" — the honorifics elevate the customer's order, never the staff's. This is the fixed phrase you will hear the moment you sit down.

以上（いじょう）で = "with that / that being all," and よろしいでしょうか is the extra-polite "is it all right?" — でしょうか softening ですか one more notch. Again the direction is one-way: staff elevate, you answer plainly.

Shop signs: the 〜中／〜済み suffix system

Signs compress even further than menus. Their workhorse is a small set of status suffixes attached to a noun — above all 〜中（ちゅう）, "in the middle of / in progress." This is the single most important decoding key, because the 中 here is not the 中（なか）that means "inside."

営業（えいぎょう, business operation）+ 中 = "in the middle of doing business" → open. Read the 中 as chū (a suffix), not naka ("inside"); the sign does not mean "inside the business." This 〜中 productivity is exactly what the 〜中／〜済み／〜たて suffix page covers.

準備（じゅんび, preparation）+ 中 = "in the middle of preparing" → not open yet. Then a fixed polite notice: しばらく ("for a while") + お待（ま）ちください, the honorific request お〜ください ("please wait" — see お〜ください: Honorific Requests). This お-stem-ください pattern is the standard "please do X" of public signage.

本日（ほんじつ, today — the formal, written word for 今日）+ 休業（きゅうぎょう, closed for business）. Four kanji, no grammar, complete meaning. Signage and formal writing prefer 本日 over spoken 今日 — a register marker in itself.

売（う）り切（き）れ is a single noun ("a selling-out"), and it stands alone as a full sign — no です, no でした. If you catch yourself waiting for the rest of the sentence, that instinct is the mistake: the noun is the message.

The polite-notice frame again. ご自由（じゆう）に ("freely," ご- + 自由 as an adverb with に) + お取（と）りください ("please take," お〜ください). You see this on stacks of flyers, free samples, and self-serve water.

店内（てんない, inside the store）+ 禁煙（きんえん, smoking-prohibited）. A prohibition expressed as a pure noun compound — the ban is simply stated, not commanded.

土足（どそく, shoes worn outdoors）+ 厳禁（げんきん, strictly forbidden）— the sign at a home's or dojo's entrance telling you to remove your shoes. 厳禁 is stronger than 禁止（きんし, prohibited）: "strictly." Again, four kanji do the work of a full sentence.

Common mistakes

The single biggest sign-reading error. On status signs, 中 is the suffix chū ("in progress"), not the noun naka ("inside"). 営業中 = "open," 使用中（しようちゅう）= "in use / occupied," 電話中（でんわちゅう）= "on the phone" — never "inside."

A false friend that costs you the right dish. ハンバーグ is Hamburg steak — a seasoned patty eaten with rice or bread. The burger in a bun is ハンバーガー, with a long final ā. Ordering off a Japanese menu, that one vowel is the whole meal.

Learners trained on です／ます sentences wait for a predicate that never comes. On menus and signs the copula is systematically omitted — the noun alone is the message. Don't stall looking for a verb.

Both are "rice," but the katakana ライス signals Western-plated rice (with curry, hamburg, a fork), while ご飯 is the bowl of rice that comes with a 定食. A menu's choice between the two words tells you how the dish is served.

Key takeaways

• Menus and signs are a verbless, copula-less register: stacks of noun phrases and prices. The reader supplies the missing "is."
• The 〜中 suffix means "in progress," read chū — 営業中 = "open," not "inside." Pair it with 〜済み ("already done") and 〜禁／〜止 ("forbidden") to decode signs you've never seen.
• Polite notices use fixed frames — お〜ください (お待ちください, お取りください) and set phrases (しばらくお待ちください).
• Menus are heavy with katakana loanwords; watch false friends (ハンバーグ ≠ ハンバーガー) and served-style distinctions (ご飯 vs ライス).
• Staff speech is one-directional keigo (ご注文はお決まりですか) aimed at the customer; the print itself is neutral and telegraphic.