Learn about talking about the existence of animate (usually living) objects
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: 夏子です。 (Natsuko desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. A Doggy bag for a kitty. |
| Natsuko: What’s that? |
| Peter: We are going to find out. |
| Natsuko: Yes, sure. |
| Peter: Now today’s conversation is quite interesting. First let’s set the stage. Who is doing this conversation? Who is the conversation between? |
| Natsuko: Among friends. |
| Peter: Yeah what kind of relationship do they have? |
| Natsuko: A slightly formal. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: Maybe office colleagues or something. |
| Peter: Yeah so they kind of keep things formal but sometimes switch to impolite maybe colleagues who are getting to know each other better. You know, sometimes you kind of go through this stage where you feel that if it’s okay to use informal Japanese and Natsuko-san, how do you judge? Do you make the first move or do you let them make the first move with this informal Japanese? |
| Natsuko: I guess I am usually the one who starts using informal style. Usually. |
| Peter: Yeah オッスとか (ossu toka). |
| Natsuko: No way, no way. |
| Peter: But sometimes there is this stage where you kind of feel each other out and then it gets a little more complicated when another person comes in. |
| Natsuko: Yeah right. |
| Peter: And they are using polite Japanese and you are using so. Something that we really want to help you get adjusted to and again when in doubt, always stick with the polite Japanese. |
| Natsuko: Yeah. |
| Peter: One more interesting thing about today’s conversation. We will get into a little bit more about a doggy bag. I have been in Japan for a while and not such a common practice. |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Peter: But for now, let’s hear what’s going on. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 岡田: やっぱり、ここのスパゲティはおいしかったね。でももうお腹いっぱい! (Yappari, koko no supageti wa oishikatta ne. Demo mō onaka ippai!) |
| 田淵: 私もおなかいっぱい!ミートソーススパゲティたくさん残ったね〜。もったいないね。岡田さんの家に犬はいますか。 (Watashi mo onaka ippai! Mītosōsu supageti takusan nokotta ne. Mottainai ne. Okada-san no ie ni inu wa imasu ka.) |
| 岡田: いいえ、犬はいません。でも猫はいますよ。 (Iie, inu wa imasen. Demo neko wa imasu yo.) |
| 田淵: じゃあ、猫にこのスパゲティをもって帰りませんか。 (Jā, neko ni kono supageti o motte kaerimasen ka.) |
| 岡田: わぁ〜ありがとう。もちろん持って帰ります。今日、主人はいません。だから、このスパゲティは私の夕食です。ヤッター! (Wā arigatō. Mochiron motte kaerimasu. Kyō, shujin wa imasen. |
| Dakara, kono supageti wa watashi no yūshoku desu. Yattā!) |
| もう一度、お願いします。ゆっくり、お願いします。 (Mōichido, onegaishimasu. Yukkuri, onegaishimasu.) |
| 岡田: やっぱり、ここのスパゲティはおいしかったね。でももうお腹いっぱい! (Yappari, koko no supageti wa oishikatta ne. Demo mō onaka ippai!) |
| 田淵: 私もおなかいっぱい!ミートソーススパゲティたくさん残ったね〜。もったいないね。岡田さんの家に犬はいますか。 (Watashi mo onaka ippai! Mītosōsu supageti takusan nokotta ne. Mottainai ne. Okada-san no ie ni inu wa imasu ka.) |
| 岡田: いいえ、犬はいません。でも猫はいますよ。 (Iie, inu wa imasen. Demo neko wa imasu yo.) |
| 田淵: じゃあ、猫にこのスパゲティをもって帰りませんか。 (Jā, neko ni kono supageti o motte kaerimasen ka.) |
| 岡田: わぁ〜ありがとう。もちろん持って帰ります。今日、主人はいません。だから、このスパゲティは私の夕食です。ヤッター! (Wā arigatō. Mochiron motte kaerimasu. Kyō, shujin wa imasen. |
| Dakara, kono supageti wa watashi no yūshoku desu. Yattā!) |
| 次は英語が入ります。 (Tsugi wa eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 岡田: やっぱり、ここのスパゲティはおいしかったね。でももうお腹いっぱい! (Yappari, koko no supageti wa oishikatta ne. Demo mō onaka ippai!) |
| Obviously, this spaghetti place was delicious. But I'm already stuffed! |
| 田淵: 私もおなかいっぱい!ミートソーススパゲティたくさん残ったね〜。もったいないね。岡田さんの家に犬はいますか。 (Watashi mo onaka ippai! Mītosōsu supageti takusan nokotta ne. |
| Mottainai ne. Okada-san no ie ni inu wa imasu ka.) |
| Me too. We've got so much spaghetti bolognese left. What a waste!Hey, do you have a dog at your house? |
| 岡田: いいえ、犬はいません。でも猫はいますよ。 (Iie, inu wa imasen. Demo neko wa imasu yo.) |
| I don't have a dog, but I have a cat. |
| 田淵: じゃあ、猫にこのスパゲティをもって帰りませんか。 (Jā, neko ni kono supageti o motte kaerimasen ka.) |
| So, do you wanna take this spaghetti home? |
| 岡田: わぁ〜ありがとう。もちろん持って帰ります。今日、主人はいません。だから、このスパゲティは私の夕食です。ヤッター! (Wā arigatō. Mochiron motte kaerimasu. Kyō, shujin wa imasen. |
| Dakara, kono supageti wa watashi no yūshoku desu. Yattā!) |
| Wow, thank you. Of course, I'd love to. My husband won't be home today. So, I'll have this spaghetti for my dinner. Yay!! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: 夏子さん、今日の会話、どう思いましたか。 (Natsukosan, kyō no kaiwa, dō omoimashita ka.) |
| Natsuko: 結局猫は食べられないんですね。 (Kekkyoku neko wa tabe rarenai n desu ne.) |
| Peter: Yeah maybe you could translate that because I kind of interpret that we can’t eat the cat? |
| Natsuko: Ah no I am sorry. 猫はスパゲティを食べられないんですね。 (Neko wa supageti o tabe rarenai n desu ne.) |
| Peter: ありがとうございます。 (Arigatōgozaimasu.) Yeah it’s the cat can eat the Spaghetti. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: Now, first things first. Let’s take a look at the vocab and then we will breeze through this conversation because there are some really interesting points in here. Natsuko-san, what do we have first? |
| Natsuko: お腹 (onaka) |
| Peter: Stomach. |
| Natsuko: (slow)おなか (onaka) (natural speed) お腹 (onaka) |
| Peter: And again this comes from なか (naka) and in front of なか (naka) we have the honorific prefix. |
| Natsuko: お (o) |
| Peter: And again this deals with the belly. The kind of the central |
| Natsuko: Yeah, the central part. |
| Peter: Part of the body. |
| Natsuko: Sure it is. |
| Peter: Oh boy! So this comes into play because it’s related to our next word which is |
| Natsuko: いっぱい (ippai) |
| Peter: Fullness. |
| Natsuko: (slow)いっぱい (ippai) (natural speed) いっぱい (ippai) |
| Peter: And together they form the phrase |
| Natsuko: お腹いっぱい。 (O haraippai.) |
| Peter: I am full. So this is a continuation of last week. They went to the restaurant, they ate and the person is now full. Next vocab where we have |
| Natsuko: 残る (nokoru) |
| Peter: To be left. |
| Natsuko: (slow)のこる (nokoru) (natural speed) 残る (nokoru) |
| Peter: Now there is also to leave. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Which is |
| Natsuko: 残す (nokosu) |
| Peter: 残る (nokoru) is the intransitive and 残す (nokosu) is the transitive. With 残す (nokosu) someone is doing the leaving. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay so if you are leaving leftovers, if you are leaving leftovers and you are with someone who doesn’t really take too kind to this, say your mother, your girlfriend, your wife. They will say to you, don’t leave leftovers and this will be accomplished by |
| Natsuko: 残さないで。 (Nokosanaide.) |
| Peter: Please don’t leave it which is a very informal way from 残さないで下さい (nokosanaide kudasai). Please don’t leave it and this is the only food at a dinner situation. Of course, what is being left depends on the context but here we are talking about food and eating. And 残る (nokoru) has to deal with leftovers. So Natsuko-san, how do we say leftovers in Japanese? |
| Natsuko: 残り物 (nokorimono) |
| Peter: Again this is context. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Outside of eating 残り物 (nokorimono) means something quite different right? |
| Natsuko: It’s anything. |
| Peter: Yeah so again a lot depends on the context and the context here is eating. So leftovers is 残り物 (nokorimono). |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Alright next we have. |
| Natsuko: 帰る (kaeru) |
| Peter: To go home. To go back. |
| Natsuko: (slow)かえる (kaeru) (natural speed) 帰る (kaeru) |
| Peter: Finally we have |
| Natsuko: 主人 (shujin) |
| Peter: One’s husband. |
| Natsuko: (slow)しゅじん (shi ~yujin) (natural speed) 主人 (shujin) |
| Peter: Now can you give us that pronunciation one more time? |
| Natsuko: 主人 (shujin) |
| Peter: And full speed. |
| Natsuko: 主人 (shujin) |
| Peter: You want to be careful here. It’s not a long vowel. |
| Natsuko: Yes you are right. You have to be careful. |
| Peter: Yes and so Natsuko-san, can you give us it side-by-side and we are pointing this out for a reason and I am pointing out from personal experience because many times, I would say the long vowel 囚人 (shūjin) which means |
| Natsuko: Prisoner. |
| Peter: Yeah so that long vowel is the prisoner and the short vowel is the husband. |
| Natsuko: 囚人 (shūjin) |
| Peter: Although I can see how they are very related. Okay. |
| Natsuko: Oh okay, okay, okay, okay. |
| Peter: Okay, okay. |
| Natsuko: You can cut that. |
| Peter: You did get that. That was good. And you know, it’s funny. Even sometimes like I would meet someone and I’d say to them, ご囚人は大丈夫ですか (Go shūjin wa daijōbu desu ka). |
| Natsuko: Well we can get it you know. |
| Peter: That’s the thing. They get it but it’s – so how is your prisoner? |
| Natsuko: I don’t think you usually refer to a prisoner with ご (go). |
| Peter: Yeah so that’s probably why they can understand that I want to say how is your husband but Natsuko is going to give us the proper pronunciation so we never make this mistake. |
| Natsuko: 主人。囚人。 (Shujin. Shūjin.) |
| Peter: Here the long vowel on the second one. One more time, Natsuko-san. |
| Natsuko: 囚人。 (Shūjin.) |
| Peter: So how would you ask about someone’s husband’s well being? |
| Natsuko: ご主人はお元気ですか。 (Goshujin wa ogenki desu ka.) |
| Peter: Okay so we want to pay attention to that and of course one final thing about this. We just want to remind you that when talking about your own husband. |
| Natsuko: 主人 (shujin) |
| Peter: You don’t use the honorific prefix ご (go). |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: All right, on we go. Let’s take a look at some of the phrases and key elements of today’s conversation. Natsuko-san, can you run through the first speaker’s lines? |
| Natsuko: やっぱりここのスパゲティは美味しかったね。 (Yappari koko no supageti wa oishikatta ne.) |
| Peter: Just as expected. This Spaghetti was delicious followed by and here is what we want to focus on right now for this sentence. Natsuko-san, one more time? |
| Natsuko: でも、もうお腹いっぱい。 (Demo, mō onaka-ippai.) |
| Peter: But I am already full, I am already stuffed. We can tell by でも (demo) and もう (mō) that there is probably a lot of food left. This means you know でも (demo) but もう (mō) already but already I am full. So there is probably a lot of food on the table. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: From what she is saying. From what the speaker is saying. So this is why the intricacies of what’s said is so important and in Japanese, it’s very, very delicate. So yeah there is probably a lot of food there. Then we have |
| Natsuko: 私もお腹いっぱい。 (Watashi mo o haraippai.) |
| Peter: Me too, I am full and of course, we have the particle も (mo) which indicates also. Next we have |
| Natsuko: ミートソーススパゲティたくさん残ったね。 (Mītosōsusupageti takusan nokotta ne.) |
| Peter: And our hunch is verified here as there is a lot of meat sauce spaghetti left. Then followed by a phrase that you are going to want to write down, memorize, however you get it into that brain of yours, you are really going to want to hold on to this one because it’s really good. Natsuko-san we have. |
| Natsuko: もったいないね。 (Mottainai ne.) |
| Peter: What a waste and this can be used with food, with anything. |
| Natsuko: Anything. |
| Peter: Anything that goes to waste, you say |
| Natsuko: もったいない。 (Mottainai.) |
| Peter: Can you just break this phrase down for us? |
| Natsuko: (slow)もったいない (mottainai) (natural speed)もったいない (mottainai) |
| Peter: So any time something goes to waste, you can use this. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Food leftover, that’s going to go to waste, something that’s not used, a brand new computer that’s not being used, あ～もったいないなぁ (A ~ mottainai nā). What a waste. |
| Natsuko: Yes you can even use this for you know like wasted talent. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: こんな仕事をしているのはもったいないよ。 (Kon'na shigoto o shite iru no wa mottainai yo.) |
| Peter: Yeah like… |
| Natsuko: うちの会社に来ないか。 (Uchi no kaisha ni konai ka.) |
| Peter: Oh Natsuko-san, you are now ahead of human resources too. |
| Natsuko: No way. |
| Peter: Yeah but that’s a great example. What are you doing with this trivial work? You are too good for this. You want to come work for us. Okay so you want to hang on to that one. Then we have |
| Natsuko: 岡田さんの家に犬はいますか？ (Okada-san no ie ni inu wa imasu ka?) |
| Peter: Okay. This, as you could see, more and more as this conversation develops, we are focusing today on the polite form of いる (iru) which is a class 2 verb meaning to exist for animate things and often used with things that are alive. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Let’s take a look at the structure. We have |
| Natsuko: 岡田さん (Okada-san) |
| Peter: Mr. Okada |
| Natsuko: の (no) |
| Peter: Possessive. Okada’s. |
| Natsuko: 家 (Ie) |
| Peter: House. |
| Natsuko: に (ni) |
| Peter: Particle に (ni) here to mark a place where something would be. |
| Natsuko: 犬 (inu) |
| Peter: Dog. |
| Natsuko: は (wa) |
| Peter: Subject marking particle は (wa). |
| Natsuko: いますか (imasu ka) |
| Peter: Is there. So literally we have Okada’s house at in dog is there and of course, we translate this as do you have a dog? Now again, いる (iru) and ある (aru) the pair existing verb for inanimate things ある (aru). These can also mean to have. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Because it’s existing and it’s in your possession. Okay so do you have a dog? Response here. |
| Natsuko: いいえ、犬はいません。 (Īe, inu wa imasen.) |
| Peter: No I don’t have a dog. |
| Natsuko: でも、猫はいますよ。 (Demo, neko wa imasu yo.) |
| Peter: But I have a cat. Okay structure here. いる (iru) comes after the topic or the subject is established and here we have 犬はいません (inu wa imasen). I don’t have a dog. There literally dog there is not. I don’t have a dog but 猫はいます (neko wa imasu). Cat there is, but I have a cat. |
| Natsuko: じゃあ、猫にこのスパゲティを持って帰りませんか。 (Jā, neko ni kono supageti o motte kaerimasen ka.) |
| Peter: So do you want to take this Spaghetti home for the cat. |
| Natsuko: For the cat. |
| Peter: For the cat and you know what, I think a cat would like it personally. |
| Natsuko: Really? |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: I don’t think my cat likes it. |
| Peter: You have a cat? |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Let’s try. |
| Natsuko: No, no way, don’t. I don’t think it’s good for her health. |
| Peter: ミートソース。 (Mītosōsu.) |
| Natsuko: No way. |
| Peter: All right. Back on track here. Then, we have わぁ、ありがとう (Wa~a, arigatō). Oh thank you followed by |
| Natsuko: もちろん、持って帰ります。 (Mochiron, motte kaerimasu.) |
| Peter: Of course, I will take it home. |
| Natsuko: 今日、主人はいません。 (Kyō, shujin wa imasen.) |
| Peter: Today my husband is not there but literally ‘today husband not there.’ Today my husband’s not there. |
| Natsuko: だから、このスパゲティは私の夕食です。 (Dakara, kono supageti wa watashi no yūshoku desu.) |
| Peter: Because and we can translate this as so this spaghetti my dinner is is what we have literally but we translate this as So I will have this spaghetti for my dinner and then we have |
| Natsuko: やったぁ！ (Yatta ~a!) |
| Peter: Yeay, yes and this is a great expression. Whenever something goes your way, whenever something good happens, you can say this. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: やったぁ！ (Yatta ~a!) And really hold the end for extra emphasis. Now kind of related to this and because it is actually the polite version of the verb やる、やります (Yaru, yarimasu). This is something you could use when you see someone doing something very eccentric. やりますね。 (Yarimasu ne.) Like if you see somebody doing something out of the ordinary or like well, kind of on Halloween when a friend of mine was walking down the street with a very eccentric custom, some passerby said やりますね (yarimasu ne) like you do it, don’t you and this is where this verb やる (yaru) can take on many different meanings according to context and this one is the past tense impolite and it shows that something went your way. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
Outro |
| Peter: やったぁ。 (Yatta ~a.) That’s going to do it for today. |
| Natsuko: じゃあ、また今度。 (Jā, mata kondo.) |
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