Learn about talking about starting to do something and finishing doing something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: なおみです。(Naomi desu.) |
| Yūichi: ゆういちです。(Yūichi desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Unagi Road Trip Part 1. |
| Naomi: うなぎの旅？(Unagi no tabi?) |
| Peter: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) An eel’s journey. |
| Naomi: Sounds interesting. |
| Peter: I will give you that. It definitely sounds interesting and not only interesting, educational. What grammar point are we taking a look at in the first lesson, ゆういち (Yūichi)? |
| Yūichi: ～し始める (-shihajimeru), ～し終える (-shioeru) |
| Peter: To start something and to finish something. Naomi-sensei, who is in today’s conversation? |
| Naomi: うなぎ (unagi), I mean Unagis…. |
| Peter: Can’t say that? |
| Naomi: うなぎです。(Unagi desu.) |
| Peter: It’s a conversation between うなぎ (unagi). So conversation between eels. So can we say うなぎ達 (unagi-tachi)? |
| Naomi: そうね、うなぎ達。そうです。(Sō ne, unagi-tachi. Sō desu.) |
| Peter: For this lesson, I’d like to be called Peter-sensei. What do you think? |
| Naomi: はい、いいんじゃないですか。ピーター先生。(Hai, ii n ja nai desu ka. Pītā-sensei.) |
| Peter: お願いします。(Onegai shimasu.) Okay Yuichi, what are the names of the うなぎ (unagi)? |
| Yūichi: えーと、ウナ助とウナ吉ですね。(Ēto, Unasuke to Unakichi desu ne.) |
| Peter: And is there any meaning to these names? |
| Yūichi: Some Japanese typical name is ～助 (-suke) and ～吉 (-kichi). Yeah, it’s a very, very old one. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Naomi: そうそうそう。(Sō sō sō.) The typical Japanese name used to be.. |
| Yūichi: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah used to be. |
| Naomi: Ends with 吉 (kichi) or 助 (suke). |
| Peter: ゆうきち？ゆうすけ、聞いたことありますね。(Yūkichi? Yūsuke, kiita koto arimasu ne.) Like I’ve heard of ゆうすけ (Yūsuke). I am using your name, ゆういち (Yūichi). |
| Naomi: ピタ助とか。ピタ吉とか。(Pitasuke toka. Pitakichi toka.) |
| Peter: I like that. |
| Naomi: うん。じゃあピタ助さん、お願いします。(Un. Jā Pitasuke-san, onegai shimasu.) |
| Yūichi: ピタ助… (Pitasuke…) |
| Naomi: ピタ助先生。(Pitasuke-sensei.) |
| Yūichi: ピタ助先生。(Pitasuke-sensei.) |
| Peter: いいね。(Ii ne.) Okay, today’s conversation takes place between two うなぎ (unagi) and うなぎ (unagi) start out living in the ocean? |
| Naomi: They have a mysterious life. We don’t know much about うなぎ (unagi)’s life. |
| Yūichi: But うなぎ (unagi) lives in the river. |
| Naomi: Usually yeah, but some people say that they live in the ocean too. They swim in the ocean. |
| Yūichi: あ、本当ですか。(A, hontō desu ka.) |
| Peter: So today’s conversation either takes place in a river 川 (kawa), lake 湖 (mizūmi), pond 池 (ike) or the ocean. |
| Naomi: 海 (umi) |
| Peter: So one of those and it’s a casual conversation. So the politeness level is informal. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Okay, let’s have a listen. |
| DIALOGUE |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 最後のレポート、書き終わったか？(Saigo no repōto, kakiowatta ka?) |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : うん。先週、書き終えたよ。(Un. Senshū, kakioeta yo.) |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 卒業の後、どうする？働き始める？(Sotsugyō no ato, dō suru? Hatarakihajimeru?) |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : 日本に行く。(Nihon ni iku.) |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 日本？(Nihon?) |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : 日本は面白い国だよ。日本には侍と芸者がいるんだ。うちのお父さん、お母さん、おじいちゃん、おばあちゃんも日本に行ったんだ。(Nihon wa omoshiroi kuni da yo. Nihon ni wa samurai to geisha ga iru n da. Uchi no o-tō-san, o-kā-san, o-jii-chan, o-bā-chan mo Nihon ni itta n da.) |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : へぇ...。決めた！俺も日本に行く。(Hee... Kimeta! Ore mo Nihon ni iku.) |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : え？本当？でも、日本人は魚が好きだから、ちょっと危ないよ。それから、日本はとても遠いんだ。2ヶ月くらいかかるんだ。大丈夫？(E? hontō? Demo, Nihon-jin wa sakana ga suki da kara, chotto abunai yo. Sorekara, Nihon wa totemo tōi n da. Ni-kagetsu kurai kakaru n da. Daijōbu?) |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 大丈夫。大丈夫。じゃ、明日から、泳ぎ始めようぜ！(Daijōbu. Daijōbu. Ja, ashita kara, oyogihajimeyō ze!) |
| Naomi: もう一度、お願いします。今度は、ゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do, onegai shimasu. Kondo wa, yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 最後のレポート、書き終わったか？(Saigo no repōto, kakiowatta ka?) |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : うん。先週、書き終えたよ。(Un. Senshū, kakioeta yo.) |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 卒業の後、どうする？働き始める？(Sotsugyō no ato, dō suru? Hatarakihajimeru?) |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : 日本に行く。(Nihon ni iku.) |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 日本？(Nihon?) |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : 日本は面白い国だよ。日本には侍と芸者がいるんだ。うちのお父さん、お母さん、おじいちゃん、おばあちゃんも日本に行ったんだ。(Nihon wa omoshiroi kuni da yo. Nihon ni wa samurai to geisha ga iru n da. Uchi no o-tō-san, o-kā-san, o-jii-chan, o-bā-chan mo Nihon ni itta n da.) |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : へぇ...。決めた！俺も日本へ行く。(Hee... Kimeta! Ore mo Nihon e iku.) |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : え？本当？でも、日本人は魚が好きだから、ちょっと危ないよ。それから、日本はとても遠いんだ。2ヶ月くらいかかるんだ。大丈夫？(E? hontō? Demo, Nihon-jin wa sakana ga suki da kara, chotto abunai yo. Sorekara, Nihon wa totemo tōi n da. Ni-kagetsu kurai kakaru n da. Daijōbu?) |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 大丈夫。大丈夫。じゃ、明日から、泳ぎ始めようぜ！(Daijōbu. Daijōbu. Ja, ashita kara, oyogihajimeyō ze!) |
| Naomi: 今度は、英語が入ります。(Kondo wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 最後のレポート、書き終わったか？(Saigo no repōto, kakiowatta ka?) |
| UNASUKE: Did you finish the last report? |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : うん。先週、書き終えたよ。(Un. Senshū, kakioeta yo.) |
| UNAKICHI: Yeah. I finished it last week. |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 卒業の後、どうする？働き始める？(Sotsugyō no ato, dō suru? Hatarakihajimeru?) |
| UNASUKE: What are you gonna do after graduation? Are you gonna start working? |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : 日本に行く。(Nihon ni iku.) |
| UNAKICHI: I'm gonna go to Japan. |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 日本？(Nihon?) |
| UNASUKE: Japan? |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : 日本は面白い国だよ。日本には侍と芸者がいるんだ。(Nihon wa omoshiroi kuni da yo. Nihon ni wa samurai to geisha ga iru n da.) |
| UNAKICHI: Japan is an interesting country. There are samurai and geisha in Japan. |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : うちのお父さん、お母さん、おじいちゃん、おばあちゃんも日本に行ったんだ。(Uchi no o-tō-san, o-kā-san, o-jii-chan, o-bā-chan mo Nihon ni itta n da.) |
| UNAKICHI: My dad, mom, grandpa, and grandma also went to Japan. |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : へぇ...。決めた！俺も日本に行く。(Hee... Kimeta! Ore mo Nihon ni iku.) |
| UNASUKE: Hmmm... OK! I will go to Japan too. |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : え？本当？でも、日本人は魚が好きだから、ちょっと危ないよ。(E? hontō? Demo, Nihon-jin wa sakana ga suki da kara, chotto abunai yo.) |
| UNAKICHI: What? Really? But the Japanese like fish, so it's a little dangerous. |
| ウナ吉 (Unakichi) : それから、日本はとても遠いんだ。2ヶ月くらいかかるんだ。大丈夫？ (Sorekara, Nihon wa totemo tōi n da. Ni-kagetsu kurai kakaru n da. Daijōbu?) |
| UNAKICHI: Also, Japan is very far. It takes about 2 months to get there. Are you sure you're up for it? |
| ウナ助 (Unasuke) : 大丈夫。大丈夫。じゃ、明日から、泳ぎ始めようぜ！(Daijōbu. Daijōbu. Ja, ashita kara, oyogihajimeyō ze!) |
| UNASUKE: I'm sure, I'm sure. So, let's start swimming tomorrow! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: なおみ先生。 (Naomi-sensei.) |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Today it’s just Naomi. なおみ。(Naomi.) |
| Naomi: 何ですか、ピタ吉先生。(Nan desu ka, Pitakichi-sensei.) |
| Peter: どうでしたか。(Dō deshita ka.) How was it? |
| Naomi: うん、あの～、いいんじゃないですか。(Un, anō, ii n ja nai desu ka.) I think it’s a good story. |
| Peter: Okay. Yuichi, anything to add? |
| Yūichi: めだかを思い出しましたね。(Medaka o omoidashimashita ne.) |
| Naomi: は？(Ha?) |
| Yūichi: めだかの学校みたいな感じで。(Medaka no gakkō mitai na kanji de.) |
| Naomi: めだか。(Medaka.) |
| Peter: I don’t know what’s that? |
| Yūichi: Small fish. |
| Naomi: Small fish. |
| Peter: A school of fish. |
| Yūichi: めだかの学校は川の中…。えっ、知りませんか。この歌知りませんか。(Medaka no gakkō wa kawa no naka… E, shirimasen ka. Kono uta shirimasen ka.) |
| Peter: 続けて、続けて。(Tsuzukete, tsuzukete.) |
| Yūichi: そーっとのぞいて見てごらん。(Sō tto nozoite mite goran.) |
| Naomi: うん、知ってる知ってる。(Un, shitte ru shitte ru.) |
| Yūichi: 知ってますよね。(Shitte masu yo ne.) |
| Naomi: うん。(Un.) |
| Yūichi: だから、めだかが川の…水溜りの中に住んでいるお話ですよね。(Dakara, medaka ga kawa no… mizutamari no naka ni sunde iru o-hanashi desu yo ne.) |
| Naomi: めだかの学校は川の中じゃない？(Medaka no gakkō wa kawa no naka ja nai?) |
| Yūichi: あ、そうですね、川の中でしたね…。川に住んでるんですよ。(A, sō desu ne, kawa no naka deshita ne… Kawa ni sunde ru n desu yo.) |
| Peter: Okay let’s start with… |
| Naomi: Translation please, ピタ吉先生 (Pitakichi-sensei). |
| Peter: Thanks for getting a little wild here. So めだか (medaka) first, what is めだか (medaka), type of fish? |
| Naomi: Yeah I don’t have a dictionary with me but it’s a small fish. |
| Peter: And it lives in the river? |
| Naomi: Or pond. |
| Peter: Yuichi heard today's conversation and he thought of めだか (medaka) and there is a song about めだか (medaka). |
| Naomi: So he started singing. |
| Yūichi: Yeah. |
| Peter: Yes. He volunteered and he was nice enough to sing it for us. So that’s what I believe transpired or may have been closed and Naomi kind of remembered her childhood and was remembering things about that song. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Okay. |
| Naomi: Anyway. |
| Peter: Yes, good idea. On to vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: First word. |
| Naomi: 危ない (abunai) |
| Peter: Dangerous. |
| Naomi: (slow) あぶない (abunai) (natural speed) 危ない (abunai) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yūichi: レポート (repōto) |
| Peter: Report. |
| Yūichi: (slow) レポート (repōto) (natural speed) レポート (repōto) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 卒業 (sotsugyō) |
| Peter: Graduation. |
| Naomi: (slow) そつぎょう (sotsugyō) (natural speed) 卒業 (sotsugyō) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yūichi: おじいちゃん (o-jii-chan) |
| Peter: Grandfather. |
| Yūichi: (slow) おじいちゃん (o-jii-chan) (natural speed) おじいちゃん (o-jii-chan) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: おばあちゃん (o-bā-chan) |
| Peter: Grandmother. |
| Naomi: (slow) おばあちゃん (o-bā-chan) (natural speed) おばあちゃん (o-bā-chan) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yūichi: 遠い (tōi) |
| Peter: Far, distant. |
| Yūichi: (slow) とおい (tōi) (natural speed) 遠い (tōi) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: かかる (kakaru) |
| Peter: To take referring to time and money and other things. |
| Naomi: (slow) かかる (kakaru) (natural speed) かかる (kakaru) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay in today’s dialogue, we have |
| Naomi: お父さん、お母さん、おじいちゃん、おばあちゃん。(O-tō-san, o-kā-san, o-jii-chan, o-bā-chan.) |
| Peter: And I think most of the listeners who have been listening to the Beginner series have already known these words. So let’s just focus on their pronunciation because sometimes it can get a little tricky. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: For a long time, I had a problem between grandma and aunt. I was always talking about my grandmother but the words, the Japanese always understood it as I was talking about my aunt because I didn’t hold the vowel long enough. So there is a short vowel and a long vowel. Let’s pay attention. なおみ先生、お願いします。(Naomi-sensei, onegai shimasu.) |
| Naomi: おじいさん (o-jii-san) |
| Peter: Grandfather. |
| Naomi: おじさん (oji-san) |
| Peter: Uncle. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: And let’s listen to the difference in pronunciation one more time. Long vowel |
| Naomi: おじいさん (o-jii-san) |
| Peter: See the longer it is, the older the person. One more time. |
| Naomi: おじいさん (o-jii-san) |
| Peter: The grandfather, nice long vowel because he’s lived the long time おじいさん (o-jii-san) and then we have |
| Naomi: おじさん (oji-san) |
| Peter: Short vowel, おじさん (oji-san) and that’s the uncle. Then we have |
| Yūichi: おばあさん (o-bā-san) |
| Peter: Long vowel because she has lived a long time, grandmother. |
| Yūichi: おばあさん (o-bā-san) |
| Peter: Then we have |
| Yūichi: おばさん (oba-san) |
| Peter: Short vowel. |
| Yūichi: おばさん (oba-san) |
| Peter: Aunt. On to today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: なおみ先生、お願いします。(Naomi-sensei, onegai shimasu.) |
| Naomi: There are two grammar points. One is し始める (shihajimeru). |
| Peter: Which means to start doing. |
| Naomi: それから。(Sorekara). The second one is し終わる (shiowaru). |
| Peter: To finish doing. To start doing something and to finish doing something. So let’s first take a look at し始める (shihajimeru), to start doing something. Now first we have to look at the verb |
| Naomi: 始める (hajimeru) |
| Peter: Which means to start. Now here 始める (hajimeru) can be used as an auxiliary verb and we attach it to the masu-stem of another verb. This creates the compound verb, meaning to start doing something, namely the verb that precedes 始める (hajimeru). I think this could be best exemplified by giving you a couple of examples. |
| Naomi: 働く (hataraku) |
| Peter: To work. |
| Naomi: 働きます (hatarakimasu) |
| Peter: Now we need the masu-stem. |
| Naomi: 働き (hataraki) |
| Peter: To this we add |
| Naomi: 始める (hajimeru) |
| Petere: To get |
| Naomi: 働き始める (hatarakihajimeru) |
| Peter: To start working. Let’s try another one. |
| Naomi: 泳ぐ (oyogu) |
| Peter: To swim. |
| Naomi: 泳ぎます (oyogimasu) |
| Peter: Again we need the masu-stem. |
| Naomi: 泳ぎ (oyogi) |
| Peter: To this we add |
| Naomi: 始める (hajimeru) |
| Peter: To start. Together we have |
| Naomi: 泳ぎ始める (oyogihajimeru) |
| Peter: To start swimming. So you see we take the masu-stem, add 始める (hajimeru) and becomes to start doing that thing. Now let’s put that around. Shall we, Naomi-sensei? |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Now, let’s do to finish something. |
| Naomi: 終わる (owaru) |
| Peter: Which is the verb means to finish. Now again we can use this as an auxiliary verb. Basically we attach this, meaning we attach this to the masu-stem of another verb. Now we do this, we get the compound verb, meaning to finish doing something. For example, |
| Naomi: 食べる (taberu) |
| Peter: To eat. |
| Naomi: 食べ (tabe) |
| Peter: Which is the masu-stem, cause we need the masu-stem again, the masu-stem of to eat |
| Naomi: 食べ (tabe) |
| Peter: To this we add |
| Naomi: 終わる (owaru) |
| Peter: To finish. Together we have |
| Naomi: 食べ終わる (tabeowaru) |
| Peter: To finish eating. So, Naomi-sensei, a sample sentence, please. |
| Naomi: 最後のレポートを書き終わったか。(Saigo no repōto o kakiowatta ka.) |
| Peter: Did you finish writing the last report? Let’s take a look at finished writing. Naomi-sensei, |
| Naomi: 書き終わった (kakiowatta) |
| Peter: The first part of compound verb is |
| Naomi: 書き (kaki) |
| Peter: Which is the masu-stem of to write. And this is followed by |
| Naomi: 終わった (owatta) |
| Peter: Which is the plain past form of 終わる (owaru), to finish. Put them together. |
| Naomi: 書き終わった (kakiowatta) |
| Peter: Finished writing. All right? And now let’s get one more sample sentence from Yuichi-san. |
| Naomi: ゆういちさんは、いつからここで働き始めましたか。(Yūichi-san wa, itsu kara koko de hatarakihajimemashita ka.) |
| Yūichi: ぼくは去年の12月からここで働き始めました。(Boku wa kyonen no jū ni-gatsu kara koko de hatarakihajimemashita.) |
| Peter: So when did you start working here? - I started working here last December. 本当ですか。(Hontō desu ka.) |
| Yūichi: はい、本当です。(Hai, hontō desu.) |
| Naomi: ね、すっかりベテランですよね。(Ne, sukkari beteran desu yo ne.) |
| Yūichi: いえいえ、まだ新人です。(Ie ie, mada shinjin desu.) |
| Peter: He is almost like a veteran, someone who’s been with us for a while. |
| Yūichi: 皆さんは、いつからJapanesePod101を聞き始めましたか。(Mina-san wa, itsu kara Japanīzupoddo wan ō wan o kikihajimemashita ka.) |
| Peter: Great question. When did everybody start listening to JapanesePod101.com? Be sure to stop by and leave us a post. Yeah, I wonder if I know some people have been listening since its start, end of December 2005. |
| Naomi: あ、そういえば、私今日からコリアンクラス101を聞き始めます。(A, sō ieba, watashi kyō kara Koriankurasu ichi maru ichi o kikihajimemasu.) |
| Peter: So you will start listening from today. そうでか。え、ナオミ先生、いつ聞き終わりますか。(Sō desu ka. E, Naomi-sensei, itsu kikiowarimasu ka.) |
| Naomi: え？(E?) |
| Peter: When will you finish listening? |
| Naomi: What do you mean? |
| Peter: It’s not gonna last... |
| Naomi: えー、ひどい！ずっと続けます！(Ē, hidoi! Zutto tsuzukemasu!) |
| Peter: じゃあ、一週間ということですね。(Jā, isshūkan to iu koto desu ne.) About a week. 何だっけ、あれ？すごく好きな…。(Nan dakke, are? Sugoku suki na...) |
| Yūichi: 三日坊主？(Mikkabōzu?) |
| Peter: That’s what I wanted to say! There’s a great expression that I was thinking of and Yuichi just said it. One more time, Yuichi. |
| Yūichi: 三日坊主。(Mikkabōzu.) |
| Peter: So, a three-day buddhist monk. So somebody who… I believe, goes up to the mountains on the first day, shaves his head, and the second day he sleeps on the hard floor, the third day he has vegetables again and then he goes back to his regular life, right? |
| Naomi: そう…ですね。でも、私は三日坊主じゃないです。(Sō… desu ne. Demo, watashi wa mikkabōzu ja nai desu.) |
| Peter: 一週間坊主ですね。新しい言葉ができました！(Isshūkan bōzu desu ne. Atarashii kotoba ga dekimashita!) |
| Naomi: うるさいなぁ！(Urusai nā!) |
Outro |
| Naomi: じゃあ、今日はここまで。(Jā, kyō wa koko made.) |
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