Learn how to use the Japanese conjunction kara to provide a reason or cause for something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: こんにちは！なおみです！(Kon’nichiwa! Naomi desu!) |
| Kat: Hi everyone, Kat here! What will it take for you to visit me in Japan? Thank you very much for joining us. |
| Naomi: Kat-san, please tell us what we're going to learn in this lesson. |
| Kat: In this lesson we're going to learn how to use the conjunction から (kara) and review how to use the conjunction けど (kedo). |
| Naomi: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between? |
| Kat: This conversation takes place on the phone, and it's between Kent and his father. Kent's father is trying to convince him to do something. |
| Naomi: What level of Japanese are they speaking? |
| Kat: They will be speaking informal Japanese. OK, so now let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| ケント (Kento):もしもし？(Moshimoshi?) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):あ、ケント？今時間ある？(A, Kento? Ima jikan aru?) |
| ケント (Kento):うん。あるけど・・・何？(Un. Aru kedo... Nani?) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):今週、お父さん、仕事で京都に行くから、京都に来ないか？(Konshū, o-tō-san, shigoto de Kyōto ni iku kara, Kyōto ni konai ka?) |
| ケント (Kento):京都？遠いなぁ。(Kyōto? Tōi nā.) |
| ケント (Kento):週末、サッカーの試合があるから・・・。(Shūmatsu, sakkā no shiai ga aru kara....) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):そうか・・・残念だなぁ。(Sō ka... zannen da nā.) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):母さんのショートブレッドを持って行くけど・・・。(Kā-san no shōtobureddo o motte iku kedo…) |
| ケント (Kento):え？あ・・・行く。行く。(E? A... Iku. Iku.) |
| 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.) |
| ケント (Kento):もしもし？(Moshimoshi?) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):あ、ケント？今時間ある？(A, Kento? Ima jikan aru?) |
| ケント (Kento):うん。あるけど・・・何？(Un. Aru kedo... Nani?) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):今週、お父さん、仕事で京都に行くから、京都に来ないか？(Konshū, o-tō-san, shigoto de Kyōto ni iku kara, Kyōto ni konai ka?) |
| ケント (Kento):京都？遠いなぁ。(Kyōto? Tōi nā.) |
| ケント (Kento):週末、サッカーの試合があるから・・・。(Shūmatsu, sakkā no shiai ga aru kara....) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):そうか・・・残念だなぁ。(Sō ka... zannen da nā.) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):母さんのショートブレッドを持って行くけど・・・。(Kā-san no shōtobureddo o motte iku kedo…) |
| ケント (Kento):え？あ・・・行く。行く。(E? A... Iku. Iku.) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| ケント (Kento):もしもし？(Moshimoshi?) |
| Kat: Hello? |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):あ、ケント？今時間ある？(A, Kento? Ima jikan aru?) |
| Kat: Ah, Kent? Do you have time to talk now? |
| ケント (Kento):うん。あるけど・・・何？(Un. Aru kedo... Nani?) |
| Kat: Yeah, I do, but...what is it? |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):今週、お父さん、仕事で京都に行くから、京都に来ないか？(Konshū, o-tō-san, shigoto de Kyōto ni iku kara, Kyōto ni konai ka?) |
| Kat: This week I'm going to Kyoto on business, so why don't you come to Kyoto too? |
| ケント (Kento):京都？遠いなぁ。(Kyōto? Tōi nā.) |
| Kat: Kyoto? That's far... |
| ケント (Kento):週末、サッカーの試合があるから・・・。(Shūmatsu, sakkā no shiai ga aru kara....) |
| Kat: Next week, I have a soccer game, so... |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):そうか・・・残念だなぁ。(Sō ka... zannen da nā.) |
| Kat: I see... That's a shame. |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):母さんのショートブレッドを持って行くけど・・・。(Kā-san no shōtobureddo o motte iku kedo…) |
| Kat: I'll be taking your mother's homemade shortbread, but... |
| ケント (Kento):え？あ・・・行く。行く。(E? A... Iku. Iku.) |
| Kat: What? Ah...I'll go, I'll go! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Kat: So, Kent's Mum's shortbread must be pretty good… for him to change his plan for that. |
| Naomi: Yeah, I bet! He changed his mind really quickly… What about you? Is there any kind of food that would have the same effect on you? |
| Kat: Well, It’s difficult because when I’m not in Japan, there are tons of things that make me think I want quite Japan, but when I’m in Japan, UK is not so famous for food, so I would think probably the one thing I miss is probably fish and chips from Scotland, because you know, the fishes are quite good there, so yeah, that’s yummy. How about you, Naomi-sensei, when you were abroad, did you miss anything? |
| Naomi: Yeah. ご飯かなぁ。(Gohan ka nā.) |
| Kat: Oh, cooked rice. Ah I heard Japanese people say it a lot. |
| Naomi: Yeah, because Japanese rice is a bit different from Western style. |
| Kat: That’s right, that’s right. The grain is short, isn’t it? And is more fluffy. |
| Naomi: And sticky. |
| Kat: Sticky. Oh, it is good. Oh, I want to eat some ご飯 (gohan) right now actually. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Kat: OK, so now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we are going to see is |
| Naomi: 今週 (konshū) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: this week |
| Naomi: 今週 (konshū) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 今週 (konshū) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: Next. |
| Naomi: 仕事 (shigoto) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: work, job |
| Naomi: 仕事 (shigoto) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 仕事 (shigoto) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: Next. |
| Naomi: 週末 (shūmatsu) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: weekend |
| Naomi: 週末 (shūmatsu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 週末 (shūmatsu) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: Next. |
| Naomi: 残念 (zannen) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: too bad, regrettable |
| Naomi: 残念 (zannen) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 残念 (zannen) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: And finally. |
| Naomi: 持って行く (motte iku) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: to take |
| Naomi: 持って行く (motte iku) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 持って行く (motte iku) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Kat: OK, so now let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| The first word we look at is |
| Naomi: 今週 (konshū) |
| Kat: “This week.” |
| Naomi: 週 (shū) means "week" and this 今 (kon) means "now." |
| Kat: So 今週 (konshū) is "this week." If you change the first part, you can talk about other weeks, too. |
| Naomi: Right! For example, 先週 (senshū) |
| Kat: Last week. |
| Naomi: 来週 (raishū) |
| Kat: Next week. |
| Naomi: Only the first part changes. The 週 (shū), meaning "week", stays the same. |
| Kat: The next word is actually very closely related! |
| Naomi: 週末 (shūmatsu) |
| Kat: Weekend. |
| Naomi: This is the same 週 (shū) that means week. 末 (matsu) means "end", so this literally means "weekend." |
| Kat: And the next word is... |
| Naomi: 残念 (zannen), this word is used a lot when someone tells you some bad news or something not good. |
| Kat: It's kind of like "that's too bad" or "that's such a shame." |
| Naomi: Yes, exactly. |
| Kat: So when Kent tells his father he has a soccer game and can't go to Kyoto, his father says… |
| Naomi: 残念だなぁ...。(Zannen da nā…) |
| Kat: "That's a shame". The last word we're looking at is... |
| Naomi: 持って行く (motte iku) |
| Kat: “To take.” |
| Naomi: This is a verb phrase. It's made up of two verbs. 持つ (motsu) |
| Kat: “To hold.” |
| Naomi: And 行く (iku) |
| Kat: “To go.” It means "take", with the emphasis of taking something to the place you are going to. That's why the verb 行く (iku), to go, is used. |
| Naomi: If you change 行く (iku) to the verb 来る (kuru) |
| Kat: “To come”, |
| Naomi: You get 持って来る (motte kuru), which means "to bring." |
| Kat: So "to take" is 持って行く (motte iku) and "to bring" is 持って来る (motte kuru). |
| Naomi: あ、キャットさん。(A, Kyatto-san.) I think native English speakers tend to use to take and to bring interchangeably, but in Japanese, 持って行く (motte iku) and 持って来る (motte kuru) are not interchangeable, so please be careful. |
| Kat: Yeah, that’s right. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Kat: In this lesson we're going to learn how to use the conjunction から (kara) and review how to use the conjunction けど (kedo). First, let's start with から (kara). から (kara) is a conjunction that indicates a reason or cause. The reason always comes before から (kara), and the result comes after. |
| Naomi: It translates to "because" or "so" in English, right? |
| Kat: That's right! Let's look at some example sentences. |
| Naomi: Here's the first one… 眠いから寝る。(Nemui kara neru.) |
| Kat: "I'm going to bed because I'm sleepy." Let's break it down. |
| Naomi: 眠い (nemui) |
| Kat: Sleepy. |
| Naomi: から (kara) |
| Kat: Because. So, 眠いから (nemui kara) means "because I'm sleepy." |
| Naomi: 寝る (neru) |
| Kat: Sleep. So literally "Because I'm sleepy, I'm going to go to sleep." Which is a good idea. |
| Naomi: Right. So remember, the reason for the main action comes before から (kara). |
| Kat: Right. Let's go through another example. |
| Naomi: This one's a bit longer. 明日テストがあるから、勉強する。(Ashita tesuto ga aru kara, benkyō suru.) |
| Kat: "I'm going to study because there's a test tomorrow." Let's break this one down as well. |
| Naomi: 明日 (ashita) |
| Kat: Tomorrow. |
| Naomi: テストがある (tesuto ga aru) |
| Kat: There's a test. |
| Naomi: から (kara) |
| Kat: Because. So, 明日テストがあるから (ashita tesuto ga aru kara) means "because there's a test tomorrow" |
| Naomi: 勉強する (benkyō suru) |
| Kat: I'm going to study. So literally "Because there's a test tomorrow, I'm going to study." Let's look at the examples of から (kara) in the dialogue. |
| Naomi: When Kent's father asks Kent to come to Kyoto, Kent says… 週末、サッカーの試合があるから・・・。(Shūmatsu, sakkā no shiai ga aru kara…) |
| Kat: "At the weekend I have a soccer game, so... " |
| Naomi: Dot, dot, dot. |
| Kat: Dot, dot, dot. 点・点・点 (ten ten ten) which means dot, dot, dot. |
| This sentence actually ended at the から (kara) which is very common in Japan not to complete the sentence. |
| Naomi: Right, he only gave the reason he can't go. |
| Kat: He didn't actually say "I can't go", but it's implied completely by the reason. |
| Naomi: Exactly. A lot of things are implied in Japanese like this. |
| Kat: I understand what you mean,instead of saying things straight out it’s a kind of tails off the fact of reason. Then they left to make your own conclusions from not. |
| Naomi: Right. There was one more example in the dialogue. Kent's dad said… 仕事で京都に行くから、京都に来ないか？(Shigoto de Kyōto ni iku kara, Kyōto ni konai ka?) |
| Kat: "I'm going to Kyoto on business, so why don't you come to Kyoto too?" Well, that was a mouthful! Let's break it down a little bit. |
| Naomi: 仕事で (shigoto de) |
| Kat: On business, literally on work. |
| Naomi: 京都に行くから (Kyōto ni iku kara) |
| Kat: Because I'm going to Kyoto. |
| Naomi: 京都に来ないか (Kyōto ni konai ka) |
| Kat: Why don't you come to Kyoto? So as you can see, you can put a suggestion or invitation in the main phrase that follows から (kara). |
| Naomi: For example, I could say… コンサートに行くから、行かない？(Konsāto ni iku kara, ikanai?) |
| Kat: "I'm going to a concert, so why don't you come along?" For a bit more on inviting someone to do something, please read the Lesson notes. Okay, so now let's move on to our review of けど (kedo). |
| Naomi: We first covered けど (kedo) in Lesson １１ (j11. |
| Kat: けど (kedo) is a conjunction that connects two sentences and means "but". [Sentence A けど (kedo) sentence B] would be [Sentence A BUT Sentence B]. |
| Naomi: Here are some examples. 安いけどおいしい。(Yasui kedo oishii.) |
| Kat: 安い (yasui) is cheap and おいしい (oishii) is delicious, so this means "It's cheap, but delicious." |
| Naomi: 高いけど買う (takai kedo kau) |
| Kat: 高い (takai) is expensive and 買う (kau) means to buy, so this is "It's expensive, but I'll buy it." |
| Naomi: むずかしいけど面白い (muzukashii kedo omoshiroi) |
| Kat: むずかしい (muzukashii), difficult. 面白い (omoshiroi), interesting. So this means.. you guessed it, "It's difficult, but interesting." Now, let's look at the examples from the dialogue. |
| Naomi: First, Kent's father asked him if he had time to talk. Kent said… あるけど・・・何？(Aru kedo… Nani?) |
| Kat: That’s so, that’s so teenagers. Teenager asked that he said, "I do, but... what is it?" It like particulars he need. Next, here's an example where the sentence ends with けど (kedo). Kent says that Kyoto is too far to go, so to convince him, his father says... |
| Naomi: 母さんのショートブレッドを持って行くけど・・・。(Kā-san no shōtobureddo o motte iku kedo…) |
| Kat: "I'll be taking your mother's homemade shortbread, but..." So, it just kind of trails off. But basically he said was,"But.... too bad, you won't get any" If you aren’t coming meet your father. |
| Naomi: Probably something like that! You'll often hear sentences end in けど (kedo) in Japanese. |
| Kat: You can also use it soften what you say. You can say it sounds like it, 行きたいけど・・・(ikitai kedo…) I want to go, but… Just keep in mind it’s a very useful particle. |
| Naomi: Right, right. |
Outro |
| Kat: Okay, well, that was a pretty packed lesson! Make sure to go through the Lesson Notes to read a more detailed explanation on how these conjunctions work. |
| Naomi: And it's time to say goodbye for this lesson... and for this series! |
| Kat: That's right! Can you believe it? We went from short, simple phrases in the first few lessons to long, complex ones by the last one! |
| Naomi: Yes we did. I hope this series has helped everyone understand casual Japanese a lot better. |
| Kat: Please leave us your comments and any questions you have for us on anything on this series in the comment section. |
| Naomi: Thanks for listening to this Newbie Series Season 5! ありがとうございました！(Arigatō gozaimashita!) |
| Kat: ありがとうございました！(Arigatō gozaimashita!) Thank you very much! Until next time.. |
| Naomi: じゃあ、また！(Jā, mata!) |
| ケント (Kento):もしもし？(Moshimoshi?) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):あ、ケント？今時間ある？(A, Kento? Ima jikan aru?) |
| ケント (Kento):うん。あるけど・・・何？(Un. Aru kedo... Nani?) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):今週、お父さん、仕事で京都に行くから、京都に来ないか？(Konshū, o-tō-san, shigoto de Kyōto ni iku kara, Kyōto ni konai ka?) |
| ケント (Kento):京都？遠いなぁ。(Kyōto? Tōi nā.) |
| ケント (Kento):週末、サッカーの試合があるから・・・。(Shūmatsu, sakkā no shiai ga aru kara....) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):そうか・・・残念だなぁ。(Sō ka... zannen da nā.) |
| ケントのお父さん (Kento no o-tō-san):母さんのショートブレッドを持って行くけど・・・。(Kā-san no shōtobureddo o motte iku kedo…) |
| ケント (Kento):え？あ・・・行く。行く。(E? A... Iku. Iku.) |
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