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| Introduction |
| John: Who Is It? In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask who someone is in Japanese. |
| Body |
| John: Here's the formal way to ask "Who is this?" in Japanese. Imagine that you’re pointing out a person in a photograph. |
| Risa: [Normal] これはだれですか。(Kore wa dare desu ka.) |
| John: First is a word meaning "this." |
| Risa: [Normal] これ [Slow] これ (kore) |
| John: Next is the topic particle. |
| Risa: [Normal] は [Slow] は(wa) |
| John: Next is a word meaning "who." |
| Risa: [Normal] だれ [Slow] だれ (dare) |
| John: Next is the word meaning "is." |
| Risa: [Normal] です [Slow] です(desu) |
| John: Last is the question particle. |
| Risa: [Normal] か [Slow] か(ka) |
| John: Note the rising intonation. Listen again to the formal question meaning "Who is this?" |
| Risa: [Slow] これはだれですか。 [Normal] これはだれですか。 |
| John: Now, imagine you’re at a party, speaking to your friend. Here's an informal way to ask "Who is that?" |
| Risa: [Normal] あの人は誰? (Ano hito wa dare?) |
| John: First is a word meaning "that person." |
| Risa: [Normal] あの人 [Slow] あの人 (Ano hito) |
| John: Next is the topic particle. |
| Risa: [Normal] は [Slow] は(wa) |
| John: Next is the word meaning "who" |
| Risa: [Normal] 誰 [Slow] 誰(dare) |
| John: Note the rising intonation. Listen again to the informal question meaning "Who is that?" |
| Risa: [Slow] あの人は誰？ [Normal] あの人は誰？ |
| John: Here's a response meaning "it's me." |
| Risa: [Normal] 私です。(Watashi desu.) |
| John: First is a word meaning "I" |
| Risa: [Normal] 私 [Slow] 私(watashi) |
| John: Last is the word meaning "am." |
| Risa: [Normal] です [Slow] です(desu) |
| John: Listen again to the response, "it's me." |
| Risa: [Slow] 私です。 [Normal] 私です。 |
| John: Here's a response meaning, "That is a friend of mine." |
| Risa: [Normal] 私の友達です。(Watashi no tomodachi desu.) |
| John: First is the word meaning "my." |
| Risa: [Normal] 私の [Slow] 私の (watashi no) |
| John: Next is the word meaning "friend." |
| Risa: [Normal] 友達 [Slow] 友達 (tomodachi) |
| John: Last is the word meaning "is." |
| Risa: [Normal] です [Slow] です(desu) |
| John: Listen again to the response - "That is a friend of mine." |
| Risa: [Slow] 私の友達です。 [Normal] 私の友達です。 |
| Cultural Insight |
| John: Now, it's time for a quick cultural insight. |
| Risa: In colloquial Japanese, people often use the word uchi no instead of watashi no. Uchi no originally means "inside." So it's used to refer to a group or member of the group that you belong to, like uchi no kaisha, meaning “my company,” or uchi no chichi, meaning “my father.” |
Outro |
|---|
| John: And that's all for this lesson. Don't forget to check out the lesson notes, and we'll see you in the next lesson! |
| Risa: またね！(mata ne!) |
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