Learn how to ask questions
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| Introduction |
| Jessi: Asking a Japanese Question. ジェシーです。(Jeshii desu.) Jessi here. |
| Naomi: こんにちは！なおみです。(Kon'nichi wa! Naomi desu.) Naomi here! |
| Jessi: Thanks for joining us again! Naomi, could you tell us what we learned in the last lesson? |
| Naomi: Sure! In the last lesson, we reviewed our first sentence pattern, AはBです (A wa B desu). |
| Jessi: Which means "A is B". |
| Naomi: And in this lesson...? |
| Jessi: You'll learn how to ask questions. You'll be surprised at how easy it is! We'll be using the first sentence pattern we learned as well. Okay, so what's happening in the conversation in this lesson? |
| Naomi: Well, Taylor, Masato, and Kaori are still at the airport. |
| Jessi: If you remember last time, Kaori gave Taylor a gift they brought with them from Japan, おみやげ (omiyage). |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Jessi: Now, he's asking her about it in this conversation. Let's listen in! |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| テイラー:これは…おかしですか。(Kore wa... o-kashi desu ka.) |
| まさと:はい、そうです。日本のおかしです。(Hai, sō desu. Nihon no o-kashi desu.) |
| かおり:そうです。ようかんです。(Sō desu. Yōkan desu.) |
| テイラー:よ・う・か・ん？(Yo, u, ka, n?) |
| English Host: Let's listen to the conversation again slowly. |
| テイラー:これは…おかしですか。(Kore wa... o-kashi desu ka.) |
| まさと:はい、そうです。日本のおかしです。(Hai, sō desu. Nihon no o-kashi desu.) |
| かおり:そうです。ようかんです。(Sō desu. Yōkan desu.) |
| テイラー:よ・う・か・ん？(Yo, u, ka, n?) |
| English Host: Now let’s to it with the translation. |
| テイラー:これは…おかしですか。(Kore wa... o-kashi desu ka.) |
| Jessi: Are these sweets? |
| まさと:はい、そうです。日本のおかしです。(Hai, sō desu. Nihon no o-kashi desu.) |
| Jessi: Yes, that's right. They're Japanese sweets. |
| かおり:そうです。ようかんです。(Sō desu. Yōkan desu.) |
| Jessi: Right. They're "yokan." |
| テイラー:よ・う・か・ん？(Yo, u, ka, n?) |
| Jessi: Yo-ka-n? |
| Post conversation banter |
| Jessi: So Taylor's gift from Masato and Kaori was some Japanese sweets! |
| Naomi: Yes, sweets known as ようかん (yōkan). |
| Jessi: ようかん (yōkan). How would you describe it? |
| Naomi: Well, ようかん (yōkan) is sweet-jellied red bean paste. |
| Jessi: It might be hard for the listeners to picture. |
| Naomi: I think so! It's usually sold in block form. |
| Jessi: Right. So it's often served and eaten in slices. It's very good! I like it personally. By the way, what's the word for sweets or snacks? |
| Naomi: Good question. That's our first vocabulary word, おかし (o-kashi). |
| Jessi: おかし (o-kashi). One more time slowly, and again at regular speed? |
| Naomi: [Slowly] おかし (o-kashi) [regular] おかし (o-kashi) |
| Jessi: And this is a general word for sweets or snacks. And the next phrase is? |
| Naomi: 日本の (Nihon no) |
| Jessi: 日本の (Nihon no), and this means "Japanese." |
| Naomi: You can actually learn two words in one. |
| Jessi: Yes! Can you tell us the word for Japan? |
| Naomi: 日本 (Nihon) |
| Jessi: 日本 (Nihon). and the word for Japanese is? |
| Naomi: 日本の (Nihon no) |
| Jessi: This is just 日本 (Nihon) with の (o) at the end. 日本の (Nihon no). So if we combine this with the other word we just learned, we get... |
| Naomi: 日本の おかし (Nihon no o-kashi) |
| Jessi: Japanese sweets! |
| Naomi: That's the phrase we saw in the dialogue. |
| Jessi: So please remember that "Japan" is… |
| Naomi: 日本 (Nihon) |
| Jessi: And "Japanese" as in "Japanese sweets" is… |
| Naomi: 日本の (Nihon no) |
| Jessi: Great. And the last phrase we saw? |
| Naomi: そうです (Sō desu) |
| Jessi: そうです！ (Sō desu!) And this means... |
| Naomi: "Yes" or "That's right" or "You're right." |
| Jessi: So when Taylor asked, "Are these sweets?" Kaori said… |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) |
| Jessi: Yes, that's right. |
| Naomi: 日本のおかしです。(Nihon no o-kashi desu.) |
| Jessi: They're Japanese sweets. |
| Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn how to make a question. |
| Naomi: Which is very easy. |
| Jessi: Yes. You'll be surprised! But before we move on, we need to go back to Lesson 7. |
| Naomi: In Lesson 7, you learned how to make a [A is B] sentence. AはBです (A wa B desu). |
| Jessi: That's right. For example? |
| Naomi: これは 水です。(Kore wa mizu desu.) |
| Jessi: これ is this, and 水 is water, so altogether this means "This is water." |
| Naomi: これは水です。(Kore wa mizu desu.) |
| Jessi: So this is just a regular statement. You're just stating a fact, right? |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Jessi: Now, what if we want to ask a question? Say you have a glass of clear liquid in front of you, and you want to know, "Is this water?" For all you know, it could be Seven-Up, or something else. |
| Naomi: Well, to turn a statement into a question, add か (ka) to the end. |
| Jessi: Just one sound - か (ka). Let's try it. So the sentence… |
| Naomi: これは 水です。(Kore wa mizu desu.) |
| Jessi: Becomes...? |
| Naomi: これは 水ですか。(Kore wa mizu desu ka.) |
| Jessi: これは 水ですか。(Kore wa mizu desu ka.) "Is this water?" Repeat after Naomi. |
| Naomi: これは 水ですか。(Kore wa mizu desu ka.) |
| [pause] |
| Jessi: Great! Now, just awhile ago we learned the word おかし (o-kashi). |
| Naomi: Meaning "sweets." |
| Jessi: Yes. So sitting in front of you is a plate of something that looks like cookies. If you know they are sweets, you can say... |
| Naomi: これはおかしです。(Kore wa o-kashi desu.) |
| Jessi: But say for example, if you don't know what they are, and want to ask if they are sweets, you can say...? |
| Naomi: これはおかしですか。(Kore wa o-kashi desu ka.) |
| Jessi: "Are these sweets?" Repeat after Naomi. |
| Naomi: これはおかしですか。(Kore wa o-kashi desu ka.) |
| [pause] |
| Naomi: That's exactly what Taylor asked in the dialogue. |
| Jessi: Oh, right ~ これはおかしですか？(Kore wa o-kashi desu ka?) |
| Naomi: Right. Okay, let's have the listeners try it now. |
| Jessi: Okay! Sounds good. Here's the situation. Let's say your Japanese host puts a dish down in front of you. It looks like fish, but you're not quite sure, how could you ask? |
| Naomi: Here are some hints for you, "fish" is 魚 (sakana). |
| Jessi: So? |
| Naomi: "This is fish" would be これはさかなです。(Kore wa sakana desu.) |
| Jessi: Okay. So please ask, "Is this fish?" |
| [pause] |
| Jessi: Okay. Naomi, in this situation, what should we say? |
| Naomi: これはさかなですか？(Kore wa sakana desu ka?) |
| Jessi: Remember, all you need to do is add か (ka) to a statement to make it a question. |
| Naomi: That's it! |
| Jessi: Not so bad, was it? |
| Naomi: Thanks for listening, everyone! |
| Jessi: See you all next time. |
| Naomi: じゃまた。(Ja mata.) |
Lesson conversation |
| テイラー:これは…おかしですか。(Kore wa... o-kashi desu ka.) |
| まさと:はい、そうです。日本のおかしです。(Hai, sō desu. Nihon no o-kashi desu.) |
| かおり:そうです。ようかんです。(Sō desu. Yōkan desu.) |
| テイラー:よ・う・か・ん？(Yo, u, ka, n?) |
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