Learn how to ask "How are you?"
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Intro |
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| Jessi: Hi everyone, ジェシーです (Jeshī desu)。Jessi here! |
| Motoko: こんにちは、Motokoです。 (Kon'nichiwa, Motoko desu.) |
| Jessi: How is Everyone Feeling in Japan? |
| Today Today, I'm joined by a new host - Motoko! |
| Motoko: Hi. |
| Jessi: Hi Motoko, thanks for joining us! |
| Motoko: Sure! I'm happy to be here. |
| Jessi: We're happy to have you too!! All right, so in the last lesson, we learned how to ask the time, and tell time! |
| Motoko: Yes, for example, いまなんじですか (ima nan-ji desu ka)？ What time is it now? and １時です (ichi-ji desu)。 It's one o'clock. |
| Jessi: Yup. And in this lesson, we'll review asking how someone is. |
| Motoko: That's right. What's happening in the conversation? |
| Jessi: This conversation is a continuation from the last lesson, and so Taylor and Kaori are still talking on Skype! It sounds like they're catching up since they haven't talked in a while. |
| Motoko: Okay! Let's listen to the conversation. |
| Dialogue |
| (Skype) |
| テイラー:げんきですか。 |
| Taylor: Genki desu ka. |
| かおり:はい。テイラーさんは？ |
| Kaori: Hai. Teirā-san wa? |
| テイラー:はい、げんきです。 |
| Taylor: Hai, genki desu. |
| かおり:ちえみさんとサラちゃんもおげんきですか。 |
| Kaori: Chiemi-san to Sara-chan mo o-genki desu ka. |
| テイラー:はい。マトリー もげんきです。 |
| Taylor: Hai. Matorī mo-genki desu. |
| Jessi: Let’s listen to the conversation again slowly. |
| (Skype) |
| テイラー:げんきですか。 |
| Taylor: Genki desu ka. |
| かおり:はい。テイラーさんは？ |
| Kaori: Hai. Teirā-san wa? |
| テイラー:はい、げんきです。 |
| Taylor: Hai, genki desu. |
| かおり:ちえみさんとサラちゃんもおげんきですか。 |
| Kaori: Chiemi-san to Sara-chan mo o-genki desu ka. |
| テイラー:はい。マトリー もげんきです。 |
| Taylor: Hai. Matorī mo-genki desu. |
| Jessi: Now let’s listen to it with the translation. |
| (Skype) |
| テイラー:げんきですか。 |
| Teirā: Genki desu ka. |
| Jessi: How are you? |
| かおり:はい。テイラーさんは？ |
| Kaori: Hai. Teirā-san wa? |
| Jessi: I'm fine. How are you, Taylor? |
| テイラー:はい、げんきです。 |
| Teirā: Hai, genki desu. |
| Jessi: I'm fine, thank you. |
| かおり:ちえみさんとサラちゃんもおげんきですか。 |
| Kaori: Chiemi-san to Sara-chan mo o-genki desu ka. |
| Jessi: Are Chiemi and Sara well too? |
| テイラー:はい。マトリー もげんきです。 |
| Teirā: Hai. Matorī mo-genki desu. |
| Jessi: Yes. Muttley is well too. |
| Vocabulary and Phrase Usage |
| Jessi: So Taylor and Kaori are still talking on Skype! |
| Motoko: That's right. |
| Jessi: Asking how everyone is... Chiemi, Taylor's wife, and Sara, Taylor and Chiemi's daughter... and even Muttley! |
| Motoko: Everyone, do you remember Muttley? |
| Jessi: If you listened to Season 1, you probably remember him! Muttley is Taylor's dog. |
| Motoko: It's a cute name! マトリー. (Matorī.) |
| Jessi: Yes, in Japanese it becomes マトリー (Matorī), but it is a cute name, I think! Muttley. |
| Motoko: And it sounds like everyone is fine. Everyone is 元気（げんき）(genki)！ |
| Jessi: Yup! Everyone is 元気（げんき） (genki) - oh, that's our first vocab word, isn't it? |
| Motoko: Yes! 元気（げんき） (genki) |
| Jessi: 元気（げんき） (genki); energetic, fine or healthy |
| Motoko: In English, you usually say I'm fine, or I'm doing fine, right? |
| Jessi: Yes, when asked How are you? Oh I'm fine. Like that. |
| Motoko: In Japanese, we call that 元気（げんき) (genki). |
| Jessi: 元気（げんき） (genki). Yes, we'll go into asking how someone is later on in the lesson, but for now, just know that 元気（げんき) (genki) refers to someone being energetic, healthy, or fine. |
| Motoko: Our next word is と (to). |
| Jessi: と (To). This means "and". It comes between two nouns, two things. |
| Motoko: Right. For example, テイラーとちえみ (Teirā to Chiemi) |
| Jessi: Taylor AND Chiemi |
| Motoko: Or, 水（みず）とジュース (Mizu to jūsu) |
| Jessi: "Water and juice." Okay, so here's one for you listeners. How would you say, Japan and America? |
| Motoko: Remember that Japan is 日本（にほん） (Nihon) and America is アメリカ (Amerika). |
| [pause] |
| Jessi: Okay. We would say...? |
| Motoko: 日本（にほん）とアメリカ. (Nihon to Amerika.) |
| Jessi: 日本（にほん） と アメリカ. (Nihon to Amerika.) Japan AND America. Okay! Now let's move onto the lesson focus. |
| Grammar Point |
| Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask how someone is. |
| Motoko: はい (Hai), Yes, as in "how are you?" |
| Jessi: As well as "How is so-and-so?" We'll be using the word we just learned earlier - |
| Motoko: 元気（げんき） (genki) |
| Jessi: Which translates to fine, healthy, and energetic. So! Let's get right into it. How do you ask someone, how are you? |
| Motoko: 元気（げんき）ですか？ (Genki desu ka?) |
| Jessi: [slowly] 元気（げんき） ですか？ (Genki desu ka?) |
| Motoko: Yes. 元気 (Genki) |
| Jessi: fine, energetic |
| Motoko: plus ですか (desu ka). |
| Jessi: 元気ですか。 (Genki desu ka.) The literal translation is, Are you fine? Or, Are you well? OK. Listen and repeat. |
| Motoko: げんきですか？ (genki desu ka?) |
| Jessi: （pause) Great. |
| Motoko: If you want to be more polite, you can add お (o) to the beginning. お元気（げんき）ですか (o-genki desu ka)。 |
| Jessi: Right. お + 元気（げんき）ですか。お元気（げんき）ですか。 (O + genki desu ka. O-genki desu ka.) This sounds slightly more polite. OK. Listen and repeat. |
| Motoko: お元気（げんき）ですか？ (o-genki desu ka?) |
| Jessi: （pause) Sounds good. Now, I want to point out something here... |
| Motoko: What's that...? |
| Jessi: Well, in English-speaking cultures, the question "how are you" is very common, an everyday occurrence, right? |
| Motoko: I think so! You could ask someone "how are you?" everyday! |
| Jessi: Right? Well, in Japanese, 元気（げんき）ですか (genki desu ka), is not used AS often. |
| Motoko: Oh, good point. |
| Jessi: It's mostly used when you haven't seen someone in a while. Kind of like how we might say "How've you been?" in English. |
| Motoko: In the dialogue, Taylor asked Kaori 元気（げんき）ですか (genki desu ka)？ Since they hadn't talked in a while. |
| Jessi: So this, 元気（げんき）ですか (genki desu ka) can be used when you are talking directly to someone, to ask how they are. Motoko, what if we want to ask someone about how someone ELSE is doing? |
| Motoko: Here's our pattern. [person]は元気（げんき）ですか ([person] wa genki desu ka). |
| Jessi: So, [person] followed by は元気（げんき）ですか (wa genki desu ka) means "How is [person]?" |
| Motoko: Yes, for example, マトリーは元気（げんき）ですか (Matorī wa genki desu ka)？ |
| Jessi: How is Muttley? OK. Repeat after Motoko. |
| Motoko: マトリーは元気（げんき）ですか？ [Matorī wa genki desu ka?] |
| Jessi: [Pause]. Now, if you want to be a little more polite, you can add “-san” after the person's name and add "o-" in front of "genki" |
| Motoko: Right. Such as ちえみさんはお元気（げんき）ですか (Chiemi-san wa o-genki desu ka)。 |
| Jessi: "How's Chiemi-san? or How's Chiemi?" |
| Jessi: So if someone asks you this 元気（げんき）ですか (genki desu ka) question, how should we respond? |
| Motoko: It's quite simple. Since 元気（げんき）ですか (genki desu ka) is a yes/no question, you say はい (hai) |
| Jessi: yes |
| Motoko: first. Then say 元気（げんき）です。 (genki desu.) |
| Jessi: はい、元気（げんき）です (Hai, genki desu). Like that? |
| Motoko: Right. はい、元気（げんき）です。 (Hai, genki desu.) |
| Jessi: So はい (hai) means "Yes" and 元気（げんき）です (genki desu) means "I'm fine/he's fine/she's fine/they're fine" etc. There's no need to repeat 私（わたし) (Watashi) or the name of the person. |
| Motoko: Right. はい、元気です (Hai, genki desu) is all you need. |
| Jessi: Okay, let's give the listeners a chance to practice. Listeners, Motoko will ask you how you are. Please respond, the answer "I'm fine." Are you ready? |
| Motoko: 元気（げんき）ですか。 (genki desu ka.) |
| [pause] |
| Jessi: Okay. And the correct response is...? |
| Motoko: はい、元気（げんき）です！ (Hai, genki desu!) |
| Jessi: Great. Now listeners, it's your turn to ask Motoko. Please ask her how she is. |
| [pause] |
| Motoko: はい、元気（げんき）です！ (Hai, genki desu!) |
| Jessi: Okay, sounding good!!! Now, let's look at the line from the dialogue. It's a little longer and more complicated, so let's go through it together. |
| Motoko: Kaori asks - ちえみさんとサラちゃんもおげんきですか。 (Chiemi-san to sara-chan mo o-genki desu ka.) |
| Jessi: "Are Chiemi and Sara well, too?" Let's break it down. |
| Motoko: ちえみさん (Chiemi-san) (Jessi - Chiemi) と (to) (Jessi - and) サラちゃん (Sara-chan) (Jessi - Sarah も (mo) (Jessi - also) おげんきですか (o-genki desu ka) |
| Jessi: “Are they well?” So, she is asking about Chiemi AND Sara, so we have the word と (to) in between their names. And, instead of は (wa), we use も (mo), which means "also". Can we hear the whole thing one more time? |
| Motoko: Sure. ちえみさんとサラちゃんもおげんきですか。 (Chiemi-san to sara-chan mo o-genki desu ka.) |
| Jessi: "Are Chiemi and Sara well, too?" It's long and looks a little complicated, but if you understand the functions of と (to) and も (mo) correctly, it's not too bad, right? |
| Motoko: Right. |
Outro |
| Jessi: OK. I think that's going to do it for this lesson. |
| Motoko: Good job, everyone. Thank you for listening! |
| Jessi: Let us know if you have any questions, and see you next time!! |
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