Learn about introducing the conjugation of the irregular Class III verb "kuru" to the potential form
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: おはよう、ノバスコシア。ナツコです。(Ohayō, Nobasukoshia. Natsuko desu.) |
| Yoshi: おはよう、ノバスコシア。よしです。(Ohayō, Nobasukoshia. Yoshi desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Beginner lesson #130. Okay, we are back with Natsuko-san and Yoshi-san. So today we will be talking about the potential form of the class 3 verb, |
| Natsuko: 来る (kuru) |
| Peter: Now last week, we covered the potential form of class 1 verbs and class 2 verbs. Today, we are going to finish it off with the class 3 verb, 来る (kuru). Today’s conversation is interesting for many reasons. Among them, today’s conversation is between a superior and a subordinate. Yoshi-san, in Japanese how do we say superior? |
| Yoshi: 上司 (jōshi) |
| Peter: And subordinate is |
| Yoshi: 部下 (buka) |
| Peter: So the politeness level in the way the boss speaks to the subordinate is very noticeable. Pay attention to the politeness level in the boss and in the subordinate. This is one of the many interesting things about this language. With that said, please listen to the following conversation. Here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 上司 (jōshi) : 会議は２時からだよね。(Kaigi wa ni-ji kara da yo ne.) |
| 部下 (buka) : いいえ、中止になりました。(Iie, chūshi ni narimashita.) |
| 上司 (jōshi) : 中止？私は何も聞いてないぞ。(Chūshi? Watashi wa nani mo kiite nai zo.) |
| 部下 (buka) : はい、川本さんが来られません。(Hai, Kawamoto-san ga koraremasen.) |
| 上司 (jōshi) : 来られない？何で？(Korarenai? Nande?) |
| 部下 (buka) : そこまで、ちょっとわかりませんが。(Soko made, chotto wakarimasen ga.) |
| 上司 (jōshi) : わかった。川本さんに連絡して日程を変更して。(Wakatta. Kawamoto-san ni renraku shite nittei o henkō shite.) |
| 部下 (buka) : はい、わかりました。(Hai, wakarimashita.) |
| Yoshi: もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 上司 (jōshi) : 会議は２時からだよね。(Kaigi wa ni-ji kara da yo ne.) |
| 部下 (buka) : いいえ、中止になりました。(Iie, chūshi ni narimashita.) |
| 上司 (jōshi) : 中止？私は何も聞いてないぞ。(Chūshi? Watashi wa nani mo kiite nai zo.) |
| 部下 (buka) : はい、川本さんが来られません。(Hai, Kawamoto-san ga koraremasen.) |
| 上司 (jōshi) : 来られない？何で？(Korarenai? Nande?) |
| 部下 (buka) : そこまで、ちょっとわかりませんが。(Soko made, chotto wakarimasen ga.) |
| 上司 (jōshi) : わかった。川本さんに連絡して日程を変更して。(Wakatta. Kawamoto-san ni renraku shite nittei o henkō shite.) |
| 部下 (buka) : はい、わかりました。(Hai, wakarimashita.) |
| Yoshi: 次は、ピーターさんの英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa, Pītā-san no Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 上司 (jōshi) : 会議は２時からだよね。(Kaigi wa ni-ji kara da yo ne.) |
| SUPERIOR: The meeting is at 2 o'clock, right? |
| 部下 (buka) : いいえ、中止になりました。(Iie, chūshi ni narimashita.) |
| SUBORDINATE: No, it was canceled. |
| 上司 (jōshi) : 中止？私は何も聞いてないぞ。(Chūshi? Watashi wa nani mo kiite nai zo.) |
| SUPERIOR: Canceled? I didn't hear anything about it. |
| 部下 (buka) : はい、川本さんが来られません。(Hai, Kawamoto-san ga koraremasen.) |
| SUBORDINATE: Yes, Mr. Kawamoto couldn't make it. |
| 上司 (jōshi) : 来られない？何で？(Korarenai? Nande?) |
| SUPERIOR: He can't come? Why? |
| 部下 (buka) : そこまで、ちょっとわかりませんが。(Soko made, chotto wakarimasen ga.) |
| SUBORDINATE: That I don't know. |
| 上司 (jōshi) : わかった。川本さんに連絡して日程を変更して。(Wakatta. Kawamoto-san ni renraku shite nittei o henkō shite.) |
| SUPERIOR: I got it. Please contact Mr. Kawamoto and reschedule the date. |
| 部下 (buka) : はい、わかりました。(Hai, wakarimashita.) |
| SUBORDINATE: Yes, certainly. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Yoshi-san, let’s ask Natsuko-san what she thought of today’s conversation. |
| Yoshi: ナツコさん、今日の会話はどうでしたか。(Natsuko-san, kyō no kaiwa wa dō deshita ka.) |
| Natsuko: いやあ、川本さん何で来られなかったんでしょうね。(Iyā, Kawamoto-san nande korarenakatta n deshō ne.) |
| Peter: English please. |
| Natsuko: I wonder why Mr. Kawamoto could make it. |
| Peter: Take a guess. |
| Natsuko: Maybe he’s got a hangover. |
| Peter: Lovely Natsuko-san. |
| Natsuko: よくあることでしょ。(Yoku aru koto desho.) |
| Peter: We might as well turn this into a lesson. How do we say this in Japanese? |
| Natsuko: 二日酔いかもしれませんね。(Futsukayoi kamo shiremasen ne.) |
| Peter: Break it down. |
| Natsuko: (slow) ふつかよい (futsukayoi) (natural speed) 二日酔い (futsukayoi) Hangover. |
| Peter: Hangover and the first part of this is |
| Natsuko: 二日 (futsuka) |
| Peter: Two days or we can assume here, second day. And |
| Natsuko: 酔い (yoi) |
| Peter: To be intoxicated. Second day, intoxicated. So still drunk or maybe still alcohol in the body. Natsuko-san, thank you for that very useful vocabulary word. |
| Natsuko: Very useful. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: Okay, speaking of vocabulary words, what else do we have today? |
| Natsuko: 会議 (kaigi) |
| Peter: Meeting, conference. |
| Natsuko: (slow) かいぎ (kaigi) (natural speed) 会議 (kaigi) |
| Peter: Now the first character here, what does it mean? |
| Natsuko: Meet. |
| Peter: The second character, |
| Natsuko: Discussion. |
| Peter: Meet, discussion meeting. It’s also used for conferences, so it makes logical sense. Meet and discuss. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Meeting. Okay, can you give us an example? |
| Natsuko: 社長はただいま会議中です。(Shachō wa tadaima kaigichū desu.) |
| Peter: The boss is in a meeting now and what was that word for in a meeting? |
| Natsuko: 会議中 (kaigichū) |
| Peter: So we add on to the word for conference, meeting 会議 (kaigi) we add on |
| Natsuko: 中 (chū) |
| Peter: And in the middle. Yoshi-san, give an example. |
| Yoshi: 今日家族会議があるんだ。(Kyō kazoku kaigi ga aru n da.) |
| Peter: Today I have a family meeting. Give us that word for family “meeting,” one more time. |
| Yoshi: 家族会議 (kazoku kaigi) |
| Peter: 家族会議 (kazoku kaigi), so what do you talk about at these type of events? Is it a casual meeting or is there something? You know, in English calling a family meeting, it means something big happened. |
| Yoshi: It’s usually that way in Japan also. |
| Peter: So is there important news or something? |
| Yoshi: Uhoo. |
| Peter: All right. Next we have |
| Yoshi: 中止 (chūshi) |
| Peter: Cancellation, suspension. |
| Yoshi: (slow) ちゅうし (chūshi) (natural speed) 中止 (chūshi) |
| Peter: Yoshi-san, what are the characters here, the first character means? |
| Yoshi: 中 (chū), middle. |
| Peter: Middle and the second character means |
| Yoshi: Stop. |
| Peter: Middle stop. So you can think of it, in the middle of something, you stop or in the middle of something, it gets stopped. 中止 (chūshi) in the middle, stop. So it’s been canceled, suspended and the way we turn this into a verb is, Yoshi-san. |
| Yoshi: 中止する (chūshi suru) |
| Peter: Now here we actually have the construction 中止になる (chūshi ni naru). Now 中止する (chūshi suru) is a verb, someone is doing it. Here になる (ni naru), it becomes. So to become canceled, to become suspended and if it was the past tense, so it was canceled. Okay, next we have |
| Natsuko: 連絡 (renraku) |
| Peter: Communication, contact, connection. |
| Natsuko: (slow) れんらく (renraku) (natural speed) 連絡 (renraku) |
| Peter: And Natsuko-san, can we have an example? |
| Natsuko: 電話で連絡する (denwa de renraku suru) |
| Peter: To contact by phone. |
| Yoshi: 今週末連絡します。(Konshūmatsu renraku shimasu.) |
| Peter: I will contact you this weekend. I will get in touch with you this weekend. To contact, to get in touch, to reach. It can be used in all of these contacts, 連絡する (renraku suru). Next we have |
| Yoshi: 日程 (nittei) |
| Peter: Schedule. |
| Yoshi: (slow) にってい (nittei) (natural speed) 日程 (nittei) |
| Peter: Yoshi-san, can you give us an example? |
| Yoshi: 日程を変更する (nittei o henkō suru) |
| Peter: That was from the dialogue! |
| Yoshi: You tricked me. |
| Peter: You tricked ME. Okay, but yeah it’s a really good example. We have the latter word, which is |
| Natsuko: 変更 (henkō) |
| Peter: Change. And here it’s a verb. So we have |
| Natsuko: 変更する (henkō suru) |
| Peter: To change. To change one’s schedule. Okay, and let’s just take a look at this word to change. Natsuko-san, can you break it down? |
| Natsuko: (slow) へんこう (henkō) (natural speed) 変更 (henkō) |
| Peter: And can we have an example? |
| Natsuko: 住所変更の届けを出す。(Jūsho henkō no todoke o dasu.) |
| Peter: To submit an address change application. And you do this when you move. |
| Natsuko: Yeah, it’s kind of troublesome. |
| Peter: Really troublesome but I guess that the end result is good because your mail still keeps coming unless it’s just bills like mine but umm in Japan, I seem to move quite often. |
| Natsuko: Really? |
| Peter: Yeah. Maybe just being a student or something like this that I think I moved 15 times since I’ve been in Japan. |
| Natsuko: ご苦労様！(Go-kurō-sama!) |
| Peter: I will take that. So I have – I am quite experienced in submitting these. One more time, Natsuko-san. |
| Natsuko: 住所変更 (jūsho henkō) |
| Peter: Change of one’s address. |
| Yoshi: 予定を変更して動物園に行こう。(Yotei o henkō shite dōbutsuen ni ikō.) |
| Peter: Let’s change the plan and go to the zoo. Okay, and here we had, what was the word for plan? |
| Yoshi: 予定 (yotei) |
| Peter: So we can use 変更 (henkō) with both 予定 (yotei) and |
| Yoshi: 日程 (nittei) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Both are okay. Okay, now what we want to do is take a look at today’s conversation up close. There are few points in there that we want to take a look at. Can we have the first line, one more time? Natsuko-san, |
| Natsuko: 会議は２時からだよね。(Kaigi wa ni-ji kara da yo ne.) |
| Peter: Now this is the superior addressing a subordinate. So we have what kind of Japanese? |
| Natsuko: Informal. |
| Peter: Yeah、 casual, informal Japanese because he is in a higher social status position than the subordinate. So it’s okay for him to address that subordinate in informal Japanese but Natsuko-san, if he was to address his boss, what would he say? |
| Natsuko: 会議は２時からですよね。(Kaigi wa ni-ji kara desu yo ne.) |
| Peter: Yeah. He would make it polite Japanese. Okay, and we have for the topic of this sentence, meeting. Then we have 2 o’ clock from. Now the interesting part is at the end. We have the plain form of the copula, followed by two sentence ending particles. They are |
| Natsuko: よ (yo) |
| Peter: And |
| Natsuko: ね (ne) |
| Peter: Why would you put よ (yo) and ね (ne), だよね (da yo ne). |
| Natsuko: Because よ (yo) is used for stressing. |
| Peter: Aha! |
| Natsuko: And ね (ne) is a particle to confirm. |
| Peter: And when you put them together, it works out that it’s somewhere in between the よ (yo) and the ね (ne). Well let me rephrase this. The certainty level is not as strong as よ (yo). When you add the sentence ending particle よ (yo), give us the sentence one time with just the sentence ending particle よ (yo). |
| Natsuko: 会議は２時からだよ。(Kaigi wa ni-ji kara da yo.) |
| Peter: Now you are emphasizing. You are 100% sure. Maybe you even made the plans for the meeting because you are telling that person, listen, the meeting is at 2, you better be there but watch what happens when Natsuko-san adds on the ね (ne). |
| Natsuko: 会議は２時からだよね。(Kaigi wa ni-ji kara da yo ne.) |
| Peter: There is a drop in certainty. He is pretty sure. He remembers the meeting is at 2 but he wants confirmation and that’s where よね (yo ne) comes in. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: I am pretty sure but I just want you to confirm it, だよね (da yo ne) and this was followed by |
| Yoshi: いいえ、中止になりました。(Iie, chūshi ni narimashita.) |
| Peter: No it was canceled but if we take a look at the sentence, we have the word for cancelation, cancelation became and again, we have to reverse it around here, take that verb at the end, put it in the front when you interpret into English and we get, no it was canceled, followed by |
| Natsuko: 中止？私は何も聞いてないぞ。(Chūshi? Watashi wa nani mo kiite nai zo.) |
| Peter: Canceled? I didn’t hear anything about it. Let’s take a look at that second sentence. |
| Natsuko: 私は何も聞いてないぞ。(Watashi wa nani mo kiite nai zo.) |
| Peter: We need to take a look here at 何も (nani mo). This sentence is a negative sentence. So 何も (nani mo) becomes nothing. We have the interrogative adverb what 何 (nani), followed by |
| Natsuko: も (mo) |
| Peter: So they come together. We combine them into |
| Natsuko: 何も (nani mo) |
| Peter: Now this 何も (nani mo) or we could take any other interrogative and add も (mo), 誰も (dare mo). These go with what kind of sentences, Natsuko-san? |
| Natsuko: Negative sentence. |
| Peter: Negative and in the case of what, it will be nothing. In the case of who, it will be nobody and this is followed by |
| Natsuko: 聞いてない (kiite nai) |
| Peter: The negative progressive of |
| Natsuko: 聞く (kiku) |
| Peter: To hear. So literally it’s I am not hearing anything but in Japanese, the progressive represents a state with certain verbs and this is one of them. So you should be thinking that he is in a state of not hearing anything. I am not hearing anything which we interpret into English as I haven’t heard anything. So he is in a state of not having heard anything. In English, we interpret this as I haven’t heard anything and finally we have the sentence ending particle |
| Natsuko: ぞ (zo) |
| Peter: Natsuko, can you help us out with this ぞ (zo)? |
| Natsuko: It’s also an emphasizing particle and mostly used by males. |
| Peter: Yeah, a male sentence ending particle. Me – I think he is trying to say here that he is the boss and he hasn’t heard anything. |
| Natsuko: Yeah, so it’s kind of like angry or annoyed. |
| Peter: In this context. Kind of emphasizing the point that he hasn’t heard anything. |
| Natsuko: Yes, it has a very strong nuance. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: Of expressing oneself. So here he wants to express that he is the boss but he hasn’t heard anything. |
Outro |
|---|
| Peter: Okay. We are out of time. Umm we wanted to get through more of this but what we are going to do is we have a grammar point and that grammar point is the potential form of the class 3 verb, 来る (kuru). Now a write up about this will be inside the PDF. We just ran way too long today. Umm too much talking and well, we are not going to point any fingers. We will let you figure out who we are inferring here. Well it’s a very Japanese way about it. We will let you try and guess who we are talking about. So with that said, that’s going to do it for today. |
| Natsuko: じゃあ、また明日ね。(Jā, mata ashita ne.) |
| Yoshi: またね。(Mata ne.) |
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