Learn about expression to make strong suggestions about what one should not do
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Yoshi: おはよう、タラワ。よしです。(Ohayō, Tarawa. Yoshi desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Beginner lesson #146. Yoshi-san, back again. |
| Yoshi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Still no sign of our friends. |
| Yoshi: Where are they? |
| Peter: Yeah this week, everyone is late for the studio. So we just have to start without them. |
| Yoshi: Umm… |
| Peter: But it’s okay because today we have Natsuko-san dropping by and she is going to take part in the conversation. Now this conversation is a continuation of the previous beginner lesson, not yesterday’s lesson but the previous beginner lesson #145. In that lesson, we introduced you to a grammatical point which showed you how to strongly suggest that someone do something. Now Yoshi-san, why don’t you tell everybody out there what we are going to introduce today? |
| Yoshi: ない方がいい (nai hō ga ii) |
| Peter: And this means |
| Yoshi: Strongly recommending someone not to do something. |
| Peter: Perfect. So you see how these go together. Strongly recommending that someone does something in the previous lesson and a little bit of hint. We will review that today inside the lesson plus strongly recommending that someone doesn’t do something. Okay, with that said, let’s find out what happened in today’s conversation, which is between an eavesdropper of the previous conversation and our star, our poor star who gave away that phone number last time. Here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : すみません。二人の会話が聞こえましたが、あの人は友達ですか。(Sumimasen. Futari no kaiwa ga kikoemashita ga, ano hito wa tomodachi desu ka.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : はい、そうです。何でですか。(Hai, sō desu. Nande desu ka.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 彼のアドバイスはよくないと思います。(Kare no adobaisu wa yokunai to omoimasu.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : よくないですか。(Yokunai desu ka.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : そうですよ。彼のアドバイスを聞かない方がいいです。自分の心に聞いた方がいいですよ。さっきの人、彼女がいないでしょう？(Sō desu yo. Kare no adobaisu o kikanai hō ga ii desu. Jibun no kokoro ni kiita hō ga ii desu yo. Sakki no hito, kanojo ga inai deshō?) |
| よし (Yoshi) : まあ．．．(Mā…) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : ほら、アドバイスを受ける時に気をつけた方がいいですよ。彼女に電話して。(Hora, adobaisu o ukeru toki ni ki o tsuketa hō ga ii desu yo. Kanojo ni denwa shite.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : わかりました。(Wakarimashita.) |
| Natsuko: 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.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : すみません。二人の会話が聞こえましたが、あの人は友達ですか。(Sumimasen. Futari no kaiwa ga kikoemashita ga, ano hito wa tomodachi desu ka.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : はい、そうです。何でですか。(Hai, sō desu. Nande desu ka.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 彼のアドバイスはよくないと思います。(Kare no adobaisu wa yokunai to omoimasu.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : よくないですか。(Yokunai desu ka.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : そうですよ。彼のアドバイスを聞かない方がいいです。自分の心に聞いた方がいいですよ。さっきの人、彼女がいないでしょう？(Sō desu yo. Kare no adobaisu o kikanai hō ga ii desu. Jibun no kokoro ni kiita hō ga ii desu yo. Sakki no hito, kanojo ga inai deshō?) |
| よし (Yoshi) : まあ．．．(Mā…) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : ほら、アドバイスを受ける時に気をつけた方がいいですよ。彼女に電話して。(Hora, adobaisu o ukeru toki ni ki o tsuketa hō ga ii desu yo. Kanojo ni denwa shite.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : わかりました。(Wakarimashita.) |
| Natsuko: 次は、ピーターさんの英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa, Pītā-san no Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : すみません。二人の会話が聞こえましたが、あの人は友達ですか。(Sumimasen. Futari no kaiwa ga kikoemashita ga, ano hito wa tomodachi desu ka.) |
| NATSUKO: Excuse me. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation - is he your friend? |
| よし (Yoshi) : はい、そうです。何でですか。(Hai, sō desu. Nande desu ka.) |
| YOSHI: Yes, he is. Why? |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 彼のアドバイスはよくないと思います。(Kare no adobaisu wa yokunai to omoimasu.) |
| NATSUKO: I don't think his advice is good. |
| よし (Yoshi) : よくないですか。(Yokunai desu ka.) |
| YOSHI: It's not good? |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : そうですよ。(Sō desu yo.) |
| NATSUKO: That's right. |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 彼のアドバイスを聞かない方がいいです。(Kare no adobaisu o kikanai hō ga ii desu.) |
| NATSUKO: You'd better not listen to that advice. |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 自分の心に聞いた方がいいですよ。(Jibun no kokoro ni kiita hō ga ii desu yo.) |
| NATSUKO: You had better listen to your own heart. |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : さっきの人、彼女がいないでしょう？(Sakki no hito, kanojo ga inai deshō?) |
| NATSUKO: That person doesn't have a girlfriend, right? |
| よし (Yoshi) : まあ．．．(Mā…) |
| YOSHI: Yeah... |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : ほら、(Hora,) |
| NATSUKO: See? |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : アドバイスを受ける時に気をつけた方がいいですよ。(adobaisu o ukeru toki ni ki o tsuketa hō ga ii desu yo.) |
| NATSUKO: You had better be careful when you get advice. |
| 夏子 (Natsuko) : 彼女に電話して。(Kanojo ni denwa shite.) |
| NATSUKO: Call her. |
| よし (Yoshi) : わかりました。(Wakarimashita.) |
| YOSHI: Okay. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: ナツコさん、どうでしたか。(Natsuko-san, dō deshita ka.) |
| Natsuko: あぁ、彼がだまされなくてよかったです。(Ā, kare ga damasarenakute yokatta desu.) |
| Peter: It’s nice that he wasn’t fooled. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Yoshi-san, what do you think your friend’s purpose was? You think he was trying to take your girl or just being a good guy friend in his own strange way. |
| Yoshi: Umm... you never know because you know once he is used to, like, doubting like that, maybe this girl was planning something too, right? |
| Peter: Sounds like one of our dramas. Okay, what we are going to do now is just go over a few words and then we are going to break apart this conversation. Lots of interesting points in here that we definitely want to go over. First word. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Yoshi: アドバイス (adobaisu) |
| Peter: Advice. |
| Yoshi: (slow) あどばいす (adobaisu) (natural speed) アドバイス (adobaisu) |
| Peter: Now Yoshi-san, how do we make this into a verb? This word is advice as in the noun. |
| Yoshi: You can add する (suru) or you can also say アドバイスをする (adobaisu o suru). |
| Peter: Sample sentence, please. |
| Yoshi: 友達にアドバイスする。(Tomodachi ni adobaisu suru.) |
| Peter: To give your friend advice. |
| Yoshi: 先生にいいアドバイスをもらった。(Sensei ni ii adobaisu o moratta.) |
| Peter: I received good advice from my teacher. Next. |
| Natsuko: 気を付ける (ki o tsukeru) |
| Peter: A phrase to be careful. |
| Natsuko: (slow) きをつける (ki o tsukeru) (natural speed) 気を付ける (ki o tsukeru) |
| Peter: So this is actually key as in spirit or mind marked by the object marker を (o), followed by つける (tsukeru). So literally, attach spirit. |
| Natsuko: Or mind. |
| Peter: Yeah. So attach your mind. So put your mind in it. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: So watch yourself, watch what you are doing or know what’s going on around you. And when we interpret it into English, it becomes be careful, watch out. Now a few things about this expression. Yoshi-san, first 気を付けて (ki o tsukete) is short for what expression? |
| Yoshi: 気を付けてください (ki o tsukete kudasai) |
| Peter: That’s right. The politer form. In many situations, this ください (kudasai) is dropped and we wind up with |
| Yoshi: 気を付けて (ki o tsukete) |
| Peter: The first thing, it’s short for this politer form. Second, here in this context, it means be careful but the context has a lot to do with the meaning. For example, it can be used more casually like take care when parting ways or more seriously such as watch out when the situation is dangerous. So this expression gets its meaning from the context. It has a wide range of meanings from a very casual just take care when you are saying goodbye to someone for the night, 気を付けて (ki o tsukete) get home safe or in this conversation, the eavesdropper was kind of strongly suggesting to be careful when taking advice. Now that we’d looked over the vocabulary and the phrase, let’s take a look at the conversation. Let’s just go through it one more time. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Natsuko: すみません。(Sumimasen.) |
| Peter: Excuse me. So the old woman here is, the conversation and she just can’t let poor Yoshi-san get this bad advice. So she starts off with an excuse me. |
| Natsuko: 二人の会話が聞こえましたが、(Futari no kaiwa ga kikoemashita ga,) |
| Peter: You start off with |
| Natsuko: 二人の (futari no) |
| Peter: Two people. This is two people and then we have the possessive. So two people’s, followed by |
| Natsuko: 会話 (kaiwa) |
| Peter: Conversation. Two people’s conversation literally but again who we are talking about here? |
| Natsuko: Yoshi and his friend. |
| Peter: So it becomes your conversation as in the two of you but literally it just means two people’s conversation, marked by |
| Natsuko: が (ga) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: 聞こえましたが (kikoemashita ga) |
| Peter: I heard. I heard two people’s conversation is what it literally means but we have to look at the context here. Here the eavesdropper Natsuko-san heard Yoshi-san and his friend’s conversation. As she is speaking, we translate this as your – your conversation with your being Yoshi and his friend. And then we have が (ga), although but, followed by |
| Natsuko: あの人は友達ですか。(ano hito wa tomodachi desu ka.) |
| Peter: That person, marked by the topic particle は (wa) friend is, that person's friend is, literally, but when we turn this into English, is that person your friend? I heard your conversation. Is that guy your friend? Yoshi responds with |
| Yoshi: はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| Peter: Yes, that’s right. |
| Yoshi: 何でですか。(Nande desu ka.) |
| Peter: Why? Everything here is straightforward. |
| Natsuko: 彼のアドバイスはよくないと思います。(Kare no adobaisu wa yokunai to omoimasu.) |
| Peter: His advice, 彼のアドバイス (kare no adobaisu) his advice, his advice not good I think, literally. Again we have to reverse the order, start with the back. When you hear と思います (to omoimasu), it’s the subject thinking and in this case, the subject is the speaker. So I think his advice is not good is what we have, followed by |
| Yoshi: よくないですか。(Yokunai desu ka.) |
| Peter: It’s not good, questioning. |
| Natsuko: そうですよ。(Sō desu yo.) |
| Peter: That’s right and here we have the emphasizer at the end. |
| Natsuko: よ (yo). 彼のアドバイスを聞かない方がいいです。(Kare no adobaisu o kikanai hō ga ii desu.) |
| Peter: Again his advice but this time we mark it with the particle |
| Natsuko: を (o) |
| Peter: His advice object marker を (o), followed by |
| Natsuko: 聞かない方がいいです (kikanai hō ga ii desu) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: And today’s grammar point, ない方がいい (nai hō ga ii) and in today’s lesson we have 聞かない方がいいです (kikanai hō ga ii desu). You’d better not listen. In the previous lesson Natsuko-san, what do we go over? |
| Natsuko: た方がいい (ta hō ga ii) |
| Peter: And this phrase is roughly equivalent to the English expression, you’d better and again, literally it means in that direction is good. Now here we have ない方がいい (nai hō ga ii). This expression is roughly equivalent to the English expression, you’d better not and the way we form this construction, we are going to stop right now and go over the grammar point is we have the plain negative, followed by |
| Natsuko: 方がいい (hō ga ii) |
| Peter: Plain negative. In this case, we had |
| Natsuko: 聞かない (kikanai) |
| Peter: Don’t listen. |
| Natsuko: 方がいい (hō ga ii) |
| Peter: That direction is good. Don’t listen that direction is good, again literal but again, this is an idiomatic phrase with the meaning had better. When preceded by a verb in the plain negative non-past tense, it means one had better not. This is followed by |
| Natsuko: 自分の心に聞いた方がいいですよ。(Jibun no kokoro ni kiita hō ga ii desu yo.) |
| 自分の心 (jibun no kokoro) |
| Peter: One’s heart, one’s own heart, one’s own heart. 自分 (jibun) is oneself and 心 (kokoro) is heart, one’s own heart. Here we translate it as, your heart as Natsuko is the speaker and she is speaking about the listener. |
| Natsuko: に聞いた方がいいですよ (ni kiita hō ga ii desu yo) |
| Peter: And this relates back to the grammar point we covered two days ago in the previous beginner lesson, past tense of a verb, followed by 方がいい (hō ga ii). Now this phrase is roughly equivalent to the English expression, you’d better not. So you’d better follow your heart. |
| Natsuko: さっきの人、彼女がいないでしょう？(Sakki no hito, kanojo ga inai deshō?) |
| Peter: Let’s just go over this first part, one more time. |
| Natsuko: さっきの人 (sakki no hito) |
| Peter: Before, just now, person. Again we have the possessive in here, just now’s person and that was the friend we are talking about here. Here instead of the topic particle, which would normally be |
| Natsuko: は (wa) |
| Peter: We have a pause because now the conversation, they are chatting for a while, it’s getting a little bit more informal. So particles are starting to drop. |
| Natsuko: 彼女がいないでしょう (kanojo ga inai deshō) |
| Peter: The person before, girlfriend there is none right, the literal translation. Here でしょう (deshō) is acting as a tag question. When we turn this into English, that guy just now, he doesn’t have a girlfriend, does he? He doesn’t have a girlfriend, right? Yoshi follows up with |
| Yoshi: まあ…。(Mā…) |
| Peter: Yeah. Umm. |
| Natsuko: ほら、(Hora,) |
| Peter: See, when you take a guess or you estimate or guesstimate about something and you turn out to be right, kind of like I told you so, ほら (hora). |
| Natsuko: アドバイスを受ける時に気を付けた方がいいですよ。(Adobaisu o ukeru toki ni ki o tsuketa hō ga ii desu yo.) |
| Peter: Again we are using our construction a lot. アドバイスを受ける時に (adobaisu o ukeru toki ni), advice get, advice receive 時 (toki), when. Again, we have to start from the back, start from 時 (toki), when receive advice. Again just start from the back 時 (toki), 受ける (ukeru), advice. “When receive advice,” when you get advice. |
| Natsuko: 気を付けた方がいいですよ (ki o tsuketa hō ga ii desu yo) |
| Peter: You better be careful. Finally... |
| Natsuko: 彼女に電話して。(Kanojo ni denwa shite.) |
| Peter: Call her and notice how it’s informal. Obviously this person is older than the listener and Yoshi finishes up with |
| Yoshi: わかりました。(Wakarimashita.) |
Outro |
| Peter: I understand. Okay, 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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