Learn about introducing the nominalizer "no"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: ナツコです。(Natsuko desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Beginner lesson #160. Office Mistakes. |
| Natsuko: Oh oh! |
| Peter: Oh yeah. Natsuko-san, today’s conversation is based on a true story. We won’t mention any names, we won’t mention any company names but yes, this one is based on a true story firsthand knowledge. |
| Natsuko: Oh oh, should I be here today? Umm I feel a bit uneasy. |
| Peter: Well let’s just – let’s bring everyone up to speed now. Today’s conversation is between who, Natsuko-san? |
| Natsuko: Two office workers. |
| Peter: And how is their relationship? |
| Natsuko: I think they are colleagues. |
| Peter: Colleagues, not that close relationship because polite Japanese. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, one other thing we want to point out here. Today we are going to be looking over using の (no) to nominalize sentences. So in the past, we used の (no) to nominalize verbs. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Verb followed by の (no) we’d nominalize it but now we are graduating to phrases and sentences and so on. What we’d like you to do here is listen, pay attention for the の (no) and in particular, の (no), followed by |
| Natsuko: を (o) |
| Peter: Pay attention to that. See what you could pick up. Again we are going to go through it afterwards. Let’s see what you could pick up. All right, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 上原 (Uehara) : おはようございます。(Ohayō gozaimasu.) |
| 社員 (shain) : 上原さん、大変です。社長が切れてます。(Uehara-san, taihen desu. Shachō ga kirete masu.) |
| 上原 (Uehara) : ええ、どうしたんですか。(Ee, dō shita n desu ka.) |
| 社員 (shain) : 昨日最後の人が、電気と電気湯沸かしポットを消すのを忘れていました。(Kinō saigo no hito ga, denki to denki yuwakashi potto o kesu no o wasurete imashita.) |
| 上原 (Uehara) : でも、よくあることじゃないですか。(Demo, yoku aru koto ja nai desu ka.) |
| 社員 (shain) : それはそうですけど。鍵をかけるのも忘れてました！かなりやばい間違いですよ。(Sore wa sō desu kedo. Kagi o kakeru no mo wasurete mashita! Kanari yabai machigai desu yo.) |
| 上原 (Uehara) : まずい。実は、最後の人は私でした。(Mazui. Jitsu wa, saigo no hito wa watashi deshita.) |
| 他の人がいると思って。。。しまった！どうしよう！(Hoka no hito ga iru to omotte… Shimatta! Dō shiyō!) |
| Take: もう一度お願いします。今度はゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 上原 (Uehara) : おはようございます。(Ohayō gozaimasu.) |
| 社員 (shain) : 上原さん、大変です。社長が切れてます。(Uehara-san, taihen desu. Shachō ga kirete masu.) |
| 上原 (Uehara) : ええ、どうしたんですか。(Ee, dō shita n desu ka.) |
| 社員 (shain) : 昨日最後の人が、電気と電気湯沸かしポットを消すのを忘れていました。(Kinō saigo no hito ga, denki to denki yuwakashi potto o kesu no o wasurete imashita.) |
| 上原 (Uehara) : でも、よくあることじゃないですか。(Demo, yoku aru koto ja nai desu ka.) |
| 社員 (shain) : それはそうですけど。鍵をかけるのも忘れてました！かなりやばい間違いですよ。(Sore wa sō desu kedo. Kagi o kakeru no mo wasurete mashita! Kanari yabai machigai desu yo.) |
| 上原 (Uehara) : まずい。実は、最後の人は私でした。(Mazui. Jitsu wa, saigo no hito wa watashi deshita.) |
| 他の人がいると思って。。。しまった！どうしよう！(Hoka no hito ga iru to omotte… Shimatta! Dō shiyō!) |
| Natsuko: 次は、英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 上原 (Uehara) : おはようございます。(Ohayō gozaimasu.) |
| UEHARA: Good morning! |
| 社員 (shain) : 上原さん、大変です。社長が切れてます。(Uehara-san, taihen desu. Shachō ga kirete masu.) |
| EMPLOYEE: Mr. Uehara, this is bad! The boss is really mad! |
| 上原 (Uehara) : ええ、どうしたんですか。(Ee, dō shita n desu ka.) |
| UEHARA: Oh, what happened? |
| 社員 (shain) : 昨日最後の人が、電気と電気湯沸かしポットを消すのを忘れていました。(Kinō saigo no hito ga, denki to denki yuwakashi potto o kesu no o wasurete imashita.) |
| EMPLOYEE: The last person forgot to turn off the lights and electric hot-water pot. |
| 上原 (Uehara) : でも、よくあることじゃないですか。(Demo, yoku aru koto ja nai desu ka.) |
| UEHARA: But doesn't that happen all the time? |
| 社員 (shain) : それはそうですけど。鍵をかけるのも忘れてました！かなりやばい間違いですよ。(Sore wa sō desu kedo. Kagi o kakeru no mo wasurete mashita! Kanari yabai machigai desu yo.) |
| EMPLOYEE: That's true, but they forgot to lock the door as well! That's a real problem. |
| 上原 (Uehara) : まずい。実は、最後の人は私でした。(Mazui. Jitsu wa, saigo no hito wa watashi deshita.) |
| UEHARA: Uh, oh. To tell the truth, I was the last person. |
| 上原 (Uehara) : 他の人がいると思って。。。しまった！どうしよう！(Hoka no hito ga iru to omotte… Shimatta! Dō shiyō!) |
| UEHARA: I thought someone else was still here. I've done it this time. What should I do? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: ナツコさん、どうでしたか。どうでしたか？(Natsuko-san, dō deshita ka. Dō deshita ka?) |
| Natsuko: うーん、思い出しましたよ。(Ūn, omoidashimashita yo.) |
| Peter: You remembered? |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: そうですね。あの、仕事してると職場でよくあることですね。(Sō desu ne. Ano, shigoto shite ru to, shokuba de yoku aru koto desu ne.) |
| Natsuko: 多分よくあることだと思います。でも、鍵はまずいですね。(Tabun yoku aru koto da to omoimasu. Demo, kagi wa mazui desu ne.) |
| Peter: The key is a problem, a big problem. Definitely agree there. Okay, let’s take a look at the vocab first and then we will get into the conversation. Natsuko-san, first word. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Natsuko: 電気 (denki) |
| Peter: Electricity, light. |
| Natsuko: (slow) でんき (denki) (natural speed) 電気 (denki) |
| Peter: Next we have |
| Natsuko: 最後 (saigo) |
| Peter: Last. |
| Natsuko: (slow) さいご (saigo) (natural speed) 最後 (saigo) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: 消す (kesu) |
| Peter: To erase, to delete, to turn off the power is the second meaning, the one we are talking about here. |
| Natsuko: (slow) けす (kesu) (natural speed) 消す (kesu) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: 鍵 (kagi) |
| Peter: Key. |
| Natsuko: (slow) かぎ (kagi) (natural speed) 鍵 (kagi) |
| Peter: And lastly we have |
| Natsuko: 間違い (machigai) |
| Peter: Mistake. |
| Natsuko: (slow) まちがい (machigai) (natural speed) 間違い (machigai) |
| Peter: Okay, first line we have |
| Natsuko: おはようございます。(Ohayō gozaimasu.) |
| Peter: Standard greeting, entering the company and the response is |
| Natsuko: 上原さん、大変です。(Uehara-san, taihen desu.) |
| Peter: Okay, so who came to the company first? |
| Natsuko: The one who responded. |
| Peter: Yes. So A is strolling into the company. He is having a great morning. He is not expecting the rage of the boss that the others have experienced. Sometimes it’s nice not to be the first one there. |
| Natsuko: Yes, right. |
| Peter: Okay, so we tell this by the tone, he is very calm and he doesn’t know what’s going on. The other person knows what’s going on. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: 大変です (taihen desu), big problem, followed by |
| Natsuko: 社長が切れています。(Shachō ga kirete imasu.) |
| Peter: All right. What do we have here literally, the boss is? |
| Natsuko: cut off |
| Peter: Cut off. What does it mean? |
| Natsuko: It means he is mad like crazy. |
| Peter: Flipped out. So maybe kind of you could think about it as like 切れる (kireru) is cut, cut the bounds of reality. |
| Natsuko: Yeah. |
| Peter: That’s how angry he is. He is cut and beyond it. He is out of his normal element. He or she is really ticked off. |
| Natsuko: Yes, and it’s kind of a casual expression. So you don’t usually use it in formal situations. |
| Peter: Yeah, so we – we figure to fit this situation because I think be experienced what the boss did. So maybe screaming, shouting, kicking things and going wild but if it was a normal conversation, would – maybe this would be replaced by |
| Natsuko: 怒っています (okotte imasu) |
| Peter: 社長が怒ってます (shachō ga okotte masu) or とても怒ってます (totemo okotte masu), すごく怒ってます (sugoku okotte masu). |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: ものすごく怒ってます。(Monosugoku okotte masu.) |
| Natsuko: Well there are levels. |
| Peter: Okay. |
| Natsuko: You can go beyond, on and on. |
| Peter: Excellent point. Okay, next we have. |
| Natsuko: ええ、どうしたんですか。(Ee, dō shita n desu ka.) |
| Peter: Hah, what happened? |
| Natsuko: 昨日最後の人が、電気と電気湯沸かしポットを消すのを忘れていました。(Kinō saigo no hito ga, denki to denki yuwakashi potto o kesu no o wasurete imashita.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Now we are on to today’s grammar point and the focus of today’s lesson. Now first we have yesterday’s last person. The last one who left yesterday. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: But to get that, we need yesterday the last person who left the company. Now Natsuko-san, can you tell us about this first expression right here? It has 昨日 (kinō), followed by 最後の人 (saigo no hito). Is that one word or should there be a pause in there. How is that? |
| Natsuko: He is referring to what happened yesterday. |
| Peter: Okay, so 昨日 (kinō), break, followed by |
| Natsuko: 最後の人 (saigo no hito) |
| Peter: The last person. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: This is marked by the subject marker |
| Natsuko: が (ga) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: 電気と (denki to) |
| Peter: The lights and |
| Natsuko: 電気湯沸かしポット (denki yuwakashi potto) |
| Peter: Yeah. Maybe this should have been in the vocab. What do we have here? |
| Natsuko: I think so. |
| Peter: Electric hot water pot. Natsuko-san, help us out here. |
| Natsuko: Is this appliance not very common in the west? |
| Peter: Yeah, I think the coffee pot is very common in the west but yeah this one maybe but haven’t been back for a while but what we are talking about here is it’s used for keeping hot water used for tea or instant noodles. So like almost having almost boiling water… |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Right there ready at a push of a button this appliance does. Now maybe everybody out there, all the listeners can let us know, is this a common appliance where you work or where you are? |
| Natsuko: Uhoo. |
| Peter: Let us know. |
| Natsuko: I want to know. |
| Peter: Okay, so we have all of this. We have the lights and the electric hot water pot. These two things are marked by を (o), followed by |
| Natsuko: 消すのを (kesu no o ) |
| Peter: The verb 消す (kesu), followed by の (no), followed by |
| Natsuko: を (o) |
| Peter: Okay. What comes before that の (no) has been nominalized. |
| Natsuko: All the way back to 電気 (denki). So it’s 電気と電気湯沸かしポットを消す／の／を／忘れていました (denki to denki yuwakashi potto o kesu / no / o / wasurete imashita). |
| Peter: So everything from 電気 (denki) to the の (no) was being forgot, by who? |
| Natsuko: 最後の人 (saigo no hito) |
| Peter: Yeah. So break it down this way. 最後の人が (saigo no hito ga) that last person, then jump to the verb, was forgetting. Then add in from 電気 (denki) all the way through the の (no). So the last person was forgetting to turn off the electric hot water pot and lights. Now I keep saying “was forgetting.” It’s not the past tense. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: It’s the past progressive. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Natsuko-san, help us out here. |
| Natsuko: Ah because he seems to be still forgetting. No, no, no, no, no. No, because it’s almost the same with the present progressive. The progressive form shows the state. So it’s more like it was forgotten. |
| Peter: Excellent, excellent point. Thank you, Natsuko-san. Now let’s move on to the next line. |
| Natsuko: でも、よくあることじゃないですか。(Demo, yoku aru koto ja nai desu ka.) |
| Peter: But that happens often, right? じゃないですか (ja nai desu ka) and here it’s used as a tag question. That happens often, right? Followed by |
| Natsuko: それはそうですけど。(Sore wa sō desu kedo.) |
| Peter: That’s right, but. |
| Natsuko: 鍵をかけるのも忘れてました！(Kagi o kakeru no mo wasurete mashita!) |
| Peter: He is inferred. He doesn’t appear… |
| Natsuko: He or she maybe. |
| Peter: Excellent point, Natsuko-san. He or she is not included. The subject is not included here but it's inferred whether it be he or she, the subject is inferred here. Then we have |
| Natsuko: 鍵を (kagi o ) |
| Peter: The key. |
| Natsuko: かける (kakeru) |
| Peter: 鍵をかける (kagi o kakeru) is to lock. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: So to lock. |
| Natsuko: の (no) |
| Peter: Nominalize it. |
| Natsuko: も (mo) |
| Peter: Also. So again, he or she, then jump to the verb at the end was forgetting. Then to lock the door, to lock the place. So again we have the の (no) and here we have も (mo) which takes the place of |
| Natsuko: を (o) |
| Peter: Because the same person also forgot another thing. And that’s what it’s indicating here. This is followed by |
| Natsuko: かなりやばい間違いですよ。(Kanari yabai machigai desu yo.) |
| Peter: A pretty bad mistake, followed by |
| Natsuko: まずい。(Mazui.) |
| Peter: Oh no! |
| Natsuko: 実は、最後の人は私でした。(Jitsu wa, saigo no hito wa watashi deshita.) |
| Peter: The truth is, the last person was me. Now that’s the translation but here literally we have, the truth is, last person me was. Again in Japanese, the verb comes at the end. Finally we have |
| Natsuko: 他の人がいると思って。。。(Hoka no hito ga iru to omotte…) |
| Peter: I thought someone else was here. |
| Natsuko: しまった！(Shimatta!) |
| Peter: I blew it. |
| Natsuko: どうしよう！(Dō shiyō!) |
| Peter: What should I do? Yeah, so umm maybe some people can relate to this conversation. |
| Natsuko: Maybe. |
| Peter: Now for more about this nominalizing phrases with の (no), stop by japanesepod101.com. There inside the PDF, we will have a detailed write up of everything we covered in today’s lesson. You don’t want to miss this one because this structure really will help you take your Japanese to the next level. |
| Natsuko: I also imagine that you know some people might have trouble recognizing the soundのを (no o). It might be pretty obscure. |
| Peter: Definitely, a great point. |
| Natsuko: So repeat it and please get used to it. |
| Peter: Yeah. This is really, really good Japanese. It allows you to talk about, for example, you seeing the actions of another person. Natsuko, I saw you running down the street last night. |
| Natsuko: 昨日の夜君が走っているのを見たよ。(Kinō no yoru kimi ga hashitte iru no o mita yo.) |
| Peter: Yeah. Did you catch that のを (no o)? |
| Natsuko: Like that. |
| Peter: So really it helps you take the complexity of your sentences to another level. |
Outro |
| Natsuko: じゃあ、また明日ね。(Jā, mata ashita ne.) |
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