Learn about how to give permission or express that an action or state is alright
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Yoshi: おはよう、カトマンズ。ヨシです。(Ohayō, Katomanzu. Yoshi desu.) |
| Take: おはよう、カトマンズ。タケです。(Ohayō, Katomanzu. Take desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Beginner lesson #95. All right, as we stated before, over the past few weeks, we have covered the te-form of Japanese verbs. Now this has opened the door to many other grammatical structures. Today we will be introducing a very important one. Now this is asking permission to do something, an extremely important grammatical structure. So without further adieu, let’s get into today’s lesson. Here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| この電車は特急京都行きでございます。(Kono densha wa tokkyū Kyōto yuki de gozaimasu.) |
| たけ (Take) : すみません。この席は空いていますか。(Sumimasen. Kono seki wa aite imasu ka.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : はい、空いていますよ。(Hai, aite imasu yo.) |
| たけ (Take) : あ、すみません。暑いですね。(A, sumimasen. Atsui desu ne.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| たけ (Take) : すみませんが、窓を開けてもいいですか。(Sumimasen ga, mado o akete mo ii desu ka.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : いいですけど。(Ii desu kedo.) |
| たけ (Take) : ありがとうございます。ああ、涼しいですね。気持ちいい。(Arigatō gozaimasu. Ā, suzushii desu ne. Kimochi ii.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : ああ…。(Ā...) |
| たけ (Take) : ああ、今日の新聞ですか。(Ā, kyō no shinbun desu ka.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| たけ (Take) : すみません。ちょっと見てもいいですか。昨日の株価をチェックしたいんですが。(Sumimasen. Chotto mite mo ii desu ka. Kinō no kabuka o chekku shitai n desu ga.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : いいですけど…。(Ii desu kedo...) |
| たけ (Take) : ありがとうございます！(Arigatō gozaimasu!) |
| 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.) |
| この電車は特急京都行きでございます。(Kono densha wa tokkyū Kyōto yuki de gozaimasu.) |
| たけ (Take) : すみません。この席は空いていますか。(Sumimasen. Kono seki wa aite imasu ka.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : はい、空いていますよ。(Hai, aite imasu yo.) |
| たけ (Take) : あ、すみません。暑いですね。(A, sumimasen. Atsui desu ne.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| たけ (Take) : すみませんが、窓を開けてもいいですか。(Sumimasen ga, mado o akete mo ii desu ka.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : いいですけど。(Ii desu kedo.) |
| たけ (Take) : ああ、涼しいですね。気持ちいい。(Ā, suzushii desu ne. Kimochi ii.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : ああ…。(Ā...) |
| たけ (Take) : ありがとうございます。ああ、今日の新聞ですか。(Arigatō gozaimasu. Ā, kyō no shinbun desu ka.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| たけ (Take) : すみません。ちょっと見てもいいですか。昨日の株価をチェックしたいんですが。(Sumimasen. Chotto mite mo ii desu ka. Kinō no kabuka o chekku shitai n desu ga.) |
| よし (Yoshi) : いいですけど…。(Ii desu kedo...) |
| たけ (Take) : ありがとうございます！(Arigatō gozaimasu!) |
| 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.) |
| この電車は特急京都行きでございます。((Kono densha wa tokkyū Kyōto yuki de gozaimasu.) |
| This train is the express train for Kyoto. |
| たけ (Take) : すみません。この席は空いていますか。(Sumimasen. Kono seki wa aite imasu ka.) |
| TAKE: Excuse me, is this seat free? |
| よし (Yoshi) : はい、空いていますよ。(Hai, aite imasu yo.) |
| YOSHI: Yes, it's free. |
| たけ (Take) : あ、すみません。(A, sumimasen.) |
| TAKE: Thank you. |
| たけ (Take) : 暑いですね。(Atsui desu ne.) |
| TAKE: It's hot, isn't it? |
| よし (Yoshi) : そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| YOSHI: That's right. |
| たけ (Take) : すみませんが、窓を開けてもいいですか。(Sumimasen ga, mado o akete mo ii desu ka.) |
| TAKE: Excuse me, but may I open the window? |
| よし (Yoshi) : いいですけど。(Ii desu kedo.) |
| YOSHI: Umm, I suppose so. |
| たけ (Take) : ありがとうございます。(Arigatō gozaimasu.) |
| TAKE: Thank you. |
| たけ (Take) : ああ、涼しいですね。気持ちいい。(Ā, suzushii desu ne. Kimochi ii.) |
| TAKE: Ah, it's cool isn't it? Feels nice. |
| よし (Yoshi) : ああ…。(Ā...) |
| YOSHI: Umm, yeah. |
| たけ (Take) : ああ、今日の新聞ですか。(Ā, kyō no shinbun desu ka.) |
| TAKE: Ah, is that today's newspaper? |
| よし (Yoshi) : はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| YOSHI: Yes, it is. |
| たけ (Take) : すみません。ちょっと見てもいいですか。(Sumimasen. Chotto mite mo ii desu ka.) |
| TAKE: Excuse me, but may I take a look? |
| たけ (Take) : 昨日の株価をチェックしたいんですが。(Kinō no kabuka o chekku shitai n desu ga.) |
| TAKE: I want to check yesterday's stock market. |
| よし (Yoshi) : いいですけど…。(Ii desu kedo...) |
| YOSHI: Yeah, you may. |
| たけ (Take) : ありがとうございます！(Arigatō gozaimasu!) |
| TAKE: Thank you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Oh Take-san! Yoshi-san, let’s ask Take-san what he thought of the conversation. |
| Yoshi: タケさん、どうですか、この会話は？(Take-san, dō desu ka, kono kaiwa wa?) |
| Take: いやあ…明るくていい人ですね！(Iyā… akarukute ii hito desu ne!) |
| Peter: So that’s your idea of hmm.. how can we put it, a bright and interesting person, hah! Oh we hope we don’t get to sit next to you on the next training. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay, on to today’s vocabulary. Okay Natsuko-san, first word. お願いします。(Onegai shimasu.) |
| Natsuko: 最初のキーワードは、特急 (Saisho no kīwādo wa, tokkyū) |
| Peter: Express train. |
| Natsuko: (slow)とっきゅう (tokkyū) (natural speed) 特急 (tokkyū) |
| Peter: Natsuko-san, let’s ask Yoshi-san if he’s been on an express train recently. |
| Natsuko: ヨシさん、最近特急に乗りましたか。(Yoshi-san, saikin tokkyū ni norimashita ka.) |
| Yoshi: はい、乗りました。実は今朝、乗りましたよ。(Hai, norimashita. Jitsu wa kesa, norimashita yo.) |
| Natsuko: そうなんですか。(Sō nan desu ka.) |
| Yoshi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Yoshi-san, where did you go? |
| Yoshi: I came here by express train from Yokohama to Shibuya. |
| Peter: Ah… Now if you want to know more about trains, we are doing a special series on trains. Now the word for “express train,” one more time, Natsuko-san. |
| Natsuko: 特急 (tokkyū) |
| Peter: Is actually a bit misleading because there is actually another word for express train, which is |
| Natsuko: 急行 (kyūkō) |
| Peter: Yes, there are many different types of trains in Japan. So if you want to know more about this, check out the four-part series. Next word. |
| Yoshi: 次のキーワードは、席 (Tsugi no kīwādo wa, seki) |
| Peter: Seat. |
| Yoshi: (slow)せき (seki) (natural speed) 席 (seki) |
| Peter: Natsuko-san, say I wanted to go get tickets for Kabuki or the Tokyo Giants game, some kind of sporting event or some kind of event, how would I know if there are empty seats? |
| Natsuko: It says on the list 空席有 (kūseki ari), which means there are seats available. |
| Peter: Okay. Let’s take a look at this word. Give us the first part again. |
| Natsuko: 空 (kū) |
| Peter: Now this is actually the same character as what we had in the dialogue. |
| Natsuko: Yes. 空いている (aite iru) |
| Peter: And it means open. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: And then next we had |
| Natsuko: 席 (seki) |
| Peter: Which is obviously the kanji for seat. So put them together and it’s |
| Natsuko: 空席 (kūseki) |
| Peter: And 有 (ari) is to exist for inanimate things. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: All right. Now, if you see this, you know they still have seats available. What if it’s sold out? |
| Natsuko: 満席 (manseki) |
| Peter: 満 (man), now this is the character for full. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Full seat. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: They are all full. |
| Natsuko: Yes, so the seats are all reserved. |
| Peter: All right. So when you go to get tickets, this is what you want to look out for. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: For most people, the place where you probably see this is the movie theater. So when you go to buy tickets for the movie theater, they may have |
| Natsuko: 空席 (kūseki) |
| Peter: Still seats left or |
| Natsuko: 満席 (manseki) |
| Peter: Yeah. All full. Now Natsuko-san, |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Most of the theaters I have been to in Japan, all the seats are assigned. |
| Natsuko: Oh I see, those are the new types of theater. |
| Peter: Aaha! |
| Natsuko: Introducing the system to assign all seats. |
| Peter: Yeah, so if you go into these types of theaters, you should get there early. |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Peter: Because you know, it’s funny. The first time I went, I didn’t realize this and I was waiting first in line and I kind of thought it worked out really well. |
| Natsuko: Aaha I see. |
| Peter: And until the person said, you are in my seat and that’s when I realized that yeah assigned seat but this isn’t always the case, right? |
| Natsuko: No, there are some old types of theater in which you don’t assign any seats or some seats are assigned but not all. |
| Peter: First come first serve. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: All right, next we have. |
| Natsuko: 次のキーワードは、窓 (Tsugi no kīwādo wa, mado) |
| Peter: Window. |
| Natsuko: (slow)まど (mado) (natural speed) 窓 (mado) |
| Peter: And again we covered this many times. For example, if you are taking the train in Japan and you want a window seat, what would you ask for? |
| Natsuko: 窓側の席 (madogawa no seki) |
| Peter: Window side seat. Okay, and let’s ask Yoshi-san, is there a window in his company office. |
| Natsuko: よしさんの会社のオフィスには窓がありますか。(Yoshi-san no kaisha no ofisu ni wa mado ga arimasu ka.) |
| Yoshi: ありません。(Arimasen.) |
| Peter: I think that’s good for productivity. |
| Natsuko: Really? |
| Peter: Don’t let them see the light. |
| Yoshi: I was talking about this studio. |
| Natsuko: Ah, I see. |
| Peter: Ah! |
| Natsuko: No windows here. |
| Peter: Next we have |
| Yoshi: 次のキーワードは、涼しい (Tsugi no kīwādo wa, suzushii) |
| Peter: Cool. |
| Yoshi: (slow)すずしい (suzushii) (natural speed) 涼しい (suzushii) |
| Peter: And Yoshi-san, let’s ask Natsuko-san, what the opposite of 涼しい (suzushii) is |
| Yoshi: ナツコさん、涼しいの反対は何ですか。(Natsuko-san, suzushii no hantai wa nan desu ka.) |
| Natsuko: 暖かい (atatakai) |
| Peter: Next we have |
| Natsuko: 次のキーワードは、新聞 (Tsugi no kīwādo wa, shinbun) |
| Peter: Newspaper |
| Natsuko: (slow)しんぶん (shinbun) (natural speed) 新聞 (shinbun) |
| Peter: Now Natsuko-san, what are some major newspapers in Japan? |
| Natsuko: 朝日新聞、読売新聞 (Asahi shinbun, Yomiuri shinbun) |
| Peter: These are kind of the two standards. |
| Natsuko: Yes, national papers. |
| Peter: Okay. |
| Natsuko: And 日本経済新聞 (Nihon keizai shinbun), well known as 日経 (Nikkei). |
| Peter: The business newspaper. |
| Natsuko: Yes economy, financial, those types. |
| Peter: Now my favorite paper is the 日刊 (Nikkan), sports paper. |
| Natsuko: Oh I see. |
| Peter: And exclusively sports. |
| Natsuko: Uhoo… |
| Peter: Also Japan has many sports newspapers. |
| Natsuko: Yes. スポーツ新聞 (supōtsu shinbun) |
| Peter: And what are some examples? |
| Natsuko: 産経スポーツ (Sankei supōtsu) |
| Peter: 産経 (Sankei), isn’t that a bit right wing? |
| Natsuko: Yes, the original 産経 (Sankei) newspaper is a bit right sided… |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: And… |
| Peter: But they also have a sports paper. |
| Natsuko: Yes, yes. |
| Peter: Okay. |
| Natsuko: And 東京スポーツ (Tōkyō supōtsu), 東スポ (Tōsupo) |
| Peter: Okay. |
| Natsuko: A bit fishy. They tell kind of gossip headlines. |
| Peter: I see. |
| Natsuko: And 日刊スポーツ (Nikkan supōtsu) |
| Peter: I like that one. |
| Natsuko: Oh really? |
| Peter: Yeah, but just the front part because actually the middle section tends to get a bit strange. |
| Natsuko: Strange, yes. |
| Peter: Yeah, they go from hmm…sports to adult entertainment. |
| Natsuko: Uhoo, right. |
| Peter: And then back to entertainment. |
| Natsuko: Yeah. |
| Peter: I don’t understand that really but…So yeah, just the first few pages are quite interesting. Lots of sports coverage. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Natsuko-san, let’s ask Yoshi-san which one he reads. |
| Natsuko: ヨシさん、新聞は何を読みますか。(Yoshi-san, shinbun wa nani o yomimasu ka.) |
| Yoshi: 朝日新聞を読みます。ナツコさんは、何新聞を読みますか。(Asahi shinbun o yomimasu. Natsuko-san wa, nani shinbun o yomimasu ka.) |
| Natsuko: 新聞は読みません。インターネットを見ています。(Shinbun wa yomimasen. Intānetto o mite imasu.) |
| Peter: Really? |
| Natsuko: Yes. I don’t take newspapers. |
| Peter: But we have so many at the office. |
| Natsuko: Oh yeah, right. |
| Peter: Nothing about the horses, the ponies? |
| Natsuko: Yeah, I occasionally pick some information from sports newspapers. |
| Yoshi: 次のキーワードは、株価 (Tsugi no kīwādo wa, kabuka) |
| Peter: Stock price. |
| Yoshi: (slow)かぶか (kabuka) (natural speed) 株価 (kabuka) |
| Peter: Natsuko-san, what’s the name of the Tokyo stock exchange, the TSE? |
| Natsuko: 東京証券取引所 (Tōkyō shōken torihikijo) |
| Peter: Now in the conversation, what did Take say so that he could check the prices. |
| Natsuko: 昨日の株価 (kinō no kabuka) |
| Peter: So rather than saying stocks, I want to check the stocks or I want to see what happened on the market, you could say |
| Natsuko: 株価 (kabuka) |
| Peter: I want to check the stock price. The stock price is…Natsuko-san, let’s ask Yoshi-san, does he have any stock? |
| Natsuko: ヨシさん、株を持ってますか。(Yoshi-san, kabu o motte masu ka.) |
| Yoshi: いいえ、まだ持ってません。(Iie, mada motte masen.) |
| Peter: And how about Natsuko-san? |
| Yoshi: ナツコさんは、株を持っていますか。(Natsuko-san wa, kabu o motte imasu ka.) |
| Natsuko: 一種類だけ持っています。(Isshurui dake motte imasu.) |
| Peter: Tell us, tell us, tell us. |
| Natsuko: 東京ガスの株です。(Tōkyō gasu no kabu desu.) |
| Peter: Ah, recently it must be going up. |
| Natsuko: Yes, I think so, but I only own and I don’t trade it. So I am not very keen on the price. |
| Peter: Ah… |
| Yoshi: ピーターさんは？(Pītā-san wa?) |
| Peter: Ah yeah, I have some stocks, but all US stocks. |
| Natsuko: Oh… |
| Peter: Because up until a certain point, before it was very difficult to buy a small amount of stock in Japan but that has changed… |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Over the last five years but when I had money, there wasn’t really an option. You had to buy 1000 or 100 shares and the stock price was extremely high on purpose. So nothing in Japan. |
| Natsuko: Do you want to try to have some? |
| Peter: Yes. Honda. |
| Natsuko: Oh… |
| Peter: I like that company. |
| Natsuko: Yeah, I like that too but it’s really expensive. Isn’t it? |
| Peter: Yeah. The US price isn’t so bad. |
| Natsuko: Oh really? |
| Peter: One share is around USD30. |
| Natsuko: そうなんだ。知りませんでした。(Sō nan da. Shirimasen deshita.) |
| Peter: Next we have |
| Natsuko: 次のキーワードは、チェック (Tsugi no kīwādo wa, chekku) |
| Peter: Check as in to verify. |
| Natsuko: (slow)チェック (chekku) (natural speed) チェック (chekku) |
| Peter: And how do we make this into a verb? |
| Natsuko: チェックする (chekku suru) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yoshi: 次のキーワードは、空く (Tsugi no kīwādo wa, aku) |
| Peter: Empty. |
| Yoshi: (slow)あく (aku) (natural speed) 空く (aku) |
| Peter: Now while this word means empty, it also doubles as free as in nothing planned. For example, you may hear this often when someone is asking about your plans. Yoshi-san, can you ask Natsuko-san if she is free on Wednesday? |
| Yoshi: ナツコさん、水曜日は空いていますか。 (Natsuko-san, sui-yōbi wa aite imasu ka.) |
| Natsuko: 水曜日は仕事があります。(Sui-yōbi wa shigoto ga arimasu.) |
| Peter: So she is busy after all but the point is that we can use this to ask about someone’s schedule. Now again we can also say there is another way. There are many ways to ask if you are free. Yoshi-san, can you give us a few more? |
| Yoshi: ナツコさんは、水曜日暇ですか。(Natsuko-san wa, sui-yōbi hima desu ka.) |
| Natsuko: 仕事があります。(Shigoto ga arimasu.) |
| Peter: But this 空いてる (aite ru) is a common way to ask if someone is free. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Okay, on to today’s grammar point. Natsuko-san, what’s today’s grammar point? |
| Natsuko: 今日のグラマーポイントは、てもいいですか (Kyō no guramā pointo wa, te mo ii desu ka) |
| Peter: May I, is it okay? Now let’s break this into two parts. First is the te-construction plus |
| Natsuko: も (mo) |
| Peter: This roughly translates into even if. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: So the actual while we translate it as may I, the more accurate translation would be even if I do something, something, is it okay. For example, in the dialogue, what was the first thing Take asked to do? |
| Natsuko: 窓を開けてもいいですか。(Mado o akete mo ii desu ka.) |
| Peter: So even if I open the window, is it okay? But when we take the nuance, it is may I. So may I open the window and again the て (te) construction plus も (mo) and then we attach |
| Natsuko: いいですか (ii desu ka) |
| Peter: For asking. |
Outro |
| Peter: Okay, more about this inside the PDF. That’s going to do for today. |
| Natsuko: また明日ね。(Mata ashita ne.) |
| Yoshi: またね。(Mata ne.) |
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