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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: なつこです。 (Natsuko desu.) |
| Sachiko: さちこです。 (Sachiko desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Dave comes to Japan. Now in today’s’ lesson, we will be reviewing the polite past tense and てくる (te kuru). Now Natsuko-san, today's conversation will be formal, informal. What do we have going with the politeness level? |
| Natsuko: Formal Japanese. |
| Peter: Formal Japanese. Sachiko-san. What kind of relationship do these two people have? |
| Sachiko: I would say they were colleagues or acquaintances but not too well. They don’t know each other too well. |
| Peter: Yeah and that’s why they are using we would like to say textbook 丁寧 (teinei) polite Japanese. All right, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 恵子: デイブさん、いつ日本へ帰って来ましたか。 (Deibu-san, itsu Nihon e kaette kimashita ka?) |
| デイブ: 先週の木曜日に帰って来ました。 (Senshū no mokuyōbi ni kaette kimashita.) |
| 恵子: カナダはどうでしたか。 (Kanada wa dō deshita ka?) |
| デイブ: 寒かったです。 (Samukatta desu.) |
| 恵子: カナダのシロクマは元気でしたか。 (Kanada no shirokuma wa genki desu ka?) |
| デイブ: いいえ、元気じゃありませんでした。 (Iie, genki ja arimasen.) |
| 恵子: どうして? (Dōshite?) |
| デイブ: おいしいアザラシが捕れません。 (Oishii azarashi ga toremasen.) |
| 恵子: どうして? (Dōshite?) |
| デイブ: カナダも暖冬です。海が全部凍りません。だから、アザラシが逃げます。 (Kanada mo dantō desu. Umi ga zenbu kōrimasen. Dakara, azarashi ga nigemasu.) |
| 恵子: まあ、かわいそうですね。シロクマは。でも、アザラシにはよかったかも! (Mā, kawaisō desu ne. Shirokuma wa. Demo, azarashi ni wa yokatta kamo!) |
| もう一度お願いします。今度は、ゆっくりお願いします。 (Mōichido onegaishimasu. Kondo wa, yukkuri onegaishimasu.) |
| 恵子: デイブさん、いつ日本へ帰って来ましたか。 (Deibu-san, itsu Nihon e kaette kimashita ka?) |
| デイブ: 先週の木曜日に帰って来ました。 (Senshū no mokuyōbi ni kaette kimashita.) |
| 恵子: カナダはどうでしたか。 (Kanada wa dō deshita ka?) |
| デイブ: 寒かったです。 (Samukatta desu.) |
| 恵子: カナダのシロクマは元気でしたか。 (Kanada no shirokuma wa genki desu ka?) |
| デイブ: いいえ、元気じゃありませんでした。 (Iie, genki ja arimasen.) |
| 恵子: どうして? (Dōshite?) |
| デイブ: おいしいアザラシが捕れません。 (Oishii azarashi ga toremasen.) |
| 恵子: どうして? (Dōshite?) |
| デイブ: カナダも暖冬です。海が全部凍りません。だから、アザラシが逃げます。 (Kanada mo dantō desu. Umi ga zenbu kōrimasen. Dakara, azarashi ga nigemasu.) |
| 恵子: まあ、かわいそうですね。シロクマは。でも、アザラシにはよかったかも! (Mā, kawaisō desu ne. Shirokuma wa. Demo, azarashi ni wa yokatta kamo!) |
| 次はピーターさんの英語が入ります。 (Tsugi wa pītā-san no eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 恵子: デイブさん、いつ日本へ帰って来ましたか。 (Deibu-san, itsu Nihon e kaette kimashita ka.) |
| Peter: Dave, when did you get back to Japan? |
| デイブ: 先週の木曜日に帰って来ました。(Senshū no mokuyōbi ni kaette kimashita.) |
| Peter: I returned last Thursday. |
| 恵子: カナダはどうでしたか。 (Kanada wa dōdeshita ka.) |
| Peter: How was Canada? |
| デイブ: 寒かったです。 (Samukatta desu.) |
| Peter: It was cold. |
| 恵子: カナダのシロクマは元気でしたか。 (Kanada no shirokuma wa genki deshita ka.) |
| Peter: Are the polar bears well? |
| デイブ: いいえ、元気じゃありませんでした。 (Īe, genki jaarimasen deshita.) |
| Peter: No they are not well. |
| 恵子: どうして? (Dōshite?) |
| Peter: Why? |
| デイブ: おいしいアザラシが捕れません。 (Oishī azarashi ga toremasen.) |
| Peter: They can’t catch delicious seals. |
| 恵子: どうして? (Dōshite?) |
| Peter: Why? |
| デイブ: カナダも暖冬です。海が全部凍りません。だから、アザラシが逃げます。 (Kanada mo dantō desu. Umi ga zenbu kōrimasen. Dakara, azarashi ga nigemasu.) |
| Peter: It’s also a warm winter in Canada. The ocean didn’t freeze completely. So the seals escape. |
| 恵子: まあ、かわいそうですね。シロクマは。でも、アザラシにはよかったかも! (Mā, kawaisō desu ne. Shirokuma wa. Demo, azarashi ni wa yokatta kamo!) |
| Peter: Ah poor polar bears but that may be good for the seals. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sachiko: なつこさん、会話はどう思いましたか。 (Natsuko-san, kaiwa wa dō omoimashita ka.) |
| Natsuko: 困りましたね、カナダも暖冬ですか。 (Komarimashita ne, Kanada mo dantō desu ka.) |
| Sachiko: So they are having warm winters in Canada as well. That must be a problem. |
| Natsuko: It’s a problem here in Tokyo too. 東京も暖冬ですね。 (Tōkyō mo dantō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Yeah, I definitely agree. Tokyo too, it’s a warm winter. That's a great vocab word and speaking of vocab words, let’s get to that. |
| Sachiko: First one is. |
| Natsuko: 先週 (senshū) |
| Sachiko: Last week, the week before. |
| Natsuko: (slow)せんしゅう (senshū) (natural speed) 先週 (senshū). You can use this expression also for days and months right? |
| Sachiko: Yes we can. |
| Natsuko: 先日 (senjitsu) |
| Sachiko: The other day. |
| Natsuko: 先月 (sengetsu) |
| Sachiko: Last month. So when used for days, it’s not exactly about yesterday but some days before. |
| Peter: What does the range go up to? |
| Sachiko: I wonder. |
| Peter: Like the other day I was writing a formal email and I met with some people about two weeks ago. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Peter: But I put in the email 先日 (senjitsu) So it was already two weeks but I put the other day. |
| Sachiko: Yeah right. I think that’s okay. I used it for the last time I met you, is how I use it. |
| Peter: Right. |
| Sachiko: Yeah. |
| Peter: Oh really. |
| Sachiko: Yeah. Be it two months ago, three months ago, if I wanted to say, oh the last time I met you, we had a lot of fun. I would say 先日はとても楽しかったですね (Senjitsu wa totemo tanoshikatta desu ne). |
| Peter: Wow 勉強になりました (benkyō ni narimashita). |
| Sachiko: Well but maybe not up to years. Yeah not year. After six months, I wouldn’t use it, I don’t think. |
| Peter: An expiration period of six months. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Peter: All right, there are asterisks in the PDF. |
| Sachiko: Okay next. |
| Natsuko: 木曜日 (mokuyōbi) |
| Sachiko: Thursday. |
| Natsuko: (slow)もくようび (mo ku yō bi) (natural speed)木曜日 (mokuyōbi) |
| Sachiko: So combining it with the previous word, how would you say last Thursday? |
| Natsuko: 先週の木曜日 (senshū no mokuyōbi) |
| Sachiko: So there is a の (no) in the middle of it. Great. Can you give us a sample sentence? |
| Natsuko: 先週の木曜日も雨だった。 (Senshū no mokuyōbi mo ame datta.) |
| Sachiko: It was raining last Thursday too. Okay next. |
| Natsuko: 寒い (samui) |
| Sachiko: Cold. |
| Natsuko: (slow)さむい (samui) (natural speed)寒い (samui) |
| Sachiko: Now Natsuko-san in Japanese, we have another word that means cold to refer to something else. |
| Natsuko: Yes 冷たい (tsumetai) |
| Sachiko: That also means cold. And what’s the difference between 冷たい (tsumetai) and 寒い (samui). |
| Natsuko: 寒い (samui) is a word used for weather and – like atmosphere. |
| Sachiko: Okay. |
| Natsuko: Temperature. |
| Sachiko: When you say 冷たい (tsumetai), you feel the coldness by touching something like a glass of water or a cold desk. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sachiko: Or ice, snow. |
| Natsuko: Exactly. |
| Peter: So you are using one of your senses. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Peter: Touch, taste. |
| Sachiko: Yes and 寒い (samui) is more like a state of being cold. |
| Peter: Ah…That’s a nice explanation. |
| Sachiko: So if you are in a room and you are just naturally cold, you say 寒い (samui) And also you use this for weather and the temperature. So it’s cold today would be 今日は寒い (kyō wa samui). |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Sachiko: And it would never be 今日は冷たい (kyō wa tsumetai) but maybe you can say 風が冷たい (kaze ga tsumetai). The wind is cold. |
| Peter: Oh the confusion. Let’s just go through a few because yeah this is one kind of sticking point that really – and this is what season 2 is all about. Really reinforcing – really going and really untangling the web. So Natsuko-san. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Peter: When you speak about a person’s characteristics, the person can be. |
| Sachiko: 冷たい (tsumetai) Cold blooded. |
| Peter: Cold blooded. Now going to the refrigerator, touching things in the refrigerator… |
| Sachiko: 冷たい。(Tsumetai.) |
| Peter: Okay. What else do we have Sachiko? |
| Natsuko: Ice cubes are 冷たい (tsumetai). |
| Peter: So again touching. So you take or buy some ice cream and it’s really cold. |
| Sachiko: 冷たい。 (Tsumetai.) |
| Peter: So again you are sensing it. If you can sense it, one of the I guess the five senses or any of the ones that would apply to this can’t really smell cold but you will go at 冷たい (tsumetai) and there are few exceptions such as a person being cold. All right, let’s go on. |
| Sachiko: Sample sentence please. |
| Natsuko: 北国はとても寒い。 (Kitaguni wa totemo samui.) |
| Sachiko: Northern regions are very cold. Next word. |
| Natsuko: 取る (toru) |
| Sachiko: To take, to catch, to capture. |
| Natsuko: (slow)とる (toru) (natural speed)取る (toru) |
| Sachiko: Next. |
| Natsuko: 暖冬 (dantō) |
| Sachiko: Mild winter. |
| Natsuko: (slow)だんとう (da ntō) (natural speed)暖冬 (dantō). 今東京は暖冬ですね。 (Ima Tōkyō wa dantō desu ne.) |
| Sachiko: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) Tokyo is experiencing mild winter this year. Next. |
| Natsuko: 全部 (zenbu) |
| Sachiko: All, entire, whole, altogether. |
| Natsuko: (slow)ぜんぶ (zenbu) (natural speed)全部 (zenbu) |
| Sachiko: Sample sentence please. |
| Natsuko: それを全部食べたら多いですよ。 (Sore o zenbu tabetara ōi desu yo.) |
| Sachiko: That would be a lot of food if you ate everything. Somehow I hear that phrase said to me very often but it’s okay. |
| Natsuko: Really. |
| Sachiko: Yeah I am happy the way I am. Next word. |
| Natsuko: 凍る (kōru) |
| Sachiko: To freeze, to be frozen over. |
| Natsuko: (slow)こおる (kōru) (natural speed)凍る (kōru) |
| Sachiko: So if you wanted to say water freezes, what would you say? |
| Natsuko: 水が凍る。 (Mizu ga kōru.) |
| Sachiko: And when water freezes, it becomes |
| Natsuko: 氷 (kōri) |
| Sachiko: Which is ice. It’s very similar, isn’t it? 凍る (kōru) the verb and 氷 (kōri) the noun although they use different kanji. Yes, a good point to remember. It looks completely different. So beware. Right next word. |
| Natsuko: 逃げる (nigeru) |
| Sachiko: To escape. To run away. |
| Natsuko: (slow)にげる (nigeru) (natural speed)逃げる (nigeru) |
| Sachiko: Now there is a word in Japanese that means to run away in the middle of the night, to escape all your bad debts. What is that? |
| Peter: Really, I need that. |
| Sachiko: Really? |
| Natsuko: Listen carefully. 夜逃げ (yonige) which is to run away in the middle of the night. |
| Sachiko: I hope you don’t need to use this. Peter, |
| Natsuko: Peter, why were you asking? Explain. |
| Peter: Nothing special. |
| Natsuko: Start talking. 夜逃げ (yonige)、 夜 (yoru) stands for |
| Sachiko: Night. |
| Natsuko: It’s the same character for |
| Sachiko: 夜 (yoru) |
| Natsuko: Yes and in this word, it’s pronounced よ。夜逃げ。(Yo. Yonige.) Next word. |
| Sachiko: シロクマ (shirokuma) |
| Natsuko: Polar bear. |
| Sachiko: (slow)シロクマ (shirokuma) (natural speed)シロクマ (shirokuma) |
| Natsuko: This is interesting. シロ (shiro) means |
| Sachiko: White. |
| Natsuko: クマ (kuma) means? |
| Sachiko: Bear. |
| Natsuko: Altogether it’s |
| Sachiko: White bear. |
| Natsuko: Yeah, polar bears are white. White bear, how cute. Okay next word. |
| Sachiko: アザラシ (azarashi) |
| Natsuko: Seal. |
| Sachiko: (slow)アザラシ (azarashi) (natural speed)アザラシ (azarashi) |
| Natsuko: I wonder if we can break this down too. |
| Sachiko: Ah not sure. |
| Natsuko: Okay. Nice try though. It kind of sounds like タワシ (tawashi) but maybe this is because they look like one. |
| Peter: What is タワシ (tawashi)? |
| Sachiko: タワシ (tawashi) is a really useful device you use when you are washing the dishes. It scrubs really hard. |
| Natsuko: What’s it made of? |
| Sachiko: Ah.. I am not sure. |
| Natsuko: It looks like porcupine needles. |
| Peter: Ah… |
| Natsuko: It looks like a bushel of porcupine needles. It’s brown. |
| Sachiko: Some kind of twigs twisted together. |
| Natsuko: Yeah. |
| Peter: タワシ (tawashi)... |
| Sachiko: It’s great if you are getting all the dirty dishes. |
| Peter: Sounds more like a punishment tool for bad kids. |
| Sachiko: Ah good idea but my kids all use it. I am afraid this has nothing to do with アザラシ (azarashi). |
| Natsuko: Okay. It just rhymes. |
| Peter: You know the author of the story I asked her, I said シロクマは本当にアザラシを食べますか？ (Shirokuma wa hontōni azarashi o tabemasu ka?) Do polar bears really eat seals? |
| Natsuko: I think so. |
| Sachiko: I think so. |
| Peter: Yeah because her answer was 大好物 (dai kōbutsu). |
| Sachiko: Ah big word. 大好物。 (Dai kōbutsu.) |
| Peter: One of their favorite things. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: It’s like their favorite thing, so. |
| Natsuko: I believe so. I never ask but… |
| Peter: Yeah I thought that was pretty relevant. I like that word 大好物 (dai kōbutsu). |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: All right, well let’s take a look at some of the lines of the sentence. Natsuko-san. Can you give us the first line? |
| Natsuko: デイブさん、いつ日本へ帰ってきましたか？ (Deibu-san, itsu Nihon e kaette kimashita ka?) |
| Peter: Dave, when did you get back to Japan? Now here we have 帰ってくる (kaette kuru). Now the くる (kuru) here is an auxiliary verb. So the fact that it is the past tense means that that action was completed. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Came back to Japan. Now another point of interest in the story. |
| Natsuko: 美味しいアザラシがとれないからです。 (Oishī azarashi ga torenaikara desu.) |
| Peter: Yeah in the vocab we had とる (toru) to take but here we have とれる (toreru). |
| Natsuko: Yes とれる (toreru) |
| Peter: And we have the subject marker が (ga) and then we have a delicious seal. I don’t know about this but apologies for the word like…. |
| Sachiko: The poor seals out there. |
| Natsuko: Never tried? |
| Peter: I never tried. Oh boy! Okay but we have seals アザラシがとれない (Azarashi ga torenai). Natsuko-san. Can you help us out with the grammar here, what’s going on here? Is this とれる (toreru) as in the potential? |
| Natsuko: It looks like so but when you look at it carefully, you notice that it’s not アザラシをとれない (azarashi o torenai) but アザラシがとれない (azarashi ga torenai). So notice here アザラシ (azarashi) is the subject with a marker が (ga). So アザラシ (azarashi) aren’t caught. |
| Peter: The seals aren’t caught. |
| Natsuko: They are in a state of not being caught. |
| Peter: Good for them. Yeah, they are in a state of not being caught. |
| Sachiko: Few. |
| Peter: So yeah this is a concept you kind of have to get used to |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: With this construction. なになにがとれない (nani nani ga torenai) Like it’s in a state of not being caught, they are not being caught meaning the bears aren’t eating them. They can’t get them. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Peter: And the から (kara) indicates that this is the reason because they aren’t caught. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay and finally we want to take a look at the last line of this dialogue. |
| Natsuko: でもアザラシには良かったかも。 (Demo azarashi ni wa yokatta kamo.) But it may be good for the seals. |
| Peter: Now at the end of the sentence, you have かも (kamo). This is short for |
| Natsuko: かもしれない (kamo shirenai) |
| Peter: Which is short for |
| Natsuko: かもしれません (kamo shiremasen) |
| Peter: Yeah and indicating chance, probability. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Maybe, it maybe and yeah I think it’s really good for the seals. I don’t think we need the probability here. |
| Sachiko: Definitely. |
Outro |
| Peter: Yeah. That’s going to do it for today. |
| Sachiko: じゃ、また明日ね。 (Ja, mata ashita ne.) |
| Natsuko: また明日。 (Ja, mata ashita ne.) |
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