Learn about talking about conditional situations
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: 夏子です。 (Natsuko desu.) |
| Sachiko: Sachiko here, Mobile phone. So Natsuko-san, do you have a mobile phone yourself? |
| Natsuko: Yes I do. |
| Sachiko: Would you say most people in Japan have mobile phones? |
| Natsuko: Yes so. |
| Sachiko: I was really surprised when I came back. |
| Natsuko: Oh really? |
| Sachiko: Everybody and everybody had cell phones, they had camera equipped cell phones which wasn’t around the last time I lived here. |
| Natsuko: Oh.. |
| Sachiko: That was really surprising. Even the kids. |
| Natsuko: Exactly. |
| Sachiko: Have one of them. |
| Natsuko: Yeah I have been bumping into so many children like 8, 9, 10 years old who have cell phones of their own. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Natsuko: Like what do they use it for? |
| Sachiko: That’s what’s about today’s lesson right? |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Sachiko: So today’s conversation is between a boy and his mother over cell phones. So what kind of Japanese is used here casually? |
| Natsuko: Yes. So let’s pay attention to that part too. Here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 子ども: ねぇ、お母さん、携帯電話買ってよ~。 (Nē, o-kāsan, keitai denwa katte yō.) |
| 母: ダメ。小学生に携帯電話は必要ないでしょ。 (Dame. Shōgakusei ni keitai denwa wa hitsuyō nai desho.) |
| 子ども: みんな持ってるよ。いくつになったら買ってくれるの? (Minna motteru yo. Ikutsu ni nattara katte kureru no?) |
| 母: 携帯電話で何をするの? (Keitai denwa de nani o suru no?) |
| 子ども: ゲームとか、メールするんだよ。 (Gēmu toka, mēru suru n da yo.) |
| 母: 電話をするだけなら、買ってもいいわよ。 (Denwa o suru dake nara, katte mo ii wa yo.) |
| 子ども: えー!!それなら、携帯電話いらないよ! (Ē!! Sore nara, keitai denwa iranai yo!) |
| もう一度お願いします。ゆっくり、お願いします。 (Mōichido onegaishimasu. Yukkuri, onegaishimasu.) |
| 子ども: ねぇ、お母さん、携帯電話買ってよ~。 (Nē, o-kāsan, keitai denwa katte yō.) |
| 母: ダメ。小学生に携帯電話は必要ないでしょ。 (Dame. Shōgakusei ni keitai denwa wa hitsuyō nai desho.) |
| 子ども: みんな持ってるよ。いくつになったら買ってくれるの? (Minna motteru yo. Ikutsu ni nattara katte kureru no?) |
| 母: 携帯電話で何をするの? (Keitai denwa de nani o suru no?) |
| 子ども: ゲームとか、メールするんだよ。 (Gēmu toka, mēru suru n da yo.) |
| 母: 電話をするだけなら、買ってもいいわよ。 (Denwa o suru dake nara, katte mo ii wa yo.) |
| 子ども: えー!!それなら、携帯電話いらないよ! (Ē!! Sore nara, keitai denwa iranai yo!) |
| 次は、英語が入ります。 (Tsugi wa, eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 子ども: ねぇ、お母さん、携帯電話買ってよ~。 (Ne~e, okāsan, geitaidenwa katte yo ~.) |
| Hey Mom. Buy me a cell phone! |
| 母: ダメ。小学生に携帯電話は必要ないでしょ。 (Dame. Shōgakusei ni geitaidenwa wa hitsuyō naidesho.) |
| No. Elementary students do not need cell phones. |
| 子ども: みんな持ってるよ。いくつになったら買ってくれるの? (Min'na motteru yo. Ikutsu ni nattara katte kureru no?) |
| But everybody has one. When will you get me one? |
| 母: 携帯電話で何をするの? (Geitaidenwa de nani o suru no?) |
| What would you do with a cell phone? |
| 子ども: ゲームとか、メールするんだよ。 (Gēmu toka, mēru suru nda yo.) |
| Play games, and send e-mail. |
| 母: 電話をするだけなら、買ってもいいわよ。 (Denwa o suru dakenara, katte mo ī wa yo.) |
| If you're only going to make phone calls, I could buy you one. |
| 子ども: えー!!それなら、携帯電話いらないよ! (E ̄ ! ! Sorenara, geitaidenwa iranai yo!) |
| What? In that case, I don't need a cell phone! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sachiko: Natsuko-san what did you think? |
| Natsuko: うん、小学生に携帯電話はいらないと思う。 (Un, shōgakusei ni geitaidenwa wa iranai to omou.) |
| Sachiko: You don’t think elementary school kids should have cell phones? |
| Natsuko: Yes basically. |
| Sachiko: Yeah I don’t – I don’t get it either especially if the child only wants to play video games or just email people. |
| Natsuko: Yeah. |
| Sachiko: I don’t understand the purpose of that but some parents buy cell phones for their kids for security. So just for safety. |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Sachiko: Maybe they carry one. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sachiko:So let’s look at the vocabulary in today’s conversation. The first one please Natsuko-san? |
| Natsuko: 携帯電話 (geitaidenwa) |
| Sachiko: Cell phone. |
| Natsuko: (slow)けいたいでんわ (Ke itai denwa) (natural speed) 携帯電話 (geitaidenwa) |
| Sachiko: Now the first part 携帯 (keitai) means portable. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sachiko: And the last part, 電話 (denwa) is telephone. |
| Natsuko: Yes telephone you carry with and recently, just 携帯 (keitai) means mobile phone. |
| Sachiko: Yes. |
| Natsuko: Yeah 携帯 (keitai) because it became so popular. |
| Sachiko: Right. |
| Natsuko: Bizarre. |
| Sachiko: Next word please. |
| Natsuko: 小学生 (shōgakusei) |
| Sachiko: Elementary school student. |
| Natsuko: (slow)しょうがくせい (shōgakusei) (natural speed) 小学生 (shōgakusei) |
| Sachiko: How would you say elementary school? |
| Natsuko: 小学校 (shōgakkō) So the last character in 小学生 (shōgakusei) means a person. |
| Sachiko: Yes actually a student maybe |
| Natsuko: ああ、学生の生ですね。 (Ā, gakusei no nama desu ne.) |
| Sachiko: And when you turn that into elementary school, the building you use a different character for 学校 (gakkō). |
| Natsuko: Yes 校 (kō) |
| Sachiko: Next word please. |
| Natsuko: 必要 (hitsuyō) |
| Sachiko: Necessary. |
| Natsuko: (slow)ひつよう (hitsu-yō) (natural speed) 必要 (hitsuyō) |
| Sachiko: So if you wanted to say in a sentence, that is necessary, what would you say? |
| Natsuko: それは必要だ。 (Sore wa hitsuyōda.) |
| Sachiko: That is necessary but in this conversation, it was the opposite. That’s not necessary. |
| Natsuko: 必要ない。 (Hitsuyō nai.) |
| Sachiko: I agree with the mother I think. |
| Natsuko: Me too. |
| Sachiko: Next vocabulary please. |
| Natsuko: ゲーム (gēmu) |
| Sachiko: Game. In Japanese, when you say game, does it usually mean a computer game? |
| Natsuko: Yes, I think video games. |
| Sachiko: Yeah video games. True. Maybe it can refer to board games. |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Sachiko: But I think mostly video games because board games are just almost nonexistent now. Nobody plays them anymore. |
| Natsuko: No more monopolies? |
| Sachiko: I don’t know. That’s my favorite. |
| Natsuko: That’s sad. |
| Sachiko: I know I loved it but in a while. What’s the next word please? |
| Natsuko: メール (mēru) |
| Sachiko: Email. |
| Natsuko: (slow)メール (mēru) (natural speed) メール (mēru) |
| Sachiko: So in English, mail would mean going through the post office mailing but in Japanese メール (mēru) only refers to email. |
| Natsuko: That’s right. |
| Sachiko: So there is a separate word for mailing, 郵便 (yūbin), so that’s for the snail mail. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Sachiko: So if you seek the Katakana word メール (mēru) that’s almost 100% emails. |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Sachiko: And in a conversation, would you actually say メールする (mēru suru) |
| Natsuko: Right. So it can be also used as a verb. I will send you an email. |
| Sachiko: Right. |
| Natsuko: メールする。 (Mēru suru.) |
| Sachiko: So much a part of Japanese culture now. It’s blended in. |
| Natsuko: Exactly. |
| Sachiko: And our last vocabulary please. |
| Natsuko: それなら (sorenara) |
| Sachiko: If that’s the case, then |
| Natsuko: (slow)それなら (sorenara) (natural speed) それなら (sorenara) |
| Sachiko: Now let’s look at the last sentence in our conversation. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Hello Natsuko-san. |
| Natsuko: こんにちは。 (Konnichiwa.) |
| Peter: 失礼します。 (Shitsureishimasu.) So I have been summoned to help out with today’s grammar point. |
| Natsuko: Yes please. Help us out. |
| Peter: What? No, you help us out because we are going to defer this to you. So well first of all, what is today’s grammar point? |
| Natsuko: たら (tara) and なら (nara) |
| Peter: Both of which are conditional conjunctions and we’ve been talking about conditionals quite a lot recently. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: But it’s very necessary. You know one of the best things you could do to really take your Japanese to the next level. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Is to introduce conditionals to your speaking patterns and once you get the patterns, once you understand how to do it, you know, it’s up to you to try it over and over and over again. |
| Natsuko: Just get used to it. |
| Peter: Exactly. Now たら (tara) is a subordinate conjunction which indicates that the events in the subordinate clause occur or may occur after the event in the main clause. In English, this roughly corresponds to when, if, after, and this is one of the things about たら (tara). You have to listen to the whole sentence or you have to hear it in context to really understand which one they are talking about because sometimes it could be an if conditional, sometimes it could be talking about when, a point in time. So there are many different possibilities. So again context. Now たら (tara) is quite easy to form right Natsuko-san? |
| Natsuko: Yeah. |
| Peter: How do we form the たら (tara) conditional? |
| Natsuko: Just add ら (ra) to the past tense. |
| Peter: That’s it. |
| Natsuko: Yeah. |
| Peter: So the conjugation is quite easy. |
| Natsuko: Yeah and actually the たら (tara) is part of the past tense right? |
| Peter: Yeah so if you can conjugate the past tense, you can make this conditional. |
| Natsuko: Yeah just add ら (ra). |
| Peter: Yeah then we also add, wow! What a lesson, we also had なら (nara). Can you give us that pronunciation one more time? |
| Natsuko: なら (nara) |
| Peter: Now this conditional follows verbs, adjectives, nouns, as is. So we just have the adjective or the verb followed by |
| Natsuko: なら (nara) |
| Peter: So very easy to construct. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
Outro |
| Peter: But today was a really good lesson and conditionals and again, this is something that could really take your Japanese to the next level because think about how many times you use conditionals in your native language or in English each day. And these two patterns really help your linguistic arsenal. |
| Natsuko: Wow. |
| Peter: All right. That’s going to do it for today. |
| Natsuko: じゃ、また今度。お疲れ様。 (Ja, mata kondo. Otsukaresama.) |
Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get complete breakdowns, review with quizzes and download printable practice sheets! Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide