Learn about expressing the concept of "nothing but x" or "only x"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: なおみです。(Naomi desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. The meet up Part 1. Okay Naomi-sensei, what are we talking about today? |
| Naomi: 今日は、しか。(Kyō wa, shika.) |
| Peter: That’s right. Today we are going to cover the particle しか (shika) and this is a four part series. So in this lesson, we are going to cover |
| Naomi: しか (shika) |
| Peter: In the next lesson, we are going to cover |
| Naomi: ばかり (bakari) |
| Peter: And in the last lesson, we are going to cover |
| Naomi: だけ (dake), and the fourth lesson, we are going to cover しか (shika), ばかり (bakari) and だけ (dake). |
| Peter: So review everything. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Now all these particles in the usage we are going to cover can roughly be translated to only. Now we will get more into that later in the grammar explanation but for now, let’s talk about where this conversation takes place. なおみ先生、なおみ先生、なおみ先生。どうぞ。(Naomi-sensei, Naomi-sensei, Naomi-sensei. Dōzo.) |
| Naomi: 今日は劇場の前 (kyō wa gekijō no mae) or コンサートホールの前 (konsāto hōru no mae), ですかね (desu ka ne), in front of some kind of theater or concert hall. |
| Peter: Okay, and the conversation is between |
| Naomi: タロウとクミです。(Tarō to Kumi desu.) |
| Peter: So a boyfriend and a girlfriend. |
| Naomi: それから、クミさんと係員も話しています。(Sorekara, Kumi-san to kakariin mo hanashite imasu.) Kumi and a clerk are talking to. |
| Peter: So there are three people in the conversation. Now what’s important to notice here between the boyfriend and girlfriend they are speaking |
| Naomi: Casual Japanese. |
| Peter: So very informal but when the clerk speaks, he is using |
| Naomi: Polite Japanese. I think Kumi is also using polite Japanese. |
| Peter: And this is a great example of going between the politeness levels. So boyfriend and girlfriend are part of that inner circle. So they are using informal Japanese but when they go outside that circle, they speak in polite Japanese. |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) |
| Peter: All right. With that said, let’s get into today’s lesson. Here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| タロウ (Tarō) : うわ、もう6時50分？まずい。また遅刻だ。(Uwa, mō roku-ji go-juppun? Mazui. Mata chikoku da.) |
| (携帯) (keitai) |
| クミ (Kumi) : 今、どこ？開演まであと、3分しかないよ。(Ima, doko? Kaien made ato, san-pun shika nai yo.) |
| タロウ (Tarō) : ごめん、ごめん、もうすぐ着く。今着く。(Gomen, gomen, mō sugu tsuku. Ima tsuku.) |
| クミ (Kumi) : 遅い！いつも、タローは自分のことしか考えてない！(Osoi! Itsumo, Tarō wa jibun no koto shika kangaete nai!) |
| タロウ (Tarō) : おー、怖い怖い。まったく。クミコは文句しか言わないね。(Ō, kowai kowai. Mattaku. Kumiko wa monku shika iwanai ne.) |
| 係員 (kakariin) : お客様、開演まで、あと1分しかありませんよ。(O-kyaku-sama, kaien made, ato ippun shika arimasen yo.) |
| クミ (Kumi) : あ、はい。でももう少し、ここで待ちます。(A, hai. Demo mō sukoshi, koko de machimasu.) |
| Naomi: 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.) |
| タロウ (Tarō) : うわ、もう6時50分？まずい。また遅刻だ。(Uwa, mō roku-ji go-juppun? Mazui. Mata chikoku da.) |
| (携帯) (keitai) |
| クミ (Kumi) : 今、どこ？開演まであと、3分しかないよ。(Ima, doko? Kaien made ato, san-pun shika nai yo.) |
| タロウ (Tarō) : ごめん、ごめん、もうすぐ着く。今着く。(Gomen, gomen, mō sugu tsuku. Ima tsuku.) |
| クミ (Kumi) : 遅い！いつも、タローは自分のことしか考えてない！(Osoi! Itsumo, Tarō wa jibun no koto shika kangaete nai!) |
| タロウ (Tarō) : おー、怖い怖い。まったく。クミコは文句しか言わないね。(Ō, kowai kowai. Mattaku. Kumiko wa monku shika iwanai ne.) |
| 係員 (kakariin) : お客様、開演まで、あと1分しかありませんよ。(O-kyaku-sama, kaien made, ato ippun shika arimasen yo.) |
| クミ (Kumi) : あ、はい。でももう少し、ここで待ちます。(A, hai. Demo mō sukoshi, koko de machimasu.) |
| Naomi: 今度は、英語が入ります。(Kondo wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| タロウ (Tarō) : うわ、もう6時50分？まずい。また遅刻だ。(Uwa, mō roku-ji go-juppun? Mazui. Mata chikoku da.) |
| TARŌ: Wow, it's already six-fifty? This is bad. I'm going to be late again. |
| (携帯) (keitai) |
| (cell phone rings) |
| クミ (Kumi) : 今、どこ？開演まであと、3分しかないよ。(Ima, doko? Kaien made ato, san-pun shika nai yo.) |
| KUMI: Where are you now? The concert will begin in just three minutes. |
| タロウ (Tarō) : ごめん、ごめん、もうすぐ着く。今着く。(Gomen, gomen, mō sugu tsuku. Ima tsuku.) |
| TARŌ: I'm so sorry, I'll get there soon, I'm almost there. |
| クミ (Kumi) : 遅い！いつも、タローは自分のことしか考えてない！(Osoi! Itsumo, Tarō wa jibun no koto shika kangaete nai!) |
| KUMI: You're late! Tarō, you don't care about anything but yourself. |
| タロウ (Tarō) : おー、怖い怖い。まったく。クミコは文句しか言わないね。(Ō, kowai kowai. Mattaku. Kumiko wa monku shika iwanai ne.) |
| TARŌ: She is so mad at me. Kumiko doesn't say anything but complaints. |
| 係員 (kakariin) : お客様、開演まで、あと1分しかありませんよ。(O-kyaku-sama, kaien made, ato ippun shika arimasen yo.) |
| CLERK: Excuse me Miss, there is only one minute left before the concert begins. |
| クミ (Kumi) : あ、はい。でももう少し、ここで待ちます。(A, hai. Demo mō sukoshi, koko de machimasu.) |
| KUMI: Yeah...but I'll wait here a little longer. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: なおみ先生、どう思いましたか。(Naomi-sensei, dō omoimashita ka.) What do you think? |
| Naomi: I felt sorry for Kumi. I hope it’s not winter. |
| Peter: So you can relate to Kumi. |
| Naomi: そうね。(Sō ne.) |
| Peter: Waiting in the wind. |
| Naomi: In the conversation タロウ (Tarō) said 怖い怖い (kowai kowai), scary right but... 怖いと可愛い、似てますよね。(Kowai to kawaii, nite masu yo ne.) |
| Peter: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Naomi: 気をつけてくださいね。男の人は特に。(Ki o tsukete kudasai ne. Otoko no hito wa toku ni.) |
| Peter: So be careful especially you guys out there because you don’t want to say to a friend or something 怖い (kowai) rather than 可愛い (kawaii). |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: So yeah scary and cute. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: But in the end, I think it’s kind of Kumi’s fault. |
| Naomi: よくわかんないけど。(Yoku wakannai kedo.) |
| Peter: She should have him on a tighter leash. |
| Naomi: How? |
| Peter: How do you say that in Japanese tighter leash? |
| Naomi: ああ、しつけるっていうことですね。(Ā, shitsukeru tte iu koto desu ne.) |
| Peter: One more time. |
| Naomi: しつける (shitsukeru) |
| Peter: Just break that down. |
| Naomi: しつける (shitsukeru) |
| Peter: しつける (shitsukeru), I like that word. |
| Naomi: そうね。(Sō ne.) でも、ほら (demo, hora) some men are just impossible to しつける…じゃない (shitsukeru… ja nai)? |
| Peter: Okay, this isn’t a talk show now. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: Okay, let’s move on to the vocabulary. What do we have first? |
| Naomi: まずい (mazui) |
| Peter: Not good, bad. |
| Naomi: (slow) まずい (mazui) (natural speed) まずい (mazui) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 遅刻 (chikoku) |
| Peter: Lateness, late coming. |
| Naomi: (slow) ちこく (chikoku) (natural speed) 遅刻 (chikoku) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 開演 (kaien) |
| Peter: Start of the show, start of the concert, curtain raising. |
| Naomi: (slow) かいえん (kaien) (natural speed) 開演 (kaien) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: もうすぐ (mō sugu) |
| Peter: Almost. |
| Naomi: (slow) もうすぐ (mō sugu) (natural speed) もうすぐ (mō sugu) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 着く (tsuku) |
| Peter: To arrive, to reach. |
| Naomi: (slow) つく (tsuku) (natural speed) 着く (tsuku) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 怖い (kowai) |
| Peter: Scary, frightening. |
| Naomi: (slow) こわい (kowai) (natural speed) 怖い (kowai) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 文句 (monku) |
| Peter: Complaint. |
| Naomi: (slow) もんく (monku) (natural speed) 文句 (monku) |
| Peter: Last. |
| Naomi: 待つ (matsu) |
| Peter: To wait. |
| Naomi: (slow) まつ (matsu) (natural speed) 待つ (matsu) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay, so let’s take a look at some of these vocab words. Let’s start out with |
| Naomi: まずい (mazui) |
| Peter: Bad, not good. Now this can be used in a couple of contexts. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Now used as an adjective, it can mean bad as in like a bad taste. Kind of like that’s what pops into our mind like you know if we are eating at a restaurant and something is good, we say |
| Naomi: おいしい (oishii) |
| Peter: Or guys would say うまい (umai) and the opposite of that is |
| Naomi: おいしくない (oishikunai) |
| Peter: Or |
| Naomi: まずい (mazui) |
| Peter: Kind of which is like really bad. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: I guess like if you are eating with a Japanese person and their reaction is kind of like it’s not good. おいしくない (oishikunai) is pretty bad and まずい (mazui) is like eating dirt. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) We often use まずくないよ (mazukunai yo), it’s not bad. |
| Peter: Yeah. It’s kind of like you are expecting it to be bad or something along those lines but here it’s used in the context not as in bad but the situation is bad. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) This adjective also can be used for a situation. |
| Peter: So and kind of often with time you know, a lot of times if I am running late and I am with someone, we will say あ、まずい (a, mazui). It’s bad as in, the situation is bad because we are never going to make it on time. |
| Naomi: Or if you made someone upset, あ、まずい (a, mazui). I made him angry. まずい！みたいなね。(Mazui! Mitai na ne.) |
| Peter: So we just want to differentiate here between using it to describe something and to describe some kind of situation. So here is kind of like oh, oh, oh man. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: All right. Here we go. Next we have. |
| Naomi: 遅刻 (chikoku) |
| Peter: Lateness. |
| Naomi: The first kanji means late and the second kanji means time. So late for the time. 遅刻、ですね。(Chikoku, desu ne.) |
| Peter: I remember this word vividly. It used to be on the wall of the Japanese school I went to, 遅刻しないように (chikoku shinai yō ni). So don’t be late or kind of make it so you are not late. |
| Naomi: あの (ano), when you add する (suru) or ～をする (o suru) it becomes a verb. |
| Peter: To be late. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) 遅刻をする (chikoku o suru) or 遅刻する (chikoku suru). |
| Peter: Now a lot of times it is used just by itself 遅刻 (chikoku). |
| Naomi: でも、遅刻してごめん！(Demo, chikoku shite gomen!) |
| Peter: I am sorry for being late. |
| Naomi: とか (toka), in a polite situation, 遅刻をしてすみません (chikoku o shite sumimasen). |
| Peter: That’s right for an interview. |
| Naomi: え～っ！ インタビュー？遅刻？だめですよ、絶対。(Ē! Intabyū? Chikoku? Dame desu yo, zettai.) |
| Peter: But I think you are going to hear this expression in the next lesson because I think Tarō will be apologizing for being late. |
| Naomi: そうかな？ (Sō ka na?) I hope so. |
| Peter: All right. On we go, what do we have next? |
| Naomi: 怖い (kowai) |
| Peter: Scary, frightening. Now this isn’t such a difficult word but what we want to do here is kind of take a look at a pitch accent which is difficult. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: What do we have? |
| Naomi: 怖い (kowai) |
| Peter: So it starts out low, rises on the わ (wa) and then falls back down on the い (i). |
| Naomi: そうですね。こ、わ、い。怖い。(Sō desu ne. Ko, wa, i. Kowai.) |
| Peter: Let me see if I could try here 怖い (kowai). |
| Naomi: Perfect ですね (desu ne). |
| Peter: Yes, thank you editing team. |
| Naomi: prettyは？(“pretty” wa?) |
| Peter: Okay, start out low, rise on the わ (wa), stay high over the first い (i) and then come back down on the last い (i). |
| Naomi: 可愛い (kawaii) |
| Peter: 可愛い (kawaii) |
| Naomi: そうそうそうそう。(Sō sō sō sō.) |
| Peter: So let’s just hear a side by side comparison. |
| Naomi: 怖い (kowai) |
| Peter: Scary. |
| Naomi: 可愛い (kawaii) |
| Peter: Cute. All right. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: On to grammar, Naomi-sensei, what are we taking a look at today? |
| Naomi: しか〜ない (shika-nai) |
| Peter: So しか (shika) is a particle to emphasize the element or the thing preceding the しか (shika). Basically it’s always used in a negative sentence. It means only or nothing but. Let’s take a look at some examples. Well let’s start out with the conversation. What do we have in today’s conversation? |
| Naomi: タロウは自分のことしか考えてない。(Tarō wa jibun no koto shika kangaete nai.) |
| Peter: Tarō, You don’t think about anybody but yourself and here it’s used but. We can also translate it as Tarō, you only think of yourself but that’s the meaning there. Only or nothing but. You only think of yourself. You think of nothing but yourself. Okay, let’s take a look at the construction. Let’s break this sentence now. And first we have. |
| Naomi: タロウ (Tarō) |
| Peter: So here just establishing the topic which is タロウ (Tarō). |
| Naomi: は (wa) |
| Peter: This is of course a topic marking particle. |
| Naomi: 自分 (jibun) |
| Peter: Oneself and here that one is タロウ (Tarō), followed by |
| Naomi: の (no) |
| Peter: Possessive. |
| Naomi: こと (koto) |
| Peter: Thing. So 自分のこと (jibun no koto), your thing, yourself, followed by |
| Naomi: しか (shika) |
| Peter: Now the しか (shika) is used in place of the を (o). So we take out the を (o), we put in しか (shika), followed by |
| Naomi: 考えていない (kangaete inai) |
| Peter: Don’t think of and then we have to take しか考えていない (shika kangaete inai) as one group and we get either only think of or nothing but think of. So you only think of yourself. You think of nothing but yourself. So this しか (shika) is always paired with a negative. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: So you think of nothing but yourself. You think of only yourself. Let’s have another example. |
| Naomi: 彼はお金が好き。(Kare wa o-kane ga suki.) |
| Peter: He likes money. |
| Naomi: 彼はお金しか好きじゃない。(Kare wa o-kane shika suki ja nai.) |
| Peter: He doesn’t like anything but money. It’s a closer literal translation but it can also mean you can also translate it as only. He only likes money. It is just the emphasis is so much stronger when you use しか〜ない (shika-nai). Take for example in the first sentence, he likes money. Well okay, we can even say he loves money. |
| Naomi: 彼はお金が大好き。(Kare wa o-kane ga daisuki.) |
| Peter: He loves money but |
| Naomi: 彼はお金しか大好きじゃない。(Kare wa o-kane shika daisuki ja nai.) |
| Peter: He doesn’t love anything but money and here the emphasis is placed solely on that one thing. So when I first came to Japan, カレーしか食べなかった (karē shika tabenakatta). I only ate curry. I ate nothing but curry. |
| Naomi: そうね。私はカレーを食べました。私はカレーしか食べなかった。(Sō ne. Watashi wa karē o tabemashita. Watashi wa karē shika tabenakatta.) |
| Peter: So there we have it. This particle is used with a negative to emphasize that one thing. |
Outro |
| Peter: Okay, I think that’s going to do for today now. Inside the PDF, there is a much more detailed write up on this particle and plus an introduction into the other particles we are talking about in the next few lessons ばかり (bakari) and だけ (dake). なおみ先生。(Naomi-sensei.) |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: お疲れ様でした。(Otsukare-sama deshita.) |
| Naomi: お疲れ様でした。ビデオボキャブラリーも是非チェックしておいてくださいね。(Otsukare-sama deshita. Bideo bokyaburarī mo zehi chekku shite oite kudasai ne.) |
| Peter: Definitely check out the video vocabulary. Have a great day. |
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