Learn about describing how something was
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: 直美です。 (Naomidesu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. The Most Meaningful Japanese Lesson Yet. In this lesson, you will learn more about formal and informal speech by reviewing the past form of adjectives. |
| Naomi: Such as 美味しかった。 (Oishikatta.) |
| Peter: It was delicious. |
| Naomi: きれいだった。 (Kireidatta.) |
| Peter: It was beautiful or perhaps he or perhaps she was beautiful. This conversation takes place at |
| Naomi: 家です。 (Iedesu.) At home マルシアさんのアパートです。 (Marushia-san no apātodesu.) |
| Peter: Maric’s apartment. The conversation is between three people right? |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) That’s right マルシアとおじいさんとおばあさん。 (Marushia to ojīsan to obāsan.) |
| Peter: Marcia and her grandparents. Her grandfather and grandmother and they are talking about their trip to |
| Naomi: 鎌倉 (Kamakura) |
| Peter: Marcia and her grandfather speak informal Japanese but her grandmother speaks |
| Naomi: Formal Japanese. |
| Peter: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| (ピンポーン) ((pinpōn)) |
| マルシア (Marushia): おじいちゃん、おばあちゃん、お帰り。 (O-jī-chan, o-bā-chan, o-kaeri.) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): ただいま、マルシアちゃん。 (Tadaima, Marushia-chan.) |
| マルシア (Marushia): 鎌倉旅行は どうだった? (Kamakura ryokō wa dō datta?) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): なかなか 楽しかったですよ。ねぇ、おじいさん。 (Nakanaka tanoshikatta desu yo. Nē, o-jī-san.) |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): ああ。人力車は 楽しかったね。また 乗りたいね。 (Ā. jinrikisha wa tanoshikatta ne. Mata noritai ne.) |
| マルシア (Marushia): 大丈夫だった?寒くなかった? (Daijōbu datta? Samukunakatta?) |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): 寒かったけど、なかなか 気持ちよかった。 (Samukatta kedo, nakanaka kimochi yokatta.) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): でも、ツアーのお客さんは 年寄りが 多かったですね。 (Demo, tsuā no o-kyaku-san wa toshiyori ga ōkatta desu ne.) |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): そうそう。もっと若い人と 話したかった。 (Sō sō. Motto wakai hito to hanashitakatta.) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): あ、そうだ。マルシアちゃん、明日、六本木のクラブに 連れて行ってよ。 (A, sō da. Marushia-chan, ashita, Roppongi no kurabu ni tsurete itte yo.) |
| 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.) |
| マルシア (Marushia): おじいちゃん、おばあちゃん、お帰り。 (O-jī-chan, o-bā-chan, o-kaeri.) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): ただいま、マルシアちゃん。 (Tadaima, Marushia-chan.) |
| マルシア (Marushia): 鎌倉旅行は どうだった? (Kamakura ryokō wa dō datta?) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): なかなか 楽しかったですよ。ねぇ、おじいさん。 (Nakanaka tanoshikatta desu yo. Nē, o-jī-san.) |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): ああ。人力車は 楽しかったね。また 乗りたいね。 (Ā. jinrikisha wa tanoshikatta ne. Mata noritai ne.) |
| マルシア (Marushia): 大丈夫だった?寒くなかった? (Daijōbu datta? Samukunakatta?) |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): 寒かったけど、なかなか 気持ちよかった。 (Samukatta kedo, nakanaka kimochi yokatta.) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): でも、ツアーのお客さんは 年寄りが 多かったですね。 (Demo, tsuā no o-kyaku-san wa toshiyori ga ōkatta desu ne.) |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): そうそう。もっと若い人と 話したかった。 (Sō sō. Motto wakai hito to hanashitakatta.) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): あ、そうだ。マルシアちゃん、明日、六本木のクラブに 連れて行ってよ。 (A, sō da. Marushia-chan, ashita, Roppongi no kurabu ni tsurete itte yo.) |
| 今度は、英語が入ります。 (Kondo wa, eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| (ピンポーン) ((pinpōn)) |
| (Ding-dong) |
| マルシア (Marushia): おじいちゃん、おばあちゃん、お帰り。 (O-jī-chan, o-bā-chan, o-kaeri.) |
| MARCIA: Grandpa, Grandma, welcome back! |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): ただいま、マルシアちゃん。 (Tadaima, Marushia-chan.) |
| GRANDMOTHER: We're back, Marcia. |
| マルシア (Marushia): 鎌倉旅行は どうだった? (Kamakura ryokō wa dō datta?) |
| MARCIA: How was your trip to Kamakura? |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): なかなか 楽しかったですよ。ねぇ、おじいさん。 (Nakanaka tanoshikatta desu yo. Nē, o-jī-san.) |
| GRANDMOTHER: We had quite a good time, right dear? |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): ああ。人力車は 楽しかったね。また 乗りたいね。 (Ā. jinrikisha wa tanoshikatta ne. Mata noritai ne.) |
| GRANDFATHER: Yes, the rickshaw was fun. I want to ride again. |
| マルシア (Marushia): 大丈夫だった?寒くなかった? (Daijōbu datta? Samukunakatta?) |
| MARCIA: Was everything all right? It wasn't too cold? |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): 寒かったけど、なかなか 気持ちよかった。 (Samukatta kedo, nakanaka kimochi yokatta.) |
| GRANDFATHER: It was cold, but it was quite comfortable. |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): でも、ツアーのお客さんは 年寄りが 多かったですね。 (Demo, tsuā no o-kyaku-san wa toshiyori ga ōkatta desu ne.) |
| GRANDMOTHER: But, most of the tourists were senior citizens. |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): そうそう。もっと若い人と 話したかった。 (Sō sō. Motto wakai hito to hanashitakatta.) |
| GRANDFATHER: Right, right, I wanted to talk to younger people. |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): あ、そうだ。マルシアちゃん、明日、六本木のクラブに 連れて行ってよ。 (A, sō da. Marushia-chan, ashita, Roppongi no kurabu ni tsurete itte yo.) |
| GRANDMOTHER: Oh, right. Marcia, tomorrow, take us to a club in Roppongi, will you? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Naomi Sensei, so the old man and old woman are staying at Marcia’s apartment? |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) In lesson 30, おじいさん (Ojīsan) said 孫が日本に住んでいるので初めて来ました。この孫がマルシアさんですね。 (Mago ga Nihon ni sunde irunode hajimete kimashita. Kono mago ga Marushia-sandesu ne.) |
| Peter: So in lesson 30, the old man said, our granddaughter lives in Japan. So we are going to visit her. |
| Naomi: 面白いですよね。 (Omoshiroidesu yo ne.) I found this sentence very interesting because in English, you usually say my granddaughter or my grandson but in Japanese, we usually use the word 孫 (Mago) grandchild. |
| Peter: And you can’t tell gender from the word 孫 (Mago) |
| Naomi: そうなんですよ。 (Sōna ndesu yo.) |
| Peter: You know, we should probably share this story that the person translating this actually made a gender mistake because the translator had no way of knowing the gender of the 孫 (Mago) grandchild. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) So the translator first translated as our grandson lives in Japan. |
| Peter: So very, very interesting, gender neutral words. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) もし、これ (Moshi, kore) Our grandchild lives in Japan. Does it sound strange in English? |
| Peter: No that’s probably what the translator should have done. |
| Naomi: ああ、そうなんだ。なるほどね。 (Ā,-sōna nda. Naruhodo ne.) |
| Peter: あ、内緒。 (A, naisho.) We won’t share that with her. One more quick point. I find the way that grandmother talks very interesting, the fact that she is using formal Japanese. |
| Naomi: Right. She speaks formally to everybody. |
| Peter: And this isn’t that uncommon for women who are a bit older around the おばあさん (Obāsan) age. |
| Naomi: So おばあさん’s (Obāsan’ s) age pretty common. |
| Peter: Because like in Japanese because you get to someone in the less formal language but in this case, she has kind of maintained that formality. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) It sounds very sophisticated though. |
| Peter: Yeah very nice. Naomi Sensei, your family, let me guess. All informal. |
| Naomi: そう、そうね。そうです。 (Sō, sōne. Sōdesu.) We are very casual people. So… |
| Peter: Okay on to the vocabulary section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: First word |
| Naomi: 旅行 (Ryokō) |
| Peter: Trip, travel. |
| Naomi: (slow)りょこう (Ryokō) (natural speed) 旅行 (Ryokō) |
| Peter: Next word. |
| Naomi: なかなか (nakanaka) |
| Peter: Quite, very, considerably. |
| Naomi: (slow)なかなか (nakanaka) (natural speed) なかなか (nakanaka) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 年寄り (toshiyori) |
| Peter: The elderly, old people. |
| Naomi: (slow)としより (Toshiyori) (natural speed) 年寄り (toshiyori) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 多い (ōi) |
| Peter: Many, a lot. |
| Naomi: (slow)おおい (ōi) (natural speed) 多い (ōi) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: 連れて行く (tsurete iku) |
| Peter: To take someone along. |
| Naomi: (slow)つれていく (Tsurete iku) (natural speed) 連れて行く (tsurete iku) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Naomi Sensei, what’s the first word we will look at? |
| Naomi: なかなか (Nakanaka) |
| Peter: なかなか。 (Nakanaka) This is an adverb meaning quite considerably or more than expected. I think we can get a really good feel for how to use this word by looking at some sample sentences. Naomi sensei |
| Naomi: この本はなかなか面白いよ。 (Kono Moto wa nakanaka omoshiroi yo.) |
| Peter: This book is quite interesting. |
| Naomi: よく使いますね。 (Yoku tsukaimasu ne.) |
| Peter: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) |
| Naomi: We use なかなか (Nakanaka) very often なかなかをなかなか使います。 (Nakanaka o nakanaka tsukaimasu.) なかなか面白いでしょ？ (Nakanaka omoshiroidesho?) |
| Peter: Yeah it’s pretty interesting. Naomi Sensei, can we have that sample sentence one more time. |
| Naomi: なかなかをなかなか使います。 (Nakanaka o nakanaka tsukaimasu.) |
| Peter: We often use often. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) We often use なかなか (Nakanaka) more than you expected. |
| Peter: 言う言葉はないですね。 (Iu kotoba wanaidesu ne.) I have nothing to say to that but it’s a very nice play on the word Naomi Sensei. So just looking at the previous two sentences that Naomi sensei gave, I just want to point out that as it’s an adverb, it usually precedes an adjective or verb. So we had なかなか面白い (Nakanaka omoshiroi) very interesting and なかなか使います (Nakanaka tsukaimasu) often used. So the placing of adverbs usually precedes the adjective or verb. Next word. |
| Naomi: 連れて行く (Tsureteiku) |
| Peter: To take someone or an animal along. Now this word is made up of two words 連れる (Tsureru) to lead, to take and 行く (Iku) to go. So to lead and to go, to take along. |
| Naomi: そうですね。例えば、 (Sōdesu ne. Tatoeba,) For example ピーターは犬を学校に連れて行きました。 (Pītā wa inu o gakkō ni tsurete ikimashita.) |
| Peter: Peter took his dog to school. |
| Naomi: 先生はピーターを校長室に連れて行きました。 (Sensei wa pītā o kōchō-shitsu ni tsurete ikimashita.) |
| Peter: The teacher took Peter to the principal’s office. Now please notice that the direction marker is marked by に (Ni) or へ (E) and the object that subject takes is marked by を (O). Let’s just take a little closer look at this. Can we have the sample sentence one more time? |
| Naomi: ピーターは犬を学校に連れて行く。 (Pītā wa inu o gakkō ni tsureteiku.) |
| Peter: So Peter is the subject. So it’s marked by |
| Naomi: は (Wa) |
| Peter: The object, the thing being taken along is |
| Naomi: 犬 (Inu) |
| Peter: So it’s marked by |
| Naomi: を (O) |
| Peter: We are going to school. So the direction is marked by |
| Naomi: に (Ni) So 学校に (Gakkō ni) and 連れて行く (Tsureteiku) |
| Peter: On to the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Now in this lesson, we are going to learn more about formal and informal speech by reviewing the past form of adjectives. There is a detailed write up in the lesson. So please check out the PDF. Now here let’s review the conjugation of na adjectives. How do you say all right? |
| Naomi: 大丈夫 (Daijōbu) So 大丈夫です (Daijōbudesu) is formal. 大丈夫だ (Daijōbuda) is informal. |
| Peter: Let’s quickly review the conjugation of na adjectives for informal speech. It’s all right. |
| Naomi: 大丈夫だ (Daijōbuda) |
| Peter: Not all right. |
| Naomi: 大丈夫じゃない (Daijōbu janai) |
| Peter: Was all right. |
| Naomi: 大丈夫だった (Daijōbudatta) |
| Peter: Wasn’t all right. |
| Naomi: 大丈夫じゃなかった (Daijōbu janakatta) |
| Peter: Let’s practice once again with a different adjective. How do you say well, fine as in I am fine? |
| Naomi: 元気だ (Genkida) |
| Peter: Not fine. |
| Naomi: 元気じゃない (Genki janai) |
| Peter: Was fine. |
| Naomi: 元気だった (Genkidatta) |
| Peter: Wasn’t fine. |
| Naomi: 元気じゃなかった (Genki janakatta) |
| Peter: For formal Japanese, you use です (Desu). |
| Naomi: Right 大丈夫です。大丈夫じゃないです。大丈夫でした。大丈夫じゃなかったです。 (Daijōbudesu. Daijōbu janaidesu. Daijōbudeshita. Daijōbu janakattadesu.) |
Outro |
| Peter: Naomi Sensei, 元気ですか。 (Genkidesu ka.) Naomi, how are you? Are you well? |
| Naomi: 元気です。でも、朝、元気じゃなかったです。 (Genkidesu. Demo, asa, genki janakattadesu.) |
| Peter: Naomi Sensei said I am fine but I wasn’t fine this morning. Why is that え、どうしてですか, (E, dōshitedesu ka,) why? |
| Naomi: お腹ぺこぺこでした。 (Onaka pekopekodeshita.) |
| Peter: You were starving. |
| Naomi: そうですね。ぺこぺこ (Sōdesu ne. Pekopeko) is Onomatopoeia for starving. It conjugate as na adjective. では、皆さん、このレッスンは簡単でしたか？難しかったですか？ (Dewa, minasan, kono ressun wa kantandeshita ka? Muzukashikattadesu ka?) |
| Peter: So everyone was this lesson easy or difficult. Please leave us feedback. |
| Naomi: お願いします。それからPDFも読んでください。それじゃあ、また。 (Onegaishimasu. Sorekara PDF mo yonde kudasai. Sore jā, mata.) |
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