Learn about expressing that one can do something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: 直美です。 (Naomidesu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Your Japanese Abilities. In this lesson, you will learn how to express your ability such as I can run. |
| Naomi: 走れます。 (Hashiremasu.) |
| Peter: I can swim |
| Naomi: 泳げます。 (Oyogemasu.) |
| Peter: This conversation takes place at |
| Naomi: 会社 (Kaisha) |
| Peter: An office. The conversation is between? |
| Naomi: 絵理花さんと満さん。 (Erika-san to Mitsuru-san.) |
| Peter: Erica and Mitsuru. Erica is using informal Japanese, Mitsuru is using |
| Naomi: Formal Japanese. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): あ、絵理花さーん。木曜の夜、会えますよね。 (A, Erika-sān. Mokuyō no yoru, aemasu yo ne.) 一緒に食事することができますよね。 (Issho ni shokuji suru koto ga dekimasu yo ne.) |
| 左 絵理花 (Hidari Erika): 木曜の夜?ああ、忘れていた。 (Mokuyō no yoru? Ā, wasurete ita.) うん。多分大丈夫。会える・・・と思う。 (Un.Tabun daijōbu. Aeru... to omou.) |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): 六本木のマジックバーを予約することができました。 (Roppongi no majikku bā o yoyaku suru koto ga dekimashita.) |
| 左 絵理花 (Hidari Erika): へー。あそこ、取れたの?すごい。 (Hē. Asoko, toreta no? Sugoi.) |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): 今週の木曜日は、僕の誕生日ですからね。 (Konshū no mokuyōbi wa, boku no tanjōbi desu kara ne.) |
| 左 絵理花 (Hidari Erika): へぇー。知らなかった。おめでとう。 ( Hē. Shiranakatta. Omedetō.) |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): 飲み放題なので、お酒がたくさん飲めますよ。 (Nomihōdai na no de, o-sake ga takusan nomemasu yo.) マジックも楽しめると思います。 (Majikku mo tanoshimeru to omoimasu.) 僕、車で迎えに来ますね。 (Boku, kuruma de mukae ni kimasu ne.) |
| 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.) |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): あ、絵理花さーん。木曜の夜、会えますよね。 (A, Erika-sān. Mokuyō no yoru, aemasu yo ne.) 一緒に食事することができますよね。 (Issho ni shokuji suru koto ga dekimasu yo ne.) |
| 左 絵理花 (Hidari Erika): 木曜の夜?ああ、忘れていた。 (Mokuyō no yoru? Ā, wasurete ita.) うん。多分大丈夫。会える・・・と思う。 (Un.Tabun daijōbu. Aeru... to omou.) |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): 六本木のマジックバーを予約することができました。 (Roppongi no majikku bā o yoyaku suru koto ga dekimashita.) |
| 左 絵理花 (Hidari Erika): へー。あそこ、取れたの?すごい。 (Hē. Asoko, toreta no? Sugoi.) |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): 今週の木曜日は、僕の誕生日ですからね。 (Konshū no mokuyōbi wa, boku no tanjōbi desu kara ne.) |
| 左 絵理花 (Hidari Erika): へぇー。知らなかった。おめでとう。 ( Hē. Shiranakatta. Omedetō.) |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): 飲み放題なので、お酒がたくさん飲めますよ。 (Nomihōdai na no de, o-sake ga takusan nomemasu yo.) マジックも楽しめると思います。 (Majikku mo tanoshimeru to omoimasu.) 僕、車で迎えに来ますね。 (Boku, kuruma de mukae ni kimasu ne.) |
| 今度は、英語が入ります。 (Kondo wa, eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): あ、絵理花さーん。木曜の夜、会えますよね。 (A, Erika-sān. Mokuyō no yoru, aemasu yo ne.) |
| MITSURU MIKADO :Oh Erika, can you still meet me on Thursday night? |
| 一緒に食事することができますよね。 (Issho ni shokuji suru koto ga dekimasu yo ne.) |
| We can eat together, right? |
| 左 絵理花 (Hidari Erika): 木曜の夜?ああ、忘れていた。 (Mokuyō no yoru? Ā, wasurete ita.) |
| ERIKA HIDARI : Thursday night? Oh, I had forgotten. |
| うん。多分大丈夫。会える・・・と思う。 (Un.Tabun daijōbu. Aeru... to omou.) |
| Yeah, it should be fine. I can meet you... I think. |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): 六本木のマジックバーを予約することができました。 (Roppongi no majikku bā o yoyaku suru koto ga dekimashita.) |
| MITSURU MIKADO : I got a reservation at that magic bar in Roppongi. |
| 左 絵理花 (Hidari Erika): へー。あそこ、取れたの?すごい。 (Hē. Asoko, toreta no? Sugoi.) |
| ERIKA HIDARI : Wow, you got it? Amazing. |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): 今週の木曜日は、僕の誕生日ですからね。 (Konshū no mokuyōbi wa, boku no tanjōbi desu kara ne.) |
| MITSURU MIKADO: Well, this Thursday is my birthday after all. |
| 左 絵理花 (Hidari Erika): へぇー。知らなかった。おめでとう。 ( Hē. Shiranakatta. Omedetō.) |
| ERIKA HIDARI : Oh really, I didn't know. Happy birthday. |
| 三門 満 (Mikado Mitsuru): 飲み放題なので、お酒がたくさん飲めますよ。 (Nomihōdai na no de, o-sake ga takusan nomemasu yo.) |
| MITSURU MIKADO : And it's all you can drink, so you can have all the alcohol you want. |
| マジックも楽しめると思います。 (Majikku mo tanoshimeru to omoimasu.) |
| We should be able to see some magic too. |
| 僕、車で迎えに来ますね。 (Boku, kuruma de mukae ni kimasu ne.) |
| I'll pick you up in my car. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Naomi: ピーターさん、飲み放題は好きですか？ (Pītā-san, nomihōdai wa sukidesu ka?) Peter do you like all you can drink? |
| Peter: そうですね。あんまり好きではありません。 (Sōdesu ne. Anmari sukide wa arimasen.) I don’t really like them. The quality of what they give you is very, very low. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) |
| Peter: Recently I like very high quality things so, |
| Naomi: なんだかえらそうですね。 (Nandaka era-sōdesu ne.) Sounds really posh. |
| Peter: I know 質のほうがいいですね。 (Shitsu no hō ga īdesu ne.) |
| Naomi: ああ、量より質のほうが大事ということですね。 (Ā, ryōyorishitsu no hō ga daiji to iu kotodesu ne.) |
| Peter: That’s right. So probably the English translation would be quality over quantity. |
| Naomi: ああ、なるほどね。 (Ā, naruhodo ne.) |
| Peter: そうですね。量より質のほうが大事ですね。 (Sōdesu ne. Ryōyorishitsu no hō ga daijidesu ne.) |
| Naomi: まあそれは何でもそうかもしれないですね。 (Mā sore wa nani demo sō kamo shirenaidesu ne.) |
| Peter: Perhaps. |
| Naomi: そうですね。若いときは質より量のほうが大事ですよね、きっと。 (Sōdesu ne. Wakai toki wa shitsuyoriryō no hō ga daijidesu yo ne, kitto.) |
| Peter: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) So when you are young, volume or quantity is more important than quality. まあ、常識ですね。 (Mā, jōshikidesu ne.) So yeah I am getting up there. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: First word. |
| Naomi: 飲み放題 (nomihōdai) |
| Peter: All you can drink. |
| Naomi: (slow)のみほうだい (Nomi hō dai) (natural speed) 飲み放題 (nomihōdai) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 楽しむ (Tanoshimu) |
| Peter: To enjoy oneself. |
| Naomi: (slow)たのしむ (Tanoshimu) (natural speed) 楽しむ (Tanoshimu) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 食事 (shokuji) |
| Peter: Meal. |
| Naomi: (slow)しょくじ (Shokuji) (natural speed) 食事 (shokuji) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 迎えに来る (mukae ni kuru) |
| Peter: To come pick up. |
| Naomi: (slow)むかえにくる (Mukae ni kuru) (natural speed) 迎えに来る (mukae ni kuru) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 取る (toru) |
| Peter: To take, to pick up. |
| Naomi: (slow)とる (toru) (natural speed) 取る (toru) |
| 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 phrase we will look at. |
| Naomi: へぇ～。 (He~e ~.) |
| Peter: Now this is a very, very informal way to say I see or |
| Naomi: Oh really. |
| Peter: Now according to the dictionary, this へぇ～ (He~e ~) is used when the speaker is looking down on something. |
| Naomi: Hmm… |
| Peter: Or doesn’t think that something is that interesting. |
| Naomi: I think it really depends on how you say it. |
| Peter: Definitely. |
| Naomi: Yeah if you say it へぇ (He~e) maybe you are looking down on something but if you say へぇ～！(He~e ~!)….it sounds like you are really impressed. |
| Peter: Or interested. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) |
| Peter: Because the second one, the latter one I would say is used more often. And I think probably the reason the dictionary mentioned that is because this へぇ～ (He~e ~)….like kind of with the rising intonation is a bit slangy. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) |
| Peter: So the dictionary didn’t really address it properly but I would say it’s used very commonly. |
| Naomi: It’s an everyday phrase へぇ～。 (He~e ~.) |
| Peter: And it’s used in a good way. So if you hear this, don’t think that someone is looking down on you. It’s just they are interested in what you are saying. |
| Naomi: It’s like aaha とか、そんな感じかな。 (Toka, son'na kanji ka na.) |
| Peter: What’s next? |
| Naomi: 飲み放題 (Nomihōdai) |
| Peter: All you can drink and we also have 食べ放題 (Tabehōdai) |
| Naomi: ああ、そうそうそう。 (Ā, sō sō sō.) |
| Peter: So don’t forget to hold the ほう (Hō) sound 食べ放題。 (Tabehōdai.) |
| Naomi: そうですね。ほうだい。 (Sōdesu ne. Hō dai.) |
| Peter: A long vowel. |
| Naomi: 飲み (Nomi) is a masu stem of a verb 飲む (Nomu) to drink, 放題 (Hōdai) means as much as you like かな。 (Ka na.) |
| Peter: So you can create all sorts of combinations with this word. |
| Naomi: そうですね。ええと、ピーターさんが言いましたが (Sōdesu ne. Ē to, pītā-san ga iimashitaga) Just like Peter mentioned, 食べ放題 (Tabehōdai) |
| Peter: All you can eat. |
| Naomi: 使い放題 (Tsukai-hōdai) |
| Peter: All you can use 使い放題 (Tsukai-hōdai) |
| Naomi: そうそうそう。千円でインターネット使い放題です。 (Sō sō sō. Sen'en de intānetto-dzukai-hōdaidesu.) |
| Peter: なるほど。 (Naruhodo.) For ¥1000, you can access the internet as much as you like. |
| Naomi: JapanesePod101.comで日本語を勉強し放題です。 (De nihongo o benkyō shihōdaidesu.) |
| Peter: So it’s all you can study at japanesepod101.com. On to the grammar point. Inside the PDF, there is a detailed write up about this conjugation inside the PDF. So please be sure to check it out. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: In this lesson, you learn how to say you can do something. This lesson’s topic is the conjugation of class 1 verbs to their potential form. Now in the last lesson, we learned how to talk about ability, possibility or permission using |
| Naomi: ことができます (Koto ga dekimasu) |
| Peter: We focused of course on permission. Now this time, we will learn how to talk about ability in a much shorter, simpler way by conjugating the verb itself. Now can we have a sample sentence from the dialogue? |
| Naomi: お酒がたくさん飲めます。 (O sake ga takusan nomemasu.) |
| Peter: I, you, we depend on the speaker. Can drink a lot of alcohol. Can you put the subject and also change this to informal speech? |
| Naomi: 私達はお酒がたくさん飲める。 (Watashitachi wa o sake ga takusan nomeru.) |
| Peter: We can drink a lot of alcohol. Now 飲める (Nomeru) is the potential form of the verb. |
| Naomi: 飲む (Nomu) |
| Peter: To drink. Now let’s take a look at how to form this. To form the potential of class 1 verbs, the final Hiragana syllable, the one found in the う (U) column is dropped and replaced with a Hiragana syllable from the corresponding rows. |
| Naomi: え (E) |
| Peter: Column and then we tack on the Hiragana syllable る (Ru). The best way to illustrate this is with an example. Naomi Sensei, how do you say the verb to meet in Japanese? |
| Naomi: 会う (Au) |
| Peter: Of course to meet. This is in potential. Now we are going to change this to be able to meet, can meet. So we are going to change the final う (U) in 会う (Au) to |
| Naomi: え (E) |
| Peter: So we have |
| Naomi: 会え (Ae) |
| Peter: Then we are going to tack on |
| Naomi: る (Ru) |
| Peter: So finally we have |
| Naomi: 会える (Aeru) |
| Peter: To be able to meet, can meet. What’s the verb to drink? |
| Naomi: 飲む (Nomu) |
| Peter: The final syllable is む (Mu). What’s the corresponding え (E) column sound? |
| Naomi: め (Me) |
| Peter: So |
| Naomi: 飲め (Nome) |
| Peter: Then we tack on る (Ru) |
| Naomi: 飲める (Nomeru) |
| Peter: To be able to drink. Can drink. |
| Naomi: お酒が飲める。 (O sake ga nomeru.) |
| Peter: Now, inside the PDF, there is a detailed write-up about this conjugation inside the PDF, so please be sure to check it out. |
| Naomi: Please also notice the object is followed by が (Ga) not を。(O.) 私がコーラを飲む。 (Watashi ga kōra o nomu.) |
| Peter: I drink cola. |
| Naomi: 私はコーラが飲める。 (Watashi wa kōra ga nomeru.) |
| Peter: I can drink cola. So the object marker changes. Here the が (Ga) isn’t a subject marker but rather the object marker. Today, we talked about class I verbs. Now, class Ⅱ verbs and class Ⅲ verbs are treated differently, so be sure to check out lesson notes, and we’re going to cover that in the next lesson. Finally here this conjugation we looked at 飲める (Nomeru) to be able to drink. 飲むことができる (Nomu koto ga dekiru) is the same thing but 飲める (Nomeru) is a much easier way to say. So it’s more common I would say in speech especially in informal speech. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesune) It’s faster. |
| Peter: 飲める (Nomeru) is much faster than 飲むことができる。 (Nomu koto ga dekiru.) |
Outro |
| Peter: Now that just about does it for today. |
| Naomi: じゃあ、また。 (Jā, mata.) |
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