Learn about talking about something using adjectives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: 直美です。 (Naomidesu) |
| Peter: Peter here. Formal and Informal Japanese. Do You Know The Difference? In this lesson, you will learn more about formal and informal speech by reviewing adjective conjugations. This conversation takes place at |
| Naomi: 鎌倉ですね。 (Kamakuradesu ne.) On the street in Kamakura. |
| Peter: The conversation is among three people |
| Naomi: おじいさん、おばあさん (Ojīsan, obāsan) and 男の人。 (Otoko no hito.) |
| Peter: An old man, an old woman and a man. Now the man is constantly speaking in informal Japanese. |
| Naomi: I think that’s because he is a casual person. |
| Peter: Yeah it seems like he is trying to sell something like a street vendor. The old woman is speaking in formal Japanese. |
| Naomi: Because she is a polite person. おじいさん (Ojīsan) speaks in both formal and informal. |
| Peter: When he talks to the stranger, he speaks informal Japanese. When he talks to the old woman who is probably his wife, he speaks in informal Japanese. |
| Naomi: では、聞いてみましょう。 (Dewa, kiite mimashou.) |
| Peter: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 男 (Otoko): おばあちゃん、どう?のる?10分、二千円! (O-bā-chan, dō? noru? Juppun, ni-sen-en!) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): 何ですか。リヤカーですか。 (Nan desu ka. Riyakā desu ka.) |
| 男 (Otoko): 知らないの?リヤカーじゃないよ。人力車だよ。速くて気持ちいいよ。 (Shiranai no? Riyakā ja nai yo. Jinrikisha da yo. Hayakute kimochi ii yo.) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): 面白そう...。おじいさん、乗りませんか。 (Omoshirosō.... O-jii-san, norimasen ka.) |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): 危なくないですか。 (Abunakunai desu ka.) |
| 男 (Otoko): 全然、危なくない。安全だよ。 (Zenzen, abunakunai. Anzen da yo.) それに、10分 二千円は 高くない。 (Sore ni, juppun ni-sen-en wa takakunai.) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): そうですよ。高くありませんよ。ねぇ、おじいさん、だめですか。 (Sō desu yo. Takaku arimasen yo. Nē, O-jii-san, dame desu ka.) |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): だ、だめじゃないよ。じゃ、乗るか。 (Da, dame ja nai yo. Ja, noru ka.) お兄さん、鎌倉大仏まで、ゆっくりお願します。 (O-nii-san, Kamakura Daibutsu made, yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 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.) |
| 男 (Otoko): おばあちゃん、どう?のる?10分、二千円! (O-bā-chan, dō? noru? Juppun, ni-sen-en!) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): 何ですか。リヤカーですか。 (Nan desu ka. Riyakā desu ka.) |
| 男 (Otoko): 知らないの?リヤカーじゃないよ。人力車だよ。速くて気持ちいいよ。 (Shiranai no? Riyakā ja nai yo. Jinrikisha da yo. Hayakute kimochi ii yo.) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): 面白そう...。おじいさん、乗りませんか。 (Omoshirosō.... O-jii-san, norimasen ka.) |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): 危なくないですか。 (Abunakunai desu ka.) |
| 男 (Otoko): 全然、危なくない。安全だよ。 (Zenzen, abunakunai. Anzen da yo.) それに、10分 二千円は 高くない。 (Sore ni, juppun ni-sen-en wa takakunai.) |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): そうですよ。高くありませんよ。ねぇ、おじいさん、だめですか。 (Sō desu yo. Takaku arimasen yo. Nē, O-jii-san, dame desu ka.) |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): だ、だめじゃないよ。じゃ、乗るか。 (Da, dame ja nai yo. Ja, noru ka.) お兄さん、鎌倉大仏まで、ゆっくりお願します。 (O-nii-san, Kamakura Daibutsu made, yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 今度は、英語が入ります。 (Kondo wa, eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 男 (Otoko): おばあちゃん、どう?のる?10分、二千円! (O-bā-chan, dō? noru? Juppun, ni-sen-en!) |
| MAN: What do you say, Grandma? 2,000 yen for ten minutes! |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): 何ですか。リヤカーですか。 (Nan desu ka. Riyakā desu ka.) |
| OLD WOMAN: What is it, a cart? |
| 男 (Otoko): 知らないの?リヤカーじゃないよ。人力車だよ。速くて気持ちいいよ。 (Shiranai no? Riyakā ja nai yo. Jinrikisha da yo. Hayakute kimochi ii yo.) |
| MAN: Don't you know? It's not a cart, it's a rickshaw. It's fast and comfortable. |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): 面白そう...。おじいさん、乗りませんか。 (Omoshirosō.... O-jii-san, norimasen ka.) |
| OLD WOMAN: Sounds interesting...why don't we ride, dear? |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): 危なくないですか。 (Abunakunai desu ka.) |
| OLD MAN: Isn't it dangerous? |
| 男 (Otoko): 全然、危なくない。安全だよ。 (Zenzen, abunakunai. Anzen da yo.) それに、10分 二千円は 高くない。 (Sore ni, juppun ni-sen-en wa takakunai.) |
| MAN: It's not dangerous at all. It's safe. Plus, 2,000 yen for ten minutes is not expensive. |
| おばあさん (Obāsan): そうですよ。高くありませんよ。ねぇ、おじいさん、だめですか。 (Sō desu yo. Takaku arimasen yo. Nē, O-jii-san, dame desu ka.) |
| OLD WOMAN: That's right. It's not expensive. You don't want to Dear? |
| おじいさん (Ojīsan): だ、だめじゃないよ。じゃ、乗るか。 (Da, dame ja nai yo. Ja, noru ka.) お兄さん、鎌倉大仏まで、ゆっくりお願します。 (O-nii-san, Kamakura Daibutsu made, yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| OLD MAN: It's not that I don't want to...well, okay. Young man, take us to the Kamakura Great Buddha, slowly please. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Naomi Sensei 人力車 (Jinrikisha) |
| Naomi: うん。人力車 (Un. Jinrikisha) |
| Peter: Rickshaw |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: で、あのー日本で人力車をよく見ますか？(De, ano ̄ Nihon de jinrikisha o yoku mimasu ka?) Do you often see Rickshaws in Japan? |
| Naomi: 見ませんね。 (Mimasen ne.) I don’t think so not in the business district but at some tourist places, I think you can see them quite often. 例えば、浅草とか鎌倉とか京都とか。 (Tatoeba, Asakusa toka Kamakura toka Kyōto toka.) |
| Peter: So for example in Asakusa which is famous for its temple. |
| Naomi: 浅草寺 (Sensōji) templeですね。 (Desu ne.) And actually the word Rickshaw is from the word 人力車。 (jinrikisha) |
| Peter: Which is three kanji characters Human, power and car. So a human-powered car. |
| Naomi: Rickshaw っていうのは日本語から来たんですって。 (Tte iu no wa nihongo kara kitande sutte.) |
| Peter: Hah! We have a couple in the US but of course it’s – I remember Atlantic city has one or maybe I don’t know about Vegas but like you can ride up and down on the boardwalk but…. |
| Naomi: ニューヨークには人力車はないですか。 (Nyūyōku ni wa jinrikisha wanaidesu ka.) |
| Peter: I have recently seen the bicycles. |
| Naomi: Ah bicycleと (To) cart. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Naomi: 自転車と (Jitensha to) cartですね。 (Desu ne.) |
| Peter: Yeah but in Japan, I have only seen this at, like you said, Asakusa. |
| Naomi: うん、浅草、ありますね。 (Un, Asakusa, arimasu ne.) |
| Peter: On to today’s vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Naomi: 人力車 (jinrikisha) |
| Peter: Rickshaw. |
| Naomi: (slow)じんりきしゃ (Jin riki sha) (natural speed)人力車 (jinrikisha) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 速い (hayai) |
| Peter: Fast, quick. |
| Naomi: (slow)はやい (Hayai) (natural speed)速い (hayai) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: 気持ち (kimochi) |
| Peter: Feeling. |
| Naomi: (slow)きもち (Ki mochi) (natural speed)気持ち (kimochi) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: 危ない (abunai) |
| Peter: Dangerous. |
| Naomi: (slow)あぶない (Abunai) (natural speed)危ない (abunai) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: 安全 (anzen) |
| Peter: Safe, secure. |
| Naomi: (slow)えいが (Ei ga) (natural speed)安全 (anzen) |
| 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: 危ない (Abunai) |
| Peter: Dangerous. Now this ends in an い (I) adjective. What’s the opposite? |
| Naomi: 安全 (Anzen) |
| Peter: Safe, secure. |
| Naomi: And when someone is in danger, people call out like 危ない (Abunai)！ |
| Peter: Which corresponds to look out or watch out in English. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) You don’t say, like danger in English right? |
| Peter: Nope. For American listeners, this is perfect for their heads up like watch out. |
| Naomi: 危ない (Abunai) |
| Peter: What do we have next? |
| Naomi: 面白そう (Omoshiro-sō) |
| Peter: Looks or sounds interesting. Now as we learned in beginner series, season 4, lesson 7, when そう (Sō) is preceded by an adjective, the meaning of seeming is added. So it seems like. |
| Naomi: It could be translated as it looks, it smells, it sounds and so on. |
| Peter: So for い (I) adjectives, drop the い (I) and add そう (Sō) |
| Naomi: 面白い (Omoshiroi) |
| Peter: Interesting becomes |
| Naomi: 面白そう (Omoshiro-sō) |
| Peter: It seems interesting, it sounds interesting. |
| Naomi: 危ない (Abunai) |
| Peter: Dangerous becomes |
| Naomi: 危なそう (Abuna-sō) |
| Peter: It looks dangerous, it seems dangerous, it sounds dangerous. Now for な (Na) adjectives, add そう (Sō) after the dictionary form. |
| Naomi: 安全 (Anzen) |
| Peter: Safe becomes |
| Naomi: 安全そう (Anzen-sō) |
| Peter: It looks safe. |
| Naomi: 便利 (Benri) |
| Peter: Convenient, useful. |
| Naomi: 便利そう (Benri-sō) |
| Peter: It looks convenient. |
| Naomi: But いい (Ī) is the exception. |
| Peter: That’s right. |
| Naomi: いい (Ī) becomes 良さそう (Yo-sa-sō) |
| Peter: It’s really not that big of an exception because 良い (Yoi) also means good いい、良い (Ī, yoi) meaning the same thing. So it’s kind of like よそう (Yosou) but a lot of times when there are similar sounds, the さ (Sa) gets put in よさそう (Yo-sa-sō) |
| Naomi: 例えば (Tatoeba) For example 気持ちいい (Kimochīi) |
| Peter: Feels good, feeling good, comfortable. |
| Naomi: Becomes 気持ちよさそう (Kimochiyo-sa-sō) |
| Peter: It looks comfortable, sounds comfortable. |
| Naomi: Rickshaw 人力車は気持ち良さそうですよね。 (Jinrikisha wa kimochiyo-sa-sōdesu yo ne.) |
| Peter: や、違います。 (Ya, chigaimasu.) |
| Naomi: 絶対気持ち良いですよ、あれ。(Zettai kimochiyoidesu yo, are.) |
| Peter: So Naomi Sensei said, Rickshaws look comfortable and I said, I disagree. |
| Naomi: なんで？ (Nande?) |
| Peter: They don’t have shocks. |
| Naomi: そうね。お尻が痛いかもしれないですね。 (Sō ne. Oshirigaitai kamo shirenaidesu ne.) |
| Peter: でも、歩きよりいいですけど。 (Demo, aruki yori īdesukedo.) |
| Naomi: Ah better than walking? |
| Peter: Better than walking but… |
| Naomi: うーん、でも、人力車は時々 (U ̄ n, demo, jinrikisha wa tokidoki) Tour guide もしてくれます。 (Mo shite kuremasu.) だから面白いと思います。 (Dakara omoshiroi to omoimasu.) I think it’s interesting. |
| Peter: Well you be the judge. If you go to Asakusa, try it out. It’s worth riding once. |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: On to this lesson’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Now in this lesson, we are going to learn about formal and informal speech by reviewing adjective conjugations. Now the basic usage of adjectives was introduced in Nihongo Dojo Newbie series, Welcome to Style You lessons 11 to 15. Naomi Sensei, you remember those lessons? |
| Naomi: はい。覚えてます。 (Hai. Oboetemasu.) Yes. |
| Peter: You know, you can see them on our site. Now in Nihongo Dojo, Newbie series Style You and Beyond Lessons 15 to 16, you learned how to combine two or more adjectives by using the te form of an adjective. Naomi Sensei, can we have an adjective conjugation sentence from the dialogue? |
| Naomi: 速くて気持ちいいよ。 (Hayakute kimochīi yo.) |
| Peter: It’s fast and comfortable. Now before we break down this sentence, can you put something at the beginning of the sentence? |
| Naomi: 人力車は速くて気持ちいいよ。 (Jinrikisha wa hayakute kimochīi yo.) |
| Peter: That’s better. This makes it a lot clearer about the topic just to put into context. Now first we have |
| Naomi: 人力車 (jinrikisha) |
| Peter: Rickshaw followed by |
| Naomi: は (Wa) |
| Peter: Topic marking particle. |
| Naomi: 速くて気持ち良い (Hayakute kimochiyoi) |
| Peter: Fast and comfortable. Now 速くて (Hayakute) is in its te form. This is the te form of the adjective |
| Naomi: 速い (Hayai) |
| Peter: And you remember, you form the te form by dropping い (I) and adding |
| Naomi: くて (Kute) |
| Peter: And in Japanese, when you combine two adjectives, you have to use the te form. So 速くて (Hayakute) can be translated as fast and |
| Naomi: 気持ち良い (Kimochiyoi) |
| Peter: Comfortable is what we add next. |
| Naomi: よ (Yo) |
| Peter: And this is a sentence ending particle that adds emphasis and here we kind of translate it as you know. Naomi Sensei, what if we wanted to put this into polite Japanese. |
| Naomi: 人力車は速くて気持ち良いですよ。 (Jinrikisha wa hayakute kimochiyoidesu yo.) |
| Peter: Only the です (Desu) is added. The only thing that changes is the です (Desu) and it’s added after the adjectives but other than that, the sentence is the same. The 速くて (Hayakute) part stays the same. Remember, the final verb or what comes at the end of the sentence controls the politeness level for the sentence. Now Naomi Sensei, can you drop the sentence ending particle よ (Yo) and say the same sentence again informal, using informal Japanese. |
| Naomi: 人力車は速くて気持ち良い。 (Jinrikisha wa hayakute kimochiyoi.) |
| Peter: Now informal Japanese. |
| Naomi: 人力車は速くて気持ち良いです。 (Jinrikisha wa hayakute kimochiyoidesu.) |
Outro |
| Peter: In the PDF, there are exercises for comparing formal and informal speech. So be sure to stop by japanesepod101.com and download the lesson notes for this lesson. Naomi Sensei 私達の会社、 (Watashitachi no kaisha,) Innovative Language Learning はどんな会社ですか。 (Wa don'na kaishadesu ka.) So what kind of company is Innovative Language Learning? |
| Naomi: 小さくて、とても小さくて、でも若くて楽しい会社です。 (Chīsakute, totemo chīsakute, demo wakakute tanoshī kaishadesu.) |
| Peter: So it’s small, young and fun. そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) |
| Naomi: あ、それから (A, sore kara) Podcasting の会社ですね。 (No kaishadesu ne.) |
| Peter: And of course, it’s a podcasting company. |
| Naomi: リスナーの皆さんの会社、学校はどんなところですか？ (Risunā no minasan no kaisha, gakkō wa don'na tokorodesu ka?) |
| Peter: So everybody, what kind of company or school do you belong to? |
| Naomi: 教えてください。 (Oshietekudasai.) |
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