Learn how to talk about yourself in a polite manner
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 |
| Naomi: なおみです。(Hisashi-buri, hisashiburi.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Tell Me More About Yourself. |
| Naomi: おお～。(Ō ~.) |
| Peter: Now in the previous lesson, Haruya Oozura came to his girlfriend’s house and met his mother. |
| Naomi: はい、お母さんと会いました。(Hai, okāsan to aimashita.) |
| Peter: He also gave her a present and said. |
| Naomi: つまらないものですが、どうぞ。(Tsumaranai monodesuga, dōzo.) |
| Peter: Here is a little something I picked up. Here you go. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: And of course, this is a very humble expression. |
| Naomi: Yes. |
| Peter: Now in today’s conversation, we are going to find out more as the mother is asking some questions. Today’s conversation takes place at |
| Naomi: 天道さんの家 (Tendō-san no ie) The family Tendo’s home. |
| Peter: And the living room actually as this is a continuation of the previous conversation with the mother and Haruya. So she is asking some more questions again as the mother and Haruya are speaking. It’s polite Japanese. Then right at the end, we have some informal Japanese. |
| Naomi: おお～、そうですね。(Ō ~, sōdesune.) That’s right. |
| Peter: Spoken by Miu. So pay attention to that change and here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 天道きり (Tendō kiri):晴夜さんは、おいくつですか。(Haruya-san wa, o-ikutsu desu ka.) |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):あ、今年、三十一です。 (A, kotoshi, sanjū-ichi desu.) |
| 天道きり (Tendō kiri):あら、三十一才？...ご兄弟がいますか。 (Ara, sanjū-issai?... Gokyōdai ga imasu ka.) |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):いえ、母一人。子一人です。 (Ie, haha hitori. ko hitori desu.) |
| 天道きり (Tendō kiri):そうですか。...ご出身は？ (Sō desu ka.... Go-shusshin wa?) |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):足立区です。 (Adachi-ku desu.) |
| 天道美雨 (Tendō Miu):あ、パパだ。晴夜、パパ、来るよ。 (A, papa da. Haruya, papa, kuru yo.) |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):（ゴクリ） (Gokuri) |
| Naomi: もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。 (Mōichido onegaishimasu. Yukkuri onegaishimasu.) |
| 天道きり (Tendō kiri):晴夜さんは、おいくつですか。 (Haruya-san wa, o-ikutsu desu ka.) |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):あ、今年、三十一です。 (A, kotoshi, sanjū-ichi desu.) |
| 天道きり (Tendō kiri):あら、三十一才？...ご兄弟がいますか。 (Ara, sanjū-issai?... Gokyōdai ga imasu ka.) |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):いえ、母一人。子一人です。 (Ie, haha hitori. ko hitori desu.) |
| 天道きり (Tendō kiri):そうですか。...ご出身は？ (Sō desu ka.... Go-shusshin wa?) |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):足立区です。 (Adachi-ku desu.) |
| 天道美雨 (Tendō Miu):あ、パパだ。晴夜、パパ、来るよ。 (A, papa da. Haruya, papa, kuru yo.) |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):（ゴクリ） (Gokuri) |
| Naomi: 今度は英語を入ります。 (Kondo wa eigo o hairimasu.) |
| 天道きり (Tendō kiri):晴夜さんは、おいくつですか。 (Haruya-san wa, o-ikutsu desu ka.) |
| Tendou Kiri: Haruya-san, how old are you? |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):あ、今年、三十一です。 (A, kotoshi, sanjū-ichi desu.) |
| Oozora Haruya: Ah, this year, I’m 31. |
| 天道きり (Tendō kiri):あら、三十一才？...ご兄弟がいますか。 (Ara, sanjū-issai?... Gokyōdai ga imasu ka.) |
| Tendou Kiri: Wow, 31 years old. Do you have brothers and sisters? |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):いえ、母一人。子一人です。 (Ie, haha hitori. ko hitori desu.) |
| Oozora Haruya: No. There is just my mother. I’m the only child. |
| 天道きり (Tendō kiri):そうですか。...ご出身は？ (Sō desu ka.... Go-shusshin wa?) |
| Tendou Kiri: I see, and where is your hometown? |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):足立区です。 (Adachi-ku desu.) |
| Oozora Haruya: It’s Adachi-ward. |
| 天道美雨 (Tendō Miu):あ、パパだ。晴夜、パパ、来るよ。 (A, papa da. Haruya, papa, kuru yo.) |
| Tendou Miu: Ah, it’s dad. Haruya, dad is coming. |
| 大空晴夜 (Ōzora seiya):（ゴクリ） (Gokuri) |
| Oozora Haruya: (Gulp) |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Naomi Sensei. |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: First thing's first. パパが来る。(Papa ga kuru.) |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Daddy’s home. |
| Naomi: ね。 (Ne.) |
| Peter: ん～、ちょっと怖いですね。(N ~, chotto kowaidesu ne.) It’s a little bit scary. |
| Naomi: そう・・・ですか？ (Sōdesu ka?) Is that right? |
| Peter: そうですよ。(Sōdesu yo.) That’s right. |
| Naomi: For girls, mothers are more scary. |
| Peter: Yeah. So I can relate very much to Haruya. If you are listening to this, you can only hear the gulp, but actually umm there is the Japanese word for it, the onomatopoeia which is |
| Naomi: ごくり。(Go kuri.) Nobody says that though. It’s only written. |
| Peter: Yeah. So it’s gulp. |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: One more time. |
| Naomi: Should I read it? |
| Peter: Read it. |
| Naomi: Okay ごくり。(Go kuri.) I have never said this word though. |
| Peter: But it is something you see in the comic book or something like that. |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Peter: Again, you could find this inside the PDF and if you stop by and get the PDF, there is one more thing that I kind of want to put in there and that’s the kanji for the fourth line which is あら、31才. 31才 (Ara, 31-sai. 31-Sai) which is 31. The kanji for 才 (Sai) or years old. Here it’s pretty interesting because in textbooks, you also see a much more complicated character. |
| Naomi: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think both Chinese characters are right, but in the elementary school, we first learn this simple like O shape kanji. |
| Peter: Yeah it does look a lot like the katakana O. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sōdesu ne.) |
| Peter: And it’s just so much easier to write because the other one is quite a complicated character. Naomi Sensei, should I have you write it, try and write right now? |
| Naomi: できるよ～。 (Dekiru yo ~) |
| Peter: So you can do it okay. |
| Naomi: Yeah I can do it. It’s not that bad. |
| Peter: Good point and actually, you know we should probably look at the little interjection right before that. あら (Ara) |
| Naomi: This is so feminine. You should not use it. |
| Peter: Yeah and I have this – this kind of nuance is said by little bit of – well kind of more mature women. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) |
| Peter: Maturing is old. |
| Naomi: I don’t know about that but very like high-class Japanese. |
| Peter: Really? See, I didn’t even know that. That’s really interesting. |
| Naomi: 何か、うん、そんな感じがする。 (Nanika, un, son'na kanjigasuru.) That’s my impression. |
| Peter: Yeah but this is not an expression for guys out there. |
| Naomi: No. |
| Peter: Definitely not. Okay |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: First word, |
| Naomi: 今年 (kotoshi) |
| Peter: This year. |
| Naomi: ことし、今年 (Kotoshi, kotoshi) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: いくつ (Ikutsu) |
| Peter: how many, how old |
| Naomi: いくつ、いくつ (Ikutsu, ikutsu) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: 才 (sai) |
| Peter: suffix for “years-old." |
| Naomi: さい、才 (Sai, sai) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: 兄弟 (kyōdai) |
| Peter: siblings |
| Naomi: きょうだい、兄弟 (Kyō dai, kyōdai) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: 一人 (hitori) |
| Peter: one person |
| Naomi: ひとり、一人 (Hitori, hitori) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: 出身 (Shusshin) |
| Peter: Person’s origin, hometown |
| Naomi: しゅっしん、出身 (Shusshin, shusshin) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: 足立区 (Adachi-ku) |
| Peter: Adachi ward |
| Naomi: あだちく、足立区 (Ada chiku, tatagu) |
| Peter: Next |
| Naomi: 来る (kuru) |
| Peter: to come |
| Naomi: くる、来る (Kuru, kuru) |
| Peter: Finally |
| Naomi: パパ (Papa) |
| Peter: Papa, dad |
| Naomi: パパ、パパ (Papa, papa) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay Naomi sense. Let’s take a look at some of the words and expressions used in the dialogue. What do we have first? |
| Naomi: 兄弟, (kyōdai,) |
| Peter: “siblings.” |
| Naomi: In a polite situation, we put honorific prefix and say ご兄弟。(Go kyōdai.) |
| Peter: ご兄弟 (Go kyōdai.) |
| Naomi: Your honorable siblings. |
| Peter:Next we have.. |
| Naomi: 才 (sai) |
| Peter: Years old. A suffix that’s attached to number to indicate “years-old.” |
| Naomi: That counting system is a bit tricky. |
| Peter: Inside the PDF we have, what we have.. one to what number, Naomi-sense. |
| Naomi: Ten.. haha. |
| Peter: Now onto the today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Okay Naomi Sensei, first we have something called a magical は (Wa). Now a lot of times when you are speaking Japanese or listening to Japanese, you have to infer as the speaker implies a lot of things. So a lot of the times what comes after は (Wa) is inferred by the listener, implied by the speaker. In this case, where, where is your hometown or your hometown is where. Naomi Sensei, can we just break this down quickly. What do we have first? |
| Naomi: ご (Go) |
| Peter: Honorific prefix. |
| Naomi: 出身 (Shusshin) |
| Peter: Hometown. |
| Naomi: は (Wa) |
| Peter: A topic marking particle. So it’s just – it’s literally hometown but of course you’re and is that makes it kind of conducive to English. Hometown is and the where is what speaker implies and the listener infers. So if we look at the textbook example, here is how we would have it. |
| Naomi: ご出身はどこですか。 (Go shusshin wa dokodesu ka.) |
| Peter: Again we have the first part that’s the same. Honorific prefix plus hometown plus the topic marking particle followed by |
| Naomi: どこ (Doko) |
| Peter: Where. |
| Naomi: です (Desu) |
| Peter: Close to the English is. Finally |
| Naomi: か (Ka) |
| Peter: Question marking particle. Hometown where is, where is your hometown but in today’s conversation that. |
| Naomi: どこですか (Dokodesu ka) |
| Peter: Was inferred by the listener and implied when spoken and we will come into contact with this more and more – this nuance of a magical は (Wa) that you could just stop your sentence at は (Wa) and whatever you really want to say comes after and it’s really nice because it really helps you shorten your sentences. |
| Naomi: たとえば、お名前は何ですか。 (Tatoeba, onamaehanandesuka.) |
| Peter: What’s your name? |
| Naomi: Can be said お名前は？ (Onamae wa?) |
| Peter: Your name? |
| Naomi: お電話番号は何ですか。 (O tenwabangō wa nanidesu ka.) |
| Peter: What’s your phone number? |
| Naomi: お電話番号は？ (O tenwabangō wa?) |
| Peter: Your phone number is? And this construction, it’s interesting. At first when I started learning Japanese, I used this structure because I didn’t know everything that came after all the time. |
| Naomi: Ah. You mean the interrogative words. |
| Peter: Yeah it was the shortcut. Then when I got better, I wanted to put the interrogatives in there but then when I got to the point where I could understand Japanese professionally, I went back to this because actually Japanese people use this structure much more I guess faster and quicker. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) Actually if you are going to ask how many people are there in your family, you can just say ご家族は？ (Gokazoku wa?) |
| M:Your family is? |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sōdesu ne.) The 何人 (Nanijin) is the counter for people but even if you don’t know the counter for people, you can still ask the question. |
| Peter: Two quick points here. One grammatical and one cultural. So when you use a structure, it’s pretty common to find the honorific prefix attached to the noun because without it, it could come across as rude. 名前は？ (Namae wa?) |
| Naomi: あ～、そうですね。 (A ~, sōdesune.) |
| Peter: So “your name?” You see, you really want to make sure where appropriate you get that honorific prefix and two, you know thinking about it now like as we are going through this, and the reason I guess you don’t put the interrogative in there, isn’t it – it’s a bit more vague, isn’t it? |
| Naomi: The more vague the sentence is, the politer it is. |
| Peter: Yeah so you know, it’s probably I just kind of picked up on that now as we were kind of walking ourselves through it. |
Outro |
| Peter: Now inside the PDF, we have a very detailed grammar point explanation about this. We also have something covering how old you are. The question how old you are. So check out the PDF. That’s going to do for today. |
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