Learn the key pattern to use essential social expressions
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| Let’s take a closer look at these 3 conversations. |
| First, do you remember how Ben Lee says, |
| "Excuse me." |
| すみません。(Sumimasen.) |
| In this context, すみません is used to get someone’s attention, and translates as, "Excuse me." す-み-ま-せ-ん. |
| すみません。 |
| This expression can also be a mild apology and even a very polite thank you. It’s most fundamental, and perhaps most frequent use, though, is when you want to get someone’s attention. In this case, Ben wants to get the attention of the person he is chasing after. |
| Remember this expression. You’ll use it later in the lesson. |
| Do you remember how the passenger acknowledges Ben by saying, |
| "Yes?" |
| はい (Hai.) |
| はい, "Yes?" は-い. |
| はい。 |
| This expression is often used in response to すみません。 |
| The second part of the conversation takes place after Ben returns the passenger’s wallet. |
| Do you remember how the passenger politely says, |
| "Thank you." |
| ありがとうございます。(Arigatō gozaimasu.) |
| ありがとうございます。"Thank you." ありがとうございます。 |
| This expression has two parts: |
| First, ありがとう, which means something like ‘gratitude,’ あ-り-が-と-う. ありがとう。 |
| ありがとう originally comes from a phrase あり がたし, which literally means "hard to exist" or "rarely exists." It came to mean "gratitude," because you should appreciate something that rarely happens to you. |
| The second part is ございます, a polite way to say "I have" or "there exists." ご-ざ-い-ま-す. ございます。 |
| Together, ありがとうございます. means something like, "gratitude there exists," but translates as, "Thank you." |
| ありがとうございます。 |
| In more informal situations, you can drop the ございます and just say ありがとう. Thank you. ありがとう。 |
| Do you remember how Ben says, |
| "You’re welcome." |
| どういたしまして。 (Dōitashimashite.) |
| どういたしまして。"You’re welcome." どういたしまして。 |
| どういたしまして means something like "What did I do [for you]?" and it implies that the speaker didn't do anything, so there is no need for gratitude. |
| First is どう meaning "how" or "what." どう |
| Second is いたしまして, meaning something like, "I did," in the context. いたしまして. |
| いたしまして is a form of the humble verb いたす meaning "to do." いたす. |
| Together, どういたしまして。"You’re welcome." |
| どういたしまして。 |
| This is the appropriate response to ありがとうございます. |
| After the train doors shut and Ben misses his train, do you remember how the passenger apologies to Ben by saying, |
| "I’m sorry..." |
| すみません。(Sumimasen.) |
| In this context,すみません, means "I’m sorry." |
| すみません。 |
| The passenger feels responsible for Ben missing his train and is apologizing. |
| So here, sumimasen means "I’m sorry." |
| While in the first dialogue, sumimasen means, "excuse me," as Ben is trying to get the passenger’s attention. |
| The meaning of sumimasen depends on the context. |
| Do you remember how Ben replies, |
| "It’s alright." |
| だいじょうぶです。(Daijōbu desu.) |
| The first part is だいじょうぶ alright だ-い-じょ-う-ぶ. だいじょうぶ。 |
| Next is です, This literally means "I am alright," but it translates as "It's alright." で-す. です。 |
| Together, だいじょうぶです。literally means, "Alright [it] is," but translates as, "It’s alright." |
| だいじょうぶです。 |
| This is a common phrase used to express that things are alright referring to situations and physical well being. |
| Do you remember how Ben says, |
| "You’re welcome." |
| どういたしまして。(Dōitashimashite.) |
| This expression is often preceded by, いいえ。(Iie.) meaning, "No." い-い-え. いいえ。 |
| Together, the full expression is: いいえ。どういたしまして。(Iie. Dōitashimashite) No. What did I do [for you]," but translates as, "You’re welcome." いいえ。どういたしまして。 |
| Sometimes you might hear only the first part of this expression, いいえ。 |
| without どういたしまして。 In this case, the どういたしまして. is inferred from context, so it is omitted. |
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