Learn how to talk about something you've done before
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, I'm Eric. |
| Risa: And I'm Risa. |
| Eric: And welcome to Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 18. Talking About Something You've Done Before. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern to talk about something you've done before. |
| PATTERN |
| Eric: For example, "I have climbed Mt. Fuji." |
| Risa: 富士山に登ったことがあります。 (Fuji-san ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.) |
| Risa: [slow] 富士山に登ったことがあります。 (Fuji-san ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.) |
| Eric: The pattern for talking about something you've done before has 4 elements. First, a verb phrase in the informal past tense meaning "to climb Mt. Fuji." Let’s break this phrase down, first we have |
| Risa: 富士山 (Fujisan) |
| Eric: meaning “Mt. Fuji.” This is followed by a particle indicating movement toward a place, |
| Risa: に (ni) |
| Eric: and then the informal past tense of the verb "to climb." |
| Risa: 登った (nobotta). |
| Risa: 富士山に登った (Fuji-san ni nobotta). |
| Eric: The second element in the sentence is a nominalizer which turns the preceding verb, adjective, or sentence into a noun. |
| Risa: こと (koto). |
| Eric: The third element is a subject marking particle. |
| Risa: が (ga). |
| Eric: And last, the verb meaning "to exist" for inanimate objects. |
| Risa: あります (arimasu). |
| Eric: Altogether, we have, "I have climbed Mt. Fuji." |
| Risa: 富士山に登ったことがあります。 (Fuji-san ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.) [slow] 富士山に登ったことがあります。 (Fuji-san ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.) [normal] 富士山に登ったことがあります。 (Fuji-san ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.) |
| Eric: To say that you've done something before in Japanese, you first need to say the verb phrase or action that you've done. This should be in the informal past tense. |
| Risa: 富士山に登った (Fuji-san ni nobotta). |
| Eric: This is followed by the nominalizer, |
| Risa: こと (koto), |
| Eric: plus a subject marking particle, |
| Risa: が (ga), |
| Eric: and at the end, the verb meaning “to exist.” |
| Risa: あります (arimasu). |
| Risa: 富士山に登ったことがあります。 (Fuji-san ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.) |
| Eric: You can also say |
| Risa: 私は富士山に登ったことがあります。 (Watashi wa Fuji-san ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.), |
| Eric: But again, in Japanese you can omit the subject of the sentence when it's clear. So, in this case, you can omit the subject part, |
| Risa: 私は (watashi wa), |
| Eric: and simply say: |
| Risa: 富士山に登ったことがあります。 (Fuji-san ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.) |
| Eric: So remember, to say that you’ve done something before, first say a verb or verb phrase describing the thing you've done in the informal past tense. Then at the end, just add: |
| Risa: ことがあります(koto ga arimasu) |
| Eric: Here’s another example meaning, "I have been to Kyōto." First, we need the verb phrase in the informal past tense meaning "went to Kyoto." Let’s break this phrase down. First we have |
| Risa: 京都 (Kyoto) |
| Eric: followed by a particle indicating movement toward a place |
| Risa: に (ni) |
| Eric: and then the informal past tense of a verb "to go" |
| Risa: 行った (itta). |
| Risa: 京都に行った (Kyōto ni itta). |
| Eric: The second element in the sentence is a nominalizer which turns the preceding verb or sentence into a noun. |
| Risa: こと (koto). |
| Eric: Third, a subject marking particle. |
| Risa: が (ga). |
| Eric: And last, the verb meaning "to exist" for inanimate objects. |
| Risa: あります (arimasu). |
| Eric: Altogether we have... |
| Risa: 京都に行ったことがあります。 (Kyōto ni itta koto ga arimasu.) [slow] 京都に行ったことがあります。 (Kyōto ni itta koto ga arimasu.) [normal] 京都に行ったことがあります。 (Kyōto ni itta koto ga arimasu.) |
| Eric: "I have been to Kyōto." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 京都に行ったことがあります。 (Kyōto ni itta koto ga arimasu.) |
| Eric: How do you say - "I have had sushi." To give you a hint, "to eat sushi" is... |
| Risa: 寿司を食べる (sushi o taberu). |
| Eric:And “ate sushi” is, |
| Risa: 寿司を食べた (sushi o tabeta) [slow] 寿司を食べた (sushi o tabeta). [normal] 寿司を食べた (sushi o tabeta). |
| Eric: "I have had sushi." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 寿司を食べたことがあります。 (Sushi o tabeta koto ga arimasu.) [slow] 寿司を食べたことがあります。 (Sushi o tabeta koto ga arimasu.) [normal] 寿司を食べたことがあります。 (Sushi o tabeta koto ga arimasu.) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 寿司を食べたことがあります。 (Sushi o tabeta koto ga arimasu.) |
| REVIEW |
| Eric: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I’ll give you the English equivalent of the phrase, and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud in Japanese. Here we go. |
| Eric: "I have climbed Mt. Fuji." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 富士山に登ったことがあります。 (Fuji-san ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 富士山に登ったことがあります。 (Fuji-san ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.) |
| Eric: "I have been to Kyōto." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 京都に行ったことがあります。 (Kyōto ni itta koto ga arimasu.) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 京都に行ったことがあります。 (Kyōto ni itta koto ga arimasu.) |
| Eric: "I have had sushi." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 寿司を食べたことがあります。 (Sushi o tabeta koto ga arimasu.) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 寿司を食べたことがあります。 (Sushi o tabeta koto ga arimasu.) |
Outro |
|---|
| Eric: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for talking about something you've done before, as in... |
| Risa: 富士山に登ったことがあります。 (Fuji-san ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.) |
| Eric: meaning "I have climbed Mt. Fuji." |
| Eric: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on JapanesePod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time! |
| Risa: じゃ、また。(Ja, mata.). |
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