Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hi everyone, I'm Eric.
Risa: And I'm Risa.
Eric: And welcome to Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 5. Asking About Time.
Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for asking about time.
PATTERN
Eric: For example,
Eric: "When is your birthday?"
Risa: たんじょうびはいつですか。 (Tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka.)
Risa: [slow] たんじょうびはいつですか。 (Tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka.)
Eric: The pattern for asking about time has 4 elements. First, birthday.
Risa: たんじょうび (Tanjōbi).
Eric: Second, a topic marking particle, literally meaning "as for".
Risa: は (wa).
Eric: Third, interrogative word meaning "when".
Risa: いつ (itsu).
Eric: And last, a linking verb + question marker, in this case, "Is~?" .
Risa: ですか (desu ka).
Eric: Altogether, we have.. "When is your birthday?"
Risa: たんじょうびはいつですか。 (Tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka.) [slow] たんじょうびはいつですか。 (Tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka.) [normal] たんじょうびはいつですか。 (Tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka.)
Eric: To ask “When is Noun A?” in Japanese, the topic, in this case “birthday”
Risa: たんじょうび (tanjōbi)
Eric: comes first; Noun A is followed by the topic marking particle
Risa: は (wa)
Eric: then the interrogative pronoun
Risa: いつ (itsu)
Eric: with the linking verb
Risa: です (desu)
Eric: and finally, add the question marker
Risa: か (ka)
Eric: at the end.
Risa: たんじょうびはいつですか。 (Tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka.)
Eric: So remember that to ask about time, first state the topic, followed by the topic marking particle
Risa: は (wa),
Eric: the interrogative pronoun
Risa: いつ (itsu),
Eric: the linking verb
Risa: です (desu)
Eric: and add the question marker at the end.
Eric: Here is another example meaning, "When is your holiday?" First, holiday.
Risa: 休み (Yasumi).
Eric: Second, a topic marking particle, literally meaning "as for".
Risa: は (wa)
Eric: Third, an interrogative word meaning "when".
Risa: いつ (itsu).
Eric: And last, a linking verb + question marker, in this case, "Is~?" .
Risa: ですか (desu ka).
Eric: Altogether we have..
Risa: 休みはいつですか。 (Yasumi wa itsu desu ka.) [slow] 休みはいつですか。 (Yasumi wa itsu desu ka.) [normal] 休みはいつですか。 (Yasumi wa itsu desu ka.)
Eric: "When is your holiday?"
[pause]
Risa: 休みはいつですか。 (Yasumi wa itsu desu ka.)
Eric: How do you say - "When is your trip?" To give you a hint, "trip" is..
Risa: 旅行 (ryokō). [slow] 旅行 (ryokō). [normal] 旅行 (ryokō).
Eric: “When is your trip?”
[pause]
Risa: 旅行はいつですか。 (Ryokō wa itsu desu ka.) [slow] 旅行はいつですか。 (Ryokō wa itsu desu ka.) [normal] 旅行はいつですか。 (Ryokō wa itsu desu ka.)
[pause]
Risa: 旅行はいつですか。 (Ryokō wa itsu desu ka.)
REVIEW
Eric: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will give you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Japanese. Here we go.
Eric: "When is your birthday?"
[pause]
Risa: たんじょうびはいつですか。 (Tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka.)
[pause]
Risa: たんじょうびはいつですか。 (Tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka.)
Eric: "When is your holiday?"
[pause]
Risa: 休みはいつですか。 (Yasumi wa itsu desu ka.)
[pause]
Risa: 休みはいつですか。 (Yasumi wa itsu desu ka.)
Eric: "When is your trip?"
[pause]
Risa: 旅行はいつですか。 (Ryokō wa itsu desu ka.)
[pause]
Risa: 旅行はいつですか。 (Ryokō wa itsu desu ka.)

Outro
Eric: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for asking about time, as in..
Risa: たんじょうびはいつですか。 (Tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka.)
Eric: meaning "When is your birthday?"
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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