Learn about the negative of i-adjectives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: ナツコです。(Natsuko desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Natsuko-san, what are we talking about today? |
| Natsuko: I don’t want to mention this. |
| Peter: All right, umm... |
| Natsuko: Talking about grades. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Natsuko: Oh oh. |
| Peter: Grades and of course, when we talk about grades, we talk about “difficult” and when we talk about difficult, we are talking about adjectives. So today we are going to be discussing i-adjectives and the negative form of i-adjectives. Now in Japanese, there are two types of adjectives often called na-adjectives and i-adjectives. Today we will be looking at i-adjectives. So today’s conversation takes place between, Natsuko-san? |
| Natsuko: Two students. |
| Peter: Now the politeness level here, Natsuko-san? |
| Natsuko: They are quite polite to each other. |
| Peter: Now is this kind of the case for classmates? |
| Natsuko: I don’t think so. |
| Peter: Yeah, we are kind of twisting it a bit here. So you will, kind of, can relate more to your textbook because you will come into contact with polite Japanese over and over. So just to make you feel a little bit at home, we kind of made it a little polite. |
| Natsuko: Well it’s always to learn something polite first. |
| Peter: Yeah, exactly. So here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 先生 (sensei) : スウェーデン語の勉強は楽しいですか。(Suwēden-go no benkyō wa tanoshii desu ka.) |
| 生徒たち (seito-tachi) : は〜い。楽しいです。(Hāi. Tanoshii desu.) |
| 生徒1 (seito 1) : でも、むずかしいです。(Demo, muzukashii desu.) |
| 生徒2 (seito 2) : えっ、むずかしくないよ。やさしいよ。(E, muzukashikunai yo. Yasashii yo.) |
| 生徒1 (seito 1) : えー？やさしくないよ〜。むずかしいよ。(Ē? Yasashikunai yō. Muzukashii yo.) |
| テストはいつも８０点です。(Tesuto wa itsumo hachi-jutten desu.) |
| 生徒2 (seito 2) : そ、そ、そんな...８０点は悪くないよ。(So, so, sonna... Hachi-jutten wa warukunai yo.) |
| 私はいつも６０点です。(Watashi wa itsumo roku-jutten desu.) |
| 生徒1 (seito 1) : えー！それはよくないね。もっと頑張ってね。(Ē! Sore wa yokunai ne. Motto ganbatte ne.) |
| もう一度お願いします。今度はゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 先生 (sensei) : スウェーデン語の勉強は楽しいですか。(Suwēden-go no benkyō wa tanoshii desu ka.) |
| 生徒たち (seito-tachi) : は〜い。楽しいです。(Hāi. Tanoshii desu.) |
| 生徒1 (seito 1) : でも、むずかしいです。(Demo, muzukashii desu.) |
| 生徒2 (seito 2) : えっ、むずかしくないよ。やさしいよ。(E, muzukashikunai yo. Yasashii yo.) |
| 生徒1 (seito 1) : えー？やさしくないよ〜。むずかしいよ。(Ē? Yasashikunai yō. Muzukashii yo.) |
| テストはいつも８０点です。(Tesuto wa itsumo hachi-jutten desu.) |
| 生徒2 (seito 2) : そ、そ、そんな...８０点は悪くないよ。(So, so, sonna... Hachi-jutten wa warukunai yo.) |
| 私はいつも６０点です。(Watashi wa itsumo roku-jutten desu.) |
| 生徒1 (seito 1) : えー！それはよくないね。もっと頑張ってね。(Ē! Sore wa yokunai ne. Motto ganbatte ne.) |
| 次は英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 先生 (sensei) : スウェーデン語の勉強は楽しいですか。(Suwēden-go no benkyō wa tanoshii desu ka.) |
| TEACHER: Do you enjoy studying Swedish? |
| 生徒たち (seito-tachi) : は〜い。楽しいです。(Hāi. Tanoshii desu.) |
| STUDENTS: Yes, it's fun. |
| 生徒1 (seito 1) : でも、むずかしいです。(Demo, muzukashii desu.) |
| STUDENT 1: But it's difficult. |
| 生徒2 (seito 2) : えっ、むずかしくないよ。やさしいよ。(E, muzukashikunai yo. Yasashii yo.) |
| STUDENT 2: Huh? It's not difficult. It's easy. |
| 生徒1 (seito 1) : えー？やさしくないよ〜。むずかしいよ。(Ē? Yasashikunai yō. Muzukashii yo.) |
| STUDENT 1: What? It's not easy; it's hard. |
| 生徒1 (seito 1) : テストはいつも８０点です。(Tesuto wa itsumo hachi-jutten desu.) |
| STUDENT 1: I always get 80s on the tests. |
| 生徒2 (seito 2) : そ、そ、そんな... (So, so, sonna…) |
| STUDENT 2: W, w, what? |
| 生徒2 (seito 2) : ８０点は悪くないよ。(Hachi-jutten wa warukunai yo.) |
| STUDENT 2: W, w, what? 80 isn't bad! |
| 生徒2 (seito 2) : 私はいつも６０点です。(Watashi wa itsumo roku-jutten desu.) |
| STUDENT 2: I usually get 60s. |
| 生徒1 (seito 1) : えー！それはよくないね。(Ē! Sore wa yokunai ne.) |
| STUDENT 1: Huh? That's not good. |
| 生徒1 (seito 1) : もっと頑張ってね。(Motto ganbatte ne.) |
| STUDENT 1: Huh? That's not good. You should study more. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Natsuko-san, what do you think of today’s conversation? Can you relate? |
| Natsuko: Yes, very much. I think a score of 60 is acceptable. Don’t you think so? |
| Peter: Umm… |
| Natsuko: I am not sure but… |
| Peter: Yeah, if it’s on a curve, it’s not too bad but otherwise… |
| Natsuko: Oh… |
| Peter: In Japanese schools, is 60 okay? |
| Natsuko: Oh, it depends. I think it used to be, you know the border. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: Below 60 would be you know, you have to take the test again. |
| Peter: Border I mean like the edge of the border like you get your fingers hang on to the border. Yeah, it’s pretty close but today’s lesson serves a great point. Very rich in context, very rich with the comparison between the affirmative and the negative in dealing with adjectives because in Japanese, adjectives can be conjugated. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: And this is a concept that we are going to ease you into. Actually we just pushed you from the back into the pool with this lesson but you’ll get it quick. So let’s do this. Let’s take a look at the vocab and then we will take a look at the conversation. Natsuko-san, first word. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Natsuko: スウェーデン語 (Suwēden-go) |
| Peter: Swedish. |
| Natsuko: (slow) すうぇーでんご (Suwēden-go) (natural speed) スウェーデン語 (Suwēden-go) |
| Peter: We want to point out here is when talking about languages, it’s often the country name followed by |
| Natsuko: 語 (go) |
| Peter: Which is the character for language. So in this case, |
| Natsuko: スウェーデン(Suwēden) |
| Peter: Is Sweden. And then we attach 語 (go) to get |
| Natsuko: スウェーデン語 (Suwēden-go) |
| Peter: What’s Japan? |
| Natsuko: 日本 (Nihon) |
| Peter: And then we attach |
| Natsuko: 語 (go) |
| Peter: We get |
| Natsuko: 日本語 (Nihon-go) |
| Peter: For Japanese. This doesn’t work in every case as some languages go across borders. For example with English, it’s |
| Natsuko: 英語 (Eigo) |
| Peter: And the first character being |
| Natsuko: Britain. |
| Peter: Yes, and the second character being. |
| Natsuko: 語 (go) |
| Peter: Britain’s language, which is English. So it doesn’t work for every case but there are many cases where it’s the country name followed by character for language. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Check the PDF. We will have a write up about this. Okay, we will give you the major ones. Next we have |
| Natsuko: 勉強 (benkyō) |
| Peter: Study. |
| Natsuko: (slow) べんきょう (benkyō) (natural speed) 勉強 (benkyō) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Natsuko: 楽しい (tanoshii) |
| Peter: Fun, enjoyable. |
| Natsuko: (slow) たのしい (tanoshii) (natural speed) 楽しい (tanoshii) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Natsuko: 悪くない (warukunai) |
| Peter: Not too bad. |
| Natsuko: (slow) わるくない (warukunai) (natural speed) 悪くない (warukunai) |
| Peter: Okay, now this expression – This is actually close to expression because it’s actually the negative form of |
| Natsuko: 悪い (warui) |
| Peter: Bad. Bad and then the negative is not bad. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Which is actually today’s grammar point introduced a little early but it’s almost acceptable because it’s used so often. Next we have |
| Natsuko: 点 (ten) |
| Peter: Point, mark. |
| Natsuko: (slow) てん (ten) (natural speed) 点 (ten) |
| Peter: Okay, now that we covered that, let’s take a look at the conversation. Okay, first the teacher starts off with |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Natsuko: スウェーデン語の勉強は楽しいですか。(Suwēden-go no benkyō wa tanoshii desu ka.) |
| Peter: Is studying Swedish fun? Okay, notice how the topic precedes the は (wa) and then it’s followed by the adjective and ですか (desu ka). Okay Natsuko, how can I say we discussed English, is studying English fun? |
| Natsuko: 英語の勉強は楽しいですか。(Eigo no benkyō wa tanoshii desu ka.) |
| Peter: Okay. The topic comes before は楽しいですか (wa tanoshii desu ka). Now looking in the front, we had 英語の (Eigo no). We need the possessive. We need the possessive marker in there. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: 英語の勉強 (Eigo no benkyō), so English’s study or study of English is fun. The kid’s answer |
| Natsuko: はーい、楽しいです。(Hāi, tanoshii desu.) |
| Peter: Yes, it’s fun. |
| Natsuko: でも、むずかしいです。(Demo, muzukashii desu.) |
| Peter: でも (demo), but difficult it’s. The adjective comes first. Now in informal Japanese, you can even leave off the です (desu). |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: The polite form of the copula. So it’s just |
| Natsuko: むずかしい。(Muzukashii.) |
| Peter: That’s it and that means it’s difficult. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: This is followed by |
| Natsuko: え、むずかしくないよ。(E, muzukashikunai yo.) |
| Peter: The negative form of the adjective むずかしい (muzukashii). Now to form this, we drop the final い (i) and replace it with |
| Natsuko: くない (kunai) |
| Peter: We could also think of it, the final い (i) becomes |
| Natsuko: く (ku) |
| Peter: And we attach |
| Natsuko: ない (nai) |
| Peter: Okay. So let’s just break it down here. First we have difficult. |
| Natsuko: むずかしい (muzukashii) |
| (slow) むずかしい (muzukashii) (natural speed) むずかしい (muzukashii) |
| Peter: Notice at the end the し (shi) and the い (i). Now let’s have the negative. |
| Natsuko: むずかしくない (muzukashikunai) |
| Peter: Break it down. |
| Natsuko: (slow) むずかしくない (muzukashikunai) (natural speed) むずかしくない (muzukashikunai) |
| Peter: So the い (i) is replaced or you can also think of it. It becomes |
| Natsuko: く (ku) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: ない (nai) |
| Peter: Okay. So this is followed by another i-adjective. |
| Natsuko: やさしいよ (yasashii yo) |
| Peter: It’s easy, followed by |
| Natsuko: えー？やさしくないよ〜。 (Ē? Yasashikunai yō.) |
| Peter: Hah! It’s not easy and you could tell this conversation, it is two war puppets speaking exactly what we want them to say because yeah, it’s this. No it’s not this. So obviously we talk to this to really get the grammar point drilled into your brain but it will keep going. Here we go. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Natsuko: むずかしいよ (muzukashii yo) |
| Peter: And again we have むずかしい (muzukashii). And then we find out why. |
| Natsuko: テストはいつも80点です。(Tesuto wa itsumo hachi-jutten desu.) |
| Peter: Test topic marked by は (wa), いつも (itsumo). Now here is an adverb of frequency and what is いつも (itsumo) mean? |
| Natsuko: Always. |
| Peter: Always.いつ (itsu) is actually the interrogative for when. And here we have も (mo). So when also. |
| Natsuko: So it’s like whenever. |
| Peter: Exactly whenever, followed by 80 points. This is followed by |
| Natsuko: そ、そ、そんな... 80点は悪くないよ。(So, so, sonna… Hachi-jutten wa warukunai yo.) |
| Peter: Hah! Hah! That thing, 80 points. That’s not bad. Now let’s talk about this そんな (sonna). You come across people who have a habit of saying this and it’s not that uncommon like every time you say a joke or everything they hear something that is shocking and they are like, そんな (sonna). Natsuko-san, help us out here. What do they mean by this? |
| Natsuko: Maybe it’s the part of そんなことない (sonna koto nai) or そんなことって (sonna koto tte). |
| Peter: Yeah. That thing ah! So it’s kind of like a filler. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: But it’s also showing some emotion on their part or reaction to what you are talking about, そんな (sonna). Next we have |
| Natsuko: 私はいつも60点です。(Watashi wa itsumo roku-jutten desu.) |
| Peter: I am always 60 points. |
| Natsuko: えー！それはよくないね。(Ē! Sore wa yokunai ne.) |
| Peter: Hah! That’s not good and here we have the negative of good, which is 良い (yoi) but also いい (ii), two い (i) is in a row, いい (ii), いい (ii). Now the negative form of this is |
| Natsuko: よくない (yokunai) |
| Peter: Okay. So if you want to make the negative of いい (ii), it goes back to 良い (yoi). |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: And い (i) gets dropped, replaced or changed to く (ku) followed by ない (nai), よくない (yokunai). Okay, and then finally |
| Natsuko: もっと頑張ってね。(Motto ganbatte ne.) |
| Peter: Try harder. Okay, so as we said, today’s grammar point is the conjugation of i-adjectives and you can think of it as dropping the final い (i) and replacing it with くない (kunai) or changing the い (i) to く (ku), attaching ない (nai). Very straightforward. We will have a write up in today’s PDF. Stop by and pick that up. |
Outro |
| Peter: All right, I think that’s going to do it for today Natsuko-san, anything else to add? |
| Natsuko: Not really. |
| Peter: All right. Stop by japanesepod101.com, pick up the PDF and check out the learning center. Talk to you later. |
| Natsuko: じゃ、また明日ね。(Ja, mata ashita ne.) |
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