Learn about ko-so-a-do
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sakura: さくらです。(Sakura desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Sakura-san, where does today’s conversation take place? |
| Sakura: At a bookstore. |
| Peter: Yes, and in Japanese, that is |
| Sakura: 本屋 (hon’ya) |
| Peter: Okay, and now let’s give them a little bit of information. Now if you’ve never been to Japan, what it is when you say 本屋 (hon’ya), what do you think of right away? What’s the biggest one, the biggest chain? |
| Sakura: えー、どれだろう、紀伊國屋？(Ē, dore darō, Kinokuniya?) |
| Peter: Okay, there is one. |
| Sakura: 丸善 (Maruzen) |
| Peter: Okay, there is another. |
| Sakura: 何だろう。(Nan darō.) |
| Peter: Okay, now we are getting a little too much. So there are a lot. |
| Sakura: Yeah. |
| Peter: And there are few really big ones. Now some of these bookstores can be what, eight storeys? |
| Sakura: Yes, yes. |
| Peter: So the Japanese like to read. Now today’s conversation takes place in a bookstore and who is it between? |
| Sakura: There are two customers and the store person is greeting at the beginning. |
| Peter: Yeah, so what is the politeness level going to be today? |
| Sakura: Polite. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: はい。(Hai.) High level. |
| Peter: Or we would call it a 丁寧 (teinei) Japanese. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Usually what you will come across in the textbooks defined by です/ます (desu/masu). So verbs and then ます (masu) and sentences in です (desu). Okay, quite a long conversation and we have some things to explain when we are done but here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 店員 (ten’in) : いらっしゃいませ！(Irasshaimase!) |
| 客 (kyaku) : どの本がいいかなぁ？(Dono hon ga ii ka nā?) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : （すすり泣く声）(susurinaku koe) |
| 客 (kyaku) : あれっ、すみません。大丈夫ですか。(Are, sumimasen. Daijōbu desu ka.) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : （泣きながら）はい、大丈夫です。((Nakinagara) Hai, daijōbu desu.) |
| 客 (kyaku) : どうしたんですか。(Dō shita n desu ka.) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : （泣きながら）この本。。。((Nakinagara) Kono hon…) |
| 客 (kyaku) : その本ですか。(Sono hon desu ka.) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : はい、そうです。この本は感動的です。（泣きながら）(Hai, sō desu. Kono hon wa kandōteki desu. (Nakinagara)) |
| 客 (kyaku) : あっ、ティッシュどうぞ。(A, tisshu dōzo.) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : ありがとう。お優しいんですね。お礼にこの本をどうぞ。(Arigatō. O-yasashii n desu ne. O-rei ni kono hon o dōzo.) |
| 客 (kyaku) : いいんですか。(Ii n desu ka.) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : はい。(Hai.) |
| 客 (kyaku) : ええ～？桃太郎？(Eē? Momotarō?) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : はい、感動なんです。(Hai, kandō nan desu.) |
| もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 店員 (ten’in) : いらっしゃいませ！(Irasshaimase!) |
| 客 (kyaku) : どの本がいいかなぁ？(Dono hon ga ii ka nā?) |
| あれっ、すみません。大丈夫ですか。(Are, sumimasen. Daijōbu desu ka.) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : はい、大丈夫です。(Hai, daijōbu desu.) |
| 客 (kyaku) : どうしたんですか。(Dō shita n desu ka.) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : この本。。。(Kono hon…) |
| 客 (kyaku) : その本ですか。(Sono hon desu ka.) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : はい、そうです。この本は感動的です。(Hai, sō desu. Kono hon wa kandōteki desu.) |
| 客 (kyaku) : あっ、ティッシュをどうぞ。(A, tisshu o dōzo.) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : ありがとう。お優しいんですね。お礼にこの本をどうぞ。(Arigatō. O-yasashii n desu ne. O-rei ni kono hon o dōzo.) |
| 客 (kyaku) : いいんですか。(Ii n desu ka.) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : はい。(Hai.) |
| 客 (kyaku) : ええ～？桃太郎？(Eē? Momotarō?) |
| 子供 (kodomo) : はい、感動なんです。(Hai, kandō nan desu.) |
| 次は英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 店員 (ten’in) : いらっしゃいませ！(Irasshaimase!) |
| CLERK: Welcome! |
| 客 (kyaku) : どの本がいいかなぁ？(Dono hon ga ii ka nā?) |
| CUSTOMER: I wonder which book would be good… |
| 子供 (kodomo) : （すすり泣く声）(susurinaku koe) |
| KID: (Sobbing) |
| 客 (kyaku) : あれっ、すみません。大丈夫ですか。(Are, sumimasen. Daijōbu desu ka.) |
| CUSTOMER: Oh? Excuse me. Are you OK? |
| 子供 (kodomo) : （泣きながら）はい、大丈夫です。((Nakinagara) Hai, daijōbu desu.) |
| KID: (Sobbing) Yes, I'm alright. |
| 客 (kyaku) : どうしたんですか。(Dō shita n desu ka.) |
| CUSTOMER: What's the matter? |
| 子供 (kodomo) : （泣きながら）この本。。。((Nakinagara) Kono hon…) |
| KID: (Crying) This book… |
| 客 (kyaku) : その本ですか。(Sono hon desu ka.) |
| CUSTOMER: That book? |
| 子供 (kodomo) : はい、そうです。この本は感動的です。（泣きながら）(Hai, sō desu. Kono hon wa kandōteki desu. (Nakinagara)) |
| KID: Yeah, this book is touching. (Crying) |
| 客 (kyaku) : あっ、ティッシュどうぞ。(A, tisshu dōzo.) |
| CUSTOMER: Oh, here's a tissue. |
| 子供 (kodomo) : ありがとう。お優しいんですね。お礼にこの本をどうぞ。(Arigatō. O-yasashii n desu ne. O-rei ni kono hon o dōzo.) |
| KID: Thank you. You're so kind. Please accept this book as a token of my appreciation. |
| 客 (kyaku) : いいんですか。 (Ii n desu ka.) |
| CUSTOMER: Are you sure it's really alright? |
| 子供 (kodomo) : はい。(Hai.) |
| KID: Please. |
| 客 (kyaku) : ええ～？桃太郎？(Eē? Momotarō?) |
| CUSTOMER: What? Momotarō? |
| 子供 (kodomo) : はい、感動なんです。(Hai, kandō nan desu.) |
| KID: Yes, It's so touching! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Sakura-san, what did you think? |
| Sakura: Hmmm… |
| Peter: Is that your official answer? Hmmm… |
| Sakura: うーん、桃太郎？(Ūn, Momotarō?) |
| Peter: 桃太郎 (Momotarō) |
| Sakura: 感動... 感動的？(Kandō… kandōteki?) |
| Peter: Very moving, perhaps there are some people out there who are not familiar with this story. So maybe you could first start there. |
| Sakura: Hmm, yes. |
| Peter: What do we have? |
| Sakura: 桃 (momo) is peach. |
| Peter: Okay, two syllables, もも (momo). |
| Sakura: 桃 (momo) |
| Peter: Okay, followed by |
| Sakura: 太郎 (Tarō) |
| Peter: And can you just break this down because it’s three syllables correct? |
| Sakura: Okay. たろう (Tarō) 太郎 (Tarō) |
| Peter: Okay, long at the end there, 太郎 (Tarō). |
| Sakura: 太郎 (Tarō) |
| Peter: Okay, put them together, we have |
| Sakura: 桃太郎 (Momotarō) |
| Peter: Okay, and it is. |
| Sakura: It’s peach boys. |
| Peter: Peach boy. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, and can you give us just a little synopsis? |
| Sakura: It's a children's story and there is an old couple and they find a peach and the boy comes out of the peach and this boy fights monsters and saves people. Am I right? |
| Peter: Hmm… |
| Sakura: Umm.. |
| Peter: I think you are right but I think someone not familiar with the concept will really have a tough time relating but I think it’s a perfect explanation. It’s not the explanation. Sorry, I am not laughing about the explanation. I am laughing at that for someone who is not familiar with the concept, I think… |
| Sakura: Of course why peach, why monsters you know. |
| Peter: Yeah, but it makes sense. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: And this is one of the most famous fairy tales in Japan. |
| Sakura: Most famous. |
| Peter: Most famous. |
| Sakura: Yes, I think. |
| Peter: And not very moving, right? |
| Sakura: No, no, no. |
| Peter: For some people. |
| Sakura: Maybe... I don’t know. |
| Peter: Okay, anyway, we will have a link up on the site. We will have a bunch of links because we have the bookstores now, we have the… |
| Sakura: Of course. |
| Peter: Fairy tales now. Are we? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Again totally – these newbie lessons tend to be really... at least maybe a newbie in the Japanese level but very advanced in the cultural level. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Peter: All right. So what we are going to do now is take a look at some of this vocab. Okay. First we have. |
| Sakura: 大丈夫 (daijōbu) |
| Peter: All right, okay. |
| Sakura: (slow) だいじょうぶ (daijōbu) (natural speed) 大丈夫 (daijōbu) |
| Peter: And of course, the more you familiarize yourself with Japanese, the more you will realize how often this phrase is used. |
| Sakura: Yes, very often. |
| Peter: Okay, now two things here. What we introduced is the word but this word when said with certain intonation, it actually becomes a phrase derived from 大丈夫ですか (daijōbu desu ka). We will get into this more when we go through the dialogue but what we introduced here is the word but when I say the phrase, a lot of times you hear this word by itself but the intonation and the context we will reveal that, it’s really being used as a phrase. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Well basically you will hear it a lot. |
| Sakura: Yes, so. |
| Peter: Okay, this is followed by |
| Sakura: 感動的 (kandōteki) |
| Peter: Moving. |
| Sakura: (slow) かんどうてき (kandōteki) (natural speed) 感動的 (kandōteki) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Sakura: ティッシュ (tisshu) |
| Peter: Tissue. |
| Sakura: (slow) ティッシュ (tisshu) (natural speed) ティッシュ (tisshu) |
| Peter: Okay, a little pause in there in between the ティ (ti) and the シュ(shu), there is a slight pause. |
| Sakura: Yes. ティッシュ (tisshu) |
| Peter: Okay, this is followed by |
| Sakura: 優しい (yasashii) |
| Peter: Kind. |
| Sakura: (slow) やさしい (yasashii) (natural speed) 優しい (yasashii) |
| Peter: Now やさしい (yasashii), this can mean kind or easy. Now the way you can tell is from the context of the sentence in spoken Japanese. Now in written Japanese, the character, the Chinese character, the kanji is actually different. So that’s how you can differentiate when reading but here you have to use the context to differentiate. Alright, this is followed by |
| Sakura: お礼 (o-rei) |
| Peter: Thanks. |
| Sakura: (slow) おれい (o-rei) (natural speed) お礼 (o-rei) |
| Peter: Then we have |
| Sakura: 本 (hon) |
| Peter: Book. |
| Sakura: (slow) ほん (hon) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: So just a quick recap of the vocab there. Now let’s take this conversation apart. First thing we have is |
| Sakura: いらっしゃいませ。(Irasshaimase.) |
| Peter: Which is again welcome your money and the reason we add the money in is because this is said at places of business. Not used for example when welcoming someone to your house or something like this. In places where one would use money. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: You hear this. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, so at the convenient store. Again, reaction to this is not necessary. Just you don’t even have to acknowledge it. It is just said by anyone, don’t be shocked if you walk into a store and you hear all the workers in the store turn, look at you and say simultaneously. |
| Sakura: いらっしゃいませ。(Irasshaimase.) |
| Peter: Yes. Okay, so since we hear this, the setting has been revealed. This is at a place of business. We don’t know it’s a bookstore per se but we know it’s a place of business. Now let’s look a little further. We have. |
| Sakura: どの本がいいかなぁ？(Dono hon ga ii ka nā?) |
| Peter: Okay, now this is really some really advanced Japanese but we thought it was relevant to this conversation because first of all, what can we tell by the politeness level? |
| Sakura: She is talking to herself. |
| Peter: That’s right. This かなぁ (ka nā) which is quite advanced grammar way beyond newbie but it’s something that you will come across quite often if you are in Japanese and it’s used to mean I wonder and here, the person is speaking to themselves. So this is why they are using this and this is why the politeness level is informal. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Okay, let’s just take a look through this sentence. |
| Sakura: どの本がいいかなぁ？(Dono hon ga ii ka nā?) |
| Peter: Okay, what do we have for the first part? |
| Sakura: どの (dono) |
| Peter: Which. Now this is used before nouns because in this case, we follow it with |
| Sakura: 本 (hon) |
| Peter: Which 本 (hon). So どの (dono) equates to which in English followed by 本 (hon), which book. Okay, so we can use this for any noun. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: For example, Sakura-san, what about a chair? |
| Sakura: どのいす (dono isu) |
| Peter: Which chair? Then this which book is followed by the subject marker |
| Sakura: が (ga) |
| Peter: This is followed by |
| Sakura: いいかなぁ (ii ka nā) |
| Peter: Let’s first look at the いい (ii) which means good. So literally we have “which book good.” This is followed by |
| Sakura: かなぁ (ka nā) |
| Peter: I wonder. “Which book good I wonder.” Now the verb actually is inferred and comes at the end. So we can translate this sentence as which book is good. I wonder which book is good and another reason we wanted to introduce the phrase now is this is something you can use when you go out with your friends. If you go to eat, you can use the phrase I wonder what’s good. Sakura-san, which would be |
| Sakura: 何がいいかなぁ？(Nani ga ii ka nā?) |
| Peter: And the only thing we are changing there is we are substituting どの本 (dono hon), which book with |
| Sakura: 何 (nani) |
| Peter: What 何 (nani) and the rest is the same. |
| Sakura: がいいかなぁ (ga ii ka nā) |
| Peter: So I wonder what’s good and in this case, to eat is inferred. Again a lot has to do with the context in Japanese. So if you are out with your friends, please give this a try. I think they will be quite taken aback like wow! Where did you learn that because this is very Japanese. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Then we have |
| Sakura: あれっ、すみません。大丈夫ですか。(Are, sumimasen. Daijōbu desu ka.) |
| Peter: We have the interjection, あれ (are). So something surprising happened and the speaker is revealing this with あれ (are) and of course she sees the person crying. She is walking through the books or wondering what’s good and all of a sudden sees someone crying. Hah! Excuse me, which is of course? |
| Sakura: すみません (sumimasen) |
| Peter: This is followed by |
| Sakura: 大丈夫ですか (daijōbu desu ka) |
| Peter: Translated are you okay but literally 大丈夫 (daijōbu) is all right, are you is literally what we have. Actually we just have all right, what’s inferred here? |
| Sakura: あなたは (anata wa) |
| Peter: Or the person crying. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: So without knowing the person’s name or anything like this, it was just |
| Sakura: 大丈夫ですか (daijōbu desu ka) |
| Peter: And the person says |
| Sakura: はい、大丈夫です。(Hai, daijōbu desu.) |
| Peter: Yes, I am all right and this is kind of what we alluded to in the beginning that this 大丈夫 (daijōbu) is used so often. The question, same answer. Are you okay? I am okay. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: This is what it is. This is followed by |
| Sakura: どうしたんですか。(Dō shita n desu ka.) |
| Peter: Now this is a phrase to ask what’s the matter and to get into how this phrase came about, it’s a very long story but it’s a phrase that doesn’t change and it is used to mean what’s the matter or what happened. So she wants to know what happened to this person and he is crying and answers. |
| Sakura: この本。。。(Kono hon…) |
| Peter: This book. So the どの (dono) is which, here この (kono) is this. Okay, then we have |
| Sakura: この本 (kono hon) |
| Peter: Now Sakura-san, why would it be この本 (kono hon)? |
| Sakura: Because he has the book in his hand. |
| Peter: Exactly and that’s why she follows up with |
| Sakura: その本ですか。(Sono hon desu ka.) |
| Peter: That book and why is she using その (sono). |
| Sakura: Because the book is near her but she doesn’t have it. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: That’s it. Let’s just pause here and take a quick look at today’s grammar point. Today’s grammar point is actually talking about demonstrative adjectives. This book, that book. The “this” that comes in front of nouns. Now first we introduced どの (dono) which is which. Then we introduced この (kono) which is this and finally we introduced その (sono) which is that. And again, these can only be used this どの (dono), その (sono) and この (kono) in conjunction with a noun. They have to be followed by nouns in this case. Okay there is one actually missing from this. That thing over there and that is, Sakura-san? |
| Sakura: あの (ano) |
| Peter: These are part of the group that are sometimes referred to as the こそあど (ko so a do) words because the first syllable the こ (ko), the そ (so), the あ (a), the ど (do) remain the same but what comes after changes. These are used to refer to the position of things or when describing things. So この (kono) is used when something is nearby. その (sono) is used in addition with a noun something a little bit further away from you. Next we have |
| Sakura: はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| Peter: Yes, that’s right. |
| Sakura: この本は感動的です。(Kono hon wa kandōteki desu.) |
| Peter: This book is moving. This is followed by |
| Sakura: ティッシュをどうぞ。(Tisshu o dōzo.) |
| Peter: Sakura-san, when you use を (o), followed by どうぞ (dōzo), what does this indicate? |
| Sakura: That you are passing something. |
| Peter: Yes, the object marker を (o) indicates that something is being passed. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: And どうぞ (dōzo) can be used in many situations. And in this case, tissue please. Please take this tissue. Then he says |
| Sakura: ありがとう。(Arigatō.) |
| Peter: Thank you, followed by |
| Sakura: お優しいんですね。(O-yasashii n desu ne.) |
| Peter: Here we have kind but in front of kind, we actually have the honorific prefix |
| Sakura: お (o) |
| Peter: Which makes it even more polite. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Then he responds with |
| Sakura: お礼にこの本をどうぞ。(O-rei ni kono hon o dōzo.) |
| Peter: To thank you, this book please. Here again we have を (o), followed by どうぞ (dōzo), indicating that something is being passed. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: And お礼に (o-rei ni), as thanks. If someone does something very kind for you, you can actually use this phrase. Okay, then we have |
| Sakura: いいんですか。(Ii n desu ka.) |
| Peter: Is it all right, followed by |
| Sakura: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Yes. Then comes the shock. |
| Sakura: ええ〜？桃太郎？(Eē? Momotarō?) |
| Peter: Hah! Peach boy? So you are crying over peach boy? So basically as thanks for the tissue, he is giving her the moving book. She follows that with |
| Sakura: いいんですか。(Ii n desu ka.) |
| Peter: Is it okay? |
| Sakura: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: ええ〜？桃太郎？(Eē? Momotarō?) |
| Peter: Hah! Peach boy? Sakura-san, why is she shocked? |
| Sakura: Because it’s 桃太郎 (Momotarō). |
| Peter: And then yeah that’s it, followed by |
| Sakura: はい、感動的なんです。(Hai, kandōteki nan desu.) |
| Peter: Yes, it’s very moving. So we ran way past schedule but I think it was good. We really got into the nitty-gritty today. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So this was quite good. |
| Sakura: はい。(Hai.) |
Outro |
| Peter: All right. That’s going to do for today. |
| Sakura: またね。(Mata ne.) |
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