Learn about using "dō iu" in a conversation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natsuko: こんにちは、ナツコです。(Konnichiwa, Natsuko desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. |
| Natsuko: Oh, this series again? |
| Peter: Yes, with the title change. |
| Natsuko: Title change, oh did it? |
| Peter: Yeah, previously it was named Rise and Shine. |
| Natsuko: Oh yes. |
| Peter: Not anymore. Yes we realized that another series inside this newbie series was titled Rise and Shine. So what we had to do is go back and adjust the name. |
| Natsuko: I see. |
| Peter: So the awakening series which started as Rise and Shine is actually 5 parts. |
| Natsuko: Is this the last part? |
| Peter: What do you think, Natsuko-san? |
| Natsuko: Would the story end? It seems pretty complicated. |
| Peter: Well that’s because you and I already know what takes place next. I think the rest of the people haven’t heard the last part of the story. |
| Natsuko: Oh yes, right. |
| Peter: So let’s give them a little bit of background, start them off and then we can continue this conversation after we bring everyone up to speed. |
| Natsuko: Sure. |
| Peter: So where are we today and what’s going on? |
| Natsuko: At the hospital, Satoshi is going to make a call. |
| Peter: All right, with that said, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : お待たせしました。はい、どうぞ。(O-matase shimashita. Hai, dōzo.) |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : なんですか、それは。(Nan desu ka, sore wa.) |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 携帯電話です。どうぞ。(Keitai denwa desu. Dōzo.) |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : どういうことですか。(Dō iu koto desu ka.) |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 高山さんはご家族に電話します。(Takayama-san wa go-kazoku ni denwa shimasu.) |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : 本当ですか。(Hontō desu ka.) |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 本当ですよ。(Hontō desu yo.) |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : でも、二人の名前が、わかりません。(Demo, futari no namae ga, wakarimasen.) |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 大丈夫ですよ。では、どうぞごゆっくり。(Daijōbu desu yo. Dewa, dōzo go-yukkuri.) |
| (電話を打っている音) (Denwa o utte iru oto) |
| 奥さん (okusan) : はい、高山です。。。もしもし。(Hai, Takayama desu..... Moshimoshi.) |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : 夏美？私だけど。(Natsumi? Watashi da kedo.) |
| 奥さん (okusan) : さとし！？(Satoshi!?) |
| 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.) |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : お待たせしました。はい、どうぞ。(O-matase shimashita. Hai, dōzo.) |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : なんですか、それは。(Nan desu ka, sore wa.) |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 携帯電話です。どうぞ。(Keitai denwa desu. Dōzo.) |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : どういうことですか。(Dō iu koto desu ka.) |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 高山さんはご家族に電話します。(Takayama-san wa go-kazoku ni denwa shimasu.) |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : 本当ですか。(Hontō desu ka.) |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 本当ですよ。(Hontō desu yo.) |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : でも、二人の名前が、わかりません。(Demo, futari no namae ga, wakarimasen.) |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 大丈夫ですよ。では、どうぞごゆっくり。(Daijōbu desu yo. Dewa, dōzo go-yukkuri.) |
| 奥さん (okusan) : はい、高山です。。。もしもし。(Hai, Takayama desu..... Moshimoshi.) |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : 夏美？私だけど。(Natsumi? Watashi da kedo.) |
| 奥さん (okusan) : さとし！？(Satoshi!?) |
| 次は英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : お待たせしました。はい、どうぞ。(O-matase shimashita. Hai, dōzo.) |
| DIRECTOR: I'm sorry to keep you waiting. Come right in. |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : なんですか、それは。(Nan desu ka, sore wa.) |
| SATOSHI: What is that? |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 携帯電話です。どうぞ。(Keitai denwa desu. Dōzo.) |
| DIRECTOR: It's a cell phone. Go ahead. |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : どういうことですか。(Dō iu koto desu ka.) |
| SATOSHI: What’s it for? |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 高山さんはご家族に電話します。(Takayama-san wa go-kazoku ni denwa shimasu.) |
| DIRECTOR: Mr. Takayama, you're going to call your family. |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : 本当ですか。(Hontō desu ka.) |
| SATOSHI: Really? |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 本当ですよ。(Hontō desu yo.) |
| DIRECTOR: Yes, really. |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : でも、二人の名前が、わかりません。(Demo, futari no namae ga, wakarimasen.) |
| SATOSHI: But I don't know their names. |
| 病院長 (byōinchō) : 大丈夫ですよ。では、どうぞごゆっくり。(Daijōbu desu yo. Dewa, dōzo go-yukkuri.) |
| DIRECTOR: It's alright. Go ahead. Take your time. |
| (電話を打っている音) (Denwa o utte iru oto) |
| (Satoshi dials) |
| 奥さん (okusan) : はい、高山です。。。もしもし。(Hai, Takayama desu... Moshimoshi.) |
| WIFE: Hello, Takayama residence. |
| 覚 (Satoshi) : 夏美？私だけど。(Natsumi? Watashi da kedo.) |
| SATOSHI: Natsumi? It's me… |
| 奥さん (okusan) : さとし！？(Satoshi!?) |
| WIFE: Satoshi! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Natsuko-san, what do you think? |
| Natsuko: これで終わりじゃないよね。(Kore de owari ja nai yo ne.) |
| Peter: Yeah, this doesn’t look like the end. |
| Natsuko: It doesn’t. |
| Peter: Well I mean it technically can go into a whole another series. |
| Natsuko: Definitely. |
| Peter: And on and on. So from awakenings to generation. |
| Natsuko: Develop into another series and another. |
| Peter: And another, but what I found most interesting about today’s lesson, it wasn’t really newbie at all, was it? |
| Natsuko: No. I don’t say it’s newbie, definitely not. |
| Peter: Yeah, I think… well that’s how far you’ve come. |
| Natsuko: Pretty advanced. |
| Peter: Pretty advanced. So what we are going to do is we are going to take you through this now because again but Natsuko-san, you come into contact with right away. So the frequency is quite high. |
| Natsuko: Yes, right. |
| Peter: So in that realm, we are okay with the newbie. |
| Natsuko: I see. |
| Peter: Newbie by frequency and not by difficulty level. |
| Natsuko: Well, you can memorize them as set phrase. |
| Peter: Perfect. That’s exactly it. Set phrases that you will come across time and time again. |
| Natsuko: Yeah, right. |
| Peter: Speaking of set phrases, why don’t we start one off with our first set phrase. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Natsuko: お待たせしました (o-matase shimashita) |
| Peter: I have kept you waiting. |
| Natsuko: (slow) おまたせしました (o-matase shimashita) (natural speed) お待たせしました (o-matase shimashita) |
| Peter: Grammar here, very advanced but as Natsuko-san said, Natsuko-san, this is |
| Natsuko: A set phrase. |
| Peter: That you will hear over and over. |
| Natsuko: Yeah, almost every day in Japan. |
| Peter: I think you are living a good life. I haven’t heard that phrase in a while. |
| Natsuko: What really? |
| Peter: Which means I haven’t really been to the restaurants or places of business. |
| Natsuko: Or nobody keeps you waiting. That’s a pretty good experience. |
| Peter: Exactly. Now what – the kind of the grammar behind this is a bit of a causative making somebody wait. How we conjugate the verb is way beyond the scope of this lesson. There may or may not be something in the PDF about this. There is something in the PDF about this. |
| Natsuko: Of course. |
| Peter: Of course. Let’s just show everyone where it breaks. So the first word is |
| Natsuko: お待たせ (o-matase) |
| Peter: This is followed by |
| Natsuko: しました (shimashita) |
| Peter: Now しました (shimashita) is actually the polite past. Now if we go back to the first part お待たせ (o-matase), let’s get the root verb in there. |
| Natsuko: 待つ (matsu) |
| Peter: To wait. The お (o) in front is actually |
| Natsuko: Honorific prefix. |
| Peter: Exactly and the conjugation is a bit tricky but it’s the causative in there, 待たせ (matase) which would actually be る (ru). |
| Natsuko: 待たせる (mataseru) |
| Peter: But here in this construction, we drop that る (ru) and we add honorific prefix and we slap a する (suru) on the end again way beyond the scope of this lesson but that’s just how it’s constructed. Set phrase, you hear it, somebody has kept you waiting. Now if you keep someone waiting. |
| Natsuko: Yeah. |
| Peter: This is like a Get Out of Jail Free card. I am telling you, your professor will forgive you. |
| Natsuko: I don’t guarantee but it must give some good impression. |
| Peter: Right, if you show up late, better than I am sorry, お待たせしました (o-matase shimashita). |
| Natsuko: Pretty impressive. |
| Peter: Yeah. I think so, right? Tell your professor to email Natsuko-san and you know Peter would be here if she has – if there are any you know…Next. |
| Natsuko: 携帯電話 (keitai denwa) |
| Peter: Cellular phone. |
| Natsuko: (slow) けいたいでんわ (keitai denwa) (natural speed) 携帯電話 (keitai denwa) |
| Peter: Again and again two words in here. |
| Natsuko: 携帯 (keitai) |
| Peter: To carry. |
| Natsuko: 電話 (denwa) |
| Peter: Phone. Very straightforward. A closer literal translation would be handheld phone. Next we have |
| Natsuko: 家族 (kazoku) |
| Peter: Family. Again we covered this in a previous lesson but again it’s nice this reinforcement. |
| Natsuko: (slow) かぞく (kazoku) (natural speed) 家族 (kazoku) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: 電話する (denwa suru) |
| Peter: To call. |
| Natsuko: (slow) でんわする (denwa suru) (natural speed) 電話する (denwa suru) |
| Peter: Dictionary form is the plain form of verbs and with する (suru) which means to do, a lot of times it will attach to another word. So it’s actually telephone to do. |
| Natsuko: Yes, right. |
| Peter: But when we translate to call, again more and more of this. Next. |
| Natsuko: 本当 (hontō) |
| Peter: Truth. |
| Natsuko: (slow)ほんとう (hontō) (natural speed) 本当 (hontō) |
| Peter: I think you will probably come across this especially if you are speaking casual Japanese as really? |
| Natsuko: Yes, right. |
| Peter: 本当 (hontō)?, and it’s the intonation that gives it away which is you are asking someone if what they are saying is really true. |
| Natsuko: 本当？(Hontō?) |
| Peter: Ah there it is. And this you will hear even if you are not speaking Japanese, if you come to Japan, you will hear it all around you especially on the train. |
| Natsuko: Right. |
| Peter: Especially when there are younger people involved. |
| Natsuko: マジ？(Maji?) |
| Peter: Oh, here we go. Yep, the casual form. Not for use with your professor. |
| Natsuko: Not recommendable. |
| Peter: Next we have |
| Natsuko: 二人 (futari) |
| Peter: Two people. |
| Natsuko: (slow) ふたり (futari) (natural speed) 二人 (futari) |
| Peter: Now what I find tricky about this word is it’s completely different than the kanji that represents it. |
| Natsuko: Oh yes, the pronunciation is completely different. |
| Peter: Yeah, so you kind of want to watch out for this. Two followed by the kanji for people, |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Is how this appears but it’s read. |
| Natsuko: ふたり (futari) |
| Peter: One person. |
| Natsuko: ひとり (hitori) |
| Peter: But once we get past one and two people, ひとり (hitori) and ふたり (futari) respectively, we are okay with the counter again. |
| Natsuko: 三人 (san-nin) |
| Peter: Three people. |
| Natsuko: 四人 (yo-nin) |
| Peter: Four people. |
| Natsuko: 五人 (go-nin) |
| Peter: Five people. |
| Natsuko: And so on. |
| Peter: And so on. |
| Natsuko: One, two, many. |
| Peter: Nice little pneumatic there Natsuko-san. Pneumatic Natsuko. |
| Natsuko: Don’t give me such a strange nickname. |
| Peter: On we go. |
| Natsuko: 名前 (namae) |
| Peter: Name. |
| Natsuko: (slow) なまえ (namae) (natural speed) 名前 (namae) |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Natsuko: わかる (wakaru) |
| Peter: To understand. Again the dictionary form here. |
| Natsuko: (slow) わかる (wakaru) (natural speed) わかる (wakaru) |
| Peter: And we introduce this over and over, many variations. Natsuko-san, how do we say I don’t understand. |
| Natsuko: わからない (wakaranai) |
| Peter: Which is the plain non-past negative. How about probably the form we are more used to? |
| Natsuko: わかりません (wakarimasen) |
| Peter: Which is the polite non-past negative. On we go. |
| Natsuko: どうぞ (dōzo) |
| Peter: Please, kindly. |
| Natsuko: (slow) どうぞ (dōzo) (natural speed) どうぞ (dōzo) |
| Peter: And finally. |
| Natsuko: ごゆっくり (go-yukkuri) |
| Peter: Take your time. |
| Natsuko: (slow) ごゆっくり (go-yukkuri) (natural speed) ごゆっくり (go-yukkuri) |
| Peter: And you will definitely come across this if you are in Japan and you are a customer. If you go to a hotel, the person shows you to the room. |
| Natsuko: ごゆっくりどうぞ。(Go-yukkuri dōzo.) |
| Peter: As they leave. Okay Natsuko-san, on to the conversation. Let’s start out with the first line. There is something of interest there. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Natsuko: お待たせしました。はい、どうぞ。(O-matase shimashita. Hai, dōzo.) |
| Peter: I have kept you waiting. Here you are. Now the first part we’ve gone over, the second sentence is what we are interested in here. One more time, Natsuko-san. |
| Natsuko: はい、どうぞ。(Hai, dōzo.) |
| Peter: Yes, please. どうぞ (dōzo) is used when passing something as in here you are. So when we hear this, although we can’t see it, the words actually tell us the action that’s taking place. |
| Natsuko: You are right. |
| Peter: So I kept you waiting, here you are. He responds. |
| Natsuko: 何ですか、それは。(Nan desu ka, sore wa.) |
| Peter: What’s this? Now what’s interesting here is the sentence structure. What do we have first? |
| Natsuko: 何ですか (nan desu ka) |
| Peter: What is it, followed by |
| Natsuko: それは (sore wa) |
| Peter: This. What is it this or what’s this? And the word order is kind of closer to the English. |
| Natsuko: Yea, right. |
| Peter: We have the interrogative non first and then here we also have ですか (desu ka). It is the verb. So what is, followed by |
| Natsuko: それは (sore wa) |
| Peter: This. Actually this and the topic marking particle は (wa). So I find that really interesting. |
| Natsuko: Yes, but this is not the standard for Japanese, right? |
| Peter: Yes. What order do we usually find it in the textbooks and stuff? |
| Natsuko: それは何ですか。(Sore wa nan desu ka.) |
| Peter: Yeah, but you will find, especially in spoken Japanese, the word order can easily be mixed up. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Natsuko-san, Japanese is too fun. |
| Natsuko: Yes, it’s pretty free to change the orders. |
| Peter: We are going to have some fun. Okay, let’s just move on. So the answer to this is |
| Natsuko: 携帯電話です。(Keitai denwa desu.) |
| Peter: Literally cell phone it is. Just cellular phone, followed by |
| Natsuko: です (desu) |
| Peter: We don’t need to repeat this as it’s already established. The subject is inferred. This is a phone, followed by |
| Natsuko: どうぞ (dōzo) |
| Peter: And again we can tell he is offering it. So the first time he said はい、どうぞ (hai, dōzo), Natsuko-san, what do you think the patient did? |
| Natsuko: He didn’t take it. |
| Peter: Yeah, he was kind of taking it back. What is that thing? |
| Natsuko: He didn’t know what to do with it. |
| Peter: Yeah. See we messed up. We should have made this like he was in the coma for like 10 years or 30 years. |
| Natsuko: Well I guess he lost his memory about cell phone, too. |
| Peter: Yes, Natsuko yes. Yes, you are right. Excellent cover. Okay, on we go. |
| Natsuko: どういうことですか。(Dō iu koto desu ka.) |
| Peter: What do you mean? This is a colloquial phrase that’s used again and again in spoken Japanese. What do you mean? What are you talking about? What is it? It can be used as many different things depending on the context of what’s being spoken about. Just break it down, one more time. |
| Natsuko: (slow) どういうことですか (dō iu koto desu ka) (natural speed) どういうことですか (dō iu koto desu ka) |
| Peter: In this case, literally how say thing is what – so we are not going to try and tie it in here but it’s again depending on the sentence here. What do you mean by handing me your phone? What’s going on? What’s happening here is the context. So if you walk into a room and you see something that is very, very unusual, you can say どういうことですか (dō iu koto desu ka). What’s going on here? |
| Natsuko: You are right. What’s this all about? |
| Peter: Yeah. I mean for just easy argument sake, if you are out and you see a loved one out with someone else, どういうことですか (dō iu koto desu ka). |
| Natsuko: Wow. |
| Peter: What’s going on here and then you might want to add in the 一体どういうことですか (ittai dō iu koto desu ka). Really strongly what’s going on here but topic for another day. Okay, let’s take a look at one more sentence. Next sentence. |
| Natsuko: 高山さんはご家族に電話します。(Takayama-san wa go-kazoku ni denwa shimasu.) |
| Peter: You will call your family and here again, rather than saying you directly, you refer to the person we are speaking to. |
| Natsuko: 高山さん (Takayama-san) |
| Peter: By their name, their surname plus さん (san). This is followed by |
| Natsuko: は (wa) |
| Peter: Next we have |
| Natsuko: ご家族 (go-kazoku) |
| Peter: Family, followed by |
| Natsuko: に (ni) |
| Peter: Here is what’s of interest. The particle に (ni) here. |
| Natsuko: Really? |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Natsuko: Why? |
| Peter: Calling to them, because you know, particles in Japanese get so difficult. Is it へ (e), is it を (o), how do we use these? So to call to someone. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: ナツコに電話する (Natsuko ni denwa suru), to call to Natsuko. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay, on we go. |
| Natsuko: 電話します (denwa shimasu) |
| Peter: Call. So you will call. We translate this as you will call your family. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: But literally Mr. Takayama, Mr. Takayama family to call. Family at call, call to them. All right, so then we make the call and the wife picks up and she says. |
| Natsuko: はい、高山です。(Hai, Takayama desu.) |
| Peter: She answers the phone with yes. This is Takayama, last name. She doesn’t hear anything. So she follows up with |
| Natsuko: もしもし。(Moshimoshi.) |
| Peter: Anybody there hello, hello. Phone greeting. This is followed by |
| Natsuko: 夏見？(Natsumi?) |
| Peter: His wife’s name. |
| Natsuko: 私だけど、(Watashi da kedo,) |
| Peter: It’s me. Now this だけど (da kedo) is for intimate people. ですけど (desu kedo) would be a little more formal. |
| Natsuko: Oh yes. |
| Peter: And I don’t know how to translate this. It’s something that’s attached on to, kind of, soften and set the mood. |
| Natsuko: Yes. |
| Peter: It’s me. |
| Natsuko: It’s like a cushion to move on to another topic. |
| Peter: A linguistic cushion is our official terminology for this. So if you come to Japan and you are calling a friend, you can say if you are a guy, when I used to call my friend same age, I’d say 僕だけど (boku da kedo). It’s me. It’s kind of like you are saying it’s me but the けど (kedo), kind of acknowledges that... |
| Natsuko: That the conversation is not over. You want to continue. |
Outro |
|---|
| Peter: Nice save, Natsuko-san. So I think that wraps it all up. So Natsuko-san, what are the odds that we have another lesson pertaining to your Satoshi Super Spy. |
| Natsuko: I really want to find out what this person is involved with. |
| Peter: I know. All right. So that is going to do it for today in the meantime. We will see you tomorrow. |
| Natsuko: それじゃあ、また今度。(Sorejā, mata kondo.) |
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