Learn how to ask simple questions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Kat: Hi everyone, Kat here! |
| Naomi: こんにちは、なおみです！(Kon’nichiwa, Naomi desu!) |
| Kat: Are you cross-examining me in Japanese? |
| Naomi: Thanks for joining us!! じゃあ、キャットさん。(Jā, Kyatto-san.) |
| Kat: はい。(Hai.) |
| Naomi: Please tell us what we're going to learn in this lesson. |
| Kat: In this lesson you will learn how to say the months and dates, and also how to ask questions in informal Japanese. |
| Naomi: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between? |
| Kat: This conversation takes place at school, and it’s between Kent and Madoka. |
| Naomi: What level of Japanese will they be speaking? |
| Kat: As usual, they'll be speaking informal Japanese. OK, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| まどか (Madoka):ケント、明日の夜、ひま？(Kento, ashita no yoru, hima?) |
| ケント (Kento):うん。でも、なんで。(Un. Demo, nande.) |
| まどか (Madoka):明日、ママの誕生日。(Ashita, mama no tanjōbi.) |
| ケント (Kento):何日？(Nan-nichi?) |
| まどか (Madoka):３月２０日。(San-gatsu hatsuka.) |
| ケント (Kento):はつか？(Hatsuka?) |
| まどか (Madoka):うん。にじゅうにち。(Un. Ni-jū-nichi.) |
| まどか (Madoka):ケントのたんじょうびはいつ？(Kento no tanjōbi wa itsu?) |
| ケント (Kento):7月１日。(Shichi-gatsu ichi-nichi.) |
| まどか (Madoka):ああ、ついたちね。(Ā, tsuitachi 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.) |
| まどか (Madoka):ケント、明日の夜、ひま？(Kento, ashita no yoru, hima?) |
| ケント (Kento):うん。でも、なんで。(Un. Demo, nande.) |
| まどか (Madoka):明日、ママの誕生日。(Ashita, mama no tanjōbi.) |
| ケント (Kento):何日？(Nan-nichi?) |
| まどか (Madoka):３月２０日。(San-gatsu hatsuka.) |
| ケント (Kento):はつか？(Hatsuka?) |
| まどか (Madoka):うん。にじゅうにち。(Un. Ni-jū-nichi.) |
| まどか (Madoka):ケントのたんじょうびはいつ？(Kento no tanjōbi wa itsu?) |
| ケント (Kento):7月１日。(Shichi-gatsu ichi-nichi.) |
| まどか (Madoka):ああ、ついたちね。(Ā, tsuitachi ne.) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| まどか (Madoka):ケント、明日の夜、ひま？(Kento, ashita no yoru, hima?) |
| Kat: Kent, are you free tomorrow night? |
| ケント (Kento):うん。でも、なんで。(Un. Demo, nande.) |
| Kat: Yeah, but why? |
| まどか (Madoka):明日、ママの誕生日。(Ashita, mama no tanjōbi.) |
| Kat: Tomorrow's my mom's birthday. |
| ケント (Kento):何日？(Nan-nichi?) |
| Kat: What day is it? |
| まどか (Madoka):３月２０日。(San-gatsu hatsuka.) |
| Kat: The twentieth of March. |
| ケント (Kento):はつか？(Hatsuka?) |
| Kat: The twentieth? |
| まどか (Madoka):うん。にじゅうにち。(Un. Ni-jū-nichi.) |
| Kat: Yeah. The twentieth. |
| まどか (Madoka):ケントのたんじょうびはいつ？(Kento no tanjōbi wa itsu?) |
| Kat: When's your birthday, Kent? |
| ケント (Kento):7月１日。(Shichi-gatsu ichi-nichi.) |
| Kat: The first of July. |
| まどか (Madoka):ああ、ついたちね。(Ā, tsuitachi ne.) |
| Kat: Ah, the first, right. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Kat: Ah, so, tomorrow is Madoka's mother's birthday! |
| Naomi: そうです！まどかさんのお母さんの誕生日。(Sō desu! Madoka-san no o-kā-san no tanjōbi.) |
| Kat: We'll go over the word for birthday more in the vocab section. |
| Naomi: In this lesson we'll be going over how to say the months and the dates, right? |
| Kat: Right! The months are not that bad, but the dates can be confusing. |
| Naomi: うーん、そうですね。(Ūn, sō desu ne.) Yes, actually, Kent mixed up how to say the date in the dialogue. |
| Kat: To say the date in Japanese, there's a special rule where you add にち (nichi) to the number.... but actually, the word for the 1st in an exception to that rule! |
| Naomi: That's right. The first has a special name, ついたち (tsuitachi). So Madoka had to correct him. |
| Kat: He also got confused when Madoka used the word for the 20th, which also has a special name. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right - It's not にじゅうにち (ni-jū-nichi), but はつか (hatsuka). This sound totally different, don't they? |
| Kat: They do! But, I would like to say that even if you make a mistake and say にじゅうにち (ni-jū-nichi), instead of はつか (hatsu), Japanese people will completely understand what you’re saying. I, myself, made this mistake for by… I think about half of my time on study abroad. So, please don’t worry. But, try to remember that 20th, is はつか (hatsuka), not にじゅうにち (ni-jū-nichi). OK, so now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Naomi: 明日 (ashita) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: tomorrow |
| Naomi: 明日 (ashita) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 明日 (ashita) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, next. |
| Naomi: 夜 (yoru) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: evening, night |
| Naomi: 夜 (yoru) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 夜 (yoru) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, and next. |
| Naomi: 暇 (hima) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: free, not busy, free time |
| Naomi: 暇 (hima) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 暇 (hima) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, next. |
| Naomi: ママ (mama) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: mama, mum, mom, mummy, mommy |
| Naomi: ママ (mama) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: ママ (mama) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, and next. |
| Naomi: 誕生日 (tanjōbi) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: birthday |
| Naomi: 誕生日 (tanjōbi) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 誕生日 (tanjōbi) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, so now let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Naomi: The first word is 誕生日 (tanjōbi). |
| Kat: “Birthday.” |
| Naomi: The kanji for this word are pretty difficult, but the last one is very important! It means day. |
| Kat: Yes, this word is made up of two parts exactly like in English. |
| Naomi: 誕生 (tanjō) means |
| Kat: birth. |
| Naomi: And 日 (bi) or 日 (hi) means |
| Kat: day. |
| Naomi: Here we pronounce it び (bi). |
| Kat: Remember when we learned how to use の (no) to talk about possession? You can use it here to specify whose birthday you're talking about. |
| Naomi: Right, for example... 私の誕生日 (watashi no tanjōbi) |
| Kat: My birthday. |
| Naomi: 友達の誕生日 (tomodachi no tanjōbi) |
| Kat: A friend's birthday. |
| Naomi: … and so on. |
| Kat: What's the next word we'll look at? |
| Naomi: 明日 (ashita) |
| Kat: “Tomorrow.” Can we hear how it was used in the dialogue? |
| Naomi: Sure! Madoka said... 明日、ママの誕生日。(Ashita, mama no tanjōbi.) |
| Kat: "Tomorrow's my mum's birthday." |
| Naomi: Let's quickly go over some other words to talk about the days. |
| Kat: Sounds good! |
| Naomi: 今日 (kyō) |
| Kat: Today. |
| Naomi: 昨日 (kinō) |
| Kat: Yesterday. Okay, and the last word we'll be looking at is... |
| Naomi: 暇 (hima) |
| Kat: “Free”, as in not busy, or “free time.” This word is both an na-adjective and a noun. |
| Naomi: That's right. If we say someone is 暇 (hima), that means they are free. When used as a noun, 暇 (hima) means "free time". |
| Kat: So if someone asks you 暇ですか (hima desu ka) or just 暇？(hima?), it means they're asking if you are free or have any free time to go into something. |
| Naomi: This is used a lot when inviting someone, or asking someone to do something. |
| Kat: That’s right, since you want to make sure the person isn't already busy with something else, which happens a lot in Japan. |
| Naomi: Yes. So in the dialogue, Madoka asked Kent... 明日の夜、暇？(Ashita no yoru, hima?) |
| Kat: "Are you free tomorrow night?" |
| Naomi: So remember this word for when you want to invite someone to do something! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Kat: In this lesson, you'll learn two things - how to say the months and dates in Japanese, and also how to ask questions in informal Japanese. First, let's take a look at the months and dates. |
| Naomi: Personally, I think the months in Japanese are much easier than in English! |
| Kat: Well, yeah objectively speaking, yeah, I know what you mean! In English, we have sadly difficult names for the months, but in Japanese, the names are based on the number of the month, so they're really easy to learn and remember, actually! |
| Naomi: Yes. If you know the numbers, it's really easy. To say the name of a month, say the number of the month, and add 月 (gatsu). |
| Kat: For example, January is the first month. One is 一 (ichi), then add 月 (gatsu). |
| Naomi: 一月 (ichi-gatsu) |
| Kat: May is the fifth month. Five is 五 (go), then add 月 (gatsu). |
| Naomi: 五月 (go-gatsu) |
| Kat: Very straightforward, right?! |
| Naomi: Right! But, there are two months that you have to be careful with. The first one is April. |
| Kat: For April, you don't say よん (yon) for "four", but し (shi) instead. |
| Naomi: Yes, so April is not よんがつ (yon-gatsu), but always しがつ (shi-gatsu). The other one is September. For September, you don't say きゅう (kyū) for "nine", but く (ku) instead. |
| Kat: So September is not きゅうがつ (kyū-gatsu), but always くがつ (ku-gatsu). |
| Naomi: Exactly, くがつ (ku-gatsu). Those are the only two you have to watch out, though. |
| Kat: Great! Now that we have that down, let's move on to the days! If you have the Lesson Notes, now might be a good time to have them in front of you. |
| Naomi: Basically, to say the date in Japanese, you add にち (nichi) to the number of the day. |
| Kat: However, the numbers for the first 10 days of the month don't follow this rule and need to be memorized individually. |
| Naomi: Let's go through the first three. |
| Kat: The first of the month is |
| Naomi: ついたち (tsuitachi) |
| Kat: ついたち。(Tsuitachi.) The second of the month is |
| Naomi: ふつか (futsuka) |
| Kat: ふつか。(Futsuka.) The third of the month is |
| Naomi: みっか (mikka) |
| Kat: みっか。(Mikka.) |
| Naomi: And so on. |
| Kat: I see, yeah, they don't seem to follow any patterns at all, do they? |
| Naomi: But, after 10, you can add にち (nichi) to the number to get the date. |
| Kat: There are some exceptions to this too though, so please check the Lesson Notes to find out what those are. |
| Naomi: Let's practice a few! |
| Kat: Okay... how would we say the 12th? |
| Naomi: Well, 12 is 十二 (jū ni), and then we add にち (nichi). So that would be, 十二日 (jū ni-nichi). |
| Kat: How about... 21st? |
| Naomi: 21 is 二十一 (ni-jū ichi), and then we add にち (nichi). So that would be 二十一日 (ni-jū ichi-nichi). |
| Kat: The 21st. Let's do one more... How about the 30th? |
| Naomi: 30 is 三十 (san-jū), then add にち (nichi). So that would be 三十日 (san-jū-nichi). |
| Kat: The 30th. Hopefully you can now say your own birthday. Naomi-sensei, now that we've gone over the months and dates, let's say our own birthdays. |
| Naomi: Good idea! 私の誕生日は10月8日です。(Watashi no tanjōbi wa jū-gatsu yōka desu.) |
| Kat: So, your birthday is 8th of October. OK. 私の誕生日は8月9日です。(Watashi no tanjōbi wa hachi-gatsu kokonoka desu.) |
| Naomi: So, your birthday is August 9th. |
| Kat: That’s right. |
| Naomi: ８、９。(Hachi, kyū.) |
| Kat: ８、９です。(Hachi, kyū desu.) Okay, now let's move onto asking questions in informal Japanese. What were the question words we saw in the dialogue? |
| Naomi: いつ (itsu), this means "when". And 何で (nande), this means "why". |
| Kat: When asking a question in informal Japanese, all you need to do is use a rising intonation on those words. That's all! |
| Naomi: Right. Let's look at the word for "when", いつ (itsu). If I say it like this - いつ？(itsu?) That means "when?" |
| Kat: So if you were to ask me what my birthday was in informal Japanese, what would that be? |
| Naomi: キャットさんの誕生日、いつ？(Kyatto-san no tanjōbi, itsu?) |
| Kat: That's basically the same question Madoka used, isn't it? |
| Naomi: Right. ケントの誕生日は、いつ？(Kento no tanjōbi wa, itsu?) |
| Kat: "When's your birthday, Kent?" Okay, and the other question word we had was.... |
| Naomi: 何で (nande) |
| Kat: "Why?" or "how come?” Again, all you need is that rising intonation. 何で？(Nande?) What are some other question words we should know? |
| Naomi: In Lesson 5, we went over 何 (nani), "what", as in それは何？(sore wa nani?) |
| Kat: What's that? |
| Naomi: Another important one we should know is どこ (doko)? |
| Kat: Where? Of course, this is a really crucial question word to know! |
| Naomi: I agree! |
Outro |
| Kat: Okay, well, I think that's all the time we have for this lesson! |
| Naomi: Thanks for listening, everyone. |
| Kat: See you in the next lesson!! |
| Naomi: じゃあ、また！(Jā, mata!) |
| まどか:ケント、明日の夜、ひま？ |
| ケント:うん。でも、なんで。 |
| まどか:明日、ママの誕生日。 |
| ケント:何日？ |
| まどか:３月２０日。 |
| ケント:はつか？ |
| まどか:うん。にじゅうにち。 |
| : ケントのたんじょうびはいつ？ |
| ケント:7月１日。 |
| まどか:ああ、ついたちね。 |
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