Learn about asking for directions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jessi: Find everything you are looking for with Japanese particles を (o) and に (ni). |
| Naomi: ナオミです。(Naomi desu.) |
| Jessi: Jessi here. So, in the previous lesson, you learned the particles that are used when comparing things. |
| Naomi: Right. Such as バスと電車とどちらがはやいですか。(Basu to densha to dochira ga hayai desu ka.) |
| Jessi: “Which is faster, a bus or a train?” |
| Naomi: 一年で何月が一番暑いですか。(Ichi-nen de nan-gatsu ga ichi-ban atsui desu ka.) |
| Jessi: “Which is the hottest month of the year?” Can you tell us what particles we’ll be covering in this lesson? |
| Naomi: In this lesson you'll learn particles used when asking and giving directions. |
| Jessi: This conversation is between a station clerk and an old lady, right? |
| Naomi: そうです。おばあさんと駅員さんが話しています。(Sō desu. O-bā-san to ekiin-san ga hanashite imasu.) |
| Naomi: Where does this conversation take place? 駅ですね。(Eki desu ne.) Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| （駅）(Eki) |
| 老人（女）:すみません。忘れ物センターはどこですか？(Sumimasen. Wasuremono sentā wa doko desu ka?) |
| 駅員:あの角を曲がってください。右にあります。(Ano kado o magatte kudasai. Migi ni arimasu.) |
| （忘れ物センター）(Wasuremono sentā) |
| 老人（女）: あの、昨日の夜１０時頃、上野で電車に乗って、赤坂で電車を降りました。(Ano, kinō no yoru jū-ji goro, Ueno de densha ni notte, Akasaka de densha o orimashita.) |
| : ピンクのかさを忘れました。(Pinku no kasa o wasuremashita.) |
| 駅員:これですか？(Kore desu ka?) |
| 老人（女）: あ、そうです。(A, sō desu.) |
| 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.) |
| （駅）(Eki) |
| 老人（女）:すみません。忘れ物センターはどこですか？(Sumimasen. Wasuremono sentā wa doko desu ka?) |
| 駅員:あの角を曲がってください。右にあります。(Ano kado o magatte kudasai. Migi ni arimasu.) |
| （忘れ物センター）(Wasuremono sentā) |
| 老人（女）: あの、昨日の夜１０時頃、上野で電車に乗って、赤坂で電車を降りました。(Ano, kinō no yoru jū-ji goro, Ueno de densha ni notte, Akasaka de densha o orimashita.) |
| : ピンクのかさを忘れました。(Pinku no kasa o wasuremashita.) |
| 駅員:これですか？(Kore desu ka?) |
| 老人（女）: あ、そうです。(A, sō desu.) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| （駅）(Eki) |
| 老人（女）:すみません。忘れ物センターはどこですか？(Sumimasen. Wasuremono sentā wa doko desu ka?) |
| Jessi: Excuse me. Where is the lost-and-found? |
| 駅員:あの角を曲がってください。右にあります。(Ano kado o magatte kudasai. Migi ni arimasu.) |
| Jessi: Please turn at that corner. It's on the right. |
| （忘れ物センター）(Wasuremono sentā) |
| Jessi(At the lost-and-found) |
| 老人（女）: あの、昨日の夜１０時頃、上野で電車に乗って、赤坂で電車を降りました。(Ano, kinō no yoru jū-ji goro, Ueno de densha ni notte, Akasaka de densha o orimashita.) |
| Jessi: Excuse me. Yesterday at around ten o'clock at night, I got on the train at Ueno and got off at Akasaka. |
| : ピンクのかさを忘れました。(Pinku no kasa o wasuremashita.) |
| Jessi: I left behind a pink umbrella. |
| 駅員:これですか？(Kore desu ka?) |
| Jessi: Is this it? |
| 老人（女）: あ、そうです。(A, sō desu.) |
| Jessi: Oh, yes it is. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jessi: What’s the name of the place, again? |
| Naomi: Which place? |
| Jessi: The lost-and-found. |
| Naomi: あー、忘れ物センター。(Ā, wasuremono sentā.) |
| Jessi: 忘れ物 (wasuremono) a lost item, and センター (sentā), a center? |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right. There are a bunch of different ways to say lost-and-found in Japanese. But the easiest one is 忘れ物センター (wasuremono sentā). Have you ever visited there? |
| Jessi: Not in Japan actually… but I’ve heard that even if you lose something, say, on the train… you have a good chance of getting it back! |
| Naomi: そう！戻ってくるんですよ。(Sō! Modotte kuru n desu yo.) |
| Jessi: That’s great! I guess people are very honest. |
| Naomi: そうね。(Sō ne.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn particles that are useful when asking or giving directions. |
| Naomi: The particles we’ll be covering here are を (o) and に (ni). |
| Jessi: Let’s start with を (o). |
| Jessi: First of all, let’s quickly review what you have learned about the particle を (o) so far. |
| Naomi: In Lesson 2, you learned that を is used to mark the object of a sentence. |
| In the dialogue, the old lady said ピンクのかさを忘れました。(Pinku no kasa o wasuremashita.) |
| Jessi: "I left behind a pink umbrella." |
| Naomi: The object, which is the umbrella she left behind, was marked by を (o). 傘を忘れました。(Kasa o wasuremashita.) |
| Jessi: And then in Lesson 7, you learned that を (o) marks where some kind of movement takes place. |
| Naomi: この道をまっすぐ行ってください。(Kono michi o massugu itte kudasai.) |
| Jessi: "Please go straight on this street." The street where the movement takes place is marked by を (o). |
| Naomi: Right. この道を (kono michi o) in the dialogue, the station clerk said あの角を曲がってください。(Ano kado o magatte kudasai.) |
| Jessi: “Please turn at that corner.” 曲がる (magaru) “to turn”, is the movement. Where it takes place, あの角 (ano kado) “that corner”, is marked by を (o). |
| Naomi: あの角「を」曲がってください。(Ano kado ‘o’ magatte kudasai.) |
| Jessi: Ok. So those are the two uses of を (o), which you should know by now. |
| If you’re not confident with this yet, please go back and review Lessons 2 and 7. |
| What’s the new use of particle を (o) we’re introducing in this lesson? |
| Naomi: Marking the place that someone leaves or departs from. For example, 毎朝、７時にうちを出ます。(Maiasa, shichi-ji ni uchi o demasu.) |
| Jessi: “I leave home at seven every morning.” Let’s break down this sentence. |
| 毎朝 (maiasa) “every morning”, 七時に (shichi-ji ni) “at seven”. So…毎朝七時に (maiasa shichi-ji ni) means “at seven every morning.” |
| うち (uchi) “home”, を (o) particle marking the place that someone departs from. 出ます (demasu) “to leave”, “to depart.” |
| So うちを出ます (uchi o demasu) literally means “depart from home”. In natural English we’d say “leave home.” |
| So all together, 毎朝七時にうちを出ます。(Maiasa shichi-ji ni uchi o demasu.) “I leave home at seven every morning.” |
| Naomi: うち (uchi) is the place you depart from, so it’s marked by を (o). |
| So again, を (o) is used to mark the place you leave or depart from. |
| Jessi: Can we hear one more example? |
| Naomi: Sure. 大学を卒業しました。(Daigaku o sotsugyō shimashita.) “I graduated from college.” |
| Jessi: Let’s break this one down too. 大学 (daigaku) “college”, を (o) particle marking the place one leaves, 卒業しました (sotsugyō shimashita) “graduated.” |
| Naomi-sensei, can we also say 大学から卒業しました (daigaku kara sotsugyō shimashita) for “graduated from college”? |
| Naomi: People would understand you. But 大学を卒業しました (daigaku o sotsugyō shimashita) sounds more natural. |
| Jessi: Got it. OK. On to the next particle, に (ni). First of all, let’s review what we have learned about に (ni) so far. |
| Naomi: In Lesson 5, you learned that に (ni) marks the place someone or something moves toward. For example, この電車は空港に行きますか。(Kono densha wa kūkō ni ikimasu ka.) |
| Jessi: “Does this train go to the airport?” |
| When being used in this way, に (ni) can also be replaced with へ (e). So you can also say…この電車は空港へいきますか。(Kono densha wa kūkō e ikimasu ka.) to mean “Does this train go to the airport?” |
| OK. And here’s a new rule. |
| When the particle に (ni) indicates movement from a larger place to a smaller place, the particle に (ni) can not be replaced by へ (e). |
| Naomi: Like 部屋に入る (heya ni hairu) “to enter a room” or タクシーに乗る (takushī ni noru) “to get in a taxi.” |
| Naomi: Finally, let’s check the particles that go with the verbs 降りる (oriru) “to get off” and 乗る (noru) “to get on.” |
| Jessi: When talking about a vehicle or means of transportation, the particle を (o) is almost always used with the verb 降りる (oriru), meaning "to get off", and the particle に (ni) is almost always used with the verb 乗る (noru), meaning "to get on". First, can we hear a sample sentence using 降りる (oriru)? |
| Naomi: 赤坂で電車を降りました。(Akasaka de densha o orimashita.) |
| Jessi: “I got off the train at Akasaka.” |
| Naomi: So the structure is [means of transportation] plus を降りる (o oriru). For example, タクシーを降りる (takushī o oriru) “to get out of the taxi”, 飛行機を降りる (hikōki o oriru) “o get off the airplane.” |
| Jessi: How about a sample sentence for 乗る (noru)? |
| Naomi: OK. 北海道で馬に乗りました。(Hokkaidō de uma ni norimashita.) |
| Jessi: “I rode a horse in Hokkaido.” |
| Naomi: The sentence structure here is [means of transportation] plus に乗る (ni noru). For example, タクシーに乗る (takushī ni noru) “to get in a taxi” or “to ride in a taxi”, 飛行機に乗る (hikōki ni noru) “to get on an airplane”. |
| Jessi: All right, in this lesson you learned particles used when asking and giving directions, along with particles used when talking about transportation. |
| And now it’s time for us to recap this lesson with a quiz. |
| I’m going to read an English sentence. Your job is to choose the best Japanese translation from the choices given. Are you ready? Here’s the sentence. |
| “I got off the train at Akasaka.” |
| Naomi: 1. 赤坂で電車に乗りました。(Akasaka de densha ni norimashita.) |
| 2. 赤坂で電車を降りました。(Akasaka de densha o orimashita.) |
| Jessi: And the answer is? |
| Naomi: 2. 赤坂で電車を降りました。(Akasaka de densha o orimashita.) “I got off the train at Akasaka.” |
| Jessi: How about choice 1？ |
| Naomi: 赤坂で電車に乗りました。(Akasaka de densha ni norimashita.) This means “I got on the train at Akasaka.” |
| Jessi: So remember that the particle を (o) is almost always used with the verb 降りる (oriru) "to get off", and the particle に (ni) is almost always used with the verb 乗る (noru) "to get on". |
| And now let’s do one more sentence. |
| ”Please turn at that corner.” |
| Naomi: 1. あの角を曲がってください。(Ano kado o magatte kudasai.) |
| 2. あの角に曲がってください。(Ano kado ni magatte kudasai.) |
| Jessi: And the answer is? |
| Naomi: 1. あの角を曲がってください。 (Ano kado o magatte kudasai.) “Please turn at that corner.” |
| Jessi: So remember, where some kind of movement takes place is marked by を (o). |
| And choice 2 doesn’t sound quite right, does it? |
| Naomi: No, because に (ni) marks the direction or destination of movement. So it doesn’t fit in this sentence. OK, that’s all for this lesson. |
| Naomi: それじゃあまた。(Sorejā mata.) |
| Jessi: See you next time. |
| DIALOGUE |
| （駅）(Eki) |
| 老人（女）:すみません。忘れ物センターはどこですか？(Sumimasen. Wasuremono sentā wa doko desu ka?) |
| 駅員:あの角を曲がってください。右にあります。(Ano kado o magatte kudasai. Migi ni arimasu.) |
| （忘れ物センター）(Wasuremono sentā) |
| 老人（女）: あの、昨日の夜１０時頃、上野で電車に乗って、赤坂で電車を降りました。(Ano, kinō no yoru jū-ji goro, Ueno de densha ni notte, Akasaka de densha o orimashita.) |
| : ピンクのかさを忘れました。(Pinku no kasa o wasuremashita.) |
| 駅員:これですか？(Kore desu ka?) |
| 老人（女）: あ、そうです。(A, sō desu.) |
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