Learn about giving reasons
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jessi: What's Your Excuse?! And it Had Better Begin with Japanese Particles De, Kara, and Node! |
| Naomi: なおみです。(Naomi desu.) |
| Jessi: Jessi here. So, in the last lesson we learned particles that are useful when asking or giving directions. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right. Such as あの角を右に曲がってください。(Ano kado o migi ni magatte kudasai.) |
| Jessi: Please turn right at that corner. |
| Naomi: In lesson 17 we covered the usage of the particles を (o) and に (ni). |
| Jessi: So what particles are we covering in this lesson? |
| Naomi: In this lesson, you'll learn particles and conjunctions used for giving a reason. |
| Jessi: The dialogue is mostly between 3 students, right? |
| Naomi: そうですね、三人ですね。(Sō desu ne, san-nin desu ne.) But a teacher appears at the end of the conversation. |
| Jessi: And what does this conversation take place? |
| Naomi: 学校です。(Gakkō desu.) At school. |
| Jessi: Great, so let’s listen to the conversation. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| （キーンコーンカーンコン）(Kīnkōn kānkon) |
| 生徒１:昨日のクイズみた？面白かったね。(Kinō no kuizu mita? Omoshirokatta ne.) |
| 生徒２:塾で、みられなかった。(Juku de, mirarenakatta.) |
| 生徒３:俺も、勉強していたからみられなかった。(Ore mo, benkyō shite ita kara mirarenakatta.) |
| 生徒１:ええ？みんな、勉強していたの？(Ee? Minna, benkyō shite ita no?) |
| （ガラガラガラ）(garagaragara) |
| 佐藤けい子:はーい。テストを始めますので、座ってください。(Hāi. Tesuto o hajimemasu node, suwatte kudasai.) |
| 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.) |
| （キーンコーンカーンコン）(Kīnkōn kānkon) |
| 生徒１:昨日のクイズみた？面白かったね。(Kinō no kuizu mita? Omoshirokatta ne.) |
| 生徒２:塾で、みられなかった。(Juku de, mirarenakatta.) |
| 生徒３:俺も、勉強していたからみられなかった。(Ore mo, benkyō shite ita kara mirarenakatta.) |
| 生徒１:ええ？みんな、勉強していたの？(Ee? Minna, benkyō shite ita no?) |
| （ガラガラガラ）(garagaragara) |
| 佐藤けい子:はーい。テストを始めますので、座ってください。(Hāi. Tesuto o hajimemasu node, suwatte kudasai.) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| （キーンコーンカーンコン）(Kīnkōn kānkon) |
| Jessi(bell rings) |
| 生徒１:昨日のクイズみた？面白かったね。(Kinō no kuizu mita? Omoshirokatta ne.) |
| Jessi: Did you see the quiz show on TV yesterday? It was interesting, huh? |
| 生徒２:塾で、みられなかった。(Juku de, mirarenakatta.) |
| Jessi: I couldn't watch it because of cram school. |
| 生徒３:俺も、勉強していたからみられなかった。(Ore mo, benkyō shite ita kara mirarenakatta.) |
| Jessi: I couldn't see it either because I was studying. |
| 生徒１:ええ？みんな、勉強していたの？(Ee? Minna, benkyō shite ita no?) |
| Jessi: Huh?? You were all studying?? |
| （ガラガラガラ）(garagaragara) |
| Jessi(classroom door opens) |
| 佐藤けい子:はーい。テストを始めますので、座ってください。(Hāi. Tesuto o hajimemasu node, suwatte kudasai.) |
| Jessi: Okay, everyone. We're about to start the test, so please sit down. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Naomi: ジェシーさんはテレビをよく見ますか。(Jeshī-san wa terebi o yoku mimasu ka.) |
| Jessi: Ah! To answer this, I can use a contrastive sentence. |
| Naomi: ああ、頑張って！(Ā, ganbatte!) |
| Jessi: はい！アメリカでは、あまり見なかったけど、日本では、よく見ます。(Hai! Amerika de wa, amari minakatta kedo, Nihon de wa, yoku mimasu.) In the States, I didn’t watch much TV, but in Japan, I watch it a lot for some reason! How about you, Naomi-sensei? |
| Naomi: うーん。あまり見ませんねぇ。仕事でみられないですね。あと、夜は眠いので見られないです。(Ūn. Amari mimasen nee. Shigoto de mirarenai desu ne. Ato, yoru wa nemui node mirarenai desu.) |
| Jessi: Hmm, so you can’t watch much TV because of work, and also because you’re tired. なるほど～。(Naruhodō.) |
| Naomi: そう、眠いから (Sō, nemui kara), sleepy. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn particles and conjunctions that are useful when you give reasons. |
| Naomi: They are で (de), から (kara) and ので (node). |
| Jessi: Let’s start with reviewing the particle で (de). |
| Jessi: In Lesson 7, you learned that で (de) is used to mark the location of an action. |
| Naomi: For example, 塾 (juku) is cram school and 塾で (juku de) is “at cram school” |
| So…塾で勉強をする (juku de benkyō o suru) would be “I study at cram school.” |
| Jessi: And here で (de) marks where the action takes place. |
| In Lesson 15, you learned that で (de) also marks the means of doing something or the material used to make something. So an example that would be... |
| Naomi: バスで (basu de) “by bus.” So… バスで学校に行く (basu de gakkō ni iku) would be “I go to school by bus.” |
| This で (de) marks the means of transportation. |
| And for materials or ingredients, 卵でオムレツを作った。(Tamago de omuretsu o tsukutta.) “I made an omelet with eggs.” |
| Jessi: 卵で (tamago de) “with eggs”, “using eggs.” This で (de) marks the ingredients used. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Jessi : In this lesson, you'll learn how to use で (de) to indicate a reason.で (de) comes after the noun that is the reason for something. It's equivalent to "and", "because of", or "due to" in English. Can we hear a sample sentence? |
| Naomi: 風邪で学校を休みました。(Kaze de gakkō o yasumimashita.) |
| Jessi: So literally, “I had a cold and I was absent from school.” In more natural English we’d say “I didn't go to school, because I had a cold.” Let’s break down this sentence. |
| Naomi: 風邪 (kaze) “cold”, で (de) “because of.” So… 風邪で (kaze de) “because of a cold”, 学校(gakkō) “school”, を (o) object marker, 休みました (yasumimashita) “was absent.” |
| Jessi: The reason they didn’t go to school was because they caught a cold, so here 風邪 (kaze), “a cold” is marked by the particle で (de). |
| Naomi: Here’s another sample sentence. 事故 (jiko) is “accident”, けがをする (kega o suru) is “to be injured.” |
| So 事故でけがをしました。(Jiko de kega o shimashita.) would be... |
| Jessi: “I was injured due to a traffic accident.” |
| Naomi: Usually the reason that is followed by で (de) is something that is beyond control, such as 台風で (taifū de), “because of a typhoon”, and 病気で (byōki de), “due to illness.” |
| Jessi: Now onto the usage of the conjunction から (kara). |
| The conjunction から (kara) follows a phrase which explains a cause or reason. It corresponds to "because" or "since" in English. |
| Naomi: The biggest difference between から (kara) and で (de) is で (de) can only follow a single noun. But から (kara) follows an entire phrase. |
| Jessi: Can we hear an example? |
| Naomi: 結婚するから、家を買った。(Kekkon suru kara, ie o katta.) “Since we're getting married, we bought a house.” |
| Jessi: So notice that から (kara) follows a phrase in informal speech. Here it followed a verb. How about when から (kara) follows an adjective？ |
| Naomi: OK. Let me start with an i-adjective. |
| その店は安いから人気がある。(Sono mise wa yasui kara ninki ga aru.) |
| Jessi: “That store is popular because it's inexpensive.” |
| So you just add から (kara) to the informal form of an i-adjective |
| Naomi: はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) Right. But for na-adjectives and nouns, you need to add だ (da) before から (kara). |
| その店は静かだから、人気がある。あの店は静かだから、人気がある。(Sono mise wa shizuka da kara, ninki ga aru. Ano mise wa shizuka da kara, ninki ga aru.) |
| Jessi: ”That store is popular because it’s quiet.” |
| Naomi: 今日は日曜日だから、人がたくさんいる。(Kyō wa nichi-yōbi da kara, hito ga takusan iru.) |
| Jessi: “Since it’s Sunday today, there are a lot of people.” |
| Naomi: Remember that から (kara) normally follows informal speech. Informal phrases, I should say. |
| Jessi: How about the conjunction ので (node)? ので (node) also indicates a reason or cause, correct? |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right. |
| Jessi: So can we say that から (kara) and ので (node) are pretty much interchangeable? |
| Naomi: うん。(Un.) I think so. But it is said that ので (node) is more objective than から (kara). Because of that, ので (node) has a softer and more polite connotation. |
| Jessi: なるほど。(Naruhodo.) So generally speaking, ので (node) is more polite than から (kara). |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) And ので (node) also follows informal speech, or informal phrase. Like 結婚するので、家を買った。(Kekkon suru node, ie o katta.) ”Since we're getting married, we bought a house.” その店は安いので人気がある。(Sono mise wa yasui node ninki ga aru.) “That store is popular because it's inexpensive.” |
| Jessi: So the construction is the same as から (kara). |
| Naomi: Right, except for na-adjectives and nouns. |
| You need to insert な (na) before ので (node). |
| For example, その店は静かなので、人気がある。(Sono mise wa shizuka na node, ninki ga aru.) ”That store is popular because it’s quiet”, and 今日は日曜日なので、人がたくさんいる。(Kyō wa nichi-yōbi na node, hito ga takusan iru.) “Since it’s Sunday today, there are a lot of people.” |
| Jessi: So when used after na-adjectives and nouns, we needed だ (da) before から (kara), and な (na) before ので (node). |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) |
| Jessi: This is really important to remember! For a more detailed explanation, please check the lesson notes. |
| Naomi: はい、レッスンノートを見てください！(Hai, Ressun Nōto o mite kudasai!) |
| Jessi: In this lesson you learned particles and conjunctions used for giving a reason. |
| Now let’s recap this lesson with a quiz. |
| I’m going to say a phrase in English. Your job is to choose the best translation from the choice provided. |
| How do you say “due to the accident?” |
| Naomi: 1. 事故で (jiko de) |
| 2. 事故から (jiko kara) |
| 3. 事故ので (jiko node) |
| Jessi: And the answer is? |
| Naomi: 1. 事故で (jiko de) “due to the accident.” |
| Jessi: The particle で (de) directly attaches to a noun that indicates a cause or reason. |
| So what’s wrong with choices 2 and 3? |
| Naomi: ので (node) and から (kara) can not be directly attached to the noun. If you wanted to say “because there was an accident”, then 事故があったから (jiko ga atta kara) or 事故があったので (jiko ga atta node) would be perfect. |
| Naomi: OK. Well, that’s all for this lesson. それじゃまた。(Soreja mata.) |
| Jessi: See you next time. |
| DIALOGUE |
| （キーンコーンカーンコン）(Kīnkōn kānkon) |
| 生徒１:昨日のクイズみた？面白かったね。(Kinō no kuizu mita? Omoshirokatta ne.) |
| 生徒２:塾で、みられなかった。(Juku de, mirarenakatta.) |
| 生徒３:俺も、勉強していたからみられなかった。(Ore mo, benkyō shite ita kara mirarenakatta.) |
| 生徒１:ええ？みんな、勉強していたの？(Ee? Minna, benkyō shite ita no?) |
| （ガラガラガラ）(garagaragara) |
| 佐藤けい子:はーい。テストを始めますので、座ってください。(Hāi. Tesuto o hajimemasu node, suwatte kudasai.) |
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