Learn about asking direction at a train station
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jessi: Need Directions? Japanese Particles E, Ni, Kara, and Made Will Show You the Way! |
| Naomi: こんにちは。なおみです。(Kon’nichiwa. Naomi desu.) |
| Jessi: Jessi here. |
| Naomi: In the previous lesson, you learned two particles used in questions, which are か (ka) and の (no). |
| Jessi: Naomi-sensei, please tell us what we’ll be learning about in this lesson. |
| Naomi: 今日は (kyō wa) particles that indicate direction. |
| Jessi: The conversation is between… |
| Naomi: 男の子と駅員さんです。(Otokonoko to eki’in-san desu.) |
| Jessi: A boy and a station assistant. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Jessi: Where does this conversation take place? |
| Naomi: 駅。(Eki.) |
| Jessi: At a station. It seems like the boy wants to go to the airport. |
| Naomi: そうです。空港に行きたいです。(Sō desu. Kūkō ni ikitai desu.) |
| Jessi: All right. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| ケンタ: すみません。これは空港へ行きますか。(Sumimasen. Kore wa kūkō e ikimasu ka.) |
| 駅員:いえ、行きません。2番線のホームに行ってください。(Ie, ikimasen. Ni-bansen no hōmu ni itte kudasai.) |
| : 次の電車は2番線から出ます。(Tsugi no densha wa ni-bansen kara demasu.) |
| ケンタ: ここから、空港まで何分かかりますか。(Koko kara, kūkō made nan-pun kakarimasu ka.) |
| 駅員: ３０分くらいです。・・・旅行？(San-juppun kurai desu… ryokō?) |
| ケンタ: いえ、飛行機を見に行きます。(Ie, hikōki o mi ni ikimasu.) |
| 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.) |
| ケンタ: すみません。これは空港へ行きますか。(Sumimasen. Kore wa kūkō e ikimasu ka.) |
| 駅員:いえ、行きません。2番線のホームに行ってください。(Ie, ikimasen. Ni-bansen no hōmu ni itte kudasai.) |
| : 次の電車は2番線から出ます。(Tsugi no densha wa ni-bansen kara demasu.) |
| ケンタ: ここから、空港まで何分かかりますか。(Koko kara, kūkō made nan-pun kakarimasu ka.) |
| 駅員: ３０分くらいです。・・・旅行？(San-juppun kurai desu… ryokō?) |
| ケンタ: いえ、飛行機を見に行きます。(Ie, hikōki o mi ni ikimasu.) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| ケンタ: すみません。これは空港へ行きますか。(Sumimasen. Kore wa kūkō e ikimasu ka.) |
| Jessi: Excuse me; does this (train) go to the airport? |
| 駅員:いえ、行きません。2番線のホームに行ってください。(Ie, ikimasen. Ni-bansen no hōmu ni itte kudasai.) |
| Jessi: No, it doesn't. Please go over to Platform two. |
| : 次の電車は2番線から出ます。(Tsugi no densha wa ni-bansen kara demasu.) |
| Jessi: The next train leaves from there. |
| ケンタ: ここから、空港まで何分かかりますか。(Koko kara, kūkō made nan-pun kakarimasu ka.) |
| Jessi: How long does it take to get to the airport from here? |
| 駅員: ３０分くらいです。・・・旅行？(San-juppun kurai desu… ryokō?) |
| Jessi: About thirty minutes. Are you going on a trip? |
| ケンタ: いえ、飛行機を見に行きます。(Ie, hikōki o mi ni ikimasu.) |
| Jessi: No, I'm going to go see the airplanes. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jessi: So Kenta is going to the airport just to see the airplanes? |
| Naomi: うん、そうですね。 (Un, sō desu ne.) Right. ケンタは空港へ飛行機を見に行きます。(Kenta wa kūkō e hikōki o mi ni ikimasu.) |
| Jessi: But he doesn’t sound like a child. He sounds a lot more mature. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) But there’s nothing wrong with going to the airport just to see the airplanes. |
| Jessi: That’s true. |
| Naomi: Maybe he just really likes airplanes… or there’s some other reason! |
| Jessi: Ah, so maybe we’ll find out about that in a future lesson. |
| Naomi: そうそうそう。(Sō sō sō.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn some particles that indicate direction. They’re the equivalent to "to" in English. Naomi-sensei, what’s the first particle we’ll be looking at? |
| Naomi: We’ll be looking at the particle へ (e). |
| Jessi: The particle へ (e) marks the direction or destination of some movement. It also marks the recipient of an action. Let us show you some examples. The word for “to go” is |
| Naomi: 行く (iku) |
| Jessi: So “to go to Mexico” would be? |
| Naomi: メキシコへ行く。(Mekishiko e iku.) |
| Jessi: Notice how the destination, Mexico is marked by particle へ (e). メキシコへ (Mekishiko e) to Mexico. So, ‘to the airport’ would be? |
| Naomi: Airport in Japanese is 空港 (kūkō) so 空港へ (kūkō e). |
| Jessi: How do you say then “go to the airport”? |
| Naomi: 空港へ行く(kūkō e iku). Be careful, because “e” is written using the Hiragana へ (he) but the pronunciation is え (e). |
| Jessi: Right. When the hiragana symbol for へ (he) is part of a word, it’s pronounced へ [he]. But when it’s used as a particle, it’s pronounced [e]. So you just have to remember this. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Jessi: OK, on to the next particle. |
| Naomi: The next particle is に (ni). The particle へ (e) we just covered can be often replaced with に (ni) |
| Jessi: The particle に (ni) also indicates movement toward a place. When used in this way, the particle に (ni) can replace へ (e). |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) So you can say 空港に行く (kūkō ni iku) instead of 空港へ行く (kūkō e iku). |
| Jessi: And the meaning is the same, right? |
| Naomi: はい、そうですね。 同じです。(Hai, sō desu ne. Onaji desu.) However, there are some instances where the particle へ (e) cannot be used in place of に (ni). |
| Jessi: That’s right - when に (ni) indicates the purpose of the movement, the particle へ (e) cannot be used instead. |
| Naomi: そうなんですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right. For example 買い物に行く。(Kaimono ni iku.) |
| Jessi: To go shopping. 買い物 (kaimono), shopping, is not a place but a purpose, so this に (ni) can not be replaced with へ (e). |
| Naomi: Another example is スノーボードに行く。(Sunōbōdo ni iku.) |
| Jessi: To go snowboarding. So スノーボード (sunōbōdo), snowboarding, is the purpose. So [purpose] plus に行く (ni iku) is “to go somewhere to do something.” |
| Naomi: “To go to a movie” is 映画にいく (eiga ni iku), and “to go to see a movie” is 映画をみにいく (eiga o mi ni iku). |
| Jessi: Right. When you want to talk about your purpose for going somewhere using a verb, use the –ます (masu) stem of that verb and attach the particle に (ni). |
| So…”To go to see” would be…? |
| Naomi: 見に行く (mi ni iku). み (mi) is the –ます (masu) stem of the verb 見る (miru), to see. So, み に いく (mi ni iku). “To go to see.” |
| Jessi: And if you want to add the object for the verb, mark it with the particle を (o). |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) Right. 映画を見に行く (eiga o mi ni iku) “to go see a movie”, ミュージカルを見に行く (myūjikaru o mi ni iku) “to go see a musical”, 歌舞伎を見に行く(kabuki o mi ni iku) “to go see Kabuki”, and this lesson dialogue, 飛行機を見に行く (hikōki o mi ni iku) “to go watch airplanes.” |
| Jessi: So to express the purpose of going with a verb, take the –ます (masu) stem of that verb and add にいく (ni iku). Let’s try it with some other verbs now. |
| Naomi: OK. How about 食べる (taberu), to eat? |
| Jessi: Sounds good. The –ます (masu) stem of 食べる (taberu) is? |
| Naomi: 食べ (tabe) |
| Jessi: And then attach the particle に (ni) to show that it’s your purpose. |
| Naomi: 食べに行く。(Tabe ni iku.) “To go to eat.” So….すしを食べに行く (sushi o tabe ni iku) ”to go to eat sushi”; 昼ごはんを食べに行く (hirugohan o tabe ni iku) “to go to eat lunch.” |
| Jessi: OK. So to recap what we’ve just covered, the particles へ (e) and に (ni) are interchangeable when used to express destination or direction. But, when に (ni) indicates the purpose of the action, へ (e) can not replace に (ni). |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) |
| Jessi: And the last particle… well, actually particles we’re covering in this lesson are… |
| Naomi: から (kara) and まで (made). |
| Jessi: “From” and “to”, respectively. |
| Both から (kara) and まで (made) are used after a noun. から (kara) marks the starting point, such as a place or time. And まで (made) marks the limitation or extent. They are often used together. Naomi-sensei, how do you say “from A”? |
| Naomi: Aから (A kara) |
| Jessi: Notice how the particle comes after the noun. The word order is opposite from English. |
| Now, how do you say “To Z”? |
| Naomi: Zまで (Z made) |
| Jessi: Let’s put them together “From A to Z” is? |
| Naomi: AからZ まで。(A kara Z made.) |
| Jessi: From here to the airport? |
| Naomi: ここから空港まで。(Koko kara kūkō made.) |
| Jessi: From Monday to Thursday? |
| Naomi: Monday is 月曜日 (getsu-yōbi) and Thursday is 木曜日 (moku-yōbi) so…月曜日から木曜日まで (getsu-yōbi kara moku-yōbi made). |
| Jessi: And how about one more? From children to adults? |
| Naomi: Children is 子供 (kodomo) and adults is 大人 (otona) so….子供から大人まで (kodomo kara otona made). |
| Jessi: In this lesson you learned particles that indicate direction. へ (e), に (ni), から (kara) and まで (made). |
| So let’s recap the lesson with a quiz. |
| Which of the following particles is used to indicate direction and the purpose of movement? |
| Naomi: 1.へ (e) 2.に (ni) 3.から (kara) 4.まで (made) |
| Jessi: And the answer is? |
| Naomi: 2. に (ni) as in 飛行機を見に行く (hikōki o mi ni iku) “to go to watch airplanes.” |
| Jessi: Choice 1. へ (e) can indicate direction or destination, but not purpose. |
| Choice 3. から (kara) indicates the starting point and Choice 4. まで (made) indicates the limitation or extent. And that just about does it for this lesson. |
| Naomi: はい、それじゃまた！(Hai, soreja mata!) |
| Jessi: See you next time! |
| DIALOGUE |
| ケンタ: すみません。これは空港へ行きますか。(Sumimasen. Kore wa kūkō e ikimasu ka.) |
| 駅員:いえ、行きません。2番線のホームに行ってください。(Ie, ikimasen. Ni-bansen no hōmu ni itte kudasai.) |
| : 次の電車は2番線から出ます。(Tsugi no densha wa ni-bansen kara demasu.) |
| ケンタ: ここから、空港まで何分かかりますか。(Koko kara, kūkō made nan-pun kakarimasu ka.) |
| 駅員: ３０分くらいです。・・・旅行？(San-juppun kurai desu… ryokō?) |
| ケンタ: いえ、飛行機を見に行きます。(Ie, hikōki o mi ni ikimasu.) |
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