Learn some Japanese phrases you will see on posters in Japan
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| Naomi: なおみです (Naomi desu.) |
| Yuichi: ゆういちです (Yūichi desu.) |
| Jessi: Jesse here. We are here with a special lesson for you today. What’s it called Naomi Sensei? |
| Naomi: ポスターで学ぶ漢字と日本語 (Posutā de manabu kanji to nihongo.) |
| Jessi: Learning Kanji and Japanese through poster phrases. This is similar to our ongoing everyday kanji project except in this lesson, we will be looking at the Japanese that’s written on a poster in great detail. |
| Naomi: 今回のポスターはどんなポスターですか。 (Konkai no posutā wa donna posutā desu ka.) What kind of poster is it? |
| Yuichi: It’s a poster for an Autumn lottery called オータムジャンボ二億円 (ōtamujanbo ni-oku-en) |
| Jessi: So literally that’s Autumn Jumbo 2 million yen and that’s a lot of money. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) |
| Jessi: Right and it’s actually winter now. So this autumn jumbo lottery has already finished right? |
| Naomi: うん、終わってますね。 (Un, owatte masu ne.) |
| Jessi: Yes it’s finished but we have lots of 宝くじ (takarakuji) lotteries throughout the year in Japan. So I am sure you have another chance to see a similar one. |
| Yuichi: 宝くじ、買いますか？ (Takarakuji, kai masu ka?) Do you ever buy lottery tickets? |
| Jessi: My parents used to but I never have. |
| Naomi: ううん、私も絶対買わない。 (Uun, watashi mo zettai kawanai.) I never buy lottery tickets. I don’t want to waste my money on them. So what we are going to do is focus on some phrases from this poster and explain the grammar and everything behind them. |
| Yuichi: These phrases came from a poster. So they contain really authentic Japanese. |
| Jessi: Definitely. So let’s take a look at the first one. Naomi Sensei お願いします。 (O-negai shimasu.) |
| Naomi: ９月２８日、月から！枚数限定発売 (Ku-gatsu ni-jū hachi-nichi getsu kara! Maisū gentei hatsubai) |
| Jessi: So let’s break down this phrase. |
| Yuichi: ９月２８日 (ku-gatsu ni-jū hachi nichi) |
| Jessi: September 28th. |
| Yuichi: 月 (gatsu) |
| Jessi: Monday. |
| Yuichi: から (kara) |
| Jessi: Starting from. |
| Yuichi: 枚数 (maisū) |
| Jessi: Number of tickets. |
| Yuichi: 限定 (gentei) |
| Jessi: Limited. |
| Yuichi: 発売 (hatsubai) |
| Jessi: Go on sale. So altogether you have a limited number of lottery tickets will go on sale starting Monday September 28. Let’s take a look at some of these words. First, we will look at 枚数 (maisuu). 枚 (mai) is a counter for thin, flat objects like paper. This refers to the lottery tickets. means amount. So 枚数 (maisū) means number of thin, flat objects. In this case, the number of lottery tickets. |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Jessi: And then the word that comes after 枚数 (maisū) tells us more information. What’s that word? |
| Yuichi: 限定 (gentei), which means limited. |
| Jessi: Can we hear some other phrases that use the word 限定 (gentei)? |
| Yuichi: Sure, 数量限定 (sūryō gentei). |
| Jessi: Limited quantity. |
| Yuichi: And 期間限定 (kikan gentei). |
| Jessi: Limited period of time. |
| Naomi: 期間限定 (kikan gentei). You hear and see this one a lot especially at restaurants and convenient stores. There are a lot of food items that are only available for limited time. |
| Jessi: Right, that’s very true. Okay so now we have 枚数限定 (maisū gentei), a limited number of lottery tickets. What word comes after that? |
| Naomi: The last word is 発売 (hatsubai), this means on sale. Altogether it’s 枚数限定発売 (maisū gentei hatsubai). |
| Jessi: A limited number of lottery tickets will go on sale. One of the good things about written Japanese on posters and stuff is that you don’t always need particles and stuff to create a sentence. |
| Naomi: うん、そうですね。 (Un, sō desu ne.) The only particle in this phrase was から (kara), meaning from. |
| Jessi: Right. Let’s go on to the next phrase. ゆういちさん、お願いします。 (Yūichisan, o-negai shimasu.) |
| Yuichi: 今すぐ売り場へ行かなくちゃ！ (Ima sugu uriba e ikanakucha!) |
| Jessi: You’ve got to go to the sales counter now. The feeling I get from this phrase is like, you got to go right away, right? |
| Yuichi: Hmm… |
| Jessi: It’s pretty colloquial. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) Right. I think that’s because of the word 行かなくちゃ。 (Ikanakucha.) |
| Jessi: So we will explain a bit about that. First let’s break down this phrase. |
| Naomi: 今すぐ (ima sugu) |
| Jessi: Right now. |
| Naomi: 売り場へ (uriba e) |
| Jessi: To the sales counter. |
| Naomi: 行かなくちゃ (ikanakucha) |
| Jessi: Must go, have to go. So altogether you have, you’ve got to go to the sales counter now. |
| Naomi: They are trying to put pressure on you to go buy tickets. |
| Jessi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) It’s like saying you have to go. |
| Naomi: そう (sō). |
| Jessi: Right. |
| Naomi: Don’t miss it. |
| Jessi: Exactly, exactly. そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) |
| Naomi: So let’s take a look at 行かなくちゃ (ikanakucha) in detail. What’s the full version of 行かなくちゃ (ikanakucha)? |
| Yuichi: 行かなくてはいけない！ (Ikanaku te wa ikenai!) This means have to go or must go. |
| Jessi: Right. If you are unfamiliar with how to make the てはいけない (te wa ikenai) construction, make sure to read up about it in the lesson notes. Here we will talk about the colloquial changes that took place. There was a sound change in this phrase right? |
| Yuichi: はい、そうです。 (Hai, sō desu.) In 行かなくては (ikanakute wa) the て (te) changed to ちゃ (cha) . This often happens in casual Japanese. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) Right. |
| Jessi: That makes sense. So here 行かなくてはいけない！ (Ikanaku te wa ikenai!) becomes 行かなくちゃいけない (Ikanakucha ikenai). |
| Yuichi: はい (hai) And then the いけない (ikenai) is dropped completely. So what you are left with is 行かなくちゃ (ikanakucha). |
| Naomi: It’s a lot shorter than 行かなくてはいけない (ikanaku te wa ikenai) but it means the same thing. |
| Jessi: Can we hear that full phrase one more time. |
| Naomi: 今すぐ売り場へ行かなくちゃ！ (Ima sugu uriba e ikanakucha!) |
| Yuichi: じゃ、次は何ですか (Ja, tsugi wa nan desu ka.) What comes next? |
| Naomi: 早くしないと売り切れちゃう。 (Hayaku shinaito urikirechau.) |
| Jessi: If you don’t hurry up, they will sell out. Uh even more pressure right? |
| Yuichi: They really want you to buy a ticket. |
| Jessi: They sure do. Okay so let’s break this one down. |
| Yuichi: 早くしない (hayaku shinai) |
| Jessi: Don’t hurry up. |
| Yuichi: と (to) |
| Jessi: If. |
| Yuichi: 売り切れちゃう (urikirechau) |
| Jessi: Sell out. So altogether you have, if you don’t hurry up, they will sell out. |
| Yuichi: This sentence has と (to) which is a conditional. |
| F: Right. This と (to) can be used to mean when or if. So 早くしないと (hayaku shinaito) means if you don’t hurry up, ta ta ta…. |
| F: This と (to) always shows up in an A と (to) B type of pattern. If A happens, then B happens. |
| F: Can we hear some other examples of this grammar pattern? |
| Yuichi: この道を行くとコンビニがあります。 (Kono michi o iku to konbini ga arimasu.) |
| F: If you go down this road, you will see a convenient store. |
| Yuichi: 早く寝ないと朝、起きられない。 (Hayaku nenaito asa, okirarenai.) |
| Jessi: If you don’t go to bed early, you won’t be able to get up in the morning. So going back to the original phrase, what will happen if you don’t hurry up? 早くしないと...? (Hayaku shinaito…?) |
| Naomi: 売り切れちゃう。(urikirechau.) They will sell out. |
| Jessi: うーん、売り切れちゃうほど人気なんですね。 (Ūn, urikirechau hodo ninki na n desu ne.) |
| Naomi: そうなのかな。 (Sō na no ka na.) |
| Jessi: So this lottery is so popular that the tickets will just sell out. What’s the original form of the verb to sell out? |
| Yuichi: 売り切れる (urikireru) In this sentence, 売り切れる (urikireru) became 売り切れてしまう (urikirete shimau). |
| Jessi: Right. So that’s the te form of 売り切れる (urikireru) plus しまう (shimau). This てしまう (teshimau) construction is really common. What nuance does it have? |
| Naomi: Well しまう (shimau) is a verb that means to finish. So the te form of a verb plus しまう (shimau) emphasizes the completion of the action. |
| Jessi: Right. So 売り切れてしまう (urikirete shimau) is not just sell out but it’s saying that they will completely sell out, not a single one left, that kind of meaning right? |
| Naomi: そうです、そうです。 (Sō desu, sō desu.) And てしまう (te shimau) can also have the nuance of regret such as something regrettable happens. 昨日、試合に負けてしまった。 (Kinō, shiai ni makete shimatta.) |
| Jessi: “We lost the game yesterday.” That makes sense. So can we hear the original phrase altogether again? |
| Naomi: Sure, 早くしないと売り切れちゃう。 (Hayaku shinaito urikire chau.) |
| Jessi: There is one last catch phrase we are going to cover. |
| Yuichi: 過去８年すべて売り切れ！ (Kako hachi-nen subete urikire!) |
| Jessi: They have all sold out for the last 8 years. Let’s break it down. |
| Naomi: 過去 (kako) |
| Jessi: Past. |
| Naomi: ８年 (hahci-nen) |
| Jessi: 8 years. |
| Naomi: すべて (subete) |
| Jessi: All. |
| Naomi: 売り切れ (urikire) |
| Jessi: Sell out. So altogether you have, they have all sold out for the last 8 years. The first part |
| Naomi: 過去８年 (kako hachi-nen) |
| Jessi: Means for the past 8 years and it's pretty self explanatory. It’s the word for past plus 8 years. So let’s concentrate a little on the second part. This isn’t a complete sentence right? |
| Yuichi: はい、そうです。 (Hai, sō desu.) If it was full sentence, it would probably be 過去８年すべて売り切れました。 (Kako hachi-nen subete urikire mashita.) but instead only the masu stem is used 売り切れ (urikire). |
| Jessi: Right and this by itself just means sold out. You will see it on signs in shops if a certain item is sold out. This kind of shortened language is used a lot for catch phrases and copy. Can we hear the original phrase again? |
| Naomi: 過去８年すべて売り切れ！ (Kako hachi-nen urikire!) Now I have started to feel like 宝くじ買わなくちゃ！ (Takarakuji kawanakucha!) |
| Jessi: You’ve started to feel like you have to buy a lottery ticket. |
| Yuichi: なおみさん、それ、やばいですよ (Naomi0san, sore, yabai desu yo.) 完全に広告に引っかかってますよ。 (Kanzen ni kōkoku ni hikkakatte masu yo.) |
| Naomi: You are right. I am being persuaded by the ad. |
| Jessi: All right, well that just about does it for this lesson. |
| Naomi: If you have any questions about this lesson, please leave us a comment. |
| Jessi: Until next time. |
| Yuichi: じゃあ、また (Jā, mata.) |
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