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Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com. You’re about to master an important phrase. You’re ready to talk about what used to be. You might want to say, “I used to work there,” or “She used to be my girlfriend.” Statements like these are just as common in Japanese as they are in English. Imagine trying to have a conversation without being able to talk about the past. It would be pretty awkward.

Use this upper intermediate Japanese lesson to learn to talk about the past. Mono da is the Japanese phrase that allows you to be nostalgic. You need to know its two uses and the subtle differences between them. It’s time for you to confidently incorporate this phrase into your Japanese.

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Grammar: | Function: | Topic: | Politeness Level:


This entry was posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Upper Intermediate Season 2 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

12 Responses to “Upper Intermediate Lesson S2 #16 - Battle of the Classes 3 - A Stroll Down Memory Lane”

JapanesePod101.com says:

Mina-san, Mina-san, there used to be discussions over deciding who’s superior and inferior in the sports festival in Japan. What’s your opinion on this?

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David Carlton says:

I think there’s something wrong with the lesson note PDFs - for the last week or so, almost none of the characters in them show up. (On my Mac, I basically can’t see any of the text; on my Linux machine, I can see the roman but not the Kanji or Kana. I could read them just fine on both machines until recently.) The kanji close-ups are fine, though…

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David Carlton says:

Oh, I found the forum thread - the new PDFs are supposed to be a feature? I really hope you’ll go back to a PDF format that all PDFs can read, not one requiring one special reader…

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AndamanIslander says:

OK, THAT was a Sweet Spot lesson for me! The dialog was incomprehensible on the first listen, but crystal clear by the time it repeated at the end! 凄い!

:kokoro:

The team has really mastered the whole break-down-and-explain routine with complicated sentences. “Mono da” went from mystery to simplicity in 15 short minutes…

You have no idea how much you boost my motivation when you hit the sweet spot like this. Intoxicating stuff!

:dogeza:

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ジャービジ says:

The mono da explanation cleared some things up for me. I still don’t get how to use it to give emphasis though. Is it the same as the command, in that it should be a general, long nurtured belief?

夏の昼には冷えてるビールが一番もんだ。
There’s nothing like a cold beer on a summer afternoon.

Or is it more widely used? I’ve heard Natsuko say something like 難しいもんだ about a grammar point. Although I suppose that could fit under “long nurtured belief”.

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プチクレア says:

I’ve always had trouble with -ものだ too…. Never quite knew how to translate it properly. So I guess now I can only join the “Thank You “chorus ! :mrgreen:

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João Paulo says:

I know I am late on making the comment, but maybe someone will read this and help me out.

Is the syllable “da” from -ta mono da, the informal version of “desu”?

That is, should I be using ” -ta mono desu in case I want to be polite?

Thank you! :cool:

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João Paulo says:

Btw, is it the same situation (da / desu) for when it’s used to express the “social norm”?

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Lemon says:

Hi there

first post here. I realy enjoy all those upper intermediate lessons.

By the way there is missing furigana lines in this lesson note.

アナウンス: …おねがいします。missing いします。
パパ (3rd dialog): …スポーツのとくいな…。missing ending and last sentence.

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Hiroko says:

Lemon san> Welcome to the Upper Intermedicate Lesson! And thanks for pointing out the missing furiganas :dogeza: now it’s fixed :grin:

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Naomi says:

João Paulo-san
Thank you for putting the question.

[social norm]
Informal:子供は早く寝るものだ。 Kodomo wa hayaku neru mono da.
Formal:子供は早く寝るものです。 Kodomo wa hayaku neru mono desu.

[used to-]
Informal:子供は早く寝たものだ。Kodomo wa hayaku neta mono da.
Formal:子供は早く寝たものです。Kodomo wa hayaku neta mono desu

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João Paulo says:

なおみ先生、

有り難うございます!

今、本当に分かりました。

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