Learn Japanese - Do You Talk About Other People?

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Beginner Lesson S4 #49 - Do You Talk About Other People?

Level: Beginner Lessons (S4)

Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! We love to talk about other people, whether it’s saying something nice or gossiping. In English, it’s very easy to say, “Look at that person over there. I can’t believe what she’s wearing!” Would you know how to effectively say the same thing in Japanese?

In this beginner Japanese lesson, learn how to use modifiers to talk about people and things in a complex, sophisticated way. You’ll be a master of Japanese modifiers and how they differ from their English counterparts. Specifically, discover how some Japanese may seem “backwards” to you. Want your Japanese to make sense? This is one lesson you can’t afford to miss!

learn Japanese, how to use modifiers in Japanese

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Beginner Lessons (S4) . 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.

27 Responses to “Beginner Lesson S4 #49 - Do You Talk About Other People?”

JapanesePod101.com says:
Tuesday at 6:30 pm

みなさん、こんにちは！
Do you understand how to make modifying clauses now? This is a really important step in Japanese! Practice making your own sentences here!

Brandon says:
Tuesday at 9:52 pm

Can you also use 気分 instead of kigen?? What is the difference?? Which is more common?

例えば：　　気分が悪い
　　　　　　　気分がいい

-Brandon

Greenneutron says:
Tuesday at 11:57 pm

おはよございます！

あそこど寝ている猫は僕の猫です。彼機嫌が安らかですね。彼は甘いです。

じゃまた後で。

ージェソン

Rip says:
Wednesday at 12:01 am

(koko de puzzled look o kite iru hito wa boku desu)

So, “shite iru” is the te form of “does” after a noun being done?

Secondly, can shite iru be used if one doesn’t know the te form? (Like asoko de taipingu o shite iru hito wa Rip desu. The person over there doing the typing is Rip.)

I think I’m confusing myself.

graeme. says:
Wednesday at 12:58 am

こんにちは。

is it on purpose that いる is always in informal? i.e. is this one of those instances where you shouldn’t use the polite conjugation?

iwakayak says:
Wednesday at 1:17 am

Brandon-san,

気分が悪い　　feel sick
気分がいい　　feel fine

So when you ask someone 「気分が悪いですか？」, it means “Are you feeling sick?”,
asking not of one’s state of mind, but physical condition.

メー says:
Wednesday at 2:18 am

こんにちは、

このレッスンを教えている先生は直美先生です。
直美先生と話している人はピターさんです。

Japanesepod101のビギンナーレッスンはいつもレッスンノートを書いている人はだれですか？

Japanesepod101で働いている人は何人ですか？

今、私のコメントを読んでいるあなたはだれですか？　
返事していただけませんか？

メー says:
Wednesday at 2:30 am

すみませんが　

In above comment, should I better asked　
「Japanesepod101で働いている人は何人いますか。」　
　　or
「Japanesepod101で働いている人は何人ですか？」

which one is correct?

よろしくお願いします。

Daniel says:
Wednesday at 5:01 am

I know this is off topic, but I have a couple of questions
1. Is there any way to pay Jpod101.com other than kurejitto kaado like money order etc.
2. in the opening theme ichi-maru-ichi de goziamasu, maru is zero.
How does maru, which is circle or complete, become zero?

Jessi says:
Wednesday at 10:10 am

Hi everyone! Great sentences!! It looks like you’ve really got this one down!

Ripさん＞ I’m a little confused at your first question, could you try rephrasing it? To answer your second one - yes! You can use te+iru before a noun to modify it like you did in your example sentence.

graemeさん＞ Correct! You should always use the informal form before the noun.

Danielさん＞ Yes, please refer to this page (scroll towards the bottom) for payment information: http://www.japanesepod101.com/help-center/subscription-information/
Zero can also be read as “maru”, because of the shape

To those of you with language questions, hang tight

Naomi says:
Wednesday at 10:53 am

Brandon -san
As iwakayak-san kindly explained above, “Kigen” and “Kibun” have different meaning.
iwakayak -san
Thank you for the great explanation.
Greenneutron-san
>>彼は甘いです。→he’s sweet.
When you use “甘いーsweet” for describing personality, it means “overly optimistic.” In English “Sweet” as in “He’s sweet” has a lot of meanings, doesn’t it?
It could be “nice”"Kind”"cute”"lovely”and so on.
I think you have to use other adjective.
メーsan
Both 「Japanesepod101で働いている人は何人いますか。」and「Japanesepod101で働いている人は何人ですか？」are correct sentences!!!
えーっと・・・何人ですかね・・・。実は、知らないんです。
あとで、ピーターに聞きますね。

Harmoni says:
Wednesday at 12:21 pm

あのかみのけをそめた人はかっこいですね！

Or　Would i have to say:

あのかみのけをそめていた人はかっこいですね！

それで、ふつにBeginner Levelはかんたんすぎると思いますけど、いつも勉強になります！新しい言葉と文法教えてくれました、ありがとうございます！

Amanda says:
Wednesday at 9:39 pm

Just thought I would comment about the いけないんだ　いけないんだ.

私の娘が日本の小学校に行ってます。
My daughter goes to a Japanese elementary school now.
ときどきこの歌を歌いますから今も日本の小学生がこれを歌うにちがいありません。
She sometimes sings this song, so Japanese elementary students must sing this song now too.

Mayumi says:
Thursday at 5:07 pm

Harmoni-san,
You can say both of them depending on situation. (but, you need one more い and to say かっこいい. When you see the person who has the colored hair, you say あのかみのけをそめた人はかっこいいですね！When you talk about the person you saw, you say あのかみのけをそめていた人はかっこいいですね！

Amanda-san,
I thought kids don’t sing the いけないんだ　いけないんだ　song now. I used to sing it almost everyday

chin says:
Sunday at 10:00 am

is there a japanesepod101 t-shirt?? can i order 1?

Mayumi says:
Monday at 1:56 pm

chin-san,
We should sell it on our on-line store!

Tess Dasey says:
Tuesday at 10:58 am

In the lesson the sample sentence says that the Japanese is literally “the crying person over there” and is interpreted by Peter as “the person crying over there”. Is this the same as saying “the person over there who is crying” or is this a different grammatical structure in Japanese?

Naomi says:
Tuesday at 11:38 am

chin-san
Hum… Japanesepod101.com t-shirt… Do you think we can make a profit??

Tess Dasey -san
Great question!
“crying person over there.” ” the person crying over there” or ““the person over there who is crying” can be translated as 「あそこで(/or の)泣いている人 asoko de(/or no) naiteiru hito 」in Japanese.
Are these three sentences have different connotations in English?

Nadim says:
Friday at 5:24 am

Thanks so much for this lesson !!!

Sylvie says:
Thursday at 4:18 pm

Hi, when the shop manager says: おじいさんとおばあさんが　きたぞ. What does the ぞ mean? I always have trouble with the sentence ending particules. There are so many of them!

Mayumi says:
Friday at 2:28 pm

Sylvie-san,

ぞ doesn’t have much meaning, but it’s used to add emphasis on what you said. よ is a similar sentence ending particle. よ can be used by men and women, but ぞ is usually used by men.

Naomi says:
Friday at 5:03 pm

Sylvie-san,
Actually the usage of ぞ is explained in beginner seires season4 lesson 25.
http://www.japanesepod101.com/2008/12/23/beginner-lesson-s4-25-japanese-you-can-do-without/

Sivasakthivel says:
Sunday at 12:20 pm

先生
　　この　レッスン　なか　に　出ている　ことば　”べつに”　の　使いかった　を　　おしえて　ください。　　わたしは　はじめましてに　ききます。

よろしく
Ｓｉｖａ

Naomi says:
Monday at 12:00 pm

Sivasakthivel ーsan
I’m not 100 % sure, it seems like 別に is originally from the phrase 特別に”Specially”.
However 特別に can be followed by either affirmative or negative, whereas 別に is followed by negative sentence.
So 別に can be translated “nothing especially” or “nothing” even if it’s used by itself.

I hope this makes sense.