Learn how to say what something is ("A is B")
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lessonβs key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| Introduction |
| Jessi: Can You Tell Me What This is in Japanese? γΈγ§γ·γΌγ§γγ(Jeshii desu.) Jessi here. |
| Naomi: γγγ«γ‘γ―οΌγͺγγΏγ§γγ(Kon'nichi wa! Naomi desu.) Naomi here! |
| Jessi: Thank you for being here with us again! Well Naomi, in the last lesson, we kicked off the story of Taylor Allen and his relatives. |
| Naomi: Yes, his relatives came to visit him from Japan! |
| Jessi: Right. It was the first time he had seen his brother-in-law Masato in a long time, and so they used the phrase... |
| Naomi: γδΉ γγΆγγ§γ (O-hisashiburi desu). |
| Jessi: Which means "Long time no see!" In this lesson, the conversation continues, and Taylor meets Masato's wife for the first time. |
| Naomi: So they'll be introducing each other. |
| Jessi: Yup, you'll hear a lot of familiar phrases in this one! |
| Naomi: See how much you can pick out! |
| Jessi: All right, are you all ready? Then let's listen in. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| γγγ:γ―γγγΎγγ¦γγγγγ―γγγγ§γγ(Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Kaori desu.) |
| γγ€γ©γΌ:γγγγγοΌγ―γγγΎγγ¦γγΌγγ―γγ€γ©γΌγ§γγ(Kaori-san? Hajimemashite. Boku wa TeirΔ desu.) |
| γγγ:γγγγγγγγγγΎγγ(Yoroshiku o-negai shimasu.) |
| γγ€γ©γΌ:γγγγγγγγγγΎγγ(Yoroshiku o-negai shimasu.) |
| English Host: Now, let's listen to it with the translation. |
| γγγ:γ―γγγΎγγ¦γγγγγ―γγγγ§γγ(Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Kaori desu.) |
| Jessi: Nice to meet you! I'm Kaori. |
| γγ€γ©γΌ:γγγγγοΌγ―γγγΎγγ¦γγΌγγ―γγ€γ©γΌγ§γγ(Kaori-san? Hajimemashite. Boku wa TeirΔ desu.) |
| Jessi: Kaori? Nice to meet you, I'm Taylor. |
| γγγ:γγγγγγγγγγΎγγ(Yoroshiku o-negai shimasu.) |
| Jessi: It's a pleasure to meet you. |
| γγ€γ©γΌ:γγγγγγγγγγΎγγ(Yoroshiku o-negai shimasu.) |
| Jessi: It's a pleasure to meet you too. |
| Post conversation banter |
| Jessi: So we've just met a new character. |
| Naomi: Kaori, who is Masato's wife. |
| Jessi: She apparently hasn't met Taylor before. |
| Naomi: Yes, it's their first time meeting. |
| Jessi: And we heard the phrases we learned in Lesson 2, didn't we? |
| Naomi: Yes we did! γ―γγγΎγγ¦ (Hajimemashite). |
| Jessi: "Nice to meet you." |
| Naomi: And γγγγγι‘γγγΎγ (Yoroshiku o-negai shimasu). |
| Jessi: "I ask for your good favor" or "Please be nice to me." After Kaori first said γ―γγγΎγγ¦ (Hajimemashite), what did she say next? |
| Naomi: γγγγ―γγγγ§γ (Watashi wa Kaori desu). |
| Jessi: Which means "I'm Kaori." We're going to go over this in the main lesson focus, but there's something I want to focus on here first. |
| Naomi: Oh, what's that? |
| Jessi: Kaori and Taylor both introduced themselves and they both use the word "I", as in "I am." But they use different words! |
| Naomi: Ah, you're right. Kaori says γγγ (watashi), and Taylor says γΌγ (boku). |
| Jessi: And they both mean "I"? |
| Naomi: They both mean "I". |
| Jessi: Why the difference, then? |
| Naomi: Well, it's just one of the unique things about Japanese. There are a lot of gender-specific words. |
| Jessi: It's important to know that γγγ (watashi) can be used by both men AND women, right? |
| Naomi: Yes. Women can use this word any time. Men can use it in extra formal situations. |
| Jessi: And γΌγ (boku) is almost exclusive to men. |
| Naomi: Right. γΌγ (boku) is acceptable for men to use in everyday situations, like this one. |
| Jessi: So is it safe to say to the listeners, if you're female, use γγγ (watashi), and if you're male, use γΌγ (boku)? |
| Naomi: Yes, I think so! And in an everyday situation, those are fine. |
| Jessi: Okay, so now that we've got that bit out of the way, let's move onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn a very important sentence pattern. Your first sentence pattern in Japanese! |
| Naomi: Yes, up until now, we've been learning phrases and words. |
| Jessi: That's right, and now it's time to learn a sentence pattern that you can use just by substituting in words. We recommend you look at the lesson notes while listening so that you can visualize the pattern. |
| Naomi: Okay, so the pattern is... |
| Jessi: A is B. That is the meaning in English. For example, "I AM Jessi. You ARE Naomi. She IS Jennifer." We have A, which is the item being talked about, and then we have B, which is what we identify it as. So, in Japanese, how would we say A is B? |
| Naomi: Aγ―Bγ§γ (A wa B desu) |
| Jessi: One more time? |
| Naomi: (Slowly) Aγ―Bγ§γ (A wa B desu) |
| Jessi: Let's break it down. So we have A, followed by? |
| Naomi: γ― (wa) |
| Jessi: And then B, followed by...? |
| Naomi: γ§γ (desu) |
| Jessi: Okay, so the pattern one more time? |
| Naomi: Aγ―Bγ§γ (A wa B desu) |
| Jessi: So where we have A and B, we can start inserting different words to make sentences. |
| Naomi: Yes! In the dialogue, Kaori said (slowly) γγγ γ― γγγ γ§γ (Watashi wa Kaori desu). |
| Jessi: γγγ (Watashi), as just learned, means "I", and γγγ(Kaori) is her name, Kaori. So we just put both of those into the A is B structure, Aγ―Bγ§γ (A wa B desu)... |
| Naomi: And we get, γγγγ―γγγγ§γ (Watashi wa Kaori desu) |
| Jessi: "I'm Kaori" or "My name is Kaori." Okay. Listeners, listen and repeat. |
| Naomi: γγγγ―γγγγ§γγ (Watashi wa Kaori desu.) |
| [Pause] |
| Jessi: Okay. Let's try it one more time. |
| Naomi: γγγγ―γγγγ§γγ (Watashi wa Kaori desu.) |
| [Pause] |
| Jessi: Okay. Great! Ah, but, Naomi, one thing... |
| Naomi: What's that? |
| Jessi: Remember how we learned to introduce ourselves in Lesson 2? In that lesson, we just said our name plus γ§γ (desu). For example, γΈγ§γ·γΌγ§γ (Jeshii desu), to mean "I'm Jessi." But in this lesson, we also learned we could say γγγγ―γΈγ§γ·γΌγ§γ (watashi wa Jeshii desu). So are they the same? |
| Naomi: Good point! Yes, they mean the same thing. You can leave off γγγγ― (watashi wa) and simply say your name plus γ§γ (desu), like we learned. |
| Jessi: Oh good. So we can use either one. |
| Naomi: Yes! |
| Jessi: So if your name is γ±γ³ (Ken), Ken, you can say eitherβ¦ |
| Naomi: γγγγ―γ±γ³γ§γ (Watashi wa Ken desu.) |
| Jessi: Or simply⦠|
| Naomi: γ±γ³γ§γγ(Ken desu.) |
| Jess: To say "I'm Ken." Okay. So up until now we've been using names to complete this Aγ―Bγ§γ (A wa B desu) pattern, but we can insert other nouns, right? |
| Naomi: Yes! For example, in place of B, you can also say your job η§γ―γγ€γγγγ§γγ(Watashi wa pairotto desu.) |
| Jessi: Which means "I'm a pilot." Can we hear the same phrase a little more slowly? |
| Naomi: γγγγ―γγ€γγγγ§γγ(Watashi wa pairotto desu.) |
| Jessi: And once again at natural speed? |
| Naomi: γγγγ―γγ€γγγγ§γγ(Watashi wa pairotto desu.) |
| Jessi: Okay, great! Let's have the listeners try it themselves, shall we? But not with "pilot," but just with their name. |
| Naomi: Sounds good! |
| Jessi: The pattern we'll use is...? |
| Naomi: γγγγ― [name] γ§γγ(Watashi wa [name] desu.) |
| Jessi: γγγγ― (Watashi wa) and then insert your name γ§γ (desu). Naomi will go first! After Naomi, please use the pattern to introduce yourself. |
| Naomi: Okay, here I go. γγγγ―γͺγγΏγ§γ (Watashi wa Naomi desu.) |
| [Pause] - γγγγ―[name]γ§γγ (Watashi wa [name] desu.) |
| Jessi: Great! Now let's add γ―γγγΎγγ¦ (hajimemashite), nice to meet you, and try the whole thing! Repeat after Naomi, but give your own name! |
| Naomi: γ―γγγΎγγ¦οΌγγγγ―γͺγγΏγ§γγ (Hajimemashite! Watashi wa Naomi desu.) |
| [Pause] - γ―γγγΎγγ¦οΌγγγγ―[name]γ§γγ (Hajimemashite! Watashi wa [name] desu.) |
| Jessi: Okay. Sounding good! How was it everyone? |
| Naomi: This is your first real sentence pattern in Japanese. |
| Jessi: This will be the key to understanding a lot of other sentence patterns in Japanese, so please keep it in mind! Okay Naomi, can you tell us the sentence pattern we covered today once more? |
| Naomi: Aγ―Bγ§γ (A wa B desu)γ |
| Jessi: A is B. Now, once you know this sentence pattern, you can also use it to say what something is, for example, "This is water." We'll touch on that more in the next lesson! |
| Naomi: γγγγΎγγ(Ja, mata.) |
| Jessi: γγγγΎγγ(Ja, mata.) See you again! |
Lesson conversation |
| γγγ:γ―γγγΎγγ¦γγγγγ―γγγγ§γγ(Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Kaori desu.) |
| γγ€γ©γΌ:γγγγγοΌγ―γγγΎγγ¦γγΌγγ―γγ€γ©γΌγ§γγ(Kaori-san? Hajimemashite. Boku wa TeirΔ desu.) |
| γγγ:γγγγγγγγγγΎγγ(Yoroshiku o-negai shimasu.) |
| γγ€γ©γΌ:γγγγγγγγγγΎγγ(Yoroshiku o-negai shimasu.) |
Comments
Hide