Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hi everyone, I'm Eric.
Risa: And I'm Risa.
Eric: And welcome to Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 10. Talking About the Past.
Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for talking about something in the past.
PATTERN
Eric: For example,
Eric: "I had sushi yesterday."
Risa: 私は、きのう寿司を食べました。 (Watashi wa, kinō sushi o tabemashita.)
Risa: [slow] 私は、きのう寿司を食べました。 (Watashi wa, kinō sushi o tabemashita.)
Eric: The pattern for talking about something in the past has 3 elements. First, "I" + topic marking particle.
Risa: 私は (Watashi wa ).
Eric: Second, yesterday.
Risa: きのう (kinō).
Eric: Third, a verb phrase meaning "ate sushi"
Risa: 寿司 (sushi)
Eric: followed by an object marking particle,
Risa: を (o)
Eric: and the past tense of the verb “to eat”.
Risa: 食べました (tabemashita)
Risa: 寿司を食べました (sushi o tabemashita).
Eric: Altogether, we have.. "I had sushi yesterday."
Risa: 私は、きのう寿司を食べました。 (Watashi wa, kinō sushi o tabemashita.) [slow] 私は、きのう寿司を食べました。 (Watashi wa, kinō sushi o tabemashita.) [normal] 私は、きのう寿司を食べました。 (Watashi wa, kinō sushi o tabemashita.)
Eric: To say “[Person] did [something] [yesterday].” in Japanese, the topic
Risa: 私は (watashi wa)
Eric: comes first, then a past time expression
Risa: きのう (kinō)
Eric: and a verb or verb phrase in the past tense
Risa: 寿司を食べました (sushi wo tabemashita)
Risa: 私は、きのう寿司を食べました。 (Watashi wa, kinō sushi o tabemashita.)
Eric: So remember that to talk about something in the past, say ([Person] wa), a past time expression, and a past tense verb or verb phrase at the end.
Eric: Here is another example meaning, "I climbed Mt. Fuji last week." First, "I" + topic marking particle.
Risa: 私は (Watashi wa)
Eric: Second, last week.
Risa: 先週 (senshū)
Eric: Third, a verb phrase meaning "climbed Mt. Fuji" , broken down into these parts. First,
Risa: 富士山 (Fuji-san)
Eric: followed by a direction marking particle,
Risa: に (ni)
Eric: and the past tense of the verb meaning "to climb".
Risa: 登りました (noborimashita)
Risa: 富士山に登りました (Fujisan ni noborimashita).
Eric: Altogether we have..
Risa: 私は、先週富士山に登りました。 (Watashi wa, senshū Fujisan ni noborimashita. ) [slow] 私は、先週富士山に登りました。 (Watashi wa, senshū Fujisan ni noborimashita. ) [normal] 私は、先週富士山に登りました。 (Watashi wa, senshū Fujisan ni noborimashita. )
Eric: "I climbed Mt. Fuji last week."
[pause]
Risa: 私は、先週富士山に登りました。 (Watashi wa, senshū Fujisan ni noborimashita. )
Eric: How do you say - "I went to Okinawa last year"? To give you a hint, "last year" is..
Risa: 去年 (kyonen). [slow] 去年 (kyonen). [normal] 去年 (kyonen).
Eric: "I went to Okinawa last year."
[pause]
Risa: 私は、去年沖縄に行きました。 (Watashi wa, kyonen Okinawa ni ikimashita. ) [slow] 私は、去年沖縄に行きました。 (Watashi wa, kyonen Okinawa ni ikimashita. ) [normal] 私は、去年沖縄に行きました。 (Watashi wa, kyonen Okinawa ni ikimashita. )
[pause]
Risa: 私は、去年沖縄に行きました。 (Watashi wa, kyonen Okinawa ni ikimashita. )
REVIEW
Eric: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will give you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Japanese. Here we go.
Eric: "I had sushi yesterday."
[pause]
Risa: 私は、きのう寿司を食べました。 (Watashi wa, kinō sushi o tabemashita.)
[pause]
Risa: 私は、きのう寿司を食べました。 (Watashi wa, kinō sushi o tabemashita.)
Eric: "I climbed Mt. Fuji last week."
[pause]
Risa: 私は、先週富士山に登りました。 (Watashi wa, senshū Fujisan ni noborimashita. )
[pause]
Risa: 私は、先週富士山に登りました。 (Watashi wa, senshū Fujisan ni noborimashita. )
Eric: "I went to Okinawa last year."
[pause]
Risa: 私は、去年沖縄に行きました。 (Watashi wa, kyonen Okinawa ni ikimashita. )
[pause]
Risa: 私は、去年沖縄に行きました。 (Watashi wa, kyonen Okinawa ni ikimashita. )

Outro

Eric: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for talking about something in the past, as in..
Risa: 私は、きのう寿司を食べました。 (Watashi wa, kinō sushi o tabemashita.)
Eric: meaning "I had sushi yesterday."
Eric: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on JapanesePod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time!
Risa: じゃ、また。(Ja, mata.)

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