Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Introduction
Jessi: A Trip to the Japanese Zoo. ジェシーです。(Jeshii desu.) Jessi here!
Naomi: こんにちは!なおみです!(Kon'nichi wa! Naomi desu!) Hi, everyone. Naomi here.
Jessi: Thank you for joining us for our Absolute Beginner series! In the last lesson, we learned how to talk about inanimate objects, and also how to say you have something. For example?
Naomi: スーパーがあります。(Sūpā ga arimasu.)
Jessi: There's a supermarket.
Naomi: アレルギーがあります。(Arerugī ga arimasu.)
Jessi: I have allergies
In this lesson, we're going to focus on talking about animate objects, like people and animals.
Naomi: You'll be able to say things like "Taylor is here", and "I have a brother".
Jessi: That's right.
Naomi: So, Jessi, what's happening in the conversation?
Jessi: Taylor, Masato, Kaori, and Taylor's daughter Sarah are at the zoo, walking around and looking at the animals. Okay. So let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

(At the zoo)
まさと:どうぶつ…いますか?(Dōbutsu... imasu ka?)
テイラー:…あ、あそこ!ライオンがいます。(...A, asoko! Raion ga imasu.)
まさと:あー!ライオンのあかちゃんもいますね。(Ā! Raion no akachan mo imasu ne.)
かおり:かわいい!(Kawaii!)
テイラー:あ、ゴリラがいます。(A, gorira ga imasu.)
かおり:え?どこ?(E? Doko?)
テイラー:ここです。(Koko desu.)
まさと:え?ぼく?(E? Boku?) [laughs]
English Host: Let’s listen to the conversation again slowly.
まさと:どうぶつ…いますか?(Dōbutsu... imasu ka?)
テイラー:…あ、あそこ!ライオンがいます。(...A, asoko! Raion ga imasu.)
まさと:あー!ライオンのあかちゃんもいますね。(Ā! Raion no akachan mo imasu ne.)
かおり:かわいい!(Kawaii!)
テイラー:あ、ゴリラがいます。(A, gorira ga imasu.)
かおり:え?どこ?(E? Doko?)
テイラー:ここです。(Koko desu.)
まさと:え?ぼく?(E? Boku?) [laughs]
English Host: Now, let’s listen to it with the translation.
まさと:どうぶつ…いますか?(Dōbutsu... imasu ka?)
Jessi: Are there any animals...?
テイラー:…あ、あそこ!ライオンがいます。(...A, asoko! Raion ga imasu.)
Jessi: ...Oh, over there! There's a lion!
まさと:あー!ライオンのあかちゃんもいますね。(Ā! Raion no akachan mo imasu ne.)
Jessi: Ah! There's also a baby lion, isn't there?
かおり:かわいい!(Kawaii!)
Jessi: It's so cute!
テイラー:あ、ゴリラがいます。(A, gorira ga imasu.)
Jessi: Oh, there's a gorilla.
かおり:え?どこ?(E? Doko?)
Jessi: Huh? Where?
テイラー:ここです。(Koko desu.)
Jessi: Here.
まさと:え?ぼく?(E? Boku?) [laughs]
Jessi: Huh? Me? [laughs].
Post conversation banter
Jessi: So, it sounds like they're having a nice, fun outing at the zoo!
Naomi: Yes. But at first they couldn't see where the animals were...
Jessi: Yeah, they were having trouble finding them at first, but then they were able to spot a few.
Naomi: They saw a ライオン (raion) and a ゴリラ (gorira).
Jessi: Which, as you may have been able to guess is... a lion and a gorilla!
Naomi: Yes, these names are taken from English.
Jessi: Is this common?
Naomi: Hmm, well, there are quite a few animal names that come from English actually. Mostly exotic animals.
Jessi: Ahhh, that makes sense! I mean, I imagine there weren't originally many lions and gorillas running around in Japan long ago.
Naomi: Right.
Jessi: Speaking of animals, that's our first vocab word, isn't it!
Naomi: Yes! Animal is 動物 (dōbutsu).
Jessi: 動物 (Dōbutsu). Ah! So, if you use the structure we learned in Lesson 18, and say... 動物が好きです。 (Dōbutsu ga suki desu.) Listeners, do you remember what that means!
Naomi: Ah, good example sentence! That would be "I like animals". 動物が好きです。 (Dōbutsu ga suki desu.)
Jessi: Okay. And what other new word that we have?
Naomi: 赤ちゃん (akachan)
Jessi: Which is “baby.” In this case, they were talking about baby animals, but of course it's also used for human babies. Actually, I'd say it's primarily used for human babies.
Naomi: Right! 赤ちゃん。 (akachan)
Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk about the existence of animate objects - that is, people and animals. With this structure, you'll also be able to talk about family members.
Naomi: Yes. This structure is very similar to the one we learned in the last lesson.
Jessi: Yes. If you remember, we learned [object]があります (ga arimasu) to talk about the existence of an inanimate object, and also to talk about having something. This time, what's our structure?
Naomi: person or animal plus がいます (ga imasu)
Jessi: がいます (ga imasu)
Naomi: Remember that this can only be used with living things - people or animals.
Jessi: Right.
Naomi: So Jessi, can you tell us when we would use this structure?
Jessi: Well, first, you can use it to talk about someone being physically present.
Naomi: Yes, as in... "Taylor is here", or the "teacher is here".
Jessi: Right. And that would be covered by [person] plus がいます (ga imasu).
Naomi: Right. And how else?
Jessi: You can also use it to talk about having family members, as in "I have a brother", "I have a sister", et cetera.
Naomi: Yes. [family member] plus がいます (ga imasu).
Jessi: Let's see how it was used in the dialogue. They're at the zoo, talking about the different animals that are there. Taylor says
Naomi: ライオンがいます。(Raion ga imasu.)
Jessi: ライオンがいます。(Raion ga imasu.) "There's a lion."
Naomi: ライオン (Raion) plus がいます (ga imasu).
Jessi: And then after that, Taylor said
Naomi: ゴリラがいます。(Gorira ga imasu.)
Jessi: ゴリラがいます。(Gorira ga imasu.) "There's a gorilla."
Naomi: ゴリラ (Gorira) plus がいます (ga imasu).
Jessi: I think for our listeners, though, the other usage might be the one they use more.
Naomi: Oh, talking about family members?
Jessi: Yes. It's really common to get asked questions about one's family.
Naomi: That's true! So, let's practice talking about members of your family.
Jessi: Such as siblings! What's the word for siblings, Naomi?
Naomi: 兄弟 (Kyōdai)
Jessi: 兄弟 (Kyōdai). brothers and sisters. So, when someone asks you if you have brothers or sisters, they will ask...? Naomi?
Naomi: 兄弟がいますか? (Kyōdai ga imasu ka?)
Jessi: 兄弟がいますか? (Kyōdai ga imasu ka?) Do you have any brothers or sisters? Remember that the か (ka) at the end makes it a question.
Naomi: Yes, that's right!
Jessi: Now, one thing to remember about Japanese is that there aren't separate words that mean just "brother" and "sister".
Naomi: Great point. You have to specify younger or older.
Jessi: So it's either younger sister or older sister, and younger brother or older brother. Okay, so listeners, if you remember, we learned the word for "little sister" in Lesson 16. Naomi, can you remind us what the word was?
Naomi: "Little sister" is 妹 (imōto)
Jessi: 妹。(Imōto.) So, the sentence "I have a little sister" would be?
Naomi: 妹がいます。(Imōto ga imasu.)
Jessi: 妹がいます。(Imōto ga imasu.) Listeners, repeat after Naomi. "I have a little sister"
Naomi: 妹がいます。(Imōto ga imasu.)
Jessi: And how about younger brother?
Naomi: Younger brother is 弟 (otōto).
Jessi: So “I have a younger brother” would be...
Naomi: 弟がいます。(Otōto ga imasu.)
Jessi: 弟がいます。(Otōto ga imasu.) Listeners, repeat after Naomi. "I have a little brother".
Naomi: 弟がいます。(Otōto ga imasu.)
Jessi: This is true for you, right, Naomi? You have a little brother?
Naomi: Ah, yes! I have a younger brother. 弟がいます。(Otōto ga imasu.) You too, right, Jessi?
Jessi: Ah, yes! I actually have a younger sister and a younger brother, so I can say both 妹がいます (Imōto ga imasu) and 弟がいます (Otōto ga imasu).
Naomi: I see.
Jessi: Naomi, why don't we briefly touch on the words for older brother and sister as well.
Naomi: Sure! Older sister is 姉 (ane). Older brother is 兄 (ani).
Jessi: So, "I have an older sister" is?
Naomi: 姉がいます。(Ane ga imasu.)
Jessi: And "I have an older brother" is?
Naomi: 兄がいます。(Ani ga imasu.)
Jessi: Great! Okay, I know that was a lot of information, a lot of new words! So listeners, please check out the PDF, where we have all of this information and more.
Naomi: You'll also learn what to say if you don't have any siblings.
Jessi: Leave us a comment letting us know about your family in Japanese! Okay. Well, that's going to do it for this lesson.
Naomi: Thanks for listening!
Jessi: As always, be sure to let us know if you have any questions, and we'll see you next time!
Naomi: じゃまた!(Ja mata!)

Lesson conversation

(At the zoo)
まさと:どうぶつ…いますか?(Dōbutsu... imasu ka?)
テイラー:…あ、あそこ!ライオンがいます。(...A, asoko! Raion ga imasu.)
まさと:あー!ライオンのあかちゃんもいますね。(Ā! Raion no akachan mo imasu ne.)
かおり:かわいい!(Kawaii!)
テイラー:あ、ゴリラがいます。(A, gorira ga imasu.)
かおり:え?どこ?(E? Doko?)
テイラー:ここです。(Koko desu.)
まさと:え?ぼく?(E? Boku?) [laughs]

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