Learn how to ask the price of something
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Intro |
|---|
| Jessi: Hi everyone, ジェシーです(Jeshī desu)。 Jessi here! |
| Motoko: こんにちは (Kon'nichiwa)、Motokoです(desu)。 |
| Jessi: Welcome to Absolute Beginner Season 2, Lesson 7 - How Much Do Things Cost in Japan? |
| Thanks for joining us again for our Absolute Beginner Season 2 series. All right; so, in the last lesson, we learned how to ask how someone is, and how to respond to that question. |
| Motoko: Yes, we learned 元気（げんき）ですか？ (genki desu ka?) |
| Jessi: “How are you?” |
| Motoko: and はい、元気（げんき）です。 (hai, genki desu.) |
| Jessi: “I'm fine.” That's right. And in this lesson, we'll learn how to ask how much something is. |
| Motoko: Yes. What's happening in the conversation? |
| Jessi: This conversation is a continuation from the last lesson, and Taylor and Kaori are still talking on Skype. This time, they'll be talking about the exchange rate between US dollars and Japanese Yen. |
| Motoko: Okay! Let's listen to the conversation. |
| Dialogue |
| (Skype) |
| テイラー:いま、えん は ほんとうに たかい です...。 |
| Taylor: Ima, en wa hontō ni takai desu.... |
| かおり:そう です か？１ドル は いくら です か。 |
| Kaori: Sō desu ka? Ichi-doru wa ikura desu ka. |
| テイラー:１ドル は 78えん です。 |
| Taylor: Ichi-doru wa nana-jū hachi-en desu. |
| かおり:78えん？たかい！ |
| Kaori: Nana-jū hachi-en? Takai! |
| Jessi: Let’s listen to the conversation again slowly. |
| (Skype) |
| テイラー:いま、えん は ほんとうに たかい です...。 |
| Taylor: Ima, en wa hontō ni takai desu.... |
| かおり:そう です か？１ドル は いくら です か。 |
| Kaori: Sō desu ka? Ichi-doru wa ikura desu ka. |
| テイラー:１ドル は 78えん です。 |
| Taylor: Ichi-doru wa nana-jū hachi-en desu. |
| かおり:78えん？たかい！ |
| Kaori: Nana-jū hachi-en? Takai! |
| Jessi: Now let’s listen to it with the translation. |
| (Skype) |
| テイラー:いま、えん は ほんとうに たかい です...。 |
| Taylor: Ima, en wa hontō ni takai desu.... |
| Jessi: The yen is really strong at the moment… |
| かおり:そう です か？１ドル は いくら です か。 |
| Kaori: Sō desu ka? Ichi-doru wa ikura desu ka. |
| Jessi: Really? How much is one dollar? |
| テイラー:１ドル は 78えん です。 |
| Taylor: Ichi-doru wa nana-jū hachi-en desu. |
| Jessi: One dollar is seventy-eight yen. |
| かおり:78えん？たかい！ |
| Kaori: Nana-jū hachi-en? Takai! |
| Jessi: Seventy-eight yen? That's strong! |
| Vocabulary and Phrase Usage |
| Jessi: So, Taylor and Kaori are talking about the current exchange rate. |
| Motoko: Yes. They're talking about えん と ドル (en to doru), yen and dollars. It sounds like the yen is very strong.. |
| Jessi: Mm, it does.. this is actually the current situation in Japan right now! |
| Motoko: Yes, the yen is very 高い (takai), or strong. |
| Jessi: 高い.. (Takai..) this actually means expensive, right? |
| Motoko: Yes, like an expensive price. |
| Jessi: But when talking about currency, the translation becomes "strong". |
| Motoko: That's right. 高い (Takai) |
| Jessi: Again, this means expensive, or "strong" when talking about currency. And, what's the opposite word? |
| Motoko: 安い (yasui) |
| Jessi: 安い (Yasui) cheap, inexpensive, and also "weak" when talking about currency. |
| Motoko: 安い (yasui) |
| Jessi: I think it's best to remember them as a pair. One more time, Motoko? They are? |
| Motoko: 高い (Takai), expensive, and 安い (yasui), cheap. |
| Jessi: Great. So, when talking about prices and currency, it really helps to know big numbers, doesn't it. |
| Motoko: Definitely! |
| Jessi: So, let's review numbers 20 through 100. Now, to get numbers like 20, 30, 40, and so on, it's best to think of how many 10s there are in that number. |
| Motoko: For example, 20 is 2 tens, right? Two is に (ni), and ten is じゅう (jū), so.. 20 is にじゅう (ni-jū). |
| Jessi: にじゅう (Ni-jū.) Two tens.. or, twenty! And the pattern just keeps on going like that, with the first number changing. So for example, 30 is... |
| Motoko: さんじゅう (san-jū) |
| Jessi: 40 is |
| Motoko: よんじゅう (yon-jū) |
| Jessi: 50 is |
| Motoko: ごじゅう (go-jū) |
| Jessi: 60 is |
| Motoko: ろくじゅう (roku-jū) |
| Jessi: 70 is |
| Motoko: ななじゅう (nana-jū) |
| Jessi: 80 is |
| Motoko: はちじゅう (hachi-jū) |
| Jessi: 90 is |
| Motoko: きゅうじゅう (kyū-jū) |
| Jessi: Great! So those are the multiples of 10. If you have more complex number, like, say... 53... you just say 50, and then 3. So again, 50 is? |
| Motoko: ごじゅう (go-jū) |
| Jessi: plus 3 |
| Motoko: さん (san) |
| Jessi: So, all together? |
| Motoko: ごじゅうさん (go-jū-san) |
| Jessi: ごじゅうさん. (Go-jū-san.) Fifty three. Not that bad, right? You're just putting the pieces together. Let's try one more. How about... 27! |
| Motoko: Okay. Twenty, にじゅう(ni-jū), plus seven, なな (nana)。にじゅう なな。 (Ni-jū-nana.) |
| Jessi: にじゅうなな。 (Ni-jū-nana.) 27. Okay listeners, are you ready to try one? How about, 88? |
| Motoko: Remember that 8 is はち (hachi). |
| [pause] |
| Jessi: All right; so, if you said... |
| Motoko: はちじゅうはち (hachi-jū-hachi) |
| Jessi: Then you've got your numbers down!! Okay, let's move on to the lesson focus. |
| Grammar Point |
| Jessi: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask how much something is. |
| Motoko: It's very simple. |
| Jessi: Yes! Very simple. Motoko, could you give us the pattern? |
| Motoko: Sure. It is "Aはいくらですか。" ("A wa ikura desu ka.") |
| Jessi: This follows our “A is B” pattern. Aはいくらですか (A wa ikura desu ka)。 Let's break this down. |
| Motoko: A (Jessi - the item you're talking about) は いくら (wa ikura) (Jessi: how much) ですか。 (desu ka.) |
| Jessi: So, one more time? |
| Motoko: Aはいくらですか。 (A wa ikura desu ka.) |
| Jessi: [slowly] Aはいくらですか。 (A wa ikura desu ka.) Okay, so in place of A, we can put an item that you are talking about. |
| Motoko: If you are in a shop, words like "this" and "that" are very useful. |
| Jessi: Good point! Listeners, do you remember how to say "this" and "that"? |
| Motoko: "This" is これ (kore), and "that" is それ (sore). |
| Jessi: Let's put them into our pattern. |
| Motoko: Okay. これ・は・いくら・ですか。 (Kore wa ikura desu ka.) |
| Jessi: [slowly] これはいくらですか。 (Kore wa ikura desu ka.) How much is THIS? You can say this as you point to something close to you. これはいくらですか。 (Kore wa ikura desu ka.) |
| Motoko: That's right. We also have それはいくらですか (sore wa ikura desu ka)。 |
| Jessi: [slowly] それはいくらですか。 (Sore wa ikura desu ka.) How much is THAT? You can say this as you point to something that's farther away. それはいくらですか。 (Sore wa ikura desu ka.) |
| Motoko: Let's practice with the listeners. |
| Jessi: Sounds good! Listeners, repeat after Motoko. How much is this? |
| Motoko: これはいくらですか。 (Kore wa ikura desu ka.) |
| [pause] |
| Jessi: Great! And again, please repeat. How much is that? |
| Motoko: それはいくらですか。 (Sore wa ikura desu ka.) |
| [pause] |
| Jessi: Okay, sounding good. Now, let's take a look at the example we had in the dialogue. |
| Motoko: Sounds good. |
| Jessi: Taylor mentioned that the yen was really strong at the moment |
| Motoko: いま、えん は ほんとうに たかい です…。 (Ima, en wa hontō ni takai desu….) |
| Jessi: And so Kaori asked Taylor how much one dollar was in yen. |
| Motoko: １ドル は いくら です か。 (ichi-doru wa ikura desu ka.) |
| Jessi: １ドル (ichi-doru) (one dollar) は いくら (wa ikura) (how much) です か (desu ka)。 |
| Motoko: １ドル は いくら です か。 (ichi-doru wa ikura desu ka.) |
| Jessi: Great! Now, here's a hint. If you're already talking about something, and you want to ask how much it is, you can simply ask, いくらですか。 (Ikura desu ka.) |
| Motoko: いくらですか。 (Ikura desu ka.) is simply How much is it? |
| Jessi: So if the object you're asking about is obvious, trying asking just いくらですか (Ikura desu ka.)。 |
| Motoko: Yes. Please repeat after me. いくらですか。 (Ikura desu ka.) |
| [pause] |
| Jessi: Okay! By the way, how do we answer the question いくらですか (ikura desu ka)? |
| Motoko: Good question! You can say Aは (A wa) [amount]です (desu), or just [amount]です (desu). |
| Jessi: Okay, so again, that's Aは (A wa)[amount] です (desu), or even just [amount]+です (desu). For example, when Kaori asked Taylor how much a dollar was in yen, Taylor said... |
| Motoko: １ドル は 78えん です。 (ichi-doru wa 78-en desu.) |
| Jessi: One dollar is 78 yen. He could have also just said 78円（えん）です (78-en desu), right? |
| Motoko: That's right. |
| Jessi: All right, now that we've got the question down, let's have the listeners practice some more. |
| Motoko: Sure! |
| Jessi: Listeners, pretend that you're at a store, and you see something that you like. It's close to you, and you point to it and ask how much it is. What do you ask? |
| [pause] |
| Motoko: Here's a hint. "This" is これ (kore). |
| [pause] |
| Jessi: Okay, the answer is...? |
| Motoko: これはいくらですか。 (Kore wa ikura desu ka.) |
| Jessi: How much is this? Okay, and now the item you're asking about is farther away. You point to it and ask how much it is. What do you ask? |
| [pause] |
| Motoko: Here's a hint. "That" is それ (sore). |
| [pause] |
| Jessi: Okay! And the answer is...? |
| Motoko: それはいくらですか。 (Sore wa ikura desu ka.) |
| Jessi: How much is that? |
| Motoko: Great job, everyone! |
Outro |
| Jessi: All right; well that's going to wrap it up for this lesson! For practice, try making sentences in the comments asking how much something is. |
| Motoko: We look forward to hearing from you! |
| Jessi: Until next time. |
| Motoko: じゃまた。 (Ja mata.) |
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