Learn about introducing the negative imperative "na"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Yoshi: おはよう、ハリファックス。ヨシです。(Ohayō, Harifakkusu. Yoshi desu.) |
| Jun: おはよう、ハリファックス。ジュンです。(Ohayō, Harifakkusu. Jun desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. Beginner lesson #118. In the previous lesson, we brought you sister sisters, an informal conversation between two sisters. Today we will be talking about brothers. An informal conversation between two brothers. To help us out today, we have in the studio Jun-san and Yoshi-san. |
| Yoshi: こんにちは。(Kon’nichiwa.) |
| Peter: In today’s lesson, we will be introducing the negative imperative. As always, we are going to go through the conversation one time full speed, one time slow and then with the translation. So please listen to the following lesson, see what you can pick up. With that said, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 弟 (otōto) : にいちゃん、ちょっといい？(Nii-chan, chotto ii?) |
| 兄 (ani) : 部屋に入るな！(Heya ni hairu na!) |
| 弟 (otōto) : 何で？どうしたの？(Nande? Dōshita no?) |
| 兄 (ani) : ああ、ごめん。今機嫌が悪いんだ。(Ā, gomen. Ima kigen ga warui n da.) |
| 弟 (otōto) : どうしたの？(Dōshita no?) |
| 兄 (ani) : 彼女が他の男とデートするんだ。あの浮気者。結婚したかったのに。(Kanojo ga hoka no otoko to dēto suru n da. Ano uwakimono. Kekkon shitakatta noni.) |
| 弟 (otōto) : 大丈夫。大丈夫。泣くな、にいちゃん。気にしない。気にしない。東京に女の人はいっぱいいるから。(Daijōbu. Daijōbu. Naku na, nii-chan. Ki ni shinai. Ki ni shinai. Tōkyō ni onna no hito wa ippai iru kara.) |
| 兄 (ani) : え？って、ここは青森じゃないか。(E? Tte, koko wa Aomori ja nai ka.) |
| Take: もう一度、お願いします。ゆっくり、お願いします。(Mō ichi-do, onegai shimasu. Yukkuri, onegai shimasu.) |
| 弟 (otōto) : にいちゃん、ちょっといい？(Nii-chan, chotto ii?) |
| 兄 (ani) : 部屋に入るな！(Heya ni hairu na!) |
| 弟 (otōto) : 何で？どうしたの？(Nande? Dōshita no?) |
| 兄 (ani) : ああ、ごめん。今機嫌が悪いんだ。(Ā, gomen. Ima kigen ga warui n da.) |
| 弟 (otōto) : どうしたの？(Dōshita no?) |
| 兄 (ani) : 彼女が他の男とデートするんだ。あの浮気者。結婚したかったのに。(Kanojo ga hoka no otoko to dēto suru n da. Ano uwakimono. Kekkon shitakatta noni.) |
| 弟 (otōto) : 大丈夫。大丈夫。泣くな、にいちゃん。気にしない。気にしない。東京に女の人はいっぱいいるから。(Daijōbu. Daijōbu. Naku na, nii-chan. Ki ni shinai. Ki ni shinai. Tōkyō ni onna no hito wa ippai iru kara.) |
| 兄 (ani) : え？って、ここは青森じゃないか。(E? Tte, koko wa Aomori ja nai ka.) |
| Yoshi: 次は、ピーターさんの英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa, Pītā-san no Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 弟 (otōto) : にいちゃん、ちょっといい？(Nii-chan, chotto ii?) |
| YOUNGER BROTHER: Hey brother, do you have a second? |
| 兄 (ani) : 部屋に入るな！(Heya ni hairu na!) |
| OLDER BROTHER: Don't enter the room! |
| 弟 (otōto) : 何で？どうしたの？(Nande? Dōshita no?) |
| YOUNGER BROTHER: Why? What happened? |
| 兄 (ani) : ああ、ごめん。今機嫌が悪いんだ。(Ā, gomen. Ima kigen ga warui n da.) |
| OLDER BROTHER: Oh, I'm sorry. I'm in a bad mood now. |
| 弟 (otōto) : どうしたの？(Dōshita no?) |
| YOUNGER BROTHER: What happened? |
| 兄 (ani) : 彼女が他の男とデートするんだ。(Kanojo ga hoka no otoko to dēto suru n da.) |
| OLDER BROTHER: My girlfriend is going out with another guy. |
| 兄 (ani) : あの浮気者。結婚したかったのに。(Ano uwakimono. Kekkon shitakatta noni.) |
| OLDER BROTHER: That cheater. I wanted to marry her. |
| 弟 (otōto) : 大丈夫。大丈夫。泣くな、にいちゃん。(Daijōbu. Daijōbu. Naku na, nii-chan.) |
| YOUNGER BROTHER: It's alright. It's alright. Don't cry, brother. |
| 弟 (otōto) : 気にしない。気にしない。東京に女の人はいっぱいいるから。(Ki ni shinai. Ki ni shinai. Tōkyō ni onna no hito wa ippai iru kara.) |
| YOUNGER BROTHER: Don't worry. Don't worry. There are tons of women in Tokyo.) |
| 兄 (ani) : え？って、ここは青森じゃないか。(E? Tte, koko wa Aomori ja nai ka.) |
| OLDER BROTHER: Huh? Is it not Aomori?! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: Jun-san. Let’s ask Yoshi-san what he thought of today’s conversation. |
| Jun: ヨシさん、今日の会話はどう思いましたか。(Yoshi-san, kyō no kaiwa wa dō omoimashita ka.) |
| Yoshi: この最後のところが面白いですね。東京にはたくさん女の人がいるけど、ここは青森だからいないだろ、って。(Kono saigo no tokoro ga omoshiroi desu ne. Tōkyō ni wa takusan onna no hito ga iru kedo, koko wa Aomori da kara inai da ro, tte.) |
| Peter: English, please. |
| Yoshi: I like the last part of the conversation where the little brother says, oh you know, there are lots of women in Tokyo but the big brother says, but this is Aomori right here. |
| Peter: I like that part too, and this is a good conversation and very rich with content. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay, let’s take a quick look at today’s vocabulary. |
| Yoshi: 兄ちゃん (nii-chan) |
| Peter: A casual way to call an older brother. It can be used either by younger brother or younger sister. |
| Yoshi: (slow)にいちゃん (nii-chan) (natural speed) 兄ちゃん (nii-chan) |
| Peter: When the prefix お (o) is attached making |
| Yoshi: お兄ちゃん (o-nii-chan) |
| Peter: And when the お (o) is attached, it’s usually used by elderly people or extremely young people to refer to young man. Very casual way of addressing them. |
| Yoshi: You know, you can also call those young men as 兄ちゃん (nii-chan). |
| Peter: Without the お (o). |
| Yoshi: Right, but it's a very – very, very casual way to call them. |
| Peter: Next we have |
| Jun: 機嫌 (kigen) |
| Peter: Mood, feeling. |
| Jun: (slow)きげん (kigen) (natural speed) 機嫌 (kigen) |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yoshi: 青森 (Aomori) |
| Peter: Place name. Northernmost prefecture on Honshu Island. |
| Yoshi: (slow)あおもり (Aomori) (natural speed) 青森 (Aomori) |
| Peter: Next |
| Jun: 泣く (naku) |
| Peter: To cry. |
| Jun: (slow)なく (naku) (natural speed) 泣く (naku) |
| Peter: Next |
| Yoshi: 気にする (ki ni suru) |
| Peter: To mind, to worry. |
| Yoshi: (slow)きにする (ki ni suru) (natural speed) 気にする (ki ni suru) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Now let’s take a closer look at today’s dialogue. What we are going to do is really get into how things are being used inside the dialogue. What’s the first line? What does the little brother start off with? |
| Yoshi: 兄ちゃん、ちょっといい？(Nii-chan, chotto ii?) |
| Peter: What’s the first part of that sentence? Give it to us one more time. |
| Yoshi: 兄ちゃん (nii-chan) |
| Peter: Now this is a casual way of calling an older brother, right? |
| Yoshi: Right. |
| Peter: This is followed by |
| Yoshi: ちょっといい？(Chotto ii?) |
| Peter: The first word |
| Yoshi: ちょっと (chotto) |
| Peter: A little, followed by |
| Yoshi: いい (ii) |
| Peter: Good. A little good. Now if you take this literally, it doesn’t make much sense. |
| Yoshi: No. |
| Peter: But we have to take it in context. Let’s take a look at the polite version. This will probably help us out a little more. What’s the polite version, Yoshi-san? |
| Yoshi: ちょっといいですか。(Chotto ii desu ka.) |
| Peter: Is it a little good? In English, if someone said to you, is it a little good, it may not make sense but if you kind of think abstract, a little good is alright. Let’s see what happens here. Is it all right? If we turn it into this, it works pretty well. Hey brother, is it all right in the context of is now a good time? Is now all right? Do you have time now? You will hear this expression a lot. Here we have informally and it’s the intonation that shows that this is a question but the original question is Yoshi-san, one more time, the polite question. |
| Yoshi: ちょっといいですか。(Chotto ii desu ka.) |
| Peter: Is it all right now? So many times in office, you will hear one coworker ask another coworker. |
| Yoshi: ちょっといいですか。(Chotto ii desu ka.) |
| Peter: Is it all right now which is a close literal translation but it can be interpreted as do you have a moment? Do you have a second? Can you spare a minute basically asking the listening party if now is an opportune time? Okay, this is followed by Jun-san. |
| Jun: 部屋に入るな。(Heya ni hairu na.) |
| Peter: Don’t enter the room and this is an order. This is extremely strong Japanese. Yoshi-san, how strong is this Japanese? |
| Yoshi: It’s as strong as the rock. It’s pretty strong. |
| Peter: For example, Yoshi-san, if you said – if you spoke in this manner to someone you don’t know, what are some possibilities that it could happen? |
| Yoshi: I am sure the person would get confused first. Then, he might get into a fight. |
| Peter: If this is inside a company, it may be okay but yeah if it’s – if you are using orders when speaking to people you don’t know, it's extremely strong language and we cannot recommend it but you should know about it. This grammatical construction is quite easy. You simply add な (na) to the plain form of any verb. Here we have |
| Yoshi: 入るな (hairu na) |
| Peter: The verb 入る (hairu), to enter and then we simply attach |
| Yoshi: な (na) |
| Peter: Making it, don’t enter. This is quite different than the な (na) you will hear male speakers use at the end of sentences. This is not related. Sometimes you will hear な (na) in the same instance but you have to judge by context and intonation because the male な (na) is usually dragged a bit longer whereas this is simply cut off one syllable. Don’t enter the room. This is followed by |
| Yoshi: なんで？(Nande?) |
| Peter: Why and |
| Yoshi: どうしたの？(Dōshita no?) |
| Peter: What happened? The second phrase again is an interpretation. Let’s look at the literal meaning. Give us the expression one more time. |
| Yoshi: どうしたの？(Dōshita no?) |
| Peter: First part is |
| Yoshi: どう (dō) |
| Peter: How. Second part |
| Yoshi: した (shita) |
| Peter: Past of to do. Did, how did. Finally |
| Yoshi: の (no) |
| Peter: And this is a common particle added to the end of questions in informal Japanese. Let’s just look at the first part, how did. While this is a literal translation, it should be interpreted as what happened. This is followed by |
| Jun: ああ、ごめん。(Ā, gomen.) |
| Peter: Oh, I am sorry. |
| Jun: 今、機嫌が悪いんだ。(Ima, kigen ga warui n da.) |
| Peter: I am in a bad mood now. What’s the new vocabulary word in there? |
| Jun: 機嫌 (kigen) |
| Peter: Mood, feeling. In the dialogue, of course we had in a bad mood. How do we say in a good mood? |
| Jun: 機嫌がいい (kigen ga ii) |
| Peter: Are there any other expressions we can use with this? |
| Jun: 上機嫌 (jōkigen) |
| Peter: Good mood. Then the next line of the dialogue, we had |
| Yoshi: どうしたの？(Dōshita no?) |
| Peter: Again what happened? How was it that you were feeling bad? |
| Jun: 彼女が他の男とデートするんだ。(Kanojo ga hoka no otoko to dēto suru n da.) |
| Peter: My girlfriend is going out with another guy. Now give us the last part of this sentence, one more time. |
| Jun: するんだ (suru n da) |
| Peter: Give us the last part of the previous sentence you gave us, not the last sentence but the previous one you gave us. I am feeling bad. I am in a bad mood. |
| Jun: 今機嫌が悪いんだ。(Ima kigen ga warui n da.) |
| Peter: Both these sentences end in |
| Jun: んだ (n da) |
| Peter: んだ (n da), again informal male speech. This is a common pattern for males to use ending sentences with |
| Jun: んだ (n da) |
| Peter: In informal Japanese followed by |
| Jun: あの浮気者 (ano uwakimono) |
| Peter: That cheater. What’s the word we have in here? |
| Jun: 浮気者 (uwakimono) |
| Peter: Flirt, cheat. This is followed by |
| Jun: 結婚したかったのに。(Kekkon shitakatta noni.) |
| Peter: I wanted to marry her. Jun-san, I want to marry. Japanese? |
| Jun: 結婚したい (kekkon shitai) |
| Peter: I wanted to marry. |
| Jun: 結婚したかった (kekkon shitakatta) |
| Peter: At the end of the sentence, we have |
| Jun: のに (noni) |
| Peter: This particle accentuates the fact that the subject wanted to do something. He wanted to marry her but now it’s over. And it’s often found with the past tense of desire, wanted to do something but it didn’t happen. This is followed by the younger brother consoling his older brother with |
| Yoshi: 大丈夫、大丈夫。(Daijōbu, daijōbu.) |
| Peter: It is okay, it is okay. Notice, here we only have the word all right, but it is a standalone sentence. It’s all right is inferred. We don’t need the copula here to complete the sentence although the Japanese is only all right, it’s interpreted as it’s all right, it’s all right followed by |
| Yoshi: 泣くな。(Naku na.) |
| Peter: Again the order. Don’t cry, verb in the dictionary form plus |
| Yoshi: な (na) |
| Peter: And here as they are family members and the context of this conversation they are having works out but again you have to be really careful even inside your family about throwing around these orders. Next sentence. |
| Yoshi: 気にしない、気にしない。(Ki ni shinai, ki ni shinai.) |
| Peter: Don’t worry, don’t worry. Now it’s not an order here and this is based off the expression |
| Yoshi: 気にする (ki ni suru) |
| Peter: To mind, to worry. Break it down. |
| Yoshi: (slow)きにする (ki ni suru) (natural speed) 気にする (ki ni suru) |
| Peter: And here it's the opposite. 気 (ki) can be interpreted here as feeling. Don’t feel something towards what’s happening and it can be interpreted as don’t worry about it. Don’t feel something towards it. Then we had |
| Yoshi: 東京に女の人はいっぱいいるから。(Tōkyō ni onna no hito wa ippai iru kara.) |
| Peter: Because in Tokyo, there are tons of women. Again here から (kara) comes at the end of the sentence because. This is followed by |
| Jun: って、ここは青森じゃないか。(Tte, koko wa Aomori ja nai ka.) |
| Peter: “Is here not Aomori” is the literal translation but it’s interpreted as “here is Aomori,” right? This じゃないか (ja nai ka) acts as a tag question. So the statement is ここは青森 (koko wa Aomori), here is Aomori. じゃないか (ja nai ka) acts as a tag question throwing it back to the listeners. Isn’t it, right? Brought it back to the listeners. |
Outro |
| Peter: Now we have more about this inside the PDF. So stop by Japanese101.com. Stop by, say hi, and be sure to leave us the post. lots of information inside the PDF, lots of stuff in the learning center to bring it all together. All right, that’s going to do for today. |
| Yoshi:またね。(Mata ne.) |
| Jun: またね。(Mata ne.) |
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