Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Natsuko: おはよう岐阜。ナツコです。(Ohayō Gifu. Natsuko desu.)
Peter: Peter here and we are back with another lesson.Okay, we have another great lesson for you today. Right, Natsuko?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: All the emails, all the reviews, all the support. We read it all today. We are in a great, great mood. Also we have Sasahara-sensei.
Natsuko: Uh…
Peter: Let me just tell you. It is such a great feeling to have our lessons approved by Sasahara-sensei walking through the studio knowing that we are giving you perfect Japanese, Japanese that you can feel free and rest assured when you use, right?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: I tell you, things are really, really coming together.
Natsuko: ね。(Ne.)
Peter: Oh yes. Okay, so let’s start off with some greetings. 今日、元気ですか。(Kyō, genki desu ka.)
Natsuko: 今日も元気ですよ。ピーターは?(Kyō mo genki desu yo. Pītā wa?)
Peter: 今日も物凄く元気です。(Kyō mo monosugoku genki desu.)
Natsuko: Wow!
Peter: Yes, I am feeling great because we have a great conversation for you. Things are really starting to come together. Now without further adieu, we are going to give you the conversation and also what we’d like to do is, you know the routine. You know how we do it. So we are going to go through our regular sequence only Japanese, okay. How does that sound, Natsuko?
Natsuko: Hmm kind of advanced, isn’t it?
Peter: Natsuko, we are getting good around here. Our listeners are getting good. Everyone is getting good.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: The time has come. So without further adieu, let’s start the conversation.
DIALOGUE
夏子 (Natsuko) : 今12時ですよ。お昼の時間です!(Ima jū ni-ji desu yo. O-hiru no jikan desu!)
夏子 (Natsuko) : ピーターさんはお昼ご飯を食べますか。(Pītā-san wa o-hirugohan o tabemasu ka.)
ピーター (Pītā) : いいえ、今日は食べません。(Iie, kyō wa tabemasen.)
夏子 (Natsuko) : なんでですか。(Nande desu ka.)
ピーター (Pītā) : 今日は、ちょっと気持ち悪いです。(Kyō wa, chotto kimochi warui desu.)
夏子 (Natsuko) : 大丈夫ですか。(Daijōbu desu ka.)
ピーター (Pītā) : 大丈夫です。ありがとうございます。(Daijōbu desu. Arigatō gozaimasu.)
Natsuko: 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.)
夏子 (Natsuko) : 今12時ですよ。お昼の時間です!(Ima jū ni-ji desu yo. O-hiru no jikan desu!)
夏子 (Natsuko) : ピーターさんはお昼ご飯を食べますか。(Pītā-san wa o-hirugohan o tabemasu ka.)
ピーター (Pītā) : いいえ、今日は食べません。(Iie, kyō wa tabemasen.)
夏子 (Natsuko) : なんでですか。(Nande desu ka.)
ピーター (Pītā) : 今日は、ちょっと気持ち悪いです。(Kyō wa, chotto kimochi warui desu.)
夏子 (Natsuko) : 大丈夫ですか。(Daijōbu desu ka.)
ピーター (Pītā) : 大丈夫です。ありがとうございます。(Daijōbu desu. Arigatō gozaimasu.)
Peter:  Okay, you know the drill. Now Natsuko will read, and I’ll give you the translation. Here we go! よろしくお願いします。(Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.)
夏子 (Natsuko) : 今12時ですよ。(Ima jū ni-ji desu yo.)
NATSUKO: Now it’s 12 o’clock.
夏子 (Natsuko) : お昼の時間です!(O-hiru no jikan desu!)
NATSUKO: It’s lunch time!
夏子 (Natsuko) : ピーターさんはお昼ご飯を食べますか。(Pītā-san wa o-hirugohan o tabemasu ka.)
NATSUKO: Peter, will you eat lunch?
ピーター (Pītā) : いいえ、今日は食べません。(Iie, kyō wa tabemasen.)
PETER: No, today I won’t eat (lunch).
夏子 (Natsuko) : なんでですか。(Nande desu ka.)
NATSUKO: How come?
ピーター (Pītā) : 今日は、ちょっと気持ち悪いです。(Kyō wa, chotto kimochi warui desu.)
PETER: Today, I’m feeling a little bit bad.
夏子 (Natsuko) : 大丈夫ですか。(Daijōbu desu ka.)
NATSUKO: Are you okay?
ピーター (Pītā) : 大丈夫です。(Daijōbu desu.)
PETER: I’m OK.
ピーター (Pītā) : ありがとうございます。(Arigatō gozaimasu.)
PETER: Thank you.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Peter: Okay, now that lesson was so packed with great information that we don’t even know where to start. Where do you want to start, Natsuko?
Natsuko: Okay, umm how about lunch?
Peter: Good place. Oh don’t talk about it too much.
Natsuko: I am getting hungry.
Peter: Yes. Well yes, this conversation, it’s almost lunch time here so… Okay, let’s get through this quick so we can get 回転 (kaiten) Sushi.
Natsuko: Okay, okay.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Peter: Okay, now we had the word for lunch, right?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: We studied one word for lunch before, right Natsuko?
Natsuko: I think so.
Peter: Oh you know so.
Natsuko: Umm…
Peter: What was that word?
Natsuko: お昼 (o-hiru)
Peter: Okay. Yes, now we also have a new word for lunch. What’s that new word?
Natsuko: お昼ご飯 (o-hirugohan)
Peter: One more time.
Natsuko: お昼ご飯 (o-hirugohan)
Peter: Break it down.
Natsuko: (slow)おひるごはん (o-hirugohan)
Peter: And one time fast
Natsuko: お昼ご飯 (o-hirugohan)
Peter: Okay, now we have two words for lunch. So you can either say
Natsuko: お昼 (o-hiru)
Peter: Or
Natsuko: お昼ご飯 (o-hirugohan)
Peter: Okay, and the second part of that
Natsuko: ご飯 (gohan)
Peter: Yes. Now what does this mean?
Natsuko: It means meal.
Peter: Yes, now inside it says ご飯 (gohan)
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: The first part is the prefix ご (go), right?
Natsuko: Yes, actually 飯 (han) means rice and you know, Japanese people usually eat rice with meals. So that’s why rice came to have the meaning of meals.
Peter: I got it wow! Very interesting. Now we said here お昼ご飯 (o-hirugohan)
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: But we can use ご飯 (go-han) for other meals, too.
Natsuko: Of course.
Peter: How about what's for breakfast?
Natsuko: 朝ご飯 (asagohan)
Peter: Yes, break it down for us.
Natsuko: (slow)あさごはん (asagohan)
Peter: One time fast.
Natsuko: 朝ご飯 (asagohan)
Peter: Right, and the first part you said.
Natsuko: 朝 (asa)
Peter: Is
Natsuko: Morning.
Peter: Yeah, so you noticed the pattern here.
Natsuko: Uhoo…
Peter: Morning and then meal is breakfast.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Afternoon and meal is
Natsuko: Lunch.
Peter: And what about dinner?
Natsuko: 晩ご飯 (bangohan)
Peter: One more time.
Natsuko: 晩ご飯 (bangohan)
Peter: Notice what stays the same here.
Natsuko: ご飯 (gohan)
Peter: Yep. So this is a very, very important word and it’s connected to all the meals in Japanese.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Okay, oh very, very good information. Okay, next we had
Natsuko: ちょっと気持ち悪い (chotto kimochi warui)
Peter: One more time nice and slow.
Natsuko: ちょっときもちわるい (chotto kimochi warui)
Peter: Okay, what about this first part here?
Natsuko: ちょっと (chotto)
Peter: Yeah, break it down.
Natsuko: (slow)ちょっと (chotto)
Peter: Yes, and one time fast.
Natsuko: ちょっと (chotto)
Peter: Yes, what does this mean?
Natsuko: A little.
Peter: Yeah, a little. Now we had this word before.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: Right?
Natsuko: Uhoo.
Peter: But last time we were a little busy.
Natsuko: Oh I see.
Peter: Which is
Natsuko: ちょっと忙しい (chotto isogashii)
Peter: Yeah, a little busy.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Just a little. So now what is the second part of what we had today?
Natsuko: 気持ち悪い (kimochi warui)
Peter: Break it down.
Natsuko: (slow)きもちわるい (kimochi warui)
Peter: One time fast.
Natsuko: 気持ち悪い (kimochi warui)
Peter: And what does this mean?
Natsuko: Bit sick or doesn’t feel good.
Peter: Yeah, feel bad, like feeling bad. So this consists of two words.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Right, and what are the two words in there?
Natsuko: 気持ち (kimochi) and 悪い (warui).
Peter: Yes. Now what’s the first word 気持ち (kimochi)
Natsuko: 気持ち (kimochi), feeling.
Peter: Yeah, feeling and then what’s the second word 悪い (warui)
Natsuko: Bad.
Peter: Yep, so just feeling bad. And then we put the ちょっと (chotto) in there and it’s a little –
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Feeling a little bad.
Natsuko: Uhoo…
Peter: Again this ちょっと (chotto) can be used with so many adjectives.
Natsuko: Yes, it goes with everything.
Peter: Yep, in this case, we said a little bad which is
Natsuko: ちょっと気持ち悪い (chotto kimochi warui)
Peter: Yeah, we can also say a little busy
Natsuko: ちょっと忙しい (chotto isogashii)
Peter: A little fun
Natsuko: ちょっと面白い (chotto omoshiroi)
Peter: Yes, again this is a very, very common structure in Japanese.
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: You will find ちょっと (chotto) and adjective together all the time.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Always attached to hit. It’s a very, very useful one. Okay, next we had
Natsuko: 大丈夫 (daijōbu)
Peter: And what does this mean?
Natsuko: All right.
Peter: Yeah, all right, okay.
Natsuko: Okay.
Peter: One more time.
Natsuko: 大丈夫 (daijōbu)
Peter: Break it down.
Natsuko: (slow)だいじょうぶ (daijōbu)
Peter: One time fast.
Natsuko: 大丈夫 (daijōbu)
Peter: Okay, and you will find this one all the time. Are you okay?
Natsuko: Uhoo..
Peter: In the dialogue, we said
Natsuko: 大丈夫ですか。(Daijōbu desu ka.)
Peter: Yeah, are you okay?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Again if you go to eat something and you are kind of poking at it with your chopsticks.
Natsuko: Yes
Peter: A Japanese person will ask you.
Natsuko: 大丈夫ですか。(Daijōbu desu ka.)
Peter: Is it all right, meaning can you eat that like are you okay…
Natsuko: Yes, yes, yes.
Peter: Do you want something else, kind of this nuance.
Natsuko: And in more casual conversation, we can just ask 大丈夫?(Daijōbu?)
Peter: Yes, dropping the ですか (desu ka)
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And this would be among friends.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: And again friends of the same age or classmates
Natsuko: Very close friends.
Peter: Yeah, be careful when you are using this, though. You know – just you gotta know your situation. That’s what we want to point out more and more and it’s a great point, Natsuko. If me and Natsuko were to go to lunch being the same age, we would talk very informally like 大丈夫? (Daijōbu?) but if we were to go out with the boss or someone else, we would say
Natsuko: 大丈夫ですか。(Daijōbu desu ka.)
Peter: Yes. You get a feel for when to use what. Okay, next we have
Natsuko: 何で (nande)
Peter: Which is
Natsuko: Why…
Peter: Yes why. Now give it to us one more time.
Natsuko: 何で (nande)
Peter: Break it down.
Natsuko: (slow)なんで (nande)
Peter: And one time fast.
Natsuko: 何で (nande)
Peter: Notice the ‘n’ in there. So it’s なんで (nande)
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Now this completes all the questions, right Natsuko?
Natsuko: Right.
Peter: Let’s just go through them one more time quickly. Can you give us the word for what?
Natsuko: 何 (nani)
Peter: And sometimes when it’s combined with other words, it becomes
Natsuko: なん (nan)
Peter: Where.
Natsuko: どこ (doko)
Peter: Who.
Natsuko: だれ (dare)
Peter: How.
Natsuko: どう (dō)
Peter: Why.
Natsuko: 何で (nande)
Peter: Okay, and there is also another way we can say why, right?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: How do we say that?
Natsuko: なぜ (naze)
Peter: Break it down.
Natsuko: (slow)なぜ (naze)
Peter: And one time fast.
Natsuko: なぜ (naze)
Peter: Yes, and this is also why, right?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Okay.
Natsuko: Oh we can ask anything now.
Peter: Everything and anything goes.
Natsuko: Uh…
Peter: Yes, this is a very important one and we were holding off a bit and now we finally got around to it. Okay, now it's show time.
Natsuko: Umm it’s coming.
Peter: It’s coming. Now what do we have for everybody?
Natsuko: We have verbs.
Peter: Yes, and what is today’s verb?
Natsuko: 食べます (tabemasu)
Peter: Okay. Now 食べます (tabemasu) is the polite present form of the verb, right?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: What we want to do now is we want to start you out with the dictionary form.
Natsuko: Right.
Peter: Now if we were to look up 食べます (tabemasu) in the dictionary, would it be there?
Natsuko: I don’t think so.
Peter: Yeah, what would be there?
Natsuko: 食べる (taberu)
Peter: Okay, one more time.
Natsuko: 食べる (taberu)
Peter: Okay, and what does this mean?
Natsuko: Eat.
Peter: Yes, to eat.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: You know, conjugation in Japanese is quite easy as it is systematic, right?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Conjugation of verbs and other things are actually easier than English.
Natsuko: Of course.
Peter: We just have to find the root of the verb. Today we are going to show you how easy this can be. Right, Natsuko?
Natsuko: Right.
Peter: And once you know the rules, it’s a piece of cake, right?
Natsuko: Exactly.
Peter: Okay, in order to conjugate first, we have to find the root or stem. Now I know some of you are from the root school or stem school but the root or stem is the part that doesn’t change, right?
Natsuko: Yeah.
Peter: So in the case of 食べる (taberu), we get the root by dropping the
Natsuko: る (ru)
Peter: So you just drop the る (ru) and we have
Natsuko: 食べ (tabe)
Peter: One more time
Natsuko: 食べ (tabe)
Peter: This is the root or stem. It doesn’t change. So now that we have the root, we can do the conjugation. Now in today’s conversation, we used the polite present form which is formed by adding
Natsuko: ます (masu)
Peter: One more time, break it down.
Natsuko: (slow)ます (masu)
Peter: And one time fast.
Natsuko: ます (masu)
Peter: So it’s formed by adding ます (masu) to the stem or root, right?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So let’s do the combination. We want the polite present form. So we take the root of to eat, which is
Natsuko: 食べ (tabe)
Peter: And we add
Natsuko: ます (masu)
Peter: And we get
Natsuko: 食べます (tabemasu)
Peter: Yes. The polite present form.
Natsuko: Easy.
Peter: So easy. Okay, also we have the negative polite present form. Now how do we form that?
Natsuko: You add ません (masen)
Peter: To the
Natsuko: Root or the stem.
Peter: Yep. So in the case of to eat, the root or the stem is
Natsuko: 食べ (tabe)
Peter: Plus
Natsuko: ません (masen)
Peter: And then we have it.
Natsuko: 食べません (tabemasen)
Peter: Don’t or won’t eat. See how easy it is. It’s so systematic.
Natsuko: It’s really simple.
Peter: Yes.
Natsuko: Once you get used to it.
Peter: Now again we have a much more detailed grammar explanation on our website and we highly recommend you come by to see this because in Japanese, there are three classes of verbs. Today we are giving you one class. Okay, lots more explained on our web page. So please come by japanesepod101.com to get the special bonus grammar track.
Natsuko: Check it out.
Peter: Oh yes. Now that we looked at how to conjugate the verb to eat, let’s look at it in the sentence. Can we look at it in the sentence one more time?
Natsuko: ピーターさんはお昼ご飯を食べますか。(Pītā-san wa o-hirugohan o tabemasu ka.)
Peter: Peter, will you eat lunch? There is one more new thing in there. What’s that new point in there?
Natsuko: を (o)
Peter: Okay, one more time.
Natsuko: を (o)
Peter: Now this here is a marker and what this marks is the object.
Natsuko: Oh yes.
Peter: So what we are going to eat is
Natsuko: お昼ご飯 (o-hirugohan)
Peter: Yes, lunch.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: So in order to mark it, we give it
Natsuko: お (o)

Lesson focus

Peter: Okay, now we have to do a quick grammar review of English here. First we’d like to start off with a basic structure of an English sentence. Now Natsuko, what is the basic structure of an English sentence?
Natsuko: Subject, verb and object.
Peter: Yes, for example, I subject, eat verb, lunch object. I eat lunch. Subject, verb, object.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: English way to form a sentence is subject, verb, object.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Right, Natsuko?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Now in Japanese, it’s a little different, right Natsuko?
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: In Japanese, what do we have?
Natsuko: Subject, object, verb.
Peter: Yes, otherwise known as SOV, Subject, object, verb. Now the same sentence, we take the same sentence and directly translate from Japanese to English, we get I subject, lunch object, eat verb. I, lunch, eat. See how the order jumps a bit.
Natsuko: A little different.
Peter: A little different but that’s it. That’s all there is to it. The verb never changes always at the end and then we just have the object before it and that’s why we need to mark it with
Natsuko: を (o)
Peter: Yes. That’s all the を (o) does. It is just marking the object. Telling us and we put it right after it. So what we are going to do here is we are going to bring it all together. We are going to give you a little practice.
Natsuko: I see.
Peter: Okay. I am going to give the word and then Natsuko is going to make the sentence. And we are going to say, we will eat something, something, something.
Natsuko: Oh, I am getting hungry.
Peter: Me too. Now, just remember to put the object in front.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: It’s not that difficult. We are going to get you through this. Watch how easy we are going to make this.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Okay, we are going to give you, let’s do the example one more time. In English, we say we eat Sushi. Now in Japanese, what do we say?
Natsuko: 私たちは寿司を食べます。(Watashi-tachi wa sushi o tabemasu.)
Peter: Okay, one more time.
Natsuko: 私たちは寿司を食べます。(Watashi-tachi wa sushi o tabemasu.)
Peter: Okay, one more time and then break it down and put the translation in there.
Natsuko: Okay, (slow)わたしたちは (watashi-tachi wa)
Peter: We
Natsuko: (slow)すしを (sushi o)
Peter: Sushi and notice how Sushi, the object is marked by the を (o). Give it to us one more time.
Natsuko: (slow)すしを (sushi o)
Peter: And lastly we have the verb
Natsuko: (slow)たべます (tabemasu)
Peter: Eat. We, sushi, eat.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: The verbs at the end, we just need the を (o) to mark the object. It’s not that difficult. The verb comes at the end, we just need the を (o) to mark it.
Natsuko: Yes.
Peter: Piece of cake.
Natsuko: Uhoo…
Peter: So this is no problem for you. Okay, what we are going to do now is we are going to have a little – I am going to give a word and then Natsuko is going to give you the sentence.
Natsuko: Okay.
Peter: Okay.
Natsuko: Uhoo…
Peter: And the sentence is going to be, we eat something, okay?
Natsuko: Okay.
Peter: Remember, we eat something. Okay, first one. Here we go, Sashimi.
Natsuko: 私たちは刺身を食べます。(Watashi-tachi wa sashimi o tabemasu.)
Peter: 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.)
Natsuko: 私たちは刺身を食べます。(Watashi-tachi wa sashimi o tabemasu.)
Peter: ゆっくりお願いします。(Yukkuri onegai shimasu.)
Natsuko: (slow)わたしたちはさしみをたべます。(Watashi-tachi wa sashimi o tabemasu.)
Peter: And this is
Natsuko: We eat Sashimi.
Peter: Yep, next we have イタリア料理 (Itaria ryōri)
Natsuko: 私たちはイタリア料理を食べます。(Watashi-tachi wa Itaria ryōri o tabemasu.)
Peter: 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.)
Natsuko: (slow)わたしたちはいたりありょうりをたべます。(Watashi-tachi wa Itaria ryōri o tabemasu.)
Peter: And this is
Natsuko: We eat Italian.
Peter: Yes, Japanese grammar gets a bad name.
Natsuko: Why?
Peter: Because everybody thinks it’s so difficult.
Natsuko: Oh it’s not actually so difficult.
Peter: It’s not. You know, conjugation of verbs and other things are actually easier than English.
Natsuko: Of course.
Peter: Of course.
Natsuko: Because I had such a hard time learning those English verbs.
Peter: Yes.
Natsuko: Conjugations.
Peter: You know, we are going to get so much more into this but today, please come to japanesepod101.com, check out the bonus track. This track will help bring it altogether. It’s going to give a lot more grammar detail than we got into today.
Natsuko: It will be full of information.

Outro

Peter: Okay, okay again, we ran a little long today but this is one gigantic step towards fluency.
Natsuko: Wow!
Peter: Okay, so that’s going to wrap it up for today.
Natsuko: また明日ね。(Mata ashita ne.)
Peter: See you tomorrow.

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