Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Let's take a closer look at the conversation.
Do you remember how Miki asks,
"How's the weather?"
てんきは どうですか。(Tenki wa dō desu ka.)
First is てんき, "weather." て-ん-き.てんき
Next is the particle, は, the topic-marking particle. は.
It marks "weather" as the topic of the sentence. Think of it like "as for" in the expression "as for the weather."
After this is the word, どう, meaning "how," in this context. どう. どう.
After this is です. In this case, it's like the "is" in "how is." で-す. です.
And last is か, the question-marking particle, which turns the sentence into a question. か.
All together, てんきはどうですか literally means, "As for the weather, how is?" but translates as "How's the weather?"
てんきはどうですか。(Tenki wa dō desu ka.)
Let's take a closer look at the response.
Do you remember how Karen says,
"It's rainy."
あめです。(Ame desu.)
First is あめ, "rain," あ-め. あめ。
Next is です。In this case, it's like the like "is" in "it is." です。
All together, あめです literally means "rain [it] is," but it translates as "It's rainy." あめです。
This is the shortened version of てんきはあめです。(Tenki wa ame desu.) Literally, "As for the weather, it's rainy. てんきはあめです。
The phrase てんきは, "As for the weather, …," is understood from the context of the conversation, so it is omitted.
All together, it's あめです(Ame desu), "It's rainy."
あめです。(Ame desu.)
The pattern is
{Weather} です。(desu.)
"It's {weather}."
{Weather} です。(desu.)
To use this pattern, simply replace {weather} with the local weather condition.
Imagine you're in Sapporo, and outside there is snow, ゆき. ゆ-き. ゆき。
Say, "It's snowy."
Ready?
ゆきです。(Yuki desu.)
"It's snowy."
ゆきです。(Yuki desu.)

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