Learn how to tell time and how to use the expression [adverb] onegai shimasu
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Alisha: Hi everyone! アリッシャです！ Alisha here! |
| Natsuko: こんにちは！ナツコです！Hi everyone, I'm Natsuko. |
| Alisha: Welcome to Lower Beginner Season 1, Lesson 22 - Please Keep the Noise Down in Japan. So, Natsuko, what are we going to learn in this lesson? |
| Natsuko: In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to say “[adverb] + onegai shimasu”. We’ll also learn how to tell the time. |
| Alisha: So, where does this lesson’s dialog take place? |
| Natsuko: Emily’s neighbour Mr. Hayashi pays a visit to Emily’s house to talk to Emily. Let’s find out what’s going on. では、聞きましょう。 |
| Alisha: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Alisha: Wow…seems like a great house party is going on at Emily’s. |
| Natsuko: It seems so, but her neighbour Mr. Hayashi was not very happy about the noise. |
| Alisha: Having a party at an apartment is always difficult, because you can’t make too much noise. And silent parties aren’t that enjoyable, are they? |
| Natsuko: That would be…weird. We often gather and go to casual public places for drinking called “izakaya”. We don’t really use the word “party”, so when we go to an izakaya with some friends, we call such parties “nomikai”. It literally means “drinking gathering”. |
| Alisha: That’s interesting; gathering for drinking! Not for socializing or chatting, but the main purpose for getting together is drinking. |
| Natsuko: Sounds fun, right? Many izakaya have special menus for nomikai, including “all you can drink”. They have a list of alcoholic drinks and soft drinks which you can choose from. Each one of you pays a flat rate and drinks as much as you like. Typically, this has a limit of 2 hours. |
| Alisha: That’s a good idea! Listeners, have you experienced an “all you can drink” system? Please share your experiences on the lesson page! Okay, let’s move on to the vocab. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Alisha: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Natsuko, what’s the first word? |
| Natsuko: もう meaning “already”. This can be used with an expression of time, like in the dialog, or with an action. |
| Alisha: In the dialog, Mr. Hayashi asked Emily to keep the noise down because… |
| Natsuko: もう１２時ですから。 |
| Alisha: because it’s already midnight. Natsuko, can you give us an example with an action verb? |
| Natsuko: Sure! Imagine you’re waiting for me to finish my work and ask “have you finished yet?”, I’d say はい、もう終わりました。 “Yes, I’ve already finished”. |
| Alisha: As you might have noticed, when もう is used with an action verb, it’s often expressed in the past tense. Okay, what’s the next phrase? |
| Natsuko: すみませんが、・・・ meaning, “Excuse me, but….” |
| Alisha: This phrase is very useful to avoid miscommunication in Japan. |
| Natsuko: That’s very true; whenever you request something or ask someone a favour, adding this すみませんが at the beginning of the sentence, is a very important way of expressing politeness. Instead of just saying すみません, the final が in すみませんが softens the speech as it shows certain hesitancy. |
| Alisha: It will also allow others to accept requests happily. |
| Natsuko: For example, if you were with a small child and someone started smoking, you would say すみませんが、たばこはちょっと・・・ |
| Alisha: “Excuse me, but smoking is a bit…” Here, you can end the sentence with ちょっと and avoid a clear statement such as “smoking disgusts me” or “your cigarette is toxic to this child”. |
| Natsuko: That’s right. Sometimes, we encounter situations where we hesitate to request something like this, but in such circumstances, using すみませんが shows your consideration to others. |
| Alisha: Let’s practice this phrase. Imagine you’re looking for a police box. Let's ask someone, “Excuse me, but where is the police box?” Repeat after Natsuko. |
| Natsuko: すみませんが、交番はどこですか。 |
| Alisha: [wait 5 sec.] How did you go, listeners? Now, onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Alisha: In this lesson, you’re going to learn how to ask a favour. First, let’s take an example from the dialogue. In the dialogue, Mr. Hayashi said to Emily, |
| Natsuko: すみませんが、しずかにおねがいします。”Excuse me, but please keep it down.” |
| Alisha: The key point here is adverbial forms of adjectives. The na-adjective しずかな is used with its adverbial form しずかに. Natsuko, how can we conjugate na-adjectives? |
| Natsuko: Drop the final な and replace it with に: dropping な from しずかな, and adding に make しずか、に。しずかに。Add おねがいします , and say, しずかにお願いします。 |
| Alisha: The literal meaning is “quietly, please”. How about i-adjectives? |
| Natsuko: Drop the final い and replace it with く. For example, dropping い from はやい meaning “fast”, and adding く make はや、く。はやく。And はやく means “quickly” or “fast”. |
| Alisha: When we talk about i-adjectives, there’s always one exception. Listeners, do you remember which one? |
| Natsuko: It’s, いい meaning “good”. Adverbial form of いい is よく. |
| Alisha: Now you can express “how” you want something to be done, using this adverbial form + “onegai shimasu.” There are some examples of adverbs and more adjectives in the Lesson Notes, so please check them out. |
| Natsuko: Okay, now let’s see another focus of this lesson: how to tell time. |
| Alisha: In Japanese, you simply need to add “-ji” after numbers to tell time. |
| Natsuko: There are two numbers you have to pay attention to and those are four and nine. Let’s see one by one, starting with いちじ |
| Alisha: It means 1 o’clock. |
| Natsuko: にじ |
| Alisha: 2 o’clock. |
| Natsuko: さんじ |
| Alisha: 3 o’clock. Listeners, pay attention to the next one. |
| Natsuko: よじ |
| Alisha: 4 o’clock. |
| Natsuko: ごじ |
| Alisha: 5 o’clock. |
| Natsuko: ろくじ |
| Alisha: 6 o’clock. |
| Natsuko: しちじ |
| Alisha: 7 o’clock. |
| Natsuko: はちじ |
| Alisha: 8 o’clock. Again, please pay attention to the next one. |
| Natsuko: くじ |
| Alisha: 9 o’clock. |
| Natsuko: じゅうじ |
| Alisha: 10 o’clock. |
| Natsuko: じゅういちじ |
| Alisha: 11 o’clock. |
| Natsuko: じゅうにじ |
| Alisha: 12 o’clock. Good! Now you can tell the time. |
| Natsuko: You know what? You can use all the expression you learnt in this lesson, and say, すみませんが、しずかにおねがいします。もう１０じです。はやくねましょう。 “Excuse me, but please keep it down. It’s already 10 o’clock. Let’s go to bed immediately.” （笑） |
| Alisha: At 10 o’clock? I bet you can use this phrase with children! |
Outro |
| Alisha: Okay everyone. That’s about all we have time for this lesson! See you next time. |
| Natsuko: じゃ、また。 |
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