Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to JapanesePod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 21 - Make Sure To Eat Your Japanese Vegetables! I’m Becky.
Natsuko: こんにちは。なつこです。
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask the price for a specific amount of something. The conversation takes place at a supermarket.
Natsuko: It's between David and a shop clerk.
Becky: The speakers are a customer and a shop clerk, so they’ll be using formal language. The clerk will speak especially formally. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

デービッド:すみません、じゃがいもと きゅうりは どこにありますか。
店員:はい、やさいうりばにございます。こちらへどうぞ。
デービッド:ありがとうございます。
店員:こちらです。じゃがいもは、3こで100円です。それから、きゅうりはあちらにございます。5本で100円です。
デービッド:きゅうりは、2本でいくらですか。
店員:1本25円です。ですから、2本で50円です。
デービッド:わかりました。
Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
デービッド:すみません、じゃがいもと きゅうりは どこにありますか。
店員:はい、やさいうりばにございます。こちらへどうぞ。
デービッド:ありがとうございます。
店員:こちらです。じゃがいもは、3こで100円です。それから、きゅうりはあちらにございます。5本で100円です。
デービッド:きゅうりは、2本でいくらですか。
店員:1本25円です。ですから、2本で50円です。
デービッド:わかりました。
Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
David: Excuse me, where are potatoes and cucumbers?
Shop staff: They are in the vegetable section. Please come this way.
David: Thank you very much.
Shop staff: Here they are. The potatoes are 100 yen for three. The cucumbers are over there, at 100 yen for five.
David: How much are two cucumbers?
Shop staff: It is 25 yen for one, so 50 yen for two.
David: OK.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Becky: Natsuko, I’ve noticed that the vegetable section of supermarkets in Japan is usually located near the store’s entrance. Is that on purpose?
Natsuko: Of course! It's a marketing strategy. As a rule, vegetables look colorful and fresh, so when you enter the supermarket and see the vegetable section first, it gives you the impression that all the products in the store are fresh and of high quality.
Becky: I see. And that impression would motivate me to buy more things!
Natsuko: Exactly!
Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Natsuko: じゃがいも [natural native speed]
Becky: potato
Natsuko: じゃがいも[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: じゃがいも [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: きゅうり [natural native speed]
Becky: cucumber
Natsuko: きゅうり[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: きゅうり [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: やさい [natural native speed]
Becky: vegetable
Natsuko: やさい[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: やさい [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: うりば [natural native speed]
Becky: place where things are sold such as sales floor
Natsuko: うりば[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: うりば [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: うる [natural native speed]
Becky: to sell
Natsuko: うる[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: うる [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: だけ [natural native speed]
Becky: only, just
Natsuko: だけ[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: だけ [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: 本 [natural native speed]
Becky: book, counter for long and thin objects
Natsuko: 本[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: 本 [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Natsuko: こ [natural native speed]
Becky: counter for articles
Natsuko: こ[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Natsuko: こ [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is..
Natsuko: うりば
Becky: meaning "sales floor".
Natsuko: うりば consists of two kanji. うり meaning “to sell” and ば meaning “a place”. So, うりば literally means “selling place.”
Becky: You can often see this word after a specific item. In that case it would mean a sales floor or section for that specific item.
Natsuko: For example, if you want to say “sales floor for vegetables”, you can say やさい meaning “vegetables” and やさいうりば
Becky: “sales floor for vegetables” or “vegetable section”. Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Becky: In this lesson, you will learn how to ask the price of something you want to buy.
Natsuko: The easiest way to find out a price is to point at the product and say – これ はいくらですか.
Becky: meaning, "How much is this?".
Natsuko: The question word いくら(ikura), means "how much", and it’s followed by the copula です and question particle か.
Becky: So, altogether, “how much is this?” is
Natsuko: これはいくらですか.
Becky: You can replace “this” with any item that you want to know the price of. For example, “how much is a hamburger?” would be,
Natsuko: ハンバーガーは いくら です か。
Becky: You can also ask the price of currency, like "How much is one euro?".
Natsuko: 1 ユーロ は いくら です か。
Becky: Natsuko, can we use the same pattern to ask, for example, how much five carrots are?
Natsuko: Sure. But keep in mind that if you want to ask the price of a specific amount of something, you should use a counter attached directly to a number.
Becky: Counters are words used for counting objects. They are similar to English expressions like "a cup of ~" or "a sheet of ~" .There’s a variety of counters, often based on the shape of the object.
Becky: Okay, let’s learn more about this pattern using an example sentence. How can you say “How much are four oranges?”
Natsuko: オレンジは、4個でいくらですか
Becky: Let’s break it down.
Natsuko: First, we have オレンジ meaning “Orange” and は. オレンジは.
Becky: So make sure to use the topic marking particle here. And next?
Natsuko: Then you can add the number “four” and the counter for various inanimate objects. 4個 / 個 is the counter commonly used for small and round objects. After that you need to make sure to add で meaning “for” as in 4個で to mean “for four things.”
Becky: So all together..
Natsuko: オレンジは、4個で
Becky: literally “As for Oranges, for four pieces.”
Natsuko: Then, you can say いくらですか
Becky: “How much..” Okay, so all together..?
Natsuko: オレンジは、4個でいくらですか
Becky: "How much for four oranges?" To ask about other objects, you can use the same sentence pattern, but change the first half of the sentence. For example.. "How much for two cucumbers?" will be..?
Natsuko: きゅうりは、2本でいくらですか。きゅうり is the word meaning “cucumber” and we used 二 to mean “two.”
Becky: And here, we used a different counter, right?
Natsuko: That’s right. It’s 本. You can use this counter for the things that are vertically long like pencils. So all together, きゅうりは、2本で
Becky: Literally, this is “As for Cucumbers, for two things.”
Natsuko: きゅうりは、2本でいくらですか。
Becky: “How much is two cucumbers?” Listeners, for more information about counters, be sure to visit our Counters Series at JapanesePod101.com. You’ll learn everything you need to know about the different types of counters in Japanese!

Outro

Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Natsuko: またねー

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