Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
John: Hi everyone, I'm John.
Risa: And I'm Risa.
John: And welcome to Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 30 - Expressing Uncertainty.
John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for expressing possibility.
PATTERN
John: For example,
John: "It may snow."
Risa: 雪が降るかもしれません。 (Yuki ga furu kamo shiremasen.)
Risa: [slow] 雪が降るかもしれません。 (Yuki ga furu kamo shiremasen.)
John: The pattern for expressing possibility has two elements. First, an informal sentence, meaning "It snows." .
Risa: 雪が降る (Yuki ga furu).
John: Second, a phrase indicating that there's a possibility of something.
Risa: かもしれません (kamo shiremasen).
John: Altogether, we have... "It may snow."
Risa: 雪が降るかもしれません。 (Yuki ga furu kamo shiremasen.) [slow] 雪が降るかもしれません。 (Yuki ga furu kamo shiremasen.) [normal] 雪が降るかもしれません。 (Yuki ga furu kamo shiremasen.)
John: The sentence pattern for expressing possibility in Japanese is an informal sentence that shows the possibility of something being or happening, followed by
Risa: かもしれません (kamo shiremasen).
John: which indicates that there's the possibility of something.
John: So, "It may snow." would be
Risa: 雪が降るかもしれません。 (Yuki ga furu kamo shiremasen.)
John: So remember to express possibility, first say the thing that may be or happen in the informal form, and then, at the end, add
Risa: かもしれません (kamo shiremasen).
John: Here is another example, meaning "I may take tomorrow off." First, an informal sentence meaning "I'll take tomorrow off."
Risa: 私は明日休む (Watashi wa ashita yasumu).
John: Second, a phrase indicating that there's a possibility of something.
Risa: かもしれません (kamo shiremasen).
John: Altogether we have...
Risa: 私は明日休むかもしれません。 (Watashi wa ashita yasumu kamo shiremasen.) [slow] 私は明日休むかもしれません。 (Watashi wa ashita yasumu kamo shiremasen.) [normal] 私は明日休むかもしれません。 (Watashi wa ashita yasumu kamo shiremasen.)
John: "I may take tomorrow off."
[pause]
Risa: 私は明日休むかもしれません。 (Watashi wa ashita yasumu kamo shiremasen.)
John: How do you say, "I may have caught a cold." To give you a hint, "to catch a cold" is...
Risa: かぜをひく(kaze o hiku) [slow] かぜをひく(kaze o hiku)
John: Notice that “have caught a cold” is in the past tense, so it should be
Risa: かぜをひいた (kaze o hiita). [slow] かぜをひいた (kaze o hiita)
John: "I may have caught a cold."
[pause]
Risa: かぜをひいたかもしれません。 (Kaze o hiita kamo shiremasen.)
[slow] かぜをひいたかもしれません。 (Kaze o hiita kamo shiremasen.) [normal] かぜをひいたかもしれません。 (Kaze o hiita kamo shiremasen.)
[pause]
Risa: かぜをひいたかもしれません。 (Kaze o hiita kamo shiremasen.)
REVIEW
John: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will give you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Japanese. Here we go.
John: "It may snow."
[pause]
Risa: 雪が降るかもしれません。 (Yuki ga furu kamo shiremasen.)
[pause]
Risa: 雪が降るかもしれません。 (Yuki ga furu kamo shiremasen.)
John: "I may take tomorrow off."
[pause]
Risa: 私は明日休むかもしれません。 (Watashi wa ashita yasumu kamo shiremasen.)
[pause]
Risa: 私は明日休むかもしれません。 (Watashi wa ashita yasumu kamo shiremasen.)
John: "I may have caught a cold."
[pause]
Risa: かぜをひいたかもしれません。 (Kaze o hiita kamo shiremasen.)
[pause]
Risa: かぜをひいたかもしれません。 (Kaze o hiita kamo shiremasen.)

Outro

John: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for expressing possibility, as in...
Risa: 雪が降るかもしれません。 (Yuki ga furu kamo shiremasen.)
John: meaning "It may snow."
John: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on JapanesePod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time!
Risa: またね!(Mata ne!).

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