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: Welcome to Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 42. Talking About Characteristics.
John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for saying something appears to have some characteristic.
PATTERN
John: For example,
John: "This tempura looks delicious."
Risa: このてんぷらは、おいしそうです。 (Kono tenpura wa, oishisō desu.)
Risa: [slow] このてんぷらは、おいしそうです。 (Kono tenpura wa, oishisō desu.)
John: The pattern for saying something appears to have some characteristic has three elements. First, a phrase meaning "this tempura," followed by the topic-marking particle
Risa: このてんぷらは (Kono tenpura wa).
John: Second, an i-adjective stem meaning "delicious."
Risa: おいし (oishi-).
John: And last, an auxiliary adjective meaning "looks like..." in this case.
Risa: そうです (sō desu).
John: Altogether, we have... "This tempura looks delicious."
Risa: このてんぷらは、おいしそうです。 (Kono tenpura wa, oishisō desu.) [slow] このてんぷらは、おいしそうです。 (Kono tenpura wa, oishisō desu.) [normal] このてんぷらは、おいしそうです。 (Kono tenpura wa, oishisō desu.)
John: The sentence pattern to say "looks like..." in Japanese, is the subject with the topic-marking particle, plus the adjective stem, which says how something looks to you, followed by the auxiliary adjective meaning "looks like...", which expresses conjecture. Again, "This tempura looks delicious" is...
Risa: このてんぷらは、おいしそうです。 (Kono tenpura wa, oishisō desu.)
John: So remember, to say that something appears to have some characteristic, first say the subject with the topic-marking particle and your conjecture with the adjective stem followed by...
Risa: そうです (sō desu).
John: Here is another example meaning, "Mr. Ishii looks busy." First, a phrase meaning "Mr. Ishii," followed by the topic-marking particle.
Risa: 石井さんは (Ishii-san wa).
John: Second, an i-adjective stem meaning "busy."
Risa: 忙し (isogashi-).
John: And last, the auxiliary adjective meaning "looks like..." in this case...
Risa: そうです (sō desu).
John: Altogether we have...
Risa: 石井さんは、忙しそうです。 (Ishii-san wa, isogashisō desu.) [slow] 石井さんは、忙しそうです。 (Ishii-san wa, isogashisō desu.) [normal] 石井さんは、忙しそうです。 (Ishii-san wa, isogashisō desu.)
John: "Mr. Ishii looks busy."
[pause]
Risa: 石井さんは、忙しそうです。 (Ishii-san wa, isogashisō desu.)
John: How do you say, "The old woman looks sleepy." To give you a hint, "sleepy" is...
Risa: 眠い (nemui). [slow] 眠い (nemui). [normal] 眠い (nemui).
John: "The old woman looks sleepy."
[pause]
Risa: おばあさんは、眠そうです。 (O-bāsan wa, nemusō desu.) [slow] おばあさんは、眠そうです。 (O-bāsan wa, nemusō desu.) [normal] おばあさんは、眠そうです。 (O-bāsan wa, nemusō desu.)
[pause]
Risa: おばあさんは、眠そうです。 (O-bāsan wa, nemusō desu.)
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: "This tempura looks delicious."
[pause]
Risa: このてんぷらは、おいしそうです。 (Kono tenpura wa, oishisō desu.)
[pause]
Risa: このてんぷらは、おいしそうです。 (Kono tenpura wa, oishisō desu.)
John: "Mr. Ishii looks busy."
[pause]
Risa: 石井さんは、忙しそうです。 (Ishii-san wa, isogashisō desu.)
[pause]
Risa: 石井さんは、忙しそうです。 (Ishii-san wa, isogashisō desu.)
John: "The old woman looks sleepy."
[pause]
Risa: おばあさんは、眠そうです。 (O-bāsan wa, nemusō desu.)
[pause]
Risa: おばあさんは、眠そうです。 (O-bāsan wa, nemusō desu.)

Outro

John: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for saying something appears to have some characteristic, as in...
Risa: このてんぷらは、おいしそうです。 (Kono tenpura wa, oishisō desu.)
John: meaning "This tempura looks delicious."
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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