Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Rebecca: The Japanese ever taste this good.
Naomi: なおみです。 (Naomi desu.)
Rebecca: Rebecca here.
Naomi: 24.
Rebecca: もうそろそろですね。 (Mō soro-soro desu ne.) Not many to go.
Naomi: So only two including this lesson.
Rebecca: はい、頑張りましょう。 (Hai, ganbarimashō.) Okay, so today what are we going to be looking at Naomi Sensei?
Naomi: 今日は美味しかったです、小さかったです、大きかったです (Kyō wa oishikatta desu, chiisakatta desu, ōkikatta desu) Polite Past tense of Adjectives.
Rebecca: Okay, so we are going to be looking at I ending adjectives and Na ending adjectives in their past tense.
Naomi: そうです。 (Sō desu.)
Rebecca: And today’s conversation, who will we be listening to?
Naomi: ファブリツィオと冬果さんのお父さんとクルミさんです。 (Faburitsu~io to Fuyuka-san no otōsan to kurumi-sandesu.)
Rebecca: So Fuyuka’s father and Fabrizio and クルミ (kurumi) the famous singer.
Naomi: はい、そうです。 (Hai,-sō desu.)
Rebecca: He doesn’t actually exist but the real life singer that Kurumi is based – she caused the storm in Japan just recently by saying that we went over the age of 35, maybe that their amniotic fluid goes off, they are very charming. So she wants her manager to have babies as soon as possible or something like that and…
Naomi: そうそうそう、そうですね。 (Sō sō sō, sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: She got in trouble. Have people forgotten about that now, do you think, Naomi Sensei?
Naomi: Madam, people are still angry.
Rebecca: Well, anyway, yes so if you are interested, you can look that up. Okay that’s enough but let’s have a listen to today’s conversation.
DIALOGUE
ファブリツィオ: でも、うどんは本当に 美味しかったです。驚きました。
Fabrizio: Demo, udon wa hontō ni oishikatta desu. Odorokimashita.
お父さん: それは、よかったです。
Father: Sore wa, yokatta desu.
ファブリツィオ: お父さんはこのお店によく来ますか。
Fabrizio: Otōsan wa kono o-mise ni yoku kimasu ka.
お父さん: ええ、先週も来ました。たぶん、来週も 来ます。この店は小さい
ですが、人気がありますよ。クルミさんは、このお店、すぐに わ
かりましたか?
Father: Ē, senshū mo kimashita. Tabun, raishū mo kimasu. Kono mise wa chiisai desu ga, ninki ga arimasu yo. Kurumi-san wa, kono o-mise, sugu ni wa karimashita ka?
クルミ: いえいえ、全然 わかりませんでした。道、暗くて 細くて...怖かっ
たです。
Kurumi: Ieie, zenzen wakarimasen deshita. Michi, kurakute hosokute... Kowakatta desu.
お父さん: そうですか。大変でしたね。じゃ、次のうどん屋に 行きましょう。
Father: Sō desu ka. Taihen deshita ne. Ja, tsugi no udon-ya ni ikimashō.
Naomi: もう一度おねがいします。今度はゆっくりお願いします。 (Mōichido onegai shimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri onegaishimasu.)
ファブリツィオ: でも、うどんは本当に 美味しかったです。驚きました。
Fabrizio: Demo, udon wa hontō ni oishikatta desu. Odorokimashita.
お父さん: それは、よかったです。
Father: Sore wa, yokatta desu.
ファブリツィオ: お父さんはこのお店によく来ますか。
Fabrizio: Otōsan wa kono o-mise ni yoku kimasu ka.
お父さん: ええ、先週も来ました。たぶん、来週も 来ます。この店は小さい
ですが、人気がありますよ。クルミさんは、このお店、すぐに わ
かりましたか?
Father: Ē, senshū mo kimashita. Tabun, raishū mo kimasu. Kono mise wa chiisai desu ga, ninki ga arimasu yo. Kurumi-san wa, kono o-mise, sugu ni wa karimashita ka?
クルミ: いえいえ、全然 わかりませんでした。道、暗くて 細くて...怖かっ
たです。
Kurumi: Ieie, zenzen wakarimasen deshita. Michi, kurakute hosokute... Kowakatta desu.
お父さん: そうですか。大変でしたね。じゃ、次のうどん屋に 行きましょう。
Father: Sō desu ka. Taihen deshita ne. Ja, tsugi no udon-ya ni ikimashō.
Naomi: 今度は英語が入ります。 (Kondo wa eigo ga hairimasu.)
ファブリツィオ: でも、うどんは本当に 美味しかったです。驚きました。
Fabrizio: Demo, udon wa hontō ni oishikatta desu. Odorokimashita.
FABRIZIO: But the udon was really delicious. I'm surprised.
お父さん: それは、よかったです。
Father: Sore wa, yokatta desu.
FATHER: Oh, that's good.
ファブリツィオ: お父さんはこのお店によく来ますか。
Fabrizio: Otōsan wa kono o-mise ni yoku kimasu ka.
FABRIZIO: Do you often come to this shop?
お父さん: ええ、先週も来ました。たぶん、来週も 来ます。この店は小さい
ですが、人気がありますよ。クルミさんは、このお店、すぐに わ
かりましたか?
Father: Ē, senshū mo kimashita. Tabun, raishū mo kimasu. Kono mise wa chiisai desu ga, ninki ga arimasu yo. Kurumi-san wa, kono o-mise, sugu ni wa karimashita ka?
FATHER: Yeah, last week I came. Maybe I'll come next week too. This shop is
small but popular. Kurumi-san, did you find this shop easily?
クルミ: いえいえ、全然 わかりませんでした。道、暗くて 細くて...怖かっ
たです。
Kurumi: Ieie, zenzen wakarimasen deshita. Michi, kurakute hosokute... Kowakatta desu.
KURUMI: No, unfortunately I didn't know the way. The streets were dark and
narrow and scary.
お父さん: そうですか。大変でしたね。じゃ、次のうどん屋に 行きましょう。
Father: Sō desu ka. Taihen deshita ne. Ja, tsugi no udon-ya ni ikimashō.
FATHER: Oh, really. You had a hard time, didn't you? Well then, let's go to the
next udon shop.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Rebecca:Naomi Sensei, what did you think of today’s conversation?
Naomi: 冬果のお父さんは、よく食べますね。 (Tōka no otōsan wa, yoku tabemasu ne.) Fuyuka’s father eats a lot.
Rebecca: He does, doesn’t he? In Japanese, we have a word for someone who eats a lot. What’s that?
Naomi: そうですね。大食い。 (Sō desu ne. Ōkui.) O is big. 食い (kui) is from 食います (kuimasu) which means eat but very informal way.
Rebecca: Very informal way of saying it. Yeah right not eating informally but informal language.
Naomi: そうですね、なので大食い (Sō desu ne,nanode ōkui) is the person who eats a lot.
Rebecca: There are some famous 大食いタレント (okui tarento) famous people who – what are they called, professional eaters or something in English?
Naomi: Competitive eaters.
Rebecca: Competitive eating, that’s right. Yeah I always forget.
Naomi: You mean ギャル曽根 (Gyarusone)?
Rebecca: Yeah well she is one of them. Isn’t she.
Rebecca: These 大食い選手 (okui senshu) like sometimes I say we are just like professional athletes you know. They eat a little bit and then they stretch the stomach and then the next day they eat a bit more and like they are training for a marathon or something.
Naomi: なるほどね。 (Naruhodo ne.)
Rebecca: Yeah so her stomach can stretch quite a bit and they took another an X-Ray of her stomach when it was very full and apparently it pushes her other internal organs get pushed, squished to the back of her body.
Rebecca: She is ギャル. ギャル曽根のギャル (gyarusone no gyaru).
Naomi: ギャルは (Gyaru wa) girl.
Rebecca: Yeah it’s a type like a style tribe you could call it. In Tokyo, you know, I suppose everyone knows the – do you guys know ガングロ (ganguro) are listeners. They are the people with the very dark faces, the girls with very tanned faces and the blonde hair and stuff. Well, "Gyaru" is a bit like that.
(Note: This lesson was recorded in 2008.)
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: And I think tell me if I am wrong but they wear really bright accessories and kind of like and white makeup sometimes and their eyes and they have dyed hair and they have a tan not as much as ガングロ (ganguro) who are like really dark but they have quite a dark tan and that’s my image of Gyaru anyway.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne). My image of Gyaru is like young and like wearing lot of ジュエリー (juerī) and wearing mini skirt, short skirts.
Rebecca: Lots of ギャル (gyaru) in 渋谷 (shibuya).
Naomi: そうですね、 (Sō desu ne,) not in 赤坂 (akasaka).
Rebecca: Right yeah. Anyway, ギャル曽根 (gyarusone) is like 曽根 (sone) is like her surname. So she is kind of cute you know like she is tiny and she has got this tan and she wears pretty makeup and lots of accessories and she has got blonde hair and… yeah. Anyway, let’s have a look at today’s vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Rebecca: First item.
Naomi: 驚く (odoroku)
Rebecca: To be surprised, to be astonished. This is a class 1 verb.
Naomi: (slow) おどろく (odoroku) (natural speed) 驚く (odoroku)
Rebecca: Next item.
Naomi: 先週 (senshū)
Rebecca: Last week, the week before.
Naomi: (slow) せんしゅう (senshū) (natural speed) 先週 (senshū)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: 人気 (ninki)
Rebecca: Popularity.
Naomi: (slow) にんき (ninki) (natural speed) 人気 (ninki)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: すぐに (sugu ni)
Rebecca: Instantly, immediately.
Naomi: (slow) すぐに (sugu ni) (natural speed) すぐに (sugu ni)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: 分かる (wakaru)
Rebecca: To understand, to grasp the meaning of, to know. This is a class 1 verb.
Naomi: (slow) わかる (wakaru) (natural speed) 分かる (wakaru)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: 大変 (taihen)
Rebecca: Dreadful, terrible, immense, difficult. This is a Na-Adjective.
Naomi: (slow) たいへん (taihen) (natural speed) 大変 (taihen)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: 全然 (zenzen)
Rebecca: Not at all is used with a negative adjective or verb.
Naomi: (slow) ぜんぜん (zenzen) (natural speed) 全然 (zenzen)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: 道 (michi)
Rebecca: Road or a street or way.
Naomi: (slow) みち (michi) (natural speed) 道 (michi)
Rebecca: Next.
Naomi: 暗い (kurai)
Rebecca: Dark, gloomy. This is an E- Adjective
Naomi: (slow) くらい (kurai) (natural speed) 暗い (kurai)
Rebecca: And lastly.
Naomi: 怖い (kowai)
Rebecca: Scary, frightening. This is an E adjective.
Naomi: (slow) こわい (kowai) (natural speed) 怖い (kowai)
Rebecca: Okay. So let’s look at a useful expression from today’s dialogue. Can you say that for us please now, Naomi Sensei.
Naomi: 人気があります (ninki ga arimasu)
Rebecca: It’s popular or literally it has popularity.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne. ) あります (Arimasu) has the meaning of have.
Rebecca: So let’s breakdown the elements of the sentence.
Naomi: 人気 (ninki)
Rebecca: Popularity.
Naomi: が (ga)
Rebecca: Subject marker
Naomi: あります (arimasu)
Rebecca: ます (Masu) form of the verb ある (aru) to exist or in this case to have. In a conversation, the subject marker Ga is often dropped and people just say.
Naomi: 人気あります (ninki arimasu)
Rebecca: Or
Naomi: 人気ある (ninki aru)
Rebecca: Depending on how formal they are going to be.
Naomi: そうですね。ギャル曽根は人気があります。 (Sō desu ne. Gyarusone wa ninki ga arimasu)
Rebecca: ギャル曽根 (Gyarusone) is popular I guess. She is at the moment anyway. She is on lots of TV programs.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: And in the dialogue, it was the restaurant that was popular.
Naomi: そうですね。この店は人気があります。 (Sō desu ne. Kono mise wa ninki ga arimasu.)
Rebecca: This restaurant is popular.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne). What is 人気があります (ninki ga arimasu) in Australia now?
Rebecca: What’s popular?
Naomi: Huh.
Rebecca: Gosh well it’s so long since I’ve lived there actually. I don’t know. I think maybe we will have to ask the listeners that one. What is popular in Australia geez I don’t know. I have to go home and get in touch with my country again.
Naomi: Yeah みなさん (minasan) please let Rebecca know.
Rebecca: 是非教えてください (Zehi oshietekudasai) And another word we heard in the dialogue which is actually used very often in Japanese is 全然 (zenzen). What 全然 (zenzen) mean?
Naomi: Not at all.
Rebecca: Not at all. Okay. It’s an adverb. Is that right?
Naomi: そうです。 (Sō desu.)
Rebecca: And it usually proceeds verbs or adjectives in a negative form or adjectives with a negative connotation.
Naomi: Such as だめ 全然ダメ (Dame zenzen dame)
Rebecca: It’s not good at all.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: Yes so 全然 (zenzen) means not at all or absolutely not. So for example, we could say.
Naomi: 私は肉を全然食べません。 (Watashi wa niku o zenzen tabemasen.)
Rebecca: I don’t eat meat at all or
Naomi: 私は野菜が全然好きじゃありません。 (Watashi wa yasai ga zenzen suki jaarimasen.)
Rebecca: I don’t like vegetables at all.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: And the “at all” bit is the 全然 (zenzen), I don’t know. Have you noticed that people often nowadays seem to be saying 全然 (zenzen) with a positive word.
Naomi: そうですね。全然大丈夫 (Sō desu ne. Zenzen daijōbu)
Rebecca: Yeah it’s totally okay.
Naomi: そうそうそう、言いますね。 (Sō sō sō, iimasu ne.) Some older people don’t like it but people still use it.
Rebecca: Yeah. So you might hear people say that. You might hear people use 全然 (zenzen) with a positive verb or adjective that’s not got a negative connotation like Naomi Sensei’s example of 大丈夫 (daijōbu). 全然大丈夫 (Zenzen daijōbu) It’s totally okay.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: But in reality, it’s actually grammatically incorrect and you probably shouldn’t use it in a formal situation. Would that be fair to say if you’ve got sort of be on your best behavior and speak very nice Japanese.
Naomi: I don’t recommend you to use in a speech.
Rebecca: Even like a 発表 (happyō)
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: So it’s our presentation or a formal speech.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) でも (Demo), if you are talking with your coworkers or if you are talking with your boss, it’s probably okay.
Rebecca: Okay right. Well anyway so just remember that technically it’s got to be used with a negative on the end but people often don’t.

Lesson focus

Rebecca: Well let’s look at today’s grammar point. We are going to be looking at the past tense of adjectives. That’s right. Okay so the first sentence is
Naomi: うどんは美味しかったです。 (Udon wa oishikatta desu.)
Rebecca: The Udon was tasty and we know the adjective.
Naomi: 美味しい (oishī)
Rebecca: Means delicious and here we are saying was delicious. So how do we make delicious into was delicious. Well you take the final い (i) and you replace it with かった (katta) and then you add です (desu) to make it polite. So 美味しい (oishī) becomes 美味しかったです (oishikatta desu). Is that right?
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) Change い です (idesu ) to かったです (katta desu).
Rebecca: Yeah it’s pretty easy. So what’s another い (i) adjective?
Naomi: 小さい (chiisai)
Rebecca: Okay so what does that become?
Naomi: 小さかったです (chiisakatta desu)
Rebecca: It was small. Now what about negatives? What do we do for that?
Naomi: 暗かったです (kurakatta desu)
Rebecca: Okay so いです (idesu) becomes くなかったです (kunakatta desu).
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: And what’s happening here is that we know that the negative nonpast form is くない (kunai). So 美味しくない 小さくない (oishikunai chiisakunai) and we covered that in Welcome to Style You 14. So to put 美味しくない (oishikunai) or 小さくない (chiisakunai) in the past tense, we just treat ない (nai) like an I Adjective. So we do just what we were doing with 美味しい (oishī) and 小さい (chiisai) as in you add かったです (katta desu). So 美味しくない (oishikunai) becomes
Naomi: 美味しくなかったです (oishikunakatta desu)
Rebecca: And 小さくない (chiisakunai) becomes
Naomi: 小さくなかったです (chiisakunakatta desu)
Rebecca: Right okay. So not too bad I think that’s...
Naomi: There is one exception right?
Rebecca: Of course there is but luckily there is just one. So the one exception is the adjective good which is pronounced
Naomi:いい (Ī)
Rebecca: And sometimes you can also say
Naomi: よい (yoi)
Rebecca: よい (Yoi) yeah. So when you are conjugating this adjective, you have to treat it like it’s よい (yoi). So it becomes よかったです (yokatta desu).
Naomi: はい。 (Hai.)
Rebecca: Or よくなかったです (yokunakatta desu)
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: You can’t say
Naomi: いくなかったです (ikunakatta desu)
Rebecca: Yeah no. It’s not said.
Naomi: いかったです (ikatta desu)
Rebecca: Yeah. Nobody ever says that. So just remember that the one exception to these rules we have been talking about is the adjective.
Naomi: いい (Ī)
Rebecca: Which is also pronounced…
Naomi: よい (yoi)
Rebecca: Yeah and it means good. So let’s have a look at some example sentences using these い (i) adjectives in their past tense form.
Naomi: オードリーへップバーンは、細かったです。 (Ōdorī Heppubān wa, komakakatta desu.)
Rebecca: Audrey Hepburn was thin. The adjective which is in the past tense now is 細い (hosoi) and in this sentence, we say
Naomi: 細かったです (komakakatta desu)
Rebecca: Was thin okay and can we have one more example?
Naomi: テストは難しくなかったです。 (Tesuto wa muzukashikunakatta desu.)
Rebecca: The test wasn’t difficult.
Naomi: 難しい (Muzukashī) is difficult. 難しくなかった (Muzukashikunakatta) wasn’t difficult.
Rebecca: There is one more way to say it wasn’t difficult.
Naomi: そうですね。テストは、難しくありませんでした。 (Sō desu ne. Tesuto wa, muzukashiku arimasen deshita.)
Rebecca: Which means the same thing as
Naomi: テストは、難しくなかったです。 (Tesuto wa, muzukashikunakatta desu.)
Rebecca: This is just a slightly more formal way to use the structure that we’ve been looking at with くなかったです (kunakatta desu). Is that right?
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.) 難しくありませんでした (Muzukashiku arimasen deshita) is longer. So it sounds formal to me.
Rebecca: Yeah and the ありません (arimasen) is the ない (nai) in くない (kunai). 美味しくない 美味しくありません 美味しくなかったです 美味しくありませんでした (Oishikunai oishiku arimasen oishikunakatta desu oishiku arimasen deshita). Anyway this is in the PDF so please check it out and you would see how that structure is created. Now let’s have a look at what we do with Na-Adjectives when we put them in the past tense. The example sentence is
Naomi: うどんは大丈夫でしたか。 (Udon wa daijōbu deshita ka.)
Rebecca: Was the Udon okay? 大丈夫でしたか (Daijōbu deshita ka). So what you do is you drop the final Na of the Na-Adjective. In this case, it was 大丈夫な (daijōbuna). You take of な (na) and you add でした (deshita).
Naomi: そうです。 (Sō desu.) 大丈夫でした (Daijōbu deshita). If it’s 大変な (taihen na)- 大変でした (taihen deshita)
Rebecca: So the test was really awful would be
Naomi: テストは大変でした (tesuto wa taihen deshita)
Rebecca: Yeah. So Na-Adjectives are pretty easy. You just put でした (deshita) on the end of them.
Naomi: Yeah, a bit similar to noun sentences.
Rebecca: So some more sample sentences but this time using Na-Adjectives.
Naomi: オードリーヘップバーンは、綺麗でした。 (Ōdorī Heppubān wa, kirei deshita.)
Rebecca: Audrey Hepburn was pretty. And one more?
Naomi: テストは簡単でした。 (Tesuto wa kantan deshita.)
Rebecca: The test was easy. We hope you can say that one day if you are talking about tests. And there are some more details on how to use the past tense of adjectives and also a bit more detail on when you are saying negative rather than positive. So and also a bit more detail on past negative forms.
Naomi: そうですね。テストは簡単じゃなかったです。 (Sō desu ne. Tesuto wa kantan janakatta desu.)

Outro

Rebecca: The test wasn’t easy. So do check it out and we will see you next week.
Naomi: そうですね。 (Sō desu ne.)
Rebecca: For the last lesson.
Naomi: Oh!!
Rebecca: じゃあまたね。 (Jā mata ne.)
Naomi: じゃあまた。 (Jā mata.)
DIALOGUE
ファブリツィオ: でも、うどんは本当に 美味しかったです。驚きました。
Fabrizio: Demo, udon wa hontō ni oishikatta desu. Odorokimashita.
お父さん: それは、よかったです。
Father: Sore wa, yokatta desu.
ファブリツィオ: お父さんはこのお店によく来ますか。
Fabrizio: Otōsan wa kono o-mise ni yoku kimasu ka.
お父さん: ええ、先週も来ました。たぶん、来週も 来ます。この店は小さい
ですが、人気がありますよ。クルミさんは、このお店、すぐに わ
かりましたか?
Father: Ē, senshū mo kimashita. Tabun, raishū mo kimasu. Kono mise wa chiisai desu ga, ninki ga arimasu yo. Kurumi-san wa, kono o-mise, sugu ni wa karimashita ka?
クルミ: いえいえ、全然 わかりませんでした。道、暗くて 細くて...怖かっ
たです。
Kurumi: Ieie, zenzen wakarimasen deshita. Michi, kurakute hosokute... Kowakatta desu.
お父さん: そうですか。大変でしたね。じゃ、次のうどん屋に 行きましょう。
Father: Sō desu ka. Taihen deshita ne. Ja, tsugi no udon-ya ni ikimashō.

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