Learn how to tell someone about your preferences
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: こんにちは。なおみです。(Kon’nichiwa. Naomi desu.) |
| Kat: Hi, everyone. Kat, here. Are you coming or going in Japanese? |
| Naomi: Kat-san, please tell us what we're going to learn in this lesson. |
| Kat: In this lesson you will learn how to talk about preferences, what you like and don't like. |
| Naomi: Where does this conversation take place? And who is it between? |
| Kat: This conversation takes place at Madoka's house where Kent is staying. And it's between Kent, Madoka and Madoka's mother. Madoka and her mother speak informally but Kent speaks formally when speaking to Madoka's mother. Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| まどか (Madoka):ただいま～。(Tadaimā.) |
| ケント (Kento):ただいま～。(Tadaimā.) |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):おかえりなさい。(Okaerinasai.) |
| まどか (Madoka):・・・ママ今日・・・カレー？(... Mama kyō... karē?) |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):そう。ケント君、カレー好き？(Sō. Kento-kun, karē suki?) |
| ケント (Kento):あ・・・(A…) |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):嫌い？(Kirai?) |
| ケント (Kento):好き。・・・大好きです。(Suki. ...Daisuki desu.) |
| もう一度、お願いします。今度はゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do, onegai shimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| まどか (Madoka):ただいま～。(Tadaimā.) |
| ケント (Kento):ただいま～。(Tadaimā.) |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):おかえりなさい。(Okaerinasai.) |
| まどか (Madoka):・・・ママ今日・・・カレー？(... Mama kyō... karē?) |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):そう。ケント君、カレー好き？(Sō. Kento-kun, karē suki?) |
| ケント (Kento):あ・・・(A…) |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):嫌い？(Kirai?) |
| ケント (Kento):好き。・・・大好きです。(Suki. ...Daisuki desu.) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| まどか (Madoka):ただいま～。(Tadaimā.) |
| Kat: I'm home! |
| ケント (Kento):ただいま～。(Tadaimā.) |
| Kat: I'm home! |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):おかえりなさい。(Okaerinasai.) |
| Kat: Welcome home. |
| まどか (Madoka):・・・ママ今日・・・カレー？(... Mama kyō... karē?) |
| Kat: Mom...is it...curry today? |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):そう。ケント君、カレー好き？(Sō. Kento-kun, karē suki?) |
| Kat: Yes. Kent, do you like curry? |
| ケント (Kento):あ・・・(A…) |
| Kat: Um... |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):嫌い？(Kirai?) |
| Kat: You hate it? |
| ケント (Kento):好き。・・・大好きです。(Suki. ...Daisuki desu.) |
| Kat: I like it... I love it. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Kat: Wow, so Kent gets to have curry twice in one day, right? |
| Naomi: Right! I think that's why Madoka was hesitating a little when she asked her mother 今日、カレー？(kyō, karē?) ”is it... curry today?” |
| Kat: Because she knew Kent had just had some at lunchtime. |
| Naomi: そうそう。(Sō sō.) Kent was polite about it though. He said 大好きです (daisuki desu). |
| Kat: “I love it.” |
| Naomi: By the way, this curry thing used to happen to me all the time when I was in elementary school. I mean...when I had curry at school, my mother cooked curry for dinner. |
| Kat: So you got it twice in one day, right? Did you ever complain about it to your mother? |
| Naomi: Not really. Because I love curry after all. カレー大好きです。(Karē daisuki desu.) But maybe I said またカレー？？(mata karē??) |
| Kat: “Curry again?” Because you can have too much of a good thing sometimes! |
| Naomi: キャットさん、ボーイフレンドのカレー、好き？(Kyatto-san, bōifurendo no karē, suki?) |
| Kat: あ、大好きです！(A, daisuki desu!) I love my, yeah, my boyfriend’s curry is the best. |
| Naomi: いいですよね。(Ii desu yo ne.) |
| Kat: Okay so now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Naomi: 好き (suki) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: likeable, to like |
| Naomi: 好き (suki) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 好き (suki) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, and next. |
| Naomi: 嫌い (kirai) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: dislike |
| Naomi: 嫌い (kirai) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 嫌い (kirai) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, next. |
| Naomi: ただいま (tadaima) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: I’m home, right now |
| Naomi: ただいま (tadaima) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: ただいま (tadaima) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: OK, and next we have a phrase. |
| Naomi: おかえりなさい (okaerinasai) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: welcome back, welcome home |
| Naomi: おかえりなさい (okaerinasai) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: おかえりなさい (okaerinasai) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Kat: Okay now, let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases for this lesson. |
| Naomi: The first phrase we’ll look at is ただいま (tadaima). |
| Kat: I'm home or I'm back. |
| Naomi: Madoka and Kent said this first thing when they got home. |
| Kat: Whenever you come back to a place you left earlier, you can say ただいま (tadaima). |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right. Especially when you come back home at the end of the day. |
| Kat: Right. And actually, Naomi-sensei, what does this phrase literally mean? |
| Naomi: Oh, good question! The word ただいま (tadaima) literally means “just now”. |
| Kat: So you're really saying “just now” when you come home? |
| Naomi: Well, the full sentence is actually ただいま帰りました (tadaima kaerimashita). 帰りました (kaerimashita) means “returned home”, so altogether it's something like “I've just now returned home”. |
| Kat: It sounds like you're making a really formal declaration. “Everyone, I have returned!” |
| Naomi: Right, but now we just say ただいま (tadaima). |
| Kat: Ah, I see. So now let's take a look at the response to ただいま (tadaima). After Madoka and Kent got home and said ただいま (tadaima), Madoka's mother said... |
| Naomi: おかえりなさい (okaerinasai) |
| Kat: Welcome home, welcome back. This is the polite way to say it, isn't it? |
| Naomi: That's right. The shortened, most casual version would be おかえり (okaeri). |
| Kat: So we can say those two phrases are like a set, right? ただいま (tadaima) and おかえり (okaeri). |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) Right! When you say one, someone else responds with the other. |
| Kat: And if they don’t, that’s quite lonely isn’t it? |
| Naomi: さびしいですね。(Sabishii desu ne.) |
| Kat: It’s lonely! And while we're at it, let's introduce some similar set expressions. These ones weren't in the dialogue, but they're closely related to the pair we just looked at, so let's go over them too. |
| Naomi: Ah, you mean いってきます (ittekimasu) and いってらっしゃい (itterasshai), right? |
| Kat: Yes! So like we mentioned before, ただいま (tadaima) and おかえり (okaeri) are used when someone returns to a place they left earlier. Now let's look at what you say when you first leave a place you plan to return to. |
| Naomi: Sounds a bit complicated. |
| Kat: It’ll be fine if we do it together! |
| Naomi:OK, so, let us give you an example, when you leave home in the morning and plan to return to some point, you say いってきます (ittekimasu). |
| Kat: いってきます (ittekimasu), and this literally means “I will go and come back”. We won't get too into the grammar here, but it combines the verbs for “to go”, 行く (iku) and “to come”, 来る (kuru). And would you say this is formal? Naomi-sensei, We have ます (masu) on the end, which usually means formal speech, but… |
| Naomi: Well, yes! In informal speech, it's possible to use いってくる (ittekuru). But, when using this as a set phrase, it's really common to use just as full いってきます (ittekimasu), even to your own family members. |
| Kat: So the person leaving says いってきます (ittekimasu), and now what's the response? |
| Naomi: いってらっしゃい (itterasshai) |
| Kat: Literally, go and come back, as an imperative. It sounds a bit strange when translated into English… |
| Naomi: It does, doesn't it? But I promise you it sounds natural in Japanese. |
| Kat: It would be like a mother saying to her kids “Have a good day!” as they leave for school in the morning... or a husband or wife seeing off their partner in the morning as they go to work. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Good example! I think that captures the feeling of this phrase well. |
| Kat: Okay, so let's recap. You're leaving a place that you expect to come back to later at some point, and you say... |
| Naomi: いってきます (ittekimasu) |
| Kat: The person who is staying behind and to see you off says... |
| Naomi: いってらっしゃい (itterasshai) |
| Kat: Later on, you return to the place you left earlier. You say... |
| Naomi: ただいま (tadaima) |
| Kat: And the person who is already there and is welcoming you back would say... |
| Naomi: おかえりなさい (okaerinasai) or おかえり (okaeri) |
| Kat: All right! It might take a while to sort them all out, but there's a chart for these words in the lesson notes, so make sure to look at that if you need a reminder. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Kat: In this lesson, you'll learn how to discuss your preferences - what you like and don't like - in Japanese. You'll learn four words that express four different levels of like and dislike. |
| Naomi: Let's start with the words that simply mean “like” and “dislike”. |
| Kat: Sounds good. |
| Naomi: “Like” is 好き (suki). In the dialogue, Madoka's mother asked Kent... カレー、好き？(Karē, suki?) |
| Kat: “Do you like curry?” |
| Naomi: “Dislike” is きらい (kirai). Kent didn't respond to her question right away, so she asked きらい (kirai)? |
| Kat: “You hate it?” Now, let's look at the sentence structure for saying you like or dislike something. It's pretty simple. You say the name of the thing you are talking about, add the particle が (ga), and then say 好き (suki) for like, or きらい (kirai) for dislike. |
| Naomi: For example... ねこ (neko) is cat, so... ねこが好き (neko ga suki) would be “I like cats”. |
| Kat: Or you could change 好き (suki) to きらい (kirai) and say ねこがきらい (neko ga kirai), “I hate cats”. By the way, which one is true for you, Naomi-sensei? Do you like cats, or...? |
| Naomi: うん、まあまあ。(Un, māmā.) |
| Kat: まあまあ！(Māmā!) So, they’re “okay”, “cats are okay”? |
| Naomi: Yeah, I don’t mind having them. So, do you remember this phrase まあまあ (māmā)? |
| Kat: まあまあ (māmā) meaning “I don’t mind one way or the other”. |
| Naomi: So-so. But for this lesson, I would say... ねこが好きです。(Neko ga suki desu.) |
| Kat: Ah, so for the purposes of this lesson you like cats. |
| Naomi: はい！(Hai!) |
| Kat: Okay, so now we can assume you are talking about yourself because of the context, but just in case, can you add the subject “I”, too? |
| Naomi: Sure! The full sentence would be 私はねこが好き (watashi wa neko ga suki) or 私はねこが好きです (watashi wa neko ga suki desu). |
| Kat: So, “I like cats”. |
| Naomi: How about you, Kat? What's something you like? |
| Kat: Hmm… Unfortunately, I love shopping, so... 私は買い物が好きです。(Watashi wa kaimono ga suki desu.) I like shopping. Which is an understatement! |
| Naomi: Shopping is 買い物 (kaimono). |
| Kat: 買い物。(Kaimono.) Okay Naomi-sensei, so now we know 好き (suki) and きらい (kirai), meaning “like” and “dislike”... but what about those times when we want to say just how much we love or hate something? |
| Naomi: Ah, where 好き (suki) and きらい (kirai) don't seem to be strong enough? |
| Kat: Exactly! Let's share with the listeners what we can say in those cases. |
| Naomi: The key word there is だい (dai), which means “large” or “big”. When we add it to the beginning of 好き (suki) or きらい (kirai), we can emphasize the word even more. |
| Kat: So 好き (suki) would become |
| Naomi: 大好き (daisuki) |
| Kat: “I love it!” And きらい (kirei) would become |
| Naomi: 大きらい (daikirai) |
| Kat: “I hate it!” Let's look at the conversation again. Madoka's mother asked Kent if he liked curry, and he said... |
| Naomi: 好き。大好きです。(Suki. Daisuki desu.) |
| Kat: “I like it. ... I love it.” He didn't want Madoka's mother to think that he didn't like curry, so he emphasized how much he liked it by using 大好き (daisuki). |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right. Let's share some example sentences. |
| Kat: Okay, I'll ask first. Naomi-sensei, what's something that you really, really hate? |
| Naomi: Really, really hate? That’s a really difficult question! ゴキブリがだいきらいです！(Gokiburi ga daikirai desu!) |
| Kat: あ～、ゴキブリね！(Ā, gokiburi ne!) Cockroaches! So, Naomi-sensei said “I hate cockroaches” |
| Naomi: Yeah, I just saw one in the morning. |
| Kat: That's so unlucky. |
| Naomi: How about you, Kat-san? |
| Kat: Ah, listeners may find this stupid, but I have a fear of frogs, so... 私はカエルが大嫌いです。(Watashi wa kaeru ga daikirai desu.) I hate frogs. Ugh! |
| Naomi: あ、そう～？(A, sō?) |
| Kat: Yes, I don’t like – I don’t like the way they jump. |
| Naomi: Really?? Maybe, 私は大きいカエルがきらいです (watashi wa ōkii kaeru ga kirai desu) but 小さいカエルは好きです (chiisai kaeru wa suki desu). |
| Kat: Ah, so now Naomi-sensei said I hate big frogs but I like small frogs. But I hate all frogs. |
| Naomi: Any frogs. |
| Kat: Any frogs. Okay, now that we've gone through all four words, can we have them in order, starting with the highest level of “like”? |
| Naomi: Sure. First would be 大好き (daisuki). |
| Kat: I love it. |
| Naomi: And then 好き (suki). |
| Kat: I like it. |
| Naomi: And then きらい (kirai). |
| Kat: I don't like it. |
| Naomi: And then だいきらい (daikirai). |
| Kat: I hate it. Oh, and one last thing we should mention, since we are covering informal speech. |
| Naomi: What's that? |
| Kat: Well, we said that the sentence structure for saying you like or hate something is thing plus が (ga) plus preference word, right? But in informal speech, you can drop the particle が (ga) and still sound completely natural. |
| Naomi: Yes, that's right! Like, ねこ好き (neko suki), I like cats, or 犬きらい (inu kirai), I don't like dogs. |
| Kat: If you notice, Madoka's mother didn't use any particle when she asked Kent if he liked curry. |
| Naomi: Right, she said... カレー好き？(Karē suki?) |
Outro |
| Kat: Okay, well that's all the time we have for this lesson. Until next time, everyone! |
| Naomi: じゃ、また！(Ja, mata!) |
| まどか (Madoka):ただいま～。(Tadaimā.) |
| ケント (Kento):ただいま～。(Tadaimā.) |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):おかえりなさい。(Okaerinasai.) |
| まどか (Madoka):・・・ママ今日・・・カレー？(... Mama kyō... karē?) |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):そう。ケント君、カレー好き？(Sō. Kento-kun, karē suki?) |
| ケント (Kento):あ・・・(A…) |
| お母さん (O-kā-san):嫌い？(Kirai?) |
| ケント (Kento):好き。・・・大好きです。(Suki. ...Daisuki desu.) |
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