Learn how to use three Japanese particles to tell someone a starting and ending point and to give directions
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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! Staying busy from Monday to Friday in Japan. Thank you very much for joining us. なおみ先生、元気ですか。(Naomi-sensei, genki desu ka.) Are you OK? |
| Naomi: 元気じゃないです。すいません。風邪です。(Genki ja nai desu. Suimasen. Kaze desu.) |
| Kat: Naomi-sensei, you can probably tell from her voice has a cold, so please forgive us and bear with us in this lesson. |
| Naomi: はい、すいません。(Hai, suimasen.) じゃあ (jā) Kat-san, please tell us what we're going to learn in this lesson. |
| Kat: In this lesson we're going to learn how to use the particles から (kara), まで (made), and に (ni). |
| Naomi: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between? |
| Kat: This conversation takes place at home, and it's between Kent, Madoka, and Madoka's mother. |
| Naomi: What level of Japanese are they speaking? |
| Kat: Madoka and her mother speak informally, but Kent speaks formally when speaking to Madoka's mother. OK, so let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| （食事）(shokuji) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):じゃ、ケント君はサッカー部に入るの？(Ja, Kento-kun wa sakkābu ni hairu no?) |
| ケント (Kento):はい。入ります。(Hai. Hairimasu.) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):毎朝、練習するの？(Maiasa, renshū suru no?) |
| ケント (Kento):はい。月曜日から金曜日まで朝と夕方、練習します。(Hai. Getsu-yōbi kara kin-yōbi made asa to yūgata, renshū shimasu.) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):すごーい。月から金まで？(Sugōi. Getsu kara kin made?) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):土日は？(Donichi wa?) |
| まどか (Madoka):もちろん、練習するよ。(Mochiron, renshū suru yo.) |
| ケント (Kento):え？うそ！？ほんと？(E? Uso!? Honto?) |
| 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.) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):じゃ、ケント君はサッカー部に入るの？(Ja, Kento-kun wa sakkābu ni hairu no?) |
| ケント (Kento):はい。入ります。(Hai. Hairimasu.) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):毎朝、練習するの？(Maiasa, renshū suru no?) |
| ケント (Kento):はい。月曜日から金曜日まで朝と夕方、練習します。(Hai. Getsu-yōbi kara kin-yōbi made asa to yūgata, renshū shimasu.) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):すごーい。月から金まで？(Sugōi. Getsu kara kin made?) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):土日は？(Donichi wa?) |
| まどか (Madoka):もちろん、練習するよ。(Mochiron, renshū suru yo.) |
| ケント (Kento):え？うそ！？ほんと？(E? Uso!? Honto?) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| （食事）(shokuji) |
| (At the table) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):じゃ、ケント君はサッカー部に入るの？(Ja, Kento-kun wa sakkābu ni hairu no?) |
| Kat: So, Kent, you're joining the soccer club? |
| ケント (Kento):はい。入ります。(Hai. Hairimasu.) |
| Kat: Yes, I am. |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):毎朝、練習するの？(Maiasa, renshū suru no?) |
| Kat: Will you have practice every morning? |
| ケント (Kento):はい。月曜日から金曜日まで朝と夕方、練習します。(Hai. Getsu-yōbi kara kin-yōbi made asa to yūgata, renshū shimasu.) |
| Kat: Yes. We practice morning and evening from Monday to Friday. |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):すごーい。月から金まで？(Sugōi. Getsu kara kin made?) |
| Kat: Wow! From Monday to Friday? |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):土日は？(Donichi wa?) |
| Kat: What about the weekend? |
| まどか (Madoka):もちろん、練習するよ。(Mochiron, renshū suru yo.) |
| Kat: Of course they have practice. |
| ケント (Kento):え？うそ！？ほんと？(E? Uso!? Honto?) |
| Kat: What? No way! Really? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Kat: So they have practice every day of the week then? |
| Naomi: Yep, including the weekend. |
| Kat: Wow! That's a lot of practice... I think even Kent was surprised at the fact that they had to practice on the weekends too. |
| Naomi: I think Japanese clubs and sports teams are pretty strict when it comes to practice. |
| Kat: Yes, I would definitely say so. And not only practice, but the 先輩 (senpai)/後輩 (kōhai), senior-junior relationships are really strict as well. Like, the 後輩 (kōhai) who are younger have to do stuff for the older 先輩 (senpai). So they have to do the dirty work, basically like washing the uniforms, like bringing the drinks to the practice, etc. etc. |
| Naomi: そうね。(Sō ne.) Right, if it's a sports club, they might have to set up for practice or carry around the equipment. |
| Kat: Yeah, I avoided those clubs when I was on study abroad... but did you belong to any sports clubs in high school or university, Naomi-sensei? |
| Naomi: Um… tennis… and ski and snowboard. |
| Kat: Wow, that’s so many. |
| Naomi: But they were not called 部 (bu). 部 (bu) sounds really serious. The clubs I belonged were called サークル (sākuru). サークル (sākuru) means club and it has more relaxed and fun oriented atmosphere. |
| Kat: Ah, so, in English, we only have one word "club", but the word "club" can be translated in two different ways in Japanese. |
| Naomi: Ah… actually 三ですね (san desu ne). Actually, three. There's another one called クラブ (kurabu). |
| Kat: What's the difference between these, do you think? |
| Naomi: Well... It really depends on the school. But 部 (bu) sounds the most serious. クラブ (kurabu) is less serious than 部 (bu). Both 部 (bu) and クラブ (kurabu) usually can get financial support from 学校 (gakkō) or school. But サークル (sākuru) doesn't. Generally speaking, the main purpose of サークル (sākuru) is to have fun. |
| Kat: I see. OK, so now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Kat: The first word we are going to look at is |
| Naomi: 部 (bu) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: club, department, division |
| Naomi: 部 (bu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 部 (bu) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: And next. |
| Naomi: 練習する (renshū suru) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: to practice |
| Naomi: 練習する (renshū suru) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 練習する (renshū suru) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: And next. |
| Naomi: 夕方 (yūgata) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: evening |
| Naomi: 夕方 (yūgata) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 夕方 (yūgata) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: Next. |
| Naomi: すごい (sugoi) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: wow, great, amazing |
| Naomi: すごい (sugoi) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: すごい (sugoi) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: And finally. |
| Naomi: うそ (uso) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: no way! |
| Naomi: うそ (uso) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: うそ (uso) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Kat: So now, let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word we look at is |
| Naomi: すごい (sugoi) |
| Kat: “Wow”, “great”, “amazing.” |
| Naomi: This is a really common word, isn't it? |
| Kat: Definitely. You'll hear it all the time. It's an i-adjective, so it can come before nouns, but it's used just as an exclamation a lot of the time. |
| Naomi: Right. If someone tells you something you find interesting or amazing, you can say… すご～い！(Sugōi!) |
| Kat: Yeah, especially if you are impressed by something. |
| Naomi: そうね。(Sō ne.) Right. Yes, if you say this, it sounds like you are impressed. |
| Kat: And the next word is |
| Naomi: うそ (uso) |
| Kat: “No way!” |
| Naomi: This word literally means "lie." |
| Kat: Right, うそ (uso) is a lie... but, when you say it as an exclamation, like うそ～ (usō), then it's more like "no way!" You can't believe what you have just heard. |
| Naomi: Exactly. You aren't actually calling someone a liar... |
| Kat: Right. It’s like “you, liar!” No, it’s more like “no way!” so don't worry, you aren't saying that what you're hearing is a lie or accusing anyone. It's just the same as saying "no way!" or “you're kidding!" in English. It’s a quite mild expression actually. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) Right, it's pretty casual as well. |
| Kat: Yeah, you really wouldn’t be saying this in a formal situation of any kind, it’s very casual, quite young as well I think actually for young people, うそ (uso). We just learned すごい (sugoi), right? So, you can use すごい (sugoi) if you are impressed by something, and うそ (uso) if you are taken by surprise in a casual situation. |
| Naomi: You could even use them together! うそ～、すごい！！(Usō, sugoi!!) |
| Kat: "No way, that's awesome!" or something like that. And the last word is… |
| Naomi: 部 (bu) |
| Kat: "Club”, “department”, “division." And more than a word, this is more of a suffix, right Naomi-sensei? |
| Naomi: Right. You add it to the end of a word. |
| Kat: In the dialogue, we had the word サッカー部 (sakkābu) which is soccer team, or soccer club. |
| Naomi: The word for soccer, サッカー (sakkā), plus the word for club, 部 (bu). |
| Kat: So what are some other clubs that exist? |
| Naomi: Well, besides the sports clubs, there are also clubs for martial arts. Such as 柔道部 (jūdōbu). |
| Kat: Judo club. |
| Naomi: 空手部 (karatebu) |
| Kat: Karate club. |
| Naomi: And also... ブラスバンド部 (burasu bandobu) |
| Kat: ブラスバンド (burasu bando) is as you might expect as brass band... so, a brass band club! |
| Naomi: There are lots of different kinds of clubs. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Kat: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the particles から (kara), まで (made), and に (ni). First, we'll focus on から (kara) and まで (made), since these two are often used together as a pair. |
| Naomi: Okay, let's start with から (kara) first. |
| Kat: から (kara) is a particle that marks the starting point such as place or time. It is the equivalent to "from" in English. Notice that it comes after the noun you are talking about. Let's give an example. |
| Naomi: 今日 (kyō) means today, and から (kara) means from. So, 今日から (kyō kara) means "from today". |
| Kat: Do you see how the word order is opposite from English? In English, the word "from" comes before the noun, but in Japanese, the particle から (kara) comes after the noun. |
| Naomi: Let's do another one. イギリス (Igirisu) is England, so... イギリスから (Igirisu kara) means "from England". |
| Kat: You might remember the phrase |
| Naomi: [place] から来ました ([place] kara kimashita) |
| Kat: From the earlier Newbie Series, meaning "I'm from [place]". So, |
| Naomi: イギリスから来ました。(Igirisu kara kimashita.) |
| Naomi: "I'm from England." |
| Naomi: So now you know that から (kara) means "from." |
| Kat: And the other particle is...? |
| Naomi: まで (made) |
| Kat: まで (made) marks limitation or extent. It is the equivalent to "until" or "to" in English. |
| Naomi: So, let's use the word 今日 (kyō) again. 今日 (kyō) is today, and まで (made) is until, so 今日まで (kyō made) means "until today." |
| Kat: Again, like から (kara), it comes after the noun. So remember, A から (kara) is "from A", and B まで (made) is "until B." |
| Naomi: Like we mentioned earlier, they are often used together. A から (kara) B まで (made), from A to B. |
| Kat: They were actually used together in the dialogue, weren't they? |
| Naomi: あ、そうですね。(A, sō desu ne.) Right! Kent was talking about soccer practice, and he said… 月曜日から金曜日まで、練習します。(Getsu-yōbi kara kin-yōbi made, renshū shimasu.) |
| Kat: "We practice from Monday to Friday." Let's break down this sentence. |
| Naomi: 月曜日から (getsu-yōbi kara) |
| Kat: From Monday. |
| Naomi: 金曜日まで (kin-yōbi made) |
| Kat: To Friday. |
| Naomi: 練習します (renshū shimasu) |
| Kat: We practice. |
| Naomi: 月曜日から金曜日まで、練習します。(Getsu-yōbi kara kin-yōbi made, renshū shimasu.) |
| Kat: "We practice from Monday to Friday." How about another example? |
| Naomi: Hmm.. if the practice was from 7 to 9, you could say… ７時から９時まで練習します。(Shichi-ji kara ku-ji made renshū shimasu.) |
| Kat: “We practice from 7 until 9.” Let's break this down too. |
| Naomi: ７時から (shichi-ji kara) |
| Kat: From 7. |
| Naomi: ９時まで (ku-ji made) |
| Kat: Until 9. |
| Naomi: 練習します (renshū shimasu) |
| Kat: We practice. |
| Naomi: ７時から９時まで練習します。(Shichi-ji kara ku-ji made renshū shimasu.) |
| Kat: “We practice from 7 until 9.” |
| Naomi: Did everyone get that? |
| Kat: So one more time, the word for "from" is... |
| Naomi: から (kara) |
| Kat: And the word for “to” or "until" is... |
| Naomi: まで (made) |
| Kat: Great. Now, let's move on to the particle に (ni). The particle に (ni) indicates movement toward the place. It's similar to the preposition "to" in English. |
| Naomi: It's often used with the verbs 行く (iku) |
| Kat: To go. |
| Naomi: 来る (kuru) |
| Kat: To come. |
| Naomi: 入る (hairu) |
| Kat: To enter, etc. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Kat: The pattern for using this particle is [place] plus に (ni) plus the verb. |
| Naomi: Right. So it comes after the place you are talking about. |
| Kat: Let's show an example. |
| Naomi: Okay. 明日、東京に行く。(Ashita, Tōkyō ni iku.) |
| Kat: "I'm going to Tokyo tomorrow." Let's break this down. |
| Naomi: 明日 (ashita) |
| Kat: Tomorrow. |
| Naomi: 東京 (Tōkyō) |
| Kat: Tokyo. |
| Naomi: に (ni) |
| Kat: To. |
| Naomi: 行く (iku) |
| Kat: Go. |
| Naomi: 明日、東京に行く。(Ashita, Tōkyō ni iku.) |
| Kat: "I'm going to Tokyo tomorrow." So, how was に (ni) used in the dialogue? |
| Naomi: ケント君はサッカー部に入るの？(Kento-kun wa sakkābu ni hairu no?) |
| Kat: "Kent, you're joining the soccer club?" So here, soccer is not a place obviously, but we use に (ni) because we are using the verb 入る (hairu), "to enter", which almost always takes に (ni). |
| Naomi: That's right. サッカー部に入る (sakkābu ni hairu), literally, to enter the soccer club. To join the soccer club. |
| Kat: Oh, and we didn't have time to cover it in this lesson, but we will go over how to create a question with the particle は (wa) in the Lesson Notes. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) This was in the dialogue, so make sure to read the explanation so that you can fully understand. |
Outro |
| Kat: And that's about all we got time for, for this lesson! |
| Naomi: Thanks for listening everyone. ありがとうございます。(Arigatō gozaimasu.) |
| Kat: Until next time! |
| Naomi: じゃまた！(Ja mata!) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):じゃ、ケント君はサッカー部に入るの？(Ja, Kento-kun wa sakkābu ni hairu no?) |
| ケント (Kento):はい。入ります。(Hai. Hairimasu.) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):毎朝、練習するの？(Maiasa, renshū suru no?) |
| ケント (Kento):はい。月曜日から金曜日まで朝と夕方、練習します。(Hai. Getsu-yōbi kara kin-yōbi made asa to yūgata, renshū shimasu.) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):すごーい。月から金まで？(Sugōi. Getsu kara kin made?) |
| お母さん (o-kā-san):土日は？(Donichi wa?) |
| まどか (Madoka):もちろん、練習するよ。(Mochiron, renshū suru yo.) |
| ケント (Kento):え？うそ！？ほんと？(E? Uso!? Honto?) |
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