Lesson Dialogues
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Situation 1
Taro-san has come to buy a car for the first time.
タロウ：車を買うの、初めてです。いろいろ教えてくれませんか？
タロウ：車(くるま)を買(か)うの、初(はじ)めてです。いろいろ教(おし)えてくれませんか？
Taro: This is my first time buying a car. Can you explain things to me?
- 車(くるま) car; wheel
- 初(はじ)めて for the first time; first
- 教(おし)える to teach; to tell
店員：初めてですか？もちろんです。どんな車がいいでしょう。
店員(てんいん)：初(はじ)めてですか？もちろんです。どんな車(くるま)がいいでしょう。
Employee: It's your first time? Of course, I can. What kind of car are you looking for? (What kind of car would be good for you?)
- もちろん of course; needless to say
タロウ：ありがとうございます。あ、あの車、いい感じですね。
タロウ：ありがとうございます。あ、あの車(くるま)、いい感(かん)じですね。
Taro: Thank you. Ah, that car looks nice.
店員：あの車は、アメリカの車です。
店員(てんいん)：あの車(くるま)は、アメリカの車(くるま)です。
Employee: That is an American car.
- アメリカ The United States of America; America: 南(みなみ)アメリカ South America
タロウ：へー、アメリカの車ですか？形がとてもいいですね。これは、日本の車ですか？
タロウ：へー、アメリカの車(くるま)ですか？形(かたち)がとてもいいですね。これは、日本(にほん)の車(くるま)ですか？
Taro: Oh, an American car? The shape is very nice. Is this one a Japanese car?
店員：はい。これは、日本の車です。
店員(てんいん)：はい。これは、日本(にほん)の車(くるま)です。
Employee: Yes. This is a Japanese car.
タロウ：これも、僕の好きな形です。でも、やっぱり、最初の車の方が好きです。
タロウ：これも、僕(ぼく)の好(す)きな形(かたち)です。でも、やっぱり、最初(さいしょ)の車(くるま)の方(ほう)が好(す)きです。
Taro: I like the shape of this one as well. But I still like the first car more.
- 方(ほう) direction; way; side; 方(ほう) is also used to make a comparison: 日本(にほん)よりカナダの方(ほう)が大(おお)きい。Compared to Japan, Canada is bigger; 日本(にほん)のほうがいい Japan is better
店員：そうですか。実際に、乗ってみますか？
店員(てんいん)：そうですか。実際(じっさい)に、乗(の)ってみますか？
Employee: I see. Would you like to try driving it?
タロウ：えー、いいんですか？一度、乗ってみたかったんです。
タロウ：えー、いいんですか？一度(いちど)、乗(の)ってみたかったんです。
Taro: Really? Is that okay? I wanted to try driving it once.
- 一度(いちど) once; 一度(いちど)に at once
店員：もちろんです。一度、こちらに来てくれますか？私が教えます。
店員(てんいん)：もちろんです。一度(いちど)、こちらに来(き)てくれますか？私(わたし)が教(おし)えます。
Employee: Of course. Could you come this way? I will teach you.
- こちら this place; here; this way; this; extra polite version of こっち
Situation 2
Jun and Jun's mother are speaking in the morning.
母：おはよう、ジュン。
母(はは)：おはよう、ジュン。
Mother: Good morning, Jun.
ジュン：おはよう。今日は、友達と遊びに行ってくるね。
ジュン：おはよう。今日(きょう)は、友達(ともだち)と遊(あそ)びに行(い)ってくるね。
Jun: Good morning. I'm going to hang out with a friend today, okay?
- 今日(きょう) today
- 遊(あそ)ぶ to play; to enjoy oneself; to meet up (with friends), to hang out
母：え、どこに行くの？
母(はは)：え、どこに行(い)くの？
Mother: Huh? Where are you going?
ジュン：東京だよ。友達と二人で東京に行くんだけど。でも、すぐ帰るよ。なんで？
ジュン：東京(とうきょう)だよ。友達(ともだち)と二人(ふたり)で東京(とうきょう)に行(い)くんだけど。でも、すぐ帰(かえ)るよ。なんで？
Jun: Tokyo. I'm going with a friend to Tokyo. But I'll come back soon. Why?
- 東京(とうきょう) Tokyo
- なぜ、なんで why; how come
母：なんでって･･･東京に行くの？でも今日、水曜日だよ。学校があるでしょう？
母(はは)：なんでって･･･東京(とうきょう)に行(い)くの？でも今日(きょう)、水曜日(すいようび)だよ。学校(がっこう)があるでしょう？
Mother: Why... You're going to Tokyo? But it's Wednesday today. You have school, no?
- 学校(がっこう) school
- ～でしょう isn't it?, right?; I guess that... , it seems that...; 私(わたし)、お金(かね)ないでしょ？ You know I don't have money, right?
ジュン：水曜日は、学校が終わるの、はやいんだよ。
ジュン：水曜日(すいようび)は、学校(がっこう)が終(お)わるの、はやいんだよ。
Jun: On Wednesdays, school gets out early.
- 早(はや)い early; soon; 速(はや)い fast
母：終わってから、行くの？
母(はは)：終(お)わってから、行(い)くの？
Mother: You're going after it gets out?
ジュン：うん。学校が終わってから、遊びに行くね。
ジュン：うん。学校(がっこう)が終(お)わってから、遊(あそ)びに行(い)くね。
Jun: Yeah. I'll go hang out after school.
- うん yes; yeah
母：わかった。じゃあ、家に帰るの、夜になりそう？
母(はは)：わかった。じゃあ、家(いえ)に帰(かえ)るの、夜(よる)になりそう？
Mother: Okay. So you won't come home until evening?
- じゃ、じゃあ well, so, then; colloquial form of では; だったら
- 夜(よる) night; evening
- ～そう seeming that…; appearing that…: 元気(げんき)なさそうだね。You don't seem well; 明日(あす)までにできそう？Can you do it by tomorrow?; almost
ジュン：うーん、わからない。夜になりそうかな。でも、はやく帰るよ。
ジュン：うーん、わからない。夜(よる)になりそうかな。でも、はやく帰(かえ)るよ。
Jun: Well, I don't know. It might be the evening. But I won't come back late.
母：わかった。帰る時、必ず電話してね。
母(はは)：わかった。帰(かえ)る時(とき)、必(かなら)ず電話(でんわ)してね。
Mother: Okay. Make sure to call me when you start heading home.
- 必(かなら)ず always; certainly; surely
- 電話(でんわ) telephone, call; 電話(でんわ)する to call (on the phone)
ジュン：うん、わかった。必ず電話するよ。じゃあ、学校に行ってくるね。
ジュン：うん、わかった。必(かなら)ず電話(でんわ)するよ。じゃあ、学校(がっこう)に行(い)ってくるね。
Jun: Okay. I'll make sure to call you. Now, I'm off to school.
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Well, I understood about 95% of both so guess I am improving. I only didn’t understand the last sentence of situation 1, and I forgot what 乗(の)ってみますか meant but could assume it meant drive as in test driving a car.
For situation to I wasn’t exactly sure if she was saying that school was closed that day or along those lines but by the end of the conversation I surmised she meant after school, an after reading it again with the translations I was close in that she meant school closed early that day so she would go after school.
Sort of amazing how much you can assume by knowing most of the words in a conversation and how not knowing a single word in a sentence can change the meaning quite a bit.
95% sounds great. You should be proud of yourself.
Yes, タロウ says he prefers the first car that he noticed, and the clerk says she helps タロウ try a test drive.
As for situation 2, ジュン explains school is over earlier on Wednesdays (they have fewer classes) by saying 水曜日は.
Exactly. The more you read, the better and the more deeply you can understand them.
And you’re doing a great job.
「明日(あす)までにできそう？ Can you do it by tomorrow?; almost」
is there a way to know if 明日 is read as あす or あした?
or you simply dont know and have to wait until the speaker says that when he writes 明日 he means it is あす or it is あした?
Yes, but we basically use them as follows:
あした is used in everyday conversation and informal situations.
あす is often used in business and formal situations.
But あした can be used in an office when they speak casually.
明日 also reads as みょうにち, which is very polite and is used in a formal situation, too.
Is it okay if I ask questions here about Japanese that don’t have anything to do with the lessons? I just started using Chatpad to speak with Japanese people, but there are certain things I need to know how to say in Japanese. I dont really know where else to ask how to say those things. I’d rather not ask English speakers who learned Japanese since their answers might be wrong, and asking Japanese people who dont know English will obviously not work. May I ask here?
Hi Mark, thank you for your question.
For general questions, please ask them in our Facebook group so that everybody can benefit from your questions. We will also try our best to help you. Since most people ask questions related to the lessons, we are still figuring out how much we can answer more general questions. So please go ahead and try. We will figure this out together.
To Mark. I think なんで? is the same as the English expression ‘Why do you ask?’ placed at the end of a sentence.
Thanks for your explanation 🙂
さわこ先生、your explanation of くれませんか for Bboy was the best I have seen. I knew you could ask in the negative form, but I didn’t understand why until now. Thank you.
Oh, thank you 🙂 That’s music to my ears 😉
Hmm.. I think I understand.
🙂 Let me know if you have any further questions 😉
I don’t understand “すぐ帰るよ。なんで？” The translation says “But I’ll come back. Why?” I don’t understand why she said “why.” We don’t really say anything like this in English, at least not that I know of. But apparently it is something that’s said in Japanese, so simply translating it to English is.. not too helpful, since it isn’t understood in English.
Japanese young people say “なんで?” quite often to ask “Why did you ask that question?”. And I think this “なんで?” implies that a speaker wants to emphasize that there is nothing wrong with what she/he is going to do/has done. It also sounds like “It’s not your business.” or “It doesn’t matter to you”.
Seeing this dialogue is quite funny to me because I used to have a similar conversation with my parents when I was younger.
Me: 今晩、飲みに行くから、夜ご飯いらない。
[I’ｍ going out for drinks tonight so I’m not eating dinner at home.]
My mum: えっ、だれと?
[Huh? Who are you going with?]
Me: 大学の時の友達だけど、なんで？
[With my friends from uni but why did you ask that?](At the same time, I thought my mum had wanted to ask if there were any boys coming when she had asked “えっ、だれと?”. And I was like “Why do I have to tell her every time who I’m gonna drink with?”)
In the 1st situation 1st line, I am confused about the last verb in the sentence. いろいろ教(おし)えて(くれません)か？Isn’t the “くれません” a polite way of saying to not give when you are the reciever?
In the 1st situation 7th line, how does やっぱり play a role in the sentence? I think of it as, I knew it so would that be a bad translation?
For the 2nd situation 2nd sentence, could 行(い)って be dropped? 遊ぶ means to meet up or to hang out, so why is 行(い)って there when it means to go (somewhere)?
In situation 2 in the 10th line, what does なり mean? I see on jisho that it means:
-or something
-for instance (there are better things out there)
-or
but none of them really fit this situation or translation I think. Could you elaborate?
Thank you for the help so far!
>In the 1st situation 1st line, I am confused about the last verb in the sentence. いろいろ教(おし)えて(くれません)か？Isn’t the “くれません” a polite way of saying to not give when you are the reciever?
→In Japanese, negative forms are often used to show respect for listeners while keeping the positive meaning of a sentence. In this case, you could say “いろいろ教えてくれますか?” not using a negative form. So, then what’s the difference between these two expressions? That’s the level of politeness. Take a look at the following explanation.
いろいろ教えてくれませんか?：
This question is in a negative form. It is based on that the request will be rejected and therefore the person who has received this request wouldn’t feel like he/she is forced to answer “Yes, sure”. So, the question doesn’t sound pushy and thus this expression is more polite than “いろいろ教えてくれますか?”.
いろいろ教えてくれますか?： The person who has received this request would find it difficult to decline the request if he/she doesn’t feel like it because he/she knows the person who has asked expects him/her to accept the request.
>In the 1st situation 7th line, how does やっぱり play a role in the sentence? I think of it as, I knew it so would that be a bad translation?
→やっぱり can be translated as “I knew it”, “I thought so”, “I figured”, or “That’s what I thought” depending on the context. I think, in this context, “after all” is the best translation.
>For the 2nd situation 2nd sentence, could 行(い)って be dropped? 遊ぶ means to meet up or to hang out, so why is 行(い)って there when it means to go (somewhere)?
→Technically, you could say “友達と遊ぶね (I’m hanging out with my friends)” instead of “友達と遊びに行ってくるね。” but there is a difference in meaning between these two sentences.
友達と遊びに行ってくるね。: I’m hanging out with my friends and coming back
>>> Verb Te-form + くる：to go do something… and then come back
友達と遊ぶね。: I’m hanging out with my friends.
>In situation 2 in the 10th line, what does なり mean? I see on jisho that it means:
-or something
-for instance (there are better things out there)
-or
but none of them really fit this situation or translation I think. Could you elaborate?
→ なり comes from the verb なる (to become).
家に帰るのは、夜になる It will be this evening/tonight for me to come home.
Thank you so much for taking the time to explain! ありがとうございます!
どういたしまして 😉