Lesson Dialogues
We are going to use a new list of words from this lesson. Therefore, you might see words that you didn’t see in the previous lessons for the same level.
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Situation 1
Aki is talking to her mother while eating breakfast.
アキ:明日は、朝、クロワッサン食べたいな。
Aki: I want to eat croissants tomorrow morning.
明日 tomorrow- クロワッサン croissant
お母さん:明日の朝ごはん?じゃあ、今日、買ってきて。学校から帰るときに、みんなのも。
Mother: For tomorrow's breakfast? Well, go buy them today then. Buy some for everyone too when you're coming home from school.
アキ:分かった。買うお店、私が決めていいよね?
Aki: Got it. It's okay if I decide where to buy them, right?
- 決める to decide; to fix
お母さん:うん、どこのでもいいよ。とにかくおいしいの。
Mother: Yeah, it doesn't matter where you buy them. Just make sure they taste good.
- とにかく anyway; regardless; in any case: とにかく、車は嫌いです。In any case, I don't like cars.
アキ:私、絶対おいしいの食べたいから、買うとこ、決めてる。
Aki: I definitely want to eat tasty ones so I've decided where to buy them.
- 絶対 adj. absolute, definite; adv absolutely, definitely
お母さん:へー、そうなの?
Mother: Oh, have you?
アキ:うん、でも、そこで買うの結構難しいんだよね。
Aki: Yeah, but it's quite difficult to buy them there.
- 難しい difficult; hard
お母さん:なんで難しいの?
Mother: Why is it difficult?
アキ:おいしいとこのは、早くなくなる。学校から帰るときにはもうないかも。
Aki: The store with the tasty croissants sells out quickly. They might be gone by the time I'm coming home from school.
お母さん:へー、すごいね。じゃあ、買えないかもしれないんだね。
Mother: Oh, wow. Well, so you might not be able to buy them after all.
アキ:うん。でも、とにかく一度行ってみるね。行ってみないとわかんないから。
Aki: Yeah. But I'll try going anyway. I won't know if I don't go.
- 一度 once; 一度に at once
- ~と if, when: 外に出ると雨だった。 When I went outside, it was raining; 先生に話すといいよ。It'll be good to talk to the teacher.
お母さん:あるといいね。私も絶対一度食べてみたい。
Mother: I hope the store would still have them. I definitely want to try them once, too.
Situation 2
Aki was able to buy the popular croissants today from the store that often sells out.
アキ:ここの、すごくおいしくて好きなんです。
Aki: The croissants here taste so good and I love them.
店員:そうですか?ありがとうございます。
Store assistant: Oh, really? Thank you.
アキ:今日は買えて嬉しいです。この前は、来た時、もうなくって。
Aki: I'm glad I could buy them today. They were all gone by the time I came here the last time.
- 嬉しい glad; happy
店員:そうでしたか?すみません。はやくなくなる日もあるんです。
Store assistant: Oh, is that so? Sorry about that. They sell out quickly on some days.
- すみません excuse me; I am sorry; thank you; すいません is more colloquial than すみません
アキ:そうなんですね。でも、ここに来ないと状況分からないですよね?
Aki: I see. But I won't know if they are still available unless I come here, right?
- 状況 state of affairs; situation
店員:いえ、電話してもらったらわかります。もし、よかったら。
Store assistant: No, you can find out by calling us, if you want to.
- ~てもらう to get somebody to do something (as a favour): 買い物に行ってもらった。I asked them to go shopping.
- ~たら if, when, after: 終わったら行く。I'll go when I finish; why don't you...?: 勉強したら?Why don't you study?
- もし if; in case; もし雨が降ったら行かない。If it rains, I won't go.
アキ:あ、そうなんですか?電話で状況聞けるんですね。
Aki: Oh, can I? I can call and ask?
店員:はい。先に電話してもらえると嬉しいです。
Store assistant: Yes. It will be great if you can call first.
アキ:もし来る前にわかったらって思ってました。
Aki: I was thinking that it would be nice if I could find out before coming.
- ~って a colloquial form of と; と言う -> って言う (sb/sth says that...), と聞く -> って聞く ( I hear that); ということ -> っていうこと(it means that); I hear: 結婚したんだって。I heard they got married.
店員:電話は03-9876-5432です。このカードに書いてあります。
Store assistant: Our phone number is 03-9876-5432. It's written on this card.
- カード card
- ~てある describes a state resulting from someone's action: お昼ごはん作ってあるよ。I made lunch (and I'm keeping it so that you can eat it.)
アキ:このカード、持って帰っていいですか?
Aki: Is it okay if I bring this card home with me?
店員:もちろんですよ。
Store assistant: Of course.
Step 2 - Take the Quiz
Let's see how many words you remember.
Take the quiz here.
Step 3 - Writing Exercises (Optional)
Let's practice what you learned here.
「店員:いえ、電話してもらったらわかります。もし、よかったら。」
is it a typo? 「いえ」 instead of 「いいえ」?
It’s not a typo. いえ is more common than いいえ in spoken Japanese and it can also be used as in interjection.
Hi!, I have two questions:
1) どこのでも is exactly the same that どこでも?
2) The voice actor of the second recording usually pronounce the final u in です and ~ます. How common is this in daily conversations? Because books usually say we shouldn’t pronounce that u (because of devoicing).
Thank you
どこでも means “anywhere” or “everywhere.”
どこのでも means “something of any place”
の as in どこのでも works as “a thing.”
To be honest, I’m not sure about it.
It’s true many people drop the “u” sound when they try to pronounce “su” or “ku” particularly by people around Tokyo.
I’ve noticed there are more people who pronounce “u” clearly in the Kansai region such as Osaka or Kyoto.
I didn’t know why they instruct you not to pronounce “u”. And I’m not sure how common it is, but pronouncing “u” is not wrong or bad. It’s more like a matter of dialects.
Thank you!
No problem! 🙂