Lesson Dialogues
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Situation 1
Two people who are dating (Takashi and Manami) are talking about their trip.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
1. 二人は旅行に 。
A 行ける
B 行けない
2. タカシの先輩は、何をしましたか？
A 入院
B 旅行
C 仕事
D 計画
タカシ：ごめん。怒らないで聞いて。
Takashi: Sorry. Listen to me without getting mad.
- 怒る to get angry
マナミ：え、何？
Manami: Hmm, what is it?
タカシ：今度の旅行なんだけどさ。行けなくなっちゃった。
Takashi: It's about our upcoming trip. I can't go anymore.
マナミ：え！？なんで？？
Manami: What?! Why not??
タカシ：いや。会社の先輩が、急に入院しちゃってさ。そのせいで、しばらく休みとれなさそうなんだよ。
Takashi: Um, because one of my seniors at work was suddenly hospitalized. And because of that, it seems like I can't take time off from work for some time.
- 先輩 senior; elder
- 急 urgent; sudden; steep; sharp
- 入院 hospitalization, admission to hospital; 入院する to be hospitalized
- せい fault; cause for blame; because of: お母さんのせいで遅刻した。I was late because of my mon. (her fault)
マナミ：えー。なんでタカシの休みがなくなるの？
Manami: What? Why is your time-off request the one that's being denied?
タカシ：しょうがないじゃん。その仕事をできるの、先輩の他には俺だけなんだよ。
Takashi: It can't be helped. I'm the only one who can do that job besides my senior.
- しようがない、しょうがない it can't be helped; nothing can be done
マナミ：なにそれ。休みがないなんて、会社として普通にだめでしょ。
Manami: What on earth? Aren't companies normally not allowed to deny time-off requests?
タカシ：しょうがないよ。先輩が戻ってくるまでは、俺が頑張らないと。旅行はまた今度にしよう。
Takashi: It can't be helped. I'll have to take charge of this until my senior returns. Let's do our trip another time.
マナミ：なんでそんな簡単に決めるの？ほんとひどい！
Manami: How could you make this decision so casually? You're really horrible!
タカシ：そんなに怒らないでよ。おれのせいじゃないんだから。急に入院するなんて、思わないじゃん？
Takashi: Don't be so angry. It's not my fault at all. I wouldn't have known that he would suddenly be hospitalized, no?
マナミ：あーあ。すごい頑張って計画を立てたのになあ。楽しみにしてたのになあ。
Manami: My goodness. I had worked so hard to plan this trip, and I was looking forward to it.
- 計画(を)立てる to make a plan
- 楽しみ pleasure, enjoyment; anticipation; 楽しみにする to look forward to...
タカシ：いやいや。俺もめっちゃ楽しみにしてたんだよ。まあ、また次の計画を立てようよ。
Takashi: I know, I know. I was also looking forward to it so much. Well, let's make some new plans.
Situation 2
Tono-san and Nishiyama-san are talking at their office.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
1. 東京都の何が減ってきていますか？
A 地方
B 人口
C 仕事
D 広い家
2. 東野さんは、年をとったら地方に 。
A 引っ越したい
B 引っ越したくない
東野：最近、都会から地方に引っ越す人が増えてるんだって。
Tono: I heard that more and more people are moving from cities to rural areas these days.
- 都会 city
- 地方 area, district; countryside
- 引っ越す to move (house)
西山：え？逆じゃないんですか？地方から都会に引っ越してくるなら、わかりますけど。
Nishiyama: What? Isn't it the other way around? It’s understandable if they are moving from rural areas to cities, but...
東野：いや、それが違うんだよ。実際、ここしばらく、東京都の人口は減ってきてるよ。
Tono: No, that's not the case. In fact, the population of Tokyo has been declining for a while now.
- 東京都 Tokyo; Tokyo metropolitan area
- 人口 population
- 減る to decrease; to become less
西山：へー。それは知りませんでした！なんでなんですか？
Nishiyama: Wow, I didn't know that! Why is that so?
東野：最近、自分の家で仕事する人、増えてるでしょ？
Tono: More and more people are working from their homes recently, right?
西山：はい。わざわざ職場に行かなくていいらしいですね。
Nishiyama: Yes. It seems like they no longer have to go all the way to their office.
- わざわざ to take the trouble (to do sth); specially; all the way
- 職場 workplace
東野：それなら、わざわざ東京都に住む必要ないじゃん。
Tono: If that's the case, there's no need for them to go out of the way to live in Tokyo.
西山：たしかに、どこでも仕事はできますもんね。自宅にパソコンさえあれば。
Nishiyama: It's true that they can now do their work anywhere, as long as they have a computer at home.
- 自宅 (one's own) home; house
東野：職場の近くに住む必要がなくなった人。そういう人が、東京都から出ていってるんだと思うな。
Tono: I think that people who no longer need to live near their workplace are the ones who are moving out of Tokyo.
西山：なるほど。地方の方が、広い家にも住めますしね。
Nishiyama: I see. They can live in a bigger house in rural areas too.
東野：俺も、いつかは地方に引っ越したいもん。もっと年をとったらさ。
Tono: I also want to move to a rural area someday. Maybe I'll do that when I'm older.
- もの、もん indicates reason or excuse; because
- 年をとる to get older
西山：うーん。それも、悪くないかもしれませんね。
Nishiyama: Hmm. That might not be a bad idea too.
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.
Situation 1, line 3, he said 行いけなくなっちゃった. But in one practice sentence, you told me that ちゃう can seem feminine, and that it did when I used it in my sentence, and I should use しまう instead. What’s different in this sentence that he had to use ちゃう?
Situation 1, line 8, what does として mean? I searched it up but thee were too many definitions.
Why is it that some words are often written with kanji, but then in other sentences they aren’t written with kanji? For example, 俺 and 分かる. Often in the same lesson, they’re sometimes written as 俺 and 分かる and then later they’re written ad おれ and わかる. Why is that?
It may strange to you, but なっちゃった doesn’t sound as feminine as ちゃう.
And なっちゃった is actually the past perfect tense. It’s a casual form of なった.
It literally means “I’ve ended up in a situation where I won’t be able to make it.”
And if you’d like to use ちゃう, you won’t sound so femine if you add a particle such as よ.
として here means “as.” “As a company, they shouldn’t take away their employee’s holiday.”
That’s what a proofreader would point out. I guess it’s the same with spelling inconsistency.
So the inconsistent usage of kanji in those and other words are just typos?
We won’t call it a “typo”.
Some words can be written in three ways: hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
“chair” is one of them: いす、イス and 椅子.
All of them are correct. It’s up to you which one you use, but it’s ideal to keep writing the same way once you choose one of them in a whole post.
But sometimes people forget, so they would write 椅子 in the beginning, and then they might write イス in the middle. If you write something like a report or some official documents, it’s better to avoid using different characters, but it’s not considered wrong or a mistake.
Regarding ちゃう, the team said it doesn’t sound feminine, so please forget what I told about it. I’m sorry for the confusion.
Ah, I see.
So then.. what is the difference between ちゃう and しまう?
ちゃう is a spoken language, and it is used in an informal situation.