Lesson Dialogues
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Situation 1
Takashi's mother is talking to Takashi at home.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
1. 佐藤先生は、 でしばらく休みを取る。
A 病気
B 旅行
C 仕事
D 元気
2. タカシは、佐藤先生とまた勉強が 。
A したい
B したくない
お母さん：タカシ、学校からメールが来てたよ。
- メール e-mail; メールする to e-mail
タカシ：お母さんにメール？何があったの？
- (お)母さん mother; mom
お母さん：佐藤先生が病気だって。
- 病気 sickness; illness; disease
タカシ：えー！佐藤先生、病気なの？
お母さん：そうみたい。それでしばらく休みを取るらしいよ。
- しばらく for a while; for a minute; for a long time
タカシ：佐藤先生、お休みするのかー。
お母さん：うん。それで先生が休みのあいだは、別の先生が来てくれるんだって。
- 間、あいだ distance, space (between), period; 間に during, while: 寝てる間に電話があった。I had a call while I was asleep.
タカシ：そっか。心配だな。佐藤先生、はやく元気になるといいな。
- 心配 adj. anxious, worried; n. anxiety, worry, care; 心配する to worry, to be anxious
- 元気 n. health, vigor; adj. lively, vigorous; adv. well
お母さん：タカシが心配する気持ちは、お母さんもよくわかるよ。
タカシ：しばらくのあいだ、佐藤先生には会えないんだな。
お母さん：そうだね。でも、先生はまた元気になるから。戻ってくるまでしばらく待とう。
タカシ：わかった。佐藤先生とまた勉強したいな。
Situation 2
Shirota-san and Aoyama-san are talking about Shirota-san's painting.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
1. 白田さんは、何の絵を描いていますか？
A 動物
B 木
C 海
D 川
2. あと1日で、作品は 。
A 終わる
B 終わらない
白田：今、絵を描き始めたところなんです。青山さん、ちょっと見てもらえますか？
- 絵 picture; painting; drawing
- 描く to draw; to paint
青山：いいですよ。これは、海の絵ですか？
白田：そうなんです。
青山：海の色がとってもきれいですね。
- 色 color
- とても、とっても very; とっても is often stronger than とても
白田：ありがとうございます。色には力を入れてます。
- 力を入れる to put an effort into...
青山：これを描くのに、どのくらいかかったんですか？
- どのくらい、どれくらい how long; how far; how much: どれくらい食べた？How much did you eat?
白田：昨日始めたので、まだ1日です。
青山：そうなんですね。あとどのくらい描けば、この作品は終わるんですか？
- 描けば conditional form of 描く: ごはん食べれば元気になるよ！You will get better when you eat; if: 行けば分かる。You'll understand if you go; why don't you?: だったら行けば。Then, why don't you go.
- 作品 work; production
白田：たぶん、あと3日くらいで終わりそうです。
青山：そうですか。この作品ができたら、また見せてくださいよ。
- 見せる to show; to let see
- ～てください please _: 食べてください。Please eat.
白田：もちろん、できたらすぐに電話しますよ。もっときれいになった海を見せますね。
Step 2 - Take the Quiz
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Step 3 - Writing Exercises (Optional)
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Hi, how does “あとどのくらい描けば” translate to “How much longer”?
I read it sort of as “remainder how long (when/if) to draw” and it doesn’t really make sense in my head.
How would the conditional ba form be translated?
Thank you!
Not a teacher but, I’ll take a stab at it.
あと＝ after/finished (given context) どのくらい = how long; how far; how much/how long will it take (given context) and 描けば = conditional form in this case I read as “you will finish” or “you’ll finish” (given the context) so I put it together as “How long will it take until you will finish?” “How long until you finish?” or as it’s translated How much longer do you need to paint to finish this work?
Thank you very much for the explanation! I really appreciate it
No problem. If I got anything wrong Hana-sensei or Ladd-sensei can correct it.
I’m sorry for the late response. I was not assigned to this question, but since I’ve noticed it, I should add a little thing.
あと itself means “another”, “left” or “remaining.”
Pardon me if I don’t choose the right English words for it, but it’s like:
ex. あと１つ ー one thing left, one more thing
締め切りまで、あと３日です。
ー There are now only three days to go until the deadline.
コースを終えるのに、あと２年かかります。
ー It will take me another two years to finish the course.
2021年の終わりまで、あと４ヵ月あります。
ー Four months are remaining in 2021.
But, you did a wonderful job explaining it. I’m impressed!
And that’s a good question, bboycobolt954!
Thank you Hana sensei!
No problem! I just added a tiny thing, but I hope it helped a bit.
Ah so rather than finish which now that I think about it would be 終わる. I Probably should have double checked あと but was going off memory.
あとどのくらい “How much left, how long left” 描けば “you will draw” “if you draw” = “How much left do you need to draw?”
Though I do like how even getting a word’s meaning wrong though they are very similar, I was sill able to translate it it from the meaning of the other words.
Your understanding is correct. Actually, that was my interpretation, too, when I first read the sentence.
But judging from 白田’s reply, 青山’s line should’ve been:
あとどれくらいで、この作品は終わるんですか？
This question is asking how many days will 白田 need more to finish her painting.
To be honest, I’m not really sure how to explain it well in English, so I need your help.
The important thing is, this あと usage is used when something is on the way.
Supposing one of my friends asked me to climb Mt.Fuji the other day.
It was my first time climbing it.
At the starting point, I asked her,
頂上まで、どれくらいかかる？”How long will it take to reach the summit of it?”
Then, after climbing about a couple of hours, I asked her,
頂上まで、あと どれくらいかかる？
Here, I asked her how many more hours I would have to keep on climbing to reach the summit. That’s how あと works.
I can only add あと between the starting point and the goal (the summit), and talk about how many (or much) something is left.
Does it make sense?
Yes.
In English we would use the word “further” when it comes to asking for distance or time related to going from X to Y while in the intermediary. “Further is defined as something that is additional or more, as well as referring to distance. It is used when there is no knowledge of the actual physical or time difference.” “How further do we need to go to reach X?” However this is mostly for movement and not when you asking how much left needs to be done to complete something. In which case you’d ask “how much longer until X is finished?” So maybe longer is a better word comparison for あと since it’s used in a intermediary state and is asking for how further/longer something is. Note that, longer can also be used for distance. Hence the famous saying from children everywhere stuck on a long car trip “How much longer is it?”
On a grammatic note, there is also “farther” but “The most common quick answer is usually something along the lines of “farther is for physical distance and further is for figurative distance.” As is often the case, however, simple rules run into the buzzsaw of actual usage.” So much like most English, there are no rules and it’s all whatever is used most often.
Hope that helped in some way.
Yes, so あとどれくらいかかる？ means “How much longer is it?”.
And the difference between English and Japanese here is: you focus on “further” in English , and we focus on “remain” or “left” to reach the goal. It’s interesting.
By saying I need your help, I meant I wanted you to fill the gap for yourself if my explanation is not understandable because of my English, but thank you for the detailed explanation. I really appreciate it.
It’s probably due to the fact Japanese doesn’t have future tense does it? It has past and present and the context can make a present tense be future tense but you don’t have future tense outright while English does. Longer and Further would be future based words.
Ah, sorry, I thought you were asking for what the best English equivalent would be for future explanations.
That’s an interesting opinion. I’ve never seen it that way, but maybe you’re right. I thought how we see time and distance may be different, but the lack of future form may affect it.
No, no. I’m sorry I was vague. Your explanation is really helpful for me and for future explanations. Thank you again!