Lesson Dialogues
Situation 1
Kento is talking with his friend Takeshi.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
ケントは____店を知っている。
A 新しい
B 面白い
C おいしい
D すごい
ケント：今日、もうご飯食べた？
タケシ：ううん、まだ食べてないな。
ケント：じゃあ、ラーメン食べようよ！
タケシ：いいね、行こう。
ケント：おいしい店、知ってるんだ。
Situation 2
At school, Takeshi is talking to the teacher about their city.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
先生はこの街が好きですか？
A はい
B いいえ
タケシ：先生、この街好きですか？
先生：まあ好きかな。
タケシ：なんでですか？
先生：海がきれいだからね。
タケシ：確かに、僕もそう思います。
Situation 3
Sayaka is talking to his senior at the office.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
新しい映画の____はよかった。
A 音楽
B 海
C 街
D 店
サヤカ：新しい映画観ました？
先輩：この前観たよ。
サヤカ：面白かったですか？
先輩：そんなにだった。
サヤカ：え、本当ですか？
先輩：音楽はよかったけどね。
Situation 4
A senior and Takeshi are talking at their part-time job.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
タケシは英語をしゃべれますか？
A はい
B いいえ
先輩：日曜日はどこに行った？
タケシ：友達の家に行きました。
先輩：へー、遊んだんだ。
タケシ：いえ、英語を教えたんです。
先輩：へぇ。英語しゃべれるの？
タケシ：はい。
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.
In skit 3, Sayaka is talking to his senior at the office, Senpai says そんなにだった – which I read as “As much as that (そんなに), it was so (だった). However, the translation says “Not really” – Is this a set phrase to mean “not really” or is it something that I have judge by context of the previous sentences?
そんなにだった means “Not that much.”
※ そんなに ー “not that much” (when it’s negative )
※ だった ー was (the past form of だ.)
The whole sentence should be:
そんなに面白くなかった。ー It wasn’t that entertaining.
And the speaker omitted the part 面白い since it’s understood by both sides.
If the speaker found the movie was not bad. He can say:
まあまあだった。ー “Not bad.” “It was okay.”
※まあまあ ー so-so, not bad, okay
The whole sentence should be まあまあ面白かった.
Does it make sense?
Thank you for the explanation. That was very helpful!
No problem! I’m glad to hear that. 🙂
I am still not quite getting this. How do we know そんあに is negative? It looks like he is affirming that the movie is entertaining. If I ask, おいしいですか? And someone replies, そんあにです, do3s that mean the food is not that good? What if they say そんあにじゃないんです?
It’s そんなに not そんあに.
As I explained there’s a missing part in this phrase.
The full sentence should be そんなに面白くなかった.
そんなにxxxなかった is the past form of そんなにxxxない.
And そんなにxxxない is a negative form, which means “not so xxx” or “not xxx that much.”
>If I ask, おいしいですか? And someone replies, そんなにです, do3s that mean the food is not that good?
That’s right. But there are more common ways to say in that case.
For example そうでもない (Not really).
>What if they say そんあにじゃないんです?
I don’t think we say そんなにじゃない. It doesn’t make sense.
People could say そんなに面白くなかったです with a full sentence.
Thank you. Let me check my understanding. There is an unspoken negation. A ~ない/なかった is present without being heard. That’s why I couldn’t parse it. Is that about right?
I mispoke. The entire adjectival phrase is omitted: そんなに(面白くなかった)です。Then I geuss the tense gets moved to the copula? そんなにだった。I studied linguistics at uni; I can just imagine the volumes of papers this might have generated.
Yes, you understand it very well.
だった can express the speaker is talking about how they felt in the past.
Actually, そんなにです／そんなにだった is slang and not very smart way to say. But I guess it’s no harm you learn it since some people say that.