Lesson Dialogues
Situation 1
Tanaka-kun and his friend Sato-kun are talking.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
田中くんは、映画に行きますか？
A はい
B いいえ
田中：土曜日は何するの？
佐藤：朝、町に行くよ。
田中：夜は何するの？
佐藤：夜は映画を観るよ。
田中：いいね。
佐藤：田中くんは何するの？
田中：海で遊ぶよ。
Situation 2
In the evening, Rina got a phone call from her mother.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
リナは、____が終わった。
A 仕事
B ご飯
C 学校
D ラーメン
母：学校終わった？
リナ：終わったよ！
母：何時に帰る？
リナ：6時に帰るね。
母：ご飯何食べたい？
リナ：ラーメン！
母：じゃあ、ラーメン作るね。
Situation 3
Yamamoto-san and Sato-san, who are colleagues, are talking.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
佐藤さんは、最近、楽しいことがありましたか？
A はい
B いいえ
山本：最近、楽しいことありました？
佐藤：ありましたよ。
山本：へー。何があったんですか？
佐藤：友達とカラオケに行きました。
Situation 4
Yamashita-san and his colleague Ogawa-san are talking in the office.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
小川さんの仕事は、____。
A すごく簡単だ
B 少しだけ大変だ
C 全然問題ない
D 結構大変だ
山下：小川さん、おつかれさまです。
小川：おつかれさまです。
山下：仕事、どうですか？
小川：結構大変です。
山下：なんでですか？
小川：ちょっと問題が多くて。
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.
I wanted to ask when you should use te- form for adjectives.
(I didn’t know adjectives have a te-form.)
When I read the sentence ちょっと問題が多くて。 , the only explanation I have is “in Japanese, people often end their sentences with the te-form”. Could that be right?
Thank you for your question.
So you understand verb + くて, and now wonder how adjective + くて works?
The sentence pattern is: ＜i-adjective＞くて or ＜na-adjective＞で、xxx
It’s used when you want to tell that you can’t do something and its reason.
It’s similar to “so ＜adjective＞ that someone can’t do something.
or “too ＜adjective＞ to do something”
In your example sentence ちょっと問題が多くて. It means “There are a bit too many problems (or questions).”
The full sentence should be, for example:
ちょっと問題が多くて、仕事が終わりません。
ー There are a bit so many problems that I can’t finish the job.
★Here’re some examples to show how it works:
・頭がすごく痛くて、眠れません。
ー My head hurts so much that I can’t sleep.
・この本は難しくて、理解できません。
ー This book is too difficult to understand.
・仕事が忙しくて、旅行できません。
ー I’m too busy with work to travel.
・あの服は高くて、私には買えません。
ー Those clothes are too expensive for me to buy.
※The adjective shows the reason why it’s not possible.
※ You can omit the latter part when it’s obvious.:
Person A: どこにも旅行しないんですか？ Aren’t you going to travel anywhere?
Person B: 仕事が忙しくて。I’m too busy. (to travel)
The person B omits the part 旅行できない (to travel).
Does it make sense?
Feel free to ask if you need further explanation.
Thank you very much! Your explanation helped a lot! Now I do understand adjective + くて better!
Adjective + くて for something you can’t do and its reason.
What would you use, that you can do something and its reason?
I don’t thing adjective + くて can be used like this:
あの服は安くて、私には買えます。 – These clothes are cheap for me to buy.
Ah sorry, I haven’t learned verb + くて yet. Does it work like adjective + くて?
>Now I do understand adjective + くて better!
ー No problem! I’m glad to hear that. 🙂
>あの服は安くて、私には買えます。 – These clothes are cheap for me to buy.
ー No, this sentence doesn’t work that way.
You can say:
・あの服は安いので買えます。(formal, written language)
or
・あの服は安いから買えます。(casual, spoken language)
–Those clothes are cheap enough to buy. (I can buy those clothes because they are cheap.)
>Ah sorry, I haven’t learned verb + くて yet. Does it work like adjective + くて?
ー It’s similar. The difference is, it can express your feeling and its reason.
★＜verb＞くて、xxx(your feeling)
Example:
・友達に会えなくて寂しいです。- I feel lonely because I can’t see my friends.
・問題が解けなくて悔しいです。- I’m frustrated because I can’t answer the question.
Do you see the difference?
Ah, I see! Thank you very much!
From my understanding, adjective/verb + くて works like から and ので but with negative sentences.
友達に会えなくて寂しいです。I think the opposite would be 友達に会えるから嬉しいです。(I’m happy, because I can meat my friends.)
For この本は難しくて、理解できません。I think it would be: この本は簡単ので、理解できます。(This book is easy to understand.)
Close! この本は簡単なので、理解できます。
With na-adjective, you need な or だ to connect with particles.
Examples:
この部屋は静かなので、よく眠れます。(or 静かだから)
- This room is quiet, so I can sleep well.
この部屋はきれいなので、いつでも人を呼べます。(or きれいだから)
- This room is clean and you can always invite people over.
Your understanding is correct. You’re on the right track!
Thank you very much!
Now I understand it better!
No problem! I’m happy if it helped a bit. 🙂
What is the difference between 母 (haha) and お母さん(okaasan)? Thank you for the explanation because I here お母さん pretty often in anime but 母 I have never met before.
The following website explains a lot! https://teamjapanese.com/mother-in-japanese/
Very interesting!!! Thx for the link and context.
You are very welcome! Keep up your good work!
Would the keigo form for the first sentence be “doyoubi wa nani shimasu ka”？I like to convert to/from keigo as an exercise so that I’m used to seeing/hearing it.
That is correct.