Lesson Dialogues
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* Hover over or tap words to see definitions:
Situation 1
Yamada-san is asking questions to a junior, Sato-san, while showing Sato-san a flyer for a restaurant.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
佐藤さんは、その店を知っていますか？
A はい
B いいえ
山田：ちょっといい？
佐藤：はい。何ですか？
山田：この店知ってる？
佐藤：はい。
山田：ほんと？場所分かる？
佐藤：はい。すぐそこですよ。
Situation 2
It’s Yu-kun's birthday today. Yu-kun and his mother are talking at home.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
ゆうは、____のを食べたい。
A おいしい
B 小さい
C かわいい
D 大きい
母：今日、ケーキ作ろうか。
ゆう：ほんと？
母：うん。どんなの食べたい？
ゆう：すごい大きいの！
母：分かった。じゃあ大きいの作ろう。
Situation 3
Aki-san and Emi-san are talking while studying together.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
アキは、もう少し____。
A 教えてみる
B 分かっている
C 考えてみる
D 知りたくない
アキ：この問題分かんない。
エミ：どの問題?
アキ：これ。エミはできた？
エミ：うん。教えようか？
アキ：いや。もう少し考えてみる。
Situation 4
Saito-san and Kimura-san are talking in their office.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
斉藤さんは、スマホを持っていますか？
A はい
B いいえ
斉藤：スマホ買おうかな。
木村：え、持ってないんですか？
斉藤：うん。今まで必要なくて。
木村：へー。私、考えられません。スマホないの。
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.
スマホ買かおうかな
i translated this to “let’s buy smartphones”
is it only the かな at the end that let you know it’s essentially (let’s me) buy a new smartphone?
かな here indicates the speaker is wondering and hasn’t decided yet. They might change their mind.
Depending on the tone or context, スマホ買かおうかな can mean:
“I think I’ll buy a smartphone.”
or
“I might buy a smartphone.”
This is the first time I heard of dono. Can dochira be used instead of dono in situation 3?
No, どちら is basically used when you ask which of two things (or people) they are talking about.
And it’s used in a formal situation.
Example:
コーヒーと紅茶があります。どちらにしますか？
- We have coffee and tea. Which would you like?
“どの+noun” is used when asking which noun they are talking about.
先生
Sometimes I see ほんとand somestimes ほんとに both mean really. When do we use each of them?
ほんと is a causal way to say 本当. It’s often used on its own.
※ほんと / 本当 – It’s true. / Really? (in question form)
ほんとに is a casual way to say 本当に. It is usually used with adjectives or adverbs.
※ ほんとに/ 本当に – Indeed, absolutely / Is that so? (in question form)
I don’t want to make you feel confused, but often people omit に when they use 本当に to modify adjectives as well.
本当に素晴らしい ( absolutely beautiful) ⇒ ほんと素晴らしい. (casual)
I’m not sure that makes sense. Feel free to ask if you need more explanation.