Lesson Dialogues
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* Hover over or tap words to see definitions:
Situation 1
Rika and Naoki are talking.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
その映画は____。
A 全然よくなかった
B すごいよかった
C あまりよくなかった
D 少しだけよかった
リカ：最近、何かした？
ナオキ：うん。この前、映画見たよ。
リカ：どこの映画？
ナオキ：日本。すごいよかったよ。
リカ：へぇ、どんな映画？教えて。
Situation 2
Takeru and Keita are talking on the way home from work.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
タケルとケイタは、この後一緒にご飯を食べますか？
A はい
B いいえ
タケル：おつかれ。この後、ご飯どう？
ケイタ：いや。今日は家で食べる。
タケル：そっか。
ケイタ：早く寝たいし。
タケル：じゃ、俺ももう帰ろう。
Situation 3
Tanaka-san and Kimura-san are talking at the library.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
木村さんは、____英語が分かる。
A 今日は
B この後
C この前
D 少しだけ
田中：何読んでるんですか？
木村：英語の本です。
田中：英語、分かるんですね。
木村：少しだけ。仕事で使うんで。
田中：そうなんですね。
Situation 4
At the company, Sato-san started talking to Takada-san, who was about to leave to do sales.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
高田さんは、今時間がありますか？
A はい
B いいえ
佐藤：今、時間ありますか？
高田：ごめんなさい。会社出る所なんです。
佐藤：話したい事があって。
高田：後で電話します！
佐藤：分かりました。
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Step 3 - Writing Exercises (Optional)
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Hi, I have a question.
In “話はなしたい事ことがあって”, what’s the nuance for using “あって” instead of “あります”?
I’ve answered a similar question in somewhere, but when a sentence ends with て, the sentence is uncompleted. It suggests the speaker omit the rest part of the sentence since it’s obvious.
The full sentence should be:
話したいことがあって、時間を作ってほしいんです。
– I have something I need to talk to you about, and I would like you to make time for me.
You can also say:
話したいことがあるんです, which sound more natural since んです here implies “That’s why I’d like you to hear it.”
んです has several usages, and here it is used to claim something.
You could say 話したいことがあります, but it’s just telling the fact.
It focuses on telling the other what you’d like to say, than asking them to hear it.
When someone says it, we’d think it might be serious and feel a bit nervous.
I think I asked the other similar question too 😅. I’m trying to understand the cultural aspect of the language where a lot of things are omitted or left unsaid.
Is it a similar situation for when you get lost at the station you often would say 〇〇に行きたいんですが and implies “but I don’t know the direction to go the place I want to go”?
Ah, no, sorry. That’s not what I meant. I meant I thought I answered a similar question by another member. I just meant it may be one of the things people have difficulty understanding.
It’s totally okay to ask similar questions many times.
> Is it a similar situation for when you get lost at the station you often would say 〇〇に行きたいんですが and implies “but I don’t know the direction to go the place I want to go”?
ー Yes. The full sentence should be:
〇〇に行きたいんですが、どう行けばいいのか分からないんです。
I want to go to 00, but I don’t know how to get there.
※ xxxんですが implies “I would like to do xxx, but (/so) I need information or help to do that.”
Does it make sense?
先生 in situation 4 “会社出る所なんです” the word for word translation seems strange ” company leave place”. As causal form remove the particle, if I put in the particle, is it 会社を出る? which makes sense.Then what is the purpose of 所?
Yes, you can say 会社を出るところなんです。
Japanese people sometimes omit some particles in conversation.
For ところ please take a look at the below. It explains a lot with many examples!
https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%81%A8%E3%81%93%E3%82%8D-tokoro-meaning/
I hope this helps!
分りました.
Now it makes sense. Also I always thought 所 means place or location but it has another meaning “about to” which is place after plain verb. So 出る所 means about to leave.
先生ありがとうございます
Great! tokoro was a bit tricky,isn’t it?
You are always welcome! keep up your good work!
It’s interesting that “about” in English can also be used about a place or location, so it goes both ways there as well. “He’s around and about”.