Lesson Dialogues
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* Hover over or tap words to see definitions:
Situation 1
On Sunday morning, Rika called her friend Naoki.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
ナオキは今、____。
A ご飯を食べていた
B 仕事をしていた
C 歩いていた
D 寝ていた
リカ：ナオキ？今、何してた？
ナオキ：寝てた。
リカ：え？今まで？
ナオキ：そうだけど。
リカ：もう１０時だよ？
ナオキ：いいじゃん。今日、日曜日だし。
Situation 2
The father and mother are choosing a birthday cake for their daughter.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
面白いケーキにしますか？
* ケーキ cake
A はい
B いいえ
母：どれがいいかな？
父：これ、どう？面白い感じ。
母：面白くなくていいよ。普通で。
父：そっか。じゃあ、これ？
母：それがいいね。
Situation 3
At the company, Matsui-san is talking to her subordinate Yamada-san about today's dinner.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
山田さんは今日の夜、ステーキにしますか？
A はい
B いいえ
松井：うち、ステーキなんだ。今日の夜。
山田：へー、いいじゃないですか！
松井：山田さんは？ご飯、何にするの？
山田：まだ考えてないです。
Situation 4
Matsui-san is talking with her neighbor, Ohnishi-san.
Comprehension Quiz (Skip if you don't understand the conversation yet)
松井さんは、____車がいい。
A 高い
B 安い
C 大きい
D 小さい
松井：車、新しくしたくて。
大西：どんな車がいいんです？
松井：大きいのがいいです。
大西：そうなんですか。
松井：はい。子供がみんな乗れるくらい。
Step 2 - Take the Quiz
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Take the quiz here.
Step 3 - Writing Exercises (Optional)
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大おおきいのがいいです。In these sentence, in situation 4, がい is pronounced ない, I noticed it also in a lesson before. Why?
It’s not pronounced as ない.
It’s clearly pronounced as の-が-い-い. However, it’s possible that you might hear the のがい part as a single sound, similar to な, especially when spoken quickly.
I seen a video on this from Kaname on youtube, I believe its because the “g” sound is often a nasalized velar nasal sound (like the “ng” in “singer”) when it’s in the middle of a word or phrase.
About ‘punctuation’
For example:-
松井：車、新しくしたくて。
For my rhythm/punctuation, should II ‘split’ like this:-
松井：車、(新しく) (したくて)。?
It just sounds a little different in the actual mp3 of the lesson!
Yes — it’s natural to treat 「新しくしたくて」 as two parts:
「新しく」＋「したくて」
But in natural speech, native speakers often say it as one smooth phrase without pausing:
「新しくしたくて」
Also, as we mentioned before, the “ku” sounds get devoiced, especially in fast or relaxed speech, so it can sound like:
“atarashik-shitakte”
That’s why it might sound different in the mp3 — not because the meaning is split differently, but because of natural pronunciation patterns like linking and devoicing.
So your division is correct for understanding the grammar, and the mp3 shows how it sounds in real speech.
Thank you.
You’re very welcome!
If anything else comes up or you need help with Japanese, feel free to reach out!
So いいじゃない can be translated as “not good” or like in situation 2 as “isn’t that good?” Is there a good way to tell the difference when one is being conveyed over the other, or is it just context based? Because I originally thought in situation 2 she was saying that it was “not good” so I was wondering if I missed something or just misunderstood the context.
いいじゃない never means “not good” in any situations.
It can mean “It’s good, isn’t it?”, “Isn’t it good?” or “Why not?”
If she meant “not good”, she would say よくない instead of いいじゃない.
※良い/よい/いい – good
※良くない/よくない – not good