Transcript Class Session 13a Lecture (7/17/12)

Class Session 13a
Chapter 8
•
Describing Places
•
Describing Skills and Talents
•
Preferences and Desires
•
The Nominalizers no and koto
•
The Suffix –tai
•
Expressing Time with ji and fun
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Describing Places
• You can use X wa Y ga Z desu to describe countries and cities
• Examples:
nihon wa sakana ga oishii desu.
As for Japan, fish are delicious.
igirisu wa tatemono ga furui desu.
As for England, the buildings are old.
chūgoku wa jitensha ga ooi desu.
As for China, bicycles are numerous.
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Describing Skills and Talents
• Useful phrases for describing people’s skills and talents:
jōzu na
good at…
tokui na
good at … (use for one’s own skills)
umai
good at …
heta na
bad at …
nigate na
bad at …
• Examples:
yamada-san wa sukii ga jōzu desu.
Mr. Yamada is good at skiing.
watashi wa gorufu ga tokui desu.
I’m good at golf.
ani wa uta ga heta desu.
My older brother is bad at singing.
otōto wa me ga ii desu.
My younger brother has good eyes.
sofu wa mimi ga warui desu.
My grandfather has bad ears.
tanaka-san wa atami ga ii desu.
Mr. Tanaka has a good head (is smart).
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Preferences and Desires
• In English, one’s likes and dislikes are typically expressed by verbs (e.g., to like, to love,
to hate, and to want).
• In Japanese, likes and dislikes are commonly expressed by adjectives:
suki na
to like
daisuki na
to like very much
kirai na
to hate
hoshii
to want
• These adjectives can be used in the X wa Y ga Z desu format; examples:
watashi wa momo ga suki desu.
I like peaches.
imōto wa aisukuriimu ga daisuki desu.
My younger sister likes ice cream.
otōto wa neko ga kirai desu.
My younger brother hates cats.
watashi wa atarashii purintā ga hoshii desu.
I want a new printer.
• hoshii cannot be used with actions; use –tai (discussed later) for this purpose
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The Nominalizers no and koto
• To express the activity that you are good at using a verb, you must first nominalize the
verb (i.e., make it like a noun) by adding the particle no or by adding the abstract noun
koto
• The verb must be in the plain present (dictionary) form in this case
• Examples:
watashi wa hashiru no ga suki desu.
watashi wa hashiru koto ga suki desu.
I like running.
chichi wa o-sake o nomu no ga suki desu.
My father likes drinking sake.
haha wa tomodachi to shaberu no ga suki desu.
My mother likes chatting with (her) friends.
ani wa uta o utau koto ga suki desu.
My older brother likes singing songs.
• In this case no and koto are interchangeable, but this is not always the case
• Note: no seems to be used more often than koto in common speech
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The Suffix –tai
• To say you want to do something, use the verb stem (the pre-masu form) and add the
suffix –tai:
taberu  tabe  tabe-tai
• The output is an i-adjective that you can use as any other i-type adjective (i.e., it can
have a negative form, it can be in past tense, etc.)
• The tai suffix should followed by desu to keep the construction in polite form
• Examples:
nihon de hataraki-tai desu.
isha ni nari-tai desu.
ookii ie ni sumi-tai desu.
tomodachi to furansu ni iki-tai desu.
I want to work in Japan.
I want to become a doctor.
I want to live in a big house.
I want to go to France with (my) friend.
• When the verb has a direct object it can be marked with either o or ga:
• sakana ga tabe-tai desu.
(emphasis on what you want to eat)
• sakana o tabe-tai desu.
(emphasis on what you want to do)
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Expressing Time with ji and fun
• To express time, use ji (o’clock) and fun (minutes)
• Examples:
ichi-ji desu.
1 o’clock.
ni-ji-san-juu-go-fun
2:35
yo-ji
4:00
go-ji jū-go-fun
5:15
• gozen () is AM. and gogo is PM; they are placed at the beginning of the time
phrase (when used):
gozen roku-ji jū-go fun
6:15 am
gogo jū-ji ni-jū-ni-fun
10:22 pm
• The notion of quarter is not used in Japanese, but half is represented by han:
gogo san-ji han
3:30 pm
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Expressing Time with ji and fun
• To express “before” and “after” use mae and sugi respectively:
yo-ji juppun mae
10 ‘til (until, before) 4
yo-ji juppun sugi
10 after (past) 4
• Note: In common speech, if neither mae nor sugi is used, sugi is assumed
• The hours from 1 to 12 are regular in pronunciation: ichi-ji, ni-ji, san-ji....jū-ji
• There are some pronunciation changes in the minutes:
ip-pun
rop-pun
ni-jup-pun
ni-fun
nana-fun
san-jup-pun
san-bun
hap-pun
yon-jū go fun
yon-pun
kyū-fun
go-fun
jup-pun
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