Episode 17 – Japanese Made Easy

Full Episode Audio (download link is to the right of the volume icon)

Exercises Only

Greg here. Welcome to Japanese Made Easy Episode 17.

In the last lesson you were quickly exposed to some new words and phrases without going over them thorougly. Now that you’ve heard them in context of Japanese, with just a little bit of attention they will be easier to recall.

Imagine at a playground a little kid running toward the swings where other bigger kids are swinging. This is potentially dangerous, so the kid’s mother yells out..

気を付けて！ (Ki o tsukete! )

True story. At an airport in Japan, I noticed a toddler headed for an escalator. His mother was preoccupied at the ticket counter, and didn’t notice.

Unattended toddler’s and escalators aren’t a good combination, so I thought to myself… I should yell

気を付けて！ (Ki o tsukete!)

but, the kid might be too young to understand. So just as he approached the escalator, I quickly intervened and stopped him from trying to get on.

So these were potentially dangerous situations, where in English we’d warn somebody.. as in “Watch out!” or “Be careful.”

気を付けて！ (Ki o tsukete! )

It can also be used when people depart on larger excursions. Like “Ok, have a good trip, “Take care.”

気を付けてね。(Ki o tsuketene.) From our last lesson, the elevator doors are closing so warn somebody to be careful,

気を付けて！ (Ki o tsukete! ) …then tell them the doors are about to close.

ドアがしまるよ。 (Doa ga shimaruyo.) 

気を付けて！(Ki o tsukete!) ドアがしまるよ。(Doa ga shimaruyo.) 

If you’ve studied Japanese at all, or seen any anime, you probably already know this one, so let’s work with it a bit.

かわいい かわいい (kawaii) 

I think most people would agree that puppies and kittens are

かわいい (kawaii) 

You walk into a pet store, Say, look! And then point out the fact that cute hamsters exist.

見(み)て! (Mite! )  かわいいハムスターがいる。(Kawaii hamusutā ga iru.) 

At the zoo gift shop, somebody points out an arguably cute stuffed lion. Chad says..

かわいい (kawaii)  How would you translate that?

In Japanese a lot is often said with just one word. We might translate this as .. “Oh it’s so cute.” Or.. “How cute. It’s cute.”

From the last lesson… How would you say “Look. There’s a cute cat.”

見て！ (Mite! ) かわいい猫(ねこ)がいる。 (Kawaii neko ga iru.) 　We also heard this word…

赤(あか)ちゃん 赤ちゃん (akachan) 

I hadn’t seen the the lady who lives next door for many months. Then one day she was outside and she had a baby carrier strapped to her front side.

I said, Oh.. congratulations! I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl, but it looked to be about one month old

赤ちゃん (akachan) This one is easy to remember, as it’s a combination of the word red.. or aka, and chyan. So, if you see an infant, just think..

Red, chan.

赤ちゃん (akachan) That’s how I remembered it anyway. Try saying, “Look.. there’s a cute baby.”

見て！(Mite! ) かわいい赤ちゃんがいる。 (Kawaii akachan ga iru.) 

During a tropical storm we might hear…

雨(あめ)が降(ふ)って(い)る。(Ame ga futteiru.) (often dropped in casual speech)

During a winter storm we might hear

雪が降って(い)る。(Yuki ga futteiru.) (often dropped in casual speech)　

Question… why did we use が (ga)  for these two phrases?

If you aren’t sure, stop and go through Ep 16 again. Then come back.

Ok.. hopefully you didn’t have to go all the way back, and you answered along the lines of, “Because somebody or something is doing something under it’s own power.” or.. “Because the rain is falling under it’s own power. The snow is falling under it’s own power. Nobody is doing anything to the rain or the snow, it’s just falling.”

Penguins and ostriches are flightless

鳥（とり） 鳥 (tori) 

Please repeat

飛行機(ひこうき)　飛行機 (hikouki) 

The Wright brothers invented the first

飛行機  (hikouki) 　and now in modern times we have 747’s, which are large passenger

飛行機 (hikouki) 

You might hear a little kid point up and say…

鳥が飛(と)んでいる。(Tori ga tondeiru.) How would you translate that? Something like, “There’s a bird flying.” How about

飛行機が飛んでいる。(Hikouki ga tondeiru.) There’s a plane flying. With that you may be thinking.. wait… Isn’t a pilot flying the plane. Well, I certainly hope so.

But, In the sentence, there is no mention of a pilot. So from Japanese grammar point of view, this falls in line with the plane being the thing that is doing the action in the sentence.

It’s the same as in English. We might say…

Check it out. There’s a plane flying through the storm. Grammatically speaking, we just said that the plane is doing the flying.

With enough life experience, we understand that there is likely a pilot behind the scenes.

Try saying… There’s a bird and a plane flying.

鳥と飛行機が飛んでいる。(Tori to hikouki ga tondeiru.) 

Ok, In this lesson we’ll learn two related usages of the で particle. One is definitely need to know, while the other is not as common but closely related, so we’ll cover them both.

We’ve already seen the で particle in constructions such as

スタバでコーヒー飲(の)んだ。(Sutaba de kōhī nonda.)   Literally, Starbucks (the place utilized) coffee drank. I drank coffee at Starbucks. Or the Japanese 101…

ペンで書(か)きました。(Pen de kakimashita.)  Pen, the thing utilized, wrote. I wrote with a pen. So, keep in mind that で often has the nuance of “utilized.”

As usual, let’s start by getting a feel for our new usage from context.

That kid sure is smart. Two years old で (de)  he was already playing the piano. And another one…

If interviewing an actress talking about how she got started, she might say something like, “Twelve years old で(de)  I became interested in acting, and went to acting school.”

Let’s let that simmer in the brain and we’ll come back to it. Later in this lesson, we’ll be dealing with how old people are when something happened, so let’s make sure you are ok with the basics.

First let’s learn or review if you already know, the counter for “years old” when speaking of people…

１歳(いっさい) (isssai) one year old

２歳(にさい) (nisai) two years old　

３歳(さんさい) (sansai) three years old　What would four years old be?

４歳(よんさい) (yonsai) 　and five years old…

５歳(ごさい)　(gosai) 

If you know the numbers 6 – 10 try saying six years old and so on… before Megumi does. Ready go!

6歳(ろくさい) (rokusai) 　7歳(ななさい) (nanasai) 　8歳(はっさい/はちさい) (hachisai)　9歳(きゅうさい) (kyuusai) 　10歳(じゅっさい) (jyussai) 

Parents meet up and get their kids together. One kid asks the other a question. How would you translate this?

何歳(なんさい)？(Nansai?)  Literally, “what” and then the counter for age. In English, How old are you?

What would that be in polite Japanese?

何歳ですか？ (Nan sai desuka? )

From kid to kid it would probably be a casual answer.

８歳(はっさい) (hassai)  If answering an adult’s question, the kid would answer more politely saying what?

８歳です。(Hassai desu.) 

Megumi will ask you your age, try answering…

何歳(なんさい)ですか？ (Nansai desuka? )

Earlier we heard the following:

That kid sure is smart. Two years old で (de) he was already playing the piano.

Or, if interviewing an actress talking about how she got started, she might say something like, “Twelve years old で(de) , I became interested in acting and went to acting school.”

Still letting that idea simmer a bit more… Let’s get some exposure to another related and common usage when speaking.

Wow that’s a huge bag of apples.

Yeah, and can you believe it. Only one U.S. dollar で (de) I bought it.

One more. For this, in case you don’t know the conversion…

5 円(ごえん) (go en) or 5 yen, generally speaking is in the ball park of 5 cents U.S. dollars. So…

Hey, nice phone, what is that? A guy says, “Just a brand new i-phone 37. I signed up for the 30 year plan. So only

5 円 (go en) で , I got the phone and a free bento. “

In other words, thinking back to the general idea that “de” carries with it.. “utilized”

I utilized 5 yen to buy it. In English we say..I bought it “for” some amount.

Talking about some thing you bought. More literally, using “de” to say you “utilized” a particular amount of money…

Tell somebody… “I bought it for 10 yen.”

10円(じゅうえん)で買いました。(Jyuuen de kaimashita. ) … and casual…

10円で買(か)った。(Jyuuen de katta.) Using the cognate “to get” and suru

ゲットする ゲットする (Getto suru) 

as in “to get something, with the feeling that it was a good thing”

It’s a little slangy, so casual Japanese. Say, “I got it for 100 yen.”

百円(ひゃくえん)でゲットした。(Hyakuen de getto shita.) 

Tell a friend… I got it for 200 yen. More literally I utilized 200 yen, to get it.

二百円(にひゃくえん)でゲットした。(Nihyakuen de getto shita.)  Changing it up…

Polite Japanese… “I bought it for 100 yen.”

百円で買いました。(Hyakuen de kaimashita.)  Casual Japanese… I bought it for 200 yen.

二百円で買った。(Nihyakuen de katta.)  Casual, for 300 yen.

三百円(さんびゃくえん)で買った。(Sanbyakuen de katta.)  Polite, for 300 yen.

三百円で買いました。(Sanbyakuen de kaimashita.) 

For this usage of “で”(de)  following price let’s go with “the amount utilized.”

四百円(よんひゃくえん)で買いました。(Yonhyakuen de kaimashita.)   That’s 400 yen, the amount utilized, I bought it. The amount of yen was 400.

The logic will be apparent with a couple more non price related examples.

How about this, Talking about pancakes we had for breakfast…

Three pancakes, で I became full…Three pancakes, the amount utilized, is what made me full.

Talking about gas…

5 liters で we made it to the next town. Five liters, the amount of gas utilized, is what was used to get to the next town.

Talking about the amount of yen we sold something for.

10円(じゅうえん)で売りました。(Jyuuen de urimashita.) 

So, let’s call this .. Stating the amount of something utilized with で

Let’s officially learn this word. Please repeat.

売(う)る　　売る (uru) 

If you’re going to 売る your old laptop, I’ll buy it. Changing

売(う)った (utta)  or Sold..

Trying saying “I sold it for one hundred yen.”

100円(ひゃくえん)で売った (Hyakuen de utta.) 

I sold it for 200 yen.

200円(にひゃくえん)で売った。(Nihyakuen de utta.) 

Polite, I sold it for 300 yen.

300円(さんびゃくえん)で売りました。 (Sanbyakuen de urimashita.) 

There we heard hyaku change to byaku. This type of change with some numbers isn’t anything to worry about, it will quickly become natural. Just be aware of it.

Let’s run through a few examples. Polite Japanese. Talking to an interested old lady, about the good deal you got on some kiwis. Tell her 100 yen, was the amount utilized to buy…

１００円(ひゃくえん)で買(か)いました。 (Hyakuen de kaimashita.)  

Let’s expand on this construction… Let’s include the word kiwi..

キウイ キウイ (kiui)  

Starting with “This kiwi, regarding it” try saying, I bought these kiwi, for 200 yen.

このキウイは ２００円(にひゃくえん)で買いました。(Kono kiui wa nihyakuen de kaimashita.) 

Casual. Try saying… I bought these bananas for 300 yen.

このバナナは３００円(さんびゃくえん)で買った。(Kono banana wa sanbyakuen de katta.) 

A friend says, “Wow. Look at all those tomatoes.” Using “to get” You brag about your good fortune saying… “I got these tomato’s for 400 yen.”

このトマトは４００円(よんひゃくえん)でゲットしたよ。 (Kono tomato wa yonhyakuen de getto shitayo.) 

That was a good workout, so I’ll be sure to include it in the practice audio.

———————————— TOD

Today’s tip is specific to Japanese. A listener wrote in saying “Greg, you mentioned not teaching I, you, he, and she, because they are often dropped in Japanese.

But, if I don’t say “you” to a person, what should I use instead. It feels weird to not refer to somebody as “you” when talking to them. “

Great question, and yes it does take time to get used to. Better is using the person’s name instead of “you”.

恵美(えみ)ちゃん、英語(えいご)できる？ (Emi chan, eigo dekiru? )  So there, we’re not saying “you”. We’re using the person’s name, instead of you. This is very common in Japan.

So, when you meet a person it’s important to get their name, and remember it so you can use it instead of saying “you”.

———————————— TOD

Ok, moving on to another usage of で(de)  that is closely related to the previous idea. Let’s do some Native Language Integration to get a feel for this usage.

All of these examples will assume we are telling somebody about at friend of ours. Aside from age being used in all of them, can you figure out what they all have in common?

3歳(さんさい)で, (Sansai de) he was already fluent in 5 languages.

4歳(よんさい)で, (Yonsai de)  He entered elementary school

6歳(ろくさい)で, (Rokusai de) He was studying astrophysics.

15歳(じゅうごさい)で、(Jyuugosai de) He got a DUI and went to jail.

16歳(じゅうろくさい)で, (Jyuurokusai de) He graduated from high-school.

19歳(じゅうきゅうさい)で、(Jyuukyuusai de) He graduated from university.

If thinking about it.. age.. also works with “the amount of” that is… the amount of years, at which we did something.

But, there is a nuance to this usage. The common idea that runs through all of these examples is, that what happened is at least a bit out of the ordinary.

They might get a response such as “Wow.” or “Really?” For example, if I say… When I was three years old, I was speaking some English.

For this we would not use the で (de) particle after age, as this isn’t out of the ordinary, or particularly interesting.

But, “Three years で (de) I was fluent in 5 languages.” That’s not really the norm. It’s out of the ordinary, and so we go with

3歳で (sansai de) or…

15歳で、(Jyuugosai de) He got a DUI and went to jail.

15 years old で (de) he got a DUI and went to jail.

Well, he shouldn’t really even be driving at 15 much less getting DUI’s and or going to jail, so this is out of the ordinary.

I use that example just to show that it doesn’t have to be a good or a bad thing, but just not normal for a person of that age. Like Tiger woods might say.. when I was 12 I got my first hole in one.

12歳(じゅうにさい)で…(Jyuunisai de)  I got my first hole in one.

Let’s take a look at the SLT for this usage of “de” for these examples. We’ll replace de with (at the age of X implying it’s out of the ordinary)

3歳で (Sansai de) at the age of 3 implying it’s out of the ordinary, he was already fluent in 5 languages.

4歳で, (Yonsai de) at the age of 4 implying it’s out of the ordinary, He entered elementary school. That would be pretty young to be going into elementary school.

6歳で, (Rokusai de) at the age of 6 implying it’s out of the ordinary, He became interested in astrophysics. Most 6 year old’s aren’t interested in astrophysics. And so on…

In natural English we might say these a few different ways but the idea is the same. We could say, “at the age of 6” or “when I was 6…”

So if talking about myself…

６歳で (Rokusai de) can translate as “when I was 6” or “at the age of 6”

We’ll go with “6, at the age of” important to note though

で does not mean “at the age of”. This is just how it would translate into English for this particular usage.

If a person say something like, “I was working on astrophysics at the age of 6.” and that seems questionable… We might respond with a question.

え？６歳で？(E? Rokusai de?)  How would you translate?

え？６歳で？ (E? Rokusai de? )

I’d say… Huh? or Really? At the age of 6?

So to recap, the very common and often used when speaking usage of “で” is for “the amount utilized” for example…

このキウイは３０円で買いました。(Kono kiui wa sanjyuuen de kaimashita.)  

Which is particularly handy if talking about prices.

Then the related usage, which for now is worth understanding at least, is

で (de) for at the age of… implying it’s out of the ordinary

Ok, just two more and we’re done. Casual Japanese.

Ask somebody their age, or how old they are.

何歳？(Nansai?) And polite.

何歳ですか？ (Nansai desuka?) 

Ok, casual Japanese. This will be tricky, but maybe you can get it.

Holding up some item. Using

買った、(katta)  and starting with

何(nan) Ask somebody how many yen they utilized to buy it.

何円で買った？… (Nanen de katta?)  and polite.

何円で買いましたか？ (Nanen de kaimashitaka?) 

Alright that’s it for this episode, and quick side note, over at Japanese Mastery Method I’m working on a course that teaches all of the particle uses that are important to know but are pretty much ignored in beginner books and courses.

As always, I will do my best to make them easy to understand and differentiate from other uses, with the core focus being on improving your speaking ability.

Not sure when that will be ready, but be on the lookout for it over at Japanese Mastery Method

Ok, go grab the practice audio over at Japanese Made Easy, and I’ll see you in the next episode.