japanese/genki-lesson-13
tags
〜し
- When you want to use two or more reasons for something, we can use し in place of から; し typically follows a short form predicate
(reason 1) し, (reason 2) し, (situation)。
日本語は面白いし、先生はいいし、私は日本語の授業が大好きです。 I really like my Japanese class, because Japanese is interesting, and our teacher is good.
- Similar to や, when you use one し clause, it is implied that it is not the only reason for a situation
物価が安いし、この街の生活は楽です Life is easy in this city. For one thing, things are inexpensive.
- In very polite speech, し can follow the long forms
Sentence Separation
- し clauses can be added in a separate sentence, providing the reasons for the situation just previously mentioned
山下先生はいい先生です。教えるのが上手だし、親切だし。 Professor Yamashita is a great teacher. He’s good at teaching and he’s kind.
〜そうです (It seems like…)
- そうです can be added to い and な-adjective bases to imply that something “seemingly” has those properties.1
- To form 〜そうです you just drop the い or な of an adjective. The exception is that いい becomes よさそうです.
このリンゴは美味しそうです This apple looks delicious.
明日は天気が良さそうです。 It looks like the weather will be fine tomorrow.
メアリーさんは元気そうでした。 Mary looked like she was doing well.
- そうです can be combined with negative adjectives too
い-Negative
この本は難しくなそうです。 This book does not seem difficult
な-Negative
ソラさんはテニスが上手じゃなそうです。 It seems like Sora isn’t good at tennis.
〜てみる
- Expresses the idea of trying something, or doing something tentatively.
- Implies unsureness of the outcome of the activity
漢字が分からなかったので、日本人の友達に聞いてみました。 *I didn’t know the kanji, I tried to ask a Japanese friend of mine.
Or as a call and response:
A: この本、面白かったですよ。 B: じゃあ、読んでみます。
A: This book was interesting. B: Okay, I’ll have to take a look at it
- みる comes from 見る and conjugates as such (一段), 〜てみる is always written in hiragana.
なら
- Conditional statement that contrasts something in a positive manner.
- X (noun) なら Y (predicate)
- Understood that Y applies only to X
- Used for contrast and limitations
A: ブラジルに行ったことがありますか Have you ever been to Brazil? B: チリなら行ったことがありますが、ブラジルは行ったことごありません I’ve been to Chile, but never been to Brazil
A: 日本語が読めますか。 Can you read Japanese B: ひらがななら読めます If it’s in hiragana, I can read it
- に and で particles can be kept and preceded なら, however, は・が・を, cannot be joined with なら
Frequency of Events
一週間に三回 Three times per week
Frequency of events can be described using the following framework
(period) に (frequency) == (frequency) per (period)
[!examples] Q:異臭間に何回髪を洗いますか How many times per week do you wash your hair? A:私は一週間に三回髪を洗います。 I wash my hair three times per week.
一日に3時間ぐらいゲームをします。 I play games for about three hours a day
一ヶ月に三日か四日、アルバイトをします。 I work part-time three or four days a month.
Expression Notes
ギターを弾く
Different verbs are used to express the playing of different instruments
- Stringed instruments and keyboards 弾く（ひく）
- ギターを弾く
- To play the guitar
- ピアノを弾く
- To play the piano
- ギターを弾く
- For wind instruments 吹く（ふく）
- サックスを吹く
- To play the saxophone
- サックスを吹く
- For percussion 叩く（たたく）
- ドラムを叩く
- To play the drum
- ドラムを叩く
- Musical instruments in general can use やる or できる
楽しく/上手に
- Both い-adjectives and な-adjectives can modify verbs as adverbs.
- With い-adjectives, the final い is dropped and く is added
[!example] い-adjectives 日本語のクラスは楽しいです Japanese class is fun
毎日日本語を楽しく勉強しています I enjoy studying Japanese every day
- With な-adjectives, に is added
[!example] な-adjectives ロバートさんは料理が上手です Robert is good at cooking
ロバートさんは上手に料理ができます Robert cooks well
Footnotes
-
Can also be attached to verb stems to describe one’s impression or guess. このセーターは家で洗えそです。Or to express than event may be about to happen 雨が降りそうです。 ↩