JPNS 1010
Dialogue for
Presentation 3
(Supplements for
the textbook
Genki: An Integrated Approach, Vol. 1)
Click here to listen to the entire
dialogue.
Click on the links
below to listen to each individual sentence.
John comes to see
Akiko in the library to ask a favor.
He is going to have a test in the afternoon and has forgotten his watch.
Akiko also has test in the
afternoon, and so she is studying in the library.
ジョン： あきこさん、ちょっと とけいを かりてもいいですか。
あきこ： とけいですか。いいですよ。でも、どうしてですか。
ジョン： きょう、テストがあります。でも、うちにとけいをわすれました。
あきこ： あ、そうですか。はい、どうぞ。(Hands him the watch)
ジョン： どうもありがとう。
あきこ： でも、わたしもテストがあります。二時半ごろ、ここにもってきてください。
Notes:
John asks by asking Akiko if he can borrow her watch for a
little bit. The word ちょっと literally means “a little,” and here implies “for
a short time,” but the word often appears in requests, even ones that do
not have to do with time. Some
people call ちょっと a hesitation word, since it suggests that the person is somewhat
reluctant to make a request. For
instance, if you are hesitantly asking somebody if something is okay, you might
say ちょっと、いいですか。This is kind of like saying, “Ummm… Is that alright?” Here, the ちょっと does not literally mean “a little”; it simply
indicates hesitation on the part of the speaker.
John’s request is to borrow Akiko’s watch. かりて is the –te form
of the verb かりる (in the –masu form, this verb is かります), which means “to borrow.” As your textbook explains, to make a polite
request of someone in Japanese, you would say the –te form of the verb, then add もいいですか。As you can probably guess, the last part of this consists of the
adjective meaning “fine” (いい) plus the copula です and the question word か.
Akiko uses an echo question to confirm that he is talking about
a watch. Then she tells him that is
fine. She then asks, “But
why?” どうして is a Japanese word that means “why.” In polite conversation, the word どうして is usually followed by the copula です plus the question word か.
John explains that he has a test today, but he forgot his watch
at home. The word わすれました is the past tense of the verb わすれます (わすれる in the short form) meaning “to forget.” Notice that to say you forgot something,
you use the particle を, which marks the direct object. For instance, to say, “I forgot the
book,” you would say in
Japanese, ほんをわすれました。
Akiko uses the echo question あ、そうですか。She then hands him the watch saying はい、どうぞ。 People almost
always say this when they are handing something to someone else.
John thanks Akiko. Akiko then explains that she too has a
test today so she asks him to bring the watch back to her around 2:30 pm. もってきてください means “please bring.” To make a polite command
in Japanese, you put the –te form of the verb before ください。もってきて is the –te form of the verb もってくる (or もってきます in the long –masu form), which means “to bring.”
John says that he has understood. He says that he will bring it.
You may be interested to know that もってくる is actually a compound verb. This means that is made of a combination
of two verbs: the –te form of the verb もつ
(もちます
in the long –masu form) which means “to hold” plus the verb くる (きます)
meaning “to come.” This particular
combination of verbs means “to come with
something in hand” or, in other
words, “to bring.”
Return to homepage
of Jeffrey Angles
Updated February 3, 2008