JPNS 1010
Dialogue for
Presentation 9
(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 invites Akiko for
dinner at his place. Akiko is watching John cook.
あきこ：ジョンさんは、りょうりするのがすきですか。
ジョン：ええ、すきです。よく、ばんごはんを作ります。
あきこ：そうですか。(Akiko looks at him
cutting vegetables and says the following.)
ジョン：いや、まだまだです。(Akiko is about to pick
up and eat a vegetable.)
あきこ：ごめんなさい……
Notes
Akiko starts by
asking John if he likes cooking.
You have seen the pattern 「XはYがすきです」, which means
“X likes Y.” Here, what
comes in the Y-position is the clause 「りょうりするの」. If we break this down, we see that this
is the noun りょうり meaning
“cooking/food preparation” plus the verb する “to do”
plus the particle の.
When の follows a verb, it
basically turns that verb into a noun.
In other words, りょうりする means “to
cook,” but りょうりするの means “[the
act of] cooking.” This の basically performs
the same function as the suffix “–ing”
in English, turning what is a verb into a noun. Some linguists call the の that comes after a
verb a “nominalizing” particle. (The word “nominalize” means to turn some word into a
noun.)
Do NOT confuse this
particular usage of の with the other usage of the particle の that we have
already seen. It is DIFFERENT than
the use of の that comes between
two nouns and connects them in a modifying or possessive relationship.
Here are a few
sample sentences that use the “nominalizing”
の. See if you can figure out the meaning by
yourself. An English translation of
each sentence is below.
たかしさんは、よむのがすきです。
メアリーさんは、大学にいくのがすきです。
ロバートさんは、日本語ではなすのがすきです。
あきこさんは、べんきょうするのがすきじゃありません。
Takashi
likes reading.
Mary
likes going to the university.
Robert
likes speaking in Japanese.
Akiko
does not like studying.
Back
to the dialogue… John says
that he does like it (cooking). He
says that he makes dinner (ばんごはん) often.
Akiko says,
“Oh, really?” After
watching him skillfully chop vegetables for a few moments, she comments,
“John, you are good at cutting vegetables (やさい), aren’t
you?” Notice that her
sentence uses the nominalizing の once again. Here, it follows the verb きる meaning “to
cut / to slice.”
To say that X is
good / skillful at Y, use the pattern 「XはYがじょうずです。」In Akiko’s
utterance, what drops into the Y-position is the word きるの
“cutting.” What do the
following sentences mean? The
answers are below.
メアリーさんは、日本語でかくのがじょうずです。
たかしさんは、英語ではなすのがじょうずです。
ジョンさんは、りょうりするのがじょうずです。
ロバートさんは、ドイツ語をよむのがじょうずじゃありません。
Mary
is good at writing in Japanese.
Takashi
is good at speaking in English.
John
is good at cooking.
Robert
is not good at reading German.
John denies her
statement (that he is good at cutting vegetables). The word いや is an alternative
way of saying いいえ (no), but it sounds
slightly more emphatic. It is often
used when you are disagreeing with something that someone says. It contains a nuance that is more like
“Not at all!” After the
いや、John says, まだまだです。This is an
expression that Japanese people often use when someone praises them. まだ literally means “not yet,” and
this is reduplicated for emphasis. まだまだです means “I am not
good yet,” but it implies that you have a sincere desire to become good
someday.
Remember the
expression まだまだです. It is very useful! Japanese people typically praise
foreigners when they try to speak nihongo, even if they do not speak well at all. The culturally appropriate thing for the
foreigner to do is to deny that they speak well. (A person who says, “Thank
you!” in response to praise sounds horribly arrogant, and the Japanese
listener will probably turn off on the spot.) If someone praises your Japanese saying 日本語がじょうずですね or something, the
best thing to do – even if you have been studying Japanese for twenty
years – is to deflect the praise by saying some humble expression like まだまだです。
Akiko is tempted to
pick up a vegetable and eat it.
When she starts to do so, John calls out to her and says, “Do not
eat yet.” As we just
mentioned a moment ago まだ means “(not) yet.” When it appears with a verb other that です, the verb is often negative.
To give a negative
command (“do not” X), Japanese use the pattern ～ないでください, whereas ~ない is the short,
negative form of the verb. (You
have seen the word ください before. It means “please give
me.” Literally, what you are
saying is “please give me not eating.”) What do the following commands mean?
いかないでください。
かえらないでください。
がっこうへこないでください。
そのビデオをみないでください。
かみをきらないでください。
Please
do not go!
Please
do not go home!
Please
do not come to school!
Please
do not watch that video!
Please
do not cut your hair!
Akiko apologizes for
wanting to eat the vegetable that John has cut up, and she says
“I’m sorry.” ごめんなさい is a slightly less
formal version of すみません. It is an apology that is typically used
to someone who is not significantly higher than you in the social structure
(your family members, your friend, your student, etc.).
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of Jeffrey Angles
Updated April 2, 2008