Lesson 9 家族 Family

Lesson 9.3

Dialogue 3

Showing family photos

Yamamoto: Onii-san wa otou-san ni yoku nite (i)masu nee.

  にい          とう          に

お兄さんは、お父さんによく似てますねえ。Your brother looks very much like your dad.

Michael: Ee, seikaku mo sokkuri desu.

      せいかく

ええ、性格もそっくりです Yes, his personality is also an exact copy (of Da

Yamamoto: Donna hito? どんな人?    What kind of person is he

Michael: Yasashikute majime de…やさ優しくて、まじめで。。He is sweet, earnest, and….

Yamamoto: Nani o nasatte iru n desu ka.           何をなさっているんですか?What does he do(job)?

Michael: Guuguru ni tsutomete imasu.   つと    グーグルに勤めています He works for Google

Vocabulary

niru                     にる              似る               resemble (get resembled)

nite iru               にている       似ている       resemble (is resemble)

seikaku              せいかく        性格              personality; characteristics

sokkuri              そっくり                              exactly like; clear resemblance

donna                どんな                                  what kind See 9-3-2

+konna             こんな                                 this kind

+sonna             そんな                                 that kind (near the addressee)

+annna             あんな                                 that kind (away from both of us)

yasashii              やさしい       優しい          kind; sweet; considerate

+tsumetai        つめたい       冷たい           cold

yasashikute      やさしくて    優しくて       ~te form of adjective See 9-3-1

majime (na)       まじめ(な)                      earnest, square, unplayful

+akarui            あかるい        明るい          cheerful; spirited; bright (by light)

+kurai              くらい            暗い              gloomy; somber; dark

Nasaru               なさる                                 honorific form of suru (Group 4)

tsutomeru         つとめる        勤める         be employed; serve; X ni tsutomeru

+hataraku        はたらく        働く             work; X de hatarakuniru

Occupations and Job Titles

keiei                 経営              けいえい            management

keieisha           経営者          けいえいしゃ     business owner; entrepreneur

shachou          社長              しゃちょう         company president

buchou            部長              ぶちょう            division chief

kachou            課長              かちょう             section chief

kakarichou     係長              かかりちょう      subsection chief

maneejaa             マネージャー                       manager

hisho               秘書              ひしょ                  secretary

kaisha-in        会社員          かいしゃいん       company employee

sarariiman           サラリーマン                       white collar worker

isha                 医者              いしゃ                  medical doctor; physician

bengoshi        弁護士           べんごし              attorney; lawyer

kyoushi          教師               きょうし              teacher (in a school)

hon yaku        翻訳               ほんやく              translation

hon yakuka    翻訳家           ほんやくか          translator

tsuuyaku        通訳               つうやく              (language) interpretation; interpreter

ten-in             店員               てんいん              store clerk

eki-in              駅員               えきいん              train station attendant

ginkou-in       銀行員           ぎんこういん       banker

koumu-in      公務員            こうむいん          civil servant

jimu-in           事務員            じむいん              office clerk

bijinesuman          ビジネスマン                      businessman

konsarutanto       コンサルタント                   consultant

jaanarisuto            ジャーナリスト                   journalist

enjinia                   エンジニア                           engineer

weetoresu            ウェイトレス                       waitress

Grammar Notes

9-3-1 やさしくて  the ~te form of adjectives

The ~te forms are used to link sentences. So far, we have covered the ~te form of verb and noun sentences.

Kyouto ni itte, otera o mimasu.   I’ll go to Kyoto and see temples.

Kyou wa yasumi de, ashita wa shigoto desu.

Today I’m off and tomorrow I’ll work.

To make the ~te-form of an adjective, add te to the ~ku form. The negative ~nai is an adjective, and its ~te form is ~nakute.

furuià furukute  ‘old’

furuku naià furuku nakute ‘not old

Kono hoteru wa furukute takai desu. This hotel is old and expensive.

Kono hoteru wa takaku nakute ii desu.

This hotel is not expensive and that’s good.

In the examples below, you can see the negative ~nakute is used for verbs and noun sentences as well.

Ame ja nakute yokatta desu nee.         Isn’t it great that it’s not raining?

Nihongo ja nakute, eigo desu.                 It’s not Japanese; it’s English.

Okane harawanakute ii desu.                 It’s okay if you don’t pay.

Eigo ga wakaranakute taihen deshita.  I didn’t understand English and it was hard.

Let’s review how English ‘and’ can be translated into different forms in Japanese.

I went to Tokyo and Kyoto.

Tokyo to Kyoto ni ikimashita.

 

I went to Tokyo. And I went to Kyoto.

Tokyo ni ikimashita. Sore kare Kyoto ni ikimashita.

 

I went to Kyoto and saw temples.

Kyoto ni itte, otera o mimashita.

 

I like this restaurant because the service is good and food is tasty.

Saabisu ga ii shi, oishii shi, kono resutoran ga suki desu.

 

Father is 50 years old and Mother is 40 years old.

Chichi wa 50-sai de, haha wa 40-sai desu.

 

This apartment is small and inexpensive.

Kono apaato wa chiisakute yasui desu.

9-3-2 どんな  what kind of X

We learned five sets of the so-called ko-so-a-do series earlier. this: kore-sore-are-dore

this X:             kono-sono-ano-dono

here:                koko-soko-asoko-doko

this direction: kochira-sochira-achira-dochira

this side:          kocchi-socchi-acchi-docchi

 

We add another set in this lesson.

this kind of X: konna-sonna-anna-donna

 

Remember that unlike the other sets, the kono and konna sets cannot be used alone. A noun must follow them. Note what happens when the noun is already known.

kono hon         this book         à kore konna hon      this kind of book         à konna

Drills and Excercises

Cue and Response

Cue: 安いですねえ。 It’s cheap, isn’t it?

Response: ええ、安くて、いいですねえ。 Yes, it’s cheap and good.

Cue: 新しいですねえ。      It’s new, isn’t it?

Response: ええ、新しくて、いいですねえ.Yes, it’s new and good.

Cue: 先生に似ていますねえ。 He looks like the teacher.

Response: えっ、だれに似ているんですか.What? Whom does he look like?

Cue: グーグルに勤めています。        I work for Google.

Response: えっ、どこに勤めているんですか。

What? Which company do you work for?

Say it in Japanese.

You’ve been asked to describe the personality of various people.

  1. My father is scary and serious.
  2. The president of our company is cool and wonderful.
  3. The division chief is cheerful, looks exactly like a panda, and laughs a lot.
  4. My grandfather was gloomy and looked like Lincoln.
  5. My husband is sweet, cute, and the best.

Act in Japanese.

You’ve just met a person at a reception. Find out what she does for a living.

  1. You’ve heard she works for a company, but you didn’t catch the name. Find out.
  2. Find out from a classmate a) what kind of personalities his/her family members have, b) who resembles whom, and c) what kind of jobs they have.
  3. Discuss with classmates your dream jobs and why they are your dream jobs.
  4. Show a family picture or a group picture to a business associate and comment on each person in the picture.

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Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 3 Copyright © by Emiko Konomi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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