Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hi everyone, I'm Eric.
Risa: And I'm Risa.
Eric: And welcome to Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 17. Talking About Doing Something.
Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern to describe something you're thinking about doing.
PATTERN
Eric: For example, "I'm thinking about going to Okinawa."
Risa: 沖縄に行こうと思っています。 (Okinawa ni ikō to omotte imasu.)
Risa: [slow] 沖縄に行こうと思っています。 (Okinawa ni ikō to omotte imasu.)
Eric: The pattern for describing something you're thinking about doing has 3 elements. First, the verb phrase meaning "to go to Okinawa" with the informal volitional form of the verb. Let’s break this phrase down, first we have
Risa: 沖縄 (Okinawa)
Eric: followed by a particle indicating movement towards a place,
Risa: に (ni)
Eric: next add the informal volitional form of a verb meaning "to go,"
Risa: 行こう (ikō).
Risa: 沖縄に行こう (Okinawa ni ikō).
Eric: The second element in the sentence is a quotation marker.
Risa: と (to).
Eric: And last, te-form of the verb "to think" + imasu. Altogether this means "to be thinking."
Risa: 思っています (omotte imasu).
Eric: Let’s hear the full sentence. "I'm thinking about going to Okinawa."
Risa: 沖縄に行こうと思っています。 (Okinawa ni ikō to omotte imasu.) [slow] 沖縄に行こうと思っています。 (Okinawa ni ikō to omotte imasu.) [normal] 沖縄に行こうと思っています。 (Okinawa ni ikō to omotte imasu.)
Eric: To say what you're thinking about doing in Japanese, start with a verb or verb phrase in the informal volitional form,
Risa: 沖縄に行こう (Okinawa ni ikō)
Eric: then add the quotation marking particle,
Risa: と (to),
Eric: and at the end, add "be thinking of,"
Risa: 思っています (omotte imasu)
Eric: Altogether, we have...
Risa: 沖縄に行こうと思っています。(Okinawa ni ikō to omotte imasu.)
Eric: You could also say,
Risa: 私は沖縄に行こうと思っています。(Watashi wa Okinawa ni ikō to omotte imasu),
Eric: In Japanese, you can omit the subject of the sentence when it's clear. Therefore, in this case, you can omit the subject part,
Risa: 私は (watashi wa),
Eric: and simply say,
Risa: 沖縄に行こうと思っています。 (Okinawa ni ikō to omotte imasu.)
Eric: So how do you say what you're thinking about doing? Say a verb or verb phrase in the informal volitional form, PLUS a quotation marking particle (to), PLUS a phrase meaning "be thinking" (omotte imasu).
Eric: Here’s another example meaning, "I'm thinking of getting married to him." First comes the verb phrase meaning "to get married to him" with the informal volitional form of the verb.
Risa: 彼 (Kare)
Eric: meaning "he" is followed by a particle meaning "with,"
Risa: と (to)
Eric: and add the informal volitional form of a verb meaning "get married."
Risa: 結婚しよう (kekkon shiyō).
Risa: 彼と結婚しよう (Kare to kekkon shiyō).
Eric: Second, quotation marker.
Risa: と (to).
Eric: Third, the te-form of the verb "to think" + imasu, meaning "be thinking."
Risa: 思っています (omotte imasu).
Eric: Altogether we have...
Risa: 彼と結婚しようと思っています。 (Kare to kekkon shiyō to omotte imasu.) [slow] 彼と結婚しようと思っています。 (Kare to kekkon shiyō to omotte imasu.) [normal] 彼と結婚しようと思っています。 (Kare to kekkon shiyō to omotte imasu.)
Eric: "I'm thinking of getting married to him."
[pause]
Risa: 彼と結婚しようと思っています。 (Kare to kekkon shiyō to omotte imasu.)
Eric: How do you say - "I'm thinking of giving up drinking." To give you a hint, "to give up" is...
Risa: やめる (yameru).
Eric: And its informal volitional form is,
Risa: やめよう (yameyō). [slow] やめよう (yameyō). [normal] やめよう (yameyō).
Eric: "I'm thinking of giving up drinking."
[pause]
Risa: お酒をやめようと思っています。 (O-sake o yameyō to omotte imasu.) [slow] お酒をやめようと思っています。 (O-sake o yameyō to omotte imasu.) [normal] お酒をやめようと思っています。 (O-sake o yameyō to omotte imasu.)
[pause]
Risa: お酒をやめようと思っています。 (O-sake o yameyō to omotte imasu.)
REVIEW
Eric: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I’ll give you the English equivalent of the phrase, and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud in Japanese. Here we go.
Eric: "I'm thinking about going to Okinawa."
[pause]
Risa: 沖縄に行こうと思っています。 (Okinawa ni ikō to omotte imasu.)
[pause]
Risa: 沖縄に行こうと思っています。 (Okinawa ni ikō to omotte imasu.)
Eric: "I'm thinking of getting married to him."
[pause]
Risa: 彼と結婚しようと思っています。 (Kare to kekkon shiyō to omotte imasu.)
[pause]
Risa: 彼と結婚しようと思っています。 (Kare to kekkon shiyō to omotte imasu.)
Eric: "I'm thinking of giving up drinking."
[pause]
Risa: お酒をやめようと思っています。 (O-sake o yameyō to omotte imasu.)
[pause]
Risa: お酒をやめようと思っています。 (O-sake o yameyō to omotte imasu.)

Outro

Eric: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for describing something you're thinking about doing, as in...
Risa: 沖縄に行こうと思っています。 (Okinawa ni ikō to omotte imasu.)
Eric: meaning "I'm thinking about going to Okinawa."
Eric: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on JapanesePod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time!
Risa: じゃ、また。(Ja, mata.).

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