Friday; Apri128,2023 I The Japan Times 1 9
More simple words to power up your conversations in Japanese
BRENDAN CRAINE
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
strap on your chaps and coil up your
lassos, because it's time to round up
some more Japanese conjunctions.
Here are three more simple words
that will power up your speaking and have
you複雑な文章を繋ぎ合わせている(/izkuzαtsuna bunshd o tsunag! awasete-zru, stringing
together complex sentences) in no time.
I introduced some conjunctions - L,;{)＼
しjそれでIのにjetc.- baclc in February, but
here's a quick $s2E>＼:-＼<o-sarai, refresher)
in case you didn't catch it: Conjunctions,
referred to in Iapanese as接続詞(setsuzoー
kushi), are the connective tissue that link
your sentences together. A simple Japanese
sentence includes at least one :g jl (meishi,
noun)j動詞(dδshi, verb) and助詞(jοshi,
particle). By using接続詞, yoQ can stung
simple sentences together to form complex
thoughts.
ここでちょっと例を挙げましょう(Kοko de
chotto rez o agemash6, I'll give an example)
If you tooka gamble on some marked-down
knit, you might say,このミカンはすごく安かっ
た。でも後で皮をむいたら腐っていた(Kο閻
mikan wa sugoku yasukatta. Demo ato de
kawa o muitara kusatte-ita, These tangerines were super
cheap. But when I
peeled one later, it
was rotten). That
-e t> (demo), that's
the接続詞It shows
contrast between
two complete
clauses and links them mto a compound sentence.
AH this talk of
"compound sentencesD and */complete
clauses" might make you !J'.>]Z==~a~~& (zotto
suru, shudder with horror), but you won't
need your waist-high grammar waders to get
through this article.
The three接続詞covered here are caned
並列(heiretsu). As indicated by the kanji,
which mean "arran@ng in a line" and "row/
sequence," respectively, these words are used
to arrange similar information in sequence.
That sounds very technical, but it's actually
pretty simple. Think of an English statement
like,"I got this bag of tangerines for half offl
Hus, I had a coupon!" Thatplus is the English
equivalent of a並列Both sentences explain
that "the tangerines were a bargain," and the
"plus" links them together.
So, how might you say.that same statement in lapanese?このミカンは半額セールに
なっていた。しかもクーポンがあったんだ!(Kοnο
mikan wa hangaku seru ni natte-ita. Shikamo
kaponga atta-n da!) That L,h＼Zt> (shilcamo) is
the key word. Just lilce "plus" in English, it is
often used to add a secondary statement that
drives home the point of thb first, or what is
called :$t.;>< Jfpl., (dame-oshi,4:good measure") -
しかもis perfect for adding an extra reason
or piece of evidence to your statement:
このズボンはすごいよ。シワにならないし染み
になりにくい。しかも洗濯機で洗える! (Kono
zubqn wa sug*?o; Sh;iwa m naranai shi,
次の部分と、最後の部分が、日本語と英語が混合し、日本語脳だけで済む部分があるからか（日本がある、それだけによる助かり？）
thermore" in terms of meaning, but 21t:
does not sound quite so堅い(katai, stufl＼r
and formal), In this way, 21t is often used when malc- '
mg two related statements about the same
topic. For example, the Importance of havL mg a goal and studying regularly to learn a
l
foreign language.外国語を習得するには具体
的なゴールを持たなくてはならない。また、ゴー
ルがあってもの&りくらりと勉強するよりは定期
的な勉強が効果的です(Gaikοkugoοοgakushn 簾 suru ni wagutaitekinagoruo motanakute wa
棘 拳
naranai. Mat@, gbruga atte mo norari-kurari
to benl<yd suruyorz wa teikite1cina benhybga
拳 kbkateki desu, When learning a foreign lan-
%
l
饗
養 ・]goal. And, even if you have a goal, studying haphazardly will not be as effective as reguA similar but more casual way to link
two connected thoughts is with $,L: (ato).
You may Imow this word from phrases like
あとどれくらいでつきますか? (Atοdοre Rural
de tsukimasu ka?, About how much longer
till we arrive?) In that context, 2>2== carries
the meaning of "remaining time." But as a
l 接続詞it indicates something that you just
thought of or remembered. In other words, a *':remaining thought."
We usually handle this in English by saying "oh," as Int"Hey, can you grab me some
potato chips at the store? Oh, and a Strong
Zero!" In Japanese, you would say, Fir :/tf
ニでポテチを買ってくれない?あとストロング
t>tz._l (Konbini depotechiokatte kurenai?
A to Sutorongu mo ne). Any time a follow-up
thought occurs to you, that's the momen
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
shimi ni narinikui. SIzikazm sentalcuki de You can usearange forあと.
araeru!, These pants are amazing. They're of Japanese conj uric- Now that we've got these three words
wrinlde-fi-ee and stain-resistant. Plus, they're tions to describe rounded up, let's corral them together. And
machine-washablel ) whatyou think of remember一一接続詞can be used together. In
A similar接続詞isまた(mαrα). This is the tangerines sold at the last installment, I introduced the word
related to the 212: that means /Jagain:l as the local market. 0 iz=. Here's how you might combine it with
m expressions like lj)-92>21t (jd mata, see GETTY IMAGES one of the new接続詞:このミカンは半額にな
you later). Where L, j>＼t> carries a sense of っていたのに味がいいよね。しかも剥きやすい
累hu (ruika, compounding), 2 tz: is used for (Kono mikan wa hangaku ni natte-ita noni ail
添hu (tenka, addition/appending). In other ga iiyo ne. -Shikamo muk@asui, For being half
words, 2 tz is just for adding a second state- of[ don't these tangerines taste great? And
Went that follows the first. it is close to :*fur-