LESSON 29

TODAY'S TOPIC: Fuzakeruna
" Don't be silly"

Welcome back to Reiko-chan's Japanese for Anime Lovers! From this week, you will learn Japanese from the characters of Yu Yu Hakusho. Yey! This is my favorite Anime. First of all, you may want to know how polite each character is and so on. In next section, I put comments on each character's spoken style, as well as some wave files for you to know the correct pronunciations of those characters' names. This is a good practice to review Japanese high and low pitch, so repeat after each character paying attention to the pitches, OK? (Note: Italicized parts below have high pitch as usual.)

btn29-1.wav 15K
(Botan:) Hai, Yuusuke!
(Yusuke:) Botan!
Hi! Yusuke!
Botan!

If you are a female and want to appear like a person grew up in a down town (like in New York), follow Botan's style. She is not as polite as Fuu in RayEarth, but she becomes polite in front of Koenma. She doesn't have a last name, call her just Botan(maybe the name of a flower, peony) If if if, you are a male and a juvenile delinquent, follow Yusuke's style. His name is Yusuke (I use Yuusuke for Japanese) Urameshi. Female characters usually call him by his first name and male characters call him by his last name (except for Kurama, Hiei, and Koemma, meaning that only a very few close friends call a man by his first name. Kuwabara, who calls him "Urameshi," probablly thinks himself as a rival of Yusuke, not a close friend. Also, Yusuke calls Kuwabara "Kuwabara.").

yu29-1.wav 26K
(Yusuke:)Yo! Hisashiburi! (Keiko:) Baka! Yuusuke!
(Yusuke:) Hey, long time no see! (Keiko:) You fool, Yusuke!

If you are a normal and smart girl, follow Keiko's style. Her name is Keiko Yukimura. By the way, do you remember hisashiburi? Good! You learned its polite form from Alcyone (Ohisashiburi desu) Baka means horse and deer (therefore (?) it means stupid, fool, as* etc.)

kaz29-1.wav 15k
(Kuwabara:) Urameshi! (YUSUKE:) Kuwabara!
If you are an extra bad delinquent, follow Kuwabara's style. (meaning, it is fun to hear him talk, but I can't recommend you to talk like him.) His first name is Kazuma, but only his sister Shizuru and Yukina use it, other characters call him by his last name (sometimes with suffix san or kun)

yu29-2.wav 36K
Yusuke: Kuwabara, shoukai suru ze, Hiei ni Kurama da.
Kurama: Yoroshiku
Yusuke: Kuwabara, let me introduce you Hiei and Kurama
Kurama: Nice to meet you

Kurama's speech is cool and polite, and I recommend you to follow his style if you are a male. Hiei's speech is not polite, but not bad as Kuwabara's, so, if you want to appear just cool to your friends, you can speak like him. Shokai (as in Jiko-shokai, do you remember) means introduction. Suru is a verb "to do." Therefore, shokai suru means "do the introduction" or "to introduce." Notice that Yusuke used an ending particle ze, which is usually used by male. Ni is "and" in this context, but never mind ^_^. Yoroshiku literally means "Be good to me" but this is just a greeting we usually say when we first meet someone and are introduced, meaning "nice to meet you."

grg29-1.wav 13K
Koenma-sama, Taihen desu!
Koenma-sama, the worst has happened!
George Saotome is an ogre working for Koemma. His speech is very polite most of the time and this is another style I can recommend you. Taihen is a na-adjective meaning "tough" "hard" "serious" "grave" "horrible" etc. depending on the context. When characters scream out taihen da! or taihen!, it usually means "The worst has happened" "How terrible!" or just "My Gad!"

Now, let's begin today's lesson! This week, we will review some of the phrases we learned in RayEarth lessons and see how boys would say the same phrases girls said. Also, I introduce you other important words and phrases to understand Anime.

yu29-3.wav 19K
Oi oi oi! Jodan ja nee zo!
Hey! No kidding!
You may remember Umi often said Jodan ja nai wa! Same thing appears as Jodan ja nee zo or Jodan ja nee ze! in male speech. Differences are:
1. nee is sometimes used instead of nai, making the speech more colloquial and masculine.
2. ending particle is ze or zo instead of wa. As you already know, wa makes your speech feminine. These ze and zo act just the opposite and make your speech masculine.

kaz29-2.wav 20K
Kusottarega! Fuzake yagatte!
You bastard! Don't be silly!
This new phrase means almost the same thing as jodan ja nee ze. Fuzakeru (a ru-verb) means "kid" "play pranks" "joke" "make fun of" "be playful" etc. Don't worry about yagatte part, it just emphasizes the speech here and adds the meaning such as "how dare you." Kusottare literally means, ahem (coughing),,, please consult your dictionary or ask a Japanese near you.

yu29-4.wav 10K
Zakenna
Don't be (talking) silly!
Sometimes, the first syllable (fu) is omitted for some reason I don't know. It kinda sounds cool. This Zakanna is colloquial way of saying fuzakeru na.(na acts like "not" in English, you remember?)

kaz29-3.wav 15K
Zaken ja nee!
Sometimes, you'll hear ja between (fu)zaken and na (in that case, na becomes nai or nee), but the meaning remains the same.

Omake
Yatta! can be used like this, too.

yu29-5.wav 8K
Yatta ze!
I did it!

koe29-1.wav 15K
Yoku yatta zo, Yusuke!
Well done, Yusuke!
Yoku is derived from an i-adjective yoi (you know it, right?). Just change the ending "i" to "u," you get an adverb! Notice Koenma also uses an ending particle zo, here.

That's all for today's lesson. Ja mata ashita!

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LESSON 30

TODAY'S TOPIC: Kisama!
" You!"

In Japanese, female and male speeches sound mostly the same in polite style (except for the use of ending particle wa) However, in natural and colloquial style, not only usage of ending particles, but also the usage of pronouns makes those two very different. So, today, let's learn variety of pronouns "you" and "I." So far, you know that anata and omae mean "you" and watashi means "I" from previous lessons. (anata is polite and generally used for any occasion. Omae is used to refer to someone younger or inferior to you.) Now, here are some more.

yu30-1.wav 15K
Kuwabara omee tsukiae.
Kuwabara, you, come with me.
Omee is more impolite way of saying omae (it's easier to say omee than omae, right?). Tsukiae is an imperative form of a verb tsukiau, which means "be my company" in this context. (Yusuke wants to go shopping with Kuwabara here.)
Note: Imperative forms usually end with "e" sound.

kaz30-1.wav 20K
Omee-ra, ore ga dare da ka shitten noka?
You guys! Do you know who I am?
Omee-ra: ra acts like plural "s" in Enslidh here. Therefore, Omee-ra is plural "you."
Ore: This one also means I. While watashi is polite, ore is not so polite but normally and naturally used by men. So even if you are not a delinquent, you can say ore. (hmmm, if you use ore, you sound like a tough guy. Kakko ii!)
shitten: This word is a short version (like gonna, wanna and so on in English) of shitte iru (= be knowing), which consists of te-form of a verb shiru (= to know) plus another verb iru (= to be, to exist). In Japanese, "I know" appears as "I am knowing." Weird? Well, knowledge is always in your brain, therefore, I think it is just natural to say this way.
Thus, whole sentence can be directly translated as "You guys! I am who? do you know?"
Note: ga = subject marker, da = be-verb (plain non-past form), ka = question maker, and noka = question maker (there are two question makers in this sentence.)

krm30-1.wav 7K
Ore ga yarou.
Let me do (it).
See! Even polite Kurama said ore! Yarou is one of the conjugated forms (let's form) of a verb yaru (-> yatta, past tense). If you say yarou instead of yaru, you sound like you are offering to do some task. Note that this yarou is completely different from next one, though the pronunciation is the same.

. kaz30-2.wav 10K
Yarou!
You bastard!
This yarou is a noun and just means "fellow" or "guy" but if you say it with the feeling of contempt, it means "you bastard" or something like that. How about next one?

hiei30-2.wav 41K
Hiei: Hun, ore ga yaru
Kuwabara: Baka yarou! Aitsu wa ore ga hitori de taosu nda yo!
Hiei: Huh! I will do (it).
Kuwabara: You fool! I will beat that guy by myself, you know!
You must have understood what Hiei said, right? Great! Kuwabara's sentence is a little bit complicated. Aitsu is like "that person" "s/he" "her/him" etc. Hitori de (You remember this?) consists of two words Hitori (= alone) and de, de is a particle that means "by mean of." Taosu is a verb that means "to beat" "to defeat" and so on. Therefore, the direct translation is "as for him (or that guy), I will alone defeat (plus ending particle yo)" Nda, which you may remember, is put after a verb (dictionary form) or adjective to suggest that you are offering an explanation of your speech rather than just stating the fact. Here I translated as "you know."

kaz 30-3.wav 36K
Nan da! Temee! Nani shita!
What are you?! What did you do?!
Temee: Very colloquial way of saying "you." Maybe you don't want to say it. Shita is the past tense of the irregular verb suru (= to do). Therefore, nani shita means "what did (you do)?" while nani suru means "What do you do?" or "what are you going to do?"

kaz30-4.wav 13K
Kisama!
You!
Kisama also means "you." This word can be used to refer to a very close male friend or someone you hate, like an enemy, opponent, and so on. It can also be used in a troop, army, navy, air force and marine so on. Strange? Well, it's not my fault, you know,,,

hiei30-1.wav 42K
Hiei:Nan da kisama wa. Shini-tai noka?
Kuwabara: Nan da to, kono yarou!
Hiei: What are you? You want to die?
Kuwabara: What did you say, you bastard?!
This is one of typical conversations between Hiei and Kuwabara, they are like comedians! Hiei thinks he is very strong and Kuwabara is nothing. So, whenever Kuwabara says something insulting to Hiei, similar conversation begins.
Kono yarou literally means "this fellow" but if used in a conversation like this, it means "you." Remember that this is very impolite way of saying it.
Shini tai: tai (put after a verb) means "want to." Shini is one of the conjugated forms of a verb shinu (= to die) Therefore, shini tai means "want to die." Since it has particles no and ka, it is an interrogative, thus, "do you want to die?" What Hiei really means is "do you want me to kill you?" "did you say such a thing to a strong person like me because you want to die?" or "If you are so impolite to me, I will kill you." Nanda to will be explained later this week.

btn30-1.wav 18K
Anta wo osotta yatsu-ra wo mite mina.
Take a look at the guys who attacked you.
Sorry, I could find easier one, but just pay attention to Anta, which is a colloquial way of saying Anata. Also, you may notice yatsu-ra. Yes, you guessed right! It's a plural form of yatsu (= fellow).
Note: Osotta: past tense of a verb osou (= attack), thus, it means "attacked"
Mite mina: Mite is the te-form of a verb miru (= to look), and mina is an imperative form of miru, but this miru means "try to (do something)" Therefore, mite mina literally means "try to look (at)." In this sentense, Anta wo osotta part modifies a noun yatsu-ra. "Look at the guys" in English appears as "The guys at look" in Japanese.
Now, let's try one small conversation!

krm30-2.wav 60K
Kurama: Yusuke, suman na.
Yusuke: Nani, ato wa ore-tachi ni makase toke tte.
Kuwabara: Tsugi wa ore ga yattaru!
Kurama: Yusuke, I'm sorry.
Yusuke: Why? (or never mind), leave everything to us.
Kuwabara: I will do (fight) next!
Suman (or sometimes, sumanai = sumimasen) means "I'm sorry." While gomen (which you learned in previous lesson) is often used by kids or in less formal situations, suman is often used by grown ups or in formal situations.
Nani sometimes means "Why? Never mind." (not "what?" all the time) Here, Kurama apologized to Yusuke because Kurama got hurt while fighting with an enemy and would not be able to fight anymore. Then Yusuke said "never mind because you fought and beat the enemy alone." Ore-tachi: Ore plus plural maker -tachi, thus it means "we" (here it means "us." Notice that Japanese pronouns don't conjugate, like English pronouns do, as in "I my me mine" and so on! Isn't that a good news!?)
ato wa ore-tachi ni makase toke tte: You need to know more advanced grammar to understand this sentence completely, but you can understand the basic meaning by just knowing the meaning of each word here. Ato means "after" or "later," since it has wa (the sentence topic maker) after it, it is the topic of this sentence. Ni after ore-tachi is a particle that marks the indirect object of the sentence, thus ore-tachi ni means "to us." Makaseru is a verb that means "entrust" "trust" or "leave (a matter) up to (a person)." Thus, the direct translation of this sentence is "As for (what happens) later, leave to us."
Tsugi wa ore ga yaru: Tsugi means next, thus, "As for next (fight), I'll do." (you remember yaru (-> Yatta, past tense) means carry out, perform etc.?) Yattaru is shortened form of yatte yaru and stronger than yaru in its meaning.

That's all for today. How are you doing? How do you like YuYu Hakusho characters? Hope you like them. Ja mata!

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LESSON 31

TODAY'S TOPIC: Nanda to?!
"What do you mean by that?!"

Since you learned various ways of saying you, I and fellow, you are ready to step forward to understand the world of YuYu Hakusho more deeply. Today, let's review nani (or nan) and learn some more expressions that use nani.

kaz31-1.wav 9K
Nan da! Koitsu!
What is this guy!?
Koitsu means "this guy." Nan plus da (plain form of Japanese be-verb desu) makes "what is" part. You just add a noun (such as koitsu), and you get "what is this guy?!" Also, you can put particle wa (topic marker) after the noun. Easy, right?

yu31-1.wav 10KB
Nan da yo, koko wa?
What is this place!?
I know you understand this sentence! Koko (you remember?) means "here" or "this place" (see my previous lesson on demonstratives). Yo is an ending particle that emphasizes what you say, and wa is a topic marker. Of course, you can say Koko wa nan da yo! In Japanese, word order doesn't matter as much as in English, you just need to make sure to put ending particles at the end and put proper particles after each word when necessary.

yu31-2.wav 9K
Nan da to!?
What do you mean by that?!
Using the same phrase Nan da, and add a particle to, Tadaaaa! You get a sentence that means "what did you say?" "what do you mean by that?" "why did you say that" and so on!

btn31-1.wav 8K
Ittai nani ga,,,
What the hell (going on)?
Ittai is the word I want you to know. It is used very frequently combined with nani. (sometimes used alone) Ittai means "on the earth" "the hell" and so on. Therefore, ittai nani means "what on the earth?" or "what the hell?" and so on.

grg31-1.wav 22K
Koenma-sama, ittai nani wo yatte ru ndesu?
Koenma-sama, what on the earth are you doing?
Yatte is the te-form of now famous verb yaru. This te-form function like "ing" in English when combined with another verb iru (= to be, to exist. In this case, yatte iru). Here George Saotome just made it short and said yatteru. Ndesu is the same as nda, but politer. (suggesting an explanation in affirmative, asking for an explanation in interrogative sentence) Wo is a particle that marks the direct object of the sentence.

yu31-3.wav 27K
Kurama! Nanda? Nani wo suru tsumori da!?
Kurama! What do you intend to do!?
Tsumori is the word I want you to know. It means "intention ( in this case, intend to)" and is put after a verb (dictionary form). In this case, suru (= to do) and tsumori make "intend to do." Since tsumori is a noun, Yusuke added a be-verb da at the end, too. Let's try another one with tsumori.

hiei31-1.wav 46K
Hiei: Ano baka, dou suru tsumori da?
Kuwabara: Kore de dou da!
Byakko: Na, nanii!
Hiei: That fool (of courst Kuwabara), what is he going to do?
Kuwabara: How about this!
Byakko: W, what!
Here Kuwabara is fighting against a huge monster named Byakko. Watching Kuwabara moved strangely, Hiei wondered what Kuwabara had in his mind. Instead of nani (wo), sometimes dou (= how) is used, but the meaning is the same. Kore de dou da can be directly translated as "With this, how is it?" Here, kore (= this) means Kuwabara's attack, so "how did you like my attack?" "How about my attack? Is this great one or what!" "with this blow, I am sure you (will) be beaten" etc.

krm31-1.wav 24K
Kurama: Okashii na
Yusuke: Nani ga da yo?
Kurama: Strange, , ,
Yusuke: What is (strange)?
Since ga is a subject marker, nani is the subject in Yusuke's sentence. As usual, known part okashii is dropped here. Though Yusuke added be-verb, da and an ending particle, yo, here, you can also just say nani ga? Now, let's try one short dialogue.

kaz31-2.wav 44K
Kuwabara: Nanii! Koroshi taroka, temee?
Hiei: Hun, omoshiroi.
Yusuke: Yosette!
Kuwabara: What (did you say)? Do you want me to kill you?
Hiei: Hump! Interesting.
Yusuke: Cut it out!
Kuwabara: Nani is often used when one is surprised or shocked to hear something. Though I translated as "what?" here, the real meaning is the feeling of surprise. (Kuwabara heard Hiei all right)
Korosu is a verb that means "to kill" and yaru (pronounced the same as yaru in yatta but different verb) means "to give." So te-form of Korosu plus yaru, (= koroshite yaru) literally means "give you killing." Here, he used yarou, the let's form of yaru, (in this case, let's form suggests that he is giving an offer to kill) and made it very colloquial, then said taro.(taro and yarou sound similar, but taro is easier to pronounce especially after te sound, don't you think?) Since its has ka at the end, it is an interrogative, "do you want be killed (by me)?" Makes sense?
Hiei: Omoshiroi means "interesting" "funny" "amusing" and so on. What Hiei means here is that "it is interesting, how can a stupid man like you kill me? Let's see if you really can do it."
Yusuke: Last one, a verb yosu (dictionary form) means "stop" "drop" "give up" "cut off" "desist from" etc. Yose is its imperative form. Yusuke added tte sound after yose and sounded as if saying "I'm telling you not to fight all the time! That's enough! Now stop it!" rather than just saying "stop!."

Omake

btn31-2.wav 22K
Yusuke, yoku ganbatta ne!
Yusuke! (you) have stuck it out well!
Ganbatte is used to cheer people up, you remember? Ganbatta is its past tense. Yoku is an adverb derived from an i-adjective yoi (you remember?) Similarly, you can say yoku yatta ne to mean you did great.

kaz31-3.wav 14K
Yattaa! Zamaa miro!
I did it! It serves you damn right!
Zamaa miro or zama wo miro is often heard in fighting Anime(s). A character would say this, after successfully beats the enemy.

All right, that's all for today. Omoshiro katta? Ja, mata!

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LESSON 32

TODAY'S TOPIC: Shinpai da wa
"I'm very anxious"

Shinpai is another frequently used word in Anime. It is a noun that means "anxiety" "concern" "worry" etc. It becomes a na-adjective if you add "na" sound. Also, shinpai suru means "feel anxiety" "is anxious" "be concerned" etc. First let's listen to Keiko and Atsuko.

kei32-1.wav 45K
Keiko: Shinpaida wa.
Atsuko: Aa, daijobu, daijobu, shinpai nai tte!
Keiko: I am concerned about (Yusuke).
Atsuko: Ah, he is all right, all right. No need to worry!
Here, Keiko is worrying about Yusuke because he hadn't come home for a long time from his training. In Keiko's sentence, shinpaida is a na-adjective (= anxious). As usual, "I" is known, thus, omitted. Na-adjective shinpaina appears as shinpaida instead of shinpaina when it doesn't modify anything. (Therefore, when it modifies a noun as in "worrying matter," it appears as shinpaina koto. However, if be-verb is used after it, na (or da) is dropped.) In Atsuko's speech, shinpai is a noun. She added nai, which acts like "not" or "no" in English (you remember? Good!), therefore shinpai nai means "(there is) no worry" thus "No need to worry."

kaz32-1.wav 31K
Kuwabara: Keiko-chan shinpai shite ta nda ze.
Yusuke: Urusee na!
Kuwabara: Keiko has been worrying about you, you know?
Yusuke: Shut up.
If you remember my previous lessons where I explained a te-form of verb plus a verb iru functions "be ---ing" in English and nda suggects that the speaker is offering an explanation, you have no difficulties understanding this. Shite iru means "is worrying" right? Change the varb iru to ita (past tense), then you get "was worrying." Hummm, it's logical right? Here, Kuwabara shorten ita part and just said ta. We Japanese all do this whether one is a delinquent or not. Then, Yusuke, who doesn't like to appear as if he loves Keiko (though he really loves her), said urusee na! to mean "Shut up" more colloquial way of saying urusai (you remember this i-adjective? Good!). How about next one?

yu32-1.wav 36K
Yusuke: Kurama! Daijobu ka?
Kuwabara: Yabeen ja nee ka?
Kurama: Shinpai wa iranai.
Yusuke: Kurama, are you all right?
Kuwabara: (You feel) no good, don't you, I'm afraid?
Kurama: You don't need to worry (about me).
Important part here is shinpai wa iranai. Iranai means "(I) don't need." Therefore, this sentence means "As for your worry, I don't need" thus "(my wound is not serious and) you don't need to worry." Yabeen ja neeka can appear as yabai no dewa (or ja) nai ka in a formal situation, but still yabai is a slung and not listed even in my dictionary (but we use this word very often). Yabai means "no good" "very bad" "unfortunate" "mess" "Ooooops" and so on and on. Ja nai ka (here, ja nee ka) means "I wonder" "I'm afraid" "I think" etc. But don't worry about this for now.

yu32-2.wav 6K
Ki wo tsukero yo.
Be careful.
I just thought this phrase is somewhat related to today's topic. Ki, as you know, means "mind" "soul" "heart" etc. and tsukeru means "to attach." For some reason, ki wo tsukeru (attach the mind) means "be careful" or "take care." Nice idiom to remember. Here Yusuke used imperative form, but you can say ki wo tsukete to be polite. (te-from)

Omake

Test yourself whether you can understand following conversation without reading the translation, please?

btn32-1.wav 69K
Botan: Yusuke! Taihen, taihen yo!
Yusuke: Na, doushita, Botan!? Oi! Botan, daijobu ka?
Kuwabara: Botan-chan!
(The answer is at the end of this lesson.)

Omake Sono ni (2)

I found a good wav file on number accidentary, so let's learn how to count! First listen to the file, it is from The Vision of Escaflowne.

htmi32-1.wav 107K
Hitomi (heroine) and Amano (a person Hitomi loves)
One, Two, Three,,,,,,, ten

htmi32-2.wav 59K
Eleven,,,,,Sixteen

Here is the summary:

For counting more than 100 and counters, I will explain later.

That's all for this week! I hope you had fun this week. Since we finished reviewing (only a little, though), let's move on to learn more grammar next week. Ja mata raishu!

Answer:
Botan: Yusuke! The worst has happened!
Yusuke: Wh. what has happened, Botan? Hey, Botan, are you all right?
Kuwabara: Botan-chan!

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This Page is updated on Sep. 7, 1996.