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Hello my students.
I think it's time that we started shaping your Japanese into more natural conversations and sentences.
Up until now, I've only been teaching you sentences that contain a single verb. I go home. I watch a movie. I study Japanese. Of course, in everyday conversation, nobody actually speaks like that. So I'm going to start teaching you how to create more complex sentences.
Now, suppose you are going to go see a movie. That's two actions - going and seeing. The same applies for Japanese. Now, going (ikimasu) is the immediate action, so to speak. It goes on the end of the sentence. Which leaves us with seeing (mimasu). How do we combine them?
Drop the -masu from mimasu and add NI. Then put it in front of ikimasu (to go).
mi ni ikimasu.
Altogether, we get:
watashi wa eiga wo mi ni ikimasu.
I go and see a movie. (This can also mean I will go and see a movie, as Japanese has no verbs for future tense.)
And if you were going out to drink coffee?
Well, that's drink (nomimasu) and go (ikimasu), so we get:
Watashi wa kohi wo nomi ni ikimasu.
So that takes care of talking about you. But what if you wanted to invite someone along?
If there's anything you need to know about Japanese culture, it's that they're a soft-spoken people. They use very gentle language, and typically go out of their way not to inconvenience anybody. As I've said before, real Japanese people do not scream at each other in the streets in day-to-day life.
How does this apply when you want to ask someone to do something with you? Well, you use the negative verb. Let's look at the following invitation to go out for tea.
ocha wo nomi ni ikimasen ka?
The closest way to translate this is "Won't you go out for tea with me?". When you present your invitation this way, it is much easier for the other party to refuse.
And now it's time for me to whip out a brand new word! Ladies and gentlemen, i give you... "isshoni". Please don't misspell it. It means "together", and you can cram it into an invitation to further drive home the point that it would be the two of you together.
ocha wo isshoni nomi ni ikimasen ka?
Isshoni is not strictly required, but you can toss it in there for good measure. They will understand what you mean, with or without it.
Of course, if you're with some friends, you don't need to be so formal. Instead, you can use the -shou verb form, which means "Let's ____".
sushi wo tabe ni ikimashou. (Let's go eat sushi!)
This is fine with friends; after all, you already know what they like to eat, and they're comfortable shooting you down if they don't want to go. Using this on a casual acquaintance, however, puts them in an awkward position. This invitation is not easy to refuse, as you are essentially telling them "We're going to go eat sushi together now".
Which brings us to our next point - how do you refuse somebody? Well, my friends, you have some options.
If someone gives you an indirect invitation like the one above, you can wave them off with:
ima, watashi wa chotto isogashii desu.
This means "I'm a little busy right now". (Isogashii means "busy". New adjective!).
ima - now
chotto - a little bit
isogashii - busy
If they name a specific date, such as "mokuyoubi ni ocha wo nomi ni ikimasen ka?". (Won't you go for tea with me on Thursday?), then you get to specifically find fault with the chosen day! Huzzah!
anoo... mokuyoubi wa chotto...
And then you trail off, while making a pained expression. Facial expressions are very important in Japanese, and the above excuse (Thursday is a little...) is actually one of the politest things you can say to brush off an invitation. You don't need to say anything else.
(FUN FACT: When a Japanese person takes a job in retail, they are actually given a crash course on making the proper apologetic facial expressions. One of the most common ones, at least for men, is to clench your jaw, bear your teeth in a grimace and suck in air, loudly, because you are so very, very sorry).
Now the real kicker is, when you say these things, you might actually mean them. Maybe you totally are busy on Thursday. They don't know. You know how North Americans will tell you "I'd love to, but I'm busy!" when they don't really mean it? That sort of sleazy politeness is universal. Fantastic, isn't it?
... and now for the really tricky part of this lesson. I know you can handle it.
There is an extremely polite expression in Japanese that goes as follows:
iie, kekkou desu.
This translates to "No, thank you", in an extremely polite fashion. There's just one problem: Using this is the wrong context will absolutely steamroller over the feelings of the person you are talking to. If you want to watch a Japanese person shatter in front of your very eyes, try using this expression in the wrong context.
See, if someone asks you to go and do something with them, and you say "iie, kekkou desu", in that context you are actually rejecting the person asking you, not the outing. It comes out as "No, thanks, I don't want to spend time with you". Ouch. So when can you use it? If someone offers you something you don't want. So, say, you accept that invitation for tea and now you're sitting in a teahouse, and your date asks you if you want a cup of green tea, THEN you can use "iie, kekkou desu" safely. And yes, you will sound polite and classy. Context is everything.
Once again, if you are with friends, there is no need for such formality. If they offer you something that you don't want, you can reply with:
ii desu (or "I'm good.", just like you would say in English).
Be careful, though. Saying "Ii desu ne" has the exact opposite meaning; if you say "ii desu ne", you are accepting. Something to watch for.
Well, that concludes this lesson. If you have any questions or comments for me, leave them here for me and I will get right back to you!
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