Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 2

33 6-3-2 sugi/ mae More about telling time In 6-1-2 above, we saw that in telling clock time, the hour is followed by minutes ( ku-ji jup-pun .) You may also hear minutes before the hour followed by mae ‘before’ or minutes after the hour followed by sugi ‘past’: 六時五分前 ろくじごふんまえ roku-ji go-fun mae five minutes before/until 6:00. 八時十分過 はいじじゅっぷんす ぎ hachi-ji jup-pun sugi. ten minutes after/past 8:00 お昼 ひる ちょっと前 まえ ohiru chotto mae a little before noon. 九時半少 く じ は ん す こ しすぎ ku-ji han sukoshi sugi a little past 6:30. When the hour has already been mentioned or understood, it is common not to mention it: 六時 ろ く じ ですか． Roku-ji desuka. Is it six? いえ、十分前 じゅっぷんまえ です。 Iie, jup-pun mae desu . No, it’s ten to. 6-3-3 Learning Verbs with Particles Selecting the right particle is always a challenge to many learners of Japanese. As you expand your vocabulary, it’s recommended that you learn each new verb along with the particle that is typically used with it. In this lesson we learn several verbs that are associated with transportation. Notice that these verbs take different particles and it is hard to guess the right ones simply on the basis of their English translations. バスに乗 の ります。 Basu ni norimasu. I’ll get on the bus. バスを降 お ります。 Basu o orimasu. I’ll get off the bus バスを乗 の り換 か えます。 Basu o norikaemasu . I’ll change buses. バスに乗 の り換 か えます。 Basu ni norikaemasu ． I’ll transfer to a bus. バスから乗 の り換 か えます。 Basu kara norikaemasu. I’ll transfer from a bus. 家 いえ を出 で ました。 Ie o demashita. I left home. 家 いえ に着 つ きました。 Ie ni tsukimashita. I arrived home.