Los Centros de Día para discapacitados

Unit 3

The following is the translation. The subjects are given in boldface.

(1) I/we watched an anime (Japanese animated film) yesterday. (2) It was very interesting.

Unit 4

You can answer the question by repeating the last part (minus -ka):

Sanka-shimasu.

You have just confirmed that you are going to participate in an anti-war demonstration in Washington, DC.

Unit 5

The sentences are respectively of type 1 (verb), type 2 (adjective + copula), type 1 (verb), and type 3 (noun + copula).

Unit 6

The team captain is a junior.

She is a team captain and (is) a junior.

It is an interesting idea and is easy to understand.

Unit 7

If you came up with either of the following, you got the point.

Sensei, sensei-no hon-wa dochira-desu-ka.

Sensei, dochira-ga sensei-no hon-desu-ka.

Unit 8

tigawanai-desu and tigawanakatta-desu are

Only tadashii “correct” can be (and indeed is) an adjective, because it has -ii at the end. The other forms are definitely not adjectives, because they do not have -ii, -ai, -oi, or -ui at the end.

Incidentally, one extra clue in telling the class identity of a form is whether it is written totally in kanji or not. Adjectives have at least the last i written in hiragana. If everything is written in kanji, you can be sure that a word is a noun.

Unit 10

yuugai “harmful” is a noun because the negative sentence follows the pattern for a noun.

Unit 11

You could answer the questions as follows:

Sensei-ga kinoo kyooshitsu-de gakusei-kara hen-na hanashi-o kiita-n-desu.

“The teacher heard a strange story from the students in class yesterday.”

Ashita-no marason-wa byooin-no mae-kara sutaato-suru yotei-da-to itte-imashita.

“They were saying that tomorrow’s marathon is planned to start in front of the hospital.”

Tesuto-wa ashita-deshita-ne.

To understand why this past tense option is allowed, see Unit 49.

Unit 15

Here are five other variations:

Watashi-wa Asahi-shinbun-o intaanetto-de yomimasu.

Intaanetto-de watashi-wa Asahi-shinbun-o yomimasu.

Intaanetto-de Asahi-shinbun-o watashi-wa yomimasu.

Asahi-shinbun-o watashi-wa intaanetto-de yomimasu.

Asahi-shinbun-o intaanetto-de watashi-wa yomimasu.

Unit 17

Since Oda-san “Mr. Oda” is introduced as an addition to the list of people who went to Canada, the preceding sentence must have referred to someone else who went to Canada, as in the following:

Akechi-san-wa Kanada-e ikimashita.

“Mr. Akechi went to Canada.”

Unit 18

“Mr. Suzuki, Ms. Tanaka, and Mr. Nakada are all married.”

This is definitely not a case of group marriage involving three people!

Unit 19

(= subject) (= direct object)

Dare-ga (= subject) kyoo Hayashi-san-o (= direct object) mimashita-ka.

“Who (= subject) saw Ms. Hayashi (= direct object) today?”

(= direct object)

(= subject) (= direct object)

Sensei-ga (= subject) gakusei-o (= direct object) shootai-shimashita.

“The teachers (= subject) invited the students (= direct object).”

If you translated this last one with sensei-wa, you are not wrong. Read Unit 20 to understand the difference.

Unit 20

Are-wa nan-desu-ka. (Are-wa) Hooryuuji-desu.

“What is that?” “That is Horyuji Temple.”

are in this exchange is the topic of the conversation, as is clear from the use of the particle -wa. The second speaker would use are to make certain that there is no misunderstanding about the topic. When she is sure that there is no misunderstanding, she can safely omit it.

Dore-ga ii-desu-ka. Are-ga ii-desu.

“Which one is good?” “That one is good.”

In this exchange, on the other hand, the first speaker is asking the second speaker to select one item from a number of candidates, and are provides the answer, so it cannot be dropped.

Unit 21

Kore-wa dare-ga tsukaimasu-ka.

“Who will use this?”

Nihon-jin-wa donna hon-o yomimasu-ka.

“What type of books do Japanese people read?”

Dore-ga ichiban yasui-desu-ka.

“Which one is the cheapest?”

Unit 22

Nihon-no shinbun-o kenkyuu-shimashita.

Nihon-no shinbun-no kenkyuu-o shimashita.

Unit 23

A more bookish counterpart is:

Kore-o, tsukaimashita-ka.

“Did you use this?”

In speech, however, the direct object marker -o is more likely to be omitted after kore, as in the exercise.

Unit 24

Kyoo-no rekishi-no kurasu-wa toshokan-no yon-kai-de arimasu.

Nihon-go-no kurasu-no kyooshitsu-wa toshokan-no ni-kai-ni arimasu.

Nihon-de doko-ni ikimashita-ka.

Unit 25

Of the sentences,

Hawai-ni tooka imashita.

Hawai-ni tooka-ni imashita.

the first means that someone was in Hawai‘i for ten days, while the second means that she/he was in Hawai‘i on the tenth.

Between the two options,

Ashita-made-ni hyaku-peeji-o yonde-kudasai.

Ashita-made-ni hyaku-peeji yonde-kudasai.

you would probably want your teacher to give the first assignment, because it requires you to read only one page (page 100). If your teacher said the second,

Unit 26

Because nomitai “want to drink” consists of the transitive verb nomu “drink” and the intransitive auxiliary verb -tai “want to,” it has the characteristics of both a transitive and an intransitive verb. See also Unit 27.

Unit 27

Because oku “to place” is a transitive verb, shoosetsu-o is allowed;

because -te-aru creates the intransitive expression oite-aru, shoosetsu-ga is allowed; because shoosetsu-ga oite-aru modifies a noun, shoosetsu-no is also allowed.

Likewise, because taberu “to eat” is a transitive verb, kimuchi-o is a grammatical option; the auxiliary verb -tai optionally converts

kimuchi-o to kimuchi-ga, which in turn can be converted to kimuchi-no because it can be interpreted as modifying the noun phrase

tabetai hito “the person who wants to eat.”

Unit 28

The expressions with -ni present the winner and the loser as worthy competitors. The expression with -o presents the winner as the dominating and the loser as the dominated.

Unit 29

-au makes the interaction a reciprocal one.

Unit 30

God is supposed to have full control over rain when it rains; a mortal like Yuji is not. Hence the contrast.

Tomodachi-ni issho-ni itte-moraitai.

“I would like my friend to go with me.”

Tomodachi-ni issho-ni itte-hoshii.

“I would like my friend to go with me.”

In the case of sentences containing -moraitai “would like” or -hoshii “want,” the non-subject participants have more control over the events than the subjects who are merely desirous of favorable outcomes;

therefore, the particle -ni rather than -o must be used.

Unit 31

The use of Akira-ni “to Akira” requires a transfer of an object to Akira. benkyoo-o miru “to help with someone’s homework” does not involve such an event. Therefore, there is a clash.

Unit 32

Either -ni or -o is possible for the first; only -ni is allowed for the second:

Naomi-{ni/o} uchi-ni kaeraseta.

Naomi-ni hon-o kawaseta.

You are unlikely to need the sentence,

Kodomo-tachi-o tabesaseta.

unless you enjoy shocking people or narrating grim fairy tales, because it means

“I fed the children (to something or someone).”

Unit 33

kaite-kudasai “please write,” itte-kudasai

“please say,” etc.

benkyoo-shite-kudasai “please study,”

yonde-kudasai “please read,” etc.

kaite-kudasai “please write,” hanashite-kudasai “please speak,” etc.

shite-kudasai “please do,” dashite-kudasai

“please submit,” etc.

Unit 34

the name of the feline protagonist in a novel by Soseki

What was the name of the feline protagonist in a novel by Soseki?

Unit 35

It means “my Japanese friend’s new English teacher.” You might use it in