Since I’m done studying for the JLPT (or more appropriately done failing the JLPT) I thought I’d post another grammar point.  This is one you hear all the time in a variety of situations when someone has forgotten something and is trying to remember or get the person they’re talking to to remember.

Noun/Verb/Adjective (Plain Form/Polite Past Form) +っけ
何だっけ。 What is it again…
新宿だったっけ。 Was it Shinjuku?  I can’t remember.
病気でしたっけ。 He was sick, right?  I forgot.
買ったっけ・買いましたっけ。 Did he buy it?  I forgot.
行くんだっけ。 He’s going, right?  I forgot.
行ったんだっけ。 He went, didn’t he?  I forgot.
行くんだったっけ・行くんでしたっけ。 He was going, wasn’t he?
冷たかったっけ。 It was cold, right?

注意：イ Adjectives don’t ever use the Past Polite form (～かったです) with っけ since it can’t attach to です.  Also, it’s not recommended to use the Present Tense for Verbs or イ Adjectives.  It’s generally unnatural (even in English) to forget something that didn’t happen yet.

This form is only used to express something you did know, but forgot.  If you remember た・だ + っけ, you’ll be ok.

Grammar Note: Plain Form
Verb: 行く ・ 行かない ・ 行った ・　行かなかった
イ Adjective: さむい　・　さむくない　・　さむかった　・　さむくなかった
ナ Adjective: 元気だ　・　元気じゃない　・　元気たった　・　元気じゃなかった
Noun: 雨だ　・　雨じゃない　・　雨だった　・　雨じゃなかった

[podcast]http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanese/lj91.mp3[/podcast]

In today’s lesson Waka sensei teaches us how to use the word 「より」yori which means “more than”. We will deal with other uses of より in a future podcast.

よりdoes have a few other uses. For example, when finishing a letter and you want to write “from Alex” you would write 「アレックスより」Alex yori. There are one or two other exotic uses but I’ll leave that to a future podcast. If you have any questions or ideas, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post. Your feedback is always very welcome.

Although totally unrelated to today’s grammar point, we also talked a little about Okinawa town which you can find in Saszuka in western Tokyo. It’s an awesome little street with some delicious Okinawan restaurants and supermarkets stocking specialty produce. Enjoy!

Download MP3

PDF show notes

Subscribe via itunes

Show notes for lesson#91: Yori – More than

Today’s target grammar – より

A より B はいい
A yori B wa ii
A is better than B

Example sentences

1.  インドは日本より大きい
indo wa nihon yori ookii
India is bigger than Japan

2.  MatrixはStar Warsより面白い
Matrix wa Star Wars yori omoshiroi
Matrix is more interesting than Star Wars

3.  彼は昔より背が高い
kare wa mukashi yori segatakai
He is taller than before

4.  思ったよりテストが難しかった
omotta yori tesuto ga musukashikatta
The test was harder than I thought ( it would be )

5.  より効果的な勉強方法を探す
yori koukatekina benkyou houhou wo sagasu

Conversations
1.
A: 日本とインド、どっちが大きい？
B: インドは日本より大きいよ

A: nihon to indo, docchi ga ookii
B: indou wa nihon yori ookii yo

A: Which is bigger, India or Japan?
B: India is bigger than Japan

2.
A: Star Wars 面白いよね
B: そうだね。でけどMatrixはStar Warsより面白いよ。

A: Star Was wa omoshiroi yo ne
B: Sou da ne. dakedo, Matrix wa Star Wars yori omoshiroi yo

A: Star Wars is really interesting isn’t it?
B: Yeah, but Matrix is more interesting than Star Wars

3.
A: 彼は昔より背が高くなったな
B: そうね。

A: kare was mukashi yori sega takakunatta na
B: sou ne. gasshiri shiteru shi

A: He’s taller than before
B: Yeah, that’s right

4.
A: テストどうだった？
B: 思ったより難しかった

A: Tesuto dou data?
B: omotta yori musukashikatta

A: How was the test?
B: Harder than I thought

5.

A: 先生、最近の成績がだめなんです。
B: じゃ、より効果的な勉強方法を探しましょう。

A: sensei, seiseki ga dame nan desu
B: ja, yori koukatekina benkyou houhou wo sagashimashou

A: (Teacher), my test results are no good
B: Well, let’s find a more effective method of study then

Quiz

How would you say in Japanese:

1) China is bigger than New Zealand
2) “Kung Fu Panda” is more interesting than “Shrek”
3) He is fatter than before
4) The lesson was harder than I thought

Answers on the next page
5

Answers
1) 中国はニュージーランドより大きい
2) Kung Fu Pandaは Shrekより面白い
3) 彼は昔より太った
4)   思ったよりレッスンは難しかった

Random phrase of the week

穴があれば入りたい

ana ga areba hairitai
I’m so embarrassed (lit. if there is a hole I want to go into it)

Learn Japanese Pod, ©Alex Brooke, 2009