Hiatus Post      2020.04.06     Monday        休けい時間　きゅうけい　じかん　

令和2年4月6日  　月曜日

おはよう　ございます、みなさん    Good morning, everyone.

週末（しゅうまつ）は　どう　でした　か。何を　しました　か。

What did you do over the weekend?

私　は　読んだり、食べたり、テレビ　を　見たり　散歩（さんぽ）したり 　しました、

I did things like reading, eating, watching TV, and taking walks.

 (For grammar mavens, here’s the explanation of --たり　--たり　する.  You use this form (derived from the plain past, with り  added, and then する.  It means that you’re doing two or more things during the same time period, but not simultaneously, and there may be other things that you don’t mention.)

Remember the song, Dango-3-Kyoudai?  I’ve been sad because just now it’s not such a good idea to go to Mitsuwa (or gather at other big places) to buy wonderful traditional foods like dango.  And I was reminded of a famous Japanese proverb whose literal translation is, “Dumplings before flowers,” meaning something like “necessities before luxuries.”

花より団子　（はな　より　だんご）

And after that  それから　I saw a wonderful old (around 1630 C.E.) haiku that references that proverb.

Not for spring flowers

But because there are dumplings

Do wild geese return.

                                                  (Kimmel translation/paraphrase)

Matsunaga Teitoku

はな より も

団子やありて

帰る雁

So this haiku references 2 things that we particularly know about:  dumplings, and the kanji for the verb “to return-home”  帰　帰る　　かえ（る）We can use it in a couple of nice kanji-combination words, too, using kanji that we know or are learning.

帰来　きらい　　

home-coming (NOT in the sense of the early-football celebration)

帰休　ききゅう　

(military) leave, furlough  return-home plus “to rest” 休む

帰心　きしん　　

homesickness     “return-home” plus “heart/mind　心”

Japanese 3-4

Let’s practice numbers today.  Here’s a reminder, but you can also look at pages 267-269 in Chapter 8 of Nakama.

一　　二　　三　　四　　五　　六　　七　　八　　九　　　　十

いち　に　　さん　し　　ご　　ろく　しち　はち　きゅう　じゅう

千　　　万　　　円

せん　　まん　　えん  not actually a number, but always used with numbers

宿題　しゅくだい　　　Homework　

A.   Look at the following kanji number expressions.  Rewrite the kanji, and then write the hiragana pronunciation and the English meaning.

四月　　　　十日　　　　五まい　　　　三本

十さつ　　　千円　　　　一万人　　　　四つ

二千二十年　　　八百十七　　　　九月

B.  Write a haiku about  桜　さくら　 cherry blossoms in either 日本語  or   英語。Please remember that the first line is supposed to be 5 syllables (not words), the second line is supposed to be 7 syllables, and the last lines is supposed to be 5 syllables again.

Hiatus Post      2020.04.06     Monday        休けい時間　きゅうけい　じかん　

令和2年4月6日  　月曜日

おはよう　ございます、みなさん    Good morning, everyone.

週末（しゅうまつ）は　どう　でした　か。何を　しました　か。

What did you do over the weekend?

私　は　読んだり、食べたり、テレビ　を　見たり　散歩（さんぽ）したり 　しました、

I did things like reading, eating, watching TV, and taking walks.

 (For grammar mavens, here’s the explanation of --たり　--たり　する.  You use this form (derived from the plain past, with り  added, and then する.  It means that you’re doing two or more things during the same time period, but not simultaneously, and there may be other things that you don’t mention.)

Remember the song, Dango-3-Kyoudai?  I’ve been sad because just now it’s not such a good idea to go to Mitsuwa (or gather at other big places) to buy wonderful traditional foods like dango.  And I was reminded of a famous Japanese proverb whose literal translation is, “Dumplings before flowers,” meaning something like “necessities before luxuries.”

花より団子　（はな　より　だんご）

And after that  それから　I saw a wonderful old (around 1630 C.E.) haiku that references the proverb.

Not for spring flowers

But because there are dumplings

Do wild geese return.

                                                  (Kimmel translation/paraphrase)

Matsunaga Teitoku

はな より も

団子やありて

帰る雁

So this haiku references 2 things that we particularly know about:  dumplings, and the kanji for the verb “to return-home”  帰　帰る　　かえ（る）We can use it in a couple of nice kanji-combination words, too, using kanji that we know or are learning.

帰来　きらい　　home-coming (NOT in the sense of the early-football celebration)

帰休　ききゅう　return-home plus “to rest” 休む　(military) leave, furlough

帰心　きしん　　homesickness     “return-home” plus “heart/mind　心”

Japanese 5-6

We’re going to practice using the following verbs:

つとめる　　　　けっこん　する　　　すむ、すんで　いる

to be employed          to get married                    　to reside

ふとる　　　　　やせる

to gain weight             to lose weight

宿題　しゅくだい　　　Homework　

A.   Rewrite the following questions in Japanese, and then write the answers 日本語　で.

おじいさん　は　けっこん　して　います　か。

おじいさん　は　いつ　けっこん　しました。

学生（Ｙｏｕ）は　どこ　に　すんで　います　か。

どんな　ところ　に　すむ　の　が　すき　です　か。

さいきん（Ｒｅｃｅｎｔｌｙ）お友達　は　やせました　か。

今年（ことしthis year）　学生（Ｙｏｕ）の　ペット　は　ふとりました　か。

　　　ライトフット市長さん[ しちょう　さん ](mayor) は　どこ　に　つとめて　います　か。

B.  Write a haiku about  桜　さくら　 cherry blossoms in either 日本語  or   英語。Please remember that the first line is supposed to be 5 syllables (not words), the second line is supposed to be 7 syllables, and the last lines is supposed to be 5 syllables again.　Try to avoid using a, an, the, は、が… You get the idea:  as much as possible, only strong words.