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🇯🇵 Japanese · Intermediate Level 3

PART 2 · LESSON 19 OF 30 · 33 MINUTES

Fifty Years

Friday the thirty-first of March, Missus Sato's last day as owner of the Hanaya, fifty years after she took it over from her father. Natsuki has come a day early, regular guests bring flowers, a couple who have come every spring for thirty years hear how the inn began, and after dinner Kenta thanks his grandmother in front of everyone, formally, then plainly. Learn the passive of things made (nanajuunen mae ni, chichi ni yotte tateraremashita), the formal no desu of a speech (okyakusama no, mou hitotsu no ie na no desu) and the farewell after a long career (nagai aida, osewa ni narimashita).

Audio instruction: English

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THE STORY

Friday, the thirty-first of March, twenty twenty-eight, with the cherry blossom out along the river. It's Missus Sato's last day as owner of the Hanaya, fifty years after she took it over from her father, and Natsuki has come a day early. At three, a couple who have come every spring for thirty years check in with flowers, and over tea Missus Sato tells them how the inn began. After dinner, Kenta stands up in front of everyone. This is the conversation you'll be able to say by the end of the lesson.

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Words and phrases

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ごじゅうねん、 おつかれさま でした。gojūnen, otsukaresama deshitaThank you for fifty years of hard work.
まいとし、 いらっしゃる ん です か？maitoshi, irassharu n desu kaYou come every year?
さんじゅうねんsanjūnenthirty years
さくら の ころ に。 もう さんじゅうねん です。sakura no koro ni. mō sanjūnen desuAt cherry blossom time. Thirty years now.
たてられたtateraretawas built, plain
この りょかん は、 いつ たてられた ん です か？kono ryokan wa, itsu taterareta n desu kaWhen was this inn built?
ちち に よってchichi ni yotteby my father
ななじゅうねんnanajūnenseventy years
たてられましたtateraremashitawas built, polite
ななじゅうねん まえ に、 ちち に よって たてられました。nanajūnen mae ni, chichi ni yotte tateraremashitaSeventy years ago, by my father.

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