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🇯🇵 Japanese · Intermediate Level 3

PART 3 · LESSON 21 OF 30 · 33 MINUTES

A Promise Kept

Thursday the fourth of May, Golden Week, five in the morning on a river in the hills north of Kyoto. Ben keeps the promise he made in August, let's come again, and fishes with Yui's father, two rods and a flask of tea. Long silences, then Canada and its lakes, a wish said to the river, and, very carefully, grandchildren. Ben pulls too fast and catches nothing; Yui's father catches two, his first since the two fathers fished in November. Learn to imagine with moshi and tara (moshi Kanada ni ittara), to wish with tara ii naa (minna de iketara ii naa), to say take your time (yukkuri de ii), and to count fish.

Audio instruction: English

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THE STORY

Thursday, the fourth of May, twenty twenty-eight, Golden Week. Ben and Yui came down to Kyoto yesterday, and at five this morning Yui's father knocked with two rods and a flask of tea, as he did in August. On a river in the hills north of Kyoto the sky slowly gets light, nothing bites, and for a long time nobody speaks. Then Yui's father talks about Canada, and about something he has wanted to ask since January. At ten, back at the house, Yui and her mother look at what the two of them have brought home. 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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まもって くれたmamotte kuretakept it, for me
ベン くん、 やくそく、 まもって くれた な。Ben-kun, yakusoku, mamotte kureta naBen, you kept your promise.
もしmoshiif, for something imagined
もし カナダ に いったら、 みずうみ で つり が したい な。moshi Kanada ni ittara, mizuumi de tsuri ga shitai naIf I went to Canada, I'd like to fish on a lake.
もし おとうさん が きたら、 ちち が あんない します。moshi otōsan ga kitara, chichi ga annai shimasuIf you came, my father would show you round.
いけたらiketaraif we could go
いつか、 みんな で いけたら いい なあ。itsuka, minna de iketara ii nāIt would be nice if we could all go, one day.
あったらattaraif I had, if there were
じぶん の さお が あったら いい なあ。jibun no sao ga attara ii nāIt'd be nice to have my own rod.
できたらdekitaraif I could

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