Ok everyone, today is the second part in my new series about opposites. This week I will talk about simple adjective pairs.
big おおきい <------> small ちいさい
I wanna buy a big house.
I'd like to order a small pizza.
fast はやい <-------> slow おそい
You're too slow~! Hurry up!!!
I love fast cars and fast women ^_-
strong つよい <--------> weak よわい
My friend is really strong.
You shouldn't ask Tim to help you move, he's pretty weak.
tiny ちっちゃい <-------> huge でかい
Tiny means very very small.
Man you live in a tiny apartment~!
Huge means very very big.
Oh my god, this hamburger's HUGE!!!
soft やわらかい <------> hard かたい
This bread is so soft and delicious.
Ouch! This bread is stale, it's too hard to eat!
Hmmm, I guess that is all for now. I hope you enjoyed this mini-lesson and I will introduce more opposites next month!
Phil
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Enough~!
Today, I will talk about how to use the word enough correctly. In Japanese, enough is usually translated as "juubun" (十分, じゅうぶん).
Now one of the most common ways to use enough is when someone is serving you food(like in a cafeteria) or pouring you a drink. When they have given you enough food or drink you can say:
"That's enough."
You might also hear this when someone is pouring you a drink:
A: Say when.
B: That's enough.
or
A: Say when.
B: When. (as a joke^_-)
The grammatically correct way to use enough is
-BEFORE nouns and
-AFTER adjectives
For example:
I don't have enough money.
Money is a noun and so enough comes BEFORE money.
She was not pretty enough for me so I broke up with her.
Pretty is an adjective so it comes AFTER enough.
Does everyone understand? If you have any questions or want to try and write some example sentences please post them on my message board on the left side of the screen!
Phil
Now one of the most common ways to use enough is when someone is serving you food(like in a cafeteria) or pouring you a drink. When they have given you enough food or drink you can say:
"That's enough."
You might also hear this when someone is pouring you a drink:
A: Say when.
B: That's enough.
or
A: Say when.
B: When. (as a joke^_-)
The grammatically correct way to use enough is
-BEFORE nouns and
-AFTER adjectives
For example:
I don't have enough money.
Money is a noun and so enough comes BEFORE money.
She was not pretty enough for me so I broke up with her.
Pretty is an adjective so it comes AFTER enough.
Does everyone understand? If you have any questions or want to try and write some example sentences please post them on my message board on the left side of the screen!
Phil
Friday, September 11, 2009
When I was young I was a total tomboy!
Hey everybody, just a really quick lesson to teach a fun word:
Tomboy
A tomboy is a girl who dresses or acts like a boy. She plays with guns not dolls, she likes to do sports, most of her friends are boys, she likes to play outside, etc.
My sister is such tomboy! She never wears skirts and is always playing baseball!
Can you believe she used to be a tomboy??? Now she's a supermodel!
This is only used to talk about YOUNG GIRLS you CAN'T use it to talk about adult women!
A word you can use to talk about men who act in a feminine way is "effeminate" and this can be used for men or boys but probably is most often used for adults.
For a boy you would just say "He acts like a girl" and probably his father would say "Be a man! Don't cry!" or "Stop acting like a girl!". Bad words for men or boys that are effeminate are pansy (old fashioned) and among kids/teenagers if a boy/guy is not being brave enough or he is being cowardly you might hear "Don't be such a wuss!" or "Stop being such a sissy!"(a bit old fashioned).
You will often hear those expressions in movies where some boys are going to do something stupid(like hit a beehive with a bat) and one boy doesn't want to do it because he thinks it is a bad idea. The other boys will accuse him of being a wuss to make him do it...
Actually, wuss is also old fashioned these days you would probably hear "Stop being such a pussy!" but this is REALLY vulgar and so it is virtually always used by guys.
OK that is it for now, have a great weekend!
Phil
Tomboy
A tomboy is a girl who dresses or acts like a boy. She plays with guns not dolls, she likes to do sports, most of her friends are boys, she likes to play outside, etc.
My sister is such tomboy! She never wears skirts and is always playing baseball!
Can you believe she used to be a tomboy??? Now she's a supermodel!
This is only used to talk about YOUNG GIRLS you CAN'T use it to talk about adult women!
A word you can use to talk about men who act in a feminine way is "effeminate" and this can be used for men or boys but probably is most often used for adults.
For a boy you would just say "He acts like a girl" and probably his father would say "Be a man! Don't cry!" or "Stop acting like a girl!". Bad words for men or boys that are effeminate are pansy (old fashioned) and among kids/teenagers if a boy/guy is not being brave enough or he is being cowardly you might hear "Don't be such a wuss!" or "Stop being such a sissy!"(a bit old fashioned).
You will often hear those expressions in movies where some boys are going to do something stupid(like hit a beehive with a bat) and one boy doesn't want to do it because he thinks it is a bad idea. The other boys will accuse him of being a wuss to make him do it...
Actually, wuss is also old fashioned these days you would probably hear "Stop being such a pussy!" but this is REALLY vulgar and so it is virtually always used by guys.
OK that is it for now, have a great weekend!
Phil
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Does that strike you as a good idea?
I recently taught an idioms lesson to one of my more advanced students and I really enjoyed one idiom so I decided to talk about it on my blog ^_^
to strike (someone) as (something)
So this is used when you want to say something seems to be something. It is used to talk about your opinion about something.
Does anything strike your fancy?
This is an old expression meaning do you see anything you like? You might have a shop clerk ask you this question.
Sally: Does Elaine strike you as a bit stressed out today?
Ruby: Yeah, she has a big project due tomorrow.
Your friend is asking for your opinion about someone else. So Sally is asking Ruby if she thinks Elaine looks stressed out today.
He strikes me as a bad guy.
So I think that he is a bad guy. Be careful, the structure:
He/She/person's name strikes me as ----------.
is used to talk about acquaintances and people you DON'T know well. It would be VERY strange to use it to talk about family members or your close friends. You can use it for people you are close to by adding the word "today" at the end of the sentence.
Jill strikes me as really tired today.
OK, if you have any questions just ask!
Phil
to strike (someone) as (something)
So this is used when you want to say something seems to be something. It is used to talk about your opinion about something.
Does anything strike your fancy?
This is an old expression meaning do you see anything you like? You might have a shop clerk ask you this question.
Sally: Does Elaine strike you as a bit stressed out today?
Ruby: Yeah, she has a big project due tomorrow.
Your friend is asking for your opinion about someone else. So Sally is asking Ruby if she thinks Elaine looks stressed out today.
He strikes me as a bad guy.
So I think that he is a bad guy. Be careful, the structure:
He/She/person's name strikes me as ----------.
is used to talk about acquaintances and people you DON'T know well. It would be VERY strange to use it to talk about family members or your close friends. You can use it for people you are close to by adding the word "today" at the end of the sentence.
Jill strikes me as really tired today.
OK, if you have any questions just ask!
Phil
Sunday, September 6, 2009
I'm just pulling your leg~!
Hey everyone, I had a lovely course last Friday night where I learned some Japanese idioms like "Te ga denai" which literally means I can't put out my hand but has the meaning "I wanna buy it but I can't afford it"...
I also liked the idiom "sune wo kanjiru" which means "mooch off of" or "sponge off of" the image here is someone is bitting my ankle and it is used when kids are bleeding their parents dry, always asking for money.
"Mimi ga itai" literally means my ears hurt but has the meaning "Stop nagging me!" or "Get off my back~!".
But the idiom I found really interesting was "ashi wo hipparu" which literally means "pulling my leg" but the idiomatic meaning is " holding me back". This is when someone is dragging you down and preventing you from succeeding.
Now the reason I found this idiom so interesting is that in English we also have the idiom "to pull (someone's) leg" but the meaning is COMPLETELY different! It means I was just joking, don't believe what I said.
A: My wife is having triplets!
B: What?!?! Three babies! Congratulations, but won't it be tough?
A: Hahaha, I'm just pulling your leg! She's pregnant but with just one baby.
B: Ah ok. Is it a boy or a girl?
A: We don't know yet...
That is it for now, have a good one people,
Phil
I also liked the idiom "sune wo kanjiru" which means "mooch off of" or "sponge off of" the image here is someone is bitting my ankle and it is used when kids are bleeding their parents dry, always asking for money.
"Mimi ga itai" literally means my ears hurt but has the meaning "Stop nagging me!" or "Get off my back~!".
But the idiom I found really interesting was "ashi wo hipparu" which literally means "pulling my leg" but the idiomatic meaning is " holding me back". This is when someone is dragging you down and preventing you from succeeding.
Now the reason I found this idiom so interesting is that in English we also have the idiom "to pull (someone's) leg" but the meaning is COMPLETELY different! It means I was just joking, don't believe what I said.
A: My wife is having triplets!
B: What?!?! Three babies! Congratulations, but won't it be tough?
A: Hahaha, I'm just pulling your leg! She's pregnant but with just one baby.
B: Ah ok. Is it a boy or a girl?
A: We don't know yet...
That is it for now, have a good one people,
Phil
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
I'm really into it~!
Hey everyone to start off the month of September I will have a quick lesson of a popular expression in casual English:
"be into"
This is a casual way of saying "be interested in". For example:
I am really interested in photography.
becomes
I'm really into photography.
I am interested in thai massage.
becomes
I'm into thai massage.
You can also use "be into" to talk about liking someone romantically or being physically attracted to someone.
That girl over there is totally into you, she's been looking at you for 5 minutes~!
Joe is really into you, he's always spending time with you.
There is also a famous book that was made into a movie recently called "He's just not that into you" meaning he just doesn't like you so much, he's just not so interested in you... the Japanese name of the book and movie is そんな彼なら捨てちゃえば?
Ok that is it for now, have a nice day,
Phil
"be into"
This is a casual way of saying "be interested in". For example:
I am really interested in photography.
becomes
I'm really into photography.
I am interested in thai massage.
becomes
I'm into thai massage.
You can also use "be into" to talk about liking someone romantically or being physically attracted to someone.
That girl over there is totally into you, she's been looking at you for 5 minutes~!
Joe is really into you, he's always spending time with you.
There is also a famous book that was made into a movie recently called "He's just not that into you" meaning he just doesn't like you so much, he's just not so interested in you... the Japanese name of the book and movie is そんな彼なら捨てちゃえば?
Ok that is it for now, have a nice day,
Phil
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