In the pattern of Dick and Jane, here is another short “children’s story” in Japanese, about a boy called Kenya (yes, that is a Japanese name) who hates waking up. Explanations are at the bottom.
Note: many words have multiple meanings, but it would be too overwhelming to cover them all, so only one meaning per word (i.e. the meaning relevant to this story) is covered here.
健也 ちゃん、起きて!(PL2)
Wake up, Little Kenya
健也 【けんや】 Ken’ya
ちゃん familiar suffix, much like “-kins” or “-meister”, as in “Archiekins” or “Davemeister”
起きる 【おきる】 to wake up/to get up. 起きて is a soft but familiar (informal) command form
月曜日
Monday
健也ちゃん、起きて!(PL2)
Wake up, Little Kenya
何で? (PL2)
Why?/How come?
だって 学校 に 行かなきゃ・・・(PL2)
‘Cause you’ve got to go to school
―なくきゃ is short for ―なければ P, so 行かなきゃ (いかなきゃ)literally means “if you don’t go to school”, with the implication that [things will be bad/the crap will hit the fan]. But of course you don’t need to say the “crap will hit the fan”.
だって because
学校 【がっこう】
行く 【いく】 to go
なきゃ (exp) contraction of なければ
だから? (PL2)
So?
だから 早く 起きろ! (PL1)
So get up!
早い【はやい】(adjective) quick, early
早く 【はやく】 (adverb) quickly. As you can see, 早く is just a special form of 早い
起きる 【おきる】 to wake up/to get up. 起きろ is very rough command form
火曜日
Tuesday
健也 ちゃん、起きて!(PL2)
Wake up, Little Kenya
何で? (PL2)
Why?/How come?
だって 今日 は お医者さん に 行かなきゃ (PL2)
‘Cause you’ve got to go to the doctor’s today
お(御) is an honorific
さん of course is also an honorific
だから? (PL2)
So?
だから 早く 起きろ! (PL1)
So get the heck up!
起きる 【おきる】 to wake up/to get up. 起きろ is very rough command form
水曜日
Wednesday
健也ちゃん、起きて! (PL1)
Wake up, Little Kenya
何で? (PL1)
Why?/How come?
だって 電車 に 間 に 合わなきゃ (PL1)
‘Cause you’ve got to make it to your train!
間に合う【まにあう】is a phrase meaning “to make it in time”, so △△△に間に合う is “to make it in time for something”
だから? (PL1)
So?
だから 早く 起きろ よ、ゴルァ! (PL2)
So get the heck up, mopho!
起きる 【おきる】 to wake up/to get up. 起きろ is very rough command form
よ is for emphasis
ゴルァ is also for emphasis and just adds to the roughness — it’s stereotypically used by Yakuza when threatening people. It’s can also be said as コラ.
木曜日
Thursday
健也 ちゃん、起きて! (PL2)
Wake up, Little Kenya
何で? (PL2)
Why?/How come?
だって 仲間由紀恵 が 君 に 会い に 来て 呉れる! (PL2)
‘Cause Nakama Yukie is coming to meet you!
仲間 由紀恵【なかま ゆきえ】 is an actress who’s starred in some great dramedies like トリック (Trick) and ごくせん(Gokusen). Currently, she’s the official spokesperson of the cellphone company AU.
君 【きみ】 an informal/familiar word for “you”. Be careful who you use it with — it’s only acceptable with close friends and family who are of an age less than or equal to yours.
会う 【あう】 to meet.
来る 【くる】 to come. 来て(きて) is the form used to connect. A lot of people call this the “te form” of a verb.
呉れる 【くれる to do for one】. 呉れる is almost always written in hiragana. It’s often used as an auxilliary (helper) verb. So, in this case, 呉れる is “helping” 来る, adding the meaning that someone isn’t just coming, but is coming FOR you. It adds the meaning of “do for someone” to the verb.
だから?・・・ええぇっ!仲間由紀恵 が?マジで?! (PL2)
So?・・・WH-OA, Nakama Yukie?! For real? Are you serious?
が is the subject particle. So, Kenya was going to say: ”仲間由紀恵が来て呉れる” (なかま ゆきえ が きて くれる), but he’s free to drop the “が きて くれる” part as long as it’s clear what he’s talking about.
マジ is slang for “for real”. マジで is like “really?” or “seriously”. The で doesn’t alter the meaning tooo much, but it does slightly.
そう だ わ。だから 早く 起きて! (PL1)
Uh-huh. So hurry and get up, mmm-kay.
そう 【That’s right/That’s so】
だ the informal form of です
わ an emphasis word, like よ. わ is mainly used by women.
暫く 経って・・・(PL3)
A little while later・・・
暫く 【しばらく】 a little while
経つ 【たつ】 to pass/to lapse (refers to time)
矢っ張 来ない だろう (PL2)
She’s totally not coming, is she…
矢っ張(やっぱ) 【absolutely/totally】. 矢っ張(やっぱ) is an informal version of 矢張り(やはり). Kenya could also say “矢っ張り” (やっぱり). やっぱ and やっぱり are usually written in kana.
だろう 【probably is; likely is】 だろう is a form of だ (as in です). It kind of expresses some doubt (it’s a less certain word than だ), even when sometimes there is not much doubt.
金曜日
Friday
健也ちゃん、起きて! (PL2)
Wake up, Little Kenya
眩しい (PL2)
What the bright…Too bright!
眩しい 【まぶしい】 dazzling. Kenya’s Mum just turned on the light, so he says this. Often, in Japanese, you only need to say one word to make a full sentence and describe the whole situation. So you don’t need to say “it is too bright”. You can just say “Bright!”, which (1) makes perfect sense and (2) carries the full meaning of what you intended to say.
何で? (PL2)
Why?/How come?
だって・・・ (PL2)
‘Cause…
だって? (PL2)
‘Cause?
だって そういう 決まり なん だ! (PL2)
‘Cause it’s like that and that’s the way it is!
そういう that sort of;
決まり 【きまり】 rule
なん is short for なの. なのだ, なんだ or sometimes just なの intensifies だ. In other words, it’s a stronger version of だ. One can also say なのです or なんです. なん is informal, and is only used in speech. なの can be used in writing.
誰 が 決めた の? (PL2)
And just who decided that “it’s like that and that’s the way it is”?
誰 【だれ】 who?
決める 【きめる】 to decide; So, 何かを決める (なにか を きめる) = to decide something
決まる 【きまる】 to be decided. You *cannot* say ×(何かを決まる). This is because 決める is a transitive verb but 決まる is an intransitive verb. What does that mean? Well, a transitive verb can take a direct object — it can do itself TO something. It’s like it “TRANSfers” its action TO the object. An intransitive verb can’t do that — it just is; it just does.
For example.
何かが始まる (なにか が はじまる) = something starts
何かを始める (なにか を はじめる) = to start something
So, the sentence 誰が決めたの (だれ が きめた の) is actually short for 誰がそれを決めた(だれ が それ を 決めた の), but Kenya drops the “それ を”, just because he can. Japanese likes to avoid spelling out that which need not to spelled out.
の, when placed at the end of a sentence, makes a question: kind of like か, but much less formal.
この 拳 が!(PL2)
拳 【こぶし】 fist
My fists!
The full sentence would be: この拳がそれを決めた (この こぶし が それ を きめた)= These fists of mine decided it. But again, Mummy is shortening the sentence because that’s just natural in Japanese.
起きま~す (PL3)
Aaaaand I’m up!
起きる 【おきる】 to wake up/to get up. 起きます is the polite (formal) present and future version. 起きま~す is just extended because people do that a lot when talking (especially when trying to sound extra sing-songy polite).
土曜日
Saturday
健也ちゃん、起きて!(PL2)
Wake up, Little Kenya
もう 起きて いる けど・・・
I’m already up
もう already
起きる 【おきる】 to wake up/to get up.
居る (いる) an auxilliary (helper) verb. Here, 居る is helping 起きる, by adding/strengthening the meaning of “currently being in the state of” or “currently being in the process of”.
Why give 起きる this extra “help”? Well, you can think of it likes this. Since the present and the future are the same in Japanese (起きる・起きます), the て+いる form can help strengthen the idea that an action or state is actually in progress.
けど literally means “but”. Along with other words that mean “but”, it is used to soften the sentence, as if to say “I am awake, but you are free to disagree with this assertion if you so wish”.
あら 何で?
Oh my, how come?
だって 朝 の アニメ を 見なきゃ
‘Cause I’ve got to get my morning anime fix
成る程
I see.
日曜日
Sunday
午前三時半
Half past three in the morning
お 母 さん、起きて!
Mother, wake up!
何で?
Why?
だって そういう 決まり なん だ!
‘Cause it’s like that and that’s the way it is!
って言うか、今 何時?
By the way, what time is it?
午前三時半 でーす!
Half past three in the a.m. marnin’!
でーす is just です said in a sing-songy extended way.
目茶早いじゃん、この野郎!打っ殺し て やる ぞ!
Oh my early! You little punk, I’ll kill you!!
じゃん is short for じゃない, which although negative-sounding (“is-not”) actually has a positive meaning (“is”) in many cases.
殺す(ころす) to kill
遣る(やる) is an auxiliary verb helping 殺す(ころす). It adds the meaning of “do to you”, so it makes it clear that the 殺すing is being done to the other person, and in this way the speaker can avoid having to use a pronoun like “you”.
打っ(ぶっ) is another auxiliary verb. It comes *before* the verb it helps and strengthens the meaning of that verb. Kenya-chan’s mother isn’t just going to kill him, she’s going ot kill him STRONGLY, with a lot of violence.
終わり
The end
終わる to end. 終わり is kind of like a gerund, in that it’s the form a verb that can be used as a noun.
For Monday:
In the explanation: だから 早く 起きて!
In the comic, it is written: だから早くおきろ!
Thanks ddddave! You’re a lifesaver!..Facesaver 😀
Thanks for making the graphics large. While working with Heisig’s information in Microsoft and SuperMemo tool, I finally decided to make the kanji extra large–48pt–and put that first in the lower box, then return it to normal size–12pt–then follow the usual procedure, putting the story from Heisig under the extra large kanji and the english key word in the top box.
An older student, with diminishing eyesight, I am much encouraged by this simple decision which has materially supported my progress. My son has loaned the book copy of Heisig to a friend and with this large size to study, I find I can move forward with some confidence in the stroke order.
Greetings from Serbia! Good post! Hovewer, I do have one question that I know will bug me more and more as time goes by:
You mention at one point だ is the informal form of です. On the other hand, there’s Tae Kim who vehemently denies this 🙂 In his excellent guide to J. grammar he gives a clear explanation. Now, although I agree with Tae Kim, at the same time I would say that in some cases a sentence which one would want to make formal is made by simply replacing だ with です, even if it’s in the past/negative/negative past. This makes it kind of hard for me (and I think I’m not the only one 🙂 to know how to exactly feel about だ and です, especially since it’s an important part of everyday spoken Japanese. I know I can do the whole “go with the flow” approach (and I probably will 🙂 that this and this sentence means that and that, I think it would be cool if you could offer your view on the matter.
So, what’s the truth about だ and です? Is it that they are grammatically different words which sometimes simply take the same meaning (apart from the difference in politeness)?
Thanks a lot in advance!
Wow learning is fun. I really liked this comic and I finally know how to say wake up, 飽きて!!! どうもありがとうございます。
Wow learning is fun. I really liked this comic and I finally know how to say wake up, 起きて!!! どうもありがとうございます。
yea I made a mistake on the latter one, sorry about that. Not 飽きて but 起きて.
@uchideshi
If Tai-Kim says so then he’s probably right. There’s a lot that’s undecided/up for argument in Japanese grammar, and a lot that I don’t know. For example, the academic community is still divided over whether だ/である/で御座る have the same root or not. So…I’m not really the one to ask 🙂 , I’m not an expert on it.
I’ve got to admit, this comic was really beginner friendly what with the furigana and all…heck, there’s furigana on plain ol’ hiragana! Now THAT’S something!
After reading this site for weeks (has it been months already?), I just discovered the “simple-stories” section. This is awesome!
I’m sure they take forever to make, but I’d love to see more like this. Or if anybody knows of any actual comics written at this level (even without English explanations), let us know.
BTW, you don’t need to explain who Nakama Yukie is. We know. 🙂