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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Learn Japanese - how to use a word in a sentence -


I had no idea where to start and what kind of topic people want to learn in Japanese so I decided to make word videos that show how to use a word in a sentence. I'll pick a word that I think you would hear a lot in Japan.

First part of this post is for everyone but mostly for those who are trying to learn Japanese words and in the second part, I'm digging a little bit more about what's behind the word using example. I made it as easy as possible so you'll be able to use the word just by reading the first part.



Today's word is ' KUYASHII ' kuyashii くやしい 悔しい.
(Stress on last syllable: ku-ya-SHII)
I guess you hear it a lot in many situations in Japan and it's kinda confusing to use it.
This is the word to express your emotion that you get when you fail something.
I mean like, when you worked on something really hard, doing your best trying to make it happen but didn't work out. How do you feel?
Sad, sorry, disappointed? something like that right?
The feeling of 'kuyashii' comes when things like that happen.
It's easier to understand to take a look at some examples first.

Examples:
1. You play a video game with your friend...


...and lose. How do you feel?


must be something like this


Kuyashii... くやしい・・・

2. When you play a sport...


...and lose the game. How do you feel?

Kuyashii! くやし~!

3. When you try to catch a fish but the fish is way too smart and you fail...


how do you feel?

Kuyashi!  くやし!

I hope you got that feeling of how and when to use it. Now get out there and use the word!
-------------------first part done-------------------------
Ok, for intermediate learners please dig deeper as you wish.
let's put it in a sentence.

今日   バスケ の 試合 に 負けて くやしかった。
kyou  basuke no shiai ni makete kuyashikatta.
(today I felt kuyashii for losing the basketball game)

kyou = 今日=today
basuke = バスケ=basketball
shiai = 試合=game
(don't say ' shiai ' when you talk about video games. video games are just game (geemu) ' ゲーム' )
makete=負けて= to lose

In this sentence, one thing is a little tricky here.
You know which one?
It's 'makete.'
It's from 'to lose - makeru'. Makete is the 'te' form of makeru. Here, 'te' works like a conjunction such as 'and,' 'for,' 'because,' and in this case it means like 'because' or 'for' to express the reason you feel kuyashii.
(The 'te' form is from the ~shite (~して) construction, which works like a conjunction. I'll explain this one in another lesson later since it needs a lot of explanation, but once you know how to work with these conjunctions, your Japanese will get a lot better and sound more natural.)

In English you might say something like...

I feel kuyashii for losing the game.
I feel kuyashi because I lost the game.
I feel kuyashi from losing the game.
All have the same meaning but in Japanese it's always まけて makete '~te' form. How simple is that?
Hope this helped. See you later.

おまけ omake bonus
Japanese most famous kuyashii kao
'kao' = 'face'

くやしいです! kuyashii desu!
What do you think?
commenting and rating my youtube video helps!

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