3 posts tagged “coffee”
All this "coffee talk" lately has reminded me of one of the (few) things I'm going to miss about school over the summer. The UCF library has a little coffee shop with reasonably decent coffee. They sell a big arse iced coffee (dunno if it's 20 oz, but it's close) for just $2.00. No fancy flavorings or bizarre milk choices, just cold coffee with ice. I add my own cream and sugar and it's absolutely brilliant. Yum... And an icy drink is essential here as the temperature eventually begins to flirt with the high-high 90's.
I got another couple of chapters done for my upcoming Japanese final today. Chapter 8 was all about shopping, and was largely vocabulary and some new stuff on numbers. The only really new grammar construction was the て-form for making requests. For instance, if I wanted to order a coffee at my favorite local coffee shop I could just say: コーヒーを ください。(Coffee, please = co-hee oh kudasai.)
Chapter 9, though, moves on to visiting restaurants, so I could use a more polite way to ask for my coffee. I could instead say: コーヒーに します。(I'll have coffee = co-hee ni shimas.) And more polite yet would be: コーヒーを おねがいします。(I request coffee please = co-hee oh ohnegaishimas.) Though note that those two "oh" sounds near each other in the middle will sort of blend together; I'm not very good at that yet, because I speak far too slowly still.
If I wanted to invite someone to go out for coffee with me, I could say: このひるに いっしょに コーヒーを のみませんか。(Why don't we drink some coffee this afternoon? = cono-heerunee eeshounee co-hee nomemasenka.) And my friend could say: ケーキも たべましょうか。(Shall we have cake too? = keh-kee mo tabemashouka.) The 〜ませんか ending translates more along the lines of "Why don't we..." which you would say when you don't really know if the person would say yes or no. The 〜ましょうか ending translates like "Shall we...?" and is more like asking for agreement rather than asking an actual yes or no question.
But what if I didn't want to ask specifically about coffee or a specific cuisine when I ask my friend to go out? Fortunately Chapter 9 provides the indefinite expressions: something (なにか), someone(だれが), somewhere(どこか), and someday (いつか). So, potentially I could ask someone to go somewhere and do something someday. Let's see if I can... だれがさん、いつかに どこかに なにか しに いきませんか。Woah... some serious mauling there. But that actually linked in the grammar form I wasn't going to talk about quite yet, but I guess I can talk about it now. Occasionally one will find the need to use two verbs in a sentence: I will "go" to "do something." In my mangled Japanese sentence up there, いきませんか (ikemasenka) covers the "go" part and the なにか しに (nanika shini) covers the "do something" part. The verb for "to do" is する (suru), which for this particular construction is cut down to its stem す (su) which transforms into し (shi). Then you attach the particle に to make しに (shi-ni). Then, だれがさん (darega-san) is "Mr. Someone." Then all I need is the "someday" part at the front and the "somewhere" part, which can actually go almost anywhere in the middle of the sentence, but I like to get that out of the way near the front of the sentence as well. So, that awful sentence amounts to: Mr. Someone, someday somewhere something to do shall we go?
What a mess! Well, maybe something that ridiculous will actually stick in my head for the test, ね。An easier way to invite someone is a different form.... which I don't think actually has a "name" exactly. It involves the use of the particles で (de), が (ga), and our friend the んです (nn des) construction, plus the use of the verb あります (another form of the "to be/to exist" verb, like です)。Did I say this was an easier way? Well, easier to construct, anyway... I think...
The easiest thing to say is just the basic: たいいくかんで ロック コンサートが あるんです。(There's a rock concert in the gym. = tai eekukan de consatoe ga arun des.) That's "place" (in the gym) + で there exists (aru + nndes) an "event" (a rock concert) + が. Then you can tack on the invitation at the end by adding an extra が particle to the existing sentence: たいいくかんで ロック コンサートが あるんですが、いっしょに いきませんか。(There's a rock concert in the gym, won't you go with me? = tai eekukan de consatoe ga arun deska, eeshou ni ikeemasenka.)
Sigh... all apologies to にほんじん all over the world...
So, in lieu of being able to say anything useful about Physics at the moment I can instead hack up the Japanese language a bit in preparation for my Japanese final exam on Monday...
Chapter 7 was all about activities and hobbies, likes and dislikes, comparisons and explanations. The first good word to know is an easy one, we all have heard it one place or another... the word for "I like" or "to like" is すき (suki). The opposite of that is きらい (kirai), but it's generally better not to use that one unless you really, passionately dislike something. You're better off going with the negative version of すき, which is すきじゃない (suki janai) or すきじゃありません (suki jaarimasen). If you like something so much that it's your favorite you could use the word いちばん (ichiban), which is a very useful word for expressing the superlative (best, most, anything -est).
What kinds of... let's say... drinks do we like then? Or... どんな のみものが すきですか？(Pronounced mostly like: don na nomi mono ga suki deska?) のみもの (nomemono) is the word for "drink" and the が (ga) symbol after it is a particle indicating that it is the subject or topic of the sentence. The か at the end of すき (suki = to like) is similar, marking the sentence as a question. The です in between is the verb that is... "is/are/exists/to be." どんな means "what kind of." So basically: What kind of + drinks + are liked + ? How about: ウイン (oo ine = wine)? ビール (bee - roo = beer)? みず (mi zu = water)? コーラ (co - la = cola)? コーヒ (co - hee = coffee)?
Okay then... わたしは (watashi wa = I or me)... わたしは ウインが すきです。でも、ビールは すきじゃありません。(I like wine, but I don't like beer. - watashi wa oo-ine ga suki desu. demo, bi-roo wa suki ja arimasen.) すきな のみものは コーヒです。(My favorite drink is coffee. - suki na nomimono wa co-hee des.)
To say, "I like drinking coffee" you can take the word のみもの (nomemono = a drink) and use it's root のむ (nomu) plus the particles のが (no ga) to make the word "drinking." That's: わたしは コーヒを のむのが すきです。Or, I + coffee + drinking + like. (watashi wa co-hee oh nomu noga suki des.)
If I wanted to say more than one thing at once, I could string them together with the particle や (ya). わたしは ウインや コーヒが すきです。(I like wine and coffee - among other things. - watashi wa oo-ine ya co-hee ga suki desu.) The "among other things" is implied by the や. If I only liked coffee and wine, and didn't like anything else in the world to drink I would have used the particle と (to, or actually, it's pronounced like "toe") instead.
I could also make a comparison. "I like coffee better than cola." コーヒのほうが コーラより すきです。(co-hee no hoe-ga co-la yori suki des.) The のほうが (no hoe ga) explains that coffee is liked more while the より (yo ri) explains that cola is liked less. Or I could say that I like both equally with the handy particle も (mo) , which has multiple uses and meanings such as "more, too, also, both, equally" depending on the context. So, "I like both coffee and cola" would be: わたしは コーヒも コーラも すきです。(watashi wa co-hee mo co-la mo suki des.)
And finally, someone could possibly ask me why I don't drink beer. That would be: どうして ビールを のまないんです。(doe-shi-te bee-roo oh noma nai nn des.)The word どうして is the question word, "why?" And, notice that verb "drink" has transformed a little to ask for an explanation. This construction is called the 〜んです construction and, among other things, it is used to mark a request for an explanation or the giving of an explanation. The root for "drink" のむ changes to のま and gets the 〜んです tacked on to the end, plus the ない to make it negative: のまないんです (noma nai nn des)。Then, I could answer using the same construction: ビールは きらいなんです。(I don't like beer. - bee-roo wa kirai nn des.)
So, that's enough of destroying someone else's language for now. I'll get back to destroying my own instead.
