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Thursday, June 30, 2016

Use - 2 meanings, 2 pronunciations - 使う and 用途

USE can be a verb or a noun and the pronunciation is slightly different. Look at these examples:

The word 'USE' can be a verb (使う) ~ "May I use your telephone? I have to call my Mom." The verb form has a Z (zee) sound at the end. YOUZ

The word 'USE' can also be a noun (用途) ~ "Studying English is a great use of your time." The noun form has an S (ess) sound at the end. YOUS

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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

~ish at the end of word = っぽいです (Bluish = 青っぽい)

If we put the letters ~ish at the end of word, the new word means = it’s like, or has the quality of the original word

For example - Bluish = 青っぽい

My new suit is bluish grey.

Words that end with ~ish are almost always adjectives.

foolish – like a fool
childish – like a child
stylish – has style

We sometimes use it to describe someone or something from an area or country~
Someone or something from Spain is Spanish.
Someone or something from England is English.

What do we call someone from Scotland?

*Be careful! This doesn't work for every country...

I'm from Canada so I'm Canadian, not Canadaish!!!

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Drop VS Fall ~ 落とす VS 落ちる

Compare:

I dropped my phone. 自分の携帯電話を落としました。

My phone fell. 私の電話が落ちました。

It fell in the sink!

My phone is about to fall!
落ちそうだ!

Thursday, June 23, 2016

few VS a few

few 少ない

There are few people in this cafe. (Not many people)

a few 二、三

I drank a few cups of coffee so now I'm wide awake. (I drank 2 or 3 cups of coffee)

wide awake - very awake, the opposite of sleepy

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Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Today is the summer solstice - 至

June 21st is the summer solstice! It's the longest day of the year! Have a great summer solstice this year :)

solstice - noun - either of the two times of the year at which the sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at midday, marked by the longest and shortest days (至)