Japanese from zero · N1 Lesson 21
New Year with the Satos
〜かれ〜かれ ・ 〜つ〜つ ・ さぞ ・ 〜ずとも ・ 〜びた
In this lesson, you will learn to say that something will happen sooner or later, or is true more or less, with 〜かれ〜かれ, that people help each other in turn with 〜つ〜つ, to imagine how strongly someone must feel with さぞ, that something holds even without an action with 〜ずとも, and that someone seems older than they are with 〜びた. It is New Year's Day, and Lisa, nine months into her first job, spends it with the Satos, her family in Japan.
By the end you will be able to say
遅かれ早かれ、だれでも 一度は つまずきます。Sooner or later, everyone stumbles at least once.
仕事は 持ちつ持たれつです。Work is give and take: we help each other in turn.
年末は さぞ 忙しかったでしょう。You must have been terribly busy at the end of the year.
言わずとも、家族の 気持ちは 分かります。Even without a word, I know how my family feels.
ひろは この 一年で 大人びた。Hiro has grown up a lot this past year.
The grammar in this lesson
- 〜かれ〜かれ — sooner or later; more or less — Two opposite い-adjectives, each ending in かれ, say the difference between them does not change the outcome: 遅かれ早かれ (sooner or later), 多かれ少なかれ (more or less).
- 〜つ〜つ — in turn; back and forth — Two verbs, each as ます-stem + つ, describe two actions that take turns or go both ways: 持ちつ持たれつ (helping each other in turn).
- さぞ — surely; must have (imagining how someone feels) — さぞ, with でしょう or だろう at the end, imagines how strongly someone else must feel or must have felt something.
- 〜ずとも — even without; no need to — The ない-stem + ずとも (する becomes せずとも) says something holds even without an action, or that the action is not needed.
- 〜びた — seeming; having the air of — A few nouns and adjective stems take びる, usually as びた, to say someone or something has come to look or act that way: 大人びた, 古びた.