Textbook Chapter 2 Review

Hello,
Like the thread I made before, there are 12 concepts from a chapter in my intermediate textbook that I want to make example sentences of to ensure I have a solid understanding of the usage. I greatly appreciate any help.

１）〜たばかり
「今から飲みに行こうか？」「仕事終わったばかりで、今はちょっと・・・。」
"Do you want to go drinking now?" "I just got done with work, so right now is a little..."

２）あの
「さっき久美子さんに話してたよ。」「ああ、あの人、どうしているの？」
"I was just talking to Kumiko earlier, you know." "Ahh, how is she doing?"
(The point of this in the textbook was to emphasize the usage of 'ano' as familiar, i.e., both parties know her.)

３）〜るようになる
彼は最近一人で部屋でたくさん勉強するようになったらしいね。
He seems to be studying alone in his room lately (he didn't before).

４）なあ
よー、しばらくだなあ！ご無沙汰しないでごめん！
Hey, it's been a while! Sorry for not keeping in touch!

５）ることになる / なっている
日本の家に上がる時は、靴を脱ぐことになっています。
Before you enter a Japanese home, you're supposed to take off your shoes.

６）〜にくい、〜やすい
外人にとって納豆とか食べにくいでしょう。To a foreigner, eating something like nattō is probably hard.
日本人にとって納豆とか食べやすいでしょう。To a Japanese person, eating something like nattō is probably easy.

７）〜ことにする
ミシガンの大学で日本語の専攻をすることにしました。
I have decided to major in Japanese at a Michigan university.

８）〜たら、〜た
レストランで先生に会ったら、長い会話をしました。
I bumped into my teacher at the restaurant, and we had a long conversation.

９）とても〜ない
駅までとても間に会えない。
We can't possibly make it to the station on time.

１０）v＋方
日本語はただの外国語じゃなくて、別の考え方でしょう。
Japanese isn't just a foreign language, it's a different way of thinking.

１１）らしい
あの二人は、付き合っているらしいよ。
I heard that those two are dating!

１２）vてはじめての〜
鎌倉への旅行は、日本に行って初めての本当の幸せだった。
Going to Kamakura was the first real happiness I had after going to Japan.

よろしくお願いします。

2)
The subject/agent of 話してた is interpreted as third person, i.e, someone else than those two people in the first sentence.

「さっき久美子さんに話してたんだ。」「ああ、あの人、どうしているの？」
or
「さっき何してたの？」「久美子さんと話してたよ。」「ああ、あの人、どうしているの？」
works fine.

4)
The meaning of ご無沙汰しないで is contrary to what you want to say.

8)
Your sentence expresses a past habit or a hypothetical "contrary-to-fact in the past" (actually I didn't bump into my teacher at the restaurant and therefore we didn't have a long conversation). This structure can't be used to describe a past event simply.

9)
You don't need to use the potential form for 間に合う.

11)
らしい can be used also for the presumption by the subject's own observation, thus, it can mean "I think~".

12)
本当に幸せな時間/出来事 sounds more natural.

ledojaeger said:

８）〜たら、〜た
レストランで先生に会ったら、長い会話をしました。

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It will sound a little strange to native speakers of Japanese, like saying 'If I bump into my teacher at the restaurant, we had a long conversation', which is understandable, though.
So the translation for your original English sentence is レストランで先生に会って、長話をしました。

ledojaeger said:

９）とても〜ない
駅までとても間に会えない。
We can't possibly make it to the station on time.

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We would be supposed to say 間に会わない instead in the matter of form of the verb '間に合う'.
Anyway, I would say とても電車に間に合わない unless I only want to get to the station. The point is what to do.

４）ご無沙汰しなくてごめん！
I believe my error was using 'shinaide'. Is shinakute correct?

８）My basic understanding of the ~tara, ~ta form I gleamed from the textbook was this that I wrote down: " 'When S1, S2'. In this construction, S2 is a happening that was unexpected or surprising."
When I originally wrote the sentence, I thought that perhaps the idea was in fact that 'I bumped into the teacher ('bumped', as yoshi also told me) and we had a long conversation' which, I thought, meant that it was a surprising meeting.

I should keep in mind that it can't be used to describe a past event in simple terms. On further thought of the construction, it does sound a little funny - I believe I was just in error about what kind of sentence it makes.

In that regard could I also use 出会って to express that 'bumped into', 'ran into' factor? If I simply use 会って, is it arguable that meeting the teacher could have been pre-planned and not a chance 'ran into' situation?

９） 'The point is what to do.'
I see... So, if the idea is missing the train, I should express that, and not what comes before it (like getting to the station). However, if I was meeting someone at the station for a date, perhaps, then it's alright to say 駅に間に合わない。
Out of sheer curiosity, is there any time to the potential form of ma ni au at all?


These explanations and discourses are amazingly helpful. Thank you so much.

ledojaeger said:

In that regard could I also use 出会って to express that 'bumped into', 'ran into' factor? If I simply use 会って, is it arguable that meeting the teacher could have been pre-planned and not a chance 'ran into' situation?

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In that case, if writing you can switch to 逢って、 if speaking you can use something like ばったり会って、 or 遭遇して to remove the ambiguity.

4)
Not really. You need to check the meaning of ご無沙汰 in your dictionary again.

8)
When ～たら conditional expresses a past fact, the speaker's volitional action can't be the main clause. For instance, レストランで先生に会ったら、学生時代のことを思い出してしまいました。 works fine since 思い出した is unexpected for the speaker and non-volitional. (I believe decent textbooks contain these kind of explanations.)

9)
時間/約束に間に合わない is used for that case. I can't think of any situation of "location" に間に合わない. Unlike に, I think your original sentence 駅まで間に合わない is barely acceptable, at least what you want to say is understandable.
Yes for your last question.

4) Oh. Have I been making a double negative this whole time? Whoops.
If that's the case, ご無沙汰してごめん would become the better choice.

8) Thank you. I'll have to look into that further and review.

9) From now on, I'll examine cases using 'ma ni au' more closely - I've never truly studied it, only picked up on it over time.

Mike Cash, thank you for the additional vocabulary - I'll jot it down.

4)
Yes that's right. It's better you think （ご）無沙汰 as one word, not a negative of 沙汰.

Toritoribe said:

4)
Yes that's right. It's better you think （ご）無沙汰 as one word, not a negative of 沙汰.

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I learned ご無沙汰 from hearing it as a set phrase (ご無沙汰しております) so much that I was a bit puzzled the first few times I heard 沙汰 without the 無. Even now I think probably 90% of the time I have seen 沙汰 it came immediately after 警察

Or in a court scene in 時代劇, 追って沙汰を待て！

ledojaeger said:

However, if I was meeting someone at the station for a date, perhaps, then it's alright to say 駅に間に合わない。

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Right. In that case, I will say 待ち合わせ/デート に間に合わない, or 駅に間に合わない especially to explain that the station is the destination.