Vocabulary

見る(み・る) ru-verb

to see

なる u-verb

to become

病気(びょう・き)

disease; sickness

確定(かく・てい)

decision; settlement

申告(しん・こく)

report; statement; filing a return

確定申告(かく・てい・しん・こく)

final income tax return

忘れる(わす・れる) ru-verb

to forget

手続(て・つづき)

procedure, paperwork

留守(るす)

being away from home

家庭(か・てい)

household

犬(いぬ)

dog

猫(ねこ)

cat

勧め(すす・め)

recommendation

父親(ちち・おや)

father

皆(みんな)

everybody

心配(しん・ぱい)

worry; concern

する exception

to do

This is arguably the most useful grammar in this lesson in terms of practically. By that, I mean that it’s the only grammar here that you might actually hear in a regular conversation though again, it is far more common in a written context.

With this grammar, you can say that something is likely to occur by simply attaching がち to the stem of the verb. While, がち is a suffix, it works in much same way as a noun or na-adjective. In other words, the result becomes a description of something as being likely. This means that we can do things like modifying nouns by attaching な and other things we’re used to doing with na-adjectives. You can also say that something is prone to be something by attaching がち to the noun.

As the word “prone” suggest, がち is usually used for tendencies that are bad or undesirable.

Examples

1. 確定申告は忘れがちな手続のひとつだ。
   Filing income taxes is one of those processes that one is prone to forget.

2. 留守がちなご家庭には、犬よりも、猫の方がおすすめです。
   For families that tend to be away from home, cats are recommended over dogs.

3. 父親は病気がちで、みんなが心配している。
   Father is prone to illness and everybody is worried.

For more examples, check out the WWWJDIC examples.

Vocabulary

テレビ(te re bi)

TV, television

見る(み・る) ru-verb

to see

寝る(ね・る) ru-verb

to sleep

思う(おも・う) u-verb

to think

なる u-verb

to become

二日酔い(ふつ・か・よい)

hangover

痛む(いた・む) u-verb

to feel pain

頭(あたま)

head

押さえる(おさ・える) ru-verb

to hold something down; to grasp

トイレ(to i re)

bathroom; toilet

入る(はい・る) u-verb

to enter

体(からだ)

body

いい i-adj

good

最近(さい・きん)

recent; lately

全然(ぜん・ぜん)

not at all (when used with negative)

運動(うん・どう)

exercise

する exception

to do

電気(でん・き)

electricity; (electric) light

製品(せい・ひん)

manufactured goods, product

発展(はっ・てん)

development; growth; advancement

つれる ru-verb

to lead

ハードディスク(ha a do di i su ku)

hard disk

容量(よう・りょう)

capacity

ますます

increasingly

大きい(おお・きい) i-adj

big

ある u-verb

to exist (inanimate)

今(いま)

now

日本(に・ほん)

Japan

終身(しゅう・しん)

lifetime

雇用(こ・よう)

employment

年功(ねん・こう)

long service

序列(じょ・れつ)

order

年功序列(ねん・こう・じょ・れつ)

seniority system

言う(い・う) u-verb

to say

慣行(かん・こう)

customary practice

崩れる(くず・れる) ru-verb

to collapse; to crumble

つつ is a verb modifier that can be attached to the stem of verbs to express an ongoing occurrence. Though the meaning stays essentially the same, there are essentially two ways to use this grammar. The first is almost identical to the ～ながら grammar. You can use つつ to describe an action that is taking place while another action is ongoing. However, there are several major differences between つつ and ～ながら. First, the tone of つつ is very different from that of ～ながら and you would rarely, if ever, use it for regular everyday occurrences. To go along with this, つつ is more appropriate for more literary or abstract actions such as those involving emotions or thoughts. Second, ～ながら is used to describe an auxiliary action that takes place while the main action is going on. However, with つつ, both actions have equal weight.

For example, it would sound very strange to say the following.

• テレビを見つつ、寝ちゃダメよ！
  (Sounds unnatural)

• テレビを見ながら、寝ちゃダメよ！
  Don’t watch TV while sleeping!

The second way to use this grammar is to express the existence of a continuing process by using ある, the verb for existence. Everything is the same as before except that you attach ある to つつ to produce ～つつある. This is often used in magazine or newspaper articles to describe a certain trend or tide.

Examples

1. 二日酔いで痛む頭を押さえつつ、トイレに入った。
   Went into the bathroom while holding an aching head from a hangover.

2. 体によくないと思いつつ、最近は全然運動してない。
   While thinking it’s bad for body, haven’t exercised at all recently.

3. 電気製品の発展につれて、ハードディスクの容量はますます大きくなりつつある。
   Lead by the advancement of electronic products, hard disk drive capacities are becoming ever larger.

4. 今の日本では、終身雇用や年功序列という雇用慣行が崩れつつある。
   In today’s Japan, hiring practices like life-time employment and age-based ranking are tending to break down.

For more examples, check out the WWWJDIC examples.

Vocabulary

嫌い(きら・い) na-adj

distasteful, hateful

依存症(い・ぞん・しょう)

dependence; addiction

ある u-verb

to exist (inanimate)

多い(おお・い) i-adj

numerous

大学生(だい・がく・せい)

college student

締切日(しめ・きり・び)

closing day; deadline

ぎりぎり

at the last moment; just barely

宿題(しゅく・だい)

homework

やる u-verb

to do

コーディング(ko o di i n gu)

coding

好き(す・き) na-adj

likable; desirable

開発者(かい・はつ・しゃ)

developer

ちゃんと

properly

する exception

to do

ドキュメント(do kyu me n to)

document

作成(さく・せい)

creation

十分(じゅう・ぶん)

sufficient, adequate

テスト(te su to)

test

怠る(おこた・る) u-verb

to shirk

きらいがある is a fixed expression used to describe a bad tendency or habit. I suspect that きらい here might have something to do with the word for hateful: 嫌い. However, unlike 嫌い, which is a na-adjective, the きらい in this grammar functions as a noun. This is made plain by the fact that the が particle comes right after きらい, which is not allowed for adjectives. The rest of the phrase is simply expressing the fact that the negative tendency exists.

Examples

1. 多くの大学生は、締切日ぎりぎりまで、宿題をやらないきらいがある。
   A lot of college students have a bad tendency of not doing their homework until just barely it’s due date.

2. コーディングが好きな開発者は、ちゃんとしたドキュメント作成と十分なテストを怠るきらいがある。
   Developers that like coding have a bad tendency to neglect proper documents and adequate testing.