Last Weeks Homework

Synopsis from 2025-12-04 Class

This week's lesson covered two main grammar points in detail:

The Conditional (た)ら:
- What it is: A highly common and versatile way to say "if" or "when." It's used to connect two clauses, where the first clause is a condition that must be met for the second clause to happen.
- How to form it: You take the plain past tense of a verb (the た-form) and simply add ら. For example, 着く (tsuku, to arrive) becomes 着いた (tsuita), and then you add ら to get 着いたら (tsuitara, "when/if you arrive").
- For adjectives and nouns:
  - い-Adjectives: Change the final い to かったら. (e.g., 寒い -> 寒かったら - if it's cold)
  - な-Adjectives/Nouns: Add だったら. (e.g., 暇 -> 暇だったら - if you're free)
- When to use it: It's great for both guaranteed future events ("When I turn 20, I will...") and hypotheticals ("If I won the lottery, I would..."). It strongly implies that the first action must happen before the second can begin.
Expressing "No Need To" with なくてもいいです:
- What it is: This pattern is used to tell someone that they are not obligated to do something. It's a polite way of saying "You don't have to..." or "It's okay if you don't..."
- How to form it: Take the plain negative ない form of a verb. For example, 持つ (motsu, to hold) becomes 持たない (motanai). Then, you drop the final い and add くてもいいです. So, 持たない becomes 持たなくてもいいです (motanakutemo ii desu, "you don't have to hold it").
- When to use it: Use this to grant permission not to do something. It's the gentle opposite of giving a command. For instance, at a friend's house, you might be told 靴を脱がなくてもいいです (kutsu o nuganakutemo ii desu), meaning "It's okay if you don't take off your shoes."

Random Words

交通事項 (こうつうじこ) -> Traffic Accident
起きる (おきる) -> To Happen (Also means to get up)
太陽　（たいよう) -> Sun

Main Point

~みたいです -> Looks Like

You can add ~みたいです after a non-polite verb, to say it looks like the verb happened. Can also stick after a past tense verb.

Can also add after nouns。 Just stick it at the end, nothing special. It creates a sort of simile/metaphor situation.

Note: Can not use this with adjectives alone. If you use it with Adjectives, its like your observing something else, not really making a metaphor. Which I guess is the same in English, it just carries stronger nuance here.

Examples

Using Verbs

事項が起きたみたいです
- It looks like the accident happened
病気になったみたいです
- It Looks like I got sick
赤ちゃんはお腹が空いたみたいです
- It looks like the baby is hungry
いまは社長が起こっているみたいです
- Now, it looks like the boss is in a state of being angry Using Nouns
彼女の歌は歌手みたいです
- The girls singing looks like a singer
彼の頭はコンピュータみたいです
- His brain is like a computer
彼の明るさは太陽みたいです
- His sparkle is like the sun
四月なのに夏見たいです
- Even though its April, it feels like Summer
田中さんどんな人ですか？天使みたいです
- What kind of person is Tanaka? She's like an angel
ハワイはどんなところですか？夢見たいです
- What kind of place is Hawaii? It's like a dream
風は台風が来たみたいです
- As for the wind, its like a typhoon is coming

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