Lesson 58 - I'm going to ..

In order to get the present progressive tense of a verb, or a verb happening at this very moment, you would use a te imasu ending. For example, if you wanted to say "I am going to town", you would say Machi ni itte imasu. You could also say Machi ni itte imasen for "I am not going to town". Expanding even further on it, Machi ni itte imashita would be "I was going to town" and Machi ni itte imasen deshita would be "I was not going to town". For this ending, make sure you review the te endings for each verb. Another concept to grasp now is donna, konna, sonna, and anna. Donna means "what kind of", so something like Donna machi desu ka would be "What kind of town is it?" Konna would be this kind, sonna that kind and anna that kind as well. They modify nouns, and you could think of them as qualitative adjectives.

Since these concepts are fairly simple, let's launch into a conversation.

Souji: Ohayou, Toshi-san! Doko ni itte imasu ka.
Toshi: Ohayou gozaimasu, Souji-san. Machi ni itte imasu.
Souji: Sou desu ne. Donna machi desu ka.
Toshi: Chiisai machi desu. Takusan no noujou ga arimasu. Noujou ni wa ushi ya hitsuji ya uma ga imasu. Machi no naka ni wa ookii mizuumi ga arimasu.
Souji: Yoku soko ni ikimasu ka.
Toshi: Hai. Mainichi no shuumatsu ni ikimasu. Tsuri o shimasu.
Souji: Suiei o shimasu ka.
Toshi: Iie! Mizu ga kirai desu.
Souji: Sore wa ikemasen ne!

Souji begins by saying, "Good morning, Toshi! Where are you going?" Toshi replies, "Good morning. I'm going to town." Souji replies, "Is that so. What kind of town is it?" Toshi replies, "It is a small town. It has many farms. There are cows, sheep, and horses in the farms. There is a big lake in the middle of town." Noujou is farm and mizuumi is lake. Souji asks if he goes there often. Yoku is often or well. Toshi replies, "Yes, I got every weekend. I go fishing." Shuumatsu is weekend and tsuri is fishing. Souji asks if he swims. Suiei is swimming. Toshi replies no, he hates the water. Souji replies that is unfortunate.

Vocabulary Review
どんな Donna- what kind
こんな Konna- this kind
そんな Sonna- that kind
あんな Anna- that kind
農場 Noujou- farm
湖 Mizuumi- lake
良く Yoku- often/well
週末 Shuumatsu- weekend
釣 Tsuri- fishing
水泳 Suiei- swimming