Learn Japanese Pod with Ami and Alex
Podcast 38: Making a suggestion inJapaneseIn this lesson you will learn the following:✓ How to make a suggestion in Japanese✓ How to talk about making up after a fight

LEVEL: Lower intermediate

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Introduction
In this lesson you will learn how to make a suggestion to your friends in natural sounding
Japanese. It’s better to be indirect with your language as being too pushy can make you come
off as being arrogant or rude. But don’t worry, we have you covered. Just check out the main
dialogue and extra example sentences and you should get a good idea of how to give yourideas and advice to other people.

How to study
This lesson includes the main podcast lesson, PDF show notes and an extra audio drill. You canfind all of these resources by going to https://learnjapanesepod.com and clicking on the title forthis lesson.
In the main podcast lesson Ami Sensei and Alex demonstrate the main dialogue, briefly explain
the grammar and talk about other Japan related topics.
Then you can use these show notes to read through and study in more depth. We include
grammar and vocabulary explanations to better understand the main lesson dialogue.
Finally, you can use the Japanese dialogue only audio file to practice your listening. You canlisten to the audio phrase by phrase and then repeat afterwards to practice your speaking andlistening skills.
To access the audio podcast for this lesson go to https://learnjapanesepod.com and navigate tothis lesson.

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Main Dialog 1 - Making a suggestion (Japanese)
A: いや〜もうだめだ。
B: どうしたの？
A: 彼女と喧嘩したんだ。まだ怒ってるみたい。
B: じゃあ、花でもプレセントしたらどう？
A: そうだね。そうしよう。
B: 彼女きっと喜ぶよ。
A: わかった、じゃあ、そうしてみるよ。

Main Dialog 1 - Making a suggestion (Pronunciation)
A: Iyaa, mō dame da!
B: Dō shita no?
A: Kanojo to kenka shitan da. Mada okotteru mitai.
B: Jaa, hana demo purezento shitara dō?
A: Sō da ne. Sō shiyō.
B: Kanojo kitto yorokobu yo.
A: Wakatta, jaa, sō shite miru yo.

Main Dialog 1 - Making a suggestion (English)
A: Argh, this sucks.
B: What happened?
A: I had a fight with my girlfriend. It seems she’s still angry.
B: How about giving her flowers as a present?
A: Right. I’ll do that.
B: I’m sure she’ll be happy.
A: Got it. I’ll give that a try.

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...shitara dō? - Grammar break down...したらどう？...shitara dō? means how about doing so and so. したら shitara literallymeans “if you do” and どう dō means “how about”.
The easiest way to make a sentence is to take a noun and then add したらどう to theend to recommend doing something. So for example:
勉強 benkyō means study. Add したらどう and you get 勉強したらどう benkyō shitara dō- How about studying?
Examples:ハイキングしたらどう Haikingu shitara dō?
How about going hiking?
休憩したらどうKyuukei shitara dō?
How about taking a break?
掃除したらどうSōji shitara dō?
How about cleaning?
Pretty simple right? Now to take it up a level, you can take a verb, change it to theconditional form and add どうdō on the end to make a suggestion. So let’s look at someverbs.
食べる taberu means to eat. Change that to 食べたら tabetara and that means “if youeat”. Now add どうdō on the end and you get 食べたらどう？ tabetara dō? How abouteating? Or お寿司食べたらどう？ Osushi tabetara dō? How about eating sushi?
Now let’s talk about how to respond to a suggestion.
Let’s say someone says to you 休んだらどう？ Yasundara dō? How about taking a rest?
You can reply, そうだね。そうするよ。Sō da ne. Sō suru yo. Sō da ne means something
like “Yeah, right” or “I agree”. And そうするよ Sō suru yo means I’ll do that.

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Extra sentence examples:Example 1A: 頭痛いな。

Atama itai na

I have a headache

B: 薬飲んだらどう？

Kusuri nondara dō?

How about taking some meds?

A: そうだね。そうするよ。

Sō da ne. Sō suru yo.

Right. I’ll do that.

A: いいアイデアが思い浮かばないなIi aidea ga omoi ukabanai na

I can’t think of any good ideas.

B: 少しやすんだらどう？

Sukoshi yasundara dō?

How about taking a break?

A: そうだね。そうするよ。

Sō da ne. Sō suru yo.

Right. I’ll do that.

A: 肩凝ってるな。

Kata kotteru

I’ve got stiff shoulders

B: マッサージ受けたらどう？

Massaaji shitara dō?

How about getting a massage?

A: そうだね。そうするよ。

Sō da ne. Sō suru yo.

Right. I’ll do that.

A: お腹が空いたな

Onaka ga suita na

I’m hungry

B: おやつ食べたらどう？

Oyatsu tabetara dō?

How about having a snack?

A: そうだね。そうするよ。

Sō da ne. Sō suru yo.

Right. I’ll do that.

A: 退屈だな。

Taikutsu da na

I’m bored

B: 映画みたらどう？

Eiga mitara dō?

How about watching a movie?

A: そうだね。そうするよ。

Sō da ne. Sō suru yo.

Right. I’ll do that.

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Example 5

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Hi, this is Alex, the creator of Learn
Japanese Pod. Thanks for downloadingthese show notes, I hope you find them
useful. If you need any help with yourJapanese or have any questions orcomments please drop me a line at
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