Almost finished!

Today is our last day of looking at Tom's Japanese journal.

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Lesson Prep: Key Words & Phrases

Once again, our journal entry has some pretty long sentences, so I'll break them up beforehand.

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連休（れんきゅう // consecutive holidays [days off]）

We already saw this word, actually, back in Lesson #86, when we were talking about でしょう:

(Note: There's not time to explain this here, but generally speaking, these get less polite [or more masculine] as we go down the list.)

明日から５連休なんだ。いいでしょう。
あした　から　ご　れんきゅう　なんだ。　いい　でしょう。
I have five days off from tomorrow. Nice, right?
Literally: “tomorrow + from + five consecutive holidays + なんだ. + good + でしょう.”

明日から５連休なんだ。いいでしょ。
あした　から　ご　れんきゅう　なんだ。　いい　でしょ。
I have five days off from tomorrow. Nice, right?
Literally: “tomorrow + from + five consecutive holidays + なんだ. + good + でしょ.”

明日から５連休なんだ。いいっしょ。
あした　から　ご　れんきゅう　なんだ。　いい　っしょ。
I have five days off from tomorrow. Nice, right?
Literally: “tomorrow + from + five consecutive holidays + なんだ. + good + っしょ.”

明日から５連休なんだ。いいだろう。
あした　から　ご　れんきゅう　なんだ。　いい　だろう。
I have five days off from tomorrow. Nice, right?
Literally: “tomorrow + from + five consecutive holidays + なんだ. + good + だろう.”

明日から５連休なんだ。いいだろ。
あした　から　ご　れんきゅう　なんだ。　いい　だろ。
I have five days off from tomorrow. Nice, right?
Literally: “tomorrow + from + five consecutive holidays + なんだ. + good + だろ.”

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仕事（が）終わった！
しごと（が）おわった！
I'm finished with work!
Literally: "job / work + (が) + finished."

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ほんとに嬉しかった。
ほんとに　うれしかった。
I was really happy.
Literally: "really / truly + was happy."
Note: The full version of ほんとに has an extra う: 本当に（ほんとうに）

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そのまま食べる。
そのまま　たべる。
I'll eat them [it] just like that.
Literally: "without changing / as it is now + eat."
Note: For example, imagine your roommate said, "Want me to heat up these leftovers for you?" But you want to eat them cold. Then you could say this sentence.

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夜中まで飲んだ。
よなか　まで　のんだ。
We drank until late in the evening.
Literally: "late at night / the middle of the night + until + drank."

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If you've been reading these lessons for a while, you may remember when we saw the phrase 調子に乗る（ちょうしにのる）back in Lesson #73:

調子に乗るな！
ちょうし　に　のる　な！
Don't get carried away.
Literally: "tune + に + ride + な."
Note: I love this phrase. Don't ride that tune! What an awesome way to keep someone from "getting caught up in the moment" and doing/saying something stupid. Personally, I have a bad habit of "tune-riding." By the way, this has sort of a negative connotation.飲みすぎちゃった。
のみすぎちゃった。
I drank too much.
Note: Three verbs are being combined into one here: 飲む（のむ // to drink）+ 過ぎる（すぎる // to go over; to exceed; to do too much of [when attached to the masu-stem of a verb, like in this example]）+ しまう（to finish; to close; to do something completely [when attached to the te-form of a verb, often shorted from ～てしまった to ～ちゃった or ～じゃった]).

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明日は休みだ。
あした　は　やすみ　だ。
Tomorrow's my day off.
Literally: "tomorrow + は + day off / holiday + is."

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大丈夫！
だいじょうぶ！
It's OK! // No problem!

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終電で帰った。
しゅうでん　で　かえった。
I took the last train home.
Literally: "last train + で + went home."

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フラフラしてた。
ふらふら　してた。
I couldn't stand up [walk] straight.
Literally: "(be) unsteady on one's feet / stagger + was doing."

歯を磨いた。
は　を　みがいた。
I brushed my teeth.
Literally: "teeth + を + brushed / polished."

なんとか歯を磨いた。
なんとか　は　を　みがいた。
Somehow I (managed to) brush my teeth.
Literally: "somehow / one way or another + teeth + を + brushed / polished."

フラフラしながらなんとか歯を磨いた。
ふらふら　しながら　なんとか　は　を　みがいた。
While wobbling all over the place, I somehow managed to brush my teeth.
Literally: "stagger / wobble + while doing + somehow + teeth + を + brushed."

Did you notice how we just progressed right there?

Take another look:

歯を磨いた。
なんとか歯を磨いた。
フラフラしながらなんとか歯を磨いた。

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シャワーを浴びた。
しゃわー　を　あびた。
I took a shower.
Literally: "shower + を + basked / bathed / showered."

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書き終わった。
かきおわった。
I finished writing (it).
Note: The masu-stem of 書く（かく // to write）is attaching to 終わる（おわる // to end; to finish）

Man, that was a lot of sentences!

Let's see if you can put them all together while reading this journal entry...

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Tom's Journal

明日から連休だから仕事が終わったときはほんとに嬉しかった。
あした　から　れんきゅう　だから　しごと　が　おわった　とき　は　ほんとに　うれしかった。
My weekend starts tomorrow, so I was so happy when I finished work.
Literally: "tomorrow + from + consecutive holidays + is + because + work + が + finished + time + は + truly + was happy."

そしてみんなとそのまま居酒屋に行って夜中まで飲んだ。
そして　みんな　と　そのまま　いざかや　に　いって　よなか　まで　のんだ。
Then I went straight to an izakaya with everyone and drank until late.
Literally: "then + everyone + と + without changing / as we were + izakaya + に + went (and) + late at night + until + drank."

調子にのって飲みすぎちゃったけど、明日は休みだから大丈夫！
ちょうし　に　のって　のみすぎちゃった　けど、　あした　は　やすみ　だ　から　だいじょうぶ！
I got a bit carried away and drank too much, but I have the day off tomorrow, so it's OK!
Literally: "got carried away (and) + drank too much + but + tomorrow + は + day off / holiday + is + because + OK / no problem!"

終電で帰って、フラフラしながらなんとか歯を磨いてシャワーを浴びた。
しゅうでん　で　かえって、 ふらふら　しながら　なんとか　は　を　みがいて　しゃわー　を　あびた。
I went home on the last train. I could hardly stand straight, but somehow I managed to brush my teeth and take a shower.
Literally: "last train + で + went home (and) + unsteady on my feet / wobbly / tottering + while doing + somehow + teeth + を + brushed (and) + shower + を + showered / basked."

今はベッドでこの日記を書いてるけど、書き終わった瞬間に寝ると思う。
いま　は　べっど　で　この　にっき　を　かいてる　けど、　かきおわった　しゅんかん　に　ねる　と　おもう。
Right now I'm in bed, writing this journal. But I think I'll fall asleep the instant I finish writing.
Literally: "now + は + bed + で + this + journal + を + am writing + but, + finished writing + moment / instant + に + sleep + と + think."

おやすみなさい...。
Good night...

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There you have it. A day in the life of our imaginary friend Tom.

If you missed Parts 1 and 2, you can find them here:

[NDL #191] - Japanese Journal Writing, Part I
[NDL #192] - Japanese Journal Writing, Part II

Usually we try to focus on short, easily memorized sentences that are highly useful in conversations.

In a journal entry, though, it's a bit more natural to use long, compound sentences.

Makes sense, I guess, since it's a monologue and not a dialogue.

But a bit tricky, yeah?

Hopefully I was able to break them down enough that they were digestible.

If not, sorry, yo.

The cool thing about content that is too difficult, though, is that you can come back and look at it in the future and measure your progress. I'm still shocked that I can read some stuff in Japanese, because it seemed impossible when I was at a lower level.

Anyways, I hope you have a fantastic day. Don't give up on your studies!