Following natural conversation in Japanese: …のことですか and つまり…ということですか

Level B2

Following natural conversation in Japanese: …のことですか and つまり…ということですか

A colleague asks あれ、持ってきた？ (are, motte kita?) and you have no idea what “that” is. Natural conversation leaves a lot unsaid, and one idea runs through this lesson: when something is missing, work out who and what the speaker means, then check it aloud with …のことですか (no koto desu ka) or つまり…ということですか (tsumari … to iu koto desu ka). Along the way you'll learn to recognize って, ちゃった and なきゃ, short spoken versions of forms you already know. People who are close often talk this way, but not everyone does, and you don't have to.

Recap: what you already have

Between friends, a question can drop か: どうだった？ (dō datta?), “how was it?”. ね looks for agreement: 十時だね (jūji da ne), “ten o'clock, then”. そうです passes on something you heard: レオさんは明日は行かないそうです (Reo-san wa ashita wa ikanai sō desu), “I hear Leo isn't going tomorrow”. なければなりません says something is required: 八時に来なければなりません (hachiji ni konakereba narimasen), “you have to come at eight”.

ちょっと難しいです can be a polite no: すみません、今日はちょっと難しいです (sumimasen, kyō wa chotto muzukashii desu). And 一点確認してもいいですか (itten kakunin shite mo ii desu ka), “may I confirm one point?”, asks permission before you check something. Most of these come back today.

The words for today

のこと (no koto) comes after a noun and names what someone is referring to. ということ (to iu koto) comes after a whole sentence in the plain form and says what it amounts to. つまり (tsumari) means “in other words”. 持ってくる (motte kuru) is bring, and 送る (okuru) is send. 忘れる (wasureru) is forget, and it also covers leaving something behind: 家に忘れる (ie ni wasureru), “leave at home”. 書類 (shorui) is documents and 会議 (kaigi) a meeting. 乗り遅れる (noriokureru) is to miss a train or bus. てしまう (te shimau) follows the て form; this lesson explains one of its meanings below.

Model: two colleagues at their desks

Listen once without reading. A has been at the company for years and talks casually. B is new and stays in です・ます. Notice how little A says, and how B checks before moving on. よかった (yokatta) here is “thank goodness”, ううん (uun) is a casual “no”, and お願い (onegai) is a short “please”.

What went unsaid

In these lines from the model, A leaves out a lot. あれ、持ってきた？ points at something only A has in mind, and it doesn't say who brought it; か and を are gone too. 明日の会議の書類 is an answer with no verb. レオさん、明日来ないって has no は after the name, and nothing says who passed on the news. レオさんに書類を送らなきゃ doesn't say who will send them.

English usually has to say who: “I”, “you”, “someone”. Japanese doesn't, so when you lose the thread, ask three things: who is doing it, what is it, and what are we talking about? Context often answers. When it doesn't, a short check costs less than a wrong guess, and that's what B does.

Confirming what they mean: …のことですか

Put the noun you think the speaker means before のことですか: レオさんのことですか (Reo-san no koto desu ka), “do you mean Leo?”. It works for people, things, places and events. それは (sore wa) in front ties your guess to what you just heard: それは明日の会議のことですか (sore wa ashita no kaigi no koto desu ka).

If you have no idea, ask with 何 (nan): あれは何のことですか (are wa nan no koto desu ka). If you know the kind of thing but not which one, use どの (dono, which): どの書類のことですか (dono shorui no koto desu ka). English would ask “what do you mean?” for all sorts of confusion; のこと checks what a word refers to.

書類／レオさんのことですか

Rephrasing what you heard: つまり…ということですか

のこと checks a noun. To check a whole statement, say what you understood in the plain form and add ということですか. It's the same plain form you use before と: 来ない (konai), 送る (okuru), 見られない (mirarenai, can't look). A noun takes だ: 駅だということですか (eki da to iu koto desu ka). Only the end is polite, on です. つまり (tsumari) announces that you're putting it in other words. In meetings, つまり…ということですね sums up and expects agreement; here, か really asks whether you've understood.

This is useful after a polite no: you hear 今日はちょっと難しいです, and つまり、今日は見られないということですか (tsumari, kyō wa mirarenai to iu koto desu ka) checks what it means. Your version can be wrong, and that's fine: in the model, A corrects B with ううん. With a boss or a client, a bare つまり can sound like pressing them, so 確認してもいいですか first is a good idea; between colleagues, as in the model, it's fine.

つまり、来ない／送る／駅だということですか

てしまう: it wasn't meant to happen

書類を家に忘れました (shorui o ie ni wasuremashita) reports a fact. 書類を家に忘れてしまいました (shorui o ie ni wasurete shimaimashita) adds how the speaker feels: this wasn't the plan. That's the meaning you need in this lesson: after the て form, しまう shows that something happened that the speaker didn't intend or regrets. English gets a similar effect with “I've gone and…”. てしまう has other uses, such as doing something completely, and they can wait. You can use てしまいました yourself.

In casual speech, てしまった shrinks to ちゃった: 忘れちゃった (wasurechatta). When the て form ends in で, it's じゃった: 飲んでしまった → 飲んじゃった (nonjatta). The fact and the feeling stay the same; the tone gets closer. You only need to recognize ちゃった and じゃった.

Just to recognize: って and なきゃ

って is the spoken form of と, and at the end of a sentence it often stands alone, with the “said” left out. レオさん、明日来ないって is roughly レオさんは明日来ないそうです: it's news passed on, not the speaker's own opinion, and it may not say who the source is. って has other uses in conversation too; this is the one you need here.

なきゃ is a shortened なければ, and the rest of なければなりません goes unsaid. It starts from the same place as the ない form: 送らない → 送らなきゃ (okuranakya). It's often about the speaker, as in 行かなきゃ (ikanakya), “I've got to go”, but not always. That's why B had to ask who would send the documents.

Change of tone: who's listening?

The same person can say レオさん、明日来ないって to you and レオさんは明日来ないそうです to their boss. The news doesn't change; the distance does. A request changes even more: 送らなきゃ just says among colleagues that it has to be sent, while すみません、レオさんに書類を送っていただけますか, the careful request you already know, asks someone to do it. So when you hear the tone shift, ask what changed: the listener, the relationship or how serious the moment is.

These short forms aren't how every Japanese speaker talks. Their use depends on who people are with, their age and their workplace, and other regions have short forms of their own. Some colleagues will stay in です・ます with you for years. Hearing them from one friend doesn't mean they suit everyone. In the model, A talks this way after years at the company; B, who is new, stays in です・ます, and the conversation works perfectly well.

Your turn, and the summary

A colleague says the first line below. Cover the rest and rephrase it to check, starting with つまり. Then the colleague says the third line: ask which documents. Check only afterwards.

In short: when something goes unsaid, ask who, what and about what. Check a noun with …のことですか and a whole statement with つまり…ということですか. Use てしまいました for what you didn't intend. Recognize って as news passed on, ちゃった as a casual てしまった, and なきゃ as “have to”, in casual speech.

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