Rescheduling in Japanese: reason, new date and confirmation

Level A2

Rescheduling in Japanese: reason, new date and confirmation

By the end of this lesson, you can reschedule an appointment, pass the new date on to someone who wasn't there, and explain a short notice. The central idea is this: sorting out a change means joining pieces you already know, in the order reason, new date, confirmation, and then passing the result on. This sentence does the first two parts: 木曜日は予定があるので、金曜日はどうですか (mokuyōbi wa yotei ga aru node, kin'yōbi wa dō desu ka), “I have plans on Thursday, so how about Friday?”. The new key word is 変更 (henkō), “change”.

Warm-up: a problem, a reason, a proposal, a plan

These pieces come back in this lesson, even if this is your first time seeing them. 頭が痛いので、今日は家で働きます (atama ga itai node, kyō wa ie de hatarakimasu), “I've got a headache, so I'm working from home today”, states the problem and gives a reason with ので (node): 頭 is “head” and 痛い is “sore”. 明日は会議ですから、今日行きます (ashita wa kaigi desu kara, kyō ikimasu), “I have a meeting tomorrow, so I'm going today”, gives a reason with から (kara); 会議 is “meeting”. 土曜日はどうですか (doyōbi wa dō desu ka), “How about Saturday?”, proposes a day. 会議は月曜日の予定です (kaigi wa getsuyōbi no yotei desu), “The meeting is scheduled for Monday”, says what is on the schedule. That Monday meeting is what the conversation is about.

The words: 変更 and what changes

変更 (henkō) is a “change” to something already arranged: a date, a time, a place. It is common in notices and in talk at work. It takes できます and します directly, with no が or を in between: 変更できますか, “can we change it?”; 変更します, “we're changing it”; 変更しました, “we changed it”. Not every noun does this, so learn it as a habit of this word. The new day takes に (ni): 木曜日に変更できますか.

お知らせ (oshirase) is a “notice” or “announcement”, a text that informs a group. 休む (yasumu), 休みます with ます, means “to rest”, and also to stay off work or school. 木曜日 (mokuyōbi) is “Thursday”, 金曜日 (kin'yōbi) “Friday”, 授業 (jugyō) “class” or “lesson”, and 図書館 (toshokan) “library”.

Model: the meeting moves to another day

Listen once without reading. It is Monday: Ana (A) has a headache and tells Tanaka (B) that the meeting has to move. Notice the order: first the reason, then a possible date, and the confirmation at the end. Tanaka does the same: he gives his reason before proposing another day. Nobody needs to say “I can't”: the reason is enough. 分かりました (wakarimashita) is “got it”, どうしますか (dō shimasu ka) is “what shall we do?”, and 大丈夫です (daijōbu desu), here, is “that works”.

Reason + new date: ので and はどうですか

ので (node) links the reason to what follows. Watch its position: English “because” comes before the reason, while ので comes at the end of it, and only then comes the proposal. You have seen it after 痛い; after a verb it works the same way, following the plain form: 予定がある (ある is the dictionary form of あります), 海に行く (the dictionary form of 行きます), 頭が痛い (痛い does not change). The proposal is the usual one: 金曜日はどうですか. To ask for the change directly, swap the ending: 木曜日に変更できますか.

から also gives a reason, and ですから works; after a noun, stay with it for now: 明日は会議ですから, never 会議だので. ので tends to sound softer, so it suits undoing an arrangement with a colleague. Words in the examples: 仕事 (shigoto, work), 海 (umi, sea, here the beach), 明日 (ashita, tomorrow).

予定がある／頭が痛いので、金曜日はどうですか

Confirming: ですね

Before you finish, repeat what you understood. か asks because you don't know: 金曜日ですか, “Is it on Friday?”. ね (ne) checks what you think you already know and asks the other person to agree: 金曜日ですね, “It's on Friday, right?”. It can be the day and time, joined with の (no): 金曜日の十時ですね. It can be the subject: 会議は金曜日ですね; 場所は駅ですね, where 場所 (basho) is “place” and 駅 (eki) “station”. The answer usually repeats the information: はい、金曜日の十時です.

金曜日の十時／会議は金曜日ですね

Passing it on: someone who wasn't there

Now a colleague (A) asks about Ana, and Tanaka (B) explains what happened. Ana spoke to him, so he passes on her words with と言っていました; the whole reason fits before と: 頭が痛いので休む. The new date he says directly, because he took part in the decision: 金曜日の十時に変更しました. At the end, the colleague confirms with ですね too. いいえ (iie) is “no” and いつ (itsu) “when”.

What someone said: と言っていました

…と言っていました (… to itte imashita) is “said that…”. To pass something on in your own words, use the plain form before と (to). Verbs and 痛い go in with nothing added: 休むと, 来ると, 痛いと. A noun like 金曜日 takes だ (da), the plain form of です: 金曜日だと. The person who spoke usually comes first, with は: アナさんは, 田中さんは. In 田中さんは、会議は金曜日だと言っていました, the first は marks who spoke, and the second belongs to what he said.

If the information is only what you remember, without certainty, swap the ending for と思います (to omoimasu), “I think”: 会議は金曜日だと思います. 来る (kuru) is the dictionary form of 来ます, “to come”.

頭が痛い／休む／金曜日だと言っていました

With a friend, by message

Between friends, the same sequence comes out in plain forms. …ので、日曜日はどうですか becomes …から、日曜日はどう？; から after a plain form is the usual choice in this kind of chat. ごめん (gomen) is “sorry”, the casual one. The question drops か: どう？, 何時がいい？. いいよ (ii yo) is “sure”, だね (da ne) is the casual version of ですね, and 分かった (wakatta) is that of 分かりました. またね (mata ne) is “see you”. With colleagues and in work messages, stay with です and ます, as in the model.

In a notice: find what changed

Now a different setting: a notice about a Japanese class. You don't need to be able to write this text; you only need to find the information. Listen and follow the reading, looking for 変更. What comes before it tells you what changes: 時間 (jikan), “time”, and 場所 (basho), “place”. The new value takes に: 11時に, 図書館に. Here 変更します is the organizer's voice: “we're changing”. Read the chain of の backwards: 5月10日の授業の時間 is “the time of the May 10th class” (5月10日 is read gogatsu tōka). も (mo) is “also”. Three facts matter: the day, the new time and the new place.

Explaining the notice to a colleague

When you tell someone about a notice, you don't read it aloud: you say only what matters, in simple words. よ (yo) gives information the other person doesn't have: 授業のお知らせがありますよ. 変更があります works like 予定があります: “there is a change”. 何の変更ですか (nan no henkō desu ka) is “what kind of change?”, and 十一時からです is “it starts at eleven”, with the から of 駅から (eki kara), “from”, here for time; it is not the から of reasons. と言っていました doesn't appear in this conversation because nobody said anything: the information was read, so you simply tell it. The colleague closes with ですね, as in the model.

Your turn, and the summary

The meeting is on Monday, but you have plans. Cover the sentences below. Give your reason and propose Thursday. Now imagine you have a headache today, and ask to move it to Thursday. Confirm Thursday at eleven. Then tell someone what Tanaka said: the meeting is on Thursday. Only then check. After that, do it again with another day or another reason.

In short: reason + ので, new date + はどうですか, confirmation with ですね and, for whoever wasn't there, …と言っていました. In a notice, look for 変更: before it come what changes and, with に, the new value.

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