The Price Is Wrong Discussion

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Hi Matthewtyndall-san,

Sorry to cofuse you in the previous lesson.

Let me explain again here: when you count small things like apples and cakes, you can use a generic counter: つ instead of specific counters (e.g. こ, ほん, まい ,etc.) 

For example, 3 apples = りんご　3 + つ 　→　みっつ 　❌みっつっつ

On a previous lesson we learned  みっつ for counting for 三, but in this lesson it says 三つ. So how come this isn't pronounced as みっつつ?

Constant_Guv-san Yes, you can use the phrase to ask someone's age.

Can't いくつ also be used to ask someone's age, as in おいくつですか。

I always thought of よ as a verbal exclamation point, just like か is a verbal question mark.

Whilst colloquially, よ　is used for emphasis or to add certainty to/reinforce an opinion, it is also used to mark information that is known to the speaker, but not to their conversational partner. In other words, it is used to emphasize information the speaker things the listener doesn't know. For example: 「これはなんですか。」 「アニメです。にほんの アニメーションですよ。」 Kore wa nan desu ka? (What's this?) Anime desu. Nihon no animēshon desu yo. (It's Anime. It's Japanese cartoons.)

There is another definition for いくつですか that doesn't seem to be mentioned. Sometimes Japanese people, instead of asking 何(なん)歳(さい)ですか？ (How old are you?), they will ask you いくつですか？, which has also evolved to meaning How old are you? Not everyone does this, but if you ever here of someone do this, do not think it is strange.

It's more commonly associated as a seriousness particle, which is why you see it as inserting a sort of a rebuttal. It adds intensity to your statement, like if you are surprised, you might use it to express the fact that "Damn, that was scary" (しまった！怖いでしたよ。) So when the last two lines in the example given in the lesson are spoken, the customer says: "たかいです。。。” And the merchant responds as simply saying "Whoah, these are CHEAP. NOT expensive!" by saying: "やすいですよ！” Now, just like in any english conversation, the varying intensity of this particle is denoted by tone and the situation it's used it, it's not always a "super-serious" particle. Watching any anime or tv show in japanese, you should be able to discern when it's used quite easily, seeing as it's used almost as often as "ね”.

For the second example of asking for the price the これは is missing. I assume since this is a beta site i'm supposed to point out those kinds of things?

I like to think of よ as the "You know…" particle. It inserts a little bit of rebuttal to previous statement. "やすいですよ!" - That's [actually] cheap, you know! I find that works really well when thinking of how it is used. "あなたの好物はとてもたかいですよね？" Your favourite food is [actually] rather expensive, don't you think?" "いいえ、そのことないですよ。。。あなたたちはびんぼうだから。" "No, that's not true... You're just poor."