わざわざ = wazawaza (Mini Lesson #145)
June 30, 2012 in Mini Lesson from No.124, Vocabulary
「えっ！？わざわざ来たのにゆかり留守なの？」
= Eh!? Wazawaza kita noni Yukari rusu nano?
= What? I came here all the way but Yukari is not here (at home) ?
なんだ…
= Nanda…
= Oh well…
Hi everyone!
I haven’t made a mini lesson for a while, so I think it’s time to make one.
Today’s lesson is for T.R. who asked me how to use the word わざわざ(= wazawaza) on Facebook recently.
わざわざ( = wazawaza) is an adverb which is used when you go to all the trouble to do something or to go/come somewhere all the way
When / how to use :
1) When you express your appreciation towards someone who goes out of their way to do something for you.
Basic pattern : (Between friends)
わざわざ ~ くれてありがとう
= Wazawaza ~ kurete arigatou!
= Thank you for going to all the trouble to do something for me/us.
Ex. わざわざ買ってきてくれてありがとう！
= Wazawaza katte kite kurete arigatou!
= Thank you for going to all the trouble to buy it/them.
Ex. わざわざ持ってきてくれてありがとう！
= Wazawaza motte kite kurete arigatou!
= Thank you for going to all that trouble to bring it/them to me.
Ex. わざわざ来てくれてありがとう！
= Wazawaza kite kurete arigatou!
= Thank you for coming all the way.
Polite form :
わざわざ+ verb+ 頂きありがとうございます／ございました。
= Wazawaza ~ itadaki arigatou gozaimasu./gozaimashita.
Ex. わざわざお電話(をして）頂きありがとうございました。
= Wazawaza odenwa (wo shite ) itadaki arigatou gozaimashita.
= Thank you for (taking the time to) call me.
Ex. わざわざお時間をお取り頂き有り難うございました。
= Wazawaza ojikan wo otori itadaki arigatou gozaimashita.
= Thank you for your time.
Ex. わざわざお越しいただきありがとうございました。
= Wazawaza okoshi itadaki arigatougozaimashita.
= Thank you for coming all this way.
Note : If the person came from far away, you can add
遠いところを= tooi tokoro wo = from far away
before or after わざわざ (= wazawaza)
Ex. 遠いところをわざわざ来てくれてありがとう！
= Tooi tokoro wo wazawaza kite kurete arigatou.
= Thank you for coming here all the way from far away.
(more polite)
Ex. 遠いところをわざわざお越し頂きありがとうございました。
= Tooi tokoro wo wazawaza okoshi itadaki arigatougozaimashita.
and if the person has done something for you even though they are busy, you add
忙しい中= isogashii naka = even though you are busy
before or after わざわざ (= wazawaza)
(Note : You can also say 忙しいのに(=isogashii noni) but 忙しい中(=isogashii naka) sounds more formal.
Ex. 忙しい中、わざわざ来てくれてありがとう。
= Isogashii naka wazawaza kite kurete arigatou.
= Thank you for coming here even though you are busy.
(more polite)
Ex. お忙しい中、わざわざお越し頂きありがとうございました。
= Oisogashii naka wazawaza okoshi itadaki arigatougozaimashita.
We sometimes just say,
Ex. わざわざありがとう(ございました）！
= Wazawaz arigatou (gozaimasihta.)!
= Thank you for all the trouble you have taken.
Note : ございました(=gozaimashita) is more formal
or
Ex. わざわざすみません。
= Wazawaza sumimasen.
= Sorry for all the trouble you made.
Cultural note : すみません(=sumimasen) literally means “I’m sorry” But we also say it when we want to express our appreciation.
So even though the sentence doesn’t have the word for appreciation (ありがとう= arigatou, すみません= sumimasen)
or apology ( ごめんなさい= gomennasai, 申し訳ありません= moushiwake arimasen, etc.) ,
if it says,
わざわざ~ (し)てくれた= wazawaza ~ (shi)te kureta
It means someone has gone all the trouble and done something for the speaker and the speaker appreciates it.
Ex. 昨日、マギーがわざわざ来てくれた。
= Kinou Maggie ga wazawaza kite kureta.
= Maggie went to the trouble of coming to visit me yesterday.
However, if you say
昨日、マギーがわざわざ来た。
= Kinou Maggie ga wazawaza kita.
= Maggie came all the way here yesterday.
The speaker could be annoyed thinking Maggie didn’t have to come or just a factual statement.
Let’s see more examples.
2）You can use it negatively when you think someone wasted their time or energy for nothing.
Ex. わざわざそんなことを言いにここまで来たの？
= Wazawaza sonna koto wo iini koko made kitano?
= You came all the way here to tell me that?
Ex. なんでわざわざあんな暑い所に行くの？
= Nande wazawaza annna atsui tokoro ni ikuno?
= Why bother going to such a hot place?
3) You can refer to yourself when you have gone all the trouble to do something but the result was disappointing.
Ex. わざわざ銀行に行ったのに閉まっていた。
= Wazawaza ginkou ni itta noni shimatte ita.
= I went all the way to the bank but it was closed.
Ex. わざわざ彼のためにケーキを焼いたのに、甘いものが嫌いだと言われた。
= Wazawaza kare no tame ni keiki wo yaita noni amai mono ga kirai dato iwareta
= I went to all the trouble of baking a cake, but he told me he didn’t like any sweets.
Ex. わざわざ心配して来たのに！
= Wazawaza shinpai shite kita noni!
= I came all the way here worrying about you!
From the picture above :
「えっ！？わざわざ来たのにゆかり留守なの？」
= Eh!? Wazawaza kita noni Yukari rusu nano?
= What!? I came here all the way but Yukari is not here (at home)?
Note : In this case, I spent my precious time to see Yukari, but she was not here.
なんだ…
= Nanda…
= Oh well….
Note : We say なんだ(=nanda) between friends or when you are talking to yourself to show your disappointment.
Summary :
So as you can see, when the word, わざわざ(=wazawaza) is used towards other people’s actions, it could be positive or negative.
If the word is used with the expressions of appreciation
Ex. わざわざ〜(して）くれてありがとう(=~ (shite) kurete arigatou)、
Ex. わざわざ〜(して）くれた。(=wazawaza ~ (shite) kureta)）
or apology, it meant to be positive. Other than that, it is usually negative when all the work, time, money turns to be wasted.
ゆかりより = Yukari yori = From Yukari
わざわざ来なくても電話をかけてくれればよかったのに…
= Wazawaza konakute mo denwa wo kakete kurereba yokatta noni…
= You didn’t have to come all this way. You should have just called me…
Hello,
Thank you for this lesson
I never heard about this word before… it seems “Wazawza” is not often used
I read the lesson and I understood a bit:
わざわざこの授業して来たいただきありがとうございます
I got a question I’m reading “Aishite Night” (manga) and trying to understand a bit it’s
少女漫画, and I noticed something:
In several sentences they add “no” or “no yo” at the end I don’t know why
@Setsuko & @Top
Thank you for your comments. Right now I’m on vacation and I can’t answer your questions. But I will get back to your questions when I come back to Japan in August! Mattetene!
great lesson as always..sensei
now i’d like to ask you something about how to say something like, “Good thing I got rid of someone.”
Do I say, “よかった！きみっていない”?
also one more question about the song I’ve listened to many times called, さよならの向こう側 by Koda KUmi.
I was curious about 後姿 見ないで下さい and 後姿 見ないでゆきます
do they both mean please leave..don’t let me see you?
thank you much sensei^^
@Top
Hi, I am back! Let me answer your questions.
＊“Good thing I got rid of someone.”
There are many ways of saying this
~ がいなくなってよかった
~がいなくなってせいせいした
If you break up with someone, you say
〜と別れてよかった
〜と別れてせいせいした
If you cut the tie with someone you say
〜と縁（えん）を切（き）ってよかった
〜と縁を切ってせいせいした
Note : “せいせいした” sounds much stronger than よかった
＊後ろ姿を見ないで下さい
It’s a metaphor.
When you break up with someone, some people are reluctant to let someone go and keep thinking about the person or worrying about the person. Ex. What is he/she going to do, what is he/she doing now after we break up, etc. That means “後ろ姿を見る”
後ろ姿を見ないで下さい means “Just let go of me and move on.” and 後姿 見ないでゆきます means “I will just move on without attachment.
Aaaaahhhh thank you so much sensei! Your explanation has made it clearer for me. ありがとうございます(^O^)／
@Top
You’re very welcome! (＾▽＾)/
ok sensei thank you much. I’ll wait til you get back…I hope you have a nice time there^^
@Top
Thank you!! 待っててね！(^-^)/
Always heard of this sight referenced to on AJATT. Never knew it was a dog. Go figure. She seems smarter than your average bear.
@MattoMani
Thank you!!! Hope you visit here often!
Maggie先生〜
「わざわざ」と「せっかく」は、どうやって違いますか？
ありがとうございます！
クリスタルより
@Crystal
わざわざ and せっかく are very similar.
They are interchangeable in following cases.
a) わざわざ来てくれたのに留守にしていてごめんね。
b) せっかく来てくれたのに留守にしていてごめんね。
I am sorry that I wasn’t home even though you came all the way to visit me.
The difference is せっかく is used in the meaning of “to take advantage of someone’s action.”
When someone serves you a cup of tea, you would say
せっかくですから頂きます。
= I will have this tea since you already made one for me.
You won’t say
わざわざですから頂きます。
When we say
c) せっかく作ってくれたのですから頂きます。
(= Since you did all the work to please me, I want to take advantage of your work and eat it.)
d) わざわざ作ってくれたのですから頂きます。
(= Since you have made all the effort or tried hard to make this, I will eat it.)
わざわざ focuses on all your trouble you went through or money and energy you spent.
せっかく focuses on one’s good intention. Also when you want to take advantage of one’s work.
Sensei! I found a really good japanese CM. http://youtu.be/N0E20In7pGo
I would be grateful if you made a lesson about this cm. There are a lot of useful words in it. It would be very good for learning Japanese.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu! m_m
p.s. Also Tsumabuki Satoshi is so cute!
@Margo
Hi, Margo! I know Tsumabuki-kun, is cute, huh?
I would like to make a lesson on using another commercial film but what happened to me was I made a long lesson based on all the commercial film before but the video was deleted. So that video will be deleted eventually as well. ごめんね！
But I think that even without video there are a lot of really good expressions in it! This is such a good way to learn Japanese!=((
@Margo
I know it is a great way to study even without the video. But it would be more fun for many people to watch the video at the same time.
Hope you understand…
分かりました。
Could you please just write in Japanese what they arу saying at these moments? I can’t recognize.
0.44-0.57
1.16-1.24
1.54-1.55
2.14-2.26
@Margo
Please know that I don’t/can’t usually do you this type of favor. (Especially in the comment section.)
But since you insist, I will do it just this time as a special case, OK? And this is as much as I could help you here.
Here you go!
0.44-0.57
一言（ひとこと）で、俺（おれ）は「覚悟（かくご）」ですね。(It was not clear but I think this is what he said.)
ああそれはありますね。
もっとうまくなりたいっていうのはあるんですよ。
自分（じぶん）らしさって何でしょう。
なんでしょう
落（お）ち着（つ）きのなさかな。
1.16-1.24
子供（こども）の想像（そうぞう）の産物（さんぶつ）っていうか
だってもっとちゃんとしているはずだったもん
俺（おれ）の想像の大人（おとな）は
1.54-1.55
体（からだ）がしんどくなってぐらいかな
2.14-2.26
共存（きょうぞん）できなかったですよ。だってこう音楽（おんがく）と喧嘩（けんか）して
鏡（かがみ）の中にいるもう一人（ひとり）の自分みたいな
そうそうそう
スガさんにとって出会（であ）いって
出会いないと一歩（いっぽ）がこう出（で）ないんですよね。
Thank you very very much!!!!
お手間をかけさせてしまって申し訳ありません。 ｍ＿ｍ
@Margo
You’re very welcome, Margo!
I have recently started to study Japanese more seriously and having some hard time, but i accidently found this site and it helped me a lot!
わざわざこのサイトを作ってくれてありがとうございます, マギー先生!
@tdw
コメントありがとう！I am glad to hear you found us!! またいつでも来てね！ !happyface!