Hi everyone! お久しぶりです！( = Ohisashiburi desu.) It has been a long time!
And ただいま！( = Tadaima!) I am back!!
お先に ( = osaki ni)「いえ、どうぞ、お先に！」
= Ie douzo osakini!
= Oh, no, please (you) go ahead.
Or if you want to go ahead, you say,
「それではお先に失礼します。」
= Soredewa osaki ni shitsurei shimasu.
= OK, then, let me go first. (←the literal meaning is…I will take the liberty of going ahead of you. or doing something before you do).
Or simply say,
「ありがとう（ございます。）」
= Arigatou (gozaimasu.)
= Thank you (very much)
or
「それでは失礼します。」
= Sorede wa shiturei shimasu.
= If you insist.. allow me to go ahead.
Also when you leave your office or some place before other people do, it is polite to say,
「お先に失礼します。」
= Osaki ni shitsurei shimasu.
= “Please excuse me for leaving before you.
(I am sorry to leave the office while you are still working or doing something.)”
Note : If someone leave the office before you do saying this, you say
「お疲れ様でした。」
= Otsukare sama deshita.
= (The literal meaning) You must be tired after all the hard work today.
= Thank you for your hard work. / Thank you for all your work today.
If you want to make it sound more polite, say
「お先に失礼致します。」
= Osaki ni shiturei itashimasu.
And if you are talking to your friends or in casual situation, you just say
「お先に!」／「お先！」
= Osakini! / Osaki!
= Bye! I’m off! (I’ll just go ahead and leave ahead of you.)
＊＊＊＊＊＊
Now お先に ( = osakini) is a formal form of 先に ( = sakini)
マギー先生より= Maggie sensei yori = From Maggie Sensei***
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24 Comments
Hi, I’ve something of an urgent request. I live one rail stop from a co-worker who will not hear of me leaving a bar before he has become too wobbly to support himself. I like a drink myself, but I’ve come to dread the ride home because of my senpai’s constant need to debark early in order to relieve himself—occasionally in terribly inappropriate places.
I am always drunk when I attempt the following conversation, but I assure you my Japanese is little better when I’m sober: all I know I’ve picked up from variety shows, so my vocabulary is limited; my particle selection is practically random; I have no formal training so I have no business breaking rules that I don’t even know yet in order to speak informally; and I have little sense for ordering phrases so that they make the best, er, sense.
Anyway, this is what I try to say after we have argued for ten minutes about when I will be allowed to pay the tab:
「できたれば おしっこしまさょうか？ 今は べんりし、おさけ は よく のんだったから、 もうすぐ ひつようじやないか？」
Or,
「さあ、こんや ビイルは よく のんだったさ、いま とても べんりとかさ、かえるまえに トイレ 行こう。 がまんがあるとか わかっているんでも、くるしくなかったのほうも いいじゃぬいか？」
I think I could be more assertive—or at least make my もんだい better-understood—if my Japanese weren’t so godawful. Help me Maggie-sensei, you’re my only hope.
Hi Vaffangool
Can you write the English translation for the Japanese sentences you wrote?
Can i use お先に or お先にどうぞ！when i open the door for someone? just like the “ladies first” kind of thing.
ありがとう ございました. !happyface! !happyface!
@Ivan
Yes, you can say お先にどうぞ when you let someone go ahead of you or you can just say どうぞ.
I love you’re detailed descriptions of various new words and different sentence patterns! You’re lessons have helped me learn a vast amount of Japanese on my own.教えてくれてありがとうよ！
I have a question. Can I say 「お疲れ様でした。」 to my teacher after class has ended or is it only the teacher who says can say it? If my teacher says it to us, how should we reply?
@jane
お疲れ様でした is a polite expression and you can use it to someone superior. So some people do say お疲れ様でした to one’s teacher after the class but but ありがとうございました is more appropriate.
Hello Maggie sensei,
I know my question has not much to do with this lesson, other than the kanji 先 itself. I have a really hard time understanding the overall meaning of the following sentence, especially the last part.
もちろん、民主的な選挙が出来ない国も世界には沢山ありますから、そういう意味では、そこそこ民主的な選挙制度があるだけでも幸せで、そういう意味で、日本の選挙制度も “Better than nothing.”「ないよりはまし」なのかもしれませんがが、都民、国民が「この人にぜひ！」と思えるような人が沢山出てくるような時代は、もう少し先なのでしょうかねぇ
My try at literal translation (sorry that English is not my mother tongue, but hope you get what I mean)
As a matter of course, there are many other countries in the world that do not have democratic electoral system, so in that kind of meaning, having such system is already quite a good thing. One could say that the electoral system in Japan is “Better than nothing”, and there is time when there are a lot of municipal/ national citizens could think (point out) “That guy will win (the election)”, so it’s fairly predictable, isn’t it?
I know it sounds a bit awkward, so could you help me out, sensei?
@Poriko
Hello Poriko
Your translation is pretty good.
Just…
1) この人にぜひ！ : Your translation “That guy will win (the election)”
この人にぜひ is unfinished sentence and it implies (勝ってもらいたい・政治家になってもらいたい・やってもらいたい…etc)
2) もう少し先なのでしょうか : you translated it’s fairy predictable.
The speaker is wondering it will take a little bit of time
Thank you for your correction sensei!
Now things are much clearer to me.
Since I had no idea 少し先 means so I just assumed the writer wants to criticize the not-so-democratic of the so-called democratic electoral system, then translated the last part accordingly.
Thank you again for your help.
@Poriko
You’re very welcome! :)
This blog is very helpful!!! Thank you so much… You help me to improve my Japanese… Thank you so much!!! <3 <3
@amylia
Hi Amylia!
Thank YOU for visiting this site!
I am very happy to hear my blog helps your Japanese.
がんばってね！
My Japanese is improving bit by bit. どうもありがとう、マーギ先生！
従業はとても楽しいです！（＾ω＾）
Oops, I meant 授業…
@イサイ
こんにちは、イサイ！
日本語（にほんご）が上達（じょうたつ）していると聞（き）いてうれしいです。(I am glad to hear your Japanese is improving. )
これからもがんばって下さいね。:)
速く返信にはどうもありがとう！ (I hope I said that with no errors) (^_^)
@イサイ
(速い→ 早速の is better. 早速の返信ありがとう！）
And
どういたしまして。:)
早速の= sassoku no = quidk
Thanks again!! First time I’ve heard it, thanks for the new word :D
@イサイ
どういたしまして again.
Hmmmmm… I just tried to comment and I don’t think it worked. Thanks for the great lessons. I have to start exploring your archive of lessons they are a great resource.
@Wes
Hello Wes!
Thank you for your comment. There are a lot of lessons. Hope you come back here soon again!
また来てね！
Hi maggie, first time on your website and it is just so helpful, thanks for your dedicated lessons and taking your time to help out the rest of us who are struggling with this beautiful language! I was wondering, shouldn’t Saki ni itte mattete! be 「先に行って待ってて」instead of 「先に行ってて」. I wish I had the confidence to write this message in japanese but I don’t think I’m quite there yet!:D
@slo
Thank you for spotting the mistake. I fixed it.
And also thank you so much for your nice message!!! ありがとう！