Tuesday, 13 January 2015

諺コーナー：　朝飯前

Welcome to 諺コーナー (proverb corner)

Hopefully we should be able to get some insight into Japanese culture, and also into casual Japanese by looking at some of their proverbs and sayings


The three kanji comprising this phrase are as follows:

朝　（あさ） morning
飯　（めし） meal
前　（まえ） before

Putting this together we get "morning meal before" as a literal translation, however taking a looser translation we get simply "before breakfast"

This phrase means "piece of cake" and can be used to describe something that is so easy, it can be taken care of "before breakfast"

Both useful, and 朝飯前 to remember




I learned something today (Thanks Rob)

If you use a verb in dictionary form and add の, you can then use it in a similar way to using a noun.

For example, with a noun, you can say.


I like apples.

But, if you use this method with a verb, you can say,


I like eating! So now, you can describe activities you like to do.

These sentences can get more complicated as you go on;


I like eating English apples.

I'll try and remember this one! There may be other ways you can use verb+の, so when we find out we can most more examples of this.