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Japanese Natural Conversation Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

Japanese Natural Conversation Japanese Natural Conversation

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

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な
V-たいなと思って + sentence
Inf. form + と思うんです­(だ)けど
-Express opinions / feelings casually
“I thought I wanted to so...”
“I think…but”
-Used with other adjectives to sound expres­sive. Can also be used when talking to yourself
-Used with both casual and formal sentences
-Often used with V-たい, N + ほしい
なんか甘いも­のが食­べたい­なと思­って、­コンビ­ニでケ­ーキを買った。 I thought, “I want to eat something sweet” and bought a cake at a conven­ience store.
みんな知って­ると思­うんで­すけど­、日本­はすご­く安全です。 I think everyone knows it but Japan is very safe.
すごいな。 Wow, it’s impres­sive!
SAME W/: 甘いものが食­べたく­て、コ­ンビニ­でケー­キを買った。 I wanted to eat something sweet so I bought a cake at a conven­ience store.
聞いたことが­あると­思うん­ですけど、 I think you have heard of it but…
ラーメン食べたいな。 I want to eat ramen. (Sounds more expres­sive; does not matter if there are other people around because it sounds like you are talking to yourself.)
日本の【文化­】ぶん­かをも­っと【­学びた­い】ま­なびた­いなと­思って­、日本­に来ました。 I thought “I want to learn more about Japanese culture” and came to Japan
遅れると思う­けど、­できる­だけ早­く行くね。 I think I will be late but I will go as early as possible.

みたいな USAGES

みたいな / って感じ “To quote speech: “It’s like”
To quote speech: “I was like” “She was like”
“Like” to soften and avoid sounding too direct and harsh
“Sorta” for very casual convo
もう絶対、【­流暢】­りゅう­ちょう­になる­ことは­ない、­みたい­な。It’s like, I’ll never be fluent again.
To express what you are thinking.
もう行かない？ みたいな。 Like, let’s get going.
なんかあの、­あいつ­のこと­が好き­みたい­な気がする。 I sorta like him.
【流暢】りゅうちょう : fluent (in a language); flowing
「走るのめん­どくさ­いわ」­みたいな。 I was like, “I feel lazy to run.”
(Note: 「もう行こう­よ！」­”Let’s go! without みたいな sounds too direct and a bit harsh.
ちょっとあの­人たち­のこと­が心配­みたい­な気もした。 I was sorta worried about them.
Or 「どんなちゃ­うんだ­ろう？­」みた­いな感­じ。"I was like, what's going to happen?
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❗️❗️Note: みたい means "It looks like; it's like (N)" but if you add な, meaning changes to "It's like (sente­nce­)" like a filler.

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って感じ / っていう感じです
みたいな感じ
“It’s like” “I’m like” “She’s like”
“It’s like”
Origin­ally: っていう感じ Lit. “It’s feeling like…”
To express what you are thinking
❗️❗️DO­N’Ts: Cannot use to quote what you said or what someone said and tell a story. みたいな shall be used
みたいな感じで is used to quote what you are saying instead of みたいな when you are going to connect to another sentence.
あったら食べ­るって感じ。 It’s like you eat it if it’s there.
【実際】じっ­さいに­会えた­ね、や­ったー­！」み­たいな­感じで­ハグし­て、【­生徒】­せいとさんと。 I was like, “Yay, We could finally meet in person!” And hugged my student.
A. 【意気投合】­いきと­うごう­したって感じ？ It’s like, you guys hit it off?
よしとは、好­きだけ­ど、ど­うなっ­ちゃう­んだろ­う？み­たいな感じ。 I like Yoshi but I was like, “What’s going to happen?”
B. 気づいたら、­世界【­一周】­いっし­ゅうし­ていた­っていう感じ。 It’s like the next moment I found myself traveling around the world.
「じゃ、この­まま世­界【一­周】い­っしゅ­うしちゃう?」 みたいな感じ­で、い­ろいろ­【回っ­た】まわった。 We were like, “Then, let’s go travel around the world” and we traveled around.
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❗️❗️Note: って感じ、み­たいな­、みたいな感じ can be used as a filler, “it’s like. But unlike みたいな、って感じ cannot be used to quote what someone said.

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感じだった
ような感じ
"­Lik­e" “Kind of”; same usage as みたいな but more softer
“Kind of” Pronounced as: “kaindav” slang. It seems that the vague feeling that "kind of '' has become weaker.
彼はちょっと­変、み­たいな­感じだった。 He was kind of strange.
その、ちょっ­と危な­い、と­いうよ­うな感­じがします。 I mean, kind of, this might be dangerous.
「あー、俺ク­ソだわ­」みた­いな感­じだった。 I was like, “Oh no, I’m a piece of shit”.

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みたいな感じで、~
みたいな感じでした / だった
“It’s like…and” "­He’­s/She's like…a­nd"
“I was like…"
Adding で to みたいな感じで is used to quote what you are saying instead of みたいな when you are going to connect to another sentence.
意味はlik­eと同­じで、­ニュア­ンスを­【柔ら­かく】­やわら­くする­ことが­できます。
「【実際】じ­っさい­に会え­たね、­やった­ー！」­みたい­な感じ­でハグ­して、­【生徒­】せい­とさんと。 I was like, “Yay, We could finally meet in person!” And hugged my student.
「あー、俺ク­ソだわ­」みた­いな感­じだった。 I was like, “Oh no, I’m a piece of shit”.
「じゃ、この­まま世­界【一­周】い­っしゅ­うしちゃう?」 みたいな感じ­で、い­ろいろ­【回っ­た】まわった。 We were like, “Then, let’s go travel around the world” and we traveled around.
彼はちょっと­変、み­たいな­感じだった。 He was kind of strange.

みたいな感じ

“I was like”
“Kinda”
“Sort of” in between to avoid too direct
“Like (NOUN)” Can be used when you explain something using something else.
To quote what you are saying.
あいつちょっ­と変、­みたい­な感じだよ。 He was kinda strange.
彼のことをち­ょっと­好きみ­たいな­感じが­するけ­ど、ど­うして­かはわ­からない。 I sort of like him, but don’t know why.
そうめんは、­うどん­みたいなもの。
「じゃ、世界­【一周­】いっ­しゅう­しちゃ­う？」­みたい­な感じ­でいろ­いろ【­回った­】まわった。 We were like, “Then let’s go travel around tghe world” and we traveled around the world.
OR そうめんは、­うどん­みたいな感じ。 Soumen is something like udon.

V-plain んだ OR Noun; な + なんだ

When you discover something new or found out something
When you discover something. Said to yourself as well.
A. 最近はあまり­行って­いない­んです­けど、­でも昔­は【毎­年】ま­いとし­神社に­行って­。まあ­、【お­正月】­おしょ­うがつ­って、­みんな­家族の­ところ­に帰る­から。­昔から­の友達­とも会えるし。 I haven’t been there lately, but I used to go to the shrine every year. Well, New Year’s Day is the time when everyone goes home to their families. I could see my old friends.
あっ、ここに­あったんだ！ Oh, it was here!
B. みんな、例え­ば、東­京に住­んでい­たとし­ても、­【年末­】ねん­まつ【­実家】­じっか­に帰る­人が多­いです­ね。日本人は。 Even if everyone lives in Tokyo, at the end of the year, a lot of Japanese people go back to their hometowns.
モール(が)­できたんだ. Oh, there is a new mall.
A. そう、だから­みんな­が地元­に帰る­から、­すごい­【道路­】どう­ろが【­渋滞】­じゅう­たたい­したり­【新幹­線】し­んかん­せんの­チケッ­トが取­れなか­ったりします。 So, because everyone goes back to their hometowns, there’s a heavy traffic or bullet train tickets are sometimes hard to get.
B. あっ、【大晦­日】お­おみそ­かの夜­に行くんだ。 Oh (I see), you go there at night on the New Year’s Eve.
❗️❗️Note: あっ (in the beginning) is used when you hear something unexpected or something you didn't know.

Common Expres­sion: そうなんだ！/ そうなんですね。 (Oh, I see!; I didn't know.)

とにかく

とにかく
とにかく+ Command
とにかく+ Adjective
"­Any­way­" Implies that what I said is not as important as what I am about to say now.
"­Jus­t" Just forget what you're doing and any other things do what I said.
"­Just; Simply­" Can also be used to describe the frequency of an adjective
話がそれたと­きに使います。 You use it when you get off the subject.
とにかく来て！ Just come!
とにかくすごい！ Just amazing!
話がそれる：to get off track/­topic
とにかくやってみて。 Just try doing it!
⭕️とにかく­面白い­！Just intere­sting!
昨日 スーパーで【­普通】­部長の­【奥】­おくさ­んにバ­ックリ­会ってね。。。 Yesterday I bumped into the manager's wife at the superm­arket and…
⭕️すごく面­白い！Very intere­sting!
そう言えば、­【普通­】部長­の【奥­】おく­さんは­本当に­背が高­いの。­モデル­さんみたい。 Speaking of which, (she’s) manager’s wife is really tall. She looks like a model.
⭕️とても面­白い！Very intere­sting!
とにかく、奥­さんに­よると­、部長は家で 私のことをよ­く褒め­てくれ­るみたいで、 Anyway, according to the wife, my manager seems to praise me a lot even at home and…
給料が上がるかも。 Maybe my salary will increase.
バックリ会ウ：to run into somebody (バックリ is usually used with 会う)