Yotsuba Notes: Pages 1-12

I've started doing lessons on the site Italki again, this time with a new sensei. It's been pretty good so far - for practice, I'm reading through the entire Yotsuba manga out loud, and we're discussing it as we go. This gets me more used to speaking, and provides me with a ton of info on grammar points, especially those found in casual speech. I need that the most right now, in my opinion.

I think my plan here is to continue these Yotsuba lessons, and note everything I learn from them in a post here. Since there's a billion small grammar points sprinkled throughout the series, these posts won't be very structured - more like random bits of info.

I'll note the range of pages for each lesson so I can always refer back to them for exact context. This chapter begins with Yotsuba and her dad moving to a new house, and first arriving there.

お父さん：　もうすぐだぞー
This shows the father using the ぞ sentence-ending particle. It's similar to よ in usage but is more masculine. It's generally only used by guys.

よつば：　すげぇ
This is bastardization of すごい, which can mean a number of things but is generally used to mean "awesome" or "amazing." すげぇ is more often used by guys.

よつば：　ここ家がいっぱいあるな！
いっぱい literally means 1 cup (of liquid), but when it's written in hiragana, it often means "full." In this case, it's saying something like "This area is full of houses!"

お父さん：　ほーら
A popular Japanese word. It can mean something like "Behold" (which we don't really say in English), but it's used to draw someone's attention to something before you.

ジャンボ：　あーあいつ用が入ったからこねえって
　　　　　　   あいつだめだわ
あいつ is a word that refers to another person (in this case, "that guy" or "that girl"). It has counterparts こいつ and そいつ, and is best used with friends due to any connotations it can carry.

Need to ask sensei about the other parts in this sentence.

Finally, わ can be used to soften a sentence. It doesn't have to sound super feminine when used this way, and in this case, Jumbo is using it to soften him calling that person bad.

よつば：　ジャンボ、しばらく見ないうちにまた大きくなった！
Need to double check with sensei.

お父さん：　まあいいか
　　　　　　   ジャンボが二人分働くしな
He's saying something like "Well, I guess it's fine." (The か makes it more questioning.) "Besides, Jumbo's doing the work of two." I know that's not a direct translation, but I believe that's what it's trying to convey. し is used like that to supply additional information.

ジャンボ：　そんな事はない
This first phrase is very common and means something like "It's not like that." He wants to convey that what the dad said is not the case.

お父さん：　働いてくれ・・・
The father is basically saying "Then won't you work?" The くれ is used because working would be a favor for the father, so that action is coming in towards him, so to speak.

ジャンボ：　おー！　えらいぞよつば！
　　　　　　  とーちゃんはだめだなー！
えらい can mean something like "great" or "remarkable" and is often used to talk about people whom you look up to. In this case, Jumbo is more saying it to humor Yotsuba. He's calling the father bad in contrast to this.

お父さん：　そこおいといていいぞー
Yotsuba is moving boxes, and so he's basically telling her "You can put it there." The original verb is 置く, "to put."