Forum Rocket Japanese Conversation in Japanese Parentheses in Japanese

Parentheses in Japanese

AC747

AC747

August 16, 2020

In lesson 4.2, the first sentence of the conversation is:
 
すみません、さやか　さん。なに　を　よんで　(い)る　ん　です　か？
すみません、さやかさん。何を読んで(い)るんですか？
Excuse me, Sayaka, what are you reading?

Why is there a pair of parentheses around the い in いる? 
toru e

toru e

August 22, 2020

Hi AC747, 〜てる/〜でる is a further contraction of the 〜ている/〜でいる conjugation to indicate "continuous"/-ing verb, so this was a way of indicating that both よんでいるand よんでる  can be used interchangeably in colloquial speech.
Rocket-Languages

Rocket-Languages

October 9, 2020

Hi AC747, 

 

Our apologies for any confusion caused. We have since updated the Japanese text in the audio lessons and removed the bracketing to avoid confusion. 

 

If you want to learn more about continuous verbs, check out this lesson: 

 

https://members.rocketlanguages.com/members/japanese/lessons/5148/5-8-When-Something-Is-Happening
 

"Note that the い (i) in 〜て　います is often dropped in informal speech!"

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