name, as in Yoshiko-chan よし子ちゃん, is sometimes added to boku 僕, forming boku-chan 僕ちゃん.)
EXAMPLE:
Boku[-chan], hayaku irasshai.
僕［ちゃん］、早くいらっしゃい。
lit., Me, come here quickly.
This “fictive” use of boku 僕 is explained by Suzuki (p. 124) thus: “When she [i.e., a mother calling her son boku ] speaks in this way, she is thinking of the boy as he would be called viewed from the position of the youngest member of the family, in this case the boy himself. The boy would naturally call himself boku. Therefore, by identifying with him, adults in the family can call him boku as well.”
Bukka 物価 prices
Bukka 物価 means “general commodity prices.”
EXAMPLE:
(1) Konogoro wa bukka ga takakute komarinasu nē.
このごろは物価が高くて困りますねえ。
Isn’t it terrible that prices are so high these days!
Bukka 物価 does not refer to the price of a specific object. For that, one has to use nedan 値段 “price” instead. In example (2), therefore, nedan must be used.
EXAMPLE:
(2) Gasorin no nedan (not *bukka 物価) ga mata agatta.
ガソリンの値段がまた上がった。
The price of gasoline has gone up again.
Byōki 病気 sick, sickness
Byōki 病気 can be translated into English as either “sick” or “sickness,” or “ill,” “illness,” or “disease,” depending on the context.
EXAMPLES:
(1) Tanaka-san wa byōki desu.
田中さんは病気です。
Mr. Tanaka is sick.
(2) Gan wa iya na byōki da.
がんはいやな病気だ。
Cancer is a nasty disease.
Unlike “sick,” however, byōki 病気 cannot refer to a temporary state of being nauseous. To express that state, other expressions must be used.
EXAMPLES:
(3) Kuruma ni yotte-shimatta.
車に酔ってしまった。
I became carsick.
(4) Chi o mite kimochi (or mune) ga waruku-natta.
血を見て気持ち（胸）が悪くなった。
I became sick at the sight of blood.
Unlike “sick,” byōki 病気 does not refer to boredom or disgust. To express the idea of “I’m sick of parties,” for example, one would have to say something like (5) or (6).
EXAMPLES:
(5) Pātī ga iya ni natta.
パーティーがいやになった。
Lit., Parties have started boring me.
(6) Pātī wa mō takusan da.
パーティーはもうたくさんだ。
Lit., I can’t take any more parties.
Whereas genki 元気 “healthy, well, vigorous,” the opposite of byōki 病気, is a na-noun, byōki is a genuine noun and therefore requires no の instead of na な when used in prenoun position. Note the difference between (7) and (8).
EXAMPLES:
(7) genki na (not *genki no 元気の) kodomo
元気な子供
a healthy (or vigorous, lively) child
(8) byōki no (not *byōki na 病気な) kodomo
病気の子供
a sick child
In English, it is perfectly all right to say “I am very sick,” using “very” as an intensifier. Since “very” is totemo とても, taihen たいへん, hi-jōni 非常に, etc., in Japanese, American students of Japanese have a tendency to say:
EXAMPLE:
(9) *Kinō wa totemo (taihen, hijōni) byōki deshita.
*きのうはとても（たいへん、非常に）病気でした。
I was very sick yesterday.
This is wrong, however, because, unlike English “sick,” byōki 病気 is not an adjective, but a noun. It therefore cannot be modified by an adverb such as totemo とても, taihen た いへん, and hi-jōni 非常に. Compare this with genki 元気, a na-adjective, which may be modified by adverbs.
EXAMPLE:
(10) Merī wa konogoro totemo (taihen, hijōni) genki da.
メリーはこのごろとても（たいへん、非常に）元気だ。
Mary has been very well recently.
To intensify byōki 病気, adjectives must be used instead.
EXAMPLE:
(11) Kinō wa hidoi byōki de ichinichijū nete ita.
きのうはひどい病気で一日中寝ていた。
Yesterday I was in bed all day because of a terrible illness.
In other words, byōki 病気 functions like nouns for specific illnesses such as kaze 風 邪 “a cold” and zutsū 頭痛 “a headache.”
EXAMPLE:
(12) Kinō wa hidoi kaze/zutsū de ichinichijū nete ita.
きのうはひどい風邪/頭痛で一日中寝ていた。
Yesterday I was in bed all day because of a terrible cold/headache.
Chi
