お前ら、ァホやなあ。
Why did you put such a stupid word at the beginning οf this book? You guys are pretty stupid.
Omaera is the plural of omae (see word entry 43) and is used by men to mean "you." Ya replaces da だ.(See 15)
We agree it is somewhat reckless of us to begin your new vocabulary with aho, but of the fifteen most important words in Kansai-ben, this one ended up first in alphabetical order and second only to akan in A-I-U order. We are too aho to come up with a better system, so please don't stop reading now.
| SUZUKI: | Kondo, anta toko no yome-han to dēto sasetē ya. |
| HONDA: | Nani aho na koto yūten nen! |
| 鈴木： | 今度、あんたとこの嫁はんとデ一卜させてえや。 |
| 本田： | 何アホなこと言うてんねん！ |
| SUZUKI: | Do you mind if I take your wife out on a date? |
| HONDA: | Don't say such stupid things! |
-Tēya —てえや is used when making requests in very casual situations and is conjugated to the -te —て form of the verb. -Tēna —てえな has the same meaning. Toko とこ is the Kansai version of tokoro 所.(See 53)
| HIRAKATA: | Kondo no bōnasu sanjuppāsento katto yate! |
| IBARAGI: | Sonna aho na. Kaisha nani kangaeten nen? |
| 枚方： | 今度のボーナス30%カットやて！ |
| 茨木： | そんなアホな。会社何考えてんねん？ |
| HIRAKATA: | We're getting a 30% cut in our next bonus! |
| IBARAGI: | How can they be so stupid? What is this company thinking? |
Kangaeten nen is equivalent to kangaete iru 考えている). -Ten nen is the Kansai version of -te iru, the progressive verb (-ing form) conjugation. (See 45)
2. akan あかん bad, useless, impossible, no
Akan is a very distinctive and easily recognizable feature or the language spoken in Kansai. Although not vulgar, this word is considered to be somewhat impolite. Akan is probably a modified version of ikan, which is the clipped form of ikenai, meaning "must not" or "cannot." Akan has many uses, both by itself and as a part of grammatical expressions. Its various meanings, somewhat similar to dame 駄目 in standard Japanese, are explained below.
| (a) no! impossible! | |
| SUZUKI: | Issen man en, kashite kurehen? |
| HONDA: | Akan! |
| 鈴木： | 一千万円、貸してくれへん？ |
| 本田： | あかん！ |
| SUZUKI: | Can you loan me 10 million yen? |
| HONDA: | NO! |
| (b) expletive | |
| MITSUI: | Anta no kabu, hanbun ni sagatta de. |
| ITOH: | Akan. |
| 三井： | あんたの株、半分に下がったで。 |
| 伊藤： | あかん。 |
| MITSUI: | The value of your stock fell by half. |
| ITOH: |
In this case, although akan is used as an expletive, it has more of a tone of regret than anger. Anta あんた is an informal word for "you." It is a contracted form of anata あなた, but is much more informal. It is used by both men and women, as opposed to omae お前, which is a rougher word for "you" used only by men.
| ANNOUNCER: | Hanshin, hōmuran utaremashita. |
| TORAKICHI: | Akan. |
| アナウンサー: | 阪神、ホームラン打たれました。 |
| トラキチ： | あかん。 |
| ANNOUNCER: | A home run was hit off of Hanshin. |
| TORAKICHI: |
| (c) no good, bad | |
| MIKA: | Shiken donai yatta? |
| TOMOKO: | Akankatta wa. |
| 美香： | 試験どないやった？ |
| 友子： | あかんかったわ。 |
| MIKA: | How was the test? |
| TOMOKO: | Miserable. |
Tomoko obviously should have studied harder. Donai yatta どないやつた means "how was it?" Akankatta is the past tense of akan.
| (d) don't do that! | |
| DAUGHTER: | Hona, ite kuru wa. |
| MOTHER: | Akan yo. |
| 娘： | ほな、行て来るわ。 |
| 母： | あかんよ。 |
| DAUGHTER: | I'm going out now. |
| MOTHER: | No you're not. |
This usage is heard quite often when parents are telling their children what they are not allowed to do.
| KENSUKE: | Kono butaman, hutte ē? |
| KYŌTA: | Akan de. |
| 健助： | この豚マン、食ってええ？ |
| 京太： | あかんで。 |
| KENSUKE: | Can I eat this pork roll? |
| KYŌTA: | No! |
Note that this example is typical of male speech only. Women use taberu 食べる instead of kuu 食う for the verb "to eat." Akan, especially followed by the particle de, sounds rough and in female speech would probably be followed by yo instead.
The same conversation between two women might be as follows:
| MIKA: | Sono butaman tabete mo ē? |
| TOMOKO: | Akan yo. |
| 美香： | その豚マン食べてもええ？ |
| 友子： | めかんよ。 |
Akan nen and akande are also often used to mean "no" or "you can't."
(e) must (used as a double negative)
Atarashii kuruma, kawana akan.
新しい車、買わなあかん。
I've got to buy a new car.
Shinbun yomana akan.
新聞読まなあかん。
I have to read the newspaper.
In this usage, the verb is conjugated as the standard negative form (i.e., -nai) with the final-i sound clipped off and followed by akan. This structure is identical in meaning to the -nakereba naranai form, but is much more colloquial. Suru is usually conjugated as sena akan せな あかん.
Shigoto sena akan.
仕事せなあかん。
I've got to work.
3. chau ちやう (a) no, different, wrong; (b) isn't that right?
(a) Chau is the clipped form of chigau 違う. This contraction is widely used throughout Kansai in place of chigau.
| chau de | ちゃうで | you're wrong |
