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Japanese word of Today ちょっと Chotto, a litte, but more than that
3 years ago Konnichwa！
And Welcome to my article about Japanese language, hope you enjoy reading this.
My name is Ayano, Japanese teacher from Kanagawa, Japan.
Here I would like to share all of you Japanese words and phrases with its cultural backgrounds.
Today's word is ちょっと Chotto
This adverb itself means “a little”.
I personally use it literally every day because it is very useful in any situation!
By the way, Japanese is sometimes tricky because you need to decide which words to pick depending on the level of intimacy with a speaking partner. But ちょっと chotto is able to adapt to any situation, including a conversation with your family, friends, colleagues, boss, and even strangers. Moreover, it enables the communication to be more smooth and comfortable, as it delivers your line indirectly.
In the first place, it expresses a little amount of something.
A little amount of chocolate. It rains a little bit. I am tired a little bit.
In this usage, ちょっと is sometimes used with だけ dake, only in Japanese, meaning only a little bit or only a few seconds.
A small amount 🍵
A「もっと コーヒー いる？」
Motto kōhī iru?
Do you want more coffee?
B「うん、ちょっと だけ。」
Un, chotto dake.
Yeah, a little bit.
📓もっとMotto more/ コーヒー kōhī Coffee / いる？ iru? need something?
A「トマトパスタ に ちょっと オイル を かけると おいしいよ」
tomato pasta ni chotto oilu o kakeru to oisī yo.
Add tomato pasta a bit of oil. It makes it even tastier.
B「へー。こんど やってみる よ。」
hee, kondo yattemiru yo.
Sounds good. I’ll try it next time.
an extent or degree of weather🌀, your feeling💭, or any other non-object things
Followed both by verbs and adjectives.
A「いま そと の てんき どう？」
ima soto no tenki dou?
How is the weather outside?
B「あめ が ちょっと ふってるよ。」
ame ga chotto hutteru yo.
It rains a little bit.
📓あめ Ame Rain/ てんき tenki weather
「きょうは ちょっと さむい な。」
kyou wa chotto samui na.
Today is a little cold.
「きょう は ちょっと つかれた な。」
kyō wa chotto tsukareta na.
I’m a little bit weary today.
📓きょうkyou today/さむい samui cold for weather temperature
So now you've got the core sense of chotto usage, hopefully...
Do you have any questions? Please feel free to add comments below!
The story of chotto ends not here though. In the next post, we are going to see another usage of chotto, which add politeness and even enhances someone's opinion.
See you then. Matane!
