Tokyo / Kanto Dialect + Pop quiz

How're you doing lovely 江戸っ子 (edokko: true 'tokyoite') of mine! Today we'll be talking about perhaps the most common dialect in Japan: the Tokyo dialect!

One of the major aspects of the Tokyo/Kanto dialect is the softening of vowels with an 'n' sound, known as 撥音化（hatsuonka).

For example: if you're not sure what's being said, you would say 分かりません or 分からない (wakarimasen or wakaranai) normally, right? However, in the Tokyo dialect, you might say the following:

分かんない！(wakannai)

What rules apply here? How do you do it yourself? Let’s get started!

1. Rules of Conjugation

Making yourself sound like a Tokyoite is done by paying attention to the following bit of conjugation. The way it works is relatively simple, but a bit different from the most grammar you’ve learned so far.

ら　り　る　れ +  [n][d][ʤ]

⇒　ん +  [n][d][ʤ]

The symbols [n][d] and [ʤ] are phonetic symbols, used in linguistics to show the way a syllable or part of the word is pronounced (irrespective of language). The symbols above are found in the following mora:

[n] - such as  な　ね　の

[d] - such as だ

[ʤ] - such as じゃ

This means that words that feature the following combination of sounds are eligible for the ん-shift to happen:

ら＋な

る＋ね

る＋の

れ＋な

れ＋だ

れ＋じゃ

And would have the first mora, namely ら、る、り or れ turned into the ん sound people from Tokyo love so dearly.

Difficult? 心配しなくていいよ！ Let's take a look at this in practice!

2. Example sentences

2.1 ら＋な

If you'd like to say "I don't understand Japanese" in polite Japanese, you might say:

日本語が分かりません。
にほんご が わかりません。
nihongo ga wakarimasen.

In casual Japanese (タメ語 or 'tamego') you might say the following instead:

日本語が分からない。 にほんご が わからない。 nihongo ga wakaranai.

And lastly, when you're chilling out with your buddies from Tokyo, you might say:

日本語が分かんない。 にほんご が わかんない。 nihongo ga wakannai.

See what we did there? We looked through the word 'wakaranai' to find ra, ri, ru or re. In this case it's 'ra' (wakaranai) that gets changed to the famous ん sound, to add a bit of Tokyo schwung to it all.

Let's look at another example. When you're bored out of your mind at work, you might not tell your friend 仕事が超つまらない (shigoto ga chou tsumaranai, work is super boring), but instead.. :

仕事(が)超つまんない！ → "(my) work is really boring"

Again, ら has been replaced by the ん sound here, making the whole sentence sounds like what a native Japanese speaker from Tokyo might say. Let's break it down for clarity's sake!

Once again, we just have to find the mora corresponding to ら、り、る or れ (note: 'ろ' is excluded!)

つ　ま　ら　な　い 

　　　　^ ding ding ding!

Now, we simply turn the 'ra' into the 'n'! (ら→ん)

仕事超つまんない (しごとちょうつまらない)

Ta-da! You're already sounding like a true Tokyoite!

Note: this works with any word having the ra, ri, ru or re sound! No matter if it's the word's potential form, past tense, present tense etc., what matters is the sound, and if it has one of the four sounds (ra, ri, ru or re) in it.

.. Let's take a look at some more examples then!

2.2 る＋ね

Your friend is studying hard for his exam, and you want to compliment him in his native Tokyo tongue. You might not say:

頑張ってるね！(casual, normal)

　　　　 ^ we’ve detected ru + ne, so we can replace the ‘ru’ with the ん sound!

But instead:

頑張ってんね！

2.3 る＋の

Say you're going to a party, and you're wondering if your good friend Asako is coming as well. You might ask her following:

(polite) "朝子さんも来ますか" (asakosan mo kimasu ka)

(informal) "朝子ちゃんも来るの？" (asakochan mo kuru no?)

(informal, tokyo) "朝子ちゃんも来んの？" (asakochan mo kun no?)

The conjugation is simple, just as we did earlier! We look at the verb, in this case "来る (kuru)", and try to find either ra, ri, ru or re.

来る

　 ^ ding ding ding!

Then we simply replace the 'ru' with 'n'. 来る→来ん

And then add the informal question particle 'の':

来ん→来んの？

2.4 れ＋な

So far we’ve only dealt with ‘ru’. Let’s take a look at some れ examples as well!

Again: the tense of the word doesn't matter so much - it works with verbs in the potential form(-rareru) as well! What matters most is the pronunciation and sound of the word.

In this case let's see how "食べられません" (taberaremasen, [to] be unable to eat) would work!

Once again, we look for the ら、り、る and れ mora in the full word!

た　べ　ら れ　る

た　べ　ら れ　な　い

Two of them! In this case, we simply replace the れ with ん！

食べられません (formal) 食べられない (casual) 食べらんない (casual, tokyo dialect)

One more example for good measure: 起きられない（おきられない、to be unable [to] get up)

起きられない (casual) 起きらんない (casual, tokyo dialect)

2.5 れ＋だ

You’ve studied over and over (and over..) for your JLPT N1, but no matter how hard you study you seem to fail. When complaining to your best friend from Tokyo, you might *not* say:

どれだけ勉強しても、受からない。(I’m not passing, no matter how much I study..)

　 ^ re + da! Got ‘em!

But instead say:

どんだけ勉強しても、受からない。

2.6 れ＋じゃ

Lastly, one you may have heard in your favorite anime: the popular phrase to say goodbye, namely sore ja, or sonja. This is conjugated as follows:

それでは→それじゃ→そんじゃ。

Note that this is very impolite, so don't do it unless you're with your friends (or you're on a mission to upset the person you're talking to).

2.7 色々（いろいろ、various）and the ん sound

One other word that gets conjugated in this way, but isn't necessarily Tokyo dialect, is the transformation of 色々な（いろいろな）to 色んな (ironna). The meaning doesn't change, it just adds a bit of casual flair!

この図書館は色んな本があります 。
このとしょかんはいろんなほんがあります
There are many books in this library!

日本で色んな人に会いたいです。
にほんでいろんなひとにあいたいです
I want to meet all types of (lit. various) people in Japan!

Note that this is very impolite, so don't do it unless you're with your friends (or you're on a mission to upset the person you're talking to).

.. Phew, that was a lot to take in! Let's take a little quiz to see how well you remember everything!

3. Pop quiz!

Answers at the end!

① You're talking to your friend: Ben. You're asking him if he comes to school by train every day or not. How would you ask this in the Tokyo dialect?

A. ベンは毎日電車で学校に来ますか。

B. ベンさんは毎日電車で学校に来ますか。

C. ベンは毎日電車で学校に来んの？

D. ベンは、毎日学電車で学校に来るの？

② You're asked if you want to eat some sushi. Unfortunately, you suffer from a fish allergy. How would you say you can't eat sushi in the Tokyo dialect?

A. 魚アレルギーで、お寿司が食べれない。

B. すみません。魚アレルギーがなので、お寿司は食べられないです。

C. 魚アレルギーなんで、お寿司は食べらんない。

D. 魚アレルギーで、お寿司が食べられません。

③ Your friend loves to go for walks, however, the weather forecast says it'll rain tomorrow. You ask her if even tomorrow she's planning to go for a walk. How would you ask this in the Tokyo dialect?

A. 明日雨なんだって。そんでもお散歩すんの？

B. 明日は雨が降るそうだけど、それでもお散歩するつもりなの？

C. 明日は雨が降っても、お散歩をしますか？

D. 明日は雨が降っても、お散歩するんですか。

④ Which of the following four is not correct when it comes to conjugating to the Tokyo dialect?

A. You have to look for ら、り、る or ろ to begin with.

B. You have to look for ら、り、る or れ to begin with.

C. In the case of negative forms of potential verbs 'られない', you can replace the 'れ' with 'ん'.

D. The Tokyo dialect is an informal way of speech, best left to chats between friends or close acquaintances.

⑤ Your friend is a true polyglot. You ask him if he understands Japanese as well.

A. え、日本語も分かんの？すごいじゃん！

B. あれ、日本語も分かるの？すごい！

C. 日本語も分かるんですね。すごいです。

D. ドイツ語もしゃべれんの？すごいじゃん！

Answers!

1. C
2. C
3. A
4. A
5. A