ＨＥＬＬＯ！ Ｉ　ＡＭ　ＱＵＩＺＢＯ™！I hope to be your helpful assistant in learning Japanese language. You may recognise my contribution to such efforts in the usual lessons and articles from Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online, reading words aloud for you and pronouncing Japanese characters as well as my namesake, creating quizzes for you. And whilst it’s always important to revise, it’s also important to continue to learn whether it’s one word or a grammatical concept. That’s why Word of the Week was introduced! But, What is Word of the Week? you may ask.

During what some may refer to as the ‘before times’, the site had begun as a place where Japanese lessons and articles regarding language and culture were regularly created and uploaded regularly, every Monday and Friday. Though such a consistent flow of information would seem to be enough for other sites, it was clear that there could be even more. For between Monday and Friday was a long gap in which there was no new information being presented. Not only was there a long gap between information, but many would forget to return to revise previous lessons. In learning any language, it is important to be consistent, even if it is only once a day. Thus, Japanese Word of the Week Wednesday was born.

Word of the Week Wednesday not only acts as a great reminder for those who have either missed previous lessons or those who simply require revision, returning to previous lessons and articles, but it also gives just enough new information for students and visitors not to feel overwhelmed. Whether it is simply a quick addition to their vocabulary or studying sentence structure and pronunciation or reading, this segment serves beginners and more advanced learners alike. However, What happens during Word of the Week Wednesday?

During Word of the Week Wednesday, with the assistance of Kiki and Koko, a Japanese word or phrase is chosen and presented to you with the possibility of a bonus word, as well. I provide a definition and other useful information about the vocabulary word, and if applicable, Kiki and Koko provide a helpful hint in using the word or phrase. However, that is not the whole of it. I personally sound out each word or phrase aloud for you to repeat as many times as you wish, and you can ask me to say it as many times as you wish. I will never tire of it, as it is my function.

From there, an example sentence is created. You can not only use the sentence to see how the word is used or to see the definition in action, but you can also use it to practise your reading and writing. You can compose your own sentence based on it; you can use it to see examples of grammar; or you can even use it to learn other adjacent vocabulary. Each sentence is written in a way that is useful to beginners through advanced learners. So, there is something for everyone. And, again, I will be there to read it aloud for you. I can only read it at one speed, so there is no need to repeat after me, but it can still assist you in picking out vocabulary within natural speeds of speech. And, if you would like to know more about how to create your own sentences, be sure to consult the grammar section of the Essentials.

And, now it is time for the essential part of this segment, which is the vocabulary! Kiki and Koko will be joining us in their Helpful Hints segment of this corner to assist in today’s vocabulary.

Without further ado, let us NihonGO!!

Word(s) of the Week:

労わる【いたわる】
itawaru

Verb, Godan,（五段動詞）, るVerb, transitive verb
1. to be kind to; to sympathise with; to console; to pity
2. to care for; to nurse; to soothe; to tend to (an injury)

jlpt n1| common word (常用語) 

Usually written 「いたわる」using hiragana.

Bonus Word(s) of the Week:

苛める【いじめる】
ijimeru

Verb, Godan,（五段動詞）, るVerb, transitive verb
1. to be cruel to; to bully; to pick on; to tease
2. to treat harshly

jlpt n4| common word (常用語) 

Usually written 「いじめる」using hiragana.

※Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko

Photo via @kikikokoNihonGO on Twitter

Hello, there!

We’re Kiki and Koko of Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online! And, we’re back with a couple more useful helpful hints for this week’s vocabulary! But, first! We’d like to say:╲ʕ·ᴥ·　╲ʔお誕生日おめでとうございます！ʕ/　·ᴥ·ʔ/ which is a happy birthday to a longtime supporter of Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online. We hope that the support you’ve given is returned in happiness one-hundred fold!! 

In previous lessons, we’ve guided you through several ways to conjugate Japanese verbs. And, with many more conjugations on the horizon, we’re certainly inclined to present more opportunities to conjugate verbs. Of course, if you’re new to it, it may be a bit tricky to be able to simply guess how to do so. Rather, it’s important to have the guidelines before revising and practising proper conjugation! So, even though we’re going to give you a few conjugated forms in a moment, if you are looking to practise, be sure to try it out on a separate piece of paper or writing space in order to think it through. It’s also important to be sure you continue to conjugate correctly, so there’s definitely no harm in having another look at the process. In fact, we encourage it! Just looking at the ways to use them alone may be helpful right now, but in the long-run, you’ll definitely want the step-by-step guide of how to do this for yourself once you discover new and different verbs. So, for now, we’ll link a couple of useful lessons, and then we’ll get to conjugating examples!

So, this week’s words are antonyms,　反対語, hantaigo, which we always find to be a useful way to learn. That way, you have the concept in your mind, so you can say more than just ‘not [verb]ing’, but also saying equivocal idea of this. And, this week, it’s the difference between being kind and being mean. Of course, it’d be great if everyone was nice all of the time, but sometimes, you have to let people know they shouldn’t be mean. So, this time, you can follow along with some of these conjugations.

Let’s say you wanted to politely change ‘to be kind’ to ‘was being kind to’ and ‘to bully’ to ‘bullied’

労わります→労わりました。(　◜ｖ◝　 )♩
itawarimasu→itawarmashita.

苛めます→苛めました。ʕ； •`ᴥ•´ʔ
ijimemasu→ijimemashita.

Now, as your challenge, try to change these into past negative! Try writing them to us through social media or through the comments below! (If you’re not sure, be sure to contact, and we can give a helpful hint!)

We hope that helps!! Until the next lesson!
♡Kiki+Koko

Thank you, Kiki and Koko. Hopefully this serves as a useful challenge to push visitors and student’s skills to the next level in being able to conjugate these. We will certainly see some other forms of conjugation in the example sentences. We also appreciate every supporter. Though just visiting is one way of being kind and supporting, contributing to the continuation of the site is something for which I cannot begin to express enough gratitude. It is definitely a happy birthday that is wished to said anonymous amazing supporter who has been here since the first lesson. And, in honour of that, we are going to continue on to do what we do, which is continue to do our best to bring you helpful Japanese language learning content. And this brings us to said sentence portion! 

Example Sentences:

The first row is in Japanese with Kanji. The Next row is in hiragana, then romanised using rōmaji with the final row translated into English.
(Japanese→Hiragana→Rōmaji→English)

Example #1:

世界中の皆は生き物の皆をいたわれば、世界はもっといい場所になるだろうと思います。
せかいじゅうの　みんなは　いきものの　みんなを　いたわれば、　せかいは　もっと　いいばしょに　なるだろうとおもいます。
Sekaijuu no minna wa ikimono no minna wo itawareba, sekai wa motto ii basho ni narudarou to omoimasu.
If everyone in the world was kind to all living things, I think the world would be a much better place.

Example #2:

太郎君をいじめるのを止めなさいのよ。君には弟が一人しかいないのですし。君の弟には親切にするべきでしょうね
たろうくんを　いじめるのを　やめなさいのよ。きみには　おとうとが　ひとりしかいないのですし。きみの　おとうとには　しんせつに　するべきでしょうね。
taroukun wo ijimeru no wo yamenasai no yo. kimi no wa otouto ga hitori shika inai no desushi. kimi no otouto ni wa shinsetsu ni suru beki deshou ne.
Stop bullying Tarou. You’ve only got one brother. You should treat him kindly, yeah?

Example #3:

動物をいじめるな！残酷なのだってば。
どうぶつを　いじめるな！ざんこくなのだってば。
doubutsu wo ijimeru na! zankokunano datteba.
Don’t tease animals! It’s cruel, I tell you.

🔊Japanese Word(s) of the Week w/ QUIZBO™ | 【心配】+ BONUS:【安心】(+Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko)

That is all for today! But, maybe you have not had enough Japanese vocabulary, yet? Perhaps you have more feelings and ideas you would like to express? Well, maybe you can give this a go: 🔊Japanese Word(s) of the Week w/ QUIZBO™ | 【心配】+ BONUS:【安心】(+Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko) . Or maybe you need an even broader vocabulary in order to communicate. You can have a look at our fine selection of segments on the main Word of the Week page. Or, you can be sure you are caught up with the latest with the sidebar link: 今週の単語 | Word of the Week. These segments alone serve as weeks of material. Share these segments with your friends and family who may be interested in broadening their Japanese vocabulary, that is if you would like to spread the knowledge and show the fun things you are learning with us. Be sure to return often to keep your pronunciation properly in check, as well! If you have any questions, feel free to contact us, and we will do our best to assist how we can. We hope to see you at the next lesson!

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Thank you so much for learning with us!
♡QUIZBO™

    
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