Chapter 8

8 Set phrases

Every language has its set phrases for things like thanking people, or id-
iomatic phrases that mean something other than what the words would
literally imply, such as the expression ”take a chair” being used to mean
”please sit down”. This appendix lists several common Japanese phrases,
and per phrase gives the grammatical decomposition that can be made
given all the material that has been presented in this book, with the phrases
being ordered according to Japanese custom (starting at through and
ending at ).

- ”Please come in”

Coming from the verb ( ), this sentence literally says ”please
be raised”. Its non-literal meaning comes from the fact that the traditional
Japanese house has a raised floor at the entrance, where one takes off ones
shoes and steps up into the house itself.

339