The Shepherd Boy and The Wolf

Teacher

Marshall

The Shepherd Boy and The Wolf

Part 2

The sentences below are what we need to learn in this lesson.

やがて牧草ぼくそう地ちで過すごすのがとても退屈たいくつになりました。

気晴きばらしにできることは、犬いぬに話はなしかけるか羊ひつじ飼かいの笛ふえを吹ふくことだけでした。

Before you learn the sentence, let us learn the vocabulary first.

Note: The blue kanji is clickable, will redirect you to the kanji page in a new tab.

Word	Meaning
やがて	soon
牧草ぼくそう地ち	grassland
過すごす	to spend time
とても	very
退屈たいくつ	boring
なる	to become
気晴きばらしにできる	can refresh
こと	things
犬いぬ	dog
話はなしかける	to talk to
笛ふえ	flute
笛ふえを吹ふく	to play the flute
だけ	only

How to read the first sentence step by step?

やがて牧草ぼくそう地ちで過すごすのがとても退屈たいくつになりました。

Step 1: Find the subject/topic of this sentence by the particle は or が.

In this sentence, the subject is 過すごすの.

Step 2: Find the verb of this sentence. (Usually, the verb is in the end of the sentence.)

In this sentence, the verb is なりました.
(Meaning: to become)

Step 3: Find the object of this verb by particle を.

Oops! There is no を here. Don’t worry. This is because the verb なる is not a transitive verb, so you can’t use を. Instead, you should use に to express the change of the statement.

So in this sentence, the statement is 退屈たいくつ

Step 4: Combine everything we find in the steps above.

過すごすのが退屈たいくつになりました。
spending time became very boring.

Now you find the “main part” of this sentence. Congratulations!

Step 5: Figure out the “sub part” of this sentence.

やがて means “soon”, it’s an adv.
牧草ぼくそう地ち means “grassland”, it’s a place, and there is a で here.
If you have learned Particle Course before, you will know that で is used to express the place where something happens.
So 過すごす is happened in grassland.

とても means “very”, it’s an adv.

So the whole sentence will be

やがて牧草ぼくそう地ちで過すごすのがとても退屈たいくつになりました。
Soon, spending time in grassland became very boring.

How to read the second sentence step by step?

気晴きばらしにできることは、犬いぬに話はなしかけるか羊ひつじ飼かいの笛ふえを吹ふくことだけでした。

Step 1: Find the subject/topic of this sentence by the particle は or が.

In this sentence, the topic is 気晴きばらしにできること.

Step 2: Find the verb of this sentence. (Usually, the verb is in the end of the sentence.)

In this sentence, the verb is でした.
(Meaning: was)

Step 3: Find the object of this verb by particle を.

Oops! There is no を here. No worries. It’s because でした is a “be” verb. So only thing we need to do is to find the noun before it.

In this sentence, the noun is 犬いぬに話はなしかけるか羊ひつじ飼かいの笛ふえを吹ふくこと. (The か after 話はなしかける means “or”.)

Step 4: Combine everything we find in the steps above.

気晴きばらしにできることは、犬いぬに話はなしかけるか羊ひつじ飼かいの笛ふえを吹ふくことでした。
Something like talking to the dog or playing the shepherd flute can refresh the boy.

Now you find the “main part” of this sentence. Congratulations!

Step 5: Figure out the “sub part” of this sentence.
だけ means “only”.

So the whole sentence will be

気晴きばらしにできることは、犬いぬに話はなしかけるか羊ひつじ飼かいの笛ふえを吹ふくことだけでした。
Only something like talking to the dog or playing the shepherd flute can refresh the boy.

Just in case you want to review the particles, below is a table to help you.

Particle	Explanation
の	to convert a verb to a noun. So 牧草地で過ごすの acts as a noun here.
が	Express that the noun before it is the subject. So 牧草地で過ごすの is the subject.
に	Because なる(means “to become”) is an intransitive verb, you can’t use を in 退屈たいくつになりました. Instead you need to use に to express the statement.
か	か means “or”. So 犬に話しかけるか羊飼いの笛を吹くこと means “Talking to the dog or playing the shepherd flute”. （こと is used to convert a verb to a noun.）

Summary:

やがて牧草ぼくそう地ちで過すごすのがとても退屈たいくつになりました。
気晴きばらしにできることは、犬いぬに話はなしかけるか羊ひつじ飼かいの笛ふえを吹ふくことだけでした。

Soon, spending time in grassland became very boring.
Only something like talking to the dog or playing the shepherd flute can refresh the boy.