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~というのは…(のこと)だ

~というのは…(のこと)だ

Today’s Question

You saw a menu item きょうのおばんざい. You’ve never seen/heard the word おばんざい, so you want to know what that means.
You asked きょうのおばんざいはなんですか。
Will you get an answer you are after?

Today’s Grammar Point:

  • ~というのは…(のこと)だ
  • ~とは・・・(のこと)だ
  • ~って(いうのは)…(のこと)だ

Connection

Both ~ and … take a [noun] or a [noun phrase]

Meaning

~ means ・・・

Note

This expression is used to explain the meaning of ~.

Examples

  1. 普通電車ふつうでんしゃというのはどのえきにもまる電車でんしゃのことです。
    What is called “ordinary train” is a train which stops at every station.
  2. 日本語のスーパーって、たいていスーパーマーケットのことだよ。
    “Super” in Japanese usually means a supermarket!
  3. コンビニとはコンビニエンスストアのことだ。
    “Konbini” means a convenience store.
  4. 音楽おんがくというのはひとさぶる音楽おんがくのことだ。
    Good music is a music that jolts people.
  5. 終電しゅうでんとはそのよる最後さいご電車でんしゃのことです。
    “Shuuden” means the last train for the night.
  6. 危篤きとくというのは病気びょうきやケガがとてもおもくて、ぬかもしれないということです。
    “kitoku” means that the illness or injury is so bad that the person may die.
  7. 面会謝絶めんかいしゃぜつとはビジターは病室びょうしつはいれないということです。
    “menkaishazetsu” means no visitors are allowed in the hospital room.
  8. 「おばんざい」ってなんですか。 – おばんざいは京都きょうと言葉ことばでお惣菜そうざいのことです。
    What does “obanzai” mean? – “Obanzai” is a Kyoto dialect and means a side-dish prepared in advance.
    cf. きょうのおばんざいなんですか。- 「ひじきのたいたん」*です。
    What is today’s special menu? – It’s ”boiled hijiki (= a kind of seaweed).”*
    * Of course whatever comes inside the quotation mark will be different each day.

Answer to Today’s Question:

As is shown above, if you ask きょうのおばんざいなんですか, the answer you’ll get is the name of the side-dish for the day.

If you skip きょうの and ask just おばんざいなんですか, probably a waiting person will pause a moment and come back with a counter question:

  • If he/she doesn’t think you know the word おばんざい, he/she may say: おばんざいのいみですか。(Are you talking about the meaning of おばんざい?)
  • If he/she thinks you know the meaning of おばんざい already (like when the question is asked in a Kyoto dialect), he/she may ask きょうの おばんざい(の こと)ですか。(Are you talking about Today’s Obanzai?)

If you want to know the meaning of a certain word (xxx), you should always ask:

  • xxxってなん(のこと)ですか。
  • xxxとはなん(のこと)ですか。
  • xxxというのはなん(のこと)ですか。

Of course, you can ask 「xxxは英語えいごで何ですか。」(=what is xxx in English?) if the other person knows English.

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