They just don’t get along, do they? Earlier we saw Asagi being mean to the mom (eating her ice pop and her strawberry), but it looks like it’s also the mom’s fault!
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Yeah, I mean young Asagi was being very sweet, giving her mom the 4-leaf clover. And her mom was just mean! I know she thought it was all in good fun, but geez… my sympathy is squarely on Asagi’s side now!
No need for spoilers, we are on chapter 16 now.
Koiwai is not, in fact, Yotsuba’s father.
For that matter, neither does he own a sled named Rosebud. 
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I don’t quite get what you mean, it’s not like Yotsubato! is meant to be progressive, it has some hard chapters and some easy ones all throughout. It’s still beginner-level compared to something like Kiki’s Delivery Service I would think.
Or was there a specific part you didn’t understand, or something about the thread you don’t like? .-.
You’re one of the most helpful users because of all the questions you ask.
This thread is, by definition, for everyone in it, as long as the questions are asked, we will try to answer them. Right? The fact that the level of the questions asked seems to have risen, is mostly because by reading the previous volumes, simple questions are not that common, but they’re not forbidden.
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@marcusp Don’t feel bad. When I was starting out, I think it would’ve been impossible to read anything at all. After using BunPro, I would say that Yotsuba uses many grammar points from N4 (plus tons of slang), so it’s actually quite tough even for beginners.
I think that Yotsuba won’t be as effective for your N5 studies as more focused study, so if you’re pressed for time, you should focus on that. You can always come back to reading later. Everyone appreciates your enthusiastic questions. 
Good luck with your test!
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Just wanted to drop by and say that I am still reading along xD I just caught up with Chapter 16. Before I started, I was a little worried about the lack of reading pack, but I think it’s turning out to be a good thing. The training wheels are starting to come off, in a good way.
Having read the first 2 volumes definitely makes this volume easier, because a lot of the grammar points repeat themselves or are just variations on similar issues (so now, instead of “what the heck is that,” it’s more like, “oh, ok, it’s just that again” or “oh, ok, they’re just being super casual so they probably really mean this”). I think I was checking my understanding a little too much when I had the reading pack in front of me (like, checking everything immediately to make sure I understood instead of seeing what I actually knew and trying to guess/glean the rest from context before looking it up). I’m trying to break myself of that with this volume, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could read Chapter 15 almost without looking anything up! It was a simpler chapter, but it was still neat. 
Even though I’m trying not to look at it so much, I really appreciate everyone’s work on the vocab list - there are definitely some things that you guys caught that went over my head, so thanks for making it!
I feel bad that I haven’t helped at all, but I haven’t had time to read ahead and it seems like you guys are doing a pretty awesome job without me.
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Asagi was so cute 
可愛そうですね
The change in Torako’s demeanor was also really funny.
Fireworks are always a peaceful experience in Japan, from what it seems.
Completely different from Mexico, here fireworks are mostly really loud and dangerous. I guess that’s more on the buyer than on the seller. 
Damn you, dad. xD
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Some questions and comments:
Page 31: OMG, Yotsuba’s face is too cute on this page!
Page 37: Does “put out” also have a sexual connotation in Japanese?
Page 37: How legal/common are fireworks in Japan? I’ve seen them in the summer at the big public displays but I haven’t heard of them at any other time.
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It is!
Wouldn’t know 
But from what I’ve heard, if it sounds suggestive it probably can be taken that way.
I know it’s not a good source, but on anime and manga you see these small fireworks a lot. Would like to hear someone with a better source. @marcusp
On my first visit way back in August 2010, I saw a whole rack of fireworks sitting outside the Donki in Machida, so yeah, I’d imagine they’re both legal and common. I almost bought some at the time, except I had nowhere to let them off.
I wouldn’t know! Despite all my years in Japan, I’ve never been to 花火見 (is that the word?) as I just don’t like crowds, and I’ve never bought a firework in my life. However, one thing I can say… leading up to and on bonfire night back in England, families have fireworks parties in their gardens (great) and teenagers let off fireworks in the street (dangerous and annoying). Here in Japan, I live on a big estate, but I’ve never seen any of that at all. Never seen a family fireworks party from a balcony or garden, and certainly never seen teenagers messing around with them. The only fireworks I’ve seen here are those at the big public displays.
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Huh, I would’ve thought 花火見 would be a word considering there’s 花見 and 月見, but I guess not. The closest HouHou can come up with is 花火大会.
It sounds like it’d be fun to play with fireworks though. If Don Quijote (That’s Donki, right? ドンキ) has fireworks, you should give it a try!
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You’re right!
My favourite bit in the chapter is on p.35 when 虎子 aplogises for the tiger eating a deer on the TV show よつば had watched earlier in the day! Brilliant!
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LOL! It’s a funny world!
A good friend of mine has just moved to Japan, and he’s brought よつばと！vol.3 with him!
We’re meeting tomorrow morning to read together!
It would never have happened without this thread! Thank you everyone!
And there was me thinking of dropping よつばと！ - that’s never going to happen!
I just have to re-double my efforts to fit Yotsuba in as well as the N5!
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Just 花火会 also works, I believe, though it’s not in my dictionary.
Yep.
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Page 23
We get those regular chimes and announcements here where we live.
To be honest, my Japanese is so awful I’ve never listened to what they actually say before.
But here on page 23 it says:
6時になりました、よいこのみなさんおうちに帰る時間です
It’s now (lit:has become) 6 o’clock, and time for all good children to go home.
Do the announcements really say that? “all good children”?
I’ll listen out next time, see if I can catch it.
But does anyone know for sure?
(And I met my friend today and we read some よつばと！together over coffee. It was a really good experience and the time flew by. I felt like I learnt so much from it. Wonderful.)
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Page 24
So then よつば wonders to herself if, if あさぎ isn’t coming home, if she’s actually a good child!
Then えな says: あさぎお姉ちゃんに何が用？
I think the meaning is straightforward, but I’m wondering if I’m missing something?
Is she asking “So what is Asagi doing (for you)?” to Yotsuba?
Isn’t this quite a leap for her to make?
Or am I just over-reading at this point?!
(I love how I’ve recently studied 用 in WK, and here it is! This is happening all the time now!)
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Page 25
えな: 買ってくるって言った？
よつば: うん！たのむってゆったら
Two questions…
-
The vocab list (thank you again!) has たのむ / 頼む down as “to entrust”
This is the third of four definitions in Jisho (the others are to request, to call, and to rely on) and in fact it is down as “to entrust to”
So what is Yotsuba saying here? “Yes! [Asagi] said I can rely on her” sounds right. So isn’t this the 4th definition, to rely on? (Or am I being too nitpicky?) -
ら - I don’t think I’ve seen that sentence ending article before! Any ideas?
I confess I’ve never once heard those, in my grand total of… four weeks spent in Japan, so I couldn’t really comment on what they say in real life. 
Congrats. Glad to hear you’re enjoying it again.
Yeah, I constantly find this happening to me - the meaning is plain, but the actual function of the individual words is obscure. My dictionary has 何か用 in its entirety as an expression meaning a brusque way of saying “what do you want?”, though I confess I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. 用 also has a definition saying “(as a suffix) used for …”, so it could be 何か用 = “need (Asagi-oneechan) for something”. I guess?
I wonder if the vocab list has got the wrong definition here. Think Yotsuba is quoting her own words here -
“I asked her (to get me something)”.
It’s not a sentence ending, it’s a verb conjugation. Past-form verb + ら = after (verb) - at least in this context - and it continues on to the next speech bubble. "I asked her, and then she said ‘sure, sure’ "
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