Let’s learn Japanese with Vegeta’s quote from Dragon Ball Z.
CONTENTS
Video
Vegeta’s Quote
Japanese: がんばれ、カカロット！お前がナンバーワンだ！
Romaji: ganbare, kakarotto! omae ga nanbā wan da!
English: Hang in there, Kakarot! You are Number One!
Analysis
がんばれ、カカロット！
がんばれ is the imperative form of がんばる meaning “to stick to something despite difficulties”. The imperative がんばれ is often translated to “Do your best”, “Hang in there” or “Good luck”. It’s mainly used to encourage people to try hard or used before a performance to say good luck.
Japanese imperative verbs sound strong and aggressive so people normally tend not to use them but がんばれ has become a saying that’s commonly used. But if you want to sound softer, you can say がんばって or がんばってください in polite speech.
The response to it is usually うん、がんばる in casual speech, はい、がんばります in polite speech, and you can add ありがとう or ありがとうございます after that.
カカロット as you may know is Goku’s sayan name (Kakarot).
お前がナンバーワンだ！
お前 means “you” in a manly way. Depending on the context, it can be rude but in this case it’s used in a friendly way between guys.
The が particle is used to mark the subject and emphasise it. So he is emphasising お前 as this is the first time that Vegeta admits Goku is stronger than him, so it’s like “it’s YOU, NOT ME”.
ナンバーワン is “number one”. As you know, words imported from foreign countries are written in Katakana, but the pronunciations are a bit different.
Katakana words mostly have equivalent Japanese words, so the equivalent Japanese for ナンバーワン is 一番, but katakana words are often used to make it sound cool or casual.
Lastly, だ is the auxiliary verb to declare and affirm the statement.
Examples
がんばる (to stick to something despite difficulties)
明日の試験、頑張ってね。
ashita no shiken, ganbatte ne.
Good luck on tomorrow’s exam.
クラスで一番の成績を目指して、頑張ります。
kurasu de ichiban no seiseki o mezashite ganbarimasu.
I will try my best aiming for the best mark in the class.
応援してます。頑張ってください。
ōen shite masu. ganbatte kudasai.
I’m supporting you. Please keep it up.
Katakana Words Made From English Words
あのハードなエクササイズしている男の人、ハンサムじゃない？
ano hādo na ekusasaizu shiteiru otoko no hito, hansamu janai?
Isn’t that man doing hard exercises handsome?
カジュアルファッションでいい？ – いえ、フォーマルファッションで来てください。
kajuaru fasshon de ii? – ie, fōmaru fasshon de kite kudasai.
Is it ok with casual fashion? – No, please come wearing formal fashion.
あの女の子、シャイだけど笑うとすごくチャーミングだね。
ano onna no ko, shai dakedo warau to sugoku chāmingu da ne.
The girl is shy but very charming when she smiles.
When it’s used as an adjective, it works as NA-adjective.
チャーミングな人だね。
chāmingu na hito da ne.
She is a charming person.
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