Kansai Dialect

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Contents 1 Kansai Dialect 2 Negative Verbs in 関西弁 2.1 The へん form 2.2 The ん form 2.3 まへん 2.4 Negative Potential form 2.5 Examples 3 〜ている in 関西弁 4 Using 「あかん」 4.1 Examples 5 Using 「（し）もうた」 5.1 Example 6 Using 関西弁 sentence endings 7 Being polite in 関西弁 8 Some Kansai vocabulary

Kansai Dialect

関西 (Kansai) is a region of Japan that includes some of the largest cities in Japan such as 大阪 (Osaka), and 京都 (Kyoto). While there are many dialects with distinct characteristics within that region, 関西弁 is often used to roughly describe the dialect of that entire region based mostly on 大阪弁 (Osaka dialect). 関西弁 is one of the most widely-used dialects in Japanese, second only to the standard (Tokyo) dialect. While standard Japanese is understood everywhere in Japan, you're going to eventually have to become at least somewhat familiar with 関西弁 in order to understand a large portion of the Japanese population either in the media or in real life. In fact, while all Japanese native speakers may not be able to speak in 関西弁, they all understand it to a certain degree.

There are four major types of differences in the language that makes up a dialect: grammar, sentence endings, vocabulary, and pitches. In this section, we will take a look at the major differences in grammar, sentence endings, and vocabulary. This will be enough to understand most of the dialect. However, in order to actually speak the dialect, you need to master all the differences in pitches, which is beyond the scope of this text.

The differences in pitches are what really gives 関西弁 its distinct flavor and characteristic. For example, if you said, 「ありがとう」 in the standard dialect, you would raise and lower the pitch on the 「り」 like so: 「あ/り\がとう」. However, in 関西弁, you would raise the pitch on the last 「とう」 like so: 「ありが/とう」. While understanding 関西弁 is not too difficult, if you want to speak the dialect like a true local, you need to train yourself to speak with the different tones and pitches by mimicking people who speak the dialect. However, I strongly recommend maintaining your standard Japanese because, after all, it is the standard language.

Negative Verbs in 関西弁

The へん form

The negative 「へん」 tense for verbs is one of the biggest difference in 関西弁 grammar. This form of the negative seems to be more for certain verbs such as 「わかる」. Described very simply, the 「ない」 ending of the verb is replaced by 「へん」. For the past tense, 「なかった」 or 「なかってん」 becomes 「へんかった」 or 「へんかってん」 respectively. Here is a simple chart outlining the difference.

Negative verbs in 関西弁

	標準語	関西弁
Non-Past	わからない	わからへん
Past	わからなかった	わからへんかった

The regular exceptions verbs 「する」 and 「くる」 becomes 「せえへん」(or 「しいひん」) and 「こおへん」（or　「きいひん」). Historicaly, which of the two is used probably depended on the particular place within 関西 people are from, but nowadays, it's more of a personal preference. The negative past is quite simple as it is identical to the negative but with 「かった」 or 「かってん」 attached to the end.

The ん form

In addition to the previous へん form, 関西弁 has another negative form. Just replace へん by ん. This is even less formal than the へん/ない form, so it is mainly used by males in very casual situations. Past is formed simply by adding かった at the end. Note that the ん form is hardly ever used with verbs from the second group, such as 食べる. 食べへん is common, but 食べん is mostly unheard of.

へん vs ん form

	へん form	ん form
Non-Past	わからへん	わからん
Past	わからへんかった	わからんかった

まへん

On the other end of the politeness scale, where 東京 people would say ません, 関西弁 has a まへん form. It seems that this is hardly ever used anymore by people under 40 or 50, but even they still use it in some fixed expressions. For instance, instead of かまいません, in 関西, you are much more likely to hear かまへん. Where the まい part of the word in the middle went is a mistery, but you have to admit that the 関西弁 version is much more easy to say.

Negative Potential form

Now what if you want to say 行けない in 関西弁? You can try 行けへん, but while it works, it it ambiguous. This form may also be totaly equivalent to 行かへん. Which one it is depends on context, the city in 関西 you are in, how old the speaker is... If you want an unambiguous way of saying 行けない, you have to go for 行かれへん. As always, past form is made just by adding かった.

Negative potential form in 関西弁

標準語	関西弁
行けない	行かれへん
読めない	読まれへん
食べられない	食べられへん

Examples

（１）
例文を追加せんとあかんで。
（２）
- 渋谷って、東京のどこ？
- 知らん！
（３）
心配せんでもええ。

〜ている in 関西弁

関西弁 and Japanese slang share one thing. They try to make things easier to roll of the tongue. While 〜ている isn't particularly hard, you 関西弁 makes it even more relaxed, by replacing it with 〜てんねん. This way, 何してる？ becomes 何してんねん?

Note that this is not true in all 関西, for instnace, 神戸 has its own ways, and there you would hear 何しとう？ or 何しとん？

Using 「あかん」

No word is more distinctive of kansai than あかん. Essentially, it replaces both 無理 and だめ, and can also be used as a quite harsh negative answer, close to the english "no way!". But it is a bit broader than that, as evidenced by the 関西弁 variation of ~なければならない, which becomes なあかん.

Examples

（１）家賃をはらわなあかん
（２）
- これ、かしてくれへん？
- あかん。

Using 「（し）もうた」

In 標準語, the shorten formed of 〜てしまいました is 〜ちゃった. In 関西弁、one would use 〜てしもた or 〜てもた.

Example

- ごめん、全部たべてもた。
- かまへん、かまへん。

Using 関西弁 sentence endings

In 関西弁, だ is replaced by や. Related words follow the same pattern.

だ -> や

だった -> やった

だろう -> やろ（う）

The negative form is however totaly unrelated. じゃない turns to ちゃう which is a simplified form of ちがう.

Sentence ending particules are also different. The ね and な from 標準語 merge, and only な is used. わ is not feminine at all, and is a softer replacement for よ. で is somewhere between よ and ぞ. ねん can end a sentence too, but probably more to balance the rhythm than to change the meaning.

Here are a few more typical sentence patterns:

なんでだろう -> なんでやねん

そうだね -> せやな

そうですか -> そうなんや

Being polite in 関西弁

関西弁 has a reputation for being rude, but that's far from the truth. It actually has its own 敬語.

First, to avoid some missunderstanding, note that おる is not the humble form or いる, but really a reaplacement. So you can use おる in honorific constructions: 田中部長はおられますか？

Then, if you like the broad meaning of 「あかん」, but need a polite version, how about 「あきません」?

But the most original thing is 〜はる. Replace 〜ている/〜ています by 〜てはる/〜てはります, and you have an honorific form. It also works on non progressive verbs, but what happens to the stem depends on where in 関西 you are: 行く can turn into 行きはる or 行かはる or 行けはる depending on the place.

It must also be said that people from 京都 use this from all the time, to the point that it is not 敬語 any more in that city.

Some Kansai vocabulary

Some words are unique to 関西, while other are rare, also exist in 標準語.

いい -> ええ

本当 -> ほんま

違う -> ちゃう

面白い -> おもろい

しんどい: tiresome, bothersome

くすぐったい -> こしょばい

刺身 -> お作り

転ぶ -> こける

いう -> ゆう

自転車　-> ちゃり or ちゃりんこ