After receving a favor...

Sunday, January 1, 2012

This woman and her boyfriend have borrowed money from the boyfriend's father. Sumimasen definitely takes on the tone of "Thank you" here.

 

Let's find out what she replied after receiving the favor. :)

Woman: Thanks a lot for helping us out so much.

彼女：すみませんね、いろいろお願いを聞いていただいて。

Kanojo: Sumimasen ne, iroiro onegai wo kiite itadaite.

• as you can see, the woman's pose, as well as her style of speaking, suggests too much familiarity and not enough sincerity. The ne after sumimasen might be appropriate if it were a small favor and a close friend.
• she says iroiro, which means "various", although the father really did only one favor - he let them money.
• onegai wo kiku literally means "listen to/hear a request", but it's used to mean "grant a request"
• kiite is the -te form of kiku, wihich means "to hear/to listen"
• itadaite is the -te form of itadaku (humble word for "receive), which shows she's stating the cause/reason for her expression of gratitude. This is a case of "inverted syntax", that is, the normal word order would be... kiite itadaite sumimasen. Thus, sumimasen would determine the politeness level (from a framatical standpoint)