A meal provided by the school with 給食
Kanji Explanation: Eating and food with 食
Chiyo is a child prodigy who’s skipped from elementary school to high school.
During her first day of class, Chiyo is invited by a couple of classmates to join them for lunch.
- ちよ:
- 「小学校は給食だったからお弁当は楽しいです」
- “Since we were provided lunches in elementary school, a boxed lunch is fun.”
- Literal: “Because elementary school was provided lunches, a box-lunch is enjoyable.”
Key Points
1給食 is a meal provided by a school
- Here it refers to the lunches Chiyo ate in elementary school, in contrast with the お弁当 she now brings to high school.
- The compound joins 給, “to supply”, with 食, “food” or “a meal”.
2小学校は給食だった describes what lunch was like there
- The sentence does not literally identify the school as a meal. 小学校は sets elementary school as the topic, and 給食だった says that school lunch was the norm there.
- A more explicit version would be 小学校では給食だった.
3〜だったから gives Chiyo’s reason
- The past copula だった follows the noun 給食, and から means “because”.
Vocabulary
給食 (School lunch)
給食 means meals regularly provided by a school, workplace, or hospital. It most often refers to Japanese school lunches.
弁当 (Boxed meal)
弁当 is a boxed meal packed to eat at school, work, or away from home.
See Also
- Kanji: Eating and food with 食
- Grammar: Marking the topic with は and も
- Grammar: The copula だ
- Future entry: Because with 〜から
- Future entry: Past tense with 〜た・〜だ
- Grammar: Polite style with です and ます
- Kanji: Learning and schooling with 学
- Kanji: Schools and checking with 校
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