Japanese with Manga

Boiling water for the projectionist's tea with お湯を沸かす

Vocabulary Explanation: Collocations for cooking

Yuriko, a dark-haired woman in a vest and bow tie, sweats as she explains herself. Inspector Megure, in his hat, faces her from the lower right, and Mitsuhiko watches from behind them.
名探偵コナン » Volume 23 » Page 33

During a screening at an old movie theater, a man is found hanged in front of the projection window. Yuriko, who works the theater’s snack counter, says she was in the projection booth making tea for the projectionist when his shadow appeared on the screen. Mitsuhiko then says he saw her pressing her eyes in front of the mirror in the women’s restroom just before that. When Inspector Megure asks why she wasn’t in the booth, she stammers that it was her contact lens.

目暮(めぐれ):
「コンタクト？」
“Your contact lens?”
百合子(ゆりこ):
「コンタクトがズレちゃったから、お湯(ゆ)を沸(わ)かしてる間(あいだ)にトイレで直(なお)していたのよ…」
“My contact lens slipped, so I fixed it in the restroom while the water was heating up...”
Literal: “Because my contact slipped out of place, while I was boiling hot water, I was fixing it in the restroom...”
「ほんの1分(ぷん)足(た)らずだったから別(べつ)にいう必要(ひつよう)はないと思(おも)って…」
“It took less than a minute, so I didn't think I needed to mention it...”

Key Points

1お湯(ゆ)を沸(わ)かす = to boil water
  • 沸(わ)かす means to bring a liquid to a boil. Japanese names the result, so you boil お湯(ゆ), “hot water”, not 水(みず), “cold water”. English says “boil water” for the same action.
  • 沸かす is transitive: someone heats the water. Its intransitive partner is 沸(わ)く: お湯(ゆ)が沸(わ)いた, “the water’s boiling.”
  • The projectionist asked for tea a page earlier, and he says she was boiling water for it: 湯(ゆ)を沸(わ)かしてたんだよな？ Yuriko’s line repeats the phrase with the polite お.
2〜てる間(あいだ)に = while something is going on
  • 沸(わ)かしてる is 沸かしている with the い dropped. It describes the water heating as an ongoing action.
  • 間(あいだ)に marks a span of time in which a second action happens. She fixed her lens during the time it took the water to heat.
3ズレちゃった = slipped out of place
  • ズレる means to shift out of its proper position. With a contact lens, it means the lens slid off the center of the eye.
  • 〜ちゃった is the casual form of 〜てしまった. It frames the slip as something that happened to her, not something she meant to do.
4直(なお)していたのよ = I was fixing it, you see
  • 直(なお)す means to fix or put right. Here she puts the lens back in place.
  • のよ gives an explanation in a feminine register. She is answering Megure’s question about why she wasn’t where she said she was.
5ほんの1分(ぷん)足(た)らず = barely a minute
  • 足(た)らず after an amount means “less than”. 1分足らず is under a minute.
  • ほんの stresses how small the amount is. She plays down her absence as too short to be worth mentioning.
  • 別(べつ)に〜ない means “not particularly”. 別(べつ)にいう必要(ひつよう)はない means “there was no particular need to say it.”

Vocabulary

(Contact lenses)

コンタクト is short for コンタクトレンズ, contact lenses. It also means getting in touch with someone.

(To slip out of place)

ズレる means to shift away from where something should be, such as a contact lens sliding off center or glasses slipping down the nose. It also describes timing or opinions that are slightly off. It is also written ずれる.

(Hot water)

お湯(ゆ) is heated water. At a hot spring or bath, it also means the bath water itself.

(To boil)

沸(わ)かす means to heat a liquid until it boils, as in お湯(ゆ)を沸(わ)かす, “boil water”. It also means to heat a bath, and to stir a crowd to excitement.

(While)

間(あいだ) is the space or time between two things. 〜の間 means “while” or “during”.

(Toilet; restroom)

トイレ means a toilet or restroom.

(To fix)

直(なお)す is to repair or correct something. After a verb stem, it means to redo the action.

(Just a)

ほんの comes before an amount to stress how small it is, as in ほんの少(すこ)し, “just a little”.

(One minute)

一分(いっぷん) means one minute. Read いちぶ, it means one tenth or one percent.

(Less than)

足(た)らず follows an amount to mean “just under” it, as in 1分(ぷん)足(た)らず, “less than a minute”.

(Not particularly)

別(べつ)に means “not particularly” when used with a negative. Said alone, it means “nothing in particular” or “it doesn’t matter”.

(To say)

いう is to put something into words. It is the kana spelling of 言(い)う and appears in phrases like という, which introduces a name or a quoted idea.

(Necessity)

必要(ひつよう) is something being needed for a purpose. 必要(ひつよう)ない says there is no need, and 必要(ひつよう)がある says there is one.

(Not)

ない means something does not exist or someone does not have it. After a verb, it makes the verb negative. It is also written 無(な)い.

(Think)

思(おも)う is to have a thought, feeling, belief, or hope about something.

See Also

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