Who knew Kiyo could cook with 料理を作る
Vocabulary Explanation: Collocations for cooking
The house mother asks a retired dresser, who used to dress the house’s maiko, to help Kiyo get back something she dropped behind the refrigerator. To thank him, Kiyo serves him coffee and scones she baked.
- お兄さん:
- 「まさかあのキヨが、料理を作れるとはなあ。」
- “Who'd have thought Kiyo, of all people, could cook?”
- Literal: “I never imagined that Kiyo could make food.”
Key Points
1料理を作れる = can cook
- 料理を作る means to cook or make a dish. 作れる is its potential form: “can make”.
- With the potential form, the object can take を or が. 料理が作れる would mean the same thing here.
2まさか〜とは expresses surprise
- まさか means something seemed out of the question. とは at the end of the line quotes the surprising fact and leaves out a reaction such as 思わなかった, “I never thought”.
- なあ turns the line into an exclamation he half says to himself.
3あのキヨ = that Kiyo
- あの points to a shared memory. あのキヨ means the Kiyo he remembers from her trainee days. In the next panel he recalls helping dress her back then, when she couldn’t learn a single step.
Vocabulary
あの (That)
あの comes before a noun to mean “that” or “those”. It points to someone or something away from both speakers, or something they both know about.
まさか (Surely not)
まさか marks something as hard to believe or unexpected, like “no way” or “surely not”. With a clause ending in とは, it means “I never thought that…”.
料理 (Cuisine)
料理 means cooking, cuisine, or a dish. It can refer to making food or to the food you make.
作る (To make)
作る means to create or prepare something.
See Also
- Vocabulary: Collocations for cooking
- Grammar: Able to do with 〜れる・〜られる
- Kanji: Making and creating things with 作
舞妓さんちのまかないさん © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.