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The various meanings of the Japanese word いちおう

Greetings to all of you diligent Japanese learners, welcome to another online Japanese lesson from Bondlingo. Today we are going to be looking at a phrase which is ridiculously versatile. This phrase is “Ichiou いちおう 一応”. It has 3 main meanings that can make your life very easy in Japanese as you only need to remember one word to express these different meanings. These meanings are: 

• Roughly / in a fashion
• For the time being
• Just in case

Yes really, Ichiou いちおう 一応 can express all of these. The only problem is remembering all of the different meanings that’s why today we are going to be breaking the lesson down into the following sections:   

1. Mastering Ichiou いちおう 一応 with the meaning of “more or less”. Using examples to become comfortable with the meaning.
2. Mastering Ichiou いちおう 一応 with the meaning of “for the time being”. Using examples to become comfortable with the meaning.
3. Mastering Ichiou いちおう 一応 with the meaning of “Just in case”. Using examples to become comfortable with the meaning.
4. A powerful technique to master all of the meanings of いちおう 一応. Let’s put it into practice.
5. A summary of today’s online Japanese lesson on “いちおう 一応” Let’s ensure we haven’t missed anything.

If you are already confident with some of the meanings, feel free to skip ahead to a section of your choice. We would recommend reading this article from the beginning however for the best effect! 

So let’s jump right in and look at the first section “more or less” 

Mastering Ichiou いちおう 一応 with the meaning of “more or less”.

 Using examples to become comfortable with the meaning. 

So the first meaning of Ichiou いちおう 一応 is:

more or less; though not quite satisfactorily; in a fashion; pretty much; roughly; so far as it goes​

You can basically use this when you don’t want to commit to say that you have fully done something. Imagine if your boss asked you if you have finished your work and you have almost finished. You could say that you have “just about” “near enough” done it. 

We can learn much more effectively through thee examples:

In this first example the speaker is saying that they have “done it” in some capacity. They don’t want to commit and say the have definitely done it. This would probably mean that they are unsatisfied with the outcome and don’t want to commit to saying it is fully done. 

いちおうやりました。
ichiou yarimashita.
I did it (just about)

Here the speaker doesn’t want to be definite in letting the listener know that they are seeing someone. They perhaps don’t want to jump fully to conclusions and perhaps it is not that serious. 

いちおう、つきあっているひとがいます。
ichiou, tsukiatteiru hito ga imasu.
I am kind of seeing someone..

Here is another example 

いちおう、来週までにへんじをくれる？
ichiou, raishuu made ni henji o kureru.
Can you at least give me an answer by next week?

In this example perhaps the person is not fully confident in their ability to speak Japanese but can definitely get by. This is also a great way to be humble: 

(いちおう)日本語が上手いです.
Ichiou Nihongo ga umai desu.
I am good at Japanese. (Just about good enough)

So that’s the first meaning, let’s take a look at the next meaning of Ichiou いちおう 一応.

Mastering Ichiou いちおう 一応 with the meaning of “for the time being”.

Using examples to become comfortable with the meaning. 

The second meaning of Just in case / anyway is “for the time being​”. Imagine you are in a restaurant and just want to order a coffee for the time being. That would be a great example of when to use it. Here are a few more examples.

一応3千円渡しておくね。
Ichiou sanisenen watashite okune.
I will give you 3,000 yen for now.

一応、そこに名前を書いてもらえますか？
Ichiou soko ni namae wo kaite moraemasuka?
Can you write your name there for now?

Let’s now look at the final meaning of the word. 

Mastering Ichiou いちおう 一応 with the meaning of “Just in case”.

Using examples to become comfortable with the meaning. 

The third meaning of  Ichiou いちおう 一応 is “just in case”. This is very useful when you want to confirm information. Take a look at the following examples: 

一応、調べておきます。
Ichiou shirabete okimasu.
I will check it just in case

一応、電話番号を教えてくれる？
Ichiou denwabangou wo oshiete kureru?
Can you give me your contact information anyway? 

一応、彼女に電話をしておきます。
Ichiou kanojo ni denwa wo shiteokimasu.
I will call her just in case.

So now that you have an understanding of all the meanings let’s look at a great study technique that you can use to master all of the meanings.. 

A powerful technique to master all of the meanings of いちおう 一応.

Let’s put it into practice.

1. You are going to want to write down all of the meanings of Ichiou いちおう 一応 next to each other.
2. Read again all of the example sentences from today’s lesson and commit them to memory
3. Finally we need you to make some of your own examples. Write down 10 of each different meaning and you should then be able to use them fluently in daily conversation.

Ensure that you really go for this as 3 meanings are a lot to remember! 

A summary of today’s online Japanese lesson on “いちおう 一応”

Let’s ensure we haven’t missed anything.  

So the first meaning of Ichiou いちおう 一応 is:

more or less; though not quite satisfactorily; in a fashion; pretty much; roughly; so far as it goes​

The second meaning of Just in case / anyway is “for the time being​”.

The third meaning of  Ichiou いちおう 一応 is “just in case”

Remember to master the study technique from today’s lesson too. 

Well guys, that’s it for today’s awesome online Japanese lesson from Bondlingo. We hope you have enjoyed yourself and really hope you have learnt something useful. If you have any ideas on future content that you would like us to talk about be sure to get in touch.