Kansai-ben Lesson 5

Kansai-ben lesson Point 「ほんま」
A-san is speaking standard Japanese
B-san is speaking Kansai Dialect

A: 友達は明日神戸に引っ越すって！
B: ほんま？ええな、神戸はええとこやで！

A: My friend is moving to Kobe tomorrow!
B: Really! That’s great, Kobe is a really nice place!

A: おれ、昨日バイク買った。
B: ほんまに？高かったんとちゃう？

A: I bought a motorcycle yesterday!
B: Really? Was it expensive?

A: また政治家が変なこと言ってるよ。
B: ほんまかいな〜 毎年こんなんやなぁ。
※ ほんまかいな〜 Seems to be used more often by older folk, rather than young people.

A: These politicians are talkin’ crazy again…
B: Really? Man it’s the same thing every year…

A: おう！この傘は折りたたみだった！
B: ほんまや！気づかへんかった！

A: Wow! This umbrella folds up!
B: Wow it really does! I didn’t notice!

A: お母さんが病気になった。
B: ほんまに〜。それは大変ですね。

A: My mom got sick.
B: Really… That must be really tough…

「ほんま」Explanation:
Simply put, 「本当に」 in standard Japanese becomes 「ほんまに」 in Kansai dialect. However, there are many ways to express the ほんま - feeling, such as: 「ほんま」such as 「ほんまや」、「ほんまかい」、「ほんまに」。

ほんまや - Includes the feeling, that you have just realized something to be true, that was already known by someone else. For example in the case where person A notices the umbrella she has is actually a fold up, and person B notices just after.

ほんまかい - Includes a feeling of surprise, and a little disgust. Kind of the “oh not again…” reaction. Person A is late again, “Really, good grief”.

ほんまに - This is a surprised, Really? Or, can also be used as emphatic, kind of “really…”. As in our example sentence of the sick mother above.