Ad Text in Japanese:

[large text white font]

会社まで、ただ歩いているだけじゃもったいない！

kaisya made, tada aruiteiru dake jya mottainai!

[smaller text green font]

はいて歩けば、歩き方が変わる。おなか引き締まる。

haite arukeba, arukikata ga kawaru. onaka hikishimaru.

Translation:

Literal translation:
It’s wasteful just walking to your office!
If you put these on and walk, your way of walking will change. It will pull in your stomach.
Harvey translation:
It’s a waste simply walking to work!
If wearing these will change the way you walk tightening your stomach!

Grammar points:
[ただ歩いているだけじゃ]

The じゃ here is very casual. It could be replaced by は or では to make it a little more formal. It emphasizes the previous statement, of “just walking”. Other examples of this じゃ could be… カレーを喰っているだけじゃ風邪治らないよ。 kare wo kutteiru dake jya kaze naoranaiyo. Your cold won’t get better by just eating curry!

[はいて歩けば]

はいて is the て form of 履く。In this sentence はいて is written in Kanji, just in Hiragana, there is no linguistic reason for this, it is just a matter of style that the advertisement designer has chosen.

You can put two verbs together in this manner. In this case, the verb “to put on” (for things that go on your lower half, such as shoes, socks, and pants) is combined with the verb to “walk”. You could use the same pattern in situations such as… お肉を焼いて食べる。 oniku wo yaite taberu. Which means, cook the meat and eat it. When using this grammar pattern the order you say the verbs are important. If you were to say 歩いてはく, it would sound like you start walking first, and then put on the pants.

[歩き方]

歩き方 is way of walking. You can add 「方」to the end of almost any verb, to mean “the way of” or “manner of”. For example, 話し方 would be “way of talking”. 踊り方 would be “way of dancing”. It can even be used in more abstract situations such as 生き方 for “way of living” or “考え方” for way of thinking. This grammar structure is VERY useful!

Vocab List:
会社 - かいしゃ - company
履く - はく - put on (lower body)
歩く - あるく - walk
もったいない - to be a waste (of resources, effort, talent, etc)
歩き方 - あるきかた - way of walking
Let me know if there are any questions and I’ll follow up in the comments!

- Harvey