Last night Rei and I were speaking in Japanese.

And she laughed at one of my mistakes. 😭

When speaking a foreign language, there are some moments where you know, beyond a doubt, that you are making a mistake. But you either don't have the time (or brain energy) to think about the correct way to say something, or you simply don't know how to say it.

For me, it was the former. I knew I was making a mistake, and I knew that if I spent an extra half-second using my brain, I could say something more natural. But it was like 11:30 p.m., I'd been working all day, and I was too tired to be proofreading the flood of incoherent mush swirling around in my head.

And I got laughed at for it.

I think we were talking about looking for an apartment in Penang, Malaysia (we spend an obscene amount of time pondering the logistics of moving to new places... even if we're not necessarily going to them).

I was trying to say something like, "We'll just go visit the apartment building in person."

As a result, I said:

✕　身をもって行く。
✕　みをもって　いく。
✕　Literally: "in person + go."

Behold the dangers of letting yourself think in English.

Because in Japanese, they simply don't say "in person," 身をもって, in this type of situation.

身（here pronounced み） means "body." 以て (もって) means "with" or "by."

It's used in sentences like this:

育児の大変さを身をもって体験した。
いくじ　の　たいへんさ　を　みをもって　たいけん　した。
I [He/She] experienced firsthand how difficult it is raising children.
Literally: "childcare + の + difficulty + を + in person + experienced."
Note: 大変 is an adjective (usually) meaning "tough; difficult," but we can turn it into a noun by putting さ at the end: "difficulty." Also, I had trouble deciding if this should be "raising children" or "having a baby," because the nuance of 育児 is that one is taking care of a very small child (i.e. a baby or a toddler).

Explaining 身をもって is quite difficult, but the simplified explanation is that 身をもって is only used for "experiencing (something) in person." It might help to think of it as "internal firsthand." Or just pick it up naturally over time... my solution for everything that I can't explain very well.

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But how, then, do we say: "Go in person?"

We don't. Instead, it'd be more natural to say: "Go directly."

Specifically, we want to use the word for "direct," which is 直接（ちょくせつ）.

直接行く。
ちょくせつ　いく。
I'll go directly.
Literally: "direct + go."

I use the word 直接 all the time. Here are some other examples:

会社から直接行く。
かいしゃ　から　ちょくせつ　いく。
I'll go there straight from work.
Literally: "company + from + direct + go."

カナから直接聞いた。
カナ　から　ちょくせつ　きいた。
I heard it from Kana herself.
Literally: "Kana + from + direct + heard."

直接さわらないで。
ちょくせつ　さわらないで。
Don't touch it (directly).
Literally: "direct + don't touch."
Note: For example, if you want to tell someone to use their chopsticks, and not their fingers, to pick up some food, then you could say this.

All of the sentences we've seen with 直接 have something in common.

Can you guess what it is?

No, seriously, scroll up and see if you can catch the unique way this word tends to be used.

Any guesses?

The answer is that 直接 will usually come directly before a verb.

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The same is true of two other words that use the kanji 直（with the reading ちょく）：

直前
ちょくぜん
just before

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直後
ちょくご
immediately after

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These words make a lot of sense when you consider that 前（まえ） means "before" and 後（あと） means "after."

寝る直前（に）食べるのは体によくない。
ねる　ちょくぜん（に）　たべる　のは　からだ　に　よくない。
Eating right before you go to bed is bad for you.
Literally: "sleep + just before + eat + のは + body + に + not good."

家を出た直後（に）地震が起こった。
いえ　を　でた　ちょくご（に）　じしん　が　おこった。
The earthquake hit right after I left my house.
Literally: "house + を + went out of + immediately after + earthquake + が + happened."

You might be wondering why I'm including an optional に after 直前 and 直後, though we didn't have one coming after 直接. The short answer is: (1) You're supposed to put に after 直前 and 直後, but people drop it in casual conversations all the time, and (2) you're NOT supposed to put に after 直接... and I have no idea why.

That's all for this lesson. I know that 直後 reading this, you're gonna go study for hours and hours, right?

No?

Meh. I tried.