About the Lesson

In today’s segment, we’ll focus on the phrase いい年して which means “at your age, you should know better.”

The characters in today's lesson:

• 野原(のはら)しんのすけ 5 year old Shinchan. His last name is 野原(のはら) and he is usually called simply しんちゃん.
• 野原みさえ Shinchan’s mother. She is 29 and always concerned about her weight.
• 野原ひろし Shinchan’s dad who always fears upsetting みさえ.
• ミッチー＆ヨシりん the two young lovebirds. ミッチー (the wife) and ヨシりん (the husband) somewhat respect the ひろし and みさえ as their elders but due to their blinding infatuation for each other, ミッチー＆ヨシりん usually end up insulting the 野原 family.

Prior to today’s scene, みさえ discovers she is out of rice. Always pinching pennies, she learns about a “couples piggy-back race” where the prize is half-a-year’s worth of rice. She convinces ひろし into signing up.

The 野原 family attempts to practice in a park. ひろし almosts collapses due to the weight of his wife みさえ. Unfortunately, they run into the young lovers ミッチー＆ヨシりん who are also in the park to practice for the same race. ヨシりん bluntly says みさえ is too heavy.

The key phrase for today's lesson is:

いい年(とし)して

As mentioned above, this is used when someone is at an age where he or she ought to know better but does something he or she shouldn’t.

Unbecoming of your age... Immature... You should know better… Act your age!

In addition, for Makoto+ members, we have a beginner-level essay on using いい年して here: https://makotoplus.com/yonde-miyo-23/)

Dialogue