You may have heard of “やっぱ” or “やっぱり”. Do you know exactly what that means and how to use it?
”やっぱり” is a proverb and phrase. It has two meanings. The first is "I knew" and it is used when something happens as you expected. The second is “on second thought” and it is used when you change your mind at the last minute.
It results in a phonetic change of "やはり".
- Meg: ニューヨーク本社から(東京支社へ)転勤してきたニックに会った?
Have you already met Nick who transferred to the Tokyo branch from the New York headquarter? - Amy: うん。10年振りに東京に戻ってきたんだって。
Yeah, he seems to be back in Tokyo for the first time in 10 years. - Meg: 日本で育ったんだ?やっぱりねー
。日本語がすごい上手だもん。
He grew up in Japan, didn't he? That's what I thought. No wonder his Japanese is really good!
- Meg: あとどれくらいで、バスは来るかな?
How much longer will we have to wait for the bus to arrive? - Amy: あと20分は待たなきゃ。やっぱり、タクシーに乗ればよかったね。
We’ll have to wait for another 20 minutes. We should have taken a taxi. - Meg: そうかも。バスが来るまで、お菓子食べない?
Could be. Why don’t we eat some snacks until it gets here? - Amy: いいね。
All right. - Meg: クッキーいる?プレーンか、チョコチップか?
Do you want cookies? Which do you prefer: plains or chocolate chips? - Amy: ありがとう。チョコチップがいい...あっ、やっぱりプレーンがいい!
Thanks. The chocolate chips look good ...Ah, actually, I will go for the plains!