Page 317 - Basic Japanese

bunch. The NATURE of the relationship of ‘each of us,’ ‘each

(vegetable),’ and ‘at a time’ has to be inferred from the
context or the situation. Often a few additional words in the
sentence will help indicate which of the three distributive

relationships is referred to:

Minna ga hito-taba zutsu kaimashita.
Everybody bought one bunch apiece.

Hōrensō to negi o hito-taba zutsu kaimashita.
We bought one bunch each of spinach and

green onion.

Maiasa hito-taba zutsu kaimashita.

We bought one bunch (at a time) every
morning.

These sentences, too, could be construed with the other

meanings, but the additional contexts make the given
meanings more probable. There is a similar ambiguity with

the English word ‘each.’ Here are some additional examples
of -zutsu:

Sakuban roku-nin no tomodachi ni tegami o ittsū zutsu
kakimashita.

Last night I wrote each of my six friends a letter.

Jugyō-jikan ni kotowaza o hitotsu zutsu naraimashita.
We learned one proverb in each class.