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{
"accepted_answer_id": "33846",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "So I've been reading about という in here and other websites but its still very\nunclear. From what I've seen so far it sometimes doesn't mean anything, but\nI'm not sure, like it must have at least some connotation, right?\n\nSo I picked up this sentence from jisho.org\n\n> 彼らが結婚したという知らせは村中に広がった。\n\nIt's translated as \"The news of their marriage spread throughout the village.\"\nWhat is the meaning of という in this sentence? If I say 彼らが結婚した知らせは村中に広がった,\nwould it be incorrect? Would it be different in any way?\n\nI would like to know what is the purpose of という when its used like that.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-28T10:57:19.983",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33843",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-28T17:58:59.577",
"last_edit_date": "2016-04-28T16:16:44.680",
"last_editor_user_id": "4216",
"owner_user_id": "12121",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 4,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"meaning"
],
"title": "What does という change in this sentence?",
"view_count": 343
} | [
{
"body": "The way I think of という is that it effectively puts quotes around something. So\nwhen you have \"結婚したという知らせ\", it's clear that the \"結婚した\" part is being talked\nabout in a meta sense.\n\nTo contrast that, if you just say ”結婚した知らせ\", that can also be interpreted as\n\"the announcement that was married\". Though people can still figure out what\nyou are saying, I'd argue it's a bit vague and confusing. You can do a google\nsearch for both possibilities to see their rough frequency (google searching\ndoesn't always yield clear results, but in this case I think it's\neducational).\n\nIn the same way, if you were talking about the city they got married in, you\nwould usually say \"彼らが結婚した街\", and not use the という part.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-28T13:30:29.773",
"id": "33846",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-28T13:30:29.773",
"last_edit_date": null,
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"owner_user_id": "11825",
"parent_id": "33843",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "In this example という can be translated quite literally. と is the quote particle\nand いう is \"to say\". So we get \"the news **saying that** they got married\".",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-28T17:40:35.220",
"id": "33848",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-28T17:40:35.220",
"last_edit_date": null,
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"owner_user_id": "7944",
"parent_id": "33843",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "という is easy to understand if you deconstruct it as と (referring to a\nquotation) and いう／言う (to say)\n\nI render it in my mental translation to English as \"that which is said\" or \"so\ncalled\"\n\nIn your case \"news of\" seems a pretty good rendition as well.\n\nThe meaning added with this is that rather than referring directly to the\nsubject the reference is to the idea of a person claiming / stating / talking\nabout the subject / or less wordy: the idea or concept of the subject.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-28T17:45:13.033",
"id": "33849",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-28T17:58:59.577",
"last_edit_date": "2016-04-28T17:58:59.577",
"last_editor_user_id": "13952",
"owner_user_id": "13952",
"parent_id": "33843",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 3
}
]
| 33843 | 33846 | 33846 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33860",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "Here is an excerpt from a manga I'm trying to read:\n<https://i.stack.imgur.com/dGqkb.png> The context is that after a date this\ngirl comes to the guy's house.\n\nI'm having troubles understanding the sentence in the bottom right balloon. It\nsays:\n\n> 「探訪終わった… このあとどうすれば」 \"After 探訪 is over... What am I gonna do?\"\n\nWhy would she use the word 探訪 here? From what I understand, it usually means\nresearching or looking into something, especially with an entention to write a\nnews article. What does that have to do with coming to a boyfriend's house?\n\nHere is the full page if you need more context:\n<https://i.stack.imgur.com/lj1oj.jpg>",
"comment_count": 3,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-28T16:37:04.393",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33847",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-29T05:42:01.527",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "12271",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"meaning",
"manga"
],
"title": "What does 探訪 mean here?",
"view_count": 217
} | [
{
"body": "[This](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/140660/meaning/m0u/%E6%8E%A2%E8%A8%AA/)\nJapanese-Japanese dictionary gives the following definition:\n\n> 社会の出来事や実態を **その現場に行って** さぐり歩くこと。\n\nI've highlighted the part, which I think is most relevant to your example:\nActually going to a place to see/experience it for yourself. The kanji also\nhint at this meaning: (re)searching + visiting.\n\nIn your example (while not knowing the details of the story/context), I'm\nguessing she wanted to go to his place to see it for herself. To experience\nit. And now that she is there, and has seen it, she is unsure what will happen\nnext / What is expected of her. As she notes, this is the first time she's\nbeen to a boy's room. His \"おまえが来たいっつったんだよな？\" also hints at her having\nexpressed a wish to visit his place.\n\nA loose translation might be something like:\n\n> With the 'research' out of the way... Now what?\n\nor:\n\n> I've done what I came for... So what happens next?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-28T18:41:31.073",
"id": "33850",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-28T18:41:31.073",
"last_edit_date": null,
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"owner_user_id": "14287",
"parent_id": "33847",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Well, this sentence is certainly puzzling.\n\nI have seen 探訪 used in the sense of \" _visiting_ someone's house\" several\ntimes (for example, [お部屋探訪](http://www.chintai.net/news/category/visit/)), but\nI can't explain why the girl said 探訪「終わった」 in this context, because she didn't\nwant to leave his house at this point.\n\nOne possibility is that she meant to imply \"There are nothing more to talk\nabout in this house\". Maybe she was so nervous and wanted to talk with him in\nsome way or another, like in the お部屋探訪 articles, but she failed to find a\nproper topic because his house was so simple and unremarkable. I feel so just\nbecause 探訪は終わった is said between 無駄なものがない部屋 and この後どうすれば, but this is just my\nspeculation. Again, 探訪は終わった is _usually_ understood as \"My visit is over\".",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-29T05:42:01.527",
"id": "33860",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-29T05:42:01.527",
"last_edit_date": null,
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"owner_user_id": "5010",
"parent_id": "33847",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
}
]
| 33847 | 33860 | 33850 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33857",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I often hear 全員 pronounced as ”ぜいいん”. I also read online that 雰囲気 can\nsometimes be heard as \"ふいんき” although I have personally never heard that. I\nhave a few questions about this phenomenon:\n\n 1. Is there a name for this?\n 2. Are there any more common examples of this that I should look out for in speech?\n 3. Does it carry some nuance(e.g. street talk, old man, etc), possibly similar to what ないー＞ねえ carries?\n 4. And finally, where am I most likely going to hear this(if at all)? Or in other words - is this a regional thing?",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-29T00:43:08.843",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33855",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-06T06:06:47.057",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "11176",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"phonology"
],
"title": "What is this い sound change?",
"view_count": 323
} | [
{
"body": "全員 surely sounds like ぜいいん [ z ẽ ĩ ] but it's still different from pure ぜいいん [\nz e: ĩ ]. It's a normal phenomenon called assimilation and a natural\nconsequence when you pronounce it without being particularly enunciated as [ z\ne ɴ i ɴ ]. [ e ɴ ] turning into [ ẽ ] is parallel to [ t j ] as in \"hit you\"\nturning into [ tʃ ]\n\nIt's not considered accent or slur, and not unique to a certain region.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-29T01:45:39.197",
"id": "33857",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-29T08:21:52.147",
"last_edit_date": "2016-04-29T08:21:52.147",
"last_editor_user_id": "4092",
"owner_user_id": "4092",
"parent_id": "33855",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 3
}
]
| 33855 | 33857 | 33857 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33892",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I'm writing a story with some... _very_ old people, so I'm chasing down some\nvery outdated pronunciations. What's the oldest known pronunciation for the\nsentence \"When is it?\"\n\n(I'm not _directly_ asking for an archaic pronunciation of「今、いつか？」because for\nall I know they'd've used different words entirely, but that's the sentence as\nit'd appear in modern Japanese.)",
"comment_count": 5,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-29T04:09:23.843",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33858",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-02T07:07:09.603",
"last_edit_date": "2016-04-30T04:14:46.600",
"last_editor_user_id": "7810",
"owner_user_id": "13954",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"archaic-language"
],
"title": "Oldest Japanese Pronunciation for \"When Is It?\"",
"view_count": 284
} | [
{
"body": "I can't tell that this is absolutely correct as a word in Nara period, though.\n\nIn eight-hundreds, before 古今和歌集 was made, it seems that there was a\nconversation like this between Mikado and an editor.\n\n<http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~sg2h-ymst/yamatouta/sennin/arisue.html> \n\n```\n\n 貞観の御時、万葉集はいつばかり作れるぞと問はせたまひければ、よみてたてまつりける\n (In the 貞観 era, Mikado asked me when 万葉集 had been made, and I replied in a poem.)\n \n```\n\n→when＝いつばかり \nTherefore it seems that \"when\" in ancient Japanese was the same as today's\nword \"いつ\". \nAnd ばかり is a word of emphasis. \nAdd a predicate of an interrogative sentence to this phrase, and it is like\nthis.\n\n```\n\n いつなりや\n \n```",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T09:28:13.407",
"id": "33892",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-02T07:07:09.603",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-02T07:07:09.603",
"last_editor_user_id": "13598",
"owner_user_id": "13598",
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"score": 2
}
]
| 33858 | 33892 | 33892 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34545",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I've heard a martial arts Sensei use a phrase that sounds to my English ears\nlike \"yow may\", I think in context (at the end of a teaching, when it was time\nto practice he would clap his hands and then say this) meaning something like\n\"let's go\" or \"to the front\". What's the proper/standard spelling of this\nphrase when you transliterate it to Latin characters?",
"comment_count": 14,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-29T05:01:46.080",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33859",
"last_activity_date": "2016-06-01T08:53:09.000",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "14295",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"spelling"
],
"title": "What's the correct transliteration of ~\"yao mae\"?",
"view_count": 219
} | [
{
"body": "As naruto said, it could be \"yame\" (止め), meaning \"Stop!\", \"Avast!\". I disagree\nthat it would have to be after the practice to make sense. Having no other\nsuggestions I will go with this.",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-02T06:27:37.913",
"id": "33902",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-02T06:27:37.913",
"last_edit_date": null,
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"score": 0
},
{
"body": "**What you are referring to does indeed sound like (止め) or Yame!!** A lot\ntimes (止め) or \"stop\", is used in some sort of practice like baseball (少年野球)\n,budou (武道) and other sports.\n\nIn a competition, Judo for example this is what is said.\n\n> Before initial match. 『まて』、『そのまま』 『Wait』、『stay』\n>\n> Re-start of match and during the match. 『はじめ』, 『よし』 『Start』, 『resume』\n>\n> At the end of the match 『それまで』 『Stop』Not the literal translation, that would\n> be 『Until then or the end』\n\nAlthough (止め) is used quite a lot during pratice it is not said in a\ntournament.\n\nNot sure if that helps you any?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-06-01T08:53:09.000",
"id": "34545",
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"owner_user_id": "14605",
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"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
}
]
| 33859 | 34545 | 34545 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33863",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I’ve encountered this kaomoji:\n\n> ﾖﾛ(｀・ω・´)ｽｸ！\n\nquite a few times already:\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uXeA4.jpg)\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uUW4v.jpg)\n\nHowever, I’m stumped as to what it could mean. I have noticed the half-width\nkatakana「ヨロ」and「スク」, but am unclear on what word/words they are referring to.",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-29T06:45:39.730",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33862",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-29T07:09:35.023",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "4790",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"meaning",
"expressions",
"katakana",
"kana",
"internet-slang"
],
"title": "Meaning of kaomoji: ﾖﾛ(｀・ω・´)ｽｸ！",
"view_count": 1143
} | [
{
"body": "It means ヨロシク, here mistyping/mispronouncing add a Funny/Cute tone.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-29T07:09:35.023",
"id": "33863",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-29T07:09:35.023",
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]
| 33862 | 33863 | 33863 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33865",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I was looking up the conjugation of `言う`, and the passive form of it is\n`言われる`. In the sentence below, which I did not write, `ても` gets attached to\nthat verb form after first dropping `る`. Can someone please explain the\ngrammar behind why it was dropped? What does `ても` mean in this case?\n\n> 急にそんなこと **言われても** 困るよ。",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-29T08:35:32.800",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33864",
"last_activity_date": "2020-07-27T14:53:22.183",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "1346",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"verbs",
"conjugations",
"passive-voice"
],
"title": "Meaning of 言われ + ても",
"view_count": 2286
} | [
{
"body": "も is roughly \"even\", \"also\". Attached to a verb's て-form, it has a meaning of\n\"even (if)\".\n\n言われても thus literally means \"even if told\".\n\nA translation for you sentence might look like this: \"I'm going to worry/be in\ntrouble even if you suddenly tell me that!\" (even if I'm being told that)",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-29T08:44:16.950",
"id": "33865",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-29T08:44:16.950",
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"owner_user_id": "14257",
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"score": 3
}
]
| 33864 | 33865 | 33865 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33869",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I am reading the Fullmetal Alchemist manga and came across the following in\nthe first volume:\n\n> 祈り信じよ\n>\n> されば救われん\n\nThe subtitles of the\n[anime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullmetal_Alchemist_%28anime%29)\ntranslate this to be:\n\n> \"Pray and you shall be saved.\"\n\nThe translation work on [Viking\nAnime](http://z7.invisionfree.com/Viking_Anime/index.php?showtopic=24&view=findpost&p=13289803)\nhas this:\n\n> \"Believe in your prayers, and you can be saved.\"\n\nThe first part is easy (about the prayers), but the part I can't figure out is\nthe \"われん\" ending. The base verb is 救う, so is 救われん a contraction? If so, of\nwhat verb ending?",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-29T14:43:15.440",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33867",
"last_activity_date": "2019-12-11T23:01:43.783",
"last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500",
"last_editor_user_id": "-1",
"owner_user_id": "10888",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 8,
"tags": [
"conjugations",
"contractions",
"manga",
"anime"
],
"title": "What is the verb ending of われん mean?",
"view_count": 1300
} | [
{
"body": "救われん is made of 救われる and the archaic suffix ん, which came out of む. む・ん had\nsimilar roles to よう・おう today; that is to say, 救われん in modern style would be\n救われよう or 救われるだろう. It is not related to the ん that comes out of ぬ, which is a\nstrong or dialectal way of stating a negative.\n\nAdditionally, as chocolate says in the comments, 祈り信じよ means 'Pray and\nbelieve', rather than 'Believe in your prayers.' Accordingly, the full phrase\nliterally means 'Pray and believe, that you might be saved.' In more modern\nJapanese, the phrase is 祈って信じなさい。そうであれば、救われよう。",
"comment_count": 8,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-29T15:48:09.777",
"id": "33869",
"last_activity_date": "2019-12-11T23:01:43.783",
"last_edit_date": "2019-12-11T23:01:43.783",
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"score": 13
},
{
"body": "\"祈り信じよ、さらば救われん\" can be translated as “Pray and believe in (the God), and you\nshall be saved, not \"Believe in your prayers, and you can be saved.\"\n\n”救われん” is a passive, future form of 救う. …れん is an antiquated expression that\ncan be used in such various ways as;\n\n崇められる ⇒ 崇められん – will be worshipped.\n\n褒められる ⇒ 褒められん – will be praised.\n\n謗られる ⇒ 謗られん – will be denounced.\n\n報いられる ⇒ 報いられん – will (can) be rewarded.\n\n恵まれる ⇒ 恵まれん - will (can) be afforded.\n\n施される ⇒ 施されん – will (can) be given.\n\n語られる ⇒ 語られん – will be talked about.\n\n為される ⇒ 為されん – will (can) be done.\n\n生かされる/活かされる ⇒ 生かされん/活かされん will be kept alive.\n\n記される ⇒ 記されん – will be described.\n\n(偉大な詩人の一人に)数えられる ⇒ 数えられん - can be counted as (one of the greatest poets)",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-02T01:19:00.410",
"id": "33900",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-02T01:25:32.037",
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}
]
| 33867 | 33869 | 33869 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I've come across this statement in a manga recently:\n\n> 今までの話で笑うトコあったのか俺マジ判んないんだけど？\n\nThe part I am having trouble with is \"今までの話で笑うトコあったのか\". \nI'm familiar with plain present verb + ところだ/です = \"be about to [verb]\". But the\nuse of ある vs です is throwing me. Also I think か in this case has to do with an\nembedded question, but I do see an interrogative. If some one has a\ntranslation for this and could possibly break it down for me I would really\nappreciate it.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-30T05:49:24.080",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33871",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-30T07:32:24.107",
"last_edit_date": "2016-04-30T07:19:14.013",
"last_editor_user_id": "1628",
"owner_user_id": "14308",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 6,
"tags": [
"grammar"
],
"title": "...verb+ところあったのか",
"view_count": 206
} | [
{
"body": "ところ in this sentence means \"part\". 笑うトコあったのか means \"Is there a part which we\nlaugh at.\"\n\nところ means \"part, place\". For example, この辺に走る(走れる)所あったっけ? (Is there a place\naround here where I can run?).",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-30T07:15:01.697",
"id": "33874",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-30T07:32:24.107",
"last_edit_date": "2016-04-30T07:32:24.107",
"last_editor_user_id": "9831",
"owner_user_id": "7320",
"parent_id": "33871",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 6
}
]
| 33871 | null | 33874 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "Native English speakers sometimes mix up Austria and Australia\n([example](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3474132/Whoops-CNN-\nmercilessly-mocked-online-mixes-Austria-Australia.html)).\n\nDo native Japanese speakers sometimes mix up \"オーストリア\" and \"オーストラリア\"?",
"comment_count": 8,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-30T06:47:39.823",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33872",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-02T20:46:46.393",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "91",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 7,
"tags": [
"loanwords"
],
"title": "Do native Japanese speakers confuse \"オーストリア\" and \"オーストラリア\"",
"view_count": 410
} | [
{
"body": "Any Japanese who knows Austria and Australia are different countries wouldn't\nconfuse them. We pronounce Austria as オーストリア, オーストリヤ, or オーストリー (elder\ngenaration tends to call this way. Conversly younger generation calls Italy as\nイタリー、while elder genaration tends to call it イタリヤ), and Australia as オーストラリア\nwith a clear vocal distinction.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-30T23:35:02.187",
"id": "33883",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-02T11:29:22.123",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-02T11:29:22.123",
"last_editor_user_id": "12056",
"owner_user_id": "12056",
"parent_id": "33872",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Yes, many people do. The katakana transcriptions of them are based on English,\nand so they sound.\n\nThere are other confusing country names in Japanese such as アルバニア{Albania} and\nアルメニア{Armenia}, アイルランド{Ireland} and アイスランド{Iceland}, or ウルグアイ{Uruguay} and\nパラグアイ{Paraguay}, but this one is especially infamous because both countries\nare well-known ones and likely to be on everybody's lips including those\nwho're not particularly into geography.\n\nIf you write them in kanji, European Austria is 墺【おう】 and Oceanian Australia\nis 豪【ごう】 (濠) so there's no confusion. But the problem is Austrian 墺 is\nrelatively less known and if you explain that it means \"Austria\", the chaos\nstarts over again.\n\n* * *\n\nFurther reading: [Runaway 'kangaroo' spotted in Austrian\ngarden](http://www.thelocal.at/20150128/runaway-kangaroo-spotted-in-austrian-\ngarden)",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T06:11:16.230",
"id": "33888",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T06:18:42.257",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-01T06:18:42.257",
"last_editor_user_id": "7810",
"owner_user_id": "7810",
"parent_id": "33872",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "It can happen in Japanese just like it can happen in English.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T13:50:34.203",
"id": "33894",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T13:50:34.203",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "12106",
"parent_id": "33872",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 0
}
]
| 33872 | null | 33888 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33877",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "In a shop I want to ask \"Are there any books by Haruki Murakami?\" I don't know\nthe natural way to express **by** in this context.\n\nI thought maybe I could use the passive form like this:\n\n> 村上に書かれる本がありますか。\n\nBut having to explicitly use the verb 書く seems unnecessary. I assume that\n\n> *村上に本がありますか。\n\nis just incorrect grammar.\n\nI thought maybe\n\n> 村上作がありますか。\n\nmight be correct, but a google search for 村上作が returned no results. What is\nthe natural way to ask this question?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-30T14:54:34.653",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33876",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T21:02:46.433",
"last_edit_date": "2016-04-30T15:48:57.740",
"last_editor_user_id": "9831",
"owner_user_id": "7944",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 5,
"tags": [
"grammar"
],
"title": "How to say \"written by\"",
"view_count": 3575
} | [
{
"body": "We say usually 村上春樹の本はありますか?. \"written by\" is translated as \"によって書かれた and\n～著作の\" but we usually omit them.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-30T15:11:01.133",
"id": "33877",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-30T15:11:01.133",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "7320",
"parent_id": "33876",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "To less frequently than 村上春樹の本はありますか?, we say 村上春樹のありますか？ or\n村上春樹が書いたの（置いて）ありますか？",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T21:02:46.433",
"id": "33898",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T21:02:46.433",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "12056",
"parent_id": "33876",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
}
]
| 33876 | 33877 | 33877 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33904",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I'm confused about the use of the first (bold) の in this sentence:\n\n> 「先によそへ贈る **の** を買うのっ」\n\nI'm happy with the use of の as a nominaliser, but if I use it like that I get:\n\n> Before that, I will buy \"giving a gift\" somewhere else.\n\nYou can't buy \"giving a gift\". I would be happy if the sentence were\n\n> 先によそへ贈る **もの** を買うのっ。 \n> Before that, I will buy a thing to give as a gift somewhere else.\n\nWhat am I not understanding here?",
"comment_count": 6,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-30T16:35:50.190",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33878",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-02T11:54:12.410",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "7944",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"particle-の",
"nominalization"
],
"title": "Can もの be replaced with の when it is used to mean \"thing\"?",
"view_count": 151
} | [
{
"body": "That の is a pronoun that indicates something aforementioned in the context.\n(よそ means a family that is not your own or your relatives.)\n\n\"I'll buy **one** to give to other families first\".",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-02T11:54:12.410",
"id": "33904",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-02T11:54:12.410",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "4092",
"parent_id": "33878",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 1
}
]
| 33878 | 33904 | 33904 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33887",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "What is a good way to say that a book is a light read? By that I mean writing\nthat is basically created for entertainment, doesn't contain much drama and\nisn't particularly thought-provoking. Preferably not in a condescending tone\n(so not like \"trashy literature\"). One pharse I've heard is 元気が出る本 but maybe\nthat's a little different from what I'm describing. I believe ライトノベル is not\nthe right term either because from what I've read some of them can be quite\nserious.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-30T19:16:45.447",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33879",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T03:16:07.660",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-01T03:16:07.660",
"last_editor_user_id": "5010",
"owner_user_id": "12271",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"translation",
"phrase-requests",
"word-requests"
],
"title": "How do you say \"a light read\"?",
"view_count": 375
} | [
{
"body": "You could possibly say that a book is 読みやすい, meaning easy to read. That\nwouldn't carry the connotation of a certain kind of book, but lets you know\nthat it's not super dense.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-30T19:44:53.143",
"id": "33881",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-30T19:44:53.143",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "10795",
"parent_id": "33879",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
},
{
"body": "How about 気楽【きらく】 or 気軽【きがる】 (na-adjectives)? These words imply that the\ncontent is not so serious nor thought-provoking.\n\n * 気軽に読める本\n * 気軽な読み物／小説\n\nAnother option would be 手軽【てがる】 (na-adjective), although this may tend to\nimply the volume of the content (ie, the number of words in a book) is small.\n\nAs you already know, ライトノベル refers to a certain genre of novel mainly targeted\nat _otaku_. They are basically 気軽 but not always so.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T03:15:33.753",
"id": "33887",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T03:15:33.753",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "5010",
"parent_id": "33879",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
}
]
| 33879 | 33887 | 33881 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33882",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Maruko is complaining that mum is buying seaweed as a new year's present. Mum\nreplies:\n\n> 「のりは食べる機会が多くて **すぐに減る** からもらったらありがたいもんなのよ。」 \n> There are plenty of opportunities to eat seaweed, and because they\n> **immediately decrease** , when one receives it they are grateful.\n\nWhy do the opportunities to eat seaweed decrease? Is there some cultural\nknowledge I'm missing or is my translation wrong?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-30T19:29:53.357",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33880",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-30T22:07:56.847",
"last_edit_date": "2016-04-30T19:46:20.630",
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "7944",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 4,
"tags": [
"て-form",
"culture",
"reading-comprehension"
],
"title": "Confusing use of 減る",
"view_count": 182
} | [
{
"body": "What decreases is the stock on hand. In other words, Maruko's mother is saying\nthat, since people eat nori on so many occasions, **one's supply** runs out\nvery quickly, and so one is happy to receive it. Think of a big pool of\navailable nori that gets drained as it gets used.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-04-30T20:24:42.717",
"id": "33882",
"last_activity_date": "2016-04-30T22:07:56.847",
"last_edit_date": "2016-04-30T22:07:56.847",
"last_editor_user_id": "9959",
"owner_user_id": "9959",
"parent_id": "33880",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 8
}
]
| 33880 | 33882 | 33882 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "Do native speakers of Japanese write romaji the same way native speakers of\nEnglish would, or do they do it differently, possibly using the rules that\nthey'd use for writing hiragana, katakana, and kanji?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T01:57:59.233",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33884",
"last_activity_date": "2017-06-18T12:32:29.287",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "91",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"rōmaji",
"stroke-order"
],
"title": "Is the stroke order native Japanese speakers use for romaji different to those of native English speakers?",
"view_count": 1036
} | [
{
"body": "This page shows an example of typical \"proper stroke order of alphabets\" which\nJapanese students may see in basic English textbooks:\n\n[アルファベットの一般的な筆順](https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/angj/qanda/write.html)\n\nSee the stroke order of A, M and W, for instance. Do you think writing M with\nfour strokes is odd? According to [this\nquestion](http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/224130.html), Japanese Ministry of\nEducation seems to have determined \"the proper stroke order\" that way long\ntime ago. Some people seems to believe that this stroke order was influenced\nby the kanji writing system in which upward strokes occur rarely, but I don't\nknow if that's true.\n\nIn reality, however, the stroke order is not considered important even at\nschool, as long as Latin alphabets are concerned. Most people stop writing `M`\nand `W` with four strokes very soon. This does not necessarily reflect how\npeople _usually_ write these alphabets in Japan.\n\nI know very little about how alphabets are written by hand outside of Japan,\nso I'd like to see answers from other people. As a starter, [this Wikipedia\narticle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_handwriting_variation#The_Latin_writing_system)\nsummarizes regional handwriting variations of alphabets and numerals.",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T03:06:18.527",
"id": "33886",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T03:06:18.527",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "5010",
"parent_id": "33884",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "When I was a child in first grade, I learned how to write an \"M\" / \"W\" with\nfour(4) strokes. A 6 year old child has problems with eye-hand coordination to\nget spacing correct on the \"M\" and \"W\".\n\nSince traditionally the Japanese student did NOT learn how to write English\ncharacters until 4th grade, I would assume the Ministry of Education in Japan,\njust cookie cuttered some English learning program out of England, as a 9 year\nold does have more control over strokes.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2017-06-17T18:04:58.597",
"id": "48497",
"last_activity_date": "2017-06-17T18:04:58.597",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "22596",
"parent_id": "33884",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 0
},
{
"body": "Way back when as a French Canadian elementary school student, I don't remember\nstroke order being given a great deal of emphasis beyond serving as a\nconvenient common ground when initially teaching how to write the letters,\nfirst for block letters in first grade, and later for cursive letters in\nfourth grade. After that, most people tended to develop their individual style\nthat included a mix of block and cursive letters, written in whatever order\nwas most comfortable for that person.\n\nThis contrasts strongly with the importance of correct stroke order in\nJapanese, where it matters not only for kanji, but also for hiragana and\nkatakana. I suspect that this mentality was carried over to the roman alphabet\nwhen it became important to teach it in Japan, and its influence still\ncontinues: when Japanese kids start junior high school and English first\nbecomes a full-time part of the curriculum, they are made to learn roman\nletters again, with the proper stroke order.\n\nWhen I worked as a teacher at a cram school, it would trip me up at times\nbecause the official stroke order doesn't always match the way I got into the\nhabit of writing the various letters when I was still in school.\n\nThe way Japanese people write the letters of the roman alphabet, then, will\nmatch that of a subset of native speakers of other languages using that\nalphabet, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a common stroke order for\nevery single letter among a large majority of those native speakers.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2017-06-18T12:32:29.287",
"id": "48510",
"last_activity_date": "2017-06-18T12:32:29.287",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "22424",
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"post_type": "answer",
"score": 0
}
]
| 33884 | null | 33886 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "How does one refer to 'it' in Japanese? Is there an equivalent word?\n\nI've seen a few different terms used in place of 'it' - sore (それ) - suki (すき)\n\nMy context is for saying things such as:\n\n' **It** 's cold.'\n\n'What is **it**?\n\n'How long will **it** be?'\n\n' **It** 's very pretty.\n\nI want to be able to refer to things without having to extend my sentences -\nrather than saying 'the weather is cold', 'the tree is very pretty', etc.\n\nThanks!",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T08:56:58.180",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33889",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T09:12:04.747",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "14211",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 5,
"tags": [
"words",
"phrases"
],
"title": "How do you say 'it'?",
"view_count": 12437
} | [
{
"body": "There is no word for 'it'. Japanese is a very contextual language and the 'it'\nwill be inferred from context.\n\nTo take some of your examples, if you are walking down the street and you say\n\"it's cold\" your friend will know what you mean without talking about weather.\nThe 'it' adds absolutely no new/useful information. Similarly, if you say\n寒{さむ}いですね your Japanese friend will equally understand.\n\nIf you say \"it's pretty\" in English that means nothing to anyone. You must\nhave established a context in your conversation before this sentence makes\nsense, e.g. \"Look at that flower. It's pretty\". In this context you can just\nsay きれいだ and it will make sense. These are complete sentences in Japanese.\n\nBTW すき means 'like'. It isn't a pronoun.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T09:12:04.747",
"id": "33890",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T09:12:04.747",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "7944",
"parent_id": "33889",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 11
}
]
| 33889 | null | 33890 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33896",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "In this sentence:\n\n> _Neko da kara desu._ \n> Because it's a cat.\n\nWhy are the \"da\" and \"desu\" used at the same time? Logically, it should've\nbeen:\n\n> _Neko desu kara desu._\n\nOr in a casual conversation if we don't drop the last \"da\":\n\n> _Neko da kara da._\n\nRight?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T10:56:24.520",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33893",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T19:22:12.057",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-01T19:22:12.057",
"last_editor_user_id": "1628",
"owner_user_id": "11051",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"word-choice",
"verbs",
"politeness",
"copula"
],
"title": "Noun + da kara desu -- why are da and desu mixed? why not both \"da\" or both \"desu\"?",
"view_count": 3415
} | [
{
"body": "This is one of those funny nuance things. It's got little to do with grammar\nand more to do with how it **feels** to say that. If I wanted to sound\ncondescending I'd say it like that, though I guess to get that effect tone of\nvoice is also important.\n\nYou would never in a million years say desukara desu. That just doesn't work.\n9 times out of 10 you would just say neko dakara. Nothing more.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T13:52:52.717",
"id": "33895",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T13:52:52.717",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "12106",
"parent_id": "33893",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 1
},
{
"body": "Basically, the casual form is ～だからだ and its polite form is ～だからです. e.g.\n\n> ネコだからだ(よ)。 \n> 人間だからです。 \n> 坊やだからさ。\n\nThe から is a 接続助詞(conjunctive particle), definition #1 in\n[デジタル大辞泉](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/45491/meaning/m0u/):\n\n> 2⃣ [接助]活用語の終止形に付く。 １ 理由・原因を表す。「もう遅い **から** 帰ろう」 (attached to the predicative\n> form of 活用語. 1. indicates a reason or cause.)\n\nThe から needs to be attached to the predicative form such as ～だ or ～する, so here\nyou get ねこだから (not *ねこから), then you use a copula だ or です to end a sentence\n(though you can just say ～だから。 in casual conversation), so you say ねこだからだ or\nねこだからです.\n\nYou don't say *ねこですからです because you wouldn't need more than one polite marker\nin one clause, I think...",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T14:43:41.000",
"id": "33896",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-01T14:43:41.000",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "9831",
"parent_id": "33893",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 5
}
]
| 33893 | 33896 | 33896 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33899",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I'm solving exercises for N1 level and I came across this question.\n\n> 新しい家に飾る絵を探しているが、なかなか＿＿というものが見つからない。\n>\n> A. これか\n>\n> B. これは\n>\n> C. これさえ\n>\n> D. これだけ\n\nThe correct answer is B but I think it should be C.\n\nI don't understand what the grammar point of 「これはというもの」is.",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T20:30:15.177",
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"post_type": "question",
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"tags": [
"grammar",
"jlpt"
],
"title": "What's the meaning of 「これはというもの」?",
"view_count": 2310
} | [
{
"body": "「これは」 is an expression which indicates surprise, or something that's giving\nthe speaker pause, along the lines of _\"Wait, this one...\"_. Anything coming\nbefore a 「という」 should be taken as literal exclamation; so rather than 「はという」,\nthe sentence really is:\n\n> なかなか「これは」というものが見つからない。\n\nWhich means _\"I can't really find anything that makes me go 'This is it.'\"_ ,\nor _\"...that I find worth considering.\"_",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-01T22:00:31.467",
"id": "33899",
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{
"body": "The structure **X というもの** changes a word or sentence into a noun phrase (a\nconcept), and means 'something like X' .\n\n * さえ is a particle but not a sentence ending one so it cannot appear before a と quote.\n * だけ too is a particle; it can appear in a sentence-ending as long as it is followed by the copula. So it would need to be これだけだ to fit.\n * if これか is an embedded question, then it uses a different structure to と quotes, and anyway the speaker would more likely ask a question like これは何というものですか.\n\nWhichever way, か, さえ and だけ simply don't make sense in the context of this\nproblem.\n\nSo why is これは? correct when it too seems to jar?\n\n * **これは** marks the topic and it is assumed to be something known by the speaker and hearer. In this case, it refers back to **飾る絵** in the first clause (ISR: intersentential reference)\n * Simplifying the second clause you get: **これは見つかれない** - \"I can't find this\" which starts to sound better but, これ is a demonstrative pronoun that points to a specific thing.\n * The speaker has a general idea in mind of what they want so you need to make これは into a general concept. By adding というもの to the topic to abstract it into 'I can't find something like this' and then adding in the adverb なかなか(Vneg~ない), you get **\" but, it's not easy to find something like this\"**.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2022-04-14T06:19:05.813",
"id": "94106",
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| 33897 | 33899 | 33899 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33905",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "While taking a look at his bicycle the protagonist said.\n\n> つい気になった部分を、\n> **小手先で済ませるよりは結局早く終わるだろうと、分解しつつ片っ端から手をつけていったら、完全にバラしてまた組み直すような真似をしていた。**\n\n> Regarding the parts I got interest in, thinking it's better to finish it\n> early rather than to finish it superficially, While I was dissembling I\n> started tampering with it and I dissembled it and reassembled it.\n\nI am having trouble understanding pretty much the entire sentence. Can someone\nexplain it?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-02T11:06:23.587",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33903",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"meaning"
],
"title": "小手先で済ませるよりは結局早く終わるだろうと、分解しつつ片っ端から手をつけていったら、完全にバラしてまた組み直すような真似をしていた",
"view_count": 132
} | [
{
"body": "小手先で済ませるよりは結局早く終わるだろうと: thinking it will eventually be finished earlier than\nto settle it down superficially\n\n * \"it's better to finish it early\" would be 早く終わらせるべき\n\n分解しつつ片っ端から手をつけていったら: as I dissemble **d** it and ~~take~~ took every single\npiece in sight\n\n * したら = when I do, していったら = as I do\n\n完全にバラしてまた組み直すような真似をしていた: I found myself doing something like thoroughly\ndissembling and reassembling it again.\n\n * まね basically means mimicking but here it's used to express how pointless the work was, though he was actually doing it.\n\nEdit: ～ていく means\n\n 1. do something somewhere and left there e.g. 食べていこう: let's eat it before we go\n 2. the action evolves to the direction away from the point-of-view e.g. 押していけ: push forward\n 3. something gradually changes or result of a recursive action accumulates e.g. 無数の星が消えていく: countless stars vanish ~~es~~ one after another\n\nIn this case, it's used in the third sense and していったら instead of simple したら\nmeans he recognized himself in the course of the work, not so much as he\nworked, then recognized.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-02T12:48:32.290",
"id": "33905",
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}
]
| 33903 | 33905 | 33905 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "On _\"A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar\"_ , when a grammar pattern works\nwith the informal form of a verb, they only talk about the positive present\ntense and the positive past tense. (At least until page 131, which is where\nI'm currently in). I think it's just the way this book works, but I'm not\nabsolutely sure.\n\nFor example:\n\nCould...\n\n> 雪子さんとはデートしただけです。\n\n...be...\n\n> 雪子さんとはデートできないだけです。\n\n?\n\n* * *\n\nOr could...\n\n> あの人はよく勉強するだけではなくよく遊びます。\n\n...be...\n\n> あの人はあまり勉強しないだけではなくあまり遊びません。\n\n?\n\n* * *\n\nBy the way, when we use informal adjectives, could I write...\n\n> この家は大きくないだけです。\n\n...or can't I use the negative form?\n\n* * *\n\nThe same question for な-adjectives. Can I say:\n\n> このお菓子は色がきれいじゃないだけです。\n\n?\n\n* * *\n\nBasically, my question is: whenever I see _\"Vinf\"_ (informal verb) or _\"Adj\n(i) inf\"_ (informal い-adjective) on this book, can I assume it's **every**\ninformal form?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-02T22:22:19.363",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33907",
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"owner_user_id": "11530",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"verbs",
"conjugations"
],
"title": "Possible conjugations on certain grammar patterns",
"view_count": 121
} | [
{
"body": "ない behaves like an i-adjective. You may end up with some strange sentences\n(雪子さんとはデートできないだけです, but you can turn water into wine) but grammatically you\ncan do what you are suggesting.",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-03T16:59:36.327",
"id": "33921",
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| 33907 | null | 33921 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33911",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Sometimes I see ~の(が/は) used before the verb 分かる, and sometimes と(は). Is there\na difference in meaning or grammar between these two?\n\nFor example, are both below sentences correct and do they have the same\nnuance? (My intention is to mean \"I understand it is red\")\n\n> 赤なのが分かる。\n\n> 赤だと分かる。\n\nIs there any major difference between 〜の and 〜と with this verb? If so, can\nsomeone give me a proper example sentence for each that illustrates its usage?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T02:33:01.883",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33909",
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"last_edit_date": "2022-03-26T06:50:36.030",
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"owner_user_id": "11825",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 5,
"tags": [
"particles",
"verbs"
],
"title": "〜の vs 〜と before 分かる",
"view_count": 454
} | [
{
"body": "They are correct and with the same meaning but different in grammar\n\n赤なの = 赤(a noun) + な(a 連体形 of verbal auxiliary だ) + の(a postpositional particle\nused in nominalization)\n\n赤だと = 赤(a noun) + だ(a verbal auxiliary だ) + と(a postpositional particle)\n\nFor example, 彼が先生だと分かった and 彼が先生なのが分かった.",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T04:11:29.737",
"id": "33911",
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"score": 2
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]
| 33909 | 33911 | 33911 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33922",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "I was wondering when to use one over the other, when talking about a girl.\nI've seen 女の子 more often, but would like to know the nuances.\n\nInteresting enough, I've only come across 男の子 for boys. But then again I\nhaven't had the chance to read a lot of \"real\" Japanese text yet.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T06:33:45.790",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33913",
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"owner_user_id": "11369",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 11,
"tags": [
"word-choice",
"nuances"
],
"title": "女子 vs 女の子 nuances",
"view_count": 4837
} | [
{
"body": "女の子 is younger than 女子 in my feeling. I feel 女の子 is around elementary school\nkids, and 女子 is around junior and senior high school students because we refer\nto them like 女子中学生 and 女子高校生.\n\nHowever this feeling may vary from person to person and we sometimes use these\nwords for adult women.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T07:04:23.873",
"id": "33914",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-03T10:12:13.017",
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"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
},
{
"body": "女子 is one that's categorized as female from a standpoint of some authority\ntechnically regardless of age like \"women\" as in sport or toilet. In this\nsense, 子 means \"element\".\n\n女の子 is \"girl\". In this sense, 子 means \"child\".",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T11:36:08.573",
"id": "33918",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-03T11:36:08.573",
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{
"body": "女の子 literally means \"female child\", thus _girl_. Despite the hiragana in the\nmiddle, it's already one solid word, always pronounced as おんなのこ{LHHLL}. The\nsame applies to 男の子 ( _boy_ , おとこのこ{LHHLL}).\n\nOn the other hand, 子【し】 in 女子【じょし】 doesn't mean \"child\". The kanji here\nroughly means \"one (who --)\" (In Chinese, 男 and 女 are adjectives and not\nnouns, so when you refer to a man or woman you need something to make them\ninto nouns). This usage of 子 in other than 男子 and 女子 is mostly archaic, only\noccasionally seen in bookish writing style, such as\n「[読書子に寄す](http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/001119/files/42753_16113.html)」 or\n「[雲白く遊子悲しむ](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%83%E6%9B%B2%E5%B7%9D%E6%97%85%E6%83%85%E3%81%AE%E6%AD%8C)」.\n\nIn modern settings, 男子 and 女子 are often used in the school or sports, which\nmay lead you into the impression that they suggest \"young\" men or women, but\nthere isn't really such a thing (as we say 男子トイレ or 女子更衣室 for young and old).\nThe nuance around the words is more like \"mankind\" and \"womankind\" as opposed\nto each other, or something like \"male member\" and \"female member\".\n\n* * *\n\n**PS** \n女子 actually also has a reading おなご, an old-fashioned and/or rustic sounding\nword for _girl_ , or _lassie_.",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-03T17:50:19.767",
"id": "33922",
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"score": 13
}
]
| 33913 | 33922 | 33922 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33917",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "So I've learned that はじめまして is used in first meetings and that it stems from\nthe verb はじめる (to start; to begin). But what form is it? It's apparently not\nthe polite past form, which has a -た at the end (はじめました). Is it a proper verb\nform of はじめる anyway or should it simply be seen as a set expression?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T09:22:26.833",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33916",
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"last_edit_date": "2016-05-03T09:57:54.367",
"last_editor_user_id": "542",
"owner_user_id": "11834",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 7,
"tags": [
"verbs",
"conjugations",
"greetings"
],
"title": "Which form is はじめまして?",
"view_count": 758
} | [
{
"body": "To break it down, はじめまして is the て form of はじめます, and はじめます is the polite form\nof はじめる.\n\nはじめまして is a fixed expression.\n\nYou'll see ～～まして in some fixed expressions such as:\n\n> * あけ **まして** おめでとうございます。-- Happy new year.\n> * どういたし **まして** 。-- You are welcome.\n>\n\nas well as in polite/formal speech or writing such as:\n\n> * ご来店ください **まして** 、誠にありがとうございます。 \n> -- Thank you for visiting our store.\n> * ご迷惑をおかけし **まして** 、申し訳ございません。 \n> -- We are sorry to have troubled you.\n>",
"comment_count": 3,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T10:10:55.887",
"id": "33917",
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"owner_user_id": "9831",
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"post_type": "answer",
"score": 7
}
]
| 33916 | 33917 | 33917 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33920",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "> あなたにとってWAO!!STYLEでの使命は？？\n>\n> WAO!!STYLEに関わる全ての人を幸せにすること、 \n> 私を選んでくれた人の期待を超えることです。 \n> 常に自分の満足ではなく関わる人の幸せを思う人間性をみにつけ、 \n> **私に任せたいといってもらえるようにならなければなりません。 \n> また私に結婚式をまかせていただけるお客様の期待に応え、** \n> その期待を超えていきます。\n>\n> What is the mission in the WAO!!STYLE?\n>\n> Making everyone who sticks with the WAO!!STYLE happy, \n> Surpassing the expectations of those who chose me. \n> Acquiring the human nature of not thinking about your satisfaction but the\n> always about happiness of others, \n> Becoming able to be told \"I want to rely on you\". \n> Moreover, Answering to the expectations of the clients who leave to me\n> their wedding ceremonies and sorpassing those expectations.\n\nI am confused with 貰う and 頂く. \nFrom what I know 貰う=頂く but less polite. \nThe grammar with て頂く・てもらう is:\n\n> 私が貴方に本を読んでもらう・読んで頂く\n\nThe reader is 貴方 and the one who is receiving the favour is 私.\n\nIn the sentences above it looks to me that に does not mark the one who does\n任せる. \nAm I wrong? \nAlso why is 私に任せたい? \nShouldn't it be 任せて欲しい?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T13:01:01.267",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33919",
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"owner_user_id": "11352",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"grammar"
],
"title": "て頂く、てもらう, に. Who does the action?",
"view_count": 213
} | [
{
"body": "You generally have the right pattern with 〜て貰う and 〜ていただく, however the に in\nthe two cases doesn't connect directly with these verbs.\n\n```\n\n 私に任せたいといってもらえる\n \n```\n\nIn this case the person \"able to receive\" (もらえる) the action is the writer,\nhowever the phrase \"私に任せたい\" simply means \"leave it to me\". I guess you can\nthink of it as the \"私に任せたい\" part being separate from the もらえる verb, i.e.\n\n```\n\n (私に任せたい)といってもらえる\n \n```\n\nSo 私に任せたい is equivalent \"leave it to me\", except there is no word for \"me\" in\nJapanese so you get 私 (\"I\").\n\n```\n\n また私に結婚式をまかせていただける\n \n```\n\nSame thing here. The \"私に\" is referring to the person who it will be left to,\nentrusted to, not the いただける verb.\n\nThis is extremely confusing, but if you read enough of these type of sentences\nyou'll learn to differentiate from context (:",
"comment_count": 14,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T13:26:23.820",
"id": "33920",
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]
| 33919 | 33920 | 33920 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "In a manga I'm reading a boy accidentally broke a friends toy, after which he\nsays in an apologetic fashion :\n\n> あなたの言う事何でも聞くよ！\n>\n> このとーりよ！\n\nI understand the first part, but the second part which apparently means \"like\nthis\" or \"in this way\" doesn't really seem to fit. Does anyone have a better\ntranslation?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T17:59:31.343",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33923",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T06:13:13.630",
"last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500",
"last_editor_user_id": "-1",
"owner_user_id": "14308",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 11,
"tags": [
"usage",
"expressions"
],
"title": "このとおりよ as an expression",
"view_count": 1235
} | [
{
"body": "I think the この通り means (or, comes from) something like\n「この通り、謝ります（だから許してください）。」 \"I'm apologizing _like this / as you see_ (so please\nforgive me)\" or 「この通り、お願いします（だから頼みを聞いてください）。」 \"I am begging you _like this /\nas you see_ (so please do me a favor).\"\n\nThis phrase is used when you apologize someone or ask a favor of someone, and\nyou'd usually say it while lowering your head, or joining your palms together\nas if in prayer, or maybe doing _dogeza_..., your word この通り indicating your\ngesture/action of apologizing or pleading.\n\nExamples:\n\n> 「本当に申し訳ありません！この通りです！」(I am very sorry! I apologize!) \n> 「ごめんなさい！この通り！」 (I'm sorry! I apologize!) \n> 「許して！この通りだから！」 (Forgive me! I'm begging you!) \n> 「お願い！この通り！」(Please! I'm begging you!)\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CBCJO.png)\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vBVey.png)\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/B74y7.jpg)\n\n↓ Though I think people normally bow deeper than this:\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KrpB3.jpg)",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T18:19:53.933",
"id": "33924",
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"post_type": "answer",
"score": 20
}
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| 33923 | null | 33924 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "I saw a few bits here and elsewhere on it, but I have yet to find something\nthat explains its usage, in detail(e.g. in positive and negative contexts and\nin different tenses). Anyone know?",
"comment_count": 3,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-03T22:49:30.133",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33926",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 8,
"tags": [
"grammar"
],
"title": "What's the grammar behind どうせ?",
"view_count": 1786
} | [
{
"body": "It only means \"either way\", \"anyhow\", \"anyway\", etc with a _fatalist_ nuance,\nhence it can sound negative for some.\n\nYou can find it as other forms like どっちにしろ or どっちにせよ.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-04T04:46:25.787",
"id": "33929",
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{
"body": "While I'm sure the underlying grammar makes the analogy a rather liberal one,\nI have always tended to feel that these were similar to patters in English\nthat use \"be\". That is, an old form of the subjunctive:\n\nＡであれ、Ｂであれ、なんでもいい。 \nBe it A, or be it B, it's fine regardless.\n\nどっちにせよ \nWhichever it be.\n\nなんせ \nWhatever the case be.\n\nThe pattern can always (well, usually) be reworded using も to mean essentially\nthe same thing.\n\nＡでも、Ｂでも、なんでもいい。 \nどっちにしても \nなんせ* (no strict conversion; maybe 何が何でも)",
"comment_count": 3,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-04T20:04:17.217",
"id": "33936",
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{
"body": "> 今行ってもどうせ遅いので、行かないことにします。 \n> Since it is late to go now, I decided not go anyway.\n\nIt is similar to \"anyway\". But, you should use \"douse\" in negative context\nonly.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2017-01-02T23:35:30.527",
"id": "42206",
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| 33926 | null | 33929 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33928",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "そのときに歴史の先生がこう呟きながら連れて行かれます。\n\nSource: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xs-XWk_oQA> 1:17\n\nI'm assuming it's the word 斯う meaning \"in this way,\" and here it would be\ndescribing how the teacher said the quote to follow. Is this こう anything like\nthe quotative like in English that can be used for either literal quotes or\nparaphrasing? For example, \"He was like, 'When is history not essential?'\"",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-04T02:09:12.250",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33927",
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"owner_user_id": "11732",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 0,
"tags": [
"usage",
"kosoado"
],
"title": "What does こう mean in this sentence?",
"view_count": 1681
} | [
{
"body": "Yes, your understanding about こう (I've never seen it written as 斯う though)\nmeaning \"like this\" is correct, however in some cases it can be more thought\nof as \"as follows\" or \"as below\".\n\nHere is a simple example:\n\n```\n\n そして、僕はこう言った。 [And then, I spoke.]\n 「日本語なんて難しすぎるよ」 [Japanese is just too difficult!]\n \n```\n\nAs in this example, often it's tricky to translate since saying \"I spoke this\"\nsounds unnatural, but you'll be fine if you understand it can be used to refer\nto something that follows immediately.\n\nAnother example:\n\n```\n\n 「僕」という字はこう書くよ [This is how you write the character ”僕”]\n \n```\n\nIn this case, the speaker is likely writing the character as they speak.",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-04T02:33:56.810",
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},
{
"body": "「こう」is the **adverbial** form of the こ-series（これ、この、ここ、ect.). A close literal\nmatch in English is 'thusly' (in this way).",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-05T18:46:10.440",
"id": "33965",
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"last_edit_date": null,
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}
]
| 33927 | 33928 | 33928 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "> 愛鳥の寝顔、見てるだけで思わず **笑みがこぼれてくる**\n>\n> 愛鳥の寝顔、見てるだけで思わず **笑みがこぼれる**\n\nMy question is how is the 1st sentence different from the 2nd, and what nuance\ndoes the くる add.",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-04T06:34:50.553",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33930",
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"last_edit_date": "2016-05-04T08:26:37.510",
"last_editor_user_id": "1628",
"owner_user_id": "14336",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 5,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"meaning",
"て-form"
],
"title": "What does 笑みがこぼれてくる mean and how is it different to 笑みがこぼれる",
"view_count": 290
} | [
{
"body": "Knowing there is no answer to this question for a long time, so I (new\ncontributor) am going to answer this. These sentences, reminding me of\nJapanese Haiku, can be said to be equivalent in meaning, but in nuance they\nare not easy to find differences between them. So I would like to say that\nthey differ very slightly in style or literary taste. According to my taste,\nthe second is better than the first, because in these sentences beginning with\nthe expression of 愛鳥の寝顔 followed by (、), which is very concise and impressive,\nI think that a concise form of 笑みがこぼれる is more natural in this context than\n笑みがこぼれてくる, which sounds to me a very little redundant.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2021-03-30T03:05:30.527",
"id": "85850",
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{
"body": "If you're asking this, your Japanese is pretty good! That said, ～てくる、in this\ncontext, means that the author is being reflective, looking at self outside\nin. It also implies gradual, not sudden, change in emotions. It's the\ndifference between\n\nI'm crying.\n\nand\n\n(when I came to it, I realized) I found tears flowing down my face.\n\n笑みがこぼれてくる、is like, I found myself smiling, versus I smiled.",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2021-04-30T07:42:41.303",
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| 33930 | null | 85850 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33934",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I'm trying to compose a sentence which starts with: パーティーが終{お}わる時{とき}に～.. I\nwant to say \"After the party is over, it is hard to clean up the house\". Can\nyou help me?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-04T16:03:11.230",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33932",
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"last_editor_user_id": "39253",
"owner_user_id": "7045",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 4,
"tags": [
"translation"
],
"title": "How to say \"clean up\" (for example a house or a room) in Japanese?",
"view_count": 22325
} | [
{
"body": "掃除{そうじ｝ is the word you're looking for.\n\nパーティーが終｛お｝わった後｛あと｝に家｛いえ｝の掃除｛そうじ｝が難｛むずか｝しくなる。 \nAfter the party ends, it becomes hard to clean the house.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-04T16:23:23.803",
"id": "33933",
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"last_edit_date": null,
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{
"body": "You can also use [片付]{かた・づ}ける for \"clean/tidy up\".\n\nAlthough there is overlap, I tend to think of 掃除 as a more subjective\ncleaning—turning something from \"dirty\" to \"clean\"; wiping up spills, throwing\nout trash, etc.\n\nFor 片付ける, I think of a more abstract \"cleaning up\", putting things away/back\nin order, clearing stuff away, etc.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-04T17:11:24.730",
"id": "33934",
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"post_type": "answer",
"score": 9
}
]
| 33932 | 33934 | 33934 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33939",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Does there need to be some mistake in order to use the `~なおす` suffix:\n\n> 宿題をやりなおしなさい。// ok (but there needs to be at least one mistake) \n> 料理を作りなおした。 // ok (but there needs to be some fault)\n\nRegardless of whether there is a mistake, you just cannot say:\n\n> 宿題をやりかえしなさい。// never ok \n> 料理を作りかえした。 // never ok\n\nCould I say something like:\n\n> (1) 昨日、好きな曲を何度も聞きかえしていた。 // Last night, I listened to a song that I like\n> many times in a row. \n> (2) 昨日、好きな曲を聞きかえしおわれなかった。 // Last night, I couldn't stop listening to a\n> song that I like.\n\nI really do hope #2 is correct and natural. It sounds good to me, but\nstringing 3 verbs together just seems too extreme. It can't be correct?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-04T18:24:12.513",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33935",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-04T23:28:08.347",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-04T20:43:21.173",
"last_editor_user_id": "12506",
"owner_user_id": "12506",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 5,
"tags": [
"verbs",
"suffixes"
],
"title": "~かえす and ~なおす as suffixes",
"view_count": 239
} | [
{
"body": "As Brandon says the suffix, なおす means “to redo” as its Kanji writing “直す”\nmeans “to redress, correct” and かえす means “to repeat” as its Kanji writing\n“返す” means “to return.”\n\nYour example (1) 好きな曲を何度も聞きかえしていた is alright. It says you were listening to\nyour favorite song repeatedly.\n\nBut (2) 好きな曲を聞きかえしおわれなかった sounds odd and strange to me. Though I don’t know\nwhat you’d like to say, from your English translation, perhaps you’re going to\nsay either “好きな曲を繰り返し、(楽しくて)聴くのを止められなかった” or\n“好きな曲を何度も聞き返そうとしたが（時間がなくて）できなかった,” or simply “好きな曲を何度も繰り返して聴いた.”",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-04T23:28:08.347",
"id": "33939",
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| 33935 | 33939 | 33939 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Why use が in the sentence below? Would を be equally correct?\n\n> このピアノはとてもいい音 **が** します。",
"comment_count": 3,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-04T21:16:01.153",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33937",
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"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "14341",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 0,
"tags": [
"particle-が"
],
"title": "Why use が in the sentence below?",
"view_count": 81
} | [
{
"body": "The structure of Japanese in SOV, on the other hand English's is SVO.\n\nIf here you take the particle を，piano would become the object, and\n\n> はとてもいい音がします。\n\nmening, in English \"has very good tunes\".\n\nSo if you put the を instead Object comes first, that would sound strange,\ninstead the particle は needs to come to make the Subject.\n\nThanks.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-05T01:19:11.867",
"id": "33941",
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| 33937 | null | 33941 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33942",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "In the sentence:\n\n> 田中さんは諦めきれなかった。\n\nwhat is the function/meaning of きれる? I assume the sentence means \"Tanaka\ndidn't give up\", but how does it differ from 諦めなかった？",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-04T22:22:36.420",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33938",
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"last_edit_date": "2017-05-08T02:59:15.517",
"last_editor_user_id": "7810",
"owner_user_id": "7944",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 5,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"compound-verbs"
],
"title": "Compound verb with きれる",
"view_count": 1309
} | [
{
"body": "Ahm.... I think I would like to say, it is Yes or actually in the end **No**.\n\nHere, **[切れる, the original verb, meaning\"to cut\" turnd into the meaning of\n\"can not do\", \"could not\ndo\"...](http://d.hatena.ne.jp/junkai4212/20151207/1449449183)**\n\nFrom the link\n\n> ●二つの「切れる」\n>\n> 「切れる」には、他動詞「切る」から可能動詞になった「切れる」と、自動詞の「切れる」とがある。\n\nTranslation\n\n> 2 meanings of 「切れる」\n>\n> About the verb,「切れる」，there are 2 -- derivative -- meanings. The original is\n> \"to cut\" and it turned into the potential verb, one is transitive, the other\n> is intransitive.\n\n( Your question's is intransitive, considering the nature of the meaning of\nthe sentence )\n\nSo here, the verb 「切れる」 is used as the potential verb, and the meaning of the\nsentence is\n\n\"Tanaka san **could not** give up\".\n\nThank you.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-05T01:01:45.330",
"id": "33940",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-05T01:01:45.330",
"last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500",
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},
{
"body": "The verb 切る, besides meaning \"to cut\", can also be used as a suffix to a verb\nin the pre-masu form (i.e. 食べ) to mean \"to do something completely\".\n\nTherefore 諦めきれない would mean \"cannot completely give up\".\n\nOther places where this is used are verbs like 待ちきれない (can't wait) or 理解しきれない\n(can't completely understand).\n\n[Here](http://selftaughtjapanese.com/2015/03/09/japanese-verb-\nsuffix-%E3%80%9C%E3%81%8D%E3%82%8B-kiru/) is a page which has a lot more\nexamples of ~切る (written by me)\n\nEDIT: Kentaro Tomono pointed out highly that I had not responded to the\noriginal poster's question about the difference between \"諦めなかった\".\n\nAs 諦めなかった simply means \"he didn't give up\", it lacks the meaning of \"not being\nable to\" which is present in 諦めきれなかった.\n\nA more interesting question would be the difference between 諦められなかった. Here, I\nwould say 諦めきれなかった, having the concept of not \"completely\" able to do\nsomething, would have greater emphasis. Or it might be more appropriate to say\nhe was torn between giving up and continuing on, so at some point he had\npartially given up (諦めかけた）but never completely.\n\nI think changing the original sentence to simply use 諦められなかった would be OK and\nnot have a major change in meaning.",
"comment_count": 6,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-05T01:21:12.267",
"id": "33942",
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"score": 7
}
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| 33938 | 33942 | 33942 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33950",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I'm recently revising my Japanese for the upcoming JLPT this July (I'm taking\nN4), and I came up with difficulties in using these 2 items.\n\nFor example:\n\n> 気分が良くなりました。やっとねつが (下がりました...)。\n\n(I have to choose そうです ・ ようです to fill in the blank)\n\nCan there be a simple way to distinguish between them? Thank you in advance !",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-05T01:46:49.140",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33943",
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"last_edit_date": "2016-05-05T04:23:54.737",
"last_editor_user_id": "9831",
"owner_user_id": "14343",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"word-usage"
],
"title": "The differences between そうです ・ ようです",
"view_count": 994
} | [
{
"body": "No matter what your choice be, you can append ようです or そうです, the sentence will\nbe grammatically perfect. What is important here is the context.\n\nThe sentence\n\n> 気分が良くなりました。\n\nindicates that the speaker talks about himself, otherwise, the statement\nshould be less direct. Thus the fact that the fever cooled is first-hand\ninformation from the speaker, he describes his state (that is what ようです is\nfor: describing a state) whereas そうです when appended to a 終止形 indicates rumor\n(it seems that, it is said that, ...) not to be mixed up with the そうです that\nclip itself on the 連用形 and express also a state (in the same way as ようです).\n\nTo sum up, here the speaker describes a first-hand fact, thus he can't use\nそうです here, ようです is the correct answer.\n\nEDIT: As pointed out by chocolate, よう・そう would rather connect to さがった rather\nthan さがりました.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-05T06:27:33.170",
"id": "33950",
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| 33943 | 33950 | 33950 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "In a question:\n\n```\n\n Tokyo e nande ikimasu ka?\n \n```\n\nhow can I know what \"nande\" refers to, **even when I have the context** :\n\n * how are you going? (by bus, by car, on foot)\n * why are you going?",
"comment_count": 8,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-05T02:26:33.527",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33944",
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"last_edit_date": null,
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"owner_user_id": "11051",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 7,
"tags": [
"word-choice"
],
"title": "How do you differentiate \"nande\" (why) and \"nande\" (how, by what means)?",
"view_count": 54208
} | [
{
"body": "IMO, `何で` means `why`\n\n```\n\n 東京え何で行きますか\n \n```\n\nmeans \"why do you go to Tokyo ?\"\n\nIf I want to ask \"how are you going ?\", I would use:\n\n```\n\n どうやって東京えいきますか\n \n```",
"comment_count": 6,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-05T04:26:43.210",
"id": "33947",
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"body": "I'll attempt an answer with a few observations from my rather amateurish\nposition:\n\n * The sentence is rather stilted to begin with, you probably won't hear it used in practice.\n * 何で can be pronounced both _nande_ and _nani de_.\n * Usually you'll hear people use _nande_ for \"why\" and _nani de_ for \"with what\" or \"by what means\".\n * Usually sentences asking \"why\" _start_ with the \"why\":\n\n> [何で]【Nande】[東京]【Tōkyō】に【ni】[行きます]【ikimasu】か【ka】？ \n> Why are you going to Tokyo?\n\n * It's _possible_ to use the same word order [何]【Nani】[で]【de】[東京]【Tōkyō】に【ni】… to ask \"with what\", but since written as 「何で」 it is indeed ambiguous whether it's 「[なに]【nani】[で]【de】」 or 「[なんで]【nande】」, you'll either find it unambiguously written in hiragana, or with furigana, or put entirely differently:\n\n> [東京]【Tōkyō】に【ni】[行く]【iku】[に]【ni】[は]【wa】[何]【nani】[で]【de】[行きます]【ikimasu】か【ka】？ \n> About you going to Tokyo, _how_ are you going?\n\nWhile it's _still_ possible to misread that, again, most \"why\" questions put\nthe 「[何で]【nande】」 at the start of the sentence, so it would be _unusual_ to\nmisread this.\n\n * Japanese always depends a lot on context, so usually the question should be clear from the relationship between the speaker and the listener and/or the situation. In spoken language the intonation can also give the right hint, e.g. 「[なあぁんで]【Naaande】[東京]【Tōkyō】[に]【ni】[行く]【iku】[の]【no】？！」 is probably more about the \"why\" than the \"how\"...\n * There are many ways to express this differently and less ambiguous as needed, e.g.: \n * [行く方法]【ikuhōhō】 – means/way of going\n * [行く理由]【ikuriyū】 – reason for going\n * [飛行機]【Hikōki】[や]【ya】[新幹線]【shinkansen】[で]【de】[行きます]【ikimasu】[か]【ka】？ – Are you going by plane or train?",
"comment_count": 3,
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"body": "なんで means both \"why\" and \"how\", so なんで東京に行く? can mean both \"Why do you go to\nTokyo?\" and \"How do you go to Tokyo?\" We guess from the context which meaning\nthe なんで is being used for.\n\nIf you want to be clear, you can use なにで or どうやって. These words only mean\n\"how\", so なにで or どうやって東京に行く? means only \"How do you go to Tokyo?\"\n\nThe reason why なんで means both \"why\" and \"how\" is that, an adverb なんで basically\nmeans \"why\" and なにで means \"how\". However なんで is also a euphonic change of なにで,\nso they are confusing.",
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"body": "Ordinarily we use `なぜ = why` `何で = how` to distinguish. In your question case,\nwe can not distinguish which the sentence means.",
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"creation_date": "2016-05-05T15:43:26.477",
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| 33944 | null | 33955 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I wasn't sure how to properly word the question, but I'm asking how to make\nsentences such as:\n\n * \"I have lived in America for 10 years.\"\n * \"I will go to Japan for a month.\"\n * \"I have had this job for a year.\" \n * \"I left for a few minutes.\"\n * \"I will leave in an hour.\"\n\nAnd so on. How do I structure it?",
"comment_count": 3,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-05T02:57:37.943",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 6,
"tags": [
"time"
],
"title": "Saying you'll do/have done something for a certain amount of time?",
"view_count": 6334
} | [
{
"body": "Although all sentences I can translate. 上の4つ for are ~間. Only the last\nsentence is 一時間で.",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-05T15:55:57.433",
"id": "33962",
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"body": "For the first four of your sentences (or, for \"for X years / months / days /\nminutes / seconds\"), I would use 「～[間]{かん}」, or just a counter such as 年, ヶ月,\n日, 分 with no suffix (～間), or 「～の[間]{あいだ}」 depending on context, as in:\n\n> * アメリカに｛[１０年間]{じゅうねんかん} / １０年｝住んでいます。 I have lived in the US for 10 years. \n> (or アメリカに｛[住]{す}んで / 住み[始]{はじ}めて｝１０年になります。 It's been 10 years since I\n> started to live in the US.)\n> * 日本に｛[２ヶ月間]{にかげつかん} / ２ヶ月｝[滞在]{たいざい}します。 I'll stay in Japan for two\n> months.\n> * この仕事を｛[３年間]{さんねんかん} / ３年｝しています。 I have had this job for 3 years. \n> (or この仕事｛を始めて / に[就]{つ}いて｝３年になります。 It's been 3 years since I started this\n> job.)\n> * ｛[数分間]{すうふんかん} / 数分 / 数分の[間]{あいだ}｝、[席]{せき}を[離]{はな}れました。 I left for a few\n> minutes.\n> * ｛[２日間]{ふつかかん} / ２日｝[待]{ま}ってください。 Please wait for two days.*\n>\n\n*\"For one day\" is just [１日]{いちにち} and not [１日間]{いちにちかん}, although you can say [２日間]{ふつかかん}, [３日間]{みっかかん}..., and [１年間]{いちねんかん}, [１ヶ月間]{いっかげつかん}, [１分間]{いっぷんかん}, [１秒間]{いちびょうかん}. \n\n* * *\n\nFor \"for X hours\" and \"for X weeks\", you'd normally use 「X時間」「X週間」, as in:\n\n> * [８時間]{はちじかん}寝ました。 I slept for 8 hours. (not 「８時寝ました」 or 「８時間間寝ました」)\n> * [１週間]{いっしゅうかん}[留守]{るす}にします。 I'll be away from home for a week. (not\n> 「１週留守にします」 or 「１週間間留守にします」)\n>\n\n* * *\n\nFor your last sentence, I would use 「～～で」 or 「～～[後]{ご}に」, as in:\n\n> * ｛[１時間]{いちじかん}[後]{ご}に / ([後]{あと})１時間で｝[出]{で}ます。/ [出発]{しゅっぱつ}します。 I'll\n> leave in one hour.\n> * ｛[５分]{ごふん}[後]{ご}に / ([後]{あと})５分で｝出ます。/ 出発します。 I'll leave in 5 minutes.\n>",
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"creation_date": "2016-05-05T18:47:28.147",
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| 33945 | null | 33966 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33952",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I'm studying Japanese with みんなの日本語. In one page there are this two examples:\n\n * にちようびは なにを しましたか.\n\n * どようび なにを しましたか.\n\nWhy one of them have the particle は and the other hasn't? It's a mistake or\nsomething?\n\nThank you.",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-05T06:09:50.060",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33948",
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"last_editor_user_id": "14346",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 0,
"tags": [
"particle-は"
],
"title": "The particle は (wa)",
"view_count": 120
} | [
{
"body": "It isn't a mistake. It is omitted は. We often omit a postpositional particle.\n\nFor example, 昨日(は),学校に行った, 明日どこ(へ)行く?, 何(を)食べようか?, etc.",
"comment_count": 2,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-05T07:44:02.677",
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| 33948 | 33952 | 33952 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33954",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "なかなか片{かた}付{づ}かない means \"hard to clean up\". My question is ～か～ part in this\nsentence. The verb is 片付ける, but what 片付 **か** is doing here?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-05T07:56:29.257",
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"id": "33953",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 0,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"syntax"
],
"title": "Explaining the phrase なかなか片{かた}付{づ}かない",
"view_count": 224
} | [
{
"body": "片付く is intransitive and 片付ける is transitive, so they conjugate differently.\n\n片付か is 未然形(nai form) of 片付く. And 片付く has some meaning, for example,\n仕事が片付く(Works finish), 私の部屋は片付いている(My room is in good order.).",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-05T08:22:07.357",
"id": "33954",
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| 33953 | 33954 | 33954 |
{
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"body": "One of my textbooks said that you cannot use the particle は with 何 and\nundefined words of the こそあど.\n\nYet I'm sure I've heard これは何ですか。 many times before, and これが何ですか。 sounds\nunnatural to me.\n\nWhat is the correct usage?",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-05T10:38:33.963",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33957",
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"owner_user_id": "193",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 5,
"tags": [
"particles",
"は-and-が",
"kosoado"
],
"title": "は and が with 何 & こそあど",
"view_count": 474
} | [
{
"body": "In most cases, が is used before a question word (何、どれ、etc.) as opposed to は.\nThis is because が has the nuance that it emphasizes this word which is the\nsame reason が is usually used when answering a question (ex: \"誰がやったの？\" =>\n\"先生がやったよ\")\n\nDepending on the nuance trying to be conveyed, が or は can be used naturally\nafter any non-question こそあど words.",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-05T13:48:03.417",
"id": "33960",
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"body": "The key word is \"undefined\". は is a topic marker, and you can't switch topics\nto something you don't know about yet.\n\nIn 「これは何ですか？」, は is acceptable because これ is a **specific, definite thing**\n(at least in context) and 何 is about asking for more information about that\nthing.\n\nIn「何が好きですか？」. the 何 isn't \"definite\" to the speaker because it is a\n\"placeholder for anything\" 何. Of course, 好き puts an additional constraint on\nit, and if you re-arrange the sentence, you can say 「好きなものは何ですか」 because 好きなもの\nis definite enough to switch topics to with は.\n\n**On a side note** , が is the subject marker. Every complete phrase must have\na subject, so you might wonder why sometimes there isn't a が. Sometimes it is\nbecause the subject is implicit... but sometimes it is because the subject is\nthe same as the topic.\n\nFor example, in 「私はアメリカ人です」, 私 is both the topic and the subject. That is, the\nactual meaning is (note: this is not correct Japanese for basic subject-\nmarking use of が!) 「私はがアメリカ人です」. But Japanese has a forced grammatical\nconvention where the は and が particles collapse to just は when the same noun\nis being marked as both subject and topic (except in certain other special\nusages of が). In other words, が MUST be abbreviated out in these cases. This\nis consistent with the view presented on p.118 of \"A Dictionary Of Basic\nJapanese Grammar\".",
"comment_count": 3,
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"creation_date": "2016-06-05T07:18:40.653",
"id": "35663",
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| 33957 | null | 35663 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "Suppose I wanted to say to someone, \"Can you solve this question?\" According\nto my Memrise app and some Google results, this is the model sentence:\n\n> (1) この問題が **解けます** か。\n\nSince potential (\"can\") is involved, shouldn't the Japanese sentence be:\n\n> (2) この問題が **解けられます** か。\n\nPerhaps the literal meaning of (1) is \"Will this question be in a solved\nstate?\", similar to ドアがしまりますか。 _Is the (automatic, maybe) door going to be\nclosed?_ Perhaps this literal meaning is widely taken to mean \"Can you solve\nthis question?\"\n\nI've asked a [similar question about dictionary form vs potential\nform](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/30823/%E3%81%A8%E3%81%BE%E3%82%89%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84-in-\none-punch-man-op-\nmeaning-%E3%81%A8%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8C%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84-negative-potential), but\ndue to the limited context of that question, I would like to know **if the\ndictionary form can be used as the potential form in general**.",
"comment_count": 4,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-05T10:39:05.387",
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"owner_user_id": "11849",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"translation",
"potential-form"
],
"title": "Dictionary form (解ける) as potential form (解けられる)?",
"view_count": 377
} | [
{
"body": "(2) is unnatural because 解ける is the potential verb of 解く and it already means\npotential.\n\nWhen 五段活用 verbs change to 下一段活用 verbs, they sometimes become potential verbs\nand they are called 可能動詞. In this case, a 五段活用 verb 解く changes to a 下一段活用 verb\n解ける, and it becomes the potential verb of 解く.",
"comment_count": 2,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-05T10:52:30.340",
"id": "33959",
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"body": "In summary\n\nAlthough some dictionary forms happen to share an identical form as the\npotential form of another verb, the dictionary form of a verb cannot be used\nas the potential form.\n\nAs for 解けられる.\n\ni. When it's combination of the potential form of 解く and られる voice, it's\nmorphologically impossible.\n\nii. When it's combination of intransitive 解ける and られる voice\n\n 1. potential: This time, it's morphologically possible but still ungrammatical because 解ける is not used as a volitional intransitive verb so far, in other words, it's always an involitional intransitive verb, which doesn't have the potential form to begin with.\n 2. passive: It's fine. e.g. 氷に解けられては困る (We'll be in trouble if the ice melts)\n 3. honorific: In theory possible, aside from weirdness. e.g. 人魚姫は海に溶けられた (Princess Mermaid melted into the sea)",
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| 33958 | null | 33959 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "36705",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "If a Japanese person wanted to say something like:\n\n> I don't understand the phrase \"I am flabbergasted\"\n\nthen I think\n\n> 「I am flabbergasted」という意味が分からない\n\nwould be okay.\n\nI was wondering if you could just say\n\n> 「I am flabbergasted」は/が分からない\n\nwithout having to explicitly use a word like 意味. More generally, is it\npermissible to attach any particle other than と to a direct quote?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-05T18:10:59.070",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "33963",
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"owner_user_id": "7944",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"quotes"
],
"title": "Attaching は to a direct quote",
"view_count": 152
} | [
{
"body": "Yes, you need a ーと after the direct quote, before a verb that takes that quote\nas its object. For your example, the correct translation is: 私は\"I am\nflabbergasted\"という言葉の意味がわからない。'I don't understand the meaning of the expression\n\"I am flabbergasted\" '.\n\nOther instances For「言う」'say' and related verbs such as「ささやく」'whisper' 「叫ぶ」'say\nloudly, scream' etc. , 彼女は「おはよう！」と言った/ささやいた/叫んだ。'She said/whispered/yelled\n\"Ohayo!\" '. ＊彼女は「おはよう！」を言った/ささやいた/叫んだ。 (* = unacceptable)\n\nHope this helps. RS",
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"body": "Your \"sentence\":\n\n> 「\"I am flabbergasted.\"という[意味]{いみ}が[分]{わ}からない。」\n\nis _**not**_ grammatical and for native speakers to understand it, we would\nhave to _**guess**_ as to what the speaker/writer is trying to convey.\nFortunately, the guessing part is not very hard in this case, but that\nsentence will still have the listener/reader guessing for a second.\n\nFor you to use the phrase 「～～という意味」 correctly, the ~~ part would need to be\nthe _**meaning**_ of a word/phrase/sentence, etc. in question, and _**not**_\nthe word/phrase/sentence itself. This is why the quotative 「と」 is used with\n「意味」(\"meaning\").\n\nTo say what you want to express grammatically and naturally using 「～～という」, you\ncould say:\n\n> 「\"I am flabbergasted.\"という **文の** 意味が分からない。」 [文]{ぶん} = sentence\n>\n> 「\"I am flabbergasted.\"という **表現の** 意味が分からない。」 [表現]{ひょうげん} = expression\n\n_**Informally**_ , however, you could simply say as @chocolate stated:\n\n> 「\"I am flabbergasted.\" **の** 意味が分からない。」\n\nFinally, your last sentence:\n\n> 「\"I am flabbergasted.\" **は/が** 分からない。」\n\ncan be used in _**informal**_ situations.\n\nWith 「は」, you can say something like:\n\n> 「\"Sod off!\" **は** 分かるけど、\"I'm flabbergasted\" **は** 分からない。」 ← Contrastive 「は」\n\nWith 「が」, you can say:\n\n> 「\"Sod off!\" **が** 分からない。このページの[他]{ほか}の表現は[全部知]{ぜんぶし}ってるけど。」\n\nTL;DR: Just remember that whenever you are directly attaching a \"particle +\nverb phrase\" to a quote, that expression would usually be _**informal**_.\n\nIn _**formal**_ speech, placing 「という + 文/表現/ことわざ」 right after the quote would\nbe the usual way to talk about the quote. (ことわざ = proverb)",
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| 33963 | 36705 | 36705 |
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"body": "The name Tokiya is written トキヤ which would imply it's of foreign origin but\nI'm not having any luck uncovering the origin or meaning of the name. It seems\nto be somewhat traditional. Ideas?",
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"tags": [
"definitions",
"katakana",
"names"
],
"title": "Why is the name Tokiya written in katakana?",
"view_count": 919
} | [
{
"body": "Maybe you mean this character (キャラ) :\n\n> 一ノ瀬トキヤとは、PSP専用ソフト「うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪」およびテレビアニメ「うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪\n> マジLOVE1000％」の登場キャラクターである。\n\nThe same deal with タツヤ. -- 達也 used to be a common name, but the 也 looks too\nold-fashioned now. So it's often written in Katakana.\n\nJapanese names (esp. of comedians) are often written in Katakana just for the\ninteresting look (visual impact) -- like the weird spellings like Cyndi and\nKrysti ....\n\nAlso, トキヤ is a very uncommon name. Maybe the creator wants the fans to keep\nguessing how it'd be written in Kanji.",
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"body": "When is \"na\" used at the end of a sentence, is it like \"ne\" or \"yo\" and has no\nmeaning really? For example:\n\n> Mata Nihon ni ikitai na. \n> また、日本に行きたいな。",
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"tags": [
"word-choice",
"sentence-final-particles",
"particle-な"
],
"title": "When is \"na\" used at the end of a sentence?",
"view_count": 76082
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{
"body": "な at the end of a sentence usually gives the sentence one of the following\nfive meanings.\n\n> **1. Seeking confirmation**\n\nThis usage is probably the most common. The addition of な to the end of a\nsentence gives the sentence the tone that the speaker is seeking confirmation.\nThe speaker does not wish to assert that he is 100% confident about what he is\nsaying. It does not necessarily mean that he isn't confident, he just doesn't\nwish to convey that he is. He wants to give his audience room to disagree if\nthey want.\n\nAn simple example to illustrate some possible translations:\n\nこの本｛ほん｝はとても面白い｛おもしろい｝、な？ \nThis book is really interesting don't you think? \nThis book is really interesting, right? \nThis book is really interesting, isn't it?\n\nな as used this way is essentially equivalent to the sentence final particle ね\nexcept it is harsher and more masculine sounding.\n\n> **2. Rhetorical**\n\nThis usage is related to the first usage (actual Japanese speakers might not\nconsider them different) except it doesn't translate well into English. This\nusage essentially serves as a way for the speaker to reduce the assertiveness\nof a statement without actively seeking confirmation. In usage 1, the speaker\nis expecting the listener to say something and agree with him. In this usage,\nthe speaker isn't necessarily expecting anything, he just wishes to introduce\na topic without making an abrupt statement.\n\nConsider the difference in tone between the following:\n\n * I would like to go to Japan again. (picture a person stating that as a fact with a completely expressionless face).\n\n * I'd reaaaaallllyyyy like to go to Japan again. (said with \"really\" drawn out and with changing pitch).\n\nThey essentially mean the same thing but the first is merely a statement of\nfact while the second is almost about introducing a topic.\n\nThis is the use in your question and the second example above is a reasonable\ntranslation (the \"reaaaaalllyyy\" should not be in the translation and was only\nincluded to illustrate the tone).\n\n> **3. Negative imperative (Rough)**\n\nThe **addition of な to the dictionary form of a verb** produces the negative\nimperative (command). This is very harsh and not used often in actual\nconversation I think.\n\n食べる｛たべる｝な! - Don't eat it! \n行く｛いく｝な! - Don't go!\n\nA more acceptable negative imperative would be:\n\n食べないでください。 - Please don't eat it. \n行かないでください。 - Please don't go.\n\n> **4. Positive imperative (informal and abbreviated)**\n\nThe **addition of な to the masu-stem (i-stem, ます形) of a verb** produces the\npositive imperative (command). This is quite easy to mix up with usage 3. It\nmay help to understand that the な in this case is actually an abbreviation of\nなさい. I'm not certain how formal this sounds to a native.\n\n食べ｛たべ｝な! - Eat it! \n行き｛いき｝な! - Go! (Get out!)\n\nThe unabbreviated versions are:\n\n食べなさい。 - Please eat it. \n行きなさい。 - Please go.\n\n> **5. Expressing the concept of wonder (～かな)**\n\nLastly, when a **sentence is followed by かな** it expresses the speakers sense\nof uncertainty about how something became the way it is. This is usually\ntranslated as \"I wonder how...\" or \"I wonder if...\" in English.\n\nおいしいかな。 - I wonder if it's tasty. (I wonder if it's any good.)\n\nHope this helps. If I missed anything or am incorrect, please point it out in\nthe comments.",
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| 33969 | 33973 | 33973 |
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"body": "Does the ゛ have any meaning in the hiragana alphabet?",
"comment_count": 6,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-06T03:56:11.923",
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"tags": [
"usage",
"hiragana",
"learning"
],
"title": "Does the ゛ have any use?",
"view_count": 890
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{
"body": "I'm not 100% sure what you're asking here, but `゛` when used by itself\nactually has a number of different usages.\n\nGenerally, `゛` ([Dakuten](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakuten)) are not\nwritten separately. For example, \"か\" \"ka\" becomes \"が\" \"ga\". If you didn't know\nthis, you should probably consult a reference on hiragana (and maybe also\nkatakana) as snailboat says.\n\nHowever, there are a number of cases where `゛` is used by itself.\n\n 1. The `゛` can add emphasis on some characters which Dakuten are usually not used on, as you can see at the question \"[Encountered な with ten-ten](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/11898/796)\".\n\n 2. Half-width kana were used in the early days of Japanese computing, to allow Japanese characters to be displayed on the same grid as monospaced fonts of Latin characters. The tentens for half-width kana are displayed as a separate character. See also <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-width_kana> for more information.\n\n 3. Otherwise, the [Hiragana letter `ゔ` (vu)](http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/3094/index.htm) has often been written as `う゛` [apparently due to limited font/software support](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q105064940). \n\n 4. Apparently you may also sometimes be asked to handwrite Dakuten into a separate box on some official forms. See also [On 原稿用紙, when are ゛ and ゜ (ten-ten and maru) supposed to occupy a square of their own?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/17390/on-%E5%8E%9F%E7%A8%BF%E7%94%A8%E7%B4%99-when-are-%E3%82%9B-and-%E3%82%9C-ten-ten-and-maru-supposed-to-occupy-a-square-of-thei)\n\nIn addition, this is a more technical usage, and you can almost certainly\nignore this if you aren't a computer programmer. Single characters with\nDakuten, for example \"が\", are separated into two characters (か and the\n[COMBINING KATAKANA-HIRAGANA VOICED SOUND\nMARK](http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/3099/index.htm)) when\nnormalized to the Canonical Decomposition, [Normalization Form D\n(NFD)](http://unicode.org/reports/tr15/#Norm_Forms). NFD is used in (for\nexample) some databases as part of their collation algorithm, to make it\npossible to determine whether any two strings are equivalent to each other.",
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"body": "゛ changes like this: h → b, k → g, s → z、t → d. \n゜ changes only h → p.",
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"body": "I am attempting to phrase 'I apologise/I'm sorry if my Japanese is impolite.'\nI have never phrased a sentence with two clauses before.\n\nLooking at the sentence as a whole, and using SOV, the subject is myself, the\nobject my Japanese, and the verb 'sorry':\n\n> Watashi wa no Nihongo baai bureina gomen nasai\n\n * However, this doesn't make any sense whatsoever!\n\n**Is it correct to structure this example by first splitting the sentence into \n'I am sorry' and \n'my Japanese is impolite'?**\n\nBy doing so, I got this phrase:\n\n> Gomen nasai \n> (baai) \n> watashi no Nihongo _is?_ bureina.\n\nIs this an effective method of creating two-part sentences? Does it always\nwork to split the sentence into 'parts'?\n\n**Also, how do you say 'is' in this context?** \nI think it may be 'wa', but I'm unsure.",
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"tags": [
"syntax"
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"title": "Phrasing with two clauses & how to say 'is'?",
"view_count": 193
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{
"body": "In Japanese the conditional clause must come first so we need to say\n\n> If my Japanese is impolite, I am sorry\n\nLet's look at 'if'. There are at least four different ways to make 'if'. The\nmost suitable one here is たら (tara). This is formed by adding ら(ra) to the end\nof the plain past tense conjugation of the verb/copula.\n\n> 私{わたし}の日本語{にほんご}が無礼{ぶれい}だったらごめんなさい。 \n> watashi-no nihongo-wa burei dattara gomennasai.\n\nI don't know how much grammar you know but だったら (dattara) is the conditional\nform of だった (datta), which is the past tense form of だ (da), which is the\nplain form of です (desu) (actually desu is the polite form of da, but desu is\nwhat you normally learn first), which means 'to be'. This is where the 'is' is\nadded.\n\nI should note that I'm not a native speaker and I'm not sure if 無礼 (burei) is\nthe natural word to use in this context.\n\nI notice you wrote burei **na**. burei is a kind of word called a na-adjective\n(among other names) and the 'na' is only added when the word is used to\ndirectly modify a noun (e.g. bureina hito, rude person).\n\nRegarding your understanding of は and です please see my comment on your answer\n[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/33655/is-this-sentence-\nstructured-correctly/33668#33668).",
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| 33974 | null | 33979 |
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"body": "According to\n[JapanDict](http://www.japandict.com/%E9%AD%9A%E5%BF%83%E3%81%82%E3%82%8C%E3%81%B0%E6%B0%B4%E5%BF%83%E3%81%82%E3%82%8A),\nthis proverb literally means \"if a fish is friendly toward water, water will\nbe kind to the fish too\" (although\n[Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%AD%9A%E5%BF%83%E3%81%82%E3%82%8C%E3%81%B0%E6%B0%B4%E5%BF%83%E3%81%82%E3%82%8A)\nsays it's the other way around...). Is that really a literal translation? If\nit is, then where does this idea of friendliness come from? Do you get \"a\ncaring fish\" by putting 魚 and 心 together? Can you do the same with other\nliving creatures? Or does 魚心 only make sense when we look at the full phrase?\nIs it perhaps something like \"when there is a fish with a (kind) heart, there\nis also water with a (kind) heart\"?\n\nWhatever the literal meaning is, is it obvious to a native speaker when they\nhear the proverb for the first time? Or do they need some mental effort to\nfigure out how 心 works here?\n\nThen there is stuff like 乙女心... Does it have any relation to this?",
"comment_count": 3,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-06T10:19:57.937",
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"tags": [
"idioms"
],
"title": "魚心あれば水心あり: what does 心 do exactly?",
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{
"body": "Well, ... if anything, since the -心【ごころ】 is productive i.e. can attach to\neverything, you can make a word like 魚心 that means \"fish mindset\" or \"fish\nsentiment\", but it still doesn't make sense.\n\nThe truth is inside dictionaries:\n\n> **うお‐ごころ〔うを‐〕【魚心】** \n>\n> 《「魚、心あれば」が誤って一語になったもの》相手に対する好意。（[デジタル大辞泉](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/17908/meaning/m0u/)）\n>\n> **うお‐ごころ［うを：］ 【魚心】** \n> 「うおごころ（魚心）あれば水心」によった語。「魚、心あれば」を誤って「うおごころ」と一語にしたもの。（日本国語大辞典）\n\nSo, it was actually a misreading! The correct reading was 「魚【うお】 (pause)\n心【こころ】あれば、水【みず】 (pause) 心【こころ】あり」, and\n[心ある](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/78092/meaning/m0u/) means \"be\nconsiderate, compassionate\", here is no more mystery.\n\nThis kind of phenomenon is called\n\"[rebracketing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebracketing)\", and observable\nin any language. For example, English _orange_ used to be _norange_ , but at\nsome time they took it as \"an orange\".",
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"body": "会話では助詞を省略することができるかできないか、くわしく説明してもらいたいです。",
"comment_count": 2,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-06T11:18:45.443",
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"tags": [
"particles",
"particle-に",
"particle-は",
"particle-が",
"conversations"
],
"title": "会話では助詞を省略することができるかできないか、くわしく説明してもらいたいです。",
"view_count": 281
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{
"body": "I'll answer in English, since I assume your native language is English and\nsome nuance of my answer might be lost if it was in Japanese. Messages on this\nboard are mostly in English as well, with a few exceptions.\n\nYes, there are many cases where particles can be omitted in conversation. For\nexample, は and を are frequently omitted:\n\n```\n\n 僕はりんごを食べるよ。\n 僕,りんご食べるよ。\n \n```\n\nNotice that the は is often replaced by a comma, which in speech means a short\npause. Also if the は is used to emphasize the fact that \"X\" does but \"Y\" does\nnot, then it is much less likely to be omitted.\n\n```\n\n 好きな人はいっぱいいると思うけど、僕は嫌いだよ\n \n```\n\nI think the first は can probably be safely omitted, but the second one should\nbe kept. This is because that は emphasizes \"I hate it, but other people may\nnot\".\n\nOther particles like に can be omitted as well.\n\n```\n\n 海に行く？\n 海行く？\n \n```\n\nの can also be omitted sometimes when it is used to connect nouns. For example:\n\n```\n\n 日本語の学校\n 日本語学校\n \n```\n\nI think the latter (the one with の omitted) is more often used in titles (like\n東京大学)\n\nThis is just a small sample of places where particles can be omitted.\n\nOn the other hand, there are some cases where particles would not normally be\nomitted, like で in this example:\n\n```\n\n バスで行ったよ。\n \n```\n\nRemoving で would yield \"バス行ったよ\", which sounds like \"the bus went\", instead of\n\"I went via bus\".\n\nHere, I think it would be awkward to remove に (though the meaning could still\nbe guessed):\n\n```\n\n そんなこと、君に言われたくない\n \n```\n\nIn this example, it would sound odd to remove の because it changes the meaning\nof the sentence:\n\n```\n\n 僕のを返して！\n \n```\n\nWithout the の we end up ”僕を返して\", which is \"give me back\" as opposed to \"give\nmine back!\"\n\nI think omitting particles is much like omitting subjects, in the sense that\nit takes a certain amount of intuition, or feel about what is appropriate and\nwhat isn't. In other words, there is no hard and fast rule.\n\nI would say for most beginning/mid-level students it's best to err on the side\nof including particles, and then gradually start dropping them as you see them\ndropped by native speakers.",
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"body": "Can someone tell me how to use this phrase and how I should translate it? Some\nexamples would be helpful. Thanks!",
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"tags": [
"phrases"
],
"title": "How to use このたびの + N",
"view_count": 202
} | [
{
"body": "\"この度\" (このたび) can mean several things, including \"this time\", \"soon\", or \"next\ntime\". It is fundamentally very similar to the word 今度（こんど）, though この度 seems\nto more commonly used in some places like formal greetings and news. I've\nnever heard or used this word in informal conversation (For a comparison of\nthese two words and some other similar words, see this page\n[here](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/thsrs/15027/meaning/m0u/), in Japanese)\n\nHere is one common phrase which uses この度:\n\n> この度はご結婚おめでとう\n>\n> Congratulations on your wedding\n\nHere この度 means something like \"today\" or \"this time\", but in a natural\ntranslation to English it doesn't have to translate to any specific word. (You\ncould probably say \"Congratulations on your wedding today\", though).\n\nSo \"この度の + Noun\" is used when you want to modify a noun to be associated with\none of the above meanings I mentioned (\"this time\", \"soon\", \"next time\", etc).\nMost commonly, I think it is used when referring to a specific instance of\nsomething, which is the \"this time\" meaning, though this can be translated\njust as \"this ~\", or omitted completely.\n\nTo give an example, let's say someone who worked at a store accidentally left\nthe door open and during the night a great deal of money was stolen. When the\nmanager came to him, he could say something like:\n\n> この度の事は本当に申し訳ありませんでした\n>\n> I'm extremely sorry for what happened in this situation <= More literal,\n> less natural\n>\n> I'm extremely sorry for what happened <= More natural\n\nHere, we can translate この度の事 as \"this situation\" (although \"事\" is technically\ncloser to intangible \"thing\"), but this English sentence sounds a bit awkward\nto me. Removing that gives a more natural translation.\n\nAnother meaning of この度の could be when that phrase itself is being referred to:\n\n> この度の意味は分からない\n>\n> I don't know what \"この度\" means.",
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| 33980 | null | 33984 |
{
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"answer_count": 3,
"body": "So I know that **hana-bi** ( **はなび** ) means _firework_ s but if I want to say\nin more artistic way (and not about fireworks) _flower of fire/flames_ can I\nsay **hana hi** ( **はなひ** )? Whether it will be understood? And can i still\nwrite it as **花火** or something different. Or maybe it will always be a\nmistake. Thanks in advance!",
"comment_count": 8,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-07T08:16:07.450",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 6,
"tags": [
"word-choice",
"meaning"
],
"title": "dilemma with hana-bi and hana hi",
"view_count": 410
} | [
{
"body": "火の花 (building on OP's suggestion of 花の火) might be a good answer.\n\nFor what it's worth, Mario's fireball is described as\n[**火の玉**](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9E%E3%83%AA%E3%82%AA_%28%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A3%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%29#.E4.B8.BB.E3.81.AA.E3.82.A2.E3.82.AF.E3.82.B7.E3.83.A7.E3.83.B3)\n(= ball of fire) - not \"fire that looks like a ball\" or \"spherical fire\" but\nliterally \"ball of fire\":\n\n> 片手から **火の玉** を生み出し前方に向けて撃つ技。",
"comment_count": 0,
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"body": "There's nothing really wrong about 火の花, but without some kind of context it\nseems a bit odd. You can always add other words to clarify that you are\nspeaking in simile / metaphor:\n\n夢の中で花を見た。その花が不思議なほどに鮮やかな紅蓮色をしてて、 **まるで** 火そのものでできている **かのように見えた** 。",
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"body": "I think 火の花 is ambiguous.It is difficult to be able to be judged fire or\nflowers by the word without context.\n\nIf you want to say about flowers, you say 火のように美しい花(beautiful flowers like\nfire) and if you want to say about fire, you say 花のように美しい火(beautiful fire like\nflowers).\n\nIf you use のような, のように, it will be clear.",
"comment_count": 3,
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| 33985 | null | 33987 |
{
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"answer_count": 2,
"body": "> 姉とほぼ入れ替わりでこの家に住み始めた祖父の持ち物は薬と洋服くらいだが、服の量だけはキャスター付き衣類ケース三つぶん **と多かった** 。\n\nHow are と + 多い (+ た) used here? What does it mean (what would be the literal\ntranslation of the part starting with 服の量...)?",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-07T12:43:15.690",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"meaning",
"particle-と"
],
"title": "～と多い here meaning?",
"view_count": 237
} | [
{
"body": "It was many cases that only quantity of clothes equal to three ~. In simple\n,服の量が多かった。",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-07T14:26:36.890",
"id": "33992",
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{
"body": "・Breakdown (as crude as it is):\n\n> 服の量( _amount of clothes_ ) + だけ( _only_ ) + は(topic/subject marker) +\n> キャスター付き衣類ケース三つ( _three wheeled clothes boxes_ ) + ぶん( _worth_ ) +\n> と(quotative?) + 多かった( _was a lot/large_ )。\n\n・Literal translation:\n\n> ..., only the amount of clothes -- three wheeled clothes boxes' worth -- was\n> large.\n\n「キャスター付き衣類ケース三つぶんと」 is inserted between the subject/topic (plus its marker)\n「服の量だけは」 and the predicate 「多かった」 in order to specify exactly how large the\namount of his clothes was by \"quoting\" the actual quantity of them.\n\nOther examples using \"quantity/number + と\", gleaned from the web:\n\n> 教育程度は中学卒業の割合が68.8％と高かった \n> 今回の給料は92,000円程と少なかった \n> 在職期間が3ヶ月と短かったのですが...",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-07T22:37:02.720",
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| 33989 | 34001 | 34001 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "33993",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "This has just come up in my textbook, but not too sure what the meaning is.\n\n```\n\n 「～」と言ってたら～\n \n```\n\nI can see that it is a 'te' conjugation of 言う, but then followed by the\nconditional 'tara'. I've not before seen such a 'double conjugation' and my\ngrammar dictionary is as useless as ever!\n\nIs it simply the same as 言ったら, or is it slightly different?",
"comment_count": 4,
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"conditionals"
],
"title": "「言ってたら」What is the meaning behind the \"te-tara\" form?",
"view_count": 7066
} | [
{
"body": "言ってたら＝言っていたら — Dropping the い from いる in continuous forms is extremely common\nin spoken Japanese. 話している→話してる 来ています→来てます 報告していました→報告してました などなどなど\n\nそんなこと **言ってたら** 怒られるぜ。\"If you go around saying things like that/talking like\nthat, you're going to get in trouble.\"\n\nIt's the conditional form of the continuous form of 言う using いる.",
"comment_count": 0,
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{
"body": "In addition to Marc Adler's explanation:\n\n～と言ってたら is used as subjunctive past perfect. For example:\n\n> あの[時]{とき}、あなたが好きと **言ってたら** 、[今頃]{いまごろ}私たちは[結婚]{けっこん}していただろう。 \n> -- If I had said \"I love you\" at that time, we would be married now.\n\n* * *\n\n言ったら means \"if I said(say)\" or \"I said ～ and then\".\n\nFor example:\n\n> もし私がアメリカに行きたいと **言ったら** 、あなたは[反対]{はんたい}する? \n> -- If I said(say) \"I want to go to the U.S\", would(will) you oppose?\n\nand\n\n> 私がアメリカに行きたいと **言ったら** 、彼は[怒]{おこ}った。 \n> -- I said \"I want to go to the U.S\", and then he got angry.",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-07T17:43:59.057",
"id": "33999",
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| 33990 | 33993 | 33993 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34006",
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"body": "> 松阪牛ぐらいじゃ足りないよ。\n\nI understand the general meaning that Matsusaka beef isn't enough, but I don't\nunderstand what ぐらい or じゃ are doing in this sentence.",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-07T14:54:38.750",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"grammar"
],
"title": "Meaning of ぐらいじゃ足りない",
"view_count": 360
} | [
{
"body": "くらい（ぐらい） basically means \"on the level of\". \nじゃ＝では \n\nAs for the why of では, consider: \nこれでいい → これではよくない \nこれで満足できる → これでは満足できない etc.\n\nSo, structurally, you have ＡくらいではＢしない; \ni.e. _(I) won't B with something on the level of A._ \n\n\"The likes of Matsuzaka beef isn't nearly enough (I'm gonna need something a\nbit higher class than this already very high class food!)\"",
"comment_count": 3,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-08T05:49:13.580",
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| 33995 | 34006 | 34006 |
{
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"body": "Can you use the -masu te form to form requests? Like, can you say\n\"machimashite kudasai\"? (O.o sounds weird huh.)",
"comment_count": 6,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-07T15:41:16.920",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 6,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"verbs",
"politeness",
"て-form"
],
"title": "Masu te-form with Kudasai?",
"view_count": 2316
} | [
{
"body": "Typically the \"~mashite\" form is only used for pretty specific cases, like\nphrases such as \"hajimemashite\" and sometimes in mid-sentence when speaking\nvery politely.\n\nBut \"~mashite kudasai\" would be quite unnatural and I have never heard or seen\nthis used before.\n\nAs rhyaeris has pointed out in a comment, I have [an\narticle](http://selftaughtjapanese.com/2015/02/20/whats-with-the-\njapanese-%E3%80%9C%E3%81%BE%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6-form-mashite/) about this, so\nfeel free to check it out if you like.\n\nAs a general rule, I think it is best for learners of Japanese to stick to a\nsingle \"~mashite\" per sentence, unless they have become extremely comfortable\nwith a certain expression or form.",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-08T01:56:03.667",
"id": "34004",
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{
"body": "～ましてください is ungrammatical, because _only one_ (in most cases, _last_ ) _verb\nis allowed to take polite form per sentence_ to make that sentence polite.\nSince ください is already the polite form of くれ (くださる < くれる), no other polite\nverbs allowed.\n\nStrictly speaking, a sentence that consists of multiple [coordinate\nclauses](http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryoflinguisticTerms/WhatIsACoordinateClause.htm)\nallows (or is recommended) to have polite form for each clause, because they\nare but independent sentences glued together. て indeed sometimes works as\ncoordinate conjunction when it leads a clause, which may cause some confusion,\nbut I could hardly think of a valid setting ～ましてください would separate into two\nclause at て.\n\n> 東京の大学に行った **が** 、故郷で就職した。 (only as coordinator) \n> 東京の大学に（○ 行きました／× 行った） **が** 、故郷で就職しました。 \n> _I went to college in Tokyo, **but** got a job in my hometown._\n>\n> 東京の大学に行く **のに** 、とてもお金がかかる。 (only as subordinator) \n> 東京の大学に（× 行きます／○ 行く） **のに** 、とてもお金がかかります。 \n> _It costs much money to (= **so that** I) go to college in Tokyo._\n>\n> 東京にも行っ **て** 、シアトルにも行った。 \n> 東京にも（○ 行きまし／○ 行っ） **て** 、シアトルにも行きました。 \n> _I went to Tokyo, **as well as** (= **and** I went to) Seattle._\n>\n> 東京に行っ **て** 、人が変わっ **て** しまった。 \n> 東京に（× 行きまし／○ 行っ） **て** 、人が（× 変わりまし／○ 変わっ） **て** しまいました。 \n> _He **has become** totally another man **since** he went to Tokyo._",
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"creation_date": "2016-05-09T11:24:10.643",
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| 33996 | null | 34039 |
{
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"body": "> 感謝の気持ちは品物の量じゃない。 気持ちなんだから、気持ちがこもっていればいい。 \n> A feeling of gratitude isn't about the amount of stuff. Because it's a\n> feeling it should be filled with feeling.\n\nObviously my translation of the second sentence is meaningless. How should I\ntranslate 気持ち here?\n\nAlso I don't understand how こもる works. Apparently it means 'to be filled with'\nso I would expect 気持ちがこもる to mean 'feeling is filled with ...' rather than\n'filled with feeling'. Why is が used rather than で to denote what something is\nfilled with?\n\nFor example, in answer to the question \"Who is filled with happiness?\" how\nwould I say \"Tanaka is filled with happiness\". I would have said 田中さんが幸せでこもる,\nbut I'm guessing that's completely wrong.",
"comment_count": 1,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-07T16:58:31.977",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"translation"
],
"title": "How to use the verb こもる",
"view_count": 306
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{
"body": "For the verb こもる, the thing that is doing the 'filling' is usually followed by\na が, like in the example you gave. That is just how this verb operates. You\ncan see more examples\n[here](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/je/27239/meaning/m0u/%E3%81%93%E3%82%82%E3%82%8B/)\nif you like.\n\nIf you want to talk about someone actively doing the \"filling\", you can use\nthe verb こめる (込める), where the thing to be \"filled\" is followed by を:\n\n> 僕は気持ちを込めて歌を作曲したいです。\n>\n> Natural translation: I want to make songs with feeling.\n>\n> Literal translation: I want to make songs and put feeling into them.\n\nAbout your question regarding \"Tanaka is filled with happiness\", I think your\nJapanese translation isn't natural because of how こもる is used, and think the\nfollowing would be a bit more natural:\n\n> 田中さんは幸せでいっぱいです。\n\nEDIT: Here is a translation of the Japanese text given in the original post.\nWhile the grammar is somewhat straightforward (given my above explanation),\nit's a little tricky to translate.\n\nI ended up with a somewhat non-literal translation, but I think this is a good\nway to express the meaning of the original Japanese.\n\n> 感謝の気持ちは品物の量じゃない。 気持ちなんだから、気持ちがこもっていればいい。\n>\n> Expressing gratitude isn't about the amount of things you give. Since it's\n> about feelings, the important thing is that the giver has put feeling into\n> buying the gift.\n\nI could have also used something like \"It's the thought that counts\".",
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| 33997 | 34003 | 34003 |
{
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"body": "Why is the sentence 「車はあかです。」 not 「車はあかいです。」? Since 「あかい」 is an i-adjective.",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 4,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"i-adjectives"
],
"title": "Using i-adjective color words",
"view_count": 3699
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{
"body": "The primary colors in Japanese are all i-adjectives, which agrees with the\nidea that i-adjectives tend to represent more basic concepts than na-\nadjectives.\n\n```\n\n あかい akai red\n あおい aoi blue\n きいろい kiiroi yellow\n しろい shiroi white\n くろい kuroi black\n \n```\n\nSome examples:\n\n```\n\n あかいくるま a red car\n くろいペン a black pen\n \n```\n\nWhen you want to say that something is some color, you must use the no-\nadjective (a noun) equivalent of the word.\n\n```\n\n あか aka red\n あお ao blue\n きいろ kiiro yellow\n しろ shiro white\n くろ kuro black\n \n```\n\nExample:\n\n```\n\n ボールはしろです。 The ball is white.\n \n```\n\nOther color words are normal no-adjectives, so these five are really the\nexception rather than the rule. Fortunately, the rule itself is without\nexception: when using primary colors to modify a noun, use the i-adjective\nform; otherwise, use the no-adjective form.\n\nYou would also use aka to refer to \"the color red\", which is similar to how\ncolor words in English are used as both nouns and adjectives.\n\nAnd finally, the noun forms are also used in some compound words like :\n\n```\n\n あかワイン red wine\n くろねこ a black cat\n \n```\n\nI hope it could help.",
"comment_count": 1,
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| 33998 | 34000 | 34000 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34016",
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"body": "Could you please help me to understand the difference between **負担｛ふたん｝** and\n**ロイヤルティ**?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-08T09:25:26.353",
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"tags": [
"grammar",
"word-choice"
],
"title": "Difference between 負担 and ロイヤルティ",
"view_count": 73
} | [
{
"body": "ロイヤルティ is _royalty_ , the money that must be paid typically to a patent owner,\na copyright holder, etc. This is a pure technical term, so see the English\nWikipedia article for details.\n\n負担 is much more common, and in financial contexts it refers to a share of\nmoney you have to pay (for whatever purpose). 負担 also means _workload_ ,\n(psychological) _burden_ , etc.\n\n> * この橋の建築費用は、国が30%、県が70%を負担した。\n> * 税金の負担 tax burden\n>",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-08T14:56:05.333",
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| 34009 | 34016 | 34016 |
{
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"body": "I wonder, if there is some set sentence for the heading\n「XXXX年度｛ねんど｝海外｛かいがい｝予算｛よさん｝会議｛かいぎ｝社長｛しゃちょう｝講評｛こうひょう｝」?\n\nI have tried to translate it on my own, but I had difficulties with posing the\nword \"meeting\" in the right place:\n\n> President’s comment on the meeting concerning overseas budget in the fiscal\n> year XXXX\n\nCould you please tell me, if my translation sounds natural and if there is\nsome set sentence, could you please teach me it?",
"comment_count": 3,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-08T09:46:15.460",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"translation",
"set-phrases"
],
"title": "Is there some set sentence for 「XXXX年度海外予算会議社長講評」?",
"view_count": 1099
} | [
{
"body": "I think your translation is natural. This should be interpreted as\n((((xxxx年度)海外予算)会議)((社長)(講評)))\n\nEach elements's connectivity is depend on its meaning.\n\n新型重戦車デザインコンペティション総統講評\n\nis\n\n(((((新型)重戦車))(デザインコンペティション))((総統)(講評)))\n\nSo English version should be\n\nFührer's comment on new heavy tank design competition",
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"creation_date": "2016-05-09T05:18:47.357",
"id": "34030",
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"body": "Does President give a「講評」 on the annual overseas budget - Overseas Operation\nBudget for Fiscal Year of 2017 - at the board meeting? Maybe. But I’ve seldom\nheard of the set of word、社長講評 being used on such an important issue.\n\nThe issues like an annual budget and business plans of a legit organization\nare discussed, studied, examined, reviewed to the bone by participating\nofficers or directors and finally approved by the President.\n\nThe president’ role there is not to simply make the kind of “講評” given by the\njudges at a speech contest. It should be something like\n社長（の）方針、発言、意見、見解、決定、承認, but unlikely be a “講評,” which sounds like a nonchalant\nthird party’s comment.\n\nIn net, your translation is correct. But Japanese text you quoted is\nunrealistic.",
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"creation_date": "2016-06-08T08:19:38.470",
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| 34010 | null | 34030 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34020",
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"body": "> 「どうよ衛宮、桜の出番○×回に対して僕三回だぜ？ すげー、片手でも指が余るって正直調整おかしくない？つーかぁ、兄より優れた妹など存在しねー」\n\nI think it's reffering to the number of scenes he starred in. \nI googled it and found this:\n\n> 片手で/に余る=件数と指の数。 片手に余る＝5より多い。 片手で余る＝5未満。",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-08T09:48:15.390",
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"id": "34011",
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"owner_user_id": "11352",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"words"
],
"title": "片手でも指が余る meaning?",
"view_count": 148
} | [
{
"body": "> [片手]{かたて}でも[指]{ゆび}が[余]{あま}る\n\nPicture a toddler counting something by folding his fingers one by one. He is\nalso too young to know to use the same finger more than once.\n\nNow, how many 指 (fingers) does a 片手 (one hand) have? The answer is ' **\n_five_** ' as the thumb is also considered a 指 in the Japanese-speaking world.\n\n余る means \"to be in surplus\". If your fingers are in surplus after the\ncounting, there should be less than five of the items, agreed? So, there\nshould be 1, 2, 3 or 4 in total quantity. If there are none, you would not\ncount in the first place, and if there were 5 or more, you would not have any\nfingers left unfolded in the hand being used, correct?\n\nThe speaker says 「[僕三回]{ぼくさんかい}だぜ」 = \"As for me, (only) three times.\" His\nlittle sister Sakura has appeared OX times (and I must assume OX means \"many\"\nhere because the speaker is clearly unhappy about making fewer appearances\nthan his sister does).\n\nThus, 「片手でも指が余る」 means the quantity/frequency is less than 5.",
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| 34011 | 34020 | 34020 |
{
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"body": "I'm trying to say, \"I'm nervous about learning Japanese\" or \"I'm nervous about\nmy Japanese learning.\" Does 「私は緊張してです私の日本語学習ついて」 communicate that? If not, how\nshould I communicate it?",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-08T11:37:33.040",
"favorite_count": 0,
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"tags": [
"word-choice",
"phrase-requests",
"learning",
"english-to-japanese"
],
"title": "Does 「私は緊張してです私の日本語学習ついて」 read properly?",
"view_count": 208
} | [
{
"body": "As other people mentioned in the comments, your grammar is off in that\nsentence. I would phrase it like this:\n\n> 私は日本語を勉強することについて不安に思っています。\n\nSide note: Even in English, I think the sentence \"I'm nervous about learning\nJapanese\" is a bit vague without more context. The reason I say this is\nbecause the action of learning a language by itself does not typically inspire\nfeelings of nervousness, unlike, for example, learning how to skydive.\n\nMaybe \"I'm nervous about learning Japanese\" is hinting at something like \"My\nfirst Japanese class is coming up soon, so I'm nervous.\" or \"I'm nervous about\nlearning Japanese because we have to stand up and speak in class, and I've\nnever been good at that sort of thing.\"?",
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| 34012 | null | 34385 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34038",
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"body": "# 日本語\n\n動詞で修{しゅう}飾{しょく}するときには、「た」や「ない」などの形の動詞が使えるでしょう。\n\n> ミラーさんが **住んで いた** うちに ねこが いました。\n\nでも「みんなの日本語」（第22課）によると、「時間」や「約束」や「用事」の場合はいつも辞書形の動詞で修飾します。\n\n> 朝ごはんを 食べる **時間**\n>\n> 映画を 見る **約束**\n>\n> 市役所へ 行く **用事**\n\n辞書形を使わなければならない名詞は、ほかにありますか。\n\n以下の文章は全部おかしいですか。\n\n> 朝ごはんを **食べた** 時間\n>\n> 映画を **見た** 約束\n>\n> 市役所へ **行った** 用事\n\n# English\n\nNoun modification can be done by verbs that aren't in dictionary form.\n\n> ミラーさんが **住んで いた** うちに ねこが いました。\n\nHowever Minna no Nihongo (Lesson 22) says that the following nouns take on\ndictionary-form verbs:\n\n> 朝ごはんを 食べる **時間**\n>\n> 映画を 見る **約束**\n>\n> 市役所へ 行く **用事**\n\nAre there other nouns like these?\n\nAre these wrong?\n\n> 朝ごはんを **食べた** 時間\n>\n> 映画を **見た** 約束\n>\n> 市役所へ **行った** 用事",
"comment_count": 6,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-08T12:20:19.880",
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"last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500",
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"post_type": "question",
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"tags": [
"grammar",
"verbs",
"tense",
"modification"
],
"title": "「時間」「約束」「用事」の修飾 (Noun modification for these 3 nouns)",
"view_count": 1005
} | [
{
"body": "[このページ](https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=KWod-7mqDGAC&pg=PA215&lpg=PA215&dq=%E5%8B%95%E8%A9%9E%E8%BE%9E%E6%9B%B8%E5%BD%A2%E3%80%80%E6%99%82%E9%96%93%E3%80%80%E7%B4%84%E6%9D%9F%E3%80%80%E7%94%A8%E4%BA%8B&source=bl&ots=VXZuK3BWtf&sig=8zvnQzOv524rTNCQIs8KDKEaQXU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjihrj9l8zMAhWEMKYKHeV-\nDpoQ6AEIRzAG#v=onepage&q=%E5%8B%95%E8%A9%9E%E8%BE%9E%E6%9B%B8%E5%BD%A2%E3%80%80%E6%99%82%E9%96%93%E3%80%80%E7%B4%84%E6%9D%9F%E3%80%80%E7%94%A8%E4%BA%8B&f=false)を見ると、\n\n> 約束・予定されている用事の内容、時間の用途などを説明するとき動詞の辞書形で修飾節を作る。\n\nとありますので、このルールは、「『約束・予定されている用事の内容、時間の用途』やそれに準ずる内容のことをいう場合には辞書形を使いなさい」ということだと思います。\n\n> 以下の文章は全部おかしいですか。Are these wrong?\n>\n> 朝ごはんを 食べた 時間\n>\n> 映画を 見た 約束\n>\n> 市役所へ 行った 用事\n\n「朝ご飯を食べた時間」は、おかしくないと思います。この場合は、「時間の用途」(the time for doing some activity)\nではなく、「その行動をする時間」(the time when an action takes place)\nを表す表現になるので、「時間の用途などを説明するとき動詞の辞書形で修飾節を作る」というルールに当てはまらないため、「食べた」を使うことができるのだと思います。\n\n「終わった用事」に関しても、「予定されている用事の内容」を表していませんし、「交わした約束」も「約束の内容」を表していませんし、「過ごした時間」も「時間の用途」を表していませんので、このルールに当てはまらないため、「た形」を使うことができるのだと思います。\n\n「映画を見た約束」「市役所へ行った用事」は、ちょっと変な感じがします。\n\n> 辞書形を使わなければならない名詞は、ほかにありますか。\n\n「予定」「つもり」などはどうでしょうか。上の例と同じように、「予定の内容・するつもりである行動の内容」を表す場合ですが。例えば…\n\n> 明日は、母と買い物に行く予定があります。 \n> 今日は、９時までに帰るつもりです。\n\n「約束・予定の内容、時間の用途」とはあまり関係がなさそうですが、「権利」「勇気」「意志」「意図」、あるいは「手紙」(手紙の内容を説明するときに)などにも、辞書形がよく使われると思います。例えば…\n\n> 発言する権利 \n> 立ち向かう勇気 \n> 実行する意志 \n> ～～という手紙\n\nこのような形で使われる語は、他にもいろいろありそうです。\n\nそれから、コメントでも言われているように、「ない形」を使うこともできると思います。例えば…\n\n> 彼とは、もう二度と会わない約束をしました。 \n> 何もしない時間。 \n> 今日は一日、どこにも行かない予定/つもりです。\n\n(ルールに当てはまるような、「～しない用事」の例は、ちょっと思いつきません・・・)",
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| 34013 | 34038 | 34038 |
{
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"body": "What could be the appropriate translation of the word 「項目」in the next\nsentence?\n\n> 私｛わたし｝から皆様｛みなさま｝に再度｛さいど｝お願い｛おねがい｝したいことは、次｛つぎ｝８つの項目｛こうもく｝についてです。 \n> ① <...> \n> ② <...> \n> … \n> ⑧ <...>\n\nI translated it on my own as:\n\n> I would like to ask you again to follow the directions mentioned in the next\n> 8 points: \n> ① <...> \n> ② <...> \n> … \n> ⑧ <...>\n\nBut as for me, neither \"points\", \"items\" nor \"categories\" are suitable in the\nEnglish version...",
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"tags": [
"translation"
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"title": "Translation of 「項目」in the company president's speech",
"view_count": 79
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{
"body": "I can see nothing wrong if you translated this 項目 as _points_. Is it\nunnatural?\n\nThe more literal translation of this sentence would be:\n\n> What I would like to ask you again are the following 8 points.",
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| 34014 | null | 34018 |
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"body": "For example, Japanese correspondence has several set phrases and sentences,\nwhich are important, but at the same time they are usually omitted when\ntranslated into other languages.\n\nHere I have the company president's speech or rather written comment. And\nthese are the last two sentences:\n\n>\n> 以上｛いじょう｝、当社｛とうしゃ｝の明るい｛あかるい｝未来｛みらい｝が見える｛みえる｝まで、共に｛ともに｝頑張って｛がんばって｝いきたいと思って｛おもって｝います。よろしくお願い｛ねがい｝致します｛いたします｝。\n\n 1. Should I translate these two sentences? If yes, could you tell me, which way would be the best? \n 2. I wonder if I have to translate the word 以上? \n 3. I wonder if I have to translate the phrase よろしくお願い致します?",
"comment_count": 2,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-08T15:42:50.090",
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"tags": [
"translation"
],
"title": "Last sentence of company president's speech: translate or not to translate",
"view_count": 289
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{
"body": "1: \"For the bright future of (this/our) company let's do our best together.\nI’m really looking forward to working with you.\"\n\n2:Really depends on you, I don't think it makes a great difference.\n\n3: Translate \"よろしくお願い致します\". Even though it can't be directly and absolutely\ntranslated, do translate it, because it carries a lot of meaning. I think\nanyone who knows even a bit Japanese understands that.\n\nIt's not an actual per word translation but I think it gets the message across\njust fine.\n\nYou might not like my suggestion and that's ok, but I insist on translating\nよろしくお願い致します.",
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"creation_date": "2016-05-09T14:15:56.230",
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"body": "Let's try something in the \"corporate style\".\n\n> 以上、当社の明るい未来が見えるまで、共に頑張っていきたいと思っています。よろしくお願い致します。\n\n[With the above in mind,] I am looking forward to working side by side with\nyou to [achieve/improve] our future [prospects/outlook].\n\nRemarks:\n\n * The translation of 以上 here depends on the previous content to get something natural in English.\n * The translation of 「よろしくお願い致します」depends on the president's manner and reputation. \n * If they're a real \"straight shooter\", you could use something like \"Now let's get out there and put our backs into it\".\n * If they're fairly dull, something more generic like \"Thank you again for all of your continuing efforts\" is an appropriate equivalent formulaic.\n * The issue with 「〜まで」 is I think mostly with the different connotations in English. \n\nEnglish \"until\" is a limiting word that expresses an \"upper bound\", as in,\n\"I'll stay here until you fall asleep.\" In English, this strictly implies that\nthe speaker won't stay any longer. I don't think this is the case in Japanese.\n\nThis is similar to the use of 「だけ」, which, while often translated as \"only\",\nhas the same problem: \"only\" in English includes an upper bound, but 「だけ」\nexpresses a lower bound. This is why 「できるだけ、やってみましょう」 is not a negative phrase\nin Japanese as a literal translation would make it in English.\n\nThus, 「〜まで」 here seems more indicative of the president's expressed\nwillingness to see through their stated goals for the company. At any rate,\nit's complicated to try and work all of this into a translation that fits into\none or two short words, so don't break your back over it.",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-12-26T20:22:04.363",
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| 34019 | 42006 | 34041 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34023",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "> A) 「ちがうっ、量が肝心だよォ」 \n> A) That's wrong. Quantity is vital. \n> B)「わかんないこと言うんじゃないのっ」 \n> B) Didn't I say that I don't understand.\n\nThe context is that A is trying to get B to buy more stuff. B explains that\nquantity is not important.\n\nI think my translation of the second sentence must be wrong. Neither A nor B\nsay that they don't understand anything. Furthermore, why is こと used rather\nthan just と? And, why is it わかんない rather than わからない? Is that just a standard\ncontraction? Also I'm guessing there's a を that's been omitted?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-08T18:39:15.453",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34021",
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"last_editor_user_id": "7944",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"contractions",
"nominalization"
],
"title": "Understanding わかんないこと言うんじゃないのっ",
"view_count": 484
} | [
{
"body": "To start with the easiest part, 「わか **ん** ない」 is just the Kanto colloquial\npronunciation of 「わか **ら** ない」, and I will use the dictionary form in my\nexplanation.\n\nIt appears to me that you are thinking of the \" ** _other_** \"「わからない」, which\nis the negative form of the **_verb_** 「わかる」, are you not?\n\nThe 「わからない」 in the context in question needs to be understood and treated as\nan **_adjective_** , which is why it can take 「こと」 with it. **_It means \"not\nsensible\", \"dense\", \"dull-witted\", etc_**.\n\n> 「Verb in Dictionary Form + の/ん + では/じゃ + ないの」\n\nis a negative imperative form; therefore 「言うんじゃないのっ」 means \"Don't say ~~!\"\n\n「わかんないこと言うんじゃないのっ」 thus literally means \"Don't say an insensible thing!\". So\nall you have to do now would be to turn that into natural English. I am in no\nposition to give you natural English for obvious reasons, but the phrase that\ncame instantly into my mind upon reading this question was indeed **_\"Don't\ngimme crap!\"_**\n\n> why is こと used rather than just と?\n\nBecause 「わかんない」 is used as an adjective here. Noun 「こと」 can follow it\nnaturally and smoothly. Using 「と」 is impossible because the speaker is not\nquoting.\n\n> Also I'm guessing there's a を that's been omitted?\n\nPrecisely. 「わか **ん** ない」 is colloquial and so is 「言う **んじゃないのっ** 」. One should\nreasonably expect particle omission in such speech.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-08T20:12:00.617",
"id": "34023",
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}
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| 34021 | 34023 | 34023 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34025",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "The full sentence is below and the context is a guy, describing someone he\njust met.\n\n> 出過ぎず、足りな過ぎず **な** 完璧な躰は、淡い紫色の、俗に羽衣と呼ばれるゆったりとした服に包まれている。\n\nI don't know what the 「な」 is doing/means.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-08T19:22:25.013",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34022",
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"last_edit_date": "2016-05-08T21:50:06.753",
"last_editor_user_id": "9831",
"owner_user_id": "12353",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"meaning"
],
"title": "What does the 「な」 mean in 「出過ぎず、足りな過ぎずな完璧な躰は」?",
"view_count": 359
} | [
{
"body": "As already answered in the comment, \"出過ぎず、足りなすぎず\" as a whole is used as a na-\nadjective.\n\n出過ぎず足りなすぎない完璧な躰 would be also fine and more \"standard\", but in this case\n出過ぎず足りなすぎず is a kind of set phrase, so probably the author did not want to\nconjugate it.\n\nSimilar example:\n\n> * 早い朝食 early breakfast\n> * 早くな朝食 (incorrect)\n> * 早くもなく遅くもない朝食 (standard)\n> * 早くもなく遅くもなくな朝食 (perhaps nonstandard, but OK) not-so-early-but-not-so-late\n> breakfast\n>",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T00:31:40.037",
"id": "34025",
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"last_editor_user_id": "5010",
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}
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| 34022 | 34025 | 34025 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34027",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "What is the counter for coins?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T01:23:14.933",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34026",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-09T01:42:55.197",
"last_edit_date": null,
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"owner_user_id": "1805",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"counters"
],
"title": "What is the counter for coins?",
"view_count": 1320
} | [
{
"body": "It's 枚【まい】.\n\n> 3枚のコイン\n\nSometimes 個【こ】 is also used in casual situations.",
"comment_count": 3,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T01:42:55.197",
"id": "34027",
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| 34026 | 34027 | 34027 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34034",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "This is from the long-running anime Sazae-san. Let me set up the situation. A\nyoung couple is at a public telephone. The woman is calling her parents,\ntelling them that she's at her female friend's and will get home late today.\nThe viewer sees that this is a lie (since she's with her boyfriend and the guy\nis sticking his tongue out). Then suddenly, a stranger out of nowhere （波平）just\nsnatches the phone from her hand and seems to be giving the parents a lecture.\nBelow is the transcript:\n\n> (The woman) もしもし？ \n> (The woman) 今 カズコんちにいるの。\n>\n> (The woman) 帰り 遅くなるから。\n>\n> （波平）いかん！ (snatches the phone) \n> （波平）あなた お母さんですか？(already talking on the phone)\n>\n> （波平）失礼だが \n> （波平）お宅の教育は 間違っている。\n>\n> (The woman's mother, on the phone) あの ちょっと \n> (The woman's mother, on the phone) 主人と代わります。\n>\n> （波平）いや そりゃ \n> （波平）かたいことばかりは言えないがだ。\n\nThe anime is here (starting at 10:30):\n<http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x46ojrm>. Watching it is going to be\nessential in understanding the situation, I think.\n\nNow my question is, what is 波平 saying to the parents? It seems to me that he\nsays to them that they are raising their girl wrong (お宅の教育は 間違っている)? The last\npart I simply don't understand: \"かたいことばかりは言えないがだ\". Something about them being\ntoo conservative? Also, what's with \"がだ\" at the end? Doesn't look correct\ngrammar-wise. (This script comes from TV feed so it should be correct). This\nis all weird: I thought he would tell the parents the truth (that they were\nbeing lying to), and not go at them like this (perhaps I misunderstand the\nscene?).",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-09T01:57:20.470",
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"id": "34028",
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"last_edit_date": "2016-05-09T05:50:29.353",
"last_editor_user_id": "9831",
"owner_user_id": "4295",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 4,
"tags": [
"translation"
],
"title": "What is \"かたいことばかりは言えないがだ\"?",
"view_count": 174
} | [
{
"body": "> _The last part I simply don't understand: \"かたいことばかりは言えないがだ\". Something about\n> them being too conservative?_\n\nYes, かたい (I suppose it's 堅い) means \"firm, rigid\" thus can describe someone is\n(too) conservative or moralistic.\n\n> _Also, what's with \"がだ\" at the end? Doesn't look correct grammar-wise._\n\nYes, it's grammatical for copula だ (である, です etc.) to attach to particles to\nclose the sentence, since it's able to connect to everything except\n_conjugable words_ (用言; verbs, adjectives and so-called \"auxilliary verbs\").\nThis construction often doesn't have direct translation into English, but\nfunctionally, it makes sure that a sentence ends there (because when you pause\nafter a particle, the hearer couldn't know if a verb comes later or not).\nPragmatically, it often conveys speaker's assertion or emphasis on the phrase\nbefore.\n\n> うちの猫、毎日お風呂に入れてあげてるのに全然なつかないんだけど…。 \n> _You know what, my cat doesn't take to me at all, even I bathe him every\n> day...._\n>\n> 入れるからだろ。 \n> _It's BECAUSE you bathe him._\n\nLikewise,\n\n> いや、そりゃかたいことばかりは言えないがだ。 \n> (lit. _No, you know, it is that though (you) cannot always tell moralistic\n> things._ ) \n> something like: _No, of course I don't say you should be always prim and\n> proper._",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T08:24:09.680",
"id": "34034",
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"last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500",
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"owner_user_id": "7810",
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}
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| 34028 | 34034 | 34034 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "a high school student walks into a confection store and after ordering some\nsweets, the female attendant with whom he is familiar with says:\n\n> スイーツを？ 彼女でもできたんでしょう～？\n\nshe later sees him off by saying:\n\n> 今度は彼女でも連れて来なさいよ！\n\nI read somewhere that できる can mean to \"get with\" someone, so I think the first\npart translates to something like:\n\n> sweets huh? that means you've got a girlfriend right?\n\nand the second part being:\n\n> bring your girlfriend next time!\n\nother than my more than likely mistranslated use of できる, it's the use of でも in\nboth cases that is confusing me. I know that noun+でも= \"even noun\", but \"bring\neven a girl/your girlfriend next time!\" doesn't sound right to me. Does it\nmean too/also, if so why not use just も?\n\nIf someone could give me a true translation of the sentences and help me to\nbetter understand those でもs, I would greatly appreciate it, thanks.",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T05:18:45.357",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34029",
"last_activity_date": "2020-12-13T08:56:20.633",
"last_edit_date": "2020-12-13T08:56:20.633",
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"owner_user_id": "14308",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"usage"
],
"title": "confusing usage of でも",
"view_count": 1269
} | [
{
"body": "In your first example sentence, the question: 彼女でもできたんでしょう〜？ can be translated\nto \"Did you get yourself a girlfriend or something?\" The \"or something\" is\nthere to express the nuance given by でも in this sentence.\n\nPlease reference definition #3:\n<http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/152508/meaning/m0u/>\n\nFor convenience, I've copied it here.\n\n> 3 物事をはっきりと言わず、一例として挙げる意を表す。「けが―したら大変だ」「兄に―相談するか」\n\nDefintion translated:\n\n> 3 Expresses an idea by providing an example without clearly stating it.\n\nAlso, from the 大辞林 (Daijirin):\n\n> 軽く例示的に提出する。\n>\n> Provides an example in a light manner.\n\nIn other words, it's a way of making the question somewhat more vague in the\nsame way that \"or something\" does in the English translation I provided you.\n\nIn your second example sentence: 今度は彼女でも連れて来なさいよ！ the でも is the same でも as in\nthe first. My thought on this is that でも is likely being used because the\nspeaker is unsure of the relationship between the male student in your story\nand the individual for whom he his presumably purchasing the sweets for.\n\nIn other words, the speaker doesn't actually know whether or not the male\nstudent is dating anyone or not, but is assuming so. To make the speech less\ndirect, the speaker uses でも.\n\nFurther usage examples:\n\n * お茶でも飲む？ \"Do you want (to drink) some tea or something?\"\n * 兄にでも相談したらどうだ？ \"Why don't you talk to someone, like your older brother?\"\n * ホテルのロビーででも待っていてください。 \"Please wait in the hotel lobby (or somewhere near there).\"\n * こんな時、〇〇君でもいてくれたらなあ。\"If only ___ were here at such a time as this.\"\n\nFurther reading:\n<http://tle.westone.wa.gov.au/content/file/841c139b-f114-4b7b-b2be-\nfc376c32533e/1/1585_Japanese_Unit_3A.zip/content/02_learning_thru_travel/page_07.htm>",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-30T17:27:52.357",
"id": "34500",
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| 34029 | null | 34500 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34032",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "If こわれかけのオルゴール was 壊れかけのオルゴール, 壊れ would be the stem of 壊れる, and かけ would\nprobably be a noun. Since I'm just learning Japanese, I don't understand where\nかけ comes from. What meaning does かけ have in こわれかけのオルゴール?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T05:51:28.813",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34031",
"last_activity_date": "2018-02-06T05:58:53.407",
"last_edit_date": "2016-06-22T05:44:31.463",
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": null,
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"meaning",
"compounds",
"aspect",
"ichidan-verbs"
],
"title": "What does かけ mean in こわれかけのオルゴール?",
"view_count": 712
} | [
{
"body": "「かけ」 comes from the verb 「かける」, which is a key verb with over a dozen\nmeanings.\n\nSee definition #15 [in this\ndictionary](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%8E%9B%E3%81%91%E3%82%8B%E3%83%BB%E6%87%B8%E3%81%91%E3%82%8B-228593#E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E6.9E.97.20.E7.AC.AC.E4.B8.89.E7.89.88).\n\nTo summarize the pertinent parts of #15 in my own way, it says the following.\n\n> 「Verb in [連用形]{れんようけい} (continuative form) + かける」 means:\n>\n> \"to start (verb)ing\", \"to start (verb)ing and stop in the middle without\n> completing\", \"to be about to (verb)\", \"to almost (verb)\", etc.\n\nPlease note that 「こわれ」 is the 連用形 of the verb 「こわれる」. Thus, the compound verb\n「 **こわれかける** 」 means _**\" to start breaking (apart)\", \"to start\nmalfunctioning\", \"to be about to go out of order\"**_, etc.\n\nHow about the form 「こわれかけ」, you ask. Think of it as a noun form of 「こわれかける」.\nIf you have a noun, you know you can attach a 「の」 to it.\n\n「こわれかけ **の** オルゴール」＝「オルゴール that is in the こわれかけ state」\n\n= **\" a/the half-broken music box \"**",
"comment_count": 3,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T06:56:49.360",
"id": "34032",
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"parent_id": "34031",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 7
}
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| 34031 | 34032 | 34032 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34035",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Can you please help me with recognizing this line in old Japanese handwriting? \n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/9TWZP.jpg) \n \nAs I suppose, this is: \n\n> ? やき ？ っすれ ？ の二\n\n \nbut it's most likely that I am wrong",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T08:09:05.733",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34033",
"last_activity_date": "2017-06-29T07:35:53.340",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-09T09:01:32.380",
"last_editor_user_id": "7810",
"owner_user_id": "13621",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 12,
"tags": [
"classical-japanese",
"handwriting",
"hentaigana"
],
"title": "Recognizing old Japanese handwriting",
"view_count": 1823
} | [
{
"body": "It's a famous book called ぎやどぺかどる, a translation of _[Guía de\nPecadores](http://mercaba.org/Libros/LUIS%20GRANADA/INDICE.htm)_ (or \"[The\nSinner's Guide](http://www.ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/GRANADA.HTM)\") by Jesuit\nmission in Japan.\n\nIt reads:\n\n> きやとへかとる 巻の二 (voicing marks unused) \n> _Guia do Pecador - Book 2_ (title in Medieval Portuguese)\n\nWhat makes it hard to read is\n_[hentaigana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hentaigana)_ , now obsolete\nhistoric alternate kana, used in the line as:\n\n> きや ****と **** \n> _or_ \n> きや **登遍可** と **類** (hentaigana in original kanji forms)\n\n* * *\n\n**EDIT** : \n~~The shape of the eighth letter, which I read 其, seems rather peculiar, that\nmore resembles hentaigana 春 or 寿 (both for す). There's a possibility that it's\na typesetting error (note that the border between kana and cursive style kanji\nis fuzzy), or meant to be hentaigana 楚 for そ.~~\n\nSorry, of course [it was\n巻](http://clioz39.hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ships/ZClient/W34/z_list.php?title=%E5%B7%BB&resourcetype=0)\n:)",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T08:46:05.627",
"id": "34035",
"last_activity_date": "2017-06-29T07:35:53.340",
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"owner_user_id": "7810",
"parent_id": "34033",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 18
}
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| 34033 | 34035 | 34035 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34037",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Surely the biggest issue here is that I'm trying to learn usage from anime\ndialogue, which should almost always be taken with the biggest grain of salt\npossible. But it comes up often enough that it's at least a trope, if not a\ncommon real-world usage, and I haven't been able to figure this out.\n\nIndividually, I know what `私` (\"I\") and `ね` (often a particle for \"right?\", or\n\"hey\") mean. But when they are combined at the beginning of a sentence, simply\ncombining those meanings seems insufficient to explain what's being\ncommunicated.\n\nUsually it comes up when a female character is talking about herself,\nconfiding in a close friend, sounding something like わたしね{LLLH}. In fact,\nright after writing this, I happened across an example 19 seconds into episode\n17 of 四月は君の嘘, when Kaori says 「私ね{あたしね}...」, trailing off right before the\ntheme song starts.\n\nNot sure if more details are needed, but I will certainly make clarifying\nedits in response to comments, so fire away!",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T09:12:48.307",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34036",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-10T11:07:33.967",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-10T11:07:33.967",
"last_editor_user_id": "7810",
"owner_user_id": "713",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"usage",
"slang",
"idioms",
"anime"
],
"title": "Usage/context of 「私ね…」",
"view_count": 561
} | [
{
"body": "This type of ね is a filler particle meaning nothing. Such fillers can appear\nin many places within a sentence. ね is one of the typical \"girly\" filler\nparticles.\n\nYou don't have to translate them, although English fillers such as \"you know\"\nor \"er\" may be used if you fell they're appropriate.\n\nSee the following answers, which are closely related.\n\n * <https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/14924/5010>\n * <https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/27628/5010>",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T09:28:46.273",
"id": "34037",
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"last_edit_date": "2017-04-13T12:43:44.863",
"last_editor_user_id": "-1",
"owner_user_id": "5010",
"parent_id": "34036",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 5
}
]
| 34036 | 34037 | 34037 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34044",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "チケット (chiketto) 切符 (kippu) 乗車券 (joushaken)\n\nAll words mean ticket -Is there any difference among them? When is appropriate\nto use them or not?\n\nThe only one thing I found yet, is that the last one means passenger ticket or\ntrain ticket in detail.\n\nAre kippu/chiketto inappropriate in use as train ticket or are they general\nenough?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T16:25:55.603",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34043",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-09T16:43:38.700",
"last_edit_date": null,
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"owner_user_id": "14283",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 11,
"tags": [
"meaning",
"usage",
"synonyms"
],
"title": "Difference between チケット, 切符 and 乗車券",
"view_count": 5206
} | [
{
"body": "* チケット: Tickets for theaters, amusement parks, sport games, etc.\n * 切符: Tickets in general used for trains, buses, etc.\n * 乗車券: An official term used by railway companies for a type of 切符. 乗車券 refers to a [basic fare ticket](http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/ticket/types.html) whose price is calculated based on the travel distance. You may additionally need other types of 切符 such as 特急券 (\"limited express train ticket\").\n\nWhen you ride local trains, 切符 is the same as 乗車券. In everyday conversations,\nordinary people usually stick to 切符 unless they need to be specific.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T16:43:38.700",
"id": "34044",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-09T16:43:38.700",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "5010",
"parent_id": "34043",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 13
}
]
| 34043 | 34044 | 34044 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 0,
"body": "How does one say X to the power of Y? (i.e. X^Y)\n\nXのY乗{じょう} ?",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-09T23:29:14.093",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34047",
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"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "1805",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 0,
"tags": [
"usage"
],
"title": "How to say X to the power of Y?",
"view_count": 49
} | []
| 34047 | null | null |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34050",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I'm trying to understand the difference between 蘇生する{そせいする} and 蘇る{よみがえる}. My\nresearch thus far tells me that 蘇る is intransitive and can be used for\nrecalling memories in addition to the mutual meanings of \"to be\nrevived/resuscitated\". However, I'm having trouble determining if 蘇生する is\ntransitive since my dictionary only lists it as a noun (and doesn't have an\nentry for the noun+sure verb).\n\nSo in summary, what are the differences between the two?\n\nAs a bonus question, what's a good resource to look up noun+する definitions? Or\nis there some easy rule like noun+する verbs are always transitive?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T03:30:53.580",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34049",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-10T04:29:55.053",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-10T03:42:31.667",
"last_editor_user_id": "796",
"owner_user_id": "1292",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 4,
"tags": [
"word-choice",
"meaning",
"nuances",
"definitions"
],
"title": "Differences Between 蘇生する and 蘇る",
"view_count": 292
} | [
{
"body": "蘇生する can be used both transitively and intransitively. Basically it only means\nresurrecting dead people/animals. 蘇生 is also a medical term for\n(cardiopulmonary) _resuscitation_.\n\n * 死者が灰から蘇生する (intransitive)\n * 死者を灰から蘇生する (transitive)\n * 死者を灰から蘇生させる (intransitive + causative)\n\n蘇る is always intransitive. It can be used with 記憶, 思い出, etc., too.\n\n * 死者が灰から蘇る\n * 死者を灰から蘇らせる\n\n復活する is almost always intransitive.\n\n * 死者が灰から復活する\n * 死者を灰から復活させる\n\n(The only exception I know is the title of [this\ngame](http://www.dragonquest.jp/builders/). But I remember quite a few people\nclaimed this title is unnatural.)\n\nUnfortunately, there is no easy way to tell which suru-verb is transitive or\nintransitive...\n\n * キャラクターを強化する (fortify/buff): almost always transitive\n * キャラクターを弱体化する (debuff): both intransitive and transitive\n * 剣が劣化する (degrade): almost always intransitive",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T04:12:01.477",
"id": "34050",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-10T04:29:55.053",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-10T04:29:55.053",
"last_editor_user_id": "5010",
"owner_user_id": "5010",
"parent_id": "34049",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 5
}
]
| 34049 | 34050 | 34050 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34052",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "My question is\n\n> Is there any difference between 流石{さすが} and 予想{よそう}した通{とお}りでした?",
"comment_count": 7,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T07:06:32.450",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34051",
"last_activity_date": "2017-12-29T09:14:06.373",
"last_edit_date": "2017-12-29T09:14:06.373",
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"owner_user_id": "11192",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"word-choice",
"meaning"
],
"title": "Is there any difference between 流石 and 予想した通りでした?",
"view_count": 432
} | [
{
"body": "> 「[流石]{さすが}！」\n>\n> 「[予想]{よそう}したとおり **だ** / **です** / **でした** ！」\n\nYes, there is an important difference in usage and meaning between the two. (I\nactually have seen Japanese-learners use them incorrectly on a few occasions\nbecause they thought that both meant \" _ **Just as expected!**_ \" without a\ndifference in usage.)\n\nWhen something that you have held a _**positive**_ impression of in the past\nhas proven to be just as good, you can say either one naturally.\n\nWhen, however, something that you have held a _**negative**_ impression of has\nproven to be just as bad, you can only say 「予想通り」. Saying 「流石」 in that\nsituation would only make you sound sarcastic.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T08:02:23.893",
"id": "34052",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-10T08:02:23.893",
"last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500",
"last_editor_user_id": "-1",
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"parent_id": "34051",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "The literal meaning of さすが is that like \"renowned (for doing something)\" or\n\"of established reputation\", so you can see this word is only appropriate for\nthe situations _someone did something good as you expected, with the intent of\npraising the doer_. In other settings I'm afraid it sounds out of place.\nAdditionally, it's also used in さすがの～ (adjectively) and さすがに～ (adverbially)\nforms to convey feelings that can be translated as \"even for the most\n[adjective] [noun]\" (fill in right words from context).\n\nMeanwhile, 予想した通り almost equals English \"as one expected\" or \"as one\nsuspected\", both grammatically and semantically. But when you'd like to scream\nout the single phrase, there are often more better word-forms such as:\n「思った通り」「予想通り」「だと思った」「やっぱり」 etc.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T10:59:50.400",
"id": "34054",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-11T09:33:45.347",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-11T09:33:45.347",
"last_editor_user_id": "7810",
"owner_user_id": "7810",
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"score": 4
}
]
| 34051 | 34052 | 34052 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34056",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "It is a very basic question that up to now I don't quite understand. あげる just\ngives additional information about the direction of action. Because 貸す\nprovides direction of action clearly, I think あげる is no longer needed.\n\nIn other words, sentence B below should be more efficient than the sentence A\nwithout loss of any meaning. What do you think?\n\n> A: 僕は君にお金を貸してあげた。\n>\n> B: 僕は君にお金を貸した。\n\nIn English they are both translated to \"I lent money to you.\".",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T12:05:05.363",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34055",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-11T04:33:58.077",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-10T12:16:34.620",
"last_editor_user_id": "11192",
"owner_user_id": "11192",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 4,
"tags": [
"grammar"
],
"title": "The purpose of an auxiliary verb あげる",
"view_count": 308
} | [
{
"body": "> あげる just gives additional information about the direction of action.\n\nNo, that's not correct. The subsidiary verb あげる implies the subject is doing\nsomething beneficial to the other person. So depending on the context,\nSentence A may sound like the speaker is asking for a word of thanks.\n\nIn Sentence B, on the other hand, the speaker is describing what he/she did\nmatter-of-factly.\n\nSee:\n\n * [real meaning of 子供に話を聞かせてあげました](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/21114/5010)",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T13:02:03.943",
"id": "34056",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-10T13:02:03.943",
"last_edit_date": "2017-04-13T12:43:48.447",
"last_editor_user_id": "-1",
"owner_user_id": "5010",
"parent_id": "34055",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "> sentence B below should be more efficient than the sentence A without loss\n> of any meaning.\n\nIf we take the whole meaning to be \"I lent you money,\" then B is more\nefficient and the あげる in A is redundant.\n\nIf, however, we take a more nuanced view of what A and B are saying, then A\ndiffers in adding additional information. The あげる implies the subject is doing\nthe recipient a favor whereas the other sentence merely states the fact of\nlending.\n\n> Both are translated \"I lent money to you\"\n\nAre they? If so, then I'd say that we're losing information in the translation\nof A.\n\nB1: I lent you money.\n\nB2: I lent money to you.\n\n(I'd say B1 is actually more natural English than the translation you're\nsuggesting).\n\nA1 : I let you borrow money from me.\n\nA2: I _kindly_ lent you money.\n\nA3: I volunteered to loan you money.\n\nA4: I lent you money.\n\nDepending on the context, A4 may be fine or it may lose something valuable and\nimportant for understanding the rest of the dialogue.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-11T04:16:17.310",
"id": "34070",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-11T04:16:17.310",
"last_edit_date": null,
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"owner_user_id": "4091",
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"score": 5
}
]
| 34055 | 34056 | 34056 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34065",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I think it should probably be pronounced as komichi or komich.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T14:16:50.593",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34059",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-10T21:21:55.700",
"last_edit_date": null,
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"owner_user_id": null,
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"pronunciation",
"hiragana"
],
"title": "Is it ok to read こみち as komiti?",
"view_count": 196
} | [
{
"body": "Since you didn't use quotation marks, your question is a bit ambiguous.\n\nこみち can be _transcribed_ as \"komiti\" using [Nihon-\nshiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihon-shiki_romanization)/[Kunrei-\nshiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunrei-shiki_romanization) romanization\n(see this [relevant paragraph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunrei-\nshiki_romanization#Usage)).\n\nBut it is _pronounced_ as \"komichi\" or\n[/komit͡ʃi/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet_chart_for_English_dialects)\n(although I'm no IPA expert).",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T14:47:13.303",
"id": "34064",
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},
{
"body": "**[ち](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_%28kana%29)** is often\n[transcribed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Japanese) as\n**ti** natively in Japan and by scholars, because it is very nice to get a\n_simple_ progression like **ta ti tu te to** for **たちつてと** , which can help\nwhen explaining various linguistic changes.\n\nWhat happens in Japanese is that the vowels / **i** / and / **u** / [affect\nthe previous\nsound](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology#Palatalization_and_affrication),\nhence the sometime need to to more accurately describe this pronunciation.\nUsually this gets done as **chi** in English.\n\n(Some non-IPA transcriptions of **ち** in languages other than English: chi,\nçi, či, ĉi, csi, ti.)\n\n[As for IPA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet),\nit is possible to transcribe on several _levels_ :\n\n * Very broadly: / **ti** /\n * Broadly: / **tˢi** /\n * Narrowly: [ **tɕi** ]\n\nAs far as I am aware [ **tɕi** ] is the standard IPA transcription of **ち** in\nmodern, standard Japanese.",
"comment_count": 7,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T21:21:55.700",
"id": "34065",
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}
]
| 34059 | 34065 | 34064 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Can you tell me what is this means? It's on my T-Shirt.\n<https://gyazo.com/3736d4a55d523b427086f5c531271556>",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T14:29:25.613",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34061",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-10T16:51:34.190",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "14395",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 0,
"tags": [
"translation",
"meaning"
],
"title": "Can you translate this for me?",
"view_count": 356
} | [
{
"body": "That means no problem.\n\n問題 is translated to a problem. ない is 無い. \"Aが無い\" is translated to \"There is not\nA.\"",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T14:30:54.477",
"id": "34063",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-10T16:51:34.190",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-10T16:51:34.190",
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"owner_user_id": "14394",
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"score": 2
}
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| 34061 | null | 34063 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34067",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "i'm not entirely sure but remember that conditionals could be used to also\nmean \"when\" when in is that the case here?\n\n> ゲームを愛する引き篭もり少年・佐藤（さとう）和真（かずま）の人生は、あっけなく幕を閉じた・・・・・・はずだったが、目を覚ます **と**\n> 目の前に女神と名乗る美少女が。\n\nwould I be correct in translating the whole sentence as some along the lines\nof \"gaming loving shut-in, satou kazuma's life life had the curtains closed\ntoo soon..... that was how it was supposed to be but, **when** he awoke,\nbefore his eyes was beautiful girl calling herself a goddess\" ?\n\nit doesn't make much sense to mean _if_ here but I'm not too sure.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-10T23:22:02.477",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34066",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-11T01:31:20.067",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-11T01:31:20.067",
"last_editor_user_id": "5010",
"owner_user_id": "12353",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"translation",
"meaning",
"particle-と"
],
"title": "The 「と」 conditional to be used as \"when\"?",
"view_count": 278
} | [
{
"body": "The structure of this sentence is a bit strange to me (maybe I'm just confused\nby punctuation).\n\nAnyway, I guess that the _と_ you are discussing here is used just as in the\nusual すると type of construction (plain verb + と). So, in this case, I think\nthat it's OK to translate it with _when_ in English, as this form generally\ndescribes a cause/effect kind of relationship.\n\nBreaking it down in a very literal way, that part of the sentence probably\ncould be translated as:\n\n_(subject) opens/opened (his/her) eyes **and** (consequence)_.\n\nOf course, in a more standard English we would probably change this structure\nusing _when_ :\n\n**_when** (subject) opens/opened (his/her) eyes (consequence)_,\n\nwhich basically bears the same idea of cause/effect. I think this article\nmight be also useful:\n\n<http://selftaughtjapanese.com/2015/02/10/the-real-story-on-three-japanese-\nconditionals-%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E3%81%A8%E3%80%81%E3%81%97%E3%81%9F%E3%82%89%E3%80%81%E3%81%99%E3%82%8C%E3%81%B0-suru-\nto-shitara-sureba/>",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-11T00:16:21.127",
"id": "34067",
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"owner_user_id": "14205",
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"score": 3
}
]
| 34066 | 34067 | 34067 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34071",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "This is piece of dialogue from a book, and i don't quite get what the 「って」 is\ndoing, if it's a quote, i don't get why they would need to phrase it as a\nquote. I'm guessing the 「いい」 is the word for \"good\"\n\n「異世界に行かない？ 一つだけ好きな物を持っている **って** _いい_ わよ。」\n\nI can guess the the full sentence is something like \"you are allowed to take\nonly 1 item you like with you\" since the previous was \"won't you go to another\nworld?\" from context but i want to know what the 「って」 and 「いい」 are for.",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-11T00:40:35.983",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34068",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-11T06:12:38.127",
"last_edit_date": null,
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"owner_user_id": "12353",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 0,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"translation",
"meaning"
],
"title": "The 「って」 + 「いい」 in this sentence what does it mean?",
"view_count": 667
} | [
{
"body": "As your sentence is 持って行っていい.\n\nしていい means \"be allowed to\".\n\n持っていっ is a euphonic change of 持っていき, which is 連用形(te-form) of 持っていく.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-11T06:12:38.127",
"id": "34071",
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}
]
| 34068 | 34071 | 34071 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34074",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "即死 is a noun with meaning \"instant death\" and the grammar\n\n> S＋が/は＋Ｎ＋する\n\nas far as I know, means someone does something. For example,\n\n * 僕は勉強する。I study.\n * 彼がテニスする。He plays tennis.\n\nNow, if I apply the noun 即死, for example,\n\n * 彼が即死した。\n\nWhich is the correct translation?\n\n * He died instantly. (my translation)\n * He was killed instantly. (google's translation)\n\nI don't understand why google used passive form here.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-11T08:36:25.823",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34072",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-11T17:21:54.010",
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"owner_user_id": "11192",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"grammar"
],
"title": "How should I translate 彼が即死した?",
"view_count": 321
} | [
{
"body": "I think Google preferred \"to be killed\" because 即死 is usually used with sudden\nphysical accidents like a car crash, lightning strike, explosion, gun shot,\netc. Take a look at [examples sentences\nhere](http://ejje.weblio.jp/sentence/content/%E5%8D%B3%E6%AD%BB). In English,\n\"to be killed\" is frequently used with those (maybe more often than \"to die\nof\"?), while 殺される in Japanese is basically only for murder cases.\n\nIt's safe to use 即死 with, for example, a sudden heart attack, but it's less\ncommon.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-11T14:12:22.867",
"id": "34074",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-11T14:12:22.867",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "5010",
"parent_id": "34072",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 4
}
]
| 34072 | 34074 | 34074 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34082",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "What is the difference between 募集｛ぼしゅう｝ vs 採用｛さいよう｝?",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-11T22:16:13.610",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34077",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T08:27:02.233",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "9364",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"word-choice",
"translation"
],
"title": "Difference between 募集 vs 採用",
"view_count": 266
} | [
{
"body": "Looking at this question\n[here](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q128081362) it\nseems as though 募集 refers to the planning of recruitment whereas 採用 refers to\nrecruitment where the person/group decision has been made.\n\nIf you look a bit into the kanji, 募集 contains 集 which means to gather, bring\ntogether whereas 採用 contains 用 which means to use.\n\nAlso, 募集 usually refers to recruitment whereas 採用 refers to employ/hire.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-11T22:58:42.633",
"id": "34078",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-11T22:58:42.633",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "3916",
"parent_id": "34077",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
},
{
"body": "Looking at the 漢字 is quite informative.\n\nYou can see that 募集 is made of 募+集. Interestingly, both can be used to build\nverbs: 募る (to recruit) and 集まる (to gather). So 募集 means \"gathering applicants\"\n(or something like that). 募集 is seen a lot in the form of 募集中 (We are\nrecruiting now). Note: The use of 募集 may not be limited to work: even if it\ncan feel a little desperate 友達募集中 would mean that you are looking for friends.\n\nNow, if we look at 採用, again we can decompose it into 採｛と｝る (to pick) and 用いる.\nFrom this observation we can see that 採用 is more about picking the right\ncandidate than anything else. That's why there are 採用試験 but no 募集試験.\n\nIn conclusion, both mean _to hire_ , but 募集 emphasizes the process of\ngathering applicants while 採用 emphasizes the recruiting process (that may be\ncompetitive).",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T07:22:06.127",
"id": "34082",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T07:22:06.127",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "4216",
"parent_id": "34077",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
}
]
| 34077 | 34082 | 34078 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34080",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I can read this sentence for the most part but i can't seem to quite translate\nit properly or into something that flows naturally.\n\nhe's talking from a view of recalling a set of memories.\n\n> 無事にゲームを獲得し、後は家に帰ってゲーム **三昧だと** 、上機嫌で **帰宅しようとしていた** 、そんな時だった。\n\nSentence afterwards to give some context：携帯をいじりながら俺の前を歩いていた女の子。\n\nhere's what I can currently read/understand/translate it as\n\n\"I acquired my game without any problems, after I went home ....missing text i\ncan't translate properly.... in a good mood I went home (i don't understand\nwhat this construction does, i have tried to figure it out but can't find\nanything)",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T01:27:44.387",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34079",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T05:00:40.850",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-12T01:56:10.263",
"last_editor_user_id": "5010",
"owner_user_id": "12353",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"translation",
"meaning"
],
"title": "「三昧だと」と「帰宅しようとしていた」 meaning?",
"view_count": 182
} | [
{
"body": "> 〜[三昧]{ざんまい}: to be absorbed in ~\n>\n> だと: Here, it means he was thinking about something, an abbreviation of\n> 〜だと思って...\n>\n> 帰宅: return home\n>\n> しようとする: to try to do something (often used when the action didn't actually\n> complete)\n\nSo, putting this together we get a translation like:\n\n> It was then, on his way home after getting his hands on a new game, when he\n> was thinking cheerfully about all he had left to do was go home and get\n> absorbed in the game.\n\nThis is somewhat non-literal and probably could be refined to more slightly\nmore natural, but you get the idea.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T01:51:59.337",
"id": "34080",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T05:00:40.850",
"last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500",
"last_editor_user_id": "-1",
"owner_user_id": "11825",
"parent_id": "34079",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 5
}
]
| 34079 | 34080 | 34080 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34102",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I encountered this sentence.\n\n「ろうそくが置かれている」\n\nI can tell from context it means something like \"Candles are placed\", but I'm\nconfused about the usage of ている with a transitive verb. Genki tells me that\nている goes with intransitive verbs, yet 置かれる is the passive form of 置く which is\ntransitive. What am I missing?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T07:29:31.230",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34083",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-13T06:18:48.460",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "14406",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"conjugations",
"て-form",
"passive-voice"
],
"title": "Confused over 「ろうそくが置かれている」",
"view_count": 143
} | [
{
"body": "> 「ろうそくが[置]{お}かれている。」\n\ndoes **_not_** really mean \" ** _Candles are placed_**.\" as you stated. That\nwould be 「ろうそくが **置かれる** 。」.\n\n「ろうそくが **置かれている** 。」 can mean two different but related things.\n\n 1. Passive Voice + Present Progress: \" ** _Candles are being placed_**.\" ← Someone is in the middle of placing candles. \n\n 2. Passive Voice + State: \" ** _Candles have been placed_**.\" ← Candles were placed some time ago and they are still there.\n\nWhich one it means would depend solely on the context it appears in as\nJapanese is an incredibly contextual language.\n\n> \"Genki tells me that ている goes with intransitive verbs.\"\n\nI am afraid to say that that is false. The transtivity of the verb does not\nmatter.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-13T06:18:48.460",
"id": "34102",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-13T06:18:48.460",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": null,
"parent_id": "34083",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 4
}
]
| 34083 | 34102 | 34102 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34087",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "<http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/compound#part8> explains what\nたりする is.\n\nI read \"地面が４０ｃｍ以上高くなったり、１ｍ２０ｃｍ以上低くなった所もありました\" on\n<http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10010492331000/k10010492331000.html> I\nrecognized たり, but it differs from たりする grammar that I learned.\n\nHow should I understand the sentence?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T10:25:56.553",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34085",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T12:01:52.243",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-12T10:32:26.117",
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": null,
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"renyōkei"
],
"title": "Can たり be used without する at the end?",
"view_count": 241
} | [
{
"body": "Yes. たり is traditionally used as AしたりBしたりする, but some people (including\nprofessional writers) occasionally use it as AしたりBする to avoid repetition (some\npeople treat this as wrong, though). Their meanings are exactly the same.",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T12:01:52.243",
"id": "34087",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T12:01:52.243",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "3506",
"parent_id": "34085",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 1
}
]
| 34085 | 34087 | 34087 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34089",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I want to say\n\n> It is unfair to judge other people based on our own belief (not necessarily\n> religious belief).\n\nI have two options:\n\n * Ａ: 私たちの信仰で、他の人を判断するのは不正である。\n\n * B: 自分の信仰で、他の人を判断するのは不正である。\n\nI want to use B but I am not sure whether 自分 refers to us (the speaker) rather\nthan the other people (object).",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T11:40:23.753",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34086",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T12:53:19.853",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "11192",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"grammar"
],
"title": "In this sentence, to whom 自分 refers?",
"view_count": 131
} | [
{
"body": "自分 usually means oneself and doesn't refer to us. However 自分たち means 私たち and\nit refers to us.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T12:31:36.810",
"id": "34088",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T12:36:56.977",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-12T12:36:56.977",
"last_editor_user_id": "7320",
"owner_user_id": "7320",
"parent_id": "34086",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 1
},
{
"body": "I think the word \"our\", from \"our believe\" in the original English sentence,\nis actually referring to in general, right? If I understand correctly, you are\nmaking a philosophical statement that applies to anyone.\n\nIf so, 自分 would be more appropriate.\n\nAlso, while I think your sentence would be understandable by a Japanese\nperson, I am not sure if it is completely natural. I think this might be more\nnatural, and more general since you said it doesn't have to be just religious\nbelief:\n\n> 自分の価値観だけで他人を判断してはいけません",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T12:53:19.853",
"id": "34089",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T12:53:19.853",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "11825",
"parent_id": "34086",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 4
}
]
| 34086 | 34089 | 34089 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34093",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "How is 大船 most commonly read? jisho.org shows three readings, おおぶね, おおふな, and\nたいせん. There is apparently a place name where it is pronounced おおふな, and that\nis the pronunciation given by many automatic audio generators, but the meaning\nit had when I saw it was \"big boat.\" Is one of the other readings more common\nin that context? Or is it still おおふな?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T15:38:45.070",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34091",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T16:30:24.403",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "11296",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"readings"
],
"title": "How to read 大船 when it means \"big boat\"",
"view_count": 190
} | [
{
"body": "大船 (おおぶね) is the most common term for a big boat. おおふな is a city in the Kanto\narea, but they both use the same kanji. So you better have a good context! You\nwanna tell a person via text that you wanted to meet at the city and not a big\nboat!",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T16:30:24.403",
"id": "34093",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T16:30:24.403",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "14410",
"parent_id": "34091",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
}
]
| 34091 | 34093 | 34093 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34110",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I have seen it from a sentence in an eye drop instruction manual. Here it is.\n\nかつてない気持ちいい、 **さし心地**...それは、極小一滴だから！\n\nIn my opinion, I translate it as \"the very feeling\" by referring 「さし」from a\nsource that it is a prefix used to emphasize the following word, in this case\nis 「心地」. Therefore, the whole word 「さし心地」 would function as stressing the\nprevious one 「気持ちいい」to inform that it will really help making the user feel\ngreat after using it.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T16:13:42.927",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34092",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-13T15:46:38.473",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "9559",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 1,
"tags": [
"words",
"prefixes"
],
"title": "What does the word 「さし心地」mean?",
"view_count": 320
} | [
{
"body": "I think 心地 means nearly \"feeling\" and ～心地 means \"the feeling of doing\nsomething\"\n\nFor example, 着心地(the feeling of wearing it), 触り心地(the feeling of touching it),\n履き心地(the feeling which you get on it).\n\nTo put eyedrops in one's eye is translated as 目薬をさす in Japanese, so さし心地 means\n\"the feeling of putting eyedrops in your eye\".",
"comment_count": 3,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T16:59:20.983",
"id": "34094",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-12T17:43:11.577",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-12T17:43:11.577",
"last_editor_user_id": "7944",
"owner_user_id": "7320",
"parent_id": "34092",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
},
{
"body": "> \"to apply eye drops\" = 「[目薬]{めぐすり}を[差]{さ}す」\n\nThus, 「さし」 in 「さし[心地]{ごこち}」 is the [連用形]{れんようけい} (continuative form) of the\nverb 「差す」.\n\n(Note that 心地, all by itself, is read ここち, but with a 連用形 in front, it is read\nごこち.)\n\n> 「Verb in [連用形]{れんようけい} (continuative form) + [心地]{ごこち}」\n>\n> = \" _ **degree or level of pleasantness/comfortableness**_ in performing the\n> action describing by the verb\"\n\nSo, 「（[気持]{きも}ちいい）さし心地」 refers to how pleasantly one can apply this particular\neye drop.\n\nThe form 「～～心地」 is used quite often and here are some examples.\n\n[住]{す}み心地: How comfortable to live in (said of a home or town/area).\n\n[聴]{き}き心地: How pleasant to listen to (said of music or language).\n\n[寝]{ね}心地: How comfortable to sleep in (said of futon or bed).",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-13T15:46:38.473",
"id": "34110",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-13T15:46:38.473",
"last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500",
"last_editor_user_id": "-1",
"owner_user_id": null,
"parent_id": "34092",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
}
]
| 34092 | 34110 | 34094 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34101",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I would like to say:\n\n> \"I'm not very good, but I hope I can help you.\"\n\nMy first thought would be to translate this as\n\n> 「下手なんですが、手伝えるといいんですが。」\n\nbecause in my Japanese class, we were taught that \"hoping for one's self\"\nshould end in _といいんですが_. However, is it awkward to have the particle が at the\nend of both of these clauses?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T18:33:09.527",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34095",
"last_activity_date": "2020-12-24T17:09:07.170",
"last_edit_date": "2020-12-24T17:09:07.170",
"last_editor_user_id": "37097",
"owner_user_id": "10795",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 7,
"tags": [
"translation",
"particle-が"
],
"title": "How to say \"I hope I can\" in this situation?",
"view_count": 2730
} | [
{
"body": "It's definitely not awkward!\n\nTo wish good will onto someone else you use the verb in its short form plus\nといいです。\n\nSo for example\n\n> 「いい仕事が見つかるといいですね。」。 \n> - ii shigoto ga mitsukaru to ii desu ne - \n> \"I hope you find a good job.\"\n\nWhen hoping for something good to happen to you use といいんですが。\n\n> いい仕事が見つかるといいんですが。 \n> \"I hope I find a good job.\"\n\nI would say\n\n> 「上手じゃありません。でも、 助けられるといいんですが。」 \n> - Jouzu ja arimasen. Demo, Tasukerareru to iin desu ga. \n> \"I am not very skilled. But, I hope to help.\"\n\nIt's really a matter of preference and either way the meaning still comes\nacross the same!\n\nPlease check out this link!\n\n<http://www.jref.com/forum/threads/i-hope-grammer-point.36146/>",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T19:37:40.143",
"id": "34096",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-13T07:35:54.257",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-13T07:35:54.257",
"last_editor_user_id": "6820",
"owner_user_id": "14410",
"parent_id": "34095",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": -2
},
{
"body": "Actually, I feel that the ですが。。。ですが。。。 does feel a little repetitive and\nawkward to me, but that's a pretty minor thing. You could remove the last が as\none option to remove the repetition.\n\nHowever, I think what's most important here is how you express the rest of the\nsentence. First, saying \"下手\" sounds overly blatant, especially with the なん\nafter it to make it sound more factual. I would personally start with\nsomething like:\n\n> 僕はちょっと苦手なんですが。。。\n>\n> 僕はあまり上手じゃないんですが。。。\n\nPersonally I would use ”〜ですけど”, but there is nothing wrong with \"〜ですが”\n\nFor the second part, I feel that \"手伝えるといい\" doesn't sound like a very commonly\nused phrase. Instead, the expression \"役に立つ\" (to be of use to) or its more\npolite form \"お役に立つ\" jumps to mind.\n\nSo you can use this for the second part:\n\n> お役に立てれば嬉しいです。\n\nOr, you can actually omit the 嬉しい part and use a common abbreviation for this:\n\n> お役に立てればと思います。\n\n僕の回答が少しだけでもお役に立てれば幸いです （＾＾）",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-13T01:40:41.410",
"id": "34101",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-13T01:40:41.410",
"last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500",
"last_editor_user_id": "-1",
"owner_user_id": "11825",
"parent_id": "34095",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 6
}
]
| 34095 | 34101 | 34101 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34099",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "> お母さんが頭を下げて試供品を受け取る **の** と、まる子がぴたりとさわぐのをやめるのは同時だった。 \n> Mother bowed, and when she took the free sample, at the same time Maruko\n> suddenly stopped making a racket.\n\nWhat is the purpose of the の in bold in this sentence? Is it like the の in のだ\ni.e. \"It was when mother took the free sample that ...\"? Is the meaning\nchanged if I remove の?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-12T21:23:26.690",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34097",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-13T00:18:27.943",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-12T22:00:45.087",
"last_editor_user_id": null,
"owner_user_id": "7944",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 0,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"particle-の",
"cleft-sentences",
"coordination"
],
"title": "Verb in dictionary form followed by のと",
"view_count": 538
} | [
{
"body": "> 「お母さんが頭を下げて試供品を受け取る + **の** + と、まる子がぴたりとさわぐのをやめる + **の** + は同時だった。」\n\nThe basic structure of that sentence is:\n\n> 「AとBは[同時]{どうじ}だった」 = \"A and B took place at the same time.\"\n\nA and B, in this case, both happen to be mini-sentences, don't they?\n\n> A: 「お[母]{かあ}さんが[頭]{あたま}を[下]{さ}げて[試供品]{しきょうひん}を[受]{う}け[取]{と}る」 = \"Mother bows\n> as she takes the free sample\"\n>\n> B: 「まる[子]{こ}がぴたりとさわぐのをやめる」 = \"Maruko suddenly stops making a racket\"\n\nNow, in order to say \"A and B happened at the same time.\" rather than \"A\nhappened at the same time B happened.\", would one not feel like\n_**nominalizing**_ both mini-sentenes? A Japanese-speaker would, so he would\nattach his go-to nominalizer 「の」.\n\nThe sentence itself is in the past tense - 「同時 **だった** 」, but one would need\nto notice that the two actions are **not** - 「受け取る」 and 「やめる」.\n\nGrammatically speaking, 「同時だった」 at the very end is the main verb phrase of the\nsentence. The far longer part that precedes is only the subject of the\nsentence.",
"comment_count": 1,
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| 34097 | 34099 | 34099 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34100",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I'm aware that だけ can be used to say only. For example:\n\n```\n\n 二年{にねん}だけ\n \n```\n\nwhich means \"only two years\". I'm also aware that 位{ぐらい} can be used to\nsignify approximation. For example:\n\n```\n\n 二年位\n \n```\n\nwhich means \"about two years\".\n\nSo my question is can I combine both? Is `二年位だけ` correct? Does it mean it's\nonly been about two years?",
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"tags": [
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"title": "Combining だけ and 位",
"view_count": 109
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{
"body": "Yes, you can safely say 2年ぐらいだけ (\"only about two years\"). Here ぐらい means\n\"approximately\".\n\n> 2年ぐらいだけ日本語を勉強した。 I studied Japanese only for about two years.",
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| 34098 | 34100 | 34100 |
{
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"body": "On <http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10010492331000/k10010492331000.html>, you\ncan find\n\n> 大きな揺れだけではなくて、地面が動いたため、建物が倒れたり、山が崩れたりして大きな被害が出たと思います。\n\nI don't understand what `ため` means in this sentence. What does it mean?",
"comment_count": 8,
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"tags": [
"meaning",
"nouns"
],
"title": "What meaning does ため have in this particular sentence?",
"view_count": 71
} | []
| 34104 | null | null |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I noticed in my daily Japanese there are many opportunities where I want to\nexpress the concept of \"in a little while\". For example:\n\n> Let's go home in a little while.\n\nTypically I would say this using the following Japanese:\n\n> もう少しで帰ろうね。\n\nI think this is somewhat natural (if I am wrong please let me know), but I am\nlooking for other similar phrases that are also natural and appropriate for\neveryday spoken conversation.\n\nHow are these?\n\n> もう少ししたら帰ろうね。\n>\n> もう少し経ったら帰ろうね。\n\nI think I can replace 少し in the above expressions with ちょっと, but I am looking\nfor alternate ways to express a similar idea.",
"comment_count": 1,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-13T11:53:16.217",
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"tags": [
"colloquial-language"
],
"title": "Alternate expressions for \"a little while\"",
"view_count": 970
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{
"body": "All the phrases you have listed are natural and you can surely replace\n「[少]{すこ}し」 by 「ちょっと」, too, in your examples.\n\nWe may have a couple of more, but that will be about it.\n\nもうすぐ\n\nもうすぐしたら\n\n[間]{ま}もなく\n\n（もう）間もなくしたら\n\n（もう）しばらくしたら\n\nNote: 「間もなく」 would sound slightly less conversational than the other options.",
"comment_count": 3,
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| 34105 | null | 34107 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34109",
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"body": "I'm translating a song as part of a project. \nWhat is ki used for? Is it a prefix for kokyou? \nNatsukashi ki kokyou\n\n> 晴天の日の少々、感傷に浸る午後 \n> **懐かしき故郷** 夢見な理想郷 \n> 忘れがちな嘘 あるまじきEmotion \n> 企みし今生の消せぬ怨霊の炎",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-13T14:21:03.647",
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"owner_user_id": "14410",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"song-lyrics",
"classical-japanese"
],
"title": "What is the ki used for in this sentence? 懐かし き 故郷",
"view_count": 335
} | [
{
"body": "In late middle Japanese, the actual class of い-adjectives was in fact\nsubdivided into 2 classes, namely ク-adjectives and シク-adjectives. There is\nremnant of those adjectives even now, though there are mainly to be found in\nnovels or songs in order to add a touch of old.\n\nHere, we have 懐かしき, it is the old 連体形 (the base you should use to modify a\nnoun or clause) of 懐かしい which was a シク-adjective. So here basically, you can\nunderstand 懐かしき故郷 as 懐かしい故郷. They mean the same, but the variant with き is not\nin current use anymore, save for artistic purposes.",
"comment_count": 6,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-13T14:33:09.440",
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| 34108 | 34109 | 34109 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34118",
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"body": "In the examples below\n\n> 彼は私のところに荷物を送って **き** た。 \n> 彼は私のところに荷物を送って **来** た。\n>\n> 荷物が私のところに送られて **き** た。 \n> 荷物が私のところに送られて **来** た。\n\nwould it be better to use the termination/set phrase てきた？ (no kanji) because\nthis is changing the nuance of the sentence? Or should it be understood\nliterally (arrived) and therefore we て来た (with kanji) is more natural?",
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"score": 3,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"word-choice",
"nuances"
],
"title": "Should I use ～てきた or ～て来た?",
"view_count": 2597
} | [
{
"body": "In my experience, when in the 〜て＋くる form, it is more often written as Hiragana\nas opposed to Kanji. However, I don't think there is any major nuance\ndifference.\n\nIn the case when there is nothing actually physically arriving and the verb is\nused more metaphorically, like \"わかってきた” or \"頑張ってきた”, I feel like it is even\nmore common to use Hiragana over Kanji.\n\nPersonally, I always use Hiragana with the 〜て＋くる form.\n\nOf course, if the verb was used by itself, I think it would be more natural to\nuse Kanji (i.e. 友達が来たよ), though you could still write it either way.\n\nSimilarly, I feel that some of the other 〜て＋[some verb] forms more commonly\nuse the second verb in it's hiragana form. Ex: \"やってみる\" or \"置いておく\"\n\nI think the usage of whether Kanji is used is a very subtle matter, and the\nauthor's choice of which to use can be related to the tone they want to\nimpart, and their target audience. Using Kanji generally feels more 'formal'\nto me.",
"comment_count": 0,
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"creation_date": "2016-05-13T17:33:51.440",
"id": "34113",
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"body": "**TL;DR:** Whichever is fine, but using くる is safer.\n\n* * *\n\nYou seem to know the basic rule, but just to make sure, this type of verb\nafter `te-form of another verb + て/で` is called a _subsidiary verb_ , and they\nare generally written in hiragana.\n\n * [What is a subsidiary verb?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/18952/what-is-a-subsidiary-verb)\n\nBut this rule is not very strict, and every so often you will see people use\nkanji for subsidiary verbs, especially in stiff and stilted writings.\n\nHowever, verbs after the te-forms are not always subsidiary verbs. きた in\n暖かくなってきた is definitely a subsidiary verb, while 来た in 彼は急いで来た (\"He came in a\nhurry\") is a normal verb, so it is usually written in kanji. 見た in 箱を開けて見た (\"I\nopened the box and looked (inside it)\") is used as a normal verb, while みた in\n箱を開けてみた (\"I tried opening the box\") is used as a subsidiary verb.\n\nSo the problem is this: **Is きた in 荷物を送ってきた a subsidiary verb or a normal\nverb? How about きた in 荷物が送られてきた?**\n\nWell, I believe these きた can safely be considered as a subsidiary verb.\n[デジタル大辞泉 clearly defines these usages under the 補助動詞\nsection](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/64270/meaning/m0u/%E6%9D%A5%E3%82%8B/):\n\n> ９ （補助動詞）動詞の連用形に接続助詞「て」が付いた形に付く。 \n> (snip) \n> ㋒ある動作をしてもとに戻る。…しに行って帰る。「買い物に行ってくる」「外国の事情をつぶさに見てこようと思っている」 \n> ㋓ある動作・状態をそのまま続けながら、こちらへ近づく。また、そのようにしてこちらへ至る。「敵が押し寄せてくる」「付き添ってくる」\n\nSo the safer choice is to use hiragana for both of your examples.\n\nBut I also feel using kanji is not so unnatural in these cases, because\nsomething is physically moving. People often use the kanji 来る even in casual\nsituations when something is physically moving to you. I personally am\ninclined to use hiragana for those cases, but perhaps this is a gray-area\nmatter and it's up to the writer's taste.",
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"body": "Basically you can use either of them. However, in professional writing, you\nhave to write subsidiary verbs in hiragana.\n\nIn 1981, Japanese government issued a cabinet directive\n“公用文における漢字使用等について（昭和56年内閣閣第138号）” (About Kanji Usage in Official Documents) as\na part of an orthography reform. It has examples that subsidiary verbs should\nbe written in hiragana. Most publishers and newspaper offices follow the\ndirective also. Moreover, I was taught the rule about subsidiary verbs in a\nelementary school.\n\nThe directive have legal force only with official documents from the\ngovernment; so you may see some subsidiary verbs which are usually used in\npersonal communication, e.g. [致]{いた}す and [下]{くだ}す, are still often written in\nkanji.",
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| 34111 | 34118 | 34113 |
{
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"body": "Is this service called サービス or are there better verbs? e.g. 接する",
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"creation_date": "2016-05-14T02:12:49.790",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 5,
"tags": [
"word-choice",
"word-requests"
],
"title": "What is it called when staff at a clothes shop serves a customer",
"view_count": 403
} | [
{
"body": "By far the most commonly-used word would be 「[接客]{せっきゃく}」 for the noun and\n「接客する」 for the verb. It is used specifically in business where one serves a\ncustomer.\n\n「[接]{せっ}する」 has a much broader range of meanings and therefore, it is often\nused in **_non-business_** situations as well to mean \"to meet\", \"to treat\",\n\"to come into cantact with\", etc.\n\nThe word 「サービス」 is tricky in that it is **_not_** always used the same way the\nword \"service\" is in English. It can be used to mean 「接客」 but it is also quite\noften used to refer to \"a **_freebie_** \" or \"a special discount\" of some sort\nthat a business provides.",
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| 34116 | 34117 | 34117 |
{
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"body": "[Jisho](http://jisho.org/word/%E7%82%BA) gives \"consequence; result; effect\"\nwith an example sentence\n\n> それは、おまえの声をよく聞くためだよ。(It is in order to hear your voice well.)\n\n[Tangorin](http://tangorin.com/general/%E3%81%9F%E3%82%81) gives \"consequence;\nresult; effect\" with an example sentence.\n\n> 霧のため全列車は運転休止となった。(Railroad service was suspended because of the fog.)\n\nIn the former, \"consequence; result; effect\" seems to mean \"in order to\" or\n\"aim\". In the latter, \"consequence; result; effect\" seems to mean \"cause\" or\n\"because of\".\n\nIt seems some translations from Japanese to English are confusing.\n\nHow should I interpret Japanese-English dictionaries in this case?\n\n**Edit 1.** The second entry\n[here](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/je/46719/meaning/m0u/%E3%81%9F%E3%82%81/)\nseems more accurate: \"〔理由，原因〕 because\"\n\n> 昨日風邪のため学校を休んだ (I was absent from school yesterday because of a cold.)",
"comment_count": 6,
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"score": 4,
"tags": [
"translation",
"words",
"meaning",
"dictionary"
],
"title": "Why is the same English meaning of ため tied to different Japanese meanings in different dictionaries?",
"view_count": 734
} | [
{
"body": "目的（aim）の例文。 姫、あなたのために失われた王冠を取り戻して参りました。\n\n原因（cause;because of）と結果（consequence; result;\neffect）は反対のように思えますが、yetを日本語に置き換えるときに「もう」なのか「まだ」なのかで正反対に感じられます。\n\n日本人は中学校の授業で、yetという単語を習ったときに、「英語はものごとを正確に言い分けできない言語なのか？」と疑問に感じます。どのような言語も、互いに納得が行かず、不思議に感じることがありますね。\n\nrememberを日本語に置き換えるときには「忘れない」なのか「覚えている」なのかは日本人には全く判然としません。",
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"creation_date": "2016-11-26T06:09:13.233",
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"body": "ため can have a handful of meanings. When used with a controllable situation, it\nmeans \"for the good of\" or \"for the purpose of\":\n\n体を強くするために毎日プールで泳いでいる\n\n\"In order to strengthen my body, I swim in the pool every day\"\n\n会社のため朝から晩まで働いている\n\n\"He works from morning to night for the sake of his company\"\n\nIn non-controllable situations, it specifies a cause or effect:\n\n仕事のために何も他の事が出来ない\n\n\"Because of the job I can't do anything else\"\n\nIf the part before ため is in the past tense, or an adjective, it also means\ncause or reason:\n\n私は父が死んだため大学に行けなかった\n\n\"I couldn't go to college because my father died\"\n\n親が甘かったため子供がダメになった\n\n\"Because the parents were soft, the children got spoiled\"\n\n字が下手なため人に笑われた\n\n\"I was laughed at because my handwriting is poor\"\n\nAll of these sentences are from A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar\n\nIn short, the meanings vary greatly depending on what qualifies ため。",
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"creation_date": "2022-01-23T00:25:23.180",
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| 34119 | null | 93079 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34122",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Context - describing the interior of a hospital:\n\n> 老人が六人収容されている部屋の廊下側、窓がなく、カーテンで仕切られているせいもあり外の景色が一切見えない気の塞ぐスペースだ。\n\n老人が六人収容されている部屋の廊下側、窓がなく...\n\nDoes it mean there are no windows facing the corridor (as seen from inside a\nhospital room)?\n\n...カーテンで仕切られている...\n\nIs the hospital room separated into six spaces (for six patients) by curtains?\n\nIs it also implied there are no windows at all (so that 外の景色が一切見えない)?\n\nA bigger chunk of text, in case it helps:\n\n翌日の朝から母とともに病院を訪れ、会社に行く母を駅まで送りまた病院へ戻った健斗は、暗い病室の隅に腰掛けていた。老人が六人収容されている部屋の廊下側、窓がなく、カーテンで仕切られているせいもあり外の景色が一切見えない気の塞ぐスペースだ。酸素吸入や点滴に心電図といった全身チューブだらけで眠っている祖父が目覚めたら、自宅の北向きの部屋より窮屈なほぼ自然光の入らない空間に、死にたくなるだろう。",
"comment_count": 3,
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"tags": [
"meaning"
],
"title": "Meaning of this sentence",
"view_count": 257
} | [
{
"body": "I think the hospital room is separated into some spaces for patients by\ncurtains and the spaces facing the corridor don't have windows.The spaces\nfacing the outside may have windows but the both sides of the spaces between\nthem are curtain.\n\nDoes it mean there are no windows facing the corridor? My answer is Yes.\n\nIs the hospital room separated into six spaces (for six patients) by curtains?\nMy answer is that only this content can't be judged it but the room is\nseparated into more than six spaces because six persons have already been\nwarded.\n\nIs it also implied there are no windows at all? My answer is that only this\ncontent can't be judged it because the spaces facing the outside may have\nwindows and if there are windows there but if the curtains is closed, the\nperson who stay the spaces facing the corridor can't see outside.\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k65l9.jpg)",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-14T11:34:44.170",
"id": "34122",
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"post_type": "answer",
"score": 2
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]
| 34120 | 34122 | 34122 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34124",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "> A: 朝ご飯はなんだった？\n>\n> B: こげん大きか茶碗に水の **ごたまずかおかゆ** と、梅のあのやおか...\n\nIs ごた＝こぐ（すごく） and まずかおかゆ＝不味いお粥？",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-14T12:25:10.583",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34123",
"last_activity_date": "2020-01-18T17:10:48.243",
"last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500",
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"owner_user_id": "14369",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"meaning",
"dialects"
],
"title": "Meaning of this dialogue in Fukuoka dialect",
"view_count": 136
} | [
{
"body": "> A: 朝{あさ}ご飯{はん}はなんだった？\n>\n> B: こげん大{おお}きか茶碗{ちゃわん}に水のごたまずかおかゆと、梅{うめ}のあのやおか...\n\nNot an expert on Fukuoka dialect, but I could somehow read B's line with no\nproblems.\n\n「～～ごた/ごたあ」 means 「～～のような」 = \" **(just) like ~~** \". You might be familiar with\nthe somewhat similar-sounding word 「[如]{ごと}き」 that means the same in Standard\nJapanese.\n\n「水のごたまず **か** おかゆ」＝「水のようにまず **い** おかゆ」 = \" _ **rice gruel that tastes as bad\nas water**_ \" (It means the gruel is very thin.)\n\nFukuoka has _**ka**_ -adjectives when the rest of the planet has _**i**_\n-adjectives.\n\nOther dialectal words used:\n\n「こげん」＝「こんなに」\n\n「大き **か** 」＝「大き **い** /大きな」\n\n「やお **か** 」＝「やわらか **い** 」\n\n> \"What did you have for breakfast?\"\n>\n> \"Terrible-tasting rice gruel as thin as water (served) in a bowl this big\n> and (very soft pickled plum...)\"",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-14T12:51:50.940",
"id": "34124",
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"parent_id": "34123",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 5
}
]
| 34123 | 34124 | 34124 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34127",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "This usage of 上 is still difficult for me. In the context of a sentence I may\nbe able to understand what it does mean, but I can't get the feeling that\nwould tell me: this a situation where using it would be appropriate.\n(Sometimes I have the feeling that it fits the definition\n[goo辞書ー➊.６ゥ](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/17464/meaning/m0u/%E3%81%86%E3%81%88/)\nbut that's not always the case (moreover in the example provided in this\ndefinition 上 is followed by に so, that doesn't match so much).\n\nFor example this sentence ([from this\nquestion](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/17470/how-to-\nread-%E9%80%A3%E4%BD%93%E5%BD%A2-%E4%B8%8A))\n\n> 外国人が日本語を習得する上で難しい点がたくさんあります。 \n> There is a lot of difficulties for foreigners who learn Japanese.\n\n\n\n> 「いつ製造され、いつ出荷され、どこのお店で販売されたのか」…この「食の履歴」が『安全・安心』をお約束する上でとても重要な「食のトレーサビリティー」です。\n> \"When has been made, when has it been send, where has it been sold\" ... This\n> \"history of the product\" is the important \"product trace-ability\" that we\n> need to ensure that the product is safe.\n\n\n\n> 店舗を運営される上で一番重要な事は、お店のコンセプトと戦略です。 \n> Here I don't even get the point because I would expect 運営させる.\n\n\n\nAnother example, raising from browsing through [the recent\nquestion](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/34141/4216):\n\n> もののあはれ（もののあわれ、物の哀れ）は、平安時代の王朝文学を知る上で重要な文学的・美的理念の一つ。(Wikipedia) \n> Mono no aware is a concept related to aesthetic which is capital in order\n> to understand the literature written during the Heian dynasty.\n\nCould somebody clear the fog around this use of 上で? If you need more examples\nI will try to find some more, but I feel it is used a lot and I have already\nalready crossed of it many times, and I would like to eventually understand\nit?\n\nEDIT: There seems to have some overlapping with ために in the last example for\nexample.",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-14T13:09:17.860",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34125",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-16T13:15:11.447",
"last_edit_date": "2017-04-13T12:43:44.397",
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"owner_user_id": "4216",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 4,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"meaning",
"usage"
],
"title": "In which case should I use 連体形＋上で?",
"view_count": 636
} | [
{
"body": "The usage of 〜上で is a little tricky to learn but after reading hundreds of\nsentences using it I finally started to get a grasp of it.\n\nTo put it simply, I feel that in the above passages it has the nuance of \"when\ndoing ~\".\n\n[This](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E4%B8%8A%E3%81%A7) site describes 上で with\ntwo definitions, the latter which is:\n\n> 特定の範囲内において、といった意味の表現。\n>\n> An expression that means \"with respect to being in within a certain domain\n> or scope\" [my rough translation]\n\nSo for the first sentence, it is saying \"with respect to the domain of\nforeigners studying Japanese, there are some difficult points\". This isn't\nexactly natural English, but maybe it will help you get the concept a little\nbetter.\n\nAlso, as your 2nd and 3rd examples note, this phrase can be used when talking\nabout what is \"necessary\" in a certain situation.\n\n[Here](http://selftaughtjapanese.com/2015/06/26/the-\npattern-%E3%80%8C%E3%80%9C%E4%B8%8A%E3%81%A7%E3%80%8D/) is a post I wrote\nabout 〜上で with a few other comments about this phrase and example sentences.\n\nEDIT: In response to 駑馬十駕's comment about more detail, I'll add a little more\nto my answer.\n\nWhile at the beginning I said that 〜上で has the nuance of \"when doing ~\", based\non the dictionary I quoted, it can be seen to have a more specific feeling of\n\"with respect to being within a certain domain\", which means it is limiting a\ndiscussion to a certain circumstance.\n\nI think if we look literally at the 上 part, we can think of this expression as\nsetting a domain, and then talking \"on top of it\", in other words using that\ndomain as a basis for further discussion. The で is consistent with having a\ndiscussion at that \"location\" (i.e. この部屋で会話する\".\n\nAlso, I think it's important to note that this expression has an formal nuance\nto it, such that I don't think it is used in everyday conversation too much.\nI'm sure you will see it in business Japanese (more formal written or spoken\nlanguage), however.",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-14T16:38:15.980",
"id": "34127",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-16T13:15:11.447",
"last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500",
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"owner_user_id": "11825",
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"score": 5
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| 34125 | 34127 | 34127 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34132",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "> 五千円で一万円の物が買えないってこと **くらい** 、まる子にだって分かる。 \n> Even Maruko understands that you can't buy a thing worth 10,000 yen with\n> 5000 yen.\n\nWhat does くらい add to this sentence? I think it suggests that although she\ndoesn't know much, she knows **at least** this one fact. Is my understanding\ncorrect?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-14T14:44:05.640",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34126",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-15T03:49:31.020",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-14T14:55:51.417",
"last_editor_user_id": "9831",
"owner_user_id": "7944",
"post_type": "question",
"score": 2,
"tags": [
"grammar",
"particle-くらい"
],
"title": "Understanding くらい",
"view_count": 541
} | [
{
"body": "(The question has already been \"answered\" in the comment above, but here is\nanother one from me for the thread's sake.)\n\nYes, your understanding is indeed correct.\n\n> 「[五千円]{ごせんえん}で[一万円]{いちまんえん}の[物]{もの}が[買]{か}えないってこと **くらい** 、まる[子]{こ}に **だって**\n> [分]{わ}かる。」\n\n「～～くらい」, in this usage, expresses how minimal, trivial, slight, weak, easy,\netc. something is. That \"something\" in this case is the **_fact_** that you\ncannot buy a thing worth 10,000 yen with 5000 yen.\n\nThe speaker's estimate of the triviality of the object is further emphasized\nby the 「だって」 part that follows. To create this extra emphasis, we often\ncombine 「～～くらい」 with:\n\n「にも」、「でも」、「さえ」、「だって」, etc.\n\nFree original example sentences:\n\n「タバコ **くらい** [自分]{じぶん}の[金]{かね}で[買]{か}えよ！」 \"Something as (cheap) as cigarettes,\nyou should buy with your own money!\"\n\n「こんな[問題]{もんだい} **くらい** 、[小学生]{しょうがくせい} **でも** [答]{こた}えられる。」 \"A question as\neasy as this one, even a grammar school kid could answer!\"\n\nFinally, a quote from 'Evangelion':\n\n「[人類]{じんるい}を[守]{まも}る **くらい** 、[私一人]{わたしひとり}で[十分]{じゅうぶん}よ！」 \"A task as trivial\nas saving mankind, I could handle all by myself!\"",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-15T00:36:28.967",
"id": "34132",
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"score": 7
}
]
| 34126 | 34132 | 34132 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "34134",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "> 「おかあさん、すきやきの支度、できた？」 \n> まる子は台所をのぞくと、おかあさんの背中に向かって **きいた** 。 \n> 「もうすこしだよ。待ってて」 \n> \"Mum, Did you prepare the sukiyaki?\" \n> When Maruko peeked into the kitchen she faced Mum's back and xxx. \n> \"It will be a little while. Keep waiting.\"\n\nIn this extract does きいた refer to what Maruko **asked** in the first line or\nwhat she **heard** in the third line? Or is it my choice? If it's not my\nchoice what is it that makes the correct answer obvious?\n\nIn general in this book I find that both options are used but the\n\"said/asked/heard etc\" is generally in the first clause of the narration if\nit's referring to the previous quote.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-14T17:16:23.603",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "34128",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-15T23:24:28.437",
"last_edit_date": "2016-05-14T17:51:18.810",
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"post_type": "question",
"score": 3,
"tags": [
"narration"
],
"title": "A question on narration: does きいた mean 'asked' or 'heard'?",
"view_count": 273
} | [
{
"body": "As you alluded to, ”きく” can mean both \"asked\" and \"listened\". Generally\nspeaking, you can tell which is the case from the context.\n\nHere, since the first line says \"おかあさん\", it is clear that the other person\n(\"まる子\") is speaking. So the ”きいた\" is referring to Maruko \"asking\" her mother.\nThe fact the first line is a question is also consistent with this, as is the\nfact she is doing it \"towards\" (向かって) her mother's back. Marko \"listening\" to\nhear mothers back just doesn't fit in this context.\n\nAn example where きく can be used to mean \"listen\" is here, where the speaker is\nupset about the other person not listening.\n\n> 君、きいてるの？\n>\n> Hey, are you listening to me?\n\nきく can also translate to mean \"hear\", which is similar in meaning to \"listen\".\nIn this case, the speaker is surprised after discovering some new information.\n\n> そんな事、きいてないよ\n>\n> I haven't heard anything about that!\n\nEDIT: In response to l'électeur's comment, I'd like to point out that this\nphrase can also mean \"I'm not asking about that!\". However, since I have given\nthe context that the speaker has just learned something new, the only valid\ninterpretation is \"I haven't heard anything about that\".",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-15T00:48:14.907",
"id": "34133",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-15T02:01:07.737",
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},
{
"body": "This is an odd situation, thanks to きく's unusual polysemy. I'm inclined to\nread it as 'ask', for two reasons.\n\nFirst is simply Japanese word order. English is fine putting quotation verbs\non whichever side of the quoted material, but in Japanese, since in most\nsentences the verb goes after everything else, it's much more natural to put\nit after the quoted material. You can do it the other way, sure, and that\nhappens all the time, but it's mildly at odds with Japanese's general\ntendencies - you have to put it in a separate sentence, and it comes off\nsounding a bit more like _'He spoke. \"This is his quote.\"'_ than _'He said\n\"this is a quote\"'_.\n\nSecond is the semantics of the other two verbs in the sentence. Each of them\ndescribes an action that まる子 has some degree of agency in - 'peek through' and\n'face towards'. 'Hear' is a bit out of place, in that it would be much less up\nto まる子 whether or not she heard - that's largely out of her control, while the\nfacing and the peeking are quite voluntary. With 'hear', you get a sentence\nlike 'Maruko peeked into the kitchen, faced her mum's back and heard (it)',\nwhich, while intelligible, is a bit odd. If the goal was to say that she\nactively listened, the author would almost certainly have chosen a phrase to\nhighlight the intentionality of the listening (perhaps 耳を澄ました), as 聞く\ncorresponds to English 'listen' only in the sense of 'listen to music/the\nradio/some other intentionally-chosen background noise'. If the goal was to\nsay that she 'heard the following information', I might have expected\nsomething like ...向かって、 **これを** 聞いた.\n\nSo I'm fairly confident that it means 'asked', since it's quite natural for\n'asked' but slightly unusual for 'heard' or 'listened'. The reason that it's\nnot in the first clause is because of the sequencing of events - the peeking,\nfacing, and asking happen in that order. The author probably gave the content\nof the quote ahead of time to avoid breaking the sequence into multiple\nsentences (implying a longer pause between the peeking/facing and the asking\nthan was meant), and to avoid having the quoting verb come before the quoted\nmaterial.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2016-05-15T02:24:20.390",
"id": "34134",
"last_activity_date": "2016-05-15T23:24:28.437",
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"owner_user_id": "3639",
"parent_id": "34128",
"post_type": "answer",
"score": 4
}
]
| 34128 | 34134 | 34134 |
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