texts:
Im having some issues with the usage of こと in verbs.
Our teacher explained this form very quickly and i don't think i managed to understand how it works and what it's supposed to express.
She told us NOT to think of verb + こと as the infinite form (es: to sleep, to eat) but just to consider it a different kind of form.
Basically, she told us that it's used when you're trying to express a habit or describe a しゅみ.
For example:

  私のしゅみは音楽を聞くことです。

But there's also

  でんしゃのなかでよくＪポップを聞きます。

which seems like it's expressing a habit too, but there's no こと though.
Or for example, another phrase with しゅみ which doesn't have the こと form:

  私のしゅみは外国語のべんきょうです。

There's a しゅみ but it doesn't use that form.

So, how does this form work exactly?
And what is it supposed express?


texts:
I English I can ask somebody if they've experienced or sampled a food or drink, or even an activity with this verb:

Here try this and tell me if you like it.
I tried koregusu once but I didn't like it.
You don't have to eat it but at least try it.
I like spicy food so I really want to try taka-no-tsume.
You can't say you don't like tequila if you never even tried a good one!

Non-food/drink examples:

Did you ever try scuba diving?
I tried hitchhiking once but I prefer to travel by bicycle.

I'm having trouble finding a word, phrase, or pattern, to express this sense of try.(I know it overlaps with the other senses of try in English.)

These are the closest Japanese terms I could find. Do they do the job?

味わう
嘗める
試す
味見する


texts: Both come up with the same reading and definition in Jisho.org (round/circular), and both are listed as common words. Is there any preference between the two or should I simply learn both as interchangeable?


texts:
My understanding of phrase-level Japanese pitch accent is that each "unit" initially has low pitch, followed by high pitch (LH), then a drop after the accented syllable, if there is one. As such, apart from a "reset" of the pitch, there can never be another LH contour after the initial LH, since an accent can only either cause an HL contour, or maintain an existing LL pattern.

But for larger units -- different types of phrases, or multiple phrases, what does a "unit" correspond to? When should pitch accent be 'reset'?

Also, what happens with single-syllable accented words like 蚊? Does 蚊は have accent LL, with the rest of the phrase in L as well?


texts: What is the difference between ガラクタ and ゴミ？

texts: I like to listen to NERU's Vocaloid songs, but I realized that several of his songs had two words translated the same way. Those are ガラクタ and ゴミ. I think ゴミ can be used to talk about taking garbage bags out to be taken, but in the means of the word "trash" alone, what is the difference?


texts: Is Mierareru the potential form of Mieru?

texts:
The verb mieru appears to be able to conjugate to mierareru (potential form).

If it is so, what is the meaning of mierareru and how is it different from mieru?

To my knowledge mieru = "can see". So what would the potential form mierareru mean then?


texts: Can the topic marker は be used twice in a sentence? For example, かれは日本語はいいですね。　Is that right?


texts: This is the first time we meet translation

texts:
"This is the first time we meet" what is it in Japanese? Is it something like:

　わたしははじめてやまださんにあいます。?


texts: 食べる時間＿＿ない: Is さえ/も/ででも possible in this context? (Please read further)

texts:
*Please be advised that the following is from a practice book, with minimal altering. I sincerely hope this sort of question does not disagree with anyone here.

The question in the book:

  忙しくて食べる時間＿＿ないのに、遊びに行けるわけがないぞ！
  Relevant answers―
  A.) でも
  B.) さえ

Below is how I see the problem.

First of all, according to this question, I believe it is safe to replace it with も here, although it is evidently too weak a statement.

Secondly, let's take a look at でも:

a.) If で is a variant of だ, 食べる時間でもない can literally be translated to "is not (the) time to eat either." Thus, out of the question.

b.) What if でも functions as "even" as seen in this question, defined as "で 'in (the case of)' + も 'even, too'" by cauliflower cloudさん? This is where things start to fall apart for me. Is this simply wrong, or just unfit due to context and/or naturalness?

c.) What about で (as seen in a. above) + でも (as seen in b. above)? Although I assume it is unnatural, would it be correct grammatically speaking?

What's worse, the book provides these sample sentences:

1. 俺は今日吸う *タバコさえ* ないんだ… ( = タバコも)
2. そんな簡単な問題、 *犬でさえ* わかるよ！ ( = 犬でも)

I do not understand at all how in sample sentence 2, でも becomes possible again. Does it have anything to do with what the subject in the sentence is?

Here's an incidental example from a Japanese-teaching website (Wasabi). Again, でも seems perfectly fine to me, but is deemed incorrect:

  私の日本人の彼氏は「I love you」とでも言ってくれない。

The author of the article where the above sentence is from explains as follows, which regrettably makes no sense to me:

  It’s wrong because it doesn’t imply any reasonableness.

Are all these instances a matter of grammar, or do they have more to do with context and suitable usage?

*Trivia:
I apologize if I seem to be spamming this forum with questions lately. It's just that I've been stuck on this particular grammar problem for far too long. I've no choice but to resort to posting a new question here. There are several articles on the Net which deal with さえ and でも, but I honestly have not found one which hits the spot for my dull brain. I'd really appreciate it if someone would have another go at it for me. Thank you.


texts: What's the difference between ないわけにはいかない and ずにすまない？?

texts: I think they both mean that you have to do something because there is a social pression like なければならい、but I'm not certain that I can use them interchangeably. Could somebody confirm it?


texts: Trouble working out when the next word starts

texts:
I'm studying Kanji from the book "Kanji de manga", In the book they present manga written in hiragana/katakana and replace one word with the Kanji they showcase on that page. However, when I'm reading it, I notice that everything is squashed together with no spaces in between.

Here's an image of what I mean:

How can you tell when the next word starts? I understand everything in the book, except when the next word starts.

Thanks.


texts:
In the following sentence

東京は冬になると、北風の強い日が多いです。

is it correct that 北風の強い replaces the more obvious option 北風が強い in order to avoid close repetition of が？

So if the following が in 日が多い had not been there to interfere, would it have been more natural to use  北風が強い ?

Or do the two options actually differ with some semantic nuance?


texts: What's the difference between という方に会いました and と会いました?

texts:
つぐみさんという方に会いました.
つぐみさんと会いました.

What does '方に' mean here? and 'いう' too.


texts: End of semester farewell/thanks to teacher

texts:
We are approaching the end of this semester at my school. What is a good way to say thank you to my teacher?

「お世話になりましてありかとうございました。」 ?

Are there any other suggestions/additions?


texts: Can もの be replaced with の when it is used to mean "thing"?

texts:
I'm confused about the use of the first (bold) の in this sentence:

  「先によそへ贈るのを買うのっ」

I'm happy with the use of の as a nominaliser, but if I use it like that I get:

  Before that, I will buy "giving a gift" somewhere else.

You can't buy "giving a gift". I would be happy if the sentence were

  先によそへ贈るものを買うのっ。
  Before that, I will buy a thing to give as a gift somewhere else.

What am I not understanding here?


texts: Kanji are made of radicals, right? But that "E" looking thing in the left of 印 doesn't seem to be a radical, for I looked at many radical databases and didn't find anything like that. Is that a radical? If so, could you give me another example of a kanji that uses it too? If possible, I would appreciate if you told me the meaning of such radical, if it is indeed so.


texts:
Recently, I have been struggling with the correct usage of 「どの」and「どち」. Is it correct to think of them in the following way?
「どの」= what (I get this confused with「なん」and「なに」as well)
「どち」= which

When listing two options do I use「どの」or「どち」?
When listing three or more options do I use「どの」or「どち」?

Or am I thinking about this in the wrong way? Thank you for you help.


texts:
「せやけどもう、こんな遠方のちまい拠点、労力使って潰さんでも、勝手にくたばりよるでしょ」
Hi. How should I understand  (連用形+) よる? Is the 〜よる same as 〜している?
Thank you.


texts: Is there a slang equivalent to "It's on!"

texts:
Basically looking for the slangy equivalent to "oh, it's ON!" or "it's on now!"

Assuming there is one. I realize that not all slang is universal. ;)


texts: What does the 何も mean in the bolded positive sentence?

texts:
While translating the bolded sentence in the following paragraph, I find myself unable to translate the 何も, as my genki textbook, the online dictionary I am using, and the online textbook I am using all say that 何も is used in negative sentences, or only give translations for it's use in negative sentences only.

体力も神経も使い果たし、疲{つか｝れ果てて泥｛どろ｝のように眠｛ねむ｝る毎日が続く。
余計なことを考える暇｛ひま｝もなければ、夢を見ることもない。やがて、そ
んな生活に慣れはじめると、今度は物事をじっくりと考えることが苦痛になってきた。その時々の課題をクリアすることに、全力で取り組んでいる間は、何も思い悩｛なや｝んだりせずにすむ。

I'm ninety percent certain the bolded sentence isn't being negated, so how do I go about translating a 何も in a positive sentence?


texts: When to and not to use the particle の to link to nouns?

texts: I know that the particle の can be used for linking several nouns together or to indicate possession. However I have seen several cases where the の is droped. Like for example 未来日記. My question is when to and not to use the particle no?


texts:
The expression ~なければ ならない if I learned correctly means "must not not do ..." as in:

日本語を勉強しなければなりません。
You must not not learn Japanese. (i.e. you need to learn Japanese)

However, taken on face value it doesn't really make sense. しなければなりません translates into "if (you) don't do, doesn't become (what?)". The confusing part is that a direct translation into modern colloquial Chinese makes sense: 你不学日语的话，不成 = "If you don't learn Japanese, not become" = "You must learn Japanese".

This seems like a Japanese borrowing from a common Chinese phrase; 不...的话 acts like ～なければ, and of course なる is sometimes written 成る. However, the expression does not exist in Classical Chinese, which I presume Japanese borrowed the most (including all the un-Mandarin-y readings). Classical Chinese would use 不可～. I'm suspecting this might be a Chinese loan from Japanese, just like how 不不不不 is a syntactical English loan of "no no no no" and not really parseable (Chinese has no word for "no", only 不 = not = ～ない). Putting something like "must not" in a verb at the end is very un-Chinesey. Modern Mandarin-based Standard Chinese has also borrowed lots of 和製漢語 such as 民主, 共和国, 歌姫, 写真, カラオケ, and pretty much all the vocabulary related to biology and political science, curiously.

So when did this expression start in Japanese? Does any equivalent to ~なければ ならない exist in, say, Classical Japanese or Old Japanese? If so, it'd probably be the Chinese borrowing from Japanese, not the other way around.


texts: What is the function of と in verb-ていると form

texts:
I read this sentence in a book for beginners, but I can't find the grammar in any of my books or online:

  おばあさんが川で洗濯をしていると、川上のほうから、大きな桃が「どんぶらこ、どんぶらこ」と流れてきました。

Which I translate as

  While the old woman was washing in the river, a big peach came floating down from upstream (with some sound effects).

However, I can't find any references that mention that the verb in -ている form followed by と should mean "while". Or indeed any references to such a construct at all. Can someone please explain this grammar, how common it is, and when it is right to use it? Note that I am familiar with the verb-ている form when referring to "verb-ing" or when there is a change of state. I'm also happy that と after a verb can mean "if", but that doesn't seem to work here.

Many thanks


texts: Meaning of 果たせることが出来たなら

texts:
I'm looking for some assistance in understanding the second line in the below　as I am not quite sure what 果たせる is referring to (I know what 果たす means in  e.g. 目的を果たす). I am not sure if there is something in context that I am missing or not.
To provide some basic context、the village chief wants the young ones to leave the village and see the outside world (The one currently talking is actually someone who has come from the outside world, and the village chief has asked him to take her outside with him). They ask to stay and he thought that they were only saying this because they thought it was their responsibility to stay in the village. They clear up his misunderstanding about why they want to stay in the village.

「ですから、村長さん。送り出すのではなくて、どうか許しをください」
「果たせることが出来たなら、どうか、俺たちがここで暮らすことを許してください――」


texts: How much space is considered standard between consecutive "「" and "『"s?

texts: In a text such as 「『捨てる 』技術」 how much space is expected between the first two characters in typography,  if any?


texts:
First, I would like to yet thank all the community for your great exchange work ! I wish I can participate one day when I get a better understanding of japanese language.

I am learning japanese as an autodidact and so i try different type of exercices. One of them is to study some texts coming from the anime キャプテン翼 [Captain Tsubasa]. I put japanese audio with english subtitles.

In episode 2, 翼 (the hero) receives a letter from his father. We can see this letter on screen, but the quality back in 1983 and handwritten style makes it sometimes quite hard to decrypt. The aim of this question is not to ask for translation of the letter, but rather understand some parts of it that I could not do by myself despite my researches.

The context : 翼 receives a letter from his father explaining him that a famous brazilian footballer has to come from Brazil and stay at 翼 house for a while.

In the letter, we find the following sentence (as least if i could read it well) :
事{じ}情{じょう}がわって当{とう}分{ぶん}の間{あいだ}、日本にいることになったんだ。
[For personal reasons, he will stay at our house in Japan for a while].

I am there in trouble with the 事情がわって part. I can't understand what がわって stands for. The best I could find is maybe the using of 変{か}わる verb which might lead to [for changing reasons] or [because of a change in his state of being]. But the problem is that 変 reads か, not が, so I think my explanation is certainly wrong.

Does anyone have a better understanding of this word/verb ? It will be very interesting to get any other point of view in order to understand this sentence the best way.

Thank you in advance,

Natsu


texts: How do you read this and what is the meaning of 出家?

texts: What does 出家 means? Is it to go outside the house or nun?


texts:
I'm reading a story that takes place like 30 years ago, which I think could be the only possible explanation of what I'm going ask. I often see this structure : Verb stem+ になられる as below:

  これほどの大勢で書斎を物色したなど、当主様が知られたらどれほどお怒りになられることか

However, it seems that japanese people pretty much all agree on the fact that this is a wrong usage of 尊敬語. Does that mean that although it was accepted before, it is not anymore? Or was it always considered as wrong?


texts: Understanding Susumu Kuno's example of misuse of 自分

texts:
On Wikipedia's page for Logophoricity, there is an example of that concept in Japanese.

On this Wikipedia page, sentences from Susumu Kuno's 1972 journal article Pronominalization, Reflexivization, and Direct Discourse are used as examples of when 自分 can and cannot be used.

Kuno's examples are as follows, copied verbatim from Wikipedia in full romanized glory:

11) a. Johni wa, Mary ga zibuni ni ai ni kuru hi wa, sowasowa site-iru yo.
                            meet  to come days       excited  is
   'John is excited on days when Mary comes to see him.'
b. *Johni wa, Mary ga zibuni o miru toki wa, itu mo kaoiro ga warui soo da.
                      self     see  when     always complexion bad  I hear.
   'I hear that John looks pale whenever Mary sees him.'
   (Kuno 1972: 182 (93))

The Wikipedia page notes the following about these sentences:

  The sentence in 11) a. is considered grammatical because the individual being discussed (John) is aware that Mary comes to see him. Conversely, example 11) b. is ungrammatical because it is not possible for John to look pale when he is aware that Mary sees him. As such, John's awareness of the event or state being communicated in the embedded sentence determines whether or not the entire sentences is grammatical.

Well, to be honest, I don't understand the logic of this argument. In particular, I don't understand the following statement:

  it is not possible for John to look pale when he is aware that Mary sees him

Why is it "not possible"? If John is scared of being seen by Mary, isn't that a normal reaction?

What is the logical reason why it's "not possible" for John to be pale here?


texts:
Does Japanese have a commonly used term for submarine sandwich/roll?

Australian English doesn't have a term AFAIK (the only places that sell such things in Australia are the Subway franchise), and I was wondering if the same was true for Japanese.

I couldn't spot it in jisho.org and the English edition of Wikipedia's article on submarine sandwiches didn't have a Japanese inter-language link. I came across "サブマリーンサンドイッチ" on Weblio but I don't know how authentic it is.


texts:
I don't know exactly the difference between those two?
What are the most commons use for those ones?
For example, what are the difference between these sentences?

友達に会った
友達に集まった


texts:
There's a particular style of joke/pun in Japanese that I'm not sure how to describe, so let me provide some examples:

  カミングスーン、神だけに。

(said by someone who has recently become a 神)

  バスケットだけに助っ人募集中。

(said by someone who is looking for people to help out a basketball team)

  A: それに、学校の皆に会えば、キャッチフレーズが思いつきそうだなあって。
  B: 思いつく？
  C: お餅つきだけに！

(following a conversation about giving mochi to classmates and trying to come up with a catchphrase)

Now that we've established what I'm talking about, my questions are as follows:

Is there a name for these jokes? (Would you just call them ダジャレ?)
What is going on grammatically in these jokes? This doesn't seem to be one of the  simple/compositional usages of だけ＋に found e.g. here at dictionary.goo.ne.jp.
Is there a rough English equivalent of these jokes? I've seen translations that basically introduce a pun related to the topic of the joke and then append "No pun intended", presumably corresponding to the だけに part. Of course, joke translation is a peril-fraught thing, so I'm not placing too much stock in this.


texts:
Good evening!

Is 人の夢は終わらねェ the correct spelling for "A man's dream never dies", or is it with a language twist, like someone very specific would spell or say it like that?
I know that the way it's spelled is like "hito no yume wa owara nee", and that the correct japanese version would be "hito no yume wa owaranai", but i'm thinking about getting a tattoo with that, and wanted to know for sure how to do it. Also, it would be divided, 人の夢は on one side, 終わらねェ on the other. What side should each of them be on?
Thank you very much,

João Reis Santos, Portugal


texts:
いつからか、翡翠がやってくれば平穏な朝を迎えられるような、そんな日課が出来上がっている。

Why is ような used before the comma?
I think it means:

Since who knows when, if Hisui comes, as if i am brought with a
tranquil morning, that way the day starts.

But I do not understand why ような is used before the comma.


texts: Using location words with Subject/topic markers

texts:
I can't really figure this out myself so I don't think I can really give an example for this question so I'll just ask it and if it's too obscure to really answer say something in the comments and I'll try to add to it.

So, you guys have really been helping me out explaining は and even が a little in a previous question, but now I'm wondering about marking location words with は and が.

I know that usually に and へ usually mark the thing to which you do something and で usually marks where something takes place or by the means of which you do something (by/with). So how do I know when to use a subject/topic marker to mark words like きっさてん、 としょかん、 がっこう etc. that would usually take に, へ, and で. I'm pretty sure I'm overthinking this, but whenever I start a sentence like this がっこう に I'm always wondering if it shouldn't be the topic or subject or something. Forgive the probably somewhat vague question, but I seem to have a lot of problems/questions when it comes to particles.


texts: 「侵入したのが〇〇」なぜ「は」ではなく「が」でしょうか

texts:
最近この文章を見かけました。

  中王国はエジプト初の外来民族の侵入によって衰退しました。侵入したのが混成民族集団ヒクソス。これがアジア方面から侵入した。

太字にした「が」は、なぜ「は」ではないのでしょうか。前の文では、ある侵入が起こったことがすで述べられたので、問題の文の目的は侵入したのは誰かということになるのではないでしょうか。したがって、その文の焦点が「侵入したの」ではなく、「混成民族集団ヒクソス」だとすれば、「侵入したのは」の方が相応しいのではないでしょうか。「が」を使ってしまうと、焦点が「侵入したの」に置かれることになりませんか。

宜しくお願いします。


texts: volitional + negative verb special meaning or kimarimonku

texts:
I was reading a Japanese manga and came across the sentence: よそうかんがえるな。。。

Now, I took this to mean "Stop, let's not think about it", but I am wondering if the phrase is a set-phrase or it is similar to volitional+omou which means to plan.

Please let me know, because it is really bothering me.


texts: What's the difference between 大州 and 大陸?

texts:
I found both 大州 and 大陸 in this sentence, I looked them up on Jisho and I see they both mean "continent". Is there any difference between them? Are they interchangeable?

  アフリカは六大州の一つで、ヨーロッパの南方に位置する大陸です。


texts: what does のも mean at the end of a clause?

texts:
I've run into this use of も a few times and I'm not sure what to make of it. Here's the sentence I'm confused about:

余裕を見せていられるのも、いまの内だ。


texts:
So, I was reading a commentary about an illustrator and it said :

  ツノと緑が大好きです

Does this ツノ really mean horn?

It's strange, so I'm kinda curious.


texts:
What is the difference between お見舞い and 薬?
Both are translated as "medicine" by Google Translate

I guess that お見舞い is more like a treatment while 薬 is actual medicine people take


texts: How to say "You are able to" or "You can do this"

texts: Title says it all. I am looking for sentence structures that can convey this meaning.


texts: What does こんな mean in the following sentence?

texts:
Please allow to establish the context.

There is 1990 roleplaying video game titled “Illumina!” (Japanese title: イルミナ!), which is one of Cocktail Soft's products.

In the game, there is an evil necromancer named Rasuneti (Japanese name: ラスネティ). As the game goes on, she becomes a threat to the protagonist. Their confrontation finally ends with the protagonist running his sword through her heart. At that point, she says the following:

  ば…ばかな…私が…こんな…

I think the translation goes something like this:

  Ab...absurd...I am...like this...

I know that こんな usually means “such” or “like this”, but when I see the word being used like this in Japanese media, I keep getting the feeling that it is being used to mean something else.

Am I on the right track? What does it mean in that context?

Thanks in advance.


texts: i wanted to name myself a Japanese name,(first-last) but i wanted to know if it was okay to do so

texts: Can someone please answer my question somehow? I would like to respect and honor the means of Japanese people/culture. I did not want to name myself a Japanese name without permission from the Japanese first.


texts: interpreting 私の生徒会に欲しいって会った時から言ってる

texts:
MC bumps into the new 生徒会長 after her opening ceremony speech. MC and her are friends since the start of the last school year, but the reader doesn't know what happened between them previous year because of a time skip.

生徒会長「ちょうど良かったわねー。じゃあMCも生徒会室に行きましょうか♪」
MC「『じゃあ』じゃないですから。行きませんよ」
生徒会長「あら、私の生徒会に欲しいって会った時から言ってるのに、そろそろ頷いてもいいんじゃない？」
MC「……それって、会った時にはもう生徒会長になる予定だったんですか」

生徒会長「perfect timing, well then, why you you come with me to the student council room?♪」
MC「not going」
生徒会長「oh my, even though you said (or is it I said?) "私の生徒会に欲しいっ" from(?) the time we met... nothing wrong with being obedient right?  」
MC「……about that, when we met you already had plans to be the 生徒会長? 」

I am unsure how exactly to read "私の生徒会に欲しい" in terms of who doing the wanting, what is being wanted here in this quote.
and the use of から to indicate a point in time here is a bit strange for me. 会った時から言う
thank you


texts:
Struggling to understand a sentence in the military manga 'Ibuki' I'm currently reading. Some top military brass are discussing China's military capabilities and how quickly Japan could deploy to the Senkaku islands in the event of a crisis.

"It would take us 20 minutes to reach the Senkakus after scrambling from Naha. With an aircraft carrier we'd close the gap, but there's a decisive difference in the number of aircraft we can maintain. China's aircraft carrier can carry 60 planes. Ours can only carry 15. それを五分以上の戦力にするには機の性能差と、搭乗員の技能しかない。"

I'm not sure whether the 五分以上 there is a reference to timing (ie the time to get to the Senkakus) or represents a proportion of the number of aircraft. If it's the former, the tricky part is parsing the それを五分以上の戦力にするには part. 戦力にする would be the verb that affects the object それを, but I always find にする tricky (textbooks say it means 'try for' or 'decide on' but I have my doubts on this one). Moreover, there's an additional noun 五分以上 that modifies 戦力, making 五分以上の戦力にする one giant looking verb.

Any ideas?


texts: Would it be appropriate to use 棋士 to describe players of games other than Shogi?

texts:
I realize this is is a bit of a specialized question, but I'm trying to figure out what to call a person who plays chess or go professionally. I'm aware of the term 棋士 (きし) / プロ棋士 in professional Shogi, and was wondering if this term could be used for other people like this or if it's specifically something from Shogi's history.

In the latter case, what would one call someone who plays either chess or go at a professional level?


texts: How is 「外野が無理に殻をこじ開けて」 related to 「自身の闇」 in this sentence?

texts:
Context:

I am talking about the panel on the left in the middle section of the page.　The main character (highscooler) and his sensei go to see the main character's sister who has shut herself in a room, inside a pile of empty food boxes. They are going to possibly, get her out of that.

外野が無理に殻をこじ開けたところでその瞬間
さらに自身の闇へ閉じこもってしまうこともある...　あるいは

I think the above sentences translate to,
That moment when an outsider wrenches open the shell
Moreover there's a possibility that she has shut herself in the darkness of her soul
Then as per the page, the main character asks if the sensei is kidding because of the first line (above).
What I translated comes to me as pretty weird. Why would sensei say that and I feel like the two sentences are somehow connected but I can't seem to find much connection.


texts:
Playing a japanese game online at the moment and some guy told me this as an advice.

  奴さんしっかり叩いて次から標的を儂たちだけに絞ってもらおうじゃないか

I don't really understand the 1st part of the sentence here.

The part which I can roughly understand is "標的を儂たちだけに絞ってもらおうじゃないか" , which I translate as "we turn ourselves into a target". Please tell me if that's wrong.

So the main question is what "奴さんしっかり叩いて" means. I've only heard it use when referring to sort of labour that can be done "properly" or "surely".

What does it mean when used with "叩いて"?


texts:
Watching street commotion from a long distance at night, the vision is blurry:

  それは見えてはいるけれど、見えていないという状態だ。

My guess is that it translates into "you can call it a situation where (things) can both be seen and not seen". However, I don't know anything about the grammar involved with 見えてはいる. How does it work?


texts:
What I've learnt is: when you talk about your mother you use はは、 when you talk about someone else's mother you use おかあさん。

But what happens when you talk to your mother? How should you address her?

In anime they usually say おかあさん, but isn't it too formal?


texts: What is the difference between し and て-form in connecting verbs together?

texts:
Are there any differences between these sentences? Are they correct?

  彼女は優しくて、綺麗で、楽しいんだ。だから大好きだ。
  彼女は優しいし、綺麗だし、楽しいし。だから大好きだ。

How do し and て-form differ? How about these sentences:

  今日はたくさん食べて、飲んだよ。
  今日はたくさん食べたし、飲んだしよ。

Are these correct? Are they the same? Any help will be fully appreciated like always, especially quick and detailed answers!


texts: 今このしゅんかん - に私が生きている in full cursive?

texts:
Can I ask you if you know how to write this sentences in full cursive?

抱えて生きている
今このしゅんかん - に私が生きている

Yes, unfortunately the second one has to be broken, that means that it has to be written in two different columns (I don't think it is correct, but it's for a friend of mine and it has to be like that :/ ).

I need it in full cursive because I need something like this:

I have also a personal question: does it make sense to write hiragana in full cursive? I mean, is it normal?


texts: Is お帰り only used in the home environment?

texts: I use the term at home, but can it be used in other situations outside of the home? Thank you.


texts: I was studying the difference between these two forms, that actually I cannot quite understand. One of the differences seems to be that ために can be used with volitional forms such as たい and ろう、while ように can be used with both the volitional form and the potential. Did I understand correctly?


texts: When romanizing a Japanese title, which words should be capitalized?

texts:
Specifically, when you are trying to romanize Kanji titles of movies, plays, written works, etc. for formal writing targeting non-Japanese speakers, what are some good guidelines?

As seen in this English stack exchange question, there are some well established style guidelines for the English-speaking world. I realize this is a question of style, which is a matter of taste, but having some solid guidelines would be better than nothing.

A common sense approach of adapting the English guidelines to their Japanese counterparts seemed viable, but my anecdotal research indicates that commercial publishers/studios only do so half the time. Particularly vexing are compound particles and the Japanese copulae, such as da and desu kedo.


texts: Which is more appropriate? 大学院に入る／入学する／進学する?

texts:
Please explain which of the following (or any other) is more appropriate to say "enter postgraduate school/studies":

大学院に入ります
大学院に入学します
大学院に進学します


texts: I was reading a Japanese text, and came across this piece of dialogue : "なんで他人とケンカするの" "なんでって...売られるからだよ.売れられたケンカは買う.そんだけだ." But I really can't seem to understand what the second person is trying to say by "売られる" ? "売る" is supposed to mean "to sell", is he trying to say that fighting sells basically ? I also can't seem to understand what the text is saying by "は買う", even though it means "to buy" technically. I just really can't understand the use of these two verbs here.


texts:
I'm trying to learn Japanese.  I'm reading (trying to anyway) a Japanese kid book and found this line:

  あさ
  いもほり
  うでまくり
  えんやらやっと
  おおきな　おいも

I found by Googling that やっと means 'finally'.  But what does えんやら mean?


texts:
In English it's common to list multiple items as item/item/item, with the / representing or.

What about in Japanese?  Do I keep the forward slash, or maybe 「・」 so it would be アイテム・アイテム・アイテム?

Context: the list will be in a GUI, probably a drop down list item with no other verbiage around it.


texts: Verb (nai form) + れ or passive voice without ます/る?

texts:
I'm confused with unknown for me verb form, which I faced on two sentences in a row. It looks like Verb (nai form) + れ or passive voice without ます/る.
The examples with the full context:

  雲は流され　慌てふためき
  風が招かれ　吹き荒れる

Can someone explain me what form is this, when does it used and what is the meaning of it? I tried to google this, but found nothing Т_т
Moreover, why there are different particles (は/が) on those two cases?


texts: What is the difference between 「はじめてのX」 {hajimete no X} and 「はじめのX」 {hajime no X}?

texts:
There is a song with title {hajimete no asa} and another song with title {hajime no hi}. There is also a manga title {hajimete no aku}, and not to forget the popular boxing manga {hajime no ippo}.

So what is the difference between 「はじめてのX」 {hajimete no X} and 「はじめのX」 {hajime no X}? How do we choose to use one over the other?


texts: 2 different ways to describe consecutive actions

texts:
Reading a manga I stumbled upon this sentence:

名前書いたら帰る (I will write my name and I will go home)

I was a bit confused because of the conditional たら, so I tried to made up a sentence to later ask a native speaker:

シャワーを浴びたら公園に行く (I want to say: "I will take a shower and I will go to the park")

So, it uses the same grammar as in the manga I read. But when I asked my friend, he said that the sentence: シャワーを浴びて公園に行く sounds more natural than the one I made.

What it's the difference between those two sentences? Is there any special rule about describing consecutive actions by using the conditional form?

Thanks you very much.


texts:
In English I can say "what about X?" to mean "why did you mention X?", "what were you going to say about X?", "what does it have to do with X?" and so on.

How can I ask the same thing in japanese? In particular, in casual speach.

Note that this is not what I'm asking about:  "I like sushi. How about you?"

My question about this: for example, we're walking with my friend and suddenly she yells "sushi!". And then she says nothing. Strange. I  don't get her and ask her "Sushi? What about sushi"?


texts: What is the practice of conforming to group standards in society called?

texts: Japanese society highly values the group over the individual. I am unable to find a name for this practice. Thank you.


texts: Please help me explain the kanji in [出]{だ}した and [出]{で}た

texts:
They seem to mean different things (they aren't different conjugations of the same word). Can someone explain why they use the same kanji? o.o
And probably the exact differences between the two?


texts: What is the form of that conjugation できなくなっています?

texts:
In that sentence, what is the form of the verb?

世界の学生の６０．５％の１０億人が学校に行くことができなくなっています。

What's the difference with できないです?
Thanks in advance.


texts: What is the difference between using を and と with the verb 言う?

texts:
I apologize if this is a basic question, but it's something I've never been entirely clear on. When using the verb 言う (to say), I can never figure out whether to use the particle -と or the particle  -を for the thing being said. I know that -と　is used for quotations, but what about when the thing being said is not a direct quotation? For example, is it acceptable to say:

  彼女は何と言いましたか。
  What did she say?

or

  先生が宿題の締切りと言いましたか。
  Did the teacher say what the deadline on the homework is?

In these two situations, I'm not sure whether to use を or と. Can anyone tell me what the difference between is?


texts: Are the usage of 上 and 下 as labels only limited to items that come in pairs of two?

texts:
I have some untranslated mangas that come in pairs of two, and each of them is labeled with 上 or 下 to denote which is the first volume and which is the second. I'm wondering if these labels are only used for pairs of two or can also be used for trilogies, maybe in the order of 上 - 中 - 下 perhaps, but I don't have access to library or bookstore for Japanese books to verify.

So, are the usage 上 and 下 as labels only limited to books/movies/etc that come in pairs of two?

p/s: On related note, in ダンゴ３兄弟, the eldest dango is 長男, the second is 次男 and the youngest is 三男. If they were actually ダンゴ二兄弟 instead, would they be labelled with 上 and 下 instead? I think I've heard "上の子" or "下の子" being said but I'm not sure if they are referring to the order of siblings or something else.


texts: What does × mean in titles of Japanese TV shows and comics? Whether it's a NHK show like Designer × Artisan or a comic like Hunter × Hunter, I've seen this symbol occur very often in titles. What does it mean? How do you pronounce it, in Japanese and English?


texts: I ran across the sentence, さばき切れます, and I can't figure out what it means. Can anyone please explain? Thanks in advance


texts:
Looking up ある程度 on Weblio yields a lot of phrases like
Xである程度 --> to the extent that something is X
is this to be understood as Xである　程度 　or X　で　ある程度　？
I don't know if this is a set phrase or not, but what is the function of the で in this? Is it で、as in です's て-form, or is it connected to である？
If I wanted to say a phrase like

The degree to which something is expensive is dependent on the market price

would I say

高価である程度は相場に基づいている？


texts: what does 言われなくちゃなんねェんだよ mean?

texts:
A manga character says this to someone who told him to やめろ:

  なんで やめろまで言われなくちゃなんねェんだよ!!

Is that 言われなくてはならない and if it is, how can it be part of a question (with "nan de")? I don't really understand this sentence at all.


texts:
I just learned about this construction as detailed here. Wondering if I have it right. I understand that one use case is when what comes after the て-form verb describes a feeling, so I assume 欲しい counts?

「これはいいとよく言われて、野村さんが使って欲しいです。」

"It's often said that this is good, so I want Nomura-san to use it."

Or would 「これはいいとよく言われるから、野村さんが使って欲しいです。」 be more natural?


texts: When are these different ways of saying 'I' used?

texts:
When I was first exposed to japanese language, there were three pronouns I learnt - 私、僕、and おれ。
But I've seen more pronouns and am not sure when they would be used - わたくし、わっち、わがはい、うち、おれさま、and みずから(?) If anyone could help me with these I'd be grateful!!


texts: What does it mean when someone uses -kun after a person's name?

texts: I have heard in many Anime they use then ending -kun. I'm interested on knowing since I can get more of the feeling of how the person feels about the other.


texts:
I understand that がち can be loosely translated as "apt to" "tend to"

and these meanings are present in がち

よく、すぐ、しやすい、することが多い

I can see the meaning of "tend to" easily in this type of sentence

  ラッシュアワーはバスが遅れがちだ。The buses tend to be late during the rush hour.

But when I see the structure がち + に + Verb, I'm not so confident on how these meanings work. It sounds somewhat strange when I translate it literally.

  「これを食べてもいいですか」女の子がためらいがちに聞いた。"Can I eat this?" the girl asked with a tendency to hesitate. / "Can I eat this?" the girl asked hesitantly.

ためらいがち - tend to hesitate ----> ためらいがちに聞く - ask with a tendency to hesitate?/ask hesitantly

  彼は遠慮がちにドアの後ろに立っていた。He stood behind the door with a tendency to hesitate. / he stood behind the door hesitantly.

遠慮がち - tend to hesitate ----> 遠慮がちに立つ - stand with a tendency to hesitate?/stood hesitantly

So would this sentence I made up be correct?

  彼は怒りがちにドアを開けた。 He opened the door with a tendency to be angry. / he opened the door angrily.

Can someone please clarify and explain if I'm understanding this correctly?


texts:
What's the difference between "怪しい" and "疑わしい"?

The two entries in weblio are similar (怪しい versus 疑わしい).

Apparently, they're similar enough that dictionary.goo.ne.jp has a guide for distinguishing the two words (along with two other words), but it's in Japanese and Google Translate doesn't do a good job of translating it.

As background, it's being used to describe an ad that had a stated requirement, but where it's suspected the creator of the ad had an ulterior motive in mind. "疑わしいアド" was used in my original version of an online post, whereas "怪しい求人" was suggested by a native speaker of Japanese.

I've just discovered that Wiktionary has some info on distinguishing the terms (order reversed for ease of reading):

  怪あやしい (ayashii) implies something for which the true nature isn't known, and this uncertainty is a bad thing.

and

  疑わしい implies something for which the true nature or quality isn't known, but that may be good or may be bad.

which is at least in English, but still seems a little confusing to someone who is somewhat unfamiliar with Japanese culture.


texts: How to say that you saw something with a verb?

texts:
I know how to say "I saw a cat" 「猫を見た」. However once a verb get's involved I'm not so sure anymore. I have two ideas on how to say it. The sentences is suppose to read "I saw someone being in that house over there".

あの家に誰かいると見た
あの家に誰かいることを見た

I don't know if either of those sounds any good. How would you report seeing something that involves a verb? Rephrasing it without the verb is not allowed unless you have a way to do it with all verbs and nouns. Also if there exist a nuanced way of saying it that implies that what is being seen is still ongoing, please share that as well. Like I saw a person there and he is still there.


texts:
The following sentence stands isolated:

昔から川を治める者が国をよく治めると言われてきた。

"From olden days we are told that the persons who rule the river(s) often rule the country."

I guess this きた expresses that something comes to me/us here?
I didn't encounter it in a temporal function yet, only in spatial semantics so far. Thats why I wanted to ask about it.


texts: What is the difference between 祖先 and 先祖?

texts:
From my dictionary, both mean ancestor so I am wondering about what is the difference between them.

Is the difference in politeness ? For example [息子]{musuko} and [子息]{shisoku} both mean son, but the latter is more polite.


texts:
So if you want to say you walk quickly you say 早く歩く. Great.

Now, suppose you want to say you walk unquickly. Could you potentially say something like 早くなく歩く?

The obvious answer is you simply say you walk slowly, but someone I tutor asked me what the negative form of an adverb is and I was caught of guard. I've looked around and didn't find anything so I assume it's just not a concept in Japanese but I wanted to make sure I gave them the correct information.


texts:
I'm confused by this sentence:

  わたしが答える前に急いで川のふちへ歩いていってしまった。

  Before I answered he had hurriedly walked to the river side???.

歩いている means walking i.e. progressive form but しまう denotes completion of a verb. This seems like a contradiction. How do these two parts fit together and what nuance is carried by this construct? How would it differ from 歩いてしまった? Thanks.


texts: How do I say "course duration" in Japanese?

texts:
I want to say something along the lines of "all engineering courses are four years long".

Should I say something like this?:
各技術コースの専攻期間は4年くらいです。

Is there a more natural way to phrase what I'm trying to say? :(
よろしくお願いします。


texts:
I'm having trouble translating this sentence (from the manga Banana Fish, if anyone knows that awesome series):

もしオレにあったとしても…
オレはそんなものほしいと思ったことは1度だってない！！

The part I'm having trouble with is オレにあった, I can't figure out which verb あった is supposed to be/what it means...

As for the second part, I think it means something like "I've never wanted something like that, not even once"--but if I'm wrong please correct!


texts: Why does "arimasen" mean "there's no hope"?

texts:
Why is arimasen, which means "is not" the same thing as there's no hope?

  I am so lazy, so there's no hope.

  私はとても怠け者なので、希望はありません。

  Watashi wa totemo namakemononanode, kibō wa arimasen.

I would have thought that a one-to-one translation of "there's no hope" would have made more sense, but Google Translate tells me that "arimasen" pretty much means "there's no hope". Is there a reason for this?

The translation used was from English to Japanese, and I used the sentence:

  I am so lazy, so there's no hope.


texts: 諦観{ていかん}が迷{まよ}いを殺{そ}いでくれてたんだ meaning

texts:
I am not sure what this means...That line is said by the speaker to the listener.

「諦観{ていかん}」 = resignation

「削{そ}ぐ」 = to discourage; to weaken; to reduce (here I found that this verb can be written like this 「殺{そ}ぐ」with the kanji that it usually for 'kill' and I think here it was used to give it a more serious nuance)

「迷{まよ}う」= to lose one's way; to waver; to hesitate;

How would 「諦観{ていかん}が迷{まよ}いを殺{そ}いでくれてたんだ」 translate...?

"Your resignation weakened me?" (I am so unsure of what the speaker is saying)


texts:
Looking up the kanji, あっけなく comes from 呆気(state of surprise, shock)＋
ない. So, wouldn't the most natural translation be 'without surprise, conformingly'? Even so, I saw the following phrase in a game:

甘い朝の時間はあっけなく終了し・・・

And after searching a bit, seems like "too quick, unsatisfying" are valid translations. Why is that so?


texts: What's the function of て and の in this sentence " これって英語でなんて言うの"

texts:
Is the second て here used for the meaning of 'via'? I searched 'なんて', found it is usually to express emotional feelings and may not fits this sentence. But for 'via', shouldn't it be 'で'?
Like "大きい声で読んでください" and the previous '英語で', so probably I'm wrong.
And I searched for the usage of last '言うの' but only to find '言うの意味'　or something. What's the final 'の' used for?


texts: Could someone please help me understand はまっちゃいそう in this context?

texts:
This is from a textbook I'm currently studying, and the paragraph in question is about someone's perspective on life etc.

  あまり幸福じゃなくてもいいから、ごく普通に平凡な家庭を築きたい。人生にチャレンジですか？ちょっとそうしたい気持ちもあるんですけど、そうすると、それにははまっちゃいそうで。そうすると、結婚もできなくなるじゃないかと思うんです。

I understand the first part of the paragraph "I don't have to be happy, but I'd like to establish a normal family life". I also understand the meaning of はまっちゃいそう as "to be hooked on something", but I don't understand it in this context. Would someone please be able to explain this to me? Also, are they saying "I don't know if I can get married"?.


texts:
I have this part of a sentence

影{かげ}の次第{しだい}に濃{こ}く集{あつ}まる部分{ぶぶん}に

along with its translation:

"in the part where the shadows gradually gathered and thickened"

which makes contextual sense, but still, I would have translated the sentence as
"(where) the parts gradually thicken and gather inside the shadow(s)". So it is not the shadows that gather and deepen (contrary to the accompanying translation)

Where did I go wrong?
Thanks a lot!


texts: Is the plain form ever used to give a command? What does "sugu ni tatsu" mean?


texts: I found this necklace and has this as one of the charms. Does anyone know what it translates to?


texts:
I've been mulling over my sentence here and whether it's grammatically correct:

山が見えたら遠きすぎて行きました。
Yama ga mietara tooki sugite ikimashita

I take it to mean "If you see the mountain (if it can be seen), it means you've gone too far."
My question is whether it's possible to use すぎて (sugite) to mean "[Verb] too [Adverb]." In this case, "go too far".
Another example:

うるさすぎてしゃべっている。
Urusasugite shabette iru.
(You're chatting too loudly)

For the record, I'm aware that from context alone I can simply say "Urusasugiru" and the listener can infer that I'm referring to their talking, therefore omitting the need for another verb, but I still need to know for times where you need to be specific.
Thank you!


texts: Does くりかえし mean a single iteration or multiple ones?

texts:
For example, in this sentence:

  彼は、失敗をものともせず、 何度もくりかえし 挑戦し続けた。

くりかえし is modified by 何度も, implicitly stating that the action was repeated multiple times.

My question is that if the sentence was rearranged like so:

  彼は、 何度も失敗  をものともせず、くりかえし挑戦し続けた。

does くりかえし then imply that the action was repeated only once (while the failures were multiple)?

Are there other ways to indicated the amount or frequency of repetitions (perhaps other than just with adjectives/adverbs)?

Bonus question: Does the first sentence indicate the "he" failed only once?


texts: What's the difference between [好]{この}む and [好]{す}き?


texts:
I read a line in a book where the speaker is berating another party.

  悪く言われてるのは、誰のせいだと思ってやがる。お前が微温いこと言ってるからだろうが

I can't figure out the appropriate way to parse this without understanding the correct usage of 微温い.

Is the speaker saying the other guy talks about stupid things perhaps?


texts: I looked up a few points concerning feminine given names that might help, such as different suffixes like -e, -ka, -ko, etc. but am at a loss as to how to fit them together ("Yomogiko"?) and also how to write this in kana.


texts: What is the difference between キミ and キミの事?

texts:
In songs and anime (yes, I know that they're not always good representations of normal spoken Japanese) I see キミの事 used (for example キミの事が大好き), and I'm pretty sure that it doesn't mean the literal translation of (I like your things/event/etc), and probably just means (I like you). Is there a distinction in the way it would be used in connection with "your"?
Edit: Aight, I see now. As for 事, it means "everything about [object]" in a very large sense, but without it, it's less strong. Of course this can mostly only be used with people and (maybe?) other ANIMATE objects. なるほどｗ、本当にありがとう!


texts: I would like to get faith in Japanese for a tattoo. This is what I’ve seen. “信” and “信頼“ What is the difference between the two?


texts: What is the subject of a sentence like 文字を紙に書いてある?

texts: What is doing てある in 文字を紙に書いてある? I have thought of 書いてある and 書かれている as basically the same, but in 文字が紙に書かれている it is clear that 文字 is doing ている while it isn't clear what is doing てある in 文字を紙に書いてある.


texts: How to say, "I major in computer science" or "I'm studying computer science"?

texts: ”私はコンピューターサイエンスを勉強してます。” Do they use the term "computer science" in Japanese or is there a formal term for this?


texts:
「もし十香が抱いたような感想を、皆が感じてくれていたなら御の字ね。みんなの戦意を高揚させるのも司令官の仕事だから。ーーでも、ただ熱狂するだけじゃあ駄目。頭はクールに、ハートは苛烈に、が理想ね」

頭はクールに、ハートは苛烈に sounds like a proverbial expression. Nevertheless, I’m curious about the grammatical function of the bold に. Could you please explain that?


texts:
なくちゃ is the short informal of なくてはいけません but why is there なくちゃいけないの rather than なくちゃの?

For me, なくちゃいけないの sounds like double negative being used here.


texts: "On a more serious note" equivalent expression in Japanese

texts:
At work, I would naturally use the above line as a transition. What equivalent phrases can I use in Japanese?

I could come up only with a quite literal translation:

  真面目に言うと


texts: How to omit and change female end particles?

texts: I'm a little confused. If, for example, a man is singing a song written by a woman, and it has ending particles such a "の" "なの" etc. What are the male equivalent of these, or which ones are to be omitted? Or do you leave them?


texts: As I know, Both words mean Dangerous. Japanese people use sometimes やばい, other times 危ない. When should I use one over other?


texts: Do Kanji characters ever have different pronunciations in Kansaiben?

texts: Do Kanji characters ever have different pronunciations when Kansaiben is used?


texts: What rules are there regarding the role a radical plays in a kanji (such as telling us about the kanji's reading or meaning)?

texts:
Are there certain rules for knowing what role a radical plays in a kanji? I've heard sometimes a radical tells us about how to read the kanji, and sometimes it tells us the meaning of the kanji. But that's all I've heard.

Could you tell me more about this and the importance of the radicals when learning kanji?


texts:
In my JLPT textbook, it defines ～もさることながら as saying that the speaker feels one thing is true, and in addition another thing is true.

One example they give which makes sense to me is:

  美{うつく}しさもさることながら、彼女{かのじょ}の魅力{みりょく}は何{なん}と言{い}ってもその人柄{ひとがら}にある。

Here the speaker is saying that while the woman is beautiful, it goes without saying her personality is part of her charm. Note I'm not trying to make a perfect translation, just focusing on the essence of ～もさることながら.

But there is this sentence in a test question in the book:

  舞台{ぶたい}のセットもさることながら、俳優陣{はいゆうじん}もこの上{うえ}なく豪華{ごうか}だ。

I'm a little fuzzy on what this is trying to say, partly because 舞台{ぶたい}のセット is just a neutral thing. There's nothing inherently good or bad about it. Unlike, for example, 美{うつく}しさ, which is presumeably a good thing.

To me, the sentence seems to be saying something like, "While it's true that's a stage set, the acting group is no more superior." I might be wrong about what 上{うえ}なく豪華{ごうか}だ means too, but partly that's because my confusion over ～もさることながら is giving me little context to build on.

The point is, I don't see how a stage set can be said to be true or not true in any way that one can attach ～もさることながら to it.

So I'm probably wroing about what ～もさることながら does. Does it imply a judgement? Is the sentence in the question saying that the stage set is good?


texts:
I have seen と used in the following manner.

公園に田中さんと行きました - I went to the park with Tanaka-san

And I have seen で used as follows.

公園に二人で行きました - I went to the part with 1 other person (2 people including me)

But now I have the following sentence.

家族で旅行に行ってきました - I went traveling with my family

Would it have been appropriate to use either と or で in this situation? Or is there a reason で was used?

I am thinking maybe the use of で indicates you are in the group you're going with and と indicates you are not a part of the group. Is that what's going on?


texts: How can I differentiate agreement with the person and agreement with the idea?

texts:
A zillion years ago, before I came to Japan, I took a short introductory course on Japanese. In it, they showed a video of a business meeting where an American businessman is speaking to a Japanese businessman.

The Japanese businessman kept saying 「はい、はい」 throughout the business meeting. The result being that the American assumed that the Japanese guy had agreed to the proposal they discussed. However, the Japanese person was only saying はい as a way of expressing agreement that he heard and understood what the American was saying.

From there, it was explained that in Japanese, agreement is often about the person making the statement, not the topic. はい can be used to mean "I agree to the degree that it allows this conversation to continue." A little like saying "sure, okay" in English.

In English, I can differentiate between agreeing with a premise and agreement with a person. If I say "yes", I am definitely agreeing with the premise. If I say "sure", I'm going along with the person, leaving room to be ambivalent about the premise.

I'd like to get better control of the same thing in Japanese. Without resorting having to express myself with lengthy sentences or explanations, how can I be sure I'm conveying that I agree with a premise or with the person?

Are these appropriate for stating definite agreement with a premise:

  確かに

  そうだ

Are these more ambivalent?

  はい

  うん

  ええ

Are there other phrases and words I can use to be clear in differentiating whether I'm agreeing with a person or a premise?

Please note I'm specifically looking verbal ways of handling this, not other contextual clues like gestures or facial expressions. I would like to be able to express myself clearly in writing and on the phone as well as in person.


texts:
I was having a discussion with someone over the sentence

私の作った絵を使った!
(He) used the drawing I made

I have never seen the possessive の being used as NOUN + の + VERB (only N+の+N) so I insisted the sentence should be written as

私が作った絵を使った

Who is correct here? Is the "NOUN + possessive の + VERB" construction a valid one to make?


texts:
日本での生活は楽しいです。

I'm not sure about the usage of の here. Is 日本で生活は楽しいです。correct?


texts:
I came across this sentence:
夢を売るのよ　スポーツって。

I guess here 夢を売る can't be translated to "dream selling", that just doesn't make sense.

So what does it mean anyways?


texts:
I saw in my Deathnote manga the sentence, 何か欲しいものはない？
I also saw in my game I'm playing in Japanese "これらの絵でどれか気に入るものがありますか".

I was wondering, why do どれか and 何か seem superfluous? It seems like they add nothing to the sentence because if you remove them it still has the same meaning. 欲しいものはない？ for example.

Does 何か just add some sense of non-specificity? I guess it is because we are always told that どれか and なにか are nouns that I am confused, because it seems here they are working more like adverbs.

I was wondering if perhaps the fact that we are told that 何か = "something" that I am getting confused... because my theory is that 何か is the "some" and もの is the "thing".

Thus 欲しいものはない would be "There a thing you want?" whereas 何か欲しいものはない? would be "There isn't ANY thing you want?"

Anyone have an answer?


texts: その通りで versus (X)その道理で: Does the latter ever make sense?

texts:
Context: I don't exactly remember how, but when I traveled in Japan three years ago, I somehow picked up this phrase: その通りです. I didn't speak Japanese then and I really still can't now, but the word 通り sounded just like 道理. Therefore, I had always thought that the phrase was その道理です. It stuck in my head like that.

Now, where I'm from, people speak Mandarin Chinese (Taiwan), and in Chinese, we have its *cognateー道理 (dào-lǐ) ーwhich is to me identical to its Japanese equivalent. In Chinese, 道理 can mean "sense," "argument," "reason," etc. This confuses me tremendously. Why aren't 通り and 道理 interchangeable according to some? For instance, the answer in this Japanese topic seems to state that they're not the same: https://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/977067.html

Nonetheless, I could've understood it wrongly. The Japanese answer is really beyond my two-month beginner level.

I couldn't find anything in English that compares the two. Please help clarify this issue. Thank you.

*Or is it a stem? I'm not familiar with linguistics.


texts: Meaning of 多い in 去年より４３％多い３４０万人

texts:
日本政府観光局によると、今年の１月から６月までに日本に旅行に来た外国人は１３７５万７３００人でした。去年より１７．４％増えて、半年の間に来た人の数では今までで最も多くなりました。
According to the tourist board 13.8 million foreigners visited Japan between January and June this year. This is a 17.4% increase on last year and is the highest half year figure to date.
この中で最も多かったのは韓国から来た人で、去年より４３％多い３４０万人が日本に来ました。
Among these, the most numerous where people from Korea, and compared to last year ???? 3.4 million people came to Japan.

I can't understand how 多い is being used here. My literal translation is "compared to last year, the 43% numerous 3.4 million people...".
My first thought was that it referred to the increase in numbers, but 43% more Koreans than last year sounds too much. Then I thought maybe Koreans account for 43% of total visitors but the maths tells me it's only around 25%.
I think my first thought is the most likely but I'm far from confident. I'd be happier if it said もっと多い instead. Would this make sense?


texts:
What does (をする) and (がする). Sometime ago I read on site something I dont remember, but I got confused because the use of 勉強がする, but I just knew the existence of 勉強をする. So actually Im pretty confused. Any help is appreciated

勉強をする and
勉強がする

復活をする and
復活がする

感情がする and
感情をする


texts:
I'm currently studying Japanese vocabulary following the JLPT programs. I'm doing the JLPT 5 and I've come across the word 写真.

According to my dictionary, the meanings are:

  Photograph, photo.
  Movie

A friend of mine, Japanese native speaker, has expressed some doubts about whether nowadays people actually use 写真 to mean movie. Note, I'm aware of the word 映画{えいが}, but I wasn't that surprised of seeing an alternative word: as we say film, movie, we can have 映画, 写真, etc., but as I'm not a native speaker, I can't say for sure what's the actual answer.

Is perhaps the movie term there to refer to the "photo films"? Just a bold guess, actually. But what is it then? References on the matter would be much appreciated.


texts: Doesn't Japan call North Korea "北朝鮮" ? why?

texts:
If I remember correctly, North Korea is called "北朝鮮{きたちょうせん}" in Japan? But, I think "朝鮮" might actually be written in Katakana?

Anyway, given that "朝鮮" was Japan's colonial name for (all of) Korea, shouldn't it be named something other than "北朝鮮"? (Personally, I have no opinion about this). Surely, that is why South Korea is now 韓国{かんこく} and not "南朝鮮{みなみちょうせん}?  I mean, no matter how strained (or non-existent) Japan's diplomatic relationship with North Korea might be, don't the South Koreans object to the name "北朝鮮" (because it conjures the history of colonial Japan)??

primary reason I asked the question:
I've always thought that "朝鮮" has a negative connotation in Japanese daily conversation, yet South Koreans (as far as I know) don't object to North Korea being called "北朝鮮" even in NHK broadcasts. That is the only reason I asked the question.

The answers I got are great. I understand now.


texts: What's the word to use for "confidential", as in a company report?

texts:
I'm preparing a sales presentation; it contains some company data and I want to indicate that the entire presentation is confidential.  In English, this would likely be accomplished by stamping the corner with "confidential".

What's the best word to use in Japanese for a similar meaning?  I've seen this somewhere in my old company, but I forgot... here are the candidates I know of, but the one I think I've seen before isn't there, I'm having trouble finding something where I say "aha that's it".

内緒 (ないしょ)  -- more used as in "private", like a small secret between a few people
秘密 (ひみつ  -- "secret", but not sure if this is the appropriate word
機密 (きみつ）-- don't understand how this is different than 秘密
親展 (しんてん) -- you see this on envelopes of letters, but that's about it


texts:
In the following sentence

今日は何の映画を見るか決めたの

what is the grammatical role of か?


texts: Which radical name should I study for the kanken?

texts:
I love learning kanji, so I thought about taking the kanken (probably level 6). So I started to look for information here and there, and it seems I'll have to learn radical names.

I'm totally fine with that, but my problem is: which name to learn ? Let's take 乙 for example: should I learn 乙部{おつぶ}, or simply 乙{おつ}. But in that case, I found quite a lot of other names: おつにょう (well, I suppose this one is only if the radical is used as a nyou part of a kanji), つりばり (this one seems to be for the 乚 variant) or れ (seems to be for 乚 again) ?
Or again for 丨: should I learn 丨部{こんぶ}, ぼう or たてぼう?


texts: Does this sound natural? or is there better sentence that this

texts:
緑の家を見るまで歩って、それは私の家。

Walk until you see a green house, That is my house.


texts: Meaning of 致命的な矛盾を抱えた

texts:
The full sentence is: 致命的な矛盾を抱えたまま、穏やかな日々を送ってる。

Checking the dictionary for 致命的 and 矛盾, I only found "fatal" and "contradiction" or "inconsistency", resulting in something like: while there are fatal inconsistencies, we are living peaceful days.

But this doesn't really seem to fit in context (this sentence appeared after a short summary of past events, none of which are really "fatal inconsistencies" or contradictions), so is there something I missed entirely about the meaning of this sentence?


texts: How would you say 'the past ____'? (i.e. the past 'hour', the past 'day)

texts:
I've been wondering how to say 'I spent the past [time frame] [insert action]'. For example, "I spent the past hour studying Japanese". Would it be translated to something like...

  日本語の勉強は最近の一時間が全かかりました

...or would it be something like...

  日本語の勉強はついさっきの一時間が全かかりました。

OR! Would the sentence structure be completely different?

I'm sorry if this has already been asked before, but I can't seem to find anything concerning this type of phrasing.


texts: What is じゃねんじゃ.. My friend say it is Tsukkomi but I don't get it

texts:
I posted this タイからこんにちは！ in the web somewhere with my Twitter ID. And then there is someone new followed me in Twitter with a tweet タイからこんにちは！ じゃねんじゃ in his timeline. I wonder what that actually means..

This is used by tsukkomi player? How?


texts: A question about the particle used with potential form

texts:
As I know, when the potential form of a verb is being used, direct object particle "を" should not be used. Instead, が or は should be used. So when should we use which? For example,

富士山が 登れた
climb Fuji Mountain.
重い荷物は持てます
hold heavy baggage.

I don't see why in the second example, the particle は is used, because logically, "baggage" is the object of the verb "hold". I think it should be the same as in the first sentence, where が is used.
I'm a newbie learner. I would really appreciate it if you could help me with this question. Thanks!


texts: 「に、へ、まで」the difference in use with verbs

texts:
Well. I saw some topics here on same subjet, but I still didn't get the full image of a rule.

に - iplies the place, where is purpose-action will take place (final destination)
へ - implies the direction of where we are goingまで -
implies the limit, distance or time we're on the move to the place

Am I correct?

But I also have noticed that they are used differently with berb 行く, 来る и 着く.
に, へ - if the place is final destination, like when I'm going to the station to meet a friend.

  駅 [に・へ] 行く。

まで - if the place is just a part of the trip, like when I'mgoing to the station to take a train to other station.

  駅まで行く。(ex. to take the train for Shinjuku)

Is it so?

The next qustion is using them with verbs 歩く, 走る and 泳ぐ. Some grammar web-sites says I can use only まで with these verbs.

  駅まで走る。

Is it also correct?


texts:
The おお reading is out of the scope of this question - it might be involved in the answer though
I'm learning some vocabulary, and noticed that 大 was sometimes read だい, sometimes たい.
The instance that surprises me the most is these two words:

大暑{たいしょ}
大寒{だいかん}

What is the reason why 大 is read たい in the first word, and だい in the second?
I would have expected it to be read the same in these two words, since they must come from the same construct or be derived from the same rule.
Is there any rule that states when 大 should be read たい, and when it should be read だい?


texts:
I was looking at the heisei wiki page and I wondered how you would refer to future dates in the japanese calendar?

For example would 'The 2020 olympics' be '[平成]{へいせい}３２[年]{ねん}のオリンピック'? Is there some standard?

If this was on a web page and an era change occurred would you need to update it?


texts:
I'm writing a composition about my daily routine & so clearly the content of the composition won't be particularly interesting.
So I'd like to try and use a more creative title for the composition.
Is there a Japanese equivalent for the English saying 'the daily grind'?
If not, are there any alternative titles you think would be fitting?
Thanks!


texts: Deciphering handwritten phrase and its meaning

texts:
In the 前回の僕街 series, we see sketches drawn by the director of the 僕だけがいない街 anime that are generally humorous rewrites of a scene in the previous episode.

In the ninth sketch (image above), we see Satoru chasing after the car in the foreground after Kayo is taken away to protective custody with her grandmother.

I can read the first two phrases, but the last one is hard to read:

  Kayo's grandmother: あの子、まだ走ってるよ
  Kayo: 先生、スピード上げて
  Yashiro-sensei: (ネラーイ)?

Is this right? Even then, what does it mean? I can't seem to make sense of 狙い in this context.


texts:
What is the implied meaning of using the past tense だった before ように?

This is an example sentence in the 完全マスターN3 grammar book:

  母親が明るい人だったように、その娘たちも性格が明るい。

My attempt at translation is:

  Those girls have a bright personality like their mother did when she was young.

Since it's in the past tense I assume it is talking about when their mother was a girl.

If it was talking about their mother's personality now, I would say something like:

  その娘たちは母親のように性格が明るい。

Is this a correct interpretation of the implied meaning of the two sentences?


texts: Why does the 'a' sound change to 'o' or 'o' change to 'a' with words that start with "w"?

texts:
Please consider the following:

Warrior is ウォリアー： this vowel sound "a" changes to ”オ"
Work is ワーク:this vowel sound "o" changes to "ア"
Chariot is チャリオット:this vowel sound "a" stays "ア"
Corridor is コリドー:this vowel sound "o" stays "オ"
As for the other words that don't start with "w", "a" stays "ア", "o" stays"オ".
Margin is マージン："a" stays "ア"
Border is ボーダー:"o" stays "オ"....etc.

But only the words with starting with "w" are opposite. Do you know why?


texts: Is "ゲーム中に使用する" a descriptor in "ゲーム中に使用する最大HPを書き写す"?

texts:
Full text is:

さらに、ゲーム中に使用する最大HP、最大MP、【祝福】を書き写す。

I can't figure out if this is saying to copy everything during the game, or if "ゲーム中に使用する" is describing everything that needs copying?


texts: Is あえて言わなかった ambiguous? "not dare to say" or "dare not to say"?

texts:
Which is the correct translation for the following?

彼【かれ】はあえて「・・・」と言【い】わなかった。
A: He dared not to say "..."

or

B: He did not dare to say "..."

If only one is possible, how to say the following with あえて?

We had to study hard for the final exam but he dared not to do so.

We jumped from the roof one by one but he did not dare to do so.


texts: What does なる mean in words like 完全なる＆聖なる？

texts:
It doesn't seem to have any of the "to become" meaning that the normal meaning has. In most translations there is usually no mention of "becoming" at all. Then what purpose does naru serve then?

Also 大いなる. 大いなる力 referred to an already existing great power in a show and it didn't have to 'become' great.


texts: There are quite a few respectful terms for parents, the least respectful of which would be お父さん and お母さん (there are less respectful ones, but they're only appropriate for your own parents or your friends' parents). A notch above those would be 母様, 父様, お母様, and お父様. The first two are rather respectful, but I don't think they're appropriate for other people's parents; meanwhile, the second too are appropriate for the parents of people who require respect. Moving up in respect we have 母上, 父上, 母君, and 父君. I think these are 尊敬語, and a little outdated to call your own parents; are the forms in 上 or 君 more respectful? You can also add お and/or 様 for further respect: （お）父上（様）, （お）母上（様）,（お）父君（様）, and （お）母君（様）. Clearly the most respectful terms would have both お and 様, but I wonder which ones.  broccoli forest mentions ご母堂（様） and ご尊父（様）; are those more respectful than anything I've listed?


texts:
I asked a Japanese friend of mine whether I can rephrase the following two sentences with the bold words:

これがかの有名なマリー・アントワネットが座った椅子ったって、今見て彼女がいるわけじゃないのにね。(original)

これがかの有名なマリー・アントワネットが座った椅子だって、今見て彼女がいるわけじゃないのにね。(〇)
これがかの有名なマリー・アントワネットが座った椅子だったって、今見て彼女がいるわけじゃないのにね。(〇)

whereas

榊さんの飼っている犬がどんなにかわいい犬ったって、もしかしたらかみつくかもよ？ (original)

榊さんの飼っている犬がどんなにかわいい犬だって、もしかしたらかみつくかもよ(〇)
榊さんの飼っている犬がどんなにかわいい犬だったって、もしかしたらかみつくかもよ(✕)

Why the sentence with "椅子だったって" sounds natural while the last sentence doesn't?


texts: pronunciation and meaning of the word 干支崩年

texts:
I have this sentence from a text which mentions the death of two emperors, but I cannot find the meaning and pronunciation of 干支崩年 in it. The sentence is:

  "古事記の干支崩年に従えば、応神天皇の崩御が西暦394年、仁徳天皇の崩御が西暦427年となり、その間が在位期間となる。"

I cannot find the expression 干支崩年 in the online dictionary. If I copy only the first 2 kanji it lists the reading of 干支 as "eto" or "kanshi" and the meaning as "sexagenary cycle; Chinese astrology". But together with 崩 and 年 it doesn't list anything.

Does anyone know of this expression?


texts:
Just saw this image about Nintendo on Kotaku:

Clearly the company name, description, and location are written in traditional right-to-left orientation.  Even かるた is right-to-left.

So why is トランプ written left-to-right amongst the rest of the text?


texts: Are the names of some food items written in katakana?

texts:
Japanese for Busy People 1 (lesson 11) mentions when talking about [キス]{kisu} (whiting) at a [てんぷらや]{tempura-ya}:

  NOTE: Names of fish, fruits and vegetables etc. are sometimes written in katakana.

Does using katakana only apply when talking about the animal, as opposed to talking about the food? (For an English equivalent, people refer to the animal as "shark" but sometimes refer to the food as "flake")

Assume that it's not gairaigo and therefore would be in katakana anyway.


texts:
The sentence 何と言ったら良いか分かりません means "I don't know what I should say."

But what is the literal translation of this sentence? What is the purpose of the か in 良いか?


texts: Is かっこいい used to describe men and women?

texts: Can かっこいい be used to describe men and women? I have usually seen the term used to reference men.


texts: Where does the れ reading of 落 in 洒落 come from?

texts: Both wiktionary and jisho.org list the on'yomi for 落ちる as ラク. The kun'yomi is 落{お}ちる, 落{お}とす, or 落{お}ち. So I'm wondering how this kanji developed the reading れ in お洒落{しゃれ} and 洒落{しゃれ}.


texts:
I need help understanding why にとって cannot be used in this circumstance:

  その仕事は私｛には/*にとって｝出来ない。 ( * denotes unacceptable)

This is what I read:

  にとって cannot be used when it marks an experiencer or agent

But I get confused when this sentence is acceptable:

  これは我々にとって無視できない問題だ。

Isn't 我々 an agent? 我々 is the one who is doing the ignoring right? So what am I understanding wrongly?


texts:
As far as I understand, the Chinese people called America "美国" (among many) which literally translates to 'beautiful country'. I understand it was phonetic transcription of 'America'.

But I wonder why Japanese use "米国" which translates to "rice country". I know '美' and '米' have the same pronunciation in Japanese.

When did Japanese start to use '米国'? Was there any time when '美国' was used in Japanese? is there any reason to use the Chinese character '米' for the name?


texts:
In this NHK video, あいちゃん seem to be demonstrating some cooking skills, while a cat named にゃんちゅう seems to be praising her by her side. I understand most of what he says, but there are 3 places (bolded below) in his speech where I cannot catch what he is saying even with a dictionary, and even by slowing down the video.

His speech starts 0:42, and ends 1:57. The 3 places I have problems with have timestamps 0:54, 1:21 and 1:51. My attempts, after many listens, are below. In addition, I suspect 0:54 is a variation of ～でなくてなんであろう, but I am not sure what it is. Could I receive some help for these three areas?

  にゃんちゅう：もんにちは！今日はあいちゃんが日頃より鍛えたお料理の腕前をお見せします！では、あい先生、どうぞ！

  あいちゃん：こんにちは！今日は私の得意料理を皆さんにお教えしたいと思います。
  助手のにゃんちゅうくん、よろしくね。

  にゃんちゅう：はい、先生。では、おこちらに、先生に腕を振るっていただく、材料。すでに用意されております。ハハ。よろしくお願い致します！

  あいちゃん：よろしくおねがいします。

  にゃんちゅう：おっと！いきなり豆腐を持った！おっ、これを包丁で切るんだにゃ！包丁が入った！繊細な手の動き、いかがでしょう、みにゃさん！神経がすみずみにまぜいきわたった包丁＿＿＿、これを芸術＿＿＿ (0:54) なんと申しましょうか！できたぞ！これは、さいの目切りだ。お見事です！

  にゃんちゅう：さ、そして、つぎのお料理に参りましょう。二品目はいったい、なんでしょうか？二品目は、おっ！これだにゃ、これは、日本が 運が世界の一品嘔吐、 (1:21) 納豆！では、お願いします！おっ！ごらんください！このしなやかな手の動き、納豆をねばねばに掻き回しております！そして、おっと！なめらかなこの回転、回転技だ！さすがの納豆も、あい先生に混ぜてもらい、 さくやうれさによろこびのかいをあげてる (1:51) にちがいありません！以上！

Edited: ちょっと to おっと, before いきなり


texts:
Can someone explain what rules for が come in play that make the sentence:

  発売延期となっていたネットワークレコーダー「nasne(ナスネ)」の発売が8月30日に決定しました

grammatically correct? I would have formulated it 「nasne(ナスネ)」の発売が8月30日に決定されました,　or to keep the usage of しました-form:　ソニーは「nasne(ナスネ)」の発売を8月30日に決定しました


texts: What is the difference between 和紙 and 日本紙

texts: Both 和紙 and 日本紙 translate to Japanese paper so I'm wondering what is the usage of each?


texts: What's the difference between 「からです」 and 「ですから」?

texts:
Recently I've come across the 「なぜなら〜からです」 sentence pattern, and I noticed that から comes before です.

Are there any differences in nuance or meaning between the two orderings?


texts:
I just stumbled across this - rather simple - sentence from the novel 堕落の王:

  それは魔王の意思ですらない。その目的は力の使用だけで、結果には興味すら抱かない。

  ただ、主を見ていた。

  It wasn't even the demon lord's will. His goal was only to use its powers, he didn't even have an interest in the results.

  I was just looking at my master.

Context: The one speaking is a puppet made by the 'lazy king', who lost interest in it right after its creation. The puppet now seems to wonder about the meaning of his existence and considers the 'lazy king' as his master.

In this case, how would you read 主? According to the dictionary there are five possible pronunciations:

しゅ
おも
しゅじん
ぬし
あるじ

Is there any notable difference between them? I feel like I heard あるじ in historical dramas a lot.


texts:
Many of us non-native japanese speakers have experienced the difficult of katakana 外来語.
In this case I am having trouble translating the word シュート。　Googling it, it seems that it means "shoot" but it does not make sense. So then I thought, maybe it means "shooter" (which to me sounds シューター)

What do you think? Is there any other way to translate シュート?

(the word refers to a machine parts that redirects things from one part of a machine to a particular place of that machine)


texts: Grammar of プレッシャーに晒される

texts:
不条理な暴力によるプレッシャーに晒される

after some searching, I also found these sentences:

  絶え間ないプレッシャーにさらされる

  来る日も来る日もプレッシャーにさらされる

プレッシャーに晒す, as far as i can tell, you a transitive verb can't take noun+に without a indirect object.

such as "X を/は Y に V-transitive" in general

what is going on in these instances? What is the agent of the passive verb? can pressure itself be the agent?

thank you


texts: Passive form - The exact difference between を and が

texts:
I've seen this question asked before, but i feel the answer didn't quite answer all my questions, so here goes.

Now, I am rather sure that this:

  ケーキが食べられた

Means:

  The cake was eaten. (by someone)

Now, recently I've noticed a few cases where the passive form was used with "を" instead of "が".

Judging from the examples I've seen, I would guess that:

  ケーキを食べられた

Means something along the lines of

  my cake was eaten (by someone)

However, can this be used with someone elses cake instead of my own?
I guess what I'm basically asking is whether this is possible:

  犬は猫にケーキを食べられた

And if it is, does it mean:

  The dog's cake was eaten by the cat

Or can the Aを(passive verb) construction only be used when I'm speaking of something directly relating to myself, the speaker?


texts: Can I use the title san if I refer to myself as an ojisan?

texts: I know that the title san cannot be used when referring to myself. It seems appropriate to use if it is with a title of some sort. I just wanted to clarify. Thank You!


texts:
There are several uses of the small っ:

Compounds with the first kanji ending in つ or ending in consonant + 'u' with the second kanji beginning with the same consonant: the elision of the 'u' happens naturally and ended up being written
Euphonic modifications (e.g. -て form)
Foreign words in katakana aiming at matching foreign pronunciation

Are there others? Is it always phonetic (e.g. elision) or are there other possible reasons? When in history did this happen? Can it also happen inside kun'yomi words (ignoring grammatical aspects)?


texts: Is it necessary to repeat に in the following sentence?

texts:
I gave my wife a mobile phone at Christmas.

私はクリスマスに妻にケータイをあげました。

Now there're two "に" in the sentence. Any method to avoid repetition? Is it necessary?


texts:
これは、叩いて返せばいいのか。

  おう。ぶっ叩いて相手にぶち込んで、相手が落とせば勝ちだぜ。

  なるほど。お前はこっちの方が良さそうだな…俺も、手加減無しでいこう。

My question is about what こっちの方 refers to here. It seems that they are playing a game where one has to hit the ball and the other has to catch it without dropping it or they lose and this goes on in turns. The above excerpt starts after the first person to talk had the ball kicked at them(and them getting knocked over). Is こっちの方 in this case referring to his current role in the game(the hitter), and he is now saying that he gets the impression that the other person is going to be better at doing this than him?

edit(Additional lines):

あはははは。…それよりにーちゃん。どう？

…どうとは？

ボクの水着姿。せくしーだろ？

"せくしー"？

色っぽいかどうか、ってコト。

む…なるほど…

で、どう？

そうだな。"せくしー"だ…と、思う…

むっ。今、目を反らしたな！そんなにーちゃんには、こーだっ！

むっ…！？

見たか…

…って、ありゃ？もしかしてやりすぎた？

…なに。この程度なら問題ない。

おー、やるやるー。流石ボクが認めたにーちゃんだぜ。

and then this is where the rest of the conversation starts.


texts:
すみませんが。この封筒に二百円の切手を貼って出してください。

I know that in this situation I could say just すみません、not すみませんが。Both mean "excuse me." Still, there must be at least a slight difference between すみませんが　and すみません. What is the difference? （It seems to me that the particle implies request, asking for attention, but I'm not sure)

Thank you!


texts:
In my opinion, they both share the same meaning of "~, isn't it". However, it seems that they cannot be used interchangeably. For example, in the following sentence, according to my mock exam textbook, ではないだろうか is correct for ＿＿ but not だろうか .

  ラブレターや海外からの絵葉書をメールで代用するのはおそらく無理 ＿＿。


texts:
来年、フルマラソンに挑戦しようと思って
Next year, I'm thinking of trying to run in a (full) marathon.
Hopefully an easy one for you all. I'm curious why this sentence ends in 'て' and not 'ている/ています'.
My (uneducated) guess would be that perhaps in casual / spoken Japanese, the 'いる／います' is dropped.
Or is there a nuance / mood provided by it?
Thanks for your help!


texts: Understanding the meaning of one sentence

texts:
「やり場のない怒りを、
一番愛してる人に向けてしまう、
嫌な女をやらせて」

My translation:

Anger without outlet
pointed toward the person I loved most
made me a hateful woman

I'm particularly interested in the second part (there are 3) of the sentence.
As I see it 一番愛してる人 is unambiguously referring to a single person. 人 is one of the few words in Japanese that are always accompanied by a pluralizing suffix when referring to more than one person, and 一番 literally means "one most, best, number 1".

Was my translation accurate or did I miss something?
Also, does it mean he/she loves that person more than anyone else?


texts:
I'm trying to figure out the exact difference in the usage of します and されます.

For example:

  (something)画面が表示します。
  (something screen) will display

  画面が表示されます。
  (the screen will be displayed)

Another example:

  This will be deleted.

  削除します。
  削除されます。

When a person (noun) does something we use します。
されます generally means "it will be done".

But in a number of contexts I've seen this used interchangeably.

Can someone clarify? How are 画面が表示します and 画面が表示されます different?


texts: just by the phrase 試験を受ける, can we imply anything on the 試験?

texts:
since 受ける is the same verb associated with "sustaining damage", "incurring losses", "suffering injury", all 3 seemingly have negative nuances, I'm wondering when we use it (受ける) with 試験, does 受ける imply anything on the 試験? are there any clues to the listener what kind of 試験 it is?

Or is it the case that we cannot derive any traits of the 試験 just by the phrase 試験を受ける because by itself the phrase is a neutral one?


texts:
https://www.spookizthemovie.jp/

I'm curious about the renyoukei at the end of the last sentence of the description:

  ある日、偶然拾ったスマホがきっかけで、キュラが、好奇心旺盛な人間の少女・ハナに出会ってしまい・・・。

What does it do at the end of a sentence? Google Translate makes 好奇心旺盛な人間の少女・ハナに出会ってしまい a consequence of 偶然拾ったスマホがきっかけで and I would think 出会ってしまい has a conjoining function, but I can't anything confirming that.

Thanks in advance.


texts: Understanding にもかかわらず usage in this context

texts:
In the recent Kanokari chapter, Ruka was explaining to Kazuya why he shouldn't go out with the rental girlfriend. Below is her dialogue

和也はお客で、二人の関係はビジネス
たとえ優しくされたと感じても、それは業務の一環であり、壮大な勘違い
にもかかわらず、個人的な交際を申し込むなんて、重大な契約違反
付き合うどころか、二度と合うことも叶わないでしょう

I'm a bit puzzled by にもかかわらず here. I know what AにもかかわらずB means. It means "despite A, B is still true." I'm not sure how to apply my understanding in this context.
Initially, I thought could understand the third line as

Despite all of this, asking for a private relationship is a serious breach of the contract.

But I am uncertain what is the preceding statement the sentence above is comparing to. Is it "The kindness you receive is part of her job." Can someone enlighten me on this part?
I checked the fan translations for this section and this is how the third line is understood

If you push for a personal relationship in spite of that, you are in a serious breach of the contract.

Is it an accurate way to understand にもかかわらず usage compared to my interpretation?


texts: How do I interpret 理不尽 in this situation?

texts:
I was talking with my colleagues about work and my friend described the following situation:

The boss asked my friend to make a report for a meeting that they had at the end of the day. He worked really hard on it but then our boss never used it.

Drinking with them later that night, they described the boss/situation/work as 理不尽. I know the dictionary definition is unreasonable or irrational but it doesn't seem to fit this situation very well. It seemed to be used in the sense that it was troublesome or bothersome.

Is there a better way to express this feeling in English? I'm struggling to think of it.


texts:
I found out there is a special kind of Okinawan tofu called 豆腐よう.

According to EDIC/WWWJDIC it can also be written as "豆腐餻" and "唐芙蓉".

"餻" seems to mean "cakes, pastry", but considering that this is from Okinawa, that it's not usually written in kanji, and that the other kanji spelling is totally different, it could also be an ateji for a word from the Okinawan language.

Do we in fact know the origin of this "よう"?


texts: この近くにレストランはありますか - Why Chikaku and why koko(DE)?

texts:
I've been trying to study japanese in small increments (an hour a day) for around 2-3 weeks now. I have a 2 questions regarding this sentence. From what I learned so far, DE is used instead of NI when referring to a location where a specific action will happen like ここで本を読みます vs そこに行きます.

Could you please explain why 'Koko DE' was used and not 'koko NI' here because by my understanding, there's no action involved in this statement. Also, I would like to know why Chikaku was used here rather than chikai. Isn't Chikai an adjective which describes the noun, like in this sentence, it describes the restaurant. Thank you in advance!


texts: Confirmation regarding Japanese colors i-adjective

texts:
I want to ask confirmation regarding Japanese colors. I understand that there are NOUN, and I-adj version of some colors.
Such as 赤＆赤い, 青＆青い, etc.

But this part below is something I cannot confirm. Some article say that it is okay to say both "車は赤です" and "車は赤いです", but some say that you can only say "車は赤です". Which one is correct?

Also about basic colors. It seems that green (緑) and purple (紫) don't have i-adj version. But how about yellow (黄色), brown (茶色), orange (橙色) & grey (灰色)? Do they have i-adj version? I'm pretty sure I've heard 黄色い and 茶色い, but wasn't sure about 橙色い and 灰色い...

Update for specific reference I read about:
This sentence is copied from Link:

  "It might be possible to use 赤いです [akai desu] in simple sentences, but I know that 赤です [aka desu] is always safe."

And this one is copied from Link:

  "ボールはしろです. The ball is white. When using primary colors to modify a noun, use the i-adjective form; otherwise, use the no-adjective form."


texts: must/need [必要]{ひつよう}がある vs. なくてはいけない and [必要]{ひつよう}だ vs. [要]{い}る

texts:
This is a two part question, both pertaining to expressions involving "必要".

What is the difference between 必要がある and -なくてはいけない/ -なければならない? The
difference between the latter two expressions is explained in
this
question, but I'm still unclear as to where "[必要]{ひつよう}がある" comes into play
(e.g. if it is synonymous with one or both of those, or if it
carries a different nuance altogether).

  I need to do my homework.
  宿題をしなくてはいけません。
  宿題をする必要があります。

What is the difference between (noun)が[必要]{ひつよう}です and (noun)が[要]{い}ります?  Unlike the expressions in question number one, these expressions are used when expressing the necessity of an object or　thing.

  I need a new motherboard.
  新しいマザーが必要です。
  新しいマザーが要ります。


texts: What to say when leaving the table before everybody else?

texts: For example, while having lunch with your coworkers and you have to attend some matter soon, what would be a natural way to leave the table? I think that in this case saying お先に失礼します would be wrong.


texts: I just stumbled across this word today, and was baffled to find that a thermos is a "magic bottle"? What reason is there for the kanji chosen? Was it a decision by a company who introduced/manufactured the first thermoses in Japan?


texts: Could you tell me how to say 'sounds legit' please? My Japanese is poor

texts:
What would be the Japanese slang version of the sarcastic English phrase "sounds legit" (meaning "yeah sure... I believe you")?

I have come up with seitounaoto. But yeah, not very happy with direct translation.


texts:
~がる is used to describe third person's feeling but today I found this word "強がる私" I don't know why　強がる is used with first person like　私.

Is it because the speaker speaks in other point of view ?


texts: To express that I ordered food for take-out, do I use 「持ち帰り食べ物」 or just 「持ち帰り」?

texts:
The sentence I formed is 「持ち帰り食べ物用を買うしました。」
My intended meaning is, "I ordered food for take-out".
I'm not sure whether the construction is grammatically correct or if it's redundant.

I'd like to share my process for forming this sentence, since I like to try making sentences out of new words I learn in my self-study:

I recently read that 「持【も】ち帰【かえ】り」is used to mean "takeout/to-go" in the context of ordering food, much like the loanword 「テイクアウト」. As such, I wanted to practise constructing a sentence using that word.

Since "to buy" is 「買【か】う」, I decided to use that because I wasn't sure what the appropriate word for "order" (in this context) was. I read that 「注文【ちゅうもん】」 can refer to an order, but I'm not sure if this can only be used as a noun.

As "food" is 「食【た】べ物【もの】」, I thought of specifying that the take-out order is food, and nothing else. I am not certain if saying 「持【も】ち帰【かえ】り食【た】べ物【もの】」 is redundant or not (and if it isn't, I wasn't sure if I should express it as 「食【た】べ物【もの】の持【も】ち帰【かえ】り」 or just say 「持ち帰り食べ物」. )

I'd usually refer to Japanese language sites or a cursory Google search to determine if my sentence construction is natural enough to appear on Japanese-language posts, but everything I could find about 「持【も】ち帰【かえ】り」 seems to cater to people ordering food from an establishment, rather than talking about having ordered food from an establishment.

Thank you very much for your time!


texts:
This usage of 上 is still difficult for me. In the context of a sentence I may be able to understand what it does mean, but I can't get the feeling that would tell me: this a situation where using it would be appropriate. (Sometimes I have the feeling that it fits the definition goo辞書ー➊.６ゥ but that's not always the case (moreover in the example provided in this definition 上 is followed by に so, that doesn't match so much).

For example this sentence (from this question)

  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。
    There is a lot of difficulties for foreigners who learn Japanese.

  「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。
  "When has been made, when has it been send, where has it been sold" ... This "history of the product" is the important "product trace-ability" that we need to ensure that the product is safe.

  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。
  Here I don't even get the point because I would expect 運営させる.

Another example, raising from browsing through the recent question:

  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)
  Mono no aware is a concept related to aesthetic which is capital in order to understand the literature written during the Heian dynasty.

Could somebody clear the fog around this use of 上で? If you need more examples I will try to find some more, but I feel it is used a lot and I have already already crossed of it many times, and I would like to eventually understand it?

EDIT: There seems to have some overlapping with ために in the last example for example.


texts: Using もらう with に/を particle and passive/causative forms

texts:
I was learning passive and causative forms of Japanese coupled with もらう and particles, and got very confused. A couple of examples and what I think they mean:

AさんはBさんを病院に送ってもらう - A received a favor of having (Someone) send B to hospital
AさんはBさんを病院に送る - A send B to hospital
AさんはBさんに病院に送る - B send A to hospital
AさんはBさんに病院に送てもらう - A received favor of having B send (someone/something) to hospital
AさんはBさんに病院に送らせてもらう - B let/made (someone/A) send (something else/ someone else) to hospital (as a favor for A)
AさんはBさんを病院に送らせてもらう - A let/made (someone) send B to hospital (as a favor for A)
AさんはBさんに病院に送られてもらう - B send (something) to hospital (as favor to A)
AさんはBさんに病院に送られる - B send (something) to hospital
AさんはBさんを病院に送られてもらう - (Someone) send B to hospital (as a favor to A)

Are there any sentence/sentences that I misinterpreted?

Writing (and thinking) about these sentences took a heck of a lot of thinking time from me. I was wondering if those at JLPT N1 ¬ N2/native Japanese can immediately understand these sentences

Also, assuming a friend were to verbally say these sentences to me, is there a way to sort of gauge beforehand what the sentence means partway through. For example, taking sentence 5 (AさんはBさんに病院に送らせてもらう). If a friend was to narrate this sentence to me, partway through the sentence, say AさんはBさんに......, at this point, in my mind, I would have think that Bさん is the target of an action/verb, but this of course changes depending on the form of the verb (passive, caussative, etc). If someone were to say any of these sentences to me, I highly doubt I will be able to understand what it means unless they repeat the sentence a couple of times.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated


texts: Scope of の in a sentence with two of them

texts:
Sentences with more than one の always cause me some difficulty. For instance,

  盾の勇者の成り上がり

has two の particles. If I analyse it from an English perspective, I'd respect the order, and so the first の connects 盾 and 勇者 whilst the second connects 盾の勇者 and 成り上がり. However, Japanese uses the particle system and, as far as I know, the order is non-important. In that sense, the previous conclusion doesn't apply.

Another way I could think of interpreting the sentence is to judge both connections and see which one makes more sense. In this case, possible connections are:

  A
  1st の: 盾 and 勇者
   2nd の: 盾の勇者 and 成り上がり

  B
  2nd の:勇者 and 成り上がり
  1st の:盾 and 勇者の成り上がり

I think case B doesn't make much sense here, and so I would group things as A.

This is essentially a practical example, but the sentence follows a more general structure,

  XのYのZ.

What I'd like to know is the following:

I'm almost certain but I'd like to check that order is in fact irrelevant.
Is splitting the sentence into cases A and B, and then determining the most logical one, the correct way to analyse these kind of sentences?
If 2. applies, can there be a case in which both cases are equally possible? If so, how would one distinguish between the two?


texts: How would I say 'near' as in, "Does anyone live near (city name)?"

texts: Hi everyone this is my first post so I'm sorry if I wrote the post incorrectly but my question is this. How would I say near in this sentence: "Does anyone live near (city name)?" Would it be 近く？


texts: How to break 信じようとしていただけかも知れない into separate parts?

texts:
I tried, but I came up with either:

信じる(~よう(vol.)) + とする(~ていた(prog. past)) + だけ + かもしれない。
信じよう + として + いただける(stem) + かもしれない。

I highly doubt that second one is true, because かもしれない "takes" dictionary or past forms, but I am nit sure what だけ would mean in this sentence.


texts: What's the difference between 招待,　招く and 誘う?

texts:
I've stumbled upon these 3 words. I think meaning of 招待 is:

invite (as in a formal invitation)

The other two seem rather confusing to me, though.


texts: Can you substitute やっぱり with さすが in 「疲れているが、やっぱり行くつもりだ」?

texts: In such a sentence as 「疲れているが、やっぱり行くつもりだ」, can you substitute やはり with さすが, with the meaning of "as one would expect", "also", "as I thought", "still"? How would the meaning change in this sentence? I can't grasp the real meaning of both adverbs in their daily usage.


texts: I can't find any kanji or meaning for sugari or sugaru that matches that makes sense for the meaning of 通りすがり.


texts:
In English, I just read it "one hundred degrees Celsius".
In Japanese, I don't know how to read it.


texts:
For full context, see here.
The section in question:

今日は、日本で長くお暮しの４人の外国の奥様においでいただきました。一番長い方は15年、短い方でも6年はいらっしゃるそうです。その間のご苦労や嬉しかったことなどを伺いたいと思います。

So first, I have some issues with 長くお暮しの４人の外国の奥様. I think 奥様 is modified by the parts before, which I would separate into 長く and お暮しの４人の外国の. I would interpret 長く as the connective form of 長い with the meaning "long (time)". Then, I have issues mustering a meaningful interpretation of the phrase お暮しの４人の外国の. Therefore, I also can't say how 長く and  長くお暮しの４人の外国の奥様 stand in a meaningful relationship.
Here's my attempt at translation of the full sentence

今日は、日本で長くお暮しの４人の外国の奥様においでいただきました。
=> "Today, we received the favor of married women being here."

This is the short version to show how I basically understand this sentence.
As pointed out, I can't make much sense of the attributes for "married women".

"Today, we receive the favor of four foreign country people's married women being here."

This is as far as I can make it. When I try to add 日本で長くお暮しの it all becomes gibberish.

"Today, we receive the favor of long in Japan and life circumstances four foreign country people's married women being here."

I must also add here that おいで in おいでいただきました still confuses me a bit.
I'm pretty sure that it is a honorific/respectful form, especially since there is this entry on jisho.
But since it is categorised as a noun or expression there, I feel very unsure about the way I interpreted it. I interpreted おいでいただきました like "verb て form + いただく", but for おいで to be classified as a verb it would require なる as in おいでになる. Maybe the way I translated it here is still legit since いただく "to receive" can probably also be used in combination with a noun and thereby unfold a very similar meaning "receive NOUN" = "receive ACTION". But as I said, I feel very unsure about this interpretation of mine...
First I wanted to ask about a few more things but this question already got quite long. I'll make another/separate thread about these. Still, I'll keep the full paragraph at the beginning of this question because I think it gives some helpful context. If you think I should erase it, just tell me in the comments ;)


texts: How do people in Japan count with their fingers?

texts:
In the US, there isn't really a standard way of counting from 1 to 5 on your fingers - numbering the fingers starting with 1 = thumb through 5 = little finger, some people will raise their fingers in the order 1-2-3-4-5; others will go 5-4-3-2-1; still others will go 2-3-4-5-1.

Now, my question: how do people count on their fingers in Japan? I vaguely remember learning that this is more standardized in Japan, but I've forgotten the details.

(I know this isn't a question strictly about the Japanese language, but I would imagine that this is the sort of non-verbal communication that native speakers learn in tandem with the language, so it's kind of tied to it.)


texts: こんにちは and こんばんは only once a day per person?

texts:
I recently saw a video on greetings in Japan and the guy said something that I've never heard before: "you cannot use こんにちは more then once per day to the same person". He proceeded to explain that if you meet the same person again later in the same time-frame you have to say something else - you cannot use again こんにちは.

I tried to confirm this from other sources on the net, but simply can't find anything else.

I apologize for the noob question - sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between joke and serious.

So, is he just joking (did not look like that and the rest of what he said seems to check out), or is this true?