texts: Sounding slightly effeminate in Japanese

texts:
Sorry if this has already been asked somewhere or if this is an unconstructive question...

I feel that my English speech is sometimes a bit effeminate (in informal conversation, that is). I would like to replicate this in Japanese... I have often read (here on StackExchange, for instance) that this is not so permissible in Japanese, but is this really the case? Are there any expressions/grammatical affectations/etc. that are considered feminine but can be used by men?

I understand also that the question is subjective... I tried my best to keep from flame-baiting...

よろしくお願いします!


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Why is ローマ字 spelt without an ン?

As far as I can tell, it's not because you can't have an ん sound before a じ sound, because 漢字 has an ん sound before 字.

Did early Europeans' term for Roman letters not use the letter "n"?

Also, does the ローマ in ローマ字 refer to the Roman empire whose language influenced the script used in many European languages, or did it refer to the main headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, the religion of the Portuguese?

Background: I want to know the etymology for the word ローマ字 so that the next time someone misspells the English word romaji (derived from the Japanese word ローマ字) as "romanji", I can not only say that the English word should be spelt "romaji", but I can explain why it's spelt that way. And the more detailed and authoritative the explanation of "ローマ字"'s etymology is, the more likely it is to be remembered.


texts: how do you say "to get someone to do something" in japanese?

texts: In spanish, we can combine "to do" (hacer) with other verbs to create new actions. for example, "to get someone to sleep" it's "hacer dormir" (hacer = do , dormir = sleep) . In the same way we can combine "to do" with objects to create new actions like "hacer viajes" just like japanese use "ryokou suru" for the same meaning. One very naive assumption could be may be you can also combine "suru" with other verbs, to get the meaning of "to get someone to do something", just like we do in spanish (since in spanish and japanese we combine them with a noun in the same way for the same meaning). But most likely not, since this seems to be a very intrinsically feature to latin languages. Anyway, asking it wont hurt I supppose, can you combine "suru" with other verbs, to get the meaning of "getting someone to do something" ? I've heard what for me looked like strange combinations of languages features in japanese recently like, "okay shimashita" (or I completely missunderstood the sentence)


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During my studies I stumbled on this sentence : 彼女はそれがいくらなのかわかります
I am having some trouble understanding why you would need to use "なの” in this context.
I think I understand the basics using of のです / なのです to give the sentence an explanatory meaning, but why here ?
If we want to say :      "She knows how much this costs"
Can we not just say :    "彼女はそれがいくらかわかります” ? Why would we have to add なの　after いくら ?


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I cannot find a clear difference between these two kanji:

  勅 : Imperial decree (みことのり、ショウ)

  詔 : Imperial edict (みことのり、チョク)

The English definitions for "decree" and "edict" are so similar, I think the only main difference I could pinpoint was that "decree" had the aspect of formality (although it seems to me that an edict is also formal)

  edict:
  noun
  1)
  a decree issued by a sovereign or other authority.
  2)
  any authoritative proclamation or command.

  decree: noun
  1)
  a formal and authoritative order, especially one having the force of law.

(You will notice "decree" is used to define "edict"...)

The Japanese definitions of these kanji are also similar, but I'm not adept enough to read into the subtleties:

  勅:  １ 天子の命令。天皇の言葉。また、それを記した文書。みことのり。 ２ 尊貴の者からの命令。

  詔: 天子の命令を直接伝える文書。みことのり。詔書。

The second definition for 勅 says it could be used to mean orders from people beneath the level of the Emperor.

So my question are these kanji just interchangeable synonyms that mean 天子の命令, or is there a definite difference (other than the secondary definition)? Normally I would write them off as synonyms, but I feel that there are often specific words for things when dealing with traditional Japanese customs, etc.


texts: その人 is a common thing to say but その彼女 feels off. If it's always incorrect, what about そんな彼女?


texts: The てごらん structure seems to be a little different in this context

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This is the sentence: 俺だってね　こんなとこ  三枝(さいぐさ)社長に　見つかってごらん。
This is the context:
https://streamable.com/qllstq
The name of the drama is 僕とスターの９９日 and that was said at 7:00 minutes of episode 1.
I had learned that てごらん is equivalent to てみなさい or てみてください. But none of the ideas seems to make sense with the context.
Could you explain to me what he meant by 見つかってごらん？


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Context - two friends are travelling down a street packed with high end shops and buildings. One of the two friends talks about an acquaintance of theirs who's rich and brings up the fact that he's the president of several businesses in the area that they're travelling through.

He then says this line:

  まったく、金ってのは金のある奴の所に集まるってのは本当だな

But I'm unsure how you would parse this. When I try it ends up sounding quite unnatural in English (e.g. "indeed, it's true money gathers where the wealthy guys are" - but this sounds odd to me isn't it obvious money would accumulate where rich people are? ), so perhaps 金って~の所に集まる is a Japanese expression because it seems like the speaker is quoting a saying?


texts: What does まわりであーだこーだ mean in this sentence?

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I don't really understand the "まわりであーだこーだ" part in the following sentence I read in a manga:

  こそこそ人のこと調べたり、まわりであーだこーだ、女は面倒くさい

Does まわりで means 人のまわりで?

My guess for "あーだこーだ" is that it means "making a fuss", here. Am I getting it right?

Thank you very much in advance!


texts: Trying to figure out how to say: 'He just wants to be held'

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Alright so I'm trying to translate this sentence and I've found so much conflicting stuff I'm unsure of what's right. Also trying to figure out how to put two verbs in the same sentence, so here's what I have:

彼は だけ あやしますーそれともーあやしがっています。The type of 'held' I'm looking for is for a baby being held. 'Rocked' would also work which is where I got yashimasu. I've also seen hoshigatta deshou, and kakaemashou, however I'm just not experienced enough to figure out which one to use and how to equate the verb 'want' and 'to be held' confidently. What I'm looking for is am I even on the right track with this translation, or have I completely missed it? If I have completely missed it how do I fix it?


texts: What does 蔵を立つくらい勉強なさい mean

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Boy asks her mother if she could build a warehouse, mother answers:

バカなことを言う暇があったら蔵が立つくらい勉強なさい。

Which means something like "if you have time to say stupid things like this then study (as much as you build a warehouse)?"

I guess the difficult point for me here is くらい, which I guess should mean "as much as" but it doesn't seem to make sense.


texts: Meaning of: イベントの前ふりをば。

texts:
A colleague is organizing an event and sent everyone an email beginning like this:

  田中イベント担当の田中です。
  イベントの前ふりをば。

  ...　(explanation about the event)

The first line is a funny intro (the guy is known for joking all the time)

QUESTION: What does the イベントの前ふりをば part mean?

Is it another joke? Does it convey any information?


texts: How to negate connected verbs which in て-form?

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As I know if I connect verbs with て-form then the last verb determine the tense, politeness. But how can I negate the sentence? Should I just negate the last verb or should I negate the verb which in the て-form? And if I shoud negate て-form which negation use: なくて or ないで?
For example, how to negate this sentence?
こうえん に いって、とり を みる。- I will go to the park and I will see the birds.

Maybe:
1, こうえん に いって、とり を  みない。

or
2, こうえん に いかなくて、 とり を みない。

or
3, こうえん に いかないで、 とり を みない。

?
So I want to achive this: I won't go to the park and I won't see the birds.


texts: Japanese kanjis and Chinese characters: a request for comparative stroke order

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Because the first stroke order for Chinese characters was codified in Han period, the sequence of strokes was a subject to change during the time. If my memory serves me right, even simplified and traditional characters do have some difference in stroke orders when written in Chinese.

Do all the modern Japanese kanjis have the same stroke order as their Chinese peers, or are there some differences?

If yes, then are these differences regular or separate for each kanji/Chinese character pair? My intuition is that there might be some difference, but I am not sure. Any reference to a resource might be of a great help, sorry.


texts: Term for native Japanese speakers misspelling "R" and "L"

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Are there any words or phrases in Japanese more specific than イングリッシュ, but still used in normal Japanese conversation, to describe native speakers of Japanese either mis-typing or mis-pronouncing an "R" for "L" or vice versa when they are typing or speaking English?

A term that covers all consonant-related issues is fine.


texts: What is the difference between 捕まえられた and 捕まった?

texts:
Consider the following sentences:

A: 私が警察に捕まえられた。
B: 私が警察に捕まった。

Both mean I was caught by the police.
Question
What is the difference between 捕まえられた and 捕まった ?


texts: What is the semantic contribution of 献 to 文献?

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Whenever I see 献, I am reminded of 貢献、献金、献立, which implies a meaning of "offering." I checked 文献 and it was defined as "literature, documents." It seems to me that among the 熟語 with 献, this is the odd one out.

Can anyone shed light on the semantic contribution of 献 to 文献? Thank you.


texts: "どうしようもない" or "どうしよう__の__もない", or neither?

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This is my understanding:

"どうしようもない" is a complete sentence. (There is nothing that can be done.)
"noun + もない" is the sentence structure.

therefore: "どうしよう" = "noun"

"どうする" is a sentence ending with a verb (ie. not a noun).
Is "どうしよう" a noun? Is it the same part of speech as "どうする"? <--- question #1

If "どうする" = [part of speech] = "どうしょう", then "どうしようもない" is not grammatically correct. A verb cannot be the subject.

So, there are 3 ways to change a verb to noun:
(#1) "する事"
(#2) "する物"
(#3) "するのparticle"

"noun+もない" needs a noun as the subject.
"どうする" surely is the subject in "どうしようもない", but "どうする" is a verb.
so, using method #3, we use a particle to change "どうする" into a noun. The particle is "も".

Therefore, is the phrase "どうしようのもない。" grammatically correct?


texts: Help understanding 「そのタイトルのリストに次に載るのは俺だ」

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I've been reading this Japanese wrestling results site http://jabroni.typepad.jp/wwe/2016/10/20161024-raw.html and I'm having trouble understanding this sentence:

  そのタイトルのリストに次に載るのは俺だ。

from this paragraph:

  Chris、では今からこのリストを返そう。でもその前に、新しいリストを作ろう。WWE UniversalチャンピオンのKevin Owens、お前はHIACでタイトルマッチをすれば、タイトルを失うことになる。俺は必ずそのベルトを盗んでやる。そのタイトルのリストに次に載るのは俺だ。

Is it saying that his going to put the title (belt) on the list next? Is it normal the sentence ordering with 僕だ at the end of the sentence? I don't understand the structure of this sentence.


texts: Is there something wrong with this sentence? 暑いから水を飲みました。

texts:
I was watching this video explaining から. In it (at :08 and again at 2:29), the instructor shows a scene where he is drinking water, and says ”暑いから水を飲みました。”, then a buzzer noise and a big red X shows up. He then goes on to a scene where he is taking off his shirt and says, ”暑いから脱｛ぬ｝ぎました”. This sentence gets a ding and a green circle. He doesn't explain this, so I can't tell if he is making some kind of joke (perhaps about his preference for getting nude vs drinking water in response to hot weather), or if he is saying the first sentence is wrong for some reason. Is it? Why?

Note that I would have asked in a comment on the video, but someone already did that 6 months ago and hasn't gotten a response from the author of the video.


texts: Expressing a sequence of actions using 〜たとき?

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I am aware that one can explain that to things happen at the same time using plain non past form + とき:

  電車に乗るとき転びました。"I fell when I got on the train (I was going through the door when it happened)"

I am not quite sure about the following nuance, though : plain past form + とき　means the first action was over when the second happened :

  電車に乗ったとき転びました。 "I fell when I got on the train (I was already inside the train when it happened)"

Would it roughly mean the same thing as :

  電車に乗った後転びました。"After I got on the train, I fell"

Eventually, would it be correct to express that I read a book before I went to sleep using :

  本を読んだとき寝ました。


texts: What does 笑みがこぼれてくる mean and how is it different to 笑みがこぼれる

texts:
愛鳥の寝顔、見てるだけで思わず笑みがこぼれてくる

  愛鳥の寝顔、見てるだけで思わず笑みがこぼれる

My question is how is the 1st sentence different from the 2nd, and what nuance does the くる add.


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Can you please help me with this phrase please,

  "時間{じかん}は十分{じゅうぶん}にあるので,　急{いそ}ぐことはありません。"

What is the meaning (or the grammatical role) of に in 十分に??

Thanks in advance.


texts:
There are quite a few comments on another
question discussing the sentence 彼が持っているのは二百円です, in which the emphasis apparently falls on 二百円.  I posted a comment asking if this could be explained as the pattern AはB emphasizing B rather than A, but I received the answer "No. Why?"  I decided to delete my comment and create a separate question to discuss what I meant.

Here was my reasoning:

In Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar, there's a section comparing は and が, which says the following (p.588):

  When attached to the subject, ga emphasizes what precedes it, whereas wa focuses on what follows, i.e. pred. (in English, this difference can sometimes be captured by intonational stress).

In fact, it refers to は as a "focus particle" (p.577):

  wa is a focus particle, but unlike mo (see 94), which focuses the N, etc. it is attached to, the basic function of wa is to focus on what follows, i.e. the pred.

Later, it describes a specific use of は, "marking known information" (p.580):

  One function of wa, which is in keeping with its pred.-focusing effect, is to be attached to information that is already known or understood.  In this use, wa has an effect similar to the English definite article (and other cases where a N refers to something known or previously mentioned).

So, in the sentence 彼が持っているのは二百円です, I interpreted は as marking a subject, and in particular, marking known information (彼が持っているの).  This causes the focus to fall on the right half, as described above.  I tried to express this generally as "the pattern AはB emphasizing B, not A".

Does this make sense?  If not, can someone explain why it is wrong?


texts: Do we really have to change particles (usually が into は) in negative and interrogative sentences?

texts:
Which alternatives sounds more natural?

1.1 -　その本は読めない。
1.2 -　その本が読めない。

2.1 -　ゴルフは上手じゃない。
2.2 -　ゴルフが上手じゃない

3.1 -　この映画は見たくない。
3.2 -　この映画が見たくない。
3.3 -　この映画を見たくない。

4.1 -　日本語は分からない。
4.2 -　日本語が分からない。

5.1　- 魚は好きじゃない。
5.2　- 魚が好きじゃない。

6.1　- ビールはありますか？
6.2　- ビールがありますか？


texts:
まじでおまえに愛される気しかねぇんだけど(男です)

This is a sentence I saw below a YouTube Japanese music video.

As I understand it, it says "To be honest, I only want to be loved by you (But I'm a boy)"

But that sounds so weird. Is my translation correct? And while we are at it, what grammatical function does the 気 have?


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I think the word ところ in my questions have nothing to do with 所{ところ}. Please correct me if I am wrong. Let us consider the following sentences.

Case 1

これから食{た}べるところなんですが。。。
今食{た}べているところなんですが。。。
今食{た}べたところなんですが。。。

Case 2

これから出{で}かけるところなんですが。。。
今出{で}かけているところなんですが。。。
今出{で}かけたところなんですが。。。

Questions

Is ところ a noun?
Can 時 replace ところ in the above sentences?
What is the difference between 食べているところなんです and simply 食べているんです when answering 何をしているんですか？
食べているところ in the first case means the action occurs between 食べるところ and 食べたところ. How about 出{で}かけているところ? Does it also occur between 出{で}かけるところ and 出{で}かけたところ?  Does 出{で}かけているところ mean that the person is still in his/her house but preparing to go out?
Are there special examples in which ～ところ grammar is very crucial?


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I'm struggling to understand the meaning of the phrase 「どちらがどうとかいう」 in the following passage.

彼女のことが好き、という昔の気持ちは、多分、ちゃんと残っている。一緒にいる仲間という気持ちは、強く残っている。
でも一瞬だけ。
「・・・・・・」
一瞬だけ、頭の中にもう一人の顔もよぎる。
それに自分でも驚く。別にどちらがどうとかいうんじゃないのだけど。でも、まだそんなことをまるで考えたことがなかったから。自分を好きな女の子がいて、それを自分も好きになって、それでどうするとか、どうなるかとか、そんなことを真剣に考えたりするほど大人じゃなかった自分に、驚く。

If I'm to translate 「どちらがどう」 word by word, it would be - "which is how". So in a way this whole sentence seems to me something like - "Not that it matters.".
I've also tried to look for more examples - 1st, 2nd. Which, to me looks sort of similar to my example. But in the 3rd example, it seems that the questioner asks more detailed information(or rather points of attention) about buying or borrowing 成人式の振袖.
Could someone please give me more detailed information about this phrase?


texts:
Take for example the sentence below

  ケンカができたとしても俺には手が出せない。

Does this mean something like "Even if we did get into a fight, they wouldn't be able to touch me/lay a hand on me(i.e. they would be no match for me)"?

A few more lines for context:

  美桜とは付き合いが長いのに、一度もケンカや口論をしたことがない。

  むしろこの性格でどうやったらケンカができるのか、誰かに訊いてみたいぐらいだ。

  もっとも、ケンカができたとしても俺には手が出せない。

  曲がりなりにも女性だからというのもあるが、それができない訳ありな事情もあったりする。
  (Explained later on that she has androphobia and she cries if she comes into physical contact with a male)


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I have a lot of trouble sorting out the different use of あくまでも.

According to goo, the definition is:

  １ 物事を最後までやりとおすさま。徹底的に。
  ２ どこまでも。全く。

So something like:

  Doing something until the very end. Persistent, thorough.
  Everywhere. Completely.

But I have seen many examples where those definitions don't seem to fit that well. Often it's almost as if あくまでも just adds some kind of emphasize but doesn't carry any meaning of its own?

Here are some examples I gathered.

  だいたい、自殺と事故など第三者からでは判断しづらい。あくまでも警察、そして親族や関係者だけが真実を知っている事実。

Maybe strictly only know by police and relative ?

  な、なぜ……そんな事……  いや……あくまでも勘だけどさ……でもそんな感じがした……

It's just an intuition ?

  そういうのがあるの？
  さぁ、あくまでも噂でしか知りませんけどそういうのがあると聞きますよ。

Another あくまでも something だけ/しかない. Really あくまでも just adds emphasis, maybe ?

  行くかどうかを決めるのはあくまでもお前達だ。

It's entirely/completely up to you ?

  もちろん外国人も、相手の話に合わせて、うなずいたり、"Uh-huh"と言ったりすることもありますが、あくまでもこれは「同意」を表明するというニュアンスがあり、日本人の相槌とは、少し違います。

No idea.

  ……ここは境界……　ではなく、あくまでも境界線

No idea.

  17世紀に実在したそんな人物の物語だよ。
  実話？
  いいや、戯曲だよ。あくまでもね。

No, it's a play. Completely ? From beginning to end ?


texts:
Another question on my favourite hole. An opportunist has offered to buy the hole and rebuild the shrine for the villagers:

  村長が答えるさきに、村の者たちが、
  「本当かい。それならもっと村の近くがいい。」
  「穴のひとつぐらい、あげますよ。」
  と口々に叫んだので、きまってしまった。
  Before the village head man could reply the villagers shouted out "Really? If that's the case, it would be better closer to the village." and "We will give you approximately one of the holes.", and so it was decided.

I can't understand the sentence in bold. My translation seems like nonsense. There is only one hole, and even if there were more it still seems like a weird thing to say.

I thought ぐらい might also be translated as "as many as" giving "We will give you as many as one of the holes", but that is equally ridiculous.

Another thought I had was that it might be "We will give you at least the hole", with the implication that there may be some other kind of payment in addition to the hole. But then my belief that Aのひとつ means "one of the A" breaks down.  Surely "one A" would be ひとつのA.

How should I understand のひとつぐらい here?


texts: In "[Vます stem] + し+ [noun]" what does し mean?

texts:
I've seen this in multiple combinations, but the one I was specifically looking at was:

  「背負いし者」

...from 「宿命を背負いし者」.

Similarly,

  「かつて来たりし者」

Scouring through all my grammar books, I can't find this form of し explained. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar (Seiichi Makino & Michio Tsutsui) lists し as a particle, roughly translated as 'and', or as an infix attached to an い-adj. In this context, the bit being modified by し is a verb, so would the infix work the same way? I doubt し is a shorthand for する, given that it's directly modifying the noun after it. Granted, I'm a beginner in Japanese.


texts: What's the story behind 小間物屋を開く = to vomit?

texts: jisho.org defines [小]{こ}[間]{ま}[物]{もの}[屋]{や}を[開]{ひら}く as "to vomit", "to spew". What's the story behind this funny term? How would you express it in English?


texts: Meaning of [あまりこない] and [全くこない] in the following context

texts:
I have a question about the meaning of these two "words"  [あまりこない] and [全くこない].

The complete sentence was

  この美術館[あまりこない]ではなくて[全くこない].

The brackets were also in the original text.

This is from an internal monologue of a women during her job. She also complained that she had not much to do.

For the first part あまりこない, it consists of two sub parts あまり and こない.
As I understand, あまり means "not much / not very" since こない is a negative verb.

For the second part 全くこない, it consists of two sub parts 全くand こない.
全く means some thing like "not at all" since  こない is also negative.

While I have a basic understanding of these words, I struggle to comprehend their meaning in the sentence. Why was the negative form of くる used twice, and I also do not understand why they were placed in brackets.


texts:
I have the following sentence, ケータイが大きな音で鳴っています. This sentence is translated to meaning, "The cell phone is ringing loudly."

I'm a bit confused as to why で used here? I thought で was the "event" particle or the "with/by means of" particle. I can't figure out a proper use case for で here (unless it would be like, "It ringed with a loud noise") and why it couldn't be omitted from the sentence.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks


texts: Natural expression for "Parking space" in Japanese

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I'm looking for one or more natural ways to say "parking space" in Japanese.
Here are a few candidates I've found via search and other means, but I'd like to know what people in Japan actually use on a daily basis.

スペース
駐車スペース
余裕 (?)

Without knowing this word I could probably just say "この駐車場にはとまるところがないね", but I'd like to know a more specific expression for this.


texts: What is the difference between all the weather words: 気象{きしょう}, 天気{てんき} and 天候{てんこう}?

texts:
Dictionary (at least Jisho and WWWJDIC) defines them as:

気象{きしょう} = weather, climate
天気{てんき} = weather, the elements
天候{てんこう} = weather

They all have quite similar definitions, so I don't quite understand the difference. I would appreciate if someone could shed some light into this (in English preferably), i.e. when to use each of these words.

Then there is the word 気候{きこう}, which I think means climate, and cannot be used to describe the weather on a specific day. Is that correct?

Thank you in advance!


texts:
I came across this as part of a larger sentence:

  あのせんせいってそういう人らしいね。

I am getting the gist of "that teacher seems like a decent person", but what is this って form noun construction? Is it just a contraction for an implied verb?


texts:
The context is the following sentence.

父が病気なものですから、いろいろとお金が必要なんです。

I have two questions.

What does と in the above sentence mean?
How should 「いろいろとお金が必要なんです」 be translated? Money is necessary in various ways? Money is necessary for various purposes?


texts: How to rephrase sentences with an ambiguous は to indicate the contrastive or thematic / 「主題」と「対比」の解釈の余地のある、あいまいな「は」の言い換え方

texts:
First, some background. My question is kind of an extension of this previously-answered question about the difference between は and が. While I am fairly clear on the different usages of は as a contrastive marker or a thematic marker, the explanation given on the page linked above included an example of this sentence used by Susumu Kuno

  「わたくしが知っている人はパーティーに来ませんでした」

in which the わたくしが知っている人（は） could be translated to something either along the lines of 'As for the people I know (they didn't come to the party)' or 'People I know didn't come to the party (but people I don't know did)'. Which translation is correct would depend on whether the は is used as a thematic marker (to refer back to people who were previously-mentioned), or whether it is used as a contrastive sentence (that doesn't directly refer to people who may have previously been mentioned).

Here's the main question: assuming that a sentence was used in the context of a conversation where は could be taken either way, such as a conversation containing the sentence above, how would a native Japanese speaker rephrase such a sentence so that the meaning of the phrase modified by は (e.g. 私が知っている人) is more obvious? This is a two-pronged question, since は would have to be rephrased differently depending on which of the two meanings was intended in this hypothetical situation.

My guess would be to use something like としては instead of は to rephrase a sentence if the phrase was meant to be contrastive, and maybe といえば instead of は if the phrase was thematic and referring to something previously mentioned. Whether those would be in any way correct or not, I am not sure what kind of rephrasing would be most 'natural' or 'elegant', so to speak.


texts:
I'm having troubles with distinguishing between passive voice and potential voice in the following sentences, help me please.

鍔姫：「だから、弟が幼稚園の頃、母に頼まれて、よく風呂にいれていてだな。その、だから見慣れているというか」
幼稚園の頃……？
それと比べられて平気って、おい。
鍔姫：「いや、別に沢山見ているわけではないが！ 何もかも平気というわけでもないが……」
鍔姫：「あ、いや、今は平気だった。別に気分など悪くしてないからな！ 断じてしていない！」

”ファントム”の称号を与えるのは問題かとも思ったが……」
マグワイヤ
「もう異論はない。
彼女こそ”ファントム”」
マグワイヤ
「我がインフェルノのトップ＝スナイパーだ」
サイス
「いえ、どれもこれも、
ミズ＝マッキェネンの後ろ盾があればこそ、
成し遂げられた成果です」
マグワイヤ
「良い部下を待ったな、クロウディア」
クロウディア
「……」

Some sort of translation: pic1 -

  When he was in kindergarten ? I was compared with him(this?), and she
  is saying "everything is fine", hey. - passive.

  When he was in kindergarten ? She could compare me with him(this?),
  and she is saying "everything is fine", hey. - potential.

pic2 -

  The results has been achieved only because of Miss McCunnen's help. -
  passive.

  We(?) were able to do it only because of Miss McCunnen's help. -
  potential.

As always thank you very much for help!


texts: Large qualifiers before nouns or unusual sentence orders?

texts:
Often I find that there are nouns which are tacked on to the end of a phrase. For example, this from an article:

来年公開の映画『獣道』でも主演に抜擢されている伊藤。

Is this giving a description of Itou? Translated as "on the subject of Itou, who is also selected to star in the movie animal trail coming out next year"

Also consider this except from a book:

現に、採集マニアのなかには採集自体よりも、殺虫瓶のなかの青酸カリに魅せられて、どうしても足を洗うことが出来なくなった者さえいるそうだ。

I'm pretty sure that everything after the second comma is being used to describe 者, so the translation would be

"in fact, among collectors, there are even seems to be people who are more interested in the potassium cyanide in their insect bottles than the collecting itself, and no matter how they try they've become unable to wash their feet of it".

Am I wrong? Thanks


texts: List number of family members with counters

texts:
I learnt that to say:

  I have two younger brothers and one younger sister?

in Japanese, I can use:

  弟と妹が二人います。 (Otōto to imōto ga futari imasu).

The grammar structure is the following:

  Noun + が + counter (for people) + います

But now I'm having trouble with this sentence:

  I have two younger brothers and two younger sisters? (Note: both nouns are plural).

Will the following sentence be correct:

  弟が二人と妹が二人います。 (Otōto ga futari to imōto ga futari imasu).


texts: How to write and sing Shigin (Japanese way of chanting poem) properly?

texts:
1, Should Shigin be written in Yamato (old Japanese language)? Or an even older version of Japanese? Can I write it in modern Japanese?
2, Are there rules for Shigin? Such as setting rhythms, melodies, rhymes, etc? Is 5-7-5 form required?
3, Anything else to be noted to write Shigin which even Japanese people can feel it themselves?
Thank you.


texts:
What is the difference between 勤め and 役目?

Both seems to mean duty (something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation), but what is the difference in their nuance and usage?


texts:
I've come across two lines in some dialogue that used 付き合わされる身になって as follows:

悪ふざけに付き合わされる身になってよ
付き合わされる身になって欲しいわ

So far, I've only been able to find that 身になって is used to ask someone to put themselves in the speaker's shoes. I'm unsure on the 付き合わされる part, but would it be wrong to guess that the two lines above meaning the following?

Put yourself in my shoes, having been forced to play along with this prank.
I'd like you to put yourself in my shoes to see how I've been forced to play along.


texts: Can 「に」, 「は」 and 「を」 be used as 終助詞 (particles at the end of the sentence)?

texts:
I would like to understand more about the practical use of the shūjoshi.
な、かしら、かな、の、ぜ、わ、こと were some I found. But I already saw に、は、を being used in the same way. Are they also shūjoshi?


texts: 避けられたらなって思う　unsure about the なって

texts:
I’ve been playing Final Fantasy 8 on the switch in Japanese and I’ve  come across a sentence that has stumped me.

After Squall tells Rinoa that he may have to kill Seifer in a possible prospective battle, Rinoa replies

でも、もちろん...
避けられたらなって思うよ

I’ve been able to read most everything in the game quite comfortably but this sentence has me confused.

“If it can be avoided...”

is what 避けられたら　translates too, which makes sense given the context.

I’m only unsure about the なって part. Is this なる as in the verb “become” conjugated?

Thanks!


texts: How to understand 才能に有無があるなら多分そういう事だろう

texts:
I think that there is a typo in the line and it should be 才能の有無があるなら多分そういう事だろう, however, in either case I am not quite sure what is being said. Here's the exchange for context:

  わ、私だって努力してるのよ！でも…アンタ達みたいに才能ないから

  努力は創意工夫だ。ただやればいいってもんじゃない。才能に有無があるなら多分そういう事だろう。


texts:
I am having trouble fully understanding a sentence from an anime I am watching at the moment.

この先フェルトって子の家で合ってる？

Specifically 合ってる used in this context is confusing for me.


texts: Counters and their placements with nouns

texts:
I have been practicing writing recently where I use counters, but I keep getting corrected by native speakers on there usage.
For example I write

3個のりんごを食べたいです。
I want to eat 3 apples.

But I keep getting corrected to

りんご3個を食べたいです。

I don't really understand why I'm getting corrected though. When asking for an explanation I have only been told the usage is wrong, but it doesn't go deeper than that.
This conflicts with various articles that I have read like this one that say they are the same/have the same meaning. So now I'm just extremely confused overall.
What is the difference between 3個のりんごを食べたいです。 and りんご3個を食べたいです。? Why do I keep getting corrected?
Also where does this put the version where the counter is used as an adverb? For example:

りんごを3個食べたいです。

What does it mean or imply? Is there special use-cases for this version too?

Response to broccolifacemask-cloth:
Honestly, I don't think that answers it unfortunately
From my perspective, what I thought or already understood, the article I linked, and the question you linked (including the wiki link in the answer) all seem to have the same understanding. Which is that counter usage comes in 2 different "categories"
Noun based, which has 2 "styles"
A. [Number][Counter]の[Noun] => 3個のりんご
B. [Noun][Number][Counter] => りんご3個

Adverb based:
C. [Number][Counter][Verb] => 3個食べたいです

When it comes to the noun based category it seems that they simply show that there is a count associated with a noun and nothing more. No implied meaning or anything. Just simply there is a X amount of Y noun. However, based on the number of times I keep getting corrected and attempts to get an explanation there seems to be some implied meaning / difference between the 2 styles and that is what I'm trying to understand.
Which then makes me question if I understand the adverb based version. In my current understanding (also what seems to be stated in the links) the adverb based version puts emphasis on the number of times an action occurs where the noun based version puts emphasis on the count or number of the noun.
So I guess a better way to state my question is:
Is there actually an implied meaning / difference between the 2 noun based styles or am I just being corrected because some native speakers prefer one style over the other? Also is my understanding of the adverb based version correct?


texts: When we were in Japan in July I kept hearing shopkeepers say something like "hai dodo" when I went in or even passed by the shop.  I never asked anyone there, but am curious as to the meaning.  Arigato gozaimasu!


texts:
Sorry for using romaji. I'm referring to the sounds made when a word contains a kana sequence like 「ない」 or 「たい」or 「さい」 「かい」

I've read that the two together sound like the word "pie" sounds in English. I've also read that both sounds are fully pronounced. This seems like a contradiction to me? Does it vary from word to word? Does it vary from person to person?

In this YouTube video of 「ちいさい」being said by two people the word sounds to me like it rhymes with English "pie."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4-BvtEisTU8

In this song video, 「せかい」 sounds like it has two distinct sounds at the end. (I've linked to a spot right before the word is sung.)

https://youtu.be/368lRPMdajw?t=1m30s


texts: Meaning of Calligraphy Phrase "sumi tsugi"

texts: I came across the phrase "sumi tsugi" somewhere (cannot remember where and therefore cannot cite the source). The phrase was in English so I do not know which kanji for "tsugi" would be appropriate, 次 or 継ぎ. Thus my question: Does this phrase refer to dipping the brush into ink a second time while writing one kanji, or does it refer to going back into a completed kanji to correct/finesse a stroke (which I do know is strictly forbidden)?


texts:
https://www.notefarm.info/posts/6697283/

What does "合う" mean when used with "味" here?

Is this just the same as "味わう"?


texts:
Since "二者択一の問題" is a multiple choice problem with 2 options, would it be understandable to say:
"三者択一の問題" --> multiple choice with 3 options
"四者択一の問題" --> multiple choice with 4 options
.....

would it also be a natural thing to say?


texts: How to say "I want to talk to you about many things"

texts: I'm not sure how to say "I want to talk to you about many things", is 「/Name/に話したいものがたくさんある」okay?


texts: What is the reading of the town 北谷? ちゃたん or ほくたに? It is a town in Okinawa. Most Japanese read it as Hokutani or Kitatani. Okinawans say Chatan. Is it a dialect? Could all terms be correct?


texts: Is tonai (都内）only used for the Tokyo metropolitan area specifically?

texts: I was having a chat conversation and used the word to comment on a profile. The person chatted that there are different words used depending on where the person is from, so if a person is from the Sendai metropolitan area, tonai is not used. Please advise.


texts:
I'm not sure about some aspects of the grammar in this sentence:

  総会のあと、公明党大阪府本部の佐藤代表は、記者団に対し、都構想そのものへの賛否は白紙だとしたうえで、「法定協議会が再開されれば、いい協定書を作れるよう前向きに協力していくというのがわれわれのスタンスだ」と述べました。

Here is my attempted translation:

After the general meeting, the representative of the New Komeito Party Osaka Prefecture Administration, Mr. Sato, told to reporters, when assuming the opinions on both sides towards the Metropolis Plan have not been made, "If the statutory committee is reopened, our stance is that we will positively cooperate together to make a good agreement".

What does だとした mean?

From what I know, だとする could mean "assuming that, when used with a noun"

  彼の死は事故だとする君の推定は間違っているようだ。Your assumption that his death was an accident seems to be wrong.

  病院は頭痛の原因を睡眠不足だとした。The hospital assumed the cause of the headache to be a lack of sleep.

But I'm not sure if this interpretation is correct for that sentence.

Also, is うえで the same type of 上で like in this example?

  これまた西欧文明を理解するうえで、忘れてはならないことでありましょう。
  Again, let's not forget this when trying to understand Western European civilization.

I translated it as "when"

And lastly, what does the よう in いい協定書を作れるよう前向きに協力していく mean?

I assumed it was ように but I never seen it without the に before. Like in this sentence:

  風邪を引かないようにちゃんと寝てください。Get some sleep so you don't catch a cold.

Here are my questions:

1) Is my intepretation of だとする correct?

2) Is my intepretation of うえで correct?

3) What does よう mean?

Original article:

www3.nhk.or.jp


texts: What particle to use as *of* when saying "X percent *of* something"?

texts:
I would like to be able to say X percent of something, but I haven't been able to find the particle that would correspond to of. Could you use の？

For example:

  人口の10パーセント　(10 percent of population)?


texts: Can お前 be used as a polite substitute of あなた?

texts:
So, I know that お前 nowadays is used as a rude way of saying "you". However, during one of my readings, I came across a strange use of お前 which, from the context, won't really make any sense if it was meant to be rude.

Basically, this is a "noblewoman" talking to her servants : she used お前たち although she spoke with them in a rather friendly way, always using polite forms such as ～です or ～ます.

Could I have more information about this お前 ?


texts: Is it okay to use つ counting for everything?

texts:
Instead of using the proper counter for each thing, is it okay to just use the つ counter?

Like in:

  彼女は子猫２匹を持っている。

Use つ instead of 匹:

  彼女は子猫２つを持っている。

Are there situations when this is incorrect or not recommended?


texts:
I am reading the visual novel known as Kanon.
I'll include some context, but the final sentence is where my question is:

片隅には、白い羽の生えたリュックがあった。
(In a corner, the rucksack with white wings sprouting out the back)
あゆは、確かに存在していた。
(Ayu existed).
たとえそれが、どんな奇跡の上にあったとしても、俺はこの街であゆと再会した。
(???) Even though it was more than a miracle, I had met her again in this town.

So is 「それが」 in this context referring to the 「存在していた」in the previous sentence or 「再開した」　later on in the same sentence? Also, why is it using が rather than　は in this context?


texts: Which grammar rules are applied when でいい is conjugated to nouns?

texts:
"ここに名前を書くだけでいいですか？" means "Is it ok to just write [my] name here?"

I'm confused about where でいい comes from.

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/must#part5 is about conjugating ていい
/でいい to adjectives and verbs.

I don't know which grammar rules are applied when でいい is conjugated to nouns as in "ここに名前を書くだけでいいですか？".

Can anyone tell me?


texts: When women use わ at the end of a sentence, is it different from よ?

texts:
My understanding of using わ at the end of a sentence is that it's essentially just for emphasis, just like using よ, and that only women can use it.

However, as far as I know, women can, and often do, use よ as well.

So is there a difference in meaning, nuance, or context which would make a woman choose to use わ instead of よ?


texts:
A colleague came with this shirt to work. I can read the

本日?売

but the "オ (approximation) I do not know.

Can you tell me the character? What could be the translation? Sell X every day? I first thought, the " could be the inch sign, but then I still do not know the オ.


texts:
It is my understanding that both these sentences have very similar translations but I don't quite understand the nuances:

おわった あとで 行きます。

おわってから 行きます。


texts: Is it the easy way to remember to use が?

texts:
I come to my realization that I should use the particle が to introduce a new thing that a listener does not know about (and intend to know about). For example:

  トニー：このオープニングはいいですね。
  ルーシー：トニーくんの言ったことに加えて、これが私の大好きなものです。

Tony: This anime opening is good.
Lucy: In addition to that, it is my favorite part. (particle が is used).

Tony is the listener, and he doesn't know the fact about Lucy. When Lucy says the fact, particle が is used, not particle は.

Particle が and は are very confusing. I hope someone will help me with this. Thank you.


texts:
外国人が日本語を話すのをは女々しい、日本人の女の子と言っていました.
日本人の女の子は、外国人が日本語を話すのをは女々しいと言っていました.

I want to say this: "A japanese girl said that foreigners speak japanese effeminate"
(The girl that said this expression to me explain that foreigners does not use to much the informal way of talking)


texts:
What does とした mean in this sentence?

心 ばかりの やんわり とした 暖房 の 教室 の 昼休み。

I saw this Meaning and usage of ~としたことが
but I think it's a different とした


texts: What's meaning of ベシュワー and ３つくらい (there is an image)

texts:
I can guess that ３つくらい its meaning something like "3 of something" But what's it "something" in this sentence? Floors? Or house?
And I don't know anything about ベシュワー, but I can guess that it's sound when using a spray?
Thanks for your help!


texts:
What's the meaning of つまづい in this context?

  たとえ何があっても
  つまづいても迷っても


texts:
I'm trying to understand what I misunderstand with this sentence example from jisho:

  彼らのコミュニケーションは我々が考えてきたものよりはるかに複雑かもしれません。

I thought of it as roughly

  their communication, being we have come to think its far from to being difficult

Which is wrong.

I think what I've got wrong is よりはるか…しれません but i'm not sure.

The translation given on jisho is

  Their communication may be much more complex than we thought.

I've noted より is a particle so I will start there and see what it does to clause etc.


texts: Compound words with 漢字 and カタカナ? (例えば：新メニュー）

texts:
Today, a magazine about restaurants in my area arrived in my mailbox. It proudly proclaimed :

  １０月の新メニュー！

I am quite curious as to the following points:

How is this pronounced ? I would have gone with 新{しん} メニュー　but although it is recognized by mozc IME I haven't found a reference in my dictionary (Aedict).
Why go with this instead of using 新しいメニュー？
Is the compound thus generated a proper noun or is it more an "improper" use of 新 as an adjective that qualifies メニュー　?
Are there any other examples of a kanji + katakana compound ?

Thanks a lot everyone !

ウルカン


texts:
In a story I'm reading I found this exchange:

「違うことをする理由が、見当たらない」
鳥井{とりい}は彼女の後ろ姿を眺めて、そうつぶやいた。
そしてその言葉はまったく、そのまま当たっていたのだった。
数少ない違ったことはと言えば、彼女が何回かヒールの高いサンダルで走ろうとして、つまずいたことと、そんな彼女にナンパ目当ての男が何人か手を差し出したことぐらいだったろう。

As context, the main character and a friend are tailing this girl, and he is speaking about the differences with a man whom they tailed the day before; If I'm understanding well the various pieces, the various parts of the sentence mean:

数少ない違ったことはと言えば: speaking of what was different
彼女が何回かヒールの高いサンダルで走ろうとして: the girl run a few times with her high heels
つまずいたことと: stumbled (and I think 「と」 here is "and")
そんな彼女にナンパ目当ての男が何人か手を差し出したことぐらいだったろう: various men looking to hit on a girl like that offered her a hand

So the girl was different from the man in a few things, like she tried to run in high heels, stumbled, and was helped by guys trying to hit on her.
What I'm unsure about are the 「ことと」 after 「つまずいたことと」, and the 「ことぐらいだったろう」 at the end: why 「つまずいたことと」 instead that 「つまずいて」, and the 「こと」 after 「差し出した」? I understand they nominalize what comes before, and I guess the 「と」 (as "and") links 「つまずいたこと」 with the following part (since the author isn't using the て form to connect), but I don't understand the need for them.
Also, I guess 「ぐらい」 marks the events described as trivial, but also assuming that's right, why 「だったろう」 (which I found marks conjecture)? My guess is that he is just hypothesizing how the girl could be different, but those events don't happen, as anticipated by 「そしてその言葉はまったく、そのまま当たっていたのだった」 (which I read as "And then those word [not seeing a reason for her to be any different] were exactly right").


texts:
I am not sure whether or not attaching furigana changes the nuance of politeness. My question:

  Is it rude to always attach furigana to every Kanji used in letters directed to superiors?

Note: the superiors are Japanese native speakers.


texts: Function of particles の and は in this sentence

texts:
A girls tells this to her friend:

  このまま帰ってまた何日も会えなくなるのは嫌です

What are these particles doing here? は is being used to emphasize, to be the topic marker or the contrastive marker? My guess is that is the topic marker (?)
As for の, I don't really know. It doesn't seem like it's nominalizing.


texts: Usage of デーハー in daily life or conversation as 'slang'

texts:
When I was looking for an equivalent word for 'loud' in Japanese, I stumbled on this word:

  デーハー:

Slang

Na-adjective, Noun

  showy; loud; gay; flashy; gaudy It also says: See also 派手 はで (said backwards?)

Source (jisho)

My questions:

  How much is 'デーハー' used as slang in daily life? Could you give an example or two in what
  context does this word is used and what nuance does this word carry?

  I couldn't find usage examples both in English-Japanese or Japanese-Japanese dictionaries online

  Can I use this word as a substitute and have the same meaning/nuance? Because I can find a lot of examples if I use the word
  "派手 はで"
  Is there any story how this word become 'slang' word, for example when > a comedian or an actor/actress use this word a lot?

Weblio: Source

Goo.ne: Source

Kotobank/Yahoo.jp: Source

These are some examples I found for 派手:

  その服は彼女には派手でしょう.

I'm afraid that dress is too young for her. (is it implied that the dress probably too 'sexy'/'showing a lot of skin' for her?)

  私のパジャマはやや派手だ.

My pyjamas are rather decorative. (as in too many colors?)

  大胆で派手な性格は政治家にとって貴重な資質かもしれない.

A daring, theatrical personality may be an asset to a politician.

Can I exchange all of these with デーハー ?

Another usage I found using 派手:

派手な買い物 -> shopping spree = can this meaning be exchanged with デーハー as well?

派手な化粧 -> flashy makeup = can this meaning be exchanged with デーハー as well?

彼は派手好きだ. -> he's fond of the show. = can this meaning be exchanged with デーハー as well?

Thank you very much for all your answers!

Source


texts:
I understand forming the past tense like 'I have not been' but I'm unsure as to how to phrase this as it is something that was true but now is not. If that makes sense. It's the 'had' part that's confusing me. If anyone could clear this up I would be very grateful. Thanks.

Edit: my attempt, as I understand past perfect does not exist in Japanese I tried to do something that would be in English (roughly) 'before last year, I have not gone to America'.

  Mae ni kyonen watashi wa Amerika ni ikimasen deshita.
  まえ に 去年 私は  アメリカ に いきませんでした。

However I don't really know if this is correct (and if I'm missing a particle after kyonen?)


texts: 上手ではありません or 上手じゃありません

texts:
I've read somewhere that to say you are not good at something say for example Japanese language, you use:

  日本語は上手ではありません

but can I also use:

  日本語は上手じゃありません

Is there anything wrong with this? What is the difference between the two?


texts: A question about parsing this complex passage

texts:
The passage in question is an excerpt from a novel.
Background info: B is an inventor who works for the government in the story's universe and has created his own  mechanism in secret that is capable of gathering various information on the public (their identity, whereabouts, activity etc.) that surpasses the mechanisms the government already uses. A is his assistant.

A: it's only natural a mechanism invented by you would surpass the others currently in use. Though, I wonder what could have possibly occurred that caused you to invent your own mechanism?
B (ケン): Putting your trust in things so easily is a foolish act that lowers our performance. そこは『足りぬ脳味噌で熟考を重ねて検証もしたが、やはりケンの造り上げた機構の方が全てにおいて上だ』と言い給え。

I'm having troubles parsing the part I left untranslated in B's dialogue.
I tried breaking it down like so:

そこは~と言い給え - to say here that ~
足りぬ脳味噌で - [with/through/by using] inadequate brainpower.
熟考を重ねて検証もしたが - carefully considering re-examination too, but~
やはりケンの造り上げた機構の方が全てにおいて上だ - as expected, a mechanism created by Ken is better in everything.

It's hard to see how this all fits together.
I would be so grateful if someone could correct me where I've gone wrong!


texts:
I am trying to understand the role of するって and its meaning.
Taking the phrase:

  ２４じかんこうどう　ともに　するって　こういうこと

I can't give a meaning to it. Any help?


texts:
Just wondering how nouns like 雨 or 雪 can be used alone to mean 'rainy (weather)' or 'snowy (weather)' respectively, when they already can mean rain or snow, but 風 cannot be used in the same sense to mean 'windy (weather)' and must instead be used in a phrase like

  A: 今日の天気予報は何ですか。
  B: 今日は風が強い。


texts:
What's the difference between V-てばかりいる and V-てばかりだ?. I came across these sentences and they seem to have all the same meaning "always/only be doing something", but their usage and constructions appear to be different:

  "幸子ちゃんは、毎日食べてばかりです。"
  "幸子ちゃんは、遊んでばかりいます。"
  "幸子ちゃんは、泣いてばかりいて、何も話そうとしない。"


texts: Describing aptronyms (names that fit their owner)

texts:
I thought of this after seeing a news article about 星出{ほしで}彰彦{あきひこ}, who is an astronaut.

Aptronym is a term for a name (often the surname) that fits a person's occupation or personality. A classic example is "Igor Judge" (a British judge, also known as Lord Judge), but the name doesn't have to be precisely the same as the occupation, for example, a florist with the surname "Flowers" or a chef with the surname "Spoon" would count.

In English the term "aptronym" is not widely used (I think it was relatively recently coined) but phrases such as "aptly named~" "fittingly named~" "an apt name" "a fitting name" might be.  In Japanese, how would one best describe a name that fits the owner?

I had one thought:
仕事にぴったりな名前

I have found some indications that this is possible including one direct mention of 星出さん:

On the blog of a ikebana instructor called 花香, she mentions often getting the comment 「お花の仕事にぴったりな名前ですね」
星出さんなんて 宇宙飛行士{うちゅうひこうし}にぴったりな名前 (on twitter)

However I'd like to know if there are other terms (ふさわしい？合う？) that are used, and if there is a coined term like "aptronym" used in Japanese. Famous examples (real or fictional) would also be welcome.


texts:
Is there a word for "photobomb" in Japanese?

In English, to photobomb someone is to spoil a photograph (of a person or thing) by unexpectedly appearing in the camera's field of view as the picture is taken, typically as a prank or practical joke.


texts: How is "if one does not differ" translated using the word 異なる and the ば-ending?

texts:
異なる is the dictionary form.
To express the idea of condition, one has to change the u into an e and add the suffix ba.

異なれば = If one differs.

How do you express the idea of a negative condition -> if one does not differ?


texts: 屁の一つをひるのも惜しがるような様子だった

texts:
In a short story I'm reading I found this sentence:

  人間が死ぬときには多いに泣き騒ぐのに、生まれてきたときには、屁{へ}の一つをひるのも惜しがるような様子だった

This is the given translation:

  The humans cry and generally make a tremendous fuss when one of them dies, but it seemed as if they didn't give a fart when the babies were born

I don't really understand the part in bold: 屁をひる means "to fart" and 惜しがる means "To appear to regret something"; so the best translation I can come up with is something like "They looked like [literally, I think "They had an appeareance"] they seemed to regret to fart once", which doesn't sound right, and in this I'm ignoring のも since I'm not sure what it means (の I'm guessing nominalize the previous sentence, but I don't know what も is supposed to mean).


texts: Correct way to say “life is a lesson, you learn it when you are through”

texts:
In Limp Biskit’s “Take a Look Around” they use this phrase I find pretty cool. “Life is a lesson, you learn it when you are through”. So basically the lesson never ends, until you die.

I’ve been meaning to come with a good translation, a brief formal one preferably. These are some options I think might be acceptable but not sure. What do you think? Which of these are correct? Which or what would be a good way? What would be more formal / polite options?

1) 人生は教訓。終わったら学ぶ。
2) 人生は教訓。終わりに学ぶ。
3) 人生は教訓。あなたはそれは終わったら学ぶ。
4) 人生は教訓。それは終わるまで学べない。
5) 人生は教訓。それは終わるまで学べられない。
6) 人生は教訓です。それは終わるまで学べないもの
7) 人生は人生終わった時まで学べない教訓です
8) 人生は終わった時まで学べない教訓です


texts:
I am currently doing research on automatic case frame (格フレーム) acquisition and its applications. A case frame describes the syntactic structure of a predicate by providing a canonical representation of its syntactic structure (also known as 文型).
Traditionally, 文型 contain only non-complex case-marker (e.g. が, を, に, で), however, for some applications in computational linguistics, we are also interested in complex case-markers (複合格助詞) such as 〜として, 〜に関して, 〜をめぐって, 〜とともに, and so on.

Do you know of any comprehensive study on 複合格助詞?
Is there a list of most frequent 複合格助詞?

At the moment, the best I have is the list given in 『現代日本語文法　第３部格と構文』 but it lacks some common 複合格助詞 (e.g. をめぐって).

[EDIT] Thanks to @snailboat I also got the list proposed by Samuel Martin in Reference Grammar of Japanese (about 200 phrasal postpositions). As the author noted:

  (...) it is difficult to give clear criteria for what is, and what is not, a
  phrasal postposition.


texts: The sentence that that I heard was 頼りにしている。 Google Translate tells me that means "I'm counting on you". My understanding of Japanese tells me "this doesn't compute". Is there a general rule for translating にしている or している in sentences like this? What's the general meaning of that phrase?


texts: The usage of 比べて -- without saying the thing being compared to?

texts:
I want to express: 'He is good at basketball. In comparison, she is less skilled.'

My sentence is: 彼はバスケットボールで上手です。彼女は、比べて、下手です。

Is this correct? Please correct me for any errors I've made

皆さま回答よろしくお願いしますm(_ _)m


texts:
What's the meaning of 終末 in 終末の微笑?

I know 微笑 means smile, but would 終末の translate to "The final", "The last" etc. Would you be able to say 最後　in 最後の微笑 and it would have the same meaning?

Thank you


texts: Looking for a kanji/symbol used for counting noodles

texts:
Just to add some context: I was with a Japanese friend at a うどん and そば restaurant in 浅草 where they had a small sign by the counter to buy their fresh noodles. However, the size of the portion was not indicated by a weight in grams or anything like that, it was a kanji/counter/symbol that looked like a checkbox... Something like this :

If I remember well, he told me it was an old kanji that denotes a well-defined quantity of noodles, a bit like 一斤{いっきん} is used for a loaf of bread.

However, I have tried hand drawn kanji recognition without success, gone through a few counter and unit lists but none of them seem to mention it.

So is this thing a kanji ? How is it pronounced ?

Thanks a lot !


texts: Ways to greet someone irrespective of time and situation?

texts:
Are there some Japanese greetings like the English "hello"? Most greetings seems to be tied up temporally or by another specific situation ([もしもし] for phones, [こんにちは] during day time). If I left a note behind for someone else I would have no idea how to greet them in the note. In English at least it's easy as "hello" always works. "Hello X, by the time you read this..." or "Hello, if you found this then..." are two examples. I don't see any of these being replace with other greetings such as "good day", "welcome", "nice to meet you", etc.

So what are some of the more generic ways Japanese people greet each other? If you were to leave a note without any idea of when or perhaps who might read it, how would you greet them?


texts: Please give feedback on my Japanese class presentation on food additives

texts:
Here's my presentation, I'm in high school right now in the highest level Japanese class they have, but I want to know if my grammar is wrong or if I can improve some things in it, as well as slowly stray away from the sentence frames my teacher gives us like "最小に、〜です。”　and overusing "今から〜の説明します。” as an introduction and "ここから以上です。” as a conclusion. I'm supposed to record this tonight but I would still like some feedback and help regardless because I feel like it will be useful in the future.
"今からの発表に食品添加物の説明します。食品添加物はいい点と悪い点があります。
最小に、食品添加物が食べものに使用されたらもっと美味しくなります。例えば、ぶどう味グミに甘味料と香料を両方使って、そのお菓子の味と匂いがもっと美味しくなります。でも、この添加物が体に悪くて、色々な危険な影響があります。甘味料にいろんな種類があるけど、アスパルテームに集中します。アスパルテームは危険な甘味料です。発がん性だから、食べさせ過ぎたら体に危険になりそうです。
なぜ食品添加物があまりいい点がないんですか？
食品添加物が味とどれぐらいまで食べる以外にいい点があまりありません。
お菓子の会社に私のアドバイスは、無添加お菓子を作ったら、お菓子が食べる人にいいです。ここから以上です。”
I just want feedback in general as well, anything helps. I feel like I overuse "ます” and　"です” as well, and I feel like posting this on here is better than learning off of Google Translate since I know that GT isn't the most reliable tool.
Other questions I have if you want to help:
How can I make my presentation more interesting? (I tried using a question in my presentation to try to change the format and make it more interesting.)
In this sentence, I said "食品添加物が味とどれぐらいまで食べる以外にいい点があまりありません。" I was trying to say "Other than taste and how long until you can't eat it, there aren't a lot of good things about food additives." I don't know if I worded it right.
That's all. Thank you if you can help!


texts:
It is almost the end of the day. So I want to say to my office mate that I will be leaving soon. Is it natural to say:

  そろそろ出ています。

or :

  そろそろ出発しています。


texts: What is the Japanese verb for "to flex" (one's muscles)?

texts:
I would like to know the Japanese verb for "to flex", but I haven't found much information and the few dictionary options I have found are a bit unclear to my understanding so I think that some people here can clear this up for me.

"To flex" one's muscles as when bodybuilders flex their biceps and compare how big and ripped they look.

Example sentences:
He flexes his bicep to show how big it is.
Bodybuilders flex their muscles to impress the audience.

Answers very appreciated!


texts: Meaning of こった in Xと、こったのもあった

texts:
From the story 愛の鍵 by 星新ー:

  ある人のは「チューリップが咲いた。」と言えば開いたし「しっかりしなくちゃあ。」と言うのもあった。なかには「王さまの耳はロバの耳。」などと、こったのもあった。
  One person's phrase to open the lock was to say "The tulips have bloomed". There was also one which said "You must make it secure". Among them, there was, for example, "The ears of a king are the ears of a robber".

The story seems to be describing locks shaped like ears that people unlock by whispering phrases into them.

I cannot understand the meaning of こった in the second sentence. Maybe 請う would fit with the quotative particle, but the dictionary says that this means 'ask' which doesn't really seem to fit the context.

More generally I'm having trouble with the the two の particles marked in bold. In  と言うのもあった is の a pronoun describing a person or a phrase, i.e. is it 'there was one person who said ' or 'there was one phrase which said'?
My guess is that it matches with the の in ある人のは, so it is one person with two phrases. Likewise I'm struggling with the の in こったの.


texts: why is "わたしはお客様に満足してもらう" not "わたしはお客様に満足してあげる"


texts:
I often see こと used when listing rules:

冷蔵庫の物は勝手に食べないこと→ Don’t eat my things from the fridge

トイレ掃除は毎日交代ですること→ Clean the bathroom every day by turns

The above examples come from a written list of rules a character in a  drama made for his roomate to follow, which is where my question comes in:
Is this こと really appropriate on such a casual scale? My impression was that this structure is only used when outlining formal written rules. Or are all written commands/rules (regardless of formality) presented in this format? Also, for clarification this, こと is never used in spoken language, right?
But then I came across an example of what seems to be the same grammar (but used in spoken language?) from this video:

「見ないこと、見ないこと」→ Don't look, don't look

Can someone explain why こと is used in this instance? I have a hunch that the reason has something to with the fact that he's listing "steps/rules" in the video (but then again none of the other steps use こと, so maybe not), but I would really appreciate an explanation.


texts: Using について with しつもんする

texts:
In my japanese textbook, for the word しつもんする it has the note "(s.t.について)" where s.t. means something. I tried creating a sentence based off of this note and I want to know if it makes sense:

  先生にしゅくだいについてしつもんしました。
  I asked the teacher a question about the homework.


texts:
so umm.. let's say that you're asking your partner on what he think about yourself. Somethings like "What do you like about me?"
Does this sentence sounds right?:
「私について何が好きですか?」


texts:
I've very often seen both and I use both randomly depending on my small experience.

What is the grammar behind that?

For example:

人生の小さな瞬間

Why not 人生の小さい瞬間?


texts: I understand that they both mean "element" or "aspect" in some way. What's the nuanced difference between the two?


texts: How does the particle を relate to the verb 行く in the structure「A を + B に行く」?

texts:
I came across this sentence in my japanese practicing material (the point is I didn't make up the sentence so I assume it's correct or at least commonly used)

日本についてのアンケートを中国人100人に行った。

and It doesn't make sense to me. What I guess the sentence means (out of the meaning of the used vocabulary) is something like: "according to a Japanese survey, the population of China has grown to 100 people". However I would phrase it as something along those lines:

日本のアンケートによると、中国人は100人に行った。

I do not understand the gramatical structure of the sentence, nor I'm sure if I guessed the meaning correctly. How does を relate to the only verb appearing in the sentence (行く)?

This is the sentence as it appears in my exercise sheet (number 6) as a multiple choice exercise. Note that there are other possible choices rather than アンケート, but they make no sense to me at all:

Thank you.


texts: ところを 見つかる, this was in a highly reputable dictionary

texts:
Is this sentence wrong grammatically, or am I missing something?
カンニングをしているところを 見つかる
This is an examplensentence from kenkyuusha.

More specifically, 見つかる is an intransitive verb, how is it used with を rather than が？
Now i know some motion verbs like 歩く can do this, but as far as I know 見つかるr is not one.

If this was an indirect passive, it would have been を見つけられる. So thay is not the case here either.

Thanks for the help!


texts: What is "slatwall shelving" in Japanese?

texts:
I would like to ask a general contractor to make me some slatwall shelving.

I checked dictionaries and all the Google juice I could muster but couldn't figure out what this type of shelving is called in Japanese.

Can anyone enlighten me?


texts:
Can the word 物 refer to a person?
In the [使い分け] part of this page :


texts:
From the anime ノーゲーム・ノーライフ
Context: internet rumors and urban legends are being discussed

あまたの都市伝説の1つにこんな話があるのを聞いたことはあるだろうか

My interpretation:

あまたの都市伝説の1つ = "one of many urban legends"
こんな話があるのを聞いたことはあるだろうか = "Have you heard of this rumor?"

That's nice and all, but I just can't understand what に is supposed to mean in this sentence.
I did read Q: 君に話しがある How does this work? , which didn't really help me.


texts:
I have always stuck with [探]{さが}す for "search", but in an anime I heard one of the characters say

  インターネットを[検索]{けんさく}おねがいしてもいいですか。

I suspect that one of the differences is that 検索 is more likely to be used when speaking of an internet search. Is that correct? And are there any more differences between the two words?


texts: Politely asking to stay at someone's home? お邪魔させてもらう、泊めてもらう、or 滞在させてもらう?

texts:
Which of the following is the most polite?  Is any of them incorrect?  Is there a more standard way to ask someone if you could stay with them while in town?

~  8日から9日まで、あなたのお宅にお邪魔させてもらえませんか。

~  8日から9日まで、お宅に泊めてもらえませんか。

~  8日から9日まで、あなたのお宅に滞在させてもらえませんか。

Is 「あなたの」 unnecessary?

Is 「あなたのお宅にお邪魔させてもらえませんか。」 ambiguous?  In other words, would the reader clearly understand it is a request to stay overnight rather than to drop by?

Can 「お宅」 be used to refer to a place of residence when it is not a personally-owned house, such as a share house apartment シェアハウスのマンション?

Also, can 「8日から9日まで、」be shrunk down to 「8〜9日に」?


texts: What does 'na' at the end of a word mean?

texts:
I saw many questions regarding "na" at the end of a sentence; however, what about at the end of a word? Consider these two sentences:

Korewa ōkina kurumadesu. (これはおおきなくるまです) This is a big car.

Ōkii kurumadesu. (おおきいくるまです) (This) is a big car.

What does 'na' (bolded) have to do in this sentence?
Consider this sentence too:

Korewa akai kurumadesu. (これはあかいくるまです) This is a red car.

How come 'na' is used in the first sentence but not in this one. Does 'na' mean 'a' as an article?


texts: I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who is also learning Japanese, and she used 大きなめんどくさい as a phrase today, which seemed off to me to use 大きい as a modifier on an adjective.  Can you use 大きい/な as an adverb to modify another adjective?  If so, are there restrictions around what sort of adjectives it can modify?


texts:
I just watched a video on this topic. I've been learning Japanese for roughly 2 years now and it still confuses me. I need some clarifications. What I've been able to establish is:

don't use の in genuine questions because it comes off... weird? It shows a surprise. You'd rather say なにしてる？ rather than なにしてるの？ and that applies basically to any question.
don't use んだ？in questions if you're a woman. Sounds rough. Use の or んですか
use の and んだ/です to express "because..." without actually saying the actual word から. Usually in answer to なんで/どうした
3.5 When you ask questions with なんで/どうした add の/んですか？to sound more natural. Don't use んだ？if you're a female.
んだ +  けど (ですが） sets up the context for what we really want our speaker to pay attention to. The second sentences is more important. Can be translated as "and." You can ask questions with it too.
んだ/です can work as a new topic starter. "So...I did this or that" you want to be questioned about it/talk about it/brag about it even?
Don't state facts with んだ/です "I bought a new car." Simple fact. Nothing interesting to it.
logical assumptions. "oh, I see, so.. you're an anime fan" (The person keeps talking about it hence my assumption)

Am I correct? Is there anything else to it? I'm pretty sure it all hinges on context (like pretty much everything).
Also, is the tone of my voice also important here?

One more question. I've encountered ゲームを買うんじゃなかった translated as "I shouldn't have bought the game"
Is んじゃなかった a negation of んです？it really confuses me.
Wouldn't it mean "It was because I didn't buy the game"


texts: How to express that you "find" something boring, interesting etc

texts:
How can I express the nuance "I 'find' studying Japanese interesting"?

  日本語を勉強していることが面白い

  Studying Japanese is interesting

  日本語を勉強していることが面白いと思う

  I think studying Japanese is interesting

The difference in nuance in English is that when you 'find something interesting' it implies you have some experience in the activity. This nuance is not conveyed by the above sentences (in English at least).


texts:
Can someone please explain the difference between

とあれば
にあって
とあって

I've read the explanation from my 新完全マスター book but I'm afraid I don't fully understand the difference in nuance between these grammatical patterns.

Thanks


texts:
What are the differences between these three words. They all seem to translate to "books".

書物、図書 and 本


texts: When to use　するほうがいい instead of したほうがいい in order to mean "Should do"?

texts:
So, I was in hello talk writing about how eating ramen everyday might not be healthy:

(I will number the sentences)

  1 - ...だから、時々ラーメンを食べたほうがいいね

Then, a native speaker corrected my sentence to:

  2 - だから、たまにラーメンを食べるほうがいいね

Someone told me in the past that in order to say "I should..." I had to use the pattern 「た+ほうがいい」 is it wrong?

@Goldbrick also helped me in the chat saying that he'd rather say something like:

  3 - だからラーメンを食べるのは時どきだけにしたほうがいい

or

  4 - だからラーメンは時どき食べるぐらいにしたほうがいい

He, this time used the したほうがいい pattern instead of するほうがいい. But he couldn't exactly explain why's that...

So when should I use するほうがいい and したほうがいい to mean should?

Thanks in advance!


texts:
I'm struggling a bit with the meaning of 要領｛ようりょう｝ in this sentence I encountered:

  私は仕事の要領が悪いので、いつも残業になってしまう。

I know that the literal translation (while there are several) of 要領 would be something along the lines of the outline, or the "knack" of things. When I try to translate this sentence it comes out like this:

  Because I'm clumsy at work, I always end up working overtime.

Would this interpretation be somewhat correct? I am particularly unsure what to do about the particle のthat precedes 要領 - in my head, I want to say に instead of の, which probably has something to do with wanting a too literal translation.


texts: I have trouble understanding this: 棚からなんとやらだ

texts:
I'm having trouble understanding this sentence from a soccer manga I like to read. There is not much context to the sentence, and further, the character often uses slang.

The whole sentence is this:

  まああんなのは棚からなんとやらだ.

It is said by a player who is about to kick a ball. People in the stands are cheering him because he's really good at kicking from far away, and he's somewhat irritated that they put pressure on him.

Someone suggested to me that it might be related to "棚から牡丹餅" but it doesn't seem to me to make sense.


texts: Particle used after referring to family members

texts:
In watching Taiga dramas, I often hear people say
Haha ve (mother)
Chichi ve (father)
Ani ve (older brother)
You get the idea.
That's what it sounds like to me anyway.  But I'm not really sure which particle is really being used.  I don't seem to see it in my basic Japanese lessons.
Can anyone please clarify what they are doing for me?
Thanks!


texts: How do I find out the written form of a notable person given their name's pronunciation?

texts:
Related question: How do you write someone's name if you don't know what kanji to use? , but that's for the name of a non-notable person.

I'd like to know the Japanese name of someone who's been in the news of English-language media (Masaaki Imaeda). He doesn't have an English-language Wikipedia article yet, so I can't just look him up and see what the Japanese language edition has as his name.

I tried googling "まさあき いまえだ シドニー", but that didn't seem to get many useful results. Even "今枝正明 シドニー" mainly gave results in Chinese.

(I'm assuming that he's been covered in Japanese-language media, which may not be the case)

He was born in Japan and came to Australia in 1973, and was born in 1951 or 1950, so he would have been a young adult when he came to Australia.


texts: what's the purpose of '気でいたんだ' in this sentence

texts:
The full sentence is:

  何{なに}もかも手{て}にした気{き}でいたんだ

For now I think 何もかも手にした comes from 何もかも手にする 'to obtain just about everything / almost everything' but I can't understand  the purpose of the rest and how it changes the meaning of the phrase.


texts: Could you please explain the use of passive voice in the following sentences?

texts:
I would like you to help me to understand this grammar pattern （Nに）Vれる presented in Nihongo Sou Matome JLPT N3 (Pg.14). I'm not able to understand why the passive voice is used in the example sentences.

  友達の赤ちゃんを抱っこしたら、泣かれてしまった。

Why is 泣く in passive form? If 友達の赤ちゃん was the one who cried, then shouldn't it be 泣いてしまった?

  雨に降られて、服が濡れてしまいました。

My literal translation of this would be: "Something was fallen by the rain and the clothes got soaked." It doesn't make sense...

Again, why is the passive form used?

  父に死なれて、大学を続けられなくなりました。

My literal translation of this would be: "(I or somebody) was died/killed by my father, and could not continue university."

If it's my father who died and it's me who could not continue university, wouldn't it be better to say 父が死んだから、大学を続けられなくなりました。 or something like this.

I really don't understand the use of the passive form in these 3 cases.

Could you please explain this to me and give some more examples to grasp the use of this kind of strange passive?

Thank you so much in advance for your help!


texts:
What does という stand for in this sentence:

春から介護の専門学校に通うという女子生徒は「列車に乗るのは久しぶりですが、最後にみんなで乗ることができ、いい思い出になりました」と話していました。

Is it modifying 専門学校 meaning 'the so called...' or is it a different grammatical stucture?


texts: How do you correctly use 'gesu' 下種／下衆／下司?

texts:
下種／下衆／下司 are all pronounced "gesu." According to various dictionaries "gesu" can be used to describe a sleazebag, a humble person, or a petty official.

How can one differentiate between which to use? How are they supposed to be used?


texts:
警察庁によると、このテストで「認知症」という脳の病気の可能性があると言われた人は約１年で５万７０９９人いました。そして、この中の１８９２人が、医者が調べて認知症だとわかりました。
  According to the police, in this test, in around 1 year, there were 57099 people who were told that they might have a brain disease called dementia. 1892 of these people knew they had dementia because a doctor had tested them.

I'm having trouble understanding the sentence in bold. The translation is my best guess. My understanding of 分かる is a bit shaky. Does this sentence suggest that the 1892 people already knew they had dementia before they took the police test, or does it imply that those people went to the doctor after the police test and were then confirmed as having dementia? (putting aside the fact that a person diagnosed with dementia might still not know they have dementia).


texts: need help translating 「本音を言うと自分の部屋で一人でいるほうがホッとできます。」

texts:
「本音を言うと自分の部屋で一人でいるほうがホッとできます。」

I tried to translate words separately but I couldn't seem to make sense of it as a whole sentence. Something about saying your real feelings (about something) when you're alone in your room? Also I'm not sure what the ホッと means.


texts: Is there any difference between 処刑 and 死刑?

texts: Both seem to mean "capital punishment" or "execution" or "death penalty". Is one a more specific word, maybe only used in legal contexts?


texts: I was hearing somthing in japanese and they said something like " to omou ute sa bi(?) kara kakuyoktte" my friend said it means " i thought the refrain was cool" i don't understand how she picked that up from this sentence if chorus is "gassho". Is there another way to say the word?


texts: What is the best word to use to mean "to take long-term a break (i.e. from school)"?

texts:
Just to add some context to this question: I graduated with a B.A. last June, and am currently taking a two-year break from education to work off some of the inordinate amount of debt I accumulated in my first four years.

What's the best way to describe this type of situation in Japanese? 休【やす】む? 休憩【きゅうけい】? Something else entirely?

Your help is much appreciated.

Related: Is this the correct way of saying attending a school?


texts: "Mari" or "wari" ? Is this a consonant sound that changes with inflection?

texts: In my audio learning, I hear the beginning consonant sound of the same word spoken by two different speakers to be as a "w", as in "wari", or to be an "m", as in "mari".  While it seems clear that the Japanese have a different sense of this sound, it proves a little difficult to distinguish which pronunciation one is supposed to be hearing in the first place.  What simple rule can I apply to sort out this sound when I hear it?


texts: What does it mean to end a question with 「だけでは？」

texts:
The context is the headline of this news article: http://www.rakumachi.jp/news/archives/148299

  これってどうなの？単に自己満足してるだけでは？

From the context it seems to me like perhaps an abbreviation of だけではないでしょうか。Is that close?


texts: Use of って when quotation doesn't make sense

texts:
I'm playing through a game right now and I'm seeing って used at the end of sentences a lot. I know って can be a shorthand version of the と particle, but it doesn't make sense as nobody is being quoted or nothing is is being declared as in "X is called this"

For example a character says

  うわっ！　ホントにおかしいって！

  My translation: Uwaa! This is really strange!

After a friend screams for suddenly being really hungry

The use of the って doesn't make sense here to me, so what is really intended or why is this ending used?


texts:
I came up with a bunch of nouns, so I'm thinking this is a suru verb.

Closest thing I came up with is 築庭する。 (chikutei suru), but it translates to landscape gardening.

Is there a more common usage?

Thank you! :)

I read somewhere in an example sentence that it could be niwashi suru, but when I looked up niwashi (gardener) it didn't have the noun listed as a suru verb so I am unsure :P !


texts: In a speech, should です/ます be used, or である form?

texts:
I am writing a speech, and it is a speech presentation. I was wondering if I should be using です/ます form, or である form which is used in formal essays?

Thanks


texts:
As stated in the title - what is the correct reading of 血泡? I couldn't find a definitive answer (Jisho does not know this word at all, Google Translate thinks it should be kehhou, which seems unlikely).
I ran across this in a book and while the translation seems clear ('blood bubbles' or 'bubbles of blood'), I'm not sure about the reading.


texts: What is the meaning of なんで here and why?

texts:
I've been told that the translation of the following sentence:

１００年以上続く古い会社なんで不便もたまにあります

is: This company has been established for more than 100 years, so it is sometimes inconvenient with many things.

I understand both parts of the sentence, but I don't get the connection なんで. Not even in the dictionary says that なんで's meaning is "so". The only meaning of なんで I know is "why?" but here it makes no sense.

Thank you


texts:
Everything I have known about Japanese grammar structure till now is S-O-V. Japanese is S-O-V language. But what's about adj? Adverb?... Something like that. Of couse that I did some research about this. But all I found is this:

  Sentence Topic, Time, Location, Subject, Indirect Object, Direct
  Object, Verb. [Source]

But I understand nothing at all. I mean it isn't answer my question: the order of adj, adverb... Is it standing before noun or after, what happen if I got 2 adj...
Do you guys know it? Please teach me about it. It terribly confuses me.

And thank you for reading my... query?


texts: Who is the subject and object in this sentence?

texts:
These excerpts are from the lyrics of the music 迷子犬と雨のビート by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION:

連なるウィンドウに並び立つ人形の悪い夢
それとも倉庫に隠れて塞いでいたって
埃だけ被って見つからない
誰の手にだって触れられない

Who is having the bad dream? Is it a dream about dolls or is it the dolls that are dreaming? Then the second line continues saying that something (the narrator or the dolls?) was forcibly hidden in a warehouse. Is this a exemple another type of bad dream or it is still talking about the dolls?

The third and fourth lines seems easier, as it just says that whatever was hidden in the warehouse is gathering dust and being hidden from sight (cannot be found) and that it will not be able to touch anyone's hands. Is my assumption correct?


texts: 原作を消化していくつもりだ meaning

texts:
In the second episode's preview of the Saiki Kusuo anime, Saiki recapped the premise(that he has superpowers) and said the following:

  次々と原作を消化していくつもりだ

According to the dictionary, 消化 has the following meanings:

  消化    しょうか    (n,vs,adj-no) digestion; thorough understanding; selling
  accumulated (excess) products; dealing with a large amount of work;
  losing one's form and turning into something else; (P)

None of those meaning make sense to me in this context, so I got confused. I assume 次々と原作を refers to the episodes, but what does 消化していくつもりだmean here? Saiki intends to watch(digest) all the episodes? Or sell(?) the episodes lol. It probably sounds like a dumb question, but I'd be glad if someone shed some light here.


texts:
膝の調子は悪くても、ハシゴくれぇは押さえられるだろ？！

I'm guessing this is some kind of shorter version of something else?


texts:
As I'm learning Japanese with my coworkers in Japan (and they learn English), I go for lunch everyday with them as agreed. So in the morning when I ask:

  今日、ランチに行きたい？ (Wanna go for lunch today?)

It is almost a formality since we agreed to go, but just checking whether they have time and are not too busy. But I've gotten it corrected a couple of times and told I should say this instead:

  今日、ランチに行かない？ (Won't we go for lunch today?)

It feel strange asking in a negative way so I'd love some deeper explanation about it. Unfortunately my coworkers English is even worse than my Japanese, so I can only blindly follow what they tell me.

So, why would be the latter preferred? I am sure if I understand the basics of this it'd be a lot easier to remember.


texts:
I'm currently viewing a bunch of tweets about Typhoon Jebi in Kansai, and I'm seeing a lot of people writing 気を[っ]{L}けて specifically with a small っ.

Is this just some type of stylization?  If so, what kind (internet; young people slang; danger emphasis; etc.)?
Or is this the case of some special usage like I talk about in this question about 障がい者?


texts: Does な have a purpose in あの人のことが嫌い**な**わけではないが、一緒にいるとちょっと疲れる。 or is it just a mistake?

texts: Does な have a purpose in  あの人のことが嫌いなわけではないが、一緒にいるとちょっと疲れる。 or is it just a mistake?


texts: Interpreting active/passive voice in Japanese

texts:
As this game is selling well, I plan to buy one too.

How would we express this in Japanese?

  よくうれているようだから
  よくうられているようだから

Would the above sentence be interpreted as an active or passive form in Japanese?
Is there an instance when an active voice in English takes a passive interpretation in Japanese?


texts:
As I understand it, they're synonyms except ～にしたがって is more formal, but in Shin Kanzen Master Bunpô N2 it says:

「～につれて」は一方方向の変化の場合にだけ使う。「～にしたがって」は一方方向の変化でなくても使える。

The thing is that the examples that appear in the book with ～にしたがって fit with what I understand as an 一方方向の変化, so I don't know if they just didn't choose the best examples to show the difference, or if I'm not understanding the concept of 一方方向の変化 correctly. The two examples with ～にしたがって are:

車のスピードが上がるにしたがって、事故の危険性も高くなる。

And:

息子は成長するにしたがって、口数が少なくなった。

Can someone explain me the difference between those two structures, or show me an example in which only ～にしたがって would be correct and why?


texts:
Context: in the Dead Tube manga, a villain is talking about how she turned people into zombies by giving them a hallucinogenic drug and explains that they are "contagious".

  その薬の濃度をメチャクチャ濃くしたヤツをゾンビ達の歯や爪に　たっぷりつけておいたの！　要するに…　今後はゾンビに襲われた者はゾンビに感染する！

Could you help me parse the first sentence? I understand that the first part (その薬の濃度をメチャクチャ濃くしたヤツ) is a relative clause meaning "Those (zombies) in which the drug is extremely concentrated". What confuses me is that second を. What is the verb for this object? It has to be つけた, right? But it doesn't make much sense. Also, if ヤツ refers to zombies, why is there another reference to them (ゾンビ達) after the second を？

Here you can see the original page. Thank you for your help!


texts: How to differentiate ～られる conjugation between passive form and potential form?

texts:
For verbs of group 2, whose ～ます form is formed by dropping the ending ～る from the plain form, both the passive and potential forms have the same conjugation: ～られる. Example:

  食べられる
  1. to be eaten
  2. can eat / edible

Other than looking at the context, how do I differentiate between the two meanings?


texts: Is ます omitted here in 楽しい旅行をしていらっしゃい?

texts:
I just learned a useful phrase, but immediately I already have a few questions about its structure and grammar.

The phrase:

  楽しい旅行を!

Is this a set phrase short for:

  楽しい旅行をしていらっしゃい

If so, why is there no ます at the end in:

  していらっしゃい

I'm just a beginner, so I am obviously way out of my league here, but I am really curious.

If anyone would kindly clear this up for me—or point me in the right direction—I would really appreciate it!


texts:
I'm reading the following dialogue, pretty straightforward:

  A：ずいぶんあわてて、どうしたんだ。
  B：昨日出さなければいけない報告書を忘れていたんだ。
  A：それは大変だ。まあ頑張れよ。
  B：なんだ、手伝ってくれるのとちがうのか。
  A：それは、君の仕事だろう。

I have problems understanding the full meaning of 手伝ってくれるのとちがうのか。 I understand 手伝ってくれる and ちがう as separate, independent things. But I don't get the full sentence, though I suspect the overall meaning might be something along the lines of 手伝ってくれない？


texts: Keigo: そんけいご　＆　けんじょうご

texts:
I've started learning keigo and already having difficulty with it, with the same problem in both そんけいご and けんじょうご.　In particular, I'm having trouble understanding the combination of the use of ～ていらっしゃる and  お＋verb stem＋になる, and　～ておる and お＋verb stem＋にする.

So what example if you had the question and you wanted to change it so that it involves そんけいご.

先生はどちらに住んでいますか。

Would you change it to:
->　先生はどちらに住んでいらっしゃいますか。
-> 先生はどちらにお住みになっていらっしゃいますか。
-> 先生はどちらにお住みになっていますか。

I've seen a combination of all three usages (e.g. 疲れていらっしゃいます、 お教えになっていらっしゃいます and お教えになっています), but I can't find any clear explanation of when one is preferred over the others. Or are they are equivalent?

Same problem applies to ～ておる and お＋verb stem＋にする, though I'd assume the explanation and reasoning behind it would be the same as そんけいご.


texts: *one piece ch 1000 spoiler* what does チャキ mean?

texts:
I just read this chapter and was wondering what this sfx meant.
for context; luffy is passing big mom & kaido while zoro is observing what he is doing.


texts:
I found this line in the lyrics of a certain song, and I'm not quite clear on the meaning of the first ゆく.

道無き未知をゆく　環状線を走ってく

I originally assumed it to be 行く, but that makes the sentence strange IMO. What does ゆく mean?

Source: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lyrics:_Paranoid_Lost


texts: several difficulties reading an extract about Kobayashi Issa's works

texts:
I'm still reading "小林{こばやし}一茶{いっさ}" (a book written by 宗左近/Sō Sakon about the famous poet).

I'm facing several difficulties with the following extract :

  愛｛あい｝の歌｛うた｝　怒｛いか｝りの歌｛うた｝

  作品｛さくひん｝の特色｛とくしょく｝は、極｛きわ｝めてはっきりしている。冒頭｛ぼうとう｝にあげた六｛ろっ｝句｛く｝に難｛むずか｝しさはない。弱｛よわ｝い 生命｛せいめい｝への愛｛あい｝の歌｛うた｝です。その愛｛あい｝をもたない存在｛もの｝への怒｛いか｝りの歌｛うた｝です。 曖昧｛あいまい｝さはない。 明快｛めいかい｝です。誰｛だれ｝にでも伝｛つた｝わる。

My translation (disclaimer : I'm not fluent at all in English, please feel free to correct me).

  a poetry about love, a poetry about anger

  The characteristic of his production is to be utterly exact. At the beginning of the 6 elevated parts(?) , there is nothing difficult. It's a poetry about love that refers to a delicate life. It's a poetry about anger that refers to an existence deprived(?) of this love. No ambiguity. Clarity. Anyone gets the message.

There are several parts I don't understand :

(1) What are the あげた六｛ろっ｝句｛く｝? Is it something related to Issa's works ?

(2) What's the grammar behind もたない in その愛｛あい｝をもたない存在｛もの｝?

(3) 存在 should be read そんざい (according to WWWJDIC). But my edition adds the "もの" furiganas. What's the difference between these two readings ?


texts: What is the difference between 計測 and 測定?

texts:
When I wanted to use word 'measure' in the past I used 計測 or 測る. But recently I got a message from a Japanese co-worker:

申し訳ありません
18時前にネット障害がおこり最後の計測できませんでした...
まだ復旧してないので明日18時に測定します

I understand what it says, but I am a little confused as to the difference between 計測 and 測定. Would it be correct if I used 計測 in the last sentence too? When do people use one over the other?


texts: Is なんだと [what]+[quoting particle] like `なんだと(言った). Is nanda being quoted?


texts:
What is the difference between Verb + ことが○○です and verb + 〇〇です? And when are you supposed to use one over the other?
For example I wrote
映画を観ることが時間です。
It's time to watch a movie.

But I was corrected to

映画を観る時間です。

But I don't really understand why. I thought こと is used to signify some kind of event. In this 時間です (It's time) and the event is 映画を観る (watch/watching a movie)


texts: Confusion about usage of ordinal numbers

texts:
I came across this sentence:
船に乗るのは二回目だ

It was an example sentence in a Japanese children's book for learning Kanji, so there's not any context. Because of 目 I took it to mean "this is the second time that I ride a boat."

How could I switch the subject around to say "I'm riding a boat for the second time."? I would guess: 今、二回目に船に乗っている. Is it correct to use 二回目に as an adverb "for the second time" or is there any other (more natural/common) way?


texts: why there is an "を" in 「運転免許は持っているけれど、車を全然運転しない人たちのことをそう呼ぶんです」

texts: I assume that そう here is the そう used for not direct quoting.


texts: Is the ending nominaliser の because the sentence concerns the speaker?

texts:
The sentence is:

指を使うことは野蛮なのだろうか。
Is using fingers uncivilised?

My understanding is that こと precedes です and its variants, unless the sentence is about the speaker. However, I don't feel this sentence is necessarily just about the speaker (more speaking generally about the use of fingers). Can anybody help me?


texts: What does this mean 先月　何日　会社を　やすみましたか。

texts:
I come across the following sentence:

先月　何日　会社を　やすみましたか。

I am confused about that this is actually asking. Is it asking:

How many days of holidays did the company have last month?
Which date did the company have holiday last month?

Please help.


texts: Is it appropriate to say おじゃまします when entering one's own room?

texts:
Let's say my friend is in my room and I am out in the kitchen.

At some time I decide to enter my room.

Is it appropriate to say おじゃまします when I am entering my own room?


texts:
I've seen some sentences end with particles like が and で. The most common particle that I see is に. For example, if someone asked:

  どこにいる？ → Where are you?

I could reply,

  友達{ともだち}の家{いえ}に → (I'm at) my friend's house.

I'm still lost on the particles で, and が. Help would really be appreciated if someone could explain how those two particles are used at the end of a sentence.


texts:
I'm trying to denote that an object is "for" someone. For example, "I bought a gift for you."

"I bought a gift" is easy enough.

  ぼくはおみやげをかいます。

However, I'm not sure about the "for you" part. あなたに doesn't seem to make much sense. Should I say あなたのおみやげをかいます。? Google Translate alternatively gives me あなたのためにおみやげ。Is this correct?


texts: What's with this "On reading"/"Kun reading" thing? Is it important to learn both as a beginner?

texts:
I was reading this article on Japanese numerals and I first encountered the whole On reading/Kun reading thing, with an additional column on "Preferred reading," which was almost always the On reading.

Do native Japanese speakers know both readings for every Kanji? What influence does this have on the language? What is the use and application of this knowledge? Should I bother learning the non-preferred reading?


texts: Use of こそ. What words is it replacing here?

texts:
OK , so I am a huge fan of Kill la Kill, and I looked up how to say "Fear is Freedom, Control is Release, Contradiction is Truth". The whole line in Japanese is:

  「恐怖こそ自由！君臨こそ解放！矛盾こそ真理！それがこの世界の真実だ！服を着た豚ども！その真実に屈服せよ！」

Now, this Japanese is pretty simple, and I totally get the meaning (obviously, since there's a translation, but I mean that I understand how the language here works). However, I'm not sure what こそ is doing here. I know that it emphasizes the previous word, but is that enough to form a statement? Can someone explain what it's doing here, and the proper use of it?

Also, secondarily, I'm wondering why ども is required here. I was pretty sure that it was used to mean "both", so why is it needed here, where she is not addressing both pigs in human clothing, so much as a whole crowd of them?


texts:
How do I learn which particles go with which transitive verbs since it is not always を。

For example:

ラップをかける
ラップを被せる

...is no problem, but...

ラップで包む
役に立てる

JDICT says these are all transitive verbs but the last two examples don't take を so do you just learn them as exceptions or set phrases?


texts: What are the origins of the names of tanuki and kitsune noodle dishes?

texts:
Two of Japan's native wild animals are the きつね fox and たぬき raccoon dog.

Interestingly there are also noodle dishes apparently named after each. (Not containing the meat of those animals!)

The terms seem to be mostly for うどん udon but occur with other kinds of noodles in Japan such as ramen and soba too.

Do we know how these two noodle dishes came to each be named after a Japanese animal? Could it be that one animal lives in a part of the country where one style of noodle dish was first popular while the other animal lives in a different part of the country with a different popular noodle dish?

Or is it based on something else?


texts: Does 1言語1章ずつ imply that each chapter is in a different language?

texts:
I'm reading about a Japanese book approaching linguistics and translation through the lens of "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. A sentence in the press release announcing the book reads:

第2部は28言語の概説に続いて、『星の王子さま』を1言語1章ずつ読み進みます。
The second part reads through "The Little Prince", one language per chapter, covering an outline of 28 languages.

The part I'm unsure about is how to interpret 1言語1章ずつ -- does this necessarily imply that each chapter of The Little Prince is translated into a different language? Or is each chapter a complete translation of the work into each of the 28 languages? Or is it ambiguous?


texts: Same kanji compound, with different readings, and meanings depend on the reading? (heteronyms)

texts:
In the thread titled is "こっかい" a heteronym?, the accepted answer explains that there are some because of "pitch accent". However, in Japanese, there are more than one way to think about heteronyms.

Aren't there heteronyms with these specifications:

one kanji compound (with possible okurigana).
two possible ways to write it in hiragana (to eliminate the "pitch inflection" variable).
two definitions, and the definitions depend on the hiragana writings.

example:
新聞::しんぶん::newspaper.
新聞::あらたきき::something heard for the first time. <--- imaginary word

What are a few of such words?

EDIT: This question is answered in the "comment" section. So, mark this as answered.


texts:
I am trying to translate the GUI of a simple memory game from English to Japanese.
I want to the user to be able to choose how many rows and columns there should be in the memory game. For a 2x3 memory game it would look like this:

Rows
2
Columns
3

However, no matter how much I look in my dictionary(jisho.org), I can't find any separate words for "rows" and columns". The closest I can find is 列, but it seems to mean eithers rows or columns. So how would I translate these two words?


texts: Pronouncing abbreviations, acronyms, letters? (NHK, CM, JR, A...)

texts:
I've been noticing that Latin letters in abbreviations and acronyms are (obviously) common in Japan.

For instance:

JR becomes ジェイアール
CM becomes シーエム
N3 becomes エヌさん
NHK becomes エヌエイチケイ (I think)

Are there any set rules for pronouncing (possibly made-up) acronyms like these, or rather, are there set Japanese pronunciations for each English letter? How would a 日本人 pronounce a random acronym like AXQ, JSOC or something?

Maybe pronunciation is irregular... but would you guys know any good guidelines or sources?

I've noticed that there may be some irregularities, like here Why is "UFO" pronounced as if it were a word?
I'm more or less okay with "guessing" the pronunciation of letters. Still, is there any actual list of the sounds?

Any help is appreciated!


texts: Difference between passive and intransitive for positive verbs

texts:
I saw this answer for how the nuance changes between the use of passive and intransitive verbs when the verb is negative. I was wondering what the difference is with a positive verb. Here's an example:

  財布がみつかった。

  財布がみつけられた。

Both of which, I hope, mean "the wallet was found". Is there a difference, or would you just not bother with the passive if an equivalent intransitive verb exists?

Response to duplicate suggestion:
I have looked at Passive-transitive-verb vs. Intransitive-verb （他動詞の受け身 vs. 自動詞) but found the answer difficult to follow. In particular I thought example 3 was supposed to be with an intransitive verb but it still seems to be taking an object.

Thanks


texts: 「認めるところである」とはどういう意味ですか。

texts:
下の例文で「ところであり」ってどういう意味ですか。

  例文）「そのすぐれた才能はだれもが認めるところであり、巧自身、大人が相手であっても自分の球が打たれるなどとは考えていません。」

よろしくお願いします。


texts: Understanding のではない and のではないか in the passage

texts:
I was reading through Soumatome N1 Dokkai practice book when I encountered the passage below. Understanding the passage itself was not really difficult: the uncle did the prank. But when it comes to answering the multiple choice question, I was stumped. Here is how I arrived at my answer:
1 その子供がまた今度いたずらをやったら許されない、と母は言った。

This can't be true.

3 叔父はよくいたずらをするので、今回も叔父がやったと僕はおもった。

This translates to the uncle did it.

2 今回のいたずらは、叔父さんがやったのではない、と僕は思った。

I translated the part「叔父さんがやったのではない」as "the uncle did it"
THIS IS WHY I GOT IT WRONG

What was going on my mind was that 「いいんじゃない」 conveys roughly the same meaning as「いいんだよね」and so I applied this logic. Apparently, it's wrong.
So, is it true that 「叔父さんがやったのではない」translates to "the uncle did not do it"? And if so, if I want to convey the fact that the uncle did it using the negative, just like 「いいんじゃん」, how should I write it?


texts: The word アルコール is very similar to the Portuguese alcohol (pronounced alcōl), this seems closer than the English アルコホール. So is the real etymology Portuguese rather than English?


texts:
I've just started using Mango's On-the-Go (meaning "audio-only version") Japanese course. (It's free from my library. They also have Pimsleur, though their only copy is in use right now.)

I think I've heard the speakers sometimes pronounce ほ as /xo/ rather than /ho/. Is that a thing? Is it a regional thing? Or am I maybe just mishearing?

(I also hear ん pronounced as /n/ or /m/ sometimes at the ends of utterances when it should be /ɴ/, which confuses me as well… though maybe I should write this as a separate question.)


texts: The usage of いや in response to questions

texts:
My question is about the usage and meaning of いや in response to questions. Take, for example, the 2 examples below.

1)

  「僕たちは、もっと親睦を深める必要があると思うのでござるよ」

  「いきなりどうしたのよ、何か思うところでも？」

  「いや、常日頃から思っていたのでござるが、こう、色々と釈然としないのでござるよ」

2)

  「ジューゾーくんも、盛り上げ役、ご苦労さま。　喉渇いたでしょう？」

  木陰で休んでいたジューゾーに果汁を混ぜた冷水を渡し、ミントは目を細めて微笑う。

  「いやぁ、折角こうして遠方から集まり、縁を得たのでござるから、仲良くなっておかねば損というもの！皆も楽しんでいるようで、一安心でござる」

From what I see, the usage of いや in response to a question like this can either mean "that's wrong/not true etc." i.e. saying that what the other person just said is not "correct", or it can be used as a sort of filler that comes at the start of a sentence similar to how one might use "well" in English. Looking at the above three lines I was thinking which one (or whether both) of these usages fits better. Since She asked him that and later in his response he gives a very vague and unspecific response by using 色々と(even though he clearly does as is evident very shortly afterwards). Or is it used as a sort of filler before he starts speaking, as he clearly didn't want to be asked this question (as is obvious from the way he answered it)?.

Can anyone clarify how いや is used in response to questions like this in general, and in this specific case?


texts:
お預け入れいただく明細は、すべて「元金成長型」のお取り扱いとなります。

what does 元金成長型 mean in the above sentence.


texts: What's the difference between ために/ため, ように and のに meaning "in order to"?

texts:
I know they all mean "in order to" and similar translations, sometimes however I see that some are used instead of others. Also it's not clear if  ために and ため have different usages.

I know that ように is used with potential and negative forms, but I'm not too sure.

hope someone can clarify!