texts: Help with the line 誰かと似ていて放っておいても行ってしまいそうだからね

texts:
Context: There has been an incident and law enforcement is scrambling anyone and everyone to go after the wrongdoers. Our protagonist is getting ready to set off, when person B (who was earlier taken into custody for being related to the incident and because they were heavily injured) comes and begs to come with the MC to the scene. MC wants to refuse because the person was heavily injured recently but the person claims and seems to have recovered.
This is when the Chief calls in and says the following. The bolded line is the problematic one:

僕の権限で許可は出してる同行してくれ
On my authority I’m granting you permission. Go together.
誰かと似ていて放っておいても行ってしまいそうだからね
?????????
作戦に組み込んだ方が安心できるんだ
With her included in the operation I’ll be able to have peace of mind.

From the context and some of the verbs in the problematic sentence, I'd guess that the Chief is castigating the MC for leaving behind someone who could help. But I can't for the life of me figure out how does the sentence work. If I take my time and segment it, it comes out as kinda jiberish:

誰かと似ていて

Someone looking alike/possessing the shape - I guess this might be "Someone capable as you" or something if we stretch the meaning of 似{に}る "Possessing the nature and state/condition nearly the same"

誰かと似ていて放っておいて

"There is someone similar in condition and is being left behind" with も it would become "Even if you leave behind someone of similar capability".
The other side of the sentence:

行ってしまいそうだからね

"(I'm granting permission) because (you) unfortunately seem to be leaving"
So I can grok these two sides on their own. But together:
"You seem to be going in spite of there being someone similar you and are leaving them behind"
This allmost makes sense now, but why put ても on 放っておく? As far as I know ても indicates some sort of conflict with the rest of the sentence (Even if it's A someone is doing B and like). But leaving someone as is (behind) isn't really in conflict with going. It would have been less weird for me if ても was on 似ていて.
Sooo yeah. Can someone break down this sentence for me and explain it's meaning and where did I get lost here?
I hope this is enough context, coz there isn't really that much more relevant to the context.


texts: I find some (young?) people say ちげー when they mean 違う. Is there other verb that is frequently sound-reduced? (BTW, what is the correct way to describe this phonological phenomenon or the word for this kind of phonological change?)


texts:
What is the purpose of のは in the sentence “今浮かんだのは”?
The context is, I asked someone what their favorite English word was and they said “Hmm 今浮かんだのは bullshit. Just kidding!”

Would the translation be “I just came up with ‘bullshit’”? I don’t understand the grammar used here. Please help, thanks!


texts:
In 亜人 manga I've found the word バキン, at least it seems to me so (look at the picture), but I've only found the translation of the word バキッ baki (crack) and パキン pakin (also crack). But on the picture I see ン, not ッ and バ, not パ.

Is there a difference between those two words, if no why it's written in the book with ン, but in the sources - ッ.


texts: How can I produce Japanese quotation marks?

texts:
How can I produce the sort of Japanese quotation marks shown on this book page?

I tried ″英語″ but in documents on my computer (Microsoft Word, plain text) it comes out looking like this screenshot:  where 1) both marks are in the same direction rather than pointing in toward each other and catty-corner to each other (mirrored), and 2) my academic advisor says there is too much blank space between the left quotation mark and the text inside it (that typographical symbol cannot be scooted over, in the same way as the space on the outer sides of「」cannot be pushed in to make a word on the outside closer to it:「」without spaces on either side). This is for an academic paper of which I will pass out a copy for the audience to read along during the presentation, so it ought to match the original quotation from the book.

I looked in the character viewer on my MacBook Air, and I checked Japanese typographic symbols on Wikipedia, but I could not find anything else that looks like this mirrored set of quotation marks.

Edit:

U+301F and U+301D used together don't seem to match in size and thickness (even when they are in the same font size):


texts:
Some Youtube comments:

  1) 日本人にとっても日本語ってクソムズイのに、外国人に簡単だとか言われると腹立つのなんでやろ。しかもカタコトでwww
  誰もこのコメの意味分からんだろうけどさwww
  2) 文化を知らずして日本語を喋る人は大体ただの糞外人

What does ...のなんでやろ。 mean?　Is that a やる verb? is の a normalization particle? If so, what is なんで？


texts:
Context:

Why "え" is used here? What does it mean?


texts: Can 悪魔 mean something else other than devilish / demonic?

texts:
I am watching this video of a Japanese girl covering a rock song, and she uses the word 悪魔 in an odd way (at least for me), I think it is being used as a の-adjective.
1st sentence (https://youtu.be/G--hl5yMBSo?t=7):

悪魔の時間がやってきました。The devil's time has come. (?)

or maybe something like: The time of truth has come?
2nd (https://youtu.be/G--hl5yMBSo?t=47):

悪魔のチューニングをしていきたいと思います。- I would like to do this goddamn tuning.

At this point I feel like 悪魔 would mean something close to "damn" or "damned", is it correct?


texts: What is this English doing in the middle of my Japanese?

texts:
Note: I understand this question is on the edge of being off topic. I'll accept the community assessement if enough people feel that is the case.

I'm reading 脳{のう}は0.1秒{びょう}で恋{こい}をする by 茂木{もぎ}健一郎{けんいちろう}, and out of the blue, there's an English word right in the middle of a sentence:

The sentence reads 人生{じんせい}は「偶有性{ぐうゆうせい}」(contingency)に満{み}ちています。 I think I basically understand it, in that it says life is full of contingencies.

My question, though, is why is this English word here? The book is written by and for Japanese. The way the word is offered, it looks as though it is a clarification of 偶有性{ぐうゆうせい}, where 偶有{ぐうゆう} means having an accident, and 性{せい} means the suffix ~ness, so I guess it's supposed to approximate the word "contingencies".

I just don't get how this would help a Japanese person reading the book? Does Mogi San expect that a Japanese person who doesn't know 偶有性{ぐうゆうせい} would be helped by knowing that it meant "contingencies"? That doesn't seem very likely to me.

I appreciated it, because it helped me understand what he meant, but I don't think this is for the benefit of Japanese learners.

What is going on here?


texts:
I am a bit confused using suki (na) or kirai (na) directly with a noun.
I read that for instance suki na hito means "person (i) like" or suki na shigoto "work (i) like". Why does this not simply translate as "a nice person" "a nice job"?


texts: とする(か) VS Volitional, conjectural and と思う

texts:
The speaker just finished preparing a ring for a tournament when he says this sentence by himself (there is no hearer in the scene) :

  さて...テレビ局に行くとするか。

I know that とする can mean "to decide to", like にする, the sentence would then mean :

  I (just decided that) am going to go to the TV station.

What difference is there between the volitional form 行こう and 行くとする when it means "to decide to"?

If とする means "to suppose", "to assume" then the sentence would mean :

  I guess I am going to go to the TV station.

Which makes more sense to me because of the か which I guess adds a bit of uncertainty which wouldn't fit (to me) with the meaning "to decide to".

What difference is there between the conjectural 行くだろう(か？), 行くとするか and 行くと思う(か？)when it means "To suppose"?

Bonus point for a quick explanation of this か that I seem to find everywhere.

Thank you for your time.


texts:
happened to see these two kanjis while writing down some words, they had the same meaning !!!

normally I heard うち as home but there but they got translated いえandたく as home-house as well !!!

so I'm wondering what's their differences and can they be replaced with うち?

thanks for reading and waiting for your precious answers ♥


texts: Can you help me understand the first part of the following sentence?

texts:
The sentence in question is as follows (the part that I have a question about is in bold):

それも体操部全員でかかれとは、いかに戦闘ランクの低い自分の部でも合点が行かなかった。

The context goes something like this: the Fighting Gymnastics Club, led by Club President Emi, attacks Reiko, a member of the Comics Appreciation Club. They fully expected to beat the tar out of her, but she beats the tar out of them instead. Now it is just Reiko and Emi facing each other in a showdown.
Here are some more sentences to add to the context:
「冷子、あんたタダの漫研じゃないね！？」
もともとおかしな話ではあった。同級の鬼塚冷子を下校時に襲えという命令。それも体操部全員でかかれとは、いかに戦闘ランクの低い自分の部でも合点が行かなかった。相手は冴えない文化部、それも卑しい漫画研究会なのである！

“Reiko, you aren’t just CA, are you!?”
It was a strange story from the start (but…). She was under orders to attack Onizuka, Reiko who is in the same class with her when she was coming home from school. **それも体操部全員でかかれとは、**no matter how low on the fighting ranks her own club was, it did not make sense. The reason is that their opponents are the unappealing culture clubs and the lowly Comics Appreciation Club at that!

Okay, I’m going to try to break down that part of the sentence into pieces.
それも: It seems that it is often translated as “and that” or “at that”.
体操部全員: I am pretty sure it is translated as “all the Gymnastics Club members”.
でかかれ: Okay, this one was tricky for me. Why? Because as Kotobank かかる shows, the term has a long list of definitions. Well, not as long as the lists of definitions of some words in English, but I digress. In spite of that, I think it is translated as “attack with” or “swoop down on her with”.
とは: This term has me stumped. Kotobank とは does have a list of definitions, but the hard part is figuring out which definition I should go with. I am pretty sure that this term is not defining the preceding phrase. I also don’t think it expresses strong emotions (or does it?). Right now, I think it might be an emphasizer for “と”.
I think that the sentence fragment is translated as “And saying to swoop down on her with all the Gymnastics Club members at that,…”
Am I on the right track with this? I would really appreciate your help with this.


texts:
In many cultures people will make nicknames for the residents of a certain region, for example Cockneys / Brummies in Britain, or Yankees / Hillbillies in the US.

Are there any common nicknames Japanese people will call each other? I have so far only found 才六{さいろく} and 東男{あづまをとこ}, but both of these seem to be quite old fashioned.


texts: How did スマート (from 'smart' in English) shift to mean 'slim, trim' and 'stylish'?

texts:
I first learned of this loanword on /r/FalseFriends. Wiktionary:

Etymology
From English smart.
Adjectival noun
スマート (-na inflection, rōmaji sumāto)

slim, trim,
slender
stylish

What type of semantic shift is this?

Please see the titled question.


texts:
I want to say “I like spending lunchtimes with Sarah.”

(Sarah is a fill-in name)

I am absolutely clueless, because I’ve only done Japanese for a semester at school (but I plan on choosing it as a subject next year). Would I use ‘to’ and where? I know lunch is hirugohan, but I’ve heard a variety of answers?

(Kanji and romaji are both fine.)

Some help would be much appreciated!

Arigatou gozaimasu!


texts:
For full context see this document, Exercise 7.

According to my textbook, the brackets have to be filled with:

1 ただ

2 すると

3 つぎつぎに

4 せっかく

5 ぜったいに

The sentence in question is the one at the very bottom.

  せっかく三十分も早く行ったのに、約束の時間に遅れるし、友人には買いたくないなら、ぜったいにそんなことを言ってはいけないと注意されるし、大変な一日だった。

I'd interprete it as follows:

  "Because I didn't make it in time even though I went to great pains to
  be 30 minutes early and because I was warned by my husband that I must
  not say that I don't want to buy anything, it was a horrible day."

I feel a bit unsure about my interpretation because there are several clauses embedded into each other. Maybe you can confirm whether I did it right or not.


texts: Is it なしかりたらず as a usual し adjective? Or is it something weirder? I need this for a skit.


texts: what is the difference between である ＆ という

texts:
I'm using a new textbook, 中級を学ぼう- the blue cover, not the orange. And the grammar point is using という at the end of the sentence. It means the same as そうだ・らしい。The explanation says that it is frequently used in writing, so my question is why would I use this grammar point? Especially when I can use である。

Example sentence:
今年の冬は記録的な暖冬だという。


texts: Is there any difference between 流石 and 予想した通りでした?

texts:
My question is

  Is there any difference between 流石{さすが} and 予想{よそう}した通{とお}りでした?


texts: Examples of when to use ではありません、ではない、じゃありません、 じゃない

texts: I'm looking for example situations of when to use each level of politeness. I know they all are the same but when situational wise to use each one is where I am having confusion. Thank you.


texts:
Although this seems to be more of an English question, it deals with Japanese usage, so I would like some help here.

We know the kanji 中; I am talking about when this is used for processes that are happening. For example 回収中、実行中、動作中...
What would be a correct way to translate this into English? Sometimes I use "In" as in "In Operation", sometimes I use the "ing" as in "Collecting", etc.

Any suggestions?


texts: Natural phrasing when introducing yourself and the reason you are arriving somewhere

texts:
I'm looking for a natural expression to introduce myself and the reason I have come to a certain place. In my specific case, I will be going to a school to observe (with an appointment at a specific time), but if I can use this pattern for more general usage, that would be great.

I am thinking of something along these lines:

僕はスミス・ジョンと申します。見学にまいりました。

This seems simple and safe, but I thought maybe it would be better to join these a single sentence.

僕はスミス・ジョンと申しまして、見学にまいりました。

(As a side question, would 〜見学に来ております be more natural sounding?)

Alternatively, I have seen a pattern where information about the person is used before their name, as in:

僕は、見学にきた、スミス・ジョンと申します。

Somehow saying "〜に参った" sounds like it could be misinterpreted so I used "きた" instead. But I may be wrong.

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

EDIT: Thinking about this again, I think the "僕は" part really isn't needed. Let me know if I am right about that.


texts: When was this Japanese standard and why this is so different from modern Japanese?

texts:
朕惟フニ我カ皇祖皇宗國ヲ肇ムルコト宏遠ニ德ヲ樹ツルコト深厚ナリ我カ臣民克ク忠ニ克ク孝ニ億兆心ヲ一ニシテ世世厥ノ美ヲ濟セルハ此レ我カ國體ノ精華ニシテ敎育ノ淵源亦實ニ此ニ存ス爾臣民父母ニ孝ニ兄弟ニ友ニ夫婦相和シ朋友相信シ恭儉己レヲ持シ博愛衆ニ及ホシ學ヲ修メ業ヲ習ヒ以テ智能ヲ啓發シ德器ヲ成就シ進テ公益ヲ廣メ世務ヲ開キ常ニ國憲ヲ重シ國法ニ遵ヒ一旦緩急アレハ義勇公ニ奉シ以テ天壤無窮ノ皇運ヲ扶翼スヘシ是ノ如キハ獨リ朕カ忠良ノ臣民タルノミナラス又以テ爾祖先ノ遺風ヲ顯彰スルニ足ラン
斯ノ道ハ實ニ我カ皇祖皇宗ノ遺訓ニシテ子孫臣民ノ俱ニ遵守スヘキ所之ヲ古今ニ通シテ謬ラス之ヲ中外ニ施シテ悖ラス朕爾臣民ト俱ニ拳々服膺シテ咸其德ヲ一ニセンコトヲ庶幾フ
明治二十三年十月三十日
御名御璽

And why are the Okurigana written in Katakana? Can average Japanese understand this?


texts: Meaning of 一丁前にご指摘失礼しました

texts:
A young employee points out an error made by the boss in a blog post, the following ensues:

  boss: なるほど、あとで直しとくわ
  employee: ありがとうございます。一丁前にご指摘失礼しましたー。

QUESTION: What does 一丁前 refer to in this dialog?

According to my dictionary, 一丁前 means "becoming an adult or full-fledged member of society".
Does the employee points out that himself has only recently become an adult, and thus is not in a position to point out errors? Or does he points out that he is not in a position to point out errors because the boss is a older than himself?


texts: こいつ　そいつ　あいつ vs こやつ　そやつ　あやつ

texts: I know they're all connected to 奴, but what's the difference? Are the forms in ～やつ more old-fashioned?


texts: Remembering when to use [原]{げん} and when to use [源]{げん}?

texts:
The kanji 原 and 源 seem to often have not only an identical pronunciation, but also a very similar meaning, and I'm having a lot of trouble remembering the spellings of several words:

Using 原:

[原]{げん}[因]{いん} - cause, source, origin
[原]{げん}[始]{し}[的]{てき} - primitive; original

Using 源:

[起]{き}[源]{げん} - origin; beginning; rise
[水]{すい}[源]{げん} - fountainhead, source of a river

I'm wondering if there's some shade of meaning that I am missing between these two characters, or maybe if there's some Japanese equivalent to the "i before e except after c" rule that would help me remember which is which. For the most part, it does not seem that the words containing 原 have anything more to do with meadows than the words containing 源.


texts: Which is the most common way to say "awkward"; 違和感, 気詰まり, or 気まずい?

texts:
Which is the most common way to say "awkward"; [違和感]{いわかん}, [気詰]{きづ}まり, or [気]{き}まずい?
Or if neither of the three, what word can I use?

For example, being the only one eating in the office is awkward for me and I'd like to know how to express this.

Thanks in advance.


texts:
I was reading  a manga when this sentence came up:

暑いではないですか

I first thought it meant "isn't it warm?", however, there was just one thought bubble yet the sentence was written in this format (both vertical rather than horizontal):

first 暑いでは

then ないですか right next to 暑いでは

my question is, why don't write 暑いではないですか all together instead of separately? or is this separation meaningful and it makes the sentence mean something other than "it's not warm"?


texts: 素敵 is often described as a feminine word. Just how feminine is it? What would be the impression of a male speaker using it, if he didn't already use feminine speech?


texts:
For full context:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20181007/k10011662381000.html?utm_int=news_contents_news-main_003

The sentence in question:
長野県内でキノコ採りに出かけた人が死亡する事故が相次ぐ中、６日も上田市の山林でキノコ採りをしていた30代の女性が滑落して死亡しました。

My attempt at translation:
"In Nagano prefecture, during a series of accidents (= during accidents which happened one after another) where people died who had left to collect mushrooms, on the sixth of the month (octobre) in the Uedashi mountain forest, a woman of the age of 30 who was collecting mushrooms died slipping."

First, since I'm a bit skeptical about my overall interpretation, I wonder whether I interpreted も correctly here or not. Overall the article seems to report one particular incident where people died in an accident, however, since it speaks of a series of accidents, I'm not sure whether this "series" happened in a series of days or on a single day?
If the first option was true, then I guess も would make perfect sense as it depicts the 6th of octobre as another day where (such) accidents happened.
If the second option was true though then I'm kind of out of ideas, because then there wouldn't be a day similar to the 6th octobre to which the も could relate.


texts: What's the difference between やく and くすり?

texts: They both mean medicine. But when to use which?


texts:
I'm wondering about the origin of the word 無くす.

There is the word 無{な}い, meaning "to not exist/be there". You can add なる and する to adjectives to create verbs:

なる - 無くなる - "to become not there/become lost"
する - 無くする - "to make not there/lose"

Now, according to some dictionaries, 無くなる seems to be considered a word of its own, but not 無くする, which I find interesting.

無くす means the same thing as 無くする, and the definition in デジタル大辞泉 of 無くす does use 無くする.

Thus, I am wondering if 無くす stems from 無くする, but with the る dropped, in the same way as 愛す appeared.


texts: What is the にはな used for in the following sentence?

texts:
「僕にはな、ちゃんとした名前が……」

Is the above にはな made from the に+は particles with a ない (omitted い), or is it something else entirely?

Context provided below if it will help in solving the above issue.

  Character A:「変な呼び方しないでくれよ！」

  僕はいい加減苛立ちを抑えきれず、そう怒鳴りつけてしまった。

  Character A:「僕にはな、ちゃんとした名前が……」


texts: Standard Formula for Past Counterfactual Conditional (what is the role of -te iru?)

texts:
What is the standard formula for making a counterfactual conditional sentence that talks about the past? That is, English conditionals that have this pattern: "If ..... had ..... , ..... would have ...... "
I have checked these similar questions asked previously, but the answers don't seem to match up well (or at least I fail to see the common pattern):
(1) here, the working example is "安ければ買った". Non-past conditional in first clause + plain past second clause.
(2) here, the working example is "あのとき右に曲がっていれば(or いたら)、どうなっていた（の）だろう". Conditional of -te iru form in 1st clause +  past of -te iru form in 2nd clause.
(3) here, the working example is "もしお金を持っていたら、食べ物を買っていた" or "もしお金があったら、食べ物を買っていた". Conditional of -te iru form in 1st clause +  past of -te iru form in 2nd clause. And the alternative sentence is non-past conditional in 1st clause +  past of -te iru form in 2nd clause.
The answers in the above pages made me confused because I don't quite get whether -te iru form is necesssary or preferred when making conditionals of this kind. And whether it is necessary or preferred in both parts of the sentence (first and second clause).
I also tried some examples of my own with online translators:
"If I had eaten those mushrooms, I would have fallen sick."

Both Google Translate and deepL give this: あのキノコを食べていたら病気になっていた (でしょう/だろう)
"If it had been dark, I would not have been able to see."

Google Translate: 暗かったら見えなかったでしょう。
DeepL: 暗くなっていたら見えなかっただろう。
The best rule I can build out of these is:
-te iru conditional + -te iru past is preferred in these kind of conditionals; except for when the verb cannot take -te iru form (like aru) or when the clause is an adjective or noun sentence.
Though I still am at a loss about whether -te iru past is preferred for second clause or not. Or whether using plain past vs. -te  iru past in the second clause creates two sentences with different meanings.
It'd be great if someone could correct or fine-tune this rule (or perhaps present the standard rule for counterfactual past conditionals, if there is one).


texts:
The particle か pops up in various places (among others):

Turning interrogative pronouns into indefinite ones: なに -> なにか,  だれ -> だれか, etc.;
Listing alternatives (like the English conjunction 'or');
Turning declarative sentences into interrogative ones.

These all seem vaguely connected to some idea of doubt or possibility. Is that just an accident of having only so many short particles, or there some historical connection between them? More specifically, was there some sort of irrealis marker that links these usages?


texts: Difference between 贖う【あがなう】 and 償う【つぐなう】

texts: I learned two words meaning "to compensate" "to make up for" and "to atone for" recently: 贖う and 償う. What is the difference between them? I feel like since they both end in なう they might be interchangeable but I don't know.


texts: I've heard in some mangas あちし, which  means "I". However, in every dictionary I've look at, It doesn't exist. So is this a fictional pronoun?


texts: Native Japanese vocabulary, pure Wago/Yamato Kotoba

texts:
Can you still speak Japanese while avoiding to use most Chinese loan words? The native portion of the Japanese language is called Yamato Kotoba or Wago, but how fluent could you still be without the Chinese-based part of Japanese?
Would pure Yamato Kotoba be comparable to Anglish for English?


texts: How does the katakana lengthening mark (長音符) sort?

texts:
Usually, lists are collated using the gozyuuon order. But how does the katakana lengthening mark ー fit in?

Given the following sequence of words, what order should they be in? What are the sorting rules regarding katakana?

合格{ごうかく}
航空{こうくう}
項目{こうもく}
効力{こうりょく}
呼応{こおう}
氷{こおり}
コーナー
コーヒー
コーラー


texts: Can someone break down かのじょ and かれ for me?

texts:
I would like to understand these words more clearly as I do with おとこのこ and おんなのこ

Being that おとこのこ basically translates into "male of youth"
and that おんなのこ basically translates into "female of youth"

So breaking them down to their literal meaning would be of great help. Thanks!


texts: I don't know understand what the 9つも is doing grammatically in this song title: 「９つも離れた君との恋」

texts:
I really love this song by SHIROSE (WHITE JAM) and I have been listening to it for ages, but for the life of me, I can't understand what the title means.
「９つも離れた君との恋」
I understand without the ９つも but it's a difficult clumsy translation: "The love with you who I was separated from". But what is the ９つも actually grammatically doing in this sentence?
If you need a little more context from the song, the lyrics are written from texts he sent to his ex, which I thought was a really interesting concept, and great to analyse this use of language.
If someone could explain I'd appreciate it so much! Thank you!


texts:
I'm doing a speech & want to say "I don't often get given a platform like this"

I've been trying to find the word 'platform', but they only thing that comes up is the term 'platform' in terms of a train station. (i.e. the noun)

Is there a Japanese equivalent to the 'platform' we use in the metaphorical sense in English?

Thanks!


texts: I realize that both words mean to give. What is the difference between さしあげる and あげる? The word was used in a chat with an elderly person.


texts:
My friend ended a letter thusly:

  あとでノシ

ノシ symbolizes a waving arm. Is this considered  絵文字 or does it have a different name?


texts:
I have two sentences that im using to try to understand how na adjectives are conjugated in Japanese.

私の友達は綺麗な人 - My friend is a beautiful person
私の友達は綺麗だった人 - My friend was a beautiful person

In Tae Kims guide to Japanese he gives the following patterns for conjugating Na adjectives:

|                   |    Positive       |      Negative         |
|:--------------:   |:--------------:   |:------------------:   |
| Present/Future    |   Na Adj + da     |   Na Adj + janai      |
|      Past         | Na Adj + datta    | Na Adj + janakatta    |

My question is this, if im using the past tense of 綺麗 to modify the noun 人 do I still need the な in between?

Most other guides I have read tell me to use the past tense of です after the modified noun in order to show past tense, something like this:

私の友達は綺麗な人でした。

Isn't this the polite form?

Im really confused about this. Can anyone provide some guidance on where im going wrong?


texts:
I'm practicing particles as well as general grammar and I'm wondering if this is an accurate translation of the English statement: "I like sunshine, candy, and apples."

私は日光やキャンディやりんごが好きです。

I have two questions beyond "Is this right?":

Do I need to put commas in between the nouns even though they're separated by the particle (や)?
In the original English statement, I used the conjunction "and" (そして), is this needed?


texts: Difference between もう いい です and もう けっこう です

texts:
I'm going back over my notes from Japanese For Busy People. I no longer have the books but I wrote out many of the examples. What I have not always done is write down my teacher's explanations. Hopefully I can get an answer here.
In these two examples we see けっこう and いい used.
I remember using けっこう for saying one does not want any more tea (いいえ、もう けっこう です) but I don't know if it is the same usage here.
More commonly I use もう いい です. So seeing けっこう here has confused me.
Could somebody explain the difference between these two examples please?

今 ペンが ありません。 えんぴつで も いい です か。
はい、えんぴつで も けっこう です。
今 現金が ありません。 カードで も いい です か。
はい、 カードで も いい です。


texts: 「今はいない」as a response to 「彼女いるの？」

texts:
I get asked this question a lot, and most of the time, I would reply 今はいない.
However, recently I thought that I might be unintentionally lying.
Can anyone tell me which of the following does it usually mean?

She's not here with me now.
I'm not attached.
I'm attached most of the time but now I am not attached.
I've never been attached before and I'm afraid to admit it openly.

I know that Japanese is a very ambiguous language and it probably could be any of the 4 (or maybe more), but I'd like to know the usual/common interpretation of the answer.


texts: Both mean "to leave" but when do you use one instead of another ? Does 出発する implies "leaving and go on a trip" ? Or maybe is one more formal than the other ?


texts: Does the word for squid (ika) come from another language?

texts:
My book lists a number of kinds of fishes and sea creatures.

The names are given in hiragana for all except that for squid for which it is given in katakana. イカ

Does the word ika come from another language and if so what language ?


texts: Which is more colloquial for "I have a headache"?

texts:
Yesterday my (also non Japanese) friend had a headache and we had to buy medicine in Japanese.

So I looked up how to say "headache" and add it to my vocabulary.

I found the word 頭痛{ずつう} and I suppose it could be used in sentences like 頭痛がある

But when I told my friend about 頭痛 he said "no that's not right." He said it's 頭{あたま}が痛{いた}い so you would make a sentence like 頭が痛いだ.

Obviously they both use the same characters but in different ways. Is the second sentence more colloquial? Is 頭痛 more technical? Are they both just as common?


texts:
When writing out numbers, I've seen novels especially writing in weird formats. For example:

19- 一九
10- 一〇

I am assuming pronunciation wise, it is really じゅうきゅう and じゅう respectively. What's the motivation in using such a format rather than 十九 or 十. Is this the preferred way of writing when it comes to novels?


texts:
やっぱりお前はさぁ…っ、こんなにも、こんなにもさぁ…

My translation: After all you are...., so much, so much

What was this guy trying to say? Or is it incomplete on purpose? Even with context I don't get it.
I would like to know if there's something I haven't seen and that's the reason my translation is bad and everything actually makes sense.


texts:
I an anime I was watching the other day, I heard the bellow phrase. I don't remember whose name it was or which anime it was, so I'll just replace it with a generic name:

  アリスに分かってる.

The speaker was Alice, and it was translated as "Alice knows [about it]". I find this odd. Wouldn't the に particle refer to the thing that the person is "understanding" or "knowing" in that instance? I am confused why it's not

  [私が]それにわかってる

or something like that.

Could someone help me out here?


texts: Multiple Choice Question on JLPT N5 Test

texts:
The question was to select which word would fill in the blank (x) below:

  えきから たいしかんまでの （X）をかいて　ください。

The options to select as correct answers were:

  １．しゃしん　　２．ちず　　３．てがみ　　４．きっぷ

I thought the answer was 4, with the translation being "Please buy  a ticket from the Station to the Embassy.
However, it seems the answer given in the booklet was 2.
It seems to me that both answers are plausible, is there something in the translation that I'm missing?


texts: Pronunciation of interpoint when listing items

texts:
話者の希望・意向を表す文や働きかけの文は来ない。

This is a case when interpoint (中黒) is used for listing like a conjunction.
I wonder how would a native speaker pronounce such an expression?

Simply きぼういこう
きぼう (pause) いこう
or きぼうといこう, きぼうやいこう, i.e. inserting some context-appropriate conjunction word between items.


texts: How do you formulate the 連用中止 with 形容動詞 (な adjectives) and 名詞 (nouns)?

texts:
According to my textbook,  verb and i-adjective sentences can be chained with the 連用中止【れんようちゅうし】 form like this:

Later on, I came across this exercise where I'm required to replace the adjectives' endings by the corresponding 連用中止. But I do not know how to turn 静かで into 連用中止 in the following sentence:

  北海道【ほっかいどう】の7月の海は、深【ふか】く、青【あお】く、静【しず】か ___、絵のように美しかった。

Is this feasible? What about sentences that end with a noun?

Thank you very much


texts: How can you figure out whether 鍵【かぎ】 means "lock" or "key"?

texts:
Recently, I forgot whether 鍵【かぎ】 meant lock or key, so I looked it up quickly on my phone's dictionary... And then I found out that it actually means both.

What are the best ways to figure out if someone who is saying 鍵【かぎ】 is talking about a lock or talking about a key? Is the intonation maybe different for each meaning? Is there a way to ask which they are talking about? Is there a common alternative word for one or both of them?

Definitely not as important as the main question, but I'm also wondering if Japanese people sometimes get confused by this or if they just process it naturally since they're used to 鍵【かぎ】?


texts: Logical analysis of the sentence 「アメリカとの関係が悪くなったイランからの原油の輸入が減ると考える人などが多いためです」

texts:
アメリカとの関係が悪くなったイランからの原油の輸入が減ると考える人などが多いためです。

アメリカとの関係が悪くなったイラン: is a noun phrase. イラン is the head noun.

イランからの原油の輸入が減る: is an independent clause.

考える人などが多いためです: refers to the previous independent clause that, being bounded with the particle と, becomes an indirect quotation.

Translation: Because many people think that from Iran, being in a bad relation with USA, importation of crude oil will decrease.

Is it right? Any suggestions?
(Sorry for my bad English. I'm not a native English speaker)


texts: How to tell people that you are a bit different in Japanese?

texts:
I know that 頭がおかしい means a strange peole, but would it be okay to say "私は頭がおかしいですが"? to meant "I'm a bit weird"?
My instinct said that it is quite unnatural...
Or is it one of the sentences below?
A. "私はちょっと変なけど。。。”
B. "私は特別な人です。。。”
C. "私はユニークです!"

The sentence was meant to be used in a situation like this:"I gotta warn you, I'm a bit strange (different in a good/fun way)!"


texts: Meaning of 引き手 in the following sentence

texts:
In a manga about boxing, a character is explaining what the famous Muhammad Ali's phantom/anchor punch is. The phantom punch is basically a fast punch landed over the opponent's punch, but I can't entirely understand the character explanation:

  ファントムパンチかよ…　パンチより早い〝引き手〟に合わせるカウンター…

What is the meaning of 引き手? I understand it has to do with pulling something, but I can't see how it fits the context. Also, being between quotes, I think it could have a metaphorical meaning. Here you can see the whole page, while here you can se a video of the phantom punch in slow motion. Thank you for your help!


texts:
彼女は風邪を引いて当然というような薄い服を着ていた

From what I understand, this can approximately be translated as:

  She was wearing clothes so thin that you could say: She will definitely catch a cold.

The thing I'm having trouble with is this part in the relative clause:

  風邪を引いて当然

First, why is 当然 at the end here? Since I don't think it is modified by what comes before, is this order used to avoid 当然、風邪を引いて which may create a confusion with "She was of course wearing blabla..."? And secondly, why this て form? Is it just an unfinished sentence implying something else, or is it to avoid 風邪を引く当然 were 風邪を引く would act as a relative clause for 当然?


texts: Continuous state of 煙草を吸う, how to conjugate plain and te-form (polite/short)

texts:
たけしさんは煙草を吸いません。 ---> Takeshi will not smoke. ---- (1)
たけしさんは煙草を吸わない。 ----> Takeshi will not smoke. (the short form of the above). ---- (2)

たけしさんは煙草を吸っていません。 ----> Takeshi is not a smoker. ---- (3)
たけしさんは煙草を吸っていない。 -----> Takeshi is not a smoker. (the short form of the above). ---- (4)

Hopefully those four are correct. If so, then the sentence "I like people who do not smoke" should be (from using (4)):
煙草を吸っていない人が好きです。

However, Genki says it's 煙草を吸わない人が好きです which, when using (2), sounds like it's saying "I like people who will not smoke."


texts:
Are 暮らし　and 生活　interchangeable? For example:

  日本での暮らし　（is 日本での生活　OK?）

  日本の生活に慣れた。（is 日本の暮らしに慣れた　OK?)


texts: Been searching around the web for answers, none found. My guess is that it's uncooked rice (as "unedged" rice doesn't make any sense).


texts: I'm unable to identify the last character in this picture, OCR software identify only the first 2.


texts: inflecting an adjective as "〜く、..." or "〜くて、..."?

texts:
How to decide whether to inflect an adjective as 〜く、... or 〜くて、...?
pairing #1
// A is used in my textbook.

(A) 選手{せんしゅ}たちの今日{きょう}の試合{しあい}での活躍{かつやく}は素晴{すば}らしく、文句{もんく}のつけようがない。
(B) 選手たちの今日の試合での活躍は素晴らしくて、文句のつけようがない。

pairing #2
// B is used in my textbook.

(A) 仕事{しごと}が忙{いそが}しく、旅行{りょこう}どころではない。
(B) 仕事が忙しくて、旅行どころではない。

pairing #3
// B is used in my textbook.

(A) 隣{となり}のテーブルの人{ひと}たちがうるさく、食事{しょくじ}を楽{たの}しむどころではない。
(B) 隣のテーブルの人たちがうるさくて、食事を楽しむどころではない。

For each pairing, are both A and B grammatically correct?
For each pairing, do both A and B sound natural in daily conversation?

Sentence A in Pairing #1 confuses me. Myself, I've always inflected with the "て" as such 〜くて、.... When must I not do this?


texts:
サラーキア
「私も私でやることはあるけど……貴方ほど目まぐるしい忙しさはないし、いいわよ。引き受けるわ」
Guy1
「助かる」
ルキナ
「すまぬなサラーキア。　面倒をかけてしまいそうじゃ」
ルキナの言葉に、サラーキアは頭を下げて答えた。
Guy1
「今はそんなところでいいだろう。進捗状況は随時連絡してくれ。こちらも効果のありそうなネタが入手できたら渡す」
サラーキア
「わかったわ。どこまで力になれるか分からないけどやれるだけの事はやってみましょう」

In this exchange I'm uncertain of what he means by そんなところでいい, or rather what そんなところ is referring to. I think he is talking about the current situation (he is too busy to help, so she currently has to do it alone, possibly in the future when they have more progress/he has more time  he will help). Can anyone clarify this for me?


texts:
This sentence came up, translated as：
スカートは試着して買わないと心配だ = I get worried if I don't try on skirts before buying them
To me it says something like 'if I try skirts and don't buy them then I'm worried'
Could someone clarify this please? I have no clue how they got to that translation
Thanks in advance


texts: Grouping verbs for simultaneously or received actions

texts:
Using 動詞＋たり＋動詞＋たり　＋　するwe can describe a group actions.

Hows is this done when its a recieved action: ie て刑　＋もらう・いだだく?

ie, Would:
 Aをしてくれたり、Bをしてくれたり　　からありがたいです

or

Aをしたり、Bをしたり　してもらったからありがたいです。

or something else be the best way to express that?

Similarly, I understand that a pair of actions done simultaneously can be expressed using しながら, but can you, and if so how can you scale it to include more than 2 verbs?

ie could you just say AをしながらBをしながらCをしまし? It seems verbose and unnatural but i dont know how to express doing say 3 things at once for example.


texts: How do you ask for "the bill" at a restaurant?

texts:
This is probably a bit of a silly question, but what do you say in Japanese when you're asking for the bill in a restaurant? Or is it unusual to say anything at all?

When I was in Japan I could never really catch any particular phrases and when I was at Kaitenzushi places I just stood up until the staff noticed I was ready to leave and then they counted my plates.

Would it be something to the effect of 付けをください? Or is it like in America where you usually don't really ask for the bill but just wait for it to come?


texts: Can ～もの be applied to all verbs to make them a noun?

texts:
I understand that ～もの converts the verb into a noun. So たべます meaning "to eat" becomes たべもの meaning "food". Can ～もの be applied to all verbs?

eg. ききます meaning "to listen" becomes ききもの meaning "music"?


texts: How to express "X is the most important for Y"?

texts: I am not certain how to say "X is the most important for Y". For example, "A teacher is the most important person for a student." It could be 「先生は学生にいちばんたいせつな人です」　or 「がくせいは先生がいちばんたいせつな人です」, but I haven't been able to confirm either (or any other construct) in any way.


texts: What is the difference in terms of grammar between ～かける　and　～っぱなし?

texts:
Spawned from What is the difference in terms of grammar between きり　and　っぱなし?; I started thinking about ～かける.  Don't these essentially mean the same thing?  I'm failing to see any difference except that maybe ～かける doesn't necessarily have a negative nuance to it.

  食べかけたリンゴ　→　An apple I started eating
  食べっぱなしのリンゴ　→　??? (is it even grammatical; or used?)
  やりかけた　→　Started but not finished (?)
  やりっぱなし　→　Unfinished, incomplete


texts: What does なら mean in this sentence? I don't understand

texts:
I just got genki 2 and I don't understand what it means about なら. I heard it meant "if" from Tae Kim but it says

  A statement of the form "noun A なら predicate X" says that the predicate X applies only to A and is not more generally valid. The main ideas of a なら sentence, in other words, are contrast (as in Situation 1) and limitation (as in Situation 2)

I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. It makes me feel like I don't speak english.

  Situation 1 - Q: ブラジルに行ったことがありますか。Have you ever been to Brazil? A: チリなら行ったことがありますが、ブラジルは行ったことがありません。

So I guess thats supposed to be the one where it contrasts. I understand the second situation because it is just "if" but I don't understand the point of it in this one.

Is it supposed to emphasise that he's only been to Chile and not Brazil? Does it make that much of a difference if the なら isn't there?


texts:
I saw the phrase 烏有{うゆう}に帰{き}す, which means to "become nothing" as if turning to ashes. The word "烏有" means nothing, but its parts are 烏 (crow) and 有 (to be). How did 烏有 come to mean nothing?

When I consulted a dictionary (kotobank.jp), it said it means: 「烏(いずく)んぞ有らんや」. What does that mean? I'm not sure how to translate that. Also, is there a place where the word is first used?


texts:
First, please look at this sentence:

  私は日本へ行く前に、中国のお土産を買った。

Its English translation is:

  Before I will go to Japan, I bought some Chinese local goods.

which is very weird.

It is said that Japanese tense has relative tense which does not exist in English.

Can you explain that for me?


texts:
From their dictionary entries, 答え and 受け答え seem to be very similar.
Could someone explain the nuances between the two?


texts: The difference between からすると、から見ると、から言うと?

texts:
Are there any differences between these three sets:

  からして、からすると、からすれば

vs.

  から見て、から見ると、から見れば

vs.

  から言って、から言うと、から言えば

These 'sets' seem to be used in 2 basic ways:

Presents something as a basis for judgment.
To mean "From the point of view of..."

However, are there any restraints or special requirements when using these? Are they simply interchangeable?

For example are all of the following sentences acceptable?

Presents something as a basis for judgment.

症状からすると、心臓の病気かもしれません。
症状から見ると、心臓の病気かもしれません。
症状から言うと、心臓の病気かもしれません。

"From the point of view of..."

昔の人からすると、まるで別世界です。
昔の人から見ると、まるで別世界です。
昔の人から言うと、まるで別世界です。


texts:
According to dictionaries, 「けど」 means ‘but’, ‘although’, ‘however’.

However, it seems to have slightly another meaning at the end of the sentence. For example, here are few example sentences with their approximate translations (correct me if I'm wrong):

「まあ、いいけど。」 — ‘I guess, it's okay.’
「お話があるのですけど」 — ‘I have something to tell you’
「セーターが欲しいんだけど」 — ‘I'm looking for a sweater’

Translations demonstrate that「けど」 introduces some uncertainty, but don't feature anything close to ‘but’ or ‘however’.

Can anyone clarify how the meaning of 「けど」 at the end of sentence can be expressed in English, when it's appropriate to use this word, and what's it ‘politeness level’?


texts: What is the nuance of using 連用形 with すれば rather than other forms of conditionals?

texts:
Recently I came across

優希から直取りすれば逆転トップだぞ！？

And I was surprised to see it written like that rather than

優希から直取れば逆転トップだぞ！？

Is this a general thing that can be done with any 連用形 form of a verb? If not, then which ones? And what nuance does this carry, when compared with any of the "normal"?


texts: Why does 全員 sound like zein but is written zenin (ぜんいん)?

texts:
Is the middle "n" silent? Am I just not used to hearing it and can't identify it?

The duolingo pronunciation sounds like "zein" https://www.duolingo.com/dictionary/Japanese/%E5%85%A8%E5%93%A1/46748a7b24925ca8284f992c47fdfa40
The two femails pronounce it as "zenin" while the male and AI pronounce it "zein" - https://forvo.com/word/%E5%85%A8%E5%93%A1/
The hiragana spelling I got is from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%85%A8%E5%93%A1


texts: Are Japanese counters the same when viewing items online?

texts: As an example, I read three books online, would the counter 冊 still be used?　I know that counters are based on size and shape of physical items, do the same rules apply when reading a book online?


texts: 「日焼{ひや}け」 is not representative of a means to nominalize verbs?

texts:
I was just thinking about the sunburn I will get during the upcoming 4th of July holiday. Then, I wondered if 「日焼{ひや}け」is a verb nominalization. If it is, I am not aware of such a pattern.

Is it an ad-hoc conglomeration of the idea of "sun", "skin", and "burn"?
「日は人間の肌を焼ける」
「日は焼ける」// make the object implicit
「日焼ける」// drop the article
「日焼け」// drop the trailing "る"

Or, is this representative of a certain verb nominalization process that can be used to nominalize other verbs?


texts:
In this manga about boxing I found the following unrelated sentences:

  1) もっと探れ…　伏黒【ふくろ】さんの拳。小さくても攻撃を未然に防ぐため…　芯を通してくる。

  2) 芯の通ったパンチを打ってこなくなって…　後退を優先してる。

In the first the protagonist is thinking about how to anticipate his opponent's punches. In the second he is saying that after he stopped blowing 芯の通ったパンチ his opponent preferred to retreat. What is the exact meaning of 芯を通す and 芯の通る? I think they have something to do with determination and strength, but I am not sure. My attempts:

  1) I need to understand Fukuro's punches better. They are not powerful, but to anticipate them I need to focus/be determined.

  2) After I stopped blowing strong punches, he preferred to retreat.

Here you can see the two pages where the sentences are taken from. Thank you for your help!


texts: What's the progressive form of 来る, 帰る and 行く

texts:
If the ている form of these verbs doesn't mean that they're in a continuing action then what do they mean?

Q1 How do I use the ている form of these verbs.
Q2 What's the difference between using the past tense of these verbs and the
ているform.

Doesn't it mean we already did it?
Like if I were to say
Example 1

  家に行っている

Doesn't this mean I already went home and I'm there?
Example 2

  1.先に行っている
  2.先に行った

I ask this question because if the ている form here doesn't mean a continuing action but rather a continuing state then what does this state mean?

Q3. How do I conjugate these verbs into their progressive forms

Thanks for any help and I'm sorry for any inconvenience.


texts: The meaning of 蹴り脚 and translation of the sentence

texts:
I cannot completely grasp the meaning of 蹴り脚 in the following sentence. I would translate it as "the hitting leg" or rather "the leg which is doing an act of hitting"(not the best way to express it but I guess it explained the point), however in this sentence it is unclear why it is used with jumping(跳躍). So I tried to make some sort of a translation, and I would really appreciate if you correct my mistakes.

"After-effect from the jump which forced floor to collapse (with the leg hit(蹴り脚で)), and primary lights(原色光) of 斑に乱舞する(?) and covered in blood disco ball, are the things that reflected in my sight- Inside there(その中にあって),  jet black longcoat flutter like a condensated(凝縮した) black, gouging out throw the darkness."

  ただ視界に映るのは、蹴り脚でフロアを陥没させた跳躍の爪痕と、斑に乱舞する血塗られたミラーボールの原色光ーー。その中にあって尚昏く、闇を抉り抜いて凝縮したのごとき漆黒ロングコートが翻る


texts:
I was talking to my friend, and she said

  きれいにとれた！

What does に after an adjective mean, or what does に before a verb mean?
And where can I read more about this?

Thank you


texts: テレビ台 vs テレビ to refer to the physical TV?

texts:
To what extent does テレビ refer to the physical TV as opposed to the medium television? In other words, is it correct to say テレビを買う rather than テレビ台を買う?

Googling, I find equally many occurrences of both phrases, but significantly more using "台" if I replace テレビ with ラジオ.


texts: I'm curious as to the difference in usage between 長い間 and 長期間. I'd written 最近長い間の旅行をしています, which someone graciously corrected to 最近長期間の旅行をしています. How should I be looking to use these two options generally?


texts:
So i was reading 吾輩は猫である and i came across these sentences.

  「吾輩は投げ出されては這い上り、這い上っては投げ出され、何でも同じ事を四五遍繰り返したのを記憶している。その時におさんと云う者はつくづくいやになった。」

For this following line:

  その時におさんと云う者はつくづくいやになった。

I initially thought that it meant おさんは（私が）嫌になった。 Osan came to dislike/hate me.

But i am told instead that it's the opposite; （私は）おさんが嫌になった。　I came to hate Osan.

Did i miss something here? Does the は somehow function as a が in this sentence?

Thank you in advance.


texts: Can you use で to refer to abstract locations?

texts:
This is probably a pretty basic question, but I'm having trouble finding an answer both here and with Google:

Can you use 「で」to refer to abstract locations, like "in the video" or "on twitter"?

Here are two examples of sentences I've constructed, but am unsure about:

(1) 「ツイッターでビデオをみました。」 - I saw the video on Twitter.

(2) 「ビデオでなにをしていましたか？」 - What were you doing in the video?

If で is not the correct particle to use in these situations, is there another particle that is more suitable? Or would you phrase these sentences completely differently?


texts: What are the differences between 出かける and 行く?

texts:
What are the differences between A and B? I think both mean almost the same thing.

I often went to various places once I had bought a new car.
A: 新しい車を買ったばかりのころは、よくいろいろな所へ行った。
B: 新しい車を買ったばかりのころは、よくいろいろな所へ出かけた。


texts: In what cases do 平板 verbs change their pitch?

texts:
I recently realized that 平板 verbs become 尾高 when there is a の after them. For example:
戦うの→たたかうの{LHHHL}
寝るの→ねるの{LHL}
That really does happen right? Or am I mishearing? What are other situations where 平板 verbs change their pitch like that?


texts: Why is there dakuten on the "ん" in this image? (ん゙)

texts:
Context: http://mangalifewin.takeshobo.co.jp/rensai/yo-jolife/yo-jo-008/21231/

Does "ん" really have a dakuten version?


texts:
Is it possible, without any context, to tell whether 一二三 means "one, two, three" or "one hundred twenty-three"?

In English, this kind of ambiguity would be removed by adding spaces between each digit: "1 2 3".

Is this even an issue in Japanese?


texts: NO adjectives list or complete explanation

texts: how can i distinguish between no adjectives and noun? particularly, No adjectives are joined with a ni particles, Is there any full list or something to remember about them ?


texts: What is the difference between「働かせる」and 「使う」?

texts:
What is the difference between the two sentences?

「その特のなぞを解くに、自分の頭を働かせた。」

「その特のなぞを解くに、自分の頭を使った。」


texts:
How did the の get in the expression 「◯◯のバカ!」? Was the expression originally longer? Is there any other example of usage other than insults?

(other example I know of: 「つよし君のエッチ!」 or anything to the same effect)

Edit: Another example by Pacerier: 「Tsunadeのばあさん」. Seeing that バカ is also a noun, that would make them similar grammatically.

Edit 2: Or maybe not. I think what I hear in old-fashioned candy stores are surnames, not first names, e.g. 高橋のばあさん, whereas it would mean "the grandma of Takahashi household (whose store sells candies)". I don't know if Tsunade is a surname or not though.

I did a quick search and miraculously, one BBS that is discussing construct uses the exact same sentence 「お父さんのバカ！」: http://mentai.hanako.2ch.net/gengo/kako/981/981698334.html


texts: べんきょうを します / べんきょうします interpretation and use

texts:
I was told that in

べんきょうを します

the
べんきょう is the direct object of the expresion and in

~を べんきょうします

the ~ part is the direct object
Is that right? but besides that, whats the diference?, how must be interpreted and used?


texts:
晩ご飯が作ってある
Dinner has been made. (intentional)
晩ご飯を作っておいた.
(I) made dinner (so I can eat it).

They seem quite the same.
Btw what are some cases in which -てあった are used? I can't recreate one.


texts:
一週間後に行く means : We arrive there in a week.
日本語は九ヶ月間勉強している means : I've been studying Japanese for 9 months.
ニ日間に休む means : absent for 2 days.


texts: Do native speakers ever create/improvise onomatopoeia?

texts:
Since Japanese is incredibly rich in onomatopoeic expressions which are commonly understood by most adults, I am wondering if adults ever make up new onomatopoeia on the fly, or if they always use those which they have "learned" and which are commonly understood (and there is a very, very long list of "common" onomatopoeiae).

Young children probably do not know onomatopoeia for all situations and I think I have seen adults "correct" children on their "incorrect" (or improvised) use — for example, a 4-year-old child might use ざらざら where がさがざ would be more appropriate. (Of course, children learning Japanese natively will pick up onomatopoeia like any other word and usually don't need to be actively taught/corrected.)

I also guess that popular media can coin new onomatopoeia, which get included in the list of commonly known ones. Are there any notable examples that still prevail? Are there examples which have fallen out of use?


texts:
what is prefer in Japanese ?
an example of the context is:

  I'd rather not to drink inside the bus.

おすすめ is recommend in Japanese. how would you use おすすめ in this context?

  it is recommended not to buy that bag.


texts:
侍は一旦護ると決めたものは死んでも護る

The Samurai even if he die, he protect what he decided to protect.
護ると決めたもの = Something that was decided to protect.
How do you guys understand this phrase ?


texts:
How would you express this type of tag?

For example:

  Lovers, huh? That’s what you think they are?

Would って work?

  恋人って？そうと思う？


texts: How can I say "Right now it is lunch time so it's very quiet"?

texts: Is it "ima ha hiruyasumi Kara totemo shizuka desu." Or is something off? I have to do a video project in Japanese for Japanese class.


texts:
I read the following sentence on the BBC Japanese site:

「そうしたら温かいものに触れて、直感的に下を見たら、小さな赤ちゃんの頭と両腕が見えた」

Until now I understood the -たら form only to mean "if", but the 見たら in this sentence indicates that the interviewee is saying "when (I) looked down instinctively".

I've found that the -たら ending can mean "if" and (a new meaning for me) "when", and which meaning to take depends on the context.

So...my question I guess is which part of the context should I be using to determine "if" or "when" is the meaning?

The only pattern I can see in other examples is that the past tense (here it's 見えた) ending of the entire sentence indicates "when", and a present/future tense for the entire sentence hints at the meaning "if".

Have I got this completely wrong...? :)


texts: What level of politeness/respect should a customer use towards a shop owner?

texts:
I made a purchase at a store and received an email from the shop owner.
What level of respect/politeness should my reply be, in addition to using 丁寧形 throughout? For example, how should I choose between 〜てもらう and 〜ていただく? Should I use 尊敬語 and 謙譲語? Should I address the store owner as Xさん or Xさま?


texts:
Recently, I heard (in a song) these 3 sentences and I can't translate some words in them. I've tried various translators but I'm still confused, so I hope you can help me. Sentences are.

紡いだ日々もあるよ

本当はいつもどんな場面にも「誰か」がいたんだ (In this one. I just don't understand 「本当はいつも」)

花束も約束もいらないただいくつもの愛でこの空は繋がってるよ (In this one. I just don't understand 「いくつもの愛で」)


texts:
I'm learning vocabulary from 日本語総まとめN2. In one section they describe four words and group them together (I assume because they have slightly different meanings but somewhat similar). They group them with an example as follows:

  今に　：　そんなことをしていると、今に後悔しますよ。

  今にも：　今にも雨が降りそうだ。

  今更　：　今さらできないといわれても困る。

  未だに：　未だにその事件は解決していない。

I was wondering why 「未」 is used. Why not 「今」? Possibly I'm misunderstanding why this kanji is used because I don't know any other words with 「未」 that hold the pronunciation 「いま」.


texts:
In this dictionary I checked, there are two definitions for けれども. I also checked in my Japanese to English printed dictionary and there was only one definition, but in my Japanese to Chinese printed dictionary, there were two definitions as well.
Unfortunately, I'm not good in Japanese and I can't read Chinese very well, so I'm unable to find out the difference between the two definitions apart from that one is labelled as a conjunction and the other as a conjunctive particle, in both dictionaries, and that doesn't really explain anything to me.

Could someone please give me an explanation of the two けれどもs?


texts: Can 勝手に決める by itself carry a negative connotation?

texts:
As in, to add a selfish and careless tinge to 決める? Here, for instance:

  「ふうん。勝手に決めて、わたしに負けるのもイヤ？」

Implying that such action (without taking any other context into consideration) would lead the other party to lose to the speaker?

Thank you.


texts: I've seen 待つ in the te-form as both 待て and 待って; the latter should be correct. Does meaning/pronunciation change and why it would be written this way

texts:
My example, as like many of my recent ones is from {{JP:灰と幻想のグリムガル}}, and is as follows:

  {{JP:「・・・・俺も行こっかな」と誰かが。男の声だ。「ま、ま、待てってじゃあオレも！」}}.

The text itself seems simple enough to understand, I think. One person says they'll go too, and the other says "wait, erm, I'll go too." Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong as I really try not to pretend I know what I'm talking about! However, why the use of {{JP:待て}} and not {{JP:待って}}? And I guess as a side note, why add the {{JP:って}} after the first {{JP:待て}} as, from what I know that's usually used to mark the speaker of a quotation, not within the quote itself???

EDIT: I have double and triple-checked the text to make certain this isn't a typo. If someone disagrees I'll be sure to delete the question.


texts: What does this kanji mean? How do I read it?

texts: What does this kanji say? I don't know the radicals for it, therefore I haven't been able to look it up correctly.


texts: I don't understand what 兵器転用 and 内容 means in this sentence

texts:
I'm learning Japanese, so I've been reading an action story to practice.

A scientist sends a pen drive to the news in order to expose some terrorists that were misusing his research for war purposes. The news makes a report about the theoretical assessments of his research, but the scientist is confused because the data on the pen drive was different.

  兵器転用の内容、だったはずだ。

From what I can understand, 兵器転用 is something like "weaponization" but I'm not sure.


texts:
I've seen it a few times but I'm not sure what it means. Sometimes だが or the like follows. Here's a relevent line I encountered recently:

  ねぎらいの席…なるほど。確かにあなたは頑張っているから、是非ともねぎらってあげたいところだ

The context is that the speaker is responding to a subordinate who believes they were summoned to be praised but in reality is about to be admonished. The line seems like it would mean the the same thing without the ところ. What function does the ところ perform?


texts: Does verb-てあった　mean the same thing as verb-てあります?


texts: how to make clear that your japanese is bad?

texts:
When I travelled Japan I always started off talking to Japanese people with the following sentence:

  すいません、私の日本語は下手です。。。

This would always get the typical "oh" and nodding heads in answer and then they would start to blabber in their normal speed and difficulty. Of course absolutely incomprehensible to me as a Japanese language beginner.

As it seems a typical construct (maybe as a form of politeness) to have little excusing introductions in Japanese. I thought it might be so custom to a Japanese person. That they just "overhear" what I'm actually saying and just listen to the fact that I'm talking Japanese.
Maybe similar to "sorry for interrupting...".

Anyway, what do you think is a good way to actually make clear to a Japanese person. That you really can't speak Japanese well and they have to talk slowly and in simple sentences?


texts:
how best to say that a kanji such as 句 has ONLY 音読み , i.e., there is NO kun-yomi.

読みは音読みのみ

??

I want to tag posts at https://www.facebook.com/kanjirecog to indicate this without using romaji or English ... is のみ the best way to say ONLY here ?


texts: Do I need to repeat the object + を in the response to a question?

texts:
I know that when answering a question, the topic + は is implied and left out of the response because it's redundant. Is the same true for the direct object of the verb + を?

As an example, take the question

ロバート:　ボブさんは、昨日映画を見ましたか。

Would the response be

ボブ: 　はい、映画を見ました。

Or could it just be

ボブ：　はい、見ました。

Thanks for your help.


texts:
盛岡市によりますと、午後７時半現在、２世帯５人が近くの児童センターで一夜を明かす予定だということです。

Is it 2 families that have no link composed of a total of 5 persons or a normal family(3 or 4 members) + the grandparent(s) (1 or 2 member(s)) ?


texts: why is there a double "が" here: "... 岐阜県警が捜索したが見つからず、..."?

texts:
From the newspaper article titles 北アルプス・涸沢岳で２人滑落、１人行方不明, the second paragraph reads:

  男性１人が行方不明となり、岐阜県警がヘリコプターで捜索したが見つからず、同日夕、日没のため打ち切った。１日午前から捜索を再開する。

my guess of a translation:

  Being that there is one man whose location is unknown, (security / police) from Gifu prefecture searched in a helicopter for him, and without his being found, they called-off the search due to sundown. From the morning of the first of May, the search will resume."

at the least, what I don't understand is the following:
"... 捜索したが見つからず 、... "

could I segment the sentence as follows:
"男性１人が行方不明となり、岐阜県警がヘリコプターで捜索した ん が、行方不明な人が 見つからず、...."

Even if the explanation is "that is just how newspapers write (in order to save space)", would not it read more easily and sound more natural to add just a single comma as such:
"... 岐阜県警が捜索したが、見つからず 、... "


texts: Alternative kanji forms, i.e., 「滲みる」 vs. 「染みる」。

texts: I was reading a sentence in a manga and the context used 滲みる to comment on something soaking into fabric. (actually, it was specifically 「滲みとる」, is that an ending I'm not aware of or an accent of た/て?) When I went to look into the use of this kanji, I found that it was listed as an alternative version of 染みる. I'm still wrapping my head around why alternative kanji are used, but, with this particular choice, is there any nuance to choosing 滲 over 染? Does it imply any kind of different meaning or way of thinking?


texts:
Today I got a mail from my company but I am unable to figure out the meaning of がんばっぺ！！.

The sentence is as follows-

  下期も 製図勉強会や(秘)レクレーション大会などを
  予定しております。

  水戸のみなさん、一緒にがんばっぺ！！

Is it similar to がんばれ？


texts: Why is there を coupled with potential form?

texts:
For full context:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/web_tokushu/2018_1130.html?utm_int=news_contents_tokushu_002

The sentence in question:
その後、適切なケアを受けられないと、「次の子どもを愛せない」など深刻なケースにつながることが分かってきました。

My attempt at translation:
We found out that afterwards, if they cant undergo appropriate care, it can severe cases where they cant love the next child.

The way I translated 適切なケアを受けられない  a が instead of an を would be needed. But maybe I just misinterpreted the whole thing, that's why IM asking here ^^

Furthermore, I couldn't really find an entry on jisho for 愛せない. All I found was this https://jisho.org/search/%E6%84%9B%E3%81%9B%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84 but it leads to a dead link ^^
I just assumed that it would mean "to love" but I couldn't find confirmation anywhere, especially since I must admit that I cant really use goo jisho...^^

And finally, just on a sidenote: Why is 「次の子どもを愛せない」 put into brackets? The way I used it it's kind of a relative attribute, but it seems to be more of a quotation from an interview or the like.


texts: Difference between 証【あかし】 and 証拠【しょうこ】 (proof)

texts:
証明｛しょうめい｝means proof, but in the sense "certification"

But 証｛あかし｝ and 証拠｛しょうこ｝look very similar, meaning "proof, evidence".

Would the difference be that 証拠 requires something physical (object), while 証 can be intangible, eg mathematical proof?


texts: そらのおとしもの - "Heaven's Lost Property" or "What fell from the sky?"

texts:
I am watching an anime called そらのおとしもの (Sora no Otoshimono). There are two translations: the one is "Heaven's Lost Property" and the other is "What fell from from the sky?"

I'm pretty sure that the first translation in correct, since there is no question mark on the original Japanese title. If the second was correct, it would have か (the question particle) and a question mark.

But I'm not really sure about the correct translation. Can you help me? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Bajiru


texts: Changing が to の outside of relative clauses

texts:
A girl asks her mother why she can't keep a catalogue and is told:

  「明日の午後に私もお歳暮を買いに行くから、それの参考にするのっ。」
  I'm going to buy the year end presents tomorrow afternoon, so I'll use that (catalogue) as a reference.

How should I parse the part in bold? Why is it not それが参考にするの

I'm familiar with the idea of replacing が with の in relative clauses to move the emphasis away from the thing marked by が. But, the only way I can make a relative clause is if the の at the end of the sentence is something other than the explanatory の, which seems unlikely. What am I failing to understand?


texts: Why is "My Apps" translated to マイApp instead of something like 自分のApp?

texts:
In iTunesConnect (for those who don't know, iTunesConnect is a website where developers and iBook authors can manage their apps/books), there is this "My Apps" button:

When I change my OS's language to Japanese, it turns into this:

This is quite weird to me because I have never seen "my" translated to just "マイ" before. Is there a reason why they did not use "私の" or "自分の"?


texts: Why are Kanji characters used along with Hirangana script characters for a word? For example: 飲みますwhich is spelled as nomimasu (correct me if I'm wrong) uses a kanji character. Why can't の be used here?


texts: The difference between 何/なに (nani) and なん (nan)?

texts: In そうなんですか (sounandesuka) the なん (nan) is used to explain something, give reasoning, or to emphasize something but in これはなんですか (korewanandesuka) the なん is treat as "what", how to know when to use, is it all depends on context?


texts: Parsing of 外国人が車を運転して起こす事故

texts:
新しい道路標識には、外国人が車を運転して起こす事故を少なくするため、日本語だけではなくて英語も書いてあります。
  On the new road signs, in order to reduce the number of incidents caused by foreigners driving cars, rather than just Japanese, English will also be written.

I had a little trouble parsing the part in bold. On first reading I saw "foreigners driving cars and !!!!" and then suddenly it stopped making sense.

In the end I decided that 外国人 must be the subject of 起こす rather than 運転しる. Then I treated 車を運転して as a kind of "by means of" clause in the same way that 歩いて seems to work. So this clause is "Incidents that foreigners cause by means of driving cars".

Is this the correct way to analyse this grammar? Is there an alternative way that might enlighten me further?


texts: Is this use of 「こみ」 instead of 「ごみ」 in 「ごみ収集ステーション」 accidental or a variation?

texts:
In this question on the Travel SE OP is asking about こみ収集ステーション that he has seen, and provided this image of a notice on one of those from Higashidori, Aomori:

The pic is blurry, but not so bad that a missing 濁点 could be attributed to the quality of the pic. Why is it 「こみ」 instead of 「ごみ」 here?


texts: I'm doing 自己PR, how can I say that I'm a person who doesn't give up?

texts: I'm doing "自己{じこ}PR" for a school recommendation interview, how can I say that I'm a person who doesn't give up? Like, even if something's difficult, I don't give up. If possible, please make it as simple as possible, I'm only upper elementary.


texts:
Tell me please, what is から means in the following sentence?

  本当のところを言うと、この時間に悠馬さんがここを通るからと、夏目さんに教えてもらったので、待っていたんです。

Thank you very much for help!


texts:
I stumbled on the phrase キドクつかねーぞ in the manga I'm reading. The context is the MC (Male character) is bickering with the FC (Female character) for being too careless. Below is the MC and FC's dialogue in Japanese:

MC: おい 愛菜(えな)
　　これ　朝マンションの下に落ちてたぞ (The item was a wallet.)
FC: え
　　ありがとー！
　　さがしてたの！
MC: つーかおまえ先行くなよ
　　あぶなっかしいんだから
FC: だって今日横倉先輩の朝練の日だったんだもん！
　　ファンとしては見なきゃいけないじゃん！
MC: 知るか！
　　ポロポロ物おとしていきやがって！
　　忘れもんは!?
FC: ない!
MC: スマホもってねーだろ！
Sfx: ぎくっ (I can't determine, to whom is this for but i assume it's from the FC)
MC/FC?:キドクつかねーぞ　(This is written near the balloon of the last sentence of the MC)

And here is how I understand the dialogue in English:

MC: Have you forgotten anything else!?
FC: None!
MC: You don't have your cellphone, right!
FC/MC?:キドクつかねーぞ

In the last dialog I'm not really certain if the MC/FC is the speaker since I'm not sure of it's meaning.
I've tried to research on Google and arrived at the assumption that maybe this phrase is the same as "既読つかない". I tried to read the content of this site http://appllio.com/line-deja-vu (though it's written in Japanese), but it seems that this phrase is about marking an email as unread. But with that I think it means "Stop reading my thoughts!"
Is my understanding correct?


texts:
I was reading the description of a character and they referred to her personality as “nise tsundere".

「偽ツンデレ」

I understand basically what "tsundere" means. The translation came up as fake tsundere. I found a this term on a few sites, but I don't understand the meaning really. Can someone explain?


texts: Why does ―・appear on Japanese dictionary?

texts:
For example this definition of 臨む: 風景・場所などを目の前にする。向かい対する。面する。「海に―・んだ部屋」
Why does ―・appear instead of the word itself? What's the reason behind it, how do I call it and why that only exist in a Japanese dictionary?


texts:
Currently reading a scientific paper, I have trouble understanding the use of 保証.

An example of its use is the following:

最低保証密度として75%を乗じる (remarks about the percentage of a certain element in a mixture, the usual percentage is around 10%)

I know the kanji should mean "guarantee" so I was thinking about "found in the literature", "peer validated" or something along those lines.

What is 保証 used for in this context?


texts: The other day I came across どうたら and while looking it up I noticed that たら is classified as a particle. どうたら is apparently an abbreviation of どうたらこうたら, so I see that it should work for ああ and そう (by the way, what are these called?), but I'm having a hard time imagining how else it is used.


texts: Interchangeability of も and と to emphasize size

texts:
Both も and と, when used with counters, emphasize the size of the amount being mentioned. From what I've learned, も usually emphasizes how "large" it is while と emphasizes how "small" something is. I would like to know if も can replace と in contexts where the sentence is emphasizing the insignificance of the counter.
For example, for this sentence:

一分とかからない
It won't even take a minute.

一分もかからない
It won't even take a minute.

Would replacing と with も here sound natural? If it does, are there any changes in nuances?


texts:
I've seen this a couple of times in newspapers. For example:

  ....は山口、広島両県の....

I can't find it in any dictionary. My gut feeling is that it indicates a sort of union between the two prefectures, in this case between Yamaguchi and Hiroshima. Can someone confirm or clarify this?


texts: Is this a good way to politely refuse to publish an "abstract" option via e-mail? / 丁寧にメールで要旨原稿を掲載することを断る

texts:
背景
数ヶ月前、私は地方の学会で学術発表をしました。先日審査の結果を知らされました。結局、通常通りに掲載されることにはならず、要旨としての掲載となるとのことでした。私が掲載を希望するかどうかを尋ねられましたが、私自身は他の研究に集中したいため、要旨原稿の掲載を断るつもりです。
質問
以下の日本語はメールの要旨を書くチャンスを断る表現として、相応しいですか：

○○先生
先日のメールを拝見させていただました。
わたくしの都合により、要旨原稿を書かないことになります。
わたくしの発表と原稿をご覧なさってくれて、誠にありがとうございます。

特に、「わたくしの都合...」の文章が丁寧または失礼な印象を与えるかどうかを聞きたいです。
もちろん、どんな表現がよいかは上下関係によるのですが、私は大学講師、相手は名誉教授でいらっしゃいます。

Background
A few months ago, I presented at a small academic conference in my area. The other day I heard the result of my presentation. Ultimately, they won't publish it as a normal article but they are willing to publish it as an "abstract." They are asking me whether I want this or not. I would like to focus on other research and refuse the opportunity to have it published as an abstract.
My Question
Is the following text appropriate or rude given the circumstances?

○○先生
先日のメールを拝見させていただました。
わたくしの都合により、要旨原稿を書かないことになります。
わたくしの発表と原稿をご覧なさってくれて、誠にありがとうございます。

What I am trying to say is:

X-Sensei
[Polite expression to indicate I received and read his e-mail ]
Based on my own circumstances, I won't be able to write the abstract.
Thank you for your time in listening to and reading my presentation.

Particularly, what I would like to ask is whether the わたくしの都合 sentence is polite or rude as a way of refusing.
Of course, what expression is appropriate depends on the [vertical] nature of the relationship. I'm a university lecturer, and he's a professor emeritus.


texts: What is the grammatical form of 待たされていました?

texts:
Section 2-1: Inflecting example 待たされていました contradicts the causative formula

In the book causative defined as 五段未然形+せる/一段未然形+させる.

待つ is a 五段 verb, so its causative form should be 待たせる, and 連用形 of this should be 待たせ, therefore the verb should be 待たせていました.

Am I missing something here?

Can someone evaluate the explanation of this verb form. Is it correct or not?


texts:
When I stopped at Yotsuya (四ツ谷) Station this summer, I noticed a katakana tsu (ツ) in the station name.

Is there a reason why the katakana character is used (instead of a hiragana one)?


texts: I don't understand how 雇い入れる is different from 雇う

texts:
［動ラ下一］［文］やとひい・る［ラ下二］新たに雇う。「新卒者を―・れる」(source)

I don't understand what the 新たに is doing here...? I've read example sentences with 雇う and 雇い入れる and I can't perceive the difference...?


texts:
I have started learning Japanese a couple of days ago. One of the new expressions I have just encountered is "けっこうです". In this case, is the "っ" not pronounced at all?
And if it really isn't, could anyone explain to me why っ is included in the middle of the expression?

Thanks in advance,
FS


texts: Using な in positive instead of negative imperative (e.g. 行きな)

texts:
Putting な after a plain verb turns it into negative imperative.

But I noticed that in spoken Japanese, putting な after conjunctive form (連用形) turns it into positive imperative. For example:

  遊びに行きなよ。

Is this usage standard or colloquial? Also, it seems that it's usually used by elders towards younger people so does it have special nuances, for example maybe like patronizing?


texts: How do you say "you can do this or that"?

texts: I'm having trouble figuring out how to suggest two different scenarios. The question on my homework was "What can you do with $300?" I am looking to say something along the lines of "You could buy A, or you could buy B", as in, you wouldn't be able to buy both. So far, I've seen あるいは, それとも, and どっち, but I don't know if these are usable in this context. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts: [...]と言われ、傷つく母親たち - Was the に left out here or is it something else?

texts:
For full context:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/web_tokushu/2018_1130.html?utm_int=news_contents_tokushu_002

The following sentence:
死産や流産のあと「早く忘れた方がいい」「次の子どもを」と言われ、傷つく母親たち。

My attempt at translation:
"After a stillbirth or miscarriage, it is said by wounded parents 'It's better to quickly forget' or '[think about] the next baby'".

What irritates me is the lack of the に particle in と言われ　傷つく母親たち.
Id expect it to be と言われ 傷つく母親たちに。

I could also imagine it being translated as "After a miscarriage or stillbirth, there are wounded parents by whom it is said '...'..."

But I also must admit that Im a bit confused by the conjunctive form 言われ. There is no second verb which would make it necessary.


texts:
How would you translate "10 facts about Japan"?

I looked it up but there seem to be many translations for "fact", and I'm not sure if I should use ないじつ, じこう or something else.


texts: Is レジ used as a contraction of registration?

texts:
The page 自分で手続きワーキングホリデー seems to be using レジ as short for "registration". But as far as I know, レジ is used as short for "[cash] register", not "registration", and the Australian English slang for "registration" is "rego", not "regie" or "redgie".

Can レジ be used as a contraction for "registration"?


texts:
i often heard 'ね' or 'な' at the end of word like かわいいな, かわいいね, いいな or いいね.

i also often hear word that ended with よ but i can't recall the example for now.

so my questions are:

what are they (な、ね) called?
how to apply them to another word? i mean are they just for noun or adjective? i think not every noun can be attached with them, correct?
whats the meaning of them?

any link related article about them are very welcome. ありがとうございます。


texts: What is the difference between koi, ai, and renai? 恋、愛、恋愛

texts: I've been listening to a lot of music, and I've always seen Ai 愛 Koi 恋 and ren'ai 恋愛 used the same. Any help? Thanks! :)


texts:
I came across this sentence:

  [意気地]{いくじ}なし！そして全くその通りで私はあったのだ。
  "Coward! And that was, in fact, exactly what I was."

(From 苦の世界, my translation.)

I found in pretty weird that 私は dropped in the middle of である like that, when you would normally only see は, も, or another 係助詞.

My feeling is that this is just a "freer" writing style that kind of breaks the rule there to make the sentence more dramatic -- is this understanding correct?


texts:
Using a dictionary to learn Japanese turned out to be more difficult than expected.

I wanted to say "I offered him a haircut but he refused." and "I offered him a beer." and "I offered him a ride."

Since I didn't know "to offer" in Japanese I tried to look it up but there seem to be many different ways of saying it.

  Please could someone help me understand the correct usage of the
  following words and also tell me which to use in the above sentences?

So I got the following words which all seem to mean "to offer":

(1) オファーする

(2) 申し入れする

(3) 提供する

Personally, at a first attempt, I'd go for 提供する but I have a feeling the correct translation might turn out to be something that's not even on the list above.


texts: Why are Japanese characters not used in equations?

texts:
Why do Japanese texts/scientific articles not use kana/kanji in their equations? For example

f(x) = x + 1

instead of

f(あ) = あ + 1

I don't see the Cyrillic alphabet in equations either. Did someone once decide to only use latin letters or has this just happened and people are used to this convention?

Example: Japanese Wikipedia entry for "function"


texts: [Noun 1]は[Noun 2]が[Adjective] or [Noun 1]の[Noun 2]は[Adjective]

texts:
Consider the phrase: The Winters of Quebec are cold.

I understand that the correct form is

ケベックは冬が寒いです。

Since a possessive form is involved here (the Winters of Quebec), why is

ケベックの冬は寒いです。

not correct?


texts: Meaning of ウケる or possibly 受ける in this situation

texts:
To learn Japanese I'm watching J-drama. My question is going to concern one of the dialogues.

In Good Morning Call a boyfriend and girlfriend give their friend a pair of boxershorts as a housewarming gift because she will now live alone. They think it's a funny gift. When she stares at it without smiling, he says:

  あれ？ウケなかった？

My question is:

Can one  冗談{じょうだん}をウケる in Japanese to mean "to get a joke"?
Is this what it means here?


texts:
「彼が戦慄しつぶやいた」

What is the role of し after the noun?

I already looked up the answer to this question. The 「し」is explained as ""to do Verb 2 with the purpose of carrying out Verb 1" in construction that also include 「に」. Although the sentence here does not contain such a 「に」I assumed that they are at least related. In any case, I can't figure out in which way "purpose of doing verb..." would fit here...

Therefore my question is what exactly does this "purpose" mean in sentences like that.

(My assumption is that "purpose" is something I usually assume with something "positive"; however in the explanation it could have the meaning of 「ため」)


texts: Translation of metaphorical meaning of "hieroglyphic"

texts:
To literally translate "hieroglyphic", when referring to a largely logographic writing system used by Ancient Egyptians, I think ヒエログリフ or something similar would be used.

However, there's another, metaphorical, meaning in English to the term "hieroglyphic", which is writing that's hard to understand, possibly because it's too advanced for the person reading it as opposed to it being sloppily written. (Meaning 3 in English wiktionary)

Are there any terms in Japanese that use metaphor to convey this metaphorical meaning?


texts: How to express "yes" casually in Japanese

texts:
Many textbooks list "ええ" as the casual form of "yes" or "はい", but I only seldom hear this expression. Is "ええ" really all that common, and if not, how do people typically give affirmative responses to questions in casual situations?
For example, how would you casually affirm the following:
Case 1:

今日部活ないの？

You don't have club activities today?

（　　　）

No. The tennis court is still wet from the rain so we can't practice.

Case 2:

なにか部活入ってる？

Are you in any clubs?

（　　　）

Yup. I'm on the tennis team.


texts:
These two sentences have been giving me trouble in terms of understanding their meaning.

  友達が恋人にふられて、とても落ち込んでいる。でも、一体何を言ってあげたらいいか、全然分からない。

My translation:

  My friend was able to trip up my lover and it was a very crowded fall? But, I’ll never understand what on earth he said?

I'm mostly concerned with how 一体 is used in this sentence but I could do with some assistance understanding the rest as well as it's not clear to me, as shown by my translation which is seriously lacking.


texts: What is the difference between 片方の手 and 片手?

texts: In my understanding, both 片方の手 and 片手 mean "one hand". What is the difference and how to use them correctly?


texts:
The following is from this article.

  関電は日本の原子力事業の旗振り役となってきた経緯があり、この問題がもたらす影響は計り知れない。

I am not sure what value となってきた経緯があり brings to this sentence. Is it simply a more formal or poetic alternative to となり or となってきて?


texts:
From Death Note episode 1:

  僕はすでに、死神のノートを、現実だと疑ってなかったが... こうしていろんな事を直視することで、 ますます確信を持って行動できる

This is translated in the English subtitles as:

  I didn't think the Shinigami's Notebook was real... but after seeing
  its results, I can act with certainty.

The first part of the sentence seems to be backwards...

  現実だと疑ってなかった

Means literally:

  did not doubt it is reality

So, the whole thing should be:

  I did not doubt the Shinigami (Death God)'s Notebook was real... etc.

Am I correct?


texts: How do I say "This is a derivative work. I am in no way affiliated with X company" in Japanese?

texts: I am not sure which verb would be used for "affiliated" in this context. Would it be 提携して? Or perhaps 関係して?


texts:
For example:

  私は自分の時間というものをほとんど持っていない。
  私は自分の時間をほとんど持っていない。

I'm pretty sure both are correct but is there any difference between both?


texts: Making sense of transitive usage of 行く and 来る - 「を行く」 and 「を来る」

texts:
I think it's known that some intransitive verbs can take を particle and be used as transitive verbs such as for example 「私のことを分かってくれない」. While using 分かる transitively would require specific scenarios or patterns, from the point of view of an English speaker it just naturally makes sense, for the reason that "understand" is a transitive English verb.

On the other hand, there are verbs that are naturally intransitive in both Japanese and English, that simply do not make sense to assign any noun objects, like 死ぬ and "to die". There is no way to imagine "Subject dies object", both in English and Japanese, unless if we modify it to "Subject allows/makes object to die" but that would change the main verb in question, again, both in English and Japanese.

At first I thought 行く and 来る are parts of those naturally intransitive verbs, since there is no way for "Subject goes object" or "Subject comes object". And then I found a proverb 「天馬空を行く」, which made me look up "を行く" on Google. The result? 8.75 millions results. "を来る" has 243K results which are a lot less but still a significant figure that shows that out there, 行く and 来る are used with を. However, my thought still remains, that there is no way for "subject goes object". Looking at sample usages, there seems to be a pattern of the nouns that are modified by "を行く" are roads, path etc, but imagining it in English as "to apply the act of going onto the road as the object" doesn't work to me. "を来る" does not even have any pattern that can be seen among the sample noun objects.

Examples from Google results:

お気楽サラリーマンジャングルを行く！
歴史街道を行く
一歩先を行くPythonプログラマが読むべきOSS
私は私の道を行く
晴れの日を来る
遠い道を来るまでに

So, how do we make sense of 「を行く」 and 「を来る」?


texts:
毎日は楽しくなりました。

Would you translate this: Every day was fun.

or

Every day became fun.

I know that なる can be used to say that A becomes B.  But in this example what is the nuance of the meaning of なる？


texts:
I'm just wondering what does the word "ぶつまね" (or also ぶつ真似 as turned up by a google search) mean? I tried guessing from the context of some 10 example sentences but still can't come up with the meaning of the word.

My original sentence is this one:

  「先輩っ。ひっかけ問題はひどいです」ぶつまねをするテトラちゃん。

The girl in question is tricked into answering "yes" to a question of whether a given calculation is correct. The answer she had been given is almost right except for a single number in it.

Thank you in advance.

Example sentences
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/examples/jn2/193338/m0u/


texts:
I see both 夢を見せる and 夢を見る spoken by Japanese. Do they have the completely same meaning?

== Update ==

I'm referring to a 夢を見せて which is from the lyrics of a song called おはよう。

The full version is a bit long. Here is the shorter version, and the 夢を見せて is in the second line. The context is:

また“おはよう”って言って
また夢を見せて
今日も元気で過ごせたらイイよね


texts: Japanese for Australian-style community colleges

texts:
In Australia, community colleges are non-profit institutions that provide courses, often in the evening or on weekends, that run at most for a couple of months. This is the one I started learning Japanese at.

How would I describe such a college, or the courses it runs, in Japanese?


texts: What is the real difference between the proper use of the words さむい and つめたい?

texts:
In English it seems that cold is just always cold just as warm and hot regardless of whether the word describes a person's experience or the actual physical state of an object. In Japanese however there seems to be a strange case where when describing a cold weather versus a cold drink you would use the words [寒]{さむ}い or [冷]{つめ}たい respectively, which both seem to translate to the word cold in English. This difference has always been confusing to me and I can't seem to develop a rule-of-thumb to follow in order to choose the right word for the right situation.

I've heard it described by some native Japanese speakers that 寒い should be used for things that you cannot touch. My assumption is that by "cannot touch" this is referring to things in a more abstract concept such as weather or the day and not things that are simply out of reach physically such as a distant planet, however I haven't been able to confirm the last case.

Another point that I think is interesting is that the words warm and hot in English do not seem to have the same Japanese word counterparts where one is more direct translation and the other means "to the touch" but instead warm and hot in Japanese appear to be simply あたたかい and あつい respectively. Am I missing something, perhaps there are other word analogies for these other adjectives of which I'm just unaware.

As requested here are a few examples that demonstrate my confusion as far as proper usage of these two words.

空気は寒い when speaking of feeling of the air when stepping out of the house.
水は冷たい when wading through some cold water.
私はさむい when describing one's physical feeling caused by any of the above.


texts: Why would you use な for そう forms of い adjectives?

texts: I am just now really diving into adjectives and how they work in Japanese. It was to my surprise that I heard 『楽{たの}しいそうなお祭{まつ}りね』 being used. Does the そう usage require な even for い adjectives?


texts:
There is this sentence.

  たたみとかしょうじと（　）日本的なものに興味があります。

From といった and といって, which suits better here? Why?

Along with that can someone please explain what difference is made when といって changes to といった?


texts: What is the correct reading for the names 小此木 and 廣?

texts:
I need to write the names 小此木憲次 (the adopted son of 宮部金吾） and 森廣 (a leader of 札幌独立キリスト教会) in ローマ字 in an academic paper. What is the correct 読み方 for 小此木 and for 廣?

I tried kanji.reader.bz but it did not find any results. Through a Google search I found that 小此内 is read as こがうち and that 小此之本 is read as おこのぎ.

When I tried searching for 廣 in online dictionaries, I was taken to the entry for 広い.

Thank you for your help!


texts: What exactly means to describe someone saying "圧が強い" (atsu ga tsuyoi) . I know that's something related with "the person has a strong pressure" or "the pressure in that person is strong" but I was wondering about what is the real connotation for this expression.


texts: The phrase 心の冷たい人 (which is given by Japanese-English dictionary on OS X) looks wrong to me, but given that it's an example in a respected dictionary and confirmed by tens of thousands of Google hits, I have to assume it's correct. It's a lot less clumsy than how I'd naïvely write it, 冷たい心がある人, but its word order still doesn't line up with anything else I've seen. Is this just an idiomatic saying that I should just accept as correct, or is this a pattern that shows up a lot?


texts: What is a term for an attitude/life that eschews luxury or comfort?

texts:
A while back I had read an article (in English) online about an Japanese ceramics artist and his work, with the writer describing the artist's rather spartan furnishings as a result of his attitude or lifestyle that eschewed luxury or comfort, allowing him to better focus on his art.  Whether that was actually true or not, he described it using a Japanese word, perhaps a zen concept, explaining and using that idea to paint an ethereal picture of the artist's dedication to his work. I don't know how much liberty he was taking (if any at all) with the word he was using, but here I am asking if there's anyone out there familiar with a Japanese word that encapsulates this idea/concept.

Added:
I had been scanning thru hundreds of images of Japanese ceramics and checking into artists' background and then became fixated on some fantastic examples of [金継]{きんつぎ} / [金繕い]{きんつくろい} and this is where I lost where I was before when I can across that term I'm inquiring about. I don't think I can make my way back (though I've tried) to that particular article.

In all honesty, I don't think I'd be able to give a yea/nay on the correct one any more, even if saw it, but I appreciate all of the suggestions that have been offered.  I think, so far, that [質素倹約]{しっそけんやく} probably best approximates what it was that I was looking for even though the definition doesn't come close to how romantically the author of the piece described it.


texts: What's the difference between 女性 and 女の人?

texts: As far as I'm aware, both words translate into English as "woman". What's the difference in meaning between 女性 and 女の人?


texts: How can a verb be intransitive and imperative at the same time?

texts:
Like, for example, I understand 折れ but in what case should one use 折れろ?

Also, jisho says the negative imperative is 折るな but what about 折れない？


texts: Why is this sentence like this なんと ～であることか and not like なんと ～でしょう?

texts:
なんと醜い私の声であることか。

I wanted to know the difference. Is it the nuance?

Could someone explain it to me?

Thanks in advance! :]


texts: Why are Japanese personal names pronounced the same but written differently?

texts: For example, Michiko can be written several different ways. Last names can also be spelled differently.


texts: What are the differences between nouns created by renyoukei and the formal noun 「の」?

texts:
I have been getting confused with these two ways of creating nouns and been wondering if there's any differences between them.

For instance, are the following sentences correct or not?

映画を見に行った。
映画を見るのに行った。
映画を見が好きだ。
映画を見るのが好きだ。


texts:
What is the difference between 閉める (shimeru) and くれる (kureru)? Both mean close, but when would you use one over the other.

Please explain making reference to these examples:

Example 1:

(私が)寒いので、窓を閉めてください
(watashi ga) samui no de, mado o shimete kudasai
Please close the window because I am cold

Example 2:

もう少し窓を閉めてくれませんか
mō sukoshi mado o shimete kuremasen ka
Please close the window more

Why does one use  閉める (shimeru) and the other uses くれる (kureru)?


texts:
When writing or reading a sentence in Japanese, does the word 「よう」 have a nuance any different to using 「ように」?

For example, sentences using 「ように」:

好きなように踊ってよろしい。

落第しないように一生懸命勉強しなさい。

君の将来が幸せでありますように。

ちょっと怒ったようにきこえた。

For example, sentences using 「よう」:

まるでボスのような話し方をする。

君は自分のためになるような書物を読べきだ。

ここには、誰もいないだよ。

映画を見たようです。

学生のようだ。


texts: Today I heard a sentence like 「松本さんは　クライムゲームを計【けい】 4回担当しました。」. I searched Google and found that there's also 「全」 but I can't find their usage explanation. How to use 「計」 and 「全」 before counters?


texts: What is the difference between べからず and べからざる?

texts:
In my JLPT practise book, I have the following question:

  A：噂にまどわされる＿＿＿＿＿、とは言うものの・・・。

  B：つい、信じちゃうよね。

  べく　2.べき　3.べからざる　4. べからず

I knew the answer was between 3 and 4, but I couldn't make a final decision on why I would choose one over the other. According to the book, the answer is 4.

According to the book's explanation, at least as I understand it, べからざる means something can't be allowed, and べからず means something must not happen.

However, both have a certain amount of logical sense in the question above. Assuming I understand it correctly (which I probably don't), it's either saying "we can not allow ourselves to be deceived by rumours", or "we can't be deceived by rumours", depending on whether we use べからざる or べからず.

What is the difference that I'm not seeing?


texts: I don't get how 今日 works in 今日は誘ってくれて嬉しかった.

texts: I was watching Sora no Method 06, and at about 17:03 the line 今日は誘ってくれて嬉しかった came up. Crunchyroll translated the line as "I'm happy you invited me today," but the problem is that she was invited the day before, not today, but Crunchyroll's line made it seem like she was invited today. Is it possible that 今日 only modifies 嬉しかった and doesn't necessarily specify the day that 誘う happened?


texts: Can について be used in the sense of "(judging) from"?

texts: Can について be used in the sense of "judging from" and, if so, would the sentence "話し方について、あの男は昔先生だったはずです。" be correct?


texts:
吉田秀雄{よしだひでお} created the 鬼十則{おにじっそく} while working for 電通:

  仕事は自ら創るべきで、与えられるべきでない。
  仕事とは、先手々と働き掛けていくことで、受け身でやるものではない。
  大きな仕事と取り組め、小さな仕事はおのれを小さくする。
  難しい仕事を狙え、そしてこれを成し遂げるところに進歩がある。
  取り組んだら放すな、殺されても放すな、目的完遂までは……。
  周囲を引きずり回せ、引きずるのと引きずられるのとでは、永い間に天地のひらきができる。
  計画を持て、長期の計画を持っていれば、忍耐と工夫と、そして正しい努力と希望が生まれる。
  自信を持て、自信がないから君の仕事には、迫力も粘りも、そして厚みすらない。
  頭は常に全回転、八方に気を配って、一分の隙もあってはならぬ、サービスとはそのようなものだ。
  摩擦を怖れるな、摩擦は進歩の母、積極の肥料だ、でないと君は卑屈未練になる。

The phrase 鬼十則{おにじっそく} seems to be uniquely related to the Dentsu guidelines. 十則 alone is used quite frequently on the other hand. When looking for what the 鬼 meant (why he selected the name) I came across this:

  まさに「鬼」の十則だが、本質を突いていてわかりやすい。

Perhaps this is less a usage question than a cultural one, but I am a bit confused as to what the implication of the 鬼 is in 鬼十則{おにじっそく}.


texts: Difference between が and でも in this sentence

texts:
What's the difference in meaning between these sentences?

  どちらか片方が罪を背負った方が良い。

and

  どちらか片方でも罪を背負った方が良い。

I thought their meaning was the same, but I get the feeling it's not because of the particles.


texts:
I am doing an exercise in Genki Book I. The question is:

  Translate "I don't think Chieko likes Mayumi" into Japanese.

I think the answer is:

  ちえこさんはまゆみさんが好きじゃないと思います。

Is the meaning of this Japanese sentence ambiguous? Could it instead mean that Chieko thinks Mayumi doesn't like (something)?

If I wanted to include 私は, to make it clear that this is my opinion, what happens with the particles in the rest of the sentence? Does the は after ちえこさん become が? Is this the only thing that changes?

  私はちえこさんがまゆみさんが好きじゃないと思います。

Is this correct?


texts:
From the lyric of a Vocaloid song, ナラキスト by メドミア feat. 初音ミク,

Ah yeah…  Ah yeah…
気を抜けば強制退場命令
Ah yeah…  Ah yeah…
あんまりだぜ神様
俺は俺のもんだろ？

How should I translate the phrase 「あんまりだぜ神様」?
I believe that phrase is asking 'Am I mine?' Perhaps the speaker is asking god, but the あんまだぜ is tripping me up.


texts:
As far as I understood, the nominalization is made with the neutral form of the verb followed by の or こと, as in the example

私は読むことが好きです。I like to read.

Though, I found this example where the verb is conjugated.

この本は、読んだことがありますか ? Have you ever read this book?

How is that possible?


texts:
I'm trying to translate a conversation where one person compliments another person, and they replied with:

そうおっしゃっていただけると粘ってよかったと思います！ありがとうございます！

粘る (ねばる) - "to persist"

I think it roughly translates to "because you say so, I'm glad! Thank you!" but I'm confused about the と粘って part. Who is it referring to?
Does it mean:

"Because you say so, I'm glad I persisted"?

microsoft had translated it as: "I'm glad that you persist to say so"

But if it were this case, why is it と粘って? Shouldn't it come before the verb and also use the honorific keigo?


texts: What is the difference between the wave dash 〜 and long vowel marker ー when marking long vowels?

texts:
I know that the wave dash 〜 can be used in place of the long vowel marker ー sometimes, but I'm not exactly sure what the differences are.

Is there any difference in pronunciation?  I read once that it represents a "tremolo", but I'm not sure if that's right.
When is it appropriate?  According to Wikipedia, it's "usually for comic or cute effect".  Is that a fair summary?


texts:
来年は是非明るい年でありますように願うばかりです I hope that the next year will be great for you

Is this sentence grammatically incorrect? In what way(s)?
If incorrect, why can  でありますように not be followed by an explicit verb?
Can it be followed by another type of verb?

Here is the original example http://omo-ashi.progoo.com/bbs/omo-ashi_topic_pr_704.html


texts:
I have come across a conjugation of 死ぬ verb which I've never heard before. It is 死ぬる, I have heard it in a TV show, you can see the relevant part in this video.

Is this a depreciated form? If so, what meaning does it have? Can you use it in an example sentence?
Or is it just a made up conjugation for making rhyme in the poem?


texts: What is the meaning and function of だというのか?

texts:
「じゃあ③が正解だってのかよッ！」

Hi. I know the bold part is jut a shortened version of だというのか. But what is the meaning and function of だというのか? Is it just used to form an exclamation and it means nothing?

Thank you.


texts: Understanding どう転んでもいいように高校だけは出ておきなさい

texts:
Dad tells his son who is in high school this phrase

どう転んでもいいように高校だけは出ておきなさい

I have difficulty comprehending the whole meaning of this phrase.
どう転んでも is some kind of idiom meaning "no matter how you do" right?
What いいように means here? According to this question, it can either mean "like/as good" (ie. "in a good manner") or "in such way that (to achieve one's own) good." I don't know which meaning fits in this context.
I know that 高校を出る means "to graduate from high school." But when だけは replaces を, how the meaning change? "graduate only from high school"? I'm confused what は is doing after だけ. If I interpret it as a contrastive は, then it makes だけ redundant. Is it a topic marker?
This is how I understand the overall meaning of this phrase

No matter how you do, just graduate from high school for your sake!

Did I get it right?


texts:
In the short story 「悪魔」by 星新一 , a man walks onto a frozen lake to go ice fishing, carves out a small hole in the ice, and throws in the line. But after throwing in the line, there's a 文型 I've never encountered, and I can't find an explanation for it online or in any of my many grammar and 文型 dictionaries. The sentence goes 「そこから糸をたらして、魚を釣ろうというのだった。」Could somebody please help me understand the meaning of volitional + というのだった or volitional + というのだ？ When I search for examples of this online, most often the expression goes 「xx をもらおうというのだ。」

Thank you for your help.


texts: How would I say "this is because," in japanese?

texts: i just don't think that これわそうだから、 is correct