texts: When writing vertically, where do small kana go?

texts:
When writing horizontally, small kana go right next to the syllable they modify as in ちょっと.
Also, when using katakana, long vowels are indicated by an horizontal dash, as in メール.

When writing vertically I know the long vowels in katakana (such as in メール) are represented by the same dash, but drawn vertically instead of horizontally. But where do small kana go?


texts: What does 遅刻するとやばいんだけどな mean?

texts:
In something I was watching a hero whilst on his way to work heard a lady have their purse stolen and he said

  遅刻するとやばいんだけどな

Before he ran off to help her.

I can understand what the first part means, but I don't see what the but means.
But what, exactly?


texts: Is there a difference between 費用 and 支出?

texts:
Both of these words appeared on my N3 flashcards, and they both can translate to cost or expense according to dictionaries. Example sentences had a tendency to translate 費用 as "cost" and 支出 as "expense", but I can't tell if that means anything significant or not.

In English, "cost" and "expense" are typically interchangeable, except in accounting where they mean separate but specific things. Is this true in Japanese with these words too? If not, what's the difference between them?


texts:
In the following sentence, what exact conjugation is 言う?

  何を言われようと気にしない.

I know that 言われる is the passive, but I have no idea what the よう(と) means.


texts: grammar - 接続 of compound words ending with verb-ず

texts:
In my understanding, the part of speech of a compound word is determined by its ultimate morpheme. (複合語の品詞は、後にくる語（形態素）の品詞によって定まります)

蒸す(V)＋暑い(Adj) → 蒸し暑い(Adj)
持つ(V)＋物(N)　　→ 持ち物(N)

and a verb in its -ず form can be roughly treated as an adverb.

食事をたいらげた　　　　 ate up a meal
食事を残らずたいらげた 　ate up a meal completely (without any bit of remain)

Here comes the question. I find compound words ending with verb-ず have a variety of 接続, none of them are used as an adverb, e.g.

知らずしらずのうちに　(resembles noun＋の＋うち)
役立たずな人　(resembles 形容動詞＋な＋人)
恥知らず者　　　(resembles イ形容詞＋者)

How should I understand such a variety of 接続? and when to use which 接続?
p.s.

I saw the subtitle "役立たず共め" in an anime, saw there is an example
sentence "恥知らずなことをする" in my dictionary, and therefore I came up this
question.
I found compound words ending with verb-ず pretty versatile; it can be an adverb (in 日本人を恥知らず呼ばわりする外国人を批判する), a na-adjective (in 恥知らずな噓をつく), or a noun I guess? (in 馬鹿で恥知らずの人間になる) These three sentences are found on the Internet.


texts: Is this kanji 缶田門 related to Kanda-ku or something else?

texts:
I have a set of souvenir cups purchased in Japan during the 1990's depicting Tokyo locales. There are no markings or production information, only the kanji depicted on the cup design.

To me, it looks like 缶田門. I suppose 缶田 phonetically could be Kanda, but as far as I know only 神田 is used.
Or could it be some some antiquated usage? Or something completely different?


texts: What translator is best for learning how to say a phrase or sentence in modern, conversational Japanese?

texts:
Edit: I'd like to clarify that I'm asking: Given a phrase or sentence that pops into my head in English, how can I find out how to say that in conversational Japanese? Sorry about the confusion. I didn't mean that I want to replace all learning channels with a machine translator or dictionary. I want a supplement for specific sentences.

I've been using Duolingo for a couple months. I'm beginning to want to know how to say things I haven't learned there yet. But Google Translate already seems to diverge from what I learned.
For example, Google Translate says...

...but I learned it on Duo as 日本語が話せます.
I get dropping the "I," but the が is different and also the し.
Is it because Duo is using vernacular? And either way, what online translator or translation method would help me find out a Japanese phrase or sentence, the way it's spoken between same-age groups and friends?


texts: Usage of ば - is あれば...ください valid when the two subjects are the same?

texts:
The usage of ば is complicated.
If volition / request / etc is involved, the sentence is invalid, unless there are special conditions fulfilled (addressed after this example):

X 卒業すれば、彼女と結婚するつもりです。(volitional structure つもりです)

Usage of such volitional structures is allowed under two circumstances:

If the subjects (主語) of the two sentences are different:

O 彼女が希望すれば、彼女と結婚するつもりです。(subjects are 彼女 and わたし (implied))

If the verb is not an action verb (adjective, stative verb, etc):

O わからないことがあれば、わたしにきいてください。(あれば stative verb, as it expresses the state of being)
O 質問があれば、(あなたが)聞いてください。(あれば stative verb)

These two conditions can be found in various materials, such as the top answer to the question in this link.

"The main clause must be a constant non-volitional reaction to the conditional clause unless the conditional clause shows state or if the subjects of the two clauses differ."

This much information can be found in various materials. However, I noticed that when rule 2 applies, the subjects are often automatically different (i.e. rule 1 is applied too). What if adjectives / stative verbs are used when the subjects are the same? (note: example sentence below has been edited from 声をかけてください)

？ (あなたが)そこにいれば、(あなたが)何か言ってください。(eg. when on the phone)
？ (あなたが)そんなに悲しければ、(あなたが)帰ってください。
？ (あなたが)ひまであれば/なら、(あなたが)てつだってください。


texts:
「胸三寸に納めるつもりだ」
From what I've read, 「胸三寸」 literally translates to "heart, mind, and feelings" and 「納める」roughly translates to "to pay" or "to put away".
This line is from 美味しんぼ


texts:
This question is of interest to me because of my own difficulty with remembering on'yomi, as there are fewer possible on'yomi than kun'yomi. So there must be a finite number of valid on'yomi pronunciations, right? The question is, what is this number?

This sounds more mathsy than Japanese, but I'm aware that there are phonotactic constraints which JSE users would be more qualified to discuss, than MSE users.


texts:
How far can I go just piling them up before it becomes gibberish?

友達たちは、のびのび 話して 歩いて ビールを飲んで 物事を考えて 歩いた

Is that something a Japanese person would actually say?


texts:
寝太郎{ねたろう}はのんきに空{そら}をながめては暮{く}らしておりました。

My translation: Netarou was living by heedlessly looking the sky.

What does ては mean in this sentence?


texts: What could be the casual version of this expression?

texts:
ご存じの通り

知りのように
知りの通り
Are those correct?


texts:
Recently I purchased a series of light novels and on the very first page there is this sentence:
"いい、ソースケ?"

The only possible translations I could come up with were: "OK, Sousuke?" or "Ready, Sousuke?"

But in the "official" (TokyoPop) translation, it translates it as: "Pay attention, Sausuke!"

I just couldn't find ANYTHING on this topic, so I would appreciate it if anyone could help me understand what this "いい" means. Thanks in advance ^_^


texts:
I remember having learning that に can be used for a simple emphasis of the word before it, like so:

私はケーキを食べた - I ate cake
私にはケーキを食べた - I ate cake (the others may or may not have, but I did)

But then I stumbled upon something about the に for emphasis not being able to be used in with verbs that normally can't take it?
Does this mean the following sentences are incorrect, since 知る can't be used with に?

私にはその小説を知っている
誰にも試合の結果を知らない

Or have I completely misunderstood?


texts:
My textbook (A course in modern Japanese, volume two) states the following (Lesson 11 p.26):

In spoken language, sentences are connected with the て-form. And in written language, they are connected with the verb-base and く-form.

The book gives examples for verbs (行って -> 行き) and い-adjectives (高くて -> 高く), but I don't know how to handle な-adjectives.
The く-form doesn't appear in the conjugation tables I found in the book. Online, the く-form is mentionned in the case of adverbs, but I am not sure it is the same thing. For example, is the following transformation correct?
このかばんはきれいで,　やすい　->  このかばんはきれいに,　やすい　?
(I found
this answer, but it also only mentions い-adjectives)


texts: How can one determine the appropriate meaning of 伺う in formal speech?

texts:
Is it based on the particle connecting the object of the verb?
For example,

に/へ伺う
to go

vs

を伺う
to ask

Is it purely based on the context of the sentence for distinguishing between to go, to come, and to visit (source)?


texts:
こうなるとテストで露骨に手は抜けない。

I found 手が抜けない and 手の抜けない, but I couldn't find 手は抜けない. Is there any different meaning between 手は抜けない and 手が抜けない?

Thank you in advance for you kind guidance.


texts: Correct usage of から in this particular sentence

texts:
I want to make sure that I understand the basic usage of　から.

If I say:　まどをしめます。さむいですから。
Would this sound natural or stilted to native speakers?


texts:
Does 総会屋 refer to only one person who extorts companies or does it refer to a group of people who are dedicated to extorting companies?
I'm translating the next sentence, and I have doubts about how to translate 総会屋.
► 自らが、暴力団員による不当な行為の防止等に関する法律第２条第二号に規定する暴力団、暴力団関係企業、総会屋若しくはこれらに準ずる者又はその構成員(以下総称して「反社会的勢力」という。)ではないこと。
My attempt:
► Not being a member or an associated party to an organized criminal group, a company related to organized criminal groups or a group engaged in extortion or blackmail of companies (sōkaiya) (hereinafter all considered as "antisocial forces") , in conformity with ...


texts: ばかり usage in 目もくらむばかりの宝石の山

texts:
An example phrase from プログレッシブ和英中辞典

  目もくらむばかりの宝石の山 a dazzling heap of gems

Can ばかり here be safely replaced by ほど, くらい etc. without changing the meaning? Is this how ばかり+の (with ばかり working as a pseudo-noun here, I assume?) preceded by a predicative form works, to emphasize the predicate?


texts: 頑張った...being interpreted as cheering for?

texts:
As far as I know, 頑張った would be translated as someone having worked hard or tried their best etc. depending on context, however I've noticed a disrepency between my translation and another person's that's gotten me confused.

For context, the series is in the middle of a tennis competition. Makoto did very impressively during his match, but ended up losing. Makoto's friends, as well as everyone else watching the match, cheered him on a lot until he lost. Arata was the next person to have a match, and one of Makoto's friends started cheering the moment he appeared (she likes Arata). Another one of Makoto's friends looked at her, frowning, and thought:

  あんだけ頑張ったのにもうアラタ。。。マコトかわいそ

So, I'd translate this as "Even though he (Makoto) worked so hard, the cheering's already changed to Arata...Poor Makoto." or something along those lines.

But one other person has translated it as "Even though she cheered so much for Makoto, now she's cheering just as much for Arata.... Poor Makoto." and I find myself confused.

This piece of work is written with very casual speech patterns, so I was wondering...is there any slang way to interpret '頑張った' as cheering for someone? Or is the other translator just taking artistic licence with subtext?


texts:
Here are the sentences including the word.

では　おまえたちがここへくるまでのいきさつをいちおう記録するから正直にのべるんだ。
まあ　こんなところでよかろう　まったくよくもくだらん　まねばかりしおって

I'm not sure if it is a colloquial form of 「しまう」.


texts: Addressing a group of people with -tachi (たち) and name of one

texts:
I knew the general idea of -tachi, as explained e.g. here: "Hey Bro!" how to call out friends

However in one ranobe I read the following situation. Assume there is a supervisor Asahi and 2 employees Kimi and Mashi of same "grade" sitting at the same table. And Asahi addresses both of them ("you two"/"both of you") using "Kimi-tachi".

Isn't such a call-out insulting for Mashi? I mean, the close translation would be "Kimi and the other one", "Kimi's group", etc, correct? But since Kimi and Mashi are of the same "level" that should not be bound to a name of one of them, I think. Please explain.

EDIT: I chose random names from random manga, in order to not expose the source, not thinking that kimi happens to be a personal pronoun. My bad, gomenosai. The original text had different names, and there was clearly a case of addressing a group of people using the name of one of them +tachi. Can you please explain this situation?


texts: What's the purpose of ta-form +りする and how to use it?

texts: Just wanted to know how to apply the りする to a verb when saying something like "I want to visit japan and eat food." I've seen "今度の 夏休みに 川に行ったり、海に行ったりします" but is it as simple as putting り　after the ta-form for all things listed prior to the last action?


texts:
A: Can we have a date tomorrow too?
  B: Don't get carried away! ^^;

  A: 明日もデートしてくれる？
  B: 調子{ちょうし}に乗{の}るなー！ ^^;

I just would like some clarification to see exactly how 調子に乗る works.
I see it literally as "ride the tone" which I hesitantly extrapolate as to "get carried away by the feeling," which can be seen as an equivalent to another translation of this phrase, "to feel cocky."

Is this line of thinking along the right track?

Is this only an informal expression?

What is its level of rudeness or politeness?

Other examples:

http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=調子に乗る&ref=sa

  調子に乗っていると 失敗{しっぱい}するよ｜You'll fail if you get carried away too much.


texts:
Looking on various pages, the origin of ン seems to be very confused. Most lists either don't include ン, or list one theory. So far I've found the following options:

一
爾
无
尓
二
冫

Wikipedia also mentions

  「ン」については漢字でなく撥音を表す記号（Ｖ）の変形とする説もある。
  For ン there is also the theory of it not being derived from kanji, but rather being a variation of the notation "レ" representing the sound [ɴ].

Is "we just don't know" all there is to say about the origin of ン?


texts: I want to know the difference between of 入れ歯 and インプラント

texts:
I want to know different usages between 入れ歯{ば} and 歯のインプラント .
Is this two words mean the same or any other different !


texts: How to hear the difference between て and で, た and だ, か and が, etc.?

texts:
How can I learn to hear the difference between て and で, た and だ, か and が, etc.?

For example, when I people say "わたし", it sounds to me like "wa da shi" instead of "wa ta shi". The same things happens in case of か行 and た行. Sometimes it's really hard to distinguish them.


texts: What does また アリでも入ったのかなぁ～ mean?

texts:
As far as I know that person is wondering (かなぁ is in the end) about something which happened again.

  また アリでも入ったのかなぁ～

2nd try: Still an good lesson for an ant.


texts: Translation help with a strange phrase: まるがなまな

texts:
So I was translating this song (full lyrics: https://www5.atwiki.jp/hmiku/pages/25196.html) and I came across this phrase:

まるがなまな

I doesn't seem to be connected to anything around it, and I'm having trouble making sense of it. The best I got was "Being correct is only natural," then with the masculine な particle after (though this doesn't fit with the rest of the song). A friend of mine suggested that perhaps まる was being used as a placeholder, as in○○, so ○○がな would be referring to katakana and hiragana, and then まな would just be kanji, so the translation of the line would be something like, "Kanji and kana." This seems the most accurate to me, but I wasn't sure and wanted to get another opinion since this line is odd.

Is the kanji and kana translation correct, or is this something else entirely?

Thank you!


texts: My teacher wrote a triangle on my Japanese homework. What does it mean?

texts: One of my Japanese senseis corrected my homework, and several times she drew a triangle next to the item she was correcting. Does this have a special meaning in Japan?


texts: Is there a reason why [中]{ちゅう}[古]{こ} means used/second-hand items ?

texts:
I am learning Kanji using Kanji Damage deck on Anki and I came across this vocabulary for 古:

  [中]{ちゅう}古{こ} の XXX : used XXX

If I try to literally translate 中古:

  [中]{ちゅう}(middle/central) + 古{こ}(old) = middle old ?

After a quick search on wictionary, I found that one of the etymology for the word says it is Japanese invention (link).

  Wasei kango (和製漢語), borrowing from Japanese [中]{ちゅう}古{こ} (chūko, “secondhand”)

Is there a reason why 中 is used with 古 here while [古]{ふる}[着]{ぎ} means old/used clothes without any need of 中 ?


texts:
Here is the sentence including the word.

へいの中{なか}にはいったとたん投{とう}石{せき}をかけるやられて　あの調{ちょう}子{し}だ！
声{こえ}をかける間{ま}すらないのだ


texts:
I came across the phrase 心配いりません and from what I understand it means "Dont worry". It is formed by using the する-verb 心配 (worry) and いる (to be needed). What I don't understand is why there is no particle or something between 心配 and いる.

Does this mean that する-verbs don't necessarily require the verb する or one of its related forms? Or am I just overthinking it and a particle just being omitted?


texts:
Due to Han unification, the same code point represents the Chinese (T/S), Japanese and Korean variants of a given character. The rendered glyph is determined by locale, lang tag (web) or similar. If a variable like this is misconfigured, it can lead to confusion or irritation with natives and misunderstandings with learners.

One such character is 噌 like in 味噌{みそ}. Source Han Sans renders it as  but MS Gothic on XP renders it as . This led me to wonder which one is actually correct.

There are characters for both variants of the right-hand side of 噌; 曾 and 曽. 曽 is more common according to Jim Breen's KANJIDIC.


texts: Can 何も be used with large grammatical constructions?

texts:
I recently found the following sentence:

  何もこんな所に立ち寄る必要もなかったのではないか。

The translation I can roughly make is:

  There's absolutely no need [for her, the character they're talking about] to stay in this place, is it?

...but I'm having trouble parsing this use of 何も.

From what I understand, grammatically this is formed by having 何も + noun + ではないか, with "noun" being the noun-ified (not sure how to say that in English) ーの version of こんな所に立ち寄る必要もなかった.

So, if my interpretation is correct, can 何も really be attached to larger sentence groups like this? How would you translate it?


texts: General confusion ("Volitional＋ともせず”, redundancy, uses of と, )

texts:
I'm having trouble understanding the grammar in some sentences even if I understand the basic idea of the sentence. I may post with more questions later.

幸夫の横で、あんぐりと口もひらき、逃げようともせず、ただぼんやりしている叔父にしても、今、眼の前に起こっていることが信じられないにちがいなかった。

The part I'm having the most trouble with is this:

あんぐりと口もひらき、逃げようともせず、ただぼんやりしている叔父にしても

I get that ただぼんやりしている is modifying 叔父 and I've found definitions for all the words separately but I'm not making much sense of them together.
I understand that 叔父's mouth is hanging open but I have no idea what's going on grammatically in あんぐりと口もひらき.
I understand Volitional + ともせず means something along the lines of "without even.." but if you know of a good way to break it down and understand what each bit is doing and why it's there, that would help me a lot.
Even just links to explanations of the grammar would be helpful. I'm sorry my questions are so vague. If I knew how to be more specific, I would.
For context..

中生代にさかえ、今はもうほろびて、地球上にはいないとされている恐竜が―。その恐竜が、今、幸夫たちの眼の前へ、網走湾の海底から立ちあがったのである。そして、それは、海岸めがけて歩いてくるのだ。幸夫たちの方へ、近づいてくるのだ。
幸夫には信じられなかった。幸夫の横で、あんぐりと口もひらき、逃げようともせず、ただぼんやりしている叔父にしても、今、眼の前に起こっていることが信じられないにちがいなかった。
ふたりとも、何も考えられなかった。頭の中が、からっぽになったようだった。
恐竜は、短い前足を胸のあたりにだらりとさげ、あと肢だけで歩きながら、砂浜にあがってきた。からだの大きさは十メートルもあるだろうか。眼を赤く光らせ、からだ中から水をしたたらせながら、その恐竜は、幸夫たちの乗っている車の前を、通りすぎていこうとした。


texts: How do you replace 「お悔やみ」 in condolences to a Japanese Christian?

texts:
In Yosh's answer to the question What are the ways to express someone's condolences?, this link states that Buddhist terms should not be used in expressing condolences to a Christian in Japanese:

故人がキリスト教徒の場合
仏教用語を使わないように注意しましょう。
※主な仏教用語
「お悔やみ」　「冥福」　「成仏」　「供養」　「弔う」　「仏」　「僧」

If this is accurate, I've been looking at this list of condolences and this one, and I see very little that could be used. Almost all of the samples include 「お悔やみ」 and a phrase such as 「安らかにご永眠されますようお祈りいたします」 or 「故人のご冥福をお祈りいたします」, which could potentially be appropriate for a Christian recipient who is Roman Catholic but do not sound appropriate for a Protestant (Protestants differ theologically on what happens to a soul/body after death, but generally do not believe the departed souls need to be prayed for. In English-language Protestant condolences, it is common to express that you will pray for the family of the deceased in this difficult time).
I have been informed by a Japanese Congregationalist (a type of Protestant) that his father (who was a Congregational church pastor, 会衆派教会のキリスト教徒) just passed away.
How can I alter

ご尊父様のご逝去を悼み、謹んでお悔みを申し上げます。
ご遺族皆様のお気持ちを思いますと心が痛みます。皆様のために祈っています。

to make it appropriate for a Protestant recipient?


texts: What's the origin of ～み following a 形容詞?

texts:
I found a HiNative question where someone asked about the difference between [痛]{いた}さ and [痛]{いた}み. A native Japanese speaker gave this answer:

「痛さ」は形容詞「痛い」が名詞化した名詞です。
「痛み」は動詞「痛む」の連用形が名詞化した名詞です。

I was taught that み was a nominalizing suffix that is placed after [形]{けい}[容]{よう}[詞]{し}. However, this answer seems to suggest that it is just the [連]{れん}[用]{よう}[形]{けい} of a verb ending in ～む.
This made sense to me at first; [痛]{いた}む、[悲]{かな}しむ、[苦]{くる}しむ、[楽]{たの}しむ、[愛]{いと}しむ → [痛]{いた}み、[悲]{かな}しみ、[苦]{くる}しみ、[楽]{たの}しみ、[愛]{いと}しみ.
However, you then have words like nidan [温]{あたた}む, which has a [連]{れん}[用]{よう}[形]{けい} of [温]{あたた}め, but there is an [温]{あたた}かみ, and not to mention the extra か in there from the [形]{けい}[容]{よう}[詞]{し} [温]{あたた}かい.
So what is the deal with ～み? Where exactly does it come from? Or is it that [痛]{いた}み is just the [連]{れん}[用]{よう}[形]{けい} of 痛む, but み in [温]{あたた}かみ is something grammatically separate?


texts: I heard this expression from 7!!(Seven Oops)'s song "Orange". I don't understand what it mean by 涙を預けて.


texts: How to interpret this joke: 釣られたからって引きこもってやんのテラワロスwww

texts:
In episode 12 of Death Note Light is watching a video sized by the police of the second Kira and gets angry at how this Kira is tarnishing the real Kira's reputation, to which THIS blog author replies with a  short reflection from when Lights got tricked into killing who he thought was L:

  あのー、すいません月さん。あなたが抱いているキラのイメージってどんなものなんですか？　これまでマスコミで報道されたキラの行動というのは（偽キラの一件を除けば）安い挑発に引っかかってリンド・L・テイラーを殺し、しかも肝心のLには手を出せなかったという公開羞恥プレイだけなんですけど。その後についても、本人としてはLや警察をあざ笑うかのように正義の裁きを行っているつもりなのかも知れませんが、醒めた一般人（例えば俺）には「釣られたからって引きこもってやんのテラワロスwww」とネタにされているのではないか、という可能性も少しは考えましょうね。

This is the part I'm having trouble with:

  その後についても、本人としてはLや警察をあざ笑うかのように正義の裁きを行っているつもりなのかも知れませんが、醒めた一般人（例えば俺）には「釣られたからって引きこもってやんのテラワロスwww」とネタにされているのではないか、という可能性も少しは考えましょうね。

I'm trying to interpret this as:

  "Even though Light has the belief he's imparting justice as if to mock L and the police, for woken people like me, isn't there a joke that says "I may have been tricked but you're  f**king staying indoors"? Think about that for a minute.

What's the correct interpretation of this joke? I know that てやん is a vulgar form of ている, (hence I'm using an expletive) but I don't see what's wrong with L staying indoors. Am I missing something?


texts: Question about these sentences with 稼｛かせ｝げる

texts:
I'm reading a light novel and a runaway girl's brother has finally come to pick her up. The two are talking and the girl says she isn't quite ready and doesn't want to go back home.
He eventually tells her he'll do her a solid and give her a week to think everything over. The problem sentence is here:

お前｛まえ｝の気持｛きも｝ちは分｛わ｝かったよ。でも、やっぱりあまり猶予｛ゆうよ｝はないと思｛おも｝ってほしい。僕｛ぼく｝が稼｛かせ｝げる時間｛じかん｝はせいぜい一週間｛いっしゅうかん｝だ。

First sentence I feel fine with. Second one, hmm, "But, I want you to know there really isn't going to be much of a grace period"
Third one, "As for the time I can work, it's at most a week."?
I can tell from the rest of their dialogue that he definitely gives her a week and she's grateful for it. But I would have thought he would say something like 「僕｛ぼく｝があげる時間｛じかん｝。。。」 not 「稼｛かせ｝げる時間｛じかん｝」, since his work wasn't part of the conversation at all and isn't part of it after this sentence either.
From my research, 稼｛かせ｝げる means to work or earn money, and neither of those definitions make sense to me in that sentence. I just don't get what that verb is supposed to mean here. Can someone help me pleasseee?


texts:
延命処置

So what part of speech is the above?

Is it considered to be a compound noun, like a bus station? If so, what the part of speech (in Japanese) to represent such constructions?

延命 here acts like a descriptive adjective of 処置 yet they are both listed as nouns. There is no entry for 延命処置 as one word. Yet they go together here, they’re not meant to be interpreted as two unrelated nouns.

I think there’s a word for this in Japanese grammar and I’d like to know what it is.

Thank you.


texts: How to read 箕 (mi/mino）? Are these just different readings or is there a meaning difference?

texts:
Why is 箕 transcribed as みの in this sentence while according to the dictionary (with the meaning of winnow; winnowing basket; winnowing fan) it is read as み?

  次の日、まだ夜が明けぬ暗い朝、女の子は起きると箕（みの）と箕かさを身にまとい出かけました。


texts:
At first I thought it was a typo, but inserting the character 煜 into birthday wishes or the like seems to be common, e.g.

  おめでとう煜ございます
  おめでとうございます煜
  おめでとう煜ございます煜

I have several problems:

What does it mean?
WWWJDIC has "bright, shining, brilliant", which sort of fits.
How is it pronounced (if at all)?
The readings given in WWWJDIC are イク, オウ, かがや・く, although none of them look like a particularly meaningful interjection.
How is it typed?
None of the readings イク, オウ, かがや・く, produce the character in my IME (although I do get 燠, which has the readings イク, オウ, おき and あたたか・い).


texts:
I was texted this message:
わたしのニックネームはさとなので、さとって呼んでください
I'm guessing it means "my nickname is Sato, please call me Sato" but I don't understand the grammar. What's "なので"? How does one use the verb 呼んで, why is there a って before？


texts: what is different between "で" and "です" in this sentence?

texts:
original sentence is

  ついに数日後、無事つながって私の頭の中が解明されました。『脳内イメージ』と題したそのページに映し出されたのは、脳の形。その中のほぼ９割が『遊』の字で、その周りを『悩』と『休』が取り囲んでいます。

what is different between

  脳の形。その中のほぼ９割が『遊』の字です。その周りを『悩』と『休』が取り囲んでいます。

and

  脳の形。その中のほぼ９割が『遊』の字で、その周りを『悩』と『休』が取り囲んでいます。

?


texts: How is Volitional + と used in these sentences?

texts:
In these sentences, I don't understand this particular use of volitional + と. It seems that it's interchangeable with ように or ために in these cases. But I've never seen Volitional + と used like this.

  困ってしまった他の神様たちは、天照に岩の外に出てき来てもらおうと、彼女が隠れている岩戸の前でお酒を飲みながら歌ったり踊ったりわらったりして、大騒ぎをしました。
  そこである日、僕は、オーディションを受けさせてもらおうと、ある学校の校長に電話をかけました。
  私は化粧をなおそうと、トイレへ向かった。
  彼は講義をよく聞こうと、最前列の席に座った。

A dialogue I found in the One Punch Man webcomic (around page 5):

  重すぎる期待に応えようと焦ってはいかんぞキング

These are the only Volitional + と uses I am aware of

1) Volitional + とする (trying/attempting to do something)

  左手で書こうとした。I tried to write with my left hand

2) Volitional + と (same meaning as 1, but acting adverbially)

  電話に出ようと立ち上がる。 Stand up trying to pick up the phone.

3) Volitional + と思う/考える (thinking of doing/considering doing)

  冬休みは海外旅行に行こうと思った。 I thought, “I will go abroad in the winter vacation.”

  医学の勉強のためにドイツに渡ろうと考えている。I'm thinking of going to Germany for my medical studies.

4) Volitional + と (even if, acts like ても)

  雨が降ろうと風が吹こうと、毎日見回りに出る。 Even if it's raining, even if it's windy, I go out on patrol every day.

The closest connection I can see with the  sentences above is with 2), but it doesn't seem to be natural in some of the sentences.

If this is a completely different usage of volitional + と, I would appreciate an explanation of it's usage and some examples.

Resources I used:

Volitional + と + Verb

What does volitional + と mean?

デジタル大辞泉

Additional question:

How would I interpret these sentences?

  私は合格しようと頑張った。

Would I say this sentence is the same as:

私は合格するつもりで頑張った。I tried my best intending to pass the exam

私は合格しようと思って頑張った。I tried my best thinking I'd pass the exam

私は合格しようとして頑張った。 I tried my best trying to pass the exam (sounds ungrammatical)

  重すぎる期待に応えようと焦ってはいかんぞキング

重すぎる期待に応えるつもりで焦ってはいかんぞキング Don't feel pressed with the intention of answering to heavy expectations King (sounds ungrammatical)

重すぎる期待に応えようと思って焦ってはいかんぞキング Don't feel pressed thinking you'll meet their expectations King

重すぎる期待に応えようとして焦ってはいかんぞキング Don't feel pressed trying to meet their expectations king


texts: Do you need a question mark to indicate a question in Japanese?

texts:
I was listening to a song and decided to check the lyrics to it.

http://www.kasi-time.com/item-74499.html

夜風に吹かれ　考える
好き　嫌い　嫌い　好き　繰り返す

Since there were no question marks, so it made me doubt if it was a question being asked in the lyrics. Also, when I did a dictionary search for でしょう

http://classic.jisho.org/sentences?jap=%E3%81%A7%E3%81%97%E3%82%87u&eng=

Some have question marks, while some don't.


texts: Meaning of 言うではありませんか

texts:
I was reading a story on Hukumusume.

In this story, there is the following section:

すると神さまは、
「遅かったね。残念だけど、昨日決まったよ」
と、言うではありませんか。
くやしいのなんの。

I am guessing 言うではありませんか means something like "There was no word", meaning the subject was speechless. Is this correct?


texts: How do you say “only to find out” in Japanese

texts: I’m trying to connect two sentences with the phrase “only to find out” / “only to discover”


texts: The use of present and past tenses in ～時 sentences

texts:
In Genki II textbook (second edition page 114 and 115) you are tasked with creating sentences using ～時. The problem is their answers seem to contradict what is written in "A dictionary of basic Japanese grammar" (page 493).

Ex IV.A.2 shows a picture of a student not understanding something, we are supposed to create a sentence meaning "When I don't understand something I ask someone". So the order seems to be I don't understand something , and then I ask someone, which according to dictionary asks for past + 時 + present (わからなかった時人にききます), while the answer is present + 時 + present (わからない時人にききます).

Similarly, ex. IV.A.4 shows a person being homesick. We are supposed to construct a sentence meaning "When I get homesick, I call my parents", which again seems to call for past + 時 + present, and instead it's translated as ホームシックの時両親に電話をかけます.

I'm pretty sure I'm misunderstanding something.


texts:
What is the meaning of "もとになった"?

Here is the sentence in which I find this expression:

  もとになった鳥山先生のイラストはDB大全集第６番182ページ掲載.

Maybe simply, (this illustration) originally was published on [...]?

For more context:


texts: What is the difference between the negative forms -ず and -ぬ?

texts:
-ず and -ぬ are two alternatives to the negative form -ない / -ません. But I noticed that depending on the word, it's either -ず or -ぬ, although it seems like some words can take both suffixes. Some examples I have encountered:
-ず
知らず (lyric in song "タッチ" by Younha)
わからず (lyric in song "愛するもの" by Angela Aki/アンジェラ・アキ)
せず (song title: "油断せずに行こう")
なれず (lyric in song "未来へ" by Kiroro/キロロ)
-ぬ
気づかぬ (lyric in song "ありがとう..." by KOKIA)
届かぬ (song title: "届かぬ想い")
ならぬ (lyric in song "春雷" by YeLLOW Generation)
both -ず and -ぬ
とらず / とらぬ
できず / できぬ
So are there rules for choosing between -ず and -ぬ?


texts: How to tell if a なり is the なる form or if it is the hiragana form of a word?

texts:
I am uncertain if the bolded なり below is the hiragana form of the kanji 鳴り 'ringing, sound' or if its the なる form for the そぞろ. (which would come out as 'to become restless/ to become on edge (and unable to concentrate )/ to become distracted').
Any help provided for me (and others) to learn how to discern which it is would be greatly apricated.

ついつい気がそぞろになり、ラジオの放送が耳を[素通]{すどお}りしてしまった。


texts: Looking for expressions similar to なるほど or やっぱり for situations that are opposite of speakers' previous suspicion

texts:
This is an extension of the question: Using なるほど (naruhodo) and やっぱり (yappari) in the same situation

From what I understood from the answers to the question above, なるほど and やっぱり imply the speaker's suspicion that he/she somehow and to some extent knows about the situation before getting the affirmation from the other party.

However, what would the speaker say if it is revealed that the situation is opposite to what he/she was suspecting? I know he/she can say "なに?" (with a surprised face etc) but that is too strong an interjection, unlike the softer なるほど or やっぱり. I guess in English it might be something like "oh dear me". "なに?" sounds more like "OMG!" to me.


texts: How important is gendered language in reality?

texts:
Many people say that gendered language is especially important in Japanese. To a point, I can understand this, but only to a certain distance. For example, if I (Fe/male) were to say 'Wow, that show was impressive!', in a neutral pitch, it wouldn't sound queer if I were male of female. However, if I were to say 'Ooh, that show was fantastic!' (generally female sounding), or 'Damn, that show was fucking awesome, man.' (generally male sounding), it wouldn't be wrong, but to some it would sound quite strange.

I can understand this in Japanese too, but some stress it to a point I can't believe. For instance, for the most part, things in Japanese seen as 'masculine' (most common examples I've heard), are: 僕、俺、だ（copula）、か（interrogative）; and ones seen as 'feminine' are: 私、あたし、です、〜ます、の （interrogative）、わ. Now, keep in mind, 私、です、〜ます、only apply in casual conversations and situations, and in polite ones, it is 'correct', and wouldn't be 'feminine'. Similarly, の  as an interrogative, I hear isn't feminine in some situations as well, and わ is sometimes used by males, and in some dialects, it's not feminine at all. (correct me if I'm wrong).

Also, things seen as masculine, I hear females saying all the time, and at no sacrifice to their femininity. Although I have yet to hear a woman say 俺, there has been no shortage to the amount of women saying 僕、だ、か. Although more women are using 'masculine' language than men using 'feminine' language, it is still there.

I have heard that if you don't use the appropriate set, people will be confused, maybe upset. If you mix them, you may be seen as gender non-conforming. Is this really true? Just how important is gendered language in Japanese?


texts:
In my understanding, 達{たち} is a suffix used to pluralize a countable noun. For example,

私 (single) becomes 私たち (plural)
あなた (single) becomes あなたたち (plural)

According to most dictionaries, 子供  can be translated as either child or children. As a result, if we want to say children (instead of child), I think 子供 should be enough. In other words, is it true that for saying "children", たち in 子供たち is redundant?


texts:
I checked out the other と言わんばかり stuff here, but I don't understand this still.

The translation I have is:
"Wide step, and slower steps than at competitions.
Both are movements that push you to the edge of losing your balance."

I understand
どっちも = both
バランスを崩す = losing your balance
と言わんばかりに = as if to say

Not sure about what ぎりぎりの動き means (probably that it's a risky movement ?), but what does this last part literally mean?
Thanks!


texts:
I know that "わさび" 'wasabi' can also be written using kanji as "山葵" and that these two characters mean respectively "mountain" and "hollyhock", but hollyhock doesn't seem at first glance to be related.

So are the hollyhock and wasabi plants related or are the kanji some kind of ateji which would explain why the hiragana spelling is more common. Or is the origin of the word something more subtle or mysterious?


texts: What are appropriate situations where you use 何卒 to end a formal correspondence?

texts:
Good day!

I've seen some emails ending with 何卒宜しくお願い致します but I was wondering if it just raises the respect/politeness of a letter or does it have specific situations where it should/shouldn't be use?

Like when you're expecting a response, I usually end with ご回答の程、宜しくお願いします。 But I'm really not that clear with 何卒 usage.

Thanks!


texts: Is the layout of this text supposed to resemble a style of poem?

texts:
While playing a Japanese video game, I became curious about the layout of these book pages that appear each time you finish a chapter of the game.

The text of each page summarizes one of the chapters, and is laid out in six lines. Each line contains 13 characters, grouped together into 4-4-5 character long units, resulting in a column-like look.
For example, the first two lines read,

そだって　あばれた　ガソリンゴ
なんとか　たおした　いのちがけ

Since the form is so schematic I thought this might be modeled to be a kind of Japanese poem. Knowing next to nothing about Japanese poetry, I researched the Wikipedia article on the topic, but couldn't find anything that would correspond with this scheme.
Is the layout of this text supposed to be reminiscent of a form of poetry, or is it more likely to have been made up by the writer?


texts: 「目が高い」meaning and is it actually used in conversation?

texts:
Is 「目が高い」 a set phrase that a native speaker would ever use in daily conversation? (I memorized that phrase from a book long ago). If this phrase is not used, then I don't care. I will basically understand it, but never use it.
If 「目が高い」 is used, then I think it means "you have good / refined tastes." and would sound natural in these scenarios:

Imagine that I an acknowledged expert on wines and discussing wines during dinner with a group of people. Were one fellow to make several good observations about the best wines for the least amount of money. I could say 「やはり、目が高い。」
Compared to a fellow wearing a Nordstrom suit and Nordstrom tie, would a guy wearing a Zegna suit and Brooks Brothers tie be 「目が高い」？
If a fellow were shown 2 computer programs that essentially do the same thing, but the source code for one program is clearly very well written, while the other is poorly written. If that fellow were able to quickly / confidently select the one program that is well written, would he be 「目が高い」？

thank you.


texts: Saying "you're welcome" at the workplace

texts:
There are a few ways to say "You're welcome". Which is the best for somebody in the workplace (inside and outside the team and of about the same level as myself)

どういたしまして
いいえ
いえいえ
others?


texts:
Is there a clear difference between the meanings of 十分 and 十二分? I rarely have ever seen the second one. When should the second one be used and in what context?

EDIT: To avoid confusion, I'm talking about when used in the context of "enough" or "sufficient". Also, why is it that 十分 meaning "10 minutes" is also used to mean "enough"?


texts:
So I've been reading about という in here and other websites but its still very unclear. From what I've seen so far it sometimes doesn't mean anything, but I'm not sure, like it must have at least some connotation, right?

So I picked up this sentence from jisho.org

  彼らが結婚したという知らせは村中に広がった。

It's translated as "The news of their marriage spread throughout the village."
What is the meaning of という in this sentence?
If I say 彼らが結婚した知らせは村中に広がった, would it be incorrect? Would it be different in any way?

I would like to know what is the purpose of という when its used like that.


texts: How can I say "to be tired of verbING" in Japanese?

texts:
How can I say "I'm tired of waiting", "I'm tired/bored of staying home all day"?

Can I use て form + 疲れる?
What is the difference among 疲れる、飽きる and うんざりする?


texts: Why does "漢字のはなし" translate to "Lecture about Kanji"

texts: My textbook translates it to that, why not use 講義 instead? Would it be wrong to use either, also what are the nuances?


texts:
I came across the expression ~としたことが, for example:

  私としたことが

I'm trying to figure out the meaning and usage of this phrase, but I can't find any English resources that explain it.

What does this mean?


texts:
I'm a beginner in Japanese. I don't completely get what

  笑っちまう程 立場が 変わるぜ

means in the context below. Is it something like "The more I laugh the more the situation changes"? It makes no sense to me.

The context:

  運命・・・か。おまえを捕虜として 国に連れ帰りゃ  俺も一気に 英雄扱いだろうな・・・部隊を全滅させ、部下を５人も失ったくせに 敵と手を組んで オメオメ と生き残った 国辱ものが・・・ 笑っちまう程 立場が 変わるぜ・・・


texts: A possible series of omitted words in 「特急列車は相も変わらず閑古鳥」

texts:
So I was trying to translate this song (full lyrics: 反芻の印象) and I came across this phrase that I believe has omitted words:

  特急列車は相も変わらず閑古鳥

"The limited express is, as usual, a cuckoo", would be my literal translation.
As this doesn't make any sense, I would think that 閑古鳥 is just a shortened form of the idiom 閑古鳥が鳴く ("business is slow/ (a store is) empty", is basically how my dictionary gives it), so I would think that "The limited express is, as usual, empty," would be the translation. Is that correct? I was unsure about the omitted words.

However, the next line of the song is

  星座の光　線路の隙間に茂る雑草

(Under the light of the constellations, the spaces between the railroad tracks grow thick with weeds) and I would think it is possible that 閑古鳥 goes with 星座の光, though it does seem to be in a different phrase. Still, I thought this could be a possibly, since the omitted words bother me.
Thank you for your help!


texts: I'm a beginner and this word or particle or whatever it is has left me dumbfounded. Greatly appreciate if anyone can tell me what this is supposed to be.


texts: Does it sound unnatural to say "タダイマ" after someone says "オカエリ" to you?

texts:
When you return home, the normal exchange is:

(oneself): "タダイマ"
(family member at your residence): "オカエリ"

My interpretation is that "タダイマ" means "hey, I've just got home.". And, "オカエリ" means "welcome home!".

So, it would just sound weird to say "タダイマ" if someone beats you to the punch and says "オカエリ" to you?


texts: Meaning of きれい事じゃないんだ

texts:
full text, line 7

  俺にとっては、そんなこと興味はなくて。

  これは所詮、自分の中の衝動を満たすためのもの。

  最強のライバルと、このシチュエーションで戦えるなんて、ゾクゾクするじゃないか。

  それが不謹慎だと言われようと、構わない。きれい事じゃないんだ。

  興味があるのは、ただ、全国ランキング１位のヤツを倒して、その頂点――全一になることだけ。

I don't understand the meaning of the  きれい事じゃないんだ part over here in connection with full sentence.

afaik it's something like "cosmetic words" or "lip service" but still


texts: Causative, causative-passive and particles

texts:
俺一人に琥珀さんと翡翠をかまわせているのも申し訳ないから、とりあえず二人にはもとの仕事に戻ってもらった。

I am pretty sure it's the causative form here since the causative-passive would require 俺一人 to be marked with は.

I am not sure why 俺一人 is marked with に instead of を though.

I understand the meaning of the sentence, it's just that i do not understand why the particles are like that.

Shouldn't it be

  俺一人を琥珀さんと翡翠にかまわせているのも申し訳ないから、とりあえず二人にはもとの仕事に戻ってもらった。


texts: Verb + shi vs verb + tari --> what's the difference?

texts: After a verb, they both used to imply "...and other things" or "among other things". What's the difference between them? When is used one and not the other? Which is more common? Are they really more or less the same?


texts: Expressing "live somewhere in summer and live somewhere in winter": Particle usage

texts:
So recently I've been following the advice of writing up a journal entry in Japanese every day, and I had a question about particle usage for a set of sentences I did.

  祖父と祖母はメーンに住んでいます。でも、メーンの冬はとても寒いですから、冬にロサンゼルスに住んでいます。そして、夏にメーンに住んでいます。ロサンゼルスの夏はとてもあついですから。

My question is simply this, should I be marking summer and winter with the に or で particle to indicate that my grandparents live in Maine or Los Angeles during the season in question.


texts:
I am aware that ~ばいい can be used to suggest or imply something. For example, in the sentence:

自分ですればいいだろ (Do your own work)

However, I tried to make the sentence: Come with her to the party / It is good that you come with her to the party

彼女とパーティに行けばいいですね

But I was told that this sounds unnatural, and I should therefore say:

彼女とパーティに行けるといいですね (another conditional!)

My questions:

Any conditional can be used for generating this suggestions?

Is there any rule so that we know which conditional should we use in each case? Because I don't understand why my sentence is unnatural.


texts: Is there any difference between 大の好物 and 大好物?

texts:
This might seem like a ridiculous question, but I heard from a native that there is an emphasis when using 「大の好物」 instead of 「大好物」. Is this true?

If this is so, why would 「大＋の」 indicate more emphasis on something "more" or "larger" compared to just placing 「大」 in front of the word?

Can we do this with other words than just 「大」?


texts: How do I read the kanji in this ad for mascara?

texts:
On the train yesterday, I came across this ad, which is just for some mascara or whatever:

Sorry it's a little blurry. The text is 凛{りん}と際立{きわだ}つ艶ロング。

I'm just a little unclear on a couple of things.

For the first kanji, 凛{りん}, my dictionaries say it means "cold", but I can't see how that connects to mascara. Is that the right meaning?

The other question is on the last kanji, 艶. Is it read つや or えん? The different readings seem to have different meanings, but they could both apply. つや is "gloss, glaze, charm" and other meanings, while えん is "charming, fascinating". Which is it?


texts: Help with the difference between causative and the causative-passive for the verb 笑う

texts:
I've always had a hard time immediately understanding the differences between passive, causative, and causative-passive. If I really sit down and try to work out the meaning I can generally get it, but I have a bad habit of just skimming over it.

One verb that is giving me trouble is 笑う:

The passive is 笑われる, or "to be laughed at". This seems pretty straight-forward.

  たけしさんはメアリーさんによく笑われます。　Takeshi is often laughed at by Mary.

The causative is 笑わせる, or "to make laugh, to let laugh". Again, this makes sense to me.

  彼は子供達を笑わせた。 He made the children laugh.

What I don't understand is the the causative-passive, 笑わせられる. My understanding of it is that it follows the pattern of "is made to do", that someone is made to do something that they don't want to do. But how does this work with laughter? It seems to me that this is the same meaning as "being made to laugh". The only other thing I can think of is "was made to laugh at someone", like in a peer-pressure sort of situation.

Take this JLPT practice question:

  △△さんの冗談には、いつも思わず 笑わせられた 。

The wrong answers include 笑われた, and 笑わせた.

Why is the answer the causative-passive (せられた), and not the causative (せた)? What is the difference in meaning? Is the causative out-right wrong here, or is it just less-right or natural then the causative-passive? Is there a clue in the sentence structure that I'm missing?


texts:
WaniKani and Jisho.org give the definition of 早口{はやくち} as "fast talker".  In English, this can have several shades of meaning.  Which of the following (or others) apply in Japanese:

someone who speaks rapidly:  she's such a fast talker I can't understand a word she says
a salesman or con-artist;  they talk so fast you can't keep up and you end up agreeing to something you're not quite sure of:  A fast talking salesman who could sell a freezer to an Eskimo
someone who can get out of tricky situations.  He's such a fast talker he always gets in trouble but rarely suffers the consequences.

WaniKani also suggests it might mean motor-mouth, as in someone who talks and talks and won't shut up.


texts:
I just need a little clarification on the use of ずつ. Since its meaning is "at a time", let's take a look at the following sentence:

  2回並んで、1枚ずつ整理券をもらった。

So this means that you got on line twice, and for each time, you received a registered ticket (so in the end, you would have two registered tickets, one for each time). Is this correct? Can someone please give some more examples of how ずつ is used?


texts: Sentence meaning - 「それにしたって」, 「だったっていうんですもの」, 「で」

texts:
I'm trying to read this short story, and I can't really understand this exchange; context: a 木馬 was given to a school and put in the garden, and if I understood well it was fixed to the ground; one character is saying that one day the 木馬 was gone, and the next day was there again.

「―酔っ払いがふざけて運んだんじゃないかしら」
「でも土台が付いていて、かなり重いものですよ。本式のメリーゴーランドの馬のように大きくはないけれど、それにしたって持って来る時は国雄{くにお}さんとお父さんと二人がかりだったっていうんですもの、前を通りかかってちょっと悪戯{いたずら}で持って行くなんてこと考えられません」
「それなら、複数だとしたらどうです？群集心埋も手伝って、はめをはずしてやってしまった」

From my understanding, the first sentence is wondering if it couldn't be drunk people pulling a prank and carrying it away.
The third is saying something like "In that case, what about if they were more than one? If also 群集心埋 helped, they could have done it" (「はめをはずす」 is "To go over the top", I'm reading it as "Being able to pull such a prank").
The second is giving me serious trouble: it starts by saying that it was fixed on the ground and it was heavy; not like a merry-go-round horse, but even considering it (それにしたって) they needed two people to bring it in. I found 「それにしたって」 mean "Even if that's the case", and it makes sense with this grammar page.
A lot of confusion about 「だったっていうんですもの」: I guess it's だった (past tense of だ) + っていう (< という) + んです (explicative) + もの (because), but I don't really understand it's meaning, maybe because I'm completely at a loss with the following part. I guess it's something like "Since they needed two people..." given as explanation for what follows, but I'm guessing and don't really understand the whole structure, mainly the 「という」 part.
About 「前を通りかかってちょっと悪戯で持って行くなんてこと考えられません」... 「前を通りかかって」, "To pass by"; 「ちょっと悪戯{いたずら}」, maybe "A little prank"? Not sure about what role is playing 「で」 here, since none of the meaning I know seem to fit; maybe "and". Then I guess 「なんてこと考えられない」 means "I can't think such a thing". So maybe something like "I can't think about someone passing by doing a little prank and [で] taking it away [持って行く]"? I'm just guessing from what I can understand, if that's the meaning a breaking down of the grammar would be a great help.
Also if I'm right in my understanding, I don't understand the reply (third sentence): one character says "I can't think this is a prank", and the other replies "What about if it were more people"? Doesn't seem to make much sense - it fits with the thing being heavy, but it doesn't seem to fit with how I understood the part about the 悪戯; maybe the character is saying she can't think about one person doing such a thing just for fun?
My full reading, with a good measure of guess work and too much thinking about a single sentence, is:

I wonder if it could be a prank pulled by drunkards.
But it was fixed to the ground and quite heavy. Not big like a merry-go-round horse, but even considering it it took both Kunio and dad to bring it there, so I can't think someone passing by pulled a prank and took it away.
In that case, what about if they were more than one? With 群集心埋 helping, they could have done it.


texts: Question about the と particle in comparative constructs

texts:
I've been making my way through the book Elementary Japanese Volume 1 and in the chapter on comparatives it introduced this construction:

AとBとでは、どちらの方がXですか。Between A and B, which one is X-er?
AとBとでは、Aの方がBよりXです。 Between A and B, A is X-er than B.

If I understood it correctly then the particles で and は are acting as they normally would. Meaning the で here is the location marker and marks the range of things we are comparing. And the は particle just marks the whole first part as the topic. However, what I don't understand is the use of the と particle at the end of the list, right after B.
I think I have seen this construct without this と. So what exactly is it's function there?


texts: How are こと and こんな being used in this sentence?

texts:
I have to translate the following.

メモには、「毎日、家のことをしてくれて、ありがとう。」と書いてありました。
こんなやさしい、ロマンチックな日本人の男の人がいると思いますか。

For the first sentence, I am not sure what the note says.

In the note, "Every day, you give ... to me, thank you" had been written.

Maybe house things? I have never seen こと except as a nominalizer. But 家 is already a noun.

For the second sentence,  have more issues.

Do you think that ... easy/lenient romantic Japanese man exists?

I am not sure what the こんな means (na-adjective? variation of この?). And I am also not sure of the translation as a whole. Is いる just acting as です? Or maybe they're talking about Japanese men exist who are romantic?

Thanks for any help.


texts: What is meant by 魔法が単なる数式みたくなって意味を見いだせなくなってしまう

texts:
I need some clarification on two sentences in the below.

My first question is that I am not sure what それ is referring to in それを自分で把握, which makes me unable to understand the next sentence.

A few additional notes to help provide context

スズノネ is the name of the academy they are studying magic at
The students (including the protagonist) are having this lesson with the teacher because they have their "own" ways of performing magic which don't conform to the the academy's expected way. 「将来そういう先輩たちに混じってスズノネの名を背負うためには、スズノネのやり方で力を発揮してもらわなければなりません」

  九条要「そもそも魔法とはなんだと思う？」

  (students give their answers on what they think magic is and then the teacher gives theirs)

  九条要「あたしは出力結果だと思ってるのね。これは九条要個人としての考え方だけど」

  九条要「同じ現象を起こすにもプロセスにはいろいろあるわけで、それをひとつに揃えるというのは想像力のスポイルだと思う」

  主人公「先生としての立場を考えるとそれを言うのはまずいんじゃ？さっきの説明と矛盾しますよね」

  九条要「うん。つまりあたし個人はスズノネのやり方に全面賛成しているわけではない。だけど、やってもらわなければならない」

  九条要「あなたたちみたいな生徒の場合、それを自分で把握しておくことが大事だと思う」

  九条要「でないと、魔法が単なる数式みたくなって意味を見いだせなくなってしまう」

  多分これは、俺に向けられている部分が大きいんだろうな。少なからず俺にはそういうところがあるからだ


texts: What's the difference between 偏る and 傾く?

texts:
They can both translate as "to lean" but I think they're not interchangeable. Or are they? Take this sentence for example:

  地震で塀が傾いた。

Can I use 偏る in this sentence?


texts: Is there a good way to look up whether a 御 prefix is お or ご for a word? I know there is the Chinese origin versus Japanese origin thing (mentioned here). But is there a way to look up for a certain word in particular? For example, 御忙しい and 御自分で. The dictionaries etc that I've looked at never seem to have it.


texts: State of being in a relative clause help

texts:
I want to know how to form the sentence:

  We know that this is a small shop, but [...] .

I thought I could write it as

  私たちはそれが小さい店だことを知っています

but it turned out that this sentence is grammatically incorrect (apparently because "da" cannot be used like that?).

I want the "is" part to really appear in the sentence and I have no idea of how to do that, since no way that I know looks grammatical.


texts: I am looking for a list of the most common idioms in Japanese, and ideally I want the list to be frequency-based. In other words, it should be based on a large corpus.


texts:
I first learnt Ga as always attached to Arimasen so still trying to grasp the nuances when changed to a Wa.

From my understanding of Wa vs Ga differences, it's just simply a matter of topic vs subject marker but I find it pretty interchangeable. Sometimes they use Wa and sometimes Ga without any particular important distinction to make were they to use the other. Eg. 俺を逆らう力はない｡

It feels like one of those things similar to desu node vs desu kara where one is supposedly focused on subject/topic when in reality people just focus on the formal/informal aspects and screw the subject/topic marker part for the most part.


texts: When should I say the phrase ビールのおかわりお願いします?

texts:
When should I say this phrase?

  ビールのおかわりお願いします。
  Bīru no o kawari onegaishimasu.

I couldn't figure out the meaning.  My main source of confusion is that I've never seen this sentence construction: [noun]のおかわり.


texts: Why is 温かい used instead of 熱い when ordering a hot drink?

texts:
In English, "warm" and "hot" are usually interchangeable when ordering a hot drink.  In my experience, "hot" is more frequently used.

I was corrected with 温かいコーヒー when asking for an 熱いコーヒー so I assume that my statement was incorrect.

Thus, I am curious as to why 温かい is the preferred adjective for ordering a "hot" beverage?


texts: Why is "UFO" pronounced as if it were a word?

texts:
In English, "UFO" (Unidentified flying object) is generally pronounced with each letter being pronounced.

By contrast, I've read in my textbook that in Japanese, "UFO" is pronounced "ユーフォー".

Is there any particular reason for the difference in pronunciation, such as one of the letters being hard to pronounce as a letter? Or is it relatively common for things that are pronounced letter by letter in English to be pronounced as if it were a word in Japanese?


texts:
There are already posted questions (and answers) for the meaning of となる as a similar pattern to になる, but with a sense of finality.
However, I've come across the following sentence

A棟{とう}は、１階が寮長{りょうちょう}の部屋と食堂{しょくどう}、２階が男子で、３階が女子のフロアーとなっていて、B棟{とう}は男子学生のみだった。

where なる as a meaning of "consist" or "be composed of".
My question is, how is the となる construction affected if なる does not have the usual meaning of "becoming", but one of "consisting"? Specifically, what is the meaning of the bold part?
Edit:
For clarity, I already know that なる can mean "to be composed of". What I'm looking for is the nuance of に vs と when なる is used with this sense.
With the "become" meaning, と adds a sense of finality, like "has finally become". What is the corresponding nuance in with "composed of"? "Has finally become composed of" does not make sense in the example sentence...


texts: Is there any difference in meaning between 野外 and 屋外?

texts:
In the sense of “outdoors,” is there any difference in meaning between 野外 and 屋外? Neither Nelson’s character dictionary nor Jisho.org indicate any obvious difference beyond the following second meaning for 野外:

  野【や】外【がい】
  n., の adj. outdoors; outside; open air
  n. fields; outskirts; suburbs

  屋外 【おくがい】
  n., の adj. outdoors; outside


texts:
The word 超自然的 seems to have a somewhat mysterious pitch accent.
In WaniKani's audio (click the speaker icons) as well as in this random YouTube video it sounds like the accent is ちょうしぜんてき{HHLLHHHH}. Also Forvo for 超自然 sounds like ちょうしぜん{HHLLHH}. As far as I know, this pitch accent shape is unusual for 標準語.
My thinking is that, as far as accent is concerned, the word is split into 超 and 自然的, which are then pronounced atamadaka and heiban respectively: ちょう{HHL} + しぜんてき{LHHHH}. Is that a reasonable analysis? Does this sort of thing occur more often than I think it does?
Would I be wrong to read it with a heiban accent like ちょうしぜん{LLHHHH}(てき{HH})?


texts:
How can I translate "楽にして" ? I read it change if transitive or intransitive...

The sentence was: 私が楽にしてやろう！

the context is: a guy asks to another about "being friends", but the other doesn't accept, the other guy is evil. The evil guy says that sentence before starting to control the good guy's mind.

can be "I'll make it easy (to you become my friend)?"


texts: What are the common practice of reading names of modern Chinese people?

texts:
From what I've seen from the Japanese Wikipedia, names of communist figures (Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Xi Jinping) seem to be read with on'yomi (Mou Takutou, Tou Shouhei, Shuu Kinpei). On the other hand, names of some actors (Fan Bingbing, Jimmy Lin, Ruby Lin) seem to follow English practice (Fan Binbin, Jimii Rin, Rubii Rin), even though their articles are still titled using kanji. Other more internationally mainstream actors (Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung) get their names entirely transcribed from English (Jakkii Chen, Samo Han).

What are the common practices of reading names of modern Chinese people? Also, do newspapers use furigana for these names?


texts: How do you ask someone to '' please yobisute ''?

texts:
I just learned about the concept of yobisute.

If someone calls me John San , and I want them to drop the honorific and just call me John how should I say this ?

Would it be just ''Yobisute kudasai'' or maybe ''Yobisute onegaishimase'' or some other variant.

What is the usual way of expressing this ?


texts: What does 層 mean when referring to fans (the people)?

texts:
In this article, the author writes about Nintendo fans using 層 as a suffix:
「任天堂の最も忠実なファン層がSwitchの長寿命化の鍵を握っている。」
「このような層を満足させるのはいつも難しい」
「任天堂はこの声の大きいプレイヤー層を狙っている。」
And, at last:

「任天堂は，ファン層という点では時間の余裕がある。」

In Weblio's definition, the indication of 層 as something related to position, status and class becomes clear, and there is even an example using the word 「ファン」 to describe a group/collective/assortment of people.
I can kinda get the usage of 層 in the first example here, where the author refers the "the class of fans which are the most passionate", as well as the second and third where what kind of class is referred to is also clear. But the fourth one bugs me, which 層 exactly does he want to refer to here? Given the context, we know it's those "passionate kind of fans", but if that were to be a single phrase, would it still make sense?


texts: Negative adjectives directly modifying a noun

texts:
If I use an adjective to directly modify a noun how exactly would I conjugate it into the negative form?

For example

これは　おおきい　やま　です。　-> This mountain is large

If I wanted to say "This mountain is not large" could I say

これは　おおきくない　やま　です　or これは　おおきくありません　やま　です

or do those two examples above sound unnatural relative to something like

この　やま　は　おおきくない　or この　やま　は おおきくありません

Thanks!


texts:
I’m currently studying tobira and in ch9 there is this sentence

「浪人」というのは、もともと「主人のいない侍」のことを意味したが、今は希望の大学に入れなかったために予備校に行ったりしながら受験勉強をしている人達
のことを指す。その他、受験の厳しさを表す言葉には「四当五落」や「試験地獄」という表現もある。

I understand that the use of that その他 is “in addition to” from the context, but according to Tobira’s ch3 it has to be either ~他に(も) or  ~他(に)は to mean "in addition to/besides". My question is, is it possible for a regular その他 to have the meaning of “in addition to/besides”?


texts:
What word to use to mean "respond" in the sentence below:

"You should respond to her confession" ー彼女の告白にお返事してください

Most accurate I can think of is 返事 but it still feels wrong


texts:
I'm confused about リィ.  (That's big リ followed by little ィ.)

Although this combination isn't part of the official orthography (as far as I know), it seems to be fairly common.  I asked a Japanese friend, and she said it's pronounced similar to like English -ry, but I'm afraid I don't trust my ear enough to hear exactly what she means by that.  I think I might do better with a more technical explanation.  My guess is that it's something like /rji/, but I'm having trouble pronouncing that.

Here are my questions:

How do I pronounce りぃ?  Is it the same as a "normal" kana or pair of kana, like リ or リー?
Is りぃ one mora or two?  I think one is plausible, like りゃ・りゅ・りょ, but I also think two is plausible, like よぉ or ねぇ.  (I hope I'm not wrong about these last two being two moras long!)

I made a list of similar kana pairs, just in case it made more sense to answer generally about all of them.  (If it doesn't make sense, please ignore this list!)

  イィ・キィ・ギィ・シィ・ジィ・チィ・ニィ・ヒィ・ビィ・ピィ・ミィ・リィ


texts: If I was to refer to people who like fish, I'd say something like 「魚が好きな人」, but if I was to refer to people who do something, how would I go about saying that? Would the format be similar, or would it be completely different. I know in Japanese, to like is treated as an adjective, where as, someone doing something would be a verb, so if I was to refer to people who wear pants, would I say it as something like this 「ズボンを履いている人」? I'm not sure if I'd use the TE form of the verb, or if I'd have to use a different form, nor am I sure if I need to use いる or ある. I went with いる, as I'm referring to a live, animate person, but I'm not even sure if I'm even remotely close to saying it properly. Is there some other particle I'd need to use, or a different sentence structure? Or would referring to a group of people based on something they do, such as people who wear something, people who exercise, or certain actions be unnatural in Japanese?


texts: Ｗhat is the difference between 終に、遂に、and 竟に？

texts: Ｗhat is the difference between 終に、遂に、and 竟に? All of them are ついに and have the same meaning in english too "finally". Thank you ^^


texts: Do I have this right? Also what "tense" is this

texts:
I'm reading the manga (hence a more free form writing and lack of punctuation, I get that) and I have this passage (slashes indicate bubble breaks):

  A: それじゃあ 確認 / 作戦開始は暗くなってから

  A: それまでに

  B: 私は「Robots」の材料を集めて回って ここの地下に転送

  B: Aがそれを準備してくれる / だったわよね？

Context: A and B will later steal a bunch of machine parts and machines to make the "Robots" and cause ruckus with them, all in one night.

So far this is what I think this passage means, roughly.

  A: In that case let’s confirm, / the operation starts after it gets dark...
   by that time...

  B: You A will have made preparation for transfer of material for "Robots" that I gather in the basement here, won't you?

I have a problem with two things here.

One is this line

  私は「Robots」の材料を集めて回って ここの地下に転送

  Literally: Transfer to basement here of "Robots"'s material I (will) gather by visiting several places.

which I don't know how it works out grammatically. I'm assuming it's a fragment being completed by the next bit. Also I'm assuming 私は「Robots」の材料を集めて回って ここ is some kind of preposition but I'm not sure. The "V-te form ここ" for is weird to me.

The next bit

  Aがそれを準備してくれる / だったわよね？

  Literally: A (will) for that do the preparations for me / it was am I right?

ties into the previous one with それ referring to the transfer (this might not be a term to use for transporting matter IRL, but it's a term often used for teleporting stuff in universe) of material.

Now if it was just Aがそれを準備してくれる I'd say this means just "A will make preparations for that", meaning this will happen in future or is being done since it's non-past tense. What is confusing for me is the next bit

  だったわよね？

since as far as I recall だった is a past form of だ and as such tends to not be appended DIRECTLY on to the verbs. So I'm guessing this is probably a separate sentence or separated by a comma or something. But still why is it in past form when the action should probably happen in future? Basically what am I missing here?

Now that I have typed the above, I guess the last bit could be reffering to B's entire recounting of the plan. A sort of:

  That was it wasn't it? / That's all of it right?

asking for confirmation if she has the plan right.

Basically I'm asking how does the bolded line above work from grammatical standpoint and am I wrong in my interpretations.

Also sorry for being a bit more open ended in my question than I was supposed to be.


texts: Why is saki in japanese written as さつき？ there's other times I've seen the tsu in words without being pronounced. Why is this?


texts:
From my understanding, "で" have many different usages in Japanese. I have some questions regarding the following particular uses of で. It would be very helpful if someone could also come up with other sentence examples related to my questions. Thank you.

1) 皆で写真を撮ります。

What is the meaning of で here? Does it sort of indicate "状態" to mean taking a picture of everyone "as a group"? I'd appreciate if someone could also come up with another sentence or two where で also served as the same purpose as we have in this example.
If for example, there are a total of 9 people in the group and it was decided that we will take a total of three pictures with 3 different people in each picture. In this case, can one say 三人で写真を撮ります？ If it is incorrect, what are more appropriate ways to say this?

2) In general, we hear people say "二人で", is the usage of で here the same as で in the previous question?(i.e.皆で写真を撮ります)

3) Upon entering restaurant, when waiter asks how many people in the group, can one say "二人で" if there are two people? Is this で usage the same as in my previous two questions?

4) I learned that で is also used when specifying a choice from a limited number of selections such as when we buy clothes, we can say 大で to specify size "large".

My question is, I remember hearing people say "こっち”で when they tell the salesperson of a particular item they want to buy. Why do they also use で here? Is the usage of で here indicating "こっち” is the particular item chosen to buy "from the entire selections of clothes in the store"?


texts:
When do you use さん after a occupation? For example, would you say "札幌に行って、プログラマーにあいます" or "札幌に行って、プログラマーさんにあいます" to say "I am going to Sapporo, and meeting some programmers?"

Is it used to indicate that you're talking about people who have a certain profession, not the profession itself? Or is it used merely to be polite? I assume using さん after a gairaigo word like プログラマー isn't an issue.


texts: How is しかたない an opinion about a product feature?

texts:
I have done my best to research the meaning of しかたない and I have discovered "It can't be helped", "It is unavoidable" and "Oh well".

These are all expressions of resignation in the face of inevitability, and I can't see when you would answer in that way when asked your opinion about a product feature.

Is there another interpretation that I haven't been able to find?

Here is a scan from the original document:


texts:
Slight disclaimer. I did read the following post, Meaning of に in ～にできる , but did not see it's reasoning directly translating to my sentence.
Here is sentence in question:

「五つ子だからミクにできることは他の四人にもできる。」

So the speaker is saying that since these girls are quintuplets, if one of them can do something, then the rest of them should be able to do it too. I've seen that にする can mean "to decide on something" or "to make" and できる is the potential form of する, but I can't see how that would work here. What is it that the girls can do/make? How does に as a the location particle work here?
Any help would be much appreciated. I feel that there is something that has gone unsaid here and I can't put my finger on it.
EDIT. Or is all what comes in front of こと just a descriptive clause and what she can do/make is the abstract こと?


texts:
What are the differences in the following words meaning flattery / to flatter:

お世{せ}辞{じ}
追{つい}従{しょう}
おべっか
胡{ご}麻{ま}をする
阿{おもね}る
諂{へつら}う
煽{おだ}て（る）
美{び}辞{じ}麗{れい}句{く}

Which ones are honest, sincere flattery???  Which ones mean to "butter someone up" or "suck up" (to compliment them only so they'll do something for your benefit)???  Do any of them convey both/additional meanings?

EDIT: Which one(s) are most commonly used in modern Japanese???  What are the (in)formality levels of each??


texts:
In their answer to the question Usage of nan desu?, Earthliŋ described the な in the ~なんだ-construction to be "the inflection of the copula だ, if you like".
I guess this is the same inflection that is used when a な-adjective directly modifies a noun. My question is, why is an inflection used and not just だ by itself? By extension, what is the reason why on the other hand, the そう used to report hearsay requires だ (as opposed to, say, な) when used after nouns and な-adjectives?


texts: What does the verbal contraction/suffix -kkya or -kya at the end of a clause mean?

texts:
I seem to hear and read this construction often, but can't seem to find any information about it on Google (or other search engines), as well as other sites I've checked. I've tried several different search queries in different combinations but had no luck. A more complete example would be:

  あいつをま守れなっきゃ。(あいつをまもれなっきゃ)

It might be -きゃ instead of -っきゃ, actually. I'm not sure. This is the only example I can think of off the top of my head, and I'm not quite sure if the verb form is potential (守れる) or simple present (守る) before the (probably) negative (-な-) and the unknown (-っきゃ or -きゃ) suffix are added. I also believe it could be a colloquial contraction or construction due to the context and surrounding language.

Edit: Apparently, this is very similar to another question. I apologize for the duplicate question. Thank you Ben for pointing me in the right direction, and thank you very much Justin N for your answer. They both help a lot. And I apologize for the duplicate. I'll make sure I am more thorough in my future searches, too.


texts: Confusion with Japanese particle と in its multiple uses

texts:
I have read about the different uses of the different particles in Japanese but often become confused as to how it should be translated in different sentences. In other words the actual intent of the particle sometimes looks ambigious to me. Now the particle と has atleast these four uses:

1) Quotation particle. It could be quoting a thought or speach.
2) Conditional particle. It expresses natural cause and effect statements only.
3) List of things. It can be used to express the word "and" for an exhaustive list of things.
4) With. Expressing relationship between two things, translated as "with" in English.

Now often I get confused which way the particle is being used when we have sentence before and also after the particle.

If I have just one sentence ending verb after the particle like 書く、思う、話す、言う、then I know we are quoting something. If we have list of nouns seperated by と then we know that here we have an exhaustive list of things. The problem is that while this is true, the particle is used in more complex situations as well with in paragraphs and then sometimes I cannot make out how to translate it.

Could you elaborate on how to know for sure which way the particle is being used?


texts: Are Japanese first names Erika, Emiri, Marie etc. loaned from gai(koku)jin languages?


texts:
This has been bothering me for a long time. I'm not sure which words are used in Japan in modern times for refering to things like sex, cursing, and going to the bathroom, and I don't know of a good source to learn these things from. I haven't been able to find any non-blog-esque sources.

Moreover, even if a source tells me that the word for sex or going to the bathroom are loan words, I'm left wondering what the words for these ideas were before the usage of the loan words.

The fact that these ideas must have existed before Western influence makes me think that I'm missing something.


texts:
An amanuensis is a person you dictate to and he/she writes down what you dictate. An amanuensis might also copy manuscripts.

What's the Japanese word for amanuensis?

Some translation tools are giving me "アマヌンシス" as a translation. Isn't there some better word?


texts: Difference between 「で」助詞 and 「だ」助動詞の連用形「で」

texts:
Could you please explain me what exactly is the で in the following sentences and how can we distinguish 「で」助詞 and 「だ」助動詞の連用形「で」?

  確かここの一番偉い人にあたる、荒川千歳さんだったかな。階級は一等・・・・・・何とか。忘れた。その人のところに行って、お世話になるにあたっての諸注意を受ける必要があるとのことで。つい最近まで通っていた学校なのに、説明が必要なんて。な～んか、・・・・・・ - So, we should go to her office and listen to her explanation concerning our living there.

and

  これは非公開の話ということで。 - This is not for the record.


texts:
From dictionary article on a certain shrine:

香取神宮は　千葉県香取市香取にある神社。下総国一の宮。祭神は経津主神。鹿島神宮とともに軍神として尊崇を受けた。

しもうさのくに。。。？


texts:
I just heard something like:

  この話があさっての方向に向かっています
  Kono hanashi ga asatte no houkou ni mukatteimasu

It was used when one of conversation partners said something off topic or loosely tied to it. What does あさっての方向 (asatte no houkou) mean in general and in this case? I tried Tangorin for explanation but they had only あさって (asatte) and 方向 (houkou) separately.


texts: What's 'to take one's proper station' in japanese?

texts: It was quoted in The Chrysanthemum and the Sword and appears to be a japanese idiom.


texts: What is the difference between 考え、アイデア、発想 and 着想

texts:
These are all translated as "idea" in English.

But I don't understand which context I should use each one in.

If I had to guess:

考え means an imagining of a solution or an understanding of something,

アイデア is the same as 考え

発想 means an idea that quickly came to mind

着想 not sure about this one, but i imagine it's similar to 発想

Can someone please explain the nuances?


texts:
Is there one?  Or does it even matter?  I personally start at the top and go clockwise.  Just curious.

Update:  I realized the other day that the reason I start at the 12-o'clock position and go clockwise is because this is the same motion (more or less) used when writing あ, お, め, ぬ, の, etc.


texts: I am confused about the meaning of the conjugations of [買]{か}う

texts: I am on Livemocha and it says that 買います。 means "I am going to buy it." But I figure that should be 買いに行きます。 . Also I know that ぎゅうにゅうを買っています。 is "I am buying milk." But for some reason, I thought that ぎゅうにゅうを買う. could also mean "I am buying milk." In short, I'm confused about when/how to use which conjugation for what.


texts:
I often see the same verbs used in different forms,
for example: 取り受けます and 取ります. Both verbs mean to accept. In general 取り受けます means to take and accept. Like this example, there are a lot of verbs that can be used this way, i.e. on their own and in association with a second verb. How should I remember all these verbs and know where to use a single verb and where to use the combination of two verbs. Is there any general explanation?  And where can I find a list of verbs associations to remember?


texts:
The sentence said by a boy who looks like being angry because of something.

なんでもねえやこっちのこったい! なんにしてもおれはでねえぞっ　一歩だってこの　ひみつ練習場を...

I have found that several Japanese forums told that「なんてこったい」 means "What the hell" or "Oh my god" but I'm not sure what just the word alone really means.


texts:
I came across this sentence:

ちょうどいい！　頼【たの】みてえ事【こと】がある！

My translation:

Just in time! I have a favor to ask!

I'm not really sure what grammar rule is being applied to the bold part. It seems like the base verb being used here is 頼む but the て-form of this verb is 頼んで, so I am confused as to how 頼む transformed into 頼みてえ
What grammar rule(s) are actually going on here?


texts: In English, there's an expression, 'What kind of ~~~ is/am/are he/she/it/they/you/I?' used as a rhetorical question meaning the thing in question is not a very good example of a ~~~. I'd like to know if there's a similar use in Japanese. (A literal translation might be どんな～～～なの・なんだ・なんですか・なんです, but I don't think that works.)


texts: Correct verb tenses for if-would-type sentences

texts:
I've been confused about this ever since I started to learn Japanese: What is the correct verb tense for sentences like "If I had known ... then I would have"?

Concrete example:

If I had known that (it was not going to be so hot today) I would've joined the competition.

My attempt:

それを分かったら、大会に出る。

I've been stuck for words in this situation lots of times.


texts: How do schools teach Japanese words that use a higher-level kanji than the learner is familiar with?

texts:
So lets say that I'm going through my Japanese textbook, and I'm I see a page of vocabulary. This page of vocabulary contains such words as:

寝る｛ねる｝ (to sleep)
晩｛ばん｝御｛ご｝飯｛はん｝ (Dinner)

The kanji in 寝る is not taught until middle school, and neither is 御. 晩 is not taught until the 6th grade. The textbook that I am currently using is an introductory one. As such, I am familiar with very few kanji, and certainly not these ones. If I was an elementary schooler in Japan, how would I go about learning these terms that are quite ubiquitous in everyday speech? Would I just learn the kana for them, and then learn how to write them properly down the line? Or would I learn to write the word with kanji without actually knowing what the kanji mean?
Background: I'm making flash cards right now and I'm trying to figure out if I should just learn the kana forms or if I should try to memorize the words as Kanji + Kana forms and simply learn the meanings of the kanji later.


texts: I was watching an anime ("The Royal Tutor"), and I noticed someone with an interesting name (presumably a pen-name) - 子子子子 子子子, which as far as I can tell is a reference to "Neko no ko koneko, shishi no ko kojishi". So I tried to work out what role this person had in the show, and it was given as 予告脚本. As best I can manage, this seems to mean "preview script", so did this person really get a screen credit for writing the script to the next episode's preview, or is there another translation I've missed?


texts:
I'm trying to understand this sentence, particularly how と works here.

  朝から、算数、国語、社会、理科と退屈な授業が続く。

Does this mean "Starting early, I have boring classes which are arithmetic, language, society, and science"? Or to put it another way, "I have the boring classes arithmetic, language, society, and science."


texts:
よっぽど悪いことさえしなきゃ...
Unless you do a really bad thing...

Is なきゃ a contraction of ないことには? I can find the latter in my text books but not the former.
Weblio suggests that it can mean both "Unless one ..." and "one must ...".
Would I be correct in thinking that the meaning is determined only by the position in the sentence. So, in my example sentence, if there were no following clause would it mean "You must only do bad things."
In summary I'm a bit confused about the usage in general. Any information (in English) would help. Thanks.


texts:
I found this usage of じゃない. Perhaps the translation is too loose in meaning.

A: Is your girlfriend cute?
B: Why wouldn't she be?
A: 君の彼女、かわいい？
B: かわいいに決まってるじゃない。

Does "かわいいに決まってるじゃない" mean the same thing as "かわいいに決まってる," just with more emphasis?
Is the following reasoning therefore correct?
いいね。→いいじゃない。→いいじゃん（Tokyo dialect）。
きれいね。→きれいじゃない。→きれいじゃん（Tokyo dialect）。
大きいね。→大きいじゃない。→大きいじゃん（Tokyo dialect）。
Or is there a different nuance by using the negative form?
Furthermore, I suppose inferring the speaker's intentions come from context and the lilt in the speaker's voice, as in the following:
大きいね。Wow, it's big.
大きいじゃない。 It's big, isn't it.
大きいじゃん。 Damn, it's big.
Though without context, " 大きいじゃない。" simply means, "It's not big."
Correct?
*Bonus question:
In English, if my translation is correct, the sentence,

大きいじゃない。
It's big, isn't it?

should have a question mark. However, in Japanese, is it not required?


texts: Precisions about ほど, and particularly what quality ほどの refers to

texts:
The speaker is facing an old man in a martial art tournament and thinks :

(1) 武道会に出場できるほどの老人なのにまるで聞いたこともない名だ。
Though this old mand is strong/good/in shape enough to participate in the tournament, I've never even heard his name.

I'm pretty sure I got the meaning (roughly) right but this way of using ほど stil confuses me a bit.
When used with の like this, does it feel to native speakers that the quality ほど refers to is omitted? Assuming I'm not mistaken, if a european person were to say this sentence in japanese, they would probably end up with something like :

(2)武道会に出場できるほどつよい/すぐれている老人なのに...

Or just :

(3)武道会に出場できる老人なのに...

Unlike (2), (3) doesn't give the feeling that it's impressive to participate in the tournament or that the old mans has whatever quality remarkable enough to participate, it just states that he is capable of it.
I was wondering for a time if ほど didn't refer to the quality of being old, but "old enough to participate" doesn't really make any sense here.
So yeah, are we supposed to fill in our minds the appropriate quality from the context or does ほど have a more precise meaning when used like this that I'm missing.


texts: Can a sonkeigo verb be used with an inanimate subject? / 尊敬語は無生物主語に対して使えますか？

texts:
As a background, consider this question: “is this sentence correct 会議は三時からでいらっしゃいます.?”

My initial thought was like this:

  A sonkeigo (尊敬語) verb is used to show the speaker’s respect toward the subject of the verb.  Therefore, 会議は三時からでいらっしゃいます would show the respect toward the meeting, which is nonsensical because the meeting is not a living thing.

But then I started to wonder if a sonkeigo verb can ever be used with an inanimate subject.  敬語の指針 (2007) does not seem to mention cases like this.  After some trial and error, I came up with a sentence 先生のご活躍は多岐にわたっていらっしゃいます.  This sentence sounds maybe OK to me, but I am not sure and I would probably say 先生は多岐にわたって活躍されています instead.

To summarize, my questions are:

Is 先生のご活躍は多岐にわたっていらっしゃいます correct?
If not, can a sonkeigo verb be ever used with an inanimate subject?

和訳

話の流れとして、「is this sentence correct 会議は三時からでいらっしゃいます.?」の質問のことを考えます。

私は当初こういうふうに考えていました。

  動詞の尊敬語はその動詞の主語に対する話者の敬意を示す。したがって、「会議は三時からでいらっしゃいます」というのは会議に敬意を示すことになり、会議は生き物ではないので意味が通じない。

しかし後になって、無生物にも尊敬語が使える例はないだろうかと思い、敬語の指針 (2007) を見たところ、このような用例には言及していないようでした。考えぬいたあげく、「先生のご活躍は多岐にわたっていらっしゃいます」という文を思いつきました。これなら個人的にはまあそんなに間違ってはいないかなという気もしますが、自分だったら「先生は多岐にわたって活躍されています」と言うと思います。

以上を踏まえて質問です。

「先生のご活躍は多岐にわたっていらっしゃいます」は正しい文ですか？
正しくないとしたら、動詞の尊敬語は無生物主語に対しても使えますか？


texts:
Question from my JLPT N1 text book:
佐藤さんのセンスの良さ＿＿＿＿＿＿...。本当に感心します。(fill in the blank)
I have a choice of というと、とは、and といったら。
といったら is correct but I can't fathom how とは is not an option as the text says it can be used for subjects that are ひどい、おどろく、すごい (I would think すごい applies here, but perhaps it doesn't?) (text also specifies といったら as for subjects that are 言葉で言い表せないほど最高に～だ）. Any help on the nuances of these two expressions would be great. Thanks.


texts: What's the standard way of explaining reason in response to the question "why?"? Do you use からです at the end?

texts:
I'm having trouble understanding the best way to respond to someone asking "why".

My study guide advised,

  To answer the question with "why", make a statement sentence that indicates the reason and add からです at the end,
  A:　どうして昼ご飯を食べなかったんですか　  　B:　ダイエットをしているからです

Feeling like it couldn't possibly be that simple, I went looking to see if anyone had explained things in more detail.

However, nearly every sentence with から I found are sentences that describe both the cause and response, seemingly not as a response to a "why" question, such as this sentence taken from another post

  あのラーメン屋は人を待たせるから、行かないことにした。

I haven't been able to find much at all on からです in direct response to a question, as it was in my book's example.

I figured the most likely reason for this was either
A. からです is a nonstandard approach and my book is weird, or
B. I've missed something.

Unfortunately, B prompted me to wonder if some of these descriptions actually were a direct response that I was misunderstanding.

So, while I was searching for something like

  A：　どうして外に行かなかったんですか
   B：　雨が降っていたからです

People were actually saying

  A：　どうして外に行かなかったんですか
   B：　雨が降っていたから、外に行きませんでした

In short, is something like "ダイエットをしているからです" actually a standard way to give a reason in response to a question?
If not, what would be more appropriate?

Any other ways to give a reason are welcome, because nuance is neat.


texts:
I was reading an article at Tomojuku. Link

At the very end of the article, it says,

  ではでは　ニゴでした。

What does ニゴでした mean ? I searched online but I couldn't find anything about this.


texts: 切れかけの蛍光灯とは何ですか？とくに切れかけ？

texts:
切れかけの蛍光灯。

What does the above mean? What is 切れかけ?


texts:
Recently I've been reading the Spice and Wolf manga and came across two words for "idiot" I've never seen before: たわけ and 間{ま}抜{ぬ}け

Previously I've only encountered 馬鹿{バカ} and 阿呆{あほう}, with the understanding 阿呆 is the Kansai "version" of 馬鹿.

This piqued my interest so I searched a thesaurus, and I found all these words:
愚{おろ}か者{もの} ／ 抜{ぬ}け作{さく} ／ 与太郎{よたろう} ／ おたんこなす ／ おたんちん ／ べらぼうめ ／ とんま
and many many more, though they appear to be a lot less common (tell me if I missed something common).

Are the usages of these words simply down to personal preference? Or is there something that would cause one to choose one word over another?
Do the different words give off a different kind of "feeling", both of the person using it and of the person receiving it?
Are there any regional (or temporal) "biases" of the words being used (like how 阿呆 is used mainly in Kansai)?

I'm primarily interested in the first two words I mentioned, and how they compare to 馬鹿, but a more comprehensive answer would be much appreciated.


texts: Sentence (question) ending かい - how is it different from just か?

texts:
I sometimes find questions that are normally ended with the question particle か to end with かい. For example:

いいかい？
そうかい？
あいつがどうかしたかい？

And sometimes with just い without か (if I understand this one right):

なんだい？

Is かい a softer version of か? How is it used?


texts: How to coordinate two noun clauses (の-clauses)?

texts:
He likes to eat pasta and to drink beer.

  彼はパスタを食べるのとビールを飲むのが好きです。

  彼はパスタを食べるのやビールを飲むのが好きです。

  彼はパスタを食べてビールを飲むのが好きです。

  彼はパスタを食べたりビールを飲むのが好きです。

  彼はパスタも食べるがビールも飲むのが好きです。

  彼はパスタも食べればビールも飲むのが好きです。

  彼はパスタも食べビールも飲むのが好きです。

Is there any difference in meaning? Are some of these sentences more formal or more colloquial, more or less common?


texts: difference between も and でも when used with the て-form

texts: First of all, is there such a pattern as て-form + でも? I can't find it in my grammar dictionary. If there is, is it related to the て-form + も pattern, meaning something like "even if"? What is the difference?


texts:
I'm redoing an older translation of mine and, within a part that I already find very difficult (ie, I don't know if my sense of context is correct), there's a line I can't get through.

え〜 めんどくさいな〜 どうせおれが一番強いにきまっているのに… まっ! いいかっ! バトルして正式に選んでもらえばいいもんなっ!

I get to "Eh〜 What a bother〜 And that even when it’s already been settled that I’m the strongest… Wait! Get this!" and then I'm stumped. I see "do battle", "select formally" "[make do favor]" "should" and an emotion indicator, but I don't know how to put these together. For one because the subject/object isn't clear to me, and for two because I think there's a mood swing (from bothered to arrogantly joyous) involved and I don't get the reasoning for that.

The preceding context is that the speaker finds out he won't be a seed player and has to participate in the preliminaries like everyone else. The one he's speaking to is a friend. The friend responds with そうです! そのとおりですっ!

My guess is "I should do battle and get them to select me formally!", with もん indicating his confidence he'll win. But I'd like feedback. Thanks in advance.


texts: How to say "I am unfortunately getting frustrated"

texts:
I was trying to say " I am unfortunately getting frustrated." which seemed to suggest some combination of 挫折してしまいました　and ざせつしています but I can't seem to figure out how to put these together.
Any suggestions?


texts:
From what I read, 厚い is used when something is thick or abundant and 篤い is used when describing a serious illness. But what confuses me is that in a dictionary (Tagaini Jisho) both of these are in the same entry, is it because the kanji can be interchangeable? Is 篤い commonly used? And which kanji would be used for the second definition hospitable?

The entry:
厚い
Alternate writings: 篤い (あつい)

Thick, deep, heavy. [ 厚い (あつい) ]
Kind, cordial, hospitable, warm, faithful.
Serious (of an illness). [ 篤い (あつい) ]
Abundant. [ 厚い (あつい) ]


texts: I googled for a bit and it seems like ご機嫌よう/ごきげんよう ("gokigenyou") has both a greeting and a farewell meaning, but I couldn't find any etymology to explain it. Does it consist of any simpler parts, or is this a whole word/phrase? Why is it both a greeting and a farewell? I don't think there are other phrases like that but maybe I'm wrong about that.


texts: Why can we not use に to mark absolute time with i-adjectives?

texts:
EDIT: Still looking for a complete answer. Please read the edit below.

This is something I've been wondering for some time now. And this is also not related to relative temporal nouns, I understand why you cannot use に with those.

Consider these:

○「2月14日にデートするつもりです。」"I will go on a date on February 14".

○「2月14日『は』忙しいですよ。」"I'm busy on February 14".

○「2月14日に外食します。」"I'm eating out on February 14".

○「2月14日『に』予定がない。」"I have no plans for February 14". Notice how ない could be considered an i-adjective.

○「2月14日に会いましょう。」"Let's meet on February 14".

○「4月23日にもう一度来てね。」"Come again on April 23".

○「11月14日に生まれました。」"I was born on November 14".

But if you wanted to say:

☓「2月14日『に』忙しいです。」that's wrong.

1) Is there a grammatical reason why this is wrong or unnatural?

2) Is this related somehow to i-adjectives? (What about adjectival nouns?)

3) Where else can I expect this behavior?

4) When should I use に to mark specific times? It doesn't seem to work exactly as it does in English for example.

Please, if you have any kind of resource, I will appreciate it. Even those in Japanese are useful to me, thanks.

Here are some threads I read that might be somewhat related:

what is relative time in Japanese language?

Why is に marking time and not で？

EDIT:

After thinking about this for a few days, I find that my initial assertion on relating a native English speaker way of thinking with a native Japanese speaker was fundamentally wrong.

This might be more similar to English that I initially thought, for example we cannot say "I will be busy at/in February 14" which would might very well be a better analogy to using に in the Japanese sentence.

However, I'm still looking for an answer to why does using に in a sentence like「2月14日に予定がない。」is allowed? (consider that ない can be both a negative of a verb and an i-adjective). I assume that this is related to an implication in language from reading Mitsutoshi's answer, the implication being that your state from being "busy" to being "non-busy" has changed (an implied instance of changing states), however, this is faulty because the same could be said for the sentence like「2月14日に忙しい。」where the difference between using に vs は would be an expressed "something has changed and I'm busy that day".

I would like to hear more about this from other people.


texts:
I'm going through this tae kim's guide lesson about some uses of いう:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/define

And there is something that I don't understand. In the following sentences:

主人公が犯人だったというのが一番面白かった。
日本人はお酒に弱いというのは本当？
独身だというのは、嘘だったの？
リブートというのは、パソコンを再起動するということです。

They always use というの. But if I used just の, would it be incorrect? If not, what is the difference? are という and というの interchangeable? Also, they don't say anything about ということ in this lesson, so would the same rules apply?


texts: What is the better 表現 of meeting someone unplanned / by chance?

texts:
Question
I wonder what would be the better way to represent the idea of "meeting someone unplanned / by chance".
Or is it just a matter of one's preference?
I want the sentence to be least ambiguous but most accurate in one single sentence, and if possible, regardless of context.

Explanation

The following sentences should all mean "I met him at the street (by
chance)"

If I say　街で彼に出会った。  It got a romantic colour that it seems love is about to happen.
I personally belief the most neutral way would be 偶然・たまたま街で彼と会った。
But one could also say 街で彼と遇った・逢った・遭った。The first one feels like if I've met an event instead of a person.  The second one feels like some sort of destiny is behind all this。　The third one feels like if I hate the person I've met.
Or is 街で彼に会った good enough？
I wonder what is the best.
Please provide your answer with explanation / evidence. m( )m
Thank you for your help!

Added:

If you are Japanese, which is the most common way and how would you say it?


texts:
ラーセンさんは、漢字｛かんじ｝はもう一歩｛いっぽ｝といったところですが、プレイスメントテストの成績{せいせき｝も悪くなかったし、文法｛ぶんぽう｝もちゃんとしているから、頑張｛がんば｝れば大丈夫｛だいじょうぶ｝だと思｛おも｝いますよ。
  (source: An Integrated approach to Intermediate Japanese)

While I understand that the last half of the sentence is along the lines of

  "...because your placement test grade wasn't bad and your grammar is in good shape, if you try your best, I think you will be okay.",

I'm not sure how to understand the part in bold, mostly the いったところ part. I think that it means something like "If you improve your kanji just a bit more ....?"


texts:
Is 休みたいです more polite than 休みたい？

It is necessary to say です in every "たい" word to sound more polite?


texts: Help with Japanese for a tattoo - I swear there’s a good reason!

texts:
If anyone could help me make sure I don’t make a stupid white girl mistake and get the wrong thing tattooed on me that would be very appreciated!

I had two cats who died very recently and I’d like to get a tatto in their memory. I named them Tsuki and Yuki when I was 7 years old, and I would love to be able to have a tattoo of their names in Japanese kanji, along with 2 cat silhouettes.

From looking on the internet I have found 雪 for Yuki, as I do remember choosing it with the intention of it meaning ‘snow’.
And I have found 月 for Tsuki as again I remember choosing it with the intention of it meaning “moon/lunar”

If anyone could help me out I would honestly be so so so grateful, these cats meant a lot to me.


texts:
The difference between Verbても and Verbてでも was discussed in a thread here but I felt it wasn't fully clarified there. This difference is rarely mentioned in textbooks, as far as I can tell. So I thought it should be explored a little more. Maybe we can clarify how the English translations would differ between these two sentences.

  1: 体を張ってでも反対する。
  2: 体を張っても反対する。

I am assuming that using でも introduces a weakening of volition, ie "even if I do something like risking my life", as opposed to a more definite "even I risk my life". But perhaps there is a more subtle nuance. How would you translate these sentences to highlight the distinction?


texts: Do the following, and similar sentences, work grammatically?

texts:
Just the title basically.

  私の家族の中で私の母が料理が一番上手です。

  私の家族の中で私が私の父が一番好きです。

Thank you for any, and all, help!


texts: When spoken casually, how different do 「た」 and 「だ」 in 「頂きます」 sound to native speakers?

texts:
For example, it's very difficult for my ears, which have been accustomed to Mandarin that does not differentiate voiced sounds and unaspirated voiceless sounds, to tell the difference between 「た」 and 「だ」 in those 「頂きます」 in a new CM released by Suntory.

Just feel curious about how different they, as in the CM above (not standing-alone), sound to native speakers of languages (Japanese, English, etc.) that do differentiate the two in principle.


texts: Is 「もしもし」 only used when you cannot see the person you're talking with (I once heard that it's somewhat akin to "Anyone there?", which wouldn't make much sense if you could see your conversation partner) or do you also use it when making video calls?


texts: What does this sentence about 生活用水 mean?

texts:
飲み水としての使用が認められている一部の井戸を除き、あくまでも生活用水として使うのが大原則です。(article)

The difficulty I have is that according to this definition of 生活用水,
飲用 is one of the utilizations so I don't know how I should interpret the sentence since if the waters are recognized as suitable for 生活用, they should also be suitable for 飲み水としての使用.
What I understand from the japanese sentence: "Excepting the wells where the usage of the water as a drinking water is approved,using the water as a daily life water is generally acceptable".
If a certain water is not approved as a drinking water, it also shouldn't be approved as a "daily life water" since in the japanese definition of the japanese term for daily life water, drinking is one of the daily life uses. So it doesn't seem to make sense to separate waters according to these two terms.


texts: What does the 奈 in 神奈川県 mean? I saw the term listed as what on Jisho. One person sent me the definition of an altar and others say that it has no meaning just a sound.


texts: I just watched the 1948 film "A Hen in the Wind," directed and co-written by Yasujiro Ozu. I'm guessing the title is a reference to a Japanese proverb or traditional metaphor. Does anyone recognize it? Does anyone know what it means? (I don't speak or read Japanese, but Wikipedia has the following translation in Japanese characters: 風の中の牝鶏【めんどり】.)