texts: Is there a general/default word for "to wear"?

texts: I've been introduced to 着る (for things you put on like a shirt) and 履く (for things you put on like pants) in class, but is there a general way to just say something like wear clothes? Or must the "method" of putting on be specified?


texts: Why is the volitional form used in this title 「時には自分を疑おう」?

texts:
I have always struggled to understand the volitional form and translating into English.

From a videogame guide I am going through, translating, I have this title:

  時には自分を疑おう

”疑う” meaning "to doubt / mistrust". The meaning of the title is surely not "let's doubt ourselves" but probably more like "doubting yourself..."

But then why is the title not 「時には自分を疑います」  ?

For context, here's the start of the body

  ある謎にぶつかり、解決方法がひらめく。　ところが　実際にやってみるとうまくいかない。


texts:
田中孝司 is pronounced as たなかたかし and たなかこうじ. I'm afraid that there could be other pronunciations of the same kanji characters.

How should I understand it?


texts:
宿題をやりさえすればいい

宿題をやってさえいたらいい

What is the difference/nuance between these two ways to use さえ with verbs?


texts: Describing a 'Sanctuary' as in a safe place and not a shrine or church?

texts:
In English the word 'Sanctuary' can refer to ether a place of safety or a religious building, as in Europe the two have traditionally been one of the same, as during the crusades for example, many saintly bishops housed Jew's on their grounds to protect them from being prosecuted by their own christian brothers.

This being said, let's say in a super religious city, atheists are abused for their faithlessness. As a result of this someone opens a building that's meant to act as a sanctuary for this minority, and cleverly names the building in Japanese as to allow it to hide in the open.

This super unneeded setup aside, you could start this name as 「無神論者の？」、but what word would you use for the ?, as a sanctuary in this context is that it's a safe-place, but is definitively non-religious, and thus needs a neutral term.

So ya, rambling aside, what word would you use to describe a properly non-religious safe-place? As all I've managed to find are religious terms.


texts: When saying "while" doing something, how do: 間、うち and ながら differ?

texts: I only know aida means a between a space or time and that uchi can only be used with a particle, but other than that, what do these words literally mean , how do you use them and what are the ways they differ?


texts: What's the difference between 時間がいる and 時間が必要?

texts:
In this thing I'm reading, I see the following sentence:

  心の傷だって、治るには時間がいるでしょ

The speaker is talking about a long standing problem that the protagonist has. It seems like it's 時間が要る, but is there any nuance difference that would cause the author to choose to use that instead of 時間が必要でしょ?


texts:
Xは食べごろだ。
  Time to eat X.
  X is ready to be eaten.

Question:
Can -koro/-goro be used as a general pattern by adding to masu-stem of the verb to produce meaning, that it is time to do this?

For example.

  Xは殺しころだ。
  Time to kill X.
  X is ready/better to be killed.

  Xは聞きころだ。
  Time to listen to X.
  X is ready/better to be listened.

  etc.

PS.
If it would be a pattern, is it ok to use hiragana for this pattern or it is better with kanji like this?

  Xは食べ頃だ。

Or both options (with kana or with kanji) are ok?

Here is a great answer on kanji vs kana for service grammar parts https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/17388/34165


texts: When an -i form (連用形{れんようけい}) of a verb seems to be a suffix rather than a prefix?

texts:
In a previous question about コーヒー割り I learned that 割り is a form of the verb 割{わ}る "to dilute".

Now I'm trying to understand the grammatical process by which this 割り form of 割る can be added to nouns such as 水 and コーヒー.

I've learned that 割り is the -i form, conjunctive, continuative, or 連用形{れんようけい} form of the verb. In fact it turns out that I keep asking questions about this form from different angles, not realizing it's the same thing each time!

Now when I look up Wikipedia to learn more about this form and how it is being used in コーヒー割り I actually find that -i forms are usually used as prefixes.

So this must be an "unusual" case since it appears to be being used like a suffix. What is this particular use of the -i form? How can I understand and use constructions of this type generally?


texts: I am Filipino with Japanese blood and ancestry. I don't know how much Japanese is in my blood but when I was born, my mother named me Yurishiko. I just wanted to know if my name is Japanese as it sounds a little unusual. I did not find any other Japanese people online with the same name as me. Is Yurishiko a Japanese name?


texts: What is the difference between 交じる and 交わる?

texts:
人と交わって、多くのことを学びました。

I learned a lot of things by socializing with other people.

彼女は外国人に交じってダンスをしたの。

She mingled with foreigners as she danced.


texts: Translation of the word "describe/ description"

texts:
Each time, when I need to translate the word "to describe" or "descrtiption", in sentences like:

  "Describe the work position."

or

  "The description of the company's present state of affairs."

I get confused. Till now I could not manage to find any better way of translating than using the word 説明する for verb or 説明【せつめい】　for a noun.
Last time I also started to use 述べる【のべる】 for the meaning of the verb "to describe".
But I am not sure, that it is that very right way...Even maybe being not the worst.


texts: Japanese pun to pronounce an English phrase

texts: I have once heard that, during World War II, when the American Troops invaded Okinawa, they wanted the Japanese civilians to surrender, and in order to let the Japanese say the phrase "I surrender", the Americans threw fliers from the air that instructed the Japanese (of course in Japanese) to shout "愛されんだー" 'I am going to be loved' when they want to surrender. Is this true, or is it an urban legend, or is there a bit of truth behind this?


texts:
Maybe I'm an idiot, but no matter how much I Google I can't seem to grasp the concept of か being used mid-sentence. I've already run into it a number of times. Like here:

  アメリカやヨーロッパなど６つの国は、イランが核兵器をつくろうとしているのではないかと考えて、経済制裁を続けていました。

I believe this roughly means...

  Six countries within the Americas and Europe, thinking that perhaps Iran shouldn't be trying to create nuclear weapons, continued with economic sanctions.

From what I understand, か here indicates an embedded question. Like in English, "I know what you mean." It can also indicate uncertainty with the speaker in conversation. This comes from a news article though (admittedly for kids, haha), so I'm thinking I'm incorrect in assuming that last part.

Also, I've seen it here in this sentence:

  夏にちょうどいい名前だね、と何回言われたことか真夏はバレエの準備をしていた。

My attempt is roughly...

  Manatsu, who was told her name was perfect for summer how many times, was practicing ballet.

I guess what I'm asking is whether or not I have this thinking right. If I don't, please correct me and try to put it in super simple terms because I feel like I'm not going to get it otherwise. I've been struggling with this for awhile, hah.


texts: Interpretation of し at the end of an ambiguous twitter message

texts:
This image from the Hololive subreddit has me scratching my head. It seems to suggest that there was only one way of interpreting the tweet at the top of the image. I checked just to be sure but according to this Chiebukuro question and its answers, し functions as a connective — i.e. I did A, and then, B, similar to して. And that being the case, I thought this tweet was deliberately written in a way that you could interpret it in two different ways. In one interpretation, she (the twitter user) would "finish the sentence" on her stream tomorrow. In another, she won a PS5 and would talk more about it on her stream tomorrow.
Is my interpretation correct? In other words — were both valid ways of interpreting the tweet?
To be even more specific - their assertion that "当選し" doesn't mean anything on its own can't be correct, can it? Surely the twitter user could've meant "I won a ps5, and.. (to be continued in the stream)"?
(I know that technically, if し really was a connective here, there should've been something after it that finished the whole sentence. As it is right now the sentence is incomplete. However grammar rules are broken all the time in casual conversations and online comments, so I don't think that's enough to rule out the second interpretation. That's just my intuition however, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.)


texts: Why is "not knowing" 知らない and not e.g. 知っていない?

texts:
I remember reading a bit about this topic in the answer of another post, but I specifically wanted to make this its own question:

It seems to make sense that "to know" is typically 知っている, because 知る by itself only means something along the lines of "to get to know". But going with that meaning, I can't quite grasp the logic behind "not knowing" being 知らない as opposed to, let's say, 知っていない.

Is there a good explanation for this? For example, 知る actually having a much broader meaning than what I described?


texts: Conflicting rules for when to use は vs が

texts:
So I'm new to learning Japanese, and as with most beginners I am trying to understand the difference between は and が. I came across this video on the difference that I found particularly helpful, but there was a special case not addressed in the video that I was curious about. I will summarize the video here as I understand it, as it is quite long and my question will not make sense if I don't. (I also understand that this is an incredibly complex topic -- no pun intended -- but you always have to start somewhere.)
In the first and most common type of sentence, there is a single subject, which may be marked with either particle. は is preferred, except in the following situations:

When the subject is new information, e.g. 「ジョンは学生です」 (Roughly, "John is a student") vs. 「ジョンが学生です」 (Roughly, "The student is John"). This use is required with certain kinds of phrases, for example 誰 -- so「誰が寿司を買いましたか？」means "Who bought the sushi?", and this cannot be phrased as 「*誰は寿司を買いましたか？」.
When the whole sentence is new information. Thus「田中さんは子犬を買いましたよ」just states that Tanaka bought a puppy in a factual sense, while「田中さんが子犬を買いましたよ」presents the sentence as being "news" is some way.
When the subject is inanimate (this only applies to action verbs). So you would have「雨が降っている」but not (as far as I understand) 「*雨は降っている」.

In the second type of sentence, there is both a は phrase and a が phrase, which I will call the "subject" and "object" -- in quotes -- respectively (I understand that they are not actually a subject and object in Japanese, but they usually translate as such into English and I don't know any other name for them). For instance, we have

ジョンさんは鼻が大きい ("John has a big nose")
田中さんは犬が好きだ ("Tanaka likes dogs")
直美さんは日本語が話せます ("Naomi can speak Japanese").

In all these cases, the が could be replaced with a は, which would emphasize that thing as opposed to others e.g.

ジョンさんは鼻は大きい ("John has a big nose, but the rest of him is small")
田中さんは犬は好きだ ("Tanaka likes dogs, but not other animals")
直美さんは日本語は話せます ("Naomi can speak Japanese, but not other languages").

Now on to my actual question. I am curious here what happens in the second type of sentence when the "subject" falls under one of the special rules in the first type. For example, how would I translate the sentence "Who likes cats?" -- would it be

誰が猫が好きですか？ (Naively apply the "が for new information" rule)
猫が好きな人誰ですか？ (What Google Translate tells me)
誰が猫が好きな人ですか？ (Modification of previous)

or something else? Similarly, would "The house has large windows" be

家は窓が大きい (Ignoring the "が for inanimates" rule above)
家が窓が大きい (Same as previous but using the "が for inanimates" rule)
家には大きい窓がある (From Google Translate -- edited from original post)
家の窓は大きい (Just one phrase, ignoring the "が for inanimates" rule)
家の窓が大きい (Same as above, with the "が for inanimates" rule)

or something else?
Finally, this is my first post on the Japanese Stack Exchange and on Stack Exchange in general, so if there's any issues with what I've posted or anything I could improve upon, I am more than happy to hear it!


texts: Which is the verb belonging to the particle を?

texts:
recently I stumbled upon a sentence in Yukio Mishima's 憂国{ゆうこく} - "Patriotism". It is BTW part Japanese/English parallel text stories, so I basically know what it intends to say but I simply can't wrap my mind around the concepts necessary to parse the sentence. (The problem might be similar as discussed in here). Ok, here it goes:

  しかも麗子{れいこ}は、思う{おもう}だにときめいて来る{くる}日夜{にちや}の肉{にく}の悦び{よろこび}を、快楽{かいらく}などという名{な}で呼{よ}んだことは一度{いちど}もなかった。

I believe the most problematic part is this one:

思うだにときめいて来る日夜の肉の悦びを
My closest translation (with help from the book) arrives at: even (only just) thinking about the frequent joys of the flesh she started throbbing." But I have no idea what to do with the を. In my eyes this sentence would make more sense if turned around: 日夜の肉の悦びを思うだにときめいて来る.
So:

Am I right here?

Maybe the particle makes the connection to the next sentence?

So the word order must be as it is?

And the fact that no verb is used (or requied) in the following sentence (快楽などという名で呼んだことは一度もなかった) is because the sentence itself acts as the verb - kind of?
If so, why the comma between those 2 sentences?

Thanks a lot!


texts: 世の中は三日見ぬ間の桜かな - How to interpret the かな in this proverb? How to interpret this proverb?

texts:
I came across this proverb 世の中は三日見ぬ間の桜かな。
Actually just this part 三日見ぬ間の桜かな。
Now 見ぬ is an ancient form of 見ない。
I found some sides in French, which I don't speak. There is a translation on languagerealm which just seems wrong, so I won't post it here and I found a Japanese person trying to translate it into English, but his English was not up to the task.
The proverb lacks a verb, where a verb should be, somewhere before かな and after 桜. Now 三日見ぬ間, three days of not looking/ の桜, "at" the cherry blossoms/ かな ???
Now the thing with かな is, it can mean "I wonder", it can mean "is it?", it could mean "I hope that" but then the sentence needs to be negative. This brings me back to my problem of the missing verb.
I'd like to read it as: 世の中は "In this world,", 三日見ぬ間の桜かな "I hope we get three days to look at the cherry blossoms". (as in life is really short, yet wonderful).
I wouldn't mind reading it as: 世の中は "In this world,", 三日見ぬ間の桜 "not looking at the cherry blossoms for three days", かな "astonishing" (as in, woah the quick change of the world)
I am open to other interpretations, my Japanese is not good. Please tell me, how you would read it and explain why. Where is the verb? Are there ancient grammar rules at work? How am I wrong and how wrong am I?


texts: In written correspondence, how do I politely say "it's OK" in response to an apology?

texts:
I sent an email a Japanese former colleage of mine, and he replied several weeks later. His reply included an emphatic apology for not replying sooner (返信が遅くなってしまって本当にごめんなさい。） Is there a polite phrase I can use in my reply to acknowledge his apology and let him know that I was not inconvenienced?
I am thinking 気にしないでください sounds inappropriately like forgiveness (when in fact the delay was understandable and not a problem).


texts:
I found on NHK easy Japanese a puzzling sentence:

アメリカのトランプ大統領は、戦争をするために殺したのではないと言っています。

My problem is with
戦争をするために殺したのではない

My first attempt at translation would use mentally parenthesis as shown in the following: (戦争をするために殺したの)ではない

My translation would be then "we killed him but not to do war".

At least I believe that 戦争をするために殺したの means: "a kill in order to make war" and ではない would negate the meaning.

But then again what would be the Japanese translation if Trump had meant that the general was making war and was killed because he was making/preparing war?
Thanks a lot for any help!


texts:
I encountered this sentence.

「○○とやら、渡してはならんぞ。」

The meaning is quite obvious: “○○, you mustn’t give it to them!”

The mystery to me is the とやら there.  The meaning of “somebody called ○○” doesn’t fit here for me. The speaker already knows the listener’s name and both of them are standing in a single place. The direct addressing itself should exclude the uncertainty that やら introduces, doesn’t it?

How does the やら change the meaning there?


texts:
寝ソバしよう appeared in a tweet with a picture of soba noodles attached.

Is this trying to say "You will probably sleep well after eating soba"?


texts:
Hirigana: もう一{ひと}つ

Translation: Another; One More

Scenario: I'm drinking with a close friend and we've both finished our beers. I get up to go to the fridge, point to his empty bottle and say "もう一{ひと}つ" with a rising inflection to denote a question (Do you want another beer?).

Question: Would this be grammatically correct (even in a colloquial sense)?


texts: "I haven't seen it" vs "I haven't read it"

texts:
Why is it 見たことない for "I've never seen it" but 読んでない for "I've never read it"?
Is it okay to say 見てない and 読んだことない?


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

texts: I was watching a video of a Japanese comedy show and at one point one of the comedians accidentally spilled a hot food on his superior. After that, his peers referred to him as "Tanaka-han" a couple of times. I figure it sounds like something mocking, but what does that mean, exactly?


texts: How to say 2000 people attend X High School

texts:
I was wondering how I would say 2000 people go to (Name) High School in Japanese.  It might be easier to say 毎日、二千の生徒はX高校に通ういます。but it would like to know how to phrase it more like X高校は二千の生徒が（verb)。How would I do this?

Thanks


texts:
The first episode of ボボボーボ・ボーボボ is titled:

「毛魂」と書いて「スパークリング」と読ませたい…

Which seems to say "It's written as [hair soul], I want you to read it as [sparkling]"
To my understanding, 読ませたい is a combination of 読ませる＋たい which would equal "to want to make someone read". Is this a correct interpretation?
If so, is this grammar used frequently over 〜て＋ほしい？


texts: In Monkey Majik's song "Change" they say "Time to Party 十二本の腕", what does 十二本の腕 means? Isn't it just 12, counter for long objects, arms? Why would this be applicable?


texts: Help with identification and translation

texts:
-I only started working on Japanese last night.-
I have a rather low resolution image taken from a computer game. I have managed to use handwriting detection tools to transcribe the kanji/kana to text, after using a few websites it was clear that the translations weren't very good, and only served to give a glimpse of the true meaning.
To that end I am asking for a little proofreading from more experienced Japanese speakers; First I shall post the image I used as reference (actually 4 images I glued together), then discuss my transliterations and translations.

I believe the Japanese text is...

かつて世界には
ほんの少しだけ魔法があって
ほんの少しだけ魔女が住んでいました
やがてそんな魔女の存在さえ
人々は忘れ去り・・・
・・・そして、 現代――

I'm pretty sure this is correct, I know that "魔" definitely is, and the rest 99% sure, but who knows.
Now for the exciting part, the translations.
かつて世界には
In the history of the world(1)
ほんの少しだけ魔法があって
there has been little magic,(2)
ほんの少しだけ魔女が住んでいました
and there lived only a few witches.(3)
やがてそんな魔女の存在さえ人々は忘れ去り...
Such as it was, in the end the existence of witches was completely forgotten about by everybody...(4)
...そして、 現代-----
...and now, the present day-----(5)
1: The object is "the World" as per "世界には" and the subject is "かつて" (I think that is how it would be described). A literal translation could be "Speaking to (of) the world before." I am taking it contextually to be about the worlds history.
2: ほんの少しだけ魔法があって Lit. "Only, small quantity, magic, to exist" Seemed pretty obvious here.
3: In this part the object is "魔女" (witches) but I took "が" (ga) to mean that it was a new sentence, but felt it read better in English as an addition to the previous phrase. The verb is "住んでいました" (sundeimashita), to live, dwell, exist. The remainder "ほんの少しだけ" all seems to be in reference to quantity so it seemed obvious.
4: The object here is "人々は" Which I am reading as everybody, and the subject is the existence of witches as per "魔女の存在さえ" (Even the existence of a witch), which I am pluralising here. The verb "は忘れ" (to forget completely) is supported by "やがて" (In the end, eventually) and "そんな" which I am taking full advantage of with it's dictionary entry of "such (about the actions of the listener, or about ideas expressed or understood by the listener)" as a reference to the premise set up in the first two sentences.

"...そして、 現代-----" Entering this into a decent translator or dictionary seems to pop this one right out. "そして" (and then/thus/now) and "現代" (nowadays/modern era/ modern times/present day).

I used http://www.romajidesu.com/translator
To help me disassemble the sentences, after that I passed pretty much every participle into wiktionary/wikipedia/dictionaries.
So I gave my reasoning.
Do you feel this is a good translation?
Does it captures the contextual meaning and provides a good interface to it via the English language?
Am I working under any false misconceptions obvious from the way I discuss the subject?
Apologies for the rubbish formatting, I am not very good at this sort of forum post type formatting (or any formatting, I tend to ignore it mostly).


texts: What is the story behind "peach kanji" 桃?

texts: I wanna know why this kanji is containing the tree kanji 木 + the omen kanji 兆 ? What is the relation between tree and omen to give us a kanji for the peach ? Is it a historical story?


texts: Difference between 友情【ゆうじょう】 and 友好【ゆうこう】

texts:
Is there a difference between [友情]{ゆうじょう} and [友好]{ゆうこう}?

They both mean friendship in the dictionary. My guess is that 友好 is used to describe more a friendship between countries or organizations. In other words, 友好, or more like allies or a business agreement.


texts:
In English, we can refer to an old person using "elderly", or "aged person". Comparatively, "aged person" would be more neutral than "elderly", which carries positive connotations.

As for Japanese, does the word 年寄り carry such positive connotations?

Or is it a neutral term alike "aged person" in English?


texts:
It is a situation that a little girl throwing several raw eggs to two policemen. After that, she was running away and saying the below sentence.

Here is the sentence.

  なっとうもふりかけてきてやった


texts:
As far as I know all じる verbs are supposed to be 一段.

I found an interesting set of rules online:

  Does the verb end in る?
  No → 五段
  Yes → Does it have an e or i sound before the る?
  No → 五段
  Yes → Is the e or i sound part of the okurigana of the verb?
  Yes → 一段
  No → Could be both.

And someone posted the following counter examples to rule 3:

混じる (まじる)
脂ぎる (あぶらぎる)
捩じる (ねじる)
抓める (つめる)

So I looked it up and found a few explanations for why these aren't valid examples.

脂ぎる seems like it's just 脂 + きる (unsure which kanji).
捩じる is 捩る or maybe some funky 二段/四段/s-irregular stuff. (Still wondering though, because じる was made for 一段.)
抓める is 抓る.

I found that 混じる can also be 混る, but that spelling is listed in no dictionary.

So am I just ass-pulling stuff, or is the rule wrong or is まじる really special?


texts: Who is the subject in the following sentence?

texts:
I am a translator from Japanese into Italian and I have translated a long text, it is the scrap of novel and not from the beginning, so it has been very difficult for me to understand. The following are the sentences which I am not sure to have properly translated. Could you help me?

  ポンポンと軽くお手玉してみても、爪は消える気配を見せない
  "Even if they try to escape easily one after the other, the claws show no sign of disappearing"

Is the action of お手玉してみて performed by the nails? (爪)


texts:
I was watching はじめしゃちょー on youtube, and I noticed that he keeps adding

  だけども / ですけども

at the end of sentences.

I fully understand the usage of けど, however I have never encountered も (or is it もう?) attached to it.

Thank you!


texts: What is the meaning of "おいらの中では" in this tweet?

texts:
I just saw this tweet:

  おいらの中では、 何年か前にISISから改名したISについて、すぐにISへ呼び方を変えたBBCと、ISISと呼び続けるCNNというイメージなので、CNNがIslamic Stateと呼ぶのを見て驚{おどろ}いてる。

I would translate:

  With regard to changing the name of ISIS to IS a few years ago, I had the impression that the BBC immediately started saying IS while CNN continued to say ISIS. Therefore, I am surprised to see that CNN is now calling them "Islamic State".

ok. I just learned that "オイラ" is slang for a first-person pronoun.

I am reading "おいらの中では、" to just mean "私は" because of this definition. But, surely it means something more than that.
In the Twittersphere, brevity trumps all else. With the ending verb being "を見て驚いてる", that this is written from a first-person point of view is obvious. Why cannot "おいらの中では、" just be implied? There must be significant meaning in that phrase?

and here is the link to the tweet:
actual tweet


texts:
子供が店に入ったきり姿を消した。

What does きり mean in this context? How would you translate this sentence?


texts: What is the Japanese word for a wheel mortar? This is a mortar that is shaped like a boat or a trough, and a wheel with a hole in it through which there is a wooden axle. The operator pushes the wheel back and forth in the trough to grind the material. It is used traditionally used to grind pharmaceuticals, herbs and food ingredients. It looks kind of like this:


texts:
I have seen the next sentences and each one use a different particle

数年以内に： Within a few years
5秒以内で：Within five seconds

Why does one of them use the particle に and the other one で? Could we use the former with で and the latter with に too? If so, does it have to do with the very used or something? I would be very grateful if you could give me some examples too.
Thank you.


texts: Is 私はコリアンダーにアレルギーがある an accurate translation?

texts:
I'm going to Japan in a week, and I'd like to be able to convey the fact that I am (very) allergic to coriander. Google Translate gave me:

  私はコリアンダーにアレルギーがある

to be pronounced as:

  Watashi wa koriandā ni arerugī ga aru

but I'm a bit suspicious of this because the words for coriander and allergy seem to be transliterations of the sound of the words in English, and I find it hard to believe that the Japanese would not have their own word for coriander and allergy.

So, is this the best way to inform restaurant staff that I am allergic to coriander (and not just that I don't like it) ?


texts: What is the difference between 実験室, 研究室 and 実習室?

texts:
I am reading Toki wo Kakeru Shojo and those three words are refered in the text quite as synonyms. Also my dictionary translates them all as 'laboratory'.

It seems that they are used at different levels and are made for different purposes. Then in order not to have a vague meaning in mind, I would like to know the differences of those three words.


texts: Meaning of て　もかまいません

texts: Does て　もかまいません　refer to may as in the possibility of (I might do ...) or I may (I've been allowed to )


texts:
だが、そんな永久とも思われた戦乱は、唐突にその幕を閉じる

How is とも being used here? I'm not exactly sure on the specific answer and my translation came out to be "But the war they thought that would continue for eternity suddenly came to an end."


texts: Can ぼくたち (bokutachi) be used for mixed-gender group?

texts:
*disclaimer:*I'am still learning hiragana, so forgive me for any wrong spelling

I've learnt that normally only males use ぼく (boku). What about ぼくたち (bokutachi)? Should it normally be reserved for male-only groups or can it be used by a male to refer to a mixed-gender group of "we"? Can a female use it to refer to a mixed-gender group?


texts:
少なくとも十ドルはすると思います。

I didn't get why it is here. Could I rewrite the sentence without する?


texts:
I understand that 余裕 means margin, leeway, as well as composure or comfort that seems to intuitively follow from the original meaning. However in this sentence it seems to be used in a negative sense, unless I'm misunderstanding here. The sentence itself (context is talking about band rehearsal):

  昨夜の段階でも余裕で壊滅中だった俺は、 ちょっとばかり目眩がしたけど、師の命令には逆らえず、
  1曲目よりもかなり早い段階で全体練習が始まった。

Is it being used here to describe him as failing by a large margin? And looking through Google, 余裕で不合格 and 余裕で負ける seem to see some use as well. Any clarification or corrections of any misunderstandings I have would be appreciated.


texts: How do you read these two Japanese documents on Wikisource given the formatting?

texts:
The two documents are:

万葉集
古今和歌集/巻一

I am not a reader of Japanese yet, I am more gathering some literature I can use for learning. But these have some strange formatting not being familiar with the language, and I was wondering if you could show me which part is the actual text.
In the first document, we have stuff like this:
[歌番号]01/0001
[題詞]雜歌 / 泊瀬朝倉宮御宇天皇代 [<大>泊瀬稚武天皇] / 天皇御製歌
[原文]篭毛與 美篭母乳 布久思毛與 美夫君志持 此岳尓 菜採須兒 家吉閑名 告<紗>根 虚見津 山跡乃國者 押奈戸手 吾許曽居 師<吉>名倍手 吾己曽座 我<許>背齒 告目 家呼毛名雄母
[訓読]篭もよ み篭持ち 堀串もよ み堀串持ち この岡に 菜摘ます子 家聞かな 告らさね そらみつ 大和の国は おしなべて 我れこそ居れ しきなべて 我れこそ座せ 我れこそば 告らめ 家をも名をも
[仮名]こもよ みこもち ふくしもよ みぶくしもち このをかに なつますこ いへきかな のらさね そらみつ やまとのくには おしなべて われこそをれ しきなべて われこそませ われこそば のらめ いへをもなをも
[左注]なし
[校異]雑歌 [元][紀] <> / 太 -> 大 [紀][冷][文] / 吉 [玉小琴](塙)(楓) 告 /沙 -> 紗 [元][類][冷] / 告 -> 吉 [玉小琴] / 許者 -> 許 [元][類][古]
[事項]雑歌 作者：雄略天皇 朝倉宮 野遊び 演劇 妻問媿 予祝 枕詞 地名 奈良
[訓異]こもよ[寛],
みこもち[寛],
ふくしもよ[寛],
みぶくしもち,[寛]みふくしもち,
このをかに[寛],
なつますこ,[寛]なつむすこ,
いへきかな[寛],
のらさね,[寛]つけさね,
そらみつ[寛],
やまとのくには[寛],
おしなべて,[寛]おしなへて,
われこそをれ,[寛]われこそをらし,
しきなべて,[寛]つけなへて,
われこそませ[略],[寛]われこそをらし,
われこそば,[寛]われこそは,
のらめ,[寛]せなにはつけめ,
いへをもなをも[寛],

In the second, we have:
00004
[詞書]二条のきさきのはるのはしめの御うた
二条のきさき
雪の内に春はきにけりうくひすのこほれる涙今やとくらむ
ゆきのうちに－はるはきにけり－うくひすの－こほれるなみた－いまやとくらむ

In the first, the brackets seem to be labels such as "name" and "title" and such. So those can be filtered out. But what about towards the end? Also, it looks like the 3-5 ones are the actual text, in pure Kanji, and then all the way to pure Kana, though I'm not sure.
In the second, is it just the last two lines that matter? What are the first two lines?


texts: What's the difference between せっかく and わざわざ?

texts:
せっかく and わざわざ seem to be pretty close in meaning/usage, but is there ever a time you would use one and not the other? Or is there a small nuance there?
Just to give some example sentences:

「せっかく来てくれたから、昼ごはん奢るよ。」
「わざわざ美容院に行ったのに、雨で髪がくしゃくしゃになっちゃった。」


texts:
A video game I've been playing has the following word in it:

  アェウクス

I'm not familiar with アェ.  Does it represent a specific sound?  If so, what sound?

If it makes sense to do so, please include アィ・アゥ・ アォ in your answer.


texts:
From a short article on tax:

  もし税金が加わらなければもっと安いのになあ、と残念な気がします。また、会社から給料をもらったときも同じような気持ちになります。全体の給料から税金が引かれるので、実際に受け取れる金額が少なくなるからです。

I'm unsure about the final sentence - why is から used at the end? I think the whole sentence means something like "Since tax is taken from salary as a whole, the amount received in practice decreases". The first clause is the cause and the second clause is the effect, but it seems both clauses as being marked as causes with ので and から respectively.


texts: How does one make potential passive in Japanese?

texts:
For ichidan verbs, potential form is made by changing the ru to rareru. The same is done to change them to passive.

e.g taberu -> taberareru (can eat; also, be eaten)

For godan verbs, potential is made by ending with eru and passive by areru.

e.g korosu -> koroseru (can kill)
       korosu -> korosareru (be killed)

Now how does one make a potential passive i.e "can be eaten" or "can be killed"?


texts: Pluralization in Japanese: usage of -たち and -ら

texts:
I know that -たち and -ら pluralize the nouns they come after (or indicate a group that the noun is part of), but most of the time the plural in Japanese is implicit.  When is it appropriate or necessary to use -たち or -ら?

(Bonus question: is there any difference except formality between -たち and -ら?)


texts:
I love this song ハウトゥ世界征服 by NERU feat. 鏡音リンと鏡音レン. However, there is one line I struggle with:

心の傷口を治してくれ

Wouldn't one say

傷口の心を治してくれ

Instead? Thank you!


texts:
I'm reading through Tae Kims grammar guide and have just got into the last section. It says that である is the formal state of being.

Can anyone tell me...why is this?

It would seem logical to me based on what I've learned that であります should
be the formal state of being. Does this mean something different?

Why is である all you need for this formal state of being?


texts: More 'romantic'/better than すきです / だいすきです

texts:
This was mentioned in our class but for the life of me, I cannot recall the exact sentence. I only recall that it was even more 'romantic' or better than だいすきです since it means 'I love your everything', if I recall correctly.

How is this said in Japanese?


texts: そう in "あなたはどうしてそう私を心配させるの"

texts: I understand そう normally means "seems that way", "I think so", etc. In this case, そう comes after どうして and before 私. Which word before or after should be paid attention to in this case to derive the meaning of そう? And if those words don't matter, than what does そう mean in this sentence?


texts: を particle detached from verb with comma

texts:
I have the following sentence from this article (at the very bottom):

政治{せいじ}に使{つか}うお金{かね}を、キャバクラで遊{あそ}ぶために使{つか}っていたこともわかりました。

This answer leads me to think that the verb is the one in the latter part of the sentence, giving

政治{せいじ}に使{つか}うお金{かね}を使{つか}っていたこともわかりました。

which leads me to interpret the full sentence as

It's also been revealed that government funds have been used for club expenses.

If that is indeed the right interpretation, then why not swap the clauses around, and make it instead something like this?

キャバクラで遊{あそ}ぶために、政治{せいじ}に使{つか}うお金{かね}を使{つか}っていたこともわかりました。


texts:
I have been practicing and interested in calligraphy for a while. Recently I was looking in general for books on the subject and I often encountered this word: くずし字 (for example in books titles etc).

Now, I have more or less an idea but I can't really find a clear definition. A dictionary I checked simply redirects to 草書体, and Midori more or less the same. But is it actually really just a synonymous of "cursive"? I wonder if that isn't somehow a simplification. Looking at books and topics where this word comes out I have a feeling it might have a different or anyway more general meaning than that. Of course maybe I'm just wrong.

I found something related here but I'm not sure is the answer I'm looking for. Anyone knows more about this here?

Thanks as usual.

Ps. Does the くずし have any relation to the verb 崩す, as in "breaking down" a character, or is it totally unrelated to such meaning? (Apparently according to Midori dictionary it can also be written as 崩し字 indeed).


texts:
I speak no Japanese, but need to represent the concept of pair or team in a poetic context. Specifically, I would like to describe two people (a couple) as a "pair of shinobi". From a poetic standpoint, my goals are:

Good: "Matched pair" as in "two items that go together and are better together"
Good: "Team" as in "people working together toward a common goal"
Good: "Couple" as in "married couple"
Good: "Fraternity" as in "friendship and mutual support within a group"
Preferred: Old-fashioned sounding. If the phrase sounded like it was out of an 8th century text, that would be great.
Preferred: "Two" (e.g. "pair") rather than "multiple" (e.g. "group").
Preferred: Kanji rather than hirigana or katakana.
Bad: "Opposition" as in "one item versus another"
Bad: Sounding illiterate, silly, or foreign. It is extremely important that this not sound like a foreigner playing with a language. If this forces hiragana, so be it.
Bad: Evil or malicious. I'm slightly concerned that "shinobi" is inherently negative.

I've been digging through dictionaries and thesauruses and come up with a few possibilities:` If at all possible (without sounding illiterate or silly), I'd like to use only Kanji:

対: Could also mean "against/versus"?
双: Implies identical pair rather than matched pair?
組: Too official? More like "group" than "pair"?
団: Too impersonal? Also more like "group" than "pair"?
忍者: Inherently evil? Is there a better word for stealthy and highly skilled in martial arts?

What words would you use?

I'm also not sure of the positioning. Would 対, 双, 組, 団, or whatever word you suggest go before or after 忍者?

Thank you very much for your help.


texts: What is the の particle doing in this sentence when used after まで?

texts:
I have the following sentence from chapter 140 of the manga, 『五等分の花嫁』.

  今の父と再婚するまでの私たちは極貧生活でした。

Context: One of the girls (of 5 siblings) is speaking with her male friend and she is discussing how that before their family became rich, they used to be quite poor.

Here is my attempted breakdown. I believe the subject of the clause marked as the topic to be the girl's mother (I could very well be wrong here, causing my whole interpretation to go awry).

今の父と再婚するまで - Until her second marriage with the current father.

の - possessive?

私たちは極貧生活でした。 -　私たち is the subject and as for them, they were poor.

I've seen plenty of "noun + の + noun" situations and plenty of situations where a clause precedes の allowing の to treat the clause as a noun.

Example: 涼しい飲み物の一番の選択 - The best choice of cool drinks

Example: 漫画を読むのが楽しい。 - The thing of reading making is fun.

I've also seen where you can combine particles like で and の to make noun phrases. The pattern here is "noun + での + noun".

図書館での勉強　- studying in the library.

I'm starting to think that the usage is similar to the first. One issue is that I'm unsure what まで is. Jisho says it's a particle, although I only considered true particles to be "が、を、で、へ、に、も、は". Considering it to be a noun, the structure would be, "relative clause packed onto noun (まで) + の + noun".

The English translation sounds goofy but it would be something like this:

As for us (私たち) of class "until our mother remarried with our current father," we were poor.

Would this be correct? I think the root cause of my misunderstanding is まで and seeing it as a noun. までの seems a bit weird to my western eyes.

I appreciate all help that comes my way.


texts: What is the difference between 写真を撮る and 写真に撮る?

texts:
As I understood so far, 撮る is a transitive verb, so "to take a photograph" is 写真を撮る in Japanese.

However, I've just come across a sentence in my textbook that uses the expression 写真に撮る, and I'm not sure if I understand it. Does it mean the same than 写真を撮る, or does it actually mean something different?

The sentence is part of a typical fill-the-gap-with-a-suitable-particle (or leave it blank) exercise:

  この公園では猿【さる】が子供を育てている（　）ところ（　）写真に撮ることが出来る。In this park, it is possible to take a photo where the monkeys are feeding their children.

I think that the answers to the parentheses are blank「　」and「で」 respectively. I am sure about the first one, but not so sure about the second:

  この公園では猿【さる】が子供を育てているところで写真に撮ることが出来る。

Maybe I'm just wrong and therefore it's getting me more confused. I would rather say:

  この公園では猿【さる】が子供を育てているところで写真を撮ることが出来る。

Meaning-wise, does it make a difference to replace に by を in this sentence? and more importantly, are they interchangeable in general when it comes to 写真を/に撮る ?

I suspect my doubt might be related to this answer where they discuss 写真に収める, but it concerns a different verb so I'm not sure either.

Any help is much appreciated.

よろしくお願いします。


texts: How to say "I will have arrived home by 6 pm."

texts:
I've just started Japanese, so please go easy on the grammar!

I see from this website that ~madeni means "by that time," but I'm not sure if you just append that to the time you want to specify (i.e., rokujimadeni). Also, is there a perfect and/or future perfect tense equivalent in Japanese?


texts:
I've seen the internet slang 凸{とつ}待{ま}ち used for "waiting for incoming (Skype etc) calls" pretty frequently, but what is the etymology and usage of the word?

I've read on other sites that it came from the following:

  突撃{とつげき}待{ま}ち → とつげき待{ま}ち → 凸{とつ}げき待{ま}ち → 凸{とつ}待{ま}ち

But why did "attack" come to mean "incoming calls"? And why did 凸{とつ} ("convex") come to be used instead of 突{とつ}?

Also, can it be used in a more generic sense, i.e. "waiting for an [assault/attack]"?


texts:
This question comes from observing a game show called ガキの使いやあらへんで ("instant miso soup" episode), where the participants have to match a product to the one they consume while blindfolded. They are only allowed to try one product at a time from the pool of products, and they have to declare whether it is, or is not the same as the one given to them initially before being allowed to try another one.

When he declares "is not" (at 6:05), ではございません is used.

When he declares "is" (at 9:07), です is used.

(The other participants also similarly use ではございません and です)

By symmetry, I expected でございます to be used for "is". The symmetry I have in mind is:

  ではございません ← ではありません ← ではない = だ → です・であります → でございます

It seems incongruent to me, that is to say that the use of ではございません implies the use of でございます but です is used instead.

Why is です used instead of でございます as expected from the above symmetry?
Or if I may ask from the other direction, why ではございません instead of ではありません ?

My conclusion is that either my symmetry is flawed, or the social context of "declaring is" and "declaring is not" is different enough so we cannot compare using symmetry.


texts: What does 撓｛た｝める mean in these 2 sentences?

texts:
1) 又八｛またはち｝は、壁の陰に立って、刀を振りかぶり、彼らの首が入口から三寸と出たら、ばさりと斬ッて落そうと、撓｛た｝めきッている。

  2) 武蔵｛たけぞう｝は黒樫の木剣を横に撓｛た｝めて待っていた、そして典馬｛てんま｝の脚もとを目がけて、半身を投げ出すように烈しく払った。

｛宮本武蔵（1935年–1939年、朝日新聞連載、吉川英治）｝

What dictionary meaning would fit with how 撓｛た｝める is used here? Could it be aiming (弓・鉄砲で、ねらいをつける。三省堂 スーパー大辞林)?


texts: Does "fukushuu suru" mean "review" or "revise"?

texts: Does fukushuu suru mean "to review" or "to revise"? Which meaning may be closer to actual usage?


texts: Function of の particle in the title 「進撃の巨人」

texts:
I came across the anime/manga title 「進撃の巨人」 and I am a bit confused about the usage of the の particle there.

I know that の has several uses, but I'm not sure which one applies in this case. I looked at the possible ways の can be used with a noun and tried figuring out which one might apply:

It seems like it would indicate possession, but that would make it
"giants of charge", which sounds weird to me (as opposed to "charge
of the giants", 巨人の進撃, which is what I would have expected).
I know の can also be used for nominalization, but 進撃 is already a
noun, so that doesn't seem likely to me. This isn't really a
subordinate clause either.
Wikipedia also lists another function of の, with the following
example:

  車のトヨタ - Toyota the car [company]

This one doesn't seem to apply in this case either, I think.

None of these possible meanings of の make sense to me in this case. Can you help me understand how/why の is used in this title?


texts:
I came across this phrase while playing a Japanese game:

  ダメだわ、全然食欲がわかないわ……

I was just wondering what does 食欲がわかない mean in this context, furthermore, I want to know about what Kanji is わかない.

Appreciate the help!


texts: Heuristics for identifying Japanese-origin words (和語)

texts:
Given a word and its reading, I'm interested in having it be automatically be identified as Japanese-origin (和語, but excluding 和製英語 and 和製漢語) or not. False negatives and positives aren't really a problem for my use case, but naturally they should be minimised if they can.

What would be some heuristics that can be implemented relatively easily in a computer program (say, less than 100 lines per rule (using libraries is fine) and doesn't require large amounts of training data)?

Here are some that I've thought up of. Are they correct? Can they be refined?

Word does not contain "litte" characters (excluding ヶ) nor long vowels (not so sure about this one)
Number of syllables (which I suppose is equivalent to mora if the above rule is true) is longer than the number of characters in the word
Word contains at least one kanji or hiragana (to exclude most of the 外来語)

Related: How to tell if a word is Sino-Japanese or Yamato and http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1022933605


texts:
One friend of mine told me when she was living in Japan, she liked to end her sentences with ん (maybe instead of の).

Examples:

明日学校にいくん？
明日学校に行かないと思う…風邪引いたん。

Actually I've never seen it! But my friend told me they used it!
I just want to know if it's possible. And if Japanese would think it a little strange if I said ん instead of の.


texts:
This is a two-part question.

First of all, I'm trying to determine the meaning of 「幼児じみた」in the following sentence:

スプーンを四十五度の角度でお碗{わん}にすべりこませ、大きく口を開ける時のマンフレッドのどこか幼児じみた仕草{しぐさ}を思い出した。

It seems like it could mean either "childish" or "childlike", but since the former has a negative connotation, I want to make sure I'm understanding the nuance.

Secondly, what exactly is the purpose of 「どこか」just prior to 幼児じみた?

Thanks for the help.


texts:
Here's the sentence:

  あるいはまた、東南アジアを中心に世界各地で活躍するいわゆる華僑勢力の多くが福建省出身者である事実を見ても、福建人たちの「海外雄飛」のパワーを知ることができる。

My rough translation is something like:

  "Moreover, looking also at the fact that a large part of [...] are natives of Fujian, it is possible to understand the power of people from Fujian in going overseas"

What troubles me most is that 華僑勢力: shouldn't 多く refer to 華僑 ("a large number of the so-called overseas Chinese merchants")?

Also, does

  東南アジアを中心に世界各地で活躍する

mean "active all over the world and particularly in South-East Asia"?  How would I use this X を中心に Y pattern?


texts: How to say ''I miss you'' at the end of a letter?

texts:
I am writing a letter to a Japanese girl that I like and I want to finish by simply saying "I miss you". I don't trust Google Translate and there seem to be a few ways to say it online. What is the most appropriate expression for this context?

Can I just say: 会いたい　?


texts:
What is the difference between

  勉強が終わったとたん、眠くなった。

and

  勉強をしたとたん、眠くなった。


texts:
The sentence is taken from the manga 「イエスタデイとうたって」
The person who utters this sentence told her friend that he loves her a few days ago. His friend said that she rather wants to be/stay friends. On the other side the guy who confessed to her has problems with going back to being "just" friends. In their conversation of what they are going to do now, he utters this sentence:

「友達になるよう努力するよか　　待ってた方がいーってコト気にすんな」

My assumption was that 「よか」 is an abbreviation of 「よりか」, though I am not entirely sure about that. However, if that is so, does this 「か」add some kind of nuance here or is it just a matter of "style"?


texts: How to write "I'm going to sleep tomorrow"?

texts:
I'm supposed to write "I'm going to sleep tomorrow" using romaji.

Would the romaji be

  watashi wa ashita neru e iku n desu

because

"I'm" is the subject which is "watashi wa"
the time is "ashita" which is "tomorrow" and comes after the "watashi wa"
"sleep" is "neru"
I'm using the particle "e" for direction, and
"iku" is "to go".

For conversational Japanese, I need to add "n desu" for the sentence.

Would that be correct or am I missing something?


texts:
I’d like to confirm my theory that 来い at the end of a sentence can be colloquially contracted to け. I met this sentence in a comics:

  置いてけ。

A meaning “Leave it here!” would be very appropriate there. So I suggest that the copula at the end is an imperative こい as mentioned here.

Am I right? Thanks!


texts:
"六日" means "the 6th day of the month".
"六日間" means a "time period of six days".

In a textbook, I found this example: "六日目の朝". How would you say that in English?

I think that "六日目" means an abstract kind of "6th day"? But, what is that "6th" day relative to? What are some examples that use "~日目"?


texts: grammar question: ka? or ga? And what is the grammar?

texts: i am thinking of whether the grammar in the question is. Ive never seen any problems like this. What is the case? And how should I answer this question?


texts: What is the difference in these two keigo terms?

texts:
My JLPT practise book has these two sentences to help explain the difference between お目{め}にかける and お目{め}にかかる in a context of keigo.

  それでは新製品{しんせいひん}お目{め}にかけましょう。

  鈴木{すずき}さんという人{ひと}に初{はじ}めてお目{め}にかかりました。

Unfortunately, the brief explanation they give about these sentences is not quite enough for me to be sure I've got it.

I think the first case, お目{め}にかける is when you're asking someone else to look at something. "Please look at X."

And I think the second case of お目{め}にかかるis when you're doing the looking. "I saw X."

I often get these kinds of differences mixed up. Can someone either confirm I'm right, tell me if and where I'm wrong, or enlighten me if there is some other nuance I should be aware of?


texts:
I'm trying to translate this sentence

  当選者の発表は、商品の発送をもって代えさせていただきます。

I know that をもって here means something like で

But I really can't understand the meaning of it and also what are some possible contexts.

Please help translate.


texts: Kana to kanji mapping for a rōmaji keyboard

texts: I've been tasked with implementing a rōmaji keyboard in a medical device.  As I understand the problem, the user is to be permitted to enter katakana, hiragana, and/or kanji via the rōmaji keyboard.  I have resources covering the mapping of rōmaji to katakana/hiragana symbols; however, I'm having difficulty locating resources to guide mapping of the resultant katakana to kanji symbols.  Can anyone recommend a resource that would assist in mapping the katakana to kanji?


texts:
Can anyone tell me what this character means?

Thank you in advance!


texts: What is the difference between 立つ and 起つ?


texts:
I suspect this question to be very simple but nevertheless, I don't understand why と is used here (in particular why not が or の (with the meaning of が)?)

  交通事情により、表示の時刻と前後することがあります。


texts:
Unless I’m wrong, both of them carry the same meaning. But is saying kuso the same level of profane as saying “shit”? Because it seems (at least from what I see in games and animes) they don’t use it as sparingly as English speakers use “shit”.

My feeling is that “kuso” is somewhere above “crap” and below “shit” in terms of vulgarity. Is this correct?


texts: How are で and いう being used in this context?

texts:
There are a few things that I don't understand about the highlighted text in the image below. The biggest question I have is what でいう is doing after 人間 (is it some sort of construction or are they acting as two completely seperate words?) and what で is doing after 程度. Also at the end where it says 「という元気なキャラクターだ。」who is that referring to?

I also found this page which describes ～で言うところの but I'm not sure if that's related.

  設定年齢は人間でいう１３歳程度で、桜井氏いわく「悩みません。あと自分探しとかもしません（笑）」という元気なキャラクターだ。


texts:
I understand that と見える can come after a noun, a verb and an i-adjective and means 'seems'. Could you please provide some simple examples of how to use this construct with a noun? I can't think of an example where this would be meaningful.
For i-adjectives does the following examples have different meaning/nuance おいしいと見える and おいしそうだ
Also, I can't figure out how it works in this quote:

私には本物の若殿様がわかります。
若様は手習いのあとと見えて、手に墨がついております。」
I know who the real young lord is. It seems it is after the young lord's writing practice and his hands are stained with ink.

In this case と見える doesn't come after noun, verb or adjective and my translation sounds very clumsy. Thanks.


texts:
呼び出し場所は、昼休み中には似つかわしくない通学路。その途中にある休憩所だ。

似つかわしくない: inappropriate, unsuitable.

I'm confused with the sentence, and I suspected 似つかわしくない might have another meaning.

If I translated the sentence, it will be like:

  The meeting point is on the school route, which is not suitable
  during the lunch break. It is a rest area along that route.

(sounds strange to put together the words not suitable with a time period like a lunch break)

Please kindly enlighten me, thank you.


texts: How to say "He went to bed without taking a shower, brushing his teeth, removing his contact lenses"?

texts:
I want to say

  He went to bed without taking a shower, brushing his teeth, removing his contact lenses.

Do I have to repeat the negation for every verb as follows?

  彼は、シャワーを浴びず、歯を磨かず、コンタクトレンズを外さず、寝てしまった。


texts:
It seems like 留める can be read as either とめる or とどめる. JED, my Android dictionary app, cites とどめる, and so does wiktionary. But wiktionary's kanji entry for 留, it lists とめる, とどまる, and とまる as kun readings, not とどめる; my IME also accepts both とめる and とどめる when typing 留める, and my Anki cards generate 留【と】める when I type in とめる. Is this a wiktionary boo-boo, or are there two ways to read 留める? If so, which is more commonly used?

Please clarify other kanji you use in an answer with furigana.


texts:
The younger sister is holding on to the climbing frame, trapped by a wild dog. The older sister is rushing to the rescue:

  「お姉ちゃん、来ちゃダメだよ、あぶないよぉ」
  Sister, don't come over here. It's dangerous.
  私の妹なのよっ、はなしてっ」
  You're my little sister, ???

I assume this はなして is from 放す = to release/to let go/to set free. I'm not familiar with the usage of this verb and I was a bit puzzled by the verb ending. I assume the meaning is "I will set you free (rescue you)" and that in ends in て because the sentence is unfinished. Would I be correct that the full sentence is something like 放してもらって下さい?

But I also thought that it might be an instruction to "let go (release grip)" of the climbing frame.

Aside from the fact that letting go of the frame would seem like a poor idea, are both of these interpretations possible? In a situation of panic is this completely unambiguous?


texts: Difference between shimatte arimasu and shimete arimasu

texts:
In this link, it is explained that shimeru is a transitive verb and so it can take the -te aru ending but shimaru is an intransitive verb so it can take the -te imasu ending.

However, in some grammar textbooks (such as this one here) I have seen shimatte arimasu as well:

  使わないものはクローゼットにしまってあります。
  Tsukawanai mono wa kurōzetto ni shimatte arimasu.

  I leave things that I do not use in my closet.

What is the difference?


texts: Why ドルフィン, ドルファン and ドルフォン?

texts:
There is a song by Kingo Hamada called 街のドルフィン that frequently appears on 80's city pop compilations. It seems to be a silly song about a young boy who captures a dolphin and they swim together in the light of the milky way (roughly interpreting). At the end of each verse, Hamada sings these words:

ほらドルフィン ほらドルファン
ほらドルフィン ドルファン ドルフォン

(Which at the end of the song leads into a scat section frequently featured in internet meme videos)
My question is why does he change the vowel in the word ドルフィン to ドルファン and ドルフォン? Is he just playing around with the different ways the english word "dolphin" can be turned into Japanese with Katakana and still sound like the original word? Or is there some other joke being made here?


texts: Saying "I have no need for 'that'" ('that = insert any phrase') in three different circumstances and in various degree of politeness

texts:
Situation1: My close friends offer me 'something' that of no use for me. So I want to reject it by saying 'I have no need for 'that'.

(Situation 1-1: I want to sound really rude to my close friend as to show that we're really close that we really understand each other)

(Situation 1-2: I want to sound 'rude' to make this 'good friend' stay a bit far away from me, but not destroying the relationship to him)

Situation2: My parents offer me 'something' that of no use for me. So I want to reject it by saying 'I have no need for 'that'.

(Situation 2-1: I don't want to sound rude to my 'half-foster parent' in Japan)

(Situation 2-2: I want to deliberately sound rude to my blood parent)

Situation3: My professor offers me 'something' that I think has no value for the research development. So I want to reject it by saying 'I have no need for 'that'.
(Can I just plainly reject him? - Notes: I still need him to help with the project, but I want to convey that his help/assistance doesn't really help with the project's progress)

How to say:
"I have no need for 'that'"
"Sorry, I don't need that"

Here are some examples I conjured up:

'that' は/が いらない

'that' は/が いらないです

'that' は/が いりません

'that' は/が いいです。

'that' は/が やっぱり 要らない/要りません

'that' は/が 結構です

'that' は/が構いません

1.Is there any 'set-phrase' that conveys in a more polite way or roundabout way in those three situations?

2.Is there any 'set-phrase' that conveys 'the same feeling' without conveying an apology or saying apologetically in those three situations?
[ like: すいません/すみません/申し訳ありません]

3.How about this:

  その必要はない -> Is this okay? or too rude?

  Is there any set-phrase that we can use to include: '以外' for more natural Japanese?

If possible, please explain the nuances for every answer that you give so that we can learn something (especially from the natives) especially the cultural difference of rejecting offers/help from others.
Thanks a lot for all your answers!


texts: How would you say, 「Will you please look at this picture?」

texts: I am talking to my a teacher of mine, and would like to ask her to look at a picture I took a screen shot of this morning because one of her staff came up to us and said 「おはようございました」and we had a debate on whether or not people actually used that sentence because it seemed obscure. I was thinking it might be something along the lines of, ”この画像見てください。”


texts:
The words 飛ぶ and 跳ぶ are both read as とぶ, the former meaning "to fly" and the latter meaning "to jump" (generally; don't know if they are interchangeable at all).

The compound-verb suffix 〜込【こ】む means that the action "goes in (to)", "enters", etc.

So the word とびこむ means "to jump/dive into", both literally and figuratively ("jump into (doing) a mountain of homework", "butt in to someone's business", etc.).

However, とびこむ is written with the "to fly" version of the kanji:  飛び込む.

Why is this?  When 跳ぶ means jump and 〜込む means "into", why wasn't 跳 chosen for とびこむ?  This doesn't make sense to me at all.


texts: Can someone further explain the difference between 一緒に and 共に?

texts:
This is a follow up to the question “What are the fundamental differences between the ～と一緒に and the ～とともに fragments?”  Someone suggested that I post my question as a separate thread.

Well, something is off for me. It seems that Derek and rcjsuen's answer clash somewhat. If I am being explicit or am emphasizing who I am doing an activity with, this implies that I and this person did everything together every step of the way. However, according Derek's answer, I would use 一緒に. But according to rcjsuen's reply, I would use 共に.

So what am I missing in this understanding?


texts: I just wanted to know how they were different (tone, formality, implications, etc.).


texts: Why is watermelon written in hiragana, whereas melon is written in katakana?

texts:
For the two words, watermelon and melon:

watermelon → 西瓜（すいか）
melon → メロン

Watermelon uses hiragana, whereas melon uses katakana.

Why is this set up this way? Is there a special rule that dictates the use of katakana in the original word or something?


texts: て form of adjective in 'no matter how much' clause

texts:
My story book says this:

どんなに寒いでも...
No matter how cold it is ...

but my grammar book says this:

どんなに寒くても...

Both of them seem reasonable to me. Are they both correct? Is there any difference in nuance between them? Could I also translate the first sentence (or indeed the second) as "Even if it is so cold..."? Thanks


texts:
I'm trying to understand how to conjugate verbs like 「発する」, 「属する」, 「察する」 and the like.

In a book I found 「発せられる」, which I think is the potential form of 「発する」, but it doesn't seem to follow the usual rules, so I was wondering: how about causative, passive and other forms? Does it matter if the verb has a っ (はっする) or not (ぞくする)?

I tried checking online, but I found both 「発せられる」 and 「発できる」 as potential (and IME recognize both), but I won't even be sure about how to read the latter (はっできる? はつできる? IME recognize the former) so I'm kind at a loss here.


texts: Need help with translation of 二つの点がちょうど目みたいに見える

texts: My understanding is that　both みたいに and　見える means "look like" so how can they occur in the same sentence?


texts:
Everyone says Japanese is a hard language, but if you remove the Kanji learning part from it, is it just as easy as any other language which just has a different writing system?

Is spoken Japanese easier or harder than other common European languages?


texts: Can native Japanese speakers pick up a distinctive accent in people whose first language contains contour tones?

texts:
First of all, I am an American, and my native language is American English. My home language or first language, on the other hand, is a contour tonal language, with multiple tones, probably 4 or 5, with a logographic writing system. When I listen to the Japanese audio, I instantly pick up on the sing-songy intonation of speech and pronounce as close as possible.

From what I read on Wikipedia, native Vietnamese speakers, when pronouncing English, will really emphasize on the intonation, as if they were Vietnamese tones. I personally feel the same way. I hear tones... or at least regard the intonation of speech as having tones.

I know that Japanese is a language with a pitch-accent. But I am wondering if native Japanese speakers can pick up a distinctive accent among people whose first language contains contour tones, as opposed to people whose first language is non-tonal?


texts: Difference between N1はN2より＋Adj and N1よりN2のほうが+Adj

texts:
I'm a little stuck at this because I don't really get the difference. What's the difference between:

  私は田中さんより若いです
  田中さんより私のほうが若いです

Am I saying the same thing but in two different ways?

Thanks in advance!


texts: Difficulty reading Kanji that is handwritten, any suggestions?

texts:
As I have continued to learn Japanese scripts, I have noticed that I have difficulty with reading Kanji that is a more quick freehand format.
I usually figure it out through context, but I was wondering if anyone may have some suggestions that could help with this?

The biggest impact is the speed at which I can read material. My current method I have attempted to improve on this has been reading manga.
Although I enjoy this method because I enjoy a large number of popular manga, But this method has not had the results of increased reading speed I was hoping for.

I was wondering if there where any tips, or common ways certain kanji get written that looks different in text format vs handwritten? In English there are so many shorthand variations used, I thought perhaps this happens with Kanji as well?

It’s a broad area to cover but any tips, suggestions, or ideas are appreciated. I have been considering looking at a pen pal type of arrangement to improve feedback on my writing and to improve my reading skills, is this something that could have a better outcome? If it would be a good approach, is there anywhere to start working with someone in this manner? I’m 35 and haven’t heard of pen pals since windows 95 was released, so if this practice is still around I am really not sure where to look.

Thanks for any help or just reading this, & perhaps I’m a lost cause.


texts: What is the literal context of 御手 in this instance?

texts:
In the manga and light novel series, A Certain Scientific Railgun and A Certain Magical Index there are some in-series technical terms that have English epithet attached to them, such as Level Upper (幻想御手{レベルアッパー}) and Bust Upper (巨乳御手{バストアッパー}).

Although they say アッパー, they're both written with the kanji 御手, which literally means "hand." Why is 御手 used in this context?  Does it have any meaning beyond just "hand"?


texts:
I recently encountered this sentence:

  床には血痕が残っている。かなり時間が経つのか血が固まっている。

I believe I understand that the second part is saying the blood is dry (or has hardened) because quite some time has passed. I'm not sure what the か after 経つの is doing -- is the speaker not quite sure if that's the right explanation (something like, "The blood has hardened, perhaps because a lot of time has passed")?


texts: What is the purpose of the "ん" in こんなんあった (Yotsuba&)

texts: In Yotsuba, she says こんなんあった, which I am　having trouble reading. My best guess is as こんな　に　あった。But I am having trouble understanding it. I know it means something like "I found this" but I don't understand why.


texts:
I've come across the following sentence in a book:

あの様な、って言われてもなぁ……俺は特に何も思わなかったぜ？

From what I've come across on the internet, correct me if I'm wrong of course, 言われても means "even if told/even though I was told" whilst implying  that you are rejecting or denying what you've been told. So considering this when I try to translate the above sentence, the latter part of the sentence doesn't seem to fit because it's a question.

I think the above sentence translates as "even if I've been told he was like that…… I didn't think much of it?"

(For context the person is replying to a question that goes something like this "was he always like that from the start"")

The fact that the sentence is apparently a question confuses me 10x more. Is the person saying the above sentence indeed trying to deny what they've been told?


texts: How to use に with "masu-stem (連用形 stem) + に + Verb" structure

texts:
Could somebody provide a bit more explanation, possibly giving correct and incorrect examples on how to use に with "masu-stem (連用形 stem) + に + Verb" as illustrated in the following examples?

Both feel intuitively sound but I cannot find an explanation that allows me to compose my own sentences.

  なお、本状と行き違いにお支払い済みの場合はお許しください

  Please forgive us in the case that payment has been completed "in crossing" with this letter(ie while the letter was still on its way)(note1)
  そして通りすがりに鐘をならしつつ、かれは隣室へと一同を先導した。

  And ringing the bell in passing, he led the way into the adjoining room

What are my thoughts?

に indicates that (と)行き違い describes the manner in which お支払い(済み) was done and seems to be the same as the に below (despite お支払い済み appearing not to be a verb)
It looks similar to Nにして／連用形 stemながらにして which "indicates a time[/point] when a surprising [event] takes place"(note2) but does not fit the pattern.
It seems to be different from the familiar 「を買いにいく」which has a clear purpose and direction ("to go to buy something") or the other use of this pattern covered in another question "How does one use the “[V ます stem] に [Vタ]” pattern (as in 待ちに待った)?".
Its not an "N1にN2 pair"(because I asked in a previous question)

*Note1: This often appears in payment reminders. The English equivalent is more likely to be "Please ignore this notice if you have already paid (this card and your payment have crossed)" but I think this literal translation is more helpful to solve the question.

Note2: From Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar*


texts: I’m uncertain about the phrase お気をつけください, which I found where I would have expected お気をつけてください. Assuming it’s not a typo is it 尊敬語？ Should I understand the honorific お  as qualifying 気  only or the whole 気をつけ ？and would お気をつけてください be grammatically wrong,  simply unusual , or something completely different?


texts: Closest meaning of Soulmate, 運命の人 or 心の友?

texts: Just a simple question, which one has the closest meaning of soulmate, 運命の人 or 心の友? Are they interchangeable in Japanese?


texts:
I have starting reading some very simple Japanese news articles and came across this sentence,
4日に出した予想では、今年一番早く咲くのは福岡市と高知市で、今月13日です。
While I'm relatively sure what the sentence means I'm unsure of the use of the で particle in,
4日に出した予想では
I'm sure it's used to mark means of an action but I'm unsure of what action it is marking and how it relates to the rest of the sentence.


texts: Does an international OR standardized phonetic alphabet/notation system exist to depict all the Hiragana/Katakana sounds?

texts:
Are there written systems (preferably international & standardized) that you can use to depict how to pronounce any word from Japanese and any language. Something similar to Romaji but one that can be used for any language?

Can't remember well but back in a linguistics class, I thought they showed me some kind of international alphabet (which just looked like modified Roman alphabets with weird tildes, lines, and such) that you can use to break down and identify any particular sound and pronunciation for any particular language. They may have called it a phonetic alphabet or something.

Example

So, what I mean is if I want to show a Japanese person how to properly pronounce "加油", I can turn to this international written system. The Japanese person, in turn, can use the same phonetic notation to show how to pronounce "Ganbatte".

What I want

Does such a phonetic notation exist?
If so, can you provide a list mapping the sounds these characters make using that phonetic system?

あ,い,う,え,お,か,き,く,け,こ,さ,し,す,せ,そ,た,ち,つ,て,と,な,に,ぬ,ね,の,は,ひ,ふ,へ,ほ,ま,み,む,め,も,や,ゆ,よ,ら,り,る,れ,ろ,わ,ゐ,ゑ,を

Think on Wikipedia calls them the Hiragana base characters.

No Kanji though.

I hope that makes sense.


texts:
Why is  口が軽い the opposite of 口が堅い ? It seems interesting to me why 軽い／堅い would be chosen for this phrase.

As far as I know, most of the time phrases that are coupled with 軽い usually have the opposite meaning paired with 重い. I know one case where it is paired with 激しい as in 軽く／激しく運動する.

What would be the reason as to why 口が重い might not be the appropriate choice to use for the opposite phrase of 口が軽い?


texts: "寿司屋" means just a "sushi restaurant". I've heard "お寿司屋さん" spoken a few times. As far as I know, only a person's name can be suffixed with "さん". So, is "お寿司屋さん" a personification?


texts: Clarifying a passage containing ちょっと待てよと思った from がばいばあちゃん

texts:
I want some help clarifying a passage from がばいばあちゃん, specifically in chapter 1, page 13.

The preceding text is about sad events which lead to his father's demise. Then it follows:

  切ない話である。しかし！　俺は大人になった時、ちょっと待てよと思った。

After that, the narrator tells of how he asked news of his father's condition when the latter was hospitalised.

I assume the text in italics is addressing the reader. My reading is '[When I was writing about this sad story] I was thinking you should hang on for a bit until I've grown up [because there are happy events afterwards]'. I guess the ~時...まてよ is telling the reader to wait until the narrator has grown up (in the story).

Is this the correct reading? If someone could clarify or correct me, I would appreciate it.

Context:

  広島にはまだ原爆の放射能がたっぷりと残っていて、とうちゃんは原爆症になってしまったのだ。
  ほんの少し、家の様子を見に行っただけだったというのに……。
  そんな訳で、俺が生まれた時には、とうちゃんはすでに病床の人だった。
  とうちゃんも、そしてかあちゃんもまだ二十代の頃の話だ。
  切ない話である。
  しかし！
  俺は大人になった時、ちょっと待てよと思った。
  そして、かあちゃんに聞いた。
  「かあちゃん、とうちゃんって俺が生まれた時はもう入院してた？」
  「うん。してたよ。」
  「じゃあ、俺がかあちゃんのお腹の中にできた時は、まだ元気いっぱいやった？」
  「ううん。もう入院してた。」
  「そんなら、一時帰宅とかしたことあったの？」
  「ずっと入院したまんまよ。」
  「あっ、そうか。病室が個室やったんか。」
  「まさか。あの時代の病院は、どこも満員。個室なんか、なかったよ。」
  おかしな話である。
  しかし、これ以上追求すると、かあちゃんは赤い顔をして、もごもごと訳の分からないことを口走り、どこかへ消えてしまうのだ。
  (Source: 「佐賀のがばいばあちゃん」第一章ｐ１３, ｐ１４)


texts:
もしも君にめぐり逢えたら
  二度と君の手を離さない

I would translate this to:

  Even if I could meet you by chance,
  I would never leave your hand a second time.

That is because of the following analysis: moshi, if; mo, even; kimi, you; ni, preposition required by meguriau; meguriaetara, -tara form of potential of meguriau, meet by chance; nido to, a second time; kimi, you; no, possessive particle; te, hand; wo, object marker; hanasanai, negative present of hanasu, let go of. Trouble is, I've seen translations of this, which is from Time After Time by Mai Kuraki, which translate it more or less as:

  Even if I had met you by chance,
  I would not have left your hand a second time.

But if hanasanai is present, why should I translate it with a past conditional? Wouldn't it make more sense to translate it as a present one? It is true that -tara contains the past suffix -ta, but so what? Does it necessarily imply a past action? And if so, why use the present in the apodosis?


texts:
The question is are these two pronounced the same.

If they are how would one know how to spell them.

This applies to any case of ウ vs 一.


texts: From what I understand, all three mean "rather", "quite", or "somewhat". When should I use each one?


texts: Is there a difference between the particle お (o) and the particle を (wo)

texts: So I'm just confused. I've read that when writing を is used, but when talking お is used. Is this true or are they entirely different?


texts:
In a manga, a girl is reproaching her friend for not being very sociable since she became friend with a guy from the school cinema club:

  あんた　あの映研のメガネとつるむようになってからつきあい悪いしノリも悪い

I read on Kenkyusha dictionary that 付き合いの悪い人 is "an unsociable person", while here I read that ノリが悪い人 is "someone who never joins in". To me they look pretty similar, but since they are used together in the sentence, there must be a slight difference. Could someone plese explain what this difference is? Thank you!


texts: I came across になっちゃう! in my reading, i am pretty sure its just conjugation of なる as it would make sense in the context of the sentence but i have no idea how it was conjugated this way any ideas, and what does the implication of such conjugation mean?


texts: What is the difference between 目を細める and 眼を細める

texts:
Example:

  「できるのか？」【大男】

  大男が眼を細めてくる

The definition for the first expression as given from weblio is

  目の開き方を小さくする。

  うれしそうにほほえみをうかべる

Is the reason that this line uses 眼 instead of 目 to make it so that the reader understands that it would mean the first definition or does this mean the second definition?

Thanks.


texts: How to write "I am (name)" using hiragana?

texts:
In a book I've learned "(name) to moushimasu" as an introduction, but as japanese has no spaces, would it be written with hiragana as follows or something different?

(name)ともうします。


texts:
I'm a graphic designer and illustrator working on a personal character design project about animals made out of combining different asymmetrical figures.
I've been trying to choose a name for my project, and I found out about this Japanese kanji '図' (romanized 'Zu') which according to various dictionaries that I have consulted, means "figure" but also means: illustration, drawing, and most importantly "diagram".
I don't trust these dictionaries enough though, so what I need to know is if '図' is really used to say "figure" or "illustration" in Japanese since I want the project to be called 'Zumals', a word combination between that word 'Zu' from Japanese, and the word 'animals' taken from English.


texts: Dictionary form of verb to indicate progressive actions or actions in progress?

texts:
I've always interpreted the plain/present affirmative of a verb (e.g. 行く/行きます）　as either

A.) an action that I will do in the future 図書館に行きます "I will go to the library"

B.) an action that I habitually do. よくテレビを見る "I often watch T.V."

～ている　conjugations can for a variety of verbs translate as having an enduring state or state which is a result of change

Example

  僕の友達はヨーロッパに行っている　→　"My friend is gone to Europe"
  ドアが開いている　→　"The door is open"
  僕は結婚してる　→　"I'm married"

For verbs of this nature which do not have an "action in progress" interpretation from the ~ている conjugation, is it possible to interpret the plain/present affirmative of a verb as an action in progress/event currently taking place as well?

Examples

  今僕の友達はヨーロッパに行く　→　"My friend is going to Europe now" (As in an action in progress, he's on the plane on his way there)
  ドアが開く　→　"The door is opening" (Door is actively in the process of opening)
  僕は結婚します　→　"I'm　getting married" (In the process of completing wedding arrangements and so on)

Are these interpretations correct? If not is there some other method in order to express those type of sentences? Any insight or clarifications would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!


texts:
I'm not sure how much I can trust Google Translate, but I recently noticed a feature, a little shield next to the translation that reads "This translation has been verified. ...". I assume it means a number of people have personally agreed that the given translation is correct. Alright.

The weird thing is [神]{かみ} translates to "God, deity" normally, but [神]{かみ}を translates to just "God", with the "verified" icon. Is the second one more respectful or something like that? What is the difference in meaning?

What exactly is the purpose of the particle? I know about the use of お before words like in [お金]{かね}, but it's the first time I see that kind of use of を.


texts: Difference between 行きます and 来ます in this context

texts:
I was messaging my friend telling her I'll meet her at the library and I said

  もうすぐ、私は図書館に来ます。
  (I'll come to the library soon.)

She corrected me saying 図書館に行きます not '来ます'.

Why 行きます？

I'll 'go' to the library?

Since I'll be meeting her there, I thought I'll 'come' to the library.

Why is it 行きます not 来ます ?


texts: What is the difference between 寿司, 鮨, 鮓, 寿斗, 寿し, and 壽司?

texts:
It is likely that this is due to my poor understanding, but why are there so many names for「すし」? I think for the most part I have only seen the first three (寿司、鮨、鮓). For whatever reason in some restaurants in America there are these other compositions listed.

Something tells me that their is some nuance between them or not all of them are in use. What are the differences between these words, and why are there so many?


texts:
A: あ……えっと……何か手伝うことは、ありますか？
B: ん？　あぁ、この辺はドシロウトにできるこっちゃないからな。　邪魔にならねぇように先にメシでも食って、後は舞台袖ででも大人しくしてな

Pretty much in general でも and ても don't sit well in my mind. There have been a lot of times I see them in a context in which they don't make sense to me as "even" or "even if/though" or in the case of でも as で and も individually. In this case the manner of speech is colloquial so maybe that's why it seems so odd. What really confuses me is ででも. Can someone explain the use でも and ででも here?
As a bonus, is にならねぇ just にならない with a a different emphasis?


texts: Where does モテ come from? モテる to be popular with opposite sex.


texts: "予備あるしさ" What does this phrase mean? I was reading the manga and I didn't understand

texts: If you can help me with this translation.


texts: Describing a shrine, just not a Shinto shrine?

texts:
皆さんこんばんは！

Been trying to translate bits and pieces of one of my short stories into Japanese. Having decided that it would be fun to translate one of my more Japanese themed ones.

One problem I've encountered is this, my story is a fantasy tale in which a Greek-like pantheon of gods are worshipped at shrines, however I've been having trouble in picking a word to describe said shrines with, as Japanese has a lot, and a lot of them exclusively refer to Shinto.

Just wondering what a good word to use would be.


texts: 「一週間後に解約する」 but 「一週間後での解約」, why not the same particle?

texts:
Some rough Google search shows:

  一週間後に解約する (✓)

  一週間後で解約する (☓)

but:

  一週間後にの解約 (☓)

  一週間後での解約 (✓)

If that's right, why is that discrepancy?

Questions below seem related:

What's the difference between に and で when speaking of time of an action?

に vs で again: 前に vs 後で

和訳

少しググった限りでは、

  一週間後に解約する (◯)

  一週間後で解約する (☓)

に対し、

  一週間後にの解約 (☓)

  一週間後での解約 (◯)

なようですが、誤りでなければ、なぜこういうふうに食い違っているのですか？

以下の質問とも関係がありそうです。

What's the difference between に and で when speaking of time of an action?

に vs で again: 前に vs 後で


texts: Can you use ーられない to express that something is unbearable?

texts:
Perhaps ーづらい is more appropriate in this case? For instance:

  I can't look (because it's unbearable)
  [辛]{つら}くて見られない

Maybe a more natural way to express the above?

  [it is] unbearable to look at
  見[辛]{づら}い

Without the ーづらい

  Horror films are so scary I can't watch them
  ホラー映画は怖すぎて観られない


texts:
Vernon is complaining about being woken up again by Harry's owl and says:

  今週に入って三回目だぞ
  Third time this week!

What is the meaning (and pronunciation: presumably はいって) of 入って here? I would have thought 今週に三回目だぞ would have had the same meaning.

I can't make the usual meaning of "to enter" and the like make any sense here.


texts:
I'm pretty sure "誰にも読めない本" is correct. However, I have also heard something in the same vein as "誰も読めない本", without the に. Is this also correct?
If so, does も replace が here?


texts: Can (Aともかく,B.) be always understood as (Do do you know about A? B.)?

texts:
漢字を読むことはともかく、書くことは苦手だ。

I can't even write, let alone read Kanji.
Regardless whether i can read Kanji or not, I can't write it.

Which translation is correct, 1) or 2)?
The speaker Confirms their disability to 書く.
Is it also confirmed that they are able to 漢字を読む or is it left unclear????
How can i figure out the answer from the sentence?


texts: Having trouble making sense of the sentence "解いてから帰らないとすっきりしないんだ"

texts:
In the sentence 解いてから帰らないとすっきりしないんだ, from the context I know it means "If I don't go home after solving it, it won't be refreshing" but I just can't make sense of the grammar, below are the two ways I am thinking about it:
I must solve it then go home (NOTHING) I won't be "relieved" (considering と to be an abbreviation of 帰らないといけない)
If I solve it then don't go home I won't be relieved (assume と is just a normal conditional と)
Can anyone explain it differently to help my brain understand why it means what it does without context?


texts:
In a comment, I've read 「目が見えないのは誰ですか」.

I remember that, some 10 years ago, I was told that "の" could not replace human beings.  But here, since we use 誰, it's clearly a person that の refers to.

Is my memory failing, or is the above sentence casual but not correct, so to speak?


texts: Double checking my understanding of のことで

texts:
Would just like to check my understanding of お前の持ってる徽章のことで交渉がしたい
Am I correct that the のこと nominalizes "お前の持ってる徽章" and で is simply means 'with' for 交渉がしたい
"With the talisman you have - I want to negotiate"


texts: Do わずかに and しか alter the negation of negative verb to make the meaning positive?+Cases when 行っていません expresses the past?

texts:
私は学校へわずかに二ヶ月しか行っていません。
Translation was:

I only went to school for barely 2 months.

My understanding of the sentence was:
2)[I don't/didn't go to school for barely 2 months only].
Why would 1) be correct and 2) wrong?
3)If the sentnece were: 私は学校へわずかに二ヶ月しか行っていません。would the translation be [I don't/didn't go to school for barely 2 months only.] or would it keep being [I only went to school for barely 2 months]
My second question is:
What are the cases when 行っていません expresses the past rather than the present?


texts: What is meant by それはそれで面白い in this sentence

texts:
To provide some additional context, Girl 1 and Boy 1 are thought to be dating by lots of people (they are very close to one another, but they are not officially dating at least). 烈 wanted to make Girl 1 his girlfriend so he challenged Boy 1 to a fight, Boy 1 cheated and won. They were then discussing this later where the following occurs:

  Girl 1 「反論されても……烈さんの男気に比べるとどうしてもなぁ……」

  Girl 2 「んん！？ まさか浮気の予感！？」

  Girl 1「まだ付き合ってるとは言ってないよ」

  Girl 2「それはそれで面白いけどさ」

  Boy 1 「面白くない！！」

I think I understand the usage of それはそれで, however I am not quite sure what she is saying is 面白い from the previous utterance 「まだ付き合ってるとは言ってないよ」.


texts: Help interpret 遅れてもよければ、大丈夫だ in a sentence

texts:
Here's the full context:
A: 鈴木さん、今日来られるっていっていた?
B: ちょっと遅れてもよければ、だいじょうぶだって。

What I understand roughly

A: Did Suzuki say that he can come today?
B: He said that if it's okay to be a bit late, he can come

But I was wondering if I misinterpret B.

遅れてもよければ, 大丈夫だ

遅れても: even if it's late
よければ: if it's okay
大丈夫だ: It's okay/all is good

A. Was Suzuki san asking permission if it's okay to be late? (asking questions/permissions)

B. Or is it that he said he can come but will be a bit late and he hopes that it's okay? (A statement)

Update: I just realised that there is no か in the end of the sentence so B is the only logical explanation...


texts: Can もう be used in instances where a person may be frustrated? I heard the term uttered by itself only, but it seemed like the person may have been a little upset. I'm not sure of a specific meaning. Thank you.


texts: What is the difference between 得意 and 上手?

texts:
Both 上手 and 得意 seem to both mean something along the lines of "good at" or "skilled". However, I don't understand the difference (if there is one) between them. In fact, some of the sentences on jisho.org are constructed pretty much the same but with these words (and sometimes a particle) interchanged:

  料理が上手ですね。
  料理は得意です。

I can't find any differences through other sentences and contexts either. So, what is the difference between them? Do they imply slightly different things? Is there a time you can use one, but not the other?


texts: What does 直撃 mean in relation to an interview?

texts:
I'm currently translating this interview of a Japanese actor.

直撃 was used for

  猪野君に直撃

and

  今回は“二択”で本音を直撃！

According to Jisho, it means a "direct hit".

The word seems to be associated with a disaster like a bomb or typhoon, based on goo.

However, I noticed that similar to this article, 直撃 was often used as a verb for a headline such as

ゆき姐こと兵藤ゆきさんを直撃

スカイプ英会話「カフェトーク」を直撃

I was wondering what does it mean and whether it was an abbreviation?


texts: Can the verb ある be used with the grammar ~せずに?

texts:
I have been researching on the internet but I can't find any source where they explain how to use ~せずに (without doing) with the verb ある. I also tried several Japanese conjugators out there, but they do not include the conjugation ず, so it didn't help either.

According to the rules of conjugation for ずに, my guess is it would conjugate:

食べる → 食べない → 食べない → 食べずに

ある → ない → ない → ずに

But it seems really odd to just leave ずに without any root. For example:

  I did my homework without any problem. → 問題がずに宿題をした。

Moreover, since ある does not appear in the explanations of the grammar ~せずに I've found so far, my gut feeling is that ある and ~せずに can not be used together, but I really don't know. Can someone confirm this, please?

Thank you for your help!


texts:
Can ぞ be the short form of こそ?
Here below a sentence example:

  これぞあたしの本だ！！

Here I found that これぞ = this (emphatic), but I'm curious to know if that zo came from koso or not. Thk U in advance!


texts: Historical differences between colors that are i-adjectives and those that are simply nouns

texts:
EDIT: Started a bounty with hope of getting more definitive and elaborate answers, e.g. timeline of when color names started being used in Japan.

In Japanese language, there are colors that are i-adjectives: 青い, 赤い, 黒い, 白い etc.

Then there are colors that are original nouns: 緑 {みどり}, 紫 {むらさき} etc.

And finally color nouns that are made of [something]-色: 茶色 {ちゃいろ}, 黄色 {きいろ} , 灰色 {はいいろ}, 桃色 {ももいろ}, 銀色 {ぎんいろ} etc.

Why are there different word classes for colors in Japanese? Is it because they have different historical backgrounds and etymologies?


texts: Negation in a verbてverbてはならない/いけない compound

texts:
I saw this sample sentence while looking up 乗せる on a dictionary:

  バスが乗客を乗せたり降ろしたりしているときは注意して通らなくてはならない。
  While a bus is loading and unloading, you must be very careful passing it.

What I do not understand is why the negation is placed on 通る instead of 注意する. My reasoning is that 注意して通らなくてはならない should literally translate to "paying attention and (then) not passing is not desirable."

Why is the clause not written thus:

  注意しないで通ってはならない

ご教授お願いいたします。どうもありがとうございます。


texts:
Is it redundant to give an assumed case and then use the どうすればいい construction?

E.g.

  不合格だとすればどうすればいいですか。

If so, what's a better way to express this sentiment?


texts: What does this type of sentence structure (Verb- dictionary form+のも（は）もっともだ) mean

texts:
そんなことを言われたら、怒るもの、もっともです。

There seems to be a pattern of dictionary form verb + mono + comma + description.

Any good references for this with 例文？


texts: Does the kanji 妾 still get used by women to refer to themselves?

texts:
In this answer, the kanji 妾 was defined as "mistress".

I'm not so familiar with this kanji, so I looked it up, and it seems to have about four readings and two definitions. Although I think some of these readings might be archaic, there's めかけ, そばめ, and おんなめ which all mean "mistress" or "kept woman".

But then there's also the reading わらわ which seems to be a humble feminine form of saying "I" or "me", similar to あたし.

Most of the examples I saw, were related to the "mistress" meaning, so I wondered:

Is the feminine "I" meaning still in use? If so, when would it be used? Given the other definition, it seems like that would be a very unpopular way for a woman to refer to herself...

Also, with regards to the "mistress" meaning, which of the readings are still in use?


texts: What impression does it give to say "今日は断食です" at a meal with co-workers?

texts:
At least sometimes, I would like to not worry about 割り勘. And (at least initially) I would not like to worry about knowing when and who should オゴリ.

When I'm out with co-workers/friends for lunch, or drinks after work, at least sometimes what if I were to say:

  いや、今日は断食です。

And then just drink water, or maybe just one beer.

How does 断食 sound? Does it make a native speaker smile, shrug, and be like "whatever"? Or does it sound really weird and out of place? It has a strong connotation of Buddhism, right? How strong?


texts: Would "Jr." be included with the family name or given name?

texts: On the application that I am filling out, they have split up the name section into three parts much like any English application, but instead of 'Last name' it says 'Family name'. I usually put my last name and add a 'jr.' at the end, but my last name is my family name, not 'jr.' So is it ok for me to put my last name and add a 'jr.' for the family name field, or would I put the 'jr.' elsewhere.


texts: Can 々 stand for a duplicated kanji with a different reading?

texts:
The title may not be so clear, here is what I mean:

々 is used to avoid repeating a kanji. In some cases, the two may not be pronounced the same because the first consonant of the second kanji is voiced (e.g. [時]{とき}[々]{どき}), but they still have the same reading.

Are there cases where the two have different readings (kun'yomi and on'yomi, or two different kun or two different on)?


texts:
I'm trying to translate the English sentence below into Japanese:

Each theory has a different understanding of how countries like China, Japan and South Korea behave towards each other.

My best translation:

互いの理論はなぜのような国中国や、日本や、韓国を始め、互いに振る舞ることが分かることの違っています。

What I'm having the most trouble with is how to order the verbs in the sentence as I'm pretty sure what I've written at the end there is ungrammatical. Perhaps I should treat that phrase 'different understanding' as a noun in Japanese? I'm also not so sure about my use of ような and を始め in the same sentence as well, as there seems to be some crossover there.


texts: I want to make sure if the sentence is impersonal or is it about a specific person

texts:
Character A is talking about character B

  「…こいつは昔のオレに似ていた。全てを手に入れたつもりで、何でも成せると盲信しようとする。だからこそ己の失敗に怯え、己に失敗は無いのだと自分に嘘をつく。結果、それをごまかす方法として、他人の力を信用しなくなったのがオレだ。」

I understand that 「全てを手に入れたつもりで、何でも成せると盲信しようとする。だからこそ己の失敗に怯え、己に失敗は無いのだと自分に嘘をつく」is about the speaking character himself, by the meaning. But speaking of grammar only, are these two sentences impersonal? I mean, if I want to translate it word by word (into my native language), would it be "I did that and that..." or should it be "To do that and that..."?


texts: How do I write "Hard Work and Smart Work"?

texts:
I want to write an essay with the title “Difference between Hard Work and Smart Work”.

By “hard work”, I mean continuing the work with old ideas without thinking up new ideas, and working all the time to solve a problem.
By “smart work”, I mean innovating new ideas and trying to solve a problem within a short period of time.

Would 「重労働とスマートな仕事の相違点」 be the correct way to express this in Japanese?


texts: I don't understand the place where she talks about monkey and pig

texts:
What does this mean? I don't understand the place where she talks about pig and monkey. (Context before this was some students talked about sex at school)

  Sonezaki: 「何？ うるさいわね」

  Unnamed students outside: 「あのカラオケボックス ヤってもバレないんだって～～！」「マジ？ 試す？」「やだぁ バカじゃねえ！」「あはははははは」

  Sonezaki: 「猿と豚の異種格闘技戦っておもむきね…」


texts:
I found this on my favorite seiyuu's IG. She's talking about a book.

  もちろん未知なお話だけど、もしかしたらユリゴコロは誰でも胸の中に眠っているのではないのか、など共感出来る部分もあったり。

My understanding of the sentence above is despite the book is unheard of, she wants to tell us that the book (the content, the story, the feeling) is actually in our heart and we can sympathize with it. But why she chose to use ではない there? Or is it related to のか or など?

Also, what's the translation of that sentence? Thanks!


texts:
Recently in Japan I saw the following sentence:

  お支払いは窓口にて、お願いします。

My husband explained that the emphasis was one could ONLY order at the window.

Being a native speaker, he is unable to really explain the grammar or how to use this.


texts: Probably it is more cultural question than the language one, but I can't figure out if ピッとGo is just a name for the Times Car point program and does not mean anything or is a some kind of play of words.


texts:
It appears in contexts like:

the title of this post: あなたに自由をもらたらすもの・・・
the text 灰色の中で輝きと落ち着きをもらたらす here
禍をもらたらす鱗 here

I tried many dictionaries and translation engines, but there's no match (not even an approximation).


texts:
I would like to know the difference between the two sentences

こちらを見ていた

and

私を見ていた

The translation is the same I think

She was looking at me

is こちら and 私 interchangeable when using を after ?
EDIT:
the main character can be quite rude and also uses quite a lot of slang expressions. However, he is quite impressed by the girl in question.


texts:
Here are a few examples of 訳 that I am having trouble with:

僕は決して農業が嫌いな訳じゃない。
Boku wa kesshite nōgyō ga kiraina wake janai.
By no means do I dislike farming. (Lit: The reason is not that I dislike farming)

How does the kesshite work here and is wake best translated as reason?

わけありの二人   [ex #1268]
A couple with some amorous circumstances

a commentator provided this explanation for the latter example:

わけ originally comes from the act of dividing things into what is right and what is wrong.Therefore, わけ came to mean 'reason' or the rationale of how things are done. That later got expanded to include the amorous relationship in the sense of 'there is a reason for them to be together or in love,' as suggested by #1268.
any further clarification would be appreciated.

それを纏めるのはわけはない   [ex #1269]Sore o matomeru no wa wake wa nai
Not difficult to resolve that issue

それとこれとはわけが違う   [ex #1270]
You are trying to compare apples and oranges.

訳のわからぬことを言うな。   [ex #4961] Wake no wakaranu koto o iu na.
Don't tell me such nonsense!

any exposition of these 3 examples would be appreciated.

Finally i saw this mentioned as a "slang term". I am not familiar with it, I was wondering if any one knows it and can explain it.:

"訳分からない”


texts:
I heard there is an expression in Japanese for when two people agree to meet at a certain time, but both arrive at the meeting point much earlier.

In that situation, when the two people see each other, the meeting gets effectively moved up with respect to the appointed time.

How would you describe such situation and is there indeed a set phrase? I couldn’t find one in the dictionaries.


texts: What is the difference between 自由に and 自由で?

texts: 自由に歩けなくても...   自由で歩けなくても..  can anyone differentiate this


texts:
Once again, from a manga. A gangster explains who his gang is up against.

  手を汚す程やなくても
  このまま立ち消えるなら
  それに越したことないゆう
  連中もそれを助けとるらしい

He speaks Kansai-ben (I think), so やなくても is じゃなくても, ないゆう is ないという and 助けとる is 助けている, right?

My current translation is something like: "They [the gang we're up against] also have help from guys who think there's nothing better than this, even when they don't have to get their hands dirty and things end without a fight."

I think I most struggle with このまま and それに because I don't quite understand what they're referring to.


texts: When each of joining particles ～や～ and ～とか～ should be used?

texts:
What is the difference between　～や～ and ～とか～ joining particles?
For example:

  1) 飲み物やカップや～ 2) 飲み物とかカップとか～

It looks like the meaning is about the same of both sentences.. When each of particles ～や～ and ～とか～ should be used?

明けましておめでとうございます！
^^


texts: What are the meanings of ~とも [tomo] and ~かしら [kashira]?

texts:
Sometimes I think:
～とも came from ～と思う
～かしら　came from ～かしらん（知らない）

It's possible I'm wrong, so I would like to know the real meaning of those suffixes. Also, I'd like to know when I can use them without any problem (when talking about spoken language).

Ex:

もちろんいいとも
明日は雨かしら


texts: Difference in たくて and てwhen joining two (or more) sentences

texts:
What's the difference between:

食堂に行って、ご飯を食べたい - I want to go to the cafeteria and want to eat rice

食堂に行きたくて、ご飯を食べたい - I want to go to the cafeteria and want to eat rice


texts:
I am trying to translate the following.

  頭で覚えたことは、忘れやすく動きに時間がかかるという特徴があります。

The part that confuses me is

  忘れやすく動きに時間がかかる

If 動き means "activity" then 動きに時間がかかる means roughly "it takes time for activity".

Next, 忘れやすく is an adverb that is from an adjective 忘れやすい. So
忘れやすく must modify the verb かかる rather than the noun 動き.

If 忘れやすい is used instead of 忘れやすく, it modifies the noun 動き.

It is hard to translate

  頭で覚えたことは、忘れやすく動きに時間がかかるという特徴があります。

properly. My attempt is as follow.

  The characteristic of remembering by thinking is that the activity takes time with easily to forget manner.

Could you help me to translate it properly?


texts:
Does anyone know how to setup a question that uses "how + adjective." Like in this context:

  Do you know how loud you were?


texts: How many distinct kanjis or words are there in a typical modern Japanese book?

texts:
"typical modern book " means:

It's a modern book and hardly uses ancient languages or any topolects.
It's something like a famous novel(not a short story) or book with a high reputation.
It's a normal book, not a dictionary or technique book.

Additionally, I wonder how many distinct characters can cover 99.7% of the book content.

The source of the problem is that I want to know how many unstudied (the meaning of) kanjis I will meet when reading a book.


texts: What are all the nuances and uses of 至る? (に至って) (に至っては) (に至っても) (に至る)

texts:
I'm studying for the N1.  And there are several not so often used structures that you really need to know the minute differences between.  One of these is the uses of 至る.  As far as I know, these are the structures that I am familiar with:

に至って - once it reached the very point of X, at this extreme X
に至っても - even up to this very point of X
に至っては - given this extreme example, this is the situation
に至る - all the way to X, leading to X, more emphatic than まで?
に至るまで　- as far as X, up until X

Am I missing any other uses or nuances?

This seems like the kind of question that should have been asked before, but I couldn't find it any searches. Sorry if this is a repeat.