texts: How can [数]{す}[寄]{き}[者]{しゃ} both mean a tea ceremony master and a "lewd man, a lecher"?

texts:
I would like to understand better the etymology or the cultural context surrounding

  数寄者

If I believe wwwjdic, this
compound is used to denote

a tea ceremony master (with a reference to a style of tea ceremony house architecture (数奇屋造り))
a man of refined tastes
a lewd man, a lecher

I do not succeed to understand the japanese wikipedia article about this to see how they can be conflated in this way. There seems to be a famous poem involved and a warning about consuming one's wealth in the purchasing objects and services related to the arts.

Also why is 数 part of this. As a meaning for several? A man mastering the several arts involved in a tea ceremony?


texts: What is the difference between こんにちは and もしもし?

texts:
I will be in Japan in a few weeks and I am trying to learn the basic to be as polite as possible.

One of the first things I did was try some basic stuff with Google Translate but I feel lost already.

When I try to translate hello from english to japanese I get: こんにちは

When I try Hello I get: もしもし

Why is there a difference, is this a Google issue or there is a real difference between both?
Which one should I use to say: Hello

Thanks!


texts:
この川にマスが多い。This river is full of trout.

新潟は雪が多い。 There’s much snow in Niigata

What’s the difference between に and は here ?

I learned only Noun1はNoun2がAdjい/な structure


texts: ～しよう＋としてします。 What is the meaning of this expression?

texts:
I always see this sentence being used. Like 忘れようとしてします or 毎日勉強しようとしてする
I'm just wondering what is the difference if I use 忘れる or 勉強する instead. Whenever I watch anime or JDrama I always here this pattern. Can someone enlighten me?


texts: Usage of じゃないか when not a tag question or a negative question

texts:
This answer had the following translation:

  そんなに笑わなくてもいいじゃありませんか。
  You don't have to laugh like that.
  (Please, don't laugh at me like that!)

I haven't seen じゃありませんか (じゃないか) used like this before. I would have tried to translate this as "It's ok not to laugh so much, isn't it?"

Firstly, is my translation attempt wrong? Secondly, could someone please give a bit more explanation (and maybe some examples) of how it is used in the above sentence?


texts: What term denotes a Japanese style living room?

texts: I searched the word 居間 on Jisho and noticed that it referred to a Western style living room. I originally assumed that リビングルーム referred to a Western style living room. Is there a term for a Japanese style living room?


texts: 新しい 机 を 買って もらいました。"They bought me a new desk" or "I bought and received a new desk"?

texts:
Ok, so I was studying some Japanese phrases when this showed up: 新しい 机 を 買って もらいました。

The translation provided in the source material is: "They bought me a new desk"

What I don't understand, however, is the verb placement. From what I can perceive, the te-form in the 買う is used to connect it with the verb もらう. How do I know which is the subject for each verb? I mean, how do I distinguish that 買って's subject is "they" and that もらう's subject is "me"?

How do I know if this phrase means "They bought me a new desk" instead of "I bought and received a new desk"?


texts: Can someone help me identify the handwritten kanji?

texts:
Hi everyone, can someone please help me identify the kanji in the picture? Just the middle two kanji.
玲音がXXしているもの。
Is the kanji 使用?

Also what is the middle katakana/character between ミ and レ?


texts:
I was reading an article about how the humour in the Yakuza games gets translated into English, and in the original Japanese a pun is made.

  ふとんがふとんだ

The article says it is a play on words. But I cannot find any explanation online but I do see a reference to it.
I can understand "a table is a table" but this isn't really a pun, it would be equivalent to "calling a spade a spade" in English.


texts: Different ways to say "at least" / 「少なくとも」

texts:
I would like to know if there are other ways to say "at least~" (context below), along with the relevant nuances of each way.

This is for a piece of writing I'm doing where for the sake of style I want to avoid using the same phrase too many times. That said, please do include answers that may only be suitable for speech or conversation.

I am referring to "at least~" as used in the following context:

  It looks like I won't be able to return to Japan for at least 6 months
  少なくとも６ヶ月の間日本に帰れないみたいです。

(in other words I'm not looking for answers referring to phrases like せめて〜, which translates to a different meaning of the English phrase "at least")


texts:
話がすっきり >>What does this means in this context?
2 girl are talking about MC, who was arrested by police. The police suspecting MC is the murderer of a crime.

G1: 無実なのだから、そのうち帰してもらえるのではないか
G2: 甘い。警察なんて、無理矢理にでも証拠をでっち上げるぐらいするわよ.
てか、そもそも本当にあいつじゃないの？それなら話がすっきりするわ

If you can please also give me English translation of the last sentence


texts: Help to understand a sentence: どのように and か

texts:
I am having trouble to understand this sentence. Why is どのように here? I looked it up on some dictionaries, but I couldn't get it. I have the same problem with か. Why are those words in the sentence below?

  会社でどのように働くかしっかり考える学生が増えているようです。


texts: A consistent explanation about the various forms of ていくand てくる?

texts:
I don't know if my question will be well received but I searched a pretty long time and didn't found a good answer so I try.

I was trying to read this NHK article and I found this form:

「いや、実はそもそも、みかんの出荷量が年々減ってきているんです。生産基盤が弱体化していて、このまま出荷量が減り続ければ値段が高い状態が続くこともあるかもしれません」

A this point,I searched why the てきている form is used and not simply てくる because according to what I knew about てくる (an action that starts in the past and continue in the future through now as explained in this post ),adding -ている was useless since てくる contains by itself the notion of time that lasts a certain time with the characteristics explained in the previous post)

So I tried to search but I only found posts that handle a small part of the comparison(I didn't find all forms) and they are sometimes contradictory and raise other questions (because sometimes like here I find that てくる starts in the present, but in the post that I gave before, the fact that it started in the past is the only difference with  ていく so if it's not the case, it would mean that they are identical ?)

My question is:
What are the differences between the various forms of ていくand てくる?

(てform)いく

(てform)くる

(てform)いった

(てform)きた

(てform)いっている

(てform)きている

(てform)いっていた

(てform)きていた


texts: Does the meaning of the Kanji change based on its reading

texts:
Most Kanji have multiple readings. For example 人 has got the readings:

ひと
ジン
ニン

Does the meaning change when the Kanji is read differently. I don't think that the meaning of this Kanji changes based on its reading but are there some Kanji that do?


texts: Are there rules of thumb for counter sound changes?

texts: I'm wondering if there are consistent (or at least fairly reliable) rules for how to read numbers next to irregular counters, i.e. counters where you can't just put together the number and counter word in every situation. For example, the counter さい, the first number is not いちさい but いっさい. This is as opposed to counters like まい, where all you need to do to form the counter is add the number (e.g. ろく) and the counter, e.g. ろくまい.


texts:
Referring to items at a mask selling stall:

  じいさんはうさぎの二個隣にあるドラえもんを指さした。
  The man pointed at the ドラえもん figure ??? next to the rabbit

I'm confused about what 二個隣 means. Does it mean that the ドラえもん is two items along from the rabbit? Or there is a ドラえもん on either side of the rabbit? Or something else?

Let D be ドラえもん, R be rabbit and x be any other item. What does the arrangement look like?
RxxD?
RxD?
DRD?
???


texts: can someone pls explain the difference and usage of these words? I never saw an explanation on how to use them correctly. Right now, all 3 are just "(some time) ago, previous, before ..." for me.


texts: What is the differences between とうとう and ついに? ついに、とうとう違う

texts:
I was reading from japanese language forum to find the differences between とうとうandついに
They give this examples:

とうとう誰も来なかった。
ついに誰も来なかった。

Both とうとうand ついにcan be used in that sentence, but the forum website said that ついに a lil bit exaggerated.

I can't understand the meaning of this "exaggerated"

If anyone understand, can you help me to explain it, and tell me the differences nuance between this two adverbs? Thank you so much.


texts: How can 「うん」 be used to mean both "yes" and "no?"

texts: I was told by my Japanese teacher that 「うん」 can be used as a casual way to say "yes" as well as "no." If this is true, how can you tell the difference, absent any additional information?


texts: What is the etymology of the "emphatic" ない?

texts:
Upon looking up the term 大事ない, I was, shall we say, nonplussed to learn that it could mean both "very important" and "not very important". The explanation of the "very important" meaning clears things up, though - the ない here is not 「無い」, but rather the "emphatic" 接尾語 「ない」. This is super-interesting, and explains why words like 切ない do not "mean" "切無い", which is something that had always bugged me.

What is the etymology of this "emphatic" ない? Is it related to the classical copula なり?


texts: So torch is たいまつ, and is written in kanji as 松明. Matsu, however, means pine, which is the first kanji, not the second. Are there many words like this in Japanese that seem "out of order"? Is there a reason or way to predict this phenomenon?


texts: How does じゃないか modify hortative in this case?

texts:
So far, I have always considered じゃないか to be a tag question meaning "...isn't it?" with varying nuances depending on context.
However, I have seen hortative + じゃないか recently, in this short dialog (A and B are dining together):

A:「さ、戻ろう。君のせきが...」
B:「そんなもん、なんでもないって。」
A:「さ、いこう。しかし、そのまえに、メドックをもう一本飲もうじゃないか。」
(メドック is Médoc, a kind of French wine)

I suspect that this じゃないか turns the sentence into some sort of negative hortative ("won't we drink?") kind of like saying いきませんか？
However, I'm not sure how exactly じゃないか modifies this sentence. Does strengthen B's encouragement? Does it have a sense of "urgency" ("we really should have one more Médoc) or does it the opposite, "softening" the sentence?


texts:
I have a sentence:

  来年にはテレフォニカが製品投入へ。

This is translated by Google:

  Telefonica is to rollout next year.

Where is the verb in this sentence as 製品投入 looks like "noun" + "noun"? And what is へ doing after the 投入.

I know that in Chinese 投入 can be both verb and noun, but japanese dictionary says it's a noun only.


texts:
A: 事故による死者が増えている。
  B: 帰る時間は、曜日によって違います。
  C: 佐藤さんによれば、田中さんは会社をやめるということです。
  D: 関西空港はイタリア人によって設計されました。


texts:
I'm trying to pin down the connotations of the word '愛する', romanised as 'aisuru'.

I had read that there were two forms of love - koi and ai - in a manga once. The original Japanese went - 'if you're alone, koi doesn't become ai!' And the English equivalent was 'true love is for two people!'

So my question is, is ai for romantic situations only or not? Is it deeper than koi, which I had believed meant 'infatuation' or 'crush'?

What would be the connotation using 'aisuru' when referring to the love someone has for someone else?

E.g. If I said to someone 'your love for Jane/John' using the word 'aisuru'? Could that someone love Jane/John as family or platonically using 'aisuru'?

If you have any points related to Japanese culture, please feel free to include them in your answer!

[Edit: different than proposed in that a third party is the one speaking about the love between two other people, and I am concerned with 'aisuru' specifically].


texts:
そんなバッチい手でボタンを触りたくる…

I know バッチ means batch but what does it mean with 手 here?

It's from this blog btw. https://ameblo.jp/sakurajyuubee/entry-11443690096.html


texts: What meaning does ため have in this particular sentence?

texts:
On http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10010492331000/k10010492331000.html,
you can find

  大きな揺れだけではなくて、地面が動いたため、建物が倒れたり、山が崩れたりして大きな被害が出たと思います。

I don't understand what ため means in this sentence.
What does it mean?


texts:
Here's the line:

  この光は、本物の太陽の光、地上より導きいれた聖なる光にございます

I would translate it something like this: "This light, genuine solar light, is holy light let in from the surface". I ignored the に, so I assume that interpretation isn't correct. What's being said here and how does it work?


texts:
「にわかに目をキラキラさせ始めた友蔵を前に、さすがのおかあさんも、ズバリ、
  そんな物は必要ないとは言いにくいらしく珍しく口ごもった。」

I'm struggling to parse this sentence. In particular I don't understand which verb the を in bold is marking the object of.

We have:
にわかに目をキラキラさせ始めた友蔵
"Tomozou whose eyes suddenly began to sparkle" is the object.

前に "in front of Tomozou..."

さすがのおかあさんも...珍しく口ごもった "Even mother (as she is) unusually, hesitated to say..."

Now I get confused. There is no と to mark what it is that she hesitated to say. Instead we have an adverbial phrase, which I think is:

物は必要ないとは言いにくいらしく "seemingly difficult to say that such a thing is unnecessary"

On second thoughts, perhaps this is the linking form 言いにくいらしくて rather than adverbial.

So I get something like:

  Even for (someone like) mother it seemed to be difficult to say in front of Tomozou that such a thing was unnecessary and, unusually, she hesitated to say it.

That seems to make sense but I still can't figure out the function of the を in bold. I fear I've messed something up here.

Please help me to parse this sentence correctly and understand the を in bold.


texts: What's the difference between 声明 and 宣言?

texts:
I was going through my word list again, when I saw 声明 which was translated to "declaration, proclamation." This reminded me of a more commonly appearing word, 宣言, thanks to articles related to 緊急事態. I looked up the difference between the two here and it appears that it has something to do with the reach/scope/coverage and the objective of the declaration:

  「声明」はかなり広い範囲の人に向かって事情を明らかにするためのものであり、
  「宣言」は狭い範囲でもよいが、意思・方針などを明らかにするものである。

Since the 緊急事態 was implemented throughout the entire Japan (かなり広い範囲）, and 事態 is somehow synonymous with 事情, shouldn't 声明 be a more sensible choice? Or am I missing something (e.g., 声明 is a bit outdated)


texts: Why is 葉 'leaf' used in 言葉 and 万葉集? Why is it used for words, language, and speech?

texts:
Does 葉 mean leaf in Japanese?
In 言葉 and 萬葉集, is 葉 derived from leaf?  Why is it used for words, language and speech?
Thanks.


texts: How to say bye bye (you will see that person soon) in a polite way?


texts: 「ね」 vs 「な」 in 「そうだね」 /「そうね」/ 「そうですね」

texts:
Another thread stated that when expressing agreement, we can choose between 「ね」 and 「な」. 「ね」 is more feminine and 「な」 is more masculine.

By that, would 「そうな」 be  the masculine form of 「そうね」 ?

Also, since 「そうだね」 and 「そうですね」 both use 「ね」, are they actually the feminine form of  「そうだな」 and 「そうですな」?


texts:
In Japanese, I found two common translations of the English word "north star/polaris".

北辰
北極星

Could someone tell me the difference between the two?

I saw that 北辰 is used for the design on the Hokkaido flag, so maybe 北辰 is more "romantic" and 北極星 is more "scientific"?

Thank you!

ETA: "North star/pole star" in English means "a visible star that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation" (from Wikipedia). "Polaris" is the name of the star that is currently the north star/pole star now.　(Thanks virmaior)


texts: Contraction of particle の to ん before nouns in colloquial Japanese

texts:
I am familiar with contraction of の to ん before です (and variants で, だ, でした etc) but I noticed that の is also contracted before 家 in spoken set-phrases like あたしんち and おれんち.

Are there any other instances where の is contracted before some particular nouns? I remember hearing おれんとこ in some anime/jdrama but I might have misheard.

Also, are there any dialects that utilize these types of contractions more frequently than the other colloquial dialects?


texts: I've heard this used (also as  寝ぼけんじゃねぇよ！) in informal situations with nothing but smiles all around. But when I tried to use it in an informal situation with a colleague, I got the distinct feeling I'd just insulted him. I know it's tough (for me, at least) always to accurately gauge just how "friendly/informal" to be, and I try to err on the side of politeness always, but this one just stumped me. How friendly do you have to be with someone before you can use this expression?


texts: In the Waeijiro databese I found the sentence ほおっておいて. It is translated as "Let it be", but I don't understand its grammar. I get that おいて comes from 置く, but where does ほおって come from? Is it an adverb or a verb? I tried to look for ほおる/ほおう/ほおつ but I couldn't find anything.


texts:
I heard the sentence

  プレゼント買う心配がありません

from a Japanese, meaning "We don't worry with buying presents [during Christmas]"; I was wondering about the 買う心配 part, with a な-adjective directly following a 辞書 verb; I tried looking in my grammars and googling a bit, but I'm not sure I ever saw this construction and I still can't find information about how it work.


texts: What is the difference between 約 and 約束?

texts:
What is the purpose of adding 束 to 約 if the meaning stays the same and the other meanings of  約 are enough different to not be mixed up with the one in question?

  やく【約】の意味

  ［名］

  １ 約束。取り決め。「約を交わす」「約を守る」

  ２ 短く簡単にすること。また、そのもの。「長大な文章の約」

  ３ 「約音」に同じ。(source)


texts: 交番{こうばん}, meaning "police box," is listed as both a noun and a する-verb in JMdictDB. I'm curious as to what「交番する」would mean. Literal translation doesn't make any sense to me, and I can't find any example sentences with this usage. Is it something along the lines of "to police"? Or does it have another meaning?


texts: The past tense for the quoting particle って

texts:
I have this sentence in front of me

  耳元で男の人の声がするのが耐えられないって

which is translated as:

  she said she couldn't stand hearing a male voice near her ear.

If I am right, here, って is actually translated as "said" which makes me realise, I am only familiar with the present form of quoting particles と and って. Taking into the account that 耐えられない is the present form of the verb, and the translation is about something which happened in the past, I feel that I am actually ignorant about the grammar of the quoting particle.

How do we know if the quoting is about something which is happening now (says) or something which happened in the past (said), do we use the same quoting particle for past and present? If so, how do we recognise the difference?


texts: Location of pitch-accent on conjugated auxiliary verbs

texts:
I've been using online tools to learn the pitch-accent rules that affect verb and adjective conjugation, and memorising the rules that govern how conjugation affects the location of the accent in words.

For example, there seems to be a rule that the gerundive (-te) and the past (-ta) conjugations shift the accent forwards one position to the syllable that contains the antepenultimate mora.

It seems also that auxiliary verbs such as the causative (-Caseru) and the passive (-Careru) carry accent on the syllable that contains their penultimate morae.

My question is whether the accent still moves forward one position in the gerundive and past conjugations of auxiliary verbs such as the causative and the past. For example, would "腫れさせられꜜる" -> "腫れさせらꜜれた" be the correct position of the accent?


texts: What is the purpose of 「で」 in the following sentence?

texts:
I came accross the following passage in my textbook:

ゆとり教育で学校で教える内容が減らされたため、その教育を受けた子供達は常識的に誰でも知っているはずのことでさえ知らないという現象も出てきた。

I can understand the meaning of the sentence, as "Due to the decrease of contents taught at school as a result of ゆとり教育, the phenomenon of children who underwent that education and don't know even things that anyone should commonly know, also happens."
Since 誰でも知っているはずのこと is the object of 知らない I would rather say directly:

誰でも知っているはずのことさえ知らない

Without any "で". i.e., if we were to remove the "さえ", it would apply "を":

誰でも知っているはずのことを知らない

I don't understand what is the function of で here. What am I missing?
よろしくお願いします。


texts: What are the origins of the Japanese idiom ななころびやおき (nanakorobiyaoki)?

texts: I have an assignment on this quote but I just can't seem to find any of the origins of the quote. Its' English translation is "Fall down seven times, stand up eight". If anybody could help and let me know what the origins are it would be a great help to me.


texts: Usage of と particle in a a literary description

texts:
In the novel 二銭銅貨 by 江戸川乱歩, I'm wondering the use of と particle in the following sentence :

十数名の賃銀計算係が、五千人近い職工のタイム・カードから、それぞれ一ヶ月の賃銀を計算して、山と積まれた給料袋の中へ、当日銀行から引き出された、大トランクに一杯もあろうという、二十円、十円、五円などの紙幣を汗だくになって、詰め込んでいるさなかに、事務所の玄関へ一人の紳士が訪れた。

Especially in that part (By the way how do you call a subpart of a Japanese sentence between two commas ? A clause ?) :

山と積まれた給料袋の中へ

I guess the meaning is

The salary envelopes were piling up like a mountain.

Is と used here to mean "like, similar to" or am I wrong ? Is there any link/resource to explain more on that case of と ?


texts:
My kanji study book lists:

辺り【あたり】  as "surroundings, neighborhood"

周り【まわり】 as "neighborhood, around"

I looked the words up in a few dictionaries, but I'm having a hard time parsing the difference and usage of each.  Could someone explain or give some examples?


texts: Possible ways to express remembrance and recall

texts:
How is it possible in Japanese language to express concepts of recall and remembrance?

I mean, recall is generally referred to the way we take out something from our memory which is related to people, situations and experiences of our life.

On the other hand, remembrance is the way we successfully recall not an experience, but something we learnt, something we were taught about.


texts: ほんの時々私の中で顔を出し、しばらくすると消えてしまうもの。Are there any other options to replace the で here?

texts:
ほんの時々私の中で顔を出し、しばらくすると消えてしまうもの。

My attempt at translation: "Every once in a while my inner feelings show themselves, only to disappear again."

The above was taken from the following dialogue:

  けれども時々不満を感じることもある。
  それは、いつも感じているわけではない。
  ほんの時々私の中で顔を出し、しばらくすると消えてしまうもの。
  けれどこれから長い人生共に歩んでいくためにあなたにも考えてほしい。

Translation provided by the source: "It is something that shows its face occasionally, and after a while it disappears again."

So 私の中で is a set phrase, followed by 顔を出し, another set phrase.

Could one replace the で with では instead, without changing the meaning, or are there any other connecting words/particles one could use? I am confused (unfamiliar) as to how the two set phrases back to back flow naturally, but I suppose this is a common usage?


texts: What's the difference between にしては、 わりに and くせに?

texts: Can somebody explain to me the difference in usage of these three forms. Sometimes it feels as if there are cases where they are interchangeable. If you could add also some examples it would be extremely helpful.


texts:
I know that の is used as a noun modifier.
But recently I've come across these pharases 心の強い人,母の作れる料理.

The first phrases will be sth like strong person of heart/mind, which somehow differs from correct meaning strong-heart person (I think it should be 心が強い人).
And the second one, since 母 clarify meaning for 作れる (as in 私にできることはない), I think it should be 母に作れる料理.

So why の are used in these case?


texts: Is 猫神(ねこがみ) or 猫山(ねこやま) a crazy male japanese name to have?

texts:
I'm looking for a unique male japanese name that would sound ok in both english and japanese.
Japanese names sound cool, so I am in search of a male japanese name for myself. Most nice names were taken by many other people, so I'm now considering ねこがみ and ねこやま which don't seem used a lot by people.
Another name derived from ねこ that I just figured out is 猫村(ねこむら).

Is it ok for a man to call himself by one of these names in japan? Would it sound like a mere nickname? How do I better find a cool male japanese name that isn't used much by people?


texts: Is the phrase ねぇ、ちょっと寄ってかない？ written incorrectly?

texts: ねぇ、ちょっと寄ってかない？ I came across this banner in a chat room. Would か need to be added if its a question? I understand the phrase.


texts: Understanding それを美しいと感じると考え

texts:
I've found this sentence in one of my history books and I can't really make heads or tails of it....what does it mean at all?

  利休は、茶道の精神は、簡素な中に深く豊かなものをみつけ、それをもっとも美しいと感じると考え、その精神を和敬静寂という葉で表した

What does Rikyu really think?
What does それを refer to?
What does 美しいと感じる mean?


texts: What do you say when you feel bad for someone? Like "Poor Alice."

texts: When you feel bad for someone or feel sympathy for them? For example, if you want to say, "Poor Alice," would it be, 可哀想アリス？or do I have to add the な after 可哀想 since it's a na-adjective?


texts:
I learnt from my teacher that the days of the month from 1 to 10 use kun and irregular pronunciations:
一日: ついたち (irregular)
二日: ふつか (kun)
三日: みっか (kun)
...
十日: とおか (kun)

But for words like 一日目, 二日間 and 三日間後, what would be the correct pronunciation and the rules for this?
I heard 一日目 is いちにちめ and 三日間後 is みっかかんあと. Is this correct?


texts: How do you call different methods for writing numbers (notations)?

texts:
Are there proper terms for the methods of writing numbers in kanji (literal vs powers-of-10)?

  千五百三十六

vs

  一五三六

If not (or the terms are too scientific) how to differentiate between them in speech? Like 「〇〇文字を使って、書いて下さい」

I am primarily asking for Japanese terms, but I have no clue about English either (initially though of decimal, but in fact both methods use decimal system).


texts: Difference between 日{に}本{ほん} and 来{らい}日{にち}

texts:
What is the difference between 日{に}本{ほん} and 来{らい}日{にち}? Both of them means Japan right?
I  understand that 来{らい} means next, like 来{らい}年{ねん}. But above context is interesting to me.


texts:
Villain to Goku in Dragon Ball (Chapter 2), translated as: "If you leave the turtle, I'll spare your lives".

  かめをおいていけば = If you leave behind the turtle

  命を助けてやる = I'll save your lives for you

  といってる = He is saying

  ん = nominalizer

  だが = however

I can't understand why the reported speech and why there's a だが at the end.

May be he is saying: "Although they say that" in a figurative way?


texts: I have a book and when you do the verb conjugation for "te" My book says "open" is "aite", but other websites say it's "akete". Which one is correct?


texts: What's the difference between 必要ですand 必要があります?

texts:
I wrote a sentence along the lines of
チップを払うのは必要です。
A native speaker corrected me and said it should be
チップを払う必要があります。
So what's the difference? Is it a matter of forcefulness/intensity? Or is it a casual language/formal language thing? When is the best time to use each form?


texts: Does/Can the "standalone" 来る have a passive form in Japanese?

texts:
Due to my dictionary 来られる would be the passive as well as potential form.
Potential form is clear: 来られる? -> Can you come?
But I have great trouble imagining a sentence of 来られる in the passive version. I suppose the entry in my dictionary or at じしょ see under the link to the left "show inflections", was generated in a generic way or relates to compund verbs (see the end of my post), without considering whether or not the inflection is logically possible.
At least I am unable to come up with a passive form "to come" in English (and German and Slovak).
Furthermore, as discussed here: What forms of verbs (potential or passive) are more frequent in Japanese? English seems to use passive voice more often than Japanese.
Nevertheless, I even googled for a possible passive voice sentence in English, and found this explanation by Martin Brilliant, which is to me, a non-linguist, totally plausible:
What is the passive voice of "I am coming"?
It doesn’t have one. What? You say it does? Then “am” must be a transitive verb, and “coming” must be a noun acting as its object.
I have trouble thinking about that, so I’m going to replace those words with words that I recognize as a transitive verb and a noun.
The passive voice of “I see water” is “Water is seen,” or “Water is seen by me.”
So the passive voice of “I am coming” must be “Coming is been,” or “Coming is been by me.”
If you think that’s nonsense, then rethink your idea that there’s a passive voice of “I am coming.”
But I would like to make sure that every time I come across 来られる or 来れる I can automatically consider it to be the potential form.
I am explicitly not considering compund verbs such as 連れて来る or 持って来る. Because even though they end with 来る they have an object and are thus transitive, so the passive voice of them in Japanese should not be grammatically impossible (even though they might sound weird, but I have not yet progressed so far as to be able to discern that.)
Thanks a lot!


texts: What's the difference between 信じる, 信用する and 信頼する?

texts:
What's the difference between 信じる, 信用する and 信頼する ? How can I know which one to use? According to my dictionary they all mean "to trust". Are they interchangeable?

For example,

  I trust you.


texts: What's the difference between 重責 and 責任?

texts:
What's the difference between 重{じゅう}責{せき} and 責{せき}任{にん}? They both have almost identical meanings - "Heavy responsibility" and "Responsibility". I found at goo even this example:

  重大な責任。「重責を果たす」


texts: How should I translate "If I have some" in this sentence?

texts:
Hello I'm learning Japanese since the beginning of the school-year and for my homework I have to describe what I do in general everyday.

I'd like to translate:

  Then I do my homework if I have some.

I have the beginning:

  それから しゅくたい を します "if I have some".

I only know the hiragana and katakana, I'm not supposed to use Kanji, can you help me please?


texts: Using 「点」 vs 「所」 vs 「箇所」to refer to a point in a document, description, etc

texts:
When referring to previous document (manual, email, etc.) or a previous statement/reply I'm not sure of the difference between using 「点」, 「所」 and 「箇所」.
I would want to say something along the lines of:

「その点では、問題があります。」
「マニュアルには、一箇所は不一致になりました。」
「間違えたところは、４つあります。」

But to me, it seems as though 「点」, 「所」 and 「箇所」 are mainly interchangeable, granted the sentence might have to be slightly changed to accommodate the new word.


texts: Differences in usage between 付ける and 付けて行く

texts:
What are the differences between the two usages? From what I've surmised, the meaning is more or less the same. Typically, I tend to associate this usage of 行く to "moving away" from the speaker (e.g. 歩いていく), but that doesn't sound right here.
For context, here's the original sentence

ハイキングに出る時も、もし、不安{ふあん}だったら、リュックに鈴{すず}を付{つ}けて行くといいよ」と言った。


texts:
What is the opposite of "ずにはいられない "?
I would like to write the following sentence patterns:

憂鬱な日には、お酒を飲まずにはいられないと思う人がいる。
私は、彼ら達とは逆に、憂鬱な日だからと言って、お酒を飲むのが必要ということにはならないと思います。

Is there a more elegant expression than the "お酒を飲むのが必要ということにはならない"?


texts: Understanding めちゃくちゃ and 内容 in this sentence

texts:
I saw this sentence on twitter and kind of cannot wrap my head around its meaning...

  「男性陣の内容ないのにめちゃくちゃ盛り上がれるの憧れる」

I suppose that 「男性陣」 refers to the males of a certain group; however in connection with 「内容ない」 it seems to me the it means something like "content not directed at the males (of the person's twitter followers)".

I don't understand what is meant by the next part at all. I used to understand 「めちゃくちゃ」 as noun but here it seems to be rather used in an adverbial sense (?).

For me it seemed as if the person wants to express that something not "fitting" the typical "male interested content" is going to be published on the person's twitter; however she is hoping that it will find great appeal anyway.

So how is 「めちゃくちゃ」 to be understood in this sentence?
Is my interpretation of 「男性陣の内容ない」 to me it sounds like as if I am not getting what 「内容」 truly means here.


texts: ってことはどっか Usage in プロってことはどっかスポンサーがついてるってことですよね？

texts:
In Terrace House, several people are sitting around a table sharing information about themselves and answering questions.

One of the guys asks a snow boarder the following question:

  プロってことはどっかスポンサーがついてるってことですよね？

From my understanding, ってことはどっか means "saying (こと) somewhere". The whole sentence in my head translated to English would be something roughly like "Didn't you say something about you being a professional sponsored somewhere?"

According to Netflix's translation on their English CC's, it actually translates to:

  "If you're a pro, that means you have a sponsor?"

According to Google translate, ってことはどっか by itself translates to "Does it mean something?"

I know that English translations aren't to be taken literally, but both sources suggest that ってことはどっか translates to "meaning something" rather than "saying (こと) somewhere".

Why is this the case?


texts: "I have problems with someone" translation

texts:
How to translate this:

"I have problems with someone."

for example if am in basketball team and am talking with someone so i tell him :

I have problems with my basketball team


texts:
日焼け止めを塗っていれば、そんなことにはならなかっただろうに。

Why did we use には here after こと, what is the meaning? Can anyone explain what is the grammar of には and では


texts:
So I'm reading part of a book, and one of the characters says this;

  「不細工な皮で包みやがって」

When I tried to translate it and understand what it means, it didn't make too much sense to me "Hiding behind ugly skin" (?) leading me to believe this may be some sort of metaphor?

Context: character A is going towards B, about to launch an attack on him. Character B is defending himself behind a barrier he built using the lifeforms he created. I believe it is character A who then says the above line before aiming to attack B in order to make his barrier disappear.


texts: What does たら do at the end of a sentence?

texts:
時間があるなら、彼の画廊に寄ってみたら。

What meaning does たら have at the end of a sentence?


texts:
I hope it is ok to ask for a translation.
there is a song named 打上花火 that I'm having problems to translate its title.
my guess is launched firework? (打上げ + 花火)
but where the げ went?


texts: Is 哲学【てつがく】 the correct word to use when talking about Philosophy in regards to the Major?

texts:
I want to be able to say "my major is philosophy" and so I looked up the word for philosophy, but I'm not sure if it would be correct use the same word when talking about it as a major in college?

In other words, would this be correct?

私は専攻が哲学です。
【わたしはせんこうがてつがくです。】

Thank you!!

ありがとうございます！


texts:
I came across Vて+た construction in a song I've been listening to:

  あなたのその瞳をただ見つめてた

Can someone explain what it means? I've tried looking for it in some grammar books but unfortunately I couldn't find it.


texts: What is the difference between 組織 and 体系?

texts: My JE dictionary gives me "system" for the definitions of both 組織 and 体系. Are these two words wholly synonymous, and if not, how are they different? In addition, is there a difference between 組織的(な) and 体系的(な)?


texts: The word that translate to " can" in a sentence?

texts:
I am not sure what is the right the expression to use when I want to include "can" in a Japanese sentence:

for example :

  Can I buy a fruit?

is

  Kudamono o kau koto wa dekimasu ka?

however

  Can I ask you a question?

is

  Shitsumon shite mo īdesu ka?

Isn't the expression "dekimasu ka" mean "can I" with the "I" part understood? Why is it not on the second sentence? Is there any grammar rule or is something to be memorized?


texts: What is the meaning of 家 in this context?

texts:
As far as I understand the scentence below it means that it is necessary to take a break after 15 miutes of using a smartphone and other similar devices.

But with what purpose is 家 used there?

スマートフォンなどを１５分使ったあとは休むと家で決めることが必要です。


texts: Translating: "一人でも多くの方にコメントしていただけたら嬉しいので "

texts:
I have about a semester of Japanese under my belt, so my ability to read the language is 'not great,' especially when it comes to getting any kind of nuance out of a statement. At the moment, I'm working on translating:

  一人でも多くの方にコメントしていただけたら嬉しいので

My current attempts to parse this:

一人 でも 多くの    - One person, but, many, (no) -- "But many individual's..."  Maybe? Perhaps the de is part of the first word:
一人で も 多くの - By oneself/voluntarily, more/again, many (nominalized)  -- "In the future, voluntarily [do something repeatedly]..."
方 に  - From what I can tell, the likely candidates are for 方 are for it to be pronounced 'hou' and to mean 'direction,' or for it to be pronounced 'kata' and either mean 'direction' or possibly be a way to say 'lady' or gentleman.' The latter seems likely enough, given that the person who wrote this is apparently prone to such word uses.
コメント して いただけたら 嬉しいので  - comments, by/as, to be good/exquisite or 'potentially receive', happy

So my feeble attempt to read this settles on something like: "I would be happy if you ladies and gentleman were to voluntarily leave more comments in the future."

If anyone more seasoned can offer their translation, I'd be much obliged. Any commentary on how to parse the original statement would surely be enlightening.


texts:
In my Japanese phrase book it says:

  Tadoru - To follow.

But then later on it says

  Watashitachi mo soko ni ikimasu desu node, tsuite kite kudasai - We are
  going there, so you can follow us.

It seems tsuite kite is being used to convey the meaning of follow. But tsuite kite is defined as to arrive/reach. So why isn't Tadoru being used?

What is the difference between Tsuite kuru (ついて くる) and Tadoru (たどる)? When would you use one over the other?


texts: When to give ている a Continuous reading and when to give it a Perfect Reading

texts:
I have been through several articles on the Stackexchange, and through them, I was able to learn that the reading of ている, can be for both Continuous Tense and Perfect Tense, in both instant state change and durative verb. However, I would only like to stick to those pesky durative verbs (e.g. 食べる, 作る etc.)
The problem that I confront when reading Japanese is, when does ている interpret as Perfect Tense, and when does it interpret as Continuous Tense. E.g. Let us say, my mom asks me, お祖母さんが食べたか？ If i answer by saying お祖母さんが食べています it can mean, both My grandmother has eaten the food, and that my grandmother is eating the food. However, what I wanted to imply by using ている was that she has eaten the food i.e. to say, the perfect tense.
Problem like these often occur, with me, when I am confronted with ている. One more E.g., there was a two line dialogue:
Yamada-san: あなたは何個のクッキーを作っていますか？
Sakura-san: 私は20個のクッキーを作っています
Now, if you read these lines, it can carry both, continuous, as well as perfect tense, and the English translation provided by the dialogue creator is perfect i.e. I have made 20 cookies. So, problems like these usually occur, wherein the sentence and the theme can give both readings.

So, my first question is, when is ている in durative/action verbs is to be taken as perfect tense and when as a continuous tense? Could you please give me some practical examples and tips that I could use to differentiate?

So, my second question is, do Japanese speakers, especially natives, usually interpret ている in action/durative verbs like 食べる, 作る, in perfect tense or as continuous?

Further, when I looked into the Japanese grammar, I found out two adverbs, まだ and もう which also gave a perfect reading. Wherein, もう gave a positive perfect tense reading, when using with the past tense (た）e.g. もう食べた (I have eaten), and まだ usually giving negative perfect tense reading, while occurring with ていません e.g. まだ食べていません (I have not eaten). Also, using ~ことがある

So, my third question is, whether the one of/sole purpose of using adverbs もう and まだ, is to remove the conflict, and confusion, arising because of durative/action verbs having two tenses when using ている? E.g. does the use of もう食べた, instead of plain 食べています (which also has the same perfect meaning) to remove the confusion, when the person wants to tell his state that he has eaten the food?

Please note: I have been through a lot of Articles on Stackexchange (like 7-8), however, I was unable to find the answer that I was looking for pertaining to when to interpret ている as continuous and when to interpret it as perfect, so よろしくお願いいたします!. Further, however, I am not attaching links of the 7-8 Stackexchange articles to make this question short, so please don't mark this as duplicate on that ground.
ありがとうございます!


texts:
I found a slightly unnatural use of 「〜て来た」 in the postscript of the Gospel in colloquial Japanese.

当時口語の聖書はなかった。のみならず私の改訳について
　聖書改訳文は元訳の文体に限り申候　口語体は威厳なく口調悪く記憶に不便に候　勅語もし口語体にて作られる時代来らばイザ知らず云々
と言って来た人があった位である。
（中略）
そのうちに世の中の風潮も変わって来て、私の訳が出来て六年後、二十五年になって、カトリックから新約の口語訳が出た。また二十七年にキリスト新聞社から、これも新約の口語訳が出た。私は日本における口語新約聖書完訳の草分けをしようという念願は達したので、自分のものの出版の必要を感じなくなった。しかし友人の勧めによって、とにかく出版を断行することにした。そして十二、三回も稿を改めたマルコ福音書を第一分冊として、翌二十八年十二月に出版した。この時はさすがに口語訳を非常に喜んで来た。
「註解なしにはわからなかった処がすらすらと、生き生きと読み取れ、身に迫ってまいります」というようなのが沢山あった。これに励まされて私も改訳を急いで訂正しようと決心した。

塚本虎二訳　1993　『新約聖書　福音書』　岩波書店 　(bold emphasis added)

I have never seen this expression but it can be literally understood as:

喜ん(連体形・撥音便) + で(接続助詞) + 来(補助動詞) + た(過去)
= 「口語訳が喜ばれるようになって来た」 People came to welcome Bible in colloquial terms.

Is my understanding correct? Are there any other possible interpretation?


texts: Does using the past tense make the conversation more polite?

texts:
I am wondering if the past tense is used sometimes to increase the level of politeness in a conversation which occurs in present form. For example:

  お待たせしました

In that case, under which circumstances the past form of the verb is used to make the sentence polite? Also, which sort of difference it makes with the present polite form of the verb?


texts:
For full context, see here exercise 3:
https://www.docdroid.net/rHnvU6R/2.pdf

The sentence in question:

A: 駅まで行ったら、この大雪のせいで電車が止まっていて......今日中に向こうに着くのは無理だっていうから帰ってきたんだ。

First, my attempt at translation:
"I came back, because when I went to the station, with the train being on hold because of the snowmasses they said that within this day, going to the other side (=going to the destination station) is impossibru."

In my opinion, 帰ってきたんだ sets the tense for the rest of the sentence, as the speaker is talking exclusively about things which happened in the past. Therefore, I would also expect the "...たら-clause...clause2" to show another past tense in clause2, which also would quite fitting for the situation of "I did X and in consequence I discovered Y" -> 家に帰ったら、猫がいなかった。

However, here っていう sets the tense of clause2 to present. As far as I can remember, it is also grammatical to say ...と言いました or って言った. So I wonder what the reason might be that present tense is used here? Also, how does it change the meaning of the sentence, if it does at all?

In a question dealing with a similar problem, some of you said that if the context is strong enough, the tenses can be used however one wishes. Is this the case here as well?

One sidequestion:
Why is it 帰ってきたんだ ? What is this 来る doing here?
I can only imagine two meanigns:
Either 来る marks that the action is going in the direction of the speaker
like 兄が帰ってきた。
Or it marks that someone performs an action and then immediately returns like　スーパーで牛乳を買ってきます。
I think the latter makes more sense, but it seems a bit strange to me because until now, I only encountered cases where the speaker tells us about a thing he is about to do/going to do in the (near) future with the intent to return immediately after completing that action.


texts:
According to 日本語総まとめN1, the grammar for いざ知らず is:

  Noun + ならいざ知らず/はいざ知らず

However, I think I've seen it used with verbs too as:

  Verb + ならいざ知らず

Is this possible? If so, what about using it with other conditionals such as ば and たら? Could anyone provide examples, please?

Many thanks!


texts:
I have started to read a novel for practice. I came across these sentences. I can't make sense of the part 通って中に.

  少年はあそこ一夜過ごすことに決めた。彼は羊の群れが、壊れかけた門を通って中に、入るのを見届けてから、夜中に羊が迷い出さないように、何本かの棒を門にわたした。

I cannot find an explanation for the use of the combination of the verb in te-form and chuu ni. Figuring out this part would help me a lot to put together what the sentence says.


texts: Are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4....... also considered Romaji? If they are not written using kanji?


texts: What is the し particle and how do you use it?

texts:
I understand that obviously every Japanese textbook will go into this topic briefly... but I can never really come to grips with what it means in Japanese. If anyone could link me to a good Japanese dictionary entry about it that would be great (I can't find a good one that explains it)

I am interested in the し particle as used below...
歯は痛いし、歯医者には行きたくないし、困ったよ。

I was wondering if the し particle had anything to do with する/しか/しも.

職場は失うし、妻とは別れるし（で）、彼はひどく元気がない。
Here, it seems like し seems to turn the reasons into some sort of noun phrase because the author has stated you can use で with them.

Knowing the essential underlying meanings behind ので and から helps me to unconsciously decide between them... I kinda have no idea how to do the same with し so...
Can anyone enlighten me or link me to somewhere where I could be enlightened on the matter?


texts: What does ここは refer to in this context: じゃここは俺から名乗らせていただこう。

texts:
Watching / studying from an anime at the moment and I came across the following sentence.

じゃここは俺から名乗らせていただこう。

Am I right in my thinking that ここ in this context is referring to 個々?
So essentially saying something like:

"OK, let's introduce ourselves one-by-one starting with me."

I've never really encountered 個々 before in a sentence so I'm not sure if I am interpreting its usage correctly.


texts: What is the name of the writing that appears on the screen when watching television?

texts: When watching the news and other shows on television, I often see various written content displayed on the screen for brief periods of time, usually on the bottom, but sometimes on the right. I just learned that in English it is called closed captioning. I saw the term on Jisho, before posting. It is used frequently on news programs on a daily basis. Is there a Japanese term for this word? What is this content called?


texts: When talking about Japanese martial arts, is 師範 higher than 先生?

texts:
Let's take two top persons in Shodokan aikido.

Tetsuro Nariyama shihan (9 dan)
Shinnosuke Sakai sensei (6 dan)

Both persons are actively teaching.

In the dictionary,

師範 (shihan) means "instructor", "(fencing) teacher", "model"
先生 (sensei) means "teacher", "master", "doctor"

Questions

Is 師範 higher than 先生?


texts: What do the words 「いうない」 and 「おねんねしなさい」mean?

texts:
Here is the context including the word which a boy spoke to himself.

おとなしく規則を守っておねんねしなさい...か
じょうだんいうないっ　いまのおれはめしを食うひまさえおしいくらいに思ってるんだ

I think it should be 言わない, so 「じょうだんいわない」 would be translated as 'this is not a funny story'.
Is it like that because of a dialectal, colloquial or some other reason?
For the word 「おねんねしなさい」, why does he use the honorific prefix 「お」 even though he's speaking to himself?


texts:
I've been seeing やつ used for "thing" reasonably frequently in Manga/online etc, for example:

ほとんどは本とか食玩とか細かいやつかな。
"It's virtually all stuff like books, those small toys sold with food and small things I suppose."
富士を目指しましょう。地方富士というやつよ。
"Let's set our sights on Fuji. The thing that's called 'the local Fuji.'"
「正直がいちばん」というやつだ。
"Honesty is the best policy"

But what kind of a nuance does やつ have and when can it be used compared with 物 and こと? (I'm guessing it might be colloquial, sometimes joking, and possibly sometimes derogatory but I'm not really sure).
Is there any way to translate this usage of やつ into English without losing too much of the original nuance?


texts: What's the difference between くる and やってくる?

texts:
Can someone explain the nuance between them?  They both mean "come", but I'm unsure of when they are interchangeable.  My perception is that やってくる seems to put more emphasis on the actual action of coming (compared to the rest of the context, if any) than くる by itself.  Compare:

  友達が来ました
  and
  友達がやって来ました

But there seem to be times when you cannot use them interchangeably.  For example：

  ○ さぁ、こっちにこい！　→　OK
  ? さぁ、こっちにやってこい！　→　Sounds unnatural to me

Will someone please explain where they do and don't overlap?


texts:
「第三級冒険者」と明確な地位を認められるのもLv.2からだ。Lv.1が平均的であるなら、そこから先は少なからず才能と素質を求められる世界ということになる。

I'm not sure whether to interpret the two verbs as passive or potential. If it's passive what is the agent of the verbs?

Thank you!


texts: Meaning of 欲ばっから and help with the following sentence

texts:
Context: Riku, the protagonist boxer of this manga, is fighting against an evasive opponent that is really good at dodging punches and who always tries to win on points rather than KOs. Riku tries to punch him without success, while his opponent manage to hit him with punches that are not so powerful but let him gain points. Riku's trainer tells him:

  欲ばっからつけいられるんだよ！！狙うのはもっと…一番小っせーのだ。最小のカウンタに力を集約させろ！

What is the meaning of 欲ばっから? Is it 欲【よく】ばる+から? Or has it something to do with ばっかり? In any case, could you please explain the word formation?

Another thing I don't understand is the させろ at the end. Why wasn't しろ used instead? Is he ordering Riku to do something or to make to opponent do something? Anyway, here's my translation attempt:

  He is taking advantage of your greed!! You should focus on the least powerful punch. Concentrate your strength against the least powerful counterpunch!

Here you can see the whole page and the one after it for more context. Thank you for your help!


texts:
From the novel The Old Man and the Sea.

Japanese translation on Aozora:
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/001847/files/57347_57224.html

  「食ったほうがいいか？」
  「そう言ってるじゃないか」少年は優しく答えた。「サンチャゴの用意ができてから蓋を開けたかったんだ」

''Should we eat?''
''I've been asking you to,'' the boy told him gently. ''I have not wished to open the container until you were ready.''

Is かった an aux verb or just part of the 開ける conjugation that I'm not familiar with?

Thanks a lot in advance :)


texts: Japanese chat romaji based acronym/abbreviation usage and meanings

texts: I know that ww means laugh/warau. Are there any other romaji-based acronyms used in japanese chats only? Please provide the acronym and meaning if possible. I searched online and found many hiragana and katakana expressions. I am focused on romaji based  acronyms.


texts: Construction and Meaning of とき in the following cases

texts:
I was studying about とき. I came to know that とき means "when" If used in following sentences:
Format: S1ときS2 (as per my own inference) (Please correct me if I am wrong)

S1- Adj(both i and na) and S2-Anything

S1 - Noun and S2-Anything

When S1 expresses a state and S2 anything

When S1 is a verb but is in ている form

Then I came across a concept, that when S1 is a verb (for now let us take action verb), the meaning will be different as per the tenses used:
Eg.

私はご飯を食べるとき手を洗う　（I wash my hands before I eat)
私はご飯を食べたとき手を洗う　（I wash my hands after I eaten)
私はご飯を食べるとき手を洗った　（I washed my hands before I ate)
私はご飯を食べたとき手を洗った　（I washed my hands after I ate)

After this I came across a sentence:

松本さんは朝ごはんを食べるときいつもテレビを見る

In this sentence the translation in the same book was given "Mr. Matsumoto always watches TV when he eats"
So, my queries are the following:

Does this sentence (Matsumoto sentence) mean, Matsumoto always watch TV before he eats?
If the sentence means what the book says i.e. "Mr. Matsumoto always watches TV when he eats" wasn't ている supposed to be used to make mean (when it was happening) i.e. 食べている rather than 食べる?
Has, いつも something to do with the sentence making it a "state of being" thereby, allowing the use of "when"?
Does this S1 Verb (action) condition i.e. right before or right after apply in case S2 is adjective/noun; E.g. 私は本を読むとき静かな (thereby, meaning I am quiet before I study?); 私は本を読んだとき静かな (I am quiet after I study (As in context of I am in state of silence after I study); and 私は本を読読んでいるとき静かな(meaning I am quiet when I am studying)? or is there any other rule?

Thanks :)
Book reference: A dictionary of basic Japanese Grammar Pg. 490-492


texts:
What's the difference between

  'Kore wa watashi no ... desu' (これ は わたし の 。。。 です)

and

  'Kochira wa watashi no.. desu' (こちら は わたし の。。 です)

when introducing a person?

Is kore used for inanimate objects only? Is kochira politer?


texts:
I already know that 貴様 {きさま} is a very rude, derogatory term in japanese, and is practically forbidden in real life situations.
However, I came across a song called キモチ by Mukai Shuutoku, and it contains the following verses :

  貴様に伝えたい　/ 俺のこのキモチを

Here is a link for a live version of the song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1BYZCU7Jxw

So I wondered if it was meant to be sarcastic, or provocative or some form of artistic license?


texts: Do you find this use of 信じてもらえなくなる to be odd?

texts:
On the following reddit thread:
http://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/21l6aa/meaning_of_自分も信じてもらえなくなるってことだ/
the following sentence was posted, with a number of people trying to interpret it:

1.人の親切や発言を信じられなくなったらそれは自分も信じてもらえなくなるってことだ

I could not understand the point in question well enough to translate the sentence, but then a native speaker stated that perhaps there was a typo or a "creative use" of Japanese, and offered the following version as a more typical sentence, though different  in meaning:

2.人の親切や発言を信じられなくなったら、それは自分も信じられなくなるってことだ

This sentence I was able to attempt to translate as :

A. Once you start losing the ability to believe in other people's words and kindness, you won't be able to believe in yourself.
B. If you get to the point where you lose the ability to believe in other people's words and kindness, you won't be able to believe in yourself.

A translation attempt for the original was the following:

1.人の親切や発言を信じられなくなったらそれは自分も信じてもらえなくなるってことだ
If you become unable to trust in other people's words and kindness, they won't be able to have trust in yours either.

Do you believe the original sentence to be flawed or unnatural? If not, does the translation make sense?
If the first sentence is too unnatural or flawed to bother with translating, then how are the translations for the revised second sentence?
If the original sentence makes sense, can someone explain the use of 信じてもらえなくなる clearly?
Thank you, and apologies for the large number of questions and rambling nature of post.


texts: Why is に used in the sentence 大ピンチに勝機が見えた?

texts: Why is there a に particle here? I dont see it fitting any of the roles I know for it (indirect object, indicating a source or agent, frequency, a specific point in time, purpose, direction of action, location of existence..)


texts:
What's the difference between 関する【かんする】, 関係する【かんけいする】, and 関連する【かんれんする】?
I've tried looking for an answer on HiNative, and while I did find two answers, I didn't quite understand the differences. I then also tried reading the definitions for these words on dictionary.goo.ne.jp, which also didn't help, and tatoeba.org only has one sentence containing 関連する【かんれんする】. Looking the words up on jisho.org and eow.alc.co.jp didn't help either.


texts:
Regarding panda viewing times at Ueno zoo:

  動物園はたくさんの人に見てもらうために、シャンシャンを見ることができる時間を２時間半長くしました。
  The zoo has made the time when you can see the panda two and a half hours long(er) so that lots of people can see it.

From the context it's clear to me that this is supposed to be 2.5 hours longer rather than 2.5 hours long, but how would the grammar change to express a fixed period of 2 hours rather than an extension of two hours?

I guess I would have expected the current sentence to mean long and would have expected something like 前のより長くしました for longer.


texts:
The girl was playing the game of life(人生ゲーム) with her friends and said this(It sounds like this event caused her to go bankrupt):
あ、交通事故で資産マイナス３００万だって。何コレ普通に考えたら速攻で破産なんだけど
What is the difference between saying this and just 何コレ速攻で破産なんだけど.


texts: おいてきてしまった vs おいてしまってきた

texts:
Is there any difference in the sentence when we mix the order of the conjugations in this sentence:

1) あいにく私はカメラを家においてきてしまった

2) あいにく私はカメラを家においてしまってきた

Or are both "correct" and mean the same thing with not much difference in nuance?


texts: Is there a difference between 赤{あか} and  赤色{あかいろ}?

texts:
While studying Japanese I've met some problems with distinguishing some vocabulary.

For example we have:

  赤{あか} = Red (color)
  赤{あか}い = Red (adjective)

But what about 赤色{あかいろ}? Is there a difference between that and 赤{あか}?

Is the former just there in order to study the Kanji, or are there differences in usage (and maybe "acception") between the two?

I suspect it's the second, but it would be nice to have a good explanation about it.


texts:
Suppose I have an acquaintance, Yuki, who is usually not very interested in what I am talking about. Sometimes it can be frustrating.
This time, however, I have chosen a topic in line with his interests, and Yuki is looking at me with close attention. Probably, it's the first time since we met.
I would like to convey my feelings in Japanese to Yuki. Something along the lines of "I would like you to look at me like that" or "I would like you to look at me with such eyes".
What do you think about 「そんな目で見てほしい」?
Thank you so much!


texts: What is the meaning of そう君と二人 in the sentence below?

texts:
My question is what そう君と二人 means in this sentence:

そう君と二人で冷たい月に手を伸ばして
（Sō kimi to futari de tsumetai tsuki ni te wo nobashite)

I know that tsumetai tsuki ni te wo nobashite means something among the lines of "reach out your hand toward the cold moon", but I just can't seem to figure out what to do with そう君と二人. As far as I know, it means "So you and 2 people(...)", though I don't really know how I should convey it into the full sentence.


texts: What does 日 mean when used with days of month?

texts:
As にち, 日 doesn't seem to be a counter (which is always preceded with dash in dictionaries). Does this mean that 日 means Sunday when used with days of the month? If so, how does it make sense?

EDIT:

Is 日 a counter in 十三日 or is it not?


texts: When I write こ and ご I tend to write them with a straight line at the top instead of with a tail like how it's supposed to be written. I kind of have trouble writing it the proper way without making it look unbalanced. Is my way of writing them still somewhat correct and distinguishable from other hiragana?


texts:
I was reading the article linked and included below and came across the following sentence

ＮＨＫが調べると、病院で「エコノミークラス症候群」だとわかった人がこの女性以外に１９人いました。

Could someone please explain the grammar and/or meaning of とわかった?
As for my thoughts, I assume that the sentence is trying to convey (without regard to how it flows in English)

When the NHK looked into it, there were 19 people not including the woman (mentioned previously) who were afflicted with Economy Class Syndrome.

I originally thought とわかった was と分かった and for some reason beyond my current understanding, と was used instead of か making the sentence mean "...people who know what Economy Class Syndrome is". I discounted this as possible since it didn't seem relevant to the context and I think that such a meaning requires 知る anyway.
Also, as I wrote my translation, I began wondering why で was used with 病院 if it is indicating a location of state rather than a location of action. Perhaps my translation is off.
Any help is appreciated.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10010488191000/k10010488191000.html

地震が続いている熊本県で１８日、車の中に泊まっていた５１歳の女性が病院で亡くなりました。この女性は「エコノミークラス症候群」になっていました。
車の中など狭い場所で長い時間体を動かさないと、足の血が流れにくくなって血の塊ができます。その塊が肺の血管に詰まると亡くなることもあります。これを「エコノミークラス症候群」と呼んでいます。
ＮＨＫが調べると、病院で「エコノミークラス症候群」だとわかった人がこの女性以外に１９人いました。この人たちは車の中にずっといて胸が痛くなったりしたと言っています。この中の２人は重体です。
...


texts: Should it not be い かい as I thought the counter for floors was -kai ?


texts: Emphasizing parts of sentence with 大抵 (たいてい, usually)

texts:
Consider this sentence:

  私は[大抵]{たいてい}朝{あさ}にコーヒーを飲{の}みます。

Usually, I drink coffee in the morning.

I am trying to understand how to use emphasis with this construct. In English, this statement seems open-ended, if not ambiguous.

I am trying to understand which of the following implied meanings is closest to the original sentence; otherwise how would I modify the original sentence to add the emphasis:

Usually, morning is the only time when I drink coffee.
Usually, I don't drink anything other than coffee in the morning.
I drink coffee in the morning usually, but not everyday.

EDIT:

Thanks for the interesting answers so far. My synopsis of what has been presented:

I surmise that 大抵朝に, owing to the に, describes an action as happening  “in the usual morning”. This form sounds open-ended.

(?) 大抵コーヒー: This construct doesn't make sense to me. 大抵 is an adverb, so it wouldn’t be correct to use it to qualify a noun/object.

Use of しか:

Based on some cursory searching, しか describes an amount of something, so it is not analogous to "only" as used in this context; だけ should be used instead. But, running with that meaning nevertheless:

The first one confuses me, since しか is a noun, not a  particle like だけ. 「私は大抵朝しかコーヒーを飲みません。」Does this mean "I, in the usual morning, only drink coffee.", or, "I, only in the morning usually, drink coffee."

「私は大抵朝はコーヒーしか飲みません。」This form seems straightforward. "Considering my usual morning, it is coffee only that I drink."

だけ seems to be the correct way of saying "only" in this context. Without 大抵, I can say「私は朝だけコーヒーを飲みます。」, "Morning is the only time I drink coffee."

As far as alternate adverbs, I understand that I can use ほとんど毎日 to state that the action happens "almost everyday".

I can also use 日課 to say "coffee is a daily routine." But I don't understand the grammar since its lacks the action. What sense does it make to say "coffee is a [daily] routine."?

The use of different particles to tag 朝: I understand that に describes an action as happening in the morning. I understand that using は invokes contrastive emphasis. What I am saying about drinking coffee only applies in the morning, but not to any other time of day.

が can be used to invoke exhaustive subject form; i.e. coffee is the preferred object. 「私は大抵朝にコーヒーが飲みます。」"In my usual morning, coffee is the only thing I drink."


texts: How do I combine "I speak Japanese" with "I like to ..."?

texts:
So to say you like something, you you could say:

僕は[blank]がすきです。

and to say something like "I speak Japanese", you could say:

僕は日本語が話します。

So say I wanted to say I like to speak Japanese, how could I combine the two sentences?


texts:
I have a question about 懐かしい. I see it translated as "nostalgic", but i seem to understand it would be closer to "(something) that makes you feel nostalgic".
My question is : can 懐かしい be used to describe my state of mind as in :
懐かしいです - i feel nostalgic ?
Or can it only be used to describe an object, period or event that makes you feel nostalgic ?
Hope that makes sense.
Thanks for your help !


texts:
Senryū 川柳 is it Sino-Japanese or Yamato
Senryū 川柳 is it Sino-Japanese or Yamato


texts: Transitive/Intransitive + にくい (and +られる)

texts:
This question is based on the discussion arising from "Unsolvable Problem"

Start of Excerpt

Relevant discourse extracted from "Unsolvable Problem":

  Quoted from Derek Schaab's reply to "Unsolvable Problem":

  ○ （私は）この問題{もんだい}が解{と}けない。 [I] can't solve this problem.

  × この問題は解けられない。 This problem can't solve itself.

    The second sentence might sound fine at first (from a grammatical standpoint), but when you think about it, assigning an ability to an inanimate subject doesn't work here. (Even in English, the better way to express the idea behind sentence #2 is, "This problem will not solve itself.")

  Because of this, only 解{と}けない問題 is correct.

Also from Derek Schaab's reply to "Unsolvable Problem":

  istrasci also mentioned the ～にくい suffix. I was about to agree with this, but then I saw sawa's edit which reminded me that 解く can be read as both とく and ほどく, and 解ける can be read as both とける and ほどける. (The meanings differ between readings.) ～にくい can be attached to both ほどく and ほどける, such as in this way:

    ほどきにくいくつひも a shoelace that is difficult to untie

    ほどけにくいくつひも a shoelace that won't come undone easily

  …and to とく, but not to とける:

    ○ ときにくい問題 a problem that's difficult to solve

    × とけにくい問題

End of Excerpt

(Question 1) Why is ほどけにくい acceptable while とけにくい unacceptable? Following the logic of "I cannot assign ability to an inanimate subject", it should cause both to be unacceptable since both are intransitive and by extension force the existence of the "inanimate subject"

(Question 2) If it is true that there are cases for which Intransitive+にくい are acceptable, does it imply that there are cases for which Intransitive+られる (Potential form) are acceptable?

(EXTRA Question 2.1) If there are cases for which Intransitive+られる (Potential form) are acceptable, how do we decide if we can assign ability/potential to an inanimate subject?

Appendix: Other points taken from the comments in "Unsolvable Problem"
 for your consideration

  From Derek Schaab:

    Could it be related to whether the verb expresses a continuous or discrete change? ～にくい, when it means なかなか～しない, seems to imply that the verb may happen only gradually over a period of time, but never quickly and easily. Because of the gradual transition, a continuous-change verb (such as ほどける or 燃{も}える) is required. But 解{と}ける expresses a discrete change: a problem is either solved or it isn't, and the change from unsolved to solved takes place instantly. Perhaps this is why 解{と}けにくい sounds odd, but other combinations, such as 溶{と}けにくい, work.

  From Matt:

    But you can say 割{わ}れにくい, and that is instantaneous. Perhaps 〜eにくい has some sort of restriction relating to concrete vs abstract subjects?


texts: In what context does it sound natural to say / write "多忙"?

texts:
Would a native ever say "私は多忙{たぼう}です。" in a conversation? In what context? Is it more of a word used in writing?

Isn't it a reasonable approximation of "私は中々忙しいです" (which is very conversational)?


texts:
If I understood well, 月末締／翌月末払 means "close the deal before end of a given month then get payment before end of the following month"

Is the pronunciation "げつまつしめ　よくげつはらい"

I am especially unsure about 締 and the い for 払.


texts: What are the と, という, and の doing in this sentence?

texts:
「帰ってきました！ただいまー！」声を張り上げて足を踏み入れると、広がるのは地下室という響きとはかけ離れた生活臭のする小部屋だった。

I'm confused as to what と does in this sentence. Is it a quoting particle or conditional?

  地下室という響きとは

I'm completely lost as to what this is supposed to mean

  かけ離れた生活臭のする小部屋だった。

Also is this の particle possessive?

Thanks!


texts:
I am sorry if this kind of question has been resolved but I admit I could not find anythig about it.
My question is the following.
What is the purposes of adding a た after a verb in its て form.
レゴシも花供えに行ってたな a line found in Beastars.
Thanks.


texts:
The scenario is two friends talking on a cell phone, A tells B she wants to tailor a piece of clothing, B offers to give her materials, A kindly declines the offer saying she'll find the materials herself but B scolds her for this, B also says this when scolds A:

  材料なんてこのへんに…ホラね、あった！

I know ホラ can mean "see!" or "I told you so" but I'm not sure if it applies to the above context since it doesn't seem to make sense? Does it take on a different meaning here?


texts:
I only know the 2 meanings of it as follow:

Use when thinking - no meaning
Use to agree with others - the meaning is like "yes, I think so"

What else and what situation can it be used?

If someone ask me "これはあなたの財布ですか？”, Can I answer 「そうですね」?
Is it strange?　or Is it better to answer without 「ね」?


texts:
Continuing my mission to understand how people can learn Japanese with Duolingo (I'm sure it's not possible) I was posed the following sentence:

My current apartment is more spacious than my previous place.

You are given pieces from which to construct the Japanese equivalent. Without looking too hard at the pieces given I constructed this sentence:

前のアパートより今のほうは広いです。

It irked me that I only had a は and no が among the pieces but I figured that, given the right context, は would work. I pressed submit only to be told I was wrong. The official answer was:

今のアパートは前の所より広いです。

Past experience shows that Duolingo is reasonably good at accepting alternative answers, so this leaves me wondering whether there is a problem with my answer. Does using は really make it unnatural? Perhaps it didn't like me using ほう instead of 所? Am I missing some other grammar error?


texts: What does 本調子 mean in a musical context?

texts:
When looking at musical instruments online ([篠笛]{しのぶえ} and 竹笛{たけぶえ} in particular, but I guess this goes for more instruments), their 本調子 is always listed. Some flutes are ６本調子, some ７本調子 and some even ８本調子.

When looking the word up on JDIC it says either:

normal condition
keynote;  proper key;

The first translation seems illogical ('6 normal condition'), plus I've never heard of the term 'proper key' (and although English is not my native language, google doesn't yield much either). If it's just the key of the instrument, I don't see why numbers are being used to denote it. As far as I'm aware, Japan doesn't label musical notes by number.

When looking up 調子, the result is this enumeration of pretty much every musical quality out there. Once again, not helpful.

tune;  tone;  key;  pitch;  time;  rhythm

Any musically minded people out there?


texts: Meaning of 私だって、する時はするよ。

texts: The feeling that I get is, “Even I’ll do [this] if the time comes,” but I’m not sure. I guess that the confusing bit is する時, which doesn’t mean much to me translated literally.


texts:
友達でいたいと考えた。

What do you guys make of this でいたい structure?

I have never come across it before.


texts: What Is The Difference Between 「好きじゃないです」and 「好きではないんです。」?

texts:
I understand that they both mean I do not like, but I'm not sure what exactly 「好きではない」means. Moreover, does the particle 'では'make a difference, or could you have just used 'は'?

Thank you


texts: Meaning of 成叶 in ランドセル姿の成叶がいるんだぞ

texts:
I can't understand the meaning of 成叶 in that sentence:

  ランドセル姿の成叶がいるんだぞ!?


texts: What is the meaning of ついクセ in this sentence?

texts:
I cannot find a translation of the word (or phrase) ついクセ in the following sentence.

  引越してきてからも ついクセで 東京のぶんの天気予報まで見てしまいます

My best guess would be that つい comes from 付く and クセ is 癖 so that the word could mean "acquired bad habit".

Also, I am not entirely sure what the も and the まで are doing in this sentence.

My attempt at a translation would be the following:

  After I moved here, I got into the bad habit of looking at the weather forecast for the region around Tokyo.

Is this somewhat close?


texts: How can this intransitive verb be used transitively here?

texts:
The sentence in question:

  中には、おんぶを怖がる子どももいます

Full context

My attempt at translation:
"On average, there are also children which fear piggybackriding".

In the jisho translation, 怖がる is described as intransitive. Since を is used, I assume theres a transitive use in front of us though. Is Jisho wrong here or is this a regular "ambiguity" in contemporary japanese grammar?


texts: Correct way to append a noun to a action

texts:
What is the correct way to append a noun to a action. For example

  書きで頑張ります
  書きを頑張ります

I think both the above means "I will do my best at writing". In the example above, the stem of a verb is a noun.

Example 2:

  親切で有難う
  親切を有難う

Are both particles acceptable?


texts:
It comes from the following sentence which is spoken by a boy who normally uses Tokyo dialect.

  おれもだあ! おれもヘッドギャなんてちゃらくさいもんはいらんっ　グローブも体重に関係なくいちばんでっかい十二オンスだ


texts: Is 超 (chō) seldom used in written works?

texts: Is it true that the prefix 超 to mean “very” is seldom used in written works (like novels, not counting direct speech), and is usually only used when talking?


texts: When is Vている the continuation of action and when is it the continuation of state?

texts:
Last night, when I asked my wife to send an email to me, she said もう送っている which I took to mean that she was "sending the message". (The message had a big attachment so I imagined that it could take a few minutes to be sent.) What I later realized is that in this context 送っている meant that "the message has been sent". I thought that Vている is the same as a progressive or -ing form in English. According to my wife, if she wanted to say she was sending the message it would have been, 送っているところ.

Is it true that the 送っている always means continuation of state (ie. "has been sent") or does it depend on the context? Other verbs in the Vている form (for example 食べている) seem to mean continuation of action (ie. "eating"). Does the meaning of Vている change depending on the verb it's used with? Can we divide every verb into a "continuation of state" or a "continuation of action" category or is it more complicated?

Finally, where does てある fit into all of this. From my textbook grammar, I would have thought 送ってある would be the correct phrase for "it has been sent".

Related question: If Vて+いる isn't a gerund, then what is it?


texts: How do I translate my Chinese name into Japanese?

texts:
I am a Chinese, and I was wondering how do I translate my name into Japanese. My Chinese name is 徐煜恒, and is pronounced as "Su Yu Heng" in English. The "徐/Su" is my surname, and "煜恒/Yu Heng" is my personal name.

Do they pronounced the same way as the Chinese pronunciation? Or maybe there's other way to convert it?


texts:
For full context, see here:
https://www.docdroid.net/5vuuiCe/img-20170821-0002-new.pdf

The sentence in question (line 5):
井上さんは神戸で客が歌うのに合わせて演奏をするしごとをしていた。
My attempt at translation:
"Mr. Inoue had a job in Kobe where he did musical performances matching what the customers sang."

客が歌うのに is of special interest here. As I translated, I think that の is like こと here and it literally nominalizes the verbal phrase 客が歌う into " 'the customer sing' thing". However, I might be wrong, and here is why I think so. I could also imagine the phrase being 歌う客に合わせて...: "...job where he did musical perfomances matching the singing customer." Ultimately, both phrases mean the same, but they are still different from a grammatical perspective.
Since I don't feel very sure about my interpretation, I wanted to ask for confirmation.

In case my first interpretation should be correct, would the second construction I thought up be grammatical?


texts: これまでだって似たようなものだった in this sentence

texts:
speaker was captured and is in midst of  being interrogated.

  動けない私を、延々と嬲り者にするつもりなのだろう。

  ゾッとしない考えだが……よくよく思い返してみれば、これまでだって似たようなものだった。

  ...ば, seems like more of the same things they've already done to me.

i find it difficult to relate this use of これまでだって as "even これまで" or "これまで also" or some sort of quote.

thanks


texts: Can I refer to the March 11 earthquake without mentioning the word earthquake?

texts:
Is it possible to refer to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and nuclear incident in everyday conversation, preferably without using the words earthquake or tsunami or nuclear incident?

For example, when I was told a museum in Sendai wasn't open, and I wasn't sure whether it was because of the earthquake or just because it's closed on a Tuesday, should I have said "大震災 / 東日本大震災 から?"※, or could I have used something that doesn't directly mention 震災?

The reason I'm trying to do so is that even in English, people often avoid referring to the type of disaster when referring to it (eg "Bali", "seven seven"), and I've heard that the Japanese language tends to be more indirect than English.

※ This may not be a correct use of the word から, but that's not relevant to the question.


texts: Need for てくれる when the preceeding part explicitly states that the action is for your benefit

texts:
I am certain this is grammatical:

父が私を起こしてくれた。
My father woke me up.

I'm guessing the 私を part is rather unnatural and can be removed, but the sentence is nevertheless grammatical.
I also couldn't see anything wrong with this:

父が私を起こした。
My father woke me up.

but was told it was wrong.
It looks grammatical to me. 私を起こした clearly shows that the action is for my benefit, so do I really need くれる? Again I imagine the 私を is a bit unnatural and I suppose removing it in the absence of くれる would make the meaning more ambiguous.
Have I got anything wrong in this analysis?


texts: What does 「名のある」 mean on this page of Yotsuba&! manga?

texts:
I am on ch.82, pg.27 of Yotsuba&! manga.

Source : http://raw.senmanga.com/Yotsubato!/82/27

What does bubble in the first panel mean. To be specific,

  きっと名のある牛だよ！

  主なんじゃね！？

I understand the above lines as,

  This is definitely some named/famous cattle (meat)

  Isn't this rumoured/famous (cattle meat) ?

I interpreted 「主」as "subject
(of a rumour)" from the list of meanings (source : jisho)

  head (of a household, etc.); leader; master
  owner; proprietor; proprietress
  subject (of a rumour, etc.); doer (of a deed)
  guardian spirit (e.g. long-resident beast, usu. with mystical powers); long-time resident (or employee, etc.)
  husband

Am I correct here ? Is 「名のある」a relative clause ? And is the usage similar to what's described here ?

Also, I feel like my translation of 「主なんじゃね！？」 feels somehow incorrect, especially 「主」.


texts: What is the difference between 兵隊、兵士 and 軍人

texts: They all seem to mean soldier. Could anyone help me?


texts: Question about the particular use of 'か'

texts:
今日かあした来てください。 (Please, come today or tomorrow)
行くか行かないか、わかりません。(Go or not, I don't know)

I guess in these two cases 'か' means 'or', but why is there no 'か' after 'あした'. In example 2 there is a 'か' after '行かない'. It is because you are 'counting' the possibilities?
Need someone to clear that up for me. Thanks a lot!


texts: On the two words, several pronunciations, and many spellings for "sake cup"

texts:
When I was in Okinawa drinking sake I asked my host what the Japanese word for the sake cup was and was told:

  お猪口{ちょこ}

Then today I went to the Nezu Museum in Tokyo which currently has a collection of sake utensils on display. Every single cup there bore the label:

  さかづき in the rubi and either 盃 or 酒盃 for the kanji.

So I was originally going to ask what the difference is between おちょこ and さかづき but on looking up the latter for the right kanji to use in this question I was bombarded with these variants:

  杯(P); 盃; 坏; 巵; 卮; 盞; 觚; 觴; 酒盃(iK) 【さかずき(P); さかづき; うき(盞)】

So it seems that the exhibit was using neither the preferred/popular kanji nor the preferred/popular pronunciation!

What am I to make of all this? Which word should I use for sake cup? Why would the museum go with an uncommon variant? Are there nuances?


texts:
Especially in text, is there a clue in Japanese as to whether someone is being sarcastic, or is it as ambiguous as it is in English? And how do you form a sentence so as to make it obviously sarcastic?

Thank you very much.


texts: The use and difference between んじゃないかと思った　and　んじゃないかと思う

texts:
I am having problem understanding the difference between　んじゃないかと思った　and　んじゃないかと思う。

As for んじゃないかと思った,  I found the following examples:"忘れているんじゃないかと思った"　and　"間に合わないんじゃないかと思った"。

Moreover, in regards to んじゃないかと思う, I found these two examples: "断れたんじゃなかったかと思いますが"　and "慎重なんじゃないかと思う".

To be honest, i found myself unable to translate these sentences and thus understanding the grammar behind them. Could you explain them to me?

I  know かと思った that expresses that one thought/ was afraid that something would happen, but eventually it did not. However, despite being apparently similar they seem to hold a different meaning and usage.


texts: What does the suffix 号 mean when it's attached to animal names?

texts:
One of the definitions for the suffix 号 in 大辞林 looks like this:

  列車・船・飛行機・動物などの名に付けて用いる。
  「ひかり―」

I'm somewhat familiar with this suffix from fiction.  For example, I remember it from the anime series ふしぎの海のナディア, which had a submarine called the ノーチラス号.  And I've seen it used for other forms of transportation in fiction, too, like airships, and even a race car.

But I haven't seen it used for animal names, and the definition above says it can attach to the names of 動物 as well.  Wikipedia's disambiguation page for 号 says something similar:

  ウマ、イヌなど、動物の名前につける接尾辞。

But it doesn't say when it would be used, and I can't remember having seen any pet or animal names ending in 号.  So I'm curious: do people still use the suffix this way?  If so, when would it be used?


texts: Could someone help me make sense of the name on this image?

texts:
こんにちは、小さな＊井さん
Is that a misspelling of 広, i.e. "Hiroi" (if the second kanji is "井")? Is the second kanji 女 or 井? I can't make sense of it otherwise. Cheers!


texts:
Which one is right..?

電車に傘を忘れてしまいました。
or
電車で傘を忘れてしまいました。

I am too much confuse about it.


texts:
I was playing a game (Yu-Gi-Oh) until I found this:

  これといった用があって来たわけじゃない.

This was in the very beginning of the game, when someone woke me up.
I'm not sure what 「これといった」and 「わけじゃない」mean.
May someone help me, explaining the sentence? Thank you very much!


texts: 給料を 下げられた vs 引き下げられた

texts:
給料を下げられた。
  給料を引き下げられた。

この二つの文は意味として違いますか？
どちらの方が使いますか？


texts: What is the difference between 忘れないで and 忘れるなよ?

texts: These two forms, ～ないで and the ～な particle seem to have similar meanings. Can someone please explain the difference between the two?


texts:
I recently studied the grammar point of 〜ことに〜, as in the following sentence:

  あきれたことに、彼の禁煙は1日だけだった。」

However, I'm not quite confident with its meaning.
I'm having no trouble with the meaning of the sentence itself but rather with using it myself.

Is the grammar point equivalent to the English 'to my surprise/horror etc.'? And if not can anyone offer me a more suitable translation so that I can fully grasps the meaning of said construct?


texts: I see Mainen and Maitoshi used for every year? Is there any difference and why would one be used over another?


texts:
恐らく、随意領域で士道の鼻と口を塞いでいるか、士道の周囲の酸素濃度を下げるかしているのだろう。
Hi. I understand the meaning of the sentence. But I have never seen している used after the "か... か" pattern. Is "verb+か... verb+かしている" a fixed pattern? If it is, could you show me how to use it?
Thank you.


texts: Which part of the sentence is 離陸するまで modifying?

texts:
A sentence from JapanesePod101.

  私たちは、離陸するまで二時間、飛行機の中で座っていた。
  We sat on the airplane for two hours before it took off.

The general meaning of the sentence is not in question, but is 離陸するまで modifying 座っていた or 二時間 (i.e. the two hours until the plane departed)? My instincts say it's the former, but that comma is throwing me off.


texts:
One of my textbook says:
だ　and 　か can not be used together, like:

Example: これは本か。(Is this a book?)

You can NOT say: これは本だか。

The textbook also says:

疑問詞（ぎもんし）（どれ、どちら、どなた、どこ、だれ、いつ etc) When used in a sentence with か, you should not use だ.

Another example:
どの人が李先生か知っていますか。

You can NOT say: どの人が李先生だか知っていますか。

However, when I surf the Japanese websites, I noticed sentences like this:

この人だれだか分かりますか？ Here, だ　and 　か is used together.

Isn't it supposed to be この人だれか分かりますか？

Does that mean the textbook is not accurate?


texts:
I know the individual words but I'm not familiar with the form used in the left bubble so I am not sure what she is trying to convey.
context: they were talking about something else, and a cat passed by. The brown hair girl glared at it then we get this panel.


texts: How would you use しか and ありませんでした together?


texts: Origin of japanese metasyntactic variables 「ほげ」

texts:
Metasyntactic variables are using in programming as placeholders.
Wikipedia mentions several Japanese words used in this fashion, and I would like to know how they came about.

ほげ - hoge
ぴよ - piyo
ふが - fuga
ほげら - hogera
ほげほげ - hogehoge*

*this one seems obvious; it just repeats the first word twice.


texts: What does よろしく mean when not used as part of introductions?

texts: What does よろしく mean when someone uses it as a greeting but I already know them?


texts: Which kanji has the greatest number of strokes?

texts: What is the most complex kanji (in terms of number of strokes), whether or not it's actually used often?


texts: Is it more common to write "wakarimasu" with or without kanji?

texts:
I've had two vocabulary lists where wakarimasu is written as 分かります. However most of the time in news articles and manga I find it back as just わかります. So I wondered what is commonly used among Japanese people.

Is it like writing ohayou as お早う or is it just a matter of preference?


texts: What does ～ましょう　～おうmean when you say it to no one

texts:
I'm reading a children's book and this silly shrimp says ここで寝ましょう... but there's no one else around... If ましょう is a way to state that what you are saying is subjective not objective, and depends on your volition/understanding... then why would you say it to yourself.
Is it like when someone says "Well I guess I shall go to bed then" out loud to no one in particular?

BONUS:
Are there any other contexts where you are only referring to yourself when you say ましょう　しよう etc.   I think I saw someone say  "これを買いましょう" to affirm their decision, as in "I shall buy this one".


texts:
I'm looking through JLPT N3 questions and have come across this one:

  A: ねえ　（　　　）　どんなひと？
  B: とても親切でいい人だよ

The possible answers are:

田中さんが
田中さんで
田中さんって
田中さんでも

Number 4 makes no sense at all. "Tanaka-san but"?

Number 2 is a bit weird. We're not doing anything with Tanaka. It is wrong.

However, my instinct was that number 1 was correct. It is not. 3 is.
I understand the use of って。 Its saying on the subject of whatever->this.
But が also seems that it would work fine. Tanaka is the object we're talking about.

Why is 1 so wrong and 3 has to be right?

Also, would は be strictly okay in this sentence?


texts: how common is it for there to be sentences like 「私、死んでるよ！」or 「これ、怖い」？ is it super informal? any guidelines on when to speak like this?


texts:
I cannot figure out what 「家建てた」 on this tweet means.

  「エレクチオン」で家建てた僕の言語能力を舐めちゃいけませン。

Is it a typo for 「打ち立てた」? Or it is a word that Koike Kazuo coined? If so, what does it mean?

I think "made a house" is a little bit strange in the context. (I know the particle を is sometimes omitted.


texts:
I found this in a text but I don't know its function.

  あれしきで


texts:
確認というか念を押しとくが

I don't really get the meaning of this sentence. Does it mean to remind, to confirm something, or to make sure of something?

The whole sentence is:

  そう言えば
  確認というか念を押しとくが

The context: two friends are talking and suddenly one says this line, changing the topic of the conversation.


texts: What is the difference between しないで and しなくて?

texts: I am still not so clear with the difference between '.....しないで.....’ and '....しなくて....' . Could you please explain them for me, and give me some examples?


texts:
I'm reading Murakami Haruki's ノルウェイの森 and, although I've come across many sentences I haven't been able to grasp too clearly, I recently came across one that was also funny to pronounce. Can anyone help me make sense of why Murakami might have written the following sentence as he did?

  私がここを出てったって待っててくれる人もいないし、受け入れてくれる家庭もないし、たいした仕事もないし、殆ど友だちもいないし。

I understand the general meaning/feeling of that sentence, but cannot seem to understand why he would have written 「出てったって待ってて」.

From what I can gather it should be something like: 出て行ったって待っていて but that rases a question, what's that extra って doing next to the 行った? Normally that would imply that someone else referred it to the speaker (eg. 出て行ったと言って待っていて) but this does not seem to be the case here.

Would someone be so kind as to break it down for me please?

Thanks!


texts: If 'little girl' is 「少女」, then why is 'little boy' 「少年」?

texts:
Question

少女 means little girl because 少 means little/small and 女 means lady/female. It makes sense here. However it does not make sense when I read 少年 because 年 means year. Is there any reason why 年 was used instead of 男 which means men/male?

Research

My stackexchange search skills are poor, and my search attempts did not yield anything relevant to my question. Googling something however gave me this Wikipedia page.

It said:

  Shōnen (少年?), shonen, or shounen, is a kango word that literally means few years and generally refers to a typical boy from elementary school through high school age. It is used in everyday conversation when referring to the period of youth, including in legal wording referencing youth, without regard to gender.

So if my understanding is correct 少年 means young person regardless of gender (because small years or few years [of living] means the person is still young).

However, this does not answer my question as to why the counterpart of 少女 is 少年 and not 少男.

Some expert opinion on this would be appreciated because the Wikipedia article I quoted has the superscript clarification needed.


texts: Use of として in sentence about conditionals

texts:
I was reading up on the use of conditionals と, ば, たら and なら. One part of the source talks about one type of conditional clause, but I am not sure of its meaning.
Here's what the source says, and my attempt at translation:

仮定条件(前件が仮に成立した場合、その前件を条件として後件が成立することを表わす)
Assumptive conditional clauses (the first half of the sentence (conditional clause) is based on an assumption; expresses the first half as a requirement for the establishment of the other half)

The word として is confusing me. There have been other questions about として, but reading the sentence above with an "as" or a "by way of" does not make sense to me. Easy sentences are okay, like:

彼は医者として有名だ。He is famous as a doctor.
(医者として有名 = Famous as doctor)

However, how do I parse this more complicated sentence?

{[その前件を 条件として後件が] 成立すること} を 表わす
条件として後件 = The latter as the requirement?


texts:
The following image has been going around Japanese twitter recently with the hashtag #中止だ中止, for two reasons:

Feb 28, 2020 would have marked 147 days until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
There is considerable pressure at the moment to cancel the Games for obvious reasons.

What I'm wondering about is: what would the right translation be for 中止だ中止, as seen in the graffiti on the lower right below the sign.

My question is: the writer urging that the Olympics should be cancelled, which would be consistent with the other graffiti 粉砕 "Smash it to bits!"; or is the right interpretation just that it has been cancelled already?


texts: What does 「ておく」 mean in the following three sentences?

texts:
1.熱があるときは、お風呂に入るのはやめておいたほうがいいですね。
2.クリスマスツリーの木を見つけてくれるように頼んでおいたの。
3.考えておくわ。

I can try to understand the meaning of 「ておく」 in the first and second sentences, it might mean "to do sth in advance", right? But how does it work in the third sentence 「考えておくわ。」, which means "Let me think about it." Thanks!


texts: に[配慮]{はいりょ} vs. を[配慮]{はいりょ}

texts:
I want to know if there is any difference between に and を when used with 配慮する.

Example sentences:

  [環境]{かんきょう}に配慮した家

  環境を配慮した家

  [相手]{あいて}の[立場]{たちば}に配慮する

  相手の立場を配慮する

Are they interchangeable? Does the meaning change at all?
(Googling gives many hits for both, but I feel like を should be not used in these situations).


texts:
For example, what's the difference between:
行くかと思った
行くと思った

They both mean "I thought I want to go"
Or another example:
猫だと思った
猫だかと思った

They both mean "I thought it was a cat"


texts:
I found these two sentences which seem to me to be quite similar in the translation but are constructed in a different way:

  魚を食べる ぐらいなら 飢えたほうがましだ
  'I rather starve than eat fish.'
  恥 よりも 死ぬほうがましだ。
  'To die is better than to be in shame.'

Can anybody explain about the difference? Sorry, my English isn't that good; maybe the translation of the sentences is bit poor.


texts:
I remember hearing this idiom which meant someone was so lowly, they were not even considered a person. I don't know the source, but remember it was referred to as a 'common Japanese idiom'.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find it or its origin online. Is this not really an idiom? What is its source?


texts:
即死 is a noun with meaning "instant death" and the grammar

  S＋が/は＋Ｎ＋する

as far as I know, means someone does something. For example,

僕は勉強する。I study.
彼がテニスする。He plays tennis.

Now, if I apply the noun 即死, for example,

彼が即死した。

Which is the correct translation?

He died instantly. (my translation)
He was killed instantly. (google's translation)

I don't understand why google used passive form here.


texts:
羅生門

細い喉で、尖った喉仏（のどぼとけ）の動いているのが見える。その時、その喉から、鴉（からす）の啼くような声が、喘（あえ）ぎ喘ぎ、下人の耳へ伝わって来た。「この髪を抜いてな、この髪を抜いてな、鬘（かずら）にしようと思うたのじゃ。」
下人は、老婆の答が存外、平凡なのに失望した。そうして失望すると同時に、また前の憎悪が、冷やかな侮蔑（ぶべつ）と一しょに、心の中へはいって来た。

My default interpretation here would be, since 平凡 here is a na-adjective, that it would mean "despite". That is, the servant was disappointed despite the banality of her answer (that went against his expectation). The English translation, however, goes:

The servant was disappointed by the unexpected banality of the old woman answer.

That is, the counter-factuality of "despite" is missing.　Only causation is left. Is it due to the translator's freedom of interpretation or have I misunderstood this grammar point?
How is のに　used here?


texts:
I am not sure about the causative form of する verbs.
For example, while reading I found this:

  小源を以て大源に作用させる、魔術師の機械。

I understand this sentence as:

  The mechanism of magicians which let the big source have effect [act] through the small one.

So my guess is that it could be rephrased like this.

  魔術師の機械が小源を以て大源に作用させる

Would the meaning change?

And I have troubles with ようにと.

  後の世の子孫が、仮に秘奥に“達した”時。その理論を成し得るだけの基礎能力を有するようにと、何代も重ねて積み上げる“生きた遺産”だ。

My TL:

  In case the future generations whill "reach" those misteries. Making sure that they will have the basic power to realize that ideal, it's the inheritance accumulated by generations of magicians.

するように=Make sure that
but
有するように=Make sure to have  [Is this correct?]
And why is there と at the end?
Does it stand for と願って、と祈って or such?

Thank you

Edit.
I think that a better translation for

  その理論を成し得るだけの基礎能力を有するようにと、何代も重ねて積み上げる“生きた遺産”だ。

Would be:

  Hoping that they have the basic power to realize [make come true] that ideal, it's the inheritance accumulated by generations of magicians.

So
ようにと=ようにと願って

Is this right?


texts:
I noticed that Unicode has slots for the decomposition type of kanji. I have been wondering why it has only 12 slots (and doesn't even include a slot for "indecomposable", an empty box for a character like 木).

I can come up with more decomposition types, e.g. a long box on top and two small boxes on the bottom, for a character like 森.

Is it general practice to only distinguish the 12 types listed in Unicode? Is 森 analysed as being of something like "primary decomposition type" top (木) and bottom (林)?


texts: となし in 「往{ゆ}け八紘を宇{いえ}となし」

texts: I'm currently listening to 「愛国行進曲」, which is apparently a Shōwa-era patriotic song. It is written in a rather confusing mix of modern and Classical Japanese, but I think I can understand most of it except for 「往{ゆ}け八紘を宇{いえ}となし」. What is となし? Is it と無し? That doesn't seem to make any sense...


texts: Can verbs/i-adjectives be indefinitely conjugated, or is there a limit?

texts:
寒い can become 寒くない, which is apparently also an i-adjective. Can it be further conjugated to 寒くなくない?
What about 寒くなくなくない, and so on? Do Japanese speakers regard such expressions as outright ungrammatical or merely silly? (Silly as in, in English, multiple negations like "It's not the case that it's not the case that … it's cold" are silly but not ungrammatical.)
What about verbs? I know the causative-passive 食べさせられる (to be made to eat) is legit, but is there such a thing as, say, potential-causative-passive-potential? In English, "can be made to be able to eat" is perfectly grammatical and can be actually useful, as when discussing an anorexia patient. How would one say it in Japanese?
Is it grammatical to say 食べられさせられられる (食べる -> potential 食べるられる -> causative 食べられるさせる -> passive 食べられさせるられる -> potential, the final form 食べられさせられるられる — not sure if I did it right)?
I'm asking this mainly out of theoretical rather than practical interests, but I would also appreciate information about limits of conjugation in ordinary conversation.


texts: If both 五 and 伍 mean "five", when should I use each one?

texts:
It caught my attention the character 伍 with the meaning of "five".
I've seen it recently in the anime "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba", in which some characters have kanji tattooed in their eyes. There is one that has 下伍 indicating he is "lower five" in rank.
Why 下伍 and not 下五?


texts:
a) 日光は運動場いっぱいでした。
  b) 日光は運動場がいっぱいでした。
  c) 運動場は日光でいっぱいでした。
  The sports field was filled with sunlight.

a) is the original sentence from my book. I've been warned that the author is a bit loose with his grammar so I'm suspicious about this sentence. Is a) grammatically correct? Is it colloquially acceptable? Or is it just weird? I expected to see a が like in b).

Also I wouldn't have gone with either a) or b). I'd have constructed sentence c). Is this correct? Does it feel different?

I wonder if it might be important to note that the sports field was being discussed in the previous sentence.
There was no previous discussion of sunlight.


texts:
My textbook has the following conversation:

A: 明日どこに行きますか。
B: デパートに行きましょう。
A: どのデパートに行きますか。
B: 貴方の家の北のデパートに行きましょう

The third line is translated to English in the textbook as "which department store should we go to?" My trouble is with the connotation of this sentence.
I think that the 〜ます stem seems to imply a certainty expected upon B, that is, that B already knows where we're going. In English I would expect this more to be "which department store are we going to?" The "should we go to" seems to me to ask for suggestions (rather than a unilateral decision by B). If that connotation is what is desired, then I think that the third line would be better written as どのデパートに行きましょうか。
Am I wrong about the connotation of this sentence, or am I right in thinking that the 〜ます stem is implying a stronger level of certainty from B than expected?


texts: Differences between 出るand 去る when expressing someone leaving

texts:
When expressing "to leave," as in "I left the store," or "I can leave the country," is there a difference in nuance or meaning between the verbs 出る and 去る?

  まあ、少なくとも、この国を出ることはできるな。
   Well, at least I can leave this country.

  まあ、少なくとも、この国を去ることはできるな。
   Well, at least I can leave this country.　（？）

  店を出ると、犬を連れた二人の中年女性が通りかかりました。
  When I left the shop, two middle-aged women with dogs were passing by.

  店を去ると、犬を連れた二人の中年女性が通りかかりました。
  When I left the shop, two middle-aged women with dogs were passing by.(?)

  私は、そこを去って別の電気製品を1時間近く見たところで、また「肩モミ椅子」の辺りにやってきました。
  I moved on and after looking at other things for about an hour came by the chair display again.

  私は、そこを出て別の電気製品を1時間近く見たところで、また「肩モミ椅子」の辺りにやってきました。
  I moved on and after looking at other things for about an hour came by the chair display again.(?)


texts:
I ran into the word ブレ when looking for cameras. But after searching I've also seen it in this usage, like in here: http://metalpilldrums.cocolog-nifty.com/okazu/2011/12/index.html

清く正しく潔く、言う事やる事ブレないで生きたいねぇ

Does this have to do with the "deviation" meaning as japandict says? https://www.japandict.com/%E3%81%B6%E3%82%8C
Like "やる事ブレない" is "To not deviate from what I'm doing."
Am I wrong?