texts: What does 「生き残る目」 mean in this sentence?

texts:
I came across this sentence while reading 下町ロケット.

「ウチで密かに調べてみましたが、佃製作所はいま、資金調達すらままならない苦境にあるそうです。どう転んだところで、佃製作所に生き残る目はありませんよ。それにですねーーー」

The most obvious interpretation for me was,

We searched from our end and Tsukuda Works is having problems raising funds right now. No matter how it turns out, Tsukuda Works has no way to survive/get out of this. And ...

I am confused as to what exactly 生き残る目 means here. Some of the possibilities that I can think of

目 symbolizes an essential part of the body, kind of like saying "he will have no limb to use". So, 生き残る目 would kind of symbolize how it would be very difficult to survive when there is nothing to rely on.
目 might symbolize a person. And consequently, 生き残る目 would mean, no person would survive this or, help them out but I am less sure of this than the first one.


texts:
Is this a contraction along the same lines of なければ → なきゃ?

  反乱を抑えるためだけが目的だとしたらリスクが大きすぎやしないか

Also, can you contract 言えば or あれば?


texts:
I am trying to find an idiom that describes someone setting hurdles for themself or putting themself in a more difficult position every step of the way, eventually trapping oneself or forcing one's back against the wall. The English phrase I have in mind is "paint oneself into a corner", as in:

If you keep doing that, you are just going to paint yourself into a corner.

What would be an apt Japanese phrase for this? I've thought of 自縄自縛 and 墓穴を掘る. I think 墓穴を掘る is probably closer to what I am reaching for, but are there better ones out there?


texts: When is it possible to split である in で+ある

texts:
It is very difficult to find literature on this topic and the only related question is Splicing である with a topic whose answer is (to my view) a bit elusive and the reference provided by snailboat is way beyond my understanding.

So my question is when it is possible to split the two entities of である and what can be put in between ?


texts: They're both pronounced the same, and seem to mean the same thing; is there a difference, and if so, what is it?


texts: Usage of くせに and わりに in the following sentence

texts:
In Nihongo so-matome N3 grammar p63. In question I number 3 there is this question written where both answers seems fine to me.

男の(a.くせに,b.わりに)、女みたいだ.

The answer is くせに.

Isn't わりに used when an unexpected feeling occurs? for example here the normal is that for being a boy he is supposed to look like a boy however he look like a girl.
Also くせに makes perfect sense to me. Why くせに is the correct answer?


texts:
In an N2 mock paper, the following letter was given, with a very confusing sentence within (bolded below). The answer was 1, but several native Japanese people I asked were confident it was 2.

Which is correct?
What is the nuance of the bolded sentence - to change all 200 ramen
cups (option 1) or only the defective ones (option 2)?

  以下は、伊{い}藤{とう}さんが取引会社に宛{あ}てて出した文書である。

  ２０XX 年８月１１日

  ABC食品株式会社
  営業部　鈴{すず}木{き}一{いち}郎{ろう}様

  　お世話になっております。
  　さて、８月１０日に貴社より入荷の商品（食品３種類）のうち太陽カップラーメン２００個の一部に破{は}損{そん}がありました。つきましては、早急に破{は}損{そん}のあった食品の全商品の取り換えをお願い申し上げます。

  サトーヨーカドー株式会社
  仕入部　食品課長
  伊{い}藤{とう}次{じ}郎{ろう}

  伊{い}藤{とう}さんは鈴{すず}木{き}さんに何をしてほしいと言っているか。

  １　すぐに、太陽カップラーメン２００個を新しい商品と取り換えてほしい。

  ２　すぐに、破{は}損{そん}した全商品を新しい商品と取り換えてほしい。

  ３　すぐに、破{は}損{そん}した商品の一部を新しい商品と取り換えてほしい。

  ４　すぐに、１０日に入荷した全商品を新しい商品と取り換えてほしい。

Note: the alignment of the date and sign-off has been altered (from align right to align left).


texts:
A girl is moaning about how she is treated for not doing her homework then pauses and says:

  やってられないよ

I assume this is a contraction of やっていられないよ which would literally be "I can't be doing it". I've never seen the verb-ている form converted to potential before. Is it a common thing and how does it differ from, for example, やれない in this case?

Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree entirely. Either way, I don't understand what meaning this sentence is supposed to convey.


texts: Perceiving Initial r in names likes 隆介（りゅうすけ） and 綾（りょう）

texts:
I've chosen the name a bit at random, but for reason I don't understand I have trouble hearing the initial r-sound on several of my male Japanese students' names. Two examples chosen someone at random: 隆介 and 綾

They say りゅうせすけ and りょう but I hear ゆうすけ and よう

I'm a native English speaker of American English but also had experience hearing German as a child in Germany. Is there some linguistic issue going on here or do I just need to get my ears checked?

I saw this question: Utterance initial [ɾ] which explains some of the mouth position for the sound. But, it doesn't answer what I'm asking.


texts: Is -はない just another way of saying -じゃありません?

texts:
In the sentence:
彼の論文には大した価値はない

Is the -はない another way of saying -じゃありません or -ではない? And is it read as wanai or hanai?


texts: what grammatical structures in this word 考えなさんな?

texts:
「そう難しく考えなさんな、佳織ちゃんよ」
please help to define grammatical structures in this word 考えなさんな
なさ　looks like なさい（imperative). てんな　is ているな　(continuative negative imperative) , but here is no て
so what is this ? slang contraction for 考えているな　(continuative negative imperative)　？
P.S. solved, 考えなさんな it is contraction for 考えなさるな - polite negative emperative


texts: Straightforward question.  天爾遠波 (or 弖爾乎波) - written as てにをは - is a term used to refer to the Japanese particles (助詞) or sometimes Japanese grammar as a whole (文法).  So how to do pronounce the は at the end?  Is it ワ or ハ?  Presumably it's the former since it's describing particles, but I've never seen it definitively explained anywhere.


texts: Ask for a facility visit to another Japanese company

texts:
I'm in the process of asking another company if they would be so kind to let us visit their facility. Some kind of tour of the company.

They already accepted us going there, but we would like to ask to see the facility.

What is the correct expression for it?

My best guess is:
ところで、御社のファシリティの訪問させていただけませんでしょうか。

I feel like the world ツアーstrictly refers to a touristic setting.

Thanks in advance


texts: Grammar justification for 連用形 ＋ 係助詞「は」＋（ない・ある）

texts:
So recently I came across these two answers to two very interesting questions, and related: one and two.

Both mention the following form:

  (連用形{れんようけい} of something) + (optional 係助詞{かかりじょし}) + (ない or ある)

I do understand the difference in nuance (between 悪くない vs 悪くはない, for example), but I don't understand why it is acceptable grammatically.

Correct me if I'm wrong but は here emphasizes and contrasts 悪く, but what is 悪く, really? It translates into 'badly', which is an adverb that is usually supposed to modify a verb or connect to another adjective. With that logic in mind, the overall (literal) translation would be 'There is no badly', which is just weird.

I feel like I'm missing something about conjugations they don't usually teach you in textbook Japanese, which is why I'm after the historical reasoning behind it.


texts: Conjunctive form (e.g. 書き) vs Conj + mono (e.g. 書き物)

texts:
I'm trying to fully understand the plain conjunctive form without a suffix. I've seen it mainly in the form of 話, where it means a talk or speech. So I think it means something along the lines of "the thing that is produced when someone speaks for a bit". So applying that logic to a verb like 書く. Would 書き be a thing that is produced when someone writes for a bit, i.e. a document? Is it a synonym for 書き物 then, or does it mean something subtly different? Or is it even a proper word?

Mainly I'm just trying to get a better understanding of the plain conjunctive form, and how to apply it to a wider range of verbs. The resources I'm studying from only cover it very briefly, and only give a few examples (話 usually being one of them).


texts: How to parse 不快な音をたてないために、水の流れる音を出すもの?

texts:
I am having trouble with the following sentence from this article about toilets translated as "a thing that makes the sound of running water to avoid making an unpleasant noise"

不快な音をたてないために、水の流れる音を出すもの

I learned about the use of ために and its nuances and how の connects two nouns VS を who connects noun and verb but it seems i'm not yet comfortable with it :)
So my questions are :

Is ために used as because of or as in order to ? I would suppose in order to but i thought it would work like A ために B to say to do B in order to achieve A whereas here ために comes after 不快な音.
How does 水の流れる音を出すもの work ? I understand we "first" use を to connect the verb 流れる and the noun 出すもの and "then" connect the noun/phrase and 水 using の. Am i right ?
What about 流れる音 ? Is this considered a verb (~ "make the sound of something flawing") or a noun (~ "the sound of something flawing") ?


texts: Can two requests be made in one sentence using ください?

texts:
For example,

  許して正してください

Or does this make little sense?


texts:
Was going through my Genki book and saw an example sentence of te form verb but it ended in past tense. (言う いってた) Why use the te form at all and not just past tense

  「あきらさんは何て言ってた？」
  「チョコレートを食べすぎたって言ってた。」


texts: What is the difference of 間 (かん) in 一時間 and 一分間?

texts:
I was looking for examples of how to use かかる and I came upon the following sentence:
一分間かかりました
but then if I look at the sentence below without 間 what is the difference?
一分かかりました
Now, this brings up the question of what is the difference between 間 in 一時間 and 一分間? In the case of 一時間, the 間 is a counter but in 一分間 it is not a counter though?


texts: Does the sentence 『ボブは魚は好きだ』 make sense？

texts:
This question is essentially about the particle 「が」.

I saw the example sentence 「ボブは魚が好きだ」 from the textbook.

This is how I understand it:
"As for Bob, Fish that is likable is. ---> Likebale fish as for Bob. ---> Bob likes fish."

But then I wonder if the 「が」 gets replaced by 「は」 will it make any sense?

Thank you!


texts:
I want to know the trick to transliterating names in to Japanese.

I previously asked this question and it was suggested to look up famous names.

That worked until I came up on one of my friend's last name, which is Cobaxin.

I couldn't find anyone famous/popular with that last name.

Is there a set of rules to follow when transliterating names into Japanese Katakana?

I wouldn't like to bother you guys for every single name that I can't figure out :P

P.S:

The origin of the name is Spanish so in Spanish it's pronounced ko-ba-kzeen.

However in English it's pronounced ko-ba-kzen.

I'm thinking it's somewhere in between コバクゼン or コバクゼィン. What do you guys think?


texts:
I am reading frol maggiesensei.com and I came across this sentence.

あなたみたいな人を意地悪というんですよ。

The meaning is "A person like you is called a mean person".

Why is を being used instead of は？
Is the phrase before を a direct object?


texts: Difference between using ていない/ている and just ない/る when used with potential (られる) form

texts:
I was surfing online for Japanese articles and chanced upon this sentence:
初めて飛行機に乗ったうちの子どもは静かに座っていられませんでした
which translates to:
my child who sat on a plane for the first time, couldn't sit quietly.

A question that popped in my mind immediately was, if I were to say:
初めて飛行機に乗ったうちの子どもは静かに座れませんでした
wouldn't this mean exactly the same thing? If so, under what circumstances would one be preferable over the other


texts: Applying the same adjective to multiple nouns

texts:
Let's take an example where a woman have a red bag, red shoes and red glasses (multiple items (nouns) described by the same adjective : red). To describe her, if I write :

  女{おんな}の人{ひと}は赤{あか}い鞄{かばん}と靴{くつ}と眼鏡{めがね}を持{も}っています。

I feel like it's not clear that the woman wears different items but all of the same color (red). This sentence can imply that she has a red bag, but black shoes and blue glasses. To clarify that all of the items listed are red, I think it is grammatically correct to write :

  女{おんな}の人{ひと}は赤{あか}い鞄{かばん}と赤{あか}い靴{くつ}と赤{あか}い眼鏡{めがね}を持{も}っています。

But I feel like the 赤{あか}い adjective is redundant here.

I can probably reformulate my sentence and write :

  女{おんな}の人{ひと}は鞄{かばん}と靴{くつ}と眼鏡{めがね}を持{も}っています。全部{ぜんぶ}は赤{あか}いです。

But I'm wondering if, without reformulation, I can apply an adjective (red) to a list of multiple nouns without any ambiguity. Kind like mathematically :

  赤{あか}い * (鞄{かばん} + 靴{くつ} + 眼鏡{めがね})


texts:
I found the word 高めだし and I guess it means "really expensive" or something similar. How does it work grammatically? Can -めだし be used after any -i adjective? And what does it mean? Does it come from the verb 目立つ? If yes, shouldn't it be -めだち?
Thanks for your help!

Context:

  えっ！？でもそのショップって何でも高めだし！


texts:
I want to ask for a refund? For example, if I want to refund a train ticket. How do I ask the train master?

I think it is not a 返品。

Do you need certain politeness?


texts:
I am learning from 日本語総まとめ which is great generally but I wonder about
this example from N2 文法　(grammar):

  子供がかわいいからこそ、しかるんです。

which translates to I scold my children because I care for them.

This was teaching こそ meaning because.

Implying that が　かわいい　in this context means care for. Is this a true translation? I thought it was something like 飼う　but  my teacher said it wasn't- just the cute, nice...
meaning　adjective. Where is this usage referenced?


texts: Difference between onyomi words and kunyomi words

texts:
I think the more I read up on complicated topics the more I encounter onyomi words that have kunyomi synonyms. For example:

新しいvs新規  最新

終わりvs終了

危ないvs危険

Is the rule generally that onyomi words are more formal or mature? Should I prefer one over the other in casual speech? Or are there nuances on usage too?


texts:
The first time I saw these two terms, they were used in a love context, to mean "boyfriend/girlfriend". Later, I came to know that you can also use these to refer to "that guy/girl".

So, what I wanted to know is:
1) Nowadays, what are these commonly used for?
2) Does the meaning depend enterily on context? If so, isn't there a chance to be misunderstood?
3) Does Japanese have a specific term to convey just one of these meanings? For instance, something just for girlfriend?


texts:
あなた can be written in kanji as 貴方.
However, I noticed that no combination of the readings of those two characters is at all similar to the pronunciation they produce together - this is the first time I've seen this.

How common is it that words ignore kanji readings in this way, and why does it happen?


texts:
In the Genki Chapter 13 reading section, an exchange student describes going to a restaurant with her host family and unwittingly eating turtle for the first time. Her host-father insists it is tasty. Despite feeling uneasy about eating the mystery meat, she writes:

  でも、お腹がすいたし、おいしかったので、たくさん食べました。

What is happening with this mix of し and ので? It seems the ので clause has some sense of "and because it ended up being tasty", while the し clause seems to relate to her reasoning before she started eating.


texts: What does "ni tsuki" mean in the title "Sono otoko, kyōbō ni tsuki"?

texts: According to Wikipedia, the Japanese title of the film "Violent Cop", "その男、凶暴につき" ("Sono otoko, kyōbō ni tsuki"), literally means "That man, being violent". Is this correct? What other translations could there be for "ni tsuki"?


texts: Is "うん" really used to mean "You're welcome" by children?

texts:
In a book about Japanese manners for children (written in Japanese) there is a section which has basic "言葉のマナー", and two versions of several phrases: normal and more polite.

It says that in response to ”ありがとう" the normal (less polite) thing to say is "うん", with the more polite ”どういたしまして”.

This translates to ”うん” means "You're welcome", which I've never heard or seen written anywhere before. I guess the indication is this is said in an undertone as sort of a 相槌?

I thought いえいえ was another common way to say "You're welcome" but I guess children don't use this.


texts: When did diacritic signs 濁点 and 半濁点 start to be used in the Japanese language?


texts: What is the function of も in this sentence?

texts:
The folllowing sentence is an excerpt from the NHK easy article:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012832221000/k10012832221000.html
I've provided the preceding clause for more context.
「ヨコヅナイワシ」は、他の魚に食べられることがなくて、駿河湾の深い海にいる魚などの関係の中で、一番上の魚だということもわかりました。
研究グループは「ヨコヅナイワシ」が深い海の底の近くをゆっくり泳いでいる所もテレビに撮りました。
My understanding of も is that it is the non-logical reverse particle of は in the sense that it also marks the topic of the sentence, and states that whatever comments are made about the も topic are the same about the preceding topic. But the preceding topic in the 2nd clause is 研究のグループ?
I translated the sentence as:
The research group also took video footage of the location where the Yokozuna fish were swimming slowly, near the bottom of the deep sea.
This sentence sounds weird to me and I don't think I really grasp も (it's the particle I struggle with the most). Any suggestions?


texts:
As in, "This shop is closing in 10 minutes", "This will be taken down in a week"
I really want to know, Please help


texts:
I often come accross ってなる in informal contexts, but I don't exactly know how to understand it. I think it is like となる in casual speech but it doesn't really make sense in some sentences. For example :

  殺すぞ！ってなる

I feel like it's pretty much the same as saying for example :

  殺すぞと言う場面になる

But in an informal way, but I would like if someone can confirm, thanks


texts: If we take the word パーティ, why is テ pronounced as "ti" when in the katakana alphabet it is pronounced "te." Also, why is ィ small? If it was normal sized, wouldn't the pronunciation of the word be the same?


texts:
When attending my Japanese classes, my teacher would sometimes ask me だいじょうぶですか。

How should I respond to such a question? Usually, I would reply はい，だいじょうぶです。But the reply seems weird, and my teacher does not seem to acknowledge it. Or does this question not warrant any reply?

How do I respond to だいじょうぶですか?


texts: Confusion about conditional だと used in article about beetle

texts:
I was reading this article and I am not too sure about sentence I came across.

  男の子は「... 珍しいカブトムシだとわかってとてもうれしいです」と話していました。

I have a few problem areas here. I read it as: The boy said 'If the beetle is rare then understand and very happy'

I believe だと is being used a a conditional here. So to me the part 珍しいカブトムシだと means: If/When the beetle is rare. But After that it falls a part as I'm not sure how わかってとてもうれしい should be handled


texts:
I tried to make a sentence saying that since I don't have the key I cannot go inside the room that has a kettle:

鍵がないからヤカンがある部屋に入れなかった

But I was told that it sounds better if I changed it for

鍵がないからヤカンのある部屋に入れなかった

What's the grammatical reason that explains this?

Thanks.


texts:
In doing some looking around today I found four characters that all mean rust and are all read さび. Is there any distinction that can be made between these characters?

錆
銹
鏽
鏥


texts:
On my last day my co-worker told me this. I'm not sure what バネに means. I tried looking it up but didn't get anywhere.

  ここでの悔しさをバネに、次のとこでもがんばってくださいね


texts: What is the difference between 姿勢 vs 態勢 vs 体勢？ They all seem to mean "posture" or "attitude."


texts:
In his book A Philosophy of Loneliness author Lars Svendsen describes two different types of "being alone".

Loneliness is used to name the feeling that you are alone, and you feel desperate about this (i.e. you crave some kind of connection with others, and cannot get it, either because you are actually alone, or because you cannot somehow reach out to others).

Solitude is instead the "positive" side of the same condition: you are alone because you like being alone (it could just be time you use to pursuit a hobby, for example, the classical "me time") but you are content if not downright happy being alone.

Question: is it possible to
express these two different types of "being alone" (one negative, one positive) in Japanese?

(If at all possible I'd prefer to use Kanji for this: most of my questions here are for possible use of the words in my Shodo practice, but I am also just curious about how this can be expressed in the language, no matter how it is written).


texts: What is the difference between the two sentences?

texts:
あの方はどなたですか。
あの人はだれですか。

I was looking for a way to say: "Who is that person?", And I found these two ways of doing it. What is the difference between these two?.
I found the first sentence in Minna no Nihongo book. Any help will be welcome.


texts:
What is the difference between  防ぐ and 予防する ?

To me both of them seem to mean "to prevent".
A Japanese person once explained to me how they are different but unfortunately I don't remember.

Similar question: What is the difference between 防止 and 予防?


texts: Why is verb (plain, dictionary form) + だろう/でしょう/であろう grammatical?

texts:
To my (limited) knowledge, one has to put the nominalizer の/ん between a verb and a copula. However, when I was learning the usage of である, the written, literary copula, I read that であろう can follow a verb directly. That was when I realized that だろう/でしょう works in the same fashion.

I understand that の/ん is optional context-wise in this case, but how come the so-called volitional form does not need to have the preceding verb nominalized?


texts: how do we tell if ばかり means "about" or "only" ?

texts:
If ばかり could mean approximately; about; and could also mean only; merely; nothing but;, then how should we know if this sentence ５０００円ばかりもっている。 means:

1) I have about 5000 yen.

or 2) I have only 5000 yen.


texts: How did 服 come to have meanings related to both "clothing" and "submission"?

texts:
服 by itself means "clothing" (e.g. 服を着る), and there are also some related derivative terms like 私服, 制服, 和服, 洋服, etc. On the other hand, you have words like 征服 "conquest", 克服 "overcoming", 承服 "compliance", 服従 "obedience", which I have broadly classed as being related to the idea of "submission".

How did 服 come to have these two seemingly-unrelated meanings? Is this a purely Japanese innovation, or is it like this in Chinese too?


texts:
Is it red ?

あかですか？あかいですか？

It is red.

あかです。あかいです。

Which of each is correct or would both options be correct ?


texts: For time adverbs, are particles instead of commas used in official (legal) writing?

texts:
Even though yesterday is not an adverb, we say:

  I played golf yesterday.

only because the preposition, on, is dropped before yesterday. In that on yesterday becomes a prepositional phrase that modifies played:

  I played golf (on) yesterday.

That preposition dropping is a rule. What about Japanese sentences like:

  昨日、ゴルフやった。

Grammatically, is there really a particle after 昨日 such as:

  昨日 (では) ゴルフやった。
  昨日 (に) ゴルフやった。

In speaking, you pause instead of saying the particle, but in official writing, are those possible particles after 昨日 written (instead of a comma)?

Of course, this is not limited to just 昨日 such as:

  毎日、日本語を練習しています.
  先週月曜日、出張した。
  など...

In English legal contracts, every last preposition and comma are triple checked because they can make such a huge difference in any sort of dispute.

Now, Japanese commas seem to be void of specificity and thus open to "interpretation" by the counterparties / judge / arbiter, right? With big $ on the line, the counterparties must specify exactly what they are agreeing to, and you can't do that with commas???


texts:
大きいのはいくらですか。

  きれいなのを買いました。

I found those phrases here. From my understanding these mean:

大きいの = the ones that are big

きれいなの = the one that is pretty | the ones that are pretty

Am I right? I didn't manage to find any explanation online and on my grammar book. Is it correct to use the same construction with other tenses, like 大きくないの (= the one that is not big) or きれいだったの (= the one that was pretty)?


texts:
In the microsoft IME keyboard, and my cellphone's as well, when I write こたえ it is suggested 答え. However, in the Genki I textbook, I've seen it written as

  答{こたえ}

Are both of these valid? If so, which is more normal to use?


texts: Meaning of なかなか顔の皮分厚い

texts:
「いずれにせよ……何とかしてこのハイスクールを、面白いモノにせねばならないな。このままだとストレスでスヴェータが爆発してしまうこともありうる」

  スヴェータ「はい、爆発しますね]

  「なかなか顔の皮分厚いなお前」

Why does he say なかなか顔の皮分厚い and what does it mean?

As its not obvious from context, スヴェータ is a bomb.


texts: How to say “Tell Paul to send me the letter I wrote for his father”

texts:
I want to say:

  Tell Paul to send me the letter I wrote for his father.

My attempt is:

  パオロさんに　それ　父に 書いてあげる　手紙、出してあげると　伝えてください

Is this grammatically correct? How could it be written otherwise?


texts:
I found this written on a blue bottle. What does it mean?

  ルツクハ


texts: 毎月の月末 or 毎月末 to represent the last day of every month

texts:
I want to say

  The shop will close on the last day of every month.

Which is the correct one in Japanese?

A: 毎月の月末にはその店が閉まる。

B: 毎月末にはその店が閉まる。


texts: 俺 and 僕 used as second person singular pronouns

texts:
I often see couples where the girl sometimes speaks to her boyfriend using 俺 as a 'you'.

Where does it come from?
Can other pronouns like 僕、私、あたし, etc. can be used the same way?


texts:
What does なおも mean in the following sentence?

  夜の十一時を過ぎるというのに、街は下品な化粧を塗りたくり、なおも喧騒に溢れていた 。

Can't find a definition on jisho.


texts: How do I construct "going back to [verb]" type of sentence?

texts: I feel really frustrated that I can't get a simple sentence like this correctly. I want to say, "are you going back to sleep?" My first thought was that I needed 戻る in the sentence, so I thought make I can just combine to verbs and it would magically mean what I expect it to mean such as ねって戻りますか？ I clearly have an misunderstanding of how 戻る can be applied. Could someone explain the thought process for arrive at the correct sentence?


texts:
For full context:
https://www.satorireader.com/articles/sanzu-no-kawa-episode-1-edition-m?sentenceID=SrOvSLFfSOyCJFzmEmFt

The sentence in question:
朝のまぶしい日差しを受けて、道路わきの林がキラキラとかがやいていた。

My attempt at translation:
"While I was taking the uncomfortable lightrays of the morning, the forest alongside the road did sparkle with sparkling."

What surprises me is that と is used to express a means. I'd usually expect で for this purpose. Are there any conditions to be met so that と can express this?


texts: What does "ようと" usually imply in news articles?

texts:
Quoted from a Sample Article

  日本は、中国やロシアと隣接し、豊富なエネルギー資源がある中央アジアへの関与を強めようと、平成16年から定期的に外相会合を開いています。

In my understanding, this article says that Japan is thought to have ambition in getting involved in central asia countries, and in order to achieve that, meetings among foreign ministers are held regularly.

I do not think this と is a quotative-と, as mentioned in a might-be-related question, because the article news does not quote anything originally said by someone. Instead, this と strikes me something like "they did that because it is analyzed that they have such motive".

Is "ようと" just a shorten expression for "ようと思われ" or "ようと考えられ"？


texts:
What is the special word for person who likes making fool of others?

馬鹿にすることが好きな人は特別の言葉で何と言われていますか。

For example, A is such a person. So we can call A as the word in question.


texts:
Recently I've been trying to wrap my head around the differences between 「らしい」「よう」「みたい」「そう」.

I thought I was making some progress when I gave this example to a Japanese friend.

  知らない人と話しました。そのあと、友達と話す時に

If I wanted to convey what I thought of the stranger to my friend, my guess was:

  　いい人みたい

However, I was also told it was possible to say:

  　いい人そうだった

If you google いい人そう or いい人そうだった you will get quite a bit of hits.

Is いい人 actually some sort of compound na-adjective rather than a noun?

Or is this some sort of exception to the rule?


texts: How is プレゼントしてくれた different from プレゼントした?

texts:
あなたがプレゼントしてくれたカバン、今でも大切にしているよ。

あなたがプレゼントしたカバン、今でも大切にしているよ。

I can't understand why してくれた is the right form to say the bag you gave me as a present in the past tense.


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

texts:
I was reading a news article but I am not sure what 両岸 means in this context.

  中台の間では経済や人的(てき)交流が進んでいるとしたうえで、両岸の関係は過去６６年間で最も平和的な状態にある.

Dictionary search result is as follows:

  りょうがん
  両岸

  both banks (of a river)

  After the heavy rains, the river overflowed its banks.
  大雨が続いて川の水が両岸からあふれ出た。


texts:
I have a bit of a struggle with the に particle. Could somebody explain to me why it is used here?

結婚のお祝いに、部長に時計をいただきました。 (first に)

このかばんは物が入れやすくて、旅行や仕事に便利です。

車の修理に１週間かかります。

今晩のおかずはすき焼きにしましょう。

事故にあわないように、気をつけてください。

Thank you


texts:
I don't usually ask questions like this, but I'm having a hard time figuring this out:

  字以外に日本の好きなのありますか？

The "ji igai ni" is throwing me off, is it asking whether you like other things about Japan? Or what else you like about Japan?


texts:
I've recently begun noticing that occasionally I'll see a dictionary form of the verb followed by the particle に, for example:

  1.)まだ学校へ行くには早い時間です。 It's still too early to go to school.

I've been kind of confused by it since from my experience normally the dictionary form of verbs are followed by a nominalizer の　or こと before a particle. For example:

  2.)まだ学校へ行くのは早い時間です。

  3.)まだ学校へ行くのに早い時間です。

What is the general function of に directly following the dictionary form of a verb and how is it generally used? How would sentence 1's meaning differ from sentences 2 and 3?


texts: Response to "Watashi wa nomu no ga suki, *demo*...."

texts:
How would you response to the "demo"? "I like to drink, but...."
I was thinking about: demo... ni? Like "But... what?


texts: How to greet your workmates casually in Japanese IT field office?

texts: How 30-50 year old Japanese male would say hello to another male colleague in same age in same organisational level in IT company? I'm looking for everyday based not formal way to communicate.


texts: How does work それが and ため in the context of ･･･それが熊のために騙されて･･･?

texts:
How does それが熊のために騙されて、work here? Especially, それが and ため? I feel like それが is introducing the reason of why the tail of the monkey was supposedly very long; however, I cannot really explain ため and I think that the meaning would not change even if not present. I think this is this definition of ため (goo辞書 ２ 原因・理由。わけ。「雨の為に延期する」 and that it could simply be replaced by で.

The full story for reference:

  “昔の昔の大昔、猿の尻尾は三十三尋あったそうです。それが熊のために騙されて、あのような短い尻尾になってしまいました。或時猿は熊のうちへ尋ねて行って、どうすれば沢山の川の魚を、捕ることが出来るだろうかと相談しました。そうすると熊が言うには、今晩のような寒い晩に、どこか深い淵の上の岩に坐って、その尻尾を水の中へ漬けて置いてごらん。きっと色々な雑魚が来てくっつくからと教えてくれました。猿は大喜びで教えてもらった通りにして待っていますと、夜が更けて行くうちに、段々と尻尾が重くなりました。それが氷が張って来たのでしたが、お猿は雑魚が来てくっついたのだと思っていました。もう是くらい捕れたら十分だ。あんまり冷たいから還りましょうと思って、尻尾を引き上げようとしたけれどもなんとしても抜けません。これは大変だと大騒ぎをして、無理に引張ったところが、其尻尾が根元からぷっつりと切れました。猿の顔の真赤なのも、その時あまりに力を籠めて引張った為だと言っている人があります。”
  -- （日本の昔話、柳田国男、Ｐ１７）


texts:
I do usually encounter the kanji 引当 but I suddenly encountered the 引充 kanji. My colleague said they mean the same and their reading is the same. when do you use the one over the other?

The word that the kanji modified that time 引充ｷｬﾘｱNo. which is a normal cart in an assembly line. why is the kanji more appropriate that the commonly used 引当 that time?


texts: Trying to think of borrowed English words that parse "ti" as ティ or as チ。

texts:
I often trip up in guessing the pronunciation of words that have been borrowed into Japanese from English where the original pronunciation had "ti" in it.

For example, I might say ネイチブ instead of ネイティブ.

I realised this is because the way those words are rendered in Japanese isn't consistent. Sometimes it's ティ, but sometimes it's チ.

So far I can think of the words below, but I'd be grateful if you could suggest more. EDIT: To be clear, I would just like people to list a few they can come up with off the top of their heads, for the purpose of new discoveries. No need for an exhaustive list.

ティ

ネイティブ (native)
ティー (tea)
パッティー (patty)
ティーシャツ (T-shirt)

チ

チップ　(tip)
モチベーション (motivation)
チーム (team)
チケット (ticket)
チベット (Tibet)


texts: I want to say "I was looking for happiness in things that held none" (in the context of consumerism), so I'm saying "幸せがない物に、幸せを探してたんだ。" Is there a better, more natural sounding way to say this?


texts: Can もの be used to imply the value of something that is a こと?

texts:
I thought of this question and quickly realized that I already knew a possible example. Japanese band ZONE's most popular song is called 「secret base～君【きみ】がくれたもの～」. The lyrics can be read here or at another lyrics site of your choice. There is also a fairly new "answer/reply" song called 「約束【やくそく】～August, 10years later～」. You can find these lyrics here.

In the original song, もの is only used in the title, but I think reading the lyrics should give a sense of what the title means. However, in the answer song, there is a line (referencing the title of the original song) that does use もの:

  今【いま】もこの胸【むね】には　君【きみ】がくれたものが　10年【ねん】たってもかわらずに

But I don't think these songs are talking about physical things that the supposed 君【きみ】 gave to the speaker, as the actual definition of もの would imply. Rather, this 君【きみ】 gave the speaker things abstract things, such as wonderful memories (最高【さいこう】の思【おも】い出【で】を… from the original song) and companionship (一緒【いっしょ】にいたかった　一人【ひとり】で泣【な】かないで from the answer song)  So, could もの be used in a figurative/poetic sense to imply that something abstract (a こと) has great value? Or have I greatly misinterpreted the song?

Bonus: Could the reverse be done as well? Could こと be used to imply the insignificance/worthlessness of something that is physical, something that is a もの?


texts: Difference between 大変{たいへん} and 難しい{むずかしい}

texts:
What is the difference between 大変{たいへん} and 難しい{むずかしい} which can both mean difficult.

In which context should i use one or the other?

Thanks in advance.


texts: How to understand 「僕は誰より彼女が好きなんだ。」

texts: I don't understand 「僕は誰より彼女が好きなんだ。」. I guess 好きなんだ means love, but なん means not. Can anyone help me?


texts: Meaning of ここまでのことをやったんです

texts:
I am having some difficulties in trying to understand the below. Particularly the usage of し and the meaning of ここまでのことをやったんです as it is not clear from context who the agent is (i.e. is it the speaker or the listener who has done these things, as the have both done some terrible things) and the meaning of ここまでのこと is not quite clear.

To provide a bit more context, the speaker is trying to press the listener for why they have done what they did, as the listeners actions have caused the collapse of the organisation (that they are both a part of). This is after the listener provides a reason that the speaker thinks is made up.

何をごまかそうとしているんですか？

今更、何を言われても私は傷つきませんし、ここまでのことをやったんです。もし、私が傷ついたとしても、それがなんだと言うのですか？

I understand what the rest of it means:

今更、何を言われても私は傷つきません(at this point, I won't be hurt by whatever you say)
もし、私が傷ついたとしても、それがなんだと言うのですか？ (Even if it does hurt me, what does it matter)


texts:
I am trying to find difference in usage between the words ラベル and シール. Could you please give some specific explanation and maybe example?
I would be very grateful for your help.


texts: What is the Japanese word (noun) that means “the bittersweetness of a brief, fading moment of transcendent beauty.”?

texts:
The article written by Emily Anthes, appearing in the New Yorker, May 12 issue under the title, “The Glossary of Happiness” wraps up with the following paragraph:

  Lomas (a lecturer in applied positive psychology at the University of East London) returned to the University of East London and launched the
  Positive Lexicography Project, an online glossary of untranslatable
  words. “If you just put them out there and people are aware of them,
  then—almost like linguistic natural selection—people will find ones
  that appeal to them, and they might start using them,” Lomas said. If
  he succeeds, we may stroll through these waning days of spring more
  aware of aware—the Japanese noun for “the bittersweetness of a brief,
  fading moment of transcendent beauty.”

I can’t think up a Japanese word (noun) equivalent to the notion, “the bittersweetness of a brief, fading moment of transcendent beauty” in English.
Would you suggest me any Japanese counterpart that comes up to your mind?


texts:
As I understand the term コンペ先 translates as a "competitor" (edit: from the examples in the answer, I think "contestant" seems more appropriate as there is an unspoken requirement for some contest or tender).

In a business situation in which there is company X asking for bids, and three companies: A, B, and C take part in a tender, which of the following is the proper use case:

A calling B a コンペ先
X calling A a コンペ先

Or are both correct?


texts: Please help explain the use of particle を in this sentence

texts:
厳しい寒さの影響で西日本を中心に暖房用の電力の需要が高まり、
I’m quite confuse on the usage of particle を in this sentence. From my understanding, this を is marking the object which i think is 西日本 but i can’t find the verb that will be using with this 西日本　を. Please help enlighten me pls. Thanks in advance!
Ps.
This is the full paragraph.
厳しい寒さの影響で西日本を中心に暖房用の電力の需要が高まり、供給力に対する需要の割合を示す「使用率」は九州電力管内で97％、中国電力管内で98％まで上昇しました。


texts: 里でもコイツに言う事を聞かせられるヤツ grammar

texts:
とにかくやたら気の強い女でしてね、里でもコイツに言う事を聞かせられるヤツは誰もいないぐらいの跳ねっ返りで

lost the context for this but,

i almost feel like 事を聞かせられる is potential rather than causative passive,

"no one can make her do what is told"

otherwise コイツに with 言う事を聞かせられる as a causitive passive means that コイツ is the one that is making ヤツ do 言う事を聞く, which doesn't really match up with the opening/end of the sentence well.

In any case, how do i interpret 里でも?

thank you


texts:
When I am memorizing kanji , I noticed these two words have the same meaning (減算 and 引き算) .
Both are subtraction , isn’t! So how can I use correctly with that words? What is the difference usage.


texts: What is the Japanese word for a 3D character artist/modeller?

texts:
If I were looking for a Japanese manga artist, I would use the Japanese characters for the word "mangaka." I need the Japanese word and characters for a word that means "3D character artist" or "3D character modeller."

Do the Japanese have a specific term for this, like mangaka is for 2D art? Or do they just use the same words except in Japanese?

I'm trying to find a Japanese 3D character modeller. My own Japanese is actually very fluent, I just need to know if there is a specific term for it or some other way to help me find one. Thanks in advance!


texts: How to tell the function of と at a glance?

texts:
国{くに}が今年{ことし}の３[月]{がつ}に調{しら}べると、「[特定]{とくてい}[技能]{ぎのう}」で[働]{はたら}いている人{ひと}は３９８７[人]{にん}で、考{かんが}えていたよりずっと少{すく}ないことがわかりました。

I’m having difficulty figuring out how と is used here. From past experience it can be:

  conditional
  conjunctival (as in “and”)
  Quotation

I don’t think it can be used to link two phrases or clauses so that’s that out of the window.

I would imagine the quotation と would be towards the end of the sentence to quote what precedes it.

So only the conditional remains but I doubt it fits here... unless it means 調べると means:
If the “country” looks up March of this year... they understand that the number of special skill workers are constantly diminishing?

But my question:
Is there a way to tell the と apart at a glance?

Source
The sentence above is from this article:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012450361000/k10012450361000.html


texts:
Some details first.
I am building a clock and it will be all in Japanese.
Getting the numbers isn't a problem.

I want there two be two lights that indicate if AM or PM.  I don't want to just translate the letters, as I guess there is a Japanese term for AM and PM.


texts:
"一人当たり3個ずつパンを配ります。
I will hand out three pastries per person."

"一人当たり"indicates it's "per person", is it possible to remove the ずつ and keep the same meaning ? (maybe add a の or move the counter also)


texts: Is the sentence なぜあなたがそれは開いたの? grammatically correct

texts:
I don't know how to say: why did you open this?
Is it correct when I would say なぜあなたがそれは開いたの？
How can you say it differently?


texts:
I want to equate the quality of something to an apple. (Bare with me, just using a random noun to make the desired construct clearer.) But instead of going around it and saying something like "it looks like an apple" or "has apple-like qualities", I want to just go ahead and say "appleness", like "Your appleness is amazing". Evidently this can't be done in valid English, but is there a way to do this in valid Japanese?

Slightly better example: "Your childishness is annoying." If don't want to say 'childishness' and instead want to specify the exact level of referenced age, say grade-schooler: "Your grade-schooler-ness is annoying." Is this doable?


texts: What is the これで in これで失礼します

texts:
My question is about the meaning of the これで in

これで失礼します.

I've looked to see if I could find an explanation for it, but the many "literal" translations I found all seemed to use the word "now" in their translations in something like

Dewa kore de shitsurei shimasu >  Well, I must be leaving now

The idea of これで apparently being translated as "now" doesn't sound right to me but I can't find any explanations or questions about this very basic phrase. What does it actually mean?


texts:
Interviewer: 政権は親米だったけど、国民は違っていたと。
Interviewee: イランはその後、「アメリカというのは大悪魔だ」と言うようになるし、アメリカは「イランは世界のテロリストの親玉みたいな存在だ」というふうに呼ぶんです。

It is an interview to a specialist.
How is ふう working there, or as what?  My assumption is that it is working as 風  for tendency/manner, but I am not so sure.


texts:
A man has just opened his newspaper and pulled out a bundle of leaflets. He then says:

  「いっぱい広告が入ってるなァ。お歳暮も大変だよなァ」
  It's full of adverts. The year-end gifts are (also?) great/terrible.

I've never properly understood 大変. How do I know if the man is happy or upset by the year-end gifts? My guess is that he's not happy because leaflets in newspapers are a pain, but it's not clear to me at all.


texts:
**

  単語検索で聴取できる男声サンプルは，ます形など，共通語では無声化されるところを無声化せずに読んでいます。また，男女ともに，名詞の音声サンプルは提供していません。

**

My translation is :As for the the male sample that could be heard by the word search, masu form and common terms..... it will be voicelessly changed when reading voiclessly ??? also , we can not offer voive samples that are both female and male  .

And what does

  ところを

mean in this context ?


texts: What's the difference between 違法 and 不法?

texts: Looking up the translation for "illegal", I found 違法｛いほう｝ and 不法｛ふほう｝. These words seem to be quite similar. Judging from what I have found online, it seems 不法 is mainly used to refer to illegal immigration, trespassing, etc, whereas 違法 can refer to any illegal act. Is this accurate? Is there a more general difference in meaning?


texts: How would you say "Family before wealth" in Japanese?

texts: My friend wants to get a japanese phrase on some t-shirts for our group of friends, and he wants it to say "family before fortune." He means fortune as in wealth, not as in luck, or future. The problem is he has already "translated" it-- he basically put it in google translate and it spat out "unmei no mae no kazoku" which doesn't seem right to me. "Unmei" doesn't mean that kind of fortune. I told him "tomi" would probably make the most sense, but I'm not sure about the grammar and/or linguistics in the sentence itself. I don't know too much Japanese, so if anyone could answer this, and include the romanization & kanji, that would be great.


texts: Is there a difference in drawing between the "mouth" and "enclosure" kanji radicals?

texts:
The two kanji radicals from the image are supposed to be 2 different kanji radicals, one meaning "mouth", and the other meaning "enclosure". I'm not sure if they are supposed to look different or not. The one above seems to have some very small lines continuing the box, but may be it's just my imagination.

I noticed one of them is used in kanjis where a drawing goes inside it, and the other doesn't have any drawing inside it. Is that supposed to be the difference between them or they look barely different somehow?


texts:
What's the Japanese word for "tangy"? It's a bit hard to define the word, but it's something that has a sharp flavour, and it's not necessarily a pejorative (saying that something's bad). For example, I might say that airag, or maybe some slightly fermented yoghurt is tangy.

Neither jisho.org nor wiktionary has a translation.

I came across

  ぴりっとする、強いにおいのある

on weblio, but the second part seems to be a definition, not a translation, saying strong smell, and the first part "ぴりっと" doesn't seem to be an exact match.


texts: The 「と」 conditional to be used as "when"?

texts:
i'm not entirely sure but remember that conditionals could be used to also mean "when" when in is that the case here?

  ゲームを愛する引き篭もり少年・佐藤（さとう）和真（かずま）の人生は、あっけなく幕を閉じた・・・・・・はずだったが、目を覚ますと目の前に女神と名乗る美少女が。

would I be correct in translating the whole sentence as some along the lines of "gaming loving shut-in, satou kazuma's life life had the curtains closed too soon..... that was how it was supposed to be but, when he awoke, before his eyes was beautiful girl calling herself a goddess" ?

it doesn't make much sense to mean if here but I'm not too sure.


texts: Is it polite in Japan to ask if someone speaks English? (英語を話せますか？)

texts:
As preparation for my trip, I am re-learning my Japanese. I imagined a scenario which I am not sure if it is okay to ask.

Is it polite to ask someone if they speak English or are people offended by the question?

Also, is 英語を話せますか okay or is 英語ができますか better?


texts: 時に[激]{はげ}しく - 時に[切]{せつ}なく

texts:
There're other things make me confused while enjoying the famous song "Chiisana Koi no Uta - 小さな恋のうた":

  時に激しく- 時に切なく

  sometimes intense(ly), sometimes painful.

Why they finish the sentences with "く"? Regardless of the rhythm or melody, if the role is to connect the sentences, should they use the te-form "〜くて” to do it?

  時に激しくて- 時に切なくて

Or maybe I guess there's an omitted part after the "く" like:

  時に激しく(なる)- 時に切なく(なる)( *** )

  somtimes (become) intense, sometimes (become) painful

or

  時に激しく(感じる)- 時に切なく(感じる)( *** )

  somtimes (feel) intense, sometimes (feel) painful

if so, when should I use ( *** ) ?
Anyone give help?


texts: What I'm trying to say is "what time is it in Japan right now?". My main problem is if I placed 今 correctly and if I should use に or は?


texts:
This is an extract I am trying to translate

  次期族長に期待されているが
  村の外の話を聞くことが好きな
  好奇心旺盛な側面もあるようだ。

From my understanding and the posts I have read here, 好きな means "favorite" or "which one likes". But I don't understand how it works in this whole sentence, or how it connects to the said person having a side of him that is filled with curiosity.


texts: What is the purpose of 「し」 in phrase 「私は緊{きん}張{ちょう}しすぎて」?

texts:
There is a phrase 「私は緊{きん}張{ちょう}しすぎて」.
Translates as:

  私は - I緊張 - nervousすぎて - too; exceedingly

But what is the purpose of 「し」 after 「緊張」?


texts: How does one affirm an appointment offered with 「どうですか？」?

texts:
For example:

  さざいさんのスケジュールはどうですか？

  How is [the proposed time for] Sazai's (your) schedule?

The simple affirmation -- 「どうです」 -- seems wrong since 「どう」 is a question word.


texts:
それでも、俺はその繊細な声が誰のものかすぐに気づく。

Does もの here refer to a voice?

If so, would there be any difference between the above and the following?

  それでも、俺はその繊細な声が誰の声かすぐに気づく。

Is it simply to avoid repetition? If so, would it not be also correct to omit the noun entirely and say:

  それでも、俺はその繊細な声が誰のかすぐに気づく。


texts:
I translated this song a bit ago for practice and, looking at it again, I am wondering what 先 means here:

ゆるりと　春を愛づる日に
袖振り合う縁の先
私はあなたと出会った

Do you think 先 means "end of our relationship" or "start/future of our relationship" here? For context, the speaker ends up dying at the end of the song (being killed by her lover no less), and so "end of our relationship" might make sense.
The 袖振り合う bit comes from the 袖振り合うも他生の縁 proverb which means, "Even a chance acquaintance (started by sleeves brushing by each other) is decreed by destiny." The reason I didn't initially translate 縁 as destiny here was because of the context where the speaker is talking about her relationship (I think it was used sort of like a play on words but I could be wrong.) Also, the speaker sings えん, so 縁 is definitely either relationship or destiny, and not edge or memento (this kanji is used for too many words :). I have a rough translation of this line, but I am not confident in it at all:

On a day when I leisurely admire spring,
(it is) the end of our relationship sparked by sleeves brushing by each other
I met you by chance

Another thing that's tripping me up is the lack of particle after 先, so I'm just assuming that it is だ.
On the chance 縁 does mean destiny here, could the line mean something like:
On a day when I leisurely admire spring,
(It is) the destination of (a) fate where our sleeves brush by each other,
I met you by chance
So what is your take on this, there is every chance I have been staring at it for too long and am completely off :) Also please note I am more interested in understanding the Japanese than making the translation pretty at this stage, so that's why its sort of a mess :)


texts:
Suppose there are two groups/teams A and B within the same conversational space, and I'm in group A. How would I say:

  "they (group B) discussed among themselves" (as opposed to discussing with group A)
  "they quarrelled among themselves" (as opposed to quarrelling with group A)

I found some candidates here:

自分たち (can I just "pluralise" 自分 with たち? Does it work without たち if I want it to reflexively refer to the group instead of an individual?)
内輪 (is this readily used conversationally?)
自{みずか}ら (I have no idea how to use this at all. Would it be 自らのけんか・自らの相談をする ?)

Sentence construction:

彼らは + {自分で・自分たちで・内輪・自ら} + {相談した・けんかした}
彼らは + {内輪の・自らの} + {相談・けんか} をした

(I'm not sure what particles work with 内輪 and 自ら)

Which of the plural reflexives work best? What are the natural ways to convey this meaning?


texts: What are the differences between ように and よう when used to link sentences?

texts:
列車に間に合うように早く家を出た (A)

Translates as "I left home early in order to catch the train".

Would:

  列車に間に合うよう、早く家を出た (B)

Translate differently? Is there any nuance here ("as if to catch the train", "appearing that I left early to catch the train" etc.)? The (B) structure is quite common in Japanese literature and I'd like to come closer to understanding it.


texts: Why are these sentences with conditional forms not correct?

texts:
I'm struggling a lot with the use of conditional forms, especially using ～たら and ～なら. I recently had the following sentences corrected by my Japanese teacher:
a. 専門書を買ったら、私にも見せてください。
b. 専門書を買うなら、私にも見せてください。
c. 今年の夏、国へ帰ったら、私も連れて行ってください。
d. 今年の夏、国へ帰るなら、私も連れて行ってください。
e. 料理を作ったら、私も手伝いましょう。
f. 料理を作るなら、私も手伝いましょう。
I thought in these sentences both conditional forms were okay, but only (b), (c) and (f) were marked as correct by my teacher. Why is that?


texts: Can you explain この建物は築100年以上たっている to me?

texts:
I was studying the word 以上 and I found some examples with them. The meaning of 以上 in my textbook is "or more" and they put an example:

  ３０度以上の日 = A day of 30 degrees or more.

Then I was searching for more examples on the internet and I get confused a little when I found this:

  この建物は築100年以上たっている

They translated it as "This building was built more than 100 years back " so my questions are:

1) 建てる is a group 2 verb so the て形 wouldn't it be 建てている?

2) Why 建てる is in the progressive form? shouldn't it be in past 建てた?

3) Isn't the meaning of 以上 "or more" or it just means "more"?

Thanks a lot for your time!


texts: Can i use で instead of に in this context

texts:
In the phrase "ATMはビルの１階にあります"
Can i say ATMはビルの１階であります?
Someone told me it doesn't sound natural. But i didn't understand why


texts: 問うてはいけない？why not 問ってはいけない

texts:
I found this sentence from a Shinkansenmaster reading textbook.

  基本語彙の語源は本当は問うてはいけないのかもしれない。

But てform of 問う is 問って right?

Please explain why it is used in such way. Thank you.


texts: Why does this sentence ご飯を食べてから部屋を掃除してください。 has から?

texts:
Why does this sentence

  ご飯を食べてから部屋を掃除してください。

has

  から

Considering that the translation given is

  After eating, please clean your room.

I thought with the given sentence it should be translated along the lines of "Since you have eaten - clean your room". With that "since" being derived from から.

Can someone please explain this nuance in both cases?


texts:
I know it is some form of する。The context is this tweet:

いいえ！無視は しちゃい けませんな(^-^)/気持ちは受け取って♪(´ε｀ )RT @PuyoPuyoStar: @shinji_sid すみません。先程ツイート送ったんですが、「無理してはいけません」と書きたかったところ、「無視してはいけません」と書いてしまいました。本当すみませ


texts:
関口 has just woken up after surgery:

  関口は自分が盲腸の手術をしたことを思い出した。

I'm sure I'm being dumb, but this reads to me like

  Sekiguchi remembered doing the appendix operation himself.

I assume it's supposed to mean "Sekiguchi remembered having an appendix operation". What am I failing to understand here?


texts:
I work in an American subsidiary of a Japanese company.　I met a few Japanese colleagues while working at the home office on an exchange. Do I need to use Keigo for:

Colleague A: 1 year younger in age than me and joined the company at a later time. It seems like I could use the desu/masu form without Keigo, but since we belong to different departments, different branches, etc., I'm not sure whether he is in-group or out-group.

Colleague B: Not 100% certain about age and seniority, but probably the same age and seniority as me or my junior.

Colleague C: 6 years younger than me and much less seniority. Should I use plain forms to talk down to him? I decided not to since I wasn't sure whether we were all in-group or considered out-group.


texts: Why is だ being used at the end of the following sentence?

texts:
This is the full sentence:

おかしいけど、中国人を理解するのは難しい。私は日本人を理解する方が簡単だ。

I think I was expecting something like です or よ.

I'm really confused about this だ.


texts: i am confusesd as to what historical present tense is, when it is used, etc

texts:
I understand that historical present tense is basically a tense that uses

  "present tense to describe past events/actions more vividly and lively..." - Chocolate

Doing my own research into possible examples of historical present tense has only left me more confused as to what it is, how to use it, how to recognize it, the rules governing its use, etc...

How can I tell if a sentence (or part of a sentence) in Japanese is written using the historical present tense?
How can I tell if a sentence is NOT written in historical present tense?
In historical present tense written in Japanese, are the past events written with past tense while the rest of the sentence is written in present tense?
Should I attempt to translate the historical tense and put everything into present tense when translating from Japanese to another language?

4.a. What tense do I use for the actual events when I don't know what said events tense type is? (うなずいて in the below example)

  曖昧{あいまい}にうなずいてから, あと二人, 部屋の中に誰かいるのに気がついた.

Examples claiming to use historical present tense: "気づく" <- here,  this stack question, and this one too, oh, and here

(If I had enough points I would create and use a historical-tense tag for this, but as I do not have enough right now, I am using the 'interpretation' tag for the mean time.)


texts:
部活ならまだしも、サークルにまで顧問がいたら先生が何人いても足りない

the latter part is talking about how there aren't enough teachers for every circle to have an adviser, but the "rather; better" definition of まだしも doesn't make sense here.

It has already been established that clubs have more stature than circles for context.


texts:
The phrase "じいつにくうだらない" appeared in the Doraemon manga, but the words don't appear in a dictionary. What is actually being said?

じいつ - ?

くうだらない - silly (?)

I would greatly appreciate help translating.


texts:
A recent question asked about joining two adjectives together.  It used the following example:

  (example 1) きれいで静かな町

As I understand it, this is the combination of the 連用形 of きれいだ with the 連体形 of 静かだ.  Let's turn this example into 終止形 instead of 連体形 for my question:

  (example 2) 町はきれいで静かだ

According to this answer, you can also join two adjectives with し.  In this case, I would replace で with だ and add し:

  (example 3) 町はきれいだし静かだ

I think this means the same thing as example 2.  (According to sawa's answer here, the て-form has two restrictions, "it implies temporal order" and "volitionality of what is connected must match".  Neither restriction sounds relevant in this case, so I don't think replacing で with だし changes the meaning.)

However, what if I were to change it back to 連体形 like in example 1?  Can I join two adjectives with し like this:

  (example 4) きれいだし静かな町

I feel like example 4 is wrong because it parses as two separate clauses, like きれいだ plus 静かな町, which doesn't make sense to me.  In contrast, I think example 1 is parsed as きれいで静かな modifying 町, which does make sense to me.

Am I correct that you can't join adjectives with し before a noun like in example 4?


texts:
I am learning the word for Christ, キリスト. According to the dictionary I make use of, it can be written in kanji as 基督, but the entry indicates that it is an ateji 当て字 spelling. I did some extra research and the word appears as ateji in other sources too, for example in this wikipedia entry . However, I think that the meanings of both kanji are far from random and instead they actually suit the meaning of the word Christ:

基　fundamental, radical
督　coach, command, supervise

From a believer's standpoint, Christ (or God) is the fundamental actor that supervises our lives, so it kind of makes sense meaning-wise. Why is 基督 marked as an ateji then?


texts: What is the etymology of the phrase 隴を得て蜀を望む?

texts:
I just came across this phrase, which is listed in the dictionary as:

  never being satisfied with what one gets, and always wanting more; giving someone an inch and having them take a mile; taking Gansu only to want Sichuan

It's the last meaning that interests me. Is this a relic of Imperial Japanese history? After a quick Wikipedia search I wasn't able to find that Gansu was taken by the Japanese, although they certainly did want Sichuan. Did this phrase originate in historical events, or is it really just a figure of speech?

Also, where does the interpretation of 隴 as Gansu come from? In Chinese it's 甘肃 and in Japanese 甘粛省. I can't find anything in dictionaries about this character relating to Gansu.


texts:
I have a hard time understanding the use of でわかる. I'm guessing that it doesn't just simply mean that "something is understood". Instead I wonder if it means that "something was realized"? I read the following sentence:

  京都大学大学院薬学研究科の男性教授が、新薬の研究開発に絡む物品購入などで不正な会計処理をしていた疑いがあることが大学関係者の話で分かった。

Would it be correct to say that "this situation was realized due to the person's story"?


texts:
In the sentence:

  "重大{じゅうだい}な事実{じじつ}っすか！なんかチョーイミシンッ！"

I can't seem to find the meaning for the second part "チョーイミシンッ".


texts: What do いっぱいいっぱい and 余裕 mean in this context?

texts:
I'm translating this manga, but I'm having a hard time because I don't know what's the best way to translate these words

Context: see pics... sorry that there are 7 pics, but I felt that explaining everything going on in there would be too hard and confusing. いっぱいいっぱい appears on page 3 and 6. Basically, I'm not sure if it's meant to have a positive or negative meaning in this context. I know that it's always used to talk about something negative. And 余裕, I understood it as having the mind at ease so I translated as laid-back, but I don't know if it's correct.

NOTE: before reading, I want to state that this is a romance story and Yuu has feelings for her senpai, but she's in denial/tsundere for many reasons.

In this conversation, Natsuki (short black hair) and Yuu are talking about senpai and Yuu's attitude regarding said senpai. Yuu is complaining about her senpai, and Natsuki laughs because it's the first time Yuu complains about something and says Yuu is いっぱいいっぱい. Then Natsuki talks about how Yuu used to be/have 余裕(laid-back?) all the time, and implies that the fact that Yuu isn't laid-back anymore now is because Yuu has found something (or someone in this case) that she actually cares about (that's why Natsuki mentions how Yuu never cried or showed emotion when they won or lost a softball match, unlike her teammates). Then Natsuki says that she just wanted to see Yuu being いっぱいいっぱい at least once. And at the end Natsuki thinks it's a bit frustrating that Yuu wasn't いっぱいいっぱい about softball.

That's why I'm confused, the word means something negative and since Yuu is complaining and judging by her confused reaction it should mean something negative, but Natsuki talks about this word as it is something positive. I don't know if I should translate it as "fed up" (negative) or something like "fulfilled" (positive). I can't get what Natsuki means by using いっぱいいっぱい. I find the use of 余裕 a bit confusing as well, but I guess both are related in this case. Thanks in advance.


texts:
This may sound strange, but say you're talking to a friend on the phone, or an equivalent. You want to ask if they have a new game or say, got the new character in a game. I realise you can ask 'have you received', but is there any way besides  持つ and ある? Like a verb to 'own' or to 'possess'?

If I'm not making sense, say if I asked you if you had a car. Would I just say あなたは車がある？ What about a new character in a game? How would I say 'do you own him' or 'have you got/received him yet'?

Thanks!


texts: Can we turn nouns into adverb by adding に?

texts:
"しかし、期待を胸に中学校に赴任すると、理想と現実は大きくかけ離れていました。"

"加藤さんは大切な手紙を手に再び「パナマ」へ向かいます。"

"彼女は手紙を手に、階下へ降りてきた。"

Is に turning these nouns into adverbs ?


texts: Meaning of inversion in questions: 「何ですか、今の音は？」

texts:
I often hear questions where a phrase marked with は is moved to the end of the sentence:

  今の音は何ですか？
  何ですか、今の音は？

I heard the second sentence above in the anime となりの関くん.  A student has just made a loud sound in the back of class, and the teacher asks this question out of irritation.

My question is, how is an inverted question like this different from a sentence with basic word order?  Does it differ in terms of emphasis?


texts: How would I know whether a word existed and was commonly used N years ago?

texts:
Suppose I'm writing a novel that takes place N years ago, say N = 80. Given the dramatic increase of loanwords in the past century, especially from English, what would be the best way (if there is any) to know whether a word existed at all and how commonly was it used at the time?

For material things, eg related to technology, this would obviously trivial. I am referring here to more abstract concepts, such as adjectives and nouns like ポピュラー、リーズナブル、カラフル、デリケート、ドキュメント、コミットメント、イベント, and so on.

One way I can think of is to check dictionaries published around the time the story takes place. However, this could be technically difficult and not necessarily precise. Is there any other way? To rephrase the question, what is a good way to understand when a new word has been officially introduced and became mainstream? Before Google of course.


texts: What does と do in this sentence? Is it just quoting?

texts:
First time asking something here, so I hope it goes down well. I have a difficult time with と in this sentence.

  錬金術師らの間でも 神への冒涜と暗黙のうちに禁じられていると聞きますし

The first part is easy. Even among alchemists, blasphemy to God... と is tacitly forbidden, I hear.

What I am thinking is that it might be a quotation. As in 「神への冒涜」と　is being forbidden. と in this case would specify what is tacitly forbidden.

Is it just that or does it have another meaning that I am missing.

EXTRA POINTS: 暗黙 means tacit and the のうちに makes it tacitly. But usually (の)うちに means while; during; as when coupled with a noun. So is 暗黙のうちに just a common expression or is there more to うちに that meets the eye.

Thank you in advance for helping me out.


texts: Beginner miscomprehension of spoken Japanese - finding wrong word boundaries

texts:
As a beginner of Japanese, I very often I don't understand or completely misunderstand spoken Japanese - even if I know every word in the sentence, and may have recognized it in different context. Here is an example where I was completely stunned - had no clue what it said until I saw the text. A native Japanese speaker saying the following sentence:

  まだ学校へ行くには早い時間です。
  It's still to early to go to school.

(This is from some flashcard stack in Anki. The accompanying picture shows two young kids who may have just woken up.)

When listening to this first, even repeatedly, without knowing the text or any other hint, I heard roughly the following,  if I had to write it down in kana:

  まだが　こへい　くには　はやい　じかん　です。

Or in letters (deliberately not exactly rōmaji):

  Madaga  kowei  kuniwa  hayai jikan des

First, one thing seems to be a general rule:  In 学校
the individual readings がく＋こう get contracted to  がっこう. (Is there indeed a rule behind this? I heard the short pause in gakkou as a word boundary.)

The other thing I got totally wrong was the place where there are essentially four vowels in a row in 学校へ行く：

  がっこうへいく in the underlined  ouei.  (the へ is basically just the vowel e in this situation)

I don't know exactly how to pose this as a question. But I still wonder how I can accelerate my listening understanding (besides just more training)?


texts: Confusion regarding "go" and "ko" in hiragana

texts: I am learning hiragana and the word ichigo has confused me. What is the hiragana for go? My hiragana chart has a symbol for ko but not go.


texts: What's the difference between もともと and そもそも?

texts:
What's the difference between the usage and meaning of そもそも and もともと?

They both seem to mean something like "from the start/to begin with/originally" in dictionaries, but I believe their usage differs. I've seen numerous explanations by searching:

The accepted answer at this Chiebukuro page says that it's a difference of time for もともと and logic for そもそも.
This page says that そもそも, but not もともと can be used for expressing the essence of things or for criticizing other people, and that the former is subjective and the latter is objective.
Another page in that same thread says that もともと is the state before a change, and そもそも is used for how things come about/the essence of the situation etc.

While dictionary definitions for もともと and そもそも are very similar, I think the examples there are making me lean more towards the second explanation, but I think there also might be some other ways which they differ.


texts: How do we describe 'food that has gone cold/food that has gone stale?'

texts: As the title suggests, I am wondering how do we describe food which has gone stale or food that has gone cold after being left out there for too long? I checked jisho and 大辞林 but I did not manage to find anything conclusive. Thanks for any help!


texts:
It is a situation which a salesperson announces to a group of people to attract them to buy his goods

Here is the full sentence.

  品{しな}数{かず}すくないけど 種{しゅ}類{るい}に おいちゃあ そのへんのデパートなみだ!

What does おいちゃあ mean?


texts:
Heres the sentence :

  彼は自由なほうの手を伸ばして頭皮をさわり、痛みの源を突き止めようとした。

So I understand the sentence, I think, by context, as :
"He reached up with his free arm and touched his scalp, trying to determine the origin of his headache."

But i can't find a good definition or explanation for this "ほう", which kanji is this related ? what's the meaning here ?

Thanks in advance.


texts: What is "kanji illiteracy" (kanji yomenai) in the context of native Japanese speakers?

texts:
In the context of native Japanese speakers (not non-natives), is there a concept that roughly translates as "kanji illiteracy"? If so, what are the Japanese terms for it? Also, what does it mean? Does it mean not being able to distinguish kanji apart, not knowing the readings, or not knowing the meanings? Can it also mean people who are unable to write kanji, being reliant on IMEs and producing lots of 誤変換?

Background: Episode 5 of 古代少女ドグちゃん had Das Kapital being deployed to un-brainwash some exploited workers in a crab-meat factory (presumably a reference to 蟹工船). It worked on the older workers, but the younger workers were not un-brainwashed, and the heroes deployed the まんがで読破 (Manga de Dokuha) version, saying "the pressure-free education kanji-illiterate can understand it," according to a D-Addicts fansub.

Related question: How do I differentiate all these terms for "illiterate"? talks about illiteracy, but doesn't seem to mention kanji in particular.

Edit: The term turned out to be kanji yomenai (漢字読めない). (Thanks nkjt先生!) Edited the title so it's more informative.


texts: A relative clause in a relative clause (Nested relative clauses)

texts:
What I want to say is something as follows,

  Up to now, there is no person who can find the mistake of person who does not care about the possibility of the existence of living things on places other than the earth.

My attempt is as follows. Could you verify whether or not my translation correct? Any comment and correction are highly appreciated.

  地球以外の所に生物が存在する可能性を気にしない人の間違いことを見つける人は今までもまだいない。


texts: How to say "I've been busy with something"

texts:
I am trying to figure the correct way to answer the question:

  授業をサボった時にどんな言い訳をよくしますか。

I want to say:
"Usually I say i've been busy with my internship to the extend that I couldn't come to class"

which I wrote initially as:

  授業に来られないほど忙しにインタンシップをしましたことをよく言います

but idk if 忙しに is the best form of saying an internship that had me busy...


texts:
As far as I know 「なさい」 is the imperative form of 「なさる」. So why does 「お帰りなさい」 mean "welcome home"? Wouldn't it mean something like "please return"? If it was just 「お帰り」, I could understand it as a mean of taking notice of someone's return.

I was looking at this question and there it's explained that 「お帰りなさい」 takes the same form as 「ごめんなさい」 and 「お休みなさい」, but the translations "please forgive me" and "please rest" actually make sense in the context they're used.

According to this link, it's an abbreviation of 「（ようこそ）お帰りなさいました」. Another person suggests the origin 「よくお帰りになりました」. I'm not sure which one matches the meaning better.

I'm especially confused because 「お帰りなさいませ」 seems to be an acceptable greeting as well. And isn't 「ませ」 also imperative?


texts:
From a blog about Death Note:

  自分に付き纏い始めた何者かを葬り去るためのキラの作戦が展開されたわけですが、
  さすがキラの頭脳は普通ではないと思わせるような計画の内容でした。
  私なら、とにかく捜査官の顔写真と名前を入手して、自分で写真を見ながら名前を書くでしょう。
  しかし、ファイルを入手する過程で何らかの”足”が付きそうですね。
  まさか、自分のパソコンにデータを送ってもらうわけにも行かず、
  となるとレイのパソコンを強奪するしかないわけです。
  でもノートパソコンって．．．　あんなもんブラ下げていたら、結構目立つんですよね。

Context:
the author is trying to analyze if Light made a mistake by killing Ray Penber, the detective that was investigating him. After finding out his name he set up a scenario where he made Ray
 write all the names of the fbi agents in japan investigating in a page from the death note with predetermined details of their deaths.

I think the author is saying that if he was in that case he would find a way to get the fbi agents names and photos and he himself would write them on the death note (instead of having another person doing it).

Then this sentence appears しかし、ファイルを入手する過程で何らかの”足”が付きそうですね。 which I think means It seams there's (already?)  somekind of way of being carried out? attached to the method for finding the information of the agents.

Then I think he is saying that he can't get that information sent to his computer, so his only choice would be to steal his laptop.
Then here:

  でもノートパソコンって．．．　あんなもんブラ下げていたら、結構目立つんですよね。

but the laptop... if something like that is hanging, if would be very noticeable (suspicious?)??
if ブラ下げる is transitive who is the agent?


texts: Why ga and not o in "Mari wa neru koto ga suki desu"?

texts:
When I saw this sentence alone Mari wa neru koto ga suki desu I first thought neru koto is the direct object of the answer and should have an "o" particle, and not a "ga". Later I thought I might dont understand very well and may be actions can't be direct object or something, but after seeing the structure of the question that originates that answer more confusion arises:

Nani o suru koto ga suki desu ka?

Here Nani is marked as "o" (direct object) and in the answer that "what" becomes "suru koto" (which is marked as "ga" so supposedly it isnt a direct object) . isnt this contradictory? is it simply this way a valid syntactic rule or am I missunderstanding something more?


texts: What is the difference between 扱う、捌く、 解決する and 処理する

texts:
These words have similar meanings along the lines of:

"deal with" "take care of" "settle" "manage" "handle" "process" some issue or something

For example what are the nuances of these sentences?

問題をうまく扱う
問題をうまく捌く
問題をうまく解決する
問題をうまく処理する

I have difficulty differentiating the contexts that each are used in and it's meanings.


texts: Is there a different meaning for ごちそうさま!

texts:
I have posted a "status" on Facebook:

  Dear santa, I would like for you to bring him for christmas

My boyfriend commented:

  Your Wish is my command!

And my Japanese manager (from our office) commented:

  ごちそうさま!!

In this case, what does ごちそうさま!! mean?  I think it is definitely not the meaning "Thanks for the meal".

So, are there any other meanings of ごちそうさま!!？


texts: Can I insert hiragana in words I only know partially how to write?

texts:
This is a problem I encountered today. I had no idea how to decide what was the best course of action, and I only got the advice of a classmate (You're doing it WRONG) to confirm.

As I am still learning, I often stumble upon words that I only partially know how to write; for example in 魅力的{みりょくてき}, I obviously know how to write 力, I almost always remember how to write 的, but I often forget how to write 魅.

Faced with that situation, should I try to insert hiragana or just give up and write the whole thing in kana?

If it is possible, are all combinations acceptable? i.e.

み力的
魅りょく的
みりょく的
魅力てき
魅りょくてき


texts:
A character from a book (カゲロウデイズ -in a daze-) said this:

  「ほら、お揃いのカップでみんなでお茶とかしたら楽しそうじゃない？」

I am confused as to the use of the "とかしたら" after "お茶." She is saying that something seems fun with the uniform's cap, but how is "とかしたら" being used? Is it the "とか" in a list with the -たら from of する, just "と" attached to the verb "かす," or something else?


texts: Is there a difference in using で and に in these two example sentences?

texts:
逃げる以外に方法がない。

逃げる以外で方法がない。

I know the sentence means roughly 'There is no other way except to run away' (per this site; https://www.japaneseforbeginners.info/2016/07/igai.html), but I don't understand what would be the difference in alternating between these two particles. Can't they both 'adverbialize' a noun? I just want to better understand the nuance between で and に when they are modifying a verb.


texts: Concept of Negative Form of Auxiliary Verbs

texts:
I was studying different auxiliaries and I am having a hard time understanding those auxiliaries which have their meanings attached with them.

Following the those auxiliaries and questions:

てみる - Its negative form is てみない. We know that it has a meaning "try" attached with it e.g. 食べてみる eat (to see what it is like). So for this my question is, when we use the negative form of てみる will the concept of "to try to see what it is like" be attached with it as well. E.g. will 食べてみない mean do not eat (to see what it feels like), or something else?
てあげる/てくれる - Its negative form is てあげない/てくれない.  We know that, this auxiliary has a meaning showing helpfulness and gratitude, i.e. done something for someone as a favour. E.g.　お母さんは私へ食べ物を作ってくれる means mother cooked food for me (I am thankful to her). Now, if we use the negative form てくれない, will it mean, I am thankful/grateful to her that an act was not done. E.g.　お母さんは私へってくれない, will this mean I am thankful/grateful to my mom that she did not scold me, or something else?
ておく - Its negative form is ておかない. We know that this auxiliary means Did something in advance or rather prepared in advance for something. E.g. 私は食べておいた, I ate (in advance for something). Now, if we use the negative form ておきなかった, will it mean I did not do this for something in future. E.g. 私は食べてなかった, will this mean I did not eat (in advance, e.g. I will ride a roller-coaster later). or something else?

教えてきださい！


texts:
In the Genki I textbook, they seem to reference the present perfect tense three times, but each with a different grammar. Here they are, with book-style English translations:

  日本に行っています。(Ch 7, 〜ている form)
  I have gone to Japan.

  日本にもう行きました。(Ch 9, simple past form with もう)
  I have already gone to Japan.

  日本に行ったことがあります。(Ch 11, 〜ことがある form)
  I have had the experience of going to Japan.

I'm not really sure about the semantic and grammatical differences between the three, even in English (although the translations may be imperfect). How can I understand them in relation to each other?

Also, does it ever make sense to combine the forms? Like,

  日本にもう行っています。
  I have already gone to Japan (?)

  日本にもう行ったことがあります。
  I have already had the experience of going to Japan (?)


texts: Does Kara have two meanings: since, because and from?

texts:
My dictionary shows kara twice:

kara: from
kara: since, because

Is there a difference in the way these two are written or is there just one meaning?


texts:
This is a sentence from a manga (the first chapter of Slam Dunk on page 9)
["バスケット部がなんでいバスケット部が!"] seems like it translates to something like "basketball team... why the basketball team!?"...
There is a line break between the なんでい/なんだい and the repetition of the subject (バスケット部が)
...but I'm not sure why なんで is being spelled with い at the end. does that change the sentence structure as a whole to make it mean something else?


texts: Are there words or phrases that are commonly mistyped by native speakers on the Internet?

texts: Like how it is common to see their/there and "could/would/should of" instead of "could/would/should have" in English discussions.


texts: Using まで together with a negative connotation 帰らないつもりです in a sentence

texts:
I am referring Minna no Nihongo 2, Chapter 31 Mondai section.

The sentence pair is:

  Q:夏休みに国へかえりますか。
  A:いいえ、クリスマスまで帰らないつもりです。

It would be great if you can tell me why the answer is 帰らないつもりです instead of 帰るつもりです? Thank you very much!


texts:
I have learnt that we can use a 普通形 before ため but I don't know whether the tense in 普通形 should agree with the tense in the main clause or not.

Thanks a lot.


texts: 調べました versus 調べてわかりました

texts:
Regarding a new born panda:

  東京の上野動物園は、１２日に生まれたパンダの赤ちゃんは女の子だと発表しました。
  Tokyo's Ueno zoo announced that the baby panda born on the 12th is a girl.
  ２２日の朝、中国の専門家と一緒に赤ちゃんの体を調べてわかりました。
  On the morning of the 22nd (the zoo) together with Chinese experts examined the baby's body.

What is the purpose of adding 分かりました to the end of this sentence? How does the nuance change if you omit this verb?


texts: Does ところ in verb+ところから始まる still mean "about to do something"?

texts:
Yesterday I learnt about verb + ところ,  meaning about to do something. For example:

料理を作るところです
About to cook food

Today I saw a sentence like this:

問題を知るところから始まる

I'm not sure if it translates to "start from about to know the issue", because that sounds a bit weird to me.
If doesn't, what does the ところ in the sentence above mean?
Furthermore, do the first example 料理を作るところです or other verb + ところ(です) constructs ever mean something other than "about to do [something]"? How do I differentiate?


texts:
The character (かがみ) is asking her sister to explain something, so she points to the textbook and says:「ここなんだけどね」. It's translated (presumably correctly?) as: "I'm talking about this". (The sister responds with 「かがみが　わからないところは 私に分かるわけないでしょう」.)
What is the role of the ね particle here? I thought ね would reflect some feelings or thoughts that are (expected to be) shared between the two people. But this meaning doesn't seem to fit here.


texts: Which option is best for saying "I remembered to put a pen in my bag"

texts:
I can think of three ways to say "I remembered to put a pen in my bag"

忘れないでカバンにペンを入れました。

カバンにペンを入れることを忘れなかった。

カバンにペンを入れて忘れなかった。

I think all are technically correct but I'm not sure which is more natural.


texts:
Can someone please help me parse the following sentence:

  ...新商品をお試しくださいますようご案内申し上げます。

I guess the meaning is something like "We invite you to try our new product," but I don't understand how ます+よう connects the お試しください with ご案内申し上げます.  I don't even know if I should think of the ます here going with ください or よう (does くださいます occur in other sentence patterns?).


texts: Correct translation of sentence with できていません

texts:
I am confused with the use of できていません in sentence :

  明日の宿題のレポートがまだ１枚もできていません

When I checked the dictionary it shows that できる means CAN(DO)/ BE ABLE TO while ている is for present progressive so I translate it as:

  I cannot do/am not doing tomorrow's homework/report yet.

However when I checked google translate it gives me:

  I have not yet made one report for tomorrow's homework.

Questions:
1. Where did Google get made?
2. What is the correct translation?
3. Can we replace できる with おわる?

Thank you,

Sheena


texts: Meaning and use of どの when not in a question

texts:
Can someone please help me to understand these sentences from the Tobira textbook?

秋田市の「竿燈祭り」、仙台市の「七夕祭り」、そして青森市の「ねぶた祭り」。どの祭りもすごいスケール！毎年、日本だけじゃなくて、海外からも観光客がたくさん来るし、とても人気のある祭りだよ。

I am confused about this sentence どの祭りもすごいスケール！.  I've never really understood how どの is used outside of a question, so I'm not sure what it means here.  I think it might mean something like, each of (the three) festivals is very large?

How specifically are どの and も functioning in this sentence?


texts:
I tried going to my sound effect dictionary for this one but nothing came up, any help in figuring out what that bolded bit of the sentence means is much appreciated.

ジワリと赤い血が滴り落ちる。


texts:
I have found several related words that I think I have a better grasp of such as:
見掛ける・見て取る・認める

見掛ける is just simply visually seeing something
見て取る is close to 見て分かる, right? Seeing something that gives you some kind of knowledge or understanding, or that allows you to reach a conclusion.
認める has a huge number of usages, but limiting the discussion to the subset of its definitions that apply here, it means seeing something and acknowledging that that is the case.

But I am having a hard time wrapping my head around how 見受ける fits in.
In the example sentence

中学校期の子ども達には羞恥心が先行して声の出ないことがよく見受けられますので、励ましながら指導すべき課題と言えます。

it could just be translated as "seen" but I feel like something is missing.
The definition given in the 日本国語大辞典 is ある何ものかを判断をする。見てとる。みとめる。 which doesn't help. Honestly, I'm not sure I understand ある何ものかを判断をする。
ちょっと細かいことを聞いているので、日本語で説明した方が伝わると判断した場合、日本語でお願いします。
I am not looking for a simple translation but an explanation of the word and how it is used.


texts:
I would like to know the difference between 顔を合わせる and 会う

  彼はそれまで長く親密に交際していた四人の友人たちからある日、我々はみんなもうお前とは顔を合わせたくないし、口をききたくもないと告げられた (from Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami)

I translated as:

  While they were very close for a long time, his
  friends told me one day they did not want to meet him again

But what brings 顔を合わせる with regards to 会う　?


texts:
I have heard of all of the following conjugations as being imperative forms in Japanese by various texts.

  なさる　→　なさい

  くださる　→　ください

  いらっしゃる　→　いらっしゃいませ

Are these all part of the same category of imperative forms? If so, are these irregular conjugations and/or are they distinct from the 「止まれ」-style imperative?


texts:
Google translate なめた口 as "Licking Mouth" but I was sure it was not a right translation. I also tried to search for it on weblio & alc but didn't get any results... I do found alternative writing such as "なめた口を聞く" or "ナメ口きく"...

I read random image with that word and roughly see it as "talking lowly/bad about someone?", "looking down at someone" or "casual talk" . In anycase, it seems I cannot found out what it means...

Could you help to affirm the meaning of the phrase? And are there any resources to find translation of a phrase like this?


texts:
I have a Question -> Response exercise in my textbook. The context is a job interview at a convenience store. I think the meaning is "why do you want this job?" but the way the Japanese is worded seems odd to me.

Can somebody translate this for me please?

こちらでアルバイトを　したい思った理由は　何ですか。

It is したい思った which is confusing to me. "want to have thought" ???


texts:
From:

　その後も、その日一日、お嬢様に奇行が目立った。ずっと独り言を言っているし、突然叫び出す。私たちは気が気では無かったが、呼ばれた時にいつでも応えられるようにするだけで精一杯だ。


texts: How do you express "the person I did something to"?

texts:
I want to say:

  One person I told about XYZ said, "...".

Knowledgeably incorrect translation:

  XYZについて話した一人は「…」と言いました。

This makes it sound like they were the one telling me about XYZ. How do I write this so that it's clear that they are the one being told? The only ways I can think of makes it sound like they've had a moral offense committed against them (話された), or that they really wanted to know what I told them (話してもらった).


texts: Do only shop staff use 当店, or could I use it too to say 'here'?

texts:
I heard it in the context of a shop staff saying it in anime, but it got me thinking about the different ways I might say 'here' in a sentence like 'Do you serve vegetarian meals here?'

ここは。。。

こちらは。。。

この店は。。。

当店は。。。

Would all of these be understood and equally polite? If not, why?


texts:
I would like to express the following in Japanese:

You are the third person to ask me that.
You were the first person to greet me yesterday.

If I attempt to translate, I end up with:

３番目にそれを聞いた人は◯◯さんです。
昨日初めて挨拶してくれたのは◯◯さんです。
〜番目に〜したのは〜

However, I am not sure if this is the best way to express this.
More concretely:

Are these sentences grammatically correct?

Do these sentences convey what I am trying to convey?

Are these sentences natural? If not, how might I express these ideas more naturally? If so, are there other natural ways of expressing them?


texts:
The following sentence was spoken by a poor black man (American) who has experienced racism his entire life and is fed up to the teeth about it.

この国じゃ、肌が黒いってだけで、自由に呼吸することも、歩き回ることもできねぇ

Parsing the sentence:

この国じゃ = In this country
肌が黒いってだけで = only if (your) skin is black
自由に呼吸することも、歩き回ることもできねぇ = (you are) not (?) able to breathe freely and walk around.

Is it correct to translate this as:
In this country, if your skin is black, you can’t walk around or breathe freely.
Specifically:

Is ね a negative particle here (shortened from ない) – or does the sentence mean something else entirely? If yes, how do you tell?

Does ことも have the same meaning as explained in the answer here: Combination of verb + ことも


texts:
まんが日本昔話みたいな婆ちゃんの声に、説得力があった。

Is it manga as in 漫画? If so why is it not 日本昔話まんが but まんが日本昔話?


texts:
I know 「ついで」like in 「〜るついでに」, but don't know what to make of it in this context:

あと何年かしたらきっとついでのチョコになっちゃうんだろうけどね。

The context is of a girl getting some Valetine's Day Chocolate.

I would think of it as "Only some more years and you'll eventually turn into a ??? chocolate"


texts: "native" Japanese words vs Chinese/international "imports"

texts:
I am under the impression that many of the current words used have both a native or an international counterpart.

For example:

扉 (とびら) vs ドア
全て (すべて) vs 全部
いちご vs ストロベリー

.. and the list goes on.

I am actually curious about how these words are used in a sentence. For example, I hear in trains that 扉 (とびら) or ドア are both used interchangeably. The same is true for いちご and ストロベリー.

I am unsure about 全て (すべて) and 全部. Are they used interchangeably? Or should there be a proper context when a "native" Japanese word must be used vs a Chinese/imported one.


texts: How are twins addressed by their teacher at school?

texts:
If two twin brothers attended the same class, how would their teacher address each of them to indicate to whom they were speaking to, since they shared the same family name?

Would one be seen as the older brother, even though they were born only minutes apart?


texts:
I'm trying to translate this sport team name:

  東亞学園バレㅡ部

but Google keeps correcting this to:

  東亜学園バレーᅳ部

It's obviously difficult to guess which type of horizontal line is meant, but the second character is clearly printed as 亞, not 亜. Is it possible that the one is used as a simplified form of the other in situations where printing complicated characters is difficult?

(Google Translate gives me results like "Toa Gakuen Valley Department" and "Toa Gakuen Ballet Department" and when I accept the suggestion to change to the second version "Toa Gakuen Volleyball Department", which is probably right, because the Toa Gakuen school in Tokyo has a volleyball team, but the writing looks much more like the first version.)


texts:
The following excerpt is taken from a conversation with my language partner:

  「てform の使{つか}い方{かた}」* を読{よ}みました。このように書{か}いてあると、難{むずか}しく感{かん}じますね。
  私{わたし}たちが「てform」を使うとき、「この動詞{どうし}は意志{いし}を表{あらわ}すから」などとは考{かんが}えません。
  子{こ}どもの頃{ころ}から使っていくうちに、身{み}についてきたものだからです。でも、日本語学習者{にほんごがくしゅうしゃ}にとっては、分類{ぶんるい}してある方が、わかりやすいのでしょう。

The sentence in question:

  子どもの頃から使っていくうちに、身についてきたものだからです。

My attempt at translation:

  "From when one is a child, ..."

I must admit that I really can't make any sense of this sentence. I guess that she's trying to tell me that they are using it from childhood on and that "it just comes by itself" (the proper use of て-form), but I don't know. I can't even tell the morphemes apart; is it "いくうちに" or "いく + うちに"?

And what about 身について? Is it 身 + について?

Maybe

  身についてきたものだからです　=> "regarding oneself, because it is a thing that came."
  or "because it is a thing which came to oneself."

where I regard について as に+ついて, with ついて being て-form of 着く. I always feel a bit uncertain about my understanding of this.

As I use it, it often resembles the use of は as a topic marker, translated to "Concerning X". But from a grammatical perspective I think that the two are quite different.

*(see here for the article she is referring to https://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/te-form-cause-reason.html )


texts: What's the difference between 震う (ふるう) and 震える (ふるえる)?

texts: On my kanji dictionary, they have the same translation. I don't understand if there's any difference. As usual.


texts: meaning of "~しており、...."? isn't that 謙譲語{けんじょうご}?

texts:
The second line in the first paragraph of this Bloomberg news article reads as such:

ロシア軍{ぐん}は既{すで}にウクライナのクリミア自治共和国{じちきょうわこく}の一部{いちぶ}の施設{しせつ}を占拠{せんきょ}しており、ウクライナ政府{せいふ}は軍事{ぐんじ}侵攻{しんこう}を受{う}けていると非難{ひなん}している。

I perceive that to mean:

Russian military forces already occupy some facilities in Ukraine's
Crimean autonomous region, and the Ukrainian government is condemning
their having suffered this military invasion.

I've never seen the structure "しておる" (which I assume is the structure from which "しており" is derived. Isn't "おる" 謙譲語{けんじょうご}? And, straight news articles surely could not have the context for 敬語{けいご}.  But, even so, the convention in newspapers is to use "しており", instead of "してあり"?
I just read past "しており" and assign it no meaning. I want to change this. I'd like to have at least some meaning come to mind when I read "しており、".


texts:
I was listening to the song 一本の鉛筆 performed by 美空ひばり
When I looked into the lyrics, I was confused by two things.

  一本の鉛筆が あれば
  戦争はいやだと 私は書く

What's the meaning of the particle と after 戦争はいやだ in this case?

  一枚のザラ紙が あれば
  私は子供が 欲しいと書く
  一枚のザラ紙が あれば
  あなたをかえしてと 私は書く

In this case, what`s the difference in the meaning after adding　私は書く in the last sentence, instead of just writing あなたをかえしてと書く ?

Thank you very much


texts: Differentiating honorific passive and potential conjugations of 出る

texts:
Given the following sentence structure, I am wondering how one differentiates the usage of 出る in the following.

  明日のパーティーに出られますか？

The usage of the partial に and the られる suggests a honorific passive conjugation Will you attend tomorrow's party?, but by the same token, I suppose it could be the potential Are you able to attend tomorrow's party?

Also, how would this change if it was simply:

  明日のパーティーに出ますか？


texts:
I found an example from an online dictionary as follows.

彼は私の手伝いをするのを露骨にいやがった。
He showed a great reluctance to help me.

Because の in the relative clause「私の手伝いをする」 can be replaced by が, so

私が手伝いをするの

can mean "the help I do".
Question
Can 私の手伝いをするの mean "the help I do"?
In other words, can the original sentence

彼は私の手伝いをするのを露骨にいやがった。

be translated as follows?

He showed a great reluctance to receive my help.


texts: Etymologically why do some words have explicit potential sense while others don't have?

texts:
Consider the following pairs,

can hear: 聞ける (the potential of 聞く) and 聞こえる
can see: 見られる (the potential of 見る) and 見える

I am interested to know the etymologies of how some words have explicit potential forms while other words do not have. What are their purposes? I think it is redundant.

Bonus

Is there any terminology used to refer to words having explicit potential sense?


texts: Using そうです to respond to a sentence ending in a verb or adjective

texts:
I was recently reading through grammar notes in the Japanese textbook, "Shin Nihongo no Kiso I", and came across a statement which confused me a bit:

  In answering a question asked in a noun sentence, そう is often used as "そうです", "そうではありません". Use of そう is convenient as it makes an answer brief and simple. Note, however, that "そうです", or "そうではありません" cannot be used in answering a question asked in a sentence ending with a verb or in a sentence ending with an adjective.

This was the limit to which this statement was expounded upon. In what situations is this true / what sorts of interrogative sentences might the book be referring? For instance, I've definitely heard sentences like:

  その犬は可愛いですね！　(That dog is cute, isn't it?)

Where the speaker isn't asking a "question" per se, but is certainly awaiting a response / confirmation from the listener. In this case, そうです / そうですね seem appropriate to me even though the sentence ended with an adjective.


texts: Which reading does Google Translate use for kanji words?

texts:
I used a web service to emulate the name "Siavosh" in Kanji. First, you select your name parts from a table of kana and then it gives you a combination of kanji with pronunciation of each kanji superscripted above it. So far everything seems fine, and "Siavosh" is kanjified as  below:

煮武瀬

Therefore, considering the above is correct, the resulted kanji would make an estimated equivalent of "Siavosh" as "Syabuse". But, wait a minute, when I type the kanji word in Google Translate, it reads completely different. Are we both right? Am I wrong or is Google? Or even worse, are we both wrong?!


texts: Meaning of と in 友蔵が出おくれまいと言いそえた

texts:
「わしもじゃ」
  友蔵が出おくれまいと言いそえた。
  "Me too" added Tomozou, not wanting to get a late start.

So I eventually figured out that まい was negative volitional (I hope I'm right) then got stuck thinking that と was quotative and couldn't make any sense of it. The context doesn't really fit with him saying that he won't get at late start

I'm now thinking that と is actually making the previous phrase adverbial, resulting in my above translation. Have I got this correct?


texts: What is the difference between 対する and 関する？　For the 'relate' meaning.


texts: According to the rules of Hepburn (http://www.halcat.com/roomazi/doc/hep3.html), しいたけ is correctly romanized as shiitake. What is the correct romanization of イー as in シート? Should it be shiito or shīto or shi-to?


texts: I'm trying to read manga and came across this sentence. How is "から" used here? It does definitely not mean "because", as you can see from the picture, the character is explaining his action, he does not give a reason or anything. It was translated to simply "I said no" in English. Also what does っといた mean? Is it short for っておいて or といった?


texts:
One of the villains of ジョジョの奇妙な冒険, Dio, frequently refers to himself as「このディオ」 (to the point it became a meme).

What's the meaning of this grammar: この+own personal name? Is it just emphasis? Or are there other nuances?

(might be related to What is the nuance of この + [first person pronoun]?)


texts: Which verb receives a negation in a Japanese sentence?

texts:
I can say 歩いて渡る which translates to "to cross by walking".  However, if I would like to say "I am not going to cross by walking, but by some other means", would I say
  歩かないで渡る or 歩いて渡らない?

There are many other examples, most of which involve the use of the so-called Japanese auxilary verbs that follow the te-form of the verb they "help" (ある, いる, くれる, あげる, もらう, 行く, 来る, etc).  I don't like this term because I view them as just normal verbs.

Another example would be 食べている.
To say that "(I) am not eating", it would be 食べていない instead of the more
logical structure 食べないでいる, which would, at least in my opinion, nicely and logically translate to "I am not in the state of eating". This is because the verb that needs the negation is the verb 食べる, not the verb いる.

Explanations from linguistic points of view are also welcome.

I hate to treat this kind of verbs as auxiliary verbs. They are just verbs chained together using serial verb construction, which exists in a number of East Asian languages (Korean, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc), and at least in my first language, I would treat them as normal verbs chained together to indicate:

(1) a sequence of actions happening one after another

(2) a set of actions happening simultaneously as in 歩いて渡る and 食べている

(3) cause-effect

(4) method as in 歩いて渡る

So the concept is pretty much the same, except for the fact that in Japanese these verbs are "special" when it comes to negation.


texts:
So I know you can't use は after an interrogative word like 何 or 誰. However, if you add a か after them, they're no longer interrogative words, right? So I should be able to say something like:

誰かは教室に入ったみたいだな

But for some reason, it sounds wrong. Can you say that or not? I'm not only talking about words like 何か or 誰か, but also 何も and 誰も or 何でも and 誰でも. Basically any interrogative + particle structure. Can they take は?