texts:
When I look up the Japanese definition (at dictionary.goo.ne.jp) of the word 好き嫌い, this is the definition that gets shown:
好きなことと、嫌いなこと。また、えりごのみ。

I can't figure out if 好きなことと、嫌いなこと。is a separate definition than また、えりごのみ。or if they make up the definition together?

I see the usage of また like this in a lot of Japanese definitions and I suspect that it makes up the definition with the sentence that came before it. However I can't figure out what また would mean in that case.

Thus my questions are:

Are those two sentences two seperate definitions or are they one definition?

And what does また mean if it is used in this way?


texts: どうしてこの「が」は動詞に付いていますか。

texts:
「手さぐり」という章を読んでいる最中、ややこしい助詞の用法にあいました。

（前略）
　目の見えない人は手さぐりで歩む。一歩一歩が慎重である。謙虚である。そして一足歩むために全神経を集中する。これほど真剣な歩み方は、目の見える人にはちょっとあるまい。
　人生で思わぬケガをしたくなければ、そして世の中でつまずきたくなければ、この歩み方を見習うがいい。
（後略）

「が」という助詞は、一般的に名詞につくと思いますが、どうしてこの「が」は動詞についているでしょうか。


texts: Can you use 洗うwhile talking about a specific part you are washing while showering?

texts:
Usually you use 浴びる for showering or bathing (not too sure about bathing) right?
And you use 洗う for washing in general right?
Can you ever use 洗う in a shower/bath scenario like my example below?

例：シャワーをあびた時、下の所が特に洗った。(disclaimer: sentence might contain errors)

While I was showering, I especially washed my nether regions.


texts: concrete nouns and abstract nouns. いadj　なadj

texts:
gday guys.

Im looking at the nouns used in the いadj　and　なadj.

I won't say this with 100% confidence - not by a long shot (n5 here).

I'm noticing the nouns in the:

*なadj are all like 'abstract nouns'.
And the

*adj seem to use many nouns that are closer to 'concrete nouns'.

Even when similar words like "wide" etc

*いadj appears (to me) to refer to something more physical or a thing.

*なadj (to me) seems to more abstract.

Is there some sense to that, at least in proper grammar terms?

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar/types-of-noun

Thankyou


texts: 手を差し伸べる vs 手伝う vs 助ける

texts: Are there any differences between 手を差し伸べる, 手伝う and 助ける? They all mean "I will help you". In which situations would I use each of them?


texts:
So, I'm well aware that Japanese follows an SOV sentence structure. However, I see -very often- the topic appearing at the end of an utterance, rather than at the beginning. For example:

  きれいですね、この花は。
  This flower is beautiful, isn't it?

I was wondering, why does この花は　come at the end here? Is it purely a stylistic choice or is there a grammatical reason for it?


texts: "あの星があなたで" and "あの星はあなただ", between those two, what's the difference?

texts:
Both have the same meaning: "That star is you."
But what makes them different? If it's the nuance, what exactly is it?

Context:
It's from a song's lyrics, the first one get sang first, whilst the latter get sang later.


texts: Meaning of ごきけんになるわけだ

texts:
The narrator explains his way of talking to adults, and then:

  するとそのおとなは、自分と同じように趣味のいい人間と知り合えたと感じて、ごきけんになるわけだ....
  And that adult feels that he has been able to get to know a person with good hobbies like his own, and ????

I can't understand the last part (ごきけんになるわけだ).

Firstly, I assume the adult wouldn't put ご on a word referring to himself so I guess ごきけん is the narrator. So maybe I can translate it as:

  surely he (the narrator) will become a distinguished person.

But I'm doubtful. Isn't it a bit self-serving for the narrator to assume that adult would add the honorific ご? These things confuse me a lot. Maybe my translation isn't even close. I have no confidence about this.


texts:
ことである in Japanese grammar
Do ことである and ことがある mean the same thing?


texts:
This was a while back so I forget what the situation was exactly. I was asking an employee for help at a Bic Camera. If I recall correctly, I was asking something like "Are there other keyboards besides for the Windows OS?" Alternatively, I might have simply stated (not asking a question) that there are only keyboards for Windows OS. He replied to this with どうですか.

I know どうですか means "How is it?", but that is not the usage here. Assuming I asked a question, it seemed more like he was asking "Which one?", as in which operating system do I want a keyboard for. Assuming I simply made a statement, it was like "What is the situation?"

Does someone know what the usage might have been?

Thanks.


texts: What's the difference between 記号 and しるし？

texts:
I know that 記号 is translated as 'symbol' or 'code' while しるし is 'mark' or 'sign' but I can't seem to figure out when to use the appropriate one.

地図にたくさん記号がある。

地図にたくさんしるしがある。

What's the difference between these sentences?


texts:
それは嘘なわけだが、

I don't understand. Does it say "it's a lie" or "it may be a lie"? I think I've read from a previous thread that な here is the equivalent of だ, but I'm stuck at わけ.


texts:
I have the following sentence:

  熊の神とはどのようなものか、想像してみたが...

My book translates this as

  I tried to imagine what the Bear God might be like.

I have multiple problems:

1) I think どのような means "what kind of" so would I be correct in saying that a more literal (not better) translation would be " I tried to imagine what kind of thing the bear god is"?

2) What is the purpose of the と after 熊の神?

3) Why is there no と before 想像する? Would it be okay to add one?


texts:
I have been reading a daily article during 朝礼.

One of the sentence used the word がち. The sample sentence is:

  長所{ちょうしょ}は見逃{みのが}してしまいがちです。

  Abundant of misses.

I tried to ask my colleague about the meaning of がち and they said it means [in excess]. For example if used with しまいがちです it means a lot of misses?

But when I try to look at alc.co.jp for examples. There were some with no しまいがち pattern.
For example:

  飛行機や列車の中で『にわか講習会』が始まりがちです。

What does がち mean this time?


texts: 英語よりも日本語の方が話しやすいです meaning

texts:
What does 英語よりも日本語の方が話しやすいです mean?
(Eigo yori mo nihongo no kata ga hanashi yasuidesu)
From my limited understanding of the Japanese language, my guess was "English compared to Japanese is easier to speak." But the use of 日本語の方(nihongo no kata) threw me off since it also means "Japanese" but as a race. So I wanted to confirm and used google translator: "Japanese is easier to speak than English."
So now I am very confused lol
I would appreciate it if someone would clear this up for me, thankyou.


texts:
I found this sentence in Tofugu's workbook.

  続きを見るにはこちらから。

My question is: Why is the る not dropped so it becomes 見に, as in this sentence:

  映画を見に行きます。


texts: I understand that both 大半{たいはん} and 多数派{たすうは} can be translated as "majority". Is there a difference between them in usage or nuance?


texts:
What is the difference in usage and meaning of:

行ったらいいのに =V/conditional
and
行けたらいいのに = V/potential/conditional

Can both be translated as "If only I could go..."?
Thanks!


texts: Why is デレる ichidan? (Etymology of デレる and デレデレ)

texts:
I thought modern slangy verbs coined from onomatopoeia and loanwords were all godan verbs (for example, ググる, コピる, ピヨる, ボコる). This has been asked several times:

What are the principles behind turning foreign language words into verbs?(e.g. ググる and サボる)
Characteristics of 'loan word root + る' verbs
Can you form verbs from 擬態語 or 擬音語 by adding -る?

However, I recently noticed デレる might be an exception. In the general perspective, as this article suggests, デレる is a recent slang term coined from ツンデレ/デレデレ/デレ in the last few decades. However, it conjugates as an ichidan verb (デレない, デレました, デレた, デレろ rather than デレらない, デレりました, デレった, デレれ)!

Why is this? So far I have two hypotheses in mind...

Is this because でれる is actually older than デレデレ, like 照れる is older than テレテレ?
I found there was an example of でれる even in the meiji era. However, according to 青空文庫全文検索, デレデレ was a common word 100 years ago, and でれる was virtually nonexistent in those days. Still, I have no means to check how these words were used pre-Meiji. (Is there a public corpus for classical Japanese?)
Is this because the stem of デレる ends with レ?
Most (all?) verbs that end with れる are ichidan verbs (e.g., 入れる, 荒れる, 枯れる, 割れる), and デレれ does sound somehow weird to me. So it's not surprising if there is a rule that verbs ending with れる must be ichidan even if they are from loanwords/onomatopoeia. But I cannot think of any similar example (or counterexample) of this.

As an amateur language fan, I could affirm or negate neither of these two hypotheses. I believe I am not the first person who noticed this, so there may be a research about this. Any suggestion will be appreciated.


texts: What does it mean if a sentence is in all-kana?

texts:
I came across this sentence in a manga:

  なにすんじゃこんガキャ―――！！

There is no kanji use in that speech-bubble, making it hard to work out the meaning. In fact, I haven't been able to find the meaning of anything past なに (which I already knew means "what").

What does it mean when the whole sentence is in kana?

(And, as a side question that I hope is related, all-kana doesn't seem like it should make the sentence that much harder to translate, but I can't seem to find any of the combinations characters aside from なに and possibly すんじ (which ignores the ゃ and doesn't seem to fit the context anyway). So is there something that I'm missing here?)


texts:
hello minasan konnichiwa,
what the different te and tte?
what te = ( e ru and i ru) or to another?
and  tte =(a, o , u ru)?

because some word i can fine like hairu ( to come in ) become haitte, why not haite?

thanks, arigatoo


texts: How to tell if a word is Sino-Japanese or Yamato

texts:
How can I tell if a word is Sino-Japanese (漢語), or Yamato (和語)?

An answer to How 「えい」 should be pronounced in the words like 英語, 先生, etc? talks about the pronunciation of Sino-Japanese words and Yamato words.

For example, how could I tell whether 先生 was Sino-Japanese or Yamato?


texts:
I'm pretty sure ～れに～れて is a grammar form that I have studied in my JLPT textbooks, but I came across it again in a text and I can't for the life of me find it again in my grammar dictionaries. I also looked on JGram, but couldn't find it there.

The particular case I came across was:

  人間{にんげん}は昔{むかし}、遅{おく}れに遅{おく}れて自{みずか}らの年{とし}を自覚{じかく}する。

Without knowing what 遅{おく}れに遅{おく}れて is doing, I feel I'm missing an important nuance.

I think it's something like, "From long ago, people have been slow to be conscious of their own age." But how is the above sentence different from this one:

  人間{にんげん}は昔{むかし}、遅{おそ}くて自{みずか}らの年{とし}を自覚{じかく}する。

...?


texts: What does this に力を入れていますmean? In what context do you use this?

texts: My Japanese friend online said it means important and in some translating sites, I found it means focusing or put emphasis in. They're all similar but what does に力を入 actually stand for, specifically? Because I can't find any translation for it. It's not actually a word, is it?


texts:
There is an example sentence from http://maggiesensei.com/ that has been bothering me for a while:

あの子はだんだん可愛くなってくるね。

This is translated as "She has been getting cuter and cuter. (until now and maybe in future as well)"

But isn't なってくる in the present/future? Does it mean she's "been getting" or "will get"?

If it was "been getting", wouldn't it be なってきた?


texts: I recently noticed a Japanese comedian named お侍ちゃん. It indeed sounds funny. Why is it?


texts:
The Okinawan word for "Okinawa" is ウチナー, for "person" is チュ, and for "Okinawan" (person) is ウチナーンチュ.
I'd like to know where this ン comes from between the part for "Okinawa" and the part for "person". Japanese 日本人{にほんじん} doesn't seem to have an equivalent.

Could it be a reduced form of Okinawan ヌ, the equivalant of standard Japanese の?
Could it be an "epenthetic" sound added in certain kinds of compound words?
Or something else entirely?


texts:
I'm trying to understand the use of に as a particle to indicate the purpose of someone moving to another place to do something. For example, lets say that I want to say "I'm going home to eat dinner." Would this be written as:

  私はひるごはんを食べますにうちへ行きます.

Or, if I wanted to say "I went to the library to study."

  私はべんきょうしますに としょかんへ行きました

Are these correct? And does the particle に always come after the verb indicating what action is taken?

P.S: I checked the other topics relating to this, but none of them really cleared up the question I had. So, I'm sorry for posting something similar!


texts: So I saw this sentence: きのう初めておすしをたべました。 And wondered if the は is just being left out. Does the sentence change any if は is added in? Like so: きのうは初めておすしをたべました。


texts: Is there a historical explanation why verbs fall into two categories of pitch accent?

texts:
Is there a good historical or logical explanation why all verbs fall into two categories of pitch accent: either accentless (such as 買う, 浴びる) or accented (such as 食べる, 書く)?

I am having a hard time memorising the pitch accent of each and every single verb because the distribution seems so random to my brain, so I am hoping that a historical explanation might shed some light on the phenomenon… and thus make it easier to memorise them…

In the past I have often found that historical / logical explanations can really clear up things in that sense.

Thanks!


texts:
What is the difference between 類 (unicode: 985e)  and 類 (unicode: f9d0)?

They look virtually identical (at least as rendered by my computer).
Rikaichan says that the former has 18 strokes and the latter 19 but I count 19 in both (rice (6)+ dog (4)+ page (9)).
On Wiktionary the latter redirects to the page for the former.


texts: Meaning of 表現する in an article about programming

texts:
The original sentence is

  NamesファイルのLast_name配列の１要素分をAttributesクラスで表現します。

Normally, 表現する is translated as "express" but since we don't say "express one element of the Last_name array with the Attributes class" what else could it mean?

Classes are used to represent information, so I thought it might be "represent" but various permutations with that word have not yielded any results either. Any ideas?


texts: What's the difference among 夜中, 真夜中 and 夜?

texts:
I've found 3 words with the definition of the night/midnight.

But some difficulties appeared. This is the answer have found:

Is 夜中 or 真夜中 is more correct for exactly midnight? At about 00:00. Because my Student's book consider both as a midnight.
If 夜中 is a dark time (from ~20:00 to 4:00), what's the difference between 夜 and 夜中 then?


texts: Saying "I do X so that I am able to do Y"

texts:
I'm trying to say "I do X so that I can do Y".

For example: "I work so that I can enjoy life".

The closest I've been able to get is something like:

働【はたら】くから、人生【じんせい】を楽【たの】しめます。
(because I work, I can enjoy life)

Is there a way of saying this with a closer implication to the original English?


texts: How do you pronounce amounts of damage, as in a video game?

texts: I'm playing Slay the Spire in Japanese, and often see like ４ダメージ and stuff like that, but I don't know how you'd actually say that aloud. There's lots of information about counting in Japanese on the internet but I can't find anything about how it applies to this specific problem. Would you say よんダメージ, よっつダメージ, しダメージ, or maybe something else?


texts:
I needed to translate the sentence "Mary has three part-time jobs." What's the counter for "jobs" (baito, shigoto)?

Also, how do I say that "I organized my room"?


texts: transitive vs intransitive verbs in relative clauses

texts:
Is there a difference in interpretation or how one would understand sentences that use a transitive vs intransitive verb? e.g. in the below

味噌汁を入れたマグカップ vs 味噌汁が入ったマグカップ

  「でもお前、俺のこと好きだったじゃん」

  「……帰っていいか」

  「逃げるな。いま逃げたらお前の部屋の扉の前で連呼するぞ。お前は俺が好きだーって、寮の子たちの前で」

  「うぐ」

  さすがにそれは恥ずかしいんだろう。歯がみする理亜。

  味噌汁を入れたマグカップを置いて。

  「……」

  「だった。でいい、教えてくれ」


texts:
I read on Jisho.org that the も particle can mean:

even if; even though; although; in spite of.
Often as 〜ても, 〜でも, 〜とも, etc.

I was translating「事故だったと言っても」, and I was wondering how the meaning changes. From my current understanding, it could mean:

Even if you said it was an accident...
You also said it was an accident...

The full sentence is 「事故だったと言っても信じてもらえないんですよね。」("...I would not believe you.")

When can も be taken to mean 'even if'? From the Jisho example, it says ても, and the Japanese quote uses て-form for 言って, with も right after, so does it only mean 'even if' after a て- formed verb?


texts: In which situations do you use 拾う and in which do you use 拾い上げる

texts:
I was looking through example sentences in wwwjdic ( http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?11 ) and noticed it uses these, however from looking at the examples, I don't know which one to use when, can I get some clarification on this please?

Examples:

彼女は身をかがめて小石を拾い上げた
She stooped to pick up a pebble.

私はペンを拾うと身をかがめた
I bent over to pick up the pen.


texts:
What is the function of と in とある?

It doesn't seem to be the particle と--it doesn't seem to attach to whatever comes before it, which particles generally do.  It also doesn't seem to fit any of the uses of the particle と described my in books.  So, I guess it must be something other than a particle.

So far, I've found this answer on 知恵袋.  It suggests that と is this 副詞 meaning 「そのように」 , the same と in とにかく.  And, as @Chocolate points out in a comment, 学研全訳古語辞典 agrees that the と in とある is a 副詞.

However, in another comment, Chocolate points out that 広辞苑 says と is a particle.  I'm not sure how to reconcile this with the other information I've found so far.  (I don't have 広辞苑 myself, so I can't verify the quote.)  As I said before, it doesn't seem to behave like a particle to me, because it doesn't attach to what comes before it.  Is 広辞苑 wrong?

What is this と exactly?


texts:
Are there usually any kanjis written in following the sentence
もういちどあねがいします - Please once again
My textbook only rarely uses any kanjis and I was wondering how this sentence would really/usually be written in Japanese.


texts:
There is a character (The hero) who uses a spell and this is the comment another character does on that spell.

  …自らを表す呪文に、自らを律する韻を持たせた英雄。

My translation

  A hero who had a spell which represents him, a rhyme with which he disciplines himself.

Fantraslation

  A hero who used a poem about himself as his spell.

How come it's not 持った but 持たせた?
What's the difference here?

持たせる=To have someone hold something; To allow someone to keep something


texts: Is it just me, or is "ryokai" pronounced "yokai" regularly?

texts:
I realize anime is not like real life. In any case, I have noticed for a long time now that when saying "roger", they sound like they are saying "yokai" when in fact there should be a "r" sound in the beginning. It seems like they drop the "r" entirely, however. Maybe it's just me, but I've even rewound and listened to it said many times in many instances and it never ceases to sound like they omit the "r" sound entirely in this usage. So, if I'm hearing it correctly, why do they do this? If I'm not, then... well, why does it sound like that's what they're doing to me so clearly & consistently(perhaps I'm not sensitive enough to pick up on their language's tiny nuances yet)?

To clarify: I do realize the way they say "r" is light in & of itself already. The way it's pronounced makes it slip into their language in a very fine and balanced way(definitely a "soft" sound, unlike the American "r" I grew up with). But in other instances, I do still pick it up. It's only ever an issue with this word/in this scenario. I was curious whether or not there is a reason for this, is all.


texts:
Our DOJO is covered with slogans and proverbs. Often calligraphy that is not done by a highly trained person. I can translate most of them but a few are baffling.
Some of the others read "kunren" "nintai" "ketsudanryoku" "kenson" and "Bukkyou".
There are 4 of these panels that are apparently all to do with the 4 noble truths. The first one reads Bukkyou" - these are panels 2 and 3.  Your help and suggestions are most welcome.


texts:
In the sentence

俺は人にモノを教えるのは得意じゃない。人には向き不向きがあるだろ？
正直、勉強を教えるって意味じゃ俺なんかより、堀北や櫛田のほうが向いている
I'm not a good teacher.People have different strengths and weaknesses, right ?
To be honest, Horikita and Kushida were better teachers than I was.

I know that って is for という, and that 意味 has a sense of "meaning" but I cannot figure out in the sentence


texts: What is the purpose of the redundant "いい人" in this example sentence

texts:
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar has this example sentence:

  あの人はいい人はいい人だったけれど頑固だったね。
  "He was indeed a good person, but he was stubborn, wasn't he?"

What is the purpose of the "いい人は"? It reads to me as redundant: "That person. A good person. Was a good person. although sure was stubborn, eh?."

Whether I leave it out or in Google Translate gives me the same translation with slightly different wording.

What is being emphasized by putting it in?


texts: ほいほい騎士団が誘い出された時点で、半ば勝負はついてるんだよ >>What does this mean?

texts:
Context: A servant is talking with a prince, about an sealed egg that had been stolen from the cathedral. It can be resurrected to summon back an ancient being who can destroy the world. Meanwhile the Knight Order which protecting the Royal City is away from the city right now

S: 先日大聖堂より盗み出された例の卵が、復活しようとしているようです
(My Prince, it seems that the egg that was stolen from the cathedral the other day is about to be resurrected.)
P: ……あぁ、そう。そりゃこういうことになるよな
(...Oh, is that so? I see what's happening now)
P: ほいほい騎士団が誘い出された時点で、半ば勝負はついてるんだよ

I don't get this part. My guess is (When the Knights are being lured away, the game is half over /The enemy got 50% chance of victory already by doing that)
Please correct me and share your English TL if my understanding here is wrong


texts: Does the negative form of 〜てある exist (~てない)?

texts: For ~ている , it has a negative form which is ~ていない and is usually simplified as ~てない.  Are 手を上げている and 手を上げてある implies the same thing? Which focuses on the fact that a subject is raising their hand? What if the sentence becomes 手を上げてない? Is it the negative ある or いる? ~ている indicates present progressive while ~てある indicates resultant state from an action done intentionally with a purpose.


texts: How does "shashin yako" translate to "burn the pictures"?

texts:
Here's the clip from JoJo's adventures s3e33 where a character says "shashin yako, ne" and it's translated to "burn the photos".

https://gfycat.com/acidicdearestarctichare

I couldn't get google translate to think that "shashin yako" means burn the pictures.

I found similar and close words:

焼く yaku - which means bake or grill
焚く taku - which means burn

So I would understand if the character said "shashin yaku" but it really sounds like "shashin yako".

Am I just mishearing this? Is this some sort of accent that makes the "u" sound like an "o"? Is this an inflection?


texts:
Is there an equivalent of "Don't stroke his ego" in Japanese? I assume that such a phrase would be relevant in Japanese, but I've never heard it.

Thanks!


texts:
I am a beginner. Here is the sentence in Tae-Kim guideline:
ボブ：うん。でも、明日雨が降るよ。
1/ Notice that the order is 明日雨. Is this order correct 雨明日 ?
2/ If not, suppose there are 3 or more nouns that can stand next to each other, is the order of nouns really important ?
Thank you.


texts:
その手紙を送るのに１００円かかった。
その手紙の送るのに１００円かかった。
その手紙の送りは１００円かかった。


texts: Is というのだ similar to "in addition"? Or it is "they said"?

texts:
まだ十香の件にさえ納得がいっていない様子の折紙である。そんなところにもう一人精霊が現れたというのである。それは不審に思うだろう。だが、かといって＜ラタトスク＞のことを説明するわけにもいかない。

『ーー君の説明だけでは、信憑性が足りなっかたのだよ。何しろ自己蘇生能力に……精霊の力を吸収する能力というんだ。にわかには信じられん』

ただでさえ、女子の手作りクッキーをいただくなんてのは、他の男子たちの嫉妬の的だ。
しかもそれが、転入直後から、彼女にしたい女子ランキングを駆け上がった(と噂の)あの夜刀神十香のものだというのである。

Hi. Please have a look at the three examples. According to some people, all three bold parts mean "they said". But I think the bold parts in the three examples are some kind of emphasis----they function as "add", which is similar to the English equivalent "even", "in addition" or "furthermore". So in a manner of speaking, they are similar to the other expression "ときたものだ".
What do you think? Does my thinking make sense? Or should I take them literally as "they said"?
Thank you in advance.


texts:
The whole phrase is 自分で強いと言うだけあるな, I know from consulting translations that it says "he is as strong as he says himself" (earlier Hikaru said that he doesn't know his rank but he thinks he's pretty strong) but am still not able to fully understand it using my own power.

It is written という here in this scan from the 単行本, but in the 完全版 version which I own, it is written と言う, like so.

After a little investigation i think that だけ is this だけ, so 言うだけ is "just as [he] says", but I am still not able to understand this ある because the only hits for だけある I have found are after nouns suggesting the "there is only [noun]" meaning of だけ.

So my question is, why is ある here and what does it mean?


texts: If そうなんですか (sounandesuka) is formal, how come it's not often that I hear of そうなんだか (sounandaka) as casual version or maybe that I just don't hear enough? thanks.


texts: Could not understand why 命令形 (imperative form) is used in this sentence from 1Q84 book

texts:
I hope nobody complains that this is about a sentence with adult content. The quote is from the bestseller 『1Q84』, 第14章:

彼はブラウスを「脱がせ」、スリップの肩紐を「ずらせ」、その下にある。。。

I could not understand why 「脱がせ」 and 「ずらせ」 are used here. Those are imperative forms (命令形), right?


texts: Meaning of 迷いを断ち切るかのように

texts:
「いや、そこまでは大丈夫」

  迷いを断ち切るかのように。

  可愛くも小憎たらしい優の顔から視線を外して断る。

I know that

the definition of 迷いを断ち切る is

  心を悩ませることについて考えるのをやめること

and that かのように is

  動作や状況を他の何事かに喩える表現

(i.e likening something to something else).

However,  still don't quite get how 迷いを断ち切るかのように modifies the next sentence.

Can anyone help?


texts:
When do we use たくさん and when do we use 多い? I found both modifiers are used within similar sentences, for example:

  人が多かったです
  人がたくさんいました

I had this impression that 多い is used with countable nouns (i.e. similar to "many") while たくさん can be used with both countable and uncountable, but seems like it is used with "お金":

  ふだんの生活で使うお金が多いからか――ということです

At first, I thought maybe in Japanese language "お金" is considered as countable, unlike the word "money" in English, but again I realized I was wrong when I found:

  きょうは水が多いですね

Now I'm thinking that maybe the concepts of countable vs uncountable in Japanese are not as significant as in English. It seems to me that both たくさん and 多い may be used interchangeably.

Am I right? Or are there actually places where only one of them can be used but not the other?

EDIT:

Additional question: how are they related to potentially antonyms 少し and 少ない? Is 少し antonym of たくさん while 少ない is antonym of 多い, or vice versa, or it does not matter either way?


texts: Help understanding the meaning of one sentence

texts:
The sentence is

あなたのこと、そんなでもなかったんだよ…っ

It would clearly refer to the person she's talking to. It would be something like that she doesn't have that kind of feeling about him but I'd like to make sure and know if the ... changes the meaning there.


texts: Question about て- form verb ended with したる

texts:
It is a situation that 2 boys were going to fight.

A: いくぜ　やろう！

B: こいっ　ぶっころしたるっ

I know that て- form verb followed by したる or してある indicating a completed action in preparation of something. In this case, they were going to fight so there was no one killed. I would like to know why this form was used instead of　しておく. Probably, I misunderstood the concept.


texts: Which Japanese Particle should go here, (ni) or (wa)?

texts:
わたしの　いえ＿　へやが　みっつ　あります。

Essentially what I'm trying to say here is, "There are three rooms in my house"...
What should go after ie (house)?


texts: What is the difference between でなくand ではなく？

texts:
This is the sentence I have just read:

  外国へ行くとしたら、ただの旅行ではなく、勉強を 目的として 行きたい。
  If I ever have a chance to go abroad then I would like to go to study rather than just travel.

The は　feels intuitively correct but what purpose does it serve?  There are a number of expressions without the は:

  ～だけでなく…によっても広められている
  be popularized not only by ~ but also by

  ～が必要でなくとも
  although not in need of

  [愛]{あい}でなくてなんだろう
  if it is not love, what is it? (possibly 愛ではなく、なんだろう？）

I can't explain why は　is/is not necessary in these expressions (apart from "these are 決まり文句" but I wanted to get a better understanding than that if possible).

I should be very grateful for any insights.


texts:
What is the correct grammatical structure for to say "too [adj] to [verb]"?
For example, "this is too sweet to eat" or "It's too bright outside to sleep".
Would it be something like 「甘いすぎるから、食べる事ができない」？But I feel this translates more to "because it's too sweet, I can't it eat". I'm looking for a more natural way to say this that would resemble the English "too [adj] to [verb]".
Anyone can help? Thank you so much in advance.


texts: Help to choose best option that fit in paragraph

texts:
A社がインターネット関連会社と組み、月額料金10万5千円で販売を始めたソフトは、社名や製品名などをキーワードとして設定すると、掲示板やブログの中から関連した記述を集めてきてくれる。

  ただ記述を並べられても、皆読むのは大変。そこで、プラスマイナスのどちらの評価が多いか分析する機能をつけた。

  例えば、文中「いい」「素晴らしい」があればプラス、「悪い」「ひどい」があればマイナスというように、事前に用意された辞書に従ってシステムが判断していく。

  しかし、日本語は単純ではない。例えば「―はいいが、―は気にくわない」というように、相反する評価が並ぶとソフトが「良い」「悪い」を判断できず中立にしてしまう。前後の文脈を加えた解析や、業界ごと特有の表現への対応など、精度を上げていく＿＿＿＿＿。

  ことは不可能である
  余地があるという
  はずである
  はずではない

The answer is 余地があるという. Why is it not はずである？ I know that 相反する評価が並ぶとソフトが「良い」「悪い」を判断できず中立にしてしまう this part showing unsatisfied feeling

前後の文脈を加えた解析や、業界ごと特有の表現への対応など、精度を上げていく＿＿＿＿ And the last sentence said that to sum up, in order to correspond to every special industry expression, there is room to improve accuracy (?) there is a room means they should work hard to improve accuracy?
Why not はずである？


texts: "外で遊びに行く" vs "外へ遊びに行く"

texts:
I saw the following 2 options in an exam question:

  私は__に行く

  a. 外で遊び
  b. 外へ遊び

The answer is '外へ遊びに行く'

Does 'で' also work here? What's the difference here?


texts: Grammatical purpose of changing 〜る to 〜な, and expressing "even"

texts:
I have to translate the following for my intro Japanese class.

  父は、少し、働きすぎなので、庭の花や木に水でもやって、リラックスした方がいいとおもいます。

I understand parts of the sentence, but not the sentence as a whole.

I think 父は、少し、働きすぎなので is My father works a little too much so. But, I don't understand why it's すぎな and not すぎる.

I think 庭の花や木に水でもやって is Someone gives water even to the garden flower and the tree (etc). I am not sure how the "even" should be though.

Finally, I think リラックスした方がいいとおもいます is I think it is better if he relaxes.

So my questions are

Why the な instead of a る on the first part?
How is the even placed in the second part?
How do all three parts form a logical sentence?

My best guess is My father works a little too hard so, since someone even gives water to the garden flower and the tree (etc), I think it is better if he relaxes.


texts: How would you say someone told you something?

texts:
If I wanted to say: She told me she knew my brother.

  彼女は僕の弟を知ってると僕に言った。

Would this be correct? Or would I have to use the passive form?

  彼女に僕の弟を知ってると言われた。


texts: か connecting independent clauses　and ようだと

texts:
Could someone please explain the use of か and よう in the second sentence below from an article about the recent terrorist attack in Turkey?

  トルコの警察は、爆弾を使ったテロだと考えています。１２歳〜１４歳ぐらいの子どもが、持っている爆弾を自分で爆発させたか、誰かがリモコンで爆発させたようだと説明しています。

My best translation (please correct if it is not accurate):

  The Turkish police consider the use of the bomb an act of terrorism. They explained that an approximately 12 - 14 year old child detonated the bomb (made the bomb explode) he was holding by himself or someone (else) detonated the bomb by remote control.

My main concern is the use of か pointed out in bold.  Could someone please elaborate on this usage.  I was under the impression that か cannot be used to link two independent clauses but I am evidently wrong.  I translated it as "or" due to the context but it was basically a guess.

I'm also interested in why よう was used in the と clause and how the meaning changes if it is omitted (させたと説明 rather than させたようだと説明).

Finally, less importantly, what is the subject of 使った in this sentence from above 爆弾を使ったテロだ?  I'm fairly certain my translation is accurate in meaning but the use of a relative clause in the Japanese confuses me.  I would have expected this to be expressed with こと like 爆弾を使うことがテロだ or maybe some noun that expresses a specific incident rather than a general concept.


texts: Translating --「きめぜりふつかった」って？

texts:
Playing through a game, and I've encountered a verb / combination I've never seen before. The full dialogue is:

  もうお姫さまにきめぜりふつかったの？

Am I looking at some stem of きめ・る？ Or something else entirely? What's the statement mean?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!


texts: What's the first character in the phrase 「?度乾燥しなさい」?

texts:
A couple days ago I came across the following Japanese phrase:

  ?度乾燥しなさい

"?" represents a character I was unable to recognize. Attempts at drawing it on Google Android handwriting input yielded 樶, 橄, 裕, 榴, 欄. A few attempted decompositions I remember:

Tree radical, on its right the composition of upper part of 習, a mouth side by side with something and a horizontal line below;
Tree radical, 習 on the right;
Tree or origin radical, on the right a day on top of a ear and 又 or 文 - that gave 樶.

Any idea what that character may be?

PS Searching 度 with JEDict led me to 極度. Could that be it?


texts: Who is the subject in 「駅の前にいるから、迎えに行ってくれる？」?

texts:
I'm currently studying Japanese grammar and there's this sentence:

  駅の前にいるから、迎えに行ってくれる？

By default the translation given is:

  I’m in front of the station, can you come here to meet me?

But couldn't it also be translated as:

  [since] You are in front of the station, can you come to meet me?

The reason I'm confused is because there is no subject and no context to infer the subject from. This is pretty normal occurrence in Japanese from what I understand, but is there something else in the sentence that could make either of these two translation a "preferred one" or am I being completely wrong here?


texts:
I am trying to say:
"This homework is too long/big"

I just learned about the existence of すぎる at http://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/sugiru.html

Is it correct to use it with とても？ For example:

この　しゅくだい　は　とても　おおきすぎます。


texts: しかしそれがいったいどんなことなのか - "what the heck could have it been?" not sure of translation

texts:
I have been reading Colorless Tsukuru by Murakami in Japanese. I came across a sentence where I understand the spirit of what it is saying but can't quite see how it translates. I was wondering if anyone could help me..

The context is that the main character Tsukuru has been going round to old friends houses and has been given the cold shoulder and he can't work out why..
The whole passage is:
しかしそれがいったいどんなことなのか、どんなことであり得るのか、いくら考えてもおもい当たる節はなかった。
My understanding is this means:
(broken up into sentences)

しかしそれがいったいどんなことなのか
However what the heck were these things? (that he is supposed to have done)

どんなことであり得るのか
what could it possibly have been?

いくら考えてもおもい当たる節はなかった
No matter how much I thought about it I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment

I'm pretty happy with my translations but I'm not sure about:
しかしそれがいったいどんなことなのか

I sort of get what its saying but I'm wondering if anyone is more familiar with this sentence structure. I think its saying
"However what the heck were these things?" (that he is supposed to have done)


texts: Saw this sentence in the title of an article and I'm a bit confused

texts:
日本のスノーアクティビティを体験
If the particle を is used here shouldn't it be 体験した/する if it is acting like a verb?


texts:
Can somebody explain the purpose of ぉ character in the end of the following sentence?

What part of speech can be assigned to ぉ ?

Can the ending の be glued up with ぉ?

  アドビにうまいことやられたのぉ。


texts: Shouldn't 確認する always be translated into "check"?

texts:
One thing I have noticed among my Japanese coworkers is that it seems that they overuse the verb "confirm" when translating 確認する:

テストを確認する ("confirm the tests")
彼と確認して欲しい ("[I want you to] confirm this with him")
確認方法 ("method of confirmation")
ご確認の程よろしくお願いします。 ("Please confirm this.")

Or also advice like: "You should improve you confirmation skills".
I am not a native English speaker though, I think that "check" would sound more natural.
As in "check the tests", "please check with him", "how to check" etc...
Can somebody confirm this?


texts: a japanese equivalent to the english expression: 'enjoy'

texts:
Is there a japanese equivalent to the english expression 'ENJOY'?

As in:

Friends invite you to go out to eat in a restaurant, but you can't come. So you say 'enjoy!'


texts:
I was trying to say "I write slow".

I figured it would be:

  おそい（が）かく。

But a native speaker didn't understand me and said it was:

  かくのがおそい。

Now I understand how の after a verb makes it a noun, but I always thought the verb had to be last. Why would you need to make it a noun if its the only acting verb?  Is there a reason why the way I said the sentence is wrong?

Thank you.


texts: 「です」, what is it really? Is my analysis correct?

texts:
At an elementary level, often, Japanese learners are taught that です is equivalent to the verb "to be" in English. Typical example:

  私は学生です, I am a student.

That's fine, after all, it works. And to be honest, most people probably wouldn't really need a different explanation for the rest of their life.

With this question I'd like to go a little deeper. Can we really call です（or だ) an auxiliary verb?

To start with, if you look だ up on goo, it is grouped together with です, である, and のだ.

Right off the bat, you get this explanation:

  断定を表わす。 expresses a conclusion/decision

So here is not really mentioning the word "verb" or "auxiliary verb" at all. Shortly after you can see:

  「です」は、「でございます」が変化したもの,

So, we can start by saying that actually です is an alteration/contraction of でございます.

Continuing to read the definition we get:

  「である」は、「で」に補助動詞「ある」が接続したもので、同様のものに「であります」「でございます」がある。

Hence, 「である」 is formed by attaching to「で」the subsidiary/auxiliary verb「ある」. Because actually:

  「で」は「だ」の連用形。 「で」is the conjunctive/continuative form of 「だ」

Therefore, if I'm not wrong, we can do the following passages:

  「で」+「あります」＝「であります」＝ 「でございます」　＝　「です」

Does the above make sense? In particular I'm a bit doubtful about the second equality.

To sum it up, 「です」 is a variation of 「だ」(its polite form). It is also a contraction of 「でございます」, which in turn is the same as 「であります」(forgetting here about the differences in usage), that is formed by attaching 「で」 to the verb「あります」.

So, after this long trip, we arrive to the conclusion that the "hidden verb" behind 「です」, is in fact ある, which is actually (or at least more close to) the sought after "to be".

Is this a correct explanation? How can it be improved? Or, if it's wrong, where and why?


texts: What does 容姿 mean at the end of the sentence?

texts:
I know that 容姿 means (physical) appearance (of a person); one's face and figure.
But I cannot figure it in the following context:(at the end of the sentence)

やはり新参者は珍しいのかやけに注目を集めている 。...と、俺はその原因に気がついた。「ねえねえ、いやに見られてるんですけど。これってアレよ、きっと私から滲み出る神オーラで、女神だってバレてるんじゃないかしら」このすっとぼけた事を言う女神の容姿 。黙っていれば美少女なこいつが目を惹いているのだろう。

It has been translated as

We did seem to be getting a lot of attention, though. At first I
thought maybe they didn't many newcomers here. Then it dawned on me.
"Hey I don't like the way they're looking at me" Aqua said. "I know !
It's the goddess aura I exude - They've figured out who I really am!"
Everyone was checking out the goddess who stood beside me, spewing
inanities. It made sense that she would attract attention. After all,
she would be really beautiful, if she could keep her mouth shut.

My try for the part with 容姿

"They figured out I am a goddess" (said) the beautiful goddess who
suddendly was saying nonsense

I wonder if 容姿 does not add an ironic touch.


texts: Can I use the potential form with the ～たい ending?

texts:
For example, consider the two following options:

日本語の本が読めたい。
日本語の本が読むことができるになりたい。

Is the first construction valid? If so, how is it different from the second (in terms of meaning, formality, etc.)?


texts: Is 「やってもた」 the same as 「やってしまった」? What is the grammatical rule behind this?

texts:
I have recently seen 「やってもた」 used in a Japanese conversation, I don't remember the context exactly, but it was something like：

  久々にやってもた。

After asking my Japanese friend, it turns out to be some kind of Osaka-ben expression used instead of 「やってしまった」, where the 「も」 stands for 「しまう」. My friend couldn't give me another use of this so I'm here asking two questions:

Is my explanation of 「やってもた」 accurate?
Can we extract from this example a generic grammatical rule that can be applied to most situation?

I seek to learn Osaka-ben and I'm trying to replace my old habits, so I would be very grateful if you can provide some external resources about this or at least mention your sources.


texts: Other uses of the particle と: トンネルを抜けると雪国であった

texts:
Now, トンネルを抜ける means "to come out of the tunnel". 雪国 is the "Snow Country" and であった is the past tense of である, the "to be" verb in its literary form (according to tangorin.com).

How と connects both these parts? What is its meaning here?

Thank you very much.


texts: Why does some manga have dots above some of the words?

texts:
Potential spoilers for readers of Jojo, but in the top-left-hand corner of this picture there are dots above the word こいつ.

Why do some manga have dots above some of the words? I've only noticed this in Jojo so far but perhaps it's in other manga too.


texts:
I encounter the phrase　「背中を押す」 in many Japanese songs,

and I'm having the feeling that it is a phrase not having the obvious meaning of "to push one's back".

What's the meaning of this phrase?

Thank you.


texts:
First of all, let me say that my grammar skills are really bad.
Basically i've been watching a few videos and managed to read some stuff about basic grammar, so i decided to make up my own sentence with those grammar forms so that they would stay in my head a bit longet.
The grammar forms i've studied recently are: ほうがいい、ように
One it's used to tell someone about something that he should do (or not do) while the other one (in this case) it's used to tell someone stuff that he should do in order to reach a  certain status.
This is the phrase i came up with:
お金持ちになるように貯めたほうがいいですよ。

お金持ちになるように　(in order to get rich), 貯めたほうがいいですよ ( you should save)

This is how i built the phrase: while im sure there are less complex ways to say the same thing, i just wanted to mess around with those forms: some people have been saying that this sounds abnormal, some others said it was fine; so i'll leave it to the experts: does that sounds normal?


texts: What is 一個 in Japanese used in context of cooking?

texts:
On cookpad.com, it says "chicken broth 一個", even though I'm pretty sure chicken broth is a liquid... So what does it mean here? A tablespoon, a teaspoon? An arbitrary figure?

Actual words for reference:

  チキンコンソメ1個


texts:
There are people in Japan who seem to think nothing of sniffling their nose indefinitely as they sit in a coffee shop, in an office, on a train, or anywhere with other people around. Sometimes surprisingly loudly. I've heard some guys who sound like their grinding espresso in their noses.

Sometimes it can be really grating. Just a few moments ago, a person was sitting near me, sniffling away, and this was one of the loud ones. So I decided to take action. I had a pack of tissues on me that someone had handed to me last night, so I offered it to the sniffler. My hope was that handing over tissues alone would communicate the whole message of "Please use these to blow your nose because your sniffling is annoying."

However, the sniffler took it, and thanked me, and then set it on the table as if it were just some gift. A few more sniffles later, I turned and asked if they understood why I gave it to them. It seemed they didn't grasp it, so I tried to explain. Here's where things got a little murky.

It seemed I couldn't find the right word for "sniffle" to express what I was talking about. I tried:

  鼻{はな}をすする

... and:

  グスグスする

... both of which I found in a dictionary. Neither seemed to convey the point. The sniffler looked at me like I was from Mars.

Now, there may be a bit of a cultural miss here. I've been in Japan so long I honestly don't remember if people sniffling without ever just blowing their nose once to just get it over with is a common occurrence elsewhere or not. It seems in any case that in Japan, it's just not something that is given any particular thought. I've been through this a few times and it seems people are genuinely surprised that I notice, or that I can hear it, or whatever.

So it might be possible that I'm using the right words, but assuming a context that can not be assumed, in which case I need to find the right words to convey the situation, not just to convey the single sniffling element.

Bottom line, though, what words should I use to describe sniffling? What words would I use to suggest someone blow their nose, both polite and impolite?


texts: When is a door a ドア and when is it a [扉]{とびら}?

texts:
I've been in Japan for the summer and noticed that the announcement for the closing doors (in the Kansai area, at least) on trains is always 扉が閉まります. However, the equivalent announcement on buses appears to be a toss-up between 扉が閉まります and ドアが閉まります.

Is there an accepted distinction between 扉 and ドア? jisho.org gives ドア as a Western-style door and 扉 as a (generic) door. Are there any other distinguishing nuances?


texts:
I was talking to one of my friends about these particles (He is a native speaker of the language, and I thought he might know) and here's what he told me:

私は芋が彼を殺すと思います => I think the potato is killing him.

I asking him about why to write と instead of こと, and he couldn't explain it.

Ok, but why is it と? not こと? Every website that tries to explain it makes it seem like this would be correct. What am I missing?

(And yes, I know that phrase sounds stupid, but it was the only one that I could think of.)


texts: まだほかにもある what is the subject in this sentence?

texts:
I understand this sentence means "there should be other things." But I just can't wrap my head into its structure. If I parse the sentence like:

ほか　＋　にも, I can't explain the に here.
ほかに　＋　も, then the sentence is missing the subject because ほかに (in addition) is adverb.

Please show me how to parse the structure of this sentence. Thank you!


texts:
の has many purposes but the one usage I am having difficulty using correctly is connecting nouns.

The reason this is confusing for me is because at my school we have a Japanese club and one of the native speakers corrected me when saying

  日本語のクラブ

to just

  日本語クラブ

so my question is why for some nouns do we need to connect with の and others it is not necessary?


texts: what's the difference between 痛い and 辛い?

texts:
Online dictionaries give 痛い and 辛い the meaning "painful" and among others:

痛い (itai): sore
辛い (tsurai) bitter, heart-breaking

In what contexts one of them can be used while the other can't?
In addition, I've seen 辛い can also be used to mean "tough", "hard" and "stressful", while 痛い seems to be used for emotional and physical pain (?)
Any else I have to take note of?
Thanks


texts: Aが ...しないでほしい or Aに ...しないでほしい?

texts:
遊「いい先輩だけど！俺にとってはちょっとやっかいな先輩なの！」
子供の頃、無理矢理、乱取り稽古に付き合わされたし。
本人は『あんたをもっと強くしてやる』という善意だったらしいが。
そもそも合気道の達人が、一般人と8時間も組み手をしないでほしい。

Hi. I was taught to use the construction 「Aに ...しないでほしい」. So why is the bold part が instead of に?
Doesn’t it mean “I don’t want the 達人 to practice 合気道 with ordinary people for 8 hours”?
Thank you.


texts: Reversing stroke direction in kanji for left-handed writing

texts:
I am left handed.
A stroke from left to right is, depending on the writing utensil, inconvenient to impractical, since, instead of pulling the tip across the paper, I push, which doesn't work as well.
This isn't such a big issue with modern ballpoint pens, but especially with things like fountain pens, left-to-right strokes can result in scratching, jumping and ultimately, slow and ugly handwriting.
As a result, when writing Latin letters, I tend to write them my own way (as opposed to what I have learned in elementary school), intuitively minimizing left-to-right strokes.
With Japanese handwriting, for good reason, there is a much bigger emphasis on correct stroke order and direction, especially with kanji.
My question is, would it be a problem to reverse all left-to-right strokes in handwriting? How is this handled in Japanese schools? If anybody here is left-handed, what is your approach?


texts: Problems with the grammar of this sentence

texts:
人間の目は、観察しようとする面の中央より少し上の方を自然に見るそうである。

(From: https://www.docdroid.net/847v2dg/img-20170413-0001-new.pdf.html)

I think I pretty much understand this sentence, it says that the human eye tends to prefer the upper center of a visual medium (for context, see the attached image).
However, 観察しようとする 面の中央  poses a serious problem.

  Concerning the human eye, the center of the surface (which) it makes an effort to observe,...

In this case, I used "観察しようとする" as an attribute to "面の中央", but I'm not sure if that's okay or not.

I also don't know whether そうである modifies the whole sentence or just the second half after より.
The most literal translation of the whole sentence I can muster would be this:

  Concerning the human eye, it seems that it looks a bit more natural at the upper direction (of the surface...) than at the center of the surface (which) it makes an effort to observe.

I put the brackets in to make clear to what I'm referring. I'm not sure if these reference points are correct in this sentence, that's why I feel unsure about my understanding of the whole sentence.
I think that in the above standing version, そうである modifies the whole sentence, but I don't know if that's correct, as I already said.

For some reason I still feel notoriously insecure about the use of より... I apologize if I should've made a mistake on that one too, but it's hard for me to research it because the examples in my textbook were very bad and the texts only rarely bring up comparisons at all...^^

EDIT from 04-14-2017:
I still have problems understanding the construction.

My problem mostly revolves around 面の中央 and its modifier 観察しようとする.
Strictly speaking, that which the human eye "wants to observe" is not the page, but the center of the page here, right? After all, 面 is an attribute to 中央 here.
I might overinterprete things now, but wouldn't this mean that the text basically says "The human eye doesn't observe just the center of the page, but only the part slightly above the center of the page"?
What I want to say is that it sounds like the sentence gives us two negative statements about the human eye, because only perceiving the very center of a map isn't much better than just perceiving an area slightly above the center of a map. However, I feel like the sentence actually wants to say that the assumption that the human eye perceives the WHOLE map is wrong, because it only perceives the said area.

"It seems that the human eye does naturally look at the area a litte up from the center of the page it wants to observe"

I mean, in this case it's relatively easy for me to just go with the option which makes more sense. But are there any other "hard" criteria in the syntax of this whole sentence or in the structure of the phrase 観察しようとする面の中央 which make it clear that A and not B is meant:
A: The center of the page it wants to observe
B: The page's center it wants to observe

I hope I could make this understandable. I must admit that it was hard enough for me to find out what bothers me about this construction, but I guess it's even harder to communicate this nitpicking...^^


texts:
I know that ～ような means "looks like". In this context:

  ここで立ち止る ような 時間はない。

does it mean:

  "It appears it cannot stop here, there is no time"?

What I do understand is that ような is followed by a noun, which, in this case, is 時間.

I don't understand the "flow" of what comes after ような in this sentence. Why does it not include *の*ような?

Can someone please clarify?


texts:
One of my friends is translating some stuff, and he told me he needs "a second opinion for this one since he's having troubles to identify the first one".

I know the second one is だ, but I really can't identify the first one. I belived for a second it was Katakana, but I've checked both of my basic tables (my Japanese is extremely basic, worse than my English though), and I really can't find it.

I've tried to search words that end with だ, but that would be extremely slow, so I wanted to ask you guys, is this a Kanji? If so, which one?


texts: When speaking with client, how to say "I will tell my coworker"

texts:
I have found this in a phone usage manual (電話対応マニュアル) written by a Japanese person:

かしこまりました。必ず田中に申し伝えます。それでは失礼いたします。
(speaking to customer over the phone) Understood. I will tell Tanaka (my colleague). Goodbye.

What do you think about the use of 申し伝える here?
It feels unnatural to use humble language (謙譲語) when referring to Tanaka, who is within my company.
Does it depend on Tanaka's position relative to me?
Is there anything better I could use instead?


texts:
"It seems there is none" is なさそう, which escapes the usual rule for 形容詞 (イ-adjectives), which says "drop the い and add そう".

Is there a historical explanation for this exception? And does it have anything to do with なさいません?


texts: Is there a term for the rhetorical rephrasing of e.g. "良子はエビ天にかぶりつく。" into "エビ天にかぶりつく良子。”?

texts:
Here is an excerpt from a novel, AURA〜魔竜院光牙最後の闘い〜 by 田中ロミオ; note the sentence in bold.

やがて盆に乗った天もりが二人前やってくる。反射的に炸裂した良子の手づかみを阻止し、箸を持たせた。
「非論理的工具」
「うるさいなー。みんな頑張って慣れたんだよ」
悪戦苦闘しながらも、そばには目もくれずにエビ天にかぶりつく良子。 上天もりには二尾のエビを中心にして、キスとかぼちゃとしその天ぷらが脇を固めている。たちまち二尾のエビは魔女の胃袋に消えた。満足そうに手の甲で口元をぬぐう。
「エビ天、食ったことなかったわけ？」
「現象界の食物は非論理的な――」
「そうね、そうね」
不人気アニメを打ち切るプロデューサーの厳しさで強引に会話を切断する。

The sentence in bold seems to me to mean the same thing as, and to be a syntactic transformation of, the following sentence.

良子は悪戦苦闘しながらも、そばには目もくれずにエビ天にかぶりつく。

In the transformation, the entire top level clause has been relativized onto its topic and subject, 良子, which has been lifted to the top level of the sentence.  The sentence has become a standalone noun phrase.
I've noticed this construction a lot in Japanese writing.  Sometimes the standalone noun phrase is accompanied by a copula (without a stated complement), e.g.

悪戦苦闘しながらも、そばには目もくれずにエビ天にかぶりつく良子である。
悪戦苦闘しながらも、そばには目もくれずにエビ天にかぶりつく良子であった。

But sometimes it's written just as a bare noun phrase, as in the excerpt above.
My question is, is there a term for this kind of transformation / rhetorical device?  (I'm not asking what nuance this transformation imparts, just whether there's a name for it.)

BTW, I know that there is a term "体言止め" that refers to ending a sentence with a 体言, often a noun phrase, but that's different from what I'm looking for, because 体言止め includes simple omission of copulas or する without the relativizing transformation that pulls e.g. 良子 to the top level, i.e. the following would also be 体言止め:

不人気アニメを打ち切るプロデューサーの厳しさで強引に会話を切断。

as opposed to, say:

不人気アニメを打ち切るプロデューサーの厳しさで強引に会話を切断する俺。

which is both 体言止め and an example of what I'm talking about (the relativizing construction that lifts the topic/subject to the top level).
Also, as I mentioned, sometimes the construction actually does include a copula (である, であった) at the end, so it doesn't always end in a 体言 anyway.


texts:
まさか この２人と このちっぽけな町を舞台に冒険を繰り広げることになろうとは この時には思ってもみなかった
What is the function of the particle に after 舞台?
返事してくれてどうもありがとう！


texts:
Me and the particle へ don't get along. It's not that we don't like each other, it's that we don't get each other. I'm in a pretty committed relationship with に.

I mean, I think I understand what へ aspires to do. へ is focused on the process of going somewhere, and に is focused on the destination. But in practical terms, the difference strikes me as too subtle to really matter. So subtle that I don't know if I've ever uttered へ when speaking Japanese.

It seems to be that 「あの場所に行っている」 and 「あの場所へ行っている」 both mean "[I'm] going to that place". However in one case I'm emphasizing the 場所 and in the other I'm emphasizing that I'm 行っている. Hmmm...

Whenever I'm speaking, I never invite へ to come along, because I've never felt the need to make that distinction.

I've never thought, "does the person I'm talking to understand that I'm going to that place, not just there's a place that I'm going to?" Absolutely every time I want to convey an action that involves direction, I find that に always comes through for me.

So I wonder, is there any situation where に absolutely cannot replace へ？　Where the meaning would significantly change, or that it would become ungrammatical?

Heck, do we even really need へ?

Or have I misunderstood its purpose completely?

(Please make answers readable by all, with no overly technical linguistic terms. Thanks!)


texts: Use of の + how to construct a phrase without it

texts:
First, this is my very first post here, and I am a complete newbie when it comes to the Japanese language. I have, however, been very interested in the Japanese language and culture: I have been doing a Japanese martial art for 14 years, have been reading about martial arts history in Japan for a long time, and am a big Manga/Anime fan. Please go easy on me :)

I have a question about constructing a phrase in Japanese. I would like to say "wolf child" in Japanese and am wondering whether it is essential to use の in the middle, between wolf and child.

Is it correct to use 子 (ko) to denote "child" in general?
Is "Ōkami no ko" correct?
How about "Ōkami ko"? Is it 100% wrong to drop "no" from the middle?

Basically, my question is whether it's possible to say "wolf child" instead of "child of wolf" in Japanese (e.g., in spoken language versus formal/written language), and if so, would dropping の (no) accomplish this?


texts:
How do you pronounce 自重? Is it じじゅう or じちょう?  In this context, what does it mean?

The entire sentence is,

  その自重を支える魂の翼持つ「冒険者」よ、竜と巨人が、魔獣と亜人が住まう、幻想の世界セルデシア。

What does this phrase mean approximately?


texts:
If i want to ask what is the logic behind something does :その中の論理は何ですか
Work?


texts:
20日過ぎに海行くんだ

I'm pretty sure this means

  going to the sea in 20 days

but 過ぎる signifies elapsed time, so could it possibly be

  going to the beach for 20 days

?


texts:
In a short story I'm reading, the protagonist is reminiscing about her past, and she thinks this:

  翌年の四月に、私のすぐ上の兄が呆気なく肺炎で死んだ。その四月に、姉は大学に入った。自分だけ取り残されたくなくて、私は姉が楽しみだしたことを自分にも求めた。つまり、ジャズを聞いたり、映画を見たり、そして異性の大学生や高校生とも知り合いになりたがった

I kinda get the meaning of the sentence, but I don't really understand the last part: 異性の大学生や高校生とも知り合いになりたがった. 異性の大学生や高校生とも知り合いになり means she made acquaintance with university and high school students of the opposite sex, but as far as I know たがった is the たい form with the auxiliary verb がる which you use when you want to speak of other's emotions, so たがったり seems to mean "(someone else) [seemed] to want".

As far as I understand, and the translation given in the book is on the same line, the main character is saying that in order to not being left behind she started doing the new things which interested her sister, so I would think something like 知り合いになった would end the sentence.

Is she saying that she started doing things that latest* things that interested her sister, and the main character thinks among those things her sister wanted to make acquaintance with university and high school students of the opposite sex?

* "latest" for the だし part of 楽しみだし, which I think is from 出す, which when used as auxiliary means "To start [something]", so I'm guessing 楽しみだし means something that just picked people's interest.


texts:
In the following example, it remains unclear to me why the term もの is written in  hiragana.

  あの真っ黒なものは何

Here is a second example, where 優しい is written in hiragana.

  とてもあの人はやさしい

My suppositions:

For optical reasons, some kanji are written in hiragana to obtain the desired verse length.
Hiragana writing is used to let an open interpretation to the reader (for example 物 or 者, whether this is an object or a person)
Too complex kanji are replaced by hiragana to match the target audience (seems not to be the case here since the above kanji are "simple" ones)

Is one of these suppositions correct? Or is there any general rule for this?


texts: When stating two things e.g. A and B , and not counting the possibility of "neither", there exists A, B and A and B. To express all of them at once, "and/or" is commonly used. What are the ways to express this in Japanese? I came up with 両方またはどちらか一方 but I feel it's a little bit unwieldy. Is there a shorter or better way to express this?


texts:
Konbanwa, spelled Konbanha, is a greeting used in the evening. It is pronounced ko-m-ba-n-wa.

I don't know if it's my hearing, but to me, the second n is silent. Sometimes I hear it as ko-m-báo-wa instead of ko-m-ba-n-wa.

Is this a speaking preference or a false assumption of mine? Thanks!


texts:
Full context: シャレオツだた

Google translate shows: I was Shareotsu.


texts: Can I get a grammatical breakdown of どうなってんの?

texts:
I have some questions about this sentence:

  まだ遅れてるって、どうなってんの？事故は昨日だったろうが。

1) Is って here an analog of のは?

2) Why is it どうなって instead of どうなった? What is an ん before の?

3) だったろう　is だろう　in past tense? Why is が　at the end of the sentence?


texts:
I have the following to translate.

車は、
古くて、
パワーウインドーの窓が時々閉まらくなったり、
ヘッドライトが消えなくなったりして
困るので、
主人に早めに直してもらわなくてはなりません。

So far I have the following.

The car
is old and
it does things like the power windows sometimes become ...
and the headlights become not turning off and
it is a problem so
I have to have my husband fix it relatively early.

I am confused by the 閉まらくなった. I would understand if it were 閉まらなくなった (become not closing). I am not sure if this was just a typo by my professor or whether it is some other structure.


texts: Could someone please explain the correct translation of this sentence?

texts:
While reading a JP children's book, I found this sentence:

顔は、ところどころ、味噌をつけたようにまだらで、くちばしは、平たくて、耳までさけています。

which I roughly understand as:

[As for its] face, here and there, [it has ] spots/speckles like pickled miso, [as for its] beak [it is] flat up to [its] ears [and is] dividing the spotted appearance.

I don't fully understand the relationship between the bolded nouns/adjectives and the verb.

(1) Is 味噌をつけたようにまだらで read as:

"Appearance of pickled miso spots"
"Appearance of pickled miso in spots (places)"
"Spotted appearance of pickled miso"
"Spots like (similar to) pickled miso" << My reading
"Spots like [it was] covered in miso << Alternate verb 付ける instead of 漬ける

(2) What's the relationship between まだらで, つけたように and さけています? Should it be read as:

"Dividing the spotted appearance"
"Dividing the appearance with spots"
"Dividing the spots in/of the appearance"

For the record, I'm familiar with what で and に are (as particles), but I'm still inexperienced with their real-world use. (This is only my 3rd book).


texts:
確かに彼女は、ただ一緒にいるというだけで、人となりのわかるような事を話すとも思えない。

wonder how i should approach this

[人となり(の/が)わかる]ような事

can 人となり itself わかる something?

or

[人となり]の[わかるような事]

Either way it is an awkward read

thank you


texts: How do you say A leads to B leads to C in one single sentence?

texts:
Saying that A leads to B leads to C in one single sentence.

I want to say フィードバックを回収することにより、消費者の気持ちを理解することで、企業はもっといい商品を出すようになる, but i dont know if this is grammatically correct?

Please also do share if you have any better alternatives, Thanks!


texts: What is the difference between asu and ashita?

texts:
I've seen asu and ashita both used as furigana for the same kanji (明日).

Is there a big, subtle or no difference in meaning and usage?


texts: How to read kanji entry from Takoboto dictionary

texts:
When looking up the kanji occurring as the first character in the word すき (好き), I can see the following:

I know quite a bit of Chinese, and am trying to make the best out of this kanji section of my dictionary.

Can someone please explain the difference between the kana line above (first line) and the kana line below (second line) in this entry, as well as what all those commas and dots mean, and whether the order of characters between those dots and commas bears any significance or is random?

Thank you for helping me read kana entries from my kanji dictionary.

Thanks.


texts: Trying to understand 私のこと in this sentence

texts:
According to a tweet from @real_eikaiwa, the following sentence:

  こんなに私のこと笑わせてくれる人なかなかいないって思ってる！

Translates to:

  "I don't think I've ever met anyone that made me laugh so much!"

But this doesn't sound right to me. To me, 「私のこと笑わせてくれる人」sounds like "someone who lets me laugh about myself". My translation would be rather:

  "I think there aren't that many people who let/make me laugh at myself this much!"

What do you guys think?


texts:
There is a question in the Kanzen Master N2 Textbook:

  この薬は、_____上でお飲みください

  a. 食事が終わった

  b. 医師が説明した

  c. 説明書をよく読んだ

According to the answer sheet, the answer is c.

But I don't understand why a. and b. are wrong.

From what I understand of 上で in this context

A上でB

まずAします。それからB・準備としてまず～してから、その後で次に続く行動をする

Where it is necessary to do A first before doing B, A has significance
for what happens to B

When asking someone else, a sentence was given to me that is natural

お話は食事をした上でお聞きします

If this sentence is correct, why is a. wrong, what is the difference?


texts: Does 一度 have any meanings besides "once"?

texts:
I've seen 一度 used in ways that I'm not sure corresponds to the meaning "once". Specifically, I mean when it is used adverbially without any particle attached. For instance this line:

  一度この農村で旅の準備をしましょう

Does it simply mean "let's make travel preparations in this farming village once"? The "once" doesn't seem to be adding much, if that's the case. Going off the definitions here and here I don't see how else I can understand it. Can someone shed some light on this?

(Context: In the story I was reading a party of travelers had just arrived at a town early in their journey and was looking to acquire any supplies they needed then head off.)


texts: What's the difference between 最後 and 最終?

texts: While reviewing my 漢字, I noticed that for "last", I have (at least) two words, either 最後{さいご} or 最終{さいしゅう}. I was wondering, is there any difference in usage, or can I use them equivalently?


texts: Why is there 'は' before 'あるく' in this sentence?

texts:
風の枯木をひろってはあるく
Kaze no kareki o hirotte wa aruku

To my understanding it says something like ''wind leaves picking, I walk..'' but I couldn't grasp why there is a ''は'' before ''あるく''.


texts: Nominalization with 「ん」and its use for humans (「そんなん入れるよーじゃおしまいだな」)

texts:
Taken from 「イエスタデイをうたって3」:
Three guys of an indie band are having a talk about the current situation of their band and the place where they usually have their performances. While discussing their upcoming performance one of the guys mentions that a famous high-schooler-band will have a gig in the same club at the same night, so they expect it to be crowded. After hearing that they say:

「ウソ　やつ　そんな　若ぇの？」
「あのコヤもそんなん入れるよーじゃおしまいだな」

I already checked out this post: What are the rules for substituting の with ん?
In accordance, I think that 「ん」here is just a phonological phenomenon, but with the same „ability“ to nominalize adjectives as 「の」. Jisho lists 「こんな」as pre-noun adjective, yet I assume that it can be nominalized with 「の」like other adjectives as well. Therefore the 「そんなん」in the sentence above would be a noun (?).
If  the above is correct, my question would be in how far 「の」can be used for people without being inherently derogatory? While the statement above is not friendly in general, I was thinking about a dialogue like:

「どんな男性が好きですか？」
「優しいの」

Would this answer be acceptable? Even if it is acceptable are there more appropriate alternatives?
Please let me know if my conclusions about nominalization are blatantly wrong.


texts: Are there any restrictions on the usage of the て-form as a continuation?

texts: How freely can sentences be combined with the て-form? Are there any cases where it cannot be done?


texts:
Full text: この結果、連結売上高168億46百万円、連結営業利益24億5百万円、連結経常利益23億41百万円、連結当期純利益12億45百万円となりました.
My issue: How do we translate the numbers in English numerals? Will it be 1,245 million yen or 12.45 billion yen.


texts: Why is カラオケ (karaoke) written in katakana?

texts:
I noticed カラオケ (karaoke) is always written in katakana on signs/buildings in Japan, despite it being a Japanese word. Why is it not written in Kanji or Hiragana?

As I understand it, the usual reasons for using katakana are things like:

words with a Western origin,
to emphasise a foreign/unusual accent/voice or onomatopoeia (especially in manga), or
for traditional emphasis on words that pre-date Kanji.

But カラオケ is a modern Japanese word (which has been borrowed by English from Japanese, rather than the other way around), so I don't understand why it would be written exclusively in katakana?


texts:
Not sure why, but although I'm not bad at understanding japanese, sometimes there are messages like this I cannot understand at all. Could someone help me understand how the overall grammar works here ?

1| ドラゴンボールワールドツアー当日予選大会
2| 4枠中、2枠しか出れない+シングルイリミのルール
3| 行く人はツイッターで牽制してて既に戦いが始まってる感
4|ルール的には最後に行うであろう4がいいはずやけど、
5|それで4に強い人が集まりすぎると逆に美味しく無いし、どこ登録するかの読み合いが難しい

I guess I kind of understand the first sentence, which seems to give context (It's about the day of the Dragon Ball World Tour preliminary tournament)
No idea for 2|, although I understand the "single elimination rule" part. I don't understand what 枠 means in this context. It doesn't make sense to me.
3| Not sure about that one either, maybe the 感 at the end bears the meaning of "I have the feeling that..." but again, the overall sentence doesn't make sense to me. "I have the feeling that the persons who will go will do XXX on twitter, and the fight will have already started". Sounds horrible to me! :p
4|I still don't know what 枠 means here, except that there are 4 of these.
5| ''And then, when the ones who are strong against '4' will gather.....(something)'' Sounds more like the start of a legend to me than a translation coming from a tweet... :p
OK, so I literally did not understand anything from this tweet. I'm not sure if it's about the vocabulary, or the grammar, or both. But this tweet totally throws me off. How would you translate it?


texts:
How to translate 'They made her make him give me the book'?

Can I translate it to:

Karera wa kanojo ga kare ni sono hon o watasi ni watasaseru you ni saseta.

彼らは彼女が彼にその本を私に渡させるようにさせた。


texts: Are 「Aを相手にする」and 「Aの相手をする」the same?

texts:
大学教授は[常]{つね}にたくさんの学生を相手にしている。

あんなくだらない男は相手にするな。

「うふふ……じゃあ、士道くんのお相手をしてあげようかしら」

Hi. I’m struggling with the difference between 「Aを相手にする」 and 「Aの相手をする」, for they seem to have the same meaning. For example, it seems we can use 「Aを相手にする」 and 「Aの相手をする」 interchangeably in the above sentences.

大学教授は[常]{つね}にたくさんの学生の相手をしている。
あんなくだらない男の相手をするな。
「うふふ……じゃあ、士道くんをお相手にしてあげようかしら」

Or is there really any difference between 「Aを相手にする」 and 「Aの相手をする」?
Thank you.


texts: Meaning of っつーかなんつーか

texts:
I have difficulty to understand っつーか in the following context

  身体に良くないと思うけど」
  「好きっつーかなんつーか」
   オレはカップ形状のものを手に取って、それから値札を見る。

  I don’t think it’s really good for the body though.”
  “Eh, I was just
  considering if I should buy it.”
  I picked up a cup noodles bowl and
  looked at the price.

I know the term has been treated in

Translating っつーか

and is a colloquial form of と言うか (or perhaps I should say; or, how should I put it,...; I mean)

but I cannot figure how it works in the context (specially the duplication)


texts: Are relative clauses used differently in Japanese?

texts:
I understand how relative clauses are formed in Japanese; but, are there any differences with regards to where, what, when, and why, a relative clause is used?

The two languages' relative clauses look very different, and Japanese sentences like using really long ones; so would I be right in thinking Japanese people apply them differently, too?

Please give examples if possible, thanks!


texts: What does 「て」 mean in 「読んでて」 (te-form + て)?

texts:
It's a sentence from Tae Kim's grammar guide:

  崇君{たかしくん}は漫画{まんが}ばっかり読{よ}んでてさ。 かっこ悪{わる}い。

The 「て」 that appears after the te-form of 「読む」 and before 「さ」, what is it and what effect does it give? Possibly a colloquial-only thing?

I appreciate the help.


texts:
From JapanesePod101:

  十四番のボールは、緑の帯が入っている。
  The fourteen ball has a green stripe.

I'm not sure how and why 入る is being used here. There doesn't seem to be any clear fit amongst the dictionary meanings of 入る. I usually understand 入る as to enter/to be inside (intransitive), so the stripe instead of the ball being the subject of 入る seems a bit weird - shouldn't the ball be "inside" the stripe?


texts: Possible interpretation? The use of 脅かされる in this sentence

texts:
So, I came across a line in a manga that I'm interpreting in two ways. There's the main character who gets cornered by a monster, and the MC is vexed because he was weakened from a previous fight and can't believe that he monster is about to cause damage to him, when usually the MC would have finished it off easy.
MC says:

  腹立たしい
  腹立たしい
  弱者のように脅かされるのは

After this he says nothing, he gets up, very determined and kills the monster, not wanting to die there.

Now, I think he says "It's so annoying...so annoying. To be threatened like a weakling"
But, I also thought of another way which I don't know if it is right and maybe needs to be rephrased in another way.
""It's so annoying...so annoying. The one who should be getting threatened (or scared) like a weakling should be..."
Would this sound okay? I feel that the MC could say that "It should be you (monsters) that should cower in fear", something like that. Can this interpenetration work or the sentence needs to be rephrased? I would like to know if it's a possibility!

Thank you!


texts: どこかでなろうたんですか。meaning?

texts:
someone is amazed by his friend's ability of dancing well so he asked him
どこかでなろうたんですか

and his friend replied
ええ、坂本さんに教えてもらいました。彼、ダンスがとくいなんです。

I don't get the meaning "なろうたんですか” here ?


texts: When would one be used? I don't understand the difference between them.


texts: Why is 河原 in 河原町 pronounced "Kawara" as opposed to the expected "Kawabara/Kawawara"?

texts:
The Kawaramachi St in Kyoto is spelled with 河原, /kawa/ and /hara/. I'd suspect the two inner syllables to be merged into one mora at some point in history, but do we have a record of when that happened?

Further question: how old are the current street names and machi names in Kyoto generally?


texts: Why are there so many カ行、サ行、ラ行五段活用 verbs?

texts:
If you go into a dictionary like Weblio, and you look through their list of verbs, you'll see that each of the consonant 行s of 五段 are in separate categories. However, there are a ton of カ行、サ行、ラ行 verbs, to the point that they have to be broken down into more categories based on the usage or meaning of the verb. The other types - ガ行、タ行、ナ行、バ行、マ行、ワ行、ア行, only have one category each. What is the reason behind so many カ行、サ行、ラ行五段活用 verbs existing?
Additionally, does the ending of a verb have anything to do with the meaning? I've heard of サ行四／五段活用 being interchanged in the past with Old Japanese [為]{す} in サ行変格活用, and ナ行 is really only reserved for [死]{し}ぬ・[去]{い}ぬ・[往]{い}ぬ. Is there any reason behind this?


texts:
How would I say “I have been [...]” as in “I have been studying Japanese.” or “I have been working at an office”?

If I remember correctly it is a particular verb conjugation and this would be considered past progressive tense.  Correct?

I would translate “日本語を勉強していた。” as “I was (but am no longer) studying Japanese.”  This is not the solution I am looking for.


texts:
I tried to find kanji for the name Aimi by looking at the readings of kanji on jisho.org.
Do the kanji 鴉靉魅 work for the name Aimi?


texts: What's the difference between どうやら and 何とか?

texts:
「どうやらここで間違いなかったようですねえ。」。
For どうやら, my dictionary says to see 何とか and it means "something" or "barely", "hardly". Someone says it means "apparently", "somehow", like なんとなく, I think. Maybe it's mistyped and I should see なんとなく. I don't know.


texts:
I know the んだ form is used to give and ask for explanations, but I'm not sure about its usage in this passage; context: a girl asked a boy how much he loves her, he answer and then starts explaining his answer:

  そして僕は突然、自分が知っている誰からも、自分が知っているどこの場所からも、信じられないくらい遠く隔てられ、引き離されているんだと感じる

It seems like an explanatory usage of んだ and it makes sense, since he is giving an explanation; I'm not sure because that sentence is just part of the explanation the boy gives, and before and after んだ is used just another time (in a なんだ form). So I was wondering: why that sentence uses んだ, while the rest of the explanation doesn't? It's like the character felt the need to stress that part?

For reference, some more of the explanation (if needed I can copy also the following part):

  ある時、夜中にふと目が覚める。正確な時刻はわからない。たぶん二時か三時か、そんなものだと思う。でも何時かというのはそれほど重要なことじゃない。とにかくそれは真夜中で僕はまったくのひとりぼっちで、まわりにはだれもいない。いいかい想像してみてほしい。あたりは真っ暗で、何も見えない。物音ひとつ聞こえない。時計の針が時を刻む音だって聞こえない―時計はとまってしまったかもしれないな。そして僕は突然、自分が知っている誰からも、自分が知っているどこの場所からも、信じられないくらい遠く隔てられ、引き離されているんだと感じる


texts: What is the difference between 字 and 文字?

texts:
I was talking to someone about the etymology of the word "emoji" recently, and how it comes from 絵文字 in Japanese.

I knew that 絵 means "picture", and that 文字 means "character", but I was unable to explain why the 文 kanji is necessary when 字 also means "character" by itself.

Are 字 and 文字 interchangeable, or do they have different connotations/usage patterns?


texts: Why do the Japanese use loanwords for words that have functional equivalents?

texts:
It strikes me, reading Japanese that katakana is often used for words that have functional equivalents in the Japanese language. Why is this?
For instance, using ビル as opposed to 建物。

Or ブルー instead of 青い.

Or ジュース.　Am I supposed to believe the Japanese never smashed fruit to drink the liquid before they "met the west"?

Most other languages are not so accommodating.


texts: Reconciliation of adverbial ぜひ with its Japanese-English translation

texts:
Through this question I want to understand exactly how ぜひ is used adverbially.

My problem is that ぜひ is not behaving as I expect it to be. It appears that the English translation does not reflect its correct usage:

  ぜひ: "certainly, without fail, right and wrong, pros and cons"

I take "certainly" and "without fail" to be its adverbial use.

I observe that:

These sentences do not appear to me to have the sense of "certainly" and "without fail". E.g.,

  ぜひおいでください。 "We'd like you to come."

  ぜひお試しを。 "Please try our products"

I would (poorly) interpret them as follows instead:

  "Please come without fail"

  "Try without fail"

There seems to be some intermediate step that causes "without fail"  to soften and become part of a request (the actual requesting should be from a ~てください or an implicit one).
In English, "~ certainly is ~" and "to without fail be ~" and "~ without fail will be ~" are possible sentences. However, what I would expect to be the equivalent in Japanese - ぜひ～だ is ungrammatical. I seem to be misunderstanding something very important about the usage of ぜひ and I can't figure it out.
From sawa's comments in "How are で and ばかりused in this expression?",

  是非 is an adverb expressing the first person's expectation, and has to concord with a predicate that expresses such meaning. Your first sentence with 是非 without 願う is ungrammatical.
  Because just a copula is an assertion. There is no room for the first person's expectation to come in.

I've been meditating on those 2 points and I guess I just don't get it. It should be because I do not understand the usage of ぜひ. In what way does ぜひ exhibit expectation?

So please tell me what have I understood wrongly.


texts: What is the difference between はみ出す and はみ出る?

texts:
They are both intransitive:

  シャツがズボンからはみ出していますよ。
  Your shirt is coming out of your pants.

  足が 線からはみ出ています。
  Your foot is over the line.


texts: What would be your recommendation to dominate the japanese particles? I'm tired of my sentences and my speaking being destroyed by the fault of a little stupid particle. I'm studying the minna no nihongo book and i'm starting the lesson 16 but i'm still having problems with these particles!


texts: When sentences have several clauses with several subjects/topics, do they use more than one "ga" or "wa"?

texts:
I was explained in english stack exchange that the phrase

"I always believed I was the only one who could make you happy." has several clauses,  each one has a subject.

[I always believed [(that) (2)]] (main clause, subject I)
[I was the only one [(3)] (object clause of believe, subject I)
[who could make you happy] (relative clause modifying one, subject who)

Now in the japanese the phrase
"Kimi o shiawase ni dekiru nowa boku dake da to shinjite imashita." which would be sort of the literal translation of that, there is only one "wa" , which is the topic marker, which it would be something similar to the subject. Then my question is, how do you know in japanese, where do you have to set the topic or subject markers "wa" and "ga" in sentences with several clauses?


texts: Writing conventions / pronunciations for words with っ

texts:
I'm currently trying to figure out on how to do karaoke for some songs and I got a bit confused about the following. So let's say you have the words like

ずっと [zutto]
のって [notte]

How would you write these words if you would pronounce them? Is it like zut-to or zu-tto or maybe zu-t-to?
I would really appreciate any additional information.


texts:
「あそこで雪像作ってるのに混じってきたらどうですか？」

  【湯花】「肉体労働とかあり得ないわー。学園の除雪だって面倒だから課外授業の一環として生徒にさせてるのに」

  「思ってても言うべきじゃない事ってありますよね、特に大人は」

  【湯花】「全くだ」

In the above extract, 湯花, said 全くだ in agreement with what the other character said. Her previous statement is not exactly in line with this idea. Is this meant to be ironic or am I missing something?


texts: "可能性がある" at the beginning of a sentence?

texts:
I'm reading a short extract from a story, and I'm having troubles understanding the syntax of the following:

  可能性があるとすればギンの『生贄』を免れた山田とその父親だけだが、敵である男達が使えた所でなんだと言うのだと考え、チヒロは肩を竦めた。

I'm used to seeing 可能性がある at the end of a clause but so far have never seen in at the beginning (bear in mind I only have about one year experience as a student in Japanese) I'm not sure how this would translate to English.

My best attempt at a translation is:

  Although if there is a possibility, only Yamada and his father escaped gin's "sacrifice", Chihiro shrugged her shoulders thinking that the men that are the enemies were able to use it. (?)

This doesn't sound right to me and I'm confused by what it's trying to say.

Is the 可能性があるsupposed to refer to something previously mentioned? And that's why it's at the beginning of the clause? Or is it encompassing whatever comes later in the clause? I hope someone can help me understand this thank you!


texts: Are 「ないで」(when used adverbially) and 「ずに」 absolutely interchangeable?

texts:
I have been browsing the related questions in this site that deal with ず, ない, ずに and ないで and they are very informative. However, I couldn't find a post dealing with ずに and ないで (adverbially) specifically. That's why I used the categorical word "absolutely" in my question, I want to focus on those.

After researching, it is clear to me that both expressions mean the same, but I still wonder whether there is a difference in nuance, formality or whatever aspect that makes them different in the slightest. Are they always interchangeable no matter the sentence they are used in? To put it the other way around, is there any situation in which 「ないで」(adverbially) can't be replaced by 「ずに」 or vice versa?

For instance,

  朝ごはんを食べないで、会社にでかけた。
  朝ごはんを食べずに、会社にでかけた。

よろしくお願いします！


texts: "No ga" .... -- what's this grammar rule?

texts:
What are the grammar rules here?

何【なに】をするのが好き【すき】ですか？
Nani wo suru no ga suki desu ka?

Why "no ga"? Why before "suki"? Where can I read about this?


texts: Is there a phrase that Japanese people use to express amusement when seeing each other unexpectedly? For example, if you just said goodbye and then ran into each other somewhere else?


texts:
I'm having a little trouble translating the following passage ---

  なのにあんたときたら三年前再会してからは何かっていうと電話してきて…新商品のパンが美味しいとか、どぉっでもいいのよ！

I've read various guides about っていう and how it's used but it all seems to have flown out the window when I read the above in a novel.

My translation of it (please do correct me if I happen to be wrong):

なのに - is a conjunction so but/however etc;

あんたときたら - "concerning you/as for you" (I thinkときたら is interchangeable with the は particle?)

三年前再会してから - "after we met again 3 years ago"

何か - something/anything

っていう - called/meaning (confused about what it's defining or describing here)

電話してきて - "phoned me"

新商品のパンが美味しいとか - "new stock of bread is delicious amongst other things"

どぉっでもいい - it looks to be どうでもいい which means "it doesn't matter"

You see, I find it difficult to actually put all of that into a sentence because the っていう is really throwing me off, what is its purpose in this particular sentence? any help is appreciated!


texts:
According to Jisho.com, 申す　and 申し上げる　are both kenjougo. From what I can tell, the meanings are also very similar, if not identical.

However, the words are not interchangeable. We can use 申す (not 申し上げる)　in sentences like ケイトと申します. And we can't use 申す instead of 申し上げる in どうぞよろしくお願い申し上げます.

Though it's easy to memorize the phrases, I'd like to understand the two verbs better. How exactly are they similar and different? When can and can't we use each of them?

Thank you!


texts: is よう sometimes used exactly like the american greeting/interjection "yo!"?

texts:
I was reading about よう on Wiktionary and it says:

  Interjection[edit] よう (rōmaji yō)

  A very informal greeting similar to yo.

  よう、元{げん}気{き}？
  Yō, genki?
  Yo! Howdy?
  A very informal (rude) interjection similar to hey.

  よう、待{ま}てよ。
  Yō, mateyo.
  Hey, wait.

This sounds exactly like the American "yo!" which is used for greetings and as "hey!".

Are they the same or do they have some nuances?


texts: The difference between ending a sentence with さ or ね

texts:
According to this question. Ending a sentence with さ is a colloquial way of to make a sentence more playfully assertive. But I noticed that ね is also used to end a sentence and the meaning to me seems to be the same as the sentence that ends with a さ.
For Example:
あのさ、これさ美味しいよ
あのね、これね美味しいよ
Is my understanding correct that both can mean as "Hey/You know what, this is delicious." If so, then in what situation can ending a sentence with a さ or ね be different.


texts:
Lots of words/expressions/phrases use 気 in one way or another. For example 気をつけて, 気味, 気になる, 気がつく, 気がする, 天気 etc...

Is there a reference somewhere for the seemingly more "interesting" phrases (like the ones using つく as described in Dissecting つく verbs). By reference i mean translation, sample usage and maybe even an explanation of why it means what it means.


texts:
What exactly does な particle mean when used with わけ?
Example (pulled from Google):

  あいつが犯人なわけがないじゃないか.

I know exactly what this sentence means, but I'm just a little unsure on what the な is doing there? I couldn't find a suitable answer in my dictionary, the only thing I can thing of is it being another form of だ.

Thank you in advance.


texts: 怒られるのが怖くて嘘をつくのは、子供にありがちな行動です。 why did we use 怒られるのが as subject  ?? what is the sentence constructon


texts:
For example the top of these characters:
今 -> 人 (ひと)
全 -> 入 (はいる)

Or the side of these:
明 -> 月 (つき)
腹 -> 肉 (にく)

Are there more examples like these?
How do I know which is which?


texts: でも (demo) versus けど (kedo) to mean "but"

texts:
I learned that you can use でも (demo) at the beginning of a sentence to mean "but," and that you can use けど (kedo) at the end of a sentence to mean "though." However, I don't see a difference between these two.

For example, suppose someone says this:

あした かいもの に いきましょう. Ashita kaimono ni ikimashō. "Let's go shopping tomorrow."

Would there be any difference in these two responses?

でも あした は やすみ です. Demo ashita wa yasumi desu. "But tomorrow is a holiday."
あした は やすみ です けど. Ashita wa yasumi desu kedo. "Tomorrow is a holiday though."

To me, these two responses seem to have the exact same meaning. So my question is this: Are there are any differences between でも (demo) and けど (kedo)? It seems like the placement of the "but" (でも at the beginning and けど at the end) could change the emphasis. Is that true? If so, how?

Also, are there any situations when you can use one but not the other?


texts: fellow Japanese lovers!  I've been studying Japanese on my own for a few months, and have reached the point where I have a question that I can't find decisively asked or answered anywhere.  I'm hoping that someone with more experience can provide an answer on this site.  My question is not simply when (or if) to use ON or KUN.  Rather, I want to know if it is grammatically acceptable to switch arbitrarily back and forth between using ON and KUN--as well as between using Hiragana and Katakana--in speaking and/or writing Japanese sentences?  Again, there are two separate considerations about which I am asking.  Is a transverse usage pattern among all four elements permissible for purely arbitrary reasons, or would it represent poor grammar?  And, if the latter is true, how does one decide when to use which pattern or combination thereof?  Thank you to anyone who can clarify for me.


texts:
In what situations would someone use one of the following forms over the others when requesting the action やる?

やってくれる?
やってくれない?
やってくれ
やって(ください)

My assumption is that the first two would translate more along the lines of "Could you do it?" while the last two would translate to "Please do it." (Am I correct?) But between (1) and (2) and between (3) and (4), what are the differences?


texts: Is there a word that describes greenish-blue colours (of any shade)?

texts:
I'm looking for the most natural-sounding way to express the general concept of blue-green colours (such as cyan or teal) in Japanese. By "general concept", I mean all colours that are neither entirely blue nor entirely green, in shades ranging from dark to light. Here are some examples, taken from the CSS3 specification:

 Aquamarine
 Cyan
 Turquoise
 Teal

After a bit of research, I've come up with four possibilities.

青緑 / あおみどり / aomidori

This seems to be the best option (it literally translates as "blue-green") but I'm not sure whether or not it includes darker shades, such as teal.

Suggested translations:

Blue-green - Wiktionary 1
Cyan - Wiktionary 2
Turquoise - Collins English-Japanese Dictionary (ISBN 0-00-719655-5)
Blue green - Google Translate

水色 / みずいろ / mizuiro

Literally translates to "water-colour", but seems to lean more towards light blue than general blue-green. Again, I'm not sure that this would include darker blue-green shades such as teal.

Suggested translations:

Cyan - Japanese SE
Light blue, Turquoise - Wiktionary
Light blue - Pocket Kenkyusha Japanese Dictionary (ISBN 978-0-19-860748-9)
Light blue - Google Translate

シアン / shian

Literally "Cyan", so almost certainly doesn't include darker shades, such as teal. I couldn't find this in either of my (printed) dictionaries.

Suggested translations:

Cyan - Wiktionary
Cyan - Google Translate

ターコイズブルー / taakoizu buruu

Literally "Turquoise Blue", so (again) almost certainly doesn't cover darker shades, such as teal, and (again) doesn't exist in either of my printed dictionaries.

Suggested translations:

Turquoise - Wiktionary
Turquoise - Google Translate

tl;dr: Which of the above (if any) is the most suitable translation for general "blue-green" colours in Japanese?


texts:
The following excerpt is taken from a conversation with my languagepartner.
For context:

私が Skype のインスタントメッセージ機能で、リアルタイムに日本語の会話をすることはあまりありません。お互いにオンラインで、会話を楽しみたいときは、英語を使うことが多いです。

基本的には italki と同じです。時間があるときにメッセージを読んだり書いたりします。Skype の便利なところは、イラスト、写真、リンク、ファイルなど、いろいろなものを送れるところです。文章を読むだけではわかりにくいことも、イラストや写真、時にはYouTubeの動画なども使って説明することができます。モチベーションを保つためには、楽しみながら学ぶことが大切だと思います。

The sentence in question:
文章を読むだけではわかりにくいことも、イラストや写真、時にはYouTubeの動画なども使って説明することができます。

My attempt at translation:
"Though it is hard to understand at reading essays, while using Youtube videos and the like when/in times of (???) Illustrations and photos, you can explain/expose."

Beforehand, has anyone got a better idea for わかりにくい instead of "hard to understand"? At least in my translation, it isn't optimal, but I kind of lacked the creativity to come up with something better.

To the matter at hand: I think 使って and 説明することができます are connected in the way that "while doing X, I can expose/show (Y)." I think in this context "to expose" is more suitable than "to explain", although basically both are very well possible here. Still, especially with the phrase イラストや写真、時には  I have no idea how to integrate the parts inside the 使って phrase so that I can properly attach the 使って phrase to the 説明 phrase. In the 時に phrase, there is a lack of verb isn't there?

Also in 文章を読むだけではわかりにくいことも, I wonder wether ことも connects to できます? I guess not, but I can't rule it out yet since my understanding of the full sentence is less than optimal. I think こと simply references back to SKYPE in the usecase of 文章を読む: "Only at reading essays, it (=usecase "read essay with Skype") is hard to understand".


texts:
I'm currently reading a Japanese book on clouds, and am hoping someone can shed some light on the exact meaning of a cloud type called 入道雲。The English translation would be Cumulonimbus, but I'm hoping to get a breakdown on if there is particular meaning in the word 入道雲.

積乱雲 is listed as an alternate word for Cumulonimbus in this book and I'd also love to know what the meaning of that word is if possible. I believe 入道 means priest or monk (and I have no idea how that would relate to this cloud), but I can't find a meaning for 積乱 anywhere. :)


texts:
... この事がお母さまに或いは悪い祟りをするのではあるまいかと、心配で心配で...

Kazuka is wondering about if she caused a curse to happen to her mother by burning the snake eggs. I understand the general meaning but the suffix "mai" confuses me a little bit.

It's a suffix used to convey a negative meaning, right? ie. 'probably isn't' or 'musn't'. But here, it is challenging for me to understand why the author used it. It feels like it weakens the possibility of Kazuka harming her mother, but we know that she is anxious about her actions. Or is it used here to strengthen the if clause?

This is "The Setting Sun" by Osamu Dazai by the way.


texts: Is telling a superior, "電子メールを見てくださいました," correct?

texts:
Imagine wanting to tell a superior something along the lines of, "I saw/read/received your e-mail."  In Japanese, there's sometimes something with using the te form along with words like くださる and もらう to suggest a favor has been done, or something like that.  So would this be a good way to put it:

  電子メールを見てくださいました。

As in, "I saw your nice e-mail," or something like that.

Why or why not?  If not, what's the proper way to go about this?  Thanks!


texts: 「輪郭の柔らかな瓜実顔」Why is it 「の」instead 「が」？

texts: Is this an idiomatic thing? Or an exception? Maybe both are possible?


texts: What is the difference between 指摘される and 突っ込まれる?

texts:
I always get this two whenever I make a mistake. I think that more or less they are similar but kind of have the feeling that 突っ込まれる has a bit stronger meaning than 指摘される, is this correct?

For example,

 He pointed out my mistakes (rough translation, I'd think)

 彼に指摘された。
 彼に突っ込まれた。


texts:
I've seen sentences ending with "、と。" many times in some particular texts. Here are some examples:

Example 1 (source: 嫌われる勇気 by 岸見一郎)
青年　先生は「すべての悩みは対人関係の悩みである」とおっしゃる。裏を返せば、われわれの幸福もまた、対人関係のなかにあるのだ、と。しかしわたしには、このあたりがまだ納得できません。
Example 2 (source: niwasaburoo supplementary notes on tense)
しかし、私は、それでいいのだろうか、という疑問を持っています。「た」は過去なのだろうか、と。「た」を過去とする論は、「現在」を非常に狭く考えすぎていると思います。

I assume it's a shorthand for something like "と思う" or "と言う". Is that right?
The comma before the と also seems to be applied pretty consistently. Is that an important part of the grammar form?
Does this usage correspond to a particular speaking/writing style? Does it have some particular nuance? Any other important things to note?


texts: What is the difference between 「女性一人」 and 「一人の女性」?

texts:
So far, I've learnt that a quantity (number + counter) can be attached to a noun to quantify it by using の:

  一人の女性。One woman.

However, I came across a sentence in my textbook where the noun an the number+counter are grouped in the opposite order and withouta any particle:

  女性一人。One woman.

I wonder if there is any difference in terms of meaning, usage or style for each possibility.

You can check the original answer in the Japanese Stack Exchange from which my question arised here. It might provide the context necessary to address this question.

よろしくお願いします！

EDIT: the question was identified as a duplicate by myself because both expressions have the same meaning as stated in the linked question. However, as the excellent answer provided by broccoli forest explains, there is a different nuance between them. This differenve is not explained in the linked question, therefore I think this question is not a duplicate but it is different from the linked one.


texts: Is this sentence correct? 去年は日本へ行ったことがあります。


texts: What does “のではないかともいわれておる” mean in the following sentence?

texts:
I have to say that translating Japanese sentences into English can be very challenging! Here is a sentence from Felony Imprisonment With Hard Labour.

  短期の懲役刑（6ヶ月程度）では、受刑者に施設内処遇者というレッテルを貼られることによるデメリットが、懲役期間中の教育効果を上回るのではないかともいわれておる

I used Google Translate, and I got the following translation.

  In short-term imprisonment (about 6 months), it is said that the disadvantages of being sentenced to inmate treatment by prisoners may outweigh the educational effect during the imprisonment period.

I understand that Google Translate is not the best tool, but sometimes it has proven to be very helpful!

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the parts of the sentence are translated like this.

“いわれておる” – “It is said”
“も” – “Even” or “Also”
“と” – quoting particle, and it can be translated as “That”
“のではないか” – expression used to question something, and the “の” is used to attach the expression to the verb in this case

I guess “のではないか” is the part that I am having a hard time translating. If you have any suggestions, please tell me! I am looking forward to it.


texts:
This sentence is from Kanji in Context Workbook 1.

お嬢さんが近々結婚すると言って、隣の人が挨拶に来た。

I get that basically it means that my neighbour came to visit me and announced that his/her daughter was getting married.

I understand that 挨拶 generally means "polite speech". Here, does 挨拶にきた just mean it was a friendly visit, or does it suggest that the real reason was to make the announcement (out of courtesy)?


texts: What is this な between a noun and the particle の？

texts:
What is the role of the な in bold in this sentence? Is it a nominalized だ?

考えれば考える程彼女がどういう女なのか分からなくなってきます。