texts:
How do I get a V sound in Japanese?
How do I write my name XAVIER

Thank you in advance for your reply.
Prasanna XD


texts:
Here are an example sentence and its translation taken from an online English-Japanese dictionary.

問題の意味するところ
the meaning of a question

I'm wondering why the example sentence attach するところ and doesn't simply say 問題の意味.

Although there is a grammar that [verb] + ところ means is about to [verb], that grammar can't seem to be applied at here.


texts: What is different between 分かります and　分かりました。


texts:
A: 昨日おいしいレストランへ行ったんだっけ。
B: へえ。そのレストラン、なんの料理のお店？
A: イタリア料理。映画館の隣にある。
B: ああ、XX レストランなら、私も行ったことがある。

Should XX be あの, or その?


texts: I know that ゼミ is short for ゼミナール (seminar), but the word seems to be used differently than how it's used in English. My guess from the times I've seen it used is that it's a catch-all term for university classes, is that correct?


texts: what is relative time in Japanese language?

texts: Yesterday I came across some grammatical rules which said “に is used to indicate a specific time or date, but in the case of a relative date, に is not used. I know relative time include terms like yesterday, tomorrow, and today. But can someone give me a more accurate definition of relative date? Thank you~


texts: Is the yasumi in oyasuminasai the same as yasumi (day off / break)?

texts:
I have known oyasuminasai (good night) for around a year now.

Today I learned the word yasumi (break / day off).

It instantly rang a bell and then oyasuminasai sprung to mind.

Is there a connection here?

It would make sense as oyasuminasai is kind of like saying ''take a rest now for the night'' or ''take a break for the night''.


texts: Understanding the meaning and grammar of 出{で}て in 出{で}て来{き}ました

texts: I'm trying to understand the grammar of 「出{で}て」 in 「出{で}て来{き}ました」. Why is 「て」  used here?


texts: を-marked 非情-Passive in Adjectival Phrase

texts:
I've come across this sentence in a publicly available preview of ノルウェイの森:
何日かつづいたやわらかな雨に夏のあいだのほこりをすっかり洗い流された山肌は深く鮮かな青みをたたえ。
I see two different ways of parsing the adjective phrase describing the topic, and I'm not sure which is correct.

雨にほこりを流れる。 (S1)

In this interpretation, 山肌 is very loosely semantically linked to the phrase 雨にほこりを流す, as the location in which S1 occurred. 山肌 then, isn't an argument of the passive form 流される。Another example of this kind of loose relationship might be ケーキを食べるパーチ ->　ケーキを食べられるパーチ. I find this a bit odd that we have an agent and を-marked direct object but no clear subject in this passive construction, but I could believe that using を to mark the subject instead of が is motivated to de-emphasize the ほこり since we're in a subordinate clause. I'm not sure if this is correct, or if we outright have no subject in this clause.
In this case, I'd wager it's just more literary or objective to use the passive voice (ほこりを流される　vs　ほこりを流す), though literary and objective seem like contradictory ideas.
2)　山肌が雨にほこりを流される。(S2)
In this interpretation, 流される is an indirect passive, and 山肌 is adversely(?) affected by ほこりを流される, from the perspective of the speaker. This interpretation is syntactically correct, as far as I'm aware, but doesn't make much sense to me. Why does washing away dust adversely affect the mountain?
Are both interpretations valid for the text of the sentence? If #1 is correct, what are some other examples of this subject-less direct passive, and what's the semantic difference with the active form? If #2 is correct, is there an adverse connotation to the use of the passive form, why or why not?


texts: How to express a verb acting upon another verb?

texts:
How would I express a verb acting upon another verb? For example, 'I love to dance', or 'I hate to fight!' Would you say:

喧嘩するを憎むよ
喧嘩してを憎むよ
喧嘩するのを憎むよ
喧嘩しを憎むよ

Are any of these correct? If not, how would you say it? Are there variations to choose from, or only one correct way to do it.


texts: What is それ referring to in this narration?

texts:
I think that I am probably over thinking this which has lead to me become confused as to what それ is referring to below.

To provide some additional context, the main character had just asked his friends 「みんな、大人と戦う覚悟はできてるか？」and the below extract begins after their answers.

  そうか……。そうだった。

  こんなこと、聞くまでもなかったんだ。改めてみんなの気持ちを確認する必要なんてなかったんだ。

  覚悟なんて、とっくの昔に固まっていたんだから。

  「みんなで、この世界を守り抜こう。たとえ、誰がここに攻めてきても、追い返してやるんだ！」

  みんなが笑顔で頷いてくれる。

  最初から、それだけで十分だった。

I was originally thinking that それ was referring to the utterance 「みんなで、この世界を守り抜こう。たとえ、誰がここに攻めてきても、追い返してやるんだ！」, i.e. this was all he had to say in the first place (instead of asking the proceeding question to confirm their resolve). However, then I thought that if he was actually saying this then his utterance would have been worded differently which now leaves me a bit confused as to whether he is saying what I originally thought, or if he is referring to [みんなが笑顔で頷いてくれる].

I would appreciate if the answerer could clarify which is correct, (and potentially how the sentence would have been worded differently if they intended the other meaning).


texts: Best way to simply ask "how often do you"

texts:
Seems like a very simple question, but Im not sure of the best way to ask this conversationally.My understanding is if your asking over a specific period like a week or month, and taking "buy that" as an example its good to say 月かんかい買う？１週間なんかい買う？

But without that period marker what would be a natural way to ask, how often do you buy that? my guess yesterday in conversation was それは何頻度で買うの？
But it seemed pretty unclear to the native speaker 相手.


texts:
A quick search on jisho.org reveals that many of the first page results of words that end with a ず are adverbs. So this type of adverb is common.
In fact, it's true (at least for these first page results) that a word is an adverb if and only if the final ず is written in kana instead of being part of the reading of a kanji.
This doesn't seem like a coincidence.
I know that ず was historically a negative conjugation (per this question), but I can't really why that would make it a common adverb ending.
Does anyone know why this might be the case?


texts: Another meaning of 回{かい}転{てん} in phrase 回{かい}転{てん}寿{ず}司{し}チェーン

texts: 回転 means rotation. How to understand this phrase: 回転寿司チェーン ?


texts:
My original sentence was:

[Name]さんは仕事でよく忙しいんですか？

I was told by a native that it sounds strange.
She replaced よく with いつも:

[Name]さんは仕事でいつも忙しいんですか？

I always thought both were used for "often" frequency.

Why does my sentence sound strange? Her explanation was long and in Japanese above my level so I didn't quite get it.


texts:
I've started playing a visual novel and came across this sentence in the first minute of, in lack of a better term, gameplay.

  学校【がっこう】の軍隊【ぐんたい】が出陣【しゅつじん】してもう二週間【にしゅうかん】たったけれど、全然【ぜんぜん】戻ってくる【もどってくる】気配【けはい】ない。大丈夫【だいじょうぶ】なのかな。

I know that this roughly translates to:

  Although the school's armed forces left 2 weeks ago, there's still no sign of them returning. I wonder if they're alright.

The problem I have is with the tense. My teacher taught me that Japanese tense is realised by the last verb in the sentence. So why does たつ take たった here?


texts: What is available amount of が in one sentence?

texts:
日本海側では太平洋側より雪がたくさん降りますか。

  はい、日本海側の方が雪がたくさん降ります。

So, can I use 2 が in 1 sentence, or can there be only one? And which one should stay there?

As I learned yesterday, since 雪 was already mentioned in the question, the 2nd が can (or must) be changed to は but I'm not sure. Also, is there a need to keep any of particles there (I mean after 雪)? Would 「はい、日本海側の方が雪たくさん降ります」be incorrect?


texts: Noun+Adjective - What are the rules/usages?

texts:
I usually self-study, however I see a tutor once a week who is a native from Tokyo. In my previous lesson with her, she used the following:

  もう夜遅いから家に帰ったほうがいいでしょう。

Where 夜遅い translates to "late at night", and the overall translation is something like "Since it's already late, we should head back home."

When I asked her if there are rules governing this construct, she was not able to give me a definitive answer, but instead was only able to give me one further example:

  朝早い = Early in the morning

I am wondering, are these two examples just set expressions, or are there rules that govern what noun+adj combinations are possible? Is it strictly used with [unit of time (Noun)]+[qualitative (Adj)], or is there a wider range of usage?


texts: We can use じゃなかったです for past tense, but can we replace the です with でした so that it becomes じゃなかったでした? Why or why not?


texts:
Initial searching in Japanese-Japanese dictionaries seem to suggest that it's along the lines of "has a bit of ..., so saying otherwise would be wrong", "more so than not", and is a synonym to ないわけではない (though I personally don't really understand ないわけではない either).

Am I understanding it correctly? What would be an accurate and/or good way (these might not be the same) to translate it to English when it's part of a sentence, or is it something that's heavily context-dependent? Would it be something like "it's not that [negative clause]"?

While I do have a specific example of it being used that I'm interested in, I'm also interested in the general case.

P.S., A fan translation of that example translated it as "Unfortunately yes". Is this a good translation? Does the expression itself convey the exasperation, or is it simply in the tone it's said?


texts: Do certain particles behave like nouns? Case in point:「かも」

texts:
これもしかしたら最後のスタック・エクスチェンジの投稿になるかもなのです。

その質問はちょっとムズイかもだから、パスします。

Everywhere I looked「かも」is listed as 助詞. Does this mean some particles behave like nouns? It's also interesting to note that 「かも」comes from「かもしれない」which conjugates like an i-adjective. Off the top of my head I haven't thought of any other similar contractions/particles, but I think there should be more examples.

Come to think of it, 「からの」, 「での」...


texts:
So this is from the manga Kochikame:

Basically the guy on the ground was asking the cop directions while the cop was listening to a horse race on the radio and found out his horse lost.
Anyway, in this sentence what does "スって" mean? The closest I can find is "吸う," like he was absorbed in the race, but is that right?
Next, "頭にきてる" is another phrase I'm unfamiliar with. This link says it means mad, so is this a set phrase or what word is きてる coming from?
Then finally, what does "だてに" mean? The closest I can find is "伊達" which seems weird in this sense. And "ぶらさげてる," in this context it means like his gun isn't hanging from his holster, right?
Lotta questions there, so I appreciate any help I can get, thanks!

For accessibility purposes, I've included a transcription.  The angry policeman says the following:

競馬で　スって
頭にきてる時に
ゴタゴタぬかす
と　本当に
ぶっ殺すぞ！
だてに拳銃を
ぶらさげてるんじゃ
ねえんだぞ！

And then the man on the ground says:

わっ
わかっ
たす！


texts: Why does いい加減 have diametrically opposite meanings?

texts:
When scolding a misbehaving child, we tell them to be iikagen:

いい加減にしなさい。

But we can also tell a misbehaving child to stop being iikagen, or describe something bad as iikagen:

もういい加減でやめなさい。
彼のロシア語はいい加減なものだ。

I understand that いい加減に and いい加減で/な have different meanings, but how did those evolve from a word that literally/originally means "add and substract"?


texts:
Is there any reason to use one tense over the other with this verb (and others like it such as 出動, as in軍隊が出動する)?

Based on the following sample sentences from my Apple dictionary, they seem interchangeable.

  財務省から研究所に出向させられた

  He was seconded from the Ministry of Finance to a research institute.

  大学から付属病院に出向している

  He is on loan from the university to the university hospital.


texts: The reason of using 「考えすぎたあまり」 instead of 「考えたあまり」

texts:
In my textbook, the usage of 「〜あまり」 is described as follows:

  〜すぎるので、〜すぎるために (so … that)

However one of the usage sentences is written as follows:

  試験の問題は易しかったのに、考えすぎたあまり、間違えてしまった。

In this case, isn't the meaning of "Doing something so extremely that it results in an abnormal situation" repeated? So maybe it has to be written in this form:

  試験の問題は易しかったのに、考えたあまり、間違えてしまった。

But my Japanese friend says that it is quite awkward. Why is it?


texts: I'm a little confused as to the role that する is playing in phrases like はっきりとした and はっきりしている I know this is classed as a する verb, but it still doesn't make sense in the same way that nouns used with する do. How exactly do you translate these instances? Any answers appreciated, thanks.


texts: Different ways to say "member" (of an association/group etc)

texts:
I would like to ask about which is the most general/common way to say 'member' in Japanese when talking about a group, organization, association, etc. In particular, is there a word that is "always ok" to use, or does each different type of organization (a school club vs. a research society vs a sports team vs an NPO, for example) use a different term?

会員 and  メンバー seem to be the most common words, is that correct? Can they be used interchangeably/in any situation?

I know about 会社員、but I'm interested more in "non company" type of organizations.

Second question: if I want to ask how many members there are in a group/association, do I just use 何名 or is there a specific counter?


texts: How to speak about "one" thing in Japanese?

texts:
I know the title does not make much sense, sorry about that.

In short, what I mean is, how can I mention about one certain thing (not one thing in amount) in Japanese?

For example "one morning" in the following sentence:

  As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

I come accross some usages like "あるX". For instance:

One morning -> ある朝
One day -> ある日

Is this ある may be what am I looking for?

Sorry if I am not clear. This is all I could express myself.
Thanks.


texts: 開き直ってしまえば気が楽だった. Is the ば working as a conditional here?

texts:
Not completely sure whether the ば is acting as a conditional or the grammar is something else because I can't quite understand the sentence.
Context is the guy was feeling a bit troubled before changing his mood again.


texts: Difference between "foot" and "leg" in spoken Japanese

texts:
After going on a long run, if you want to say, "My feet are sore", I would imagine that in Japanese you would say 「足が痛い」.  If you want to say, "My legs are sore", I imagine that would be 「脚が痛い」.

How do you disambiguate one from the other in spoken Japanese, while minimizing additional explanation or without having to explain which kanji you mean?


texts:
最近とても疲れやすいので、その日の体調いかんでは________

I answered it with : 会社を休むこともある

But got it wrong(got 0 points), with a note telling me to use かもしれない instead.

I understand that you can answer with the かもしれない format, but wonder why こともある is incorrect.

These are examples I took from the internet :

金額いかんでは、その仕事を引き受けないこともありません。

裁判の判決いかんでは、控訴することもあり得る。

わたしの帰宅時間は毎日違う。日によっては夜中になることもある。

Basing from these, I think it's safe to assume my answer is not wrong...

Edit:
I went and asked my teacher, and although I don't understand the whole explanation, I think I can understand why my answer might not be correct :

The said sentence has a reasoning clause which is 最近とても疲れやすいので. It would only make the most sense when the line is told to your co-worker, or family with the goal to inform in advance; In the near future, you might take a day off depending on your physical condition.

I guess it's similar to saying 明日の天気によっては、試合が中止になることもある where tomorrow's match is a one-time thing. The こともある hinted multiple occurrences in the past and the coming future. They don't match, so saying 明日の天気によっては、試合が中止になるかもしれない is better.

If 最近 is replaced with words to mean like ずっと生まれから疲れがちなので, then こともある will be correct.


texts: Is there another cheering phase to say rather than 頑張って？

texts:
I usually followed several Japanese actors on SNS.

Sometime when they have an audition, people usually cheer them by commenting "頑張って/頑張ってください".

However, I learned that some of them doesn't really like this because they are already doing their best.

I was wondering if there are any other sentences that I can use? I wanna say good luck as well, but the english equivalent is also 頑張って...

The only thing I came up with it is 応援してるよ。


texts:
Hy, I am currently working on with  新完成マスター N3 for my grammar part and I get stuck on a small section of the lesson related to ところ(~p.17)。

So far, I understand that, according to this lesson, ところ can be used to express something that just, will or be happening soon.

However, I do not get the point of the particles added after. I can understand why we would use ところで/ ところだ、but not why we would use ところを/ ところへ。

Here are the 2 sentences use as an example that I don't quite get the use f the particle:

ケーキができ上かったところへ子供たちが帰ってきた。
試験中、隣の人の答えをみているところを先生に注意された。

Again, what role do those particles play exactly and how do they influence the sentence.

Thank you for your time.


texts: Confused with an relative clause in active and passive form

texts:
I want to say

I like eggs that are boiled in 7 minutes.

My attempt is as follows but I am not sure which correct.

A: 七分煮た卵が好きです。
B: 七分煮られた卵が好きです。

How to make an relative clause in passive form?


texts: Question about ていくand 意志 (and side question about と usage with verbs)

texts:
I was reading this definition of ぶつかる on weblio.

  〔動詞の「ぶつかる」は助詞の違いによって使い分けがある。「 A が B にぶつかる」（ A に意志・責任がある）の型は，「 A が B にぶつかった」（ A に責任がある）とも「 A が B にぶつかっていく」（意志的）とも言える。「 A が B とぶつかる」（ A に責任ある場合と，単に事実を言う場合）の型は，「 A が B とぶつかった」（単に事実を言う）は言えるが，「 A が B とぶつかっていく」（意志的）とは言えない。「 A と B （と）がぶつかる」の型は，単に事実を言う〕

I noticed the versions with ていく had 意志的 written next to them and I'm wondering, does ていく express some kind of intention? It says that the plain dictionary form merely indicates that the action happened, but I thought ていく was capable of that too? I know it can indicate intention with something like これからも勉強していく but I thought this was just one meaning, and that ぶつかっていく was indicating the direction of the action.

Also was curious about と being used with ぶつかる to 'plainly state a fact'. Is that a thing? I have wondered in the past about why と can replace some other particles (と話す seems obvious, 'speak with' rather than 'speak to' (に話す) but となる and になる elude me, but I once heard となる is used more formally and with abstract things)


texts: この家は南向きだ。 is correct the translation of this sentence?

texts:
この家は南向きだ。
This house has a southern aspect.
向き can be translated as style or aspect?
thanks for your reply.


texts: Difference between て-form and と/や for connecting adjectives/verbs

texts:
I was reading about the て form and trying to understand it, then I came across some sentences using て form and a question came into my mind:

What changes if instead of using the て form for all verbs and adjectives, と/や are used?

Example:

  日本語クラスは簡単で面白くて楽しい。

Couldn't it be rewritten like this?

  日本語クラスは簡単なと面白いと楽しい。

Or are と/や used only for "things", while the て form is used for words?

Also, I read that て form is used to connect the contents of the sentence. But in the example I rewrote above, isn't it clearly connected?


texts: Meaning of more Kishi Bashi lyrics: けや けや それや どうせね

texts:
Kishi Bashi:  "Bright Whites"

Transliterating from the ローマ字 lyrics, (so I don't know which kanji is meant):

  けや けや それや どうせね
  けや けや それや どうせ だめだ
  やめられない やめられない
  どうせ だめだけど やめられない ね

and then a second verse with たえられない in place of やめられない.

Specifically I'm curious about the meaning of the line

  けや けや それや どうせね.

Google translate does not seem to offer a consistent translation of this, and the term けや only translates as "things like hair".  Plus the repetition seems significant.

Also, what's the nuance of どうせ (as compared with どう by itself)?

Anyway if all this is not "standard" Japanese, it's worth knowing.


texts: Do both these words mean "thank you"? If both mean thank you why are they spelled differently? Is one more formal than the other?


texts:
I want to make sure I'm interpreting the following sentence properly:

  「三倍の代金を払ってコーヒーを買うくらいなら、水道の水を飲んでいた方がましだ」と言ったマンフレッドがもしもまだベルリンにいたら、また口{くち}喧{げん}嘩{か}になっていたかもしれない。

To give some context, in the previous sentence, the narrator remarks that it is regrettable that the main character, Mamoru, did not go to the expensive grocery store the day before since it was the only one that was open. In the sentence I'm attempting to understand, 「マンフレッド」refers to Manfred, ostensibly Mamoru's former lover.

Anyway, my initial rough translation was:

  If Manfred -- who once said, "If you're paying three times the price for coffee, you ought to be drinking tap water" -- were still in Berlin, we probably would have gotten into another argument.

This immediately made no sense to me, but after thinking over it for awhile, it occurred to me that what it might actually mean is:

  If Manfred -- who once remarked, "If the water is three times the price of a cup of coffee, you ought to be drinking it from the tap" -- were still in Berlin, we probably would've gotten into another argument.

The second sentence makes much more sense to me, but also implies that the author is potentially talking about the store selling expensive bottled water despite not saying that explicitly.

Any help clarifying the meaning would be appreciated. Thanks.


texts: How to say "Mathematics has a great impact on technology."?

texts:
I have looked related examples up from the internet and I found some patterns as follows.

What I want to say is

  Mathematics has a great impact (influence) on technology.

or

  Technology is greatly impacted (influenced) by mathematics.

My attempts are as follows but I am confused in choosing the best one.

A: 数学が技術に大きな影響をする。
B: 数学が技術に大きな影響を与える。
C: 数学が技術に大きな影響力を持つ。
D: 数学が技術に大きな影響を及ぼす。
E: 数学が技術に大きな影響を齎す。
F: 数学は技術に大きな影響がある。
G: 技術が数学に大きく影響される。
H: 技術が数学に大きな影響を受ける。

Bonus: If you have any other expressions, please let me know.


texts: "と" plus a clause -- but what is it doing?

texts:
I have a question about a passage in an article I'm reading. For context, here's the passage:

  仕事はご縁。もちろん求められていることができる能力がなければ元も子もないが、そこさえクリアしていれば、あとは相性だったりタイミングだったりする。そんなご縁が転がっているかもしれないと、筆者が時折覗いている求人サイトが「日本仕事百貨」だ。

The passage I'm interested in is this bit (specifically the part in bold):

  そんなご縁が転がっているかもしれないと、筆者が時折覗いている求人サイトが「日本仕事百貨」だ

I understand the meaning of the entire passage above, but I have a small grammar question about the bold part.

What is the function of the particle と in the above bold bit? I assumed initially that it functions to put the bold bit in quotes, so to speak, so as to qualify the part that comes after. But now after looking at it more closely, I think I've just confused myself.

So... what exactly is と doing in the above part? And how does the bold bit function in the whole sentence? An example translation would be great if you can offer it, so I can compare it to how I initially translated it.

手伝ってくれてありがとうございます！


texts: what is the meaning of the particles in the sentence: 言ったじゃねえかよ。

texts: I especially don't understand the grouping of them. I know what the sentence means, but all of those words after 言った are a bit confusing to me. thank you!


texts: A charger is a machine. Why is it 器 not 機?


texts: I'm sure many people learning a language have written their name in that language. Before actively learning Japanese, I noticed that any translation website changed the spelling of my name. It went from Miranda to Mirinda. Since there is a character for Ra why is it not used? Is it a matter of pronunciation?


texts:
I recently read a helpful answer on a question asking for clarification on the ways to say "if" in Japanese: と, たら, なら, ば. The link is here: Differences among -たら、なら、-んだったら、-えば, etc

According to the post, ば has the following rule: the later clause must be non-volitional unless a state verb like ある is used or the subjects of both clauses are different. なら is used when saying "Since A, then B" - A is an assumed context and B is a conclusion from A. This is supported by Tae Kim's lesson on conditionals: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/conditionals

However, when encountering another website's take on なら and ば, I was surprised they grouped the two together, such that the rule on ば above applied to なら as well. http://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/japanese-conditional-form-ba-nara.html

The only difference they seem to have stated was that ば is for verbs and i-adjectives, whereas なら is for na-adjectives and nouns. However, negative forms of verbs, i-adjectives, na-adjectives and nouns have ば (なければ).

In that website, why did they state that なら followed the rules of ば?
Why did they teach the V/i-adj and na-adj/N distinction between なら and ば?

Is there a way to resolve these conflicts?


texts:
I still have some trouble with the の　particle sometimes.

I'm doing my Bunpro reviews rn and he translation gives me sth like "the one that..."

I didn't quite understand the exact concept behind this particular case though.

Thanks for reading.


texts:
This is my first time asking a question so I'm pretty excited! Thanks a lot in advance for taking your time to read my rant.
At the moment I'm working on a translation, but I'm having problems with a word that's hard to define because it's hand written.
This is the phrase:
彼がくゆえていた部分
But when I look for "Kuyuete" meaning, even if I split the word in two, I didn't found any meaning. It seems I have three totally useless japanese dictionary's because I didn't found anything at all.
So I tried with: "Kumeete" but I didn't have luck neither.
Have you heard about those words? I've been looking for it about 1 week.
Thanks a lot!

Edit: I added the image text, it seems the real word is "くめえて" instead "くゆえて" and finally after a loong research I think "汲む" it's the word I'm looking for.


texts: How to form a comparative adjective in Japanese (e.g. colder, warmer, deeper, higher)? Does it need to be compared to something?


texts:
I'm confused by the reaction to は in this exchange

  A:「ゲームは上手いですね!」
  B:「ゲーム「は」.....」

source context:
http://neetsha.jp/inside/up/1/2/12840/24.jpg


texts:
If I wanted to say the cat is on the table, which one of these sentences is correct or what's the difference?

  「猫 は 机の上 に います」 or
  「猫 は 机の上 です。」


texts: Making sense of the N1にN2 construction (「パンにバター」＝「パンにバターをぬる」）

texts:
I understand from my previous question on the N1 に N2 construction that it is usually a phrase with omission of a verb (eg パンにバターをぬる makes パンにバター, which comes from パンにぬる and バターをぬる). If this is the case then how can we apply this logic to the following sentences?:

  日本の朝食といえば、ご飯にお味噌汁でしょう
  When you talk about Japanese breakfast, rice and miso shiru must come in to the pcture.
  私は、家ではたいていジーンズにTシャツを着ています。
  I mostly wear jeans and T-shirt around the house.

My text book’s explanation of both these sentences is 「N1とN2の組み合わせ」which might work in the same way as:

  セーターとスカートを組み合わせる｜match a sweater [and a skirt / with a skirt]

But this does seem as good as パンにバターをぬる. The best I can come up with is changing にto　と in sentences 1 & 2 as follows:

  日本の朝食といえば、ご飯とお味噌汁を食べるでしょう。
  私は、家ではたいていジーンズとTシャツを着ています。

Reference: 総まとめ　文法 N1 p110 (I have not managed to find any other references to this.)


texts: Is there a way to say "crisis averted" in Japanese that retains its sarcastic meaning?

texts:
You know, as in situations that are clearly not crises.

I've looked around but can't find an answer.


texts: Xとも言えるY and であるが故に at the end of a sentence

texts:
I think this could be translated as

Y which could be called X

How do I understand this sentence though.

  だが、ここに世界は終わらずにいる。
  我々が築いた世界像は、星が思い描いた世界像を遥かに凌駕する強靭さを誇ったが故に。―――――朱色の月は涙する。
  長い闘争になると悲嘆する。
  だが滅び新月になろうとも終わりではない。
  何故ならこの地上全ての生物が敵に回ろうと。
  一つ、絶対とも言える時間だけは、彼の協力者であるが故に―――

  But the world here is not over.
  The reason is that the image of the world we drew is proud of the strenght that came from surpassing by far the world the stars imagined.  (or "The reason is that the image of the world we drew is proud of the strenght through which it surpassed by far the world the stars imagined.)
  The creamson moon sheds tears.
  If/When it ends up with a fight it will grieve.
  But when the perishing new moon will come it will not be the end.
  That is because every animal on the land will become an enemy.
  Because one reason is that, Absolute which could only be called time, it's his accomplice.

I am not really sure about that bold part.

I looked up on the internet and found this examples:

a) 奇跡的とも言える立ち直りを見せる
Make an almost miracolous comeback

b) 翌朝、まだ早朝とも言える時間にタウンハウスを発ち、私を乗せた車はデヴォンシャーに向けて、M1をただひたすらに北へ目指す。
The next morning, at a time which could still be called very early in the morning I left my town house. The car I was on was directed to Devon going north following the M1.

I had also trouble because of であるが故に and found out it's just a different way of simly using 故に.
At the end of a sentence it means "it is the reason" if I understand it correctly.


texts: Making sense of "心配させる" (causative verbs)

texts:
I'm trying to understand the phrase 「Ａを心配させるな」 by "sounding it out" in English.

I can understand 「Ａを心配かけるな」as meaning "Do NOT associate/connect any worries with Ａ!!!". In my thinking, that makes sense.

But, I can't think of how to "sound-out" the phrase 「Ａを心配させるな」 into English. As 「させる」 is causative, the command would seem to have to be directed at the person who is causing someone else to worry: 「田中さん、Ａについて、Bobを心配させるな。」 "Tanaka-san, do not cause Bob to worry about A." And, "Bob" is the one who is worried, and "Tanaka-san" is to whom I am giving a command.

Yet, this discussion asserts that 「Ａを心配かける」and 「Ａを心配させる」 have the same basic meaning, at least in some situations.

So, how can a speaker of English sound-out "Ａを心配させるな" in English?

Perhaps:

"Do not cause yourself to be worried about A."

OR
"Do not allow yourself to be worried about A (by some unspoken factor)." // but this is passive voice, not causative. Most certainly I don't even understand causative/passive to begin with.


texts:
My apologies to @Chocolate for continuing to nag about this question (or if I've misunderstood your comments).

According to the link it is unnatural (ungrammatical?) to say:

  1) 就職しないと心配する。  where と is used to mean 'if'
  If I don't get a job I'll worry.

Instead, I should say:

  2) 就職しないと、心配になる。

As I understand it, the reason that using 心配する is wrong is because there is no object.

However, this sentence is fine:

  3) 早く帰らないと(if)、親が心配する。
  If I don't hurry home my parents will worry.

This sentence is fine because there is an implied object: 親が私を心配する. My parents will worry about me.

But I'm struggling to see how sentence 1) and sentence 3) are fundamentally different. Why can't there be an implied object in 3) which might be 就職できないこと?

I'm happy with sentence 2) but is 1) completely wrong or just a bit awkward (ignoring, if possible, the fact that you normally might/will treat と as quotative)?


texts:
A friend has at home this banner from an old fish shop in Sapporo. I suppose it's a souvenir from Japan. It intrigues me a lot!

What's this の with an upper stroke and the ten-ten? What's the name for the place? Does the following make sense: ⻌の魚? On the bottom left there's a phone number written with kanji?

Maybe this is the result of the (free)style of the calligrapher or the の with the stroke and ten-ten is to resemble a fish?


texts:
Can someone help me understand the meaning of  どれどれ、見せてもらおうかな？
Specifically with the word もらおうかな if it is a verb, a contraction and show me some examples.
Thank you very much in advance.


texts: How do I say 'fellow sweet tooth' (noun) in japanese. I'd thought it would be either 甘党仲間 or 甘党同僚 but there's probably something more accurate


texts: 「見つかりません」v.s.「見つけません」

texts:
In my Japanese textbook, there’s a fill-in-the-blank question (and here I will modify it into a multiple-choice question for better comparison and contrast):

  さっきから携帯電話を探しているのですが、

A. 見つかりません。

B. 見つかりませんでした。

C. 見つけません。

D. 見つけませんでした。

I have two questions about this sentence: the first is about tense; the second is about 自動詞・他動詞。

I filled in 見つけませんでした and tried translating it into English (which is not my mother tongue either):

I’ve been looking for my mobile phone for a while, but didn’t find it (or couldn’t find it).

The answer given is 「見つかりません」.


texts: オンラインショップで買えるようにしてはいる

texts:
オンラインショップで買えるようにしてはいる
Would be grateful if someone could explain this part of the statement :
買えるようにしてはいる
Thanks


texts: does the word "Option" have an analogue in Japanese

texts:
In English, we use the word "option" in a wide array of situations with many different meanings. When speaking, I struggled to find a word that translated the meaning effectively. Some examples are:

  Giving up is not an option.

In this case I assume there is not a direct translation, and I have to use あきらめるわけにはいかない or something of the sort?

  There are many drink options at that restaurant.

This is another usage that confuses me. I feel like たくさんの種類 maybe works, but that there is still a better way to say this.

  What are our options?

or

  That idea, won't work, we need to find another option.

This is the usage that really gets me. I am not aware of a word that   exists such that I can say, 僕らはほかの＜option＞を探さない/見つけないといけない


texts: I understand that both translate as meaning 'a large quantity' of something, but is there any practical difference between たくさん and いっぱい, and circumstances where you would or wouldn't use one over the other? Or is it similar to the difference between 'lots' and 'many' in English?


texts:
Could you explain to me how どうにもなんない works ?
I know that どうにも  + V + ない = not by any means, but here I have なん in between instead of a verb.
Context: a boy has just died and is being discouraged to move on to the after life.

もちろん死んだんだから、えっちいことだってできないし、そもそも体がないんだからどうにもなんないわね

My try:

Since you are dead, you can't even hook up with anyone ! Since you
don't have a body, there is nothing you can do

edit:
as – istrasci suggested, is is どうにもなんない = どうにもならない　？？
I believed before it was どうにもなにない ？


texts: What words and/or phrases can you use in Japanese for story / storytelling / the art of telling a story?

texts: I'm doing a project and coming up with the words rakugo, hanashi, sutōrīterā, kataribe, goribu for the same expression but am not sure on the differences of each saying and what the best term to use is. Or if there are better terms.


texts: Translation of sentence and why is a kereba used in this sentence?

texts:
In the first verse of this song, they say:

  最寄り駅の改札抜ければ　いつもよりちょっと勇敢なお父さん

Is this even a full sentence? My translation would be:

  When passing through the ticket gate at the nearest station as usual, comes out(?) a little more brave father.

Is this translation correct and also, I thought that when saying when the tara form is being used? Isn´t kereba more like if he passes through the ticket gate?


texts:
これは漕ぎに来てくれるフラグ?

I read that on twitter. This is the tweet, if it helps to make sense of it.

自信…なくないです( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ笑RT @yamadamic: あらマオにゃん!これは漕ぎに来てくれるフラグ?（笑） RT @mao_sid: 出勤時に聴いてましたよ（＾∇＾）RT @mizuuchitakeshi: 楽しかった(^O^)やまちゃんありがとう～汗だくだ…

All that I understand is that it says, "Is this ______?"


texts: Difference between 隠｛かく｝す and 秘｛ひ｝める (to hide)

texts:
Can someone explain the differences between 隠｛かく｝す (to hide; to conceal) and 秘｛ひ｝める (to hide; to keep to oneself) ? These definitions look too similar for me, I'm not sure in which context to use one or the other.

If you know other variants, please feel free to also compare them, thank you.


texts: Is there a difference between 公開日 and 発売日?

texts: Both seem to mean "release date", but I've heard that 公開日{こうかいび} is typically used to refer to movie release dates, and 発売日{はつばいび} to book release dates. Is this true, and are there any other differences between the two?


texts: With 規則 and 規定, where do you draw the line?

texts:
I've been trying to nail down the difference between 規定 and 規則. Three different dictionaries I checked define these both as some combination of "rule", "regulation", or "provision." After checking a few example sentences, I'm starting to get a feel for the differences, but I'm having trouble quantifying them.

The example sentences for 規定 all seem to refer to some sort of stronger or more official rule/ruling, such as:

小麦の輸入禁止が法律で規定された。
A wheat import ban was enacted.

医者は彼女に厳しい規定食を勧めた。
The doctor ordered her to go on a strict diet.

Whereas 規則 seems to to a less-specific rule:

君は規則を破った。
You broke the rule.

彼らは規則を知らない。
They are ignorant of the rules.

Am I on the right track? Is there a better way to think about the differences of these words? Finally, are they both even in common usage?


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

  息子はサンタさんにカメラをお願いしました。ドイツでは、クリスマスをどんな[風]{ふう}にお祝いしますか。

My attempt at translation:

  "My son has asked for a camera from Santa.  In Germany, in what manner do you gift Christmas?"

So, first I'm simply not sure if I interpreted 風 correctly or not.
On jisho.org the meaning "manner, behavior" is listed when 風 is used as a "noun/noun used as prefix"? What does this mean? That it is used as a noun in the function of a prefix, or that it can be used as a noun OR like a prefix??
There were no other meanings which would make any sense here, unless wind/breeze can be used metaphorically here.

Ultimately, クリスマスを...お祝いしますか. To "gift Christmas" doesn't seem to make sense. Does it mean something along the lines of "to gift FOR Christmas"?


texts: 箱の中に何がありますか versus 箱の中に何がいますか when I don't know whether it is an animal or object

texts:
Suppose there is a box which can contain either an animal or object. I am confused in choosing either あります or います when asking the contents of the box.

箱の中に何がありますか。
箱の中に何がいますか。

Which should I use in this case? Any comments are welcome.


texts: Can も particle be used after adjective/verb + の?

texts:
If for example someone said :

  彼はかっこいいね?

And I want to say 'he is also...' but I don't want to repeat the whole sentence like :

  彼も優しいよね?

Can I just say :

  優しいのも or 優しくても

To imply it?


texts:
長さ的には丁度いい。
  しなりもなんとか。
  ……こういう“強化”は初めてだ。
  けど原理は間違っていないと思う。
  要は補強に補強を重ねて、きちんとしたモノに仕上げればいいだけの話。
  それにコレだったら、あいつが持ってたから参考になる。
  くわえて、魔力ならさっきから体に流れっぱなしだ。
  あとはいつもの工程を繰り返せばいい。

  As for the lenght, it's perfect.
  Regarding the elasticity, I will make it do.
  This type of "strenghtening", is the first time I do it.
  I think I have the basics down though. (Lit. But the basics, I do not think they are wrong)
  In short, I will keep on compensating and reach the perfect thing. (lit. The point is: I will pile up compensation over compensation and reach the perfect thing, that is what it's about.)
  Moreover if it's This, I will use what he had as a reference. (lit. If it's This, from what he had I will use it as a reference)
  In addition, if it's about magic power it has been flowing through my body for quite some time.
  What's left is to keep on repeating the process.

I think it's used when people want to talk about something they know and is known with the audience but the author does not want to make it clear until some time later.
Am I right?

He is referring to a bow since he is talking about an archer.


texts: What is the underlying grammar in the difference between `足らない` and `足りない`?

texts:
Based on the comments from Tsuoyshi Ito's answer to Translation of 竜すらも恐るるに足らない,
恐るるに足らない/恐るるに足りない is a set phrase meaning "not worth fearing".

Based on my understanding of 一段 verbs like 足りる, negation will yield 足りない.

How do I get to 足らない ?


texts: What is the difference between お手洗い and トイレ

texts: Is one more polite than the other? Is there some situations where you'd use one or the other? Would different people prefer one?


texts: Is なんでこれ the most common way of saying "why is this?"

texts:
Let's say I'm asking a question here on Stack Exchange, and finish the question by saying "Why is this?"

Is なんでこれ the most common way of saying this? If not, what's the best alternative?


texts: Meaning of だまって置いてきちゃお

texts:
I'm reading a Shin Chan strip and he and his friends are discussing who is going to take care of the stray dog they found.  One by one he asks his friends, and they all say they can't.  Then, he says (without looking at his last friend)

  そうだ！！マサオんちだまって置{お}いてきちゃお。

Then, his friend, who is next to him, says:

  ボクいるんだけど・・・

So, in the first sentences, I don't get the だまって (no idea what it is) or the 置いてきちゃお.  I know 置く as an auxiliary verb to say you're doing something in preparation for something else, but I don't understand it in that context, with きちゃお after it's て form.

Would be very thankful if somebody could explain to me the use of each of those expressions in the sentence.

Here's a pic of the panel itself:


texts: Could someone help me translate this sentence?

texts:
ぼくに何かできるのかと言えば、難しいところだ。例えば逃げ出すことを考える。

I know it's wrong, but this was the best I could come up with:

"I can't really say what I can't do. For example running away."


texts:
I originally learnt 引っ越す to mean "to move house", but my textbook recently told me "移る" was also "to move house".
Flaw also mentioned that 引っ越しする meant that too in chat, but that just looks like stem+する of 引っ越す, aka kind of politer.

What are the differences between these words? What are some situations when they are used over one another?


texts:
先輩と昼の街を歩く。
  いつもなら見向きもせずに通りすぎるような店によって、二人してああでもないこうでもないと意見を合わせるだけの午前中。
  結局なに一つとして買った物はなかったけど、そんなやりとりが時間を忘れるほど楽しかった。

I walk through the city with senpai during the day.
Usually, without even taking a look because we passed by the stores, we shared our opinions and passed time until midday.
At the end, we bought nothing but by doing that we had fun as if we forgot about time.

I do not understand that bold part.
によって=By, because of

But what is its role there?


texts: Questions on the use of 動物 in reference to mankind/humans

texts:
I got this quote from a journal an online associate writes. I provided the translation. Some of the wording in Japanese struck me as strange, so I am wondering about whether in fact this quote is a little strange in tone or is this just a normal way of expressing these kind of sentiments?

牛乳は牛の乳であるが、人間は牛の肉も食ってしまう動物なので、牛にはたいそう世話になっていると言える。
Not only do we drink cow's milk, but humans also eat the meat of cows; we could say that we are reliant on cows for our living.

I thought the use of 動物 to describe humans as animals was somewhat strange, and wonder if this emphasis needed to be included in the translation to be faithful to the original sentiment.
Compare:

人間は牛の肉も食ってしまう動物なので
Humans are an animal that consumes the meat of cows

or maybe

Mankind is just another animal eating the meat of cows

Is the aspect of man being "just another animal" something emphasized in the japanese, or am I reading too much into it?


texts: 名 versus 名前: Why is this seemingly redundant Jukugo used?

texts:
For example I came across a Jukugo like this:

  名 (name) + 前 (before) = 名前 (name)

What is the point in having this Jukugo when you apparently can just use 名. Can someone explain this to me?


texts: What does じゅう mean In the word string :いちにちじゅう

texts: I am not familiar with じゅう and I wasn't able to find references to how it is used. Can someone explain to me what it means.


texts:
I've been trying to read Japanese articles (easy ones) and was wondering if someone could explain how と話す and と言う differ in nuance or meaning.  They seem to be used interchangeably.

For example, how would the following sentence's meaning (assuming my translation is accurate of course) change if 言っていました were used instead of 話していました? (This is an article about a Gyouza festival that happened recently by the way).

  千葉県から来た男性は「いろいろなギョーザを食べることができて、とても楽しいです」と話していました
  A Man from Chiba-ken said ("reported" maybe), "You can eat many kinds of gyouza. It's a lot of fun."

As a side note, if possible, could someone please address why 話していました was used rather than just 話しました and how the latter would change the meaning?


texts: Can I use my Chinese name and if so, how do I say it?

texts: My Chinese name in Kanji is 王元劭 (Wang Yuan Shao). I've heard there are many different readings I can use for each kanji, am I allowed to use whichever reading I like? Also, apparently the character 劭 is a hyogai Kanji, which means I can't use it.


texts: 「とまっている」 as figurative "To stay", "To [figuratively] be in a place"?

texts:
I'm trying to understand this sentence:

  細い青白い首がぼさぼさになった髪の中に消えた、それがふたつにわかれて頭の両がわから突然にとびだしたという感じの大きな耳に朝の侘しさがとまっている

This is the given translation:

  His thin, pale neck disappeared into his disheveled hair, and his enormous ears almost seemed to be the end of it - the flesh branching, bursting abruptly out from either side of his head. Looking at those ears, she felt the loneliness of morning

I found that 「侘しさ」 can mean "loneliness", but I'm finding very difficult to understand it: I think I finally got the hang of the general structure, but I'm struggling with 「侘しさがとまっている」, which is translated "felt the loneliness", and with the fact that the original sentence doesn't say anything about the character looking at the man's ear. Also, I don't really see "seemed to be the end of it" in the original text, I'm not sure if 「飛び出す」 has that kind of implications.

This is my understanding: the original sentence is less literal, 「とまる」 is 「泊まる」, and the meaning is something like (in a bit broken English, but I'm trying to translate every bit as I understand it), "His thin and pale neck disappeared in his hair, and seemed to split from both sides of his head into his ears, which sprung suddenly; in those ears there was the morning's loneliness".

Can 「泊まる」 be used figuratively? Did I understand that part?


texts: Is it legitimate to say「意味する」to mean "to mean"?

texts: So like the title asks, I'm wondering if it's legitimate to say 「意味する」 to mean "to mean". I know 意味 is meaning, and I was wondering what the verb version of 'to mean' would be. An example sentence would be "I didn't mean that." How would I translate that into Japanese? Or is there a different verb I would use?


texts: Meaning of 持てない in 充電中は持てないほど暑くなるんだけど

texts:
Someone was talking about the properties of a charger
But i don't understand the meaning of 持てない in:

  充電中は持てないほど暑くなるんだけど


texts:
I want to know how to form the sentence "I looked at the water for so long that people thought I was crazy" but I'm not sure of how I can express "for so long" in Japanese
I thought of　私はおかしかったと思われたほど水を見た, and it looks like it means "I looked at the water to the extent that people thought I was crazy" but I want the time part to appear in the sentence. How to say "...for so much time/for so long that..."?


texts: When you introduce yourself to someone, do you say your first name first, or your last name first?

texts:
title says all basically

if someone (i'll use the name bob smith as an example) were to introduce themselves, would they call themselves "smith bob" or just "bob smith"


texts: Questions about the words 「いくつ」and 「あってもたりゃ」

texts:
It is a situation when a worker noticed that one of his colleagues is working all day and all night without taking a rest. He then said the following:

  それじゃいくつからだがあってもたりゃしねえ。

Then his hard-working colleague said this:

  なあにおれのからだは人一倍がんじょうだから...

Questions:

Is the sentence 「それじゃ...」 a question or just an opinion or something else? could it always be a question if it contains the word 「いくつ」?
What does the word 「あってもたりゃ」 mean?


texts: How did this brand name Superdry. 極度乾燥(しなさい) come about? Is there any deep consideration behind it? Are the customers having some thoughts?


texts: Is 二人 a の-adjective in [今日のサイクリングレースでは、**二人**の選手が最後まで抜きつ抜かれつ一番争いをして いた。]?

texts:
if it's not a の-adjective, what do i have to consider it in the sentence? Do I read '二人の選手' as 'athlete/player of two persons'?
If it's a の-adjective i think i can read it as 'two players' or 'pair of players' right?


texts: Difference between バスに and バスでスマホを忘れてしまいました

texts:
What is the difference between

  バスでスマホを忘れてしまいました

and

  バスにスマホを忘れてしまいました?

I vaguely remember there being a nuance difference between these two sentences but I forgot what it was... Please help me


texts:
ま、俺達にとっちゃ
  どっちでもいいことさ。
  ただ指示されたままのことをする。
  上の意向も下界の結果も関係ない。

Context - Soldiers argue about their mission.

  上の意向も下界の結果も関係ない.

My attempt - The opinion of higher-ups
and the consequences on
the ground are irrelevant.


texts:
I'm looking at a study and it's comparing these two:
現状（２６年度）and 調査結果（３０年度）.
So it's comparing the "present condition" and the "research results" but what does the XX年度 mean?


texts:
I don't really understand what して and のかに mean or their function in the following sentence?

さあ私がどのようにして友達のマイケルに出会ったのかについてお話しましょう


texts: What is the difference between 予想、期待、予期、思惑 for the meaning of "expectation"?

texts:
What is the difference between these 4 words for the definition of "expectation":

予想{よそう}
期待{きたい}
予期{よき}
思惑{おもわく}

Specifically, which would you use for "managing customer expectations (for project outcome)"?


texts:
What's the difference in using でも and も
Example:
1年前からも、今でも、変われない自分が嫌い
1年前からも、今も、変われない自分が嫌い

They both probably mean "Ever since last time, and even now, I hate the me who can't change"


texts:
In this context, would 仕掛けてきてた in 顔がもう仕掛けてきてたわ be:

to start; to begin; to commence

or

to challenge; to pick (a fight); to make (war)


texts: Is っていうんですか／っていうんだ used for emphasis in the context?

texts:
「それで……令音さん、夕弦は一体どこに消えたっていうんですか？」

Context: 夕弦 vanished and 士道 was asking about her whereabouts.

耶俱矢「さぁて、忘れてはおらぬだろうな。我らが聖戦の前に交わした契約を！」 士道「ちゃんと覚えてるよ。……んで？一体何させようっていうんだ？」

Context:
耶俱矢 and 士道 entered a competition and agreed that the winner could order the loser to do something. And as a result, 士道 lost.
Hi. I understand the meanings of the sentences in question are “Where on earth did 夕弦 disappear to?” and “What on earth do you want me to do?” respectively.
I am wondering if the bold っていうんですか and っていうんだ have the same function, namely, emphasizing the question? Can we use っていうんですか and っていうんだ interchangeably in both examples?
Thank you.


texts: センスで嗅覚も研ぎ澄ます - "sense of sense of smell?" Why use センス?

texts:
In the Zelda video game guidebook I am translating there is a part of the game where you transform into a wolf and have to rely on your senses.
The title of this section of the guidebook is

  センスを研ぎ澄ませ！  Sharpen your senses!

However in the body copy I see this line:

  また、センスで嗅覚も研ぎ澄まされることを覚えておこう。
  Again, you should sharpen your sense of smell

However 嗅覚 is "sense of smell". So why is this not simply

  嗅覚を研ぎ澄まされる・・・

Why does it use the word "センス"


texts: How do you say "remaining" in the sense of asking how long someone is staying in the country?

texts:
E.g. How much longer are you staying in the country for your holiday?

残る sounds wrong. So is 住む。  Help appreciated.


texts:
I found this sentence:

  食事の時しか顔を合わせることもなかったし、互いに口を開いて声を出すこともなかった。映画をよく見に行くぐらいのことしかしない高校生だったのだが、母から見れば俗世に気持を奪われている私が我慢ならず、たまに憤怒の言葉を投げつけてきたが、そうすると私は、十八になったらすぐに家を出て行くんだ、と母に言い返していた

which is translated:

  In high school a fondness for the movies was about the worst I could have been accused of, but Mother had no patience with such frivolity and would snap angrily at me from time to time. "I'm leaving home as soon as I turn eighteen," I'd retort

Reading 私が我慢ならず I thought it means something like "I can't/couldn't tolerate", since the が marks 私 as subject, but from the translation it seems to be the mother.

As far as I found, 母から見れば should mean "From my mother's perspective", and たまに憤怒の言葉を投げつけてきた that occasionally someone (I think the mother) uses angry words; the が in 私が throws me off, though: it seems to mark 私 as the subject, but then what follows until the next 私 seems to have the mother as subject.

I found that が can also mark the object of some verbs, so I guess that's the case, but after browsing SE for a while I can't find anything that makes me understand how can I say if 私 in 私が我慢ならず is the object or the subject.

I also don't really understand 俗世に気持を奪われている私, not sure if this matters in the question at hand - it sounds like "The me who had her feelings stolen by the world", which could make sense if the mother was angry at the daughter being passive, but the translation uses "frivolity".

(Also, I noticed it's 我慢ならず and not 我慢しない, not sure how なる instead of する influences here; I'm guessing it's 我慢(に)なる, meaning the mother reached the point of not having patience with the daughter, but again I'm guessing.)


texts: This a name of a traveler name from Tokaido board game. I figure out that 光 literally means, light or shine but I can't found what means or how 圀 it's translate literally to English.


texts: What would be the literal meaning of the causative form here? 暴風警報発令中のため本日の営業はお休みとさせていただきます。

texts:
暴風警報発令中のため本日
bōfū keihō hatsurei chū notame honjitsu

の営業はお休みとさせて
no eigyō wa oyasumi to sasete

いただきます。
itadakimasu.

暴風 bōfū = storm winds
警報 keihō = warning
発令 hatsurei = official announcement
中 chū = in the middle
警報発令中 keihōhatsureichū = alert
〜のため notame = due to
本日 honjitsu = today
の no = possessive article
営業 eigyō = business
は wa = subject marker
お休み oyasumi = taking a day off
(と)させて (to)sasete = "causative form?"*
いただきます itadakimasu = polite "will do"

This sign was on the door of a closed store during the recent typhoon in Nagoya.
I am just wondering about the ending: お休みとさせていただきます。

させて is the causative form of する, is it not?  But in this case, would one be able to translate it as: "we allow ourselves to be closed today" or "we take the liberty of being closed today", as in they are the ones who are letting themselves take the day off and not anyone else?

Or, are they saying "be kind enough as to let us take the day off"?


texts:
How do you say this in Japanese:

"Takeshi and I are similar in that we both have 'May sickness.'"

Here's my best guess:
私は、たけしが「五月病」というものがあるという点で似ています。

Thanks!


texts:
Heya I came across the following and wasn't able to identify one character:

So far I've got "待てマントで自「？」ふくな", where ? is the character I can't quite identify.


texts: レアチーズケーキ: Does 「レア」 originally come from "rare" or from "layer"?

texts:
レアチーズケーキ is a kind of cheesecake which is not baked.

What is the etymology of the レア part of this word?

Academic references needed, as this is a controversial topic:

The top Google result claims it comes from "layer"
ALC claims it comes from "rare"


texts:
It's possible to turn a verb into an adjective meaning 'want to...' したい, 食べたい or 飲みたい, but is there any situation where it makes sense to conjugate it as an adverb for words other than ～たくない?

For example:

食べたくなる — He suddenly wanted to eat, he became hungry, etc
死にたく行く — He went there with a desire to die, he went there wanting to die, etc
出たくする — He did so wanting to leave, he did it to leave, etc

or are all these grammatically incorrect or make no sense? I'm aware there are alternative ways of saying all of these phrases but I assume in these situations the nuance would be very different, emphasizing some sort of intent or motive


texts: Why usage of た and not ている in the following usage

texts:
I was watching a Japanese Drama, and I have questions regarding the usage of Past tense (た) instead of Present Perfect (ている) in the following sentence.
In this Drama a person was looking for someone and as soon as he finds him (both are present in the frame and he just finds him)  he says, 見つけた (I found him), rather than ている as in 見つけている (I have found him).
As per my understanding of the following articles on the Stackexchange, ている is used to show both Continuous Aspect and Present Perfect (More or less dependent upon whether the Verb is Punctual or Durative). When some fact of the past is related and is being talked about in relation to present Present perfect is used as per @Naruto san. Example 知る is used as 知っている, even though we have learned (known) about him in the past, however we use ている as the focus is not on the fact that we learnt it in the past but on the fact that whether we know someone or not i.e. present.
Likewise, why was not ている used in 見つける. As in this case as well, even though as soon as he found him the action was complete and it changed to past. However, the focus is on the present i.e. the fact that he found him, and not of that he found him in past, but just on the fact that he found him. So, in this case, as per my understanding of the following resources. 見つけている should have been used.
Question:

Is my understanding correct?
Should 見つけている be used instead of 見つけた, given the facts of the scene of the drama?

Resources used to gather this understanding:
a. When is Vている the continuation of action and when is it the continuation of state?
b. Usage of ている in Punctual Verbs in Japanese and the Concept of Present Perfect in English
c. Is 寝る a stative or active verb?
d. If Vて+いる isn't a gerund, then what is it?


texts: Is the に time particle optional when talk about repeated action?

texts:
I have already learned about に time particle (in short: determines the action time if the time expression isn't relative). But I saw some text where dropped when used the まいとし, まいつき、まいにち etc.
For example:

まいにち おちゃ を のんでいます。- I'm drinking tea every day.

Is this correct? Or should I use with the particle?:

まいにち に おちゃ を のんでいます。- I'm drinking tea every day.

If the two sentence is correct then is the difference: the last sentence is more formal than first?


texts:
I'm stuck with this odd word

出身 alone means graduate but when i put it into this sentence どこの出身ですか what does it mean?


texts:
recently I purchased a grammar book to help me prepare for the JLPT N3. One of the constructions I have come across is "〜てからでないと・・・." And I understand it's basic function (I think...). From what I understand it means something like "Unless A occurs B will/can not occur." I have come up with a few example sentences I'll place below. Please feel free to tell me if I have made any mistakes in my usage.

私は日本語がペラペラになってからでないと、日本の大学院に行けません。

毎日勉強してからでなければ、しけんにごうかくができません。

アメリカの人口がデモクラットのだいとうりょうをえらんでからでないと、しゃかいせいぎはしんぽしません。

However, after a few days of letting this grammar pattern mull around in my head I started to wonder if there are any inherent difference between the above grammar pattern and using a negative conditional followed by a negative main clause. For example is there a (big) difference between my first example sentence above and the following sentence:

私は日本語がペラペラにならないと、日本の大学院に行けません。

I've tried doing some preliminary research on this grammar point but have not been able to find much online in the way of explaining its nuances. If you know of any resources that got into this further I would greatly appreciate them.

One thing I was also wondering is if this grammar would be something used in spoken language or is it more for written language? Also, if anyone knows a site the clearly identifies which grammar points are mainly used in written and spoken language that would be awesome.

And finally if anyone could help me understand the construction of this grammar point that would be wonderful. From a literal perspective it seems like it means something like "(〜てから) after doing some verb (でないと) if it is not" or rearranged "if it is not after doing some verb." Like I think I can see where the are going with this but it is just not coming to me that intuitively.

Again, any help you can provide is completely welcome and appreciated. :-)


texts:
涙を浮かべる

I'm aware it means something like 'drop a tear', but I wonder what part of 浮かべる means 'to drop'.
And also, is there any difference between that expression and:

泣く

My guess it would be that the former means dropping only one tear (I suppose it's like a poetic way of saying "cry", and the later means crying in a more intense way.


texts:
: 昔{むかし}　脚本{きゃくほん}にダメ出{だ}ししようとして「いきなり現場{げんば}に来るとは何事{なにごと}か帰れ二度と来るな」って怒鳴{どな}られた原作{げんさく}の話とか聞きたい？
: なにその業界石{ぎょうかいいし}ころネタ!?

I don't get what 石ころネタ means in this sentence. I've found an entry for a meaning of 石ころ in a thesaurus for 誰からも気にかけられることがない、無価値{むかち}であるさま but it doesn't seem to match up to the context.


texts: Would this be the correct term for half human/half spider?

texts: Would ningengumo (人間蜘蛛) be the correct term for a semifer (latin for half-beast) creature in japanese that would be half human, half spider? The closest term i can find is for a yokai called jorōgumo (絡新婦) which is "prostitute spider", but denotes a female only. I'm looking for a gender inclusive term that would mean a complete race.


texts: くれた and もらった used with 泊まって

texts:
Recently, I chanced upon the sentence 友達の家に泊まってくれてしたり... or was it 泊まってもらってしたり...　(Couldn't really recall, but they would translate to the same thing) which translates to "do things like me staying at my friend's house, etc". But from what I understand, when a te-form verb is used with もらった or くれた, the other party, and not myself is the one that does the verb, for example, ペンを貸してくれた/ペンを貸してもらった - (someone) lent me a pen. Using this intuition, wouldn't 友達の家に泊まってくれてしたり mean my friend (and not me) stayed at my friend's house (ignoring the したり part as the sentence wouldn't make sense otherwise)? Two (more accurate?) ways that I know of to say that I stayed at my friends house would be 友達の家に泊まってさせてもらってしたり or 友達の家に泊まらせた.

Any help would be highly appreciated


texts:
About the sentence

  北海道では雪が降っています。

Does it mean:

It is snowing in Hokkaido, or
It is still going to be snowing in Hokkaido?


texts: 刺客 - 暗殺者 - 兇手 - 兇漢 - 殺し屋 - 殺人 - 人殺し - 殺害者 - 殺人犯 / Words difference

texts:
As you can see, seems to have a lot of terms for indicate an assassin/killer/murderer (刺客 - 暗殺者 - 兇手 - 兇漢 - 殺し屋 - 殺人 - 人殺し - 殺害者 - 殺人犯 - Any other?). その言葉の意味が異なることがありますか。

What's the differences between these terms? When use them?

I think that 殺人 and 人殺し is more generic and commonly used, and 殺し屋 seems to be used for hitmans, professional killers. But I'm not sure in which context use all of these words.


texts: Is my translation of "こちらから訊くより先に、低く呟くような声が返ってきた" correct?

texts:
While working on a translation for the following Japanese sentence, my brain inexplicably spits out a translation without giving me a reason for each translated segment.

  こちらから訊くより先に、低く呟くような声が返ってきた。

When I reflected on my/its reasoning, it gives me the following as its reasons for translating to produce the English sentence below.

  (My brain's reasoning after the fact): 'the Japanese comma and the English comma are mostly the same in terms of placement. This word goes here, here, that one over there, here, and...'

  こちらから訊くより先に、低く呟くような声が返ってきた。

  Translation:

  From me asking her directly, she brings down her voice back to a similar mummer.

Question is, is my brain's random, possibly correct translation accurate, given the context of the 1st person POV character talking to a girl with the following dialogue?

  POV: 「君は……」

  Girl: [名前なら、ないわ]

  こちらから訊くより先に、低く呟くような声が返ってきた。


texts: Difference between （「~~~」と話した） and （「~~~」と語った）?

texts:
In newspaper articles, quotes seem to be always followed by （「~~~」と 話した ） and （「~~~」と 語った ）.

examples :
大村明日香さんは「緊張しましたが、練習より楽しかった。大きな声を出すように心がけました」と 話した 。 (full context)
担当者は「ますます女性にとって快適な機内にしたい」と 語った 。 (full context)

What is the difference in meaning and usage between （「~~~」と 話した ） and （「~~~」と 語った ）?

Let me start by saying that（「~~~」と語った） is never used in conversation, right?


texts: What does よう at the end of the sentences mean?

texts:
I know that "verb without masu + よう" expresses one's will to do something or stimulating other person to do something.

But while I was trying to translate the lyrics to Hitoshizuku by Nobuhiko Okamoto, I found this:

  いつの日かぬくもりに触れるよう
  祈り捧げ　ただよう

Can someone explain to me what it means here?


texts:
http://mainichi.jp/life/kimochi/archive/news/2012/20120205ddn013070029000c.html

The article above, about how a girl wants to be loved, is entitled

  愛され系

I am wondering which definition of 系 this is, and how best to understand it and translate it into English.
My friend gave the unwieldy "Being Loved Type", while I proposed "System of being loved" (a direct translation?), but maybe "Method of being loved" or "How I want to be loved" works.
What do you think?


texts: How to read the Modulo operator in a formula

texts:
Because I am a programmer, I have been reading tutorials and manuals about programming in Japanese.

For the most part I am ok with all of the terminology, both from the computing side and maths side.

However I have just been reading about the Modulo Operator (剰余演算子) and have no idea how to read in in a formula.

For example 加算 means Addition, but you would read the 加算演算子 as 足す in a formula like 1 + 2 = 3.

I know that 剰余 means Remainder (or modulus), but I doubt you would say that when reaidng a formula.
All I can think of for example is:

4 % 2 = 0
よん　モジュロ　に　は　れい/ゼロ

Any help would be appreciated.


texts: Taking Class, Course, Lecture - Which verb is fit?

texts:
I would like to know how we say taking class or course or lecture in japanese.

I have heard about　「クラスを受ける」　and 「クラスを取る」.

Are there significant difference? And Is there any other verb we can use with?


texts:
In an anime I heard this sentence:

  どうして私と戦おうとしないの？私が怖いの？

which is translated as "Why don't you want to fight me? Are you scared of me?". I'm not sure why が is used here: I found that 私は怖い means "I'm scared", and I'd have expected 私が怖い to have the same meaning, with 私 marked as subject instead that as theme; I tried to read again the question about those particles, but I'm not really sure if it applies in this case, since it doen't seem to fit in any of the usages listed.

What role has が in this case? If the sentence can mean both "I'm scared" and "[someone is] scared of me", it's context the only way to discriminate?


texts: What are the rules for saying "made of [blank]"

texts:
Take these words for example:

  木{もく}造{ぞう}: made of wood; wooden

  and

  金{きん}製{せい}: made of gold

I have been under the impression that -製 is used for where an item has been manufactured (i.e. Made in Japan; Made in America), or the manufacturing of a certain product (i.e. iron manufacturing, etc.). I also thought that -造 was for what material something is made out of. Flipping through my dictionary it seems -製 is more common than -造 for referring to the material used (e.g. 鋼製: made of steel).

Is there a rule about which materials use -造 and which use -製? Is it just something one has to learn?


texts: Can を be used when asking for how many of an object?

texts:
First Japanese Stack Exchange question :D

I'm reading a Japanese book and one of the chapter got me thinking.

The book wrote it like this:

How many pencils are there ?
えんぴつはなんぼんですか。

Can we not not replace は with を ?

Like this:

えんぴつ を なんぼんですか


texts:
Just done with my adjective lessons and have a question on the same. The question may be too silly, but its a road block to my thought process so need some advice.

I have learned in basic lessons that, to negate a sentence, we can use じゃありません instead of です, or can use た to form the past tense.

For example:

  さとう　さん　は　せんせい　です。　－ Mr. Sato is a teacher.
  さとう　さん　は　せんせい　じゃありません。－ Mr. Sato is not a teacher.
  さとう　さん　は　せんせい　でした。　－　Mr. Sato was a teacher.
  さとう　さん　は　せんせい　じゃありませんでした。 － Mr. Sato wasn't a teacher.

But when it comes to い adjectives can I use this rule instead of くない、かった、くなかった? I understand for な adjectives this rule follows.

For example, instead of saying:

  てんきは　あつくない　です。
  てんきは　あつかった　です。
  てんきは　あつくなかった　です。

Can I say:

  てんきは　あつい　じゃありません。
  てんきは　あつい　でした。
  てんきは　あつい　じゃありませんでした。


texts:
So I was wondering if someone could clear up when you are allowed to omit と when listing things and when it's usually recommended to omit と.
Here are some examples of sentences I found in a book that either omit と altogether or only omit one or two and it's confusing.
今回の旅行ではスペイン、イタリアそしてフランスと、おもに南ヨーロッパを中心に回った。
On this trip I traveled mainly around southern Europe, to Spain, Italy, and France
Why in the above sentence do they omit と after スペイン and イタリア but include it after フランス?
Then in the following sentence they omit と altogether:
夏休みににタイ、マレーシアそれからインドネシアの三カ国を回ってきた。
During the summer vacation I traveled around three countries: Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Then in the next one they include と between the first and second noun but leave it between the second and third noun:
初球のクラスは月曜日と水曜日、それから土曜日にやっています。
We have a beginners' class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
Does this mean that you can choose to use と or leave it out when you like?


texts:
Recently I have been enjoying the show Chii Sanpou. I expect a few of you have seen or heard of it. The former actor walking around parts of Japan. The Japanese is a mix of casual and polite.

Anyway in one episode he spots something and the narrator says

何か、　見つけました？

which to me is an odd pattern. I think it is "what did you see?". It appears to be polite Japanese but the structure is not what I have been taught. I would have expected

何を見つけましたか？

I would like to know more about this other form. Is it appropriate for polite / formal Japanese or is it a bit slangy? Can I use it in business?


texts: When do you use の to join nouns and colours/adjectives?

texts: When do you use の to join nouns and colours? I know that green pencil is 緑{みどり}の鉛筆 【えんぴつ】but I'm not sure if it's the same for other colours or adjectives.


texts:
ちょっと君に話しがある
I saw this sentence in my downloaded deck of cards. Does it make sense.

Why does it feel like "You have a little bit of a story in you". How do you interpret this? What does the に? In other words, is it a target particle for the ある or 話.

The way I see it it should be broken up as
"君に話" 　＋　"がある"
not
君に話がある


texts: What's the word or phrase used specifically to describe someone who is only concerned with physical appearence of others?

texts: I believe it starts with み and is something like 'only has an eye for beauty', but it's been a long time since I used it. I believe it's a kanji compound.


texts:
（医師が患者に）薬を飲むか飲まないかを決めるのは、あなた自身ですよ。(pattern one)
お酒を飲む飲まないに関わりなく参加者には一人3000円払っていただきます。(pattern two)

I'd like to ask three questions.
The first one is: is "verb+か+verb+ないか" (pattern one) totally interchangeable with "verb+verb+ない" (pattern two)? If not, what is the difference between them (register, formality, frequency, etc.)?
The second one is: can all verbs be grammatically constructed into pattern one and pattern two?
The third one is: can 形容詞 and 形容動詞 be constructed into pattern two? e.g., 安い安くないを気にしている.
ご教授の程お願い致します。


texts: Difference between 〜といい〜といい　＆　〜といわず〜といわず

texts:
Can somebody explain the difference between these two expressions?

I have pasted the definitions and some examples from 日本語表現文型辞典 to help but they seem to come down to the same thing. (When can one be used but not the other and why?)

  といい＝も= both...and：speaker gives evaluations by enumerating several examples to show that result is the same from all angles

eg:
運動といい、勉強といい、僕は何をやってもダメだ
I am no good at sports, study or anything.

  といわず=も=not only..., but：strongly emphasizes by listing several examples that cannot be distinguished. Also can mean everywhere, always, all etc

eg:
日本人は子供といわず、大人といわず、漫画をよく読む。
The Japanese, adults and children alike, often read comics.

手といわず足といわず、子供は体中泥だらけで帰って来た。
They came home covered in mud from their finger tips to their toes.

NB These are my translations using what I think are equivalent colloquialisms.


texts: Can sentence-ending particles be used at the end of an independent clause?

texts:
With the sentence:

  「僕は今度遠い所へ行くからね、その前一寸お前に遭いに来たよ。」

"I am leaving now to go to a far away place, so before that I came to meet you for a short time."

Assuming I read that right, then it seems like the ね is a sentence-ending particle sitting at the end of the 1st clause in this compound sentence ("I am leaving now to go to a far away place").

So that leads me to two questions:

Can sentence-ending particles (よ, ね, な, etc) be used at the end of independent clauses in a compound sentence?
If this ね isn't the "seek agreement" particle, then what is it? An interjection?


texts:
I learned the grammatical structure of の for questioning (and explaining) things a while ago, but the exact meaning and which gender uses it has kind of confused me.
Here are a few varied sentence I'd first like to confirm whether my understanding of the meaning is correct (I've translated them based on the feeling I'm get when I hear them):
暇があるの？ - You have free time? (I thought you didn't)
暇がないの？ - You don't have free time? (I thought you did)
暇があるんじゃない？ - (But surely) You have free time don't you? (Confirming as if you know they don't) - do I need a の at the end?
暇がないんじゃない？ - (But surely) You don't have free time don't you? (Confirming as if you know they do) - do I need a の at the end?
Isn't 暇があるんじゃないの？ not used because it doesn't make sense / sounds weird? And then should you add か to the end because it sounds a little feminine or replace の with んですか？ or のですか？ to be more formal?


texts: When going somewhere, is there any difference between e (へ) and ni (に)?

texts:
Can you use へ and に interchangeably, as in:

  北海道へ行く

and

  北海道に行く ?

Are there any subtle differences in the use of these two?


texts:
This is the context.

Yura yura to yuganda sora e
Kimi no moto e tonde yuke
Konna ni mo chikaku ni kanjiteru
Futatsu no omoi
ゆらゆらと歪んだ空へ
君の元へ飛んでゆけ
こんなにも近くに感じてる
ふたつの想い

This is my try:

Through the warped and wobbling sky
may I fly to you/if only I could fly to you
I feel so close
the feelings of us (our feelings)

I don't know how to translate this imperative (命令形).
There is a second person pronoun, "君の", so it can't be a simple imperative, where the speaker orders a second person to do something (fly to you/fly to yourself!). The speaker doesn't order himself to do something (in this case he/she would say "fly to him/her!").
Has it an optative meaning?
"May I fly to you! If only I could fly to you! Let me fly to you!"
Is, in general, 命令形 used also as optative, in Japanese?


texts:
Does ような work as a pre-noun adjectival in this two sentences?

  これに匹敵するような車は日本ではずっと高いでしょう。
  各大会で多くの方があなたのグッズを身にまとい一大ブームとなっており、かつてのnWoに匹敵するような状態となってます。

Because when I look for sentences using ような I mostly sentences like these:

  あの人を見たような気がしました。
  彼は、何も言いたくないような、押し黙った表情をしてる。

Which seem to be just よう(noun) + な and not pre-noun adjectival.
Or should I treat all this 匹敵するような as one phrase?


texts: Correct order of horizontal and vertical strokes

texts:
Could someone explain to me why with kanji like 生 after the top horizontal stroke I have to go on with the vertical one, while instead with kanji like 金 I have to draw the two horizontal strokes and then the vertical one? Is there a simple rule to be applied? I am very puzzled...

Thanks a lot!


texts: Interpretation of "～のようなものがある" and "どうにかなってしまった"

texts:
以前にはなかった、私へのちょっとした好奇心のようなものがあるような気がして、私は胸を高鳴らせた。
Unlike before, having a feeling that there is a slight curiosity towards me, my heart throbs

Speaking is currently being teased by a girl.
Feels excessively wordy to me, what the difference between 好奇心のような気がして vs  好奇心のようなものがあるような気がして ?

ＧＰＳ機能が、どうにかなってしまったとでもいうのだろうか
The gps functions (of the phone) , let's say it somehow became like this. ??

Speaker is lost in a forest, and his gps on his phone isn't working.
Really not sure about this one.
Thank you


texts: 童貞が許されるのは小学生までだよね - translation of まで

texts:
I'm interested in an exact translation of the particle まで used in this Internet meme:

In case you can't read the image, here's a transcription:

「えーマジ　童貞!?」
「キモーイ」
「童貞が許されるのは小学生までだよねー」
「キャハハハハハハ」

Intuitively, the translation should be something like this:

Only elementary school students are allowed to be virgins

This translation is backed by the translation of a variation of this phrase found on Touhou Wiki:

イージ[sic]モードが許されるのは 小学生までだよねー
The only people allowed (to play) in easy mode are elementary school kids.

However, according to the grammar guide and goo jisho, まで can only mean "even", not "only". Following a dictionary example:

老人まで踊っている
Even the elderly are dancing.

I could try translating it as:

Even elementary school students are allowed to be virgins (?)

But it does not sound right.
Could it be that by saying "小学生まで" we imply "生まれた時から小学生まで"?

Only elementary school students and younger children are allowed to be virgins

So, how should まで be translated here and why?


texts: Why do we use は rather than に in インタネットがとても遅い時は、切腹したいです?

texts:
Why do we use は rather than に in the following sentence?

  インタネットがとても遅い時は、切腹したいです。

In my opinion it should be

  インタネットがとても遅い時に切腹したいです。

Any comments are welcome.


texts:
The person the speaker is talking to previously warned of disaster if the the speaker didn't do something, but the speaker did not want to break traditions and did not interfere. That person shows up again in front of the speaker after that disaster did in fact occur.

  other person 私の話を思い出して、ここに……魔を封印した場所に来たのですね？

  speaker: ここに来たのは、己が揺らがぬよう戒めるためです。

  speaker その他に意味などあり得ません。

  other person いい加減に分かってください！人間に地上界を治める資格などありません！

You came here to admonish me for being steadfast (to my beliefs).

ここに来たのは、己(me)が揺らがない様（を）戒めるためです。

You came here to admonish me in a resolute way.

ここに来たのは、己(you)が揺らがない様（に）戒めるためです。

Normally it's pretty obvious from context who 己 is referring to, but i found it difficult in this case.

thank you


texts: 魅力的って言われてもお前だって困る in this context

texts:
girl「まさかお前っ……こ、こここの胸が私の魅力だと言いたいのか！？」

  mc「誰もそんなこと言ってないだろ！？」

  girl「…………」

  mc「ああ違う、魅力的じゃないとも言ってない！　いやすごい！　お前の胸はすごいよ！」

  mc「でもそんなの魅力的って言われてもお前だって困るだろ！？」

uh no, i'm not saying that your boobs don't have appeal, rather they're amazing, your boobs are amazing!

but even if (I am) saying that's your appeal, you are troubled too?

i'm not sure what the MC is trying to claim in the last sentence, from the girls initial reaction it's obvious she doesn't liker her boobs being her 魅力.

thank you


texts:
For example I find myself saying things like:

  What did you win, bro?

I could leave out the "bro" and the sentence would be complete but I unconsciously add emphasis with the subject again because it's the way I speak.

In a conversation, would it be okay to do the same in Japanese for emphasis as well? Something like:

  何を当てるの[兄貴]{あにき}?

I'm unsure since in Japanese you can omit the subject altogether.  Or maybe it just doesn't sound or translate the same, thoughts?


texts: 私は米国人です vs 私はアメリカ人です

texts: They both mean I am an American but which is preferable in everyday speech and in writing, and why? Is the former more formal than the latter?


texts: Is there a radiotelephony alphabet standard for kanji, similar to NATO phonetic alphabet ("alfa, bravo, charlie")?

texts:
NATO phonetic alphabet is used for precise dictation of English letters:

"A" is pronounced as "Alfa"
"B" as "Bravo"
"C" as "Charlie", etc.

There are similar alphabets for other languages.

There are only 26 letters in English, and still it's worth to have an unambiguous way to explain a spelling using voice only. In Japanese, there's so much homophonic words containing kanji (especially in names), I'd imagine there is a standard for dictating kanji, but I can't find it. There is the 和文通話表 for kana, numbers, and punctuation, but that's not what I'm looking for.

Is there any similar method and/or standard (maybe historical, experimental, or not originated in Japan) for vocal dictation of the kanji? I assume it may use a different method, e.g. explaining by components/radicals instead of explaining the character as a whole.

I'm aware of a "normal" way of doings this, i.e. mentioning some common words using particular kanji. But, to be honest, it sucks so much balls... I can't imagine Japanese military forces or police doing that "SATO as 'help' and 'light purple'" over the radio.

More than that, such list may be useful for learning kanji. The closest thing I could find is a list of unique keywords from the famous RTK, which does a lot of trickery:

暗 = "darkness"
蒙 = "darken"
闇 = "pitch dark"

This is confusing, but still not as confusing as trying to remember all the darkness-related meanings from the dictionary definitions of those kanji.

Since chances are the answer is "No, there is no such thing. Deal with it!", I have a somewhat related question:

Is there a (standard) list of those common words to explain which kanji is meant? In other words, is there a list which suggests the words which I should use to explain the 佐藤 surname on the phone to my friend, who is not Japanese and just studying kanji?


texts: Why is intentional form used in 「カラオケに行こうと誘われました」?

texts:
近所のひとにカラオケに行こうと誘われました。

I can easily understand what this sentence wants to tell me, but I don't really understand why intentional form is used here.
I usually would just use plain form いく.


texts: is there any reason why "waratteru ka naiteru noka" uses first the ka particle for the first part and no ka for the second?

texts:
Dragon Ball Super ending 9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lRjWkjHKDg

in a part of the song says

  "waratteru ka naiteru noka"

which is translated as

  were you laughing or were you crying?

Is there any reason why the first part uses the particle "ka" and the second "no ka"? is there a rule or something for doing so in a case like this?


texts:
From what I understand, にして can mean  "and" or it stresses a period of time during which something happens. However, I found some sentences where the meaning of にして is totally different, and so, I am not sure if I understood correctly the meaning of にして.

この曲はベ一ト一ベンのような天才にしてはじめて書ける作品だ。
プロの職人にして失敗をするのだ。君がうまくいかなくてもしょうがないだろう。


texts: Title says it all.  When saying それは椅子 would I use あります or です?  I've been using です, but from what I've read, it's used to describe an object, and あります to declare it's existence.  So I'm thinking あります would be the correct verb to use.


texts: Difference between various "calculation" words (演算, 算出, and 計算)

texts:
Is there a difference in usage between these words?

演算 (えんざん)
算出  (さんしゅつ)
計算 (けいさん)


texts: Using な or ね when addressing a mixed-gender group?

texts:
I have the basic understanding that ね is generally more formal/feminine and な is generally more informal/masculine. I was told that you tend to use ね as an emphasis if you are a) a female yourself or b) are addressing a female, regardless of your gender.

But say you were a male addressing a group of friends of both genders. Something like: ひさしぶり！Would you use な or ね at the end of the sentence for emphasis?


texts: What difference is there between そろそろ and もうすぐ? (if any)

texts:
そろそろ and もうすぐ can both be translated as 'soon', but I feel they have different uses and connotations.

My take on it is that そろそろ is slightly more formal and has more of a meaning of 'It's about time (we)...' as in this example:

  そろそろ出ましょうか？
  Shall we get going? / Isn't it about time we go?

Whereas もうすぐ sounds more urgent, and has more of a meaning of 'almost' or 'just about to', like in the following example:

  もうすぐ夏休みだ。
  Summer vacation is just around the corner.

Can these be used interchangeably?  Can I say the following sentence:

  そろそろ夏休みだ。

To me it sounds a bit stiff and formal.


texts:
I am trying to understand もの completely but I fail to understand it and mix up the meanings sometimes.
I know that ものだ can mean that you want to emphasis something you feel etc according to this post, I've also read that sometimes it almost has the same meaning as べき, and sometimes to state a fact. According to that post there are a group for "Advice based on common sense" and one for "General tendencies and cold facts."
But I can't tell how to translate sentence like this:
子供: 「もう勉強したくないよぉ。」
母:「学生は勉強するものでしょ」
My translation
Child: I don't wanna study anymore!
Mother: But students should study right? (Advice based on common sense)
OR is it interpreted as
Child: I don't wanna study anymore!
Mother: But students study right? (General tendencies and cold facts)
Another example
恋人がいれば、楽しくなるものですよ
My translation:
If I had someone, I would have fun.
Actually after thinking of this sentence, it probably is this group: General tendencies and cold facts. Also what would be the difference if it was not written with ものです in the end like 恋人がいれば、楽しくなる?


texts:
I found a phrase in one vocabulary book about the usage of 縮む.
I am not clear on the meaning of this phrase:

  身の縮む思い

I think it can be the same meaning as 恥ずかしい. Is that right?


texts: Is "ゲル" or "ユルト" more commonly used and understood?

texts:
Is "ゲル" or "ユルト" more commonly used and understood when referring to large tents used by Mongolians (gers) and other Central Asian nomads (yurts)?

The Japanese edition of Wikipedia uses ゲル rather than ユルト, suggesting the former is the norm. However, I'd like additional confirmation, and I suspect that just looking at word frequency may be misleading because ゲル may have unrelated meanings. In addition, "ゲル" being the norm rather than "ユルト" is surprising as yurt is more commonly used and understood than ger in English.


texts: Are なんて and なんか used to emphazise feelings that are not disgust/trying to look down on something in this context?

texts:
I know that なんて and なんか are used to emphazise disgust, belittle something, say that something is undesirable and express negative feelings of the speaker. But in this context I'm not too sure if this applies...

Context: girl is talking with her boyfriend over the phone. She looks very happy and also nervous while he's telling her about his day. But her voice sounds too monotone/inexpressive, which makes her boyfriend think that she doesn't actually care about what's he saying. He tells her that she sounds like she doesn't care at all because she sounds too monotone and calm. However, it's important to say that he's not angry at all, he's just teasing her and giggling while telling her she doesn't care. Then she replies saying

そんなことないですよ... 聞いてますよ.

But he keeps teasing her about her not listening, so she says

聞いてますよ! どうでもよくなんかないよ. While in her mind she thinks

"余裕なんてない"...

Again, keep in mind that she says all of this without getting angry at all over his teasing or anything. She's just smiling, and in fact looks pretty happy and a bit anxious. That's why I'm not sure what's the function of なんて and なんか.

どうでもよくなんかないよ. (It's not that I don't care)

余裕なんてない = I'm not calm at all (when I talk to you)

I do notice that both sentences are in negative, so the word choice is fine, but like I said, since the girl is happy while using these words, I'm not sure if なんて and なんか are trying to emphazise or belittle 余裕 and どうでもよく or why they're being used in this context if she doesn't mean to emphazise/express disgust.


texts: Which of these two interpretations of this line are correct?

texts:
I'm reading a scene here, and I find a line whose meaning is very unclear to me.

A: 「最後の最後で両方って可能性は……？　敵軍で道の出口を塞いだ上で、後続に矢の雨とか」

B: 「その可能性もあるわ。ただ、この段階でひと当てふた当てしておいた方が、こちらの消耗的には都合がいいと思うのだけれどね……」

A: 「警戒するだけでも消耗するもんな……」

I'm having a devil of a time figuring out character B's reply.  I 'm pretty sure ひと当てふた当て likely stands for 一当て二当て; usually when I see a phrase I can't figure out, I google it.  Google finds hits where this is used, but no actual definition in any of the usual online dictionaries.
I've been puzzling over this line for more than half an hour, and here's my best guess:

B: That's also a possibility. But I think we should consider these handful of possibilities as exhaustive.

But I'm not sure whether it means that, or (since the following line uses 'exhausted') it's some kind of pun, something like this (I'm pretty sure this specific one is wrong, but it might be something similar):

B: That's also a possibility. But given how exhausted our men are, we should focus on only one of those possibilities.


texts: Does this athlete intend to play in the street or for the street?

texts:
In a bizarre and transparently ineffective attempt to try and change the culture of Shibuya's central shopping district, the shopowners promotion association (商店街{しょうてんがい}振興{しんこう}組合{くみあい}) has changed the name of the main shopping road in front of the station from センター街{がい}(centre street) to バスケットボールストリート(basketball street).

Or, apparently, if you're as "hip" as the geriatric bureaucrats who came up with this, you would call it バスケ通{どお}り.

Anyway, in the article where I read about this, a pro basketball player attending the naming ceremony was quoted as follows:

  千葉{ちば}ジェッツの石田{いしだ}剛規{たけのり}選手{せんしゅ}（２９）は「この有名{ゆうめい}な通{どお}りにふさわしいプレーをしていかなければ」と語{かた}った。

I'm not sure on the reading of the guy's name. Anyway, my rough translation is:

  "Ishida Takenori (29), of the Chiba Jets, said, "We have to play appropriately
  (in?/for?) this famous street."

I'm confused about the use of に, because it seems that he is saying they, the basketball league, need to play appropriately in the street. Which would be kind of a weird thing to do. Despite the new name, I don't think anyone intends to actually play there.

It makes more sense to me, given the overall context, that he would be saying something more about how the league needs to set a good example for the street by playing appropriately in general, at their games. I'm not familiar with に being used to mean "for" in this way, though.

So it seems from my (poor) understanding of grammar that his statement should mean play in the street, but from my understanding of the situation it should mean play for the street.

Is either guess correct? Am I wrong either way? What exactly is he saying?


texts:
In Someday / いつか, Tatsurō Yamashita sings:

二度と会えない素直な愛に
さよならをする人など居ない
だからいつまでも顔を曇らせ
つらい日を送る事はない

I don't understand the meaning of the last two lines.
顔を曇らせ looks like an imperative. But I doubt the lyric means: “So, assume a gloomy face forever!!” — the rest of song sounds more hopeful than that.
Does つらい日を送る事はない mean, “it's nothing worth having a bad day over”? Maybe 顔を曇らせ has some kind of continuative function, and I should interpret these two lines as one. If there were a て joining them, I wouldn't be confused.
It makes more sense to me for the lyric to mean: “I won't assume a gloomy face forever”. But I don't know how to get there from the grammar.


texts: Unknown contractions and grammar in harsh language using 置いてくもん

texts:
I'm playing a game and I came across a dialog where a person says:
置いてくもん置いてきゃ
許してやらなくもないぜオラァ！

And I'm having a difficult time understanding how this grammar was formed. I am mainly lost on the 置いてくもん置いてきゃ part. I do not understand what 置いてくもん is at all and it seems like 置いてきゃ was formed by doing:
置いていく　→　置いていけば　→　置いていきゃ　→　置いてきゃ

If you leave...

So what is and how is the 置いてくもん part formed?
My translation overall is something like:
You better leave... If you leave...
Well then perhaps we can forgive you!

Background context of the situation:
During this part of the game a cutscene is played where you are running down a path and ram into a group of 3 people. You knock them all down to the ground in the process. Once they get up, they show their anger and say the above. Ultimately the game puts you into a fight with them where you must beat them up.


texts: i'd like to get a tattoo and don't wanna mess up :/

texts: I was wondering if anyone would help me out with this issue. My dog's name is Hiro, I read it somewhere a while ago and thought it was cool and ploof! now he's named this way. I'd like to tattoo his name in the Kanji format but I'm scared to mess up and get tattooed a random word like "fork" or whatever. I've checked on many websites and they say it's written 寛 meaning generous. Is there anybody who could check, please?


texts:
I've heard various things about this construction from many different people, a few examples of which are:

It's a verb meaning "to be".
It's a contraction of something like でございます (de gozaimasu) or ではあります (de wa arimasu).
It just kinda appeared as a "polite" marker.

Could anyone here offer a succinct explanation of what it actually means?


texts: Meaning of 世界圏内 in the following sentence

texts:
Context: a speaker is talking about a boxer after a boxing match has just finished.

  　ＯＰＢＦ５度目の防衛２ＲＫＯで決めたぁあ！！世界ももはや圏内だ！！！

What is the meaning of the second sentence? "He can now aim at the world title" or "He is now a world-famous boxer"? (OPBF is Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation) Thank you for your help!


texts: Trouble interpreting に思う in その武具に思うことはいっぱいあるみたい

texts:
類は友を呼ぶじゃないけどね、やっぱり実際使って直接肌で感じる冒険者の方が、その武具に思うことはいっぱいあるみたい。

I'm having trouble interpreting this part of the sentence. What does に思う do here? Does その武具に思うこと mean something like: "Thoughts about the armor"?

Thanks!


texts: Understanding correct choice on N1 grammar question

texts:
I'm starting my JLPT N1 study, but am already running into roadblocks just reading the example sentences which is rather embarrassing. The way things are going, I'll have many more questions in the future.

Any English is my translation

  Pick the most suitable word to fill in the blank.

  今度の選挙に落選した（　　）、二度と政界に戻れないだろう。

  １）が最後　　２）が早いか　　３）ものなら　　４）とたんに

The correct answer is 1, but I don't really see how it works. My language parser fails. My first guess was 3 because then it would read something like "The ones who lost this election will probably not be able to go back to politics again."

The official explanation:

  では、まず（　　）の前後のことがら（「落選した」と「政界に戻れない」）の関係を考え、さらに文末の「〜だろう」から、未来の予測を表している文だと考えます。「落選した」という動詞の形につく文法形式であることも重要です。正しい答えは「１　が最後」です。

I would translate that as

  If you first consider the phrases around the blank, "failed to be elected" and "won't be able to go back to politics", and then notice the 〜だろう at the end, you can tell that this implies a prediction about the future. The   grammatical form of the "failed to be elected" verb is important as well. The correct answer is #1.

I can't say that helps me any. Any explanation would be very much appreciated.


texts: How to express “X (and parenthetically Y)”?

texts:
When writing in English, quite often I'll want to express a connection between two noun phrases as “X (or Y)” or “X (and Y)”, where the punctuation adds a notion of “Y is a little beside the point, but to be completely correct I'll mention it in passing”.

The office is closed on weekends (and federal holidays).
This question (or a similar one) has been asked before.

When expressing this sort of sentiment in Japanese, it feels really weird to write Ｘ（とＹ） or Ｘ（かＹ）. Do people ever write this kind of sentence?

事務所の閉まっている日は週末（と祝日）です。
この質問（か同じようなやつ）はもう聞かれたことがあるよ。

Using parentheses like this feels icky, at least to my intermediate-learner sensibilities. Maybe I feel a little better about adverb-like expressions like

「週末（それに祝日）」
「この質問（または同じようなやつ）」

but I've heard that または especially is pretty formal so it doesn't feel like a good option anyway.
What's a good 日本語っぽい alternative to these “parenthesized connectives”? Should I just drop the parentheses; are they too English-y?


texts: How to say:'It's not like he's dying or anything'?

texts:
"別に死ぬあいつはわけじゃないし"
I want this to convey a sense of denial


texts: I was under the impression that ございます was a humble form of ある. My belief was supported by websites such as this and this. However, in the comments to this question's answer, user4092 says it isn't a humble form (and also say it's used less in western Japan, which also runs contrary to my knowledge. Who is correct?


texts: How to say "rough year" or "rough time"?

texts:
I want to say "it was a rough year", but I'm not sure how to put it.

I thought of "難しい年頃" which I understand means "difficult age", normally used to describe the rebel age of kids.

How do people normally put it? 難しい年? Can we use 大変な年？


texts: Can I use the word "Genkō" to mean "current"?

texts:
I'm looking at words apart from "Genzai" that mean "Current" as in "Present moment".

Can I safely use the word "Genkō", or "現行" for that?


texts: How do you say "What are the differences between car and motorcycle "?

texts:
I have just learned about "WH question" in japanese. Now I'm learning about "What is" and since the examples are so simple, only "What's your name". I'm curious how to say "What are the differences between car and motorcycle".

This is what I try so far for "What are the differences between car and motorcycle" :

  間にそしてオートバイを異なるはなんですか？

And this is for "What are the differences" :

  異なるはなんですか？

Are those correct?


texts: Why are we allowed to use を particle with na-adjectives?

texts:
Can someone explain the usage of a na-adjective with the を particle?

I cannot understand why we can say

  ほうれん草を嫌いな人もいる。

because I'd thought that it had to be a が or の particle instead of an を.

Also, why can we say

  きみがなぜジャズを嫌いか私にはわからない。

Shouldn't it be きみがなぜジャズが嫌いか私にはわからない?

(Source: tatoeba.org)


texts: When is 「だ／である」required between a noun and the quotation particle と?

texts:
Note: Edits in response to comments have been added in italics
The sentence prompting this question is:

時下ますますご清栄のことと、お喜び申し上げます

Which I have always "loosely" taken to mean:

I am glad to hear you are doing so well these days.

Based on the explanation of と　on page 464 of "A dictionary of intermediate Japanese Grammar", I think there is an ellipsis of 伺いまして, and hence is quotive but I am not entirely sure.
But to return to my question, when is 「だ／である」required between a noun and the quotation particle と?:
There some straight forward cases that are easy to remember such as (1)with names (2) direct quotes and (3)"fixed expressions"　such as "とばかり”:

(1) Tim と言います| I am called Tim
(2)「＿＿＿＿」と言います。｜normal direct quote
(3)負けじとばかりゴールを目ざして走った｜Determined not to be beaten, he dashed toward the goal.

I also found the advice in the Dictionary of Basic Jpse Grammar that in the sentence:
米国の貿易赤字は  しばらくのまま  続く  もの  と  予想される。
It is predicted that the US trade deficit will remain as it is for a while.
"Mono followed by a quotative と is used in general statements or opinion. This mono could be dropped without a change in meaning. Note that copula だ does not follow と."
But when making my own sentences of indirect quotes (etc?) it is not so straightforward because I am not sure what rule/principle applies.
Could somebody some insight on when the copula (だ）particle と　go together?
(If sentence 3 is based on the same principle as sentence 2 then perhaps I have covered all the expceptions?)


texts: How to say "a few years in the future" / "a few years from now"

texts: I'd like to express the idea that maybe a few years from now things would work out better. But I can't figure out how that would be said in Japanese. I know that if it were past tense, it could be said like 数年前だったら or 何年か前だったら. What's the equivalent for the future?


texts:
A question about rōmaji: Is it more common to use ī or ii? For loanwords, it seems to be
common to use ī, e.g.

コーヒー　　kōhī
アンチーク　antīku

For other words, using ii seems more common, e.g.

涼しい　suzushii
大きい　ōkii
小さい　chiisai

Google translator shows suzushī, ōkī and chīsai, though. (I know, results from Google
translator are usually poor, but still.)

Similar question: I believe 湖 is actually mizu+umi (right?), so the natural romanization
would seem to be mizuumi rather than mizūmi, but I think the latter is more common?


texts: Why is ところ used instead of こと in these sentences?

texts:
テレビ局の人たちは専門家が火山を調べているところをビデオに撮っていました。ビデオには白い煙が空に上がっていくところや石が飛んでくるところなどが写っています。
  The television crew were recording experts investigating the volcano. On the video (you can see) white smoke rising to the sky and stones flying.

Am I correct that all the instances of ところ in bold could be replaced with こと? If so, what nuance/change of meaning does using ところ bring to these sentences?