texts:
I came across this sentence in a manga and its meaning is rather obscure to me:

  成すべきことを成す。

I tried to translate it as:

  To do what has to be done.

Moreover, it would be great to know if this sentence is a common idiom or just a normal sentence that anybody could spontaneously come up with.


texts:
I have a long rectangular plastic pot filled with earth that I hang on my balcony rail to grow small vegetables, and I am not sure whether I should call it プランター or ウィンドウボックス.
QUESTION: What is the fundamental difference between プランター and ウィンドウボックス?
According to Wikipedia:

ウィンドウボックス、ウインドウボックス（英語: windowbox, window box）とは、ガーデニング・園芸で植物を育てるために、窓の外側（あるいは内側）に置かれる容器（コンテナ）や、その下の壁面で支えるブラケット（棚受け）のこと。
プランター（planter）は装飾用の草花を植えたり活けるための鉢や箱の事。 イギリスやアメリカでは、planter と flower pot(植木鉢) をほとんど同義に使い、あまり区別をしない。また花器、花瓶をも planter と呼ぶ場合も少なくない。


texts: What is the significance of number of Kanji in a name?

texts:
There are several one-character surnames:
[林]{はやし}
[森]{もり}
[堤]{つつみ}

Most surnames have two-characters:
[鈴木]{すずき}
[山田]{やまだ}
[藤井]{ふじい}
[酒井]{さかい}
[松村]{まつむら}

A few surnames have three-characters:
[佐々木]{ささき}
[長谷川]{はせがわ}
[五十住]{いそずみ}
[中小路]{なかこうじ}

It may be an incorrect assumption, but save for 佐々木 and 長谷川 it seems like people with 3-character names tend to be the most likely to have a pre-Meiji era name (have been upper class prior to that era).

Is there any reason behind the number of characters in a surname being longer for the upper class? Is it just coincidence?


texts: What is the purpose of 〜て in this sentence

texts:
This activity is from Genki 2 chapter 13 and I was given a question where I was to answer using the potential verb form. Here is what is showed:

  Q: 宿題をしましたか。
  A: 難しすぎてできませんでした.

I understand the potential verb and what すぎる　means (too much/excess) as well as する　conjugation in the potential form but I'm not sure why  すぎる is in te form. The closest thing I could find was that Genki 1 said that the te form is used to describe two activities. Is that the reason here? I cannot use と to combine these clauses, so is the te form what I have to use?

The English translation would pretty much be "Homework is too difficult. Did not do." So two separate clauses. All I'm inferring from this is that te is just used to join them into one sentence. Am I right?


texts: List of suppletive honorific and humble forms

texts:
Is there a reference that lists words whose honorific and/or humble forms are suppletive?

For nouns, I am supposing that 父親, 父, and お父さん are different forms of a single noun differing only with respect to honorification.
For verbs, there are rules to create the honorific form, but some verbs are irregular. For example, the honorific and the humble forms of 食べる are 召し上がる and いただく, respectively. Another example is 知ります with ご存知です as the honorific and 存じております as the humble form.

How can I know whether a verb or noun is regular or it uses suppletion?


texts: When you ask someone to do a favour, what is the difference between くれますか and もらいますか?

texts:
I know when I am describing a situation I should use:

  彼はドアをあけてくれました。

or

  私は彼にドアをあけて貰いました。

But what about in a question? I saw this phrase in a Japanese TV show, when the speaker wants another person to leave the room first:

  先に行ってくれますか？

In this situation, can I say 先に行って貰いますか？

Please explain the difference.


texts: What is the exact translation of this sentence?

texts:
There is this sentence in my textbook that I don't quite understand the structure of:
スイスのクレーマーさんですか、ドイツのクレーマーさんですか．
So if I understood it correctly it's asking if that person is from Switzerland or from Germany but can you just connect those 2 things with a comma? The whole sentence sounds weird to me. Also, is there another and maybe better way of saying this question?


texts: Understanding what 逆に means in context with an emotion

texts:
I'm having trouble understanding exactly what this person is saying to me.
The context being that I was asked a question by them, and after responding they said this:

  そうでしたか！それを聞けて逆に安心しました…！笑

I believe: そうでしたか！ = Was that so!?
And maybe: それを聞けて = Able to hear that and ...

But: 逆に安心しました = was oppositely relieved (?)
Does this mean they became relieved, and were worried before (the opposite of relieved), or something else?


texts:
In A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar in the ~nasai section it has this example sentence: "早くうちに帰って来なさいよ。" with translation "Come home early, OK?".

I'm aware of the general difference between 帰る and 来る but why both?  How would the meaning of the sentence change if there was only one or the other? Why not "帰なさい"? (which I assume is ungrammatical because I had to fight autocomplete to type it)


texts: What is the difference between ~ru and ~masu? For example: taberu and tabemasu. Don't they mean the same thing? Are there certain instances when one is acceptable and the other isn't?


texts: "Alumi can" and "aru mikan" pun in Space Brothers anime

texts:
The subtitles don't explain this pun/joke at all in the episode 87 of Space Brothers anime, but I'd like to figure out how it works.

There's a lot of repeating "arumi can" and "aru mikan" in the pun. The pun is obviously about an aluminum can, and if the orange can stay on top of it, but I'd like to know exactly what's going on with the sounds.

Here's the youtube video I just made with all the puns: http://youtu.be/vVsskPeb_VA

Please, help me identify the words that make these puns.


texts: Do particles like を、で、に、and へ、form noun-phrases?

texts:
Can particles like を、で、に、and へ be used like nouns?

Can you do something like:

[ 学校 + に ] + の + 学生 + です。= 学校にの学生です。

[ School + at ] + *'s + student + is. = To-be at-school's student.

Is this kind of structure allowed? Even if my example doesn't make sense, can you do things like this? And if so, can you give me some examples of it being used properly?


texts: Volitional verb (意志動詞) and non-volitional verbs (無意志動詞)

texts:
I don’t get how "日本語が上手になるように毎日勉強しています" (日本語が上手になる) is a non-volitional verb/uncontrollable verb
(Uncontrollable Verb - 雨が降る can’t control when it rains. 朝になった can’t control time)
I understand that
"早く良くなるように休んでください" (早く良くなる)
is a non-volitional Verb since you can’t control how someone recovers but why can’t you control becoming/be better at Japanese by studying?
For example:
"医者になるために毎日勉強しています" (医者になる)become a doctor by studying/going to a medical school.


texts:
I've seen ママ used as as sort suffix to names before.

Like here: https://more.hpplus.jp/odekake/o-news/43298/1/

  彼ママと初対面

What I'm asking here is: Can I add ママ after any name and that will mean I'm referring to their mom?

E.G. とも君ママ is Tomo-kun's mom?


texts: How would you interpret 迷 in this sentence?

texts:
I was watching an anime when a quite interesting conversation happened. I could only read the subtitles as my Japanese is really bad but I tried my best to reconstruct the sentence afterwards.
Here is a copy of the section:
From what I can understand (please correct me) it's something like

迷うのが人間です。だからこそ崇高でありたいとのその。

The subtitles where something like

Having doubts is human, that is why we try to be devine.

So I checked the 迷 in this sentence and there are many possible translations. In the context of the situation it really was about having doubts as a human and becoming someone like Bhudda,so maybe due to the 辶 in 迷  denoting a sort of path on which somebody is lost on his spiritual travel towards Nirvana? But out of this context is there any reason in using 迷 here instead of other things like 危疑?


texts: What terms are used for a non-native speaker of Japanese?

texts: What terms are used for a non-native speaker of a language? I found ネイティブスピーカー and 母語話者 but I want to know the Japanese words for a non-native speaker. Thanks.


texts: On the interpretation of an ambiguous(?) sentence from 「風立ちぬ」

texts:
I encountered a seemingly ambiguous sentence when reading the novel 「風立ちぬ」 by 堀辰雄 as below:

  お前の父や、それからまたそういう父をも数に入れたお前のすべてを絶えず支配しているものに、素直に身を任せ切っているのではないだろうか？

My first impression was that the author was counting 「そういう父」 as part of 「お前のすべて」. Then I referred to several Chinese editions of the novel and found that all the translators interpreted 「そういう父」 as part of 「お前のすべてを絶えず支配しているもの」.

Which interpretation sounds more appropriate to you? And, is this sentence really ambiguous?


texts:
From Noir, Episode 2 (anime).

I don't get what the って is doing in this sentence. For context, the father came home early from work. He quickly answers his wife in the first sentence then in the second sentence is asking his son this:

  そうか。そうだアンリ、欲しがってたゲーム、明日パパと買いに行こうか？


texts:
what does wankyuu mean? the kanji are 椀久 have tried many Japanese dictionaries but have come up empty also are there any resources that are better than jisho and the like for looking up Japanese?
thanks in advance


texts: Difference between "腹{はら}" and "お腹{なか}" is not 敬語{けいご}?

texts:
So, the difference between 兄{あに} and お兄{にい}さん is merely the level of formality. Based only on the rules of 敬語{けいご} you say 兄 or お兄さん. note that the reading of 兄 changes by adding お .

I am almost certain that 敬語 has nothing to do with deciding whether to say 腹{はら} or お腹{なか}. Even though the superficial difference is 美化語, the difference is not about 敬語. So, what is the difference in meaning and usage? Would a doctor refer to my abdomen as 腹 or お腹? Is my へそ in the middle of my 腹 or お腹?


texts:
Struggling to grasp this sentence:

残像｛ざんぞう｝さえ霞む｛かすむ｝高速｛こうそく｝の打突｛だとつ｝。

Rapid strikes that [verb clause starts] ...

Applying structures from here and here hasn't made sense to me so far.

Thinking about it more: "Rapid strikes, such that even their afterimage becomes blurred"? Sounds horrible when I translate it like that.


texts:
Why is the direct object taking を in (1) and に in (2)? What are basic rules that drive these two sentence constructions?

  (1) 叔母は父を頼っている
  'My aunt is counting on my father's help.'

  (2) 農民は収入を[牧羊]{ぼくよう}に頼っていた
  'The farmers depended on sheep-farming as their source of income.'

I am not sure of the technical terms but there is clearly a bit more going in (2). However the farmers in (2) are relying on sheep farming in the same way that my aunt is relying on my father in (1).

I think (1) could be amended as (3) to comply with the same grammatical rules as (2):

  (3) 叔母は援助を父に頼っている
  'My aunt is counting on my father for support.'

but I still do not understand how/when/what grammatical rules are being used.


texts: How to say "lacquer" when talking about food?

texts: I found that the term 漆塗り or simply 漆 is used to indicated the lacquer applied to materials such as wood, but can I use the same term in a food context? I am talking about that sort of 'glaze' you can find in recipes such as this one. Thank you for your help!


texts: How do adverbs work with multiple clauses in a sentence?

texts:
Using two somewhat different uses of the te form as examples.

  彼女はいつになくはしゃいでよくしゃべった

Does the adverb "unusually" describe both "being in high spirits" and "being talkative"?

  船はすこしの絶間｛たえま｝なく黒い煙｛けぶり｝を吐いて浪｛なみ｝を切って進んで行く。

Does the "without pause" adverb describe the way the ship belched black smoke, its movement, the whole "movement while splitting waves and belching black smoke"?


texts:
What is the appropriate way to talk about your siblings when you have two older brothers? 二人の兄
If I were to write about them how would I refer to them seperately? Would their names+honorific ie: (さん or ちゃん) be used? Or is there another way to distinguish them in Japanese?


texts:
素の部分時系列ではなくて方向データを考えるのは、一般に時系列データにつきもののノイズを抑制すると言う観点で実用上理にかなっています

In the above sentence I am unable to understand the 理にかなっています phrase. Does anyone know what this means? Please help.


texts: Why does 前 mean "past" in terms of time, but "forward" in terms of direction?

texts:
Question in title.
So far I was able to find that 前 is constructed from Chinese: 舟 and 止, which can be interpreted as "leaving a footprint", hence the "past" meaning, but it seems kinda far fetched.


texts:
I was reading a web novel when I came across this sentence.

春を思わせる花柄のワンピースに黄色のカーデガン、編み込みをしアップにした髪にベレー帽、赤色の伊達メガネ……

What does the をし mean? Is it just connecting 編み込み and アップ to にした? It is my first time I believe encountering this and while I still understand the sentence I want clarification.
I looked online and all I could find was をし being a old way to write 惜しい and 愛しい which I am near certain is not how it is being used here, because that would be quite bizarre and doesn't really make sense.


texts: How to ask "What is your opinion on X thing/X person?"

texts:
As the title says. How do you ask for someone's opinion on something in Japanese?
My Japanese tutor says than an easy way to do this can be

「Xはどうですか？」

thus saying

"How about X,"

but I was curious if there were any other phrases, sentence structures, etc. in Japanese that also communicates

"What's your opinion on X?"

And, if there are, in what contexts or situations are they supposed to be used in?


texts:
What's the usage and the meaning of まま in this sentence?

彼の本はずいぶん前に読んだままなので、内容のほとんどは忘れてしまった。

I think the meaning is something like

"It's been a long time since I read his book, that's why I forgot most
of the content".

I only know まま as in "two things happening at the same time". Can somebody provide me with some examples?


texts:
I am reading the Japanese for Busy People book and I notice in the dictionary in the back some of the words ending in san use a hyphen:

okyaku-san

and some don't

okosan

Sometimes they use a hyphen after o-

o-kashi

and sometimes not

okyaku-san

Does anyone have any idea why they do this?


texts:
I'm struggling to understand how the bolded part in the below sentence changes the meaning of the sentence.
I think that 狭さ refers to narrowness(in context that they are both walking close together in a very tight space), but I am not sure which に this is and how it is modifying the rest of the sentence.

七菜海のリアクションが、可愛くてそれでなくても、この狭さに、密着でドキドキの俺は、悟れまいと尤もらしいことを言う


texts: In what scenarios would you use 「」 quotation marks instead of 『』, and vice versa?


texts: How do I accurately convey "enough to make a difference"?

texts:
I want to say "it's different enough to make a difference," but I'm struggling a bit to get there. Partly because the two uses of "different" in this sentence are doing two different jobs. The first one refers to the relative difference between two things being compared, the second one refers to an absolute amount of difference that would be appreciated by anyone looking at the given situation.

So, for example, I might want to say "the pronunciation of bun and ban are different enough to make a difference." Here I'm saying that the relative difference between the way the two words are said is small, especially to Japanese who pronounce both as バン. However, the absolute difference is significant in that they mean completely different things.

The key concept is that there is a threshold of difference, "just enough", that has been achieved which causes the significance to just barely pass over from something that doesn't matter to something that does.

How would I say this in Japanese? Here are my (probably wrong) guesses:

  bunとbanの発音{はつおん}違{ちが}いは十分{じゅうぶん}違{ちが}う？

  bunとbanの発音{はつおん}の違{ちが}いは違{ちが}う過{す}ぎる？

(I'm not sure if there should be a の in there after 発音{はつおん}, so I'm trying it both ways.)


texts: How 「えい」 should be pronounced in the words like 英語, 先生, etc?

texts: P.S.: I heard that 「生」 (せい) in the word 先生 can be pronounced either as [sei] or as [see]. If it is so, is there any semantic difference between these variants?


texts: Are they all of the form [kanji]しい or can they also be of the form [kanji][kana]しい? ([kana]しい can also probably be found in the case of uncommon kanji.)


texts:
There are two conversations:

  Ａ：李さんが呼んでいたのが聞こえましたか。
  Ｂ：いいえ、聞こえませんでした。

And:

  Ａ：李さんが呼んでいるのが聞こえましたか。
  Ｂ：いいえ、聞こえませんでした。

The only difference is た and る. If I want to ask "have you heard Li's call", which one should I use?


texts:
I'm travelling through Japan and I've been asking cool people I meet to sign my shirt in Japanese. I've been saying this:

sain shitemoratte ii desu ka?

And they always ask sain? and laugh then realise I mean my shirt.

Is the shitemoratte bit accompanied with me pointing to the shirt?

Or can I just point to my shirt and say sain ii desu ka?

How would I say "I am travelling Japan asking cool people to sign my shirt, is it okay if you sign it too?"

Thank you in advance! Apologies for the potentially wrong formatting.. I come from SO


texts: Usually, we're told that おる is a humble verb, and that mostly holds true. But sometimes I see it conjugated to a light honorific form おられる, usually when talking about someone to whom respect must be shown rather than to them. I'd like to ask how this comes about.


texts: Is there a logic for deciding when to employ furigana?

texts: I'm vaguely aware that the usage of furigana is based on the intended target audience. The younger or less likely literate the target audience the more furigana are employed. But is there a system to decide which words receive furigana and which don't? In intermediate novels I find it not unusual to find furigana on words that were printed without just a few pages earlier. Is this done because somebody decided that that word/reading is less likely to be known in that context, or is it pretty "tekitō"?


texts: I've heard 能力 being read as "ちから" while checking up Japanese subs for Death note. (e.g. そしてキラの能は他に渡った…). But all dictionaries I've consulted say that 能力 is only read as "のうりょく" or "のうりき" and that "ちから" is actually written "力".


texts: 「もんか」の使い方を教えてくれませんか？

texts: How do you use もんか? Once, I saw this sentence: お前に俺の気持がわかるもんか. I understand the meaning but I don't know how you can use it


texts:
Is "この人は本気ですか？" correct?

Any better ways to say this?


texts: What is the difference between 不安 and ざわざわ

texts:
I saw that one of the definitions of ざわざわ (though it doesn't seem to be a common use from what I've seen, but I could be wrong) is  restless, uneasy or anxious.

Here is the definition I found:

  気持が落ち着かないさま。 「―した散漫な不安」

In the dictionary, 不安 also shares the same meaning: anxious, uneasy, etc.

So, what's the difference between both words? Is it a matter of nuance?

Thanks!


texts:
そんな絵に描いたように満ち足りたダーズリー家にも、たった一つ秘密があった。
  In the Dursley family, who were the very picture of contentment, there was just one secret.

My translation of そんな絵に描いたように満ち足りた is purely a guess based on Jisho's definition of 絵に描いたように as "The very picture of...".

I can't understand how this phrase is used. Literally, I would translate そんな絵に描いたように満ち足りた as "Contented as though they had painted on such a picture". So I can kind of see how it works, but what is そんな needed for?

Could you give some other examples using this phrase so I can get a better feel for how it works?


texts:
これからどのような色に変わるのか、それとも透き通ったままでいるのか、「未知」を前にした神の興味がつきることはない。だから、ではないが。

I am having trouble understanding what the bolded part means. How should I interpret it? thanks


texts:
Tell me please what is にして means in the following sentence and how can we translate 「傲慢にして古き蛇」 part?

  我が罪の名は[傲慢]{ごうまん}にして古き蛇。[刮目]{かつもく}して見るがいい。

Thank you.


texts:
In the below passage, I'd like to understand the meaning and nuance of the term "風吹き".

  こんど崖下の刀鍛冶に弟子入りするつもりだ。崖下に風吹きから入りなおすんだよ。それで、いずれは一番鎚を打つよ。

Doing some online searches it seems that "風吹き" can mean "wanderer", however this doesn't fit with the context, since it seems the blacksmith speaking is going to leave his current position (as a apprentice) and work under a new master who is a swordsmith.


texts:
電話のベルが聞こえたとき、無視しようかとも思った。
  When I heard the phone's bell I wondered if I should ignore it.

We have 無視する = "to ignore",
 無視しようか = "will I ignore it?"
無視しようかと思った = "I thought 'will I ignore it'".

I can't figure out what も is doing. Is it adding a sense of 'even'? As in 'I even thought that I should ignore it'?


texts: What is the function of の in 「私があんた連れ出したのなんでだと思う？」

texts: I tried to think about all the possible meanings of の but I really couldn't understand the sentence above. I don't know if の is connected with なんで, or if it's the explanatory の, or something else.


texts: What does 言いあったり mean and how is it conjugated?

texts:
I recently found 言いあったり in one of my sentences, and I can't seem to find what it means.

  お前らが誰かとあれこれ言いあったり


texts: 現金 and 金 what are the similarity and difference in usage?

texts: As the topic of this post what are differences and similarities in usage of 現金 and 金?  Some examples of differences would be highly appreciated.


texts: What is the meaning of よう in this sentence?

texts:
ギアをチューンナップしようにも肝心の“G”がなけりゃようせっかくの俺のギアも弱いまま。

My translation - "I can't even tune up Gear without essential 'G',
so my precious Gear has to stay wimpy for now."


texts:
This phrase from a song "Deja Vu anata to wa" is translated as "Deja Vu with you"

Does "To wa" translates as "with you" or the entire phrase was adapted? And if so, is that the only use of "to wa" ?


texts:
For over a decade of speaking (poorly) and listening to Japanese, it seems to me that I have almost exclusively heard the word えらい in the sense of meaning "admirable".

For example, I'd mention volunteering in Tohoku, and someone might say えらいね to say "hey, good on you," or something like that. I swear this kind of use of えらい was the only one I was aware of for years.

Then, recently, I'm reading Tintin and I come across this panel:

  Tintin: えらいときに　来あわせちゃった ([I] happened to arrive at a really bad time!)

The context is that he's just arrived in a town where there is a war brewing between some local factions, and people are being conscripted for the army. Tintin fears getting forced into service. A bad time to show up indeed.

That use of えらい didn't match my expectations, so I looked it up in a dictionary, and to my surprise, えらい does indeed mean "terrible", as well as "admirable" and "excellent".

So... questions abound:

Is this use of えらい rare or limited in some way so that the usage that I am familiar is the dominant use? Or is it me who just happens to not have been exposed to the whole spectrum of meanings?

It seems from the dictionary that when used in the positive light there are two kanji, 偉い and 豪い. I'm guessing the second kanji is more rare, but is there a difference in use or meaning?

Lastly, if the sentence 「えらいときに来あわせちゃった」 were taken out of context and presented completely on its own, is there any way of knowing whether the positive or negative meaning of えらい was intended?


texts: Why is katakana /va/ normally written ヴァ rather than ヷ?

texts:
Even though there is a katakana character ヷ, most of the time when I see something that is transcribed into Japanese as /va/, it is in the form ヴァ (say, for example, in the title of the anime series 革命機ヴァルヴレイヴ). Similarly, the forms ヸ, ヹ, and ヺ seem to be fairly rare too.

I can somewhat understand the rationale for using ヴィ and ヴェ for ヸ and ヹ given that ヰ and ヱ are almost obsolete in the contemporary written standard, but ワ is still a very common sound.

Is there a particular reason why the two-character form seems to be preferred over the single-character form?


texts: How rude is it to speak to a Japanese stranger informally instead of using the polite form?

texts:
Are there any native Japanese here that could tell me how rude it is to speak informally to Japanese people I have never met instead of using the polite form? I'm assuming it's more rude the older the stranger is than me?

This came up recently when I was at a conference and ran into a couple of Japanese guys about my age (maybe in their 30's) and they seemed to speak less English than I was able to speak Japanese, so we mostly spoke in Japanese. It's been a few years since I've studied Japanese and I've forgotten quite a bit, but I used to have Japanese friends in college and became more comfortable using the non-polite form so that's what I seem to remember the best. But I did not want to offend these guys so I found myself pausing and stuttering trying to quickly remember how to conjugate things politely and the conversation seemed pretty rough and even then I would pop out an informal verb here and there. If I had spoken informally I think it would have been much smoother and in my mind that would have been better for all of us.

So until I get better, wouldn't it be better to say something impolitely than to not say anything at all? Would strangers care that much or would they at least be appreciative that you are trying to speak even if it's impolite?

Examples:

「どこからきた？」instead of「どこから来ましたか」

「これ何？」instead of「これはなんですか」


texts: Use of たら in この権益の擁護には真剣たらざるを得ない

texts:
たら is a grammar structure which means if...then.
But what does たら mean in this sentence?

  この権益の擁護には真剣たらざるを得ない

The sentence means

  We must be serious about defending this interest

What is the role of たら in this sentence?
It seems that it does not mean if...then here.


texts: Is it necessary or optional to omit the particle を in these sentences?

texts:
In some of the example phrases of my textbook, these two sentences appeared.

弟はいつもコンピューター_?_ばかりしている。
Here where I used the bold question mark I'd usually expect the particle を to indicate the direct object. But it's not there. Does this happen regularly? And if so, under what circumstances is it allowed?
最近忙しくて、テレビのドラマとか映画とか見る時間がありません。
Same as in 1, just in a different construction so that you can explain the different reasons for the omission of を, if there are different reasons at all.


texts: Help me to understand this usage of 「ならば」

texts:
I need help to understand the following sentence:

人は誰でも正気ならば自己の行為について良心に責任を負う義務がある。

I understand that「自己の行為について良心に責任を負う義務がある」 means that in one's conscience, he has a duty to take responsibility for his actions.
However, I cannot figure out what the first part of the sentence means. In particular, I am confused by the following:

正気ならば

My dictionary tells me that ならば means "if possible" and 正気 means "true spirit". But "true spirit, if possible" doesn't make any sense to me.
Can anybody help me to understand this?


texts: What does the 「な」 mean in 「出過ぎず、足りな過ぎずな完璧な躰は」?

texts:
The full sentence is below and the context is a guy, describing someone he just met.

  出過ぎず、足りな過ぎずな完璧な躰は、淡い紫色の、俗に羽衣と呼ばれるゆったりとした服に包まれている。

I don't know what the 「な」 is doing/means.


texts:
What's the difference between these 2 terms?

Both refer to dreams but I want to know if ドリームスケープ may be referring to events that even though they've been dreamt, they are sure to happen in the future.
I'm looking for the meaning from the normal jananese point of view, not the technical stuff most people (even native speakers) don't know.


texts: Why did の disappear from 山手, but in 御茶ノ水 it's in katakana?

texts:
I realize that very likely the answer to this question is likely to be something along the lines of "that's just the way it is", but I thought it worth asking to see if there were some insights that weren't immediately apparent.

In Tokyo, the JR train line called the  山手線【やまのてせん】 seems to have dropped the の from the way it is written. It seems there used to be areas of Tokyo referred to as 山の手 , which was where the elites lived and is in opposition to the term 下町【したまち】(downtown, lower class areas). I hear the 下町 often enough in reference to areas like Asakusa, but I haven't heard anyone use 山の手. The only やまのて I know of these days is the 山手 train line.

There is also an area of town called [御茶ノ水]【おちゃのみず】, where the の is still there, but in katakana. Why not leave it in hiragana...?

So, is there any rhyme or reason to how these conventions of spelling came about? Is there a relation?

Or are they just quirks of tradition that just stand on their own without any rhyme or reason?


texts: Is 私は本があなたをたすけよみます correct?

texts:
I am trying to say I will help someone read a book.

  私は本があなたをたすけよみます。

Is this correct?

Sorry if the question is off-topic. I am very new to Japanese and don't yet fully understand how to build sentences larger than very basic ones.


texts:
The usage of いっぱい never ceases to confound me. I many cases it makes perfect sense but then I see a sentence like this:

お風呂のお湯がいっぱいです。
The bath is full of hot water

This seems to me to be saying that the water is full, rather than that the bath is full.
Is my literal meaning correct (the bath water is full)? I'm wondering if it's a colloquialism like saying 'the kettle has boiled' where we clearly mean that the water in the kettle has boiled rather than that the metal of the kettle has become molten.
If the above is not the case then I'm left wondering how to actually interpret いっぱい in this sentence.
I would have said

お風呂はお湯でいっぱいです。

Is there any difference between this and the original in nuance?


texts: 携帯電話をポケットに入れて歩く「うちに」is using うちに with short "situation" proper?

texts:
So I was doing a JLPT test, and have found a question like this:

携帯電話をポケットに入れて歩く_____、音楽が再生されたり電話をかけてしまったりするのはよくない。
ところに
うちに
なかに
最中に

The one that seemed to be fitting was うちに, so I have chosen it and it turned to be good answer, however I read that うち should be used with long events, so my question is whether it is proper Japanese or not.


texts:
From: No Game No Life ep2, timestamp 04:35
Context: The character is explaining that they are basically broke.

その代わり ささいな願いを聞いてくれ
ぶっちゃけ俺らこれ使い果たすと宿も食い物も当てがなくなるんだわ

How does 宿も食い物も当てがなくなる work, exactly?
AもBも is supposed to mean "Both A and B", but as far as I understand it's supposed to be followed by a predicate, and here it's followed by another noun instead. How come?
Does 宿も食い物も modify 当て or do all three nouns work as a unit to which が is attached? I'm confused.


texts: Why can't により be used with "concrete, tangible objects"?

texts:
According to "A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar" p. 297, により/によって can be used as "a particle that indicates means"

その問題は話し合いに{よって/より}解決出来るはずだ。
We should be able to solve that problem by means of negotiation.

But,

However, when the instrument is a concrete, tangible object ni yori cannot be used as in
(3) 漢和辞典に{よって/*より}知らない漢字を調べる。

Is this correct? Is there any reason for this?


texts: How is "おらず" used in the following sentence?

texts:
I'm trying to read a short story whose theme (I think?) is that in order to have self-awareness other people are necessary. Like, they act as abstract mirrors to view oneself (or something...). So, I totally do not understand the usage of "おる" in the following sentence:

  自分一人だけで立ってはおらず、他人がいて初めて自己という存在が認識できる。

So, I roughly diagram the sentence:

  (おらず) being all by yourself, it is from the existence of other people that one begins to have self-recognition.

ok. So, "おる" is the humble form of "いる".

<1> While I am almost sure you cannot say "いず" for "居る", you can say "おらず" for "おる"?
<2> What is the meaning of that "おらず"? How do you translate the entire sentence?
<3> This is an objective philosophical essay. Why are honorifics used at all?

thank you.


texts: How do I translate 「コロッと転がってたりする」 to english?

texts:
I've encountered the following sentence in a game:

  時には後ろを振り返ると案外役に立つ事がコロッと転がってたりするもんだ。

First, I'd like to understand why the "to" in コロッと isn't in katakana like the rest of the word, why the dictionary writes it all in hiragana (http://jisho.org/search/korotto). Maybe I got the wrong word?
But regardless of that, how do I put that part of the sentence into words? I seem to have it in my mind, but can't quite say it in english.


texts:
I encountered the phrase in this line:

  あいつはあいつで、きちんとバイトしているらしい。

I think I can intuit the general meaning but I was wondering if anyone had a full explanation.


texts:
According to コトバンク, 旗色が悪い can be used when there is some connotation of a battle, war or fight - which makes sense because it literally translates to something like the color of the national flag is bad.

Just wondering how natural it would sound in more general contexts of failure or despondency. For example:

  私の商売は、大損失で旗色が悪くなった。


texts: Is "flyjin" a Japanese word, and if so, does it have an antonym?

texts:
Is "flyjin" a Japanese word?

If so, does it have an antonym?

And what is the correct way to write it in Japanese? Is it フライジン or フライ人{じん}?

For those who might be unfamiliar with the term, "flyjin" is a word derived from "gaijin" to describe foreigners who "flew away" from Japan after the earthquke, tsunami, and nuclear incident on March 11, 2011.


texts: difference between "日欧米で株上昇" and "日米欧で株上昇"?

texts:
"欧米{おうべい}" means "the Western countries (USA, Canada, Western Europe, Australia)". "欧米" is something that I've heard frequently in daily conversations.

So, the headline 日米欧で株上昇　日経平均は一時２００円超高 caught my attention. Of course, newspapers are full of abbreviations. Here is my interpretation:

"日米欧で株上昇..."
Stock prices increased in Japan, the USA, and Western Europe.

"日欧米で株上昇..."
Stock prices increased in Japan, the USA, Canada, Western Europe, and Australia.

Is that what is going on in the title?

btw:
In a conversation, could I say "にちおうべい" to mean "Japan and the Western countries"? Could I say "にちおう" to exclusively mean "Japan and Western Europe"?


texts: サッと: Mix of ひらがな and カタカナ in the same word?

texts:
So, I've come across this sentence

そのとき、陽が当たった石版に何かの影がサッと横切った。

which I'm fairly sure it means something like

At that time, something's shadow quickly crossed the sunlit lithograph.

Now, what surprised me was the word サッと. I know that カタカナ is sometimes used to emphasise the word (much like an italic or bold font). What I didn't know is that there are words written in a mix of ひらがな and カタカナ.
A quick search revealed this answer. From what I could surmise, three groups of words were mentioned:

When the final word is made of two other words (e.g. あんパン is made from joining あん and パン)

Foreign words made into verbs (e.g. ググる from ググル, ダブる from ダブル), in which a final る is written in ひらがな

The same concept as 2. but for adjectives (e.g. セクしい from セクシー)

Now, サッと doesn't match neither group. From the context of the sentence, I've connected it with 颯っと which is usually written in kana alone, according to Jisho.
In summary, why the mix of ひらがな and カタカナ in this case?


texts: How to interpret どいつもこいつも and ばかりに in this sentence?

texts:
まったく…こうなるとどいつもこいつも、殺したほうが、世の中の為になり奴ばかりに見えてくる

Context: This is from a scene of Death Note were Light is reflecting about the current state of society after seeing someone getting bullied.

I find this sentence difficult to understand because I'm not sure about the meaning of どいつもこいつも and ばかりに in this context.

According to my translation attempt he is saying that he sees people that should be killed for the benefit of society. But how does どいつもこいつも fit in here when there's 奴 already?


texts: Why is が not being used in this sentence?

texts:
A: あの～、すみません。
  B: はい。
  A: このへんにこうしゅうでんわはありますか。
  Image

In the third sentence, は is used instead of が, but こうしゅうでんわ is something new being added to the conversation, which is a function of が.


texts:
Lesson 1 of みんなの日本語中級I teaches that

何とかお願いできないでしょうか

can be used to insist on a request while acknowledging that it is unreasonable. Regarding the grammar behind お願いできる, is the following understanding correct?
The (type-1) 謙譲語 for 願う is お願いする, which looks like a サ変動詞. Given that the potential form of サ変動詞 is constructed by replacing する with できる, is it correct to say that お願いできる is the potential form of お願いする?
In general, if I want to politely say that I can do something, or to politely ask whether I can/may do something, can I use the construction お/ご＋マス形＋できる? For example, if I want to ask about something I that I don’t understand, can I say

わからないことがあるんですが、お聞きできないでしょうか。


texts:
I'm reading a page in a grammar book about the usage of なら.  It says that S1ならS2 cannot be used if the completion or actualization of S1 brings about S2.  For example:

  春子のアパートへ行くなら一郎がいた。

I kind of understand how S2 depends on S1 happening, but it's not very intuitive.

Would this sentence be correct? Or incorrect because of the previously mentioned rule?

  今度の土曜日は働かなくてはいけないなら悲しい


texts: What does までもが mean in this sentence, and もが in general

texts:
I am still reading the 十二国記 novel 月の影 影の海. At the end of the first part, after a rather harrowing day, Yoko is riding a leopard-like magical creature, flying through the night sky, when they are attacked by a multitude of enemy creatures. Eventually trapped, she is thrown off the leopard's back, falling from the sky. She opens her eyes, sees a boar-like creature coming at her, and feels a flesh-tearing impact in her right hand. She hears a creature's scream and her own yell. Then follows this sentence:

それを最後{さいご}に五感{ごかん}までもが闇{やみ}の中【なか】に墜落{ついらく}していった。

I understand the general gist of the sentence - at this point her five senses give in - figuratively joining her body in falling into the darkness.

The trouble I'm having is with the までもが there. This is not the first time I run into a もが - I've seen 誰もが already, but it, too, confuses me.

How does が following も work? What is the meaning of this particular case (までもが), is there any relation between this construct and 誰もが, and are there additional examples of such も＋が constructs?


texts: Can なっている represent an ongoing change as well as a resultant (completed) change?

texts:
From reading a bunch, I've been under the vague impression that [adverb]+なる can be interpreted both progressively and resultatively; according to this chat log, since it can take time, it is a durative verb, not punctual. But I'm not sure.

Some examples that are confusing me:

  ①（もう）暗くなっている。
  ② 医者になっている。
  ③ この部隊はXの指揮下になっている。

Perhaps, the verb なる in ② and ③ is punctual, while it's durative in ①.

Could someone answer if 暗くなっている can have a resultative interpretation?

和訳

多くの文献を読んだ結果、「（連用修飾語）＋なる」は進行中と結果残存という２つの解釈があると漠然と思っています。このスレによれば、時間がかかり得るため瞬間動詞ではなく継続動詞だということになりますが、これが合っているかどうかは分かりません。

例として、以下の文はまだよく分かりません。

  ①（もう）暗くなっている。
  ② 医者になっている。
  ③ この部隊はXの指揮下になっている。

②及び③の「なる」は瞬間動詞、①は継続動詞、ということでしょうか。

「暗くなっている」に結果残存の解釈も含まれているかどうかを教えてください。


texts:
I'm reading "Fruits Basket" volume 3. In this scene, Kyo is annoyed by some comments his classmates make, and says:

  いっぺんシメんぞ、おまえら。

I assume that this is some kind of a threat, like "I'll get you all for this". But what is the literal meaning? Unfortunately there are several varieties of いっぺん and several しめる. It's written in Kana, so am not sure which ones I should pick. Also, why would they use katakana for the シメ?


texts:
夜 - night

晩 - counter for nights

Is there a difference in time reference, i.e., is 今晩 earlier/later than 今夜?

Is there a difference in style, i.e., is one more reserved than the other?
If so, which one is more reserved?


texts:
Does anybody know where the くわない　comes from?

  あいつの態度が気にくわない |i don't like his attitude

My dictionary tells me the expression means:

不満である。気にいらない。and the kanji is 食う but I wonder does anyone understand the etymology?


texts:
I learned that one way to form a "must" sentence is "negative verb + conditional + ダメ・ならない・いけない":
I mainly see two kinds of conditional used - the 仮定形 and と. For example

食べないとダメだ。
食べなければダメだ。

Then I thought, since と expresses a conditional that 100% will happen, like "if you drop an apple, it falls", does this mean that "must" sentences created with と express a stronger "must" than those created using the 仮定形?


texts: I ran into the sentence below. The meaning is clear and when copying and pasting the kanji I get: 写. I wonder how common such a form of the kanji is. Is it just a different font?


texts: How to say that I've had an interest in the Japanese culture since x?

texts:
The origins of my interest in the Japanese language is something that natives often ask about, but I'm always having trouble with the grammar for answering that and want to rest this case once and for all.

For example, I might want to say that I've had an interest in the Japanese culture since middle school, and therefore have been studying Japanese for quite a while. My first attempt would be:

  中学の頃から日本の文化に興味を持っていたことはあるので、日本語の勉強はずいぶん前からやったことがあります。

However, that feels grammatically a bit off and I'm not quite sure how to make it better. What's the problem here?

Another common case is this; Originally I started studying Japanese to be able to play games in it, and I've been studying for five years now. What I'd say from the top of my head is the following:

  もともとはゲームを日本語にやれるために日本語の勉強を始めたんだが、もう五年間を勉強したことはあります。

This is probably alright in a conversation, but I don't really know which word to use for playing games, the 始めたんだ seems slightly incorrect in this context, and I have no idea whether the part after the comma is proper Japanese or not. It seems a bit repetitive at any rate. As I don't want to have any doubt in the vocabulary or sentence structures I'm using, I would like to know which parts should be corrected, if any?

I'm also not entirely sure whether this type of question is allowed here or if it's too broad, so let me know about that as well.

Thank you so much!


texts: My grandma always says, "そこ" when she wants someone to move, -usually she just says that to my mom or me- but I have heard that that translates more as a brusque, move than an, "excuse me". Would I just add ”ください” to the end to make it more polite?


texts:
一段 verbs may be conjugated to form imperative forms of ～よ or ～ろ.

For example:

見る forms either 見よ or 見ろ
食べる forms either 食べよ or 食べろ

How did the two forms come about?
What is the difference in usage of the imperatives?
When will one form be used over the other? Or what determines the preference?


texts: ～ないかな (Negative Verb Form with Positive Translation)

texts:
I encountered the following as I was reading chapter 29 of the manga かぐや様は告らせたい (images of the section are linked below if it matters). The lines are stated by a very cynical, depressive type character who has a irrational and jealous hatred toward members of sports clubs.

あぁほんと・・・
全員　死なねー
かな・・・・

I would have translated this to something like: Yeah, really...I wonder if they're all not dead..
Now, I sincerely doubted that that was correct since it didn't make any sense at all so I consulted the fan translation:

Yeah...
Maybe...
They should all just die...

This translation makes more sense to me and I assume it is a valid translation.
Could someone please explain the grammar (although I'm certain there is some slang involved) that caused 死なねー (死なない presumably) to be given a positive meaning?
Japanese panel
English panel


texts:
Context: a girl and her parents are attacked, and her parents are killed before she is saved by someone. He apologizes (for being too late to save her parents) and then says this:

……せめて。せめてこれから君が苦しまなくて済むよう、君にお守りをつけておくよ。

I think he means something like: "At least I will wear a charm for you so that you don't need to suffer after this." (Or does he mean that she will wear it? I'm a little confused because of "君に" in the second half.)

After that he says:

こんなこと、俺に許されるのか分からないけど、それでも君が心配だから。

I don't really understand what he is trying to say in the middle part (embedded question?) because the verb is passive and he is the doer.
So is he saying something like: "I don't know/understand if this situation (こんなこと? the fact that he didn't save her parents?) will be forgiven by myself, but..."? Or am I totally wrong about what he means? And does から at the end refer to the previous sentence about the charm? That he (or she?) will wear a charm because he is worried about her?


texts:
What's the difference between using のか and か in asking a question. From what I know, の and か really turns the sentence into a question, the latter being the polite version. So what's the point really in using both の and か
それは魚じゃないのか
それは魚じゃないか


texts: Why does the い-adjective require -さ conversion to match ～そうです？

texts:
I'm doing an example JLPT test, and I came across a sentence which required a blank to fill in. The correct version (according to the answer sheet) of the sentence is:

少し事情を説明したほうがよさそうだ。

Now, another option, which seemed correct to me was:

少し事情を説明したほうがよそうだ。

Why is the 2nd form incorrect? I always thought I can just drop the い　and add そうです　to the stem. Why do I have to transform the adjective into noun here? Thanks for clearing that for me.


texts: What does ただいま Mean in the Context of Preparing Food?

texts:
I heard it a couple of times after I thought that I understood it to mean "I'm home".

The other contexts I've heard it were in the context of preparing food either to go or right away, I wanted to know a more precise meaning.

Are there other contexts in which ただいま is used?


texts: Sometimes I see a character say この世 and I'm not sure why they don't just say この世界? Is it just an old way of saying it or is there a specific reason?


texts:
Here is a sentence that I encountered in a grammar exercise book.

当分はアルバイトをしながら、自分に向いた仕事を探すつもりだ。

I am puzzled with the choice of the past tense  「向いた」. (Unfortunately the grammar point for the sentence is not about the use of 向いた  so I have to find an explanation elsewhere.)
I have learned (from みんなの日本語中級I) that the past tense of a verb Vた is equivalent to Vている when:

the verb modifies a noun, and
if the verb refers to an action that took place in the past whose effect remains.

For instance, 眼鏡をかけた人＝眼鏡をかけている人＝a person who wears glasses.
Is 向いた an example of the above usage of the past tense of verbs? It doesn’t seem so to me. If not, what is the explanation for the choice of the past tense?


texts: Does ～そう modify both verbs in a double-verb construction?

texts:
I heard the phrase:

  その男の子が車にひかれて死にそうだった。

When I head the V1てV2,  I assumed that Verb 1 (ひかれて）had actually happened and that Verb 2 (死にそう) was a consequence. But someone pointed out to me that the そう from Verb 2 also applied to Verb 1. In other words, that Verb 1 had not actually happened.

  Japanese: その男の子が車にひかれて死にそうだった。

  English 1: That boy was hit by a car and almost died.

  English 2: That boy was almost hit by a car (and would have been killed).

Which (if either) is correct? Does the そう always modify preceding verbs in a double verb construction? Or is it a case where there is ambiguity?

Perhaps the addition of a comma （ひかれて、。。。）would indicate some difference?


texts: Counters for animals: 匹 vs 頭: roughly how big is "big" and how small is "small"?

texts:
I find the distinction between 匹 and 頭 is rather tricky, because it is based on the size of the animal in question, and size is very relative and varies greatly among animals, even within the same species. And unfortunately there doesn't seem to be comprehensive list on which animal goes with which counter.

So when you look at an animal, how do you determine which counter to use?

Is it based purely on size or on collocation (or conventional usage if you will)? Roughly speaking, how big is "big" and how small is "small"? And if it's usually based on collocation, how do you expand the rule of thumb to unfamiliar animals, like say a capybara, a python or a binturong? Do all breeds of dog go with 匹? What about huge ones like the St. Bernard? Does "two piglets" use the same counter as "two grown pigs"? From what I've Googled, kangaroos seem to go with 匹 even though lots of them are so big they can easily knock a grown human out.


texts: What is the best interpretation of "釣込" ("tsurikomi")?

texts:
To be more specific, my question relates to the judo throw named "釣込腰" ("tsurikomi goshi"). The most common translation I've seen is "lifting and pulling hip/waist throw" (e.g. the Wikipedia entry). However, definitional/translation resources (such as Wiktionary and Google Translate) seem to indicate "fishing/angling" as the most common meaning/translation of "釣込" or just "釣".
I can see the sense in metaphorically relating the action of lifting and/or pulling to fishing (angling), but I'm wondering if there might have been more to it than that, like "reeling in", perhaps. Unfortunately, Jigoro Kano (the founder of Kodokan Judo) is no longer available for comment, and many modern, accomplished judoka (in my experience) are as weak in Japanese language skills as I am. So I was hoping for a little scholarly (and non-martial) insight into the quotidian meaning of this term as it would have been used in late 19th to early 20th century Japan.


texts:
It's difficult for me to understand why both lines end in 娘. Is this some sort of quirk? It's from a character bio in Tokimeki Memorial 2. The general meaning of the sentence is clear, but the ending is confusing me.
「運動大好き、スポ一ツ娘
勉強もよくできる娘」


texts: I want to use the word group conformity in the following sentence. The Japanese value group conformity in society. 集団準拠［適合］was listed in EOW/ALT but I want to know if there is a difference between them. Thank you.


texts: するようにしてください vs. してください

texts:
市や町が避難の情報を出したら、できるだけ早く避難するようにしてください。

How is the construction するようにしてください different from してください? If we said "できるだけ早く避難してください," would it mean just the same thing?


texts:
In this sentences I am referring to a book:

１年前に読んで、本が好きだった。

１年前に読んで、本が好きになった。

Are both of them correct? What's the difference between だった and になった in this case? I would like to say "I read it one year ago and I liked the book"


texts: Can someone break down this Japanese sentence into simpler parts

texts:
Sentence goes like this

中村さんは私を相撲を見に連れて行ってくださいました。

ありがとう！


texts: Is 年月 (months and years) read 【としつき】or【ねんげつ】and is there a difference?

texts:
Is 年月 (months and years) read 【としつき】or【ねんげつ】?
Is there a difference?
I found it in the following sentence in WWWJDIC:

年月が過ぎるのは早い。


texts: Meaning of スパークする in 大暴走した言霊がスパークする

texts:
I imagine the definition being used is "放電などによって火花が出ること。また、閃光 (せんこう) を発すること" however I am still confused as to what it actually means in this context.
「うかつに口に出せない、秘すべき真の名だよ。大暴走した言霊がスパークするレベル」
「しょっちゅう言ってんだろうが」
「あたしはいいの、霊力のステージ的に許されてるから！」
She says "It's a true name that should be kept secret, that cannot be spoken carelessly" and then says it is of the level that "大暴走した言霊がスパークする"
言霊 from my understanding refers to the spiritual power that is thought to be contained within words. 大暴走した modifies 言霊 but what スパークする means in this context is not clear to me.


texts: What reading rules should I apply to the 分 kanji when talking about temperature?

texts: Will it be always ぶ, or does it change just like the counter of minutes? Could you give me examples where the reading changes (either of numerals or both kanji and numerals)?


texts:
魚は好きな人。
  Fishes like people

  魚が好きな人。
  Person that likes fish

Although I know the definition of both sentences it is very confusing to me, why が works and は doesn't.


texts: What was the process by which 有職読み applied to personal names?

texts:
In premodern Japanese, it was traditional for a prestigious or extremely honorable man whose name was read with kun'yomi to have the reading of his personal name changed to on'yomi in certain situations, a process called 有職読み【ゆうそくよみ】. (Women virtually never had 有職読み, presumably because Heian period women were not supposed to read kanbun.) Some notable examples of this include:

源 頼光 Minamoto no Yorimitsu (944-1021), who became Minamoto no Raikô
徳川 慶喜 Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837 - 1913), who became Tokugawa Keiki
伊藤 博文 Itô Hirobumi (1841 - 1909), who became Itô Hakubun
原 敬 Hara Takashi (1856 - 1921), who became Hara Kei

I have read that 有職読み applies especially after the individual's death. However, Wikipedia doesn't bear this out and it also has some odd counterexamples:

野沢 那智 Nozawa Nachi (1938 – 2010) was asked whether his personal name's real reading was Yasutomo and said that he wasn't sure.
横溝 正史 Yokomoto Seishi (1902 – 1981) had a kun'yomi on his birth certificate but it was never used.

So, two questions I'd like to have verified: is there a general rule by which the use of on'yomi is applied, and has it ever applied to people born after 1945? Is it entirely arbitrary, or was there a rule that was abandoned at some point?


texts:
I know ほど means ‘degree’ or ‘extent’ and so 僕のほど might translate as ‘to my extent’ but I don’t see how that possible translation fits with the rest of the sentence’s meaning.

  彼女が僕に対して持っている気持ちは、僕のほど強くないようだ。

My translation: The feelings she holds against me don’t seem to be that strong.


texts: Meaning of a sentence with Aが言うのもなんだけど and other considerations

texts:
Basically my question is what does the following line mean:

  A: あたしらが言うのもなんだけど……テストの相手があたしらで、テストになんの？

Context: Persons A and B are testing the combat abilities of one of two groups of people. To them unexpectedly person C arrives, with whom A and B have had mutual bad history (both sides did bad things). B reacts with surprise at the presence of C, but C behaves professionally and explains that she is there under orders and asks if there is a problem. Then the above line happens.

Now on to the line itself. I researched a bit, and there seems to be a possibility that が言うのもなんだけど is some sort of phrase. Allthough also after some time thinking about it, I can see it meaning:

  That (is there a problem) is what we too meant/wanted to say/ask however,...

Which would make sense since they would want to know if the person means to start trouble. Which ties nicely into later B's comment to C about her not taking this chance to do revenge.

Then comes the later bit, which I assume has quite a bit of info that is supposed to be derived from context missing.

After some time looking at it, I think テストの相手があたしらで、might mean

  because/since we are opponents in this test...

but I can't really tell what テストになんの？ means? I guess it might mean something along the line of A asking is this the test for her or something. But that is all contextual conjecture. In particular the になんの confuses me. I think it might be "に何の" but eh, I'm not 100% how that works then.


texts: くれる usually means that the giver is not on the first person's side and the receiver is on the first person's side. Why is it used in くれてやる, where the giver is the first person and the receiver is not first person?


texts:
Since you can't use は in subordinate clauses, it looks to me like が is forced to take on both roles, so how would we distinguish them? For example, if we have the sentence

  僕が好きな動物

how do we distinguish between "animal that I like" and "animal that likes me"? Since it's が, I think that if we treated that clause like a sentence on its own it would definitely mean "I am liked" since が would directly link 僕 to だ, but I've seen sentences like

  彼が好きな寿司

translated as "sushi that he likes", so either my assumption about が in a full clause is wrong or the way it works changes somewhat.

So far I've assumed that you can use clarifying nouns like 方 or こと, but I'm pretty sure that that won't happen in every usage case, if I'm even right about that.

Thanks!


texts: What is the difference between ayumu, sanpo and aruku?

texts: I see three different words when I look up "walk".  Can someone explain why there are two and why one would be used instead of the other?


texts: When the agent takes を in the causative form

texts:
I've seen a few sets of terminology when referring to the causative form, so for the basic case, I will use the following:
instigator が agent に 〇〇 を ｖ－させる。

In its most basic, text-book form, we have sentences such as:

  子供にお弁当を買わせます。
  後輩にビールを飲ませます。

Additionally, most textbooks mention something along the lines of [intransitive verbs or verbs that do not call for を] have an agent marked with を。(sorry for the ad-hoc bracketing, but it was hard to parse beforehand)

  先生が私をトイレに行かせました。
  その人が私をそこに座らせました。

If I use 行く with another verb as its purpose, is を available to mark the agent? It seems like this should be the case since お弁当を should be connected to 行く。
Compare:

  [a] 子供にお弁当を買いに行かせます。
  [b] 子供をお弁当を買いに行かせます。

With intransitive verbs, must I use を to mark the agent?
Compare:

  [a]その人は私をそこに座らせました。
  [b]その人は私にそこに座らせました。

If I leave off the object of a transitive verb due to ellipses, may I mark the agent with を? (This seems strange, but I figured I'd ask.)
Compare:

  [a]子供に買わせました。
  [b]子供を買わせました。

If I use a transitive verb, but use を to mark something that is moved through or done with effort, may I still mark the agent with を?
Compare:

  [a]子供に道を行かせます。
  [b]子供を道を行かせます。
  [c]彼に私のことを分からせます。
  [d]彼を私のことを分からせます。

I've also heard mention that some speakers occasionally use を to mark the agent with intransitive verbs without any further details.
Is this something that a seemingly random group of people does? Is it due to dialectal variation? Is there a pattern to when it can be done? Is there a difference in nuance?

In the cases where I can choose between marking the agent with を or に, is there any difference in nuance?
In a fairly old grammar, I've read that using に may soften the statement a little.

For each question with example sentences, I'm primarily concerned with a few things:

Is this permissible? (would it sound incorrect in conversation look incorrect in writing)
What would a native speaker usually do?

Of course I also welcome any information about dialectal variation, language change, etc!


texts: Usage of さん when talking about famous people

texts:
When referring to a famous person while talking to friends, I always just use their full name, but I always end up unsure if I should add さん.
Part of the reason for that is that when I was watching TV one day, a 芸人{げいにん} was talking about how he hates it when 素人{しろうと} don't use さん for his nationally famous 先輩{せんぱい} when talking to him about them. Leading me to think that 一般人{いっぱんじん} should be using さん.

But then when I heard one such 一般人 using さん when talking about a famous person, someone commented that they don't like using さん with famous people because it makes it sound like you are one of their 後輩{こうはい} or know them personally.

  What is the best way to talk about famous people so you don't come off like you know them personally, 偉{えら}そう, etc.?
  Does it change between when referring to, say, an 大御所{おおごしょ} vs a 若手芸人{わかてげいにん}?
  Does it matter who it is? For example, 浜田雅功{はまだまさとし} （こわいイメージ） vs 上島竜兵{うえしまりゅうへい} （年上{としうえ}だがいじられキャラ）.

What I do know is that when a celebrity has an 愛称{あいしょう} then you can pretty much use that in any situation. Also, if I'm not mistaken, 氏{し} is awkward unless you are trying to sound like a news announcer or something.


texts:
I am practicing coming up with some random sentences to practice my Japanese, sadly I'm using Google translator to check out if my sentence is right. Now the following sentence

私はあなたが好きです

I understand that the が particle is telling like "you are the one I like" referring to あなた. At this point Google translation is OK. But when I try to replace あなた for something else, the sentence gets all messed up, and it seems that Google will only understand the sentence if I remove the が particle. So my sentence would be:

寒い日に私はコーヒを飲むが好きです

But Google will only understand it if I remove が [寒い日に私はコーヒーを飲む好きです]

Why is that? Why replacing あなた for コーヒーを飲む makes the sentence change so that I need to remove が


texts:
The full sentence is: 彼はクラスで一番頭がいいと勘違いしている。

The part I'm not understanding is:
一番頭がいい


texts: What does 白紙にかえって探さねばならぬ mean in this context

texts:
みなさんこんにちは。
I came across this paragraph in japanesetest4you site.

妻の掃除と整理の仕方、これはもう極端に偏執的である。たとえば自分の好きなところはピカピカ光るほど磨き上げるが、興味のないところは何年もほこりが積み放しになっている。家の中のある部分は精神質なくらい整然と物が並び、だれかが彼女の留守にほんの一ミリほど品物を動かしてもすぐに気づいてしまう。そのかわり、いつも手のつけようもないほどむちゃくちゃにものが突っ込んであるところが家の中に一、二ヶ所は必ずある。
妻のもののしまい方は普通の世間並みとは大分違う。普通の人なら大概たんすにしまう品が食器棚に入っていたり、流しの棚にあるはずのものが冷蔵庫にしまってあったりする。探す以上一応我々の常識と因襲を全部脱ぎ棄てて、白紙にかえって探さねばならぬが、そんなことは容易にできることではない。次に、彼女の物の置き方、並べ方はことごとく彼女の抱いている美の法則によって支配されているので、実用上の便宜というものは一切無視される。どんな不便を忍んでも彼女は自分の美を守り通そうとする。ときにわたしが抗議を申し込んでみてもとうていむだである。

The reading comprehension question is what does 白紙にかえって探さねばならぬ mean in this context? (The answer given is 常識的な考えは捨てて探すこと.)
Two of these phrases, both the question and the answer, are incomprehensible to me.
Also what is 捨てて探す? What is しまい方?
Can anyone explain what it means and translate the bold sentences in the paragraph?


texts: is ～だ～だ another way of listing things, or does my JLPT book have a typo?

texts:
In my JLPT practise book, there is this sentence:

  学生{がくせい}時代{じだい}は学費{がくひ}だ合宿{がっしゅく}だとお金{かね}がかかり、就職{しゅうしょく}したらしたで給料{きゅうりょう}だけで生活{せいかつ}できず、親{おや}に頼{たよ}ってしまい申{もう}し訳{わけ}ない。

I'm really just wondering about the part that says 学費{がくひ}だ. That seems like a strange place for だ. I feel like it should be や, as in "(things like) school expenses and lodging". But is ～だ～だ another way of listing things? I don't think I've encountered it before if it is.


texts:
I've been reading examples of how to use 肝に命じる, and in one of the examples there's this part:

  また、いつまでもくどくどと説教する上司に
  「分かりました。課長のおっしゃることを肝に銘じておきます」
  と言えば、
  「分かってくれたか」
  となって話がスムーズに終わりやすいです。

I'm thinking the situation here is that first your boss gives you the same lecture again and again and at the end he says 「分かってくれたか」, to what you can respond with 「分かりました。課長のおっしゃることを肝に銘じておきます」. In this way the conversation will end easily(話がスムーズに終わりやすいです)

Is this right or is the situation different? I'm asking because It kind of seems like someone(not sure if the boss or the speaker) says 「分かってくれたか」  after the speaker said 「分かりました。課長のおっしゃることを肝に銘じておきます」


texts:
Original sentence is this:

  Everyone at a meeting talked for 5 minutes at a time

And I got confused because I want to put 「分間」 there but I'm not sure if it works well with 「ずつ」 and vice versa. Also, I'm not sure if 「間」 actually has to be there. I know that 「間」 means period of time, so I presume that it has a place to be there but then again I'm not sure.

  みんなはミーティングで5分間ずつ話しました。

  みんなはミーティングで5分ずつ話しました。

Is the 1st option ok, or can it work both ways?


texts: "今回、企業の姿勢に厳しい意見が圧倒的に多数でした。でもネット上の声をよーく見ていると、本当に時々ですが、おっと思う体験が載っていました。"(link)


texts: How were hiragana/katakana influenced by syllabary writing systems?

texts:
Today, I was in English class, and I learned about language families and then writing systems. Of course, there is kanji, and ideographic system, but hiragana and katakana are both syllabary systems.

How did this idea to make a syllabary writing system come about in Japanese/Chinese history? Why did someone want to do it? Was the idea taken over from people who had already done it?

Also, where to the syllabary sounds come from? For example, why is "yo" a syllable in the system but "ye" or "yi" isn't?


texts:
I'm currently going through the Tobira book and at chapter 4 (読み物 section) there is this sentence:

(The context is an interview to a Japanese baseball player currently playing in USA)

  ...バッターが三振をした後に自分のバットを折ってしまったり、ピッチャーが打たれた後にグローブをロッカー投げたりするのを見ると驚く、それを作ってくれた人達のことを考えたら、僕にはそんなことは絶対に出来ないと言っている。

I understand that it says “the people who made it”, but what would be “it”? Is he talking about the people who made the equipment that is being damaged or the people who made it possible for them to play?

Also, the 打たれた part refers to the ball being hit and not the pitcher, right?


texts:
In my understanding, 速い is used for motion and 早い represents "early".
Which one is the correct one in this example?

A: 授業がそろそろ始まるので、早く来てください。
B: 授業がそろそろ始まるので、速く来てください。


texts: What's the difference between 「ご飯を食べる」「ご飯を済ます」 and 「ご飯を済ませる」?

texts:
「ご飯を食べる」「ご飯を済ます」 and 「ご飯を済ませる」, they all mean to finish breakfast/ lunch/ dinner, what's the nuance between them?
I tried to get it out but there are totally different explainings about the difference.


texts: To describe how to write a kanji, is it more useful to say the radical first, or the base kanji?

texts:
When explaining how to write a kanji verbally (by using radicals) is it more natural to say the radical, then the base kanji, or the other way around? Does it matter?:

  (1)「てへん」に「しろ」でできている漢字の、音読みと訓読みを言いなさい。
  (2)「しろ」に「てへん」でできている漢字の、音読みと訓読みを言いなさい。

  (1) 「さんずい」に「さき」でできている漢字の、音読みと訓読みを言いなさい。
  (2) 「さき」に「さんずい」でできている漢字の、音読みと訓読みを言いなさい。

  (1) 「うかんむり」に「たに」でできている漢字の、音読みと訓読みを言いなさい。
  (2) 「たに」に「うかんむり」でできている漢字の、音読みと訓読みを言いなさい。

Does this drill seem like a natural way to learn radicals? Or are these more like trivia questions?


texts: Which is correct ? Kirei Nakamura or kirei na Nakamura?

texts:
I am writing a song in english, that also has some japanese words. At some point, I want to say "The beautiful Nakamura" . I've seen here that

http://thejapanesepage.com/grammar/na_adjectives

Na is used when kirei modifies the noun. However, since Nakamura is the name of a person, does this mean that the noun is not modified, so I could simply use kirei Nakamura ? (preferable, because it keeps the song meter intact).

Also, can there be a problem with Nakamura if I put kirei before ? ( it might be confused with kirei na Kamura )


texts: Why use 「一〇点」 instead of 「十点」 and how do I read it?

texts:
I'm reading the Japanese version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. When Oliver Wood is explaining Quidditch rules to Harry, he says:

  輪に入るたびに一〇点だ。

Why say 「一〇点」 instead of 「十点」? How do I read it? 「イチゼロテン」?「ジュウテン」？「Tenてん」？

Is this something specific to sports? The only sport I follow is football, and since I have heard weird things like commentators saying 「いちななーいちはち」 for the '17-'18 Premier League season, I suspect that might be the case.


texts: So I know that commonly people say 「ゲームをする」or 「NOUNで遊ぶ」 yet on the　Japanese playstation website, I see 「ゲームを遊ぶ」written, even though the verb is intransitive. Are they both correct or is it sorta like an Incorrect usage but commonly understood, like some english phrases?


texts: めちゃくちゃ寒いもん : Because it is freezing, or because it would be freezing?

texts:
【たるひ】「窓も開けられなかったしね」

【瞠】「冬場に窓を開ける必要なんてないだろ」

【たるひ】「うん、その意見には諸手をあげて賛成ー。めちゃくちゃ寒いもん」

【三橋】「ふたりとも窓際の席だもんね、あそこ冷えるんだよねー」

In the conversation above I am unsure of what is meant by めちゃくちゃ寒いもん.
From what I can see, this could either be interpreted as :

1) If the windows were opened then it would be freezing

2) It is freezing, therefore the windows shouldn't be opened (because it would become even colder).

Whilst they both revolve around the idea of opening the window making things colder, they focus on different things.

Could someone clarify which of these (or any other) ways is the correct way of understanding this utterance in this context?


texts:
How did the prefixes ひ and か come about and what are the differences in meaning between ひ弱い and か弱い?

Are either of the prefixes pejorative like how ド is in the examples in dainichi's answer to 'Where does the ド in ド素人 come from?' ?

They both seem to emphasise or strengthen the meaning of 弱い but how are they different in extent or nuance? What are the situations where you would use one but not the other?

(On the grammatical side of things, I noticed ひ弱い, ひ弱な, か弱い but not か弱な. But I'm not sure if か弱な appearing to be forbidden has any significance.)

Also, I came across a か細い. Are the prefixes productive? (Can I also form a ひ細い? Or prefix か or ひ to other adjectives? It would appear not since ひ細い doesn't have a dictionary entry )


texts: Why do I hear ますから (masukara) so often at the end of sentences?

texts:
Yesteday, I was watching this anime.

One of the characters said ますから (I'm not very sure, it sounded like "mascara") twice in the same scene.

Google Translate translates the phrase as "Because it is."

Could anyone tell me what it means in example contexts and why it goes at the end of sentences?


texts:
In the beginning of the music video for "Guns for Hands" by Twenty One Pilots (EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmv8aQKO6k0), there's some subtitles:

  君だって気付いてもらえないよ

It gets translated as "They won't know it's you." What does it mean to have もらえる here instead of もらう? I would have thought it means "You can't get noticed" but doesn't that imply that he is trying to, or wants to get noticed? In the context of the video, it doesn't seem like he wants to get noticed. He's being offered a mask.

Some speculation... maybe the "can" form simply doesn't have that implication in Japanese, or maybe it doesn't have that implication in this specific case. Or maybe the "can"-ness somehow applies to the noticer, rather than the one being noticed (as in "they can't notice you")?


texts: What is function of から in conditional statement?

texts:
What is the function of から in the beginning of the song by 浅川マキ?

夜が明けたら一番早い汽車に乗るから
夜が明けたら一番早い汽車に乗るのよ


texts:
I was trying to express the word snacks, which my friend shared with me that it is called "おやつ", or "お八つ”。 I subsequently found the related expression of "やつどき", or "八つ時”。

a) What is this system of telling time which talks about this 8th hour? Is it still used or relevant?

b) why are snacks called "お八つ”? Are there other commonly used terms?


texts:
Can you ask a pet's name in this way?
For example, この犬は誰ですか。
Who is this dog?


texts:
I'm trying to work out what kanji this is:

So I went into Jisho and selected the 虫 radical, but can't see it on anywhere on the list. I tried adding 日, 百 and ヘ radicals too but no luck.

The closest one I could find is 蝕 (which contains 虫 and 食) but this doesn't look quite right

Am I just dealing with a weird font here, or am I using the wrong radical?

Any general tips for this type of recognition problem are much appreciated.


texts:
In my Japanese textbook, there is the construct

〜すればするほど、〜　The more 〜, the more 〜
休みの日は多ければ多いほどうれしい。

However, I also see similar sentences without the 〜ば clause such as the one below:

語彙が豊富なほど人への伝達能力が増すと思います。

Would there be a difference if we say removed the clause from the first example?

休みの日は多いほどうれしい。

More generally, what effect does the 〜ば clause have?


texts:
I noticed that particles are sometimes omitted after 何か. Is there a grammatical rule that dictates omission of a particle after 何か or this is just a conversational contraction?
E.g., are the following sentences equivalent?

  何か焦げる匂いがしている。
  何かが焦げる匂いがしている。


texts: When a number is written in western numerals, how do you say them?

texts:
Someone has said this in my manga.

  まず！我らの使命は２つ！！

Does he actually say "two" or "に"? If the latter, why not use 二? I don't see 二つ as being any different.


texts: Using Japanese honorifics with non-kana names

texts: Some Japanese websites have no problem addressing me as Amandaさん, but how common is this in human-produced Japanese?  Under what circumstances would someone refer to someone else as Amandaさん, בועזくん, or Екатери́наちゃん instead of アマンダさん, ボアズくん, or エカテリーナちゃん?


texts:
original (Causative Intransitive): 彼女は私の肩に頭を凭れさせる

vs

  new (transitive): 彼女は私の肩に頭を凭せる

way back when i asked this,  i took it as sometimes there is no transitive pair for an intransitive verb so the causative is used to take direct object with を (like with はためく?).

Looking back on it this most of these definitely have a transitive pair, so what is the difference then?

can be applied to this from the link:

  (original) レンズをあちこちに巡らせる vs レンズをあちこちに巡らす。


texts: Are there general guidelines regarding the length of sentences in Japanese written text for the sake of readability?

texts: Inspired by this question, I'm curious as to whether there are similar guidelines for the length of Japanese sentences (Maybe in Japanese clauses are more relevant?) to maximize readability, whether that length is measured by # of kana or # of kanji or some other measure. Sources regarding online writing in blogs and published non-fiction/fiction are particularly interesting.


texts:
ごみわべつのふくろにいれます(Gomi wa betsu no fukuro ni iremasu)

べつのふくろにごみおいれます (Betsu no fukuro ni gomi o iremasu)

ごみおべつのふくろにいれます(Gomi o betsu no fukuro ni iremasu)

Which if not all, is appropriate?


texts: What does それはそれでまったく意味が分からん mean in this context?

texts:
The situation was describing how the older sister suddenly stopped in front of the gate, staring at the building ahead, with the other sister following suit. Context leading to the sentence in question:

  　気が付くと、司までも同じように校舎を見つめている。

  　二人して校舎を……。

  　当たり前だけど、こんな事はあまりない。

  　なんで、通い慣れた学校を今更真剣に眺める必要があるというのだろうか……。

  　意味が分からんのでした。

  「なんだよー。双子で不気味な連中だなぁ。どうした司まで？」

  「あ、なんでもないよ」

  「なんでもないって、顔でもないんですが……」

  「司……」

  「うん、お姉ちゃん……なんだろ、なんか変な感じ……」

  「うん……」

  「変な感じ？」

  　もう一度、校舎を見つめる。

  　築年数十年といった感じの建物。

  　これと言って物珍しいデザインでもない。

  　それと、昨日から何か変わった事などない……。

  　実は、同じに見えて、ロボットに変形する様にでもなった……とかなら分かるんだけど……。

  　いや……それはそれでまったく意味が分からん。

I thought both 分かる verbs here were talking about the protagonist understanding why they might react that way (them staring at the school), but the last one doesn't seem to fit that. Am I misunderstanding something?

My translations of the last two lines are:

  "Actually, if the school started to turn into a robot then I might
  understand their reaction."

  "Well, that doesn't make sense by itself either."


texts: my Japanese teacher translated this sentence 作品作ってたらこんな時間なってもた。as: "While making the work, it suddenly became so late (or something in that sense..). I would like to ask why 'while'when there is 'たら' which indicates that it is a condition. But it actually makes no sense to me if it was a conditional.thank you!


texts: What's the meaning of もの in this sentence?

texts:
てっきり、兄{あに}は腰{こし}を下{お}ろすものだと思{おも}っていた。

I have no clue about what it could mean.


texts: Are there any consistent rules as to how to distinguish words in Japanese?

texts:
I got involved with tokenization (mecab, kuromoji) and got confused as to what a "word" is in the Japanese language.

Scenario 1:

"たべません" analyzed by a tokenizer, outputs the following tokens:

たべ  動詞,自立,*,*   たべる
ませ  助動詞,*,*,*   ます
ん   助動詞,*,*,*   ん

While the result outputs 3 token, I think generally it would be considered a single word.
In this case the word "たべません" would consist of a verb and 2 auxilary verbs (助動詞) attached to it.

Scenario 2:

"たべています" analyzed by a tokenizer, outputs the following tokens:

たべ  動詞,自立,*,*   たべる
て   助詞,接続助詞,*,* て
い   動詞,非自立,*,*  いる
ます  助動詞,*,*,*   ます

I think usually "たべています" would be considered as two seperate words "たべて" and "います".
In this case the word "たべて" consists of a verb and a particle (助詞) and "います" consists of a dependend (非自立) verb with an auxilary verb attached to it.

Scenario 3:

"たべてて" (a contraction of "たべていて") analyzed by a tokenizer, outputs the following tokens:

たべ  動詞,自立,*,*   たべる
て   動詞,非自立,*,*  てる
て   助詞,接続助詞,*,* て

While I think that "たべていて" would be seperated as "たべて" and "いて", I have no clue what to do with "たべてて". Following the logic from scenario 2, I would say we should split at the てる as it is a dependent verb, just like the "います" was in scenario 2. On the other hand it seems inconsistent to me, that we would end up with "たべ" by itself...

Scenario 4:

"たべながら" analyzed by a tokenizer, outputs the following tokens:

たべ  動詞,自立,*,*   たべる タベ  タベ
ながら 助詞,接続助詞,*,* ながら ナガラ ナガラ

I think usually "たべながら"would be considered as two seperate words "たべ" and "ながら".
However this would contradict the logic in scenario 1, since "ながら" is classified as particle (助詞),just like "て".

Conclusion and Problem

As pointed out in scenario 3 and 4, I can't come up with a good and consistent way to split "words" in Japanese.

I want to programmatically process big amounts of text with meaningful results. If I consider every token a single word, the data would end up beeing confusing and unpresentable. On the other hand if I include every particle and helper verb into a single word, I would end up with far too many unique words.

I am hoping you can show me a middle ground between both extremes.

Is my intuition bad as far as the suggested "splits" go? Am I missing some important rule here? Are the tokenizer results debatable? Or is there simply no hope?


texts:
I'm putting together an Anki deck based on the Tatoeba corpus, and I'm uncertain about the translation provided for one of the sentences. The sentence "スミス先生、生徒が二人足りません。" is translated as "There are two students missing, Mr. Smith." My concern is with the use of 足りません here. Is this the most natural way to express this sentiment?

I'm familiar with 足りません in its meanings of 'to be insufficient' or 'to not be worthy', and it seems to a poor student like myself that the sentence should be "Two students are not enough [for the implied task], Mr. Smith." If 足りません isn't appropriate for the given translation, would 抜ける or 無くなる be better choices?


texts: What are the correct symbols for kozumi?

texts: While researching Japanese swords and sword construction, I have come across a term I can not find the correct kanji for. In Horimono (彫物) “engraving” on the blade or tang of a sword, the term 'kozumi' appears, with the description of 'claws'. I can only find English translations of this, with no kanji. Is this the correct term for this type of design pattern? if the term is correct, what is the appropriate kanji for it?


texts:
Off the top of my head I remember hearing these sentences, which I assume are just shortenings:

  すみません, 分からん

  絶対許さん!

Along with these two I've seen in sentence examples:

  もう我慢できん

  彼にはその文の意味が理解できんかった - this one is a little funky, since there is no complete ない->ん conversion, but instead なかった->んかった

Is this kind of shortening common? Can one always shorten a verb-ending ない to ん?


texts: Standard for writing/pronouncing loanwords: ウインドー v.s. ウィンドウ, etc

texts:
In スーパー大辞林 I found:

  ウインドー [0] 〖window〗 (1)窓｡ (2)ショー-ウインドーの略｡陳列窓｡
  (3)コンピューターのディスプレー画面上で情報の表示されている部分｡画面をいくつかの部分に分割し,それぞれに異なった情報を表示する方式をマルチ-ウインドーという｡

In Wikipedia I found:

  Microsoft Windows（マイクロソフト ウィンドウズ）は、マイクロソフトのオペレーティング システム (OS) の製品群。

Questions:

Is the katakana writing (in some cases, even pronunciation, e.g. ウイ v.s. ウィ) for loanwords (especially new words) in Japanese kind of unsettled/arbitrary?
If it is not that arbitrary, is there any guideline for Japanese learners when they have to choose between, say, 「ドー」 and 「ドウ」?

和訳

スーパー大辞林には、

  ウインドー [0] 〖window〗 (1)窓｡ (2)ショー-ウインドーの略｡陳列窓｡
  (3)コンピューターのディスプレー画面上で情報の表示されている部分｡画面をいくつかの部分に分割し,それぞれに異なった情報を表示する方式をマルチ-ウインドーという｡

とありますが、ウィキペディアには、

  Microsoft Windows（マイクロソフト ウィンドウズ）は、マイクロソフトのオペレーティング システム (OS) の製品群。

とありました。

質問ですが、

日本語の外来語（特に新語）のカタカナ表記は（あるいは、「ウイ」と「ウィ」の場合とかは、発音も）、揺れや人の好みで変わるのですか？
好みでないとしたら、日本語の学習者が「ドー」と「ドウ」のようなものをどう使い分けるか知るための基準などはありますか？


texts:
Can に対して be replaced with に比べて sometimes?

For comparing things. Taishite seems to have other comparison uses that are more specific but kurabete seems more flexible for general comparison use?


texts: How common is using ございます in spoken Japanese, even in formal polite uses, outside fixed expressions like おはようございます or ありがとうございます


texts: Why is 日本 read as "nihon" but not "nitsuhon"?

texts: If I want to say only 日本 in a sentence then each character is pronounced in its onyomi version isn't it? If this is an exception and one (or all) of the characters is not pronounced in onyomi version then ok i'll remember the exception, but 日 isn't pronounced  "ni" anyway. So how can I understand this situation?


texts: ni vs te form to express continuity/reason

texts:
What is the difference between the two Structures:

1: VERB ni VERB.
ex:sentaku ni dekakemasu.

2:VERB(te form) VERB.
ex:nagarete kaeimashita.

(The example are from momotarou)


texts: What is the meaning of 「一人」in the following sentence?

texts:
今、女性一人が生む子どもの数が減ってきている。つまり、少子化が進んできている。 Now, the amount of women that give birth to a child is decreasing. That is to say, the declining birth rates are advancing.

What is the role of 「一人」? To me, the sentence still makes sense without it.
What is the difference between the following sentences?

今、女性一人が生む子どもの数…
今、女性が生む子どもの数…


texts: ってば and もう: not sure how to use these in a sentence

texts:
I'm not sure how to use ってば and もう in a sentence.

  やだってばもう！

^from 明日、ママがいない first episode at the beginning (if you watched it)

How can I use ってば and もう in a sentence?


texts:
What exactly does "がい" mean in the phrase "リーダーは俺だろうがい"?

To give some context, here's part of the video I heard it from:
https://youtu.be/44UruxeJ_20?t=1127

This was said by a comedian, so maybe it's an exaggerated and uncommon way of speaking.

Or maybe it's just "tough guy speech."


texts:
Is this supposed to be an expression, an idiom or a saying or proverb or whatever, because I have seen this used a lot. There seem to be no entries for "前進しか許す"
This video on youtube gives the translation for this sentence as:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quR5-FEaM9c&t=3m27s
私には前進しか許されないのだッ！ "I will never forgive them!"
But if you use google translate it gives:
私には前進しか許されない = I can only move forward


texts: How can I frame this ダジャレ to sound funny?

texts:
As Jerry Seinfeld says: "Jokes that require an explanation are never funny."

So, I want to do a wordplay on the pronunciation of 紐 = 日も. I've delivered it as such:

  typical set-up:
  日本の文化はけっこう尊敬してます。じょじょに慣れてきてます。そのため、この前自然が多い所で、俳句ができた:
  あめのひも、かぜのひも、くつのひも;
  (if written) 雨の日も、風の日も、靴の紐;

I've gotten nothing but blank stares. I explain and get perfunctory smiles.

I've tried pronouncing "日も" with a rising "も" and "紐" with a falling "も", but it is not working.

Is it possible to frame this wordplay to sound funny?
Does it need to be set-up differently?
Is it a pronunciation problem?


texts: What is the difference in nuance between いっさい and いっこう?

texts:
I see いっさい + neg. as meaning "not even a little bit". For example, in this snippet:

火山はただの火山としてその他の説明をいっさいしないのです。

from here.
I translate that as "Not even a little bit does he make any explanation other than the simplest possible explanation of the volcano representing just a volcano."
I have seen いっこうに being used to express a similar connotation of 'not even a little bit'; for example this sentence.
Is there a difference in nuance between the two or can they be used interchangeably?


texts: Does Okinawan have syllables Japanese doesn't?

texts: I know Okinawan is usually (nowadays) written in katakana. However, katakana only has a limited number of different syllables, fewer than can be produced in, say, English (e.g. th). Does Okinawan have any syllables that don't fit in standard katakana? If so, how are they written?


texts: Circle inside a circle character. What is it?

texts:
So I started playing Steins;Gate in Japanese the other day. And in one of the Tips about a character from the 雷ネット翔 , キラリちゃん is described as

頭が良くて、スポーツ万能。しかもカワイくて性格も〇

(But inside of 〇 is another circle...)

I don't know how to pronounce it and what it means...


texts: In which dialects have the sounds "ゐ" (wi) and "ゑ" (we) been preserved, and are their kana still occasionally seen?

texts:
In Nate Glenn's answer to bdonlan's qestion "Why were ゐ and ゑ eliminated?" he states:

  "Wi" and "we" are still in some dialects, but standard Japanese does not have those sounds.

My question is which dialects are they which preserve these sounds? Plus I wonder if these dialects are on occasion still written with these obsolete kana?


texts:
From: No Game No Life ep.1 timestamp: 21:10
Context: The characters are ruminating on being stuck in the parallel world.

（空）なあ 白。
異世界漂流ものの主人公たちってここから元の世界に戻ろうと頑張るんだよな。
なんであんな世界に戻ろうとしたんだ？

Official translation:

Why would they ever want to do that?

Can somebody please explain what's going on in としたんだ? I've tried looking up とする but nothing seems to fit the meaning of this sentence. And also, how come it attaches to the volitional form of the verb?


texts: What's the difference among ~てください, くださいますか, and くださいませんか?

texts:
I think all three expressions are used to show my requests to someone who are superior than me. However I am wondering if there are any nuance differences in these expressions. For example:

(1) もっとはっきり書いてください。
(2) もっとはっきり書いてくださいますか。
(3) もっとはっきり書いてくださいませんか。

I can feel that it is more polite to say (3) or (2) than (1). But am I correct?


texts: How many case marking particles are there?

texts:
I'm having some trouble finding out how many case marker particles (格助詞) there are in Japanese. The answers I find range from 9 to 11, depending on the site. Almost all of the ones I've found agree on the following:

が、で、に、を、へ、と、より、から、まで

The 2 that seem to be contested are の and や. I understand a particle belonging to several classes, but I don't know why some sites leave those 2 out entirely. Is this simply something that Japanese speakers and scholars disagree on?
Sources
The following site says there are 9:
https://www.tomojuku.com/blog/kakuparticle/
The following say there are 10:
https://www.kokugobunpou.com/%E5%8A%A9%E8%A9%9E/%E4%B8%BB%E3%81%AA%E6%A0%BC%E5%8A%A9%E8%A9%9E%E3%81%AE%E7%94%A8%E6%B3%95/#gsc.tab=0
https://prowriters.jp/grammar/postpositional_particle#1fc6088c4182e88f2092d7ba4b537282
https://note.com/kokugo_nihongo/n/nbdbe46679247
This site says there are 11:
http://www.coelang.tufs.ac.jp/mt/ja/gmod/courses/c01/lesson14/step2/explanation/053.html


texts:
Are there any differences in intonation if used in a sentence like this?

  支持率が高いことから/から、多くの国民が新内閣に期待していることがわかる


texts:
However I try to translate this, it doesn't make sense.

The context is about a girl that gets annoyed at 2 younger boys and says this.

Please, I would appreciate if someone could help me by translating and explaining this word by word. Thank you.


texts:
...., これ以上ないくらいに大きく目を見開いて、...
  she opened her eyes as wide as possible ...

I don't understand what に is doing here. I've seen plenty of examples where くらい acts adverbially without needing に. So why is it there, and what happens if I omit it?

If it helps, my literal understanding is to parse it as "to the extent that there is nothing more than this she widley opened her eyes".

I read this answer for particle の but that doesn't seem to apply here since に cannot (as far as I know) attach to ない.

Aside: does 目を見開く have some cultural significance e.g. does it represent concentration for example? The subject is currently beating a dog with a broom. It says that she made a 一 shape with her lips (seems like something you'd do if you were concentrating) and then the above sentence. I would normally associate wide eyes with fear (I don't think she's scared), but that would be passive. This sentence is active.


texts: What does で mean when asked as a question?

texts: I've come across several instances in manga where the simple question of "で?" is used. What could it mean? I'm guessing it means something like "Is that so?," but I'm not sure.


texts: How can I say "Right now", or "At that exact moment"?

texts:
Saying "now" is easy, with 今, but in my experience that doesn't express so much "right now, this instant" as it does "currently". I am looking for structure that translates these examples well:

I have just now been thinking about that.
At that exact moment, X happened.

Edit: I also know that I have heard a grammatical structure for "I was in the middle of something (watching TV) and then I was interrupted by X (the phone ringing / an earthquake)". Anyone knows what I mean?


texts: What is the meaning of the 「だろうが」 in 「仲間だろうが！！！！」

texts:
It is from a line in One Piece:

Another instance from the same manga:


texts: how could I interpret 後に in this sentence?

texts:
So I've been reading the script from a videogame and I have a problem with this sentence:

  ダークエルフによるレプリロイドの支配とイレギュラーの抹殺…後に妖精戦争と呼ばれる争いを起こしたワシは、

I don't quite get it what 後に means in this sentences, I don't think it means "after" or "later" as I thought at first because in the next sentence it mentions what happens after after the war ends:

  妖精戦争が終わった時に、当時の人間どもの手である改造を施された。

According to the translation I've been reading, the 後に part has is saying something like: "After all it was me who started the war called...".

So, what is the meaning of 後に?


texts: 「たとえ + ても」 vs just 「ても」, what is the role of たとえ？ Is it just emphasis or something more?


texts:
Someone asked me:

  どんな本を使って日本語を勉強していますか

I'm confused about the て-form here. The only sensible translation I can think of is:

  What kind of books do you use (in order) to study Japanese

I've not come across て-form to indicate purpose before. Is this common? How does it differ from のに?


texts:
Is it possible to say ～んじゃない？  If it is, how it differs from ～じゃない？

In what situation I should use ん/の for it, and what does ん/の express?

Examples:

  [~い + ん]
   いいんじゃない
  行きたいんじゃない
  吸えないんじゃない

  [~な + ん]
  好きなんじゃない
  先生なんじゃない

  [verb(~る/~た) + ん]
  するんじゃない
  食べなかったんじゃない

Is it all possible?
In my opinion, the んform expresses there is something implicit or implied. like a desire, or a sad comment, etc ; but saying it in a soft way.

Also:

じゃん is the shorten form of じゃない.
Can I say ～んじゃん, then?

  楽しいんじゃん
  便利なんじゃん
  するんじゃん


texts:
Mostly I've seen 掃除 "souji" for "cleaning".  Here recently I noticed an anime had a floor-sign for "closed for cleaning" using 清掃 "seisou".  What's the difference?

Looking at the kanji didn't help any.  Internet searches found uses of them near each other but no explanations (in English).


texts: Trying to break down 2 sentences (Genki lesson 15 dialogue 1)

texts:
Going through Genki and Lesson 15 has brought up 2 grammar points I can't figure really out.It would help me a lot if I understand how those two sentences are build up and why they need those parts.
道子さんがquotationと言ってたから。
to itte :said
takara I think I have to break it up as ta and kara. ta being casual for desu.. But i don't get why it would need the copula. so the question is what is "ta" doing there?
The translation would be Michiko told me to invite you. (the quotation is たけしくんも誘って)
みちこさんのうちに行こうと思ってるんだけど、一緒にいかない 。
ikou= volitional casual form of iku
to omoutte= plan on doing. thinking about、
Here i have thought of several things
sort of thing the "ru" is an abbreviation of iru  n is added as it is an explanation. (I see it as connected with the proposal that follows of isshouni ikanai. and I think iru no could have been used as well.
da as the copula
kedo : is making the connection with the suggestion that follows. 一緒にいかない
the translation according to Genki. I am thinking of going to Michiko's home. Do you want to go?
But again I am really unsure what the da is doing there.
Thank you for your time.


texts: Is けど a 接続詞 (conjunction) or 助詞 (particle)?

texts:
A book I've read states that けど is a 接続詞 (conjunction).

However, another book I had read states that it is a 助詞 (particle).

Who is right?


texts: 2 ways of saying "don't do" to my friend - difference?

texts:
I want to say to my friend "don't eat". What's the difference between these two:

1)

tabenai de
食べないで

and

2)

taberu na
食べるな


texts:
I recently came across the term 手入れ and discovered it means maintenance. I know that 整備 also means maintenance so I was wondering what the difference is.

Feel free to use examples.

Thank you!


texts: How does the passive function in this sentence

texts:
The sentence is an example taken from the grammar section of my textbook.
先生が手紙を書いてくださったおかげで、大きい病院で研修を受けられることになった。
=> "Because the teacher kindly sent a letter, it happened that I could absolve an internship in a big hospital."

In the section where this sentence comes from  "...おかげで/おかげだ" is explained and how it puts the positive outcome X into causal relation to Y.
However, this shall not be the focus of the question here.
What confuses me here is the use of the bold part 研修を受けられる.

Just before I also learnt about various new applications for the passive mood in japanese. I must say now that this part wasn't very well done by my textbook since it felt like it would mix up some grammatical categories or at least it didn't explain its point well.
In this section, I was taught two new ways of using the passive mood:

1) indirect passive  (intransitive verbs)
2) indirect passive (transitive verbs)

These are the headings for these two subsections used in the textbook.
Now, I didn't really understand these two subsections. One reason therefore is that my textbook showed me examples for

1) indirect passive  (intransitive verbs)

with transitive verbs Oo
Here's another example:
部長は私に仕事を頼んだ。-> 私は部長に仕事を頼まれた。
According to jisho, 頼む is a transtive verb. Did I understand something wrong about the category "intransitive" here? Do I need to understand this category in a different way here?

Furthermore, the translations for these examples didn't make any effort to transport the semantical difference between a "normal" sentence and these passive constructions. So, while I can definitely still translate and understand such sentences, the nuances brought in by these constructions are lost to me :(


texts:
I understand that 「の」 can be used to indicate possession or to change a noun to a modifier for another noun. But neither of those seems to be the case here.

What usage of 「の」 is being used here?


texts:
I found this sentence on a visual novel, and it's the first time I see でも+あった　at the end of a phrase, what does it mean?

This is the sentence:

  だがその偶然はあらかじめ決められていた世界の意志でもあった。

Thank you in advance for your help


texts: The usage of "性【しょう】に合う合わない"

texts:
I came across this sentence:

  今後の自分には、そういった社交術が必要なのだと頭ではわかっていても、性に合う合わないというのはあるものだ。

Whats the meaning of "性に合う合わない" here? Does it indicate uncertainty or something like that?


texts: What's the difference between [V-ながら][V2] and [V-ている]間[V2]?

texts:
What's the difference between [V-ながら][V2] and [V-ている]間[V2] ?

For example, is there any difference in nuance between these 2 sentences:

トムはテレビを見てる間勉強していた
トムはテレビを見ながら勉強していた


texts:
Among several other meanings, かな is usually translated as "I wonder", but what does it mean in the following conversation?

  A: 「僕はジャズが大好き！君は？」

  B: 「私もジャズが好きかな。」

Is the speaker uncertain about whether she likes Jazz or not? Or is it a polite way of saying something on the lines of, e.g, あまり好きじゃない, 嫌いじゃない, and so on?


texts:
From this page, I see this sentence:

Note: Be careful of the tense of the verb that comes before 「前」 and 「後」. 「前」 is non-past while 「後」 is always past tense.

I am confused because it is quite weird to disallow the usage of non-past tense before 後. What if I'm talking about the things that I will do tomorrow? For example, which should I use if I want to say "I will go to school after I have breakfast tomorrow"?

明日は、朝ご飯を食べた後、学校に行く。
明日は、朝ご飯を食べる後、学校に行く。


texts: Are there any differences between 〜けらず and 〜ざりけり? Are they interchangeable?

texts: Was ~ざりけり used in place of 〜けらず, for example in 知りけらず, to indicate the past tense in the negative form? Did 知らざりけり exist?


texts: Can だ be used as a particle in a phrase?

texts: I'd like to say “Tomorrow is Monday”. Is it correct for me to say 「あしただげつようび」? Or is there simply no particle at all?


texts:
In an email about someone I introduced for a position at a company, one particular sentence was as follows:

○○様、残念ながら誰からも手が挙がらず、お見送りとさせてください。

While I am familiar with the fact that 手が上がる has multiple meanings, I do not see how any of them fits in this context. Can someone enlighten me?

Thank you in advance for your answers!


texts:
演奏技術向上への一可能性

Contextually, this is from a paper talking about teaching piano and this is the subtitle of the paper (so it is a stand alone sentence). I'm having problems translating the above sentence without it being overly awkward. The best I've come up with is:

  One possibility to improve performance skills

I believe that 技術 usually means 'technology', but in this case as piano performance is the subject, I thought skills was more apt. 'One possibility' also seems awkward to me, but I'm just not coming up with another word to replace it. I'd welcome any suggestions, thank you.


texts:
I'm looking at the word 連続体（れんぞくたい）　(I'm sure there are better examples, that's just the one that made me wonder).
I find it rather clunky, whereas 「れんぞくだい」 would be much easier to pronounce.
With a lot of kanji, there exist both "hard" and "soft" readings (e.g. 大（たい） and 大（だい）), but, at least by my dictionary, 体 can only be read as a "hard" たい.
To give a maybe more common word as example: 液体（えきたい）　(Though I find that a bit easier to pronounce than 連続体)
Is there any reason for this? Or are these terms just not used enough or old enough to get softened? Is there some "rule" to softened readings, or are they just a result of language evolution?


texts:
One of my textbooks said that you cannot use the particle は with 何 and undefined words of the こそあど.

Yet I'm sure I've heard これは何ですか。 many times before, and これが何ですか。 sounds unnatural to me.

What is the correct usage?


texts:
The way I visualize how the particle は works is that it opens a giant circle underneath the word it is attached to wherein you can discuss things related to it.

Sort of like this:

When I use ば I sort of visualize it in the same way... like I am attaching a giant circle to  a hypothetical situation as exemplified by the 仮定形{かていけい} form and then talking about possibilities within it.

So I want to know... are they related in any way?


texts: Is "railroad crossing" meant with 踏切 here?

texts:
For full context, see here:
https://www.docdroid.net/XIK9pCk/img-20171020-0001-new.pdf

The sentence in question, taken from line 9 -11:
マンションのドアを開けたり閉めたりする音や鳴りっぱなしの踏切、しゃべる自動販売機、つけっぱなしのテレビ、駅のアナウンスなどが、初めは本当にうるさくてたまらなかった。

My attempt at translation:
"Concerning the first time, it truly was annoying and unbearable, the opening and closing the condominium sound (=the sound of opening and closing the condominium) and not-stopping-to-ring railroad crossings, talking vending machines, non-stop engaged televisions and announcements of stations (=announcements on stations)."

I just learned about the っぱなし constructions and still struggle a little to translate them into well readable english.
However, my main "issue" lies with the bold 鳴りっぱなしの踏切.
Is my translation of this phrase correct? I've never been to japan, do the railroad crossings really constantly ring there? Or do they emit another type of signal, like "blinking"?


texts: Trouble with the sentence 「お手並み拝見てところかな」

texts:
The sentence in the title supposedly means something like

  「あなたの技術を見せてもらうかな」

I roughly understand what this sentence means as a whole but i'm having trouble parsing it.

I know that お手並み拝見 means: let's see what you've got; show me what you've got... accroding to jisho dictionary but i can hardly understand how it's used, example sentences show that it's ususually followed by the particle と so i'm guessing this て is another form of と ?

I also do not seem to understand what the ところ is doing here.


texts:
In trying to search for a Japanese equivalent to "I hope~" in English, I've found two expressions 「といいね」and「ように（祈る/願う）」. However, I'm not sure how to use them properly. (I feel that the latter construction is more similar to "I hope" purely in terms of structure, but that doesn't mean anything, necessarily.) What is the difference between these two expressions?

For example, what's the difference between

  (1) 試験に合格するように

  (2) 試験に合格するといいな

in trying to say "I hope you pass the exam"?


texts:
昔、ある月刊誌で書評を頼まれたことがある。

  Some time ago, I was asked to do a book review by a certain monthly magazine.

Am I correct in my understanding that when a passive verb conjugation takes an object then you get the indirect/adversative passive?

And further, am I right in thinking that this generally means that the person is unhappy about what's happening?

So does this sentence have more of the feel of "I had a book review imposed on me" rather than "I was asked to do a book review"?

Aside: Why is the agent marked with で rather than に?


texts:
Here is the sentence including the word.

  自分がチャンピオンになりそこなったもんだから　このおれにゆめをたくそうってわけだな。


texts: Te form and ru form of verbs when used with potential form

texts:
What's the difference between using the te form of a verb with the potential form as opposed to just the ru form?
E.g.

食べてられない、待ってられない
食べられない、待てない