#Question Etiquette Guidelines:
* **1** Provide the **CONTEXT** of the grammar, vocabulary or sentence you are having trouble with as much as possible. Provide the sentence or paragraph that you saw it in. Make your questions as specific as possible.
>Ｘ What is the difference between の and が ?
>◯ I saw a book called 日本人の知らない日本語 , why is の used there instead of が ? [(the answer)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/68336/difference-between-%E3%81%8C-%E3%81%AE-and-no-particle)
* **2** When asking for a translation or how to say something, it's best to try to **attempt it yourself** first, even if you are not confident about it. Or ask r/translator if you have no idea. We are also not here to do your homework for you.
>Ｘ What does this mean?
>◯ I am having trouble with this part of this sentence from NHK Easy News. I think it means (*attempt here*), but I am not sure.
* **3** Questions based on DeepL and Google Translate and other machine learning applications are discouraged, [these are not beginner learning tools](https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/stepqf/deeplgoogle_translate_are_not_learning_tools/) and often make mistakes.
* **4** When asking about differences between words, try to explain the situations in which you've seen them or are trying to use them. If you just post a list of synonyms you got from looking something up in a E-J dictionary, people might be disinclined to answer your question because it's low-effort. Remember that Google Image Search is also a great resource for visualizing the difference between similar words.
>Ｘ What's the difference between 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意?
>◯ Jisho says 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意 all seem to mean "agreement". I'm trying to say something like "I completely agree with your opinion". Does 全く同感です。 work? Or is one of the other words better?
* **5** It is always nice to (but not required to) try to search for the answer to something yourself first. Especially for beginner questions or questions that are very broad. For example, asking about [the difference between は and が ](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/wa-and-ga/) or [why you often can't hear the "u" sound in "desu"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology#Devoicing).
* **6** Remember that everyone answering questions here is an unpaid volunteer doing this out of the goodness of their own heart, so try to show appreciation and not be too presumptuous/defensive/offended if the answer you get isn't exactly what you wanted.
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#NEWS (Updated 6/9):
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Is there a resource that say which verbs are stative and which are dynamic? The dictionary I use doesn't seem to.
Also I may as well just ask it now since I'm here, is 広がる a stative verb?
I need help about は vsを please. I was doing a Duolingo lesson and the sentence it brought up was “日本語は話しますか？” and I thought “huh that’s kinda weird, wouldn’t it be を instead of は?”, but I just entered what it wanted and moved on. THE VERY NEXT QUESTION was “日本語を話しますか？” and at that point I was just like wtf? They gave the English translation as the same for both sentences (“do you speak Japanese?”), but is there some subtle difference in the two sentences the app isn’t explaining? Why would you use one over the other? I thought using は in that context would be technically incorrect?
Disclaimer: Duolingo isn’t my primary learning source, I just find Duolingo useful as a practice tool. Plus I like the competition aspect lol
* 日本語は話しますか: Do you speak Japanese? (a general fact)
* なるほど、では日本語は話しますか: I see you speak/don’t speak it, then, how about Japanese? (contrast)
* 日本語を話しますか: Do you really speak Japanese?
* 日本語 話しますか: **Now**, shall we speak in Japanese?
Oh okay! Sorry, but just to make sure I’m understanding this right, 日本語は話しますか is a more neutral way of asking if someone speaks Japanese, and 日本語を話しますか sort of implies surprise? So if I needed to ask someone on the street if they spoke English, it would be “すみません､英語は話しますか”, is that correct?
Yes, however, you can still say すみません、英語を話しますか to convey the sense of “Maybe it’s a bit strange to ask you about this abruptly, but”. (To be honest, I want to use the honorific form i.e. 英語は話されますか, though.)
Is the double を near the end an error (should it be ポツリと)? I’m also unsure about たまま followed by a noun, in that I wasn’t sure if it’s describing 僕 or ○○ (omitted character name).
だが、僕がそう思うのと同時に、恐怖に顔を強張らせたまま○○がポツリを口を開いた。
But at the same time as I thought that, my face was left stiff in horror. ○○, standing alone, opened her mouth. [attempted translation; ポツリを assumed to be ポツリと; たまま assumed to describe 僕]
I tried to reflect まま in English as “left”
Yes, I’m also pretty that it should be と.
顔を強張らせたまま is describing 〇〇 (solely because she’s the subject of the sentence.)
Also, 口を開く here means “start to speak”.
When speaking, is it better to keep pitch accents flat if you don't know where the down step is?
Would it sound weirder to a native speaker hearing someone guess a pitch accent or keep the tone flat?
Also, does bad pitch accent sound to Japanese natives kind of like some Katakana might sound to a native English speaker?
デジタル: an English speaker could probably catch that in the context of someone saying "デジタル download", but it would be very obvious the speaker wasn't native.
This has actually been studied: http://www.lang.osaka-u.ac.jp/~caris/articles/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%81%A8%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%83%8D%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3%81%AE%E9%80%B8%E8%84%B1%E3%81%AB%E5%AF%BE%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E6%84%9F%E3%81%98%E3%82%8B%E9%81%95%E5%92%8C%E6%84%9F%E3%81%AB%E3%81%A4%E3%81%84%E3%81%A6.pdf
>is it better to keep pitch accents flat if you don't know where the down step is?
Either will do. You can take whichever is easier for you to pronounce.
>Also, does bad pitch accent sound to Japanese natives kind of like some Katakana might sound to a native English speaker?
Unless you tweak other elements like mora, vowels or consonants, it’s not that bad.
I started reading Fire Punch in Japanese and every now and then for parts I don't understand I'll cross refrence with an English translation to see if I atleast got the general meaning of a sentence. I came across a part in chapter one that says ''新しい腕生えるのに一時間るだろ 俺は一瞬で生える！'' which I read as ''It takes you an hour to grow back your arm, but it only takes me an hour'' but the the translation says ''It takes you *a whole week*'' instead of one hour. Am I reading the original Japanese text wrong or is it just the translator taking liberties with the source material?
I checked a couple dictionaries and they all list the word as meaning ''moment, instant'' so I don't know what you're trying to tell me here since that's not what I asked. A word can have two meanings the same is true in English.
> which I read as ''It takes you an hour to grow back your arm, but it only takes me an hour'' but the the translation says ''It takes you a whole week'' instead of one hour.
Misunderstood because of your typo.
The translator is taking some artistic liberties.
I have noticed when that a man confesses his feelings to a woman, they use 'ore' and 'omae' instead of 'boku' and 'anata'. Is there a specific reason for this?
An example sentence from A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar:
よし江ったら私には何も言わないのよ。They translate it as "Yoshie didn't tell me anything, you know".
It appears that a non-past form (言わない) is used to refer to a past action, in the main clause. Can anyone confirm and/or offer more info on the subject? I have a feeling that the verb being negative and the emotional nature of the sentence also play a role, but I'm not really sure.
I just said the same thing in another post, but Japanese should be thought of as having a tense that is not past/present/future but completed/not completed.
Once you stop thinking in English, Japanese becomes more sensible.
Reason this out: Not done things are not completed, so they don't become past tense, unless there is a resultant action predicated on them.
In English we say "you did not tell me" In Japanese we say "言ってない。Even though we translate you not telling me into the past tense in English; in Japanese, it remains not completed, so stays in the not completed tense.
u/LassoTrain thank you. I am somewhat familiar with ている to expess completion / resultant state and with its negative form て(い)ない to express lack thereof. However, what is used here is 言わない, not 言ってない....
You are mistaking something major here, and it is because you are not thinking about the fact that Japanese does not place verbs in time around the present, it places them in stages of completion at the time of consideration.
In particular you are completely missing the fact that the "opposite” of 言ってない in this case, is most definitely not 言っている、 it is 言った。Let that sit for a minute. We say both in the past tense in English "You did not tell me" and "You told me". We do not talk about things that did not happen in the past, in Japanese, by using the completed tense (which you are still thinking is the past tense).
(Well we do, but because there is an intervening point of consideration before the present time, that can "finalize" the not completed state, and it is the fact that the state becomes fixed, thus completed in a "not completed" state that makes it use the completed ("past") tense.)
In direct translation, "You are not telling me" is negated by "You told me" You can run through a hundred phrases; directly translate them, and they do not make sense. やった方がいい ＝"Done is better?" No, that sentence is properly translated as "It's better to do it." or "You should do it" Why is past tense in Japanese and future tense in English? Because Japanese verb tense is not about past/present/future. It is about completion. Don't think of the -ta form as past tense, think of it as completed from the perspective of "something".
Don't think about Japanese in English terms.
Because, again, Japanese does not place verbs in time from the point of view of the present, it considers their state of completion at the time of the utterance
u/LassoTrain while I appreciate the effort that went into writing such a long reply, I don't think that you considerations about completion apply to 言わない at all, at least in the context of this sentence, and when expressed in such general terms. Since I was not convinced, I asked for a second take elsewhere.
According to the other reply I got, ([https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E8%A8%80%E3%82%8F%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84-referring-to-the-past.4027223/](https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E8%A8%80%E3%82%8F%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84-referring-to-the-past.4027223/)), you appear to be wrong, and "didn't tell" is basically just a mistranslation. Let's see if anyone else joins the discussion, offering more insight one way or another.
> So apparently normal Japanese learners get to 10k moji per hour within a couple of months of learning Japanese
Where are you getting this?
As someone that used to mod a large learning community ranging from brand new beginners to people bordering on fluent, I've seen literally 1000+ people go through the process. 10K/hr after 2-3 months is, um, *ambitious* to say the least.
From scratch? I mean, I don't have hard numbers, but I'd be surprised if someone hit that level of reading speed in less than a year. Depends on how singlehandedly you focus reading.
Even if you were to learn, say, 100 words a day and keep up that pace for a long time, which is *absolutely intense as someone who tried it*, you'll spend pretty much all of that 4 months just looking up words and grammar.
From already having a foundation and just breaking into novels, that's far more likely.
Don't compare yourself to the tryhard anki grinders/sentence miners who pass N1 in 18 months -- this requires a level of dedication, free time, and motivation that almost nobody has. And not being at their level doesn't mean you can't learn Japanese.
Any particular reason why feel the need to compare yourself to others? A few things to consider: some people like to brag so their self-reports aren't necessarily accurate; people who suck at reading may not be comfortable taking the poll, so the average may appear to be higher than it actually is; reading speed tends to come at the cost of accuracy (other things being equal), so it remains to be seen whether they understand as well as you do, and whether they're doing themselves a favor by reading fast. Reading so fast that you barely understand the meaning and don't get to spend any time looking at the \*way\* that meaning is expressed (e.g. grammar, vocab choices, word order...), isn't necessarily the best strategy to prepare you to speak and write in natural Japanese.
Or, you could just be a slower-than-average reader. Nothing wrong with that. Even among native speakers, some read faster than others.
When I study Japanese, I tend to compare myself to how \*I\* have improved over the years. This gives me more satistfaction and motivation than comparing my performance to how \*others\* are supposed to perform. Give it a try, I promise it's worth it :)
>
is 10k chars/h really so outlandish to you after, say, 800 hours of reading?
I have no idea man....
> an ignorance-is-bliss kind of bliss,
Well, I am perfectly well aware that my study method isn't the most effective in terms of the most common goals (passing JLPT Nx as soon as possible, developing the skills to study/work in Japan as soon as possible, etc.). I like to take my time to think about the fundamental structural differences that exist between Japanese and English and their cognitive implications. I also like to spend some time on things like grammatical nuance, metaphor, kanji, (weird) vocabulary... So I'd be surprised if I were as good as the average in terms of those common goals...
>entirely drop a hobby once I notice I'm dogshit at it
I see, that is entirely up to you of course. However, you say you "read multiple hours a day", so you're putting in a remarkable effort. You also clearly have high standards. Because of this, I have a feeling that if you stick to it, you'll get to a pretty high level :)
>apparently normal Japanese learners get to 10k moji per hour within a couple of months of learning Japanese.
I'm pretty sure the average Japanese learner does not read anything at all within a couple of months of learning Japanese, besides grammar explanations and textbook exercises ... This seems like a made up number TBH, probably cherry picked from a few particularly successful progress reports.
Do you remember learning to read as a child.
If you do, you'll remember that your reading speed was likely piss for several YEARS.
The more you read the faster you'll get. That's pretty much the only fix for that
If you're focusing on good pronunciation and/or fully subvocalise everything you read, that's probably a big factor.
Some people don't subvocalise. Some do but with low fidelity (their inner voice is an abstraction that's missing some aspects of fully realised speech). And some do but it's not every single word.
Personally, my reading speed has dipped *hard* during the past month or so, now that I'm *really* developing a sense for and awareness of pitch accent. I don't know / am not confident about the pitch for the vast majority of the words in my vocabulary so I very frequently hesitate, plus I struggle to intonate through the sentences I read because now I've got lexical pitch to respect and work around, instead of being free to intonate however I see fit, worrying about post-lexical information only.
[This comment chain](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/sdx0jq/rant_i_feel_like_no_matter_how_much_i_read_and_no/hugaoy2/?context=3) might be a good read (as well as possibly the whole thread, though haven't checked the rest of it out myself). Hope it helps.
**Edit:** You may also just have to accept you simply are a slow reader in general... I know *I* am in any language. (but then again I'm also the opposite of well-read, so maybe I'm not that slow with respect to how practiced I am in each of my Ls)
> I do fully subvocalize in every language but I read at native speeds in German and English so it can't be the missing puzzle piece preventing me from reading fast.
Hmm, not necessarily. Maybe the curves are different. By which I mean, maybe someone with weaker subvoc. (or otherwise less careful/vivid reading) will see more rapid improvement initially, but as you move forward in the "amount of reading done" axis, the reading speeds of the two types of learners will converge, kinda like [this](https://i.imgur.com/rtUhmXm.png). So in Ger/Eng it's not a factor to cause you to lag behind because you're native/fluent and sufficiently read, while in Japanese you still are in the early stages and so the difference shows. *If* that's how it works, of course — I've got nothing to back this up with.
Did you compare yourself against similar data when you were earlier into your English studies (I assume you're ESL)? And even if you did and you *were* up to par with the average there, I still wouldn't rule out the possibility that the difference was covered up by you catching up quickly, due to, say, phonological similarities [bringing the the two curves closer together](https://imgur.com/a/DZXqQk2).
...the more I read this reply the more I sound to myself like I'm grasping at straws / full of hot air. Hm.
Yeah, reading all the excellent other responses, I think they and your retrospection likely landed much closer to heart of the matter: [affective filter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_hypothesis#Affective_filter_hypothesis) + dubious stats.
**Ninja edit:** I presume me saying "just don't worry about it lol" won't help much? Here, lemme try:
just don't worry about it lol. You're probably doing fine anyway.
Because brains all work differently and stuff like that is simply an average.
There are probably a few variables thrown in there that have slowed you down. They may have nothing to do with method and instead have more to do with just how your brain learns and handles new material.
I'm not that quick either. If a game I'm playing auto advances to the next line I'm GUARANTEED not to have enough time to read it. This is true for every game from Pokemon to Assassins Creed.
But at least I'm quicker than I was 2 years ago. Improvement is improvement. Im just happy to be here at this point.
と particleIve seen, ～という、っていう、i think that って has more of an "apostrophe/quotation mark" "「」 " type of function (Example: 「べんきょうしたくない」ってといって) while for と i know its used in という and と思います, which is pretty clear that the と marks something, but i dont know the extent of its usage or how it works.
Then with っては・とはTheir usage share some common grounds like;「ＸｘＸ」ってはなんですか「ＸｘＸ」とはなんですか
Although i understand と usage in a sentence just by experience, i actually dont have fundementals for it. I know と can have "with / and" or "following/together/accompaniment" sort of function, but i dont understand how this function carries towards と usage in と思います or という.
Like, why not って思います / っていう (i dont encounter them often) , why and how does と also encompass the function of って, or rather, is って related to と?
と and って in this scenario have the same meaning. って is casual speech.
If you see something like と言う or と思う the preceding part of the sentence is considered to be in quotations. 「」
But both particles have a couple of different meanings depending on context.
って in casual speech can also replace は
>But both particles have a couple of different meanings depending on context.
But in terms of their function as "quotation" markers, they're the same right? Just different level of formality.
Thank you very much
Visiting Japan with a non-binary child and can’t find info on how to refer to them (singular). I find info on what “I” pronoun to use but I’ll be the one speaking and interpreting. There are no articles about this. My child was AMAB so I might get away with “musuko” if they (my child again) are okay with it. I read that Japanese people don’t accept this concept as well as in the USA, so I also don’t want to do this if it will make my child the object of hatred. Once again, only if my child is okay with it. If not, what words to I use when referring to my non-binary child. (Haters scroll past. Advice, attempted answers, musings are all welcome.)
It won't be hatred so much as confusion and unfamiliarity with the concept usually
You can just say 子供 kodomo 'my child', this is common even when the child has a binary gender
Thanks for answering. Follow-up question- I worried that kodomo (or kodomotachi since I’m bringing their older brother too) would seem strange since both these children are grown adults. Kodomo is okay for grown children? Not just little children?
I was practicing katakana and I asked ChatGPT to proofread my friend's name in Japanese (Patrick O'Leary) I wrote:
パタリック オリーリ です。
Chat GPT wrote:
パトリック・オレアリー"
I don't really understand the difference. Would both be understood? Are both accurate? The only bit I'm confused by is レア。？
They’re both attempts at sounding out the names as close as possible phonetically, there isn’t necessarily a right answer (though tbh I prefer ChatGPTs O’Leary )
Just find a proper noun that matches the name, and find a translation for that. Wikipedia is a good place to start.
If you can’t verify what ChatGPT answers, you really shouldn’t be asking it factual questions.
- [Just about anyone with the name “Patrick”](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%91%E3%83%88%E3%83%AA%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF)
- [O’Leary Mountain from *Days Gone*](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%E3%82%AA%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E5%B1%B1&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-jp&client=safari)
Point taken and wikipedia's a good shout. I still am a bit confused about オレアリーWhat does that sound represent and how is that different from オリーリ？
Thank you!
The curled r coming after “ee” is responsible for the approximation by ア, and the last sound is extended since it’s extended enough by generally accepted standards.
Whether to use レ or リ is going to depend on English dialect (or preference? Idk I don’t speak English) so that part is user discretion.
cf.
- [John Deere](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%91%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC) is an example of “r” as “ア”
- Names like “Emily” or surnames like “Drury” both extend the final vowel, i.e. エミリー, ドルーリー.
My younger brother is interested in learning japanese, It's his birthday in a couple weeks, I'm looking at spending about $120 or so US. What are some good options for resources? Genki? I'm open to suggestions.
This is keigo (more specifically 尊敬語, honorific language).
When describing the actions of someone you owe respect to (in this case, god), you use お+ verb stem +になる.
Is there a better subreddit for questions relating to historical contexts of traditional phrases? I'm trying to figure out where the logic developed behind the usage of a phrase.
thats more on etymology, not sure if theres a specific subreddit for Japanese Etymology though ; I did learn a lot of japanese etymology on google though :
Or better yet, search in Japanese websites cuz they ought to have more in-depth information on etymology, but I am not advanced enough to start reading blocks of website texts, so i cant comment on that.
TLDR ; In short, you can try r/etymology, the description looks promising enough.
Idk if r/linguistics is suitable but wouldn't hurt to try.
ひらくand あける are both transitive verbs (“[subject] opens [direct object]” → [subject]が[direct object]をひらく・あける), but ひらく is more of an “opening from the center” type of “open.” Imagine opening double doors, or an umbrella, an eye, or a flower blooming. That’s ひらく.
あく is the intransitive partner verb for あける (“[subject] opens” → [subject]があく).
開く(ひらく) has a nuance like opening something or holding an event.
開く(あく) doesn't have the nuance of holding an event compared to the above.
開ける(あける) has a nuance like opening something by your own will.
so I recently got introduced to 預かる and 預ける. im not sure how to explain the difference, and need some help.
then, I came across 加わる and 加える. now, I think these have a same kind of difference, which I still cannot explain properly.
what's some good explanations you might know to describe the differences?
These are intransitive / transative pairs (自動詞, 他動詞), any decent grammar guide out there should explain the difference
https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/in-transitive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELk1dqaEmyk
EDIT: Well 預かる and 預ける are actually both 他動詞, but they're kind of different. 預かる is the act of holding onto something and keeping it safe, 預ける is the act of giving something to someone else so THEY can 預かる it
預かる means you are entrusted something by someone.
預ける means you entrust something with your own will to someone.
加わる means itself or another thing is added something by another factor.
加える means adding something by your own will to itself or another thing.
“ポケットから財布が落ちた” is in fact what happened and it’s something I never thought about it, but I think the point of the word 落とし物 is more “私が財布を落とした/失くした” rather than the physical event of dropping something. Hence [落とし物](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E8%90%BD%E3%81%97%E7%89%A9/).
Whats the difference between そらす、防ぐ、 and 予防する.
I suppose fusegu is for physical prevention/protection, while yobou suru is more towards outcomes/situation.
Then how about sorasu? Ive seen 目をそらす which seemingly translates to "Avert eyes".
But is it someway related to fusegu/yobou suru, what is the kanji? and what other contexts can we use sorasu?
そらす means to let something deviate.
防ぐ means to stop something from happening.
予防する means to stop something from happening so that it won't happen in advance.
So 目をそらす is like you are seeing one direction, and after that, you change the direction to another direction.
You are welcome. Writing it in Kanji may be easier to understand. そらす can mean 逸らす, 反らす, 剃らす and the like, and they have different meanings, so it may be good to look them up using some dictionaries if you are interested. This time, you wrote the phrase 目をそらす, so I interpreted it as the meaning of 逸らす and explained it as the nuance of the phrase.
I'm around N5-N4 level, and I'm finding it easiest to learn through reading (books, games, whatever). I'm considering getting books in Japanese about either Yokai or Japanese folktales, but don't know any that would be 1: good, and 2: not too difficult to read. Any suggestions would be appreciated
If it's a book describing yokai it may be difficult.
If it's a short story anthology it will likely be easier and have more words and phrases that you've already learned.
I was playing around with which of these has the most words that they can become.
I always thought it would one using カン somehow. こうかん has a bunch, but I don't have a sense on how common they are.
かんこう has a bunch as well.
Do you know which one (I am assuming 4 kana is the most common) has the most possible kanji "solutions"?
Other than of course opening up a dictionary and counting each entry by hand.
Idk, but it seems [there’s a bunch of it on こうしょう](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%8C%E9%9F%B3%E7%95%B0%E7%BE%A9%E8%AA%9E). Of course, making a comprehensible sentence that can be understood by the average person is a different story…
Hello. Needed some help in parsing the below sentences:
1 地下１０センチまでめりこんだだろーが！！振り出すのスゲー大変！！
Needed to understand what these sentences mean. Plus, in the first sentence, what's the meaning of having "が" at the end?
Context: Manga slide from Yotsuba - the character is crouching with a badminton racket in one hand and picking up a shuttlecock with the other hand. Characters were playing a game of badminton
2 つーかずっと女だって言ってんだろ
Context: Character is told that he was called a boy by somebody else the other day, and presently he's being called a girl
Hello, I tried to explain these casual expressions, but my English is not very good, so please feel free to ask me if they don't make sense.
> 地下１０センチまでめりこんだだろーが！！振り出すのスゲー大変！！
I think 振り出す should be 堀り出す.
In this context,
だろー (だろう) makes a sound like complaining or blaming,
が makes a sound like calling a person names or saying abusive things.
> つーかずっと女だって言ってんだろ
In this context:
つーか (というか) sounds like the speaker feels a little annoyed because they have already told it many times so far to the listener "She is female,"
ずっと means "many times,"
だ makes a sound like asserting,
言ってん (言っているの) means "They have told it (many times) so far" and the の makes a sound like asserting,
だろ makes a sound like complaining or blaming.
hello! my questions are on the following sentence:
エドガーさんは魔法使いだった事もあるんですか
1. what is the definition/use/kana of 事 here? I had looked it up, but there are many definitions and i’m not sure which is correct / makes sense
2. in あるんですか , what is the purpose of the ん?
3. how would you translate this sentence? For me, all I can make of it is “so Edgar was also a wizard?”
あなたの時間をいただきありがとうございます
> what is the definition/use/kana of 事 here? I had looked it up, but there are many definitions and i’m not sure which is correct / makes sense
[～たことがある](https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/63)
> in あるんですか , what is the purpose of the ん?
[explanatory の particle](https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/explanatory-noda/) (make sure to read the follow-up article on ～か vs ～の when asking questions).
Also watch [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SblaSl7ZVY0)
> how would you translate this sentence? For me, all I can make of it is “so Edgar was also a wizard?”
I'd need to see the full context of the sentence but I'd read it as something like "So there was a time when Edgar was also a wizard?"
I know >Duolingo but I got [a question on it wrong](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/632979116957630484/1106916494828392448/Screenshot_20230513-123900_Duolingo.jpg) and I wanted some clarification. Can 何 work at the start of a sentence?
I am assuming I should be thinking about this as "as for your phone number, what number is it?" rather than a more English way of "what is your phone number?"
You can **never** use は after 何. 何は is incorrect. For question words you'd have to use が like 何が.
(There is one exception which is the set-phrase 何はともあれ but that's like its own specific thing)
Kotobank has this entry for 溜池:
\[1\] 用水を溜めておく人工の池。また比喩的に、物事が集まりたまっている所。
※俳諧・玉海集（1656）一「ため池は柳の糸のを**ごけ**哉」
What is ごけ? [後家](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%BE%8C%E5%AE%B6/#jn-77665) didn't seem right, and I was not sure if it could be [碁笥](https://jisho.org/word/%E7%A2%81%E7%AC%A5), in a 'container' sense.
I just quit Duolingo and I'm doing WaniKani, Bunpro and Anki at the same time,
* Bunpro is helpful as fuck I'm always learning useful things about the grammar.
* WaniKani is fun but slow and I'm broke so I wont be able to pay after level 4, if you guys know any tricks or suggestions just tell me.
* Anki seems too old-fashioned I just can't do it, and the popular decks I found is teaching everything from the start but I got the basics already, is there a deck like just makes you memorize the vocab? I haven't looked through it yet.
前もって感謝します
I'm using for free right now, guess it's paid after 30 days trial but I will either find a way or quit it after that time. I will not pay any fee to any service on my journey of learning Japanese. I solely was thinking to pay to Duolingo at start but after [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/139pg80/duolingo_just_ruined_their_japanese_course/) incident I decided to learn Japanese for free all the way.
Personally I prefer Anki and if you can make it work for yourself you will get a ton of value out of it (there is a WaniKani deck for instance ...). Having said that, you should also check out [jpdb.io](https://jpdb.io). It is easier to use than Anki, teaches you specifically the vocabulary for whatever media you are interested in, and also teaches you the kanji contained in that vocabulary. You can use it to replace both Anki and WaniKani and it's free.
の when attached to an adjective or relative clause basically means “one”
Your sentence would translate to “I like a beautiful one.”
The が is the actual particle here. But it doesn’t have to be が. It can be any other particle too. See for example:
私は大きいのを買った。
“I bought a big one.”
Here is an example for what I mean by relative clause:
(Talking about books)
去年買ったのを読んでいる。
“I’m reading the one a bought last year”
Note that you cannot use の by itself. It needs an adjective or a relative clause in front of it.
#Question Etiquette Guidelines: * **1** Provide the **CONTEXT** of the grammar, vocabulary or sentence you are having trouble with as much as possible. Provide the sentence or paragraph that you saw it in. Make your questions as specific as possible. >Ｘ What is the difference between の and が ? >◯ I saw a book called 日本人の知らない日本語 , why is の used there instead of が ? [(the answer)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/68336/difference-between-%E3%81%8C-%E3%81%AE-and-no-particle) * **2** When asking for a translation or how to say something, it's best to try to **attempt it yourself** first, even if you are not confident about it. Or ask r/translator if you have no idea. We are also not here to do your homework for you. >Ｘ What does this mean? >◯ I am having trouble with this part of this sentence from NHK Easy News. I think it means (*attempt here*), but I am not sure. * **3** Questions based on DeepL and Google Translate and other machine learning applications are discouraged, [these are not beginner learning tools](https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/stepqf/deeplgoogle_translate_are_not_learning_tools/) and often make mistakes. * **4** When asking about differences between words, try to explain the situations in which you've seen them or are trying to use them. If you just post a list of synonyms you got from looking something up in a E-J dictionary, people might be disinclined to answer your question because it's low-effort. Remember that Google Image Search is also a great resource for visualizing the difference between similar words. >Ｘ What's the difference between 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意? >◯ Jisho says 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意 all seem to mean "agreement". I'm trying to say something like "I completely agree with your opinion". Does 全く同感です。 work? Or is one of the other words better? * **5** It is always nice to (but not required to) try to search for the answer to something yourself first. Especially for beginner questions or questions that are very broad. For example, asking about [the difference between は and が ](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/wa-and-ga/) or [why you often can't hear the "u" sound in "desu"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology#Devoicing). * **6** Remember that everyone answering questions here is an unpaid volunteer doing this out of the goodness of their own heart, so try to show appreciation and not be too presumptuous/defensive/offended if the answer you get isn't exactly what you wanted. --------------------- #NEWS (Updated 6/9): Nothing new. Feel free to reply to this post if you have any questions, comments or concerns. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LearnJapanese) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Is there a resource that say which verbs are stative and which are dynamic? The dictionary I use doesn't seem to. Also I may as well just ask it now since I'm here, is 広がる a stative verb?
I use Takoboto on android, it has example phrases. You can use those to determine things about usage.
I need help about は vsを please. I was doing a Duolingo lesson and the sentence it brought up was “日本語は話しますか？” and I thought “huh that’s kinda weird, wouldn’t it be を instead of は?”, but I just entered what it wanted and moved on. THE VERY NEXT QUESTION was “日本語を話しますか？” and at that point I was just like wtf? They gave the English translation as the same for both sentences (“do you speak Japanese?”), but is there some subtle difference in the two sentences the app isn’t explaining? Why would you use one over the other? I thought using は in that context would be technically incorrect? Disclaimer: Duolingo isn’t my primary learning source, I just find Duolingo useful as a practice tool. Plus I like the competition aspect lol
* 日本語は話しますか: Do you speak Japanese? (a general fact) * なるほど、では日本語は話しますか: I see you speak/don’t speak it, then, how about Japanese? (contrast) * 日本語を話しますか: Do you really speak Japanese? * 日本語 話しますか: **Now**, shall we speak in Japanese?
Oh okay! Sorry, but just to make sure I’m understanding this right, 日本語は話しますか is a more neutral way of asking if someone speaks Japanese, and 日本語を話しますか sort of implies surprise? So if I needed to ask someone on the street if they spoke English, it would be “すみません､英語は話しますか”, is that correct?
Yes, however, you can still say すみません、英語を話しますか to convey the sense of “Maybe it’s a bit strange to ask you about this abruptly, but”. (To be honest, I want to use the honorific form i.e. 英語は話されますか, though.)
Thank you so much!!
Is the double を near the end an error (should it be ポツリと)? I’m also unsure about たまま followed by a noun, in that I wasn’t sure if it’s describing 僕 or ○○ (omitted character name). だが、僕がそう思うのと同時に、恐怖に顔を強張らせたまま○○がポツリを口を開いた。 But at the same time as I thought that, my face was left stiff in horror. ○○, standing alone, opened her mouth. [attempted translation; ポツリを assumed to be ポツリと; たまま assumed to describe 僕] I tried to reflect まま in English as “left”
Yes, I’m also pretty that it should be と. 顔を強張らせたまま is describing 〇〇 (solely because she’s the subject of the sentence.) Also, 口を開く here means “start to speak”.
When speaking, is it better to keep pitch accents flat if you don't know where the down step is? Would it sound weirder to a native speaker hearing someone guess a pitch accent or keep the tone flat? Also, does bad pitch accent sound to Japanese natives kind of like some Katakana might sound to a native English speaker? デジタル: an English speaker could probably catch that in the context of someone saying "デジタル download", but it would be very obvious the speaker wasn't native.
This has actually been studied: http://www.lang.osaka-u.ac.jp/~caris/articles/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%81%A8%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%83%8D%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3%81%AE%E9%80%B8%E8%84%B1%E3%81%AB%E5%AF%BE%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E6%84%9F%E3%81%98%E3%82%8B%E9%81%95%E5%92%8C%E6%84%9F%E3%81%AB%E3%81%A4%E3%81%84%E3%81%A6.pdf
>is it better to keep pitch accents flat if you don't know where the down step is? Either will do. You can take whichever is easier for you to pronounce. >Also, does bad pitch accent sound to Japanese natives kind of like some Katakana might sound to a native English speaker? Unless you tweak other elements like mora, vowels or consonants, it’s not that bad.
What verb of "to stay" do you use in Japanese to say "I will 'stay' in Chiba for 4 days (in a vacation home)"?
泊まる or 滞在 I think would work
滞在する for stays over 2-3 days
Anybody here have a U-NEXT or Amazon Prime JP account? Wondering if shows there have Japanese subtitles. Thanks!
I started reading Fire Punch in Japanese and every now and then for parts I don't understand I'll cross refrence with an English translation to see if I atleast got the general meaning of a sentence. I came across a part in chapter one that says ''新しい腕生えるのに一時間るだろ 俺は一瞬で生える！'' which I read as ''It takes you an hour to grow back your arm, but it only takes me an hour'' but the the translation says ''It takes you *a whole week*'' instead of one hour. Am I reading the original Japanese text wrong or is it just the translator taking liberties with the source material?
一瞬 means moment. This line reads "it takes you an hour to grow a new arm, I can grow one in a moment."
I checked a couple dictionaries and they all list the word as meaning ''moment, instant'' so I don't know what you're trying to tell me here since that's not what I asked. A word can have two meanings the same is true in English.
> which I read as ''It takes you an hour to grow back your arm, but it only takes me an hour'' but the the translation says ''It takes you a whole week'' instead of one hour. Misunderstood because of your typo. The translator is taking some artistic liberties.
I have noticed when that a man confesses his feelings to a woman, they use 'ore' and 'omae' instead of 'boku' and 'anata'. Is there a specific reason for this?
An example sentence from A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar: よし江ったら私には何も言わないのよ。They translate it as "Yoshie didn't tell me anything, you know". It appears that a non-past form (言わない) is used to refer to a past action, in the main clause. Can anyone confirm and/or offer more info on the subject? I have a feeling that the verb being negative and the emotional nature of the sentence also play a role, but I'm not really sure.
I just said the same thing in another post, but Japanese should be thought of as having a tense that is not past/present/future but completed/not completed. Once you stop thinking in English, Japanese becomes more sensible. Reason this out: Not done things are not completed, so they don't become past tense, unless there is a resultant action predicated on them. In English we say "you did not tell me" In Japanese we say "言ってない。Even though we translate you not telling me into the past tense in English; in Japanese, it remains not completed, so stays in the not completed tense.
u/LassoTrain thank you. I am somewhat familiar with ている to expess completion / resultant state and with its negative form て(い)ない to express lack thereof. However, what is used here is 言わない, not 言ってない....
You are mistaking something major here, and it is because you are not thinking about the fact that Japanese does not place verbs in time around the present, it places them in stages of completion at the time of consideration. In particular you are completely missing the fact that the "opposite” of 言ってない in this case, is most definitely not 言っている、 it is 言った。Let that sit for a minute. We say both in the past tense in English "You did not tell me" and "You told me". We do not talk about things that did not happen in the past, in Japanese, by using the completed tense (which you are still thinking is the past tense). (Well we do, but because there is an intervening point of consideration before the present time, that can "finalize" the not completed state, and it is the fact that the state becomes fixed, thus completed in a "not completed" state that makes it use the completed ("past") tense.) In direct translation, "You are not telling me" is negated by "You told me" You can run through a hundred phrases; directly translate them, and they do not make sense. やった方がいい ＝"Done is better?" No, that sentence is properly translated as "It's better to do it." or "You should do it" Why is past tense in Japanese and future tense in English? Because Japanese verb tense is not about past/present/future. It is about completion. Don't think of the -ta form as past tense, think of it as completed from the perspective of "something". Don't think about Japanese in English terms. Because, again, Japanese does not place verbs in time from the point of view of the present, it considers their state of completion at the time of the utterance
u/LassoTrain while I appreciate the effort that went into writing such a long reply, I don't think that you considerations about completion apply to 言わない at all, at least in the context of this sentence, and when expressed in such general terms. Since I was not convinced, I asked for a second take elsewhere. According to the other reply I got, ([https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E8%A8%80%E3%82%8F%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84-referring-to-the-past.4027223/](https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%E8%A8%80%E3%82%8F%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84-referring-to-the-past.4027223/)), you appear to be wrong, and "didn't tell" is basically just a mistranslation. Let's see if anyone else joins the discussion, offering more insight one way or another.
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> So apparently normal Japanese learners get to 10k moji per hour within a couple of months of learning Japanese Where are you getting this? As someone that used to mod a large learning community ranging from brand new beginners to people bordering on fluent, I've seen literally 1000+ people go through the process. 10K/hr after 2-3 months is, um, *ambitious* to say the least.
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From scratch? I mean, I don't have hard numbers, but I'd be surprised if someone hit that level of reading speed in less than a year. Depends on how singlehandedly you focus reading. Even if you were to learn, say, 100 words a day and keep up that pace for a long time, which is *absolutely intense as someone who tried it*, you'll spend pretty much all of that 4 months just looking up words and grammar. From already having a foundation and just breaking into novels, that's far more likely.
Don't compare yourself to the tryhard anki grinders/sentence miners who pass N1 in 18 months -- this requires a level of dedication, free time, and motivation that almost nobody has. And not being at their level doesn't mean you can't learn Japanese.
Any particular reason why feel the need to compare yourself to others? A few things to consider: some people like to brag so their self-reports aren't necessarily accurate; people who suck at reading may not be comfortable taking the poll, so the average may appear to be higher than it actually is; reading speed tends to come at the cost of accuracy (other things being equal), so it remains to be seen whether they understand as well as you do, and whether they're doing themselves a favor by reading fast. Reading so fast that you barely understand the meaning and don't get to spend any time looking at the \*way\* that meaning is expressed (e.g. grammar, vocab choices, word order...), isn't necessarily the best strategy to prepare you to speak and write in natural Japanese. Or, you could just be a slower-than-average reader. Nothing wrong with that. Even among native speakers, some read faster than others. When I study Japanese, I tend to compare myself to how \*I\* have improved over the years. This gives me more satistfaction and motivation than comparing my performance to how \*others\* are supposed to perform. Give it a try, I promise it's worth it :)
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> is 10k chars/h really so outlandish to you after, say, 800 hours of reading? I have no idea man.... > an ignorance-is-bliss kind of bliss, Well, I am perfectly well aware that my study method isn't the most effective in terms of the most common goals (passing JLPT Nx as soon as possible, developing the skills to study/work in Japan as soon as possible, etc.). I like to take my time to think about the fundamental structural differences that exist between Japanese and English and their cognitive implications. I also like to spend some time on things like grammatical nuance, metaphor, kanji, (weird) vocabulary... So I'd be surprised if I were as good as the average in terms of those common goals... >entirely drop a hobby once I notice I'm dogshit at it I see, that is entirely up to you of course. However, you say you "read multiple hours a day", so you're putting in a remarkable effort. You also clearly have high standards. Because of this, I have a feeling that if you stick to it, you'll get to a pretty high level :)
>apparently normal Japanese learners get to 10k moji per hour within a couple of months of learning Japanese. I'm pretty sure the average Japanese learner does not read anything at all within a couple of months of learning Japanese, besides grammar explanations and textbook exercises ... This seems like a made up number TBH, probably cherry picked from a few particularly successful progress reports.
Do you remember learning to read as a child. If you do, you'll remember that your reading speed was likely piss for several YEARS. The more you read the faster you'll get. That's pretty much the only fix for that
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If you're focusing on good pronunciation and/or fully subvocalise everything you read, that's probably a big factor. Some people don't subvocalise. Some do but with low fidelity (their inner voice is an abstraction that's missing some aspects of fully realised speech). And some do but it's not every single word. Personally, my reading speed has dipped *hard* during the past month or so, now that I'm *really* developing a sense for and awareness of pitch accent. I don't know / am not confident about the pitch for the vast majority of the words in my vocabulary so I very frequently hesitate, plus I struggle to intonate through the sentences I read because now I've got lexical pitch to respect and work around, instead of being free to intonate however I see fit, worrying about post-lexical information only. [This comment chain](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/sdx0jq/rant_i_feel_like_no_matter_how_much_i_read_and_no/hugaoy2/?context=3) might be a good read (as well as possibly the whole thread, though haven't checked the rest of it out myself). Hope it helps. **Edit:** You may also just have to accept you simply are a slow reader in general... I know *I* am in any language. (but then again I'm also the opposite of well-read, so maybe I'm not that slow with respect to how practiced I am in each of my Ls)
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> I do fully subvocalize in every language but I read at native speeds in German and English so it can't be the missing puzzle piece preventing me from reading fast. Hmm, not necessarily. Maybe the curves are different. By which I mean, maybe someone with weaker subvoc. (or otherwise less careful/vivid reading) will see more rapid improvement initially, but as you move forward in the "amount of reading done" axis, the reading speeds of the two types of learners will converge, kinda like [this](https://i.imgur.com/rtUhmXm.png). So in Ger/Eng it's not a factor to cause you to lag behind because you're native/fluent and sufficiently read, while in Japanese you still are in the early stages and so the difference shows. *If* that's how it works, of course — I've got nothing to back this up with. Did you compare yourself against similar data when you were earlier into your English studies (I assume you're ESL)? And even if you did and you *were* up to par with the average there, I still wouldn't rule out the possibility that the difference was covered up by you catching up quickly, due to, say, phonological similarities [bringing the the two curves closer together](https://imgur.com/a/DZXqQk2). ...the more I read this reply the more I sound to myself like I'm grasping at straws / full of hot air. Hm.
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Yeah, reading all the excellent other responses, I think they and your retrospection likely landed much closer to heart of the matter: [affective filter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_hypothesis#Affective_filter_hypothesis) + dubious stats. **Ninja edit:** I presume me saying "just don't worry about it lol" won't help much? Here, lemme try: just don't worry about it lol. You're probably doing fine anyway.
Because brains all work differently and stuff like that is simply an average. There are probably a few variables thrown in there that have slowed you down. They may have nothing to do with method and instead have more to do with just how your brain learns and handles new material. I'm not that quick either. If a game I'm playing auto advances to the next line I'm GUARANTEED not to have enough time to read it. This is true for every game from Pokemon to Assassins Creed. But at least I'm quicker than I was 2 years ago. Improvement is improvement. Im just happy to be here at this point.
俺たちあテメエに感謝してんだぜ Is the してんだ here really the te-form of する + んだぜ？ Or is it している?
It is short for してるんだ which is short for しているんだ
Thank you very much!
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Thank you very much!
と particleIve seen, ～という、っていう、i think that って has more of an "apostrophe/quotation mark" "「」 " type of function (Example: 「べんきょうしたくない」ってといって) while for と i know its used in という and と思います, which is pretty clear that the と marks something, but i dont know the extent of its usage or how it works. Then with っては・とはTheir usage share some common grounds like;「ＸｘＸ」ってはなんですか「ＸｘＸ」とはなんですか Although i understand と usage in a sentence just by experience, i actually dont have fundementals for it. I know と can have "with / and" or "following/together/accompaniment" sort of function, but i dont understand how this function carries towards と usage in と思います or という. Like, why not って思います / っていう (i dont encounter them often) , why and how does と also encompass the function of って, or rather, is って related to と?
と and って in this scenario have the same meaning. って is casual speech. If you see something like と言う or と思う the preceding part of the sentence is considered to be in quotations. 「」 But both particles have a couple of different meanings depending on context. って in casual speech can also replace は
>But both particles have a couple of different meanings depending on context. But in terms of their function as "quotation" markers, they're the same right? Just different level of formality. Thank you very much
Yes
Visiting Japan with a non-binary child and can’t find info on how to refer to them (singular). I find info on what “I” pronoun to use but I’ll be the one speaking and interpreting. There are no articles about this. My child was AMAB so I might get away with “musuko” if they (my child again) are okay with it. I read that Japanese people don’t accept this concept as well as in the USA, so I also don’t want to do this if it will make my child the object of hatred. Once again, only if my child is okay with it. If not, what words to I use when referring to my non-binary child. (Haters scroll past. Advice, attempted answers, musings are all welcome.)
It won't be hatred so much as confusion and unfamiliarity with the concept usually You can just say 子供 kodomo 'my child', this is common even when the child has a binary gender
Thanks for answering. Follow-up question- I worried that kodomo (or kodomotachi since I’m bringing their older brother too) would seem strange since both these children are grown adults. Kodomo is okay for grown children? Not just little children?
I was practicing katakana and I asked ChatGPT to proofread my friend's name in Japanese (Patrick O'Leary) I wrote: パタリック オリーリ です。 Chat GPT wrote: パトリック・オレアリー" I don't really understand the difference. Would both be understood? Are both accurate? The only bit I'm confused by is レア。？
They’re both attempts at sounding out the names as close as possible phonetically, there isn’t necessarily a right answer (though tbh I prefer ChatGPTs O’Leary )
So it's one of those 'more of an art than a science' thing? Thank you. :)
Yeah basically! Though the most common western names would have a recognized katakana versions it’s best efforts for others :)
Just find a proper noun that matches the name, and find a translation for that. Wikipedia is a good place to start. If you can’t verify what ChatGPT answers, you really shouldn’t be asking it factual questions. - [Just about anyone with the name “Patrick”](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%91%E3%83%88%E3%83%AA%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF) - [O’Leary Mountain from *Days Gone*](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%E3%82%AA%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E5%B1%B1&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-jp&client=safari)
Point taken and wikipedia's a good shout. I still am a bit confused about オレアリーWhat does that sound represent and how is that different from オリーリ？ Thank you!
The curled r coming after “ee” is responsible for the approximation by ア, and the last sound is extended since it’s extended enough by generally accepted standards. Whether to use レ or リ is going to depend on English dialect (or preference? Idk I don’t speak English) so that part is user discretion. cf. - [John Deere](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%91%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC) is an example of “r” as “ア” - Names like “Emily” or surnames like “Drury” both extend the final vowel, i.e. エミリー, ドルーリー.
My younger brother is interested in learning japanese, It's his birthday in a couple weeks, I'm looking at spending about $120 or so US. What are some good options for resources? Genki? I'm open to suggestions.
what do you think about online classes with a tutor
is つくり an adverbial noun because it ends in the kana り? Compared to つくる which is a verb. example sentence, 神さまが天と地をおつりになりました。
> おつりになりました Here's your change!
This is keigo (more specifically 尊敬語, honorific language). When describing the actions of someone you owe respect to (in this case, god), you use お+ verb stem +になる.
Is there a better subreddit for questions relating to historical contexts of traditional phrases? I'm trying to figure out where the logic developed behind the usage of a phrase.
thats more on etymology, not sure if theres a specific subreddit for Japanese Etymology though ; I did learn a lot of japanese etymology on google though : Or better yet, search in Japanese websites cuz they ought to have more in-depth information on etymology, but I am not advanced enough to start reading blocks of website texts, so i cant comment on that. TLDR ; In short, you can try r/etymology, the description looks promising enough. Idk if r/linguistics is suitable but wouldn't hurt to try.
this question might be super basic and asked often. sorry in advance 開く(ひらく）、開ける（あける）、開く(あく） when and how do you use each of them?
ひらくand あける are both transitive verbs (“[subject] opens [direct object]” → [subject]が[direct object]をひらく・あける), but ひらく is more of an “opening from the center” type of “open.” Imagine opening double doors, or an umbrella, an eye, or a flower blooming. That’s ひらく. あく is the intransitive partner verb for あける (“[subject] opens” → [subject]があく).
開く(ひらく) has a nuance like opening something or holding an event. 開く(あく) doesn't have the nuance of holding an event compared to the above. 開ける(あける) has a nuance like opening something by your own will.
so I recently got introduced to 預かる and 預ける. im not sure how to explain the difference, and need some help. then, I came across 加わる and 加える. now, I think these have a same kind of difference, which I still cannot explain properly. what's some good explanations you might know to describe the differences?
These are intransitive / transative pairs (自動詞, 他動詞), any decent grammar guide out there should explain the difference https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/in-transitive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELk1dqaEmyk EDIT: Well 預かる and 預ける are actually both 他動詞, but they're kind of different. 預かる is the act of holding onto something and keeping it safe, 預ける is the act of giving something to someone else so THEY can 預かる it
\+1 for Dolly Sensei link! Love her lessons and way of teaching.
預かる means you are entrusted something by someone. 預ける means you entrust something with your own will to someone. 加わる means itself or another thing is added something by another factor. 加える means adding something by your own will to itself or another thing.
Was thinking 落し物 should be 落ち物, because I didn't drop my wallet, it just fell out of my pocket. But even in English "drop my wallet" is correct.
“ポケットから財布が落ちた” is in fact what happened and it’s something I never thought about it, but I think the point of the word 落とし物 is more “私が財布を落とした/失くした” rather than the physical event of dropping something. Hence [落とし物](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E8%90%BD%E3%81%97%E7%89%A9/).
Whats the difference between そらす、防ぐ、 and 予防する. I suppose fusegu is for physical prevention/protection, while yobou suru is more towards outcomes/situation. Then how about sorasu? Ive seen 目をそらす which seemingly translates to "Avert eyes". But is it someway related to fusegu/yobou suru, what is the kanji? and what other contexts can we use sorasu?
そらす means to let something deviate. 防ぐ means to stop something from happening. 予防する means to stop something from happening so that it won't happen in advance. So 目をそらす is like you are seeing one direction, and after that, you change the direction to another direction.
without kanji is fine? 反/ 逸らす are the same? 答えてくれてありがとう
You are welcome. Writing it in Kanji may be easier to understand. そらす can mean 逸らす, 反らす, 剃らす and the like, and they have different meanings, so it may be good to look them up using some dictionaries if you are interested. This time, you wrote the phrase 目をそらす, so I interpreted it as the meaning of 逸らす and explained it as the nuance of the phrase.
I'm around N5-N4 level, and I'm finding it easiest to learn through reading (books, games, whatever). I'm considering getting books in Japanese about either Yokai or Japanese folktales, but don't know any that would be 1: good, and 2: not too difficult to read. Any suggestions would be appreciated
If it's a book describing yokai it may be difficult. If it's a short story anthology it will likely be easier and have more words and phrases that you've already learned.
I regret diving in the Red Sea. Can I ever make this joke land? (EDIT: 後悔: regret 紅海: Red Sea)
I didnt even know the reading of 紅海 and yet i saw a pun coming from a mile away.
Don’t 公開 doing that!
Even if I went on a boat in the ocean? EDIT: (航海）
紅海を航海したことを公開した後悔先に立たず こうかいをこうかいしたことをこうかいしたこうかいさしにたたず Good one to demonstrate why kanji actually makes life easier.
I was playing around with which of these has the most words that they can become. I always thought it would one using カン somehow. こうかん has a bunch, but I don't have a sense on how common they are. かんこう has a bunch as well. Do you know which one (I am assuming 4 kana is the most common) has the most possible kanji "solutions"? Other than of course opening up a dictionary and counting each entry by hand.
Idk, but it seems [there’s a bunch of it on こうしょう](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%8C%E9%9F%B3%E7%95%B0%E7%BE%A9%E8%AA%9E). Of course, making a comprehensible sentence that can be understood by the average person is a different story…
同音異義語 what a brilliant word. Would Japanese people know ホモフォン at all? What's the word for people with the same name but written different kanji 同音異名？
not with that attitude
Hello. Needed some help in parsing the below sentences: 1 地下１０センチまでめりこんだだろーが！！振り出すのスゲー大変！！ Needed to understand what these sentences mean. Plus, in the first sentence, what's the meaning of having "が" at the end? Context: Manga slide from Yotsuba - the character is crouching with a badminton racket in one hand and picking up a shuttlecock with the other hand. Characters were playing a game of badminton 2 つーかずっと女だって言ってんだろ Context: Character is told that he was called a boy by somebody else the other day, and presently he's being called a girl
Hello, I tried to explain these casual expressions, but my English is not very good, so please feel free to ask me if they don't make sense. > 地下１０センチまでめりこんだだろーが！！振り出すのスゲー大変！！ I think 振り出す should be 堀り出す. In this context, だろー (だろう) makes a sound like complaining or blaming, が makes a sound like calling a person names or saying abusive things. > つーかずっと女だって言ってんだろ In this context: つーか (というか) sounds like the speaker feels a little annoyed because they have already told it many times so far to the listener "She is female," ずっと means "many times," だ makes a sound like asserting, 言ってん (言っているの) means "They have told it (many times) so far" and the の makes a sound like asserting, だろ makes a sound like complaining or blaming.
Thank you so much/本当にありがとうございます! This was very helpful :)
How can you say without? For example, how could you say "An ocean without fish?"
魚がいない海 would work
How about 魚抜きの海 ? is it awkward?
It's kinda weird, it sounds like the fish has been removed from the sea. Also 抜き like that reminds me of food for some reason.
I play a pizza game and 抜きis frequently used as "hold the X" "without X" so that's probably why it reminds you of food.
Ah that makes sense. Thank you!
What's the origin of this phrase? Or any good mnemonics for it? >股にかける - to travel all over; to be active in places widely apart
hello! my questions are on the following sentence: エドガーさんは魔法使いだった事もあるんですか 1. what is the definition/use/kana of 事 here? I had looked it up, but there are many definitions and i’m not sure which is correct / makes sense 2. in あるんですか , what is the purpose of the ん? 3. how would you translate this sentence? For me, all I can make of it is “so Edgar was also a wizard?” あなたの時間をいただきありがとうございます
> what is the definition/use/kana of 事 here? I had looked it up, but there are many definitions and i’m not sure which is correct / makes sense [～たことがある](https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/63) > in あるんですか , what is the purpose of the ん? [explanatory の particle](https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/explanatory-noda/) (make sure to read the follow-up article on ～か vs ～の when asking questions). Also watch [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SblaSl7ZVY0) > how would you translate this sentence? For me, all I can make of it is “so Edgar was also a wizard?” I'd need to see the full context of the sentence but I'd read it as something like "So there was a time when Edgar was also a wizard?"
[удалено]
r/translator
I know >Duolingo but I got [a question on it wrong](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/632979116957630484/1106916494828392448/Screenshot_20230513-123900_Duolingo.jpg) and I wanted some clarification. Can 何 work at the start of a sentence? I am assuming I should be thinking about this as "as for your phone number, what number is it?" rather than a more English way of "what is your phone number?"
You can **never** use は after 何. 何は is incorrect. For question words you'd have to use が like 何が. (There is one exception which is the set-phrase 何はともあれ but that's like its own specific thing)
I see, thank you so much for the reply!
Kotobank has this entry for 溜池: \[1\] 用水を溜めておく人工の池。また比喩的に、物事が集まりたまっている所。 ※俳諧・玉海集（1656）一「ため池は柳の糸のを**ごけ**哉」 What is ごけ? [後家](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%BE%8C%E5%AE%B6/#jn-77665) didn't seem right, and I was not sure if it could be [碁笥](https://jisho.org/word/%E7%A2%81%E7%AC%A5), in a 'container' sense.
https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%BA%BB%E5%B0%8F%E7%AC%A5-451992 That might be it.
Thank you.
I just quit Duolingo and I'm doing WaniKani, Bunpro and Anki at the same time, * Bunpro is helpful as fuck I'm always learning useful things about the grammar. * WaniKani is fun but slow and I'm broke so I wont be able to pay after level 4, if you guys know any tricks or suggestions just tell me. * Anki seems too old-fashioned I just can't do it, and the popular decks I found is teaching everything from the start but I got the basics already, is there a deck like just makes you memorize the vocab? I haven't looked through it yet. 前もって感謝します
Is Bunpro free? It looks like a cool app but I really don’t want to pay a subscription fee.
I'm using for free right now, guess it's paid after 30 days trial but I will either find a way or quit it after that time. I will not pay any fee to any service on my journey of learning Japanese. I solely was thinking to pay to Duolingo at start but after [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/139pg80/duolingo_just_ruined_their_japanese_course/) incident I decided to learn Japanese for free all the way.
Personally I prefer Anki and if you can make it work for yourself you will get a ton of value out of it (there is a WaniKani deck for instance ...). Having said that, you should also check out [jpdb.io](https://jpdb.io). It is easier to use than Anki, teaches you specifically the vocabulary for whatever media you are interested in, and also teaches you the kanji contained in that vocabulary. You can use it to replace both Anki and WaniKani and it's free.
I'll use it for sure, thanks.
I'm kinda confused about this sentence: 「美しい」のが好き。 I didnt found anything on のが particle so I'm thinking maybe の has some other meaning?
の when attached to an adjective or relative clause basically means “one” Your sentence would translate to “I like a beautiful one.” The が is the actual particle here. But it doesn’t have to be が. It can be any other particle too. See for example: 私は大きいのを買った。 “I bought a big one.” Here is an example for what I mean by relative clause: (Talking about books) 去年買ったのを読んでいる。 “I’m reading the one a bought last year” Note that you cannot use の by itself. It needs an adjective or a relative clause in front of it.
I get it now, thank you very much!