Questions regarding the special words or particles which allow a noun to be the predicate of a sentence, somewhat equivalent to English "am", "be", "is", "was", "were".
27
votes
6answers
740 views
What does っす at the end of a sentence mean?
I saw a sentence like "それ使ってるっす" and none of my dictionaries have an entry for just "っす". Is it a verb form, gobi, or something else?
15
votes
4answers
3k views
What exactly is “なの” (nano)?
I asked a female Japanese friend to translate a sentence for me and it ends in "nano" which I took to be either an alternative question particle to -ne or -ka; or possibly two particles I don't know ...
14
votes
2answers
521 views
What connotation does なんだ add?
Specifically, in the expression 好きなんだ (I love you) why not just say 好きだ or 好きです?
10
votes
2answers
281 views
Can だ ever be used in a question?
I learned in Tae Kim's Grammar Guide that だ cannot be used when asking a question. But in the book Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication by Taeko Kamiya, I found several example ...
10
votes
2answers
326 views
や in Kansai-ben when it is not だ
The following sentence occurs in The Legend of Zelda:
ナンカ コウテ クレヤ
(This would be なんか買うてくれや！ and was famously translated as "Buy somethin', will ya!".) From the 買うて, it's obvious he's speaking ...
8
votes
3answers
195 views
correctness of い adjective + です
Generally, in all Japanese language classes, the rule you're taught is that です does not follow い adjectives. Instead, い adjectives can act like stative verbs, and as such terminate a sentence by ...
8
votes
4answers
543 views
のだから vs のだ (んだから vs んだ）
When I learnt this grammar point a while ago, my teachers told me not to use it with "から". There reasoning for this was that のだ already implies a reason or supporting information for a conclusion.
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8
votes
1answer
173 views
What is じゃ in じゃない?
Since there is possibility of "じゃありません" instead of "じゃないです" (which is logical, given "ありません" is polite "ない"), and it also seemed that I have seen "じゃ" used without "ない", I'd like to ask, what "じゃ" ...
8
votes
1answer
248 views
Is 「３人いるだと」 grammatical?
３人いるだと！？
Can you say ３人いるだ as a statement? If だと is simply だ + と, I would expect ３人いるんだと. Is だと considered a particle in its own right, with different rules than だ?
Transcription of the ...
7
votes
2answers
345 views
What is だって when it's at the beginning of a sentence?
I have read several definitions of だって but none of them seem to make sense when I see it at the beginning of a sentence and I read the context. I saw one example Japanese sentence and in the English ...
6
votes
3answers
259 views
Usage of noun-modifying である
I'm pretty sure I understand the usage of「である」 here:
ピアニストである私の姉は、いつも手に怪我をしないように気をつけています
My sister, a pianist, is always careful not to injure her hands. (My translation)
But I'm wondering if ...
6
votes
4answers
294 views
Analyzing sentences like 日本がピンチだ and 明日は雨だ
How are sentences like 日本がピンチだ (Japan is in a pinch) and 明日は雨だ (tomorrow it will rain) analyzed?
Translating them trivially, as
日本がピンチだ Japan is a pinch
明日は雨だ Tomorrow is rain
doesn't make ...
6
votes
1answer
166 views
What makes using ある for people okay in this context?
Yep, I'm reading a lot of Tintin in Japanese recently, and he keeps throwing me curve balls with the language. Here's another one.
The situation is that the car he was in has been run off the road ...
5
votes
1answer
124 views
だが attached to the subject/topic
だが is often attached to the subject/topic of a sentence as follows, with my supposed translation.
近くに住む叔父だが, 最近具合が悪いと聞いている.
'Speaking of my uncle who lives close-by, I've heard lately he's isn't ...
4
votes
2answers
156 views
Meaning of でもない in this context?
While listening to the song "Yasashisa no Riyuu", I noticed the following sentence:
今は誰の名前でもない 輝きの彼方へ
Which by the fansub is translated like this:
Now it doesn't matter whose name it may ...
4
votes
2answers
287 views
Strange use of であった in narrative
In the middle of the Famicom game Bucky O'Hare, a cutscene starts with this text:
こうして ４人を きゅうしゅつした バッキーであったが・・・じつは それは バッキー オヘアを とらえる ために トードぐんが しくんだ わなだったのだ！！
The meaning of the sentence is ...
4
votes
1answer
151 views
「こわいだから。」 versus 「こわい、だから[…]」
In an answer on another question, @TsuyoshiIto wrote:
[U]nlike commas in English, 読点 in Japanese is rarely (if ever) grammatically required. Authors are free to use 読点 wherever they feel that it ...
3
votes
1answer
384 views
Why does replacing だ to である changes the meaning of a the sentence?
「彼は映画スターであり、政治家もだ。」 means "He is a movie star, and a politician is a movie star, too" (from Tsuyoshi's comment below this other post)
「彼は映画スターであり、政治家でもある。」 means "He is a movie star and also a ...
3
votes
2answers
258 views
Sentence ending のを(だ)
I do not understand the meaning of のを:
a. 彼は家を買った。 しかも大きい庭付きのを(だ)。 (だ is indicated as optional)
Is it different from:
b. 彼は家を買った。 しかも大きい庭付きだ。 (I'm not sure if this is grammatical)
c. ...
