Tagged Questions
6
votes
2answers
201 views
Do we use odd day pronunciations outside of calendar ranges?
After reading @jkerian's comment in this post, I started thinking about this. Here's the comment in full:
On a side note, all days ending in '4' are also irregular, and use ~よっか. So the 14th is ...
4
votes
2answers
187 views
Counters In Japanese
I'm a super beginner in Japanese, so excuse me if this question is really simple. Or stupid.
As an exercise, sometimes I count up the things on nearby desks or tables and try to list them in ...
15
votes
1answer
472 views
Can you say “half hour” or must you say “30 minutes”?
I know that to say an hour and a half you can say 一時間半, but is it possible to express simply half an hour even though the counter comes before 半? Or would you just have to say 三十分?
If both ways are ...
5
votes
2answers
148 views
Numbers and Counters
I am still in a very early stage in learning Japanese, and just I have just learnt some numbers and my first counter words, such as the ones for telling time and まい.
Do you ever use "regular" numbers ...
4
votes
4answers
495 views
Is there a logic behind the different endings when counting things in Japanese
So far I don't see any logic to it. It seems like it's just something you have to memorize, or is there a trick that I'm missing.
Update
To clarify, I'm not so much questioning the existence of the ...
8
votes
1answer
200 views
The first: 第一 vs 一番 vs 第一番
What are differences among 第一, 一番 and 第一番, all of which seem to mean "the first" in English? Are any of them more suitable for some specific scenarios than the others (e.g. 安全第一 but 世界で一番)?
7
votes
2answers
196 views
Can counter words also be nouns?
According to people I've asked, and this page, if I pay 20 Australian dollars for my meal, it seems I say ni ju doru (20-ドル), and that ni ju-en doru (20-えん-ドル) would be ungrammatical - "dollar" acts ...
17
votes
4answers
483 views
Differences between 度 and 回 when counting occurrences
What are the differences between using 度 and 回 when used to count number of occurrences?
For example:
そんなことは一度もしたことがない
そんなことは一回もしたことがない
Are there any restrictions on what kind of actions referred ...
11
votes
2answers
215 views
How to read the X in 5X4間?
A book about architecture I'm trying to read (it's a bit of a slog what with the technical jargon and such) contained this description of a temple building: 二重、初重５X4間、裳階 （もこし） つき、上重４X3間. So it's two ...
5
votes
2answers
146 views
When to read 一人 and 二人 as いちにん and ににん?
WWWJDIC lists いちにん and ににん as alternative readings of 一人 {ひとり} and 二人 {ふたり}, but I can't recall anywhere I heard those readings except when counting more than 10 people for example 三十一人 {さんじゅういちにん}. ...
14
votes
1answer
215 views
Temperature abbreviations?
A certain dialog in my book has a man describing the symptoms of his cold to the doctor. It reads thus:
医者：熱はありますか。
...
7
votes
2answers
595 views
Is B2F, B1F, 1F, 2F, … wasei-eigo?
While visiting Tokyo, I noticed that most levels were indicated by B2F, B1F, 1F, 2F, ... .
This doesn't look like the Romaji for -kai or -gai counter-words, which I assume would be chika ni-kai, ...
9
votes
1answer
575 views
Gregorian calendar year to Japanese era name, and vice versa [closed]
Just for fun, I'm curious about how native speakers do mental translation from Gregorian calendar year (e.g 2011) to Japanese era name 年号 (e.g. 平成２３年), and vice versa. Do you have special and ...
8
votes
1answer
212 views
Is there a general counter word for objects that you can fallback on if you're not sure which one to use?
I guess we could use the native Japanese numbers, 一つ, 二つ, 三つ...but we'd run into a problem at or after ten (not sure how とお works — same for はたち).
Is there a general counter word that we can fallback ...
5
votes
2answers
655 views
List of Japanese counter words [closed]
What are the essential Japanese counter words?
For example -dai for machines, -mai for papers and stuff like that.
What else to expect/know?
Thank you
