Particles, conjugations and endings for verbs and adjectives, and general sentence structure.
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2answers
25 views
What's the meaning of しない as in …するしない？
My textbook contains the following sentence
参加するしないにかかわらず、必ず返事を葉書で出してください。
(Regardless of whether you participate or not, kindly make sure to RSVP by postcard.)
as an example of the expression ...
6
votes
2answers
199 views
Encountered な with ten-ten
I am currently reading a manga for studying Japanese and encountered something strange. A girl exclaims「な゛?!」
The situation is that she has just had water squirted up her nose, so I am guessing it's ...
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1answer
84 views
Question about subject
I cannot understand what is the subject in the following sentences, mainly in the second one 「迂闊に手が出せなくなった・・・・・・」. Is it 「強力な力を持った天魔には」 ? Something like 強力な力を持った天魔には迂闊に手が出せなくなったのも、当然というものだろう。 ?
...
1
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1answer
140 views
Use of はじめて and どれだっけ?
I don't really know where to ask for help, usually I got the meaning of a sentence on my own but, well this sentence is giving me a hard time, it seems easy but I can't figure out what's the use of ...
1
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2answers
67 views
What verb is in 覚えてみたい?
I found this YouTube comment:
きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅとっても可愛い〜(*ﾉ∀ﾉ)ダンスとか覚えてみたいと思いまーすww
I'm not sure how to parse 覚えてみたい. The context seems to make it have nothing to do with 覚る, and in any case the え 送り仮名 ...
3
votes
1answer
85 views
Help translating this japanese sentence please?
I really really need help with this sentence I have tried everything but I don't get its structure and how to translate it so I'd appreciate if someone could help please?
オレ一人 ore hitori
...
5
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4answers
224 views
What's the most appropriate negative potential form for this situation?
This morning my co-worker asked me if I wanted some coffee. I said, "No thanks, I can't drink coffee because it upsets my stomach." I was thinking of how I'd say this in Japanese, but I'm not sure ...
0
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1answer
149 views
Can 助動詞(auxiliary verbs) be used with other 助動詞?
I've been learning about these for awhile, but everything I've seen them used in doesn't use more than 1 at a time. Is there a reason for that?
Also my materials don't really explain the subtleties ...
5
votes
1answer
98 views
Can ご存じです function as a transitive verb?
I recently got an automated email from Twitter with the following subject (except with real user names):
username さん、username さん、username さんをご存じですか?
My question is about を paired with ご存じですか. ...
4
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3answers
249 views
Why use あんなに instead of こんなに when expressing one's memories?
My textbook contains the following dialog where 鈴木さん interviews her 課長 about what he did last evening:
鈴木「焼き鳥屋ですか。その店、いかがでしたか。」
課長「安くて、おいしかったよ。あんなにおいしい焼き鳥を食べたのは初めてだなあ。」
鈴木「そんなにおいしかったんですか。」
...
3
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2answers
128 views
Question about もらう
As I learned, we can use もらう like this 「私は彼女に弁当を作ってもらいました。」, where noun before に(から) - giver and は(etc.) - reciever. But I saw sentence like
「もっとも・・・・・・そんな風になっちまった以上は、因縁なんざ意味がないだろう。悪いが俺に譲ってもらうぜ」
...
3
votes
1answer
115 views
Using two or more quotes
How would one combine two or more quotes together?
In English we just do something like "He said 'Quote A', 'Quote B' and 'Quote C'".
In chat, snailboat gave these possibilities:
「Quote A」「Quote ...
2
votes
2answers
173 views
Question about 相手
I'm confused in describing 相手 here, I cannot understand is it "Partner who can show their true self" or "Partner to whom can show your true self"(sorry for a bad translation)? Oh, and here ぶつけられる is ...
2
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1answer
158 views
How can I understand など followed by a noun phrase?
The following two sentences are from 日本語文法ハンドブック, page 116:
移動を表す表現にはいくつかありますが、「行く」と「来る」は補助動詞としての用法を持つ点で文法的に重要です。補助動詞としての「〜ていく」と「〜てくる」（この場合は普通ひらがなで書きます）には、話し手など文中の特定の人物の視点を基準にした空間的な移動の方向性を示す用法と、特定
...
3
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1answer
109 views
Origin of ~なければ ならない
The expression ~なければ ならない if I learned correctly means "must not not do ..." as in:
日本語を勉強しなければなりません。
You must not not learn Japanese. (i.e. you need to learn Japanese)
However, taken on face value ...
2
votes
1answer
147 views
Question about を
In the following sentences is it correct to put を(second one) here ? Maybe it should be に ? And if its correct, how can we translate this part ? 「それをクラスメイト*を*見られて以降」
中学の夏休みだったーー。 ...
3
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1answer
142 views
Explain づき in the given sentence
First of all, hi everyone.
In the beginning of an anime episode I often see a message to turn on the lights in the room and not to sit too close to the screen. Leaving some stuff out it looks like ...
2
votes
1answer
115 views
What does the 「っち」 in ＠「見守りっち」 translate into?
What does Verb in 「ます」form +「っち」 mean?
What does the 「っち」 in ＠「見守りっち」 translate into?
3
votes
3answers
184 views
Problem understanding some parts in a sentence －てくの and －んだろうって
The sentence is this one:
私は立場的に何を着てくのが正しいんだろうって思って。。。
I think I got the rough meaning of the sentence: I (私) am wondering (思って) what's (何を) is the right thing (が正し) to wear (着) for her ...
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2answers
168 views
adjective before adjective
As far as I know an adjective can be before noun(for ex. 美しい花) or before other adjective, but with て(for ex. 寂しくて眠れない夜). But in the following sentence「指定席みたいなコジンマリとした少年 」- this part is a bit of odd. ...
1
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1answer
142 views
What is particle と means here
I'm a bit of confused with と in the following sentence, what does it mean here and how can we translate the whole sentence?
その名に恥じず放置すればするだけ存分と進行してくれればそれは非常に楽だけど。
Thank you very much for help!
2
votes
2answers
120 views
Talking about what other people think
As far as I know when we talking about other people thoughts in japanese we have to use something like よう、と思う etc. But I've got a problem in the following sentence, I cannot understand と考え here about ...
1
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2answers
160 views
しゅみについて meaning
My Japanese lesson has an oral exam, the title is しゅみについて. Can anyone explain what is the meaning of the title? Can I start the conversation with this? しゅみについてどう思いか？
3
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1answer
115 views
Question regarding えば〜ほど
I have a question regarding えば〜ほど。My understanding of it is that it means, the more/less (property), the more/less (property).
If I want to say, the more experiences one has, the more ~ , should it ...
1
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1answer
96 views
Can't parse sentence with 「へったくれもない」
In my JLPT textbook, they have this sentence:
自分{じぶん}のない者{もの}に表現{ひょうげん}もへったくれもない。
The book provides a translation, which is this:
You can't talk about expression if you have none (of your ...
3
votes
1answer
107 views
What's the difference between どうして and どうやって?
I've read on stackexchange that どうやって can be used to mean "what did you do in order to x"
どうやってお医者になったか? - What did you do in order to become a doctor?
This definition makes alot of sense to ...
3
votes
1answer
150 views
How can I make sense of あるような無いような?
I'm still playing Game Boy Wars Advance 2, and it contains this dialogue:
聞いたことあるような無いような・・・
どこの軍でしたっけ？
The first sentence has me confused. My intuition tells me the meaning of the sentence ...
3
votes
1answer
114 views
Meaning and translation 働かせっぱなし
Help me please with translation 働かせっぱなし in the following sentence
それって、朝からずっと働かせっぱなしの人間に対して、掛ける言葉じゃ、ないと思うんだけど
The main problem is that I cannot understand how to correctly translate 働かせっぱなしの人間, ...
2
votes
1answer
170 views
What does 手になる mean?
As the title says. I found it on weblio dictionary and it says ある人がその事に当たる。, but that doesn't help me a lot, as I can't find example sentences (and the one I have on the book I'm reading isn't too ...
1
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1answer
120 views
Is this sentence using はず complete?
I have this sentence in my flashcards, which I pulled from a JLPT textbook of mine a while back. Long enough ago that I've lost the source. It looks strange to me now, though, and I wonder if maybe I ...
1
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1answer
203 views
Meaning and translation お納めになられる
Tell me please, what is the meaning of お納めになられる in the following sentence.
Is it just passive ?
Thanks for help!
2
votes
1answer
127 views
Why is なんて the correct answer for this question?
Here's a question from N3文法スピードマスター。
英語も中国語もスペイン語もできる*なんて*、素晴らしいですねえ。
This question is multiple-choice, so the other incorrect choices were: なんと、など、なんか just for your information.
Here's my ...
3
votes
1answer
156 views
Verbs which are more frequently used to built the honorific passive forms
I'd like to ask you a question about this honorific form. I will give an example as detailed as possible to make this question clear.
The verb yomu is often used in passive form to show respect:
...
4
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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 ...
8
votes
1answer
281 views
Why is 楽しみに！wrong?
I was corrected on Lang-8 website that I should write 楽しみ！or 楽しみにしています！instead of 楽しみに！. And I don't understand why.
Help please. 教えてくださいませんか。
4
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2answers
66 views
なので relationship does not seem to match in そうじが楽なので、部屋にはなるべく物を置かないようにしている
This is from N3文法スペードマスター。
This is one of the questions taken from the book:
そうじが楽（ ）、部屋にはなるべく物を置かないようにしている。
The blank in the bracket is to be filled with one from this set of choices:
...
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2answers
161 views
What's the difference between 〜に対しての and 〜に対する?
The question understanding 対する details [noun]に対する[noun], but what is the difference between [noun]に対しての[noun] and [noun]に対する[noun]?
Space ALC has a fair number of examples for both に対する and に対しての ...
2
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1answer
149 views
Past tense of なし in Classical Japanese?
Is it なしかりたらず as a usual し adjective? Or is it something weirder? I need this for a skit.
3
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2answers
239 views
Why is this guy hesitant to call and ask her out on a date?
This is a section of text from my JLPT textbook on page 33:
...
1
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1answer
90 views
meaning of から in following sentence
Tell me please, what is から means in the following sentence?
本当のところを言うと、この時間に悠馬さんがここを通るからと、夏目さんに教えてもらったので、待っていたんです。
Thank you very much for help!
5
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2answers
203 views
Which verb receives a negation in a Japanese sentence?
I can say 歩いて渡る which translates to "to cross by walking". However, if I would like to say "I am not going to cross by walking, but by some other means", would I say
歩かないで渡る or 歩いて渡らない?
There are ...
4
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1answer
141 views
How are these two sentences not negating their premise?
In my JLPT textbook, 日本語総まとめＮ１読解, on page17, there are these two sentences (which are both part of a larger paragraph, but I hope I have included enough):
...
3
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2answers
238 views
Fooling honest people, or honest people look foolish?
Clearly I'm still struggling with the use of ばかを見る, which I have asked about before.
This sentence appears in a question in my JLPT textbook:
正直者{しょうじきもの}がばかをみない 社会{しゃかい}であるべきだ。
Based on the ...
4
votes
2answers
208 views
The topic is the restaurant, or the conversation is at the restaurant?
I have this sentence in my JLPT textbook:
話{はなし}の種{たね}に、新{あたら}しくできたレストランに食{た}べに行{い}ってみた。
I think I understand the part after the comma, which I believe is saying, "... tried to go eat at the new ...
4
votes
1answer
119 views
What is a good synonym for「〜のに」at the end of a sentence?
I'm trying to come up with a good synonymous expression to put on a flashcard for 「〜のに」at the end of a sentence like these
彼が出て行けばいいのに。(I wish he would go.)
あの建物さえなければ、きれいな景色が見えるのに。(If it wasn't for ...
1
vote
1answer
234 views
Can に mean the same thing as から?
あの野郎、どんだけジークさんに恩を受けたと思っていやがるんだ！
In this sentence, does に mean the same thing as から ?
Thank you very much for help!
1
vote
1answer
238 views
Can うちは means the same as うちに ?
Tell me please in the sentence below, can うちは means the same as うちに? Or it's just うち like "we" ?
Thank you very much for help!
5
votes
3answers
181 views
What is くん doing in these sentences?
I have come across two sentences in a manga that is using くん in a way that I can't seem to find any information on, in both my books and online. I am guessing this may be some sort of slang, odd ...
7
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1answer
174 views
どうか, どうにか, どうかして - differences?
I was just wondering what the essential differences are between these and how I would use them in everyday speech. Thank you.
5
votes
1answer
175 views
What is the meaning of から here?
Tell me please, what から means in his sentence? If I'm guessing corrctly it would translate something like "She fall on her face really hard", but still... would ”顔面に全力で” be incorrect here?
Sentence: ...
