Questions tagged [grammar]
文法. A collective term for syntax (the way sentences are put together) and morphology (forms of words, including the way new words are put together). Often used to describe function words such as particles, to describe word endings, and to talk about general sentence structure.
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Why is が{ga} used instead of を{wo} in ~が{ga}[聞ける]{kikeru}?
Why is が{ga} used instead of を{wo} in ~が{ga}[聞ける]{kikeru} in the following sentence?
[日本]{nihon} [に]{ni} [いながら]{inagara}、[フランス語]{furansugo} [の]{no} [ラジオ]{rajio} [番組]{bangumi} [が]{ga} [聞ける]{kikeru}。
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Is there some poetic license in 止めど or is it following classical grammar?
This line is from the lyrics of a song called TSUNAMI
止めど流る清か水よ
消せど燃ゆる魔性の火よ
I had to look up the dictionary to understand what ど does in that line, and found an entry with this example.
呼べど答へず、...
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Meaning of となつかしむなり in this context?
End of chapter 33 of the manga 課長島耕作.
先斗町 袖より合うも 春の夜の 他生の縁と なつかしむなり
先斗町 is the setting of the chapter.
I guess 春の夜 doesn't differ from its dictionary entry:
short spring night
I know 袖より合うも他生の縁 is ...
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Usage of 脇付 depending on the sender and the addressee
According to these websites
https://bizushiki.com/wakiduke
https://origamijapan.net/origami/2018/06/05/wakizuke/
脇付 follow this classification when thinking on the sender and the addressee of a letter....
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What is the meaning of なのか in this sentences? Is it a grammar pattern?
私が家でよく作るのは、生姜焼きや唐揚げ、鍋料理などです。どれも、とても簡単ですよ!どんな料理なのかを、少し説明しますね。
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Negatives problem
According to Cure Dolly's guide,~ない is an adjective/auxiliary adjective used for describing state of non-existence/not doing. When we use an adjective, we have to use が because a subject state is ...
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あっちゃいけない - Grammatical origin
あっちゃいけない
I can find multiple example sentences for this but no explanation :
そのための売買市場がなぜあっちゃいけないんだろうね?
私だけが特別であっちゃいけないんです
そしてその権力者に仕える指導者たちもまた権力を振りかざすのがたまらなく好きだ43いいか、おまえたちは、そうであっちゃいけない!
The meaning ...
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"Ningen ga kurushindeiru" vs "ningen wa tsuyoi" [duplicate]
Ningen ga kurushindeiru means Humans are suffering while ningen wa tsuyoi means Humans are strong.
My question is can't we just say Ningen wa kurushindeiru?
My reason for asking this is because "...
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Confusing use of だけ
広間の中では、ゴーストとダンブルドアの白髪だけが同じようにキラキラ輝いているだけだった。
Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. (original Harry Potter text)
I'm having trouble ...
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Meaning of もの in どこに入れたものかな? [duplicate]
どこに入れたものかな?
I wonder where I should put you?
The context is deciding which class to place a student in. I have two problems:
Why is 入れた in the past tense? At the time this sentence is spoken the ...
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The actual meaning of 別に (べつに)
Though this question has been asked a lot, I do not find any explanation with the literal meaning and the logic behind the expression (with 別 referring to "distinction").
As a result, it's ...
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Question word + noun + にも
どの要求にも当てはまらないような気がした
He felt as though none of the requirements applied (to him)
I can't find anything that discusses the pattern "question word + noun + にも" as in the bold part of the ...
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おいでいただけませか grammar
A humble way of requesting others to do something is: (verb in て-form)+ていただけませか.
おいで is short for おいでなさい. It is the honorific お + いでる, which is an Ichidan verb, so the て-form is おいでて.
Should it be ...
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Potential form of non-volitional verbs
I have recently learned that apparently non-volitional verbs cannot have potential forms.
Non-volitional verbs cannot have potential forms. This includes verbs of natural phenomenon like 降る, 光る, 流れる, ...
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What is the meaning of と in 足りないからとキスして? [duplicate]
This is part of a song called マリーゴールド.
アイラブユーの言葉じゃ
足りないからとキスして
雲がまだ二人の影を残すから
いつまでもいつまでもこのまま
I'm quite confused to understand what と is doing in 足りないからとキスして.
Maybe it's just an emphasis and the ...
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Past conditional with ていても/ていた
I've looked into this and it seems they are multiple ways with multiple nuances of saying "if (A) would have happened, then (B) would have happened. (third conditional ?)
My question is about:
...
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Is か(個)/ヶ a productive component in measure words (助数詞)?
I have only seen か(個/カ/ヶ) in か月、か年(五か年計画)、か国(六か国会議)、か所、か条.
Is it a productive component which can be used in making other new measure words?
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Keigo ます after a noun
I found this sentence in an anime.
娘さんたちも悲しみます
The context is that this lady is dying and a guy says to her that her daughters will be sad.
I understand that he transformed the adjective 悲しい into a ...
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Meaning of をいいます
販売会社が商品等を販売する際、その代金を分割による後払いで受け取ることをいいます。
Does いいます mean "is called" or does it mean "is" in the same way that です would?
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そこが可愛いとこでもあるんだけどね
It is my first time posting anything on a language forum, and i've come to it after searching all over the internet for the past hour to find an answer to this grammar question.
So I hope you guys can ...
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Humble form (謙譲語) of i/na-adjectives and nouns?
With u/ru-verbs, one can easily make the humble form as such: “読む” -> “お読みいたします” or “ご到着いたします", but I'm at a loss as to how to make these forms for sentences that end on an adjective or noun. ...
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てきた grammar form
Can you explain me the difference between these two sentences :
誰かが電話した。
誰かが電話して来た。
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Disjointed dialogue in Zelda: Ocarina of Time?
Near the beginning of the game, an NPC says this dialogue, explaining some controls:
This seems to defy all conventions of building a complete sentence, which seems strange since it's supposed to be ...
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Cant understand this relative clause
There is this little article that im using to study japanese and one of its passages says:
国立感染症研究所によると、約3000の病院で6月25日までの1週間にヘルパンギーナがうつったことがわかった人は、1つの病院に平均で5.79人いました。今までの10年でいちばん多くなりました。
I cant ...
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Difference between verb + よう and verb + ように
I was reading the definition for 請う{こう}
(明鏡国語辞典) ある物を与えてくれる(また、ある事をしてくれる)ように相手に願い求める。
(大辞泉) 他人に、物を与えてくれるよう求める。また、何かをしてくれるよう願う。
My translation of definition from 明鏡国語辞典:
To ask/request someone to ...
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What's the grammar structure of ここしかない in this sentence?
安全な所はここしかない
I think there may be 2 explanations of しか in this sentence:
しか replaced the case particle が. But if we transform it back and change the negation to the positive form: 安全な所はここだけがある.
I ...
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What is the grammatical function of this part with しか
単語は、自分で努力して覚えるしか、習得の方法はない
What's the grammatical function of 「自分で努力して覚えるしか」? Is it the 連用修飾語 to modify 「習得の方法はない」?
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Is "Watashitachi wa, donna shigoto wo shimasu ka" the best way to ask "what kind of job are we going to do?" in a job interview?
How could I ask "what kind of job are we going to do" in a Japanese job interview?
I could just simply use something like:
Watashitachi wa, donna shigoto wo shimasu ka
But for me it doesn'...
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Imperative with the first person using やってみなさい [duplicate]
抑えてるに決まってるでしょ!周りの役者は揃いも揃って大根役者ばっかり!!メインキャストの中でマトモに演技出来るの私だけなのよ!!こん中で私がバリバリやってみなさい! 他の役者の大根ぶりが浮き彫りになっちゃってぶり大根でしょ!!
Is this a first-person imperative sentence? What does it mean? Is there something ...
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How is 役に立った ( helpful ) formed?
My guess is that the phrase is derived from the composition of the following:
役 (yaku) : service, use
に:particle for destination
立った:perfective of 立つ (tatsu)
So it's extended meaning like "...
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How does Japanese grammar think about verb negation?
In a recent comment I claimed that ない was a verb which was the negative form of ある. I was surprised by the reply that "ない is an adjective (or adjective-like auxiliary) anyway, not a form of ある&...
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The grammatical nature of "mondai naku"
In the sentence:
でも今は問題なく食べることができます
Demo ima wa mondai naku taberu koto ga dekimasu"
what is the grammatical nature of "mondai naku"? Is it a noun, an adjective or an adverb?
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のほうがよかった vs ばよかった
So のほうがいい means you should or its better to do. So using that context, does のほうがよかった exist, to where it would mean you should have or it would have been better to do something? If that was the case ...
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does なんだこれは specifically have a bad connotation?
I heard this and wasn't sure if it had a negative meaning or not. Does the phrase always indicate irritation or not necessarily? I'm a bit confused since some people say it's just an informal tone ...
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Ending a sentence in ことに?
I was translating a sentence from a lore book for Saint Seiya. It's describing the parts of the Underworld and I guess the main story beat that occurs there. It definitely uses certain pieces of ...
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Meaning of いいなり
What is the meaning of いいなり in the phrase
セーブするにはポケモンレポートこまめにかくといいなり
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How to analyze the structure of this sentence?
私たちの会社は、従業員のうち、エンジニアは、技術力を持つ重要な存在であるとし、経営の基盤として認めている。
My own analysis is:
1.In this sentence, 「とし」is the continuative form of 「とする」.
2.the phrase before 「とし」 should be seen as a clause, which means ...
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Is there a difference between using の and ある in this sentence?
On the Wikipedia entry for jurassic park it reads as follows :
現実では、2012年のマードック大学の研究によって、DNAの半減期が521年で、DNAの復元に必要な長さのDNA断片が残るのは約100万年前までと推定され、恐竜の絶滅から約6500万年が経過した現代では、生息当時のDNAを用いた恐竜の再生は実現不可能であると判明した
...
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what is the もの in this sentence?
もっと楽な道ってないもんかしら?
How would the meaning change if i removed the もの?
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「一番背が高くなります。」 or 「背が一番高くなります。」?
To translate the sentence: "Who became the tallest?", which is more natural?
誰が一番背が高くなりましたか。or 誰が背が一番高くなりましたか。
On Busuu (language learning app), the correct option was the former (一番 ...
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Is 歌い踊り舞う a compound verb or something else?
I came across this line from YOASOBI's song 「アイドル」:
流れる汗も綺麗なアクア
ルビーを隠したこの瞼
歌い踊り舞う私はマリア
そう嘘はとびきりの愛だ
I'm having some trouble with the bolded part and I want to break it up grammatically.
I've tried to ...
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Why is なら used in this sentence この内容なら勉強になるね。
Why would なら be used if なら is conditional? Couldn't you just use は?
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What does ても mean here?
女性は「火葬できる日を聞くと、いちばん早くても亡くなってから11日あとでした。
From this NHK easy article
What is the meaning of ても here? Is it like "Even the earliest (date).."
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What does 「にすん」 mean in this phrase?
Above shows the phrase with the structure highlighted, from the "Blood Plus" manga.
Maybe it means "to decide to be", being a contraction of にする, with the translation being "...
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Genki 2 Grammar
The Phrase i dont understand grammatically is the one within brackets
ある調査の結果を見てみましょう。この調査では、日本人の大学生とアメリカら日本に来ている留学生に写真を見せて、[ それがどんな感情を表している写真か答えてもらいました ]
If i were to translate this phrase i would ...
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How do I interpret these two sentences?
人樹ニ華アリ。人華ニ華アリ。
I see two versions of English translations:
Flowers are present in human trees, flowers are present in human flowers.
Human trees have blossoms. Human flowers have blossoms.
I read ...
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Nominalization of verbs in japanese [duplicate]
What is the purpose of verb nominalization in Japanese? How do I know when to nominalize a verb and when not to? Still, knowing there are different ways of nominalizing i.e using the i form of the ...
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Using てくれる instead of てあげる when performing an action towards someone [duplicate]
I was reading the Bleach manga and found this odd structure I am not used to.
One (giant) character is about to squish another character with his hands when he says:
I didn't know you could use てくれる ...
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Examples with suffix 完 (かん)
According to Jisho, 完 (かん) can be used as a suffix with meanings "completion; conclusion; end" and "providing fully".
https://jisho.org/search/%E5%AE%8C
However, I can't find any ...
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When are える words 他動詞 and when are they 自動詞?
When I started using WaniKani I was always wondering why 上がる is intransitive (to rise by your-/itself) and 上げる is transitive (to raise something).
Over time I learned that there are patterns defining ...