Tagged Questions
6
votes
4answers
321 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
108 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 ...
5
votes
1answer
92 views
Expressing a sequence of actions using 〜たとき?
I am aware that one can explain that to things happen at the same time using plain non past form + とき:
電車に乗るとき転びました。"I fell when I got on the train (I was going through the door when it happened)" ...
9
votes
2answers
176 views
What's the difference between くる and やってくる?
Can someone explain the nuance between them? They both mean "come", but I'm unsure of when they are interchangeable. My perception is that やってくる seems to put more emphasis on the actual action of ...
5
votes
2answers
424 views
What is -からです, and when is it used?
I have seen this expression a few times, and have never quite understood it. In particular, it seems to be equatable both to ですから and to んです, but I can't figure out where it would be used over either ...
4
votes
2answers
230 views
Help with the difference between causative and the causative-passive for the verb 笑う
I've always had a hard time immediately understanding the differences between passive, causative, and causative-passive. If I really sit down and try to work out the meaning I can generally get it, ...
9
votes
2answers
195 views
What is the purpose of the suffix “さ” on adjectives?
What is the purpose of the suffix "さ" on adjectives like 美しさ and 多さ?
The former is the title of an essay by Banana Yoshimoto, so I don't have much context for it. The book editors translated it as ...
4
votes
1answer
352 views
“causative of negative” vs “negative of causative”?
Wikipedia (Japanese Verb Conjugation):
Negatives [verb negative-conjugations] are not normally made into causatives. Instead, a negative ending is added to the causative of the verb. Thus, for ...
7
votes
1answer
130 views
ところ vs どころ: Interchangeable or different meanings altogether?
I have two questions.
A) Why do they use どころ instead of ところ in this sentence? Is it possible to use ところ without changing the meaning?
...
3
votes
1answer
187 views
What is the difference in terms of grammar between ～かける and ～っぱなし?
Spawned from What is the difference in terms of grammar between きり and っぱなし?; I started thinking about ～かける. Don't these essentially mean the same thing? I'm failing to see any difference except ...
2
votes
2answers
204 views
Does V~たりする include the verb in a “perfect” sense or “varying” sense?
Does V~たりする include the mentioned verb in a "perfect" (specific) sense or "varying" sense?
For example, in the sentence 「映画を見たりした。」, is (1) or (2) a more accurate depiction of the meaning of the ...
4
votes
1answer
375 views
Stative verbs: ～ている vs ～てある vs ～（ら）れる
I'm not sure if I'm wording this properly, but I want to know the nuances of these "stative" type verb forms that act kind of like adjectives.
For example, you could describe an open window with any ...
7
votes
2answers
288 views
Come to ～: ～てくる vs. ～ようになる
Can someone please explain the fine nuances of these two? Things such as:
Are there conditions/restrictions of when you can use one or the other?
What are the "approximate" time periods that each ...
9
votes
1answer
334 views
How do you use 〜と知る?
I've often seen and heard the expression 〜と知る（知っている）. When I think about it, it makes sense in the context of the quoatation-と, like with 〜と言う or 〜と思う. It seems like it means "Know that 〜".
...
7
votes
1answer
314 views
Usage of て-form in 知っての通り
I have just come across the phrase 知っての通り〜 (as you know...)
I have never noticed this usage of て-form before and can't find an explanation.
What is the difference (if any) between this and 知っている通り?
...
5
votes
2answers
243 views
Need clarification on a particular use of から
I saw this sentence recently and I'm particularly confused on the use of から in the sentence.
まず君から殺す。
What does から mean here? What's the difference between that and まず君を殺す? How does から replace the ...
9
votes
1answer
236 views
usage of「ご迷惑をおかけ・・・」variants for a business apology
I have to apologize for a procedural error at work, and am unsure about selecting the right form of apology from the variants of 「ご迷惑をおかけ・・・」:
1.「ご迷惑【めいわく】をおかけして申【もう】し訳【わけ】ございません。」
...
9
votes
1answer
430 views
How to use 〜かのよう{に・な・だ}
I understand fine how to use 〜(の)よう{に・な・だ}, but I'm not sure when or how you can add in the か. Here's an example from my book:
４月になって雪が降るなんて、まるで冬が戻って来たかのようです。
How is this different than if it ...
6
votes
1answer
237 views
When the agent takes を in the causative form
I've seen a few sets of terminology when referring to the causative form, so for the basic case, I will use the following:
instigator が agent に 〇〇 を ｖ－させる。
In its most basic, text-book form, we have ...
1
vote
1answer
155 views
“一目ぼれから長持ちする関係は望めません。” この表現のニュアンスを説明して頂けませんか？
一目ぼれから長持ちする関係は望めません。
Falling in love at first sight won't bring you a lasting relationship.
I found this sentence and translation without any other context, and
have a few questions about ...
2
votes
1answer
156 views
ほんの時々私の中で顔を出し、しばらくすると消えてしまうもの。Are there any other options to replace the で here?
ほんの時々私の中で顔を出し、しばらくすると消えてしまうもの。
My attempt at translation: "Every once in a while my inner feelings show themselves, only to disappear again."
The above was taken from the following dialogue:
...
5
votes
1answer
196 views
“トムと話した” vs. “トムと話し合った”
This book (Chap. 29) says that for some verbs which can be unilateral or bilateral (like 相談する, 話す, 合う),
The particle と implies that the verb is shared 50/50 between the two participants (bilateral), ...
5
votes
1answer
188 views
“きのう、何をしていた。” vs. “きのう、何をした。”
What is the difference in nuance between きのう、何をしていた。 vs きのう、何をした。? To be fair, I can't really tell the difference between these two english sentences:
What were you doing yesterday ?
What did you do ...
12
votes
2answers
413 views
The differences between ～がたい、〜にくい、〜づらい
I was wondering what the differences are between these three: ～がたい、〜にくい、〜づらい
They all seem to be some sort of variant of "Hard to do ~". But it seems they are used with different verbs and/or imply ...
13
votes
2answers
248 views
What are the various ways to express 'or' and when are they appropriate?
I'd like to get an idea of when it is appropriate to use different expressions for expressing disjunction (of the inclusive AND exclusive variety).
「AとBとCの中で...」、「どちら」、and 「か] come to mind, but I ...
6
votes
3answers
266 views
What is the significance of the “の” in the sentence “誰が盗んだのか、誰か知りませんか。”
In another forum, someone said the difference between
誰が盗んだのか、誰か知りませんか。
and
誰が盗んだか、誰か知りませんか。
is that the former has more emphasis on the verb 盗む. Another person said that that's not the ...
2
votes
1answer
105 views
How is the あげたい working here?
On a TV show, an idol was given this task to think of:
心が晴れやかになる一言
'A word (or phrase) to lift someone's mood' (My loose translation)
The idol responded:
アナタの心の雨を[止]{や}ませてあげたいな
'Let me ...
5
votes
1answer
207 views
ねばねば食べねば, relation between ねば and なければ
I would like to know a bit more about the "ねば" grammatical construction.
Every now and then, I hear people say sentences like
東京に行かねばならぬ
粘々丼を食べねば倒れる
なんとかせねばいい
It's quite clear that ねば ...
7
votes
1answer
147 views
おいてきてしまった vs おいてしまってきた
Is there any difference in the sentence when we mix the order of the conjugations in this sentence:
1) あいにく私はカメラを家においてきてしまった
2) あいにく私はカメラを家においてしまってきた
Or are both "correct" and mean the same thing ...
2
votes
2answers
104 views
The nuance of 得る compared with ~ば
If we compare the following two sentences:
でき得るならば、独立して事業を始めたい。
できれば、独立して事業を始めたい。
意味が同じですか？どう違いますか？すみませんが、説明して頂けませんか？
6
votes
1answer
145 views
is 随分 of a higher degree than なかなか (with positive verb) ?
my dictionary shows both 随分 and なかなか (with positive verb) as "very/considerably"
I was wondering is it true that 随分 is of a higher degree than なかなか?
Like あんたなかなか勇敢だな。= 75%
and あんた随分勇敢だな。 = 85%?
37
votes
8answers
1k views
What is the こと in sentences such as あなたのことが好きだ?
There were a lot of great answers here. I gave the checkmark to ento's answer because I felt it most completely explained all aspects of this use of こと. But many of the other answers are excellent, so ...
11
votes
2answers
198 views
<adv> versus <adv>+と versus <adv>+に
I often see adverbs used in one of three ways:
1) Adverb appears in isolation in a sentence:
あまり 好きじゃないんですが。
2) Adverb is followed by に
別々に お願いします。
1970年代後半、多くの罪もない日本の一般市民が 次々に 失踪した。
...
10
votes
1answer
428 views
あまり meaning “too much”
When using あまり in the sense of "too much" (as opposed to "not very"), until recently I had always seen it as あまりにもA, with A being the thing that there was too much of. I never really tried to relate ...
20
votes
5answers
668 views
i-adjectives used as na-adjectives: is there a difference? (e.g. 大きい versus 大きな)
There are at the very least several i-adjectives can be used as na-adjectives by dropping the final い and adding な in its place. The most common examples of this, as far as I am aware, are 大きい and ...
9
votes
2answers
248 views
Confusion about “Seemingly not ～”
So there are several ways to express something is "seemingly not ～":
1) ～なさそう
2) ～そうにない
3) ～そうもない
4) ～そうにもない (is this one even real?)
I was always taught ～なさそう in ...
7
votes
3answers
534 views
低い鼻 vs 短い鼻 and 高い鼻 vs 長い鼻 ?
After reading this thread: When would you use 低い vs 短い, I'd just thought of something.
I once heard that a long nose (witch / Pinocchio) is called 高い鼻 and not 長い鼻 whereas the opposite (short nose) is ...
7
votes
3answers
351 views
What's the difference between ～てください and ～ていてください?
This question has come up on the side of at least a couple of other questions, but I don't think it's been definitively answered, so let's see if we can come up with something solid.
After going ...
9
votes
3answers
549 views
What exactly is the difference between <verb>-てしまう and <verb>- [切]{き}る?
I've read that both the ～てしまう and ～きる (18th meaning of 切る at http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1MUE%E5%88%87%E3%82%8B) forms are used to signify something has been ...
8
votes
2answers
280 views
ご～いただけます vs. ご～になれます
I know that you can use ご～いただく toward "clients" (which is something I've never really understood; maybe better as a question of its own) such as ご来店いただき、まことにありがとうございます ("Thank you (customer) for ...
7
votes
2answers
235 views
へ or に particle for 曲がる?
i was wondering what may be the difference in nuance between 右へ曲がる and 右に曲がる ?
Example: Take a right turn and you'll see the library.
1) 右へ曲がると、図書館がある。
2) 右に曲がると、図書館がある。
As for [noun-location] ...
5
votes
3answers
244 views
What’s the difference between [v] たとしても and just the plain ても
What’s the difference between [v] たとしても and just the plain ても, Example:
(1) 説明書を読んでも分かりにくい
(2) 説明書を読んだとしても分かりにくい
9
votes
1answer
321 views
ならば vs なら. both are totally interchangeable without affecting the nuance of the sentence?
is it true that なら is merely a short form of ならば and as such, both are totally interchangeable without affecting the nuance of the sentence?
Also, a second question is is ならば more "formal" than "なら" ...
8
votes
2answers
256 views
why is it that some 形容動詞 accepts の after it while some only accepts な after it?
why is it that some 形容動詞 accepts の after it while some only accepts な after it?
Examples:
の only: 普通、大勢
な or の: 初心、特別、特殊
Is there a way for us to tell if a 形容動詞 needs a の or な particle after ...
6
votes
2answers
315 views
What is the difference between 特殊 and 特別?
I've got two questions. Firstly, what is the difference between 特殊 tokushu and 特別 tokubetsu?
Secondly, is it true that all these grammar forms are correct:
特別な tokubetsu na ＋ [noun]
特殊な tokushu na ...
7
votes
2answers
270 views
Can placements of adverbs be altered freely?
I'm curious if there is any difference in nuance between these two sentences:
彼は少なくとも週に一度車を洗う。
彼は週に少なくとも一度車を洗う。
I'm aware that grammatically speaking both are 100% right, but this question is not ...
16
votes
1answer
260 views
What are the differences between 〜ので and 〜から?
When I was studying this, my 先生 kind of brushed over the point, and then years later, I realize that they are different, but I don't know exactly how.
The only thing I understand is that ので is more ...
