「の」is a genitive case particle; used to indicate possession, but can also link general nouns to more specific ones. の can also be a nominaliser.
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Is ending question sentences with の really feminine?
In What differences should I look out for between male vs female speech?, a lot of answers explicitly mention that ending question sentences with の is feminine.
However, this makes very little sense ...
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2answers
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How does the addition of のか to the end of a sentence affect the meaning?
I've always had trouble understanding か (question particle) in casual speech. I read that in casual situations, か can be used to give the sentence an exasperated or sarcastic tone. Like in:
負けっかよ！ ...
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Can んだった and んじゃなかった be used like the past version of んだ and んじゃない?
I know that んだった and んじゃなかった can be used to say "Should have done" and "Shouldn't have done". I am wondering, however, if they can be used as a past version of んだ
Take for example this conversation:
...
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Function of の in these phrases
I know that の is used as a noun modifier.
But recently I've come across these pharases 心の強い人,母の作れる料理.
The first phrases will be sth like strong person of heart/mind, which somehow differs from ...
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117 views
How does のは work in this sentence?
彼が持っているのは二百円です。 Supposedly this means "It is 200 yen that he has.". But I am really not familiar with this sentence construction. Therefore, I'm not sure how everything before の works with the rest of ...
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Blue blistering barnacles, what is Captain Haddock saying?
For those who might not be familiar with the series Tintin (soon to be in a major motion picture, by the way), there is a character named Captain Haddock who is famous for shouting out colourful ...
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213 views
Can someone explain the difference between の as a pronoun vs. の as a particle?
I'm guessing this is a pretty straightforward question. Examples would be helpful too, thank you!
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160 views
Was the の particle sometimes written in katakana?
In "Maiko Haaaan!!!", a bridge going over Yumekawa (a fictional river in Kyoto) apparently has "夢ノ橋" written on it, rather than "夢の橋". I had two theories about why that may be the case. One was that ...
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151 views
Is there any difference between 大の好物 and 大好物?
This might seem like a ridiculous question, but I heard from a native that there is an emphasis when using 「大の好物」 instead of 「大好物」. Is this true?
If this is so, why would 「大＋の」 indicate more ...
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3answers
310 views
Interpreting a specific Japanese sentence
In one song (lyrics link) the line "Watashitachi no kore ga precious heartbeat" ("It's our precious heartbeat") appears, and I'm not sure how best to analyze it due to one particular grammatical ...
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463 views
So-called の-adjectives - how does の *really* work?
Ok, so there seems to be some controversy over whether we can really say that there are 'の-adjectives', or whether we simply use a noun in an "attributive" way (a term which I don't actually really ...
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481 views
What is the role of の in 「お父さんのバカ!」
How did the の get in the expression 「◯◯のバカ!」? Was the expression originally longer? Is there any other example of usage other than insults?
(other example I know of: 「つよし君のエッチ!」 or anything to the ...
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3answers
242 views
Role of の in そんなの
Naruto found out that another character had been given a tempting offer and Naruto said:
そんなの答えはNOだってばよ
What is の doing here, grammatically? is it nominalization? I think I've heard stuff before ...
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1answer
122 views
の versus が used to mark the subject of an appositive clause?
A friend of mine wrote this sentence in Japanese:
彼女のどんな困難からも逃げない態度を尊敬しています。
'Her attitude of not running away from any hardships is something I respect.'
'I respect that she has this attitude ...
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3answers
814 views
How do I say “I am the best” ? の,は or が and 私 or 俺?
I'm making a shirt for a (rather egotistical) friend of mine and so am trying to do something with the slogan "I am the best" for fun. I need something with four characters only, and would like to ask ...
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209 views
Shouldn't there be a のは in this sentence?
This is a an example sentence from a JLPT textbook to explain the use of たらしめる:
想像力{そうぞうりょく}こそ作品{さくひん}を芸術{げいじゅつ}たらしめる要素{ようそ}である。
I understand the meaning, which is something like, "The key ...
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1answer
188 views
Why do people say 小学校の時 or 中学校の時?
When reffering to the school days, people often say 小学校の時, 中学校の時. Even though this may not be wrong, they are shortened forms of relatively complex (redundant) structures. Thus, they are close to the ...
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187 views
This instance of のに is opposite from my expectations
I have this sentence in one of my JLPT practise books:
電子{でんし}レンジは冷{さ}めた料理{りょうり}を温{あたた}めるのに重宝{ちょうほう}だ。
I thought のに meant something like "in spite of". So, to me, this sentence seems to be ...
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222 views
Does ところ mean the exact same thing as こと in this sentence?
Consider the following sentence:
お金じゃないところが好きだから一緒にいるの
【おかね じゃない ところが すき だから いっしょに いるの】
I think it means "I'm with you because of the parts of you that don't have to do with money".
I'm ...
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2answers
192 views
How should I view でより and でのより?
My basic understanding of より to compare things or ending letters, is failing me when there's a で or での in front of it.
As I write this, I'm wondering, can read でより as "with, more", "in, more"?
...
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の performing back referral? の used adjectivally?
Consider the following sentence:
その薬は去年期限切れのだったので、捨てました。
I'm trying to explain what the bolded の does in the above sentence.
This is what I came up with:
の is used as a back referral
...
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1answer
256 views
When to use 他【ほか】の or 他【ほか】に
I always thought only 他の existed, but my teacher uses 他に a lot. Are there differences between when each can be used?
Here are two examples of each from my online dictionary:
だれかほかの人に聞いてごらん (Ask ...
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2answers
640 views
If Vて+いる isn't a gerund, then what is it?
I always thought that a verb ending in the て form along with the いる suffix was the English equivelent of the "ing" form of a verb.
Thus:
see = 見{み}る, seeing = 見{み}ている
do = する, doing = している
...
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3answers
397 views
Using more than one の
I already know the main usages of の as said here, but I was wondering: If I want to use the possessive indicator in a row, is it correct?
For example, if I wanted to say "My family's car is blue.", ...
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2answers
216 views
相手の日本人 or 日本人の相手?
If I wanted to describe the person I was speaking as being Japanese, to me it seems natural to say:
日本人の相手 【にほんじんの あいて】
... however, one time a Japanese teacher told me it's more correct to say:
...
10
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1answer
194 views
Contraction of particle の to ん before nouns in colloquial Japanese
I am familiar with contraction of の to ん before です (and variants で, だ, でした etc) but I noticed that の is also contracted before 家 in spoken set-phrases like あたしんち and おれんち.
Are there any other ...
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What is the difference between は and のは?
The following sentence means "seeing all the different foreign people was interesting."
This, according to my Japanese friends is incorrect:
色々な外国人を見ているは面白かった。
... and this is correct:
...
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4answers
321 views
What is the significance of [の] (no)?
I've seen it used on many places, and sometimes it feels like a connection between words.
For example "鳥の詩" (tori no uta), it looks as if the の is connecting 鳥 (tori) and 詩 (uta), and I would like to ...
