Questions tagged [syntax]
統語論. Rules governing construction of phrases and sentences in a language.
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Usage of か after a clause?
Here's a sentence I found:
デパートはどこにあるか、知っていますか？
Do you know where the department store is?
What's the purpose of the か particle in 「どこにあるか」? Under what circumstances do I use it?
I'm fairly ...
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using の with と,で, から, まで
This page explains that a noun with と, で, から, まで that modifies another noun must have の attached to them as in:
日本での研究はいかがでしたか。
But it lists this example
大学院で医学の研究をするつもりです。
Both with で. What is ...
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Do I have a good grasp on the basics of what the continuative form is?
I'm doing some research as to what continuative forms are due to naruto's previous answer to an earlier question of mine.
To make sure I understand correctly: roughly, the "continuative form"...
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Are Japanese modifiers "greedy", "anti-greedy", or do they mean whatever people choose them to mean?
(I'm a beginner. I just started learning Japanese about a month before I wrote this.)
The Japanese Wikipedia article 飛べない鳥, which corresponds to the English Wikipedia article Flightless bird,
has the ...
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Usage of ”し” particle
Whenever I watch drama or news I always hear "し" particle being used. Back when I was still studying "Minna No Nihongo" my teacher taught me that ”し” means "だから” but native Japanese tend to use this ...
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How do we construct sentences ending in わけ?
The is a certain way of talking where you can end just about anything you say in わけ.
What is the sentence structure for this way of talking?
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「が」vs「の」 with possessives
I know that the normal possessive form is usually formed subject+「の」+object. Though, in one instance, I found が being used in 天は我が物. I know that 「が」 can be used to express possession, though is there ...
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What's the difference between 日本人の学生 and 日本の学生 ?
I am beginner to Japanese language. I am using Genki as textbook. I came across this sentence in one of the exercises:
あなたの学校に日本人の学生がいますか。
Why is it 日本人の学生 here and not 日本の学生 ?
Wouldn't 日本の学生 (...
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<動詞の辞書形> + がよい ― How is this allowed?
I've come across this form many times in my Japanese Bible. The meaning is quite obvious based on context, and seems to be one of the following: ～べきです, ～ほうがいい, ～なさい, or ～ように (let it be ～).
Here are ...
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Why can we use の after へ and から?
In my understanding, the particle の can be used to concatenate two nouns, such as
私の本
アメリカの選手
Today, I found
先生へのプレゼント
私達からのプレゼント
Why can の be preceded by へ and から (or maybe other particles) when ...
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In front of "ほうがいい," is it always past tense?
ほうがいい means:
the particular way "ほう"
is "が"
good "いい"
So, for example, if it looks like it's going to rain, I might say to a friend:
"今日は雨らしい。傘を持った方がいい。"
But what I'm curious is, why is "持った" ...
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Structure: thing を numeral (or numeral and counter) ください
My first question is, are counters always required when counting things? Can't I just slap a number in front of the noun? For example,「いちりんご」for one apple?
Secondly, in Lesson 5 of the Japanese For ...
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Nominalization with のが、のを
I've just learned to nominalize verbs with のを but as I was looking for more info on the web I saw that this is also done with のが and こと. The question "What is the difference between the nominalizers ...
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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 じゅう・...
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「〜がする」 the extended use of する (to do)
I'm going through some basic grammar and this one website teaches the "extended" use of the word する. There is a confusing example which looks like:
波の音 がする
The translation is: "(I) hear the sound ...
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what does としてもだ mean in this sentence?
千枝実に問いた限りでは、「宴」 は極めて危険で悪質な因習だ。
そういう昔話があったとして、過去には実際に私刑を行った歴史があったとしてもだ、普通はもっと無難な祭りとかに形を変えて現代に伝わっているものだろう。
What is the purpose of the だ after the the highlighted としても in the second sentence?
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Grammatical Pattern : VerbてのNoun
What does this grammatical structure/pattern mean?
I am trying to understand the meaning of the following sentence where the VerbてのNoun pattern appears.
"昭和64年に起きた誘拐事件を巡る物語だけに、“昭和な顔”を買われての起用だったという"...
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Is the 「て」 missing from 「され」 in this sentence?
Here is the sentence.
ソフトのプレイ中にHOMEボタンを押すと、ソフトが中断されHOMEメニューが表示されます。
I think 「て」 should follow the verb 「中断され」 to create conjunctive/continuative form.
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Plain Verb followed by がよい
Recently I am reading 走れメロス, and there is a sentence pattern that I am not familiar with (Group 2). Compare the following sentence groups:
Group 1
訪ねて行くのが楽しみである。
疑うのが、正当の心構えなのだと、...
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Some questions about って
Here is a sentence from Dragon Ball :
一気にこれ以上修業したって意味はないって。限界までやったんだ。
悟空 says this to his son who's worried because they just chill out before a battle instead of training until the last minute.
As ...
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「だといえども」はどういう意味ですか？~What does だといえども mean?
能力のある三公・摂政・関白が高齢だといえども辞めてはならない
I understand everything in this except for だといえども, and I'm kind of struggling to find a good explanation of what it means. Anyone have any ideas?
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What is the formal expression of 住んでんだ
I came to this colloquial expression 住んでんだ from One Piece.
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Difference between sentence final ものだ and ことだ
My understanding is that ものだ is used to assert things which are mostly known to everyone.
誰かの家に招待されたときは、何か手土産をもっていくものだ
'When invited to somebody's home it's customary to bring presents'.
On the ...
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Varying word order for stylistic effect
Sometimes, for stylistic or rhetorical effect, one wants to delay mentioning a word/concept until the end of a sentence. For example, it's often best to save the punchline for the very end:
I was ...
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How exactly are 準体助詞 and 形式名詞 different? In what regard? And where does の stand?
I have read several definitions (e.g. here and here) and explanations (here for example), but I am not sure any real differences are drawn except one is 助詞, the other 名詞.
The list given for 形式名詞:
...
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Overall syntax of this sentence
この部屋はシャワーだけでお風呂がないんですが。
=> "This apartment only has a shower but no bathtub"
This would be what I think this sentence says contentwise. I also think it could be a viable translation, but the way ...
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Is this sentence structured correctly?
こんにちは! I'm new to this site and Japanese language. I haven't learnt the entire Hiragana alphabet yet and don't know any Katakana. I'm trying my best to stay away from Romaji, so please be aware that I ...
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Is this sentence correct? courtesy/honorific use of the passive
総理大臣【そうりだいじん】はヨーロッパを訪問【ほうもん】されたくさんの国々の大統領【だいとうりょう】に会われた。
"The prime minister visited Europe and met the presidents of various countries".
され is as this to link the phrase right?
Why use &...
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Can placements of adverbs be altered freely? 少なくとも週に一度車を洗う vs 週に少なくとも一度車を洗う
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 ...
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Unifying concept for noun-adjectives of the pattern Xかな
Consider these:
～か：
静か
愚か
厳か
～やか:
穏やか
鮮やか
賑やか
～らか:
柔らか
滑らか
明らか
There are many more that I've not listed.
The か/やか/らか at the end of these words seem to suggest that they stem from a common ...
Flaw♦
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What is this や in 大きすぎや?
Is this a contraction along the same lines of なければ → なきゃ?
反乱を抑えるためだけが目的だとしたらリスクが大きすぎやしないか
Also, can you contract 言えば or あれば?
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An i-adjective immediately before 「ください」?
Does it make sense to have an i-adjective (in て-form) immediately before 「ください」?
For example, when asked to choose between hot and cold coffee, can I use 「温かくてください」, or must I turn it into nominal ...
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Why is 街に歩く not grammatical?
I have read this, this and this, but I still do not understand why 「街{まち}に歩{ある}く」 is not grammatical.
The person who wrote this wanted to say "I will walk to town".
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Meaning of 「X 一緒なら Y 一緒」
その高校とは昔から仲が悪くて学力のレベルも一緒なら評判や人気までも一緒
More context: https://i.stack.imgur.com/mj333.jpg
Is 「X 一緒なら Y 一緒」 a common structure? What is its meaning?
My attempt: "Relations with that high school have ...
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What does ものと見て, mean?
先日の佐伯真一さん殺人事件と、昨夜の四ッ星重工爆発炎上事故…それに、誘拐および殺人未遂事件を調べている警視庁は、この事件の裏で、大掛かりな軍事汚職事件が絡んでいるものと見て、真相の究明に全力を尽くすと発表しています。
The Superior Police Headquarters is investigating the murder ... of Mr. Shinichi Saeki, ...
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Problems understanding なの in this sentence
I remember once I have seen 「なの」 was not placed at the end of a sentence (meaning it was not a question) ever since then I wondered what it meant but didn't have any clear examples. Today I saw this ...
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What nuances do the も…ば…も structure carry?
In the book that I'm reading and a few other occasions, I saw the も…ば…も sentence structure.
For example:
俺には特殊な力もなければ秘められた才能もない。
I searched ば on jisho.org and it says that も…ば…も means "and". This ...
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Question about に and には in terms of emphasis
I read the post on here from 2011 about the difference between に and には, but I came back still a little confused (especially with all the non-layman grammar words like transitive/nominative/etc).
I ...
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noun + の + adjective
I've seen a couple times examples of using this format of [noun] の [adjective] and I mostly see it in the form ~の高い
Some specifics I'm referring to are:
人気の高い
柔軟性の高い
I can't think of any more off ...
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How to separate words in a Japanese sentence?
Unlike some languages (English, French, ...), written Japanese sentences don't have spaces between words.
I know that it is the same in Chinese for example, but the fact that the Chinese language ...
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How to tell よく (often) apart from よく (good)?
Whenever I see 「よく」, I have to ask someone whether it means "often" or "good".
For example, here is a sentence from my book:
クラスへ行って、先生の講義をよく聞いて、ノートをよく取り、それをよく覚えれば、試験でいい点がもらえる。
I thought all ...
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Sentence structure/element order
In the textbook Japanese for Busy People I, the order of the elements in a sentence is always the same (subject - when - with whom - by what means - to where - verb) at least as far as I have made it. ...
JNat♦
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"unfinished" sentences ending in particles like を, に and が
This is something I've always wondered about, but can't find any info about.
When native speakers come across a sentence that ends ...を。, ...と。 or ...が！*, how do their brains parse it? Is it just a ...
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Saying something is like/not like something else
How does one say "this is like/similar to that" or "this is not like that" in Japanese in essence? An example sentence is
"In this way, the English are like the Japanese"
; I have not been able to ...
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Ways to specify "intra-" or "extra-" usage of 北・南・東・西
I Was trying to describe that a certain castle was located south of Kyoto, I would expect the phrase to be:
「伏見桃山城が京都の南にある。」
I was then thinking, how would I say that it is in Kyoto, but the southern ...
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Truncated adjective まっすぐ
I have a sentence in a book that goes like 甘い匂いのするまっきいろな花です。It is a kids book, so everything is in kana. I'm having trouble figuring out the bolded part. It talks about a dandelion in the context, so ...
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What would happen if I use は or が in 今日何を食べたいですか?
今日何を食べたいですか What do you want to eat today?
In other words, what would happen if I say:
今日何は食べたいですか ?
今日何が食べたいですか ?
(I want to know the rough meaning of the sentence even if the sentence is wrong.)
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what is the meaning of a た形の動詞 ＋ とする
The sentence is 例えば外食時、定食屋さんでとても美味しいご飯をたべたとする。
I've looked at some other answered questions which explain how とする, when appended to a verb expresses quitting an old action and starting a new one. ...
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Is と necessary after a quoted phrase?
Hi all I was wondering if we want to treat a quoted phrase as a "noun", is it necessary to put a と particle behind the quoted phrase?
For example:
A) The "received" in "received from Tom"
「...
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About the Meaning of 〜ことに〜
I recently studied the grammar point of 〜ことに〜, as in the following sentence:
あきれたことに、彼の禁煙は1日だけだった。」
However, I'm not quite confident with its meaning.
I'm having no trouble with the meaning of ...
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