All Questions
29,345
questions
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先生 character etymology
先 looks like a teacher holding a pen, and 生 looks like a person sitting cross-legged with a pen, learning. maybe the symbols together mean someone who instructs someone else. Was this originally a ...
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1
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I don't get what ''元気よくとはいかない'' means
''~とりあえず、新学期。まぁさ、元気よくとはいかないけど、でもこんな天気もいいし、桜も咲いてるし、もう少しだけ愛想が良くてもいいんじゃないかしら？''
What はいかない is? is it like てはいけない (must not/don't have to)? If so, why はいけない and not はいかない?
Could you break '''元気よくとはいかない'' ...
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2
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445
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What is the use of イ. in this document?
While reading this page, which is about the Bank of Japan, I came across イ.
日本銀行は、日本銀行当座預金のうち、ゼロ金利が適用されるマクロ加算残高 の算出に用いる基準比率(「補完当座預金制度基本要領」4.(3)イ.に定める 基準比率)について、次のとおり定めることとしました。
I am not sure about the ...
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3
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1
answer
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Doumo or dōmo / arigatou or arigatō
this may be a silly question. However, is there a difference between the following sentences (in terms of spelling):
1) Doumo arigatou gozaimashita.
2) Dōmo arigatō gozaimashita.
Is one sentence ...
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2
votes
2
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164
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What is the difference in nuance by using から and between に with the passive verb?
Example 1:
先生 に 叱られた
Example 2:
先生 から 叱られた
Do these sentences imply the same meaning or no ?
i.e I was scolded by my teacher
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2
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233
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Nuance between いか and イカ? [duplicate]
Both mean squid but is there any difference between the use of hiragana or katakana?
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1
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222
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Meaning of JAPAなび
What is the meaning of 「JAPAなび」? The term is often used on NHK あさイチ broadcasts. Maybe 「なび」is for "navigation" here?
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1
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What is the function of ものな in this sentence?
これは冷やして食べるものなのですか
I did some searching but nothing seemed to quite explain what I'm looking for.
I'm assuming the second の is the explanatory の, but what is ものな? Are the もの and な separate? They feel ...
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1
answer
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には agent or object of the potential form?
This sentence is translated as: "In the end I could never beat him, not even once" by JTest4You
結局彼には、一度も勝てなかった
So the agent in I which is assumed here. But I was under the impression that ...
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1
answer
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Slang meaning of ダルい
I was watching this video (pretty funny by the way) and the title stuck out to me.
ダルい上司の打ち合わせ回避する方法考えた
Typically, ダルい would mean that you feel very tired/lethargic. However, in this case the boss ...
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2
votes
1
answer
634
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What does "だがたまには下も見るもんだぜ" mean?
There is a suggestively conversation between two men who are fighting each other. A is claimed to be strongest wizard and B is nearly strong as A. Here is the conversation,
A: 世の中上には上がおる
B: それはよく知ってる。...
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4
votes
1
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186
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何も followed by a noun
I want to say "I don't know of any delicious restaurant.", and I'm not sure how to say this :
何も美味しいレストランを知りません.
美味しいレストランは一つも知りません.
But is it grammatically correct to put a noun after 何も ?...
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1
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1
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213
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Can 悪魔 mean something else other than devilish / demonic?
I am watching this video of a Japanese girl covering a rock song, and she uses the word 悪魔 in an odd way (at least for me), I think it is being used as a の-adjective.
1st sentence (https://youtu.be/G--...
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この工場は規模こそ小さいが、年商は数十億円に上がる。
問題１ この工場は規模こそ小さいが、年商は数十億円に上がる。
１．こそ ２．だの ３．さえも ４．ですら
皆さん、どうしてこの文章にはこそを使いますか？
今日こそか、これこそとか
この場合は、ネガティブの意味だから、
こそはどういういみです？
どうして規模でされ使わないでしょうか？
問題２ たばこは健康に害を及ぼし_________、いい影響は与えない。
１．兼ねて
２．こそすれ
３．次第で
...
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What is the difference between 人気のある, 人気がある, 人気の, and 人気な? [duplicate]
As 人気 is a noun and な-adjective, it can be used in these phrases:
人気のある映画
人気がある映画
人気の映画
人気な映画
人気映画
To me, they all mean ‘popular movie’, but the first 2 literally mean ‘movie that has popularity’ ...
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1
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213
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Meaning and origin of もありか?
精霊の身体は人間より遥かに強靭だからな。毒でも呑ませてみようか。ああ、それならば麻薬を打ってみるのもありか……
The speaker was offering some ways to torment a 精霊.
Hi. Does the もありか mean “OK”? But I can only find the word 在り処(ありか), which means “...
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4
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1
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Nuance of ざんす / ざんしょ as a sentence ender
I'm reading Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. In chapter 18, the Rita Skeeter character appears for the first time (it's an obnoxious paparazzi woman) and she uses this sentence ender that I haven'...
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1
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How do I understand this sentence which ends in an adverb
Character gets wounded by a sword slash and replies with this line.
びっくりした。今の感じでもっと強くね
Does 強く describe 感じ here?
Is he saying he's more sensitive right now? If not, what is it describing? Do you ...
- 315k
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1
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138
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Turning い-Adjectives into Adverbs
I recently listened to a song named アザトカワイイ and I started asking myself about the grammar behind this one simple phrase.
According to this site, the title means "Cunningly Cute" which makes ...
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1
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1
answer
151
views
I need help with parsing out this one, really long sentence from a book
I'm not sure if I would consider myself advanced or n2 level just yet, but I bought a Japanese book recently (an autobiography) to get more input. I'm slowly translating words on Jisho, reading about ...
CommunityBot
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4
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What are the differences between じ and ぢ, and ず and づ?
The Japanese hiragana and katakana syllabaries can mostly be described as phonetic. But there are two exceptions, the two pairs of syllables modified to be voiced with the dakuten diacritic which ...
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1
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80
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Can you use the し particle without dictionary forms? [duplicate]
日本は集団主義、序列社会である。ものを大事にし、他者への配慮、思いやりを理解すべし
I'm struggling to work out the precise function of the し in ものを大事にし here.
Well - I'm quite sure it is the し particle for linking clauses, but the lack of a ...
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2
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1
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279
views
Could you please help me break this sentence down?
日本の英語教育がゴミということに気づかされた。
I know the vocabulary but I don't understand what is "という" doing there. Also, I would like to know what form is 気づく using. I went through all my notes but couldn't ...
- 16.6k
3
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1
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454
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Meaning of ''とね''
I was reading a novel and then I saw this following sentence:
''でも、まぁ草薙にはいろいろ迷惑かけてるし、なんか今日はサービスしてあげてもいいかなぁ、とね''
What's the function of とね?
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79
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Understanding questions with ommited words
I'm trying to read an internet novel, but I got stuck on some questions with omitted words. The text and my partial translation is below. It's the very beginning of the novel, so it's all the context ...
- 10k
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1
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111
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ちりと化すぞ - What is the function of particle と?
Could someone explain to me the function of the particle と in this case?
ちりと化すぞ
ありがとうございます。
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0
answers
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Meaning or function of てはことである? [duplicate]
士道は慌てて首を振った。いらぬことを言ってへそを曲げられてはことである。
Context: The boy 士道 was trying to persuade a girl. The girl hated men and didn’t want to talk with 士道. If 士道 said anything amiss, the girl would get sulky further.
...
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1
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1
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221
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Usage of か after verbs
In the following sentence
今日は何の映画を見るか決めたの
what is the grammatical role of か?
- 30.2k
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1
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147
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Normal is the most difficult" -- origin in Japanese?
I'm looking for the Japanese origin of the saying
Normal is the most difficult.
I believe the longhand version would be
Normality in life is the most difficult state/condition to attain/sustain.
...
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4
votes
1
answer
360
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Contribution of 気 to the meaning, for example, 勇気 and 勇
Both 勇気 and 勇 are nouns and mean courage. Does 気 give it a different twist?
Couldn't you say 力と勇 instead of 力と勇気? (meaning power and courage)
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1
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173
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What does '練習しなければ' mean on its own?
I found the following sentence in a Japanese textbook:
"明日の試合に勝ちたいなら、きっと練習しなければ。
If you want to win tomorrow's game, you must practice."
This was in a section to do with なら, there was no ...
- 30.2k
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579
views
How to translate FYI into Japanese
I'm not interested in translateling just the literal meaning of FYI. I'm interested in if there is a phrase that fits the same nuance.
Some English examples.
To Spouse: "Oh, FYI, Jill is bringing ...
CommunityBot
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110
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「弱者」vs「若者」Any rules to use On-reading or Kun-reading
I'm extremely confused about whether there are any rules to use On-reading or Kun-reading for kanji words.
A good example is 「弱者」vs「若者」. The former one is On-reading 「じゃくしゃ」, while the latter one is ...
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99
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How do I know when kana are included in the kanji or inflected?
What is the reading from this brief line from Final Fantasy 5?
ばっつ！ 立てっ！
Bartz! Standup!
Is the kanji read ta? That would make it たてっ, or is the kanji read tachi? How would I know to drop the ち if I ...
CommunityBot
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1
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Relation between ～てまでも and ～ないまでも
Could you please tell me what kind of relation has ～てまでも with ～ないまでも?
(They appear in the same section of my textbook as if they were closely related to each other)
Thank you so much in advance for ...
- 315k
2
votes
0
answers
170
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Confusing interchangeability of 汝 and 己
In most cases, 汝 is the formal/archaic second person pronoun, "you/thou", and 己 is a humble and archaic first-person pronoun or a way to refer to oneself.
However, confusingly, in many ...
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3
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709
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onomatopoeia for cluelessness
Is there an オノマトペ for when you're absolutely clueless or expected to do something, but cannot?
CommunityBot
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1k
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What does 'te- mitai na' mean at the end of a sentence?
I have a language exchange buddy that tends to use this phrase a lot and from what I've heard it generally means 'something like that'. I've also heard that it's a phrase younger people use a lot to ...
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633
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how do you use ごと
hi i found ごと through immersion and when i looked it up it says it is a normalizing suffix can anyone clear this out for me i am still confused of how to use this word.
example sentence if it helps
...
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Another use of particle "wo"?
君の目が貫いた 僕の胸を真っ直ぐ
This is one of the lines in a song I recently heard.
I was confused why the particle "wo" is in between the direct object and an adverb that modifies the verb, 貫いた.
Can ...
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そういう全てを含めて包み込む度量
A「俺達の戦はもう終わったんだよ。それをいつまでもネチネチネチネチ京都の女かお前は」
Our fight has already ended. Stop being so persistent about it, what are you, a Kyoto girl?B「バカか貴様は！京女だけでなく女子はみんなネチネチしている。そういう全てを含めて包み込む度量がないから貴様はモテないんだ」
Are ...
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1
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What does と mean in 「ここにおいで」と?
As far as I know "koko ni oide" means "come here", but what does "to" add to the sentence "koko ni oide to". The context of the phrase is
今、 あなたの声が聴こえる
｢ここにおいで｣と
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0
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238
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ワクワクする vs ワクワクしている
What is the difference in actual meaning/usage?
The example is from https://hanasu-eigo.com/2017/01/11/325/
“I’m excited!” というのは、「すごく楽しみなことがあってワクワクしている」というような時に使います
and then had an example below:
“I’...
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1
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141
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Meaning of 無理に聞いても 言わせてもね
I encountered the phrase in a slice-of-life manga:
無理に聞いても 言わせてもね
The first half I can understand, roughly "even if you force them to say it", but the second part 言わせてもね does not make sense ...
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0
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35
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金曜日の予習に第4章を読んでおくこと, The function of こと [duplicate]
The translation given for the sentence was "Read chapter 4 for Friday." Is the こと used just to make the sentence a bit more respectful or is it just missing some context? I feel like i'm ...
- 315k
3
votes
1
answer
1k
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How many true verbs and i-adjectives are there in Japanese?
I have read that verbs in Japanese are a closed class. That is to say: not counting inflections, there is some relatively fixed number of "true verbs" in the language. By "true verbs&...
- 315k
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1
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146
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What is the grammar for saying things like "Step A", "our friend Nozomi", or "the snowiest city in the world, Aomori"?
I just noticed a sort of black hole in my knowledge of Japanese. Obviously when you're using titles, such as with "Dr. Suzuki", you put the name and then the title, without any punctuation ...
- 315k
1
vote
1
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90
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Would using "たら" make sense in this type of sentence?
So recently I've met a Japanese person whilst playing League and we started to talk a bit over the group voice chat. Although my Japanese is still at a very basic level we understood each other pretty ...
- 315k
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2
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156
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Can 秘める mean to have?
The sentence in question is
「いずれにしても、強大な力を秘めていたことは間違いない」
For me, this would mean something like
"In any case, there is no doubt it was hiding its mighty power." (a)
However, Google ...
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4
votes
1
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278
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How should I understand 何回目か in this sentence?
One assignment for my Japanese class is this Japanese elementary reader, which contains the story of Kenta and his dog, Koro. They are playing catch with a ball, and the previous sentence I translated ...
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