14
votes
2answers
1k views
Why is 知りません the negative form of 知っています？
I'm reading Minna no Nihongo (Chapter 15) and it says what I wrote in the question. I would think the negative would be 知っていません。
13
votes
3answers
386 views
Kanji for native Japanese concepts: Kun'yomi spanning multiple morphemes
There are a few words, which are written with Kanji imported from China, but where the intended native Japanese meaning would prefer a different choice of Kanji. My favourite examples are
雷 vs. 神鳴り ...
13
votes
2answers
323 views
When writing for general public, is there a general guideline for selecting kanji?
After reading numerous publications, I've spotted a trend or custom on determining whether kanji is or is not used for certain words. The most obvious ones are:
こと・事
…が実は犯人だったということがわかる。
...
9
votes
2answers
320 views
います and あります usage
I just learned about: います and あります.
I know I should use います for people and moving things and あります for plants and inanimate things.
I have two doubts:
Which one should I use with "dead body". For ...
8
votes
2answers
258 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
1answer
595 views
Difference between ~なきゃ and ~なくちゃ
I know what one of them is なくてはいけません and the other one なければなりません, I just don't know which is which, also a few example sentences would help a lot, thank you.
15
votes
4answers
3k views
What exactly is “なの” (nano)?
I asked a female Japanese friend to translate a sentence for me and it ends in "nano" which I took to be either an alternative question particle to -ne or -ka; or possibly two particles I don't know ...
15
votes
3answers
544 views
「～たじゃない」 expression in spoken Japanese
I noticed in an anime I watched, one of the characters said something like below:
さっき食べたじゃない。
And what I think the meaning is: Didn't you just eat a few while ago?
From what I have learned in ...
13
votes
2answers
1k views
When did the “wu” character drop out of use?
In the last century, the ゐ and ゑ characters were eliminated from common use. But it seems like there used to also be a "wu" character that has since been lost. Given that it's a lot harder to find ...
12
votes
3answers
874 views
When to use 欲しがる instead of 欲しい
When does one use 欲しがる instead of 欲しい? For example, in phrases like:
先生は野菜を食べて欲し｛いです・がっています｝。
My incomplete understanding is that the がる form is more formal/polite, but it can only be used ...
12
votes
4answers
699 views
Is there an equivalent to George Carlin's “Seven Dirty Words” in Japanese?
Warning: This question contains words in both Japanese and English that some might not want to read.
Also: My apologies that this question is lengthy. However, I wanted to take care to express it ...
9
votes
4answers
571 views
How commonly are “あたし” or “[僕]{ぼく}” used?
My friend and I are learning Japanese. For a time, all we knew was 私, but after we learned more words, she started to use あたし when referring to herself, and I began using 僕. What I'm wondering is, how ...
8
votes
4answers
578 views
のだから vs のだ (んだから vs んだ）
When I learnt this grammar point a while ago, my teachers told me not to use it with "から". There reasoning for this was that のだ already implies a reason or supporting information for a conclusion.
...
8
votes
1answer
282 views
In which dialects have the sounds “ゐ” (wi) and “ゑ” (we) been preserved, and are their kana still occasionally seen?
In Nate Glenn's answer to bdonlan's qestion "Why were ゐ and ゑ eliminated?" he states:
"Wi" and "we" are still in some dialects, but standard Japanese does not have those sounds.
My question is ...
7
votes
5answers
359 views
Less-approximate and more-approximate forms of loan words
When Japanese incorporates a Western word, especially English, often the spelling rather than the pronunciation is respected in the transcription, thus, ending up with a transcription that is not the ...
6
votes
1answer
281 views
と言っても vs とは言え .
Hi all is it true that と言っても and とは言え is the same thing except that と言っても is for spoken clauses whereas と言いえ is for written clauses?
15
votes
3answers
681 views
Is it ok for non-japanese to refer to themselves as 僕{ぼく} and if not why?
Grammatically speaking it shouldn't be an issue, but I have heard from some people that a non-japanese using 僕{ぼく} sounds really weird. Has anyone else heard this? And if so, is there a reason?
13
votes
4answers
850 views
Distinguishing certain characters in handwriting and print
Japanese has some sets of characters which look very similar or even identical. Obviously, context is usually more than enough to distinguish which character is intended, but I'm wondering if there ...
12
votes
1answer
550 views
けど at the end of the sentence?
According to dictionaries, 「けど」 means ‘but’, ‘although’, ‘however’.
However, it seems to have slightly another meaning at the end of the sentence. For example, here are few example sentences with ...
6
votes
4answers
344 views
Is this って equivalent to 「と」？
Is the って in the following sentence equivalent to 「と」as in ＡはBと変わる／違う？
昔から好きな曲って変わらないみたい。
My favourite songs have not changed for many years.
Does this mean it is equivalent to the と used ...
6
votes
1answer
495 views
How is the “のです” working here?
目立つ事を恐れ、一緒でなければいけないという日本人が確実に減ってきているのです。
The strong feelings that Japanese have of being afraid of standing out and everybody having to do things together are starting to become less ...
6
votes
2answers
253 views
Making sense of transitive usage of 行く and 来る - 「を行く」 and 「を来る」
I think it's known that some intransitive verbs can take を particle and be used as transitive verbs such as for example 「私のことを分かってくれない」. While using 分かる transitively would require specific scenarios ...
6
votes
1answer
230 views
なく vs. なくて and stem form vs. てform as conjunctions
I have been wondering about this, since every time I hand in a 作文 in a Japanese class, I'm corrected on conjunctions. It seems to me that whenever I use a てform as a conjunction, a response comes back ...
17
votes
5answers
561 views
What does the final て in 待ってて signify?
In this scene a young girl, Yotsuba, drops in on her neighbors for some breakfast. The mother who's cooking breakfast says 「今お父さんの焼いてるからその次ねー。ちょっと待っててー」.
So I guess she's preparing her husbands food ...
12
votes
2answers
559 views
How do you write someone's name if you don't know what kanji to use?
Since kanji can have multiple pronunciations, how would you know how to write someone's name if you've only heard it spoken? What's the convention? Would you just guess, or maybe write it out in ...
12
votes
3answers
212 views
Dissecting つく verbs
I think we all are familiar with する verbs, which are verbs that are formed by appending する to nouns. Examples include 勉強する, 愛する etc. This pattern is very convenient because it can be appended to ...
11
votes
2answers
256 views
Nuances between the different kanji spellings of あける：明ける vs. 開ける vs. 空ける
開ける, 明ける and 空ける are all read as あける.
From their kanji, it is obvious that 開ける has to do more with opening (a door etc), 明ける with dawning and 空ける with emptying...
However, JMDict gives the exact ...
9
votes
1answer
417 views
How to use ～に同意する to agree or disagree with a person?
A couple of times I've tried to say "I agree with..." or "he agrees with..." but I don't know whether I'm using 同意{どうい}する correctly.
In what ways should に同意{どうい}している be used? Also, which particles ...
9
votes
2answers
6k views
When is it appropriate to use お疲れ様 (otsukaresama)?
I know the general meaning of using お疲れ様です／でした to express gratitude for some work, but I'm a bit fuzzy about appropriate times to use it.
I know it is a common saying when leaving for the day, and ...
8
votes
1answer
188 views
が and に interchangeability and difference in meaning
Consider these sentences:
だれ{が・に}これが出来るか
だれ{が・に}日本語が分からないか
When both が and に are acceptable, what is their difference in meaning and practical usage?
5
votes
1answer
236 views
particle で versus particle と
I have found this sentence:
"Kazoku de dekakeru".
Why is the particle で used instead of と?
5
votes
2answers
374 views
The different usages of ことがある
If I understand correctly, the main usages of ことがある seem to be the following:
Verb(plain)+ことがある: There are times when (I)
Verb(past)+ことがある: (I) have experienced (something) before
But after this ...
25
votes
3answers
1k views
Usage of すみません (sumimasen) versus ごめんなさい (gomen'nasai)
There are several situations in which one of these words (phrases?) should be used but there's not usually a 1:1 mapping between any two languages.
Get somebody's permission. English: "excuse me", ...
8
votes
2answers
714 views
When to use ～ので vs ～から
I was looking in A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar when I saw something on page 329 which truly shocked me:
"node cannot be used and kara must be used [... when ...] the main clause is a ...
24
votes
8answers
972 views
Particles: に vs. で
I have progressed pretty far in Japanese, but when I construct Japanese sentences, I still get these two particles mixed up. For example, when talking about being inside something, I don't know when ...
15
votes
3answers
848 views
The reality of answering いいえ to a negative question
tl;dr: when answering a negative question, can いいえ be used to affirm what the question states as a whole?
I came to Japan at the age of six, and I guess I pass as a normal native speaker of Japanese ...
14
votes
2answers
2k views
Will verbal irony and sarcasm be understood and/or appreciated?
It's a topic of debate to what extent Japanese has sarcasm and irony. In any case, Japanese speakers seem to use a whole lot less of it than English speakers.
My question is: whether or not Japanese ...
14
votes
2answers
468 views
Usage of commas in Japanese sentences
This might sound like a strange question, but how does the usage of commas differ when used in Japanese compared to English?
I believe りんご、オレンジとバナナ wouldn't work, but that it's OK to list like ...
14
votes
3answers
765 views
Why the “H” is pronounced Sh in some cases.
I came from Stack Overflow and new to Japanese language. Happy I found out about this great place.
My first question is about the rules of pronunciation of the letter "H".
Like "Hijutsu" or "Hiyori".
...
20
votes
5answers
680 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 ...
12
votes
3answers
662 views
Actual phonetic realization of “devoiced” vowels
Descriptions of Japanese phonology (such as Wikipedia's) usually describe high vowels between voiceless consonants (or word-finally) as "devoiced". For example, the pronunciation of ⟨圧⟩ 'pressure' and ...
11
votes
1answer
1k views
What's the difference between 「いけない」 and 「いかない」?
I've just learned that ～わけにはいけない as in 断{ことわ}るわけにはいけない ("I can't refuse") apparently isn't valid but ～わけにはいかない is, even though I've been using the former frequently.
But what is the difference ...
10
votes
5answers
626 views
Is there an objective source of the origins of kanji?
Is there an authoritative source that explains where the different kanji come from and what the radicals mean? I think it's hard to tell from most of the textbooks/other sources whether a shown ...
18
votes
2answers
986 views
Why are the particles “は” (ha⇒wa), “へ” (he⇒e), and “を” (wo⇒o) not spelled phonetically?
As far as I know only three words (or particles) have irregular, non-phonetic spelling in Japanese:
"は" - The topic particle is pronounced "wa" but the kana is otherwise pronounced "ha"
"へ" - The ...
17
votes
4answers
382 views
What are the origins of ヶ?
The ヶ in e.g. 一ヶ月 is a bit of an odd character - it looks a lot like a small version of the katakana ケ, but is it derived from that katakana originally? Or is it a normal kanji? Or is it something ...
11
votes
4answers
204 views
History of 十干（じっかん）and modern uses
As I was studying vocabulary today, I happened to come across the titular 十干 which are as follows:
甲（こう）• 乙（おつ）• 丙（へい）• 丁（てい） •戊（ぼ）• 己（き）• 庚（こう）• 辛（しん）• 壬（じん）• 癸（き）
There's a somewhat lengthy ...
10
votes
2answers
691 views
What is the difference between なぜなら、だから、and なので？
I'm trying to get clarification on how to use these three pieces of grammar and whether or not they all hold some kind of "Because" meaning.
10
votes
6answers
791 views
アニメと漫画で日本語を勉強することについて (On learning Japanese from anime/manga)
最近、漫画好きな外国人が増えたので、日本のアニメや漫画で日本語を勉強する外国人も多くなっています。アニメの日本語が日常の会話であまり使わないので、アニメで日本語を勉強することで日本語をちゃんと学べると思いますか。
(Many foreigners have been learning Japanese through manga and anime due to its popularity ...
9
votes
1answer
249 views
When and to whom should I use the expression ご苦労様 (gokurousama)?
In what context and relationship wise to who can I safely say ご苦労様 (gokurousama)?
I often defer to using otsukaresama since I'm not sure if I'm talking down to someone by saying gokurousama. Please ...
8
votes
2answers
159 views
Proportion and Rate
How do I form a sentence pattern for:
The more/less X happens, the more/less Y happens
E.g. The more you stir, the faster the salt dissolves.
The colder the weather, the more ...
