Hot answers tagged usage
27
Beside some of the historical examples mentioned by Derek, there is also an inherent nuance that separates 青 from 'blue', as it is commonly understood in Western culture (and similarly, albeit less strongly, for 緑 and 'green'). This is not unique to Japanese-English and probably applicable to any pairs of sufficiently separate cultures: colours are, for a ...
26
Note: This answer is edited to reflect clarifications brought up in the comments. Sorry it got a little lengthy.
As in some of the other answers, the fundamental difference is that 分{わ}かる is "to understand", and 知{し}る is "to know", which helps differentiate the two as concepts.
However, I think that doesn't fully answer your question.
Many years ago, ...
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(This question had to show up eventually… :) For my answer, I'll be borrowing most example sentences and categorizations from pages 176-179 of 初級【しょきゅう】を教【おし】える人【ひと】のための日本語【にほんご】文法【ぶんぽう】ハンドブック and from this PDF.
Cases where only の is allowed
When the following verb deals with one of the senses: 聞【き】く, 聞【き】こえる, 見【み】る, 見【み】える, 感【かん】じる, and so on.
...
17
ネタ is a semi-slang term that comes from reversing the characters of "seed" タネ. It's a word with many uses, but in all uses it denotes the "seed" of the idea of a work, it's essential core.
In cooking, the ネタ of a dish is the key ingredient that makes a particular dish interesting. For example, the ネタ of a piece of sushi is the non-rice part of the sushi.
...
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～ていく and ～てくる (usually written in kana, since they are such common suffixes) can express both physical movement (such as in 行【い】
ってくる "go and come back") or a continued change in state. Since your question regards the latter usage, I'll restrict my answer to that.
To use your examples:
雨【あめ】がやんできた。 The rain [over a period of time up until now] stopped.
...
16
Your book is correct. When talking about human body temperature, 三十 is often omitted, probably because it is obvious. While there is nothing wrong with saying 37度8分 (37.8 degrees Celsius), it is often abbreviated to 7度8分. Even 37度 (37 degrees Celsius) without a fractional part sometimes becomes 7度.
You cannot abbreviate the temperature when it is 40 ...
15
According to page 91 of the 類義語使い分け辞典 [1], quoted here, 一緒に requires that the action take place in the same time and location. 共に does not have this restriction, so the subjects may perform the action (let's say 日本へ行く) at the same time but via a different route, or via the same route but at slightly different times. 「彼女と一緒に日本へ来た」 means that you and she came ...
15
The video game Star Fox 64 uses 作戦完了 when you fulfill your mission objective, and 作戦終了 when the mission is over but there's some objective you haven't fulfilled. The English version translates these as "Mission Accomplished" and "Mission Complete", respectively. So perhaps 完了 suggests some kind of fulfillment, and 終了 is more neutral.
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Your two examples are incorrect in the “standard” dialect.
Some dialects (such as the Gunma dialect and the Saitama dialect) use ん instead of の in a question as in your first example. The second example may also be used in some dialects.
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According to the Wikipedia article on these two, 以下 and 以上 include the number that precedes them.
５０以上 => 50 or more
５０以下 => 50 or less
If you want to exclude the number on the upper end (instead of 以下) use 未満(みまん).
１０００円未満 (less than 1,000 yen, not including 1,000)
I had a few different discussions (and taking Ito-san's point below as well) ...
14
Short answer: no. From your link: "It is also written as 「何で」 but it is read as 「なんで」. This is a completely separate word and has nothing to do with the 「で」 particle."
Long answer: "何で" can be translated as "how," but a more accurate translation would be "by means of what object"? So from the link you posted, "何できた？" is correct, because it is asking "By ...
14
Japanese has many particles (助詞), and they behave in many varying and different ways, so it's helpful to categorize them before we can see how they can be combined. The semi-traditional classification you'd find in Japanese dictionary usually goes along these lines (note that many particles can fall into more than one of these categories as they have ...
14
You are right that ◯ is used here to mask a letter.
There are several related but different reasons as to why one would do this. The comment section already refers to one such use, where certain words are deemed inappropriate (especially on broadcasting), the equivalent of f*ck. But I don't think that explains this one.
In this case, I think the intention ...
13
In general, で is where an action is performed and に is the "direction" toward/to/into which the result of an action happens.
部屋の中で泣いています → I'm crying in the room / "The place where I'm at while I'm crying is in the room"
部屋の中に泣いています → I'm crying into the room (meaning like, your tears are flowing from your face into the room). This doesn't make ...
13
It's not clear exactly who or what started it on twitter, but なう does indeed come from the English "now". It became popular in 2009, shortly after the release of twitter (according to this site). Here are some Japanese articles exploring the usage:
http://nanapi.jp/258/
http://zokugo-dict.com/21na/nau.htm
http://www.paradisearmy.com/doujin/pasok_now.htm
13
氏名 always refers to a person's full name, both family and given. It also has the connotation of "legal name."
名前 also refers to a person's full name--but it can also mean their given name, in the right context (for instance, "We gave the baby a name" or "I want you to call me by my name"). 名前 can also refer to the names of objects, while 氏名 cannot.
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っつ (sometimes つう) is a slang version of という (or an alternate version like といった, depending on the context). It's extremely informal.
冗談【じょうだん】だっつの。 (＝冗談だ【じょうだん】といったの。) I said I was joking. [Idiomatically: Chill out, I was just kidding.]
彼【かれ】はやめたいっつってんだから、やめさせてやりゃいいじゃん。 (＝彼【かれ】はやめたいといっているんだから、やめさせてやればいいじゃない。) He's saying he wants to quit, so why not ...
13
成人 is a very specific term and refers to persons who reached the age of 20 and above. It's derived from the definition of the Japanese law, which says "年齢二十歳をもって、成年とする".
You used to get drafted and taxed after this age. In today's context, it's the legal drinking/smoking age.
大人 is a more lax term and usually means persons that are older than around 18 ...
13
記憶 is a neutral term for memory. It can be of any while ago, from sub-mili-seconds or shorter to milleniums or longer. It can be used for physical effects like hysteresis effects or memory on an electronic device. It can be used for humans as well.
思い出 is subjective. It implies nostalgia, good memories or bad memories. The past it is referring to is usually ...
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分 isn't really the "minute's kanji", although that is one of its meanings. I believe the meaning of "part" came first though, and it is used for "minute" in the sense that a minute is a unit or part of time.
According to this source, the 分 from 自分 means the same thing as the 分 from from 本分, representing one's capacity/ability, and historically was used to ...
13
You can use なる (to become) to indicate change, as follows:
うまくなる (い-adjective, い->く)
上手になる (な-adjective + に)
These both mean "to become good/skilled".
Then for "to become more skilled" you can use もっと, さらに or 前より:
もっと上手になる to become better
さらに上手になる to become even better
前より上手になる to become better than before
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Basically it depends on how the speaker feels. However, I think we usually say:
死体があります。
ロボットがいます。 if it looks like it has a mind of its own.
ロボットがあります。 if it is an industrial robot without a mind.
車がいます。 if it is being driven by a human.
車があります。 when we talk about cars in general.
人工知能（AI）があります。 if it doesn't have anything visual, auditory or physical.
...
12
と and や are used to connect two or more nouns.
Most of the time, と can only be used for a fixed number of items like:
"キーボードとマウスいる".
(we need) keyboard and mouse
But や is used when there is a variable/unknown length like:
"キーボードやマウス、そしてLANケーブルとかいるかも"
(we need) keyboard, mouse and probably LAN cables also.
Also や has some sense for ...
12
We should also note that while 超- meaning "very" is colloquial, 超- meaning "super" or "above" (the "original" meaning of the kanji) is entirely acceptable as a prefix in a literary work. In fact, many words rely on it:
超大国 【ちょうたいこく】 superpower, as in US or USSR during the Cold War (from WWWJDIC)
大国 is a word in its own right - 超- is just a prefix.
...
12
This page in the 日本語Q&A over at ALC addresses this question. Apparently the historical definition of 青【あお】, even when defined narrowly, covered an entire range of colors which are today separated as 青【あお】, 緑【みどり】, and 藍【あい】 (indigo). This trend carried into the modern language, and many words which refer to things that are actually 緑【みどり】 still use ...
12
Here are the only two exceptions I can think of where you absolutely can't insert "を":
If the construction wasn't based on をする but とする like さっぱりする→◯さっぱりとする ☓さっぱりをする
If the construction is "merged" single character する verbs like 動じる／動ずる、案じる／案ずる、命じる／命ずる、失する、課する、罰する etc.
However, it's uncommon to just add を in in many cases - so the result may be awkward if ...
12
向け is the short-form of the word 向ける and 向き's dictionary form is 向く.
向き/向く has more to do with suitability. For example, someone who is afraid of blood is not suited to be a doctor, we would say 医者に向いてない (not suitable to be a doctor)
向ける/向け has more to do with target and objective. 企業向けの開発 implies that the development is targeted at 企業(enterprise) for ...
12
I think it means:
"Yeah, I finish(ed) [work/my job/the job] earlier than (I) expected."
思ったより早く = "earlier than one expected" or "more early than one expected"
See also 思ったより at Space ALC for more examples.
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What I have been taught in the college is that に is only used for verbs that imply motions which destination/position is required to be specified.
For example, if you say "ikimasu" (I'm going), unless already in the context, you need to specify the destination otherwise the sentence does not make sense. So, you use "ni": "asoko ni ikimasu"
On the other ...
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