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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, ...
25
(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.
...
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The key to understanding this difference in aspect (not tense) lies in knowing what kind of verb we're dealing with. For verbs that describe actions (食【た】べる, 走【はし】る, etc) and events (降【ふ】る, 吹【ふ】く, etc), ～ている shows the continuation of an action. For verbs that describe changes in state (死【し】ぬ, 割【わ】れる, 溶【と】ける, etc), ～ている shows the continuation of a state.
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14
The -ou/-you form does have a negative counterpart, but it's considered rather literary, and in any case never used in a cohortative meaning ("Let's X"). That form is the なかろう form, e.g.: 食べなかろう, which means "[He/I/etc.] probably wouldn't eat." and is equivalent to the more colloquial form "食べないだろう".
I think the most common simple way to express the meaning ...
14
They both mean "to fix"/"to repair"/"to correct", but 治す is used in the sense of "to heal or cure" ("to fix a disease"). "直す" is used for fixing, not healing.
EDIT: As per Tsuyoshi Ito's correction (confirmed with a bit of googling), I've removed a misleading bit about the object of these verbs.
13
I think the confusion here arises from the fact that English can use the "-ing" form of a verb in two different ways: using a verb as a noun (gerund), or expressing a continuous action (progressive tense).
In plain language, adding の to a verb in Japanese transforms it into a noun and makes it suitable to be followed by は, が, or various other particles that ...
13
I'll base my answer around this Japanese thesaurus entry which discusses the difference between 思う and 考える.
思う is more subjective or emotional - for example: worries, hopes, affection, supposition/imagination (as in 'It wasn't as big as I had imagined (thought) it would be') etc.
考える is for more objective and logical thought.
At the bottom of the ...
12
According to Tae Kim, there is a negative volitional form, but it is archaic and formal, so you're better off using the modern expressions given by the other answers.
However, it does show up every now and then (トキ in 北斗の拳 seems to like using it), and it's a pretty simple conjugation, so it's worth knowing.
To form the negative volitional, you add まい to ...
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
As Axioplase has indicated, the verb 死ぬ was originally a n-stem irregular verb (ナ行変格活用動詞). There was only one other such verb, namely 去ぬ. It survives in modern standard Japanese in derived forms such as 古 （いにしえ, from the stem of 去ぬ + the stem of the past tense auxiliary き + the particle へ). It is also thought that the noun 西 is derived from 去ぬ. (The main ...
12
Yes, there is a general word:
身に着ける
So, you can say:
帽子を身に着ける
服を身に着ける
ズボンを身に着ける
However, in daily conversation it is more common to say 着る or 履く. Also, 身につける can mean something different like 知識を身につける.
Or, after rereading your question, it looks like you don't want to specify what you are wearing. In that case, the other answer is ...
12
What exactly is なり?
It is a conjugable suffix (助動詞). It attaches to the attributive (連体形), a substantive, or an uninflected adjective. It expresses designation (指定) or predication (断定). It is basically equivalent to である or だ. You may consider it a copula.
As a conjugable suffix, it has multiple forms: nar-a, nar-i / ni, nar-i, nar-u, nar-e, nar-e. ...
11
Everyone's done a great job of answering this one, so I'm just going to add a quick answer. The なの that you're asking about is really just の. The な is only there if you use it after a noun or a na-adjective (きれい, 大変, 非常). The most common way of using this の is as a question marker.
そうなの - Is it really?
This is the same as そうなんですか but less formal.
...
11
I imagine most grammar texts break Japanese tenses into past and non-past. So the plain form can be used to describe something you will do (once) in the future as well as something you do on a regular basis or something that tends to happen. Context tells you which is meant:
明日【あした】は映画【えいが】を見【み】る。 Tomorrow I will watch a movie.
...
11
Well, first, I think that うだく is archaic, as I read it:
〔上代語「むだく」の転で、「だく」の古形。平安鎌倉時代の漢文訓読にだけ見える語〕
Then, だく seems to be use for concrete situations, when you really use your hands.
いだく seems to be
a more literary reading, or
used in abstract situations, like
「理想を―・く」「不安を―・く」. This is exactly your sentence, isn't it?
Sources: on-line dictionaries ...
11
First, concurring with Axioplase: だく is for tangible things, いだく is for abstract things. (Daijisen has a usage note under 抱える that deals with this distinction.)
With regards to your second question, yes, だく can have the connotation of "sleep with" (second sense in the Daijisen definition for 抱く). It's a somewhat "nicer" way to say "sleep with" in the sense ...
11
Basically, を follows a noun (eg. "車") or a nominal group (eg. "私が運転してる車"), not a proposition.
(This) と follows a proposition, not a noun or nominal group.
行こうを思う is thus not grammatical.
You'd want 行くことを思う for a grammatically correct sentence.
It would mean that you think of the concept of going. It is different from thinking of you going, which would be ...
11
I personally think both existing answers should be sufficient for this question, but since they cannot seem to gather consensus, allow me to give it my own try:
The short answer is that both いる and ある forms can be used in a scientific (biological) context. Simple as that.
A quick poll of available colleagues gave out that some preferred いる, some preferred ...
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Axel Svahn has written about this construction in detail, including summaries of other scholars' viewpoints:
Imperative -ta in colloquial Japanese: A descriptive analysis (Bachelors' thesis, 2007)
The perfective imperative in Japanese (Masters' thesis, 2009)
That second one in particular is well worth reading if you are interested in this subject. It ...
11
I think the key to understanding the differences is to understand the concept of [空間]{くうかん} in Japanese. Basically, if by performing the "open" action, you connect two 空間 together, create a new 空間 or make a 空間 visible, then both ひらく and あける can be used. This can be seen in the following phrases:
窓をあける/ひらく (by opening a window, you connect two 空間 ...
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する is the most general, neither too polite nor too formal. やる is more informal and could tend to lean toward rudeness. Note that やる cannot replace する in sino-Japanese compounds. For example, 電話する could not change to 電話やる. なさる is keigo (尊敬語), used for someone "higher" than yourself. いたす is humble keigo (謙譲語), referring humbly to yourself or others in ...
10
Actually, there were verbs ending in some of the syllables you listed, but they have changed to different forms in modern Japanese.
ず
Most verbs ending in ず were サ変 verbs; they became regularised as 〜じる verbs, e.g. 感じる、生じる、命じる etc. Note that these examples are all derived from Chinese words which originally had nasal endings. Sometimes these also show up ...
10
Jikan wa deru koto desu
If it is written in Japanese, 「時間は出る事です」. We don't say it.
One, is this correct?
No. If you mean It's time to leave, 「もう出る時間です」 should be fine.
Two, when translating infinitives from English to Japanese is the proper conversion: to [verb] -> [verb] koto?
Not always. In addition to 名詞的用法, there are 形容詞的用法 and 副詞的用法. ...
9
This form is called in many names: the base form, the dictionary form, the imperfect form (which is a rather inaccurate term), and the non-past form. Its Japanese name (which you'll commonly find used on Japanese.SE.com) is [終止形]{しゅうしけい}, but that term refers to the shape of this form (i.e. how it conjugates) and not to its meaning.
The broadest (and ...
9
Very simply :
食べることができる
I am technically able to eat. I have a mouth, a stomach, and so on.
When you ask "can you do this for me" and your witty friend replies "yes, I can" but doesn't do it, that's this meaning of potentiality that he chose to understand. You'd use this form to say "I cannot time travel" or "I cannot fly".
You cannot do anything about ...
9
This construct was common in classical Japanese, but now it is archaic or poetic. In classical Japanese, the attributive form of conjugating words can be directly followed by particles which attach to nouns (without inserting の). 目指すは would become 目指すのは in modern Japanese, 吹きやまぬは would become 吹きやまぬのは or 吹きやまないのは, and so on.
9
Yes your intuition is correct. It has something to do with する.
される is the passive verb form of する.
What does the passive-form do?
Compare:
AはBをぶつ - "A hits B"
AはBにぶたれる - "A gets hit by B" (The verb ぶつ is in the passive-construction)
Now why is it され and not される?
され is the 連用形 of the passive construction of the verb する for which ...
9
While 「問って」 may seem the logical conjugation, 「問う」 is actually irregular (see the Wikipedia entry for 不規則動詞). According to this article, 「問って」 is "almost never used". It appears therefore that 「問うて」 is correct in modern Japanese.
In case you are wondering why, the author of the latter article hypothesizes that this irregular conjugation makes the dictionary ...
9
1) Jikan wa deru koto desu means "Time is leaving". If you want to say "It's time to leave", just say 時間です. The "to leave" is kind of implied depending on your situation. But if you want to explicitly add it in, you can say
（もう）出る／出かける／帰る 時間 です／になった。 → (It's already (become)) time to leave/go/go out.
2) To translate infinitives, just use the ...
9
I think you can try:
リンクを開{ひら}く
リンクを開{あ}ける
リンクをたどる (follow the link)
リンクをクリックする (click the link)
サイトを訪れる (visit a site)
Of course don't forget to conjugate them into the required requesting/commanding forms.
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