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One of the things I struggle the most sometimes is finding an expression in Japanese that equals to the one I'm used to use in English.

In this case, I was talking in english to this girl and she transcribed what I said to Japanese, and I wanted to say "That's exactly what I meant".

I feel like そうだよ is a bit vague in this case, so I came up with:

僕はそれって意味しましたね

but now I have this gut feeling that I'm using Japanese to express an english expression, therefore she'll maybe not understand it.

So, is there a better way to put it?

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  • what exactly was the conversation going on? I am confused.
    – ishikun
    Nov 15, 2016 at 1:44
  • I was telling her how was my day and how it is a holiday in Brazil tuesday so I didn't have to work... Basically she repetead what I said in Japanese, in order to help me understand how that'd be said. Also she corrected one of my japanese sentences, so I wanted to say that the way she put it was exactly what I had in my mind. Nov 15, 2016 at 4:38

2 Answers 2

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It depends on the situation but you could say:

まさにそれ - exactly that!!

or

それを言おうと思った - that's what I meant to say

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  • That's what I thought to say, right, I'll guess I'll go with that, thanks! Nov 15, 2016 at 2:20
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僕はそれって意味しましたね

is incorrect. I'd suggest sticking to「そうだよ」「そう、それ」「それそれ!」「そうそう、それ」「そうそう」and the likes. These are all common phrases that basically mean the same thing. Note that they are all pretty casual and informal.

The closest thing to what you were trying to say which was a little more formal might sound like

「それを言いたかったんです」 That's what I wanted to say.

or

「僕はそう言う意味で言いました」That is what I meant when I said that.

These are a little bit less natural in a casual conversation though.

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