Questions tagged [expressions]
表現. A set phrase used commonly in the Japanese language.
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How to say “photobomb” in Japanese
Is there a word for "photobomb" in Japanese?
In English, to photobomb someone is to spoil a photograph (of a person or thing) by unexpectedly appearing in the camera's field of view as the picture ...
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1answer
123 views
Which is more common for “I miss you”: 会いたい or 寂しい？
When saying “I miss you” which of these is more frequently used? Do they have different nuances?
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1answer
79 views
正々堂々勝負して's meaning
In this anime trailer the protagonist say this sentence:
正々堂々勝負して、あ、みやがれってんだ！
I can't figure out the meaning... Is maybe something like "Fight like a man!" or "Don't play rough!"?
PS: here the ...
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2answers
125 views
Expressing that something is multiple things at the same time (e.g. “She is an artist and a poet”)
How does one express multiple states of equality? (Probably the wrong terminology.)
For example, "She is an artist and a poet" in Japanese.
I know です can be used to show equality. For example:「彼女{...
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1answer
67 views
袂を分かつ Can someone explain this expression?
I was reading a light novel and I looked up the meaning of 袂を分かつ, but I wonder, can someone explain this expression in more detail as to why it means break off relations with/part with someone?
...
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0answers
62 views
I couldn't help but~ [closed]
interested in thoughts on how to say:
I couldn't help but notice (for example)
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2answers
158 views
Is the sentence 「もう少し誠実に対応頂けませんか。」rude and unprofessional? What does it literally mean in English?
If you think a person has been irresponsible with his work (changing responses to inquiries without reason and not really researching for the answer) and you sent a message with the ending sentence 「...
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1answer
85 views
Saying “fill up”?
I work at an ice cream store that also is a gas station and we sell pints and half gallons of our ice cream in ice cream cases near the drink coolers too. How would I say “fill up” in the sense of ...
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0answers
98 views
How to say “to” as in “2 to 3 puppies”, “100 to 120 cm”, “June 3rd to July 4th”, “2010-2015” in Japanese? [duplicate]
What is the correct way to say "to" as in, for example, "2 to 3 puppies", "100 to 120 cm", "from June 3rd to July 4th", "from 2010 to 2015" in Japanese? And does that way apply to spellings with the ...
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0answers
77 views
What are some Japanese euphemisms for death and dying? [closed]
Could you list some euphemisms on death and dying used by Japanese people in everyday speech? I'm writing a paper on Japanese language euphemisms and would like to know more about expressions used by ...
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1answer
1k views
Asahi Dry Black beer can
What does ビアホール仕立ての黒 on Asahi Dry Black means?
Specifically 仕立て(sewing?) and ビアホール(via hole?). I tried searching it on japanese web, but it's kinda assumed as common knowledge and never mentioned ...
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1answer
69 views
A word to express a feeling of sudden release from intense pressure that had been building up over time
I'm failing to express an emotion in Japanese that one feels after something emotionally unnerving that had been intensifying was then suddenly released, primarily due to being resolved by the subject....
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1answer
174 views
あいだ, ところ、しまった in a sentence
トイレに行っているあいだに電車が行ってしまった。
The choices were either あいだ or ところ but the answer is あいだ.
Google translate it :
The train went while I was in the bathroom.
I thought it meant :
I was about to go in ...
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1answer
102 views
Special meaning of 手が挙がる
In an email about someone I introduced for a position at a company, one particular sentence was as follows:
○○様、残念ながら誰からも手が挙がらず、お見送りとさせてください。
While I am familiar with the fact that 手が上がる has ...
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2answers
155 views
More 'romantic'/better than すきです / だいすきです
This was mentioned in our class but for the life of me, I cannot recall the exact sentence. I only recall that it was even more 'romantic' or better than だいすきです since it means 'I love your everything',...
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1answer
120 views
What could 何も無かったり、有ったり mean?
I'm having a lot of trouble understanding what this means (bolded):
どこに行くんですか？
あ。。。森。。。ですか。。。
森の中、そこだけは
何も無かったり、有ったり
過去の遺物の集積場
「ここにやがてつまれるのかな？」
What does 何も無かったり、あったり mean?
This is ...
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1answer
235 views
Sentence starting with て?
I was listening to this podcast on Himalaya (Link given below) and I came across this sentence which starts with て, I'm not sure why it starts with て, can anyone please explain this? Also I'm not sure ...
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0answers
134 views
が in the expression “耳が聞こえない”
I tried to translate this phrase literally and came up with "(My) ears can't hear". Since the expression means "(I'm) deaf", this makes sense.
However, I can't really get it to work grammatically, ...
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1answer
99 views
に越したことはない vs に越したことないじゃない
I would appreciate help with the following sentence (which is spoken by a rightfully angry girl).
よしゅうふくしゅうをしておくにこしたことないじゃない!
I know that にこしたことはない is an expression that means "there's nothing ...
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3answers
163 views
Is it possible to express the difference between the English phrases “I don't want to do that” and “I don't want to have to do that”?
Is it possible to express the difference between the English phrases "I don't want to do that" and "I don't want to have to do that"?
Where I don't want to do that can simply be それがしたくありません。
I don't ...
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1answer
84 views
Is the で in という理由だけで a form of だ or the instrumental particle?
I'm trying to figure out how to say "Maybe it's just because ____, but..." in Japanese, but I'm not sure how to place 'just because' in its own clause that way.
If I'm not mistaken, the expression '...
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1answer
158 views
What does ことがないように express?
I've come across this sentence quite a few months ago, but I never understood the meaning of "ことがないように", I've searched and found about ことのないように, but I think it has not the same meaning.
This is the ...
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1answer
124 views
Is やなこった just 嫌な子, or does it mean something as a whole?
Another phrase from 犬夜叉 that is puzzling me is やなこった. Apparently it means something as there is a quite lot of results on the interwebz. They are not much of a help though.
I saw it in a comic, where ...
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1answer
99 views
Confusion about 大したこと(で)(は)ない
There are three variations on this phrase that I can find in Google, and I'm not sure whether all three are really used, or how frequently. But I am confused about the differences between them.
...
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1answer
95 views
How do I say Every/Each “Noun”
So, the sentence I wanna build here is (talking about reading japanese books):
Every/Each line you read, there are lots of new kanjis and words.
The only pattern I remember that is a bit similar ...
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1answer
96 views
Please help with deciphering the meaning of this sentence
お見合いの相手は、理想を絵に描いたような男性だった。
First part is something like: since he/she was/is an omiai partner or since they met in omiai . I’m having difficulty in understanding the second.
Explanation says:
...
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1answer
106 views
Can a clause ending in ば be translated to “when”?
My question stems from item 4 and 5 in this picture, which is taken from a textbook of advanced Japanese reading. These two items fell into the normal present tense in English. In English, it would be ...
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how can I use japanese pronouns if I am beginner in the language japanese? [duplicate]
hello everyone I am very beginner in japanese just I have 2 day learning japanese then I am not expert in this language yet I saw in Wikipedia this japanese pronouns:
watashi わたし
watakushi わたくし
...
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1answer
105 views
大恋愛の末に結ばれるわけではないから、アバタもエクボということはありえなかった。先行するのは条件である。 [closed]
Could somebody please help me decipher the phrase above which I came across while reading 逃がした魚は大きかった。It’s about two people in relationship. I understand that the first sentence means something like “...
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1answer
323 views
How to express the subjunctive mood in Japanese
I recently learned the Vばよかった construction, which roughly means "it would be better had I done V". This got me curious about how to construct a sentence in subjunctive mood in Japanese, or even if it ...
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1answer
99 views
今日本語習ってるんですが、この質問どうやって答えるん？
2回見るのは当然やろ？？
My native language is English and I want to agree with the person but I'm not sure how. The person is my friend and I want to know how to agree with a person when talking as a friend. ...
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1answer
159 views
Different usage of 普通に?
So, I was watching this show called Terrace House, and the following exchange between two participants caught my attention.
翔平:「 テラスハウスに入って、一番の…ここに来ての…財産じゃないけど、聖南と出会えたことだな。」
聖南:「いや、何か…...
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1answer
168 views
How to use 生かす to express “you'll do your best”?
I have to answer the question "日本には「好きこそものの上手なれ」という 諺 がありますが、どんな意味だと思いますか。" using 生かす and my idea is to answer that if you are interested in something, you'll do your best. I started writing "...
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2answers
230 views
What does 私様 means?
I see that apparently this word is used by a character in a videogame called danganropa. It's a word like boku, atashi or something like that? Or it's something different? It's used to call yourself ...
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2answers
145 views
What is the difference between 何だと and 何ですと?
I noticed that in some anime (specifically, the Ace Attorney anime), the characters often switch between 何だと, 何ですと, and a few other slight variants. What is the difference between them?
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2answers
98 views
Meaning of 天秤に乗せる
In the Dead Tube manga I found this sentence:
いいでしょ… たまには自分の命を天秤に乗せたって
The protagonist is asking a group of people who usually don't risk their life to participate in a risky game. What is the ...
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1answer
217 views
What is the meaning of the slang ～じゃてえ?
I'd like to know what ～じゃてえ exactly means when located at the end of verbs and/or adjectives. Do young people use it rhetorically?
The whole sentence is:
なのにのう ズイブンじゃてえ
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2answers
123 views
Nuance of the structure “Verb (stem of negative form) + ざるを得ない” compared to “Verb + しかない”
I've browsed a bit throught the other posts and it seems like there is no clear explanation of the nuance of "V + ざるを得ない" compared to "V + しかない". Roughly speaking, they have the same meaning but is ...
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414 views
My Teacher just had a baby, how do I congratulate her
My Japanese teacher just gave birth and our long-term sub is having us make cards to congratulate her, we need to write something in Japanese, and I want to write something different than what she ...
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1answer
91 views
How to make sense of 呪縛から解放されるウソという名の魔法
I'm having problem figuring out the idea or meaning of a sentence while reading manga.
The context is that a character A told someone (character B) a big lie, and influenced by that lie, B started to ...
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2answers
138 views
What does「〜も何も」mean in this context?
I’ve been studying Japanese for a while now and came across the following dialogue:
A: 私のこと、知ってるんだ。(So you know about me then?)
B: 知ってるも何も、有名人じゃないか。
I'm not quite sure how to make sense of B's ...
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2answers
1k views
Japanese idiom equivalent to “that ship has sailed”
What is the closest expression in Japanese that conveys a similar meaning to the English idiom "that ship has sailed", referring to an "missed opportunity" and "it's too late (to do anything about it)"...
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2answers
131 views
What does this conversation from a novel mean?
「おまえ、よく命が続いとるなあ」
「これが生き甲斐でござる」
「とりあえず酒でも飲め。いや、呆れたもんだよ」店主が言った。
「奢ってくれるかい？」
「奢るとも」
“You, よく命が続いとるなあ”
“This is what I live for.”
“Anyway, let’s have a drink. いや、呆れたもんだよ” said the owner.
...
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1answer
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Meaning of 世界観に入り込む in the following sentence
The following sentence is taken from the afterword of the final volume of a manga:
そんな風に名残惜しさを感じたり、世界観に入り込んで描くことができたのも、たくさんの人に読んでいただけて、キャラクターや作品が好きだと言ってもらえてものすごい励みになったことが一因だと思います。
I understand the ...
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1answer
185 views
書類や資料などの内容の引用について
My English isn't good, so I have always asked in Japanese, but Japanese isn't my mother tongue either. Sometimes, when I'm asking a question in Japanese, the question and the example are related to a ...
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2answers
112 views
Origin of expression ~てならない?
I cannot help but think about the verb なる when I hear or read the expression ~てならない.
Are the verb and the expression even related?
It feels to me as if it could be the modern shortened version ...
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1answer
136 views
What does 運を消費していく mean?
i'm asking myself what 運を消費していく means?
Context: My penpal won concert tickets and i congragulated him with おめでとうございます！ and he responded with ありがとうございます!!運を消費していく. Unfortunately i had not the time to ...
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1answer
105 views
How to answer to 精一杯頑張ってきます?
I was talking with my japanese penpal and he wrote to me 精一杯頑張ってきますよ! after I wrote him おはようございます！お仕事頑張ってきてね！ because he told me he was going to work. I don't know if there's an answer or not. In ...
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1answer
220 views
Is there any slang for 絞首刑?
In English it is quite common to use the expression "to get the chair" to refer to the death penalty. For example:
He committed such a terrible crime, I hope he gets the chair. *
The word 絞首刑, "...
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1answer
164 views
Does a bear sh*t in the woods? Rhetorical affirmations in Japanese. Is there any?
I could not find anything on this website nor with a (quick I admit) search on Google.
Does Japanese have any "yes phrase" (or more technically rhetorical affirmation) used to answer questions whose ...
