Questions tagged [expressions]
表現. A set phrase used commonly in the Japanese language.
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Is "で一発だ an expression?
こりゃたまげた! あっという間に見つけちまうんだね
I'm shocked. You found the food in an instant
And his reply
ああ? 食い物なんて匂いで一発だ
From context I can gather it seems to be akin to ... I found it asap because of the smell but ...
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What does いくつになっても exactly mean?
いくつになっても「いい子」が上手いな!
A is angry at B for being kind to somebody and says that. They are both young adults.
It should mean "No matter the age, you are good at being a good boy!", but I don't ...
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How do I say "take a break from (gaming, social media)"?
How do I express that I'm taking a somewhat long-term (e.g. a few weeks to a few months) break from hobbies or entertainment such as video games/social media/etc?
I found the question below in which ...
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What is the exact difference between "が世話になって and "に世話になって
So this character says to this girl
課長にはいつもお世話になってます。。。 Aka "The section chief (your husband) is always helping me"
But then this girl says to him
いつも主人が世話になってます aka "Thanks for always ...
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How to understand どのメニューも工夫されたものばかりです
From chapter 25 of 新标准日本语中级, titled 創作中華料理コンテストの実現:
野田：おかげさまで、今回の創作中華料理コンテストには、全国から１００００件を超す応募がありました。創作カクテル部門にも１０００件以上の応募がありました。
大山：本当ですか。それはすごい。
野田：どのメニューも工夫されたものばかりです。
If どのメニュー takes the ga (...
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"kiru" used to refer to a card?
In Bungou Stray Dogs S2E07, the enemy pulled off something really abhorrent, and in response, Dazai says "敵｛てき｝がその気｛き｝なら、こちらも鬼札｛おにふだ｝を切｛き｝ろう". I can understand that onifuda is like "...
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What's the meaning of the expression verb + "ikitai to omoimasu"?
I found that the expression verb + "wo yaritai to omoimasu" means "I think I want to do" + verb, which makes sense to me.
However, I am not sure about the similar expression verb + ...
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Is there any Japanese saying, proverb or idiom equivalent to the meaning of the biblical parable "The Mote and the Beam"?
I think I've come across the Japanese version of this teaching in the Bible as a saying (proverb?) but I'm having a hard time recalling and searching it.
The key takeaway in the parable is:
One can ...
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Different words for "idiom"
When looking on dictionaries E-J for the word "idiom" in Japanese, the following results appear: 熟語、慣用句、成句、故事成語、ことわざ and 言い習わし.
While I think ことわざ is more like a "proverb", what ...
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How to express this kind of "no"?
I believe in English you can say "no" when something unfortunate is about to happen or has already started — suppose somebody has just bumped into a table with an antique vase and now you ...
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"Your mom has an outie" = "son of a bitch" in English?
This might seem ridiculous, but I've now encountered "Your mom has an outie" twice in anime, and both times, it's been translated as "son of a bitch." I just want to know if there'...
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What is being said here that means "it's frowned upon if you're a smoker [in the US]"
In Shinya Shokudou, S3EP08, a Japanese lady who currently works in New York (but is back home in Japan for a bit) asks the owner of a Shokudou for a cigarette as he's smoking. The owner says "...
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塩気/塩っ気 (shiokke) = sass?
In Shinya Shokudou (Midnight Diner) S3EP06, and old mom meets with this old guy, and they're talking at a diner in front of the old mom's daughter (who's casual friends with the old guy). The old mom'...
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犬{いぬ}も食{く}わない having a connotation of getting involved in a lover's spat?
In SAO Progressive (2nd movie), Asuna and Kirito are arguing, and Kirito asks Argo to weigh in. Argo responds "犬｛いぬ｝も食｛く｝わない物｛もの｝に関｛かか｝わる気｛き｝はないよ～", which is officially translated as "...
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How is 役に立った ( helpful ) formed?
My guess is that the phrase is derived from the composition of the following:
役 (yaku) : service, use
に：particle for destination
立った：perfective of 立つ (tatsu)
So it's extended meaning like "...
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Meaning of いいなり
What is the meaning of いいなり in the phrase
セーブするにはポケモンレポートこまめにかくといいなり
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Question about the expression 日和: Can it be used with any activity or just with certain set expressions?
So I was watching a podcast for japanese learners and they gave 行楽日和、お散歩日和、お洗濯日和..as examples.
So now I am asking myself, can I attach 日和 only to certain things or to anything that fits the context?
...
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Good expression for "Come on." in this specific context? [closed]
I'm looking for a good word or phrase for the English phrase, "Come on.". Specifically, in a context where you're looking for something in a hurry, like "Come on, come on...!"
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The meaning of つま先を突っ張らせて in this context (describes a person's toes)
I met this expression in an eroge, but find it's hard to understand. My guess is "Her toes were constricted "( ? ) but i'm not sure.
Context is a H-scene, where the protagonist
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Is there a name for the practice of directly reflecting back a questioner's words, and is it really that important in Japanese?
I don't really think this is 相槌; I tried searching here for "reflection" or "mirroring" as well but didn't find anything.
Let's take this example conversation:
A: ...
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What does おなかの奥がきゅうううん mean here?
Though I understood JP people say "きゅん/kyun" when they saw something cute or lovely on social medias, but what does おなかの奥がきゅうううん mean here?
I met this sentence in a visual novel, hope ...
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What does 加減 even mean?
At the moment, I am trying to translate かりゆし58's song "アンマー," which has a lot of expressions in it; I would not be surprised if I misinterpreted some of them. However, the focus for this ...
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What does this expression means 限りなく白に近いグレー in this context ? (crime scene investigation theme)
Although i do know white/black colors in Japanese meant innocent/ guilty, I'm not sure about the meaning of this expression "限りなく白に近いグレー ". Hope someone can correct my understanding if i was ...
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Can someone explains the meaning of this expression ? 寄せ集めの色が濃い
A general said this comment about a bandit he just fought:
黄巾賊は、数は多いが寄せ集めの色が濃い。首脳部はそうではないかもしれんが
I can only understand vaguely that he might be saying the bandits though having a large number of troops,...
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Meanings of っこなし
How many meanings does っこなし have?
On the one hand, I've seen in jisho and here that っこなし is a variant of っこない, which means "no chance of; no way that; certainly not; will never happen".
...
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Can anyone explain こんなもんよ?
This is a phrase I came across while watching Pokemon in Japanese. The fan subtitles have it translated as "How are you doing now?". However, from looking at a Japanese dictionary, that does ...
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What does this means 程度は知ったほうが良い when someone gave other person an advice?
程度は知ったほうが良い
Hope someone can explains this expression's meaning.
Context: 2 subordinates saw their general went too far ahead from his troops in a battle. Although this general is strong and killed ...
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What does this means in this context ? 武勲をあげる
武勲をあげる
Much thanks if anyone can help me understand its meaning.
Context: The author is describing a general who was being invited to participates in a battle.
孫堅は左軍司馬としてこの戦に参加している。
朱儁に請われて参戦したものだが、...
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What is the function of という in these contexts? [こそはという] [は + という]?
Here I have a few sentences with seemingly obscure usages of という appearing after the こそ and は particles.
Firstly, while watching からかい上手の高木さん I came across this particular sentence in Ep. 3 @11:22:
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Need help with this expression's meaning ロマンはあります [duplicate]
「ロマンはありますけど、でもやっぱり気になりますね」
Hope someone can explains to me the meaning of this expression in this sentence. My guess : "Though your reason sounds very romantic (?), but i'm still curious about ...
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What does this means when describes a person's eyes/gaze looking at you ?焦点の合わない瞳で、ぼやーっと見た。
I'm having troubles with this expression, appreciates if someone can make this clear.
焦点の合わない瞳で、ぼやーっと見た。
My guess : "..looking at me with absentmindedly eyes."
or
"...looking at me ...
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What does やけに上から来る means about a person?
I met this expression when reading, MC called to an "大沢退魔師紹介所/ Exorcist Referral Agency" (Ghost Buster ?) since he needs to solve a series of paranormal incidents at his school. There are 2 ...
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What does っぽくなってきたぜ! mean?
I have some trouble with this expression. It's by itself, on a sticker, without anything else before or after. I know っぽい can mean "-ish" and that with なる it usually means "tend to ...
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The different ways to say "forever"
皆さん、こんにちは!
I have a somewhat basic but intricate question about the way the Japanese say forever or something close in concept (sayings, expressions or poetic ways would work too).
The context is that ...
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The meaning of this expression こんなことを言うのも何ですけど [duplicate]
hope someone can explains to me the correct meaning of this expression .My guess is : "I don't know if this is the right word to describe you" ?
Context: After MC described his strategy in ...
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Understanding どことなく in terms of どこ＋と＋なく
The phrase 「どことなく」 (何処と無く) is translated in dictionaries as "somehow", "for some reason", or "vaguely". It seems to be the combination of どこ ("which place?") + ...
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Patterns of synthesis of all the variations of ～とまではいかないが
During my time studying Japanese, I have come across many variations of the ～とまではいかないが (even if not) pattern, which are as follows.
～とまではいかないが
～とまではいかないとしても
～とまではいかないにしても
～とまではいかないまでも
～とまではいかなくても
...
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Understanding how 〜にもかかわらず can connect to a verb
From
言語は時代と共に変わるにもかかわらず、言葉遣いに気をつけないと、「日本人じゃない」と思われてしまうこともこの発表の結果を考えると、お分かりいただけるでしょう。
Consider the first part:
言語は時代と共に変わるにもかかわらず
which I'm assuming means
Despite language changing over time, ...
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Correct interpretation of "桁1個上へ" in following context
Reviewing the lyrics of a song I found a really confusing phrase: "大切片手に桁1個上へ".
As far as I know, "大切片手" is refering to one/a presious hand. Most likely the one the author is in ...
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言わば、言うなれば、言うならば and 言ってみれば
Do all the expressions 言わば、言うなれば、言うならば and 言ってみれば mean "so to speak" and can be used interchangeably or is there any difference between them?
I can't get very well the differences in nuances ...
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What is "ぷれせんとふぉーゆーさん" exactly referring to？
I was looking at the lyrics of a song and there's a part of it that says the following:
いびつな形でもつたわるかい？
昔からかわらない愛
きっとかわりはしない
ぷれせんとふぉーゆーさんたから
そんなの信じてたんだなー
「まま」はいなくて
「ぱぱ」だけぱぱすき
なんてゆあないだけ
I know ...
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What does this means in this context? 「ぁんだよ、手応えねぇなぁ～……」( A girl said this after she killed a demon and saved MC)
Context: MC is facing against 3 monsters/ demons at night, and he's about to lose the battle. But then a girl rush in , killed 2 demons with her spear and saved MC. He's very surprised ad don't know ...
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じゃない and its uses [duplicate]
In a script I'm translating, two kids are reenacting The Little Mermaid at a park and then one of the kids's mom walks up and says: ちょ……ちょっとふたりとも何をやってるの！？ビショビショじゃない！
According to DeepL, this じゃない isn'...
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Confused my the meaning of this character's thought when he's facing against a monster 脳味噌の端っこの方で状況を整理する
A character is facing against a monster, and I don't understand 1 part of his thought here. Hope someone can explain to me its correct meaning.
脳味噌の端っこの方で状況を整理する (my guess: " I'm analyzing the ...
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What does this expression means about a person ? 「……やけに他人事だな、貴様は」
Context: A clan leader wanted to keep MC in her family/clan because she thinks MC is a skilled warrior and can use him. But her subordinate disagreed and wanted to kick MC out, since she's worried ...
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What does this means in this context ? 気組みを外してみたものの……どう対応したものだろうな (MC's thought after a girl asked him to withdraw from a proposal and leave)
Context: MC had accepted a proposal from a clan leader, that he'll become her husband. After that the clan leader had to leave, but she had ordered another girl who's also her wife (yuri-nice ^^) to ...
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Are 過ぎ and 後 always interchangeable when used as a suffix in time expressions?
Lots of sites say that 過ぎ{すぎ} means past and that 後{ご} means after when using them as a suffix in time expressions. However, when I read sentences with English translations through the internet then ...
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Addressing people in the Japanese Christian/Catholic Church
In English, in a Christian/Catholic settings, people could address each other with the term "brother" or "sister", and it does not signify any biological relationship, but a ...
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Need help with the meaning of this sentence, because I got confused by many meanings of 調子に乗り and 勢いをつけて
そう言われて調子に乗り、勢いをつけて俺は....
There's a sentence in an eroge, which I don't understand due to my JP level. Hope someone can help me to understand its correct meaning.
(my guess is : "After she said ...
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Need help with the meanings of these expressions that describing a person's voice よく通るきれいな声 and リバーブのかかった透明感のある声
When reading, I met this sentence that describes a girl's voice as よく通るきれいな声 and リバーブのかかった透明感のある声. It's hard for me to understand (I can only guess that her voice is normally already clear and lovely, ...
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