Questions tagged [grammar]
文法. A collective term for syntax (the way sentences are put together) and morphology (forms of words, including the way new words are put together). Often used to describe function words such as particles, to describe word endings, and to talk about general sentence structure.
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What does ○○ていない + といけない mean?
I've recently encountered a simple sentence in a video that confused me grammatically.
(see 2:08)
子供が考える時には、待っていないといけないですよね。
My assumptions:
待っていない = negative continuous form of 待つ
といけない = have to
I'...
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Understanding から and くらい in 「学校から帰ってきて寝るまでくらいだ」
In
学校から帰ってきて寝るまでくらいだ
I was under the impression that くらい is an adverbial particle (副助詞), but here it's acting as a noun (名詞)? Can it also function as a noun, or is there an implicit noun after くらい ...
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What is the purpose of に in this sentence? [duplicate]
I'm trying to figure out the meaning of に in this sentence
"２番目にイケてるヒトがいい"
I've looked online for all the definitions of に but none seem to quite fit.
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Usage of と in 「...その夢の完全なる成就とそれによる至福の喜びに浸っている」
In the second episode of Death Note, the main character reads a passage from a school book:
ついに夢を現実のものとした彼はその夢の完全なる成就とそれによる至福の喜びに浸っている
My question concerns the usage of と after 成就:
Why not use に ...
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What does そうとしてみる mean?
From the song: 金木犀の夜
声が聴きたくなって
電話番号を思い出そうとしてみる
I'm wondering if it can mean "I'll try to remember the phone number, then look (if I remembered)", cause that's what my intuition tells me ...
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Can anyone solve this error? The error is no persistence provider for EntityManager named BookStoreWebsites [closed]
This is my XML file
<persistence-unit name= "BookStoreWebsite">
<provider>org.hibernate.jpa.HibernatePersistenceProvider</provider>
<properties>
<...
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How would you express the phrasing “Courtesy of [x]” in Japanese?
I’m having a bit of trouble figuring out how to phrase this sort of thing. I’m thinking of this in the context of “acknowledging that someone has formally done a service for another”.
Examples might ...
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Negation in concurrent verbs
I saw this sentence in my workbook:
スープは音を立てて飲まないのがいいマナーとされる。
and I found many cases of 音を立てて飲まない on Google.
This expression seems to mean "to not drink, while making sounds", instead of &...
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Asking what's in a container
I was playing around with Google translate to try to figure out how to ask what's in a container, and it suggested the following two sentences:
箱の中は何ですか
カートには何が入っていますか
So, firstly, why did it give a ...
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~といい Grammar point with 評価 as an implication
During my class today we were studying N1 Grammar といい. In our textbook there was the question:
水泳といいテニスといい、(x)。
a) スポーツはみな楽しい b) 私はお子様に習わせている c) 私はやったことがない
So I understand that a) is a correct ...
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~乙女ならばともかく: Translation and grammar issue
I was reading The Tatami Galaxy, and I came across the following sentence:
うら若き乙女ならばともかく、二十歳過ぎたむさ苦しい男を誰が抱きしめてやりたいものか。[pg.295]
I know ~ともかく means "leaving aside", "never mind X,..." ...
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Why say 「いるわけ」when わけ isn't an animate object?
From the first episode of Death Note:
この世に不必要な人間を消すことのできるヤツがいるか？
いるわけがない
Why is いる used here, when わけ ("reasoning") isn't an animate object? Shouldn't this be "ある訳" instead?
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What is "と...との"doing in this sentence?
I was reading the book "刺青殺人事件" and came across this section:
しかし、そういう標本のどれにもまして、この一室を訪れて来る人々の注意を完全に奪ってしまうものは、壁を埋めてかかげられた刺青人皮のほかにはない。
それは奇妙なアラベスク、刺青師と、この芸術の愛好者との魂を、死後にとどめた曼陀羅図。
I initially ...
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Does Xの時 need a に particle to indicate when something happened?
I know that absolute time references such as 九時 have に after them to indicate when something happened, and relative time references and parts of the day do not.
But what about "time references&...
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Why did the author use ある and ない for people?
I am reading the book 『君たちはどう生きるか』 by 吉野源三郎。
I have questions about the following two sentences:
それは、コペル君にお父さんがないということです。
「そう、そりゃあ、あんとも知れないな。ーーいや、今だって、ひょっとすると、どこかの窓から、僕たちを眺めてる人があるかもしれないよ。」
Why did ...
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Tense of sentences ending with のだ such as 楽しかったんだ
From what I can find,
楽しかったんだ
is considered to be in the past tense, which confuses me.
I would have thought that の nominalized the preceding phrase, and the sentences as a whole was then placed in ...
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In a sentence like メニューに値段が書いてない, are we seeing the ～てある pattern in the negative, or a contraction of 書いている?
One way to say that there are no prices on the menu would be to use the ～てある pattern and say:
メニューに値段が書いてありません。
Presumably, then, the plain equivalent of this sentence would be:
メニューに値段が書いてない。
...
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Why does this sentence 「授業中は、おしゃべりしないの」use しない instead of するな
So I got this sentence
授業中は、おしゃべりしないの
from this article in Tofugu.com.
It's supposed to translate to "Don't chat during class!".
Why does it use しない instead of するな? I thought to say "...
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Meaning of もつて in the 割賦販売法
What is the meaning of "もつて" in article 1 of the 割賦販売法?
「この法律は、割賦販売等に係る取引の公正の確保、購入者等が受けることのある損害の防止及びクレジットカード番号等の適切な管理等に必要な措置を講ずることにより、割賦販売等に係る取引の健全な発達を図るとともに、購入者等の利益を保護し、...
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Any help with this phrase? [duplicate]
ジョンさんは日本語を上手に話します。
The thing is that I don't understand why 上手 has the particle に.
I'm reviewing an examination sheet, and this is the answer to one of the questions.
The only possible thing that I ...
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Meaning of verb + negative-verb
While reading 君死にたもう流星群 vol. 4, I found this sentence:
黒井{くろい}の本はまったく売れない。いや、売れる売れないというレベルではなく、開始二時間が経つというのに誰ひとり客が来ない
Kuroi is attending together with the main character an event like Comiket, and ...
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confused about (よ)うとした
i have saw two different meaning in different context.
1.うとした means wanted to do something,but didn’t actually perform the action
ドアを開けようとしたが、鍵がかかっていました。
2.うとした means wanted to do something,and ...
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Can verbs ending with たり act as a noun?
While reading a certain manga, I found this sentence
小さい頃オレは何をするにも人の目が気になって自分の意見を言うのが苦手でさそれで後悔することも多かったけど嫌われたりが怖かったりでできなくて
I am curious about the 嫌われたりが怖かったり part. It is understood as "scared ...
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Is it 昨日の午後 or 昨日午後
When using の to describe when something occurred, what is used?
昨日 の 午後 or 昨日午後 for "yesterday afternoon"
昨日 の 一時 or 昨日一時 for "yesterday at 1 o'clock"
昨日 の 午後一時 or 昨日午後一時 for "...
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what does ことに...ことに... mean here?
この教室の窓というのが、トットちゃんにとっては幸福なことに、先生にとっては不幸なことに、一階にあり、しかも通りは目の前だった。
I googled it ,and it only turned out ことに used like this
残念なことに、その商品はもう販売中止になりました。
but this usage obviously don't match the context I ...
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い-adjectives derived from verbs
Some い-adjectives are derived somehow from verbs. For instance, 忙しい is related to 急ぐ according to Wiktionary.
Are there many い-adjectives derived from verbs? If a given verb has an adjectival form, ...
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Translating into single line having the qualification name, subjects and its grades
I've been trying to translate this single line of the qualification name, subjects, and its grades in Japanese and somehow it looks more challenging to me than how it's supposed to be. Here is the ...
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Is this phrase a double negation? [duplicate]
身を切るよう な寒い 中 で わざわざ 遊ばなくて もいい じゃない。
asobanakute comes from asobanai (i imagine), but why the jyanai? I know that the phrase mean "You don't have to play outside in the biting wind" but the ...
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what does の方 here mean?
会社員の方の月給すべて競馬に賭けてみた!
I wonder, is の方 really necessary here? what meaning does it add?
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Understanding あるところ when used in a past-tense sentence [duplicate]
In
昔あるところにおじいさんとおばあさんが住んでいました
Why isn't ある in the past tense (since we're talking a place that existed in the past)? Would the sentence still be grammatical if it was?
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Meaning of 「くらいで」after a verb when describing an environment? [duplicate]
What is the meaning of 「くらいで」after the verbs in these sentences?
「壁にはカレンダーが貼られているくらいで、ポスターなんかはいっさいない」
「その他にはミニコンポがあるくらいで、パソコンやらテレビやらゲームやらない」
From context, I would guess it to mean something along the ...
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Translation and plural - girl and girls! [duplicate]
Sorry for the question that will certainly be trivial, but for me Japanese is totally unknown territory.
I should translate this sentence into Japanese: "The Girls and the Heron" (it would ...
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でもね sentence ending
From Oshi no ko ch. 38,
For context, these guys saw the debut of a new group named B小町. They recall hearing about a group of the same name.
I am confused about the function of でもね at the end of the ...
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Meaning of とすればの話だが
ピーブズよりやっかいなのは...そんなのがいるとすればの話だが...管理人のアーグスフィルチだった。
The thing that was a bigger nuisance than Peeves...if there was such a thing... was the caretaker, Argus Filch.
I'm struggling to understand what ...
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How 剥がれたり works here?
I am bit puzzled by the use of 剥がれたり in the below panel
剥がれたりまばたきがしにくくなるから顔の筋肉に沿ってね
Why 剥ぐ is passive here? Also, what's the purpose of たり? It looks like a substitute for て form?
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Understanding the usage of ならまだしも
アメリカならまだしも失踪した未成年に大麻の検査まではしないだろう
Upon some googling, the grammar seems to used for something akin to
Pattern 1) Noun[A] + ならまだしも + [B]
[A] is the preferred option over [B].
However I'm struggling to ...
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what is に's function in this sentence
こうした近代における新しい民族併合の過程は、他の民族に対する強制や差別など、古代から民族の形成を通じて共感を形作ってきた単一民族としてのアイデンティティに、多くの問題を引き起こした。
I am trying to contract this sentence
この過程はアイデンティティに、多くの問題を引き起こした
but I still can't figure out に's role ...
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what are the differences between ないでもいい and なくてもいい?
Ive seen this sentence 強がらないでいい.
I wondered
Would there be any difference if i replaced it with 強がらなくていい?
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why does this sentence work: 「私が、それを使って文章を書いたところの、ペン」?
So I've found this sentence:
私が、それを使って文章を書いたところの、ペン
And I'm wondering why it works. It's translated as "The pen that I used to write sentences with."
Shouldn't it be: "The pen that I ...
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Word order in 銀河鉄道の夜
I was reading 銀河鉄道の夜, and I’m confused on the choice of word order in the following sentence. I understand what the sentence means, but I do not understand why みんな isnt before が.
たしかにあれがみんな星だと
Let ...
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Can aru be used as an adjective?
So I have this sentence すべての会社は、才能ある人材を育成すべきだ. I'm focusing on 才能ある人材. I'm guessing that 才能ある is short for 才能がある. But then aru is followed by 人材 which is another noun. The translation is "people ...
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How is 「相手」being used here?
From the ”上級で学ぶ日本語” N2 level book, page 51, ローソク島 reading, 2nd to the last line of the 2nd paragraph.
In the story the author is convinced to go visit "Candlestick Island" by the employees ...
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How does a parent address their child's teacher or principal?
Would the honorific さま (-sama) surfice when addressing a teacher or principal? I'm uncertain if a parent would use 先生 (sensei) or こうちょうせんせい (kōchōsensei) as it's not their teacher, but their child's.
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The meaning of って (No quotation, No "even if") [duplicate]
I found a lot of questions about って here, but none helps me to understand the nuance of the following sentence:
ね、あの子の言う少佐って誰のこと？
It does not seem to be the quotation because の言う is already used ...
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Would it be gramatically correct to say 学校は行きます as opposed to 学校に行きます
My understanding is that 学校は行きます would mean: As for school, I will go there.
While 学校に行きます is: I will go to school.
But is this the first sentence ever used? Or even grammatically correct?
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Prepositional phrase with に and verb 感じられる
"界王神界にまでエネルギーが感じられるほど強大な力を開放し"
In this phrase, would it to be correct to say the prepositional phrase "界王神界に" connects to the object of the verb "エネルギー" or the subject of ...
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2
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About omitting ということ in relative sentences
I was reviewing some concepts about the use of ということ in relative sentences, and there's something I still can't quite understand.
Looking at the sentence:
パンジーが食べられる花だということは知っている
(I know that pansies ...
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1
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Why is the suru preceding ningen in its te form in the sentence "Kare wa an'na koto o shite ningen to shite shikkakuda"?
So yeah why is suru in the te form in this sentence "Kare wa an'na koto o shite ningen to shite shikkakuda"? I'm thinking it is shite to mean "doing" but it isn't followed by iru. ...
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したく in 「戦いをしたくありません.」
In
戦いをしたくありません.
[He] didn't want to start a war.
is したく the adverbial form of したい? Literally speaking, does this sentence means something like
"wanting to do a war"-ly doesn't exist.
...
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Can't understand 'その辺うまくこう利用できるような
In this video clip: https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxvmz1x_zYQepLxH7I0uV_CPevy6VgL6ya ,
the man says:
その辺うまくこう利用できるような
I guess こう利用できるような means 'like this, to make it usable'. But what is その辺? Is it '...
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