Questions tagged [nuances]
ニュアンス. Subtle differences between two seemingly interchangeable expressions.
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Why use 耳元 rather than just 耳?
下で見ている人の悲鳴と交じり合って、風が耳元でヒューヒュー鳴った ...
The wind whistled in his ears, mingled with the screams of the people watching below ...
Would this sentence be weird if 耳元 was replaced with 耳? I'm trying to ...
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Help breaking down えむさえいけそうなら
In the script I'm translating, Emu and Tsukasa are practicing a scene for a play where Emu has to jump from a tree to a window. After the rehearsal, Tsukasa says
とはいえ、やはり高さがあると緊張感が違うな。
えむさえいけそうなら、...
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As "red", what's the difference between 紅{くれない}, 紅{べに}, 紅{こう} and 紅色?
On Weblio, the same dictionary says 紅{くれない} means "crimson" (deep red) and 紅{べに} means "vermilion" (bright red). Another dictionary says 紅{くれない}, 紅{べに}, 紅{こう} are all nouns, but I ...
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What is the difference between もとづいて and もとづき
What is the difference between both of them? I could not find any explanations so I came here.
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Can 行う and 施行する be used interchangeably when meaning "to carry out?"
I'd learned 行う as meaning "to carry out" a while back, and had understood it to mean something like carrying an action out, or performing an action. The definition offered in Jisho.org ...
JNat♦
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Understanding「さえ」and「いてくれる」in「お前が生きてさえいてくれたら」
I'm watching an episode with subtitle that goes:
「俺 ずっと お前が生きてさえいてくれたら と思ってた」
"I always thought, as long as you live on, (I'm ok)"
I have three questions if the translation was correct.
Is ...
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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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Repeating the word いつ?
I came across this: いつのいつまで見ぬ振りしようか
According translation sites, the double いつ means "until when," but I would like to know the reason behind the repetition.
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Why is there a question mark in this sentence?
For context, Rui is telling Nene that no one liked his play idea, and Nene responds with:
そう、なんだ……
……でも……
わたしは……類のショー、好きだよ？
Does the "?" have a special significance?
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Why is きます used here? And what do でも and し mean?
落語が好きです。特に古典落語が好きで同じお噺でも落語家によって感じ方が違いますし、聴いた時の自分の環境や体調でも違ってきます。
To me, 違ってきます doesn't indicate a change, "become different more and more", but emphasises the writer's viewpoint. Here, how ...
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What's the difference between を気に入る and が気に入る?
AはBを気に入る。
AはBが気にいる。
I've read が just emphasises B while を doesn't. Is it only that?
入る is intransitive, then why is the former correct?
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Is "しょっと" an informal version of "ちょっと" in "よい……しょっと?"
Context: A child is preparing his props for a play. My first guess was that this was a variant of ちょっと, but I tried double checking on Google and got really weird grammar details that don't match the ...
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Can でいる be used with inanimate objects?
でいる can be analyzed as "stays (in the temporary state) as something", as per here. For example:
元気でいます。
I'm doing well (recently).
But notice that the subject of this sentence is an ...
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Understanding なんか in 「なんで鍵なんか閉めてんの？」
I know that なんか has various uses, one of which is similar to a dismissive など, where <NOUN>なんか can mean "thing like NOUN" (dismissively).
Question: Is that what's going on here
...
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What is the difference between 幸せ, 倖せ and 仕合わせ?
There are several ways to write the word しあわせ:
幸{しあわ}せ
倖{しあわ}せ
仕合{しあ}わせ
I would like to know what are the different nuances between them, and when is it appropriate to use each of them. For what is ...
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What are the nuances around the different Japanese words for 'mountain' - specifically '丸'
The names of the mountains surrounding 檜原村 in western Tokyo are varied.
Examples include 三頭山, 練行峰, and 醍醐丸. Further afield, there are famous mountains like 八ヶ岳.
I have found some explanations for the ...
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Does で in this sentence 「日本の昔話は代表的なものだけで、２，３百はあります。」 mean that the noun before it is a tool for the proceding sentence?
I would translate this sentence
日本の昔話は代表的なものだけで、２，３百はあります。
as "Japanese folktales has about 200, 300 as only representative of it". My question is does で after だけ mean that the noun before ...
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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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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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Holiday vocabulary
There are a number of words for holiday, vacation, etc. I'd like to clarify their various uses:
祭日 National holiday. There is also 祝日 but I'm under the impression for, say, America's July 4, ...
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What's the difference between 公園を散歩する and 公園で犬を散歩させる?
Normally we say 公園を散歩する because 散歩する is a verb that expresses movement in space, and is thus followed by を, which also expresses movement in space.
But if the verb is changed into 犬を散歩させる, in this ...
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What is the meaning of 当たる here exactly?
In the vn rewrite, the protag こたろう is trying to salvage the relationship of two heroines ルチア and ちはや, together with 2 other heroines, 静流 and 小鳥. The protag thinks the following:
今回の作戦を立案したのは俺だ。とにかく、...
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Past conditional with ていても/ていた
I've looked into this and it seems they are multiple ways with multiple nuances of saying "if (A) would have happened, then (B) would have happened. (third conditional ?)
My question is about:
...
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What meaning does もう add to this sentence?
これはもう運命としか…
Something unusual that has already happened, unexpectedly, happens again.
The character who says that is a girl who meets somebody who looks like a prince at a party and the next day she ...
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What is the difference between 上がる and 挙がる?
Both 上がる and 挙がる are read the exact same way — as あがる — and in the dictionaries I looked them up, they appear under the same entry, and seem to show up as alternate spellings of the same word.
Is is ...
JNat♦
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Difference between 近くに and 近く in a sentence
In
お店や学校や駅が近くにあります
would there be a subtle difference in meaning if 近く was used here instead of 近くに? E.g.
お店や学校や駅が近くあります
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次もうかかんでもわかるだろ - What does かかんでも mean here?
In the little busters VN, one of the heroines 鈴 created a cleaning schedule for the male dorm toilets. But in the schedule, only the guys in her friend group are included, in a repeating manner. This ...
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How do I interpret these two sentences?
人樹ニ華アリ。人華ニ華アリ。
I see two versions of English translations:
Flowers are present in human trees, flowers are present in human flowers.
Human trees have blossoms. Human flowers have blossoms.
I read ...
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What does かけ mean in かけ戦った or in かけ争い?
In the intro of the Game Boy Advance game titled "Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi" there are a few instances in which かけ is used before a verb, and I don't seem to be able to grasp the nuance ...
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「売り言葉に買い言葉」について
In this anime at second 0:38 the main character is justifying why he accepted a fight.
https://animelon.com/video/57a81215b9de7414d1ea082d
In the context of the situation it sounds like he is saying ...
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何にもありません vs. 何もありません
Consider a simple dialogue from here
家もありません 家もありません
ベッドもありません お金も
家もベッドもありません
何にもありません
Here 何にも appears to be spoken with pitch なんにも{HLLL}.
Question: Why is なん followed by a に particle here?
In the ...
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Is calling your older brother/sister お姉さん/お兄さん wrong?
So I've just found out that apprently お兄さん and お姉さん aren't used for your older siblings, and only for other people's siblings or just other people older than you. Is this true? This doesn't seem right ...
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What is/are the meaning(s) of 方便 in this sentence and in general?
I was reviewing some old cards I had flagged as "uncertain" and I came across a scene from "Your name" (君の名は).
At around the 47th minute the characters ride a shinkansen to meet ...
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ごめんね vs ごめん or what does ね add to the phrase?
From this answer I can see that they're both casual, but ごめん is more casual.
There's also this question but it's rather about な and ね generally. Still it (or this article) explains the uses of ね, and ...
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What does 次元を超越 really mean?
Unless it's rude to ask, I would like responses mainly from Japanese native speakers, please.
There is this scan from the guidebook for the Dragon Ball Z anime with a translation that is generally ...
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When to use けど vs もっとも?
Is there any nuance between these? From looking up the definitions, they seem similar in meaning (but, although).
Here's a sentence I found that uses both:
もっとも今年の夏は、どこも暑いらしいけど。
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Are 仲がいい and 親しい interchangeable in this context?
I'm trying to construct the sentence, "You two seem pretty close." and I'm curious if the sentences, 二人はかなり仲が良さそうだ。 or 二人はかなり親しそうだ。would work and if there are any differences between the two....
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I think I don't understand this sentence/maybe why the conditional form doesn't have something directly after it and before the と in this sentence
Context: A new school teacher doing her first ever parent teacher conferences hasn't been able to get in contact with the mother of one of her students. She has tried to contact the mother for weeks, ...
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余裕 vs ゆとり vs 余地
As the title suggests, I'm struggling to understand the rules of using 余裕, ゆとり, and 余地 properly.
There is a GOO thesaurus page, but it confuses me as well. It mentions a distinction between 余裕 and ゆとり ...
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Comparing the words for "search"
In particular, I'm thinking of the below words involving searching for items/people, with my current understanding on the right
探す - The most general word
探求する - Searching for a physical or abstract ...
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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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Is there a difference between めんどうくさい and めんどくさい? (面倒くさい)
This is just a simple question, but I was wondering if there was a difference between めんどうくさい and めんどくさい. One has a う in it. I guess this also relate to others that are like this, is there a ...
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然る (さる) and 然る (しかる)
Is 然る used in Japanese as both 然る (さる) and 然る (しかる) or only with one of those readings?
Does 然る have a different meaning depending on the reading? If so, what does 然る (さる) and 然る (しかる) each one mean? ...
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Can I replace うちに with 間に in this sentence?
日の下を歩いてるうちに、耳鳴りがしてきた
Would there be any difference in the nuance?
I have searched between the differences of nuances and this sentence doesn't seem like the meaning would particularly change if I ...
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Usage of っぺら and っぺらい
Are both っぺら and っぺらい used in the same way to emphazise an adjective? Is there any difference between them?
For example: 薄っぺら/薄っぺらい
Can you use っぺら and っぺらい to every adjective?
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What are the differences between ~といわれている, ~とされている and ~と考えられている?
I understand that these verbs related to expressing a certain belief or viewpoint. I frequently confuse the three.
From what I can understand the meanings are:
~といわれている
Repeating or reporting on ...
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What is the difference between 気にしない and 気にすることない
What is the difference between 気にしない and 気にすることない
My bad, not enough context.
The first one is 、気にしないでね。at the end of the sentence after comma. The second one is a separate sentence 気にすることないわ。at the ...
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What is the appropriate way of using 自分 with respect to the referent?
妻は私が自分を今でも愛していると信じている
(Tsuma wa watashi ga jibun o ima demo aishite iru to shinjite iru.)
My wife believes that i still love her.
In the book it is said that:
When a reflexive pronoun jibun is used, ...
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If you want to refer to a person as beautiful, would you use [綺麗]{きれい} or [美しい]{うつくしい}? What's the difference?
I'm a little confused on the difference between 綺麗【きれい】 and 美しい【うつくしい】. When is it appropriate to use either word to refer to a person?
For example, if I wanted to refer to a woman as beautiful, would ...
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Does the contrastive は always rise in pitch?
At 3:03 the speaker says
この人は
I could be wrong, but it sounds like she's saying this as "koNOHITOWA" rather than "koNOHITOwa".
According to my bilingual dictionary, Heiban is not ...
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