統語論. Rules governing construction of phrases and sentences in a language.
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3answers
58 views
Expected sentence in article to use を but が is used instead
I'm reading this article and I have come across this sentence and I'm wondering why が is used instead of を. What's the reason am I missing here?
１１日、豊洲市場がオープンして競りが始まりました。
My translation:
...
2
votes
1answer
45 views
When to use ところ / て+いるところ / た+ところ
In this sentence:
「もしもし、今、駅に向かって（_______）ところです。 あと５、６分でつきます。」
What should be the correct tense of the verb 歩く? Should I base my answer on the word 今 or the てform of 向かう?
If there is 今 does that ...
4
votes
1answer
85 views
ながら sentence sample clarification
Sample sentences from A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar page 270:
A: ちょっと話がしたいんですが。
B: じゃ、コーヒーを飲みながら話しましょう。
C: じゃ、話しながらコーヒーを飲みましょう。
It states that B is an acceptable response to A ...
6
votes
1answer
106 views
といったら vs. とは - subtle differences?
Question from my JLPT N1 text book:
佐藤さんのセンスの良さ＿＿＿＿＿＿...。本当に感心します。(fill in the blank)
I have a choice of というと、とは、and といったら。
といったら is correct but I can't fathom how とは is not an option as the text says ...
-2
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0answers
41 views
Is there a way to imply something isn't literal [duplicate]
I'm looking to be able to say something without it being taken as the literal meaning. For example if i say "I am a snack" then I dont mean that literally but i feel like if i say "おれ は スナック だ" then ...
3
votes
1answer
129 views
Word Order: 国で日本語を2カ月勉強しました vs 国で2カ月日本語を勉強しました [duplicate]
Question. What is the diff between
A. 国で日本語を2カ月勉強しました。
B. 国で2カ月日本語を勉強しました。
On minna no nihongo B. is used but why not A? Why is the 2カ月 not before verb? What are the rules?
3
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2answers
87 views
Sentence Structure JLPT question 「日本語がかんたんな本」
Please help.
I found this question on the N5 practice exam:
ヤン 「私はこの本を買います。アンナさんはどんな本がいいですか。」
アンナ 「 私はもうすこし ( _ _ ☆ _) がいいです。」
A. 本
B. かんたんな
C. が
D. 日本語
Please explain why ...
1
vote
1answer
72 views
Assistance with translation in some lyrics
寄せかえる波を見ていた 母の遠いまなざし
I'm used to sentences ending in a verb so I assume it could be translated as "Was watching the waves surge back". My mother's distant gaze." as separate phrases.
Am I right to ...
6
votes
1answer
92 views
Question about the phrase 心配いりません
I came across the phrase 心配いりません and from what I understand it means "Dont worry". It is formed by using the する-verb 心配 (worry) and いる (to be needed). What I don't understand is why there is no ...
5
votes
1answer
88 views
Use of 予定 at the end of sentence [duplicate]
I'm currently reading this article
Which has the following sentence:
インドで人気がある小さい炊飯器を輸出する予定です。
My translation: There is a plan to export small rice cookers, which have become popular in India....
9
votes
1answer
265 views
(伊曾保物語) 鼠と猫の事 comprehension problem “只、人は、愚にして、他人にぬかれたるにしくはなし”
I am having trouble parsing/understanding/translating a sentence in
the last section of the fable "the mice and the cat" (鼠と猫の事)
from the 仮名草子 伊曾保物語 (Aesop's fables). Here is the paragraph
in question;...
6
votes
2answers
312 views
What does 弟は友だちの大きいくるまで学校に行きます properly translate to?
I was asked to translate the following sentence:
弟は友だちの大きいくるまで学校に行きます。
I first split it up (in my head) so it looks easier to read, whilst recognising the particles.
弟は 友だちの 大きい くるまで ...
3
votes
2answers
173 views
I need help analyzing the phrase 発音上の
I’ve been reading about sound change in Japanese and I keep coming across the phrase ‘発音上の’ as in
発音上の相違に支えられて開合の仮名遣いに区別がありました.
In the above example, what purpose does ‘上’ serve? Should I read ‘...
2
votes
1answer
105 views
Article about Amazon Speaker being used for donations
I'm reading this article on how Amazon allowed their speaker to be used to donate to Japan's Red Cross. In the final sentence they get a quote from a Red Cross member, but I cannot make sense of the ...
2
votes
1answer
154 views
Are these two noun phrases attached to one noun? Also what is とは doing here?
あの手は現代とはルールのちがうコミのない時代だから好手とされたのだ
(Panel this phrase comes from)
(Komi is a rule in go that exists in the modern era, but did not exist in the Edo period. This kid appears to be using a style of ...
1
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0answers
33 views
Can somebody give me a grammatical insight into the following very short sentence? [duplicate]
何してんの?
The translated meaning is "what are you doing?", but I am having difficulty understanding how the て form of する is referring to the present tense (I would have expected している here).
Also, I am ...
1
vote
1answer
108 views
〜により used twice in the same sentence
Context: explanation of the Friction Stir Welding process.
In the fourth sentence I don't understand why there are two 〜により.
ツールの移動により接合界面同士が順次塑性流動により攪拌・一体化
What is that is causing the process? ...
3
votes
1answer
71 views
Trying to understand this use of 〜た方が
I am still stumped on understanding this one sentence:
今打った方が格段に実力はまさっています
ですが、彼の打つ手に正しい手はひとつもありません
(source context panels)
In this case the speaker is talking about a go player who is ...
3
votes
1answer
200 views
Logical analysis of the sentence 「アメリカとの関係が悪くなったイランからの原油の輸入が減ると考える人などが多いためです」
アメリカとの関係が悪くなったイランからの原油の輸入が減ると考える人などが多いためです。
アメリカとの関係が悪くなったイラン: is a noun phrase. イラン is the head noun.
イランからの原油の輸入が減る: is an independent clause.
考える人などが多いためです: refers to the previous independent ...
1
vote
1answer
125 views
The convention of including/omitting ‘no zu’ (之圖) in translations
It appears to be common, but by no means universal, for artists/publishers to include 之圖 in ukiyo-e title cartouches (sometimes ノ圖; written のづ in accompanying furigana; occasionally seen 圖 without the ...
1
vote
1answer
74 views
I do not understand why と is incorrect when trying to say “both” [duplicate]
Before I begin, this post is unrelated, despite the similar title.
Here was the question:
My father and mother both are English teachers.
父と母は英語の先生です。
父も母も英語の先生です。
父も母も英語先生です。
...
7
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1answer
126 views
1
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1answer
109 views
What is the difference between ばんごはん and よるごはん?
I looked at two different sentences:
六時半に母とばんごはんをつくりました。(At 6:30, I made dinner with my mother.)
よるごはんのあと家族とえいがをみました。(After dinner, I watched a movie with my family.)
In both sentences, ...
0
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1answer
83 views
What particle to use in this sentence? [closed]
I want to say “I like spending lunchtimes with Sarah.”
(Sarah is a fill-in name)
I am absolutely clueless, because I’ve only done Japanese for a semester at school (but I plan on choosing it as a ...
3
votes
1answer
101 views
How to translate 'They made her make him give me the book'?
How to translate 'They made her make him give me the book'?
Can I translate it to:
Karera wa kanojo ga kare ni sono hon o watasi ni watasaseru you ni saseta.
彼らは彼女が彼にその本を私に渡させるようにさせた。
3
votes
2answers
74 views
Breaking down the clauses in “好きになってもらいたいならまず人を好きになる”
I want to confirm if I'm parsing this sentence correctly. It's probably the difficulty of not having commas to break it up.
好きになってもらいたいならまず人を好きになる
Loosely, I'm translating this as
"If you want ...
3
votes
1answer
108 views
what does としてもだ mean in this sentence?
千枝実に問いた限りでは、「宴」 は極めて危険で悪質な因習だ。
そういう昔話があったとして、過去には実際に私刑を行った歴史があったとしてもだ、普通はもっと無難な祭りとかに形を変えて現代に伝わっているものだろう。
What is the purpose of the だ after the the highlighted としても in the second sentence?
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3answers
193 views
Is it 行 or 行く? I am unsure of which one
I have two sentences:
時々、うみえ行くをが好きです。
and
母はよく週末に祖父と祖母のいえ行、そこでとまリます。
I want to see if both of them are correctly stated, and I believe that the second one might not be. In the first sentence, ...
0
votes
2answers
135 views
言われてみればそうだった気もしてきたな [closed]
I think this sentence means - now that you mention it i am feeling good.
Is this right?
2
votes
2answers
164 views
Can Japanese Sentence Structure be OVS?
So I was reading from this particular site on Japanese sentence structure and what dawn to me was, this particular structure seems to be OVS.
(object/noun, verb, subject)
There's not a whole lot of ...
2
votes
1answer
86 views
How is my understand of this sentence?
やっぱりゆきのさんにはもったいないな
I think it means 'You are not worthy of Yukino-san'
Is this correct?
4
votes
2answers
121 views
What would happen if I use は or が in 今日何を食べたいですか?
今日何を食べたいですか What do you want to eat today?
In other words, what would happen if I say:
今日何は食べたいですか ?
今日何が食べたいですか ?
(I want to know the rough meaning of the sentence even if the sentence is ...
2
votes
1answer
64 views
How to construct a sentence that’s correct, using についての?
I know the sentence structure XについてのY, but I don’t know how to effectively use it. I know that what precedes it must be a noun or has to be nominalised, but still can’t figure out how to use it ...
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0answers
83 views
When to use ～えば、～たら、場合 specifically
I understand most Japanese grammar, but there is one thing that eludes me. I don't understand when to use ～えば, ～たら, or 場合 specifically, to express conditional (if then) statements. Would someone ...
6
votes
1answer
605 views
Listing things off: Using Hitotsu repeatedly
I've seen shows where they list things (etc rules, principles) with hitotsu for every point. I would expect hitotsu, futatsu... etc, to be the norm but it doesn't seem so. It didn't seem to be a ...
0
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1answer
89 views
Indicating a subject and objective thoughts of inevitability
How do the Japanese show the nuance between the inevitable outcomes of actions based on their thoughts versus their findings?
After the Tsunami of 2011, Japanese Volcanologists predict an inevitable ...
0
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1answer
85 views
How is かっこいいな used individually as its own sentence?
I am having trouble understanding the second sentence below.
ぼくのせいふくです。かっこいいな。
I understand that ぼく is "I / myself" for a boy, and adding a の to it makes it a "my". I also know that せいふく is "...
3
votes
0answers
167 views
The て form, the と and もの constructions: gerund, participle, transgressive, or verbal noun?
As far as I understand, among the constructions
(て-form verb),
(て-form verb)いる,
(finite verb)こと,
(finite verb)の,
(verb phrase)と,
(finite verb)もの
the form (2) unambiguously functions as a finite verb ...
2
votes
1answer
116 views
わたしはおこられた。Can it mean both having gotten angry and that someone was angry at you?
わたしはおこられた。Someone got mad at me. (I was being mad.)
This answer was given here by what I presume to be a native.
http://yesjapan.com/YJ6/question/840/what-is-the-difference-between-suru-and-sareru.
...
2
votes
1answer
77 views
How is のに used here? [duplicate]
https://youtu.be/tdiMAnRekgs?t=4m37s
開けるのに時間を要します. Translated in a Japanese teaching video as "It takes some time to open".
From what I understand, it has meanings of despite/although and the like.
...
0
votes
1answer
77 views
Identifying the function of を here (as in のを)
会ったのを今は後悔してる。
I was baffled as to what を was doing here. After some research, I figured it could be a combination of nominalizer "の" and object marker "を," the action being 後悔する. Is this ...
1
vote
1answer
67 views
Translation: Wear glasses to read
I’m preparing for a written exam at a beginner level and trying to expand a simple sentence, (He) wears glasses:
めがね を かけて います。
Into: “he wears glasses to read”, as in not all the time.
My first ...
2
votes
0answers
75 views
I don't understand て-form + おくれ structure [duplicate]
I am reading a manga and I happened to read these sentences:
お前さん、起きておくれよ。
遅くなるといけないから、早く商いに行っておくれ。
What does the structure ～ておくれ mean?
2
votes
3answers
319 views
Where to put the possessive pronoun in a sentence?
If I want to talk about a friend of mine who studies psychology, can I say following?
心理学を専攻している私の友達。
It sounds like I'm the one studying shinrigaku.
Then I could say
私の心理学を専攻している友達。
But it ...
0
votes
0answers
33 views
I don't understand the structure of 震災から五年が過ぎ、街は平穏な日常を取り戻しているかのように見えた。 [duplicate]
震災から五年が過ぎ、街は平穏な日常を取り戻しているかのように見えた。
Why does the author use that か? Does that か mean if?
6
votes
1answer
108 views
Grammatic structure だれより question
Could anyone help me break down the grammatical structure in the sentence below? I understand 「~より」 indicates a superlative here, but I don’t fully understand how it combines with 「だれ 」. I am also ...
3
votes
1answer
69 views
Help understanding trailing “ものを” in song lyrics
The following is a stanza from an enka song:
あれから幾つの 流れ星
かぞえた女の 一途な願い
面影胸に 待ちわびて
積丹かもめに なれるなら
カムイの岬 どこまでも
あなたを探して 飛ぶものを
I get what the lyrics are saying, I'm just wondering what the ...
0
votes
0answers
35 views
How to use the “-ru ga ii” sentence structure? [duplicate]
Don't find this explained anywhere. I know it's very casual and rude even like "見るがいい”. Can you use it in the same context for just approving something casually? Like ここで食べるがいい as an alt to ここでたべてもいい。
3
votes
1answer
54 views
Parsing help, (understanding 肝心の~/ ~のは基本 / target of Xを喰らう)
I'm reading up on some lore in piece of Japanese fiction, and I'm finding it rather difficult to parse the short paragraph below due to confusion on two specific points.
To add a little context, a ...
2
votes
1answer
194 views
I don’t understand the structure of 英語が伝わる楽しさをより多くの方へ
I found this ad/sticker in a restaurant, in a Philippine city where a large number of Japanese students study English.
英語が伝わる楽しさをより多くの方へ
I have no idea how to make of this statement.
I ...
