Questions tagged [usage]
用法・使い方. How to use certain words, phrases, particles, endings, constructions, and their variants.
1,347
questions
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65 views
What is the meaning of 礼楽?
I was checking the definition of 堂 in my online dictionary (三省堂) when I came across the word 礼楽 in:
堂 → 客に接したり，礼楽を行なったりする所。== Hall → a place where you can interact with customers and perform ritual ...
4
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2answers
193 views
Meaning of 職員室に叩き出される
When reading something I came across the following line:
まずいな。職員室に叩き出されるぞ
However I was not quite sure how to understand 叩き出される in this context. I think I understand the usage of 叩き出される when used ...
3
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1answer
96 views
Conjugating Nidan Verbs
I am studying elementary Japanese, not classical forms of the language. In the online dictionary Jisho.org, I found the verb 憂ふ/'to be worried or concerned about' listed as a nidan verb. Does that ...
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1answer
90 views
What does 「ものさ」 mean here?
In Miffy - 日本語 あめの ひの わすれもの! at around 5:14
Miffy with her family planned to go to the beach and before they started play, Uncle said:
「おじいちゃんの子どもの頃は砂浜でお城を作って遊んだものさ。」
Weblio辞書 says:
活用語の終止形に付く。多く「だって」「...
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1answer
68 views
Usage of とも in a sentence
だが、そんな永久とも思われた戦乱は、唐突にその幕を閉じる
How is とも being used here? I'm not exactly sure on the specific answer and my translation came out to be "But the war they thought that would continue for eternity ...
2
votes
2answers
560 views
Problem with choosing のは or は with と思います
So in my textbook there are examples like
あまり便利じゃないと思います
いいと思います
But I was wondering, how would you say something like "I think it's ok to eat food". From my knowledge it should be ...
2
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2answers
92 views
Meaning of 当てをつける
I found the following sentence in the novel I'm reading
「これが旅に出る最後の好機だと思っている。これまでももちろん旅に出ようと思えば資金に当てをつけることはできた。だが、踏ん切りがつかなかった。」
What does 「当てをつける」mean here? Does it mean the speaker found a place to ...
5
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1answer
138 views
「国や国といった留学生が多い」？
I came across a sentence on a Japanese grammar site that strikes me as somewhat odd.
この学校には中国やベトナムといった留学生が多い。 (source)
Shouldn't it be
この学校には中国人やベトナム人といった留学生が多い。
because countries can't be ...
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1answer
48 views
ことある vs ことあった difference
ことある - I have
For example:
食べたことある - I've eaten it before
So what does 食べたことあった mean?
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44 views
見てないで and te form [duplicate]
I am at the very beginning of my learning of japanese and am not sure to understand the て in "見てないで".
I think 見ないで would mean "don't watch" whereas 見てないで would mean "stop ...
2
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2answers
250 views
といったらなかった meaning
I came across the following sentence in a novel:
フランツ司祭が体調を崩して寝たきりになってからの村の連中の態度といったらなかったよ。
As for some context, フランツ司祭 is someone who had passed away recently, and the villagers were not incredibly ...
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1answer
253 views
Why doesn't 「毎日学校に行ってきます」work?
This question stemmed from comments under another Q&A where @Chocolate points out that「毎日学校に行ってきます」doesn't work but 「今から学校に行ってきます」is fine. But I am still not quite sure why it doesn't work? When ...
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1answer
72 views
Difference between じゃん and でしょ
"美味しいじゃん?" and "美味しいでしょう?" No matter how I translate it in English it still means "it’s delicious, right?" So what’s the main difference between them both? (I do know ...
3
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1answer
152 views
Usage of 誰でも and 誰にも
I was recently corrected from using 誰でも→誰にも in this sentence:
それは決して否定できないことであって、（誰にも〇・誰でも？）分かる自明の理。
What's the difference between the two? This HiNative post says that 誰でも is usually used for ...
4
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1answer
120 views
「～にわたって」の使い方を説明してくれる方がいますか？
「～にわたって」を使う問題をやってみましたがなぜかほとんど間違えました。なぜ間違えたのか説明してくれませんか？教科書の写真（黄色い丸は僕が選んだ選択肢です）
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1answer
61 views
difference between 姻族 and 姻戚
What is the difference between 姻族 and 姻戚？
According to the definitions in the dictionary, they are pretty much the same. Would there be a time where I use one over the other?
If I look it up on Jisho:
...
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1answer
63 views
Is there a situation where 造語 such as “ググる” could be used with the “ます” ending?
I ask this out of pure curiosity, but would there be any situation where you could reasonably say something along the lines of, "はい、今はそれをググります。"
What I've seen/thought of Katakana+る words ...
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15 views
what is the purpose ot the 行ってたな? [duplicate]
I am sorry if this kind of question has been resolved but I admit I could not find anythig about it.
My question is the following.
What is the purposes of adding a た after a verb in its て form.
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1answer
145 views
When to use 良い夢を
I know that おやすみなさい。良い夢を❣️ means "goodnight. sweet dreams!"
I also know that 良い夢を is not something regularly used in Japanese. Right? Is this a normal thing for a Japanese man to write to a ...
3
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1answer
131 views
Is ～がる used to speak about animals?
Does the practice of not speaking directly about others' minds, but using ～がる to be indirect, apply to animals? i.e., would you ever say something like "犬は外に行きたがっている"? If so, does this vary ...
4
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1answer
141 views
Difference between 会いに vs 会って
What's the difference between these two ways of saying "I'm driving to meet a friend"?
俺は友達に会いに運転している
俺は友達に会って運転している
Is this the difference between between V-stem and V-te conjunctives, ...
2
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1answer
115 views
「が分かるようにできる」についての質問
日本語
32変数のd次方程式って32個があったら大抵変数を分かるようにできます。
この文を書いてたんですけど、間違えてたと思います。「何々が分かるようになる」を使えるのは分かりますが、「何々を分かるようにする」ってあってますか？僕の原因でそのことが分かるようになったみたいなことを言いたいです。
英語
First, for accurate context, a mathematically ...
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1answer
98 views
“見てみて” , why is the second 見て in hiragana?
Apparently it's a common way to write this phrase, at least on the web.
見てみてください
What's up with that?
I first encountered it on weblio
https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%22%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%A6%E3%81%BF%...
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0answers
51 views
What's the meaning of “からねぇ” used in the end of a sentence? [duplicate]
I frequently saw or heard the word "から" in some Japanese TV shows, I know the word basically means "since" or "from", but it seems can't always be translated like that.
...
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116 views
*one piece ch 1000 spoiler* what does チャキ mean?
I just read this chapter and was wondering what this sfx meant.
for context; luffy is passing big mom & kaido while zoro is observing what he is doing.
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2answers
103 views
About addressing people by -San, -Chan and -Kun
I understand that -San is a formal way to address somebody. A unisex way of both Mr. and Mrs. Kun is a way to address males, but it's used with friends? I'm wondering about that. Now, Chan is very ...
3
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1answer
75 views
のける after て form
I was reading モンスター while learning verbs and read this:
「君は院長のために、あのオペを絶対に成功させなきゃならなかったし、期待にこたえて見事成功させてのけた。」
On Jisho it says that のける can be used as an auxiliary verb behind a て form meaning 'to do ...
3
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1answer
65 views
How to write and sing Shigin (Japanese way of chanting poem) properly?
1, Should Shigin be written in Yamato (old Japanese language)? Or an even older version of Japanese? Can I write it in modern Japanese?
2, Are there rules for Shigin? Such as setting rhythms, melodies,...
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0answers
33 views
Using か within a sentence [duplicate]
I want to make a question within a sentence using か, but it’s weird for me.
I don’t want to use か at the end of a sentence. もう知ってる
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2answers
111 views
Usage of かしら as a standalone phrase
In the anime 少女革命ウテナ (Revolutionary Girl Utena) one of the shadow girls often says
かしら、かしら。ご存知かしら？
which is translated in the subtitles as "I wonder, I wonder. Do you know what I wonder?".
...
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1answer
716 views
What's the difference between 「お昼前」 and 「午前」?
Is there any difference between 「お昼前」 and 「午前」 in both meanings and the circumstances used?
The same question for 「お昼過ぎ」 and 「午後」.
Thanks in advance.
6
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2answers
211 views
The difference between お金 and 金
As far as I know, theoretically お in お[金]{かね} is optional, but in practice it's almost never omitted, and if done otherwise it'd be frowned upon.
I'd like to know the sociolinguistic explanation of ...
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0answers
73 views
How does [発見]{はっけん} function here? [duplicate]
I couldn't find any explanation online anywhere, and I see it being used a lot as such an expression "[something] [発見]{はっけん}", like "shield is found." in Apex Legends game for ...
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0answers
80 views
Do any of these names/kanji have any negative connotations?
A martial arts (Aikido) organization I am part of wants to make an in-house newsletter. Our sister organizations have typically names relating to zen or martial arts, and we found the following ...
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1answer
132 views
What's the difference between である and の in this sentence?
I'm reading berserk currently and came across this sentence
人は自らが人で在ることを忘れがちです
I read this usage of である the same way I would read it as if it was の (人のこと). Are they interchangeable here? If not what ...
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1answer
66 views
静かにさせてくれ to mean something like “let me have peace”
This question is about the usage of 静かにさせてくれ. At first I would have thought this to be used to ask someone to have someone else be quiet e.g. someone asking a parent to have their kid be quiet. But I ...
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0answers
72 views
Why can't により be used with “concrete, tangible objects”?
According to "A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar" p. 297, により/によって can be used as "a particle that indicates means"
その問題は話し合いに{よって/より}解決出来るはずだ。
We should be able to ...
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1answer
120 views
Is “悪くならない” an okay replacement for ”日持ち”?
Would "悪くならない” be used correctly if we're referring to food and how it won't go bad as fast because of preservatives and can it be used instead of using "日持ち”? I know that "...
6
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2answers
296 views
Oneself words difference : 自分, 自身, 自ら, 自分自身, 己, 自己, 自力
I know it's a huge topic, but I can't understand the differences between all this ways to say oneself, and by extension yourself, himself, herself ...
If anyone can help me to have a picture of the ...
0
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1answer
69 views
Passive voice and complex or connecting sentence
Imagine a situation where you've been informed by Mr. Rentarou that on Wednesday you will have an interview with Ms. Suzuki. Then, you've decided to confirm the information directly to Ms. Suzuki.
I'...
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1answer
567 views
When would you use 30分 versus 半 for telling time?
I know telling time in English, you can say "It is 3:30" or "It is half past 3" and they can be used interchangeably.
When telling the time in Japanese, is this still the case? Can ...
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1answer
104 views
Different ways of enumeration
Japanese seems to have multiple ways of enumerating sequences. The basic one is ordinal numbers:
Arabic (Indian) numbers like in English: 1,2,3
classic Chinese numbers: 一、二、三 etc.
special legal ...
2
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1answer
119 views
Differentiate between usages of 全部: all or completely?
Relatively new learner here. In a forum on Duolingo, as the app itself only teaches by example, there's a discussion regarding translating this phrase:
窓{まど}は全部{ぜんぶ}閉{し}まっていますか？
Without「全部」it seems ...
3
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1answer
83 views
Confusion about the use of active and passive voice
Here is a sentence from a textbook:
「どちら／どっち」は、二つのものから一つを選択するときか、2人の中から１人を選択するときに使われます。
Passive voice makes sense here because the actor is irrelevant, but then there's this sentence on the same ...
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1answer
145 views
Is there a rule or pattern to figure out whether を or に should be used with 我慢する?
The verb 我慢する means "to endure", "to put up with something or someone". According to my textbook, it is used with either に or を, but no further explanation is given.
I've been ...
3
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1answer
81 views
Using honorifics when talking about others with friends (indirect speech)
I couldn't find the question already being asked, so please redirect me if it was already answered.
The honorific suffix －さん is always used when directly speaking to another person. It is also used ...
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1answer
124 views
please help me understand the meaning and structure of this sentence
流行りものとは突き放すことはしないまでもある程度距離を置く
The most confusing part for me is understanding the しないまでもある程度 part. Another thing I’m not so sure about is the first と particle.
Is it in this case modifying (?) the ...
1
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1answer
72 views
Can you drop the "の方” in the AよりBのほうが… construction
Can you drop the "の方” in the AよりBのほうが... construction? I'm asking because I heard this line in a song I was listening to:
野菜よりお肉が食べたい
Thanks in advance.
0
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1answer
105 views
I don't understand な in this sentence
まだ何度でも食べたいと 欲張ってしまうな
So I know an imperative negative like 飲むな means don't drink, but in this case the speaker is talking about himself and his inability to not stop his own desire. why is this not ...
3
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1answer
217 views
How do you use (何, 誰, etc) + the verb in ようform + と
I was reading some sentences in japanese to practice and I came across this sentence:
何を好きになろうと、誰と話そうと
According to google traslator it means something like: "no matter what you like or who you ...
