Questions tagged [usage]
用法・使い方. How to use certain words, phrases, particles, endings, constructions, and their variants.
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金曜日の予習に第4章を読んでおくこと, The function of こと [duplicate]
The translation given for the sentence was "Read chapter 4 for Friday." Is the こと used just to make the sentence a bit more respectful or is it just missing some context? I feel like i'm ...
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Would using "たら" make sense in this type of sentence?
So recently I've met a Japanese person whilst playing League and we started to talk a bit over the group voice chat. Although my Japanese is still at a very basic level we understood each other pretty ...
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What does 「Nounを笑え」 phrase mean in this sentence?
Oh! KAREN 浜辺の濡れた砂の上で
抱きあう幻を笑え
It's from a song 「恋するカレン」by 大滝詠一. Lyrics here.
Based on my understanding, here's my translation:
Oh! KAREN I laugh at my dream of embracing you in my arms on wet sand on ...
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japanese adjectives [duplicate]
赤のボウル
赤ワイン
赤いセーター
What is the rule here?
When do i use の particle, when i use nothing and when do i make い adjective(if i understand it correctly)
Someone explain please.
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What's the significance of this female character's use of おまえ?
I'm accustomed to thinking of おまえ, in modern Japanese, as a second-person pronoun and form of address that is used by men and boys with their inferiors or equals. But in 『少年と犬』, by 馳星周, there's a ...
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Why is 及び being used to mean "a.k.a." in this sentence?
So this sentence in a Vtuber video (which has English and Chinese translation available) caught my interest:
今回の事件ははあちゃま及び赤井はあとがデビュー当初から秘められし能力を封印していたこと原因であり、すべてははあちゃまの責任です。
I initially went into ...
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I want to be able to speak more casual Japanese. I just wanted to know if it was possible to drop です out of a sentence. example: これは犬
Could I drop です out of a sentence? I want to be able to speak more casual Japanese. I just wanted to know if it was possible to drop です out of a sentence. example: これは犬
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Can the ~てくれてありがとう form be used to thank someone for more general actions?
If I would like to thank someone for their work (in the context of "wow! what a lovely sculpture! thank you for your effort/for letting us see this!" or "thank you for writing about ...
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Meaning of うちの上 in phrase
Context: A, B and C are all students. A and C are friends who study in the same school. B wears a different uniform than them, though I don't know if this means she is from a different school or a ...
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Question about 際 usage in Shinkansen Master N2
Studying for the JLPT N2, I came across the following question in the Shinkansen Master Grammar book.
( ) 際は、こちらのテーブルをお使いいただけます。
a) お食事の
b) ご飯を食べる
c) お一人様の
I thought that a) and b) are good enough ...
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Role of と in a particular sentence 満たされないと泣いているのは [duplicate]
Here is a sentence that I have trouble translating
満たされないと泣いているのはきっと満たされたいと願うから。
because I have difficulty understanding the role of the と located in the first part of it
満たされないと泣いているのは ...
The ...
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Use of と at end of a sentence
白い彫像が落ちているのだと思った.
プールの守り神みたいなものが、鎮座しているんだと
Would I be correct in interpreting this と as something along the lines as というように? So the sentence would mean something like "In a way to suggest ...
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Do [贈]{おく}り物 and プレゼント mean the same thing?
The use of loan words such as プレゼント are used much more just like カメラ is and such. So should i just disregard [贈]{おく}り物 and focus my memory on something else or do you know if [贈]{おく}り物 is still used ...
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Multiple subject?
When I say I’m now busy, it’s
今は忙しい
But what I don’t understand is that 今 is being used as the topic. I’m this sentence, the real person that’s busy is me, so if I choose to not omit the person, but ...
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Different ways of saying "good night" in Japanese [closed]
I know that おやすみなさい means "good night" in Japanese and it can be shortened to おやすみ. What is the difference between the two?
In English there are other phrases such as "sweet dreams"...
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Difference between 試みる and 試す
何度か試みたが、失敗した.
何度か試したが、失敗した.
Is there a difference between those sentences? I have the feeling that the second one is more about trying smothing out like for the first time and see what happens and ...
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What is the difference between '礼', '礼儀', '礼に', '敬礼', and 'お辞儀'?
What is the difference between '礼', '礼儀', '礼に', '敬礼', and 'お辞儀'?
More generally, what does '礼' mean when used stand-alone as a noun? Can '礼' be used stand-alone or would that be considered unusual?
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Intuitive way to justify this usage of「に」
An earlier question on JP.SE asked about the usage of the particle「に」for what seemed to be attribution or possession, but I wasn't sure if those were 'official' uses of「に」and I decided to do some ...
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What is the use of the first の in this sentence?
"色の薄いものと濃いものを両方使うときれいに見えます。" I thought this was the case where の substitutes が but this is not a relative clause. I'd just like to know about this particular use of の.
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「思い込み」can mean something like "misconception"?
"ちゃんと話した結果…お互いに、思い込みだとわかったっつうか…"
The English translation was "We talked it over, and we realised we were both just confused." But I cannot understand "思い込み" here. The ...
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How is "あるちゃあるけど" used?
As far as I understand "あるちゃあるけど" is close in meaning to "ないとは言い切れない" and "しいていえばある" but I could not find how it is used, nor understand the exact meaning.
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Confusing usage of 写る
I am confused about a certain usage of 写る, that i have encountered in example sentences.
An Anki deck I use presented: このカメラはよく写りますよ。The given translation is "This camera takes good pictures.&...
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When is it fine to use 違う?
From an English perspective--including mine since I'm learning Japanese using English, I felt that 違う sounded strong, this may be from the tendency to respect others' opinions on English, that ...
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Question about past tense with noun
I'm having trouble with past tense + noun.
For example "弟の言うことを聞いたばかりにひどい目にあった" Or "この教授はしゃべるのが速すぎて、誰も言っていることを理解出来なかった"
Why is used 言うこと instead of 言ったこと / 言っている instead of 言っていた?
In this ...
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Understanding 一番 when used with たくさん or 多い
My English-native brain is struggling to understand why 一番 is used with たくさん and 多い in sentences like these:
彼が一番たくさんのお金を持っている。
彼女が一番多いの食べ物を持っている。
I'm probably thinking about it wrong, but the first ...
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Meaning of でも in this special context from しまこうさく まなが
日商工は３団体でも一番歴史が古く１９２２年に発足した。
(As backdrop, the 経済連、経済交友会 and 日商工 are the three largest business lobbying organizations in Japan according to the Manga. And 日商工 is the oldest.)
My question: what does ...
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What is the purpose of 「ん」in this sentence 「忙しいんだよ」? [duplicate]
What is the purpose of 「ん」in this sentence 「忙しいんだよ」?
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Difference between 聞こえる and 聞かれる / 見える and 見られる
I came across this problem when I was studying, and I couldn't really understand the difference between using the passive form of 聞く or 見る and using the verbs 聞こえる and 見える, considering that, in my ...
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use of だって after 私
I was making some sentence cards and was wondering what だって in this case meant.
I got sth like "Even I am of use as splendid maid for Kobayashi."
for context: Lucoa was summoned by Shota but doesn't ...
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Is ゼミ a synonym for a university class?
I know that ゼミ is short for ゼミナール (seminar), but the word seems to be used differently than how it's used in English. My guess from the times I've seen it used is that it's a catch-all term for ...
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The use of や and sentence meaning
まつさんはラーメンやのうしろの公園に行きます。
In the previous sentence, what is the purpose of the や after ラーメン?
I'm also unsure if the sentence is saying that "Matsu went to the park behind the ramen shop." or "Matsu ...
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Grammatically speaking, what is もう一つ?
I have come across もう一つ multiple times now, and I know it means "another one", but I'm struggling to understand it's grammatical function in a sentence.
It looks like the combination of the adverb もう ...
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Can Vte差し上げる be used?
We know that Vteあげる can be used when we talk about the giver doing a; generous act, favour or being helpful. Further, we know that Vteあげる can be used when the two people are of the almost same social ...
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I can't understand the use of と in 新しい政策はあまり良いとは思えません。
I'm a beginner with Japanese, also I'm not a native english speaker, and I'm struggling with things like this since long ago: I learned basic use of particles and currently I can understand several ...
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Question regarding alcohol: Meaning of " 飲める！甘いのだけ”. More context in description below
Is Japanese beer sweet?
To provide context to the question I asked, the sentence was extracted from 2 characters talking to each other. Both of them went into a bar.
One of them has low alcohol ...
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In a song, if somebody wanted to say to their deceased mom, "We loved you so much." what form of love would you use?
Would I use "Aishita" or something else? The child is a 16 year old.
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Is there any difference between 一緒に and と一緒に? [closed]
Is there any difference between 一緒に and と一緒に?
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understanding the term 落ち着いた暖色の照明
お客様が車内で快適にお過ごしいただけるよう、既存車両よりも広い座席、全席分の電源コンセント、無料公衆無線ＬＡＮ、落ち着いた暖色の照明、新宿駅停車中の車内ＢＧＭなど、さまざまなサービスを提供します。
I understand from the text above about various features inside the train. But this term "落ち着いた暖色の照明",...
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describing where things are [duplicate]
If I wanted to say the cat is on the table, which one of these sentences is correct or what's the difference?
「猫 は 机の上 に います」 or
「猫 は 机の上 です。」
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Can time phrases be used in sentences using あります to show possession?
For example, are
先週の金曜日に試験があります。
5月5日に難しい試験があります.
来週の木曜日に友達と約束があります。
correct sentences? In the early chapters of the textbook I use, the pattern 'Noun は (Time phrase) です' is used. But ...
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Main usages of the た-Form
A couple of weeks ago I learned in my course the usage of the て-Form which were:
Chaining verbs together , all of which are written in the で-Form and the last one is written with the polite form. The ...
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I can't recognize which conditional form to use? [duplicate]
so as you know there are varieties of conditions forms in Japanese...(と, …ば, …たら, なら)
and 大変ですね？
so my problem is, I may be able to recognize them in a test but while speaking, I have no idea which to ...
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Two perceptions of 以上で
Please correct me, is it right that restaurant waiters ask 以上で? to mean "is that all" after you order?
If so, I can see two opposite logics behind it:
First logic: The basic meaning of 以上is "beyond,...
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What does the verbal contraction/suffix -kkya or -kya at the end of a clause mean? [duplicate]
I seem to hear and read this construction often, but can't seem to find any information about it on Google (or other search engines), as well as other sites I've checked. I've tried several different ...
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Difference between はもとより and はもちろん and their respective usage
I would like to know if there is some difference between はもとより and はもちろん in the sense of "let alone" , "not only ... but also".
On a side note, I would like also to know their respective usage (oral/...
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3割引 ＝3 %? 33.3 % ? 30 %?
The sentence is:
あの店は今、3割引のセールをしています。
I suspect it means 30% , but maybe it means 33.3% which is 1/3?
In any case I don’t understand the logic behind this.
How would you say if the discount rate ...
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What is the difference between the words 状態 and 状況?
Actually, I want to write an email to a person asking about her current situation in life, understanding by "situation" if she got married, if she changed companies, if she's happy, etc. I remember ...
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Can I always use が to mark the subject when talking about phenomenon [closed]
I understand that が can be used to describe a phenomenon.
雨 が 降って います。
But in Japanese, there are always many exceptions.
So, does this have any exceptions?
Like I can use は or を?
雨 は 降って います。
...
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plain continuous form of a verb vs appending ところ
plain continuous form of a verb vs appending ところ
What's the difference between the following 2 sentences:
今料理を作っているところだ
今料理を作っているんだ
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What is the difference between あまつさえ、しかも and それに?
あまつさえ、それに and しかも (and maybe a few more words like そのうえ perhaps) vaguely express the idea of 'moreover/besides/in addition'. Are there big differences in the way they are used?
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