Questions tagged [verbs]
動詞. A class of words which describe events or states and can be inflected to indicate tense, aspect, voice, and so forth. In citation form, all Modern Japanese verbs end in -(r)u.
1,050
questions
2
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1answer
145 views
休む usage with を？
I'm a beginner to Japanese, and I just learned about transivity. I read that the verb 休む is intransitive, and it means "to take a break from." I also read that intransitive verbs cannot take ...
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1answer
30 views
歩いてた what is form of verb? [duplicate]
I have seeing in some song this:
いつもひとりで歩いてた
How was this form formed? (歩いてた) Explain tocme please.
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0answers
39 views
what does the と particle indicate or mean used before a verb? [duplicate]
We're taught that と particle is used as and & with connecting nouns.
1. But in this sentence 上司が「一杯、飲もう」と言った the verb 言った is followed by と.
And the sentence means [My boss said: "Let's have ...
2
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1answer
153 views
Comprehension problem of 世に囁かれる星の数にも届くそれらは、一種の「願望」である。
世に囁かれる星の数にも届くそれらは、一種の「願望」である。
I have this sentence in Japanese that I'm not sure I completely understand. My own comprehension of the sentence is: "Those who reach the severals stars in the ...
3
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1answer
111 views
Please explain use of 入る in this context
This is an excerpt from SAO - the context is that a character has suggested Kirito may be a spy. Leafa responds by saying:
スパイにしてはちょっと天然ボケ入りすぎてるし
Not asking for a translation, as I already ...
1
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1answer
63 views
聞かす vs The Causative Form of 聞く (and what about 聞かさせる???)
I was reading Naruto and came across the word 聞かされた. I understood its meaning, but soon got confused when tried to go about its conjugation. And thus I came across these...
寝る・寝かす
聞く・聞かす
待つ・待たす
散る・...
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1answer
128 views
Can I use て connecting form with ている?
I know I can use て-form to connect verbs (e.g chronological order) and I know I can use ている for repeated action. My question is: can I combine them?
For example:
毎日{まいにち}コンビニに行{い}って、 りんごを買{か}っている。
...
3
votes
1answer
139 views
How to negate connected verbs which in て-form?
As I know if I connect verbs with て-form then the last verb determine the tense, politeness. But how can I negate the sentence? Should I just negate the last verb or should I negate the verb which in ...
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1answer
61 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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0answers
47 views
Where does the か in なかった come from? [duplicate]
So I'm trying to understand Genki's preferred past negative form of です, that is: じゃなかったです. I'm confused by the なかった.
As I understand it from this source, this is a combination of two 助動詞: the 連用形 ...
2
votes
1answer
112 views
How to express “<imperative> or <imperative>”?
I want to express the structure “A or B”, where A and B are verbs in the imperative mood. The specific example I want to say is “Stand and rot or fall apart right now.”
I assume just saying 「...
6
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2answers
223 views
What's the origin of ～み following a 形容詞?
I found a HiNative question where someone asked about the difference between [痛]{いた}さ and [痛]{いた}み. A native Japanese speaker gave this answer:
「痛さ」は形容詞「痛い」が名詞化した名詞です。
「痛み」は動詞「痛む」の連用形が名詞化した名詞です。
I ...
0
votes
1answer
50 views
Ending Grammar in 遅くなる前に、帰りや。
I do not understand the grammar behind 帰りや in 遅くなる前に、帰りや。The meaning I have for this sentence is "Please go home before becoming late." It looks as if it is a grammar form using verb stem + ...
3
votes
1answer
72 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
votes
1answer
48 views
だれにも + passive verb
誰にも怪しまれずに動き回れた
Does 怪しまれず take the に in 誰にも or has the second に after も been omitted because it can not be used after も?
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0answers
44 views
What is the difference between Japanese は and を as a particle?
so for topic markers I usually use は but what about を? I assume its used for verbs? if its not then correct me.
1
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1answer
76 views
Is the sequence -んだと missing?
I found this sentence in a textbook:
来月までには出来あがらないと思います。
It was translated as "I think that we'll not make it until next month".
But the と particle after the negated verb is confusing me. I ...
2
votes
1answer
109 views
How to refer to a person as an 'It'
In english you can call objects an 'it', as well as people, and generally seen as rude to call a person an 'it'. Is it possible for something similar to be done in japanese? Call a person an 'it'?
If ...
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1answer
68 views
Meaning of -てる in 付けてる
I have stumbled across verbs such as 付けてる, listed as a conjugation of 付ける in takoboto. Is this equivalent to 付けている? Or what?
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1answer
55 views
Is 「出ちゃいけません」 short for 「出ちゃってはいけません」?
The sentence in question:
道の外側に出ちゃいけません！
While it is obvious what it means, I am wondering how precisely it is constructed grammatically.
The textbook way of expressing "must not do" using ...
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3answers
663 views
Why is 測 written in hiragana sometimes?
The dialog in this PDF document has the word はかります but when I search the word in romaji, only 測ります (and some other variations), show up in the results. Why is it that the kanji word 測 is written like ...
3
votes
1answer
216 views
Volitional verb (意志動詞) and non-volitional verbs (無意志動詞)
I don’t get how "日本語が上手になるように毎日勉強しています" (日本語が上手になる) is a non-volitional verb/uncontrollable verb
(Uncontrollable Verb - 雨が降る can’t control when it rains. 朝になった can’t control time)
I ...
2
votes
1answer
268 views
Question about these sentences with 稼｛かせ｝げる
I'm reading a light novel and a runaway girl's brother has finally come to pick her up. The two are talking and the girl says she isn't quite ready and doesn't want to go back home.
He eventually ...
0
votes
1answer
51 views
How does this verb interaction work?
In the sentence, how do verbs interact?
時を表す同じ語を前後に置いて、それを強調する意を表す。
I understand 時を表す同じ語を前後に置いて as place identical time representing words at the front and rear but I don't really know if this is ...
0
votes
1answer
109 views
ご存じ how to use properly and why
I found a couple of examples using this noun; neither makes a lot of sense.
i think that ご存じ is an irregular polite form of 知る. However, if that is the case it is a bit odd as the polite form of a ...
0
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1answer
41 views
Looking for help sorting out how some verbs work and hopefully a good resource for sorting such things out
I am having a bit of trouble figuring out which of these is for what; which i have to admit as i am learning more ways to say the same thing then the polite, humble ways to say one or more of those i ...
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0answers
56 views
Is there a rule to writing verbs in hiragana or kanji when used as a suffix? [duplicate]
A common pattern I've noticed is for verbs like 行く and 来る after the て form of another verb. I know this is grammatically simply verb listing, but in terms of meaning the verbs often times sort of ...
2
votes
1answer
112 views
Verb nominalization with plain form vs の
I was wondering if there is any clear rule as when to use plain form vs の
eg.
その食べっている人。
ラメンをたべるのが好き。
0
votes
1answer
40 views
What's the nuance between these two example sentrences from Genki I? [duplicate]
I'm currently studying Japanese using Genki as one of my resources. At the end of Lesson 8 for the second edition of Genki I, in a section called Expression Notes 9, the textbooks tries to explain ...
0
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1answer
74 views
How do you say as you can see?
I've found other ways to say "as you can see" but most of them are the literate verb to see 見てる. I'm trying to explain something in the sentence.
2
votes
1answer
201 views
Why are there separate passive versions of so many verbs? How do they differ in meaning from the regular passive conjugation?
The example I came across today (though I've seen this with many other verbs):
「潰れる」 – "to be crushed"
which, as far as I can tell, means exactly the same as 「潰される」, the passive form of「潰す」.
...
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1answer
74 views
What's the difference between 済ませる【すませる】 and 終える【おえる】?
What's the difference between 済ませる【すませる】 and 終える【おえる】?
I've tried looking at jisho.org, goo.ne.jp, ALC, HiNative and here, but I'm still unsure about the difference between these two words. I think it ...
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2answers
128 views
Unknown verb form (typo?) in manga
I've been trying to translate Touhou doujinshi, when I came across this sentence:
A man talks about events related to youkai's den down the road.
The first part of the sentence is:
なんでも綺麗【きれい】な女【おんな】...
2
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2answers
172 views
Can I use the word ちる when I want to say that ´the apples fell from the tree´?
It is usually used for leaves, blossoms
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0answers
45 views
Could anyone explain the grammatical structure of a sentence 僕の螺旋 ただならぬ手を繋ごうとしてる
Trying to understand the lyrics of Granrodeo song 君に One Way Love, I'm struggling to grasp how 僕の螺旋
ただならぬ手を繋ごうとしてる can mean "my spiral has my hands all tied up" (translation i found here ...
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0answers
53 views
How to understand 「数えりゃ」in a song lyric [duplicate]
For a project for school (compulsory song research), I have chosen 緑黄色社会の『sabotage』 (time 1:48); a requirement is that I understand what is being said, so I proceeded with the translation process. I ...
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1answer
60 views
Grammar and verb use in a sentence
I was texted this message:
わたしのニックネームはさとなので、さとって呼んでください
I'm guessing it means "my nickname is Sato, please call me Sato" but I don't understand the grammar. What's "なので"? How does ...
0
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1answer
81 views
Transitive, Intransitive and Potential Verbs
Do all tadoshi verbs have a jidoushi verb to pair with?
How do you differentiate volitional and non-volitional form verbs? Do we categorise them like we do for jidoshi (intransitive form) eg. Action ...
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votes
1answer
181 views
What exactly are ア行-category verbs?
The question Why are there so many カ行、サ行、ラ行五段活用 verbs? is about different verb categories. I was surprised to find a ア行-category mentioned, and when I checked on weblio, they seemed to have listed ...
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0answers
78 views
Why are there so many カ行、サ行、ラ行五段活用 verbs?
If you go into a dictionary like Weblio, and you look through their list of verbs, you'll see that each of the consonant 行s of 五段 are in separate categories. However, there are a ton of カ行、サ行、ラ行 verbs,...
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1answer
69 views
「している」と「し続ける」の違い
活用のないままだと別物だと思われるのですが、例えば「want to keep doing something」と言いたい時、「していたい」とも「し続けたい」とも言うことができそうです。違いはあるでしょうか。それから先日、「英語で話しましょうか」と申し出してくださった相手に、そちらは英語でも構いませんが「こちらは日本語を使っていさせていただきたいです」という言い方をしてみたら、「...
2
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1answer
76 views
Verb する in this sentence
A building collapsed, but everyone had already evacuated it. Then someone says the following sentence: 全員が避難した後でしたので 幸い 死者はなし
I did not understand the meaning of the verb する after 後で. Could someone ...
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1answer
99 views
Grammar of Negative Verb + 限り
I would like help with how 限り is used with a negative verb:
奇跡でも起きない限り あり得ないわよね
Jisho.org translate it as "unless". But how would this translation make sense then:
Unless (限り) even if ...
0
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1answer
81 views
Differences between 返る and 帰る
So, here's another nuances question: what are the differences between 返る and 帰る?
Apparently, they have different "secondary" meanings, but are they interchangeable when referring to "...
0
votes
1answer
91 views
Verb stem plus や meaning
I came across the following sentence:
ワタシをわすれちゃいやだよ
I'm guessing it means something like:
You forgot me!
But what is happening / what is the meaning with the や being attached to ちゃう's verb stem?
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1answer
55 views
Help with the breakdown of this sentence?
I was chatting in Hellotalk. From what I looked up and understood
It means writing in a clear and concise manner is difficylt isn't it.
分かりやすく簡潔に書くのは難しいですよね
But, I thought connecting i-adjetives was ...
2
votes
1answer
81 views
Confusion about まっとうに, 青春をする and the subject and object of this sentence
I'm re-reading a light novel and I don't think I'm going to figure this sentence out anytime soon...
Quick context: one day a man meets a teenage girl, makes it clear that although he finds her cute, ...
3
votes
1answer
87 views
Using progressive when connecting verbs
When connecting two progressive actions, are you supposed to connect them using progressive in both or only the last one, as tense should be determined by the last verb?
Example:
He was sitting in the ...
1
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1answer
73 views
Understanding questions with ommited words
I'm trying to read an internet novel, but I got stuck on some questions with omitted words. The text and my partial translation is below. It's the very beginning of the novel, so it's all the context ...
3
votes
1answer
110 views
Did the られる potential form come from 得る?
One of the shows I've been watching lately kept using some more classical forms of Japanese for style purposes, that I was not too familiar with ; this led me to notice how 得る{える} was often used as an ...
