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.
1,033
questions
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1answer
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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
610 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 ...
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1answer
131 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 ...
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1answer
266 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 ...
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1answer
48 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 ...
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1answer
87 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 ...
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1answer
39 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
53 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
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1answer
106 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。
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1answer
39 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 ...
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1answer
68 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
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1answer
196 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
68 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
119 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】...
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2answers
170 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
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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
50 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
59 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 ...
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1answer
75 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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1answer
178 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
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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
61 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、「...
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1answer
73 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
95 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 ...
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1answer
71 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 "...
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1answer
77 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
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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 ...
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1answer
79 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
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1answer
83 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 ...
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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
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1answer
98 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 ...
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0answers
58 views
Difference between しゃべんだったら and しゃべったら？
I’ve stumbled upon the sentence しゃべんだったら, which was translated as “if you are talking”. I get it’s the past conditional, but then why wouldn’t you say しゃべったら or like why does it say んだった?
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1answer
215 views
Does this mean “thank you”?
I've just starting learning Japanese last week.
And I'm playing a video game in Japanese. One of the characters said: "礼を言う" (rewoiu) just by itself. The English translation was "Thank ...
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1answer
79 views
そういう全てを含めて包み込む度量
A「俺達の戦はもう終わったんだよ。それをいつまでもネチネチネチネチ京都の女かお前は」
Our fight has already ended. Stop being so persistent about it, what are you, a Kyoto girl?B「バカか貴様は！京女だけでなく女子はみんなネチネチしている。そういう全てを含めて包み込む度量がないから貴様はモテないんだ」
Are ...
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1answer
96 views
Potential form of 言う - 言える - an ichidan verb?
The potential form of the godan verb [言]{い}う is [言]{い}える. I searched [言]{い}える in an online dictionary today, but it listed [言]{い}える, the potential form, as an ichidan verb.
It even gave a conjugation ...
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0answers
66 views
The difference between の中で vs の中から
This comes from a previous previous question with what I find to be a confusing explanation.
Generally, の中で is presented in all of the English language resources I could find to be an atomic thing ...
2
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1answer
179 views
How many true verbs and i-adjectives are there in Japanese?
I have read that verbs in Japanese are a closed class. That is to say: not counting inflections, there is some relatively fixed number of "true verbs" in the language. By "true verbs&...
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1answer
84 views
居る (いる) vs 居る (おる)
In most online dictionaries, if you look up 居る, it gives you two readings: いる, formerly ゐる, and おる, formerly をる.
However, I can't tell what the difference in connotation or usage would be. I couldn't ...
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The uses of verb + ん apart from simple negation
醜い浮世を 意地で生きるぞ
汗水たらし 身を削り ありつかん
尊くも儚き飯
Full lyrics here. This ugly world you need willpower to survive in; drenched in sweat and with lots of effort, that precious and fleeting meal is in sight
...
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1answer
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How to interpret the volitional form of です
I have read that the volitional form expresses the intent to do or not do an action. Afterwards I found a case where this doesn't seem to apply when conjugating the です verb.
I read a sentence where a ...
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1answer
77 views
infinitive verb form + よ
What is the effect of putting よ after an infinitive verb form?
Example:
世界一のパティシエになりよ!
Thanks in advance! ありがとうございます！
^^
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2answers
147 views
Translating causative forms of 食べる (taberu)
Kim Tae tries to explain the difference between the "make" and "let" usage of causative verbs. I need a bit of help translating the various possibilities into English.
What would ...
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1answer
55 views
Problem with understanding the action of いる in 決まった場所にいる代わりに
In a recent article 仕事で外国に行く前にＰＣＲ検査の予約ができるようにする from NHK Easy Japanese I found this sentence, (which I give here in a bit abbreviated form):
[...]着いてからしばらくの間、決まった場所にいる代わりに、PCR検査で[...]...
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1answer
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~たform ／ ~辞書form + 場合は
In「みんなの日本語」, the first part of this sentence, with the た-form verb, is translate in simple present tense :
時間に遅れた場合は、会場に入れません。
If you are late, you will not be able to enter in the room.
Si vous êtes ...
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0answers
70 views
Semantic classification of verbs
Lately, I've been spending a lot of focus in how to translate certain verbs in the form ～ている. Mostly comes from the fact that, depending on the verb, it can have a meaning of prolonged action (e.g. ...
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1answer
646 views
Meaning of 崩れかける
I'm having some difficulties understanding the construction 崩れかけた in
博士たちは崩れかけた門をくぐり、中へ入っていった。
I couldn't find it as a single word, so I take it is constructed from 崩れる and かける. My guess is that it'...
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1answer
111 views
Inserting も inside a suru verb
I know that しょくじします means "to have a meal". I have trouble understanding the bolded sentence in the following text:
たたみのへやでしごとをします。しょくじもします。
Does it mean that the person also has meals in ...
0
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1answer
98 views
what does いずる mean?
what does "いずる (izuru)" mean when it's combined with verbs such as "萌えいずる" ?
Can I say "Sprouting" as a translation of "萌えいずる" ?
Thank you so much in advance.
3
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1answer
84 views
Difference between も兼ねて・を兼ねて
Someone asked her friend (in a TV show) 「宿題の答え合わせも兼ねて 勉強会をやりませんか?」 in the sense of "Want to do a study session, and compare our homework answers while we're at it?". Would the meaning change ...
3
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1answer
322 views
What is the proper way to say “to use/open an umbrella”?
I have the following options:
傘を_______
かけます
します
あびます
差します (さします)
But I'd like to know which is the correct one and why.
Thanks in advance!
