Questions tagged [words]
言葉. Any question that does not deal specifically with grammar or pronunciation. Includes questions about prefixes, suffixes, compound words, loanwords, dialectal differences, pragmatic usage, etc. In other words, phenomena that occurs at the level of the word.
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分 in 今回は単行本第三巻予定分から
I'm trying to translate somebody's tweet, and I'm just blocking on this one bit. I understand every part ("単行本", "第三巻", "予定", "から"), except the "分", of course. I know what the kanji "分" means ...
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～まくる as a suffix, what does it mean and how is it used?
I found this phrase 「家族に突っ込まれまくった」 and I believe it means "[my] family really stuck it [to me]" but I'm not familiar with the suffix まくる.
Any examples and clarifications would be appreciated.
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How do say "close to" re: location?
How would you say "A is close to B" ? As in, "A and B are nearby each other".
Would you use 近く here? If so, how?
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汗をかくvs 発汗する - is there a difference?
Is there any difference between 汗をかく and 発汗する? Are there any subtle nuances between the two or is one more common than the other? I've checked WWWJDIC and I can't find any way to distinguish between ...
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How do I say "cat"? And do I use kanji, hiragana, katakana or rōmaji?
猫, ねこ, ネコ, neko
Which of these means "cat"? Is it all of them?
Which situation do I use each of these in?
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Respectful terms for parents
There are quite a few respectful terms for parents, the least respectful of which would be お父さん and お母さん (there are less respectful ones, but they're only appropriate for your own parents or your ...
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Can any other characters besides は and わ be used interchangeably at the end of words?
I have noticed that こんにちわ and こんにちは can be spelled differently and have the same meaning. Does this occur with any other character combinations at the end of words?
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How can I differentiate between feet and legs?
Feet are 足, and legs are also 足.
Is there a word or method with which I can easily talk about one and not the other? And if not, why is there no word for feet in the Japanese language?
Caveat: I ...
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What is the difference between そして (soshite) and それから (sorekara)?
Can anyone explain what is the difference between そして and それから, and when to use which?
Thanks.
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the different usages of つもり?
Hi all I understand that つもり means "intention" like say 夏休みにはゆっくり休むつもりです。 = I intend to rest during the summer vacation.
But what does 分かっているつもりだ。 means?
Well if I translate directly, it seems to be ...
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Use of 自分【じぶん】as a personal pronoun in direct speech
Yay, yet another first-person-pronoun question!
I know that 自分 is commonly used as a personal pronoun in indirect speech, e.g.:
マイクは、自分はなんと不注意なのだろうと言った。→ Mike said that he was very careless.
...
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I am struggling with the sometimes conflicting uses of 先
Rikaisama's definition of 先 includes meanings like previous; prior; former; some time ago. However it also includes meanings such as front; ahead; the future; destination. I am struggling to make ...
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How do we decide if 中 is ちゅう or じゅう?
How do we decide if 中 is ちゅう or じゅう ?
For example, in this sentence １０人中３人はビデオを持っている which pronunciation should we use?
What about this: そのピアニストの演奏中、彼らは一心に耳を傾けた。
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Am I coming or going? 戻ってくる vs 戻っていく
A little while ago I was in a shop, and about 5 minutes after I left, they phoned me to tell me I had left my USB stick there. I said I would head back and pick it up.
I used 戻{もど}って行{い}く to mean "I'...
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Nuances between the different kanji spellings of あける：明ける vs. 開ける vs. 空ける
開ける, 明ける and 空ける are all read as あける.
From their kanji, it is obvious that 開ける has to do more with opening (a door etc), 明ける with dawning and 空ける with emptying...
However, JMDict gives the exact ...
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What is the difference between all the weather words: 気象{きしょう}, 天気{てんき} and 天候{てんこう}?
Dictionary (at least Jisho and WWWJDIC) defines them as:
気象{きしょう} = weather, climate
天気{てんき} = weather, the elements
天候{てんこう} = weather
They all have quite similar definitions, so I don't quite ...
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How to use ～に同意する to agree or disagree with a person?
A couple of times I've tried to say "I agree with..." or "he agrees with..." but I don't know whether I'm using 同意{どうい}する correctly.
In what ways should に同意{どうい}している be used? Also, which particles ...
user666
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Non-distinguished animal pairs in Japanese
This is something I first noticed when I was at an aquarium in Japan (as evidenced in my examples) and continued to see ever since. There are certain pairs of animals, that while extremely similar, ...
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What words are used for dolphin meat?
What words are used for dolphin meat?
Searching jisho.org using "dolphin" in the English field listed several different words for dolphin, but no compounds involving meat.
Neither the English nor ...
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Is "あらら" (arara) a word or just a "vocal noise"?
A friend just wrote this as a comment on a photo of mine on Facebook.
Is it an actual word or is it what I call a "vocal noise"?
By "vocal noise" I mean those things which convey some meaning but ...
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When is 分 read ぶ instead of ぶん
I had always thought that when you were talking about percentage, fractions, portions, etc., it was always pronounced ぶん. However, I saw its pronunciation listed as ぶ on Imabi, a renowned website for ...
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Employed by one institution but work for another
I've worked my current job for a few years, and I can't believe I've never thought of this question. I have a unique employment situation. I am employed by a university, but the work I do is for the ...
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What's the difference between 何【なん】 and 幾【いく】 when referring to amounts?
Is 幾 simply more literary/archaic than 何? Can 幾 only be applied to certain words whereas 何 is more versatile?
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Can どっち mean which one of many?
Given my understanding, it seems like "どちら" has the exclusive meaning of "which one (of two)" and "どれ" means "which one (of many)". Does どっち include both of these meanings?
Also, do all of these ...
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_っ_り form adverbs
I keep seeing these onomatopoeic adverbs popping up with the form: _っ_り. Some examples include ぐっすり、ぴったり、すっきり、etc…. Is there a name for these adverbs, and why are they in this specific form?
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Questions about 背負う
背負う is pronounced せおう, but many dictionaries also list a second pronunciation as しょう.
I've never heard it pronounced as しょう in practice. In what situations does it have this pronunciation? Is that ...
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What's with all the possible kanji for とる?
Skimming through the options my IME presents for とる, I'm seeing a whole lot of choices, including the following:
取る
撮る
録る
執る
摂る
捕る
獲る
穫る
採る
盗る
While I've seen 取る ("to take") and 撮る ("to record") ...
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Difference between 月曜 and 月曜日
I just want to know what the difference is between the two and their proper usage because in dictionary they seem almost the same.
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What does ドン引き mean?
While i was talking with my japanese friends, that word just came up they could't explain that. Can you tell me what does ドン引き mean?
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What makes に基づいて instead of に応じて the correct choice for this question?
I'm working on some example questions from my grammar textbook. One of them I listed below:
税金はこの表（ ）計算されています。
ア）につれて イ）に応じて ウ）に比べて エ）に基づいて
I'm unsure why 「に基づいて」is the only correct answer....
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What's the precise meaning and usage of the っこ construction?
そんな態度は慣れっこだ
そんな難しいことはできっこない
From my exposure so far it seems っこ is along the lines of having been able to do something, and っこない is not being able to do something. What's the precise meaning?
Also,...
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What is the meaning of 「まちいな」?
Here is the sentence said by Kansai speaker who was capturing 2 boys who were chasing another guy.
まちいな あんさんたち。
I think the word would mean 待つ with particle な emphasizing the emotion but I would ...
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Different versions of より?
Here is one definition for より:
より (adv,prt) (1) from; out of; since; at; (2) than; (3) other than; except; but; (4) more;
I see that one of the definitions of this word is "more". Is より一層 a ...
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What does むわりと mean?
I was reading something and saw the following:
小さな和室で、古い造りなので風呂とトイレは別になっている。換気があまりよくないので、白羽さんの入った後の風呂場のドアから、湿気と湯気がむわりと部屋にたちこめていた。
I can't find むわり or むわりと in any dictionaries. I'm guessing むわりと ...
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Difference between こんにち and きょう
My dictionary says 今日{きょう} is a special reading. My textbook presents it in the third lesson, so I'm guessing it's a normal pronunciation. So... what's the difference between 今日{こんにち} and 今日{きょう}?
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Using 全然 with a positive pejorative [duplicate]
So far, I know that in proper speech, 全然 should be used with negative verbs such as 全然出来ません or in expressions such as 全然だめ or 全然違う. I am curious about the second type of usage. In that case, 全然 is ...
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Do all kana have a large and small reading?
Kana are written in large and small versions with different pronunciations in the composition of words but I am not able to determine if all kana can be used in this way. Thank you.
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What's the counter for episodes?
How can I say "I watched 13 episodes so far" in Japanese? What is the counter for episodes?
I also would like to know the right word for episode. Is it 挿話? That's what I found on jisho.org but since ...
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Why is there ベッドルーム when there's already 寝室? [duplicate]
I was trying to find house vocabulary and found multiple (from my perspective) synonyms (where the synonyms sounded like English). For example, ベッドルーム and 寝室, as well as キッチン and 台所, as well as バスルーム ...
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Problems understanding なの in this sentence
I remember once I have seen 「なの」 was not placed at the end of a sentence (meaning it was not a question) ever since then I wondered what it meant but didn't have any clear examples. Today I saw this ...
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Grammar of 彼の日本語のレベルは私と同じくらいだ
I'm Jeroen, from the Netherlands and I'm currently learning Japanese.
I'm using Anki, and it's a great tool, and I came across this sentence in the Japanese Core 2000 #1 set:
彼{かれ}の日本語{にほんご}のレベルは私{...
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How are made up words for anime/manga formed (reading and kanji)?
EDIT: Eiríkr Útlendi has answered my question mostly in regards to readings. What remains is how kanji are chosen for their meanings and why certain words are selected over others e.g. 実 versus 果実. ...
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Name identification for 安田 味子, and "saying" using という
I have the following sentence I need to translate for my introductory Japanese class.
私の友達の名前は、安田味子さんといいます。
There are 2 parts I am having trouble with.
First, the name translation. I think it ...
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The meaning of んや
Here are two examples that I have encountered ん＋や
ずっと変｛へん｝な夢｛ゆめ｝を見｛み｝とったような気｛き｝がするんやけど・・・
another example:
なんか、体調｛たいちょう｝悪｛わる｝いんやない？
I am still trying to have a better sense of the letters ...
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What does this ため say here?
かたい帯を上手に結ぶことができない若い女性が多いため、柔らかい帯を去年より３０％増やしたと言っています。
From
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10010984931000/k10010984931000.html
I would translate it as follows (without ため):
They say that there ...
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Is there a difference between さみしい and さびしい？
Both mean "lonely" and appear to be valid readings for 寂しい.
Is there a difference in nuance? Is this difference due to dialect?
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How are 化け物, 妖怪, 幽霊, etc. related to each other?
In the past few years, reading light novels and the like, I have come across many different terms for ghosts, spirits, monsters, etc. in Japanese, and I'm wondering how they relate to each other. What ...
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Words/characters for fast food meal sizes: 並, 大, 特
When dining at Yoshinoya I never know how to ask for the size meal I want.
Their sizes are 並, 大, and 特.
I only know that "大" means big, but it also has two readings so I have no idea whether to ask ...
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In modern usage how do Japanese natives regard the differences between 外人, 外国人 and 外人さん?
As a near native speaker of Japanese, I find it annoying to be called 外人 since it seems to imply that I "know nothing about Japan" (outsider). I much prefer 外国人.
In modern usage, how do native ...
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How is the 〒 postal code symbol pronounced?
I know the symbol is placed in front of the postal code. How is it pronounced?