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This たって is the same as たって (≒even if, even though) in 雨が降ったって出掛けるよ. The difference is that なく (te-form of ない) is inserted between the main verb (=言う) and たって. (And of course 言う is in its nai-form before ない)
言わなくたって分かるよ。 Even if you don't say it, (I/he) can understand.
言ったって分からないよ。 Even if you say it, (I/he) can't understand.
The literal ...
16
The (よ)う in ～(よ)うとする is volitional. ～(よ)うとする means "try to do ~~" "be about to do ~~", and is attached to the 未然形 (imperfective form) of verbs, as in 「[走]{はし}ろ+うとする」「[歩]{ある}こ+うとする」「[見]{み}+ようとする」etc.
私は母を手伝おうとしました。 I tried to help my mother.
日が沈もうとしています。 The sun is about to set.
出かけようとすると、雨が降ってきました。 When I was about to go out, it started to ...
15
Here is a linguistic supplement to @naruto's answer:
This 「たって」 connects to the 連用形{れんようけい} (continuative form) of words. This is not immediately clear because of the euphonic changes that take place.
This is what happens when 「たって」 connects to 「言う」:
//iwu//の連用形＋//tatte//
⇒ { inflect }
//iwi//＋//tatte//
⇒ { //i// in //wi// devoices; ...
13
Yes, たい can be used for another's, and たがる for your own desires
あなたは行きたくて、佐藤さんは行きたくないんですね。
私がフランスに行きたがるのは、理由があります。
Part of this are my own thoughts, part of this is taken from this paper: 中里 理子, 1992, 従属節における「たい」と「たがる」.
Overview
Often it is said that たい can be used to talk about your own desires only. While this is not wrong, it is not completely accurate ...
13
〜てほしい is used when you want someone else to do something. I've never heard it used in reference to one's own desires (and in fact, may be ungrammatical).
Related:
Wanting Someone To Do Something (てほしい Structure)
When to use 欲しがる instead of 欲しい
Aren't がる and たがる the same thing?
13
It's widely used in Kanto and Tohoku regions to a varying degree. Stereotyped Tohoku dialect uses っぺ instead of べ(ー), though.
東京方言
伝統的な関東方言・東北方言では意思・同意・推量の語尾は「べ（え）」であり、「行くべ」や「これだべ」「これだんべ」「これだっぺ」などと言うが、東京方言では「行こう」や「これだろ（う）」と言う。「う・よう」の使用が広まる以前は江戸でも「べ（え）」を多用し、当時上方の人間から「関東べい」と呼ばれていた。
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My understanding is that ます is an inflectable function word (助動詞), so I'm wondering why the negative form ends with ん. Is that a contraction of ぬ perhaps?
Yes, the final -n is from negative -nu. This should make sense as -nu attaches to the irrealis, which is ma-se since mas- is サ変.
(Also why is the 未然形 ませ rather than something more regular, like まさ?)
...
11
Yes, it is the -て form of ます. But it's a little more restricted, so you need to be a bit careful.
To be polite, you normally only need to use the です/ます form for the final verb. Any other verbs can be in their normal -て form. But if you really want to be polite, then you can put the other verbs in their polite -ます form, obviously resulting in -まして. It is ...
10
Adding to @ishikun's answer, you need to note that たい is an (auxiliary) adjective which uses 'adjective stem (い removed from い adjective) + くない' to negate it.
I would say
They added "くない" to the adjective stem.
rather than
They added "たくない" to the verb stem.
You will find the linked question interesting. In what way is the negative form of a verb ...
9
This isn't simply 美味しい, but 美味しそう. The そう suffix means 'appears to be', and it takes な.
When I saw a photo of delicious-looking food, I couldn't help but drool.
9
According to Shogakukan's big 国{こく}語{ご}大{だい}辞{じ}典{てん}, the verb ending -masu ultimately derived from a combination of humble polite auxiliary verb 参{まい}る plus the verb する, as a shift from either ‑mairasuru or possibly ‑maisuru. The final ‑su in modern ‑masu conjugates identically to classical su / suru. The 未然形{みぜんけい} ("...
9
Yes, 疲れそう means "It looks tiresome" rather than "You look tired".
To say "You look tired", you can say 疲れていそう or 疲れてそう using the subsidiary verb いる. Other ways to say similar things are 「お疲れですか」, 「疲れているようですね」, 「疲れて(い)るみたいですね」, and 「疲れてる?」
疲れたそう(だ) means something like "They say he/she got tired," because this そう follows the dictionary form of the auxiliary ...
9
There are two different definitions of auxiliary verb.
Auxiliary verb as the translation of 助動詞
Words like ます, (ら)れる are generally taught as "part of conjugations/forms" in most Japanese-as-a-second-language textbooks, but they are categorized as 助動詞 in Japanese monolingual dictionaries and grammar books. This word class is usually translated as auxiliary ...
8
In Japanese, a 助動詞 is a conjugatable particle, as opposed to 助詞 which do not conjugate. Like noun, verb etc, 助動詞 is now considered a part of of speech. The terminology is rather unfortunate, but originally (early Meiji) it was sub-classified under the category of verb (動詞). This is due to the influence of English in which 助動詞 represents "auxiliary verbs" ...
8
You can definitely personify objects in Japanese.
慣性のある物体は運動状態を維持したがる
is not wrong per se, but firstly, it's obvious to the listener that a personification is going on, and secondly, the colloquial feeling that the personification creates might not go well with the scientific feel of the rest of the sentence. A more natural translation might be
...
8
おやめください
お+[連用形]+ください is an honorific language of ～～てください. So おやめください is an honorific, politer way of saying やめてください. It consists of: the honorific お + the continuative form of やめる + the imperative form of くださる.
For more on お/ご～～ください, you may want to see:
「ご覧ください」v.s.「ご覧をください」
Is "して" dropped in this phrase "ご利用{りよう}ください"?
かけ込み電車
...
7
According to this article in Japanese WP, -たい is the descendant of Middle Japanese -たし (-tasi), which ultimately traces back to Old Japanese (or Proto-Japonic) いたし (itasi; "sore, acute").
A paper referred by that page argues that this form has changed its meaning taking the path of "painful" → "sorely felt" → "of physiological necessity" → "of emotional ...
answered Apr 26 '15 at 15:00
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7
It's direct past き + question か (see the 係助詞 one).
The particle か causes 係【かか】り結【むす】び phenomenon, which makes the sentence verb end in 連体形 no matter where か attaches to in the sentence. In the link about き above you can see its 連体形 is し.
answered Feb 24 '16 at 18:30
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7
[彷徨]{さまよ}[へ]{え}: the 命令形 (imperative form) of さまよふ, which is the archaic version of さまよう
[狂]{くる}[へ]{え}: the 命令形 of くるふ, the archaic version of 狂う
る: the 連体形 (attributive form) of り, which is an archaic auxiliary verb similar in purpose to た/だ (perfective) or ている/でいる in modern Japanese. It takes the "imperative" form for whatever reason.
So さまよえるオランダ人 is ...
7
The conjugation of 〜ぬ (or, more properly, 〜ず) is as follows in classical Japanese:
Predicative form (終止形): 〜ず
Attributive form (連体形): 〜ぬ
Adverbial form (連用形): 〜ず
Realis form (已然形): 〜ね
As you can see, it is somewhat defective; the missing conjugations are sometimes supplemented by the corresponding forms of 〜ざる (more properly, 〜ざり). In modern western ...
7
Yup, that's exactly right.
V-stem + たい "Want to V"
V-stem + たくない "(I) don't want to V"
Source
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みんべえ is a collapsed pronunciation of みるべえ or みるべ.
る in verbs often contracts to ん in colloquial speech when followed by some words, eg:
[何]{なに}[見]{み}てるのよ！ → [何]{なに}[見]{み}てんのよ！
バカなことするなよ。 → バカなことすんなよ。
みる here is a subsidiary verb (補助動詞) and means "try doing~~".
The べえ is a prolonged べ. べ is a sentence-final particle (終助詞) mainly used in Tohoku ...
6
Using が casts the focus onto the object. Think of it in a similar manner to using an adjective—you're describing the state of the movie by saying you find the prospect of watching it desirable. Using を instead of が focuses on the action—you're still saying that you want to see the movie, but you're emphasizing that you want to see something, as opposed to ...
6
This そうな is the 連体形{れんたいけい} (attributive form) of verbal auxiliary そうだ, which indicates mode.
美味{おい}し is the stem of 美味{おい}しい. The verbal auxiliary そうだ is placed after the stem of an adjective.
5
Oishii (i-adjective): The food actually tastes good.
Oishisou (with sou auxiliary verb): The food looks good.
Sou auxiliary verb expresses "seem" or "look" together with a verb, i-adjective, or na-adjective.
(sou examples)
with verb:
[雨]{あめ}が[降]{ふ}りそうだ (ame ga furisou da): Looks like it will rain.
with i-adjective:
これは[高]{たか}そうだ (kore wa ...
5
To add to the other answers, if you want to make a contrastive/emphatic statement, you can of course add a は or も before the ない.
朝食を抜きたくはないけど、今出かけないと電車に間に合わないよ。 → I don't want to skip breakfast, but if I don't leave now I'll miss the train.
行きたくも残りたくもない → I don't want to stay or go.
ライブを見逃したくはないけど、おばあさんの面倒を見ないとだめだから、行きようがない。 → It's not that I want ...
5
You're on the right track, but lets break it down a little bit more.
開ける: to open
開けたい: want to open
開けたかった: wanted to open
んだ/(のです): "It is that~", "the case", "the situation" or "the fact" see: What is the meaning of ～んです/～のだ/etc?
So you're looking at a conjugation of the 〜たい grammar (want to verb). In this case 〜たい ...
5
I think l'électeur's answer is perfect.
If I could add some information for bjorn's comment with "... at other times means more like the action of falling asleep or going to sleep" I would give the following question to OP. In this question OP could use 寝{ね}そう as a correct answer.
「一郎、まだ起きているかな。」
「部屋｛へや｝の電気｛でんき｝が（今{いま}）消｛き｝えたから、もう＿＿＿＿＿よ。」"＿＿＿＿＿because ...
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