26
votes
Accepted
Is the word 「やんな」positive or negative?
The particle な indeed has both meanings: "Don't do ~" and "Do ~". From デジタル大辞泉:
1 動詞・動詞型助動詞の終止形、ラ変型活用語の連体形に付く。禁止の意を表す。「油断する―」「まだ帰る―」「かの尼君などの聞かむに、おどろおどろしく言ふ―」〈源・夕顔〉
2 《補助動詞「なさる」...
26
votes
Accepted
Why is the て-form being used before ん?
誰探してんの is a contracted form of 誰探してるの, which in turn is a contracted form of 誰(を)探しているの ("Who are you looking for?", notice the progressive form). More generally:
ている contracts to てる. (See ...
16
votes
Accepted
Why can だって have so many meanings?
1 and 2 are conjunctive だって used at the beginning of a sentence.
買わなかったよ。だって、高かったんだ。
I didn't buy it. [After all / Because] it was expensive.
「買えって言ったでしょう?」「だって、高かったんだ。」
"Didn't I tell you ...
15
votes
What is じゃねぇか? What is its original form?
This doesn't only happen with じゃない > じゃねえ, but generally /ai/ > /ee/, like
きたない > きたねえ
やばい > やべえ
(食{た}べたい = ) 食{く}いたい > 食いてえ
As in the other answer, this is extremely informal and in the wrong ...
15
votes
Accepted
Meaning of ちはース
This is just "Hi".
こんちゃ/こんちわ/ちわ/ちは/etc is a very casual version of こんにちは. Of course this は is pronounced "wa".
For "ーす", see: What does っす at the end of a sentence mean?
Jisho.org also has an entry ...
11
votes
Accepted
How to say "to be out of it" in Japanese?
I'm Japanese and don't know well about the English idiom "to be out of it." But I think I know some useful Japanese words for your situations.
「頭が働かない」
This expression is natural to ...
10
votes
Difference between って and は as topic marker
は is fairly matter of fact. "Where is Shinjuku?"
って is a little more nuanced. Its like "Oh, now that you mention Shinjuku...where is it?" or "Speaking of Shinjuku, where is that?"
For all intents ...
10
votes
Difference between って and は as topic marker
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar has the following to say about this:
When って is attached to a noun, it is close in meaning to the topic marker は。When って is attached to a sentence as in
...
10
votes
What does じゃな mean?
Like @himself noted, it does mean 葉人をつかまえたんだな. While some dialects do have this change, more importantly it's used to characterise the speaker as a stereotypical wise old male (usually in anime or ...
10
votes
Accepted
How to say "Ok, then I take X" after your first choice is not available
For casual, which is acceptable as a client I would go with
じゃあ、カレーにします。
If you want to be more polite then
それなら、カレーにします。
じゃあ means : then; well; so; well then
それなら means : if that's the ...
10
votes
Accepted
Omission of く in negative form of い-adjective
There are at least three types of omission of く, which should be distinguished.
The "traditional western" euphoric change is called ウ音便 and is described in this question, this one and a chart in this ...
10
votes
Accepted
What does the letter 'P' at the end of an author's pseudonym mean?
That P (simply read ピー) stands for プロデューサー ("Producer"). Traditionally, P has been used like a name suffix for a super-high executive in the showbiz/broadcasting/anime industry (someone even ...
10
votes
What is the informal equivalent of いいえ
いえ is definitely used informally for いいえ, though it's not super casual. More casual options include いや, ううん, or 違う. That being said, you don't necessarily need a word that means 'no'; you can reply to ...
10
votes
What is the non-slurred version for 叫んどんねん? 叫んでおらない?
叫んどんねん is short for 叫んどるねん, which is short for 叫んでおるねん, which is 叫んでいるんだ(よ) said in Osaka-ben. There is no negation.
おる is used instead of いる in many western dialects to denote progressive aspect. ...
9
votes
Accepted
What does the word 「っぴい」 mean?
~っぴ/~っち is a sort of "suffix" which generates cute-sounding nicknames. Think of it as an rough equivalent of -ie as in doggie, walkie-talkie, etc.
へたっぴ (下手【へた】 + っぴ, clumsy person)
けろけろけろっぴ (けろけろ + ...
9
votes
Use of さ as a filler
First, your example, 私さスタバへさ行ったさ, sounds funny because:
行った is a 終止形, so attaching a filler after it sounds weird. True sentence-end さ exists, but it has a different function and tone. さ in 行ってさ ...
9
votes
Accepted
What does the word 「かまっちって」mean?
かまっち is just the name of a monster in DQ9 (かま is 鎌, and -っち is a kind of suffix). って is a colloquial version of という.
かまっちって魔物
monster called Kamatchi
8
votes
Accepted
What is じゃねぇか? What is its original form?
じゃねぇか is just a colloquial form of the tag question じゃないか.
8
votes
Accepted
What does てくんない ending on a verb mean?
This is an abbreviated form of 〜てくれない, meaning "to not do 〜 for me". So 貸してくれない means "won't lend me", but phrased as a question like this (likely with a rising intonation) mean "Hey Maruo, won't you ...
8
votes
Accepted
What does the phrase 「~てしんぜよう」 mean?
てしんぜよう means "I'll do you a favor", and it is a stereotypical phrase associated with samurais. Generally, it gives an arrogant impression (or, at least it signals that the speaker genuinely ...
8
votes
Accepted
What is the role of というか at the beginning of sentence?
というか
っていうか
ってか, てか
とゆーか, とゆうか, とゆっか
ってゆーか, ってゆうか, ってゆっか
ちゅーか, ちゅうか
つーか, つうか, っつうか
つか, っつか
These are all variants of というか. They have many roles.
Used to make the sentence less certain: "kind of&...
7
votes
Accepted
Does 同居 have a sexual connotation?
Your observations are correct. 同居 does not necessarily imply sexual relations. For example 両親と同居する, 兄と同居する, and so on are perfectly natural.
同棲 (or 同せい since 棲 is not in the Joyo kanji list) is the ...
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