16
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Are Japanese modifiers "greedy", "anti-greedy", or do they mean whatever people choose them to mean?
Unfortunately, there is no easy and clear rule to determine which parsing strategy is correct. The general rule is "Choose the shortest and simplest parsing strategy as long as it makes sense". It ...
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11
votes
Can adverbs modify adjectives?
Can adverbs modify adjectives?
Yes. That's part of what adverbs do. Consider:
[と]{●}[て]{●}[も]{●}赤【あか】い車【くるま】
a very red car
[ま]{●}[ぶ]{●}[し]{●}[く]{●}明【あか】るい青空【あおぞら】
a dazzlingly bright blue sky
Is ...
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10
votes
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How to parse インターネットの手続きはお客様のほうで取って頂く形になります?
Your understanding is correct. Note that your understanding is not a translation of the source text.
Your questions
What is the subject of the above sentence?
"Subject" implies the subject of ...
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9
votes
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What part does 「成」 play when tailed to a word?
I think you're parsing it incorrectly... It's 未+完成, not 未完+成.
[未]{み} - prefix, "not yet" "un-"
[完成]{かんせい} - "completion" "accomplishment" "perfection"
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8
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How to interpret Xを上にして constructions regarding a map
The pattern A を B にする is very common. (I used to offer my students a small prize if they could find two pages of continuous Japanese prose that didn't contain an example.) It means "make A into B", "...
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嘘をついているのではないかと疑った。
Why say it longer?
The longer expression is longer, and includes more and different information. :)
Analyzing
Breaking it down:
私は彼が嘘をついているのではないかと疑った。
The topic goes with the ending verb here:
...
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8
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How to break 信じようとしていただけかも知れない into separate parts?
信じようとしていただけかも知れない
Pulling it apart
Let's break this down.
信じようとしていた
In turn, this phrase is:
信じよう
The volitional of 信じる.
と
The particle.
して
する in the conjunctive ～て form.
いた
いる in the past ...
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8
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Is 誰か行きたい人 a form of double-headed relative clause?
I'd say it's not a double-headed relative clause, because it's actually
誰か[[[行きたい]人]いる]？
That is to say, 誰か is modifying the full predicate of 「行きたい人いる？」.
You can scramble to 「行きたい人誰かいる？」, which ...
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7
votes
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Can みせ（店）be translated to something other than "shop"
It's two words, みせ + で.
みせ (店 in kanji) is a noun meaning store, shop, or sometimes restaurant. で is a particle which is similar in purpose to at or in in English. See: Japanese Particle で
あの: that
...
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7
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Could someone help me with this word (や)やかん please?
You are correct about や . Looking at jisho.org, it gave me the definition I was looking for, so I'm not sure you looked hard enough.
やかん is a kettle, and the "peeping" sounds are the kettle whistling....
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Meaning of 疑問を胸に取材を進める
First of all, you're translating 取材 as "interview" in your question, but it's actually a much broader word than that. It refers to the whole process of gathering information for a report or article, ...
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7
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Meaning of 日本をはじめ and the mystery of the missing particle
The question seems to assume that the quoted text should form a full sentence, but as the comma at the end suggests, this assumption is flawed. Looking at the source of the quote, the sentence ...
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7
votes
The use of かります in a sentence
The verb in this sentence is 助かる【たすかる】 ("to be saved"). 借りる【かりる】 ("to borrow") is irrelevant.
シェリーちゃんが助かりますよーに!
I hope Sherry will be saved!
シェリーちゃん: Sherry(-chan)
が: (subject marker)
助かります: ...
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7
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Is 均等 a noun or adjective?
均等【きんとう】 has both noun and -na adjective uses. In this particular context, we could interpret this term either way.
As a noun:
...均等【きんとう】 に 切【き】って、
...equal parts [IN] cut, →
... cut ...
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7
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Is this an error...?
みあ stands for meow, the sound tone of the cat.
そのとき、腕の中でしどけなく溶けていた猫が急に身を固くしてみあ、と鳴いて。
The whole sentence means
Suddenly, the cat, which was just lying liquidly in man's arm, quickly
restored ...
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Meaning of「なんじゃって」
Your first interpretation is correct.
In Tokyo metropolitan dialect, ……では is contracted as ……じゃ and ないか in ……じゃないか can be omitted (usually denoted with a ellipsis). Therefore,
「好きなんじゃ……」って思うかな
in ...
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Understanding a passage from 銀河鉄道の夜
Both interpretations are possible, but that shouldn't affect the meaning. Either way, you find 活版処 after turning three corners.
That said, 曲がってある (of first interpretation) is not really idiomatic. ...
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6
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What does からかっちゃ mean?
You are correct. からかっちゃ is a contraction of からかっては, where からかう is the verb you came across in your comment. Although it is probably better translated here as "tease" or "harass".
So speaking about ...
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6
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Understanding this English to Japanese translation
Assuming you got it from this paragraph:
エリートがいないと、レスリングはつまらない。あと、お前らに言いたいことがある。今日みたいな日は、人生に1度しかない。俺を信じて、夢を叶えて、高い目標を狙うことを恐れないで。しかし、夢を叶えそうになる時、俺のような人が、アナタの目の前から、奪っていくこともあるけどな。 なぜなら、俺が1番。俺は1番才能がある。
...
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6
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Help parsing 無事勝利
無事勝利 is two words. Here 無事 is used as an adverb which means "without trouble" or "safely". 勝利 is a simple suru-verb that means "to win".
無事 here is interchangeable with 無事に. I think you already know ...
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6
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A complex structure: Xが～するYについて、～する者は
しかし彼が 常日頃吐き出す思想について 認める者は誰一人いなかった。
The portuguese translation is like "people doesn't agree with his ideas"
The translation is correct.
I translated like "he doens't care about people ideas"
...
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Which is the verb belonging to the particle を?
This を is the object maker of 呼んだ. 思うだにときめいて来る日夜の肉の悦び is a noun phrase. I translated it as "Reiko had never called the bodily joys of day and night that she started throbbing only by thinking about, a ...
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What does the double use of "殺せる" mean here?
I think there are two ways to interpret this.
You can express the nuance of "what happens happens" or "don't worry about something beyond your control" by repeating a verb, like so:
死ぬ奴は死ぬ。
...
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6
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Meaning of ほうなんで?
Do you already know how to make a comparison using ほう and より in Japanese? If not, please learn it first.
Japanese Grammar – Making Comparisons
Japanese Comparison: より, …の方が, and …で一番
The sentence in ...
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6
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What is the difference in meaning between「この自然が多い町」and 「自然が多いこの町」?
In this particular case, both この自然が多い町 and 自然が多いこの町 refer to the same thing, and they are interchangeable.
In many other cases, however, placing この at a distant place may introduce a difference in ...
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6
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What does もえと mean?
I believe that the name is highly likely to be もえ instead of ももえ. While both names exist, the context makes it clear: the sender (the green balloon) asked first whether they can have the phone call ...
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