Questions tagged [register]
使用域（位相）. A variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting.
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Is つつ for formal or literary use only -- or not?
I've found multiple sources instructing to use the つつ particle after the -masu stem of a verb only in formal or literary contexts. However, I sometimes find what appear to me to be contradictory ...
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What is the informal equivalent of いいえ
I was initially taught that いえ was the informal version of いいえ. Recently, I have read on several websites that いえ should only be used to refer to house/home 家. Is this true and if so, what is the ...
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Is ending a sentence with the plain form grammatically correct?
I am far into intermediate level at this point, but I still have not conclusively found an answer to this. The response that I typically receive is that it's "casual speech," but that doesn'...
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When can "AのB" be digested down to "AB"? [duplicate]
I sometimes see things like "野の風" be digested down into "野風" or "空の色" into "空色" both while retaining their meanings. When is this allowed to happen? What registers of speech? What sorta relationships? ...
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Why can't だ be used after an I-adjective?
I have been constantly told that だ can not be placed after an I-adjective. Why is that?
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4
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Difference between おかあさん and ははおや
What is the difference between these two terms for the word «mother»?
おかあさん
ははおや
Is there a difference in politeness/register in addressing someone, our some other form of difference between these ...
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1
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What does "Ouen shite iru yo!" mean exactly?
One of my friends wrote in the end of the email "Ouen shite iru yo!" (応援{おうえん}しているよ). My approximate translation would be "I will continue to support you!"
However, I am not good at Japanese and ...
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Difference between なり (meaning 'either.. or...') and か (meaning 'or')
I came across the construction ～なり～なり (meaning either... or...) on JGram and I saw this example:
ジュースなりコーラなり、お好きなものをどうぞ
juice.. cola.. have whatever you like
That made me wonder what the difference ...
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1
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Potential form for godan verb: register's/dialectical differences?
According to all standard book and webpage I consulted, godan verb's potential form are produced by first changing to え (e) form, and then add in る (ru).
But a native Japanese speaker (who is also ...
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What is 死す doing in this question?
My friend recently played through a game called Persona 4, and he took plenty of screen shots. He showed me this one containing 死す:
It says:
巽 完二
「言っとくがなぁ…
可愛すぎてキュン死すっぞ！」
I understood it as ...
user1478
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What does こまけー mean?
Does anybody have a clue what こまけー might mean? Below are some sentences for context and the phrase as it's used:
まじめでおカタい感じの女子大生は、やたらとわたしを目を敵にしてきた。わたしが何をやっても文句をつけてくる。「しょうゆの向きは、こうじゃなくてこう！」って こまけー ...
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「雨が降っているぜ」の「ぜ」の意味について
さっき、お弁当を買ってきた三十代の男性同僚が、入室したら「外雨が降っているぜ！早く弁当買っといた方がいいかも！」と勢い良く言った。
その「ぜ」の意味はなんだべ？
「行くぜ」ならなんとなく分かるんだが、今の文脈だとさっぱり迷ってしまうんだ…
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How and when to use 「そうですね」？
I only know the 2 meanings of it as follow:
Use when thinking - no meaning
Use to agree with others - the meaning is like "yes, I think so"
What else and what situation can it be used?
If someone ...
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2
answers
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What is だって when it's at the beginning of a sentence?
I have read several definitions of だって but none of them seem to make sense when I see it at the beginning of a sentence and I read the context. I saw one example Japanese sentence and in the English ...
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4
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What is the difference between 「食う」 and 「食べる」?
I've often seen 「食べる」 used, when should we use 「食う」 ? Are these two interchangeable ? Can you provide examples ?
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3
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When women use わ at the end of a sentence, is it different from よ?
My understanding of using わ at the end of a sentence is that it's essentially just for emphasis, just like using よ, and that only women can use it.
However, as far as I know, women can, and often do, ...
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私 (watashi) vs 僕 (boku) [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
Is it ok for non-japanese to refer to themselves as 僕（ぼく） and if not why?
How should I select what first-person pronoun to use?
How commonly are "あたし" (atashi) or &...
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In what situation can I use ~かい (for interrogative question)?
One day, I asked my japanese friend how I could invite some friends to eat.
He said
"一緒に食べに行くかい？"
I know that we could also say:
行きましょうか（行こうか）？
行きませんか（行かない）？
行きますか（行くの）？
but I got interested ...
- 2,173
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Is it true that only girls use うち to refer to themselves?
Is it true that only girls will use うち to refer to themselves?
So when a guy say うち he is referring to his in-group / company / family, and not referring to himself, right?
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What does さちゅえい mean?
I can't find this in any dictionary, but it seems to mean something like picture. Is that right?
I don't have an example sentence, because that word was the whole sentence.
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3
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Ending a sentence in ぞと
One of the people I follow on twitter sometimes ends his sentences in ぞと. Is this just a more polite form of ぞ？
Here's an example:
ブログUPしましたぞと♪(´ε｀ )
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Ending sentence with ～だもの or ～ですもの
I've been listening songs and anime dialogues that end sentences with ～もの or even cuter version ～もん for so long that I am able to see how the word denotes reasons or excuses like:
おなか空{す}いたもん (when ...
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1
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What is おもぴろかった
Saw this on twitter:
@Daigo19780408 昨日はお疲れ様でした！おもぴろかったです♪( ´▽｀)
What does おもぴろかった mean? I find words like this all over the place on the net, but I can't figure out what it means, and I can't find ...
- 4,995
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Reading 男 or 女 as ひと
Why is it that in Japanese sentence one sees 男 or 女 with furigana that says ひと? Furigana is supposed to help clarify the meaning of a kanji character, but using ひと doesn't seem to help clarify ...
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Is 超 (chō) seldom used in written works?
Is it true that the prefix 超 to mean “very” is seldom used in written works (like novels, not counting direct speech), and is usually only used when talking?
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What are the stereotypical characteristics of yakuza speech?
When people imitate yakuza speech, what are the major things they do to make it recognizable as such?
If possible, how accurate is this compared to actual yakuza speech?
I've seen mention elsewhere ...
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If I wanted to sound more like a Samurai, what words and phrases should I learn?
Having watched jidai-geki for a long time, I have come across many Samurai-isms, but I can recall only a few. I would like to be able to do this more believably the next time I'm at the Izakaya.
What ...
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What exactly is "なの" (nano)?
I asked a female Japanese friend to translate a sentence for me and it ends in "nano" which I took to be either an alternative question particle to -ne or -ka; or possibly two particles I ...
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わ usage at the end of sentences
What is the difference between the "わ" sentence ender used by women in general and the one that is used by both Males and females in the Kansai area?
I've asked my Japanese co-workers about it ...
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Are there any situations where かしら is considered appropriate/normal for males to use?
かしら is generally considered to be a question particle for use by females; are there any situations or dialects in which it is usable by males? I'm aware that historically, it was used by both male and ...
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What differences should I look out for between male vs female speech?
I was told a story where a male westerner learnt Japanese from his girlfriend and ended up speaking more like a female. The storyteller thought this was hilarious.
What important differences should I ...
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4
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Commonness of casual phrases like "あたし" and "ちっちゃい"
I came across a Japanese girl in Germany who talked using words like あたし instead of わたし, or ちっちゃい instead of ちいさい. When I asked her, she said that these words or usages of words are more common in ...
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