New answers tagged usage
1
vote
Accepted
“望むものや望んできたもの” interpretation
This is technically ambiguous, but the most likely interpretation in this case would be:
what you desire (now) and what you have desired
It's hard to imagine a situation where someone excludes ...
- 337k
2
votes
The correct interpretation of a sentence such as “どうして謝る？”, not “謝っている”
The difference is small, and they're typically interchangeable. But どうして謝る can sound like either:
The question is about the listener's intention
Someone is about to start or has just started their ...
- 337k
2
votes
How to break down 「はよせんか！」 (Kansai-ben)?
Is it: "早くしない(の)か?
Yes, except there's no の element here, it's just 早くしないか！ as in a demanding 'Hurry up, will you?!'
The negative ん ending comes from the old ぬ and する has the old negative せぬ, ...
- 12.3k
1
vote
Accepted
The correct interpretation of a sentence such as “どうして謝る？”, not “謝っている”
どうして謝って（い）る？
This is more likely to be a simple and specific question, because it refers to the ongoing event by -ている. It asks the reason for the specific event in front of you.
どうして謝る？
This can ...
- 5,778
1
vote
The correct interpretation of a sentence such as “どうして謝る？”, not “謝っている”
Grammatically, "どうして謝る？" could be "Why do you apologize?" or "Why would you apologize?" (depending on context).
"どうして謝ってる？" is "Why are you apologizing?&...
- 2,323
0
votes
Accepted
“お断りなのです” with the speaker as subject
After doing some research and finding the answer with @desmo pointing me into the right direction. I suppose I might as well provide my own answer. This “お断りだ” is not a respectful form of “断る” and ...
- 2,082
1
vote
Accepted
Interpretation of “まとめてきている” and “〜てきている” with similar verbs in the same form
You've already asked this, so I assume you already understand that the likely interpretation depends on the verb's meaning. Let me focus on the case of まとめる.
When まとめる means "to summarize" ...
- 337k
Top 50 recent answers are included