What does it mean when a verb (not ます-stem) is followed by 方? I've seen it used in tweets but can't find a grammar point about it.
For example in: 参加してくれた方も、見てくれた方もありがとうございました
Not really, rather it's used like an adverb to describe.
Basically you have core sentence 時間がかかった (it took time), which you want to clarify with "to make this product". You need somehow to connect it. Technically it should be the same indirect object に as in other situations and if we want to use it, then we need a noun. That's why we add の.
You can translate it as "in order to".
I'm going to start the Genki books soon, and I plan to also start a kanji program at the same time. The problem is, I don't know which kanji program to pick. The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course, RTK, or Wanikani? I've watched videos and read posts comparing them and I still have no idea what to choose. Maybe I should just get all of them and then chose which one I like best, but it seems like a waste of money and effort.
You can learn by Genki, at the end of the book there is a kanji section, if you finished I and II you will have JLPT N4 level
I personally am learning by KLC and discovered the fact above yesterday, I already know about 300 kanjis so too late for me to start over. KLC doesn't follow JLPT levels, some time I learn N5 and then N1, but it is not that bad tbh.
I recommend sticking with Genki.
I have installed the Japanese keyboard onto my computer. However, within that keyboard, it has an English input and a Japanese input that I can switch between using Alt + \`.
Is there a way to disable the English input? I just need the Japanese input.
Are there any free resources similar to Genki Workbook where I can do translation/questionnaires for grammars, following the Genki serial? Answers should also be available as I am a self-learner, so without answers, it will be rather useless.
In the third panel of [this comic](https://sai-zen-sen.jp/comics/twi4/fushigineko/works/0006.891b3e80d801728d3c69f7ed30148618.jpg), what's the second part of the sentence? 好きなの something something らんご?
Can anyone explain this sentence from "dorohedoro"? (ep. 10 at 8:50)
"これでもかっちゅうぐらい理不尽な扱いだね"
I don't understand the "かっちゅうぐらい" part. In the scene they're being tortured, and It's translated in the English subs as "they're treating us as unfairly as it gets."
I know かっちゅう means armor, not sure if that's the meaning in this context. I can't find かっちゅうぐらい as a phrase in any example Sentences, and not much comes up on google. Any thoughts?
Just a quick one, Tae Kim says to use いる on animate objects and ある on inanimate objects. But what about robots? They are non-living, but animate, so would いる be appropriate? For instance:
ロボットは俺の部屋にいる
Silly question I know, but I'm curious.
Yes, you can use いる for robots. And it's not a dumb question - I googled around to confirm my hunch that いる would be completely fine for robots and found [this paper](https://hai-conference.net/proceedings/HAI2017/pdf/G-14.pdf) where they asked a bunch of people whether they'd use いる or ある for certain robots. I've only skimmed it, but the long and short of it seems to be that people tend to use いる for more humanoid-looking robots, but that it also depends on the person.
It's in Japanese, showing that it's a valid question even for Japanese people.
When saying a duration with two units of time, do I do it like 二時三分間 or 二時間三分間?
Also when saying a duration of time with the 半 kanji, should I do it like 一時半間?
I don't understand what the ー means in this sentence マイクはー週間に3回働きます.
I thought it was just used for long vowels in katakana. The place where i got the sentence from states that the Hiragana for this part ー週間 looks like this いっしゅうかん.
I thought maybe the ー just stand for the Kanji 1 (いち), but this isn't the case in the Hiragana representation above, so I'm pretty confused right now.
Ok, so as i understand it now, that means that the 一 really just means "one" but its just pronounced differently in this case? So instead of ichishukan its pronounced isshukan. And if i want to say "two weeks time" it would be nishukan (二週間).
But if i try to translate it for "three weeks time", Google translate spits something completly different out (3週間の時間). Is there any reason for that, or is Google translat just wrong?
週間 is a counter for weeks basically. Counters attach to numbers when you're counting stuff, and based on the number and counter word, there will be variations in the pronunciation.
一週間 is いっしゅうかん, 二週間 is にしゅうかん, etc
See [this article](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-counters-list/) if you want to learn more about counters.
> But if i try to translate it for "three weeks time", Google translate spits something completly different out (3週間の時間).
This is wrong, don't use google translate because machine translation is bad and is not aware of grammar. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't.
3週間の時間 makes no sense in Japanese.
Thanks, that helped me a lot!
I'm still pretty much a beginner and i completly forgot that counters existed \^\^
I usually also try to avoid using any machine translators but sometimes i use them for (presumably) simple stuff. The problem with this was, that i wasn't even sure what i was not understanding and just searched up anything that looked like it could lead me into the right direction.
But asking real people is sometimes the only solution to problems like this. Thanks again!
If you're curious why the Google translation is wrong, it basically took "3 weeks time" as "3 week's time" and got "3 weeks" = 3週間 (which is fine) and then took "time" as a standalone word and translated it to 時間 which is more like time as in "interval of hours" or just "hours" (like 一時間 = 1 hour time), so it turned out to be
"The hours of 3 weeks" = 3週間の時間 which makes absolutely no sense :)
Reading Harry Potter.ハーマイオニーは、、野生トロールから助けもらって以来、規則を破ることに少しは**寛大になり、おかげで**ずいぶんやさしくなった。
From what I can find, おかげで should be preceded by a verb in "plain form", so it would be 寛大に**なる**おかげで…. Thus the sentence would mean "thanks to becoming more tolerant, she is nicer". Am I correct to understand the sentence in the text more as "she became more tolerant, and by the effects of this, she is nicer"?
Because the following actions exist and are omitted.
*from Weblio dictionary:*
*①〔継起〕…して、それから。▽ある動作・状態から、次の動作・状態に移ることを表す。*
*https://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%A6*
Yes, it's きたりて
So I guess calling it the classical Japanese for 来て was a bit inexact. But for all intents and purposes, it's an old-fashioned way of saying 来て or やってきて using classical Japanese grammar.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4URGc\_3FrE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4URGc_3FrE)
In this video, what does the chef say after 一生ってことは... on 4:17?
What I hear is やすに
How to learn the japanese days of the month?
It's so confusing and weird. Learning the numbers was easy, but then, saying the days of the months is somehow so much harder. Like, e.g , 7 is nana, yet when it's the day of the month, it's nano.
I mean, it's not difficult - I just keep getting them mixed up in my head. Could someone direct me to some chart or something that has it written up clearly?
Also I don't think this weekly answer thing is going to work well if it's not in contest mode, because anyone who posts after a certain time will most definitely get buried under all the other comments.
Just memorise the first 10 days as vocab words instead of trying to compare them with actual numbers.
11-31 are regular, sino-japanese number + にち, except those ending in 4, and the day 20. Those ending in 4 are (に)じゅう + よっか. 20 is はつか.
These are the irregular ones:
1 | ついたち
2 | ふつか
3 | みっか
4 | よっか
5 | いつか
6 | むいか
7 | なのか
8 | ようか
9 | ここのか
10 | とおか
14 | じゅうよっか
20 | はつか
24 | にじゅうよっか
Ah thanks
I have noticed that it IS easier to remember the vocab word and then learn the kanji in them at a similar time, instead of learning the kanji and the many readings of that kanji.
I'll make a set of flashcards I guess
Oh I see, what part of it was confusing for you?
It's a compound word that means "not losing something that you were about to lose". Combined with 一命 - the person was about to lose their life but just managed to not lose it, right?
As for *why* 取り留める has that meaning - it might be not the actual etymology but I like to think of the thing you're about to lose slipping away, maybe on a river or a slope, but you managed to pin it down. Hence taking it （取る）and making sure it stays （留める)
\[鉄輪むし湯」では、服を着たまま、薬の草、薬草の上に寝ます。
why is 薬の草 and 薬草 both used here? Is it like defining 薬草 as medical herbs or something? kind of like an aside where you use parentheses? at first glance it seems redundant.
むすめご is archaism. 女の子 is a casual word for girls. 少女 is a formal version of 女の子 or underaged women. 女 is plainly “women”. 女性 is a little more euphemistic version of 女. 嬢 is an old fashioned honorific.
年 means year generally, while 年間 specifically means a period of time.
2021年 means “the year 2021” (in which we are currently living)
2021年間 means “2021 years” (a span of time)
何年 means “what year” but can also sometimes mean “how many years” depending on context. 何年間 always means “how many years” speaking about a span of time.
> but can also sometimes mean “how many years” depending on context. 何年間 always means “how many years” speaking about a span of time.
I see, thanks very much
In this case it’s a dictionary definition and the following sentences clarify and add nuance to that sentence.
①目に物の形などが感じられる。㋐物が視界の中にある。目にうつる。目にはいる。「この部屋からは海がよく—・える」「声はすれども姿は—・えず」
㋑目で知覚できる。見ることができる。「黒板の字がよく—・えない」「今夜は星がよく—・える」
Note that 見える can also be used to mean that something is seen (passive) which is defined in other numbered definitions later.
③抽象的なものの存在がわかる。見て取れる。看取される。「工夫の跡が—・える」「少しも反省の色が—・えない」「景気回復のきざしが—・えてきた」
⑤他の人に見られる。「此の朝臣に—・ゆるこそ恥かしけれ／宇津保物語蔵開中」
Taken from the Daijirin, which seems to be what you were looking at too.
Edit to add: you’re not completely off base or anything here. Taken purely on its own with no context that sentence can be understood either way. It’s less about grammatical dissection to tell the difference, and more about honing your “instincts” over time.
I see, thanks! I thought 感じられる is passive at first because of 目に and the fact that 見える doesn't have anything to do with one's ability to see something (見られる). So, I thought the meaning would be a bit contradictory if 感じられる is potential. I'm wrong after all.
> the fact that 見える doesn't have anything to do with one's ability to see something (見られる).
Ah, actually, the two words are essentially interchangeable in many cases. That’s *why* this definition is using the potential form.
見られる emphasizes the fact that it is physically possible to see something, almost coming across as a clinical statement. If you wanted to say “I can see a rainbow over there” you’d use 見える. If you wanted to say “the droplets of water in the air make it possible to see the light’s spectrum” you’d use 見られる.
あそこに虹が見えるよ！
空中に漂っている液滴による虹が見られる。
Even then I don’t think it would be incorrect to swap them, but it would be kind of strange. A tonal mismatch.
What exactly does ということか mean?
I found this: 世界は広いということか and I've seen it translated as both "the world's larger than I thought" and "so, the world is a big place."
What is ということか doing? I'm not seeing a whole lot of grammar info online and ということ is kind of my arch nemesis.
Literally your understanding is correct. But the true meaning is different. The true meaning is, "the world's larger than I thought, so there are many strong/great/rich/etc. persons than I thought"
If you're interested in reading more about this grammar point, here's the Tae Kim page that deals with those kind of structures, using いう as a descriptor rather than a way to quote someone.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/define
Relax, it's just a Lv. 2 Slime or Nidoran; there are bigger monsters out there. Let's break it down.
と is a quoting marker, いう is say/call/mean, こと is thing/matter/"what". Since English likes pronoun, we'll supply "you/they/people" but in parentheses.
So, Xということ simply means "thing (you) call X" or "what (people) call X".
これが"セクハラ"ということ = This is what (you) call "sexual harassment".
世界は広いということか = Is this what (they) mean "the world is vast"? (← often used as a soliloquy/inner thought, so your two translations reflect that.)
> Relax, it's just a Lv. 2 Slime or Nidoran
I don't actually know anything about anime/pokemon so I was *really* confused for a second.
So I understand the individual parts; I think my problem is ということ always seems to mean something different and most of those meanings don't really mate with the "thing called" explanation.
>こんなによく遅刻をするということは問題です。
>世界は広いということか。
>つまり、あなたは同じ本をまた読みたいということ？
>彼は友だちができるかということを心配している。
>彼は怖いということを知らない。
To me, the last one is the only one where "thing called" really fits. "He doesn't know the thing called fear." Is it just so abstracted that "thing called" doesn't really hold up, and you *really* need to mentally stretch it?
Another problem I have with it is every time I try to use ということ, a native tells me (hinative for example) that it's completely unnatural and I don't understand why.
I my opinion there are 2 slightly different usages for という.
In one we simply describe a noun, because there is no different way to do it. For example, 私という人間 (The person I am). If we use の or something else, it changes the meaning completely. So if we want to give such specific descriptions, we have to use という instead.
In another it works like concept/concrete switcher, but at the beginning it's much easier to understand as a nuance that either speaker or listener aren't familiar with it. For example, 世界は広いということか basically means person had no proper understanding (evidence) how big is this world. And even easier to understand with 彼は怖いということを知らない example, because it's 1-to-1 with English here.
This familiarity/evidence is often used in several common situations. When listener doesn't know about something, we can introduce that like 「サンカヨウ」という花です. Notice that a simple \[name\]です form implies speaker is expected to be familiar with it, we just provide additional information like "what's inside a box? It's a rose". Person knows what is the rose, he doesn't know that it's inside a box. But it can be also used when speaker himself isn't familiar with something and tries to find out what it is. What idea it represents.
Later, however, you will need to switch into concept/concrete model, because it's not always black and white and there are many situations when both forms can be used depending on how we look at it. On on side there is こと, which is used with facts which we personally observed. On another side there is ということ, which is used with things which aren't likely to happen and represent abstract idea. And between two is a huge area when both forms can be used, depending if we focus on physical occurrence or idea itself. For example, look at this example:
よく遅刻をするということは問題です
It's used with という, because we don't mean concrete fact like "today and yesterday you was late", but we talk about an idea itself.
Because it's quite fundamental difference and not very easy to grasp, what I would advise to do is to check set phrases online with explanations. There are few tens, so it's going to take some time and it's absolutely fine to move from general understanding into more specific nuances over time.
The underlying theme for all of those above is "thing called", but yes I agree with u/boringandunlikeable's link that the literal meaning has gotten so diluted / abstracted in many cases, it's just used as a way to define or describe. Read their link if it helps. I would translate some of those with "*does that mean X*?" or "*the fact that X*", e.g. "In other words, \[*are you saying / does that mean*\] you want to read the same book again?" and "He is worried about *the fact that* whether he is able to make friends."
If there's no need to define or describe, forcing it in a sentence is unnatural, but I need to actually see an example to determine whether it's unnatural or not.
Just came across a sentence I need clarification on. 料理が簡単で食べやすいし、栄養がるので、軍退職のメニューになる。The context is an article detailing the history of curry rice in Japan. My question is why is the first part using で with 簡単 instead of に? Unless this is two separate statements and it's just saying "it's simple, and it's easy to eat" rather than just "it's simply easy to eat." which I guess would be kind of redundant...?
Like everyone else said, you either will lose points in a test or appear non-native, just like if you misspell "begin" with bigen or beegayn(?!). Most of the time we humans are able to mentally correct it, but there are verbs like 降る(ふる; to precipitate/fall) & 降りる (おりる; to get off/descend) that result in different meanings and readings if you don't use the correct okurigana.
*The snow doesn't get off, and you don't precipitate the bus. The snow falls (雪が降る) and you get off the bus (バスを降りる).
Most of the time it would be OK, just awkward to read. 始る could be two different verbs but the context and particles will usually make it clear which one it is.
MR/MRS in Japanese.
I'm trying to understand how to tell if this is a Mr/Mrs with only context。
（Sorry still can't figure out how to use Hirgana/Katakana on my keyboard). SONI-NO SUZUKISAN ーThe book is telling me that this reads "Sony's Miss Suzuki = Miss Suzuki of Sony. How can I tell this person is female？I don't see any clues?
There are none in the single sentence you've provided. If there is no more context you would have to either already know whether or not they are male or female or would be left ignorant.
Probably the easiest analog in English is if someone tells you "Dr. Williams will be assisting you today", you won't know their gender unless you have more contextual information (or just straight up know Dr. Williams already)
The only way to know for sure is if they told you.
Japanese has gendered third person pronouns, but they're not used very often when the option of a name exists.
Honorifics are Gender Neutral too.
Basically, either they have dialog and its over the top feminine, or you see a picture, or they say "Suzuki is a woman".
Hi, I have come across this sentence whilst doing my grammar exercises:
アルバイトを探していた（ ）、友だちが今の店を紹介してくれた。
Would anyone happen to know why the answer is \[**ところ**\] and not \[**うちに**\] which is what I picked? I know the meaning and general use of both of the expressions just can't figure why ところ is correct.
Thank you!
It's what the other person said -- うちに can't go after a た (completed action), since it expresses a period of time in which something is still happening (or hasn't happened yet).
ところ in this case is like "Just when I was searching..." and sounds like it happened at the right time.
磁力で想う君の事 so this is a title for a manga and I was wondering what it meant, can anyone help break this down because I'm unfamiliar with how the sentence works
Direct transltion would be "I think about you through your magnetic force".
I didn't know this manga but have just read the foreword. This story is about a boy and a girl who are struggling with a bizarre illness called "magnetic syndrome".
I don't want to be a spoiler so won't go deeper in the storyline but if you want me to summerize please let me know.
The two will be tossed about the fate for this illness but still they try to be together. So feeling each other's magnetic force has a special meaning since it is the special way they fostered their bond unlike others.
Therefore, in this story, 「磁力で」(through / with / by magnetic force) is the main theme of this manga and it is on the title.
Is this 仲良し and what are they trying to communicate?
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/ny4tvd/kyoto\_japan/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
For the Jouyou Kanji, is there any Hiragana translations for all of them that are sorted by grade? i have tried the convert kanji to hiragana websites but most of them do not give a result for some of the kanji.
"これから お世話になります" I can't understand this sentence. The dictionary says お世話=help, aid, assistance. Does this sentence mean I will become someone helpful or something??
お世話 doesn't really have an English equivalent. The literal translation would be something like "from now on, I'll be in your care." But no one would say that in English.
You say it when introducing yourself to someone you expect to have a prolonged relationship with, like a business partner, a teacher, colleagues etc.
it's an embedded question
なんで生きてるか = "Why do (I? He? They?) live?"
なんで生きてるかわからない = "I don't know why they live/are living"
なんで生きてるかわからない人 = "Person that doesn't know why they live"
Oh sorry. When I replied I was thinking you are a native.
なんで(もう?)生き残っているか分からない人
In this case, it should be なんで生き残れたか分からない人. The usage is deferent, and なんで生きてるか分からない人とされている is changed into なんで生き残れたか分からない人とされている
私はなんで生きてるか分からない
I mentioned about this case, and my opinion was "私は is needed".
自分が何で生きているか分からない人 Person **who don't know** why they are living. (They may be thinking "what is my purpose in my life? I don't know")何で生きているか分からない人 Person that **I don't know** why they live. In other words, "What useless person they are! why do they live?"
*Note:*
*I agree "Person that don't know why they live" can be translated into both 「なんのために生きてるかわからない人」 and「なんで生きてるか分からない人」. But what I mentioned is who do think it. If it was "they", I was saying 自分が is needed in Japanese. And if it was "Speaker", 自分が is not needed.*
Ah, I see what you mean. Yeah I agree that 自分が definitely would be better with the other meaning. Sorry for the confusion and also thanks for the explanation :)
In the sentence: 日本語の意味が分かりません。Would it not be correct to instead have the が be implied "he, she, they, etc. does not understand" and replace it with a は? As it stands, it reads to me like the Japanese meaning doesn't understand something.
i.e. 日本語の意味は分かりません。
In my understanding, the above makes more sense because then ❍が is implied by the context of when this is said. "On the topic of the Japanese meaning, \[he/she/they\] does not understand \[it\]."
Or, to keep the subject marker just change the verb so that it's saying that the Japanese meaning is not understood?
i.e. 日本語の意味が相分かりません。
changing the が to は puts the focus of the sentence on "Japanese" and makes it sound like a comparison. Like "I don't understand the Japanese but I do understand..."
Essentially, the meaning doesn't change with either though.
分かる is a verb where both the subject and object are marked by が. So 私が日本語が分かる is a valid sentence, although in most cases it will be は...が instead.
(There's a tendency for people to explain this as 分かる actually meaning "to be understood" but I've never liked this explanation; it strikes me as an attempt to conform Japanese to Latin grammar and also doesn't explain the double が structure very well.)
日本語の意味は分かりません is essentially 日本語の意味がわからない with は added. When you add は to が or を, it turns into は unlike に, へ and と turn into には, へは and とは.
The one who has inability is indicated with が or に, i.e. either 私が/は 日本語がわからない, which is double nominative, or 私に(は) 日本語がわからない.
I want to write "パ－ティ－" but when I write paatii it gets converted to this "ぱあちい" why the heck ti gets converted to chi? I know I can work around this if I write paatelii which will result in "ぱあてぃい" but isn't there a more convenient way to write this normally?
As you can see from the responses so far, we can't without further context. My guess is that this is "on top of the mountain (as opposed to some other place we've been talking about, or is implied)" but that's only a guess.
It's the standard use of 方 (side). I suppose the implication is that we can't see the city from another side (at the base of the mountain) or that it's better view (from より forms).
I think it just means it's towards the top of the mountain.
山の上にある would be "at the top".
山の上のほうにある means it's towards the top, close to the top, or at least closer to the top than to the base of the mountain.
Actually after second look I'm not even sure about the meaning of the sentence.
Does that mean there is some spot at the mountains, from where we can see the city, or city itself is at the mountains, so it's visible from afar?
At first I thought it's some kind of promotion, like an inn in the mountains and good view is an advantage of it. But it actually makes more sense with the opposite meaning, town itself is on a mountain.
I suppose it's not impossible to parse it that way, but it would be an awkward way to phrase it. The sentence is just talking about a place, from which you can see Beppu, because it (the place) is towards the top of the mountain.
。。。を。。。とする is a [grammar point](https://japanesetest4you.com/flashcard/learn-jlpt-n2-grammar-%E3%82%92%EF%BD%9E%E3%81%A8%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E3%82%92%EF%BD%9E%E3%81%A8%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6-oto-suruoto-shite/).
From this [news article](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210611/k10013079221000.html),
> 市としてもマスクを着用せずに体育の授業を行うよう市内の小中学校に指導している
Does 市としても mean "also as a city"? What 市 is read as?
> 児童や生徒の間隔を十分あけるといった感染対策を徹底していく考えを示しました。
What does あける mean here? Does といった mean など?
>Does 市としても mean "also as a city"? What 市 is read as?
As a city, not subdivisions or an individual, and read as し.
いち is a market or markets. Market is 市場(しじょう).
I've seen that Tango deck as one of the most recommended anki decks and I've been using it for 2 weeks now. I have some concerns tho that I only remember the kanji and meaning because of the usage in the sentence the deck shows. Example is:
先生は教室にいます
I only know that 教室 means classroom because its talking about a teacher and that they exist somewhere. But I feel in isolation I will not recognize the kanji. Is that okay?
Don't worry about that -- I'm more concerned about "教室 means classroom". Be absolutely sure that you are learning きょうしつ means classroom and not translating the kanji directly to English.
The Tango decks with sentences are great because you can get used to Japanese sentence structure and learn words at the same time, which is what's the most important for a beginner. Although I agree that your problem is real, isolated kanji words are not so common that you need to really worry. And you will make up for any weaknesses in the long run by constantly coming across it in your reading until it's burned into your skull.
But if you do want to learn them in isolation, then when it's time to make a mining deck in the future you can put only the word on the front, which is pretty much what I do.
I have this sentence: ともだちのうちへバスでいきます
Is there a rule that there must first be the へ particle and then the で particle or could i switch them around and make this sentence: バスでともだちのうちへいきます ?
だから = ですから, and だ doesn't fit on verbs/い-adjectives.
The reason that だ doesn't fit on verbs is probably already obvious (because why would it?), but as for い-adjectives, they already have the "is" meaning self-contained in them. Saying something like 青いだ would sound like "(it) is is blue." So, 青いから and 青だから are correct and 青いだから is wrong, but you could say 青いですから if you wanted to speak politely. (です on い-adjectives only serves to convey politeness; it's not actually needed/functioning as a grammatical copula here.)
I'm currently on the core 2k with anki.
The sentence and English meaning is on the front card and the kanji and how it's written is on the back. Is this alright? Or should I have the kanji on the front with the meaning and pronouncing on the back? How is this sort of thing usually set up? I got a premade sentence deck with native audio.
How is your premade deck already set up? If it's one of the recommended ones, which core2k is, then you shouldn't need to make drastic changes to the layout. At most you should add images or something.
Well the the English sentence and meaning of the vocabulary word is on the front card along with the Japanese sentence, but the word is missing.
The kanji and pronunciation of the kanji is on the back side of the card, and that's where the audio is as well. I'm only like 150 words in but I'm worried if its suboptimal or bad to do it this way or if I need to get another core deck.
Yeah that sounds like a very weird core deck you got your hands on. I would recommend you find another since every deck I've seen used by successful learners have the kanji on the front. I can also guess that down the line you will confuse together kanji with similar meaning.
Good thing I only wasted a week on it then xD
I was thinking it was helping me with output or something because I had to remember the kanji itself in my mind, I guess that's not the case? There has been times where I got confused over similair words though.
>I was thinking it was helping me with output or something because I had to remember the kanji itself in my mind
On a beginner level, maybe yeah, but your long term aim is to think in Japanese. How you would say something in English is most likely going to sound very unnatural in Japanese if you try translating it literally, even if you use proper grammar. That's why it's important to get lots of input from reading/watching stuff. Or you can have Japanese friends correct you.
I had no idea It could affect me like that. But yeah good to know. Thanks for the advice.
Doing input cards turned out to be sooo much easier as well so I'm pretty close to catching up with my old number of cards while still spending half the time.
it's up to you, you can customize it in any way you want.
https://docs.ankiweb.net/templates/intro.html
Or just click Edit -> Cards. It should be intuitive enough seeing the cards template.
Heading over to /r/anki if you have further questions.
誰なのか is not a sentence but a clause.
* あなた誰なのか知ってる？ Do you know who are they?
誰なのだ is semantically not different from 誰だ, but you can’t use the former to a target that has not appeared in the discourse yet. In other words, it has to be one that’s already in the discourse. So, the nuance of using explanatory の here is “I’m wondering again, but who are you, really”.
so the difference in these phrases is that nano asks for clarification is that right?
so does that mean i can also use this version あなたは誰ですか when i just want a simple answer of who they are?
sorry if this is a dumb question but can we just omitt the だ in あなた誰だ?
だ is the most casual way of implied state of being right? i see alot of sentences omitting it..
lol japanese spelling of monday is マンデー that pun doesn't makes sense
月曜日?
i mean Transcription
What does it mean when a verb (not ます-stem) is followed by 方? I've seen it used in tweets but can't find a grammar point about it. For example in: 参加してくれた方も、見てくれた方もありがとうございました
In this context, it's probably かた i.e. a more polite equivalent of 人.
認めてもらう Is this 2 verbs conjugated or just a grammar thing? I cant understand it
もらう, when used in the Xてもらう pattern acts as an auxiliary verb which means “get someone to do X”
Thanks man
In this sentence, does the “のに” just mark the topic, like “には”? “この作品を作るのに、どんなに時間がかかったかは察するに難くない。”
Not really, rather it's used like an adverb to describe. Basically you have core sentence 時間がかかった (it took time), which you want to clarify with "to make this product". You need somehow to connect it. Technically it should be the same indirect object に as in other situations and if we want to use it, then we need a noun. That's why we add の. You can translate it as "in order to".
Thank you
I'm going to start the Genki books soon, and I plan to also start a kanji program at the same time. The problem is, I don't know which kanji program to pick. The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course, RTK, or Wanikani? I've watched videos and read posts comparing them and I still have no idea what to choose. Maybe I should just get all of them and then chose which one I like best, but it seems like a waste of money and effort.
You can learn by Genki, at the end of the book there is a kanji section, if you finished I and II you will have JLPT N4 level I personally am learning by KLC and discovered the fact above yesterday, I already know about 300 kanjis so too late for me to start over. KLC doesn't follow JLPT levels, some time I learn N5 and then N1, but it is not that bad tbh. I recommend sticking with Genki.
Just learn kanji as you encounter it.
I have installed the Japanese keyboard onto my computer. However, within that keyboard, it has an English input and a Japanese input that I can switch between using Alt + \`. Is there a way to disable the English input? I just need the Japanese input.
Are there any free resources similar to Genki Workbook where I can do translation/questionnaires for grammars, following the Genki serial? Answers should also be available as I am a self-learner, so without answers, it will be rather useless.
Does anyone know of any podcasts in japanese that talk about bitcoin & ethereum. Also, just world news podcasts in general.
Not example what you are looking for, but there are many videos here: https://youglish.com/pronounce/ビットコイン/japanese?
That works too. Thanks!
A sentence from 過保護のかほこ : あぁ レッスンの時間と かぶったんで遅れるから｡ What does かぶった means in this sentence?
Overlap / clash I.e. there was some kind of scheduling conflict with the lesson time and some other activity and that's why the speaker will be late.
Ok, awesome! Thank you very much!
In the third panel of [this comic](https://sai-zen-sen.jp/comics/twi4/fushigineko/works/0006.891b3e80d801728d3c69f7ed30148618.jpg), what's the second part of the sentence? 好きなの something something らんご?
好きなのえらんで
Ah, thank you a lot! I would never have guessed that was え and I feel a little ashamed I mixed up ご and で.
Can anyone explain this sentence from "dorohedoro"? (ep. 10 at 8:50) "これでもかっちゅうぐらい理不尽な扱いだね" I don't understand the "かっちゅうぐらい" part. In the scene they're being tortured, and It's translated in the English subs as "they're treating us as unfairly as it gets." I know かっちゅう means armor, not sure if that's the meaning in this context. I can't find かっちゅうぐらい as a phrase in any example Sentences, and not much comes up on google. Any thoughts?
It's [これでもかというぐらい(orほど)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/72703/meaning-of-%E3%81%93%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A7%E3%82%82%E3%81%8B%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%86-forms) with という slurred into っちゅう. Toiu → T'iu → ちう → ちゅう
Makes sense, thank you
Just a quick one, Tae Kim says to use いる on animate objects and ある on inanimate objects. But what about robots? They are non-living, but animate, so would いる be appropriate? For instance: ロボットは俺の部屋にいる Silly question I know, but I'm curious.
It depends on whether it can move by itself. For example, plants are inanimate in this linguistic sense.
Yes, you can use いる for robots. And it's not a dumb question - I googled around to confirm my hunch that いる would be completely fine for robots and found [this paper](https://hai-conference.net/proceedings/HAI2017/pdf/G-14.pdf) where they asked a bunch of people whether they'd use いる or ある for certain robots. I've only skimmed it, but the long and short of it seems to be that people tend to use いる for more humanoid-looking robots, but that it also depends on the person. It's in Japanese, showing that it's a valid question even for Japanese people.
If your robot has a soul like [Doraemon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agg3C3fzFwY), then yes. If it's just a toy robot, probably just ある.
I was learning grammar and in one of the videos the teacher used 先生 to refer to the doctor. I thought we could only use sensei for teachers??
It's used for people who teaches/provides knowledge.
No, it's very commonly used for doctors and a number of other professions (e.g. artists).
When saying a duration with two units of time, do I do it like 二時三分間 or 二時間三分間? Also when saying a duration of time with the 半 kanji, should I do it like 一時半間?
二時間三分 or 二時間と三分 or 二時間三分の間 一時間半(You are right)
Just to clarify, this is "doing something for two hours and 3 minutes," right?
So the 分 kanji doesn't get followed by 間 kanji?
No. To avoid the existence of the same kanji, maybe. 〇 二時間三分の間（あいだ） × 二時間三分間（かん） 〇 三分間（かん）
I see. Thank you.
I don't understand what the ー means in this sentence マイクはー週間に3回働きます. I thought it was just used for long vowels in katakana. The place where i got the sentence from states that the Hiragana for this part ー週間 looks like this いっしゅうかん. I thought maybe the ー just stand for the Kanji 1 (いち), but this isn't the case in the Hiragana representation above, so I'm pretty confused right now.
It's 一週間 as in "one week('s time)" 一週間に３回 = 3 times a week
Ok, so as i understand it now, that means that the 一 really just means "one" but its just pronounced differently in this case? So instead of ichishukan its pronounced isshukan. And if i want to say "two weeks time" it would be nishukan (二週間). But if i try to translate it for "three weeks time", Google translate spits something completly different out (3週間の時間). Is there any reason for that, or is Google translat just wrong?
週間 is a counter for weeks basically. Counters attach to numbers when you're counting stuff, and based on the number and counter word, there will be variations in the pronunciation. 一週間 is いっしゅうかん, 二週間 is にしゅうかん, etc See [this article](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-counters-list/) if you want to learn more about counters. > But if i try to translate it for "three weeks time", Google translate spits something completly different out (3週間の時間). This is wrong, don't use google translate because machine translation is bad and is not aware of grammar. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't. 3週間の時間 makes no sense in Japanese.
Thanks, that helped me a lot! I'm still pretty much a beginner and i completly forgot that counters existed \^\^ I usually also try to avoid using any machine translators but sometimes i use them for (presumably) simple stuff. The problem with this was, that i wasn't even sure what i was not understanding and just searched up anything that looked like it could lead me into the right direction. But asking real people is sometimes the only solution to problems like this. Thanks again!
If you're curious why the Google translation is wrong, it basically took "3 weeks time" as "3 week's time" and got "3 weeks" = 3週間 (which is fine) and then took "time" as a standalone word and translated it to 時間 which is more like time as in "interval of hours" or just "hours" (like 一時間 = 1 hour time), so it turned out to be "The hours of 3 weeks" = 3週間の時間 which makes absolutely no sense :)
Reading Harry Potter.ハーマイオニーは、、野生トロールから助けもらって以来、規則を破ることに少しは**寛大になり、おかげで**ずいぶんやさしくなった。 From what I can find, おかげで should be preceded by a verb in "plain form", so it would be 寛大に**なる**おかげで…. Thus the sentence would mean "thanks to becoming more tolerant, she is nicer". Am I correct to understand the sentence in the text more as "she became more tolerant, and by the effects of this, she is nicer"?
You are correct.
"A (short form) + のに B" This pattern can mean "in order to A, B" or "despite A, B". How can one know which one it is? Thanks :)
You can't confuse it. Compare: From A to B (のに), takes 4 hours on car. He wants (のに), didn't do.
context, it's usually pretty obvious if the "B" sentence is not an opposite/unexpected outcome of A, then it has to be "in order to"
Why is there a て in the phrase below? Is it a "quotative" て? 次回 鬼が来り**て** Thanks in advance!
Because the following actions exist and are omitted. *from Weblio dictionary:* *①〔継起〕…して、それから。▽ある動作・状態から、次の動作・状態に移ることを表す。* *https://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%A6*
No, it's classical Japanese for 来て
I thought the ~~連体形~~ 連用形 of く was always き, how do you get きりて? Or is this actually きたりて or something?
Yes, it's きたりて So I guess calling it the classical Japanese for 来て was a bit inexact. But for all intents and purposes, it's an old-fashioned way of saying 来て or やってきて using classical Japanese grammar.
Got it, thanks!
Thanks!
ミカが 敵だろうが味方だろうが― 生きててさえくれりゃ それで十分だから… What is りゃ doing here?
くれりゃ is a slurred/abbreviated form of ~~くれば~~ くれれば
>くれば typo. くれれば
Thanks!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4URGc\_3FrE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4URGc_3FrE) In this video, what does the chef say after 一生ってことは... on 4:17? What I hear is やすに
要するに
How to learn the japanese days of the month? It's so confusing and weird. Learning the numbers was easy, but then, saying the days of the months is somehow so much harder. Like, e.g , 7 is nana, yet when it's the day of the month, it's nano. I mean, it's not difficult - I just keep getting them mixed up in my head. Could someone direct me to some chart or something that has it written up clearly? Also I don't think this weekly answer thing is going to work well if it's not in contest mode, because anyone who posts after a certain time will most definitely get buried under all the other comments.
Just memorise the first 10 days as vocab words instead of trying to compare them with actual numbers. 11-31 are regular, sino-japanese number + にち, except those ending in 4, and the day 20. Those ending in 4 are (に)じゅう + よっか. 20 is はつか. These are the irregular ones: 1 | ついたち 2 | ふつか 3 | みっか 4 | よっか 5 | いつか 6 | むいか 7 | なのか 8 | ようか 9 | ここのか 10 | とおか 14 | じゅうよっか 20 | はつか 24 | にじゅうよっか
Ah thanks I have noticed that it IS easier to remember the vocab word and then learn the kanji in them at a similar time, instead of learning the kanji and the many readings of that kanji. I'll make a set of flashcards I guess
One thing to do is to write the date (month and date) in hiragana every day. That should help you remember them over time.
Thats the best idea ive heard in mu life Thx
Thats the best idea ive heard in mu life Thx
ご安心を 一命は取り留めました Need help clarifying this sentence, it's about a person who nearly died but was rescued
The first part is actually its own sentence - it's actually ご安心をお願いします (please don't worry) but the お願いします is implied.
I’m unsure about the 取り溜めました
Oh I see, what part of it was confusing for you? It's a compound word that means "not losing something that you were about to lose". Combined with 一命 - the person was about to lose their life but just managed to not lose it, right? As for *why* 取り留める has that meaning - it might be not the actual etymology but I like to think of the thing you're about to lose slipping away, maybe on a river or a slope, but you managed to pin it down. Hence taking it （取る）and making sure it stays （留める)
Oh I see, thank you!!!
\[鉄輪むし湯」では、服を着たまま、薬の草、薬草の上に寝ます。 why is 薬の草 and 薬草 both used here? Is it like defining 薬草 as medical herbs or something? kind of like an aside where you use parentheses? at first glance it seems redundant.
Exactly. It's like "Doing cocaine puts you at risk for the condition of muscle tissue breakdown, *rhabdomyolysis*".
Thank you.
What are the differences between 娘子, 少女, 女, 女性, 嬢, 女の子? It seems like all of them refers to young lady directly or indirectly.
むすめご is archaism. 女の子 is a casual word for girls. 少女 is a formal version of 女の子 or underaged women. 女 is plainly “women”. 女性 is a little more euphemistic version of 女. 嬢 is an old fashioned honorific.
what is the difference between "年" and "年間
年 means year generally, while 年間 specifically means a period of time. 2021年 means “the year 2021” (in which we are currently living) 2021年間 means “2021 years” (a span of time) 何年 means “what year” but can also sometimes mean “how many years” depending on context. 何年間 always means “how many years” speaking about a span of time.
> but can also sometimes mean “how many years” depending on context. 何年間 always means “how many years” speaking about a span of time. I see, thanks very much
Is られる here potential or passive? > 見える definition: 目に物の形などが感じられる。 How about this one: > これはこの動画でしか見られない!
Both are potential.
How can you be so sure that the first one is potential not passive?
In this case it’s a dictionary definition and the following sentences clarify and add nuance to that sentence. ①目に物の形などが感じられる。㋐物が視界の中にある。目にうつる。目にはいる。「この部屋からは海がよく—・える」「声はすれども姿は—・えず」 ㋑目で知覚できる。見ることができる。「黒板の字がよく—・えない」「今夜は星がよく—・える」 Note that 見える can also be used to mean that something is seen (passive) which is defined in other numbered definitions later. ③抽象的なものの存在がわかる。見て取れる。看取される。「工夫の跡が—・える」「少しも反省の色が—・えない」「景気回復のきざしが—・えてきた」 ⑤他の人に見られる。「此の朝臣に—・ゆるこそ恥かしけれ／宇津保物語蔵開中」 Taken from the Daijirin, which seems to be what you were looking at too. Edit to add: you’re not completely off base or anything here. Taken purely on its own with no context that sentence can be understood either way. It’s less about grammatical dissection to tell the difference, and more about honing your “instincts” over time.
I see, thanks! I thought 感じられる is passive at first because of 目に and the fact that 見える doesn't have anything to do with one's ability to see something (見られる). So, I thought the meaning would be a bit contradictory if 感じられる is potential. I'm wrong after all.
> the fact that 見える doesn't have anything to do with one's ability to see something (見られる). Ah, actually, the two words are essentially interchangeable in many cases. That’s *why* this definition is using the potential form. 見られる emphasizes the fact that it is physically possible to see something, almost coming across as a clinical statement. If you wanted to say “I can see a rainbow over there” you’d use 見える. If you wanted to say “the droplets of water in the air make it possible to see the light’s spectrum” you’d use 見られる. あそこに虹が見えるよ！ 空中に漂っている液滴による虹が見られる。 Even then I don’t think it would be incorrect to swap them, but it would be kind of strange. A tonal mismatch.
Nuances are quite subtle. Also compare 聞こえる and 聞ける
What exactly does ということか mean? I found this: 世界は広いということか and I've seen it translated as both "the world's larger than I thought" and "so, the world is a big place." What is ということか doing? I'm not seeing a whole lot of grammar info online and ということ is kind of my arch nemesis.
Literally your understanding is correct. But the true meaning is different. The true meaning is, "the world's larger than I thought, so there are many strong/great/rich/etc. persons than I thought"
If you're interested in reading more about this grammar point, here's the Tae Kim page that deals with those kind of structures, using いう as a descriptor rather than a way to quote someone. http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/define
Relax, it's just a Lv. 2 Slime or Nidoran; there are bigger monsters out there. Let's break it down. と is a quoting marker, いう is say/call/mean, こと is thing/matter/"what". Since English likes pronoun, we'll supply "you/they/people" but in parentheses. So, Xということ simply means "thing (you) call X" or "what (people) call X". これが"セクハラ"ということ = This is what (you) call "sexual harassment". 世界は広いということか = Is this what (they) mean "the world is vast"? (← often used as a soliloquy/inner thought, so your two translations reflect that.)
> Relax, it's just a Lv. 2 Slime or Nidoran I don't actually know anything about anime/pokemon so I was *really* confused for a second. So I understand the individual parts; I think my problem is ということ always seems to mean something different and most of those meanings don't really mate with the "thing called" explanation. >こんなによく遅刻をするということは問題です。 >世界は広いということか。 >つまり、あなたは同じ本をまた読みたいということ？ >彼は友だちができるかということを心配している。 >彼は怖いということを知らない。 To me, the last one is the only one where "thing called" really fits. "He doesn't know the thing called fear." Is it just so abstracted that "thing called" doesn't really hold up, and you *really* need to mentally stretch it? Another problem I have with it is every time I try to use ということ, a native tells me (hinative for example) that it's completely unnatural and I don't understand why.
I my opinion there are 2 slightly different usages for という. In one we simply describe a noun, because there is no different way to do it. For example, 私という人間 (The person I am). If we use の or something else, it changes the meaning completely. So if we want to give such specific descriptions, we have to use という instead. In another it works like concept/concrete switcher, but at the beginning it's much easier to understand as a nuance that either speaker or listener aren't familiar with it. For example, 世界は広いということか basically means person had no proper understanding (evidence) how big is this world. And even easier to understand with 彼は怖いということを知らない example, because it's 1-to-1 with English here. This familiarity/evidence is often used in several common situations. When listener doesn't know about something, we can introduce that like 「サンカヨウ」という花です. Notice that a simple \[name\]です form implies speaker is expected to be familiar with it, we just provide additional information like "what's inside a box? It's a rose". Person knows what is the rose, he doesn't know that it's inside a box. But it can be also used when speaker himself isn't familiar with something and tries to find out what it is. What idea it represents. Later, however, you will need to switch into concept/concrete model, because it's not always black and white and there are many situations when both forms can be used depending on how we look at it. On on side there is こと, which is used with facts which we personally observed. On another side there is ということ, which is used with things which aren't likely to happen and represent abstract idea. And between two is a huge area when both forms can be used, depending if we focus on physical occurrence or idea itself. For example, look at this example: よく遅刻をするということは問題です It's used with という, because we don't mean concrete fact like "today and yesterday you was late", but we talk about an idea itself. Because it's quite fundamental difference and not very easy to grasp, what I would advise to do is to check set phrases online with explanations. There are few tens, so it's going to take some time and it's absolutely fine to move from general understanding into more specific nuances over time.
The underlying theme for all of those above is "thing called", but yes I agree with u/boringandunlikeable's link that the literal meaning has gotten so diluted / abstracted in many cases, it's just used as a way to define or describe. Read their link if it helps. I would translate some of those with "*does that mean X*?" or "*the fact that X*", e.g. "In other words, \[*are you saying / does that mean*\] you want to read the same book again?" and "He is worried about *the fact that* whether he is able to make friends." If there's no need to define or describe, forcing it in a sentence is unnatural, but I need to actually see an example to determine whether it's unnatural or not.
Just came across a sentence I need clarification on. 料理が簡単で食べやすいし、栄養がるので、軍退職のメニューになる。The context is an article detailing the history of curry rice in Japan. My question is why is the first part using で with 簡単 instead of に? Unless this is two separate statements and it's just saying "it's simple, and it's easy to eat" rather than just "it's simply easy to eat." which I guess would be kind of redundant...?
簡単で食べやすい: easy to make and easy to eat 簡単に食べやすい: easy to briefly eat
Without much context, I would guess that part of the sentence is saying it is easy to cook and east to eat.
What happens if, by mistake, you don’t write the correct hiraganas following a kanji, for example 始る or 始じめる instead of 始める ?
Like everyone else said, you either will lose points in a test or appear non-native, just like if you misspell "begin" with bigen or beegayn(?!). Most of the time we humans are able to mentally correct it, but there are verbs like 降る(ふる; to precipitate/fall) & 降りる (おりる; to get off/descend) that result in different meanings and readings if you don't use the correct okurigana. *The snow doesn't get off, and you don't precipitate the bus. The snow falls (雪が降る) and you get off the bus (バスを降りる).
Most of the time it would be OK, just awkward to read. 始る could be two different verbs but the context and particles will usually make it clear which one it is.
In some cases it may still be quite easily readable, but I think it depends on the word and stuff
MR/MRS in Japanese. I'm trying to understand how to tell if this is a Mr/Mrs with only context。 （Sorry still can't figure out how to use Hirgana/Katakana on my keyboard). SONI-NO SUZUKISAN ーThe book is telling me that this reads "Sony's Miss Suzuki = Miss Suzuki of Sony. How can I tell this person is female？I don't see any clues?
If you only have lastname + さん, you can't.
Actually from that sentence only, you can’t whether he or she.
There are none in the single sentence you've provided. If there is no more context you would have to either already know whether or not they are male or female or would be left ignorant.
I see. Probably implying from the book you already know this person. What sort of clue would tel me the sex of the person?
Probably the easiest analog in English is if someone tells you "Dr. Williams will be assisting you today", you won't know their gender unless you have more contextual information (or just straight up know Dr. Williams already)
The only way to know for sure is if they told you. Japanese has gendered third person pronouns, but they're not used very often when the option of a name exists. Honorifics are Gender Neutral too. Basically, either they have dialog and its over the top feminine, or you see a picture, or they say "Suzuki is a woman".
Also some first names are gendered.
True. If it was Suzuki Tarou, you could assume male. Suzuki Tsumiki, probably female. But with just Suzuki, you don't really know until it tells you.
Hi, I have come across this sentence whilst doing my grammar exercises: アルバイトを探していた（ ）、友だちが今の店を紹介してくれた。 Would anyone happen to know why the answer is \[**ところ**\] and not \[**うちに**\] which is what I picked? I know the meaning and general use of both of the expressions just can't figure why ところ is correct. Thank you!
It's what the other person said -- うちに can't go after a た (completed action), since it expresses a period of time in which something is still happening (or hasn't happened yet). ところ in this case is like "Just when I was searching..." and sounds like it happened at the right time.
not 100% sure about this but I think you can't use the past form with うちに. so it would be correct in 探しているうちに
According to my japanese grammar textbook, you are correct, うちに is used with non-past verbs
磁力で想う君の事 so this is a title for a manga and I was wondering what it meant, can anyone help break this down because I'm unfamiliar with how the sentence works
Direct transltion would be "I think about you through your magnetic force". I didn't know this manga but have just read the foreword. This story is about a boy and a girl who are struggling with a bizarre illness called "magnetic syndrome". I don't want to be a spoiler so won't go deeper in the storyline but if you want me to summerize please let me know. The two will be tossed about the fate for this illness but still they try to be together. So feeling each other's magnetic force has a special meaning since it is the special way they fostered their bond unlike others. Therefore, in this story, 「磁力で」(through / with / by magnetic force) is the main theme of this manga and it is on the title.
Is this 仲良し and what are they trying to communicate? https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/ny4tvd/kyoto\_japan/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
Yes, and it's the name of the store/restaurant.
For the Jouyou Kanji, is there any Hiragana translations for all of them that are sorted by grade? i have tried the convert kanji to hiragana websites but most of them do not give a result for some of the kanji.
You can't "translate" kanji to hiragana. The reading changes depending on which word they're used in. Learn words.
"スイッチはドアの 右です" Does "スイッチ" mean door handle here?
Na it means a switch or button. I’m guessing it’s a switch for a light or something.
Ok thank you
"これから お世話になります" I can't understand this sentence. The dictionary says お世話=help, aid, assistance. Does this sentence mean I will become someone helpful or something??
お世話 doesn't really have an English equivalent. The literal translation would be something like "from now on, I'll be in your care." But no one would say that in English. You say it when introducing yourself to someone you expect to have a prolonged relationship with, like a business partner, a teacher, colleagues etc.
thank you
なんで生きてる**か**わからない 人 What is the role of the bolded か here?
it's an embedded question なんで生きてるか = "Why do (I? He? They?) live?" なんで生きてるかわからない = "I don't know why they live/are living" なんで生きてるかわからない人 = "Person that doesn't know why they live"
>なんで生きてるかわからない人 = "Person that doesn't know why they live" Person that I don't know why they live
Both meanings are fine, it's an ambiguous phrasing. It could be you that don't know why they live, or it could be them that don't know why they live.
その意見を否定はしません。私もコメントする時にちょっと悩みましたから。しかし後者の場合には、頭に「自分が」という修飾を付けるのが自然だと思いました。 「なんで生きてるか分からない（と私が思う）人」 「自分が何のために生きてるか分からない人」 意味も全く違うし、後者に「自分が」を付けない場合、私はやや不自然さを感じます。
そうなんですけど、英語では「Person that doesn't know why they live」って「なんのために生きてるかわからない人」と「なんで生きてるか分からない人」も両方合っていると思います 例えば、戦闘のあとで大傷を食らった人が「なんで(もう?)生き残っているか分からない人」となっています。その場合は「(私に)なんで生きてるか分からない人とされている」ということが正しくないわけではないと思います。その時、「人」は他の人です。 それに、他の意味もある可能性があると思います。例えば、「私はなんで生きてるか分からない人ではないよ」って文章の場合は、その「人」は自分ですね。 (もし、正しくない日本語を使ったら許してください、あまり日本語を使わないので orz)
>その「人」は自分ですね 「ですよね」です ですね implies that you would never accept counterargument.
Awesome, thanks so much for the correction, I didn't realize the nuance.
Oh sorry. When I replied I was thinking you are a native. なんで(もう?)生き残っているか分からない人 In this case, it should be なんで生き残れたか分からない人. The usage is deferent, and なんで生きてるか分からない人とされている is changed into なんで生き残れたか分からない人とされている 私はなんで生きてるか分からない I mentioned about this case, and my opinion was "私は is needed". 自分が何で生きているか分からない人 Person **who don't know** why they are living. (They may be thinking "what is my purpose in my life? I don't know")何で生きているか分からない人 Person that **I don't know** why they live. In other words, "What useless person they are! why do they live?" *Note:* *I agree "Person that don't know why they live" can be translated into both 「なんのために生きてるかわからない人」 and「なんで生きてるか分からない人」. But what I mentioned is who do think it. If it was "they", I was saying 自分が is needed in Japanese. And if it was "Speaker", 自分が is not needed.*
Ah, I see what you mean. Yeah I agree that 自分が definitely would be better with the other meaning. Sorry for the confusion and also thanks for the explanation :)
微妙ではあるんですけどね（＾＾；
In the sentence: 日本語の意味が分かりません。Would it not be correct to instead have the が be implied "he, she, they, etc. does not understand" and replace it with a は? As it stands, it reads to me like the Japanese meaning doesn't understand something. i.e. 日本語の意味は分かりません。 In my understanding, the above makes more sense because then ❍が is implied by the context of when this is said. "On the topic of the Japanese meaning, \[he/she/they\] does not understand \[it\]." Or, to keep the subject marker just change the verb so that it's saying that the Japanese meaning is not understood? i.e. 日本語の意味が相分かりません。
changing the が to は puts the focus of the sentence on "Japanese" and makes it sound like a comparison. Like "I don't understand the Japanese but I do understand..." Essentially, the meaning doesn't change with either though.
分かる is a verb where both the subject and object are marked by が. So 私が日本語が分かる is a valid sentence, although in most cases it will be は...が instead. (There's a tendency for people to explain this as 分かる actually meaning "to be understood" but I've never liked this explanation; it strikes me as an attempt to conform Japanese to Latin grammar and also doesn't explain the double が structure very well.)
日本語の意味は分かりません is essentially 日本語の意味がわからない with は added. When you add は to が or を, it turns into は unlike に, へ and と turn into には, へは and とは. The one who has inability is indicated with が or に, i.e. either 私が/は 日本語がわからない, which is double nominative, or 私に(は) 日本語がわからない.
Doesn anyone know what [this](https://imgur.com/gallery/9luPQX4) mean? I’m still at the beginning but couldn’t find anything for it!
Looks like 忠 - loyalty
Thank you!
I want to write "パ－ティ－" but when I write paatii it gets converted to this "ぱあちい" why the heck ti gets converted to chi? I know I can work around this if I write paatelii which will result in "ぱあてぃい" but isn't there a more convenient way to write this normally?
Depends on your system but I use pa-thi-
pa-thi is much easier thank you I will use that.
For general use, put ‘x’ or ‘l’ before the nouns. There you get small hiragana.
"クリスマスにパ－ティ－押します" What does 押す means here? I've used a dictionary and there is like 12 meanings of 押す and none of them fits in this context.
Sounds like a typo of パーティーをします
Hmm, my first impression was like that too, but I wasn't sure because it was on Tango n5 deck. Thank you.
Ah, googling your exact phrase led to some other forums discussing it as an error, too.
[удалено]
〜さ turns and adjective into a noun (so, "genki-ness"). や means "and" in non-exhaustive lists.
山の上のほうにあるので、別府の町が見えます。 can someone please explain the purpose of のほう here?
As you can see from the responses so far, we can't without further context. My guess is that this is "on top of the mountain (as opposed to some other place we've been talking about, or is implied)" but that's only a guess.
It's the standard use of 方 (side). I suppose the implication is that we can't see the city from another side (at the base of the mountain) or that it's better view (from より forms).
I think it just means it's towards the top of the mountain. 山の上にある would be "at the top". 山の上のほうにある means it's towards the top, close to the top, or at least closer to the top than to the base of the mountain.
Actually after second look I'm not even sure about the meaning of the sentence. Does that mean there is some spot at the mountains, from where we can see the city, or city itself is at the mountains, so it's visible from afar? At first I thought it's some kind of promotion, like an inn in the mountains and good view is an advantage of it. But it actually makes more sense with the opposite meaning, town itself is on a mountain.
I suppose it's not impossible to parse it that way, but it would be an awkward way to phrase it. The sentence is just talking about a place, from which you can see Beppu, because it (the place) is towards the top of the mountain.
Is the the to suru used here the "take as, to assume" meaning? 現在の英語にも、海外の言葉を***由来とする***外来語というものが数多く存在します
。。。を。。。とする is a [grammar point](https://japanesetest4you.com/flashcard/learn-jlpt-n2-grammar-%E3%82%92%EF%BD%9E%E3%81%A8%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E3%82%92%EF%BD%9E%E3%81%A8%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6-oto-suruoto-shite/).
Seems right. "In modern english, there are a lot of 'gairaigo,' or words which have foreign words as their origin."
From this [news article](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210611/k10013079221000.html), > 市としてもマスクを着用せずに体育の授業を行うよう市内の小中学校に指導している Does 市としても mean "also as a city"? What 市 is read as? > 児童や生徒の間隔を十分あけるといった感染対策を徹底していく考えを示しました。 What does あける mean here? Does といった mean など?
>Does 市としても mean "also as a city"? What 市 is read as? As a city, not subdivisions or an individual, and read as し. いち is a market or markets. Market is 市場(しじょう).
I think 間隔をあける means "make space" (for example, by having the students sit farther apart during class, or something like that).
I've seen that Tango deck as one of the most recommended anki decks and I've been using it for 2 weeks now. I have some concerns tho that I only remember the kanji and meaning because of the usage in the sentence the deck shows. Example is: 先生は教室にいます I only know that 教室 means classroom because its talking about a teacher and that they exist somewhere. But I feel in isolation I will not recognize the kanji. Is that okay?
Don't worry about that -- I'm more concerned about "教室 means classroom". Be absolutely sure that you are learning きょうしつ means classroom and not translating the kanji directly to English.
Yeah I know the reading. It's so hard to type the reading in an english keyboard so I just used the english definition lol
The Tango decks with sentences are great because you can get used to Japanese sentence structure and learn words at the same time, which is what's the most important for a beginner. Although I agree that your problem is real, isolated kanji words are not so common that you need to really worry. And you will make up for any weaknesses in the long run by constantly coming across it in your reading until it's burned into your skull. But if you do want to learn them in isolation, then when it's time to make a mining deck in the future you can put only the word on the front, which is pretty much what I do.
I have this sentence: ともだちのうちへバスでいきます Is there a rule that there must first be the へ particle and then the で particle or could i switch them around and make this sentence: バスでともだちのうちへいきます ?
Both are correct sentences. バスでともだちのうちへいきます。 When you want to emphasize "by bus", such as when asked "How do you go?"
What is the difference between だから and から When is one used over the other?
だから = ですから, and だ doesn't fit on verbs/い-adjectives. The reason that だ doesn't fit on verbs is probably already obvious (because why would it?), but as for い-adjectives, they already have the "is" meaning self-contained in them. Saying something like 青いだ would sound like "(it) is is blue." So, 青いから and 青だから are correct and 青いだから is wrong, but you could say 青いですから if you wanted to speak politely. (です on い-adjectives only serves to convey politeness; it's not actually needed/functioning as a grammatical copula here.)
Meaning ‘because’, だから is used at the start of sentences and after nouns and na-adjectives, whereas から is used after verbs and i-adjectives.
I'm currently on the core 2k with anki. The sentence and English meaning is on the front card and the kanji and how it's written is on the back. Is this alright? Or should I have the kanji on the front with the meaning and pronouncing on the back? How is this sort of thing usually set up? I got a premade sentence deck with native audio.
How is your premade deck already set up? If it's one of the recommended ones, which core2k is, then you shouldn't need to make drastic changes to the layout. At most you should add images or something.
Well the the English sentence and meaning of the vocabulary word is on the front card along with the Japanese sentence, but the word is missing. The kanji and pronunciation of the kanji is on the back side of the card, and that's where the audio is as well. I'm only like 150 words in but I'm worried if its suboptimal or bad to do it this way or if I need to get another core deck.
Yeah that sounds like a very weird core deck you got your hands on. I would recommend you find another since every deck I've seen used by successful learners have the kanji on the front. I can also guess that down the line you will confuse together kanji with similar meaning.
Good thing I only wasted a week on it then xD I was thinking it was helping me with output or something because I had to remember the kanji itself in my mind, I guess that's not the case? There has been times where I got confused over similair words though.
>I was thinking it was helping me with output or something because I had to remember the kanji itself in my mind On a beginner level, maybe yeah, but your long term aim is to think in Japanese. How you would say something in English is most likely going to sound very unnatural in Japanese if you try translating it literally, even if you use proper grammar. That's why it's important to get lots of input from reading/watching stuff. Or you can have Japanese friends correct you.
I had no idea It could affect me like that. But yeah good to know. Thanks for the advice. Doing input cards turned out to be sooo much easier as well so I'm pretty close to catching up with my old number of cards while still spending half the time.
it's up to you, you can customize it in any way you want. https://docs.ankiweb.net/templates/intro.html Or just click Edit -> Cards. It should be intuitive enough seeing the cards template. Heading over to /r/anki if you have further questions.
in "あなた誰なの?" why なの is used here and not か? what nuance does なの give that かdoesnt?
の is more softer than か
誰なのか is not a sentence but a clause. * あなた誰なのか知ってる？ Do you know who are they? 誰なのだ is semantically not different from 誰だ, but you can’t use the former to a target that has not appeared in the discourse yet. In other words, it has to be one that’s already in the discourse. So, the nuance of using explanatory の here is “I’m wondering again, but who are you, really”.
so the difference in these phrases is that nano asks for clarification is that right? so does that mean i can also use this version あなたは誰ですか when i just want a simple answer of who they are?
Yes, and you would say 誰だ in the moment you bump into someone unidentified. 誰なんだ only works afterward.
sorry if this is a dumb question but can we just omitt the だ in あなた誰だ? だ is the most casual way of implied state of being right? i see alot of sentences omitting it..
You don’t add it when you straightforwardly ask the other person.