brandon7s Wrote:「昨年は地震が多い年でした。」
Last year there were a lot of earthquakes.

What's the purpose of 年 after the word 多い here? If 年 was left out, the sentence would make perfect sense, but I'm not sure what to make of it with it included.

You can think of the whole 「地震が多い」 as a modifier for the noun 年. So, 地震が多い年 = a year [of] many earthquakes. After that it's a regular 「X は noun だ」 sentence.

brandon7s Wrote:「昨年は地震が多い年でした。」
Last year there were a lot of earthquakes.

What's the purpose of 年 after the word 多い here? If 年 was left out, the sentence would make perfect sense, but I'm not sure what to make of it with it included.

Well, if the 年 weren't included, the 多い would have to be in the past tense... 「昨年は地震が多かったです。」

The original is "Last year was a year of many Earthquakes."
The version I wrote above is, in clunky English, "Last year, earthquakes were many"

So, yeah, the meaning is the same, but of course there's more than one way to say it.

IceCream Wrote:＊　無理！ガキなんか預かれるかよ！　今日　俺　これから…　合コンなんだから。
um, im not sure what im confused about here. i guess it's the か. i mean, he's saying he can't look after the kid. Why doesn't he say 預かれない?

It's a rhetorical question meant as a blunt challenge -- sort of like in English when people say "You really think I can take care of a kid!?"

For わりくう, try this:
http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/...hie_detail

Quote:＊　でもさ　そんないい条件の男が　今どき独身なんて　結婚詐欺以外　ありえなくない？
mm obv this is a joke, but, what is 結婚詐欺? and, whats the difference between あり得なくない and あり得ない？

A 詐欺 is a con or swindle, so it sounds like they're saying that if a guy who's that much of a catch is still single (and pursuing some main character??) it must be a con job. ありえなくない？ is like あれいないじゃない? -- it just means "it's not possible, right/don't you think?"

Quote:＊　　これ　イチオシの当たり付きの 運だめしのパイだって。
ー＞　当たりって？
ー＞　それは食べてのお楽しみ。　行くよ。
im having problems with 当たり付き and 運だめし. in fact, probably that whole sentence. I was also wondering what nuance using the お before 楽しみ gives here? Does it make it funnier? (this is a casual conversation between a bf & gf in front of the cake shop).

運試し 【うんだめし】 (n) try or test one's luck
In a lottery or the like, 当たり means you won and はずれ means you lost. I think this is like those ice cream bars you see where you eat the bar, and then the stick will have either あたり (win) or はずれ (lose) on it.
お楽しみ is just a set phrase meaning "looking forward to it" (in this case, "you look forward to it" or "you'll have to wait and find out for yourself.")

IceCream: Haha, I see that! Fun show, though!
yudantaiteki: Thank you!! =)

A little particle-confusion of mine:
より守りを固めようにも男手がないとできないでしょう？
the 固めようにも part is the case. I would instantly think 固め + ように, as in "in order to make it more solid", but what´s up with the も?
I usually don´t struggle with that particle, but I might just be breaking this thing up incorrectly. Help-a-brother?

I don't think it's ように, I think it's 固める in 普通語 ましょう form, 固めよう.

I've been doing smart.fm for a while and I think I'm starting to get bored of it. So I've decided that I want to start sentence mining, but I've found a stupid problem, I suck at understanding what's going on.

「今回は「ココが変だよ、日本人」!!　海外から見ると、日本って不思議な国らしいのよん！」

This seems pretty easy, and I think I have an idea whats going on, but I want to hear your opinion. With smart.fm it always gave a English translation so it helped me understand a bit more, so maybe I'm not ready for native material yet, I don't know.

FL1PPY Wrote:「今回は「ココが変だよ、日本人」!!　海外から見ると、日本って不思議な国らしいのよん！」

This seems pretty easy, and I think I have an idea whats going on, but I want to hear your opinion. With smart.fm it always gave a English translation so it helped me understand a bit more, so maybe I'm not ready for native material yet, I don't know.

ココが変だよ、日本人 was a popular TV program broadcast several years ago. I don't know if it's still on TV. The program was about common things in Japan that foreigners think are strange.

I don't know where you get the sentence, but probably it roughly means "This time it's about 'Hey, this is strange, Japanese man'!! Did you know foreigners think Japan is kinda strange?"

Another sentence from the Core2000 deck.

「そこには私一人しかいなかった。」
I was the only one there.

　The part I don't get is いなかった. That's the past-negative form of いる, right? So, wouldn't it mean "did not exist"? Too me, that would make the sentence mean something like "I was the only one not there", but since しか roughly means "a lack of everything else", that wouldn't make any sense either.

I'm going to stop thinking about this before my head explodes, at least until someone points me in the right direction.

Zorlee Wrote:IceCream: Haha, I see that! Fun show, though!
yudantaiteki: Thank you!! =)

A little particle-confusion of mine:
より守りを固めようにも男手がないとできないでしょう？
the 固めようにも part is the case. I would instantly think 固め + ように, as in "in order to make it more solid", but what´s up with the も?
I usually don´t struggle with that particle, but I might just be breaking this thing up incorrectly. Help-a-brother?

verb + ようにも + 〜できない means "can't (verb) even if (subject) tries." The 〜ないと between ようにも and できない is an oft-used phrase that gives a condition a la "unless," "if + not," "without," etc. in English.

So it's like "You want to do the 守りを固める thing more, huh? I don't think you can without men."

IceCream Wrote:しか　means roughly, "other than"
この役は 私しか できないと思います。 nobody other than could do perform this role, i think

so, 私一人 i by myself
しかいなかった would mean roughly: other than (what precedes しか) wasn't existing [wasn't there]

Ahh, "other than", that definitely makes sense. Much appreciated!

IceCream Wrote:しか　means roughly, "other than"

The other important thing about しか is that it always goes with a negative -- so you might prefer to remember it as a pattern: しか 。。。ない : nothing but ... That works better for me than thinking of しか as a word with a standalone meaning by itself.

IceCream Wrote:with 楽しみ, do you know when you use it without the お then? Is it always used with the お？　I've heard 楽しみにしてたのに and that kind of thing a few times, but, when it's just 楽しみ on it's own, is it always お楽しみ then?

One of usages of お楽しみ is a polite version of 楽しみ used in a polite/formal sentence. A host might say どうぞお楽しみ下さい (Enjoy!) before a show begins.

Another popular usage is 楽しみ with a teasing sense. In your example それは食べてのお楽しみ, the speaker (or the パイ) is kind of teasing the listener in the sense that s/he/it doesn't tell what you can get when you hit 当たり.

The typical situation where this kind of お楽しみ is used is when you want to keep a person in the state of "I want to know it!" "I need to do it! Right now!" etc. You might use it when you talk about your favorite novel is. You give a brief plot synopsis of the first chapter, and your friend gets intrigued and asks what happens next. And you say, "それは読んでのお楽しみ！"

IceCream Wrote:＊　一緒に住んでてマジで何もないのかよ？
　　全然
　　お前がいくのがないとして
i don't get the last line. they are talking about how a guy is living with a woman and theres nothing going on between them.

The last line seems incomplete or something is omitted. It'd be helpful if you give more context such as a few more lines before and after the line in question. Also, it's very helpful if you specify which line is said by which person. It's impossible to know if the guy and girl you mentioned are speaking in the dialogue. Maybe two men are talking about how cowardly the guy you mentioned is?

IceCream Wrote:＊　カメラ一緒に選んでほしいって
それって　もしかしてデート？
ですかね？
デートでしょう～
あなたにしては　やるじゃない
i don't understand the last sentence here either...

Again it's kind of hard to know what it actually means because I don't know the context and have no clue as to who is saying which line. But the しては is "for" as in "Not bad for an amateur" or "Considering..." etc. Also, やるじゃない is a positive phrase that means you did a good job etc. It can be sarcastic or condescending though.

It's impossible what the speaker actually meant, but I'm guessing it refers to the fact that a guy or girl was asked to go shopping. Probably this person is who あなた is referring to. At least one person in the dialogue thinks it's a sign that the person who asked that has interest in romantic relationship with the person あなた is referring to in the sentence in question. Probably the あなた person sucks at relationship or not popular among people of the opposite sex.

IceCream Wrote:＊　っぽく
what's this used for?
e.g. あれ　何かお前ら ダブルデートっぽくね
何か「アルマゲドン」っぽくない？
i thought i had a note on this, but lost it

っぽい is "like," "seem like," "look like," "appear" "-ish" or something along those lines. When you negate a sentence or want to say something like "It seems like X, isn't it?," you use っぽくない. The ね in the first example is an informal version of ない, and it might be a rhetorical question.

IceCream Wrote:＊　今日は一段とおキレイで　肩凝ってませんか？
遠慮しておきます
素敵な縦ロールですね～
？？

Definitely I need more context. And it'd be helpful if you write what is confusing you.

Anyway, if the last line is the problem, probably the first and last lines are said by the same person, and 素敵な縦ロール is referring to how nice her hair is (Probably "her" is the person who said the second line. It's a she, isn't it?). I don't know what 縦ロール is called in English. Well, actually I don't know what kind of hair style the Japanese word actually means because I'm a guy. Where is Aijin?

By the way, I think the first line is a pair of independent sentences. The first part "You look even more beautiful today" is a complete sentence (or I guess you could say すね is left out from the end of the sentence, i.e., it means 今日は一段とおキレイですね。).

magamo Wrote:Well, actually I don't know what kind of hair style the Japanese word actually means because I'm a guy.

Google Image search to the rescue: 縦ロール

magamo Wrote:

Zorlee Wrote:IceCream: Haha, I see that! Fun show, though!
yudantaiteki: Thank you!! =)

A little particle-confusion of mine:
より守りを固めようにも男手がないとできないでしょう？
the 固めようにも part is the case. I would instantly think 固め + ように, as in "in order to make it more solid", but what´s up with the も?
I usually don´t struggle with that particle, but I might just be breaking this thing up incorrectly. Help-a-brother?

verb + ようにも + 〜できない means "can't (verb) even if (subject) tries." The 〜ないと between ようにも and できない is an oft-used phrase that gives a condition a la "unless," "if + not," "without," etc. in English.

So it's like "You want to do the 守りを固める thing more, huh? I don't think you can without men."

Thank you very much!
So it´s the volitional form of 固める right? If the ないと would've been excluded, what would a similar sentence look like?
より守りを固めようにも男手できない ?
I´m just trying to grasp this, but currently it´s a bit confusing, hehe! Thank you so much! =)

Z..

EDIT:

I bumped into a couple of issues in today's session as well:

I've read/heard つうか a lot lately, and I don't really get it.
A: みんなよろしくね。
B: つうか 全然やる気です。
A comes into the conference room, B answers.

Another example:
つうか　初めて名前で呼ばれたんすけど。
This is from a monologue of a guy that just experienced his colleague calling him by name for the first time.

Another problem I´m having is verb conjugations. Take this example:
現場に残されていた机の上のもの。(Dude throwing some evidence on the table, during a police-investigation-meeting-thing)
Now, I understand the sentence really, or at least I think so.
The thing that throws me, is the 残されていた part. It could technically be both causative and passive right? How can I tell the difference?

Do you guys have some ideas on how to really nail the passive, causative, causative-passive and potential forms? I've studied them with Tae Kims's guide, but they're far from ingrained. I really struggle with the difference, since some verbs can technically be for example passive and potential - 取られる.

Thank you guys!! =) <3

Can anyone help me understand this sentence?

後々心配のないようにしておく.

I'm using it from my monolingual dictionary to learn のちのち.

So, would this mean, like "Go ahead and act like you've got no future worries."?

I can understand the parts, but as a whole, it's a little confusing.

sethg Wrote:Can anyone help me understand this sentence?

後々心配のないようにしておく.

I'm using it from my monolingual dictionary to learn のちのち.

So, would this mean, like "Go ahead and act like you've got no future worries."?

I can understand the parts, but as a whole, it's a little confusing.

I would say "To act as if there's no worries later."

sethg Wrote:後々心配のないようにしておく.

Have it done so that there's nothing to worry about in the future.

ocircle Wrote:

sethg Wrote:後々心配のないようにしておく.

Have it done so that there's nothing to worry about in the future.

That certainly makes おく a lot more sensible. The の throws me off though.

Tobberoth Wrote:

ocircle Wrote:

sethg Wrote:後々心配のないようにしておく.

Have it done so that there's nothing to worry about in the future.

That certainly makes おく a lot more sensible. The の throws me off though.

I asked a Japanese about this の and が　thing once. They said that while の and が each mean the same thing, and are pretty much interchangeable (but only in subordinate clauses like this one where 心配のない modifies よう, when が is used it tends to keep emphasis on the subject whereas using の passes the emphasis on to the predicate and the phrase as a whole. Like here 心配のない is taken as the whole phrase meaning something like "no worries" Now i don't know for sure but if it had been 心配がない then while the overall meaning of the sentence stays the same the nuance changes to more of a "not a worry" or maybe even "not a single worry" but that is only my own thoughts.

I also heard that some kyuushuu dialects especially make heavier use of の in this kind of context.

from 芥川龍之介's 蜘蛛の糸:
やがて御釈迦様はその池のふちに御佇みになって、水の面を蔽っている蓮の葉の間から、ふと下の容子を御覧になりました。

i've got problems with:
間: is it あいだ, かん, ま? I think it's supposed to mean "opening" or "amongst", but the bilingual dictionary i'm using is too vague, and i'm not good enough at japanese yet to understand the definitions in monolingual ones.
ふと下の容子を御覧になりました: the whole phrase has me baffled. according to a translation i found it's supposed to mean "beheld an unexpected sight", but i can't make sense of the phrase.

IceCream Wrote:＊　一緒に住んでてマジで何もないのかよ？
　　全然
　　お前がいくのがないとして
i don't get the last line. they are talking about how a guy is living with a woman and theres nothing going on between them.

おひとりさま? :)
that line perplexed me as well.

magamo Wrote:The last line seems incomplete or something is omitted. It'd be helpful if you give more context such as a few more lines before and after the line in question. Also, it's very helpful if you specify which line is said by which person. It's impossible to know if the guy and girl you mentioned are speaking in the dialogue. Maybe two men are talking about how cowardly the guy you mentioned is?

Two men are talking. One of the men lives with an older woman, but both parties (the man and the woman) do not feel anything for each other (at least, so far).

Here is the a more complete conversation between the two:

（博之）お前が一緒に住んでるのあの人かよ？
（真一）そうだよ　俺の指導教官
--snip*--
（真一）ただ居候させてもらってるだけだって
（博之）つうかさ　それも逆に変だろ
（博之）一緒に住んでてマジで何もないのかよ？
（真一）全然
（博之）お前がいくのがないとして、向こうは？
（真一）考えたこともないと思う
（博之）お前も変だけどあの人も相当変だな

*I excluded a part where they were discussing how much she nagged; I didn't think that bit was necessary to include.

I hope that's enough information. I don't know about IceCream, but the part for me that is most confusing is 「いく」. I'm not really sure what it's meant to express, specifically, in that sentence. I keep wanting to assume it's sexual, like "Even if you don't get off.."? I just don't know.

「これから、より一層努力します。」
I'll work that much harder from now.

I'm having trouble with this sentence in every way. Is it an expression? I'm not very familiar with either より or 一層 - maybe I have the wrong definition of them in mind. Does anyone mind giving me a breakdown of this sentence? That would help a lot.

dbh2ppa Wrote:from 芥川龍之介's 蜘蛛の糸:
やがて御釈迦様はその池のふちに御佇みになって、水の面を蔽っている蓮の葉の間から、ふと下の容子を御覧になりました。

i've got problems with:
間: is it あいだ, かん, ま? I think it's supposed to mean "opening" or "amongst", but the bilingual dictionary i'm using is too vague, and i'm not good enough at japanese yet to understand the definitions in monolingual ones.
ふと下の容子を御覧になりました: the whole phrase has me baffled. according to a translation i found it's supposed to mean "beheld an unexpected sight", but i can't make sense of the phrase.

間（あいだ）in this case means "in between", I believe. "From in between the lotus petals covering the water's surface"

"ふと下の容子を御覧になりました。"

ふと - suddenly, unexpectedly
下の容子 - appearance of the bottom, roughly. 容子 is, from my knowledge, more commonly written as 様子.
御覧になりました - honorific term for "to see"

So, in other words, "[X] suddenly/unexpectedly came to see the bottom"

brandon7s Wrote:「これから、より一層努力します。」
I'll work that much harder from now.

I'm having trouble with this sentence in every way. Is it an expression? I'm not very familiar with either より or 一層 - maybe I have the wrong definition of them in mind. Does anyone mind giving me a breakdown of this sentence? That would help a lot.

より basically means "than [x]". In other words, "私より背の高い彼" or he is taller than me (or he who is taller than me). When より is alone, it usually means something like "than before", but "before" is unspoken.
一層 - a level higher; even more

So, roughly, "at an even higher level [than before]". In other words, "From here on, I'll endeavor at an even greater level than before."


I'm very tired as I write this, so I apologize for any errors in advance.

mirina
より basically means "than [x Wrote:". In other words, "私より背の高い彼" or he is taller than me (or he who is taller than me). When より is alone, it usually means something like "than before", but "before" is unspoken.
一層 - a level higher; even more

So, roughly, "at an even higher level [than before]". In other words, "From here on, I'll endeavor at an even greater level than before."

Thank you for your wonderful explanation, mirina. That was exactly what I needed.