There are certain words that are very common but quite confusing. Thought this might be a good place to post them.

One that gets me is なん。 For example, in response to a question - 昨日買ったばかりなんだ。

What does the なん do there? Obviously, the sentence would work without it - and the translation I saw (I just bought it yesterday) seems like it would be the same. My guess is it's just a filler like, "the thing is" or something. But does someone have a better explanation?

I probably can't explain this well, but the んだ construction is like you are explaining something to someone, or answering a question, or giving them a reason or something. It is a shortened form of the written のだ. I think the translation of "the thing is" is accurate. The な part right before that is needed because you always stick it behind words that aren't い-adjectives (and maybe other stuff too). Like you would say たいへんなんです, but you wouldn't say むずかしいなんです, you would just say むずかしいんです. Is it clear as mud now?

Actually, that's very clear now. For some reason, I never made the connection that なん is the same as the ん in a verb or adjective. I understood the 食べるんです forms and the 難しかったんだ type sentences - but didn't realize that なん was just a noun or な adjective using the same construction. Duh.

Alittle off topic, I don't know why but I always say those using the 'complete' の, instead of the ん.

I can't help it, の feels way faster and more natural to me.

liosama Wrote:Alittle off topic, I don't know why but I always say those using the 'complete' の, instead of the ん.

I can't help it, の feels way faster and more natural to me.

I don't know if you're a guy or girl, but if you're a guy remember that の can be pretty feminine sounding when used in situations that aren't very polite. Especially if you end a statement with の and drop the copula (da/desu). Though, it's not feminine to end a question with の even with no copula or か.