imabi Wrote:Delta: Yes. ので・んで are just のだ・んだ inside a sentence, and sentence inversion or sentence cut-off makes them exposed at the end of sentences in this lighter speech style.

Well, I know that, I was asking if なんで is equivalent to なんです, it seems so in this case anyway.

No, it's ので, "because". It's derived from のだ, though. In this case it just makes the expression softer or implies the conclusion you already know from the question.

Thanks.

皆大人なので節度のある変態なのです。
Since everyone is an adult, they are all hentais with composure.

Did I get it right?

delta Wrote:Thanks.

皆大人なので節度のある変態なのです。
Since everyone is an adult, they are all hentais with composure.

Did I get it right?

'With composure' is a bit awkward, isn't it? Composure has a connotation of serenity or calmness. They are all calm hentais?

Right, "with moderation" のほうがいいですね。

Sounds good^^

undead_saif Wrote:I've a question about a sentence in TK. I'm past the lesson in which this sentence is, but I'm still having problems with it, it seems to me as a typo now.
The sentence (and the relevant context) is:
"アリス：その人が買うんじゃなかったの？
Alice: Wasn't it that that person was the one to buy?

ボブ：ううん、先生が買うんだ。
Bob: No, it is that teacher is the one to buy." (example 4)*
The の at the end of the first sentence seems to me, as far as I understand the lesson, to be superfluous and should be removed.
Also, shouldn't the translation be "Wasn't it that that person is the one to buy?"

An example that doesn't contain the の:
"アリス：今、授業がないんじゃない？" (example 3)*

Thanks in advance!

*Ref: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/gra...nparticles

undead_saif Wrote:Thanks for replying.
Doesn't "んじゃなかった" give the sense of seeking an explanation? The second example doesn't include that "の".

I'm aware of the literal translation, that's why it supposed to be more adhering to the Japanese sentence, and so it stands out as wrong.

It might seem trivial to you, but it's still confusing to me!
Could anyone care to explain please?

Isn't that の simply the softening の？

When I hear that の in the end of a question (that could've been asked without it) I feel that maybe it works like when I talk to my mom in an endearing manner, or like two people in love speaking to each other cutely. Alice puts her girly personal touch when adding that の at the end, she probably pouts her lips a little bit and puckers her eyebrows too.

**

My questionは, why is の rather than が used in the following noun phrases (look at the bold part), and how would it be wrong if が was used instead?

自分の好きなものや感心のあるもの
感心のある人々や物事
金融に感心のある学生

EDIT: http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=9190

の can replace が in modifying clauses. There's no difference in meaning.

の？ doesn't really soften (although it can have that effect); it's the question form of のだ. It's softer than のか？, though.

夏子は和夫に酒を飲まれられた。
Natsuko was made to drink sake by Kazuo.

Right now these grammar structures make my brain melt. If there is a make/let grammar in there somewhere why is there no saseru in the sentence? Further, why is Natsuko the one being made to drink sake and not the other way around?
Thanks

Betelgeuzah Wrote:夏子は和夫に酒を飲まれられた。
Natsuko was made to drink sake by Kazuo.

Right now these grammar structures make my brain melt. If there is a make/let grammar in there somewhere why is there no saseru in the sentence? Further, why is Natsuko the one being made to drink sake and not the other way around?
Thanks

Are you sure it's not 「夏子は和夫に酒を飲ませられた」?

～させられる is a combination of caustive and passive grammar. In this example you can break it down to 飲ませる (causative) + ～られる (passive). If you only had the causative there ie. 夏子は和夫に酒を飲ませた。 it would mean Natsuko made/let Kazuo drink sake (depending on the context). However because the verb is in the passive form, the verb is being done to the subject, which in this case is Natsuko - so although a bit clunky it has the meaning of "Natsuko was the one made to drink". に indicates who it was that made her drink, which is Kazuo, translating to Natsuko was made to drink sake by Kazuo.

SendaiDan Wrote:

Betelgeuzah Wrote:夏子は和夫に酒を飲まれられた。
Natsuko was made to drink sake by Kazuo.

Right now these grammar structures make my brain melt. If there is a make/let grammar in there somewhere why is there no saseru in the sentence? Further, why is Natsuko the one being made to drink sake and not the other way around?
Thanks

Are you sure it's not 「夏子は和夫に酒を飲ませられた」?

～させられる is a combination of caustive and passive grammar. In this example you can break it down to 飲ませる (causative) + ～られる (passive). If you only had the causative there ie. 夏子は和夫に酒を飲ませた。 it would mean Natsuko made/let Kazuo drink sake (depending on the context). However because the verb is in the passive form, the verb is being done to the subject, which in this case is Natsuko - so although a bit clunky it has the meaning of "Natsuko was the one made to drink". に indicates who it was that made her drink, which is Kazuo, translating to Natsuko was made to drink sake by Kazuo.

I'm not sure at all. I actually thought that it might be an error. This clears up everything though, thanks for your help.

易しい漢字も書けなりました。
I cannot even write easy kanji any more.

Is there an error here too? Shouldn't it say kakenakunarimashita?
I really need to be careful with the DoBJG deck....

DoBJG has (p. 277):
書けなく　なった/なりました。 which should be understood as

書けなくなった or
書けなくなりました

早く起きて朝御飯食べないとぉ (sentence is directed at someone)

From what I understand, と at the end usually indicates sort of a casual question.
Is that all it is? When is it usually used?

CloverJoker Wrote:早く起きて朝御飯食べないとぉ (sentence is directed at someone)

From what I understand, と at the end usually indicates sort of a casual question.
Is that all it is? When is it usually used?

It's a shortening of 〜しないといけない or しないと駄目だ or something like that. It's usually used in informal, casual conversation.

「朝御飯食べないと。」 could be translated as "I must eat breakfast" or "I gotta eat breakfast".

On videos on YT, I keep hearing というわけで right at the beginning or before the speaker starts his discourse. I read everywhere it means "therefore" or "for this reason", but you don't start a topic saying "for this reason", right?.

EDIT: Just had a sudden realization, is it like saying 今日はですね?, meaning "the reason (for today's video) is" or "we are here today for/because…".

というわけで is a te form of というわけだ which in turn can mean "I take it that ~; naturally".

For example:
先生というわけだ。 I take it that/naturally someone is a teacher.

Well, that's at least what DoBJG has on this subject.

Inny Jan Wrote:というわけで is a te form of というわけだ which in turn can mean "I take it that ~; naturally".

For example:
先生というわけだ。 I take it that/naturally someone is a teacher.

Well, that's at least what DoBJG has on this subject.

That's true, but I think what delta is talking about is slightly different. Delta is talking about when you use it as the first thing you say (the first thing in a paragraph?). I have no idea how to translate it to English, but people seem to use it as a bridge to mean like "It follows that...". Although really it just seems to be used to start talking about the results of something.

Sometimes you hear it as the very first thing someone says (as in, the first thing in a video), which I understand to be a way to lead into talking.

delta Wrote:On videos on YT, I keep hearing というわけで right at the beginning or before the speaker starts his discourse. I read everywhere it means "therefore" or "for this reason", but you don't start a topic saying "for this reason", right?.

EDIT: Just had a sudden realization, is it like saying 今日はですね?, meaning "the reason (for today's video) is" or "we are here today for/because…".

here is a blog post about this that I found: http://blog.livedoor.jp/cyuzaieigo/archi...43603.html

not necessarily a credible source since it's just a random blog, but it sounds right to me. the key is that it's just a filler expression (つなぎ).

But here is the thing, nothing has been said.

fair enough, but the point I took from the blog is that it's a filler expression; nothing more. if you wanted to know the meaning without worrying about an English translation, "(a filler expression)" would work. if you did want an English translation, then it would depend on the context, as is often the case when going from Japanese to English. in some cases, "that said" works, and in this one, it doesn't. for this one, you just need a filler expression that could be used before anything has been said... I can't think of one now, but surely they're out there.

After a lot of thinking, I think this simply means "so" (at least when used as a filler).

Greetings. I'm a long time observer/enjoyer of the Japanese culture. I love the language and the style of Kanji. I want to get my first tattoo on my left arm in Kanji. I've done a bit of research and want to be sure i convey the message I want to portray correctly. So far this is what i've come up with.

愛 . 篤志 . 尊敬

Can any Japanese native translate what this truly comes across as? I'll explain what I think it should say after a bit of input.

Thanks!
kaji

kajimaster Wrote:Greetings. I'm a long time observer/enjoyer of the Japanese culture. I love the language and the style of Kanji. I want to get my first tattoo on my left arm in Kanji. I've done a bit of research and want to be sure i convey the message I want to portray correctly. So far this is what i've come up with.

愛 . 尊敬心 . 敬語

Can any Japanese native translate what this truly comes across as? I'll explain what I think it should say after a bit of input.

Thanks!
kaji

You're definitely doing right in actually looking up what you mean to ink onto your body, unfortunately you'll find that the best advice for not ending up looking ridiculous to an Asian person is to refrain from doing it.

For instance, what you hope is a carefully considered and meaningful message that represents deep thoughts could be about as weird as some of this stuff to a Japanese person. I'm not Japanese, but I'm pretty sure that if you got "愛 . 尊敬心 . 敬語" on your body, a Japanese person might get the impression that you've got a religious love for the polite aspects of the Japanese language and you seriously admire the formal behaviors of Japanese culture.

愛 does mean love. Of course you can have your opinion that a tattoo of this is exotic, but keep in mind that a Japanese person would probably see it just like we would see people with simply the word "love" spelled out on them.

尊敬 means respect, but more in the sense of "esteem" I'm pretty sure. Like having esteem for a person that is much older than you, or a great person who's maybe accomplished a lot. I don't think simply sticking 心 next to it makes it "respectful heart" if that's what you were going for, maybe in Chinese though.

敬語 is simply a term for formal Japanese language, as in certain verb endings and choices of words you use when you're in a formal situation.

A few other people interested in getting tattoos in this language have come here and asked for help, and the threads are all pretty similar. Here are two I found that I think you should read.
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=8849&page=1
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=4441&page=1

kajimaster Wrote:Greetings. I'm a long time observer/enjoyer of the Japanese culture. I love the language and the style of Kanji. I want to get my first tattoo on my left arm in Kanji.

Since an excellent response has already been posted in response, I'm going to throw my 10￥ into the mix which you can throw away if it offers nothing to you. Language is primarily a method of expressing information and knowledge. Your body is the most intimate part of your existence- as it is what makes you "you". If you are going to get permanent highlighted scarring (which is effectively what a tattoo is) on yourself, then in earnest this knowledge would probably be more suited stemming from an equally intimate source. Meaning essentially: if you have to ask someone else what you want to express yourself with, means, then it's not stemming from yourself for yourself but from others and ultimately for others.

At the end of the day, it's not what looks better to others but how it resonates with your state of being. Language is output, that is an expression of yourself- not the other way around.


Feel free to disregard all of that.

p.s. Shouldn't a "kanjimaster" be the one answering these questions, not asking them?