kudokupo Wrote:「いい教訓になっただろ。今度から大切なテープはちゃんとツメ折っておけよ」
"It's a good lesson for you, isn't it? Next time, set your important tapes as read-only."

I don't understand ツメ折って. Can anyone help?

"break off the tab" or something like that. 爪 has other meanings broader than nail / claw (see #4 http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/148...%E3%82%81/)

tapes had those tabs you could break off to make the tape read-only (see http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/Edward..._tapes.jpg).

You know the tab on VHS tapes that you snap off so it can't be recorded over.
Well that's called ツメ in Japanese and breaking it off would be ツメを折る.

edit: beaten to it x)

感情を奪うことは　命を　奪うことと　同じじゃないのか？
(Isn't robbing one of emotion the same as robbing one of life?)

Can someone please explain the koto thats used here? Also how the guy pronounces it, I don't even hear the darn koto. Kanjou wo ubau ***** wa.. I guess I'll hear it in the future?

Yes, if you follow subtitles to audio a lot and otherwise do things to work on your listening comprehension, you'll eventually hear all these short bits that are easily missed at first.

Anyway, こと here is like the 'ing' on your English translation. It's making a verb into a noun phrase where that noun phrase is the action itself. As a general rule, verb+こと yields a noun phrase that means 'the act of <verb>ing'. More importantly for this sentence, a verb phrase + こと does the same thing to the whole verb phrase so that you have 'the act of taking (stealing) life' and 'the act of taking (stealing) emotions'.

Hmm thanks, does the verb always have to be in dictionary form to be folllowed by こと? The only use of こと I know how to use is to be able to do.

ちょっと日本語を読むことができるようなりたい
(I want to be able to read some Japanese)

Is this a correct sentence?

Xanpakuto Wrote:Hmm thanks, does the verb always have to be in dictionary form to be folllowed by こと?

No. Past/perfective before こと is possible as well. For instance:

日本に行ったこと（が）ありますか。
Have you been to Japan?

ます form verbs before こと is rare; it pretty much just shows up in really formal or polite language.

Quote:ちょっと日本語を読むことができるようなりたい

It has to be ようになりたい. I would also suggest putting the ちょっと directly before 読む; otherwise it can sound like you're saying "I slightly want to learn to read Japanese."

Another sentence in regards to ちゃ


負けちゃった
(I must've lost) <--- I don't know if it's right

負ける ---> 負けなちゃだ (I must lose) ??

Xanpakuto Wrote:Another sentence in regards to ちゃ


負けちゃった
(I must've lost) <--- I don't know if it's right

負ける ---> 負けなちゃだ (I must lose) ??

The suffix is ちゃう, which is a contraction of てしまう. It shows a completed action, sometimes with no other connotation past that. But often it shows a completed action that was contrary to the speaker's expectation, and usually in a negative way. So 負けちゃった is more like "Unfortunately I lost", or more idiomatically, "I lost, damn it!"

I'm not sure what you were going for with your second example. One thing you should be very careful about is trying to map English to Japanese. The use of "must" in "I must have lost" is different from the use of "must" in "I must lose", and they're expressed with completely different structures in Japanese.

Heh sorry another one ^^

やっぱりパリへは　１人で行くから。
(I decided I want to go to Paris alone)

This is just a translation, but isn't kara at the end of a verb like this mean "because". Also, I just can't get the right meaning down of やっぱり, I hear it everywhere.

「前の方はぬれた後があるけど 後ろはそれがない」
This sentence is talking about someone's front side being wet but not the back side, from running in the rain. But the subtitle shows 後 to mean "trace of". Is that right or should it be 跡? Or am I misunderstanding sentence?

Yeah, that first one is 跡 (trace).

「私の知ったこっちゃ ないってわけね」
Anyone help with this?

kudokupo Wrote:「私の知ったこっちゃ ないってわけね」
Anyone help with this?

= (a rougher version of) 私が知った事ではないというわけですね
"'cause that's something I didn't know"

んです。。んだ

何言ってんだよ！
何言って？!

Would these both pretty much mean what are you saying? But the first one like a asking what are you saying that? I'm not exactly sure, I also hear this a lot.

何言ってのか？
Just for expression?

SomeCallMeChris Wrote:

kudokupo Wrote:「私の知ったこっちゃ ないってわけね」
Anyone help with this?

= (a rougher version of) 私が知った事ではないというわけですね
"'cause that's something I didn't know"

A better translation is "Why am I supposed to know that. It has nothing to do with me?"
or "That's not something that I have to know". Both are said with attitude.

Here's the definition:
意義素類語ものに関心がないことを意味する表現
(関心がない　＝　to be disinterested, to not have any interest)

Xanpakuto Wrote:んです。。んだ

何言ってんだよ！
何言って？!

Would these both pretty much mean what are you saying? But the first one like a asking what are you saying that? I'm not exactly sure, I also hear this a lot.

何言ってのか？
Just for expression?

何言ってんだよ！
--->Means something like "What the hell are you saying!?"

何言ってんの
-Just like the first one but sounds less intense

何を言っているの
ーSame as above but less intense

何言って？!
-Does not make any sense grammatically.
何か言って　ーーー＞　Say something
何を言っても聞いてくれない　ーーー＞He won't listen no matter what I say

What you probably heard was "何て” which means something like "huh!...what!"
Or 何て美しい女性だ　---> What a beautiful woman she is?

mr_hans_moleman Wrote:What you probably heard was "何て” which means something like "huh!...what!"
Or 何て美しい女性だ　---> What a beautiful woman she is?

I'd say it's more likely that he heard "何って？", which just basically just 何 and the quoting particle って, making a kind of shortened version of 何って言った？, meaning "what did you/he/she say?"

有り得る = ありえる and ありうる

which reading is more common?

ryanjmack Wrote:有り得る = ありえる and ありうる

which reading is more common?

That would appear to be ありうる, since it's the only one listed in 中 dictionaries and in 大 dictionaries ありえる just points to ありうる as the normal reading. (I wonder if ありえる is even a valid reading or just in the 大 dictionaries for the sake of people encountering the word in written form without knowing how to pronounce it....)
http://dic.search.yahoo.co.jp/search?ei=...ype=prefix

It used to be a 二段 verb, so う would have been used in some conjugations and え in others; e.g. ありえない and ありえます, but ありうる. http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/...1018392485

In my experience, ありえない is the most common use. I've also seen -られうる for a passive potential form of some verb.

ありえる is definitely the more common word; うる is sort of an obsolete reading of 得る. As Vempele says, ありえない is the most common but you do see and hear ありえる as well.

Quote:It used to be a 二段 verb, so う would have been used in some conjugations and え in others; e.g. ありえない and ありえます, but ありうる

This would all be in the days of historical conjugation, I think. The original verb was う (classical Japanese had one-syllable verbs), it was 下二段 so you had conjugated forms like えず and えて. It was used also as a suffix to express potential, so ari + u is "capable of existing".

ありうる would have been used as the rentaikei form (before nouns), this is really old -- my 古語辞典 has a Man'yoshu citation of 独りありうるもの (something that can be by itself). Eventually the old shuushikei (sentence ending forms) got replaced by the rentaikei forms for 二段 verbs. I guess ありえる is technically wrong from a historical standpoint but it's pretty commonly used. I suppose I might read it as ありうる if it showed up in writing.

SomeCallMeChris Wrote:

ryanjmack Wrote:有り得る = ありえる and ありうる

which reading is more common?

That would appear to be ありうる, since it's the only one listed in 中 dictionaries and in 大 dictionaries ありえる just points to ありうる as the normal reading. (I wonder if ありえる is even a valid reading or just in the 大 dictionaries for the sake of people encountering the word in written form without knowing how to pronounce it....)

When I use rikaichan ありうる　and ありえる　are the first two readings provided. But either way I guess I'll keep both readings as possible answers on my flashcards. Thanks for the info 皆!

誰か　見守ってくれてる

Someone is watching you... Whats the 〜てくれる form?

Xanpakuto Wrote:誰か　見守ってくれてる

Someone is watching you... Whats the 〜てくれる form?

short for ～てくれている which breaks down to ～て・くれて・いる

headphone_child Wrote:

Xanpakuto Wrote:誰か　見守ってくれてる

Someone is watching you... Whats the 〜てくれる form?

short for ～てくれている which breaks down to ～て・くれて・いる

誰か　見守ってくれてる
The translation says Someone is always watching over you
どんなつらい時も
This is the sentence before it. Which means ....Kind of hard times :o

So overall
どんなつらい時も 誰か　見守ってくれてる
Someone will always be watching over you when there's hard times?

Don't understand the くれて