Zorlee Wrote: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 ?

This was directed at magamo I believe, but I thought I'd respond in the meantime and he can fix whatever he needs to. The [男手がないと] is the "if there's no men" / "unless there's men" part. It gives the reason you can't build up a defense(?) It wouldn't make sense without ないと.

So it fits the pattern Magamo mentioned (he just translated it slightly differently to give an equivalent English sentence):
より守りを固めようにも ...できない
Even if [you] want to strengthen the defenses...[you] can't

VERB volitional にも...できない　＝even if [X] tries/wants to VERB [X] can't
eg. 忘れようにもできない　　　 (similar to 忘れようと思っても...)
　　　 どうしようにもできない (する　neg potential)
やめようにもやめられない (やめる　neg potential)

Quote:I've read/heard つうか a lot lately, and I don't really get it.

See post #624. ;-)

mirina Wrote:（博之）お前がいくのがないとして、向こうは？

As I see it:

お前がいくのがないとして、向こうは？
Literal: Leaving aside the fact that you're not going for it [that there's no "going for it"], what about the other party?
Free translation: Okay, you're not trying to make any moves; but what about her?

Icecream and Thora: <3 =)

A couple of more questions:

Nr. 1:
パクチーを好きな刑事にろくなやつはいない。
This is basic stuff, but I've been struggling with really grasping the に particle lately.
I do understand the sentence, but I don't know why the に particle is there. Is it that パクチーを好きな刑事 is the location for いる? Thanks!

Nr. 2:
A: ヤバいっすよ。こっからは仁義無用の撃ち合いっすよ。
B: つっても簡単に 逃がすわけにはいかねえだろ！
つっても is the problem. I guess it's some sort of slang, ala つっか, but っていうても doesn't make any sense to me, so what does it mean? =)

Last, but not least:
A: 軍隊じゃ常識だ。
B: 軍隊にいたの？何かそんな感じ。ポップさがない。

The whole 「何かそんな感じ。ポップさがない」is one big WTF.
what's the meaning of the word ポップさ? If that's even a word?
Enlighten a blond brother =)

Thank you guys so much for your time!
Z..

つっても is といっても. So in this case, it's sorta like... "Well, even though one could say that....".

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.

The の puts emphasis on 心配のない [withOUT worry] as the most important word of the sentence.

Zorlee Wrote:what's the meaning of the word ポップさ? If that's even a word?
Enlighten a blond brother =)

It's a word, and you can blame English for it ポップ is simply the English "pop", and can function both as noun and a な adjective. As a な adjective, you can simply add さ to it in order to convert it into a noun that emphasizes the amount/substance of the adjective. For い adjectives you simply drop the い and add さ to convert it to a noun, so that words like 暑い become 暑さ to mean hotness/heat.

To be honest I don't even really understand 'pop' in English. It's like the word 'cool' it just seems to have such an abstract meaning used in so many contexts that it eludes me.

Aijin Wrote:

Zorlee Wrote:what's the meaning of the word ポップさ? If that's even a word?
Enlighten a blond brother =)

It's a word, and you can blame English for it ポップ is simply the English "pop", and can function both as noun and a な adjective. As a な adjective, you can simply add さ to it in order to convert it into a noun that emphasizes the amount/substance of the adjective. For い adjectives you simply drop the い and add さ to convert it to a noun, so that words like 暑い become 暑さ to mean hotness/heat.

To be honest I don't even really understand 'pop' in English. It's like the word 'cool' it just seems to have such an abstract meaning used in so many contexts that it eludes me.

Haha! Perfect!
And thank you for the explanation! =)

IceCream Wrote:

Zorlee Wrote:A: 軍隊じゃ常識だ。
B: 軍隊にいたの？何かそんな感じ。ポップさがない。

No idea what ポップさがない is, but the first bit says:
this kinda feels like being in the army, eh. / Are we in the army? kinda feels like it.
or, more literally, 何かそんな感じ somehow, that kinda feeling.

*blink*
I thought that was more like "Everybody in the army knows that" / "You were in the army? I kinda had that feeling.". I guess we'll have to wait for somebody to adjudicate now :-)

Zorlee Wrote:Nr. 1:
パクチーを好きな刑事にろくなやつはいない。
This is basic stuff, but I've been struggling with really grasping the に particle lately.
I do understand the sentence, but I don't know why the に particle is there. Is it that パクチーを好きな刑事 is the location for いる? Thanks!

From how I interpret it:
パクチーを好きな刑事に
"In a detective who likes cilantro"
ろくなやつはいない
"There is no good guy (to be found)"

I think it's vaguely something like "No good guy exists in a detective who likes cilantro." So, I guess, in this case, 刑事 can sort of be interpreted as a location, if that location is... a type of person.

It's a little bit of a complicated construct for me as well, so I can't promise I'm interpreting it any better than you. I also really need to stop analyzing Japanese at 2 in the morning.

Zorlee Wrote:Last, but not least:
A: 軍隊じゃ常識だ。
B: 軍隊にいたの？何かそんな感じ。ポップさがない。

The whole 「何かそんな感じ。ポップさがない」is one big WTF.
what's the meaning of the word ポップさ? If that's even a word?
Enlighten a blond brother =)

Thank you guys so much for your time!
Z..

何かそんな感じ = "You give off that sort of impression"; "Somehow you seem that kind of way". I think it's basically a shortened way of expressing 感じがする (have a feeling).

ポップさがない = "There's nothing poppy".

iSoron Wrote:

mirina Wrote:（博之）お前がいくのがないとして、向こうは？

As I see it:

お前がいくのがないとして、向こうは？
Literal: Leaving aside the fact that you're not going for it [that there's no "going for it"], what about the other party?
Free translation: Okay, you're not trying to make any moves; but what about her?

Thank you! I would never have thought of "going for it" for いく, but now that you mention it, it makes total sense.

「彼は何年も地震の研究をしている。」
He's been researching earthquakes for many years. (according to Core2000 deck)

I don't understand the use of the も particle in this sentence, or how the translation arrived at: "for many years".　Is 何年 + も　an expression that means "many years"?

brandon7s Wrote:「彼は何年も地震の研究をしている。」
He's been researching earthquakes for many years. (according to Core2000 deck)

I don't understand the use of the も particle in this sentence, or how the translation arrived at: "for many years".　Is 何年 + も　an expression that means "many years"?

I'm sure there's a better explanation, but: "for (many) years; (in) what year"

Err, I guess the も is just for emphasis.

brandon7s Wrote:「彼は何年も地震の研究をしている。」
[i]I don't understand the use of the も particle in this sentence, or how the translation arrived at: "for many years".　Is 何年 + も　an expression that means "many years"?

A few examples:

30分も待っていた。
I've waited for as long as thirty minutes.

気がつくと、もう二時間も経っていた。
When I realized, as much as two hours had passed.

もう何回も行った場所。
A place I've gone to so many times.
[I couldn't even count how many times I've been there].

今からもう数年も前のことだ。
That's now many, many years old. That happened many years ago.

その言葉を、何年も何年も、ずっと覚えていました。
I remembered those words over many, many years.

When も is used instead of を in situations like this, it means that the speaker things it was a lot, just like iSorons examples clearly show. It's sort of like an opposite to だけ as in "３０分だけ待っていた。

Thank you guys so much! =)

A little question of mine:
I just started All About Particles, and I came across something weird, at least for me.
This is from one of the sections on the particle が:

が　Indicates the subject of the sentence when new, as-yet-unknown information is being presented.
こちらが山田さんです。
Ok, this one is very easy to understand.
But then he goes on:
Note: Here again は can replace が for contrastive purposes:
ご紹介します。こちらが山田さんで、こちらは鈴木さんです。

Ehm... I though the whole concept of は being used during contrast-particle was that both contrasting parts used は, as in:
北海道の冬は寒いですが、東京は暖かいです。

W to the T to the F... =)

I think you should keep this contrastive use of は distinct form the は - は usage. Here, the は is just there because you're adding extra and contrastive information to the が sentence. At least, that's how I would would see it.

Caution: I'm not exactly advanced and this is a somewhat subtle point, but I'd like to share my understanding as it is so far.

Zorlee Wrote:ご紹介します。こちらが山田さんで、こちらは鈴木さんです。

Ehm... I though the whole concept of は being used during contrast-particle was that both contrasting parts used は, as in:
北海道の冬は寒いですが、東京は暖かいです。

は isn't really a contrast, it just goes well with them. In the first, the contrast is implied (こちら……こちら referring to to different people), in the second, it's marked by 「が」。

In「像は鼻が長い」, は indicates we're only talking about elephants, not squirrels, giraffes, or this guy:



Squirrels, giraffes, that guy, and everything else in the universe may or may not have a long nose. は excludes them from discussion. It's not that は is really "contrastive," just that it's the natural particle to use when making a contrast.

人間と猿は非常に短い鼻をしている。
Humans and monkeys have unusually short noses.

Contrastive, marked with けど:
ああ、そうだけど、先の男は？
Ah, yes, but what about the man from earlier?

Contrast implied:
先の奴は？
And that guy earlier?

Contrastive けど + a topic that isn't contrastive = non-sequitur:
ああ、そうだけど、象は？
Ah, yes, but what about elephants?

(Dunno why, but that reminds me of Python. つまり、カモと同じ重さだと魔法なのわけか？)

Daaaamn. Imma have to stick this whole thread into my SRS.

We ought to have a separate thread though, called 'Ask Magamo'.

A quick question, how would you read 堪えません here?

今去るに臨んで愛惜の情に堪えません
I am very sad to be leaving this place.

こたえません or たえません or こらえません?

I feel the answer might be all of the above but I wonder.

Transparent_Aluminium Wrote:A quick question, how would you read 堪えません here?

今去るに臨んで愛惜の情に堪えません
I am very sad to be leaving this place.

こたえません or たえません or こらえません?

I feel the answer might be all of the above but I wonder.

My vote goes to たえません.

こらえません would use を. たえません uses に.

I just don't think it's こたえません. No good explanation for why.

Tobberoth Wrote:When も is used instead of を in situations like this, it means that the speaker things it was a lot, just like iSorons examples clearly show. It's sort of like an opposite to だけ as in "３０分だけ待っていた。

Thanks, fellas. The example sentences and explanations were more than I could have hoped for.

Quick question about this:

「今日は一人で映画を見ます。」
I saw a movie by myself today.

Is there a reason why they translated this as "saw a movie" instead of "will see a movie”? The sentence looks to be in present or future tense to me.

brandon7s Wrote:「今日は一人で映画を見ます。」
I saw a movie by myself today.

Is there a reason why they translated this as "saw a movie" instead of "will see a movie”? The sentence looks to be in present or future tense to me.

I don't see how this can possibly be a sentence talking about something from the past. If that was the case, it should end with 見た or 見ました. It reads more like a not-sure-when-it-is-happening-or-will-happen tense.

I feel like I'm being such a selfish person when I post so many questions here, but then I read IceCream's questions and I feel so much better

I'm looking through some manga and creating a vocabulary list from them, and I keep seeing ろ at the end of verbs - like 支えてろ, and 習ったろ. I'd love to know what these are.

...to answer a couple of easy bits:

IceCream Wrote:２．　でも　今までと　これからは　もう違う。　いつまでも遊んでるわけにはいかないんだ。
What does the　わけ do in this sentence?

わけにはいかない is a standard bit of (JLPT2) grammar: "used to express the meaning that one cannot do something because of an external circumstance". Consult your favourite grammar reference :-)

Quote:見失い: 見失う is the verb... why does she say 見失い？ is it even a word?

It's the 'masu stem' (as is 欠け just before it). It's vaguely similar to the て form meaning 'and, -ing', but (a) can feel a little more formal and (b) implies a less strong link/sequencing between the two parts. The Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar has five pages on the distinction which I'm not going to try to summarise. You'll notice that the sentence (which is listing three 'bad points') uses て to join things up inside a point (動いて) but the masu-stem-form to link the points themselves to each other (欠け, 見失い).

A couple of questions about some structures I often run across while reading the news:

立ち入り検査に対しロイヤルホームセンターは、「検査には全面的に協力するが、いまは何もコメントできません」としています。

What exactly does 「としています」 mean here? Is it just a more formal version of 「といいます」?

And...

警察では、身元の確認を急ぐとともに、行方不明になっている人の捜索を続けています。

What is the function of で in 「警察では」? It seems like 警察 are the ones performing the action in this sentence, so why the 「で」 rather than just 「は」? I've also seen this structure without the は, which makes even less sense to me.

Thanks a bunch!!!

IceCream Wrote:ahh, these subtle distinctions are difficult!! Please can anyone show me what my translation would really be in japanese?
"There is no decent person inside that パクチー liking detective!" i guess it'd need その for a start? Somehow, mirina's translation is more general, kind of like, any detective who likes cilantro would not be a good guy... 分かんない　：（

I am really poor at output, so I am afraid of giving any suggestions. I think, depending on context, though, it might just refer to one particular detective. And, as I said before, I could be wrong about my interpretation.

IceCream Wrote:１．　What would 行って来ません mean? Does it mean more like, not going, or not coming back? Is it used?

Literally "I'm going and (行って) I won't come back. (来ません)" This is opposite of the usual 行って来ます (I'm going out and I'll be back).

IceCream Wrote:仕事が回っていることを自覚して please can someone translate this for me?

仕事が = work
回っていることを = circulating well; getting done
自覚して = be conscious of

So, essentially, "Put your attention towards work getting done." I'm not sure how to translate it literally, but I think the 回っている in 仕事が回っている kind of means something like, "functioning properly". I think you can still loosely connect it to its literal translation (going around), because work is essentially circulating (going around) from person to person to meet a certain objective. Kind of like how a newspaper works. This is just my assumption, though.

IceCream Wrote:牙むく: what's this? is it kind of "get their claws out"? what other kinds of situations is it used in?

"Show [one's] fangs". I'm assuming it would be used in the same way we use it in English?

IceCream Wrote:can かぶった mean, like, coverup? is it how it's being used here?

I'd need a little more context, but I'd assume やっぱり　かぶったか。 = something like "Just as I thought, [you, someone they're talking about, whoever] wore it?"

IceCream Wrote:what does 外れなし mean here?

外れ = miss; failure
なし = without

So, basically, the craftwork is without disappointment.

IceCream Wrote:若いのに　守りに入っちゃって。。

"Even though they're young, they broke through our defenses"??? Not 100% sure.