ya think of it as accentuating the negative, not doubling it... just like amari
amarite?

So what would be used with a positive verb?

To indicate that something doesn't happen often? You could use まれに or たまに, but from what I've seen emphasizing the negative is more common.

Hey guys, having trouble with a definition in Japanese

条件=condition/requirements

The definition of 条件 in Japanese is: ある物事が実現するために必要な事柄

I'm not really sure how ある and ために are functioning here.

Thanks.

sparky14 Wrote:Hey guys, having trouble with a definition in Japanese

条件=condition/requirements

The definition of 条件 in Japanese is: ある物事が実現するために必要な事柄

I'm not really sure how ある and ために are functioning here.

Thanks.

If you have problems with definition then look for an example that shows usage of the word in context – does, for example:
献血できる条件
make sense?

ある – some
ために – in order to

sparky14 Wrote:Hey guys, having trouble with a definition in Japanese

条件=condition/requirements

The definition of 条件 in Japanese is: ある物事が実現するために必要な事柄

I'm not really sure how ある and ために are functioning here.

Thanks.

As Inny Jan said.

Literally, a requirement is a "thing needed in order to realize some thing."

ある <blah> is very common language in dictionary definitions.

Inny Jan Wrote:

sparky14 Wrote:Hey guys, having trouble with a definition in Japanese

条件=condition/requirements

The definition of 条件 in Japanese is: ある物事が実現するために必要な事柄

I'm not really sure how ある and ために are functioning here.

Thanks.

If you have problems with definition then look for an example that shows usage of the word in context – does, for example:
献血できる条件
make sense?

ある – some
ために – in order to

Thanks, and yes it makes sense

Hi, can someone please tell me if I translated the following correctly into Japanese, and if not, what corrections are needed:

"Yesterday I watched my mother bake a cake that tasted no better than the worst ones baked by my grandmother."

Here's my attempt (pardon the romaji):

Kinoo wa haha ga sobo ni yakareta ichiban warui no hodo aji ga motto yoku nai keeki o yaku no o mimashita.

Thanks!

john555 Wrote:Hi, can someone please tell me if I translated the following correctly into Japanese, and if not, what corrections are needed:

"Yesterday I watched my mother bake a cake that tasted no better than the worst ones baked by my grandmother."

Here's my attempt (pardon the romaji):

Kinoo wa haha ga sobo ni yakareta ichiban warui no hodo aji ga motto yoku nai keeki o yaku no o mimashita.

1. "warui-no hodo" is a grammatical error and it should be "warui hodo"
2. "motto yoku nai", "warui hodo" and single 'warui' are a lexical error.
About "motto yoku nai keeki", there's no target of comparison indicated by 'motto'.
"sobo ni yakareta hodo" doesn't make sense.
Single "warui" should be "aji-ga warui" or "mazui".
3. "kinou-wa" is not necessarily natural without particular context.
4. "sobo ni yakareta" implies your grandmother burned the cake. It should be
"sobo-ga yaita"

My try: kinou (watasi-wa) haha-ga, sobo-ga yaita itiban mazui keeki hodo aji-ga yoku-nai keeki-wo yaku no-wo mita

viharati Wrote:

john555 Wrote:Hi, can someone please tell me if I translated the following correctly into Japanese, and if not, what corrections are needed:

"Yesterday I watched my mother bake a cake that tasted no better than the worst ones baked by my grandmother."

Here's my attempt (pardon the romaji):

Kinoo wa haha ga sobo ni yakareta ichiban warui no hodo aji ga motto yoku nai keeki o yaku no o mimashita.

1. "warui-no hodo" is a grammatical error and it should be "warui hodo"
2. "motto yoku nai", "warui hodo" and single 'warui' are a lexical error.
About "motto yoku nai keeki", there's no target of comparison indicated by 'motto'.
"sobo ni yakareta hodo" doesn't make sense.
Single "warui" should be "aji-ga warui" or "mazui".
3. "kinou-wa" is not necessarily natural without particular context.
4. "sobo ni yakareta" implies your grandmother burned the cake. It should be
"sobo-ga yaita"

My try: kinou (watasi-wa) haha-ga, sobo-ga yaita itiban mazui keeki hodo aji-ga yoku-nai keeki-wo yaku no-wo mita

Thanks so much for your feedback. I'll go through all your comments.

High time I started asking questions here ...

This (thankfully easy) sentence has just come up in the Harry Potter deck, which I am currently plodding through:

これらの地方は皆ローマ帝国の支配の下にあった

The reading for 下 on the card is given as した, but I would have thought もと would be more appropriate here. した seems flat out wrong to me (the product of auto-generated readings), but I don't yet feel I can say that with complete confidence.

Should I edit the card?

Any help appreciated.

I would read that as もと as well. I agree with you that した is not a possibility here.

(When in Harry Potter did they talk about the Roman Empire-controlled lands?)

yudantaiteki Wrote:(When in Harry Potter did they talk about the Roman Empire-controlled lands?)

Had the same thought. From the description: (May also contain some vocabulary from the manga "Kami no shizuku".)

Though one of the comments complains that the deck "doesn't seem to have anything to do with Harry Potter", so maybe it's more than just "some".

Thanks for that, yudantaiteki.

Having enjoyed (and been somewhat overwhelmed by) your Let's read the 百人一首 thread, I have gained considerable respect for your opinion

Quote:(When in Harry Potter did they talk about the Roman Empire-controlled lands?)

The deck covers the words from Harry Potter 1 & 2 (probably 支配 in this case), but I think the example sentences are harvested from Tatoeba or somewhere.

Oh, "using example sentences from the Japanese-English dictionary included with MacOS", which would be the Progressive according to Wikipedia.

Hey guy's just stumbled across a sentence that's giving me quite a bit of trouble
サンタクロース を いつまで 信じていたか 、 なんて事は 、 他愛もない 世間話にもならないくらいの 、 どうでもいい話だが...

The translation is apparently something like: Okay. Asking somebody how long they believed in Santa Claus is so stupid, you can't even consider it a topic suitable for idle conversation

Things I don't understand: How なんて and くらい are functioning. I also don't know how they came up with the "asking someone" part in the translation. Also, if anyone could give me a very literal translation, that'd be great.

Thanks.

なんて is like などという here - it quotes サンタクロースをいつまで信じていたか for 事 (ignoring the など, hyperliterally "the thing called 'How long did you believe in Santa Claus?'". など functions to add a dismissive nuance). The "asking someone" part ultimately comes from the 事 later being called a 話 (though it's obvious long before then).

くらい is "extent" here, "It's so どうでもいい that it's not even suitable for 他愛もない世間話".

You can get rid of the "asking someone" if you want; it's not really in the sentence and I feel like it's more just talking about that topic than necessary asking someone.

You're right; my bad. か as a clause-ender turns the clause into a noun representing the answer, i.e. "how long <sb> believed in Santa Claus" as opposed to "how long did you...?".

Thanks everyone, makes perfect sense now

In the second episode of the radio show The Last Wave, the phrase "さ、本当言うとさ、キスだってしたことないよ" is uttered. I'm wondering about the "とさ".

According to the Rikaisama J-E dictionary it's: "(exp,col) apparently; from what I have heard; they say; you know; I hear". According to kenkyuusha it's only "I hear" or "he/she says".

Is it a common word/particle/grammar structure? What does it mean in the context of the abovementioned sentence and is that the most common way of using it? Could some kind soul give a couple of other examples?

Termy Wrote:In the second episode of the radio show The Last Wave, the phrase "さ、本当言うとさ、キスだってしたことないよ" is uttered. I'm wondering about the "とさ".

According to the Rikaisama J-E dictionary it's: "(exp,col) apparently; from what I have heard; they say; you know; I hear". According to kenkyuusha it's only "I hear" or "he/she says".

Is it a common word/particle/grammar structure? What does it mean in the context of the abovementioned sentence and is that the most common way of using it? Could some kind soul give a couple of other examples?

Hmm, interesting that とさ is treated as its own phrase in some dictionaries. I found it in a J-J one too, but the usage was different from the one here (i.e., the dictionary gave an example with と as a quotative particle, but the と in your sentence is not quoting anything). In either case, I don't think the case here nor the one I found in a dictionary should really be thought of as a special phrase. It's just the particle と plus the particle さ used how they always are. So, the 本当言うとさ means "If I were being honest" or something like that. The と here is the one that means something like 'if' or 'when.' (I didn't translated the さ--I don't know how. My impression of さ is it's mostly used by annoying young people or pushy adults, and when it comes to adults it's favored by males. It's kind of assertive and perhaps attention-seeking)

(The definition of とさ I found is this: ［連語］《格助詞「と」＋終助詞「さ」》ややぞんざいな気持ちをこめて引用・伝聞する意を表す。…だそうだ。…だって。「それで長者になった―」 It points out right in the beginning that it's the 'case-making particle' と plus the sentence-ending particle さ)

Tzadeck, thanks! That certainly clears it up quite a bit. I seem to get confused on a fairly regular basis by some entries I see in the dictionaries, and not knowing which ones are being used in sentences when there are two or more grammatical constructions that overlap each other.

Another question. What does "やっちゃおうぜ" mean? EDICT says "やっちゃう(exp,v5u,sl) to have (esp. sex, food, etc.)", which doesn't really tell me anything. Could it be やる with the しまう/ちゃう addition (+volitional)?

Termy Wrote:Another question. What does "やっちゃおうぜ" mean? EDICT says "やっちゃう(exp,v5u,sl) to have (esp. sex, food, etc.)", which doesn't really tell me anything. Could it be やる with the しまう/ちゃう addition (+volitional)?

Yes, that's what it is. The ぜ is just emphatic.