どういうこと -- literally 'what kind of thing', usually more like "What are you talking about?"

って is the casual form of という, the exact meaning depends on the context.

I should actually say that って is the casual version of と, or というのは depending.

田中っていう人 - a person called Tanaka
明日来るって言っていた。 - He said he would come tomorrow.
野良猫って、何ですか? - What is a 'noraneko'?
あのレストランはおいしいって。 - They say that restaurant is good.
来ないって... - What do you mean when you say "you're not coming"? [one possible meaning depending on context]

(I hope these examples make sense and are correct; I've just come back from having too way too much wine at a party and my Japanese ability might be impaired slightly.)

Last edited by yudantaiteki (2010 February 06, 8:19 pm)

I'm back again, some questions:

Girl talking about how she baked some pastry:
生地も一手間加えてみたんですけど。
I don't get 一手間加えてみたん, especially the 一手間 part. I googled it, and it's obviously used in a lot of food-talk. Anyone?

Friend walking up to 梨衣子 during lunch at work, saying:
梨衣子、主任がコーヒーまだかって。
This seems pretty basic, but I'm a bit confused. I guess かって is 買う. Can it mean something like: "The person in charge still hasn't bought coffee..." Just got a bit confused about the かって ending.

And I still not 100% sure about these two:
食ってみ - I'm guessing this is slang for　食ってみる/食ってみて? Is it?


ぐうだら - I'm guessing this is the same as ぐうたら (as in lazy/good-for-nothing)? Or?

THANK YOU

Zorlee wrote:

Friend walking up to 梨衣子 during lunch at work, saying:
梨衣子、主任がコーヒーまだかって。
This seems pretty basic, but I'm a bit confused. I guess かって is 買う.

I think this is quotative って and the thing it's quoting is a question, ie 'the boss says "what happened to that coffee?'; I'd be more certain with context or intonation cues :-)

"あんたみたいなのがタイプだって" - What is the だって doing? Just for the record, the whole sentence is: "あんたみたいなのがタイプだって　男でも現れないかぎり。" This is from a Zettai Kareshi Subs2SRS deck.

Here are some sentences that I think might help you understand:
男だって泣いて良いですよね？

そんなことどうだっていいだろう (Something like "Who cares about that", "That's not important")

Yeah, you can take any -te form, drop the -e and add -atte, and you end up with something that is equivalent to -te mo.  悪くたって = 悪くても, 行ったって = 行っても, and だって = でも.

So that is different from just a sentence ending in だ, which is followed by the quotative って (which is what the ZK line is).

Last edited by yudantaiteki (2010 February 08, 8:19 pm)

TheVinster wrote:

＜きっと忙しいのだろうとか　いろいろ理由をつけて　３年＞ (JSubs)

The only question I have here is in regards to だろうとか. I'm still a bit iffy on だろう, and the とか I have no idea what's going on. Maybe it's the version of と that implies the girl is busy with something, and then a か asking a rhetorical question.

What do you find problematic about だろう?
だろう        (exp) seems, I guess
More problematic might be the の before that, which is often used in cases like this that are providing explanations for things.

とか = things like that, etc.  (i.e. that's one of the いろいろな理由)

(What's that 3年 at the end?)

And last but not least, I was reading Tae Kim today and I'm unsure on when to use "Potential Form." I don't think he goes into enough depth, or maybe I just didn't catch on. I imagine I might have a hard time with this grammar.

I'm also a little unsure here on what your question is -- the potential form is used when you want to make sentences that express capability or potential, such as "I can run 10 miles" or "He can't read all the kanji."

Last edited by yudantaiteki (2010 February 09, 10:16 pm)

Hi!
I just started mining a London Hearts Episode. And it's hard. Seriously.
So I'm here with some questions, if you don't mind:

1. In the beginning, the presenter-voice-dude says this (talking about what's going to happen in the show, and refers to three men that're going to walk around, asking aged women who's the best man):
＜４０なんて、ロリコンだ。 マニア以外も必見＞
First of all, ４０なんて. This probably refers to the age of the three men? And なんて is "around" that age? I haven't seen this before, so I don't know.
But what I really don't get is the ロリコン. I know what the Lolita complex is, but I thought that the Lolita complex was all about young girls, not old ladies. Am I missing something here?

2. He continues on:
やつらの情熱が日本の女性をキレイにする？
I don't understand the キレイにする usage here.


3. One tells the host about a friend of him, having the worst reaction in the world. The host answers:
そんな気もするね。 派手なリアクション取ってるとか…。
I don't understand the リアクション (を?) 取る thing.. And I can't make sense out of 派手 in this connection either.
(another one says リアクションの取り場みたいなとこですよね。(talking about a gameshow that this "reaction-less" fellow participates in))


4. 若林がね 「春日がリアクション下手だ」って言うから俺なりにリサーチをかけてあるものを見付けたんです。
若林：本当ですか。

"リサーチをかけて" I must say that I really don't understand かける, so could someone explain what it means / how it differs from f.ex する in this setting?
Can it mean "to begin, but not complete" as written in EDICT, or? I'm lost.


5. The host laughs, and talks about how much the guy is failing in the game show, after falling into a whole lot of sticky lotion.

体が、変な事なってるみたいな そういうコケ方を一切しないんですよ。 これがですよ。

"コケ方" What does that mean? Does it refer to 虚仮 (fool etc), and does it mean 方 as in person or as in a method of doing something? Both kind of makes sense, but I don't know if both are possible...

Sorry for the wall of text. I really, REALLY appreciate your help!
Thank you guys so much!

Edit: mr_hans_moleman - thank you very much!

Last edited by Zorlee (2010 February 10, 6:15 pm)

Hello!

I've been reading a children's storybook, and found two expressions that I just can't understand:

「おい、起きろ、起きろ。生意気な、ちびこぞうめ。」

And

「三人、力を合わせれば、こんなのらネコなんかい、まけるもんかい。」

Also, there's this weird punctuation mark that looks a lot like a comma, but is placed  to the right of the characters in vertical text. I don't understand it's purpose.

I was hoping you could help me with that. Thank you very much!

jtrejo wrote:

Hello!

I've been reading a children's storybook, and found two expressions that I just can't understand:

「おい、起きろ、起きろ。生意気な、ちびこぞうめ。」

And

「三人、力を合わせれば、こんなのらネコなんかい、まけるもんかい。」

Also, there's this weird punctuation mark that looks a lot like a comma, but is placed  to the right of the characters in vertical text. I don't understand it's purpose.

I was hoping you could help me with that. Thank you very much!

I think the first one is just saying 'boy/youngster of small stature' in a derogatory fashion. {小僧}{奴} ... StarDict has このいたずら小僧奴! as 'You little rascal!' and we know what ちび means...

まけるものか means 'I won't give up!/I can beat you/I won't lose!' I guess, and the い would be かい as in the older folksier version of か... I assume the まける+ものか is more like saying something about the 'opposite' of 'losing' (going by the ものか in the dictionary)...

Anyone wanna help me out there? ;p

Last edited by nest0r (2010 February 11, 12:23 am)

I have quite a bunch of questions.
There are some sentences I can't understand. While most of the time I understand the single words, I can't understand the sentence as a whole. I'm not sure if this is the right thread to ask about this, if not please let me know.

All these sentences are out of Kanji in Context (Book 1).
And .... struggling so much with quite a few sentences I wonder if I should stop and do something else instead, but no matter what I touch I struggle, so it doesn't really matter I guess.

Anyway, here we go:

駅で傘をゴルフクラブにしてボールを打つ動作をしている人をしばしば見かける。
I'm unsure about this first part. Does that mean that he made the golf club his umbrella aka shelter?

卒業してから就職するか大学院に進むか、まだ決心がつかないでいる。
What's this verb from? Wouldn't that be rather ついてない?

人は往々にして、他の人も自分と同じように感じていると考えてしまう。
This is one of those sentences where I understand every word, but can't make out the sense.
Is it something like: Sometimes people think that other people are feeling the same way they do????? (-__-')

久しぶりにのんびりしようと思って温泉に行った。宿に着くとさっそくひと風呂浴びた。
I can't figure out what the "hito" is doing there...

あんなに素敵な人なのに色っぽい話が何もないなんて絶対おかしい。
Isn't it strange that such a great person can't have an erotic conversation. HUUH?????

広々としたリビングルームの真ん中にテーブルが一つポツンと置いてあった。
I asked several dicitonaries, but I couldn't find anything about ポツン.

「人民の人民による人民のための政治」
And this gives me a complete headache .....
A government for the people and because of the people???!!!!


Thanks so much in advance *sigh*

chochajin wrote:

久しぶりにのんびりしようと思って温泉に行った。宿に着くとさっそくひと風呂浴びた。
I can't figure out what the "hito" is doing there...


広々としたリビングルームの真ん中にテーブルが一つポツンと置いてあった。
I asked several dicitonaries, but I couldn't find anything about ポツン.

Usual EDICT caveats apply, but it has 一風呂 = ひとふろ = bath and ポツン = isolated, standing alone.

「人民の人民による人民のための政治」
A government for the people and because of the people???!!!!

"...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

あんなに素敵な人なのに色っぽい話が何もないなんて絶対おかしい。
Isn't it strange that such a great person can't have an erotic conversation. HUUH?????

This one mystified me when I saw it in KIC, and still does, so I eagerly await someone's explanation

chochajin wrote:

人は往々にして、他の人も自分と同じように感じていると考えてしまう。
This is one of those sentences where I understand every word, but can't make out the sense.
Is it something like: Sometimes people think that other people are feeling the same way they do????? (-__-')

Yes, I think that's about right. The implication of the てしまう is that they're mistaken about it. Perhaps "People sometimes suppose that ..."

「人民の人民による人民のための政治」
And this gives me a complete headache .....
A government for the people and because of the people???!!!!

Blank has it right -- Xのため can mean either "because of X" or "for X, in order to X". There's a bit in Jay Rubin's Making Sense of Japanese about this. (link is to google books extract).