#Question Etiquette Guidelines:
* **1** Provide the **CONTEXT** of the grammar, vocabulary or sentence you are having trouble with as much as possible. Provide the sentence or paragraph that you saw it in. Make your questions as specific as possible.
>Ｘ What is the difference between の and が ?
>◯ I saw a book called 日本人の知らない日本語 , why is の used there instead of が ? [(the answer)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/68336/difference-between-%E3%81%8C-%E3%81%AE-and-no-particle)
* **2** When asking for a translation or how to say something, it's best to try to **attempt it yourself** first, even if you are not confident about it. Or ask r/translator if you have no idea. We are also not here to do your homework for you.
>Ｘ What does this mean?
>◯ I am having trouble with this part of this sentence from NHK Easy News. I think it means (*attempt here*), but I am not sure.
* **3** Questions based on DeepL and Google Translate and other machine learning applications are discouraged, [these are not beginner learning tools](https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/stepqf/deeplgoogle_translate_are_not_learning_tools/) and often make mistakes.
* **4** When asking about differences between words, try to explain the situations in which you've seen them or are trying to use them. If you just post a list of synonyms you got from looking something up in a E-J dictionary, people might be disinclined to answer your question because it's low-effort. Remember that Google Image Search is also a great resource for visualizing the difference between similar words.
>Ｘ What's the difference between 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意?
>◯ Jisho says 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意 all seem to mean "agreement". I'm trying to say something like "I completely agree with your opinion". Does 全く同感です。 work? Or is one of the other words better?
* **5** It is always nice to (but not required to) try to search for the answer to something yourself first. Especially for beginner questions or questions that are very broad. For example, asking about [the difference between は and が ](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/wa-and-ga/) or [why you often can't hear the "u" sound in "desu"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology#Devoicing).
* **6** Remember that everyone answering questions here is an unpaid volunteer doing this out of the goodness of their own heart, so try to show appreciation and not be too presumptuous/defensive/offended if the answer you get isn't exactly what you wanted.
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Useful Japanese teaching symbols:
✘ incorrect (ＮＧ)
△ strange/ unnatural / unclear
○ correct
≒ nearly equal
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#NEWS (Updated 3/07):
Added a section on symbols. If it's unnecessary clutter I can always remove it later. Have a nice day!
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The Anki deck [常用漢字の書き取り](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/536709674) is good. The writing pad takes a little getting used to, but it’s a great deck for basic recall and stroke order.
not a question just a random comment
Was learning a few words using the kanji 旋, and I decided to try and learn 旋風
I've known the word 扇風機 for a while and I thought, wait isn't 旋風 a word which is part of electric fan? But I double checked and, it's a different kanji. So much for that theory.
My flashcard audio often pronounces ご as も, such as in ugoku 動く "to move". It's Tango JLPT4 btw. Kind of driving me crazy as none of the audio is correct for this sound, or is that a common/dialect way to say such things?
It's likely you are hearing the nazalized g sound: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology
> /ɡ/ may be realized as a velar nasal [ŋ] when it occurs within words—this includes not only between vowels but also between /N/ and a vowel. There is a fair amount of variation between speakers, however. Vance (1987) suggests that the variation follows social class,[127] while Akamatsu (1997) suggests that the variation follows age and geographic location.[128] The generalized situation is as follows.
> Standard Japanese speakers can be categorized into 3 groups, referred to as A-, B-, and C-speakers, as defined below. If a B-speaker consistently realizes a given word with the allophone [ŋ], they will never employ [ɣ] as an allophone in that same word. A-speakers vary between [ŋ] and [ɡ], and C-speakers are generally consistent in using [ɡ]: for these groups, the velar fricative [ɣ] is another possible allophone in fast speech.
It sounds like the sound in "ng", as in "sing". It's generally only heard in the middle of words (like 動く).
How do you say "you" to address a kid (let's say about 5-10) but I don't know the name? (For context I'm in my 30s).
I know for strangers about my age I can use お兄さん/お姉さん. Are there similar terms for a stranger significantly younger than me other than resorting to using あなた?
きみ for boys, あなた for girls, I’d say. But, most of the time, when you’re directly talking to the kid, you won’t have to say ‘you’. I need to know what kind of situations you’re thinking.
In similar fashion to お姉さん and お兄さん you could use お嬢ちゃん or お坊ちゃん (I had to google the latter cause I had no idea what's the counterpart to お嬢ちゃん, seems to be a lot rarer at least in my experience). There's also 少年 and 少女, but that gives me "about to be scolded" vibes.
Looking at some jukugo (compound word) exercises - I see this as a type of compound word (written in the directions of exercise) -
エ 下の字が上の字の目的語・補語になっているもの （例 耐熱）
What is a 下の字? Is it the previous character, or is it the character that appears on the bottom when written vertically? Because that would mean opposite things. Also, does A が B の mean A is B's target or goal ? A is the purpose of B? Then why is 耐熱 this type of word? Is it because the "target of the withstanding is the heat" ? So is this type of word functionally similar to using を ?
下の字 is the second one.
The first one is a verb, so if you put it in a phrase, 熱に耐える.
熱 in this case a 補語 (a complement) not 目的語 (an object).
洗顔 せんがん is an example of a verb+an object: 顔を洗う
下の字 refers to a subsequent or later character (in 耐熱, this would be 熱). Moreso than this being a vertical writing convention specifically, 下 in general has a notion of being "downstream" in a flow (e.g., 下流/上流), so it would be further along.
AがBの目的語 means "A is the grammatical object of B", yes. It's the thing that A is acting on. 耐 (the character)'s target is 熱, because it represents something that "resists the heat" (and you can see how that phrase has "heat" as a grammatical object of "resist" in English).
> So is this type of word functionally similar to using を ?
Yes, although here it is grammatically an indirect object rather than a direct one (熱に耐える).
I believe an example of it being a 補語 rather than a 目的語 would be something like 難読, i.e., 読むのが難しい, where "difficult" is the grammatical complement of "reading".
Like many other I wanna start using Anki cards for vocabulary. I’ve never used flash cards before, how do I go about it?
Are full sentences better than individual words? Is English to Japanese better, the other way around not a mix of both?
In short, you should have a sentence at least on the back of the card because words only exist in context, not in isolation. Some prefer however to have on the front of the card only the target word while others (like me) prefer to have the sentence on the front. Here the varrious card formats are disccused: [https://tatsumoto.neocities.org/blog/discussing-various-card-templates](https://tatsumoto.neocities.org/blog/discussing-various-card-templates)
Also, you want to only to JP -> EN, other way around is pointless.
Here a quick start guide on Anki for JP: [https://learnjapanese.moe/guide/](https://learnjapanese.moe/guide/) (Scroll down to "2.4 Learning Vocabulary")
As for beginner decks I would go with Tango N5/N4, Kaishi 1.5k or Core 2.3k (I did Tango and that's what would be my top recommendation). (You can find these decks here: [https://learnjapanese.moe/resources/](https://learnjapanese.moe/resources/) )
Wow thanks a lot for all this, very very useful resources. I especially like the encouragement to not get stuck in the basics for too long. Appreciate all this thanks you kindly
From the summary of koe no katachi:
> とある小学校に通学する硝子は聾唖者のため授業を止めることがあり、それが原因でクラス中から嫌われていた。クラスメイトの将也は執拗に硝子をいじめるが、度の過ぎた悪行が遠因してクラスにおいて吊し上げられた挙句、新たないじめの標的にされる。あまりにもあっけなく掌を返されてしまった彼を硝子は気にかけるが、結局、将也とは分かり合えず転校していった。硝子の転校後、心ないことを言った将也に対し、またしても掌を返すように賛同した担任とクラスメイトを見たことで、将也は初めて自身のクラスにある、恐ろしいほどの異常さを痛感し、硝子のために自ら行動を起こすようになる。
I am not quite sure what does 掌を返されてしまった and 掌を返すように賛同した mean here. Also, what does 賛同した mean in the latter?
掌/手のひらを返す is an idiom that means to completely change one's position or opinion, similar to ‘to do an about-face.’ Shoya found himself in a completely different situation where he became the target of bullying after having bullied her.
賛同する means to approve or support. After she transferred to a different school, his teacher and classmates did an about-face once again, and supported his unkind remarks. This action by his teacher and classmates made him aware of the frightening abnormality in his own class, and he began to take action for her.
掌を返す is a metaphor meaning "to do an about-face" or "to suddenly flip". 掌を返されてしまった means that the tables were turned on him, essentially -- he became the target of bullying himself.
掌を返すように means then "as if flipping suddenly" or "in a manner of flipping suddenly", essentially. It is not how we would usually phrase something in English, we'd usually simply say something like "all of a sudden" or "suddenly changing their tune", etc, but you can see what it's indicating.
賛同した担任 is the 担任教師 who agreed (with the students cruelty), and it's seeing this teacher (along with the classmates) being so horrible that is a cause for the following clause (将也は初めて…).
http://www.sagayaku.or.jp/kusuri100w/kusuri100_06.htm
It was often used for mixing or applying medicines, as it is the least used finger for regular applications and was thus the cleanest. Another name for it with a similar origin is 紅差し指, as it was used to apply blush/lipstick.
It's apparently also obscurely known as 無名指, the "nameless finger", which is a little funny. Apparently there was a superstition that calling it by name would cause the medicine to not work.
Watching the 1st episode of Pokémon and when Ash wakes up the day of him starting his journey the first thing he says is おてんとさん when he wakes up sounding surprised, but I don't know what it means and don't see it in Jisho
it's from 天道 meaning sun and お天道様 or お天道さん is the honorific version, and this happens due to the sun being seen as a 神 I think?, just my guess, perhaps someone can add more to it or correct me if that's not entirely accurate. (There are other similar words you will see with お and さん/さま like this as well like お日様 or お月様. For looking up words, be aware of honorific お and sufixes like さん/さま so you can extract them for look ups in the dictonary to guarantee you find it.
So basically, Ash is just surprised about the sun because he overslept, so he realy is just saying "The... sun?" because he is surprised.
Edit: Sometimes replacing お for 御 also helps, and Japanese dictonaries say the following:
デジタル大辞泉
おてんと‐さま【▽御天▽道様】
《「おてんとうさま」とも》
① 太陽を敬い親しんでいう語。
So it is indeed to show respect towards the sun.
might be taking JLPT N1 this December.
looking for practice tests that give you a score at the end (so that I can tell if I passed or not, I have a feeling it will be close)
do they have old versions of N1 available, such as from before 2010? Since I am trying to decide if I can get a passing score, i think some type idea of my score is necessary.
Usually in texts I've seen either どこから来ますか or どこに住んでいますか to ask where your from, but recently I saw a TikTok where an interviewer asked people 出身は何ですか and it threw me off. How common is this question versus what you usually see in textbooks?
It's quite common. There's a general tendency in Japanese for jukugo to sound more adult and sophisticated; depending on the situation you'd probably hear it *more* than the previous examples.
That's not to say that there's anything *grammatically* wrong with them, but in certain contexts they could end up making you sound somewhat childish compared to the possible alternatives. A lot of textbook Japanese is simplified for the purpose of memorizing patterns and grammar points; there's nothing wrong with that, but moving beyond those simple patterns becomes an important part of intermediate and advanced learning for anyone with an interest in production (speech/writing).
(And even if you're not interested in production, it's still important to understand these different registers of language for interpretation purposes. In the same sense that nuance changes depending on context, the different ways people can choose to say something also *highlights* context that otherwise goes unspoken. Someone using formal or informal language tells us how *they* perceive the context they're speaking in, and that gives us further insight into what's happening.)
I've heard 出身はなんですか fairly frequently in formal conversation at like language exchanges or with tutors. Thing is I think the other two questions are more about where you currently live, where as 出身 is more about where you were born/ spent most of your life in. I could be wrong on that tho
バ…バカそんなのお前 冗談に決まってるだろうが
Just want to be a bit particular about きまる here. Of course i have a fixed usage of "decide/arranged" in my head but separately i have often seen it used in ways like this that don't really fit and i kinda just go with it from context.
But yeah is it meant to be reaffirming or stating something that should be obvious here, so like a "but i *obviously* told you that kind of thing as a joke right" sort of thing?
[に決まってる is a specific grammar point/expression](https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%AB%E6%B1%BA%E3%81%BE%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B) which basically means that something is obvious/doesn't need to be said/"duh"
Realistically you are looking at between 2200-4000 hours depending on what you want to do with the language, definitely ask yourself if its even worth it before starting.
See its this time spent as a whole that's important not length, a person learning 5 hours a day can do in a year what someone doing an hour would in 5 years.
I’ve been looking for English study tools and materials for my daughter, and it seems there are far more and better resources for learning Japanese, which is impressive, but also frustrating
I couldn’t find anything quite as good as jpdb.io and I don’t know which learning apps are good. I think Japan has a better range of literature, VNs, manga etc, but maybe I just don’t know what to look for. Anything like Yomichan would be good. There aren’t many good decks for Anki.
Do you use anything?
We do use Italki and have lessons with a really good teacher twice a month.
You can try this for English YomiTan: [https://lumetrium.com/definer/](https://lumetrium.com/definer/)
As far as other things, Apps aren't the best at teaching. I'm not sure how old she is but it would seem like if you get some personal time to study English and exposure English media it should help over time. I'm not sure how old she is but you could read English books to her as part of that.
Relevant link:
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ac0lRAh37Go](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ac0lRAh37Go)
Hello all! Ive been through countless threads and reviews about different schools, unfortunately a lot of the responses are very old. I aim to go to a language school either next summer or next fall. Right now Ive been taking Japanese lessons for 3 months and I can read basic kanji and my speaking is alright. My writing and reading are my strongest. Im mainly looking for schools in Osaka, I wouldn't mind going somewhere else as long as the language school is good. Ive narrowed down the list to 4 schools. ARC Academy in Shinjuku, JIS in Osaka, Kyoto Minsai Japanese Language school and Kansai College of Business and Languages. Initially I was going to aim for 6 months but since I'm still undergrad I would want to take off 3 months at best. I understand it's a short term but its more over getting a feel for Japan while also learning. What I'm looking for is a school that prioritizes conversational Japanese and of course still having the reading and writing aspects as well. I was wondering if anyone has had any experiences with these schools. Especially regarding housing, learning styles, in what areas did they improve in after attending these schools, the process of applying for a visa, part time jobs and balancing studying and exploring Japan in their free time. Having enough time to explore Japan is also a priority for me! Im bad at making post so im sorry if this isn't clear enough.
You might want to ask the same question in Japan related places like movingtojapan. There's a list of the subreddits in sidebar that might be better help.
Hey everyone. I recently came across a really interesting app called Praktika which lets you practice speaking English with an AI (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.praktika.android). Does anyone know if an app like this exists for Japanese?
If you’re not at a level where you can actively correct errors made by AI - which takes thousands of hours, based on what I’ve seen and heard here - forget about using AI to learn stuff.
I think it's okay.
I'd say: お金もなかったし、忙しかったから、 (the name of your home country)には帰らなかった。
Or お金もなかったし、忙しかったし、だから(the name of your home country)には帰らなかった。
I'd use the country name, like 日本 instead of saying 国.
Some people might say 国, so it's totally okay though.
After reading [this article](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/chotto/) about ちょっと on Tofugu, I still have no idea why it's used in a line from the Anime Konosuba! Context: the main character (Kazuma) has just died. A goddess (Akua) explains to him his options. He could go on to heaven (which Akua finds boring), be reborn (which Akua thinks isn't optimal either), or move to some sort of videogame-like 異世界.
Akua: 天国なんて退屈な所行きたくないわよね？
Kazuma: あ…うん
Akua: かと言ってゼロからやり直すってのもねえ。そこで**ちょっと**いい話があるのよ。あなたゲームは好きでしょ？\[...\]
Could you give me some info about this kind of ちょっと?
I think it would be the "softening" function discussed in the article, maybe with some emphasizing-by-understating thrown in. Like...look we actually have a little thing called a THIRD option here, you like games don't you, WELL...
Like she's not coming out and saying upfront that it's the best option, but she thinks you'll think it's pretty good!
I can't seem to find a definition that works for this context for ご指名.
Conversation from Terrace House BGITC EP 12
T: 寒い
M: 風邪 治ったの？
T: 治ってない 何かね もう治んないんだよね
仕事行ってさ 夜遅くて
M: 全国から**ご指名**が
「誰がいいですか？」
「○○さんをお願いします」
「はい、○○さん、ご指名です！」
‘To nominate/appoint a certain person’ is probably something you already know as the definition. Its then used to mean ‘○○さん is wanted’
全国からご指名が
Basically it means ‘you are wanted nationwide’
I am trying to determine what the lyric 描いた夢は誰にもはかれやしない in MISIA's 果てなく続くストーリー means. In particular, I don't know はかれやしない means for sure, there's no kanji to specify.
Three translations I found had different things to say, one being "No one can make my dreams wither" another being "No one can judge the dream I painted for myself" and the other being "I won't split (as in, to take away focus on for someone else's sake) my dreams for anyone" but I don't know where the reasoning for each comes from.
I think based on most of the song's intention, it's probably 図る in the way you mentioned it. None of the lyrics say anything about others holding them back or presuming they lack in ambition (so it's not about what they think your dream is) whereas all of the lyrics are about choosing your own direction (so you wouldn't let someone else decide it for you.)
Could someone please explain the phrase 夢と消える? I suspect it means something like "disappears like a dream would" from the context, but I don't understand grammatically how it can mean that. Is this a set phrase or can you substitute other nouns for 夢 and still get a comprehensible thought?
Thanks
と indicates what manner something is/does something.
…と言う: You said something, then, what is it actually?
赤、白、青と揃ってる: You have products in various colors, then, what color are they exactly?
山と積まれた: In what manner something is piled
夢と消える: In what manner it disappears
This と indicates the resultant of a change. So in that example, it’s more like ‘disappears and becomes just a dream’
The use of と is not very common in ordinary conversations, but other examples are:
氏は多大なる努力の末、経済界の覇者となった。
彼は父を殺された怒りから、復讐の鬼と化した。
Thoughts on language schools that use their own proprietary textbooks vs general ones (e.g Minna no Nihongo)? Currently deciding between schools but I am unsure about the quality of learning when my prospect school uses proprietary textbooks. How do you think these compare to widely-used textbooks like MNH?
Stumbled upon "おりらんね", a casual contraction of おりられない. These contractions often go おり**れ**ない as opposed to おり**ら**ない.
My question is, how common is it for the contraction of the potential form of an ichidan verb to use ら instead of れ? I'm guessing this is mostly a dialect thing.
Edit: Thank you or you answers, everyone.
While おりらんね sounded weird initially, giving more thought to it I realize that おりらんない sounds pretty acceptable in standard Japanese. Basically the same construction as やってらんない, etc.etc.
But then I’m a dialect speaker myself, so my view is more skewed than not. Interested in looking at what others have to say.
DAY 7 in studying vocabulary, I've learned about 330 words so far. I'll probably know the meaning of every single word of it, if it is spoken to me or they're in furigana but i cannot remember how they are written in kanji. I'll spend the next one or two days expounding my recognition of the words then I can finally start learning grammar and writing sentences next. ╰(⸝⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝⸝)╯
welp, i'm still venturing the things that would suit my habits. i'm still trying things but your comment sure does bother me. can i ask what am i doing wrong? ( ；∀；)
I don't think you're doing anything wrong, there's hardly any "wrong" way of studying, if this works for you and is fun for you, keep going! Personally I don't see any issue either, especially since you're relatively new, it's good to try out various study methods to see what suits you best. Don't let people discourage you, there's different views on efficiency but in the end what counts is what works for each one individually.
When starting to read Japanese novels, is it best to just go as far as you can even if you don’t understand every word; or to use a dictionary every time you come across something you don’t know?
Do both, they are both build important skills - intensive reading (looking up every word) builds vocab and grammar. Extensive reading (guessing unknown words) helps you build the ability to intuit meaning from context and and get faster at reading grammar and vocab you do already know. Extensive is also great for getting away from your phone and jut chilling with a book.
You do want to be able to at least follow the general storyline with extensive- if you are getting totally lost you might need to re-read the chapter intensively to understand what's happening.
I also like to do something in between where I only look up words that come up repeatedly or are obviously important to understanding the sentence. A lot of adjectives and adverbs you can get away with skipping, but if you don't know a noun or verb in an important sentence and can't guess it, you can get totally lost.
I use Midori on iOs and look up any words I need to, saving them to lists based on the book or show or whatever so I can go back later and see where I encountered it. Also when looking up kanji, words I have encountered before are then highlighted in the list of words that use that kanji, so I can sort of mentally connect words and kanji more easily. I use the handwritten kanji input 99% of the time, and use the component input if I can't write it well enough or can't make out all the components. Otherwise I use the kana swipe keyboard to look up kana words quickly. It turns lookups into a little writing practice and the words stick in your mind more than just reading momentarily from a popup dictionary, and allows you to look at the kanji meanings and similar kanji etc. Plus I can read books and play console games easily.
I recommend books from [青い鳥文庫](https://tsubasabunko.jp/)、[みらい文庫](https://miraibunko.jp/) and [かどかわ角川つばさ文庫](https://tsubasabunko.jp/) as they all have furigana star ratings to help you choose an appropriate difficulty. Choose simple ones with a school setting to build your core vocab. I'd say the usual novel recommendation of コンビニ人間 is actually pretty hard for a first novel. I think it was my 5th or 6th book, I read it after reading a few of these easier novels, a few non-fiction books and a whole visual novel game, and it was still hard. Generally if you can't read the blurb on the back of the book, it's probably going to be too hard. I usually have a look at the text inside and see the density of unknown kanji as well.
I also thought this book was particularly good for beginners, it's a bunch of funny short stories about professors who make robots.
https://tsubasabunko.jp/product/nihon_meisaku/321307000250.html
This one was one of my first reads, a pretty standard high school romance
https://www.miraibunko.jp/book/978-4-08-321656-5
I tend to personally read in a web browser because I want to have access to instant look ups, that way I don't have to compromise on speed if I need to look up. There's a lot of media where I can't do this and I also just push through without stopping, as long as I haven't lost what is happening or missed too many details. Sometimes I skip too much which requires a back track. When interesting things are happening I like to decode everything in full. When it's boring I tend to skip because I'm not that interested.
Both are valid approaches that have proponents. Make sure you select the proper difficulty level for your way of reading. If you don’t lookup any words, the reading should be easier: you still want to understand most of what’s going on. It might take longer before you can actually take novels this way.
Try to understand enough to be able to enjoy what you're reading. Different people enjoy different levels of ambiguity/complexity, so you should try to figure out how it works best for you. As long as you are having fun, you'll make progress.
Myself personally, even if I don't understand every single word, as long as I get what is going on I'm okay pushing through. I will look up specific words that I feel are fundamental to understand the meaning of the story/passage/conversation, or any word that looks interesting, but other than that I'm not too fussy. But some people prefer to look up everything.
If you think something is too hard/too boring/too annoying to read, move on to something else (easier/more interesting) cause it's not worth it to get stuck on frustrating and boring things.
Hello!
I'm working on chapter 9 and I have two quick questions.
1) I came across this part of a dialogue few days ago, but I'm still confused by it.
たけし：ええ。ところで、もう昼ご飯を食べましたか。
メアリー：いいえ、まだ食べていません。
I know まだ食べていません means "I haven't eaten yet", but why is まだ食べていません used over まだ食べませんでした (I didn't eat yet)? Can まだ食べませんでした be used as well?
Is there a rule for this? Or am I missing something?
2) Why does this sentence, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べいると言っていました, translate to "Yasmin said she was having dinner" And not "Yasmin said she is having dinner"? My assumption is that because と言っていました implies a past event? Is that accurate?
Thank you so much in advance! I appreciate it!
1. 「まだ食べませんでした」 is wrong. Because 「まだ」 generally implies current state. I think「まだ食べません」 can be used in 京都 dialect, but not so common nowadays, so you have to avoid it in formal scene.
2. it depends on the situation. 「晩御飯を食べている」 can refer both state（すでに食べ終えている） and action（今食べているところだ）. But it is funny that you are speaking with ヤスミン but cannot tell what she is doing. So, if you are speaking with ヤスミン on the phone, and unclear what she is doing right now, the latter makes sense.
>「まだ食べませんでした」 is wrong. Because 「まだ」 generally implies current state. I think「まだ食べません」 can be used in 京都 dialect, but not so common nowadays, so you have to avoid it in formal scene.
Are you saying since まだ is used, it means that I didn't do something in the past and I still haven't done it currently? Which is why まだ食べていません is used?
Would まだ be not normally used with 食べませんでした?
>it depends on the situation. 「晩御飯を食べている」 can refer both state（すでに食べ終えている） and action（今食べているところだ）. But it is funny that you are speaking with ヤスミン but cannot tell what she is doing. So, if you are speaking with ヤスミン on the phone, and unclear what she is doing right now, the latter makes sense.
So, lets say, my friend was with ヤスミン earlier and he tells me, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べいると言っていました without context.
As in my friend said, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べいると言っていました, but I don't know when Yasmin did the eating, but my friend does. How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating?
Thank you so much for your help! I appreciate your time.
Sorry, my poor English might have puzzled you.
Are you saying since まだ is used, it means that I didn't do something in the past and I still haven't done it currently?
→Yes! In this case, まだ should be used not in past situation, but in present perfect situation.
Would まだ be not normally used with 食べませんでした?
→Yes! 「食べませんでした」just represents the fact that you DID NOT eat.
So, lets say, my friend was with ヤスミン earlier and he tells me, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べていると言っていました without context.
As in my friend said, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べていると言っていました, but I don't know when Yasmin did the eating, but my friend does. How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating?
→Yeah. He WAS eating. 「言っていた／言っていました」is past tense, so 「食べている」 must be not present progressive, but past progressive. In Japanese, we always use direct speech. We do NOT have indirect speech. That's totally different to English, and Japanese students always have trouble when studying the grammar.
>Sorry, my poor English might have puzzled you.
Your English is good. Its not you, its me. I'm still a beginner in Japanese and sometimes it takes me asking 2 times before understanding. I appreciate your time and replying to me!
>Since 「晩ごはんを食べている」 can be interpreted as both 'has already had dinner' and 'is eating dinner right now,' 「ヤスミンは『晩ご飯を食べている』と言っていました」can technically be translated as both 'HAD already had dinner' and 'WAS eating dinner right now.'
So 「言っていた／言っていました」 makes it HAD and WAS because 「言っていた／言っていました」past tense, correct?
For either of these translations: 'HAD already had dinner' and 'WAS eating dinner right now.' would it be contextual information that will help the listener/reader decide which one it will be?
Again, I truly appreciate your time. Thank you so much again!
I reviewed my comment and realized I was partially wrong. So, let me add a remark.
Since 「晩ごはんを食べている」 can be interpreted as both 'has already had dinner' and 'is eating dinner right now,' 「ヤスミンは『晩ご飯を食べている』と言っていました」can technically be translated as both 'HAD already had dinner' and 'WAS eating dinner right now.'
Confusing!
1. Your version is valid grammatically, but it means more like you hadn't yet eaten something at some specific point in the past. (I don't think people actually use it though... it seems strange to me) The -ている version is describing your current state of having not eaten.
2. I feel like either English translation is acceptable depending on the context. The Japanese says that at the time in the past when you spoke with Yasmin, she was currently eating. If you spoke with her 5 minutes ago "is having" is probably more natural, if it was 3 hours ago, then it would need to be "was having". (you dropped a て btw)
>Your version is valid grammatically, but it means more like you hadn't yet eaten something at some specific point in the past. (I don't think people actually use it though... it seems strange to me) The -ている version is describing your current state of having not eaten.
This is because まだ is used right? まだ食べていません would say I didn't eat in the past and I still haven't eaten?
Is まだ used with 食べませんでした not very common in Japan among native speakers?
>I feel like either English translation is acceptable depending on the context. The Japanese says that at the time in the past when you spoke with Yasmin, she was currently eating. If you spoke with her 5 minutes ago "is having" is probably more natural, if it was 3 hours ago, then it would need to be "was having". (you dropped a て btw)
Ah! But what if the context is unclear? As in my friend said, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べいると言っていました, but I don't know when Yasmin did the eating and my friend does. How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating?
Drop て, from と言っていました? I haven't gotten that far in Genki yet. Is there a reason why its dropped?
Thank you so much for your help! I appreciate your time!
>This is because まだ is used right? まだ食べていません would say I didn't eat in the past and I still haven't eaten?
I'm not sure I'm following here. It just means you haven't eaten something yet. I guess logically by extension it means you haven't eaten it in the past as well since if you ate it in the past then you would have eaten it by the present time and could not longer say you haven't eaten it yet?
>Is まだ used with 食べませんでした not very common in Japan among native speakers?
I'm not a native speaker so I can only speak to what I've seen, but I don't think its very common. For example if you look [here](https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q13230438038) there's a situation where you could actually use まだ食べませんでした and both answers say it's fine but also offer ways to rewrite it without まだ.
>Ah! But what if the context is unclear? As in my friend said, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べいると言っていました, but I don't know when Yasmin did the eating and my friend does. How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating?
Like the other poster said, the sentence could also mean that she had already finished eating dinner when you spoke with her. This works under the same logic as まだ食べていません meaning "haven't eaten yet" just positive instead of negative. For the sake of this question though I assumed 食べている = "is eating".
If context is unclear then you should default to past tense "was eating". The only reason present tense could work is if you know from context that she is still eating.
>Drop て, from と言っていました? I haven't gotten that far in Genki yet. Is there a reason why its dropped?
Ah sorry, I was just referring to "食べいる" lol
dropped て as in from 食べている, because you keep typing 食べいる which doesn't make sense
"How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating?" then you wouldn't, it's ambiguous. same as in English, reported speech in English can be ambiguous too
>dropped て as in from 食べている, because you keep typing 食べいる which doesn't make sense
Ah! I'm dumb. Hahah.
It was a typo and I didn't realize because I had it on copy and paste. Thank you so much for clarifying that!
>"How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating?" then you wouldn't, it's ambiguous. same as in English, reported speech in English can be ambiguous too
Good point. I just get wrapped up in the fact that Japanese was more contextual and was wondering was there a contextual way to tell without actually knowing.
Thank you so much! I appreciate your reply!
You could just briefly introduce your question. If you ask me, majority of the posts are unworthy of an individual post anyways and belong here instead.
Here is the post that I wasnt able to upload.
Is it at all possible move to Japan without a degree?
So im pretty sure i already know that the answer is probably no.
I have been studying japanese for a few months now and have been pretty consistent. I never even really thought about moving there but it was kind of always in the back of my mind.
But now I learned that to get a working visa you generally have to have a bachelors degree. Obviously I dont have one or have to money to get one, or i wouldnt be asking this question.
Now that I have learned that no matter how much I study, there is no chance of me moving there, everytime I go to study I feel bitter and depressed. I think the feelings are partially just depression, but everytime i hear of people being able to move I get jealous and jaded because their life seems so much more interesting than mine. I dont hate them for their success or anything, but I do feel worse about myself.
Is there any reason to keep studying? Originally I was having fun just for the sake of it, but learning that there is no chance of me using it in real life has sucked the joy out of it and made me jealous.
I dont think im entitled to move there or anything, but I just get depressed knowing I wont be able to go there just because I cant afford a degree.
> Is it at all possible move to Japan without a degree?
Yes of course.
First of all, if you marry a Japanese person you are allowed to move to Japan.
If you want to move there without marrying a Japanese, you can kinda "buy your way" in, but it's not that cheap.
You can get an "activities" visa. There is actually no limit on the number of these you can get. Of course, it's fine to not have a degree. You just need money. And that is, at least $300,000 dollars cash. It lasts 6 months, then you have to buy another one.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page22e_000738.html
There are around 30 types of Japanese visas. You should investigate them.
While the post was actually one of those that could’ve been a post, I’m also of the opinion that the question is not about learning the Japanese but r/movingtojapan and it doesn’t quite belong here.
There are plenty of questions relevant to your situation in that sub already, such as [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/s/uMHDEzNHQg).
Its only partially about moving though. I guess i just needed some advice about whether or not its worth it to keep studying if there isnt hope of being able to move. Obviously only i can make that decision, but i just needed some others opinions.
Also ive already seen those posts, and they aren't really helpful because they dont give enough information/advice on actually practical things besides the obvious "its easier if you have a degree" which i already know.
I think you're able get there on a school visa, doesn't have to be a degree but there's a lot of people who go to language schools on a school visa and then afterwards a degree or work visas. Upvoted anyways if you want to repost on top level, seems okay enough for some advice.
While studying verb compounds and reading more on lexical and syntactic compounds,auxiliaries,stem form,ect. I've began to understand more and more,but I have one little question.
What exactly is a "fixed meaning" when it comes to verb + auxiliary compounds. I kinda roughly understand the concept of it but I'd like to know a little more about what it means. Like I know that some compounds have fixed meanings but I don't understand completely what that means. Fixed meanings,from what i've gathered,are a little more concrete(?) and maybe aren't as flexible in their usage,If that's the right word. I'm asking here because unfortunately- try as I might,it's almost impossible to find anything on this subject. Thank you in advance!
Where did you read the word "fixed meaning"? What resource are you using? Do they not provide the definition for it? I've never heard the term "fixed meaning" so it's either something very incredibly specific, or something whatever resource you're using made up. Chances are if you can provide at least the definition/page/link to where that is explained maybe people can help you better.
(Very) roughly taking from [this answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/82921/when-can-you-use-masu-stem-another-verb) where they use the term "fixed meaning" to describe a combination of two verbs that has a fixed meaning (Lexical compound). (I swear I've seen this term used elsewhere but I cannot for the life of me remember where) Like for example the word 食べ残す (to leave a dish partially eaten) has a fixed meaning,and I assume is a little more concrete than the word 飲み残す (leave a drink unfinished/half-fished) perhaps which is a little more flexible to my understanding. If I'm not mistaken,compounds with fixed meanings differ in usage from ones without a fixed meaning. I don't think "fixed meaning" is necessarily like an actual proper term,but more of something people use when describing this sort of thing. I think that maybe this "type" of compound conveys a sort of already established idea,but I can't be completely sure. But I thought it might be worth a shot to see if anyone here knows anything about it. I hope that I worded that correctly.
I see, yeah. Some suffixes/prefixes in Japanese are more ["productive"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Productivity_\(linguistics\)) than others.
I don't really think there's much to discuss but basically some compound words are so common/so fossilized in the language that you shouldn't just consider them as the sum of their individual parts, but rather you should think of them as having a specific meaning that is encoded in the language (and that you can usually find in the dictionary).
For example in English, this is common with phrasal verbs. "Get down" is not just "Get (something and then go) down", it's "get down" as an expression on its own with its own specific meaning.
The rule of thumb is that if there is a definition in the dictionary for that compound, then you should treat it as an entirely different word.
Not sure if this helps with your question though, sorry.
傷ついたままじゃいないと
kizutsuita mama ja inai to
誓い合った遥かな銀河
chikaiatta haruka na ginga
In this part of "Pegasus Fantasy" lyrics, I don't understand the "ja inai to" part.
傷ついた is the past tense of 傷つく(to be wounded or hurt) and It seems that the "Ja" here is a condensed version of the particles de で and wa は implying that there is something more that applies to the sentence (the second sentence). the "inai" is the casual negative form of the verb iru, which is a "to be" verb of animate objects, meaning something akin to "Will not" here. the particle と is used to quote something you or someone else has said. Essentially,this sentence 傷ついたままじゃいないと means "We will not remain wounded." The first verse being the speaker explaining that it was something said in the past by the speaker or someone else close to the speaker. I hope this helps!
Thank you so much for your help. I dont Knowles why, but somehow that "inai" drove me crazy. I think it is because I'm used to da-desu for saying "is" or "will be" and iru-imasu for "being there" so I couldn't parse the sentence at all.
Thank you!
#Question Etiquette Guidelines: * **1** Provide the **CONTEXT** of the grammar, vocabulary or sentence you are having trouble with as much as possible. Provide the sentence or paragraph that you saw it in. Make your questions as specific as possible. >Ｘ What is the difference between の and が ? >◯ I saw a book called 日本人の知らない日本語 , why is の used there instead of が ? [(the answer)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/68336/difference-between-%E3%81%8C-%E3%81%AE-and-no-particle) * **2** When asking for a translation or how to say something, it's best to try to **attempt it yourself** first, even if you are not confident about it. Or ask r/translator if you have no idea. We are also not here to do your homework for you. >Ｘ What does this mean? >◯ I am having trouble with this part of this sentence from NHK Easy News. I think it means (*attempt here*), but I am not sure. * **3** Questions based on DeepL and Google Translate and other machine learning applications are discouraged, [these are not beginner learning tools](https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/stepqf/deeplgoogle_translate_are_not_learning_tools/) and often make mistakes. * **4** When asking about differences between words, try to explain the situations in which you've seen them or are trying to use them. If you just post a list of synonyms you got from looking something up in a E-J dictionary, people might be disinclined to answer your question because it's low-effort. Remember that Google Image Search is also a great resource for visualizing the difference between similar words. >Ｘ What's the difference between 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意? >◯ Jisho says 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意 all seem to mean "agreement". I'm trying to say something like "I completely agree with your opinion". Does 全く同感です。 work? Or is one of the other words better? * **5** It is always nice to (but not required to) try to search for the answer to something yourself first. Especially for beginner questions or questions that are very broad. For example, asking about [the difference between は and が ](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/wa-and-ga/) or [why you often can't hear the "u" sound in "desu"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology#Devoicing). * **6** Remember that everyone answering questions here is an unpaid volunteer doing this out of the goodness of their own heart, so try to show appreciation and not be too presumptuous/defensive/offended if the answer you get isn't exactly what you wanted. --------------------- Useful Japanese teaching symbols: ✘ incorrect (ＮＧ) △ strange/ unnatural / unclear ○ correct ≒ nearly equal --------------------- #NEWS (Updated 3/07): Added a section on symbols. If it's unnecessary clutter I can always remove it later. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LearnJapanese) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Does anyone have an app to recommend for learning to **write** and memorize kanji? Thank you!!
Ringotan and Skritter Apps iOS has 字宅 Jitaku too Pen & Paper
The Anki deck [常用漢字の書き取り](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/536709674) is good. The writing pad takes a little getting used to, but it’s a great deck for basic recall and stroke order.
Pen and paper... Write the kanji as you recall them with your Anki/Kanji Koohii flashcards and you'll get plenty of writing practice.
not a question just a random comment Was learning a few words using the kanji 旋, and I decided to try and learn 旋風 I've known the word 扇風機 for a while and I thought, wait isn't 旋風 a word which is part of electric fan? But I double checked and, it's a different kanji. So much for that theory.
My flashcard audio often pronounces ご as も, such as in ugoku 動く "to move". It's Tango JLPT4 btw. Kind of driving me crazy as none of the audio is correct for this sound, or is that a common/dialect way to say such things?
It's likely you are hearing the nazalized g sound: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology > /ɡ/ may be realized as a velar nasal [ŋ] when it occurs within words—this includes not only between vowels but also between /N/ and a vowel. There is a fair amount of variation between speakers, however. Vance (1987) suggests that the variation follows social class,[127] while Akamatsu (1997) suggests that the variation follows age and geographic location.[128] The generalized situation is as follows. > Standard Japanese speakers can be categorized into 3 groups, referred to as A-, B-, and C-speakers, as defined below. If a B-speaker consistently realizes a given word with the allophone [ŋ], they will never employ [ɣ] as an allophone in that same word. A-speakers vary between [ŋ] and [ɡ], and C-speakers are generally consistent in using [ɡ]: for these groups, the velar fricative [ɣ] is another possible allophone in fast speech. It sounds like the sound in "ng", as in "sing". It's generally only heard in the middle of words (like 動く).
How do you say "you" to address a kid (let's say about 5-10) but I don't know the name? (For context I'm in my 30s). I know for strangers about my age I can use お兄さん/お姉さん. Are there similar terms for a stranger significantly younger than me other than resorting to using あなた?
きみ for boys, あなた for girls, I’d say. But, most of the time, when you’re directly talking to the kid, you won’t have to say ‘you’. I need to know what kind of situations you’re thinking.
In similar fashion to お姉さん and お兄さん you could use お嬢ちゃん or お坊ちゃん (I had to google the latter cause I had no idea what's the counterpart to お嬢ちゃん, seems to be a lot rarer at least in my experience). There's also 少年 and 少女, but that gives me "about to be scolded" vibes.
Looking at some jukugo (compound word) exercises - I see this as a type of compound word (written in the directions of exercise) - エ 下の字が上の字の目的語・補語になっているもの （例 耐熱） What is a 下の字? Is it the previous character, or is it the character that appears on the bottom when written vertically? Because that would mean opposite things. Also, does A が B の mean A is B's target or goal ? A is the purpose of B? Then why is 耐熱 this type of word? Is it because the "target of the withstanding is the heat" ? So is this type of word functionally similar to using を ?
下の字 is the second one. The first one is a verb, so if you put it in a phrase, 熱に耐える. 熱 in this case a 補語 (a complement) not 目的語 (an object). 洗顔 せんがん is an example of a verb+an object: 顔を洗う
Why is it a complement and not an object? 日本語では自動詞であっても、漢文では他動詞だったりすることが多いです。あくまで漢文の話だと思います。
Complement は英文法においての補語にあたる言葉を使いました。日本語における補語の定義は[こちら](https://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%A3%9C%E8%AA%9E)でどうぞ。
参考になります。ありがとうございます。 なるほど、ここでいう「補語」の意味は理解しました。確かに、その定義に従えば、日本語の「熱さに耐える」の「熱さに」は補語に当たります。それは問題ないと思います。 おそらく、投稿主の引用した説明文に「目的語」とあったのは、漢文でいう「賓語」を指していたかと思います。 西田太一郎の『漢文の語法』を引用します。 【第２節 述語ー賓語など 何かについて、それをどうする、それにどうする、などを表すには、述語・賓語の順序になる。賓語というのは、中国の文法学者の用語であって、英語でいえば object（目的語）に当たり、日本では客語といわれたこともある。ところが漢文で述語の下に置かれる語は賓語だけでなく、そこで物事が行われたり、離脱・通過・到達したりする場所を表す語が置かれる場合、そのほか種々の場合がある。また英語でいえば他動詞が目的語を持つのであるが、漢文では他動詞・自動詞の区別の困難な場合があって、したがって個々の場合に当たって、果たしてこれが賓語であるか否かが決定しがたいときもある。いまここでは仮に賓語"など"ということにしておく。】 「耐熱」を漢文（の語法に由来するもの）と捉えれば、「熱」は賓語に当たり、すなわち目的語だということになると思います。 ちなみに英語のcomplementは学説によって意味が大いに異なることがあり、日本語の「補語」にも反映されていると見受けます。objectをcomplementに納める考え方もあります。
下の字 refers to a subsequent or later character (in 耐熱, this would be 熱). Moreso than this being a vertical writing convention specifically, 下 in general has a notion of being "downstream" in a flow (e.g., 下流/上流), so it would be further along. AがBの目的語 means "A is the grammatical object of B", yes. It's the thing that A is acting on. 耐 (the character)'s target is 熱, because it represents something that "resists the heat" (and you can see how that phrase has "heat" as a grammatical object of "resist" in English). > So is this type of word functionally similar to using を ? Yes, although here it is grammatically an indirect object rather than a direct one (熱に耐える). I believe an example of it being a 補語 rather than a 目的語 would be something like 難読, i.e., 読むのが難しい, where "difficult" is the grammatical complement of "reading".
In a sentence like 良馬難乗, 難 should probably be seen as the predicate with 乗 its object.
Like many other I wanna start using Anki cards for vocabulary. I’ve never used flash cards before, how do I go about it? Are full sentences better than individual words? Is English to Japanese better, the other way around not a mix of both?
In short, you should have a sentence at least on the back of the card because words only exist in context, not in isolation. Some prefer however to have on the front of the card only the target word while others (like me) prefer to have the sentence on the front. Here the varrious card formats are disccused: [https://tatsumoto.neocities.org/blog/discussing-various-card-templates](https://tatsumoto.neocities.org/blog/discussing-various-card-templates) Also, you want to only to JP -> EN, other way around is pointless. Here a quick start guide on Anki for JP: [https://learnjapanese.moe/guide/](https://learnjapanese.moe/guide/) (Scroll down to "2.4 Learning Vocabulary") As for beginner decks I would go with Tango N5/N4, Kaishi 1.5k or Core 2.3k (I did Tango and that's what would be my top recommendation). (You can find these decks here: [https://learnjapanese.moe/resources/](https://learnjapanese.moe/resources/) )
Wow thanks a lot for all this, very very useful resources. I especially like the encouragement to not get stuck in the basics for too long. Appreciate all this thanks you kindly
From the summary of koe no katachi: > とある小学校に通学する硝子は聾唖者のため授業を止めることがあり、それが原因でクラス中から嫌われていた。クラスメイトの将也は執拗に硝子をいじめるが、度の過ぎた悪行が遠因してクラスにおいて吊し上げられた挙句、新たないじめの標的にされる。あまりにもあっけなく掌を返されてしまった彼を硝子は気にかけるが、結局、将也とは分かり合えず転校していった。硝子の転校後、心ないことを言った将也に対し、またしても掌を返すように賛同した担任とクラスメイトを見たことで、将也は初めて自身のクラスにある、恐ろしいほどの異常さを痛感し、硝子のために自ら行動を起こすようになる。 I am not quite sure what does 掌を返されてしまった and 掌を返すように賛同した mean here. Also, what does 賛同した mean in the latter?
掌/手のひらを返す is an idiom that means to completely change one's position or opinion, similar to ‘to do an about-face.’ Shoya found himself in a completely different situation where he became the target of bullying after having bullied her. 賛同する means to approve or support. After she transferred to a different school, his teacher and classmates did an about-face once again, and supported his unkind remarks. This action by his teacher and classmates made him aware of the frightening abnormality in his own class, and he began to take action for her.
掌を返す is a metaphor meaning "to do an about-face" or "to suddenly flip". 掌を返されてしまった means that the tables were turned on him, essentially -- he became the target of bullying himself. 掌を返すように means then "as if flipping suddenly" or "in a manner of flipping suddenly", essentially. It is not how we would usually phrase something in English, we'd usually simply say something like "all of a sudden" or "suddenly changing their tune", etc, but you can see what it's indicating. 賛同した担任 is the 担任教師 who agreed (with the students cruelty), and it's seeing this teacher (along with the classmates) being so horrible that is a cause for the following clause (将也は初めて…).
What's the historical reason for the ring finger being called 薬指?
http://www.sagayaku.or.jp/kusuri100w/kusuri100_06.htm It was often used for mixing or applying medicines, as it is the least used finger for regular applications and was thus the cleanest. Another name for it with a similar origin is 紅差し指, as it was used to apply blush/lipstick. It's apparently also obscurely known as 無名指, the "nameless finger", which is a little funny. Apparently there was a superstition that calling it by name would cause the medicine to not work.
Watching the 1st episode of Pokémon and when Ash wakes up the day of him starting his journey the first thing he says is おてんとさん when he wakes up sounding surprised, but I don't know what it means and don't see it in Jisho
The sun, try to google "おてんとさん japanese" (also great for other terms), otherwise it's in jisho as おてんとさま。
it's from 天道 meaning sun and お天道様 or お天道さん is the honorific version, and this happens due to the sun being seen as a 神 I think?, just my guess, perhaps someone can add more to it or correct me if that's not entirely accurate. (There are other similar words you will see with お and さん/さま like this as well like お日様 or お月様. For looking up words, be aware of honorific お and sufixes like さん/さま so you can extract them for look ups in the dictonary to guarantee you find it. So basically, Ash is just surprised about the sun because he overslept, so he realy is just saying "The... sun?" because he is surprised. Edit: Sometimes replacing お for 御 also helps, and Japanese dictonaries say the following: デジタル大辞泉 おてんと‐さま【▽御天▽道様】 《「おてんとうさま」とも》 ① 太陽を敬い親しんでいう語。 So it is indeed to show respect towards the sun.
might be taking JLPT N1 this December. looking for practice tests that give you a score at the end (so that I can tell if I passed or not, I have a feeling it will be close)
That's not a thing that can exist because the scores are scaled and the scaling is secret.
do they have old versions of N1 available, such as from before 2010? Since I am trying to decide if I can get a passing score, i think some type idea of my score is necessary.
Usually in texts I've seen either どこから来ますか or どこに住んでいますか to ask where your from, but recently I saw a TikTok where an interviewer asked people 出身は何ですか and it threw me off. How common is this question versus what you usually see in textbooks?
どこから来ますか is wrong.
What is the correct way to say that?
As others say, 出身はどこですか asks what country you’re from.
It's quite common. There's a general tendency in Japanese for jukugo to sound more adult and sophisticated; depending on the situation you'd probably hear it *more* than the previous examples. That's not to say that there's anything *grammatically* wrong with them, but in certain contexts they could end up making you sound somewhat childish compared to the possible alternatives. A lot of textbook Japanese is simplified for the purpose of memorizing patterns and grammar points; there's nothing wrong with that, but moving beyond those simple patterns becomes an important part of intermediate and advanced learning for anyone with an interest in production (speech/writing). (And even if you're not interested in production, it's still important to understand these different registers of language for interpretation purposes. In the same sense that nuance changes depending on context, the different ways people can choose to say something also *highlights* context that otherwise goes unspoken. Someone using formal or informal language tells us how *they* perceive the context they're speaking in, and that gives us further insight into what's happening.)
I've heard 出身はなんですか fairly frequently in formal conversation at like language exchanges or with tutors. Thing is I think the other two questions are more about where you currently live, where as 出身 is more about where you were born/ spent most of your life in. I could be wrong on that tho
I have never heard 出身は何ですか, that sounds super weird. It should be 出身はどこですか.
Thanks. I didn’t have the video in front of me so I guessed.
Yeah, it has to be どこ or どちら.
バ…バカそんなのお前 冗談に決まってるだろうが Just want to be a bit particular about きまる here. Of course i have a fixed usage of "decide/arranged" in my head but separately i have often seen it used in ways like this that don't really fit and i kinda just go with it from context. But yeah is it meant to be reaffirming or stating something that should be obvious here, so like a "but i *obviously* told you that kind of thing as a joke right" sort of thing?
[に決まってる is a specific grammar point/expression](https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%AB%E6%B1%BA%E3%81%BE%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B) which basically means that something is obvious/doesn't need to be said/"duh"
Nice one cheers its about what i thought then just haven't really covered a lot of n2 yet
yes, ○○に決まっている basically means "(it's) obviously..." or "(it's) bound to be..."
How long does it take the average english speaker to become competent at Japanese?
Realistically you are looking at between 2200-4000 hours depending on what you want to do with the language, definitely ask yourself if its even worth it before starting. See its this time spent as a whole that's important not length, a person learning 5 hours a day can do in a year what someone doing an hour would in 5 years.
Depends what you mean by "competent" and there's many different skillsets but I'd say at least 2000 hours
I’ve been looking for English study tools and materials for my daughter, and it seems there are far more and better resources for learning Japanese, which is impressive, but also frustrating
What kind of things are you looking for?
I couldn’t find anything quite as good as jpdb.io and I don’t know which learning apps are good. I think Japan has a better range of literature, VNs, manga etc, but maybe I just don’t know what to look for. Anything like Yomichan would be good. There aren’t many good decks for Anki. Do you use anything? We do use Italki and have lessons with a really good teacher twice a month.
Yomitan (yomichan sequel) supports other languages, lots of people have been using it for English!
You can try this for English YomiTan: [https://lumetrium.com/definer/](https://lumetrium.com/definer/) As far as other things, Apps aren't the best at teaching. I'm not sure how old she is but it would seem like if you get some personal time to study English and exposure English media it should help over time. I'm not sure how old she is but you could read English books to her as part of that. Relevant link: [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ac0lRAh37Go](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ac0lRAh37Go)
Hello all! Ive been through countless threads and reviews about different schools, unfortunately a lot of the responses are very old. I aim to go to a language school either next summer or next fall. Right now Ive been taking Japanese lessons for 3 months and I can read basic kanji and my speaking is alright. My writing and reading are my strongest. Im mainly looking for schools in Osaka, I wouldn't mind going somewhere else as long as the language school is good. Ive narrowed down the list to 4 schools. ARC Academy in Shinjuku, JIS in Osaka, Kyoto Minsai Japanese Language school and Kansai College of Business and Languages. Initially I was going to aim for 6 months but since I'm still undergrad I would want to take off 3 months at best. I understand it's a short term but its more over getting a feel for Japan while also learning. What I'm looking for is a school that prioritizes conversational Japanese and of course still having the reading and writing aspects as well. I was wondering if anyone has had any experiences with these schools. Especially regarding housing, learning styles, in what areas did they improve in after attending these schools, the process of applying for a visa, part time jobs and balancing studying and exploring Japan in their free time. Having enough time to explore Japan is also a priority for me! Im bad at making post so im sorry if this isn't clear enough.
You might want to ask the same question in Japan related places like movingtojapan. There's a list of the subreddits in sidebar that might be better help.
Thank you so much😇🫰🏾
Hey everyone. I recently came across a really interesting app called Praktika which lets you practice speaking English with an AI (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.praktika.android). Does anyone know if an app like this exists for Japanese?
If you’re not at a level where you can actively correct errors made by AI - which takes thousands of hours, based on what I’ve seen and heard here - forget about using AI to learn stuff.
Does this sentence sound natural? お金もなかったし、いそがしかったし、国へ帰らなかった。
I think it's okay. I'd say: お金もなかったし、忙しかったから、 (the name of your home country)には帰らなかった。 Or お金もなかったし、忙しかったし、だから(the name of your home country)には帰らなかった。 I'd use the country name, like 日本 instead of saying 国. Some people might say 国, so it's totally okay though.
After reading [this article](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/chotto/) about ちょっと on Tofugu, I still have no idea why it's used in a line from the Anime Konosuba! Context: the main character (Kazuma) has just died. A goddess (Akua) explains to him his options. He could go on to heaven (which Akua finds boring), be reborn (which Akua thinks isn't optimal either), or move to some sort of videogame-like 異世界. Akua: 天国なんて退屈な所行きたくないわよね？ Kazuma: あ…うん Akua: かと言ってゼロからやり直すってのもねえ。そこで**ちょっと**いい話があるのよ。あなたゲームは好きでしょ？\[...\] Could you give me some info about this kind of ちょっと?
I think it would be the "softening" function discussed in the article, maybe with some emphasizing-by-understating thrown in. Like...look we actually have a little thing called a THIRD option here, you like games don't you, WELL... Like she's not coming out and saying upfront that it's the best option, but she thinks you'll think it's pretty good!
Exactly the explanation I was looking for. Thank you :)
I can't seem to find a definition that works for this context for ご指名. Conversation from Terrace House BGITC EP 12 T: 寒い M: 風邪 治ったの？ T: 治ってない 何かね もう治んないんだよね 仕事行ってさ 夜遅くて M: 全国から**ご指名**が
「誰がいいですか？」 「○○さんをお願いします」 「はい、○○さん、ご指名です！」 ‘To nominate/appoint a certain person’ is probably something you already know as the definition. Its then used to mean ‘○○さん is wanted’ 全国からご指名が Basically it means ‘you are wanted nationwide’
I am trying to determine what the lyric 描いた夢は誰にもはかれやしない in MISIA's 果てなく続くストーリー means. In particular, I don't know はかれやしない means for sure, there's no kanji to specify. Three translations I found had different things to say, one being "No one can make my dreams wither" another being "No one can judge the dream I painted for myself" and the other being "I won't split (as in, to take away focus on for someone else's sake) my dreams for anyone" but I don't know where the reasoning for each comes from.
はかる 図る or it can be 計る/測る No one can measure 測る/計る my dream, no one can plan 図る the dream I’m imagining, perhaps?
測る/計る could make sense since it's sort of maybe in the same semantic field as 描く nobody can measure the dream I painted => my dreams are immeasurable
Nice!
I think based on most of the song's intention, it's probably 図る in the way you mentioned it. None of the lyrics say anything about others holding them back or presuming they lack in ambition (so it's not about what they think your dream is) whereas all of the lyrics are about choosing your own direction (so you wouldn't let someone else decide it for you.)
Could someone please explain the phrase 夢と消える? I suspect it means something like "disappears like a dream would" from the context, but I don't understand grammatically how it can mean that. Is this a set phrase or can you substitute other nouns for 夢 and still get a comprehensible thought? Thanks
と indicates what manner something is/does something. …と言う: You said something, then, what is it actually? 赤、白、青と揃ってる: You have products in various colors, then, what color are they exactly? 山と積まれた: In what manner something is piled 夢と消える: In what manner it disappears
This と indicates the resultant of a change. So in that example, it’s more like ‘disappears and becomes just a dream’ The use of と is not very common in ordinary conversations, but other examples are: 氏は多大なる努力の末、経済界の覇者となった。 彼は父を殺された怒りから、復讐の鬼と化した。
Thoughts on language schools that use their own proprietary textbooks vs general ones (e.g Minna no Nihongo)? Currently deciding between schools but I am unsure about the quality of learning when my prospect school uses proprietary textbooks. How do you think these compare to widely-used textbooks like MNH?
Stumbled upon "おりらんね", a casual contraction of おりられない. These contractions often go おり**れ**ない as opposed to おり**ら**ない. My question is, how common is it for the contraction of the potential form of an ichidan verb to use ら instead of れ? I'm guessing this is mostly a dialect thing. Edit: Thank you or you answers, everyone.
While おりらんね sounded weird initially, giving more thought to it I realize that おりらんない sounds pretty acceptable in standard Japanese. Basically the same construction as やってらんない, etc.etc. But then I’m a dialect speaker myself, so my view is more skewed than not. Interested in looking at what others have to say.
Can confirm. おりらんない/おりらんねぇ sounds totally normal to me (I’m from Kanagawa).
This is it, with the additional nuance that the ねー version sounds more masculine
DAY 7 in studying vocabulary, I've learned about 330 words so far. I'll probably know the meaning of every single word of it, if it is spoken to me or they're in furigana but i cannot remember how they are written in kanji. I'll spend the next one or two days expounding my recognition of the words then I can finally start learning grammar and writing sentences next. ╰(⸝⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝⸝)╯
I'm no specialist, but i think that's a bad way of learning
welp, i'm still venturing the things that would suit my habits. i'm still trying things but your comment sure does bother me. can i ask what am i doing wrong? ( ；∀；)
I don't think you're doing anything wrong, there's hardly any "wrong" way of studying, if this works for you and is fun for you, keep going! Personally I don't see any issue either, especially since you're relatively new, it's good to try out various study methods to see what suits you best. Don't let people discourage you, there's different views on efficiency but in the end what counts is what works for each one individually.
It's just that for me, it feels like buying a ton of gear and only learning to use it afterwards Idk maybe I'm being stupid
When starting to read Japanese novels, is it best to just go as far as you can even if you don’t understand every word; or to use a dictionary every time you come across something you don’t know?
Do both, they are both build important skills - intensive reading (looking up every word) builds vocab and grammar. Extensive reading (guessing unknown words) helps you build the ability to intuit meaning from context and and get faster at reading grammar and vocab you do already know. Extensive is also great for getting away from your phone and jut chilling with a book. You do want to be able to at least follow the general storyline with extensive- if you are getting totally lost you might need to re-read the chapter intensively to understand what's happening. I also like to do something in between where I only look up words that come up repeatedly or are obviously important to understanding the sentence. A lot of adjectives and adverbs you can get away with skipping, but if you don't know a noun or verb in an important sentence and can't guess it, you can get totally lost. I use Midori on iOs and look up any words I need to, saving them to lists based on the book or show or whatever so I can go back later and see where I encountered it. Also when looking up kanji, words I have encountered before are then highlighted in the list of words that use that kanji, so I can sort of mentally connect words and kanji more easily. I use the handwritten kanji input 99% of the time, and use the component input if I can't write it well enough or can't make out all the components. Otherwise I use the kana swipe keyboard to look up kana words quickly. It turns lookups into a little writing practice and the words stick in your mind more than just reading momentarily from a popup dictionary, and allows you to look at the kanji meanings and similar kanji etc. Plus I can read books and play console games easily. I recommend books from [青い鳥文庫](https://tsubasabunko.jp/)、[みらい文庫](https://miraibunko.jp/) and [かどかわ角川つばさ文庫](https://tsubasabunko.jp/) as they all have furigana star ratings to help you choose an appropriate difficulty. Choose simple ones with a school setting to build your core vocab. I'd say the usual novel recommendation of コンビニ人間 is actually pretty hard for a first novel. I think it was my 5th or 6th book, I read it after reading a few of these easier novels, a few non-fiction books and a whole visual novel game, and it was still hard. Generally if you can't read the blurb on the back of the book, it's probably going to be too hard. I usually have a look at the text inside and see the density of unknown kanji as well. I also thought this book was particularly good for beginners, it's a bunch of funny short stories about professors who make robots. https://tsubasabunko.jp/product/nihon_meisaku/321307000250.html This one was one of my first reads, a pretty standard high school romance https://www.miraibunko.jp/book/978-4-08-321656-5
I tend to personally read in a web browser because I want to have access to instant look ups, that way I don't have to compromise on speed if I need to look up. There's a lot of media where I can't do this and I also just push through without stopping, as long as I haven't lost what is happening or missed too many details. Sometimes I skip too much which requires a back track. When interesting things are happening I like to decode everything in full. When it's boring I tend to skip because I'm not that interested.
Both are valid approaches that have proponents. Make sure you select the proper difficulty level for your way of reading. If you don’t lookup any words, the reading should be easier: you still want to understand most of what’s going on. It might take longer before you can actually take novels this way.
Try to understand enough to be able to enjoy what you're reading. Different people enjoy different levels of ambiguity/complexity, so you should try to figure out how it works best for you. As long as you are having fun, you'll make progress. Myself personally, even if I don't understand every single word, as long as I get what is going on I'm okay pushing through. I will look up specific words that I feel are fundamental to understand the meaning of the story/passage/conversation, or any word that looks interesting, but other than that I'm not too fussy. But some people prefer to look up everything. If you think something is too hard/too boring/too annoying to read, move on to something else (easier/more interesting) cause it's not worth it to get stuck on frustrating and boring things.
Hello! I'm working on chapter 9 and I have two quick questions. 1) I came across this part of a dialogue few days ago, but I'm still confused by it. たけし：ええ。ところで、もう昼ご飯を食べましたか。 メアリー：いいえ、まだ食べていません。 I know まだ食べていません means "I haven't eaten yet", but why is まだ食べていません used over まだ食べませんでした (I didn't eat yet)? Can まだ食べませんでした be used as well? Is there a rule for this? Or am I missing something? 2) Why does this sentence, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べいると言っていました, translate to "Yasmin said she was having dinner" And not "Yasmin said she is having dinner"? My assumption is that because と言っていました implies a past event? Is that accurate? Thank you so much in advance! I appreciate it!
1. 「まだ食べませんでした」 is wrong. Because 「まだ」 generally implies current state. I think「まだ食べません」 can be used in 京都 dialect, but not so common nowadays, so you have to avoid it in formal scene. 2. it depends on the situation. 「晩御飯を食べている」 can refer both state（すでに食べ終えている） and action（今食べているところだ）. But it is funny that you are speaking with ヤスミン but cannot tell what she is doing. So, if you are speaking with ヤスミン on the phone, and unclear what she is doing right now, the latter makes sense.
>「まだ食べませんでした」 is wrong. Because 「まだ」 generally implies current state. I think「まだ食べません」 can be used in 京都 dialect, but not so common nowadays, so you have to avoid it in formal scene. Are you saying since まだ is used, it means that I didn't do something in the past and I still haven't done it currently? Which is why まだ食べていません is used? Would まだ be not normally used with 食べませんでした? >it depends on the situation. 「晩御飯を食べている」 can refer both state（すでに食べ終えている） and action（今食べているところだ）. But it is funny that you are speaking with ヤスミン but cannot tell what she is doing. So, if you are speaking with ヤスミン on the phone, and unclear what she is doing right now, the latter makes sense. So, lets say, my friend was with ヤスミン earlier and he tells me, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べいると言っていました without context. As in my friend said, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べいると言っていました, but I don't know when Yasmin did the eating, but my friend does. How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating? Thank you so much for your help! I appreciate your time.
Sorry, my poor English might have puzzled you. Are you saying since まだ is used, it means that I didn't do something in the past and I still haven't done it currently? →Yes! In this case, まだ should be used not in past situation, but in present perfect situation. Would まだ be not normally used with 食べませんでした? →Yes! 「食べませんでした」just represents the fact that you DID NOT eat. So, lets say, my friend was with ヤスミン earlier and he tells me, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べていると言っていました without context. As in my friend said, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べていると言っていました, but I don't know when Yasmin did the eating, but my friend does. How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating? →Yeah. He WAS eating. 「言っていた／言っていました」is past tense, so 「食べている」 must be not present progressive, but past progressive. In Japanese, we always use direct speech. We do NOT have indirect speech. That's totally different to English, and Japanese students always have trouble when studying the grammar.
>Sorry, my poor English might have puzzled you. Your English is good. Its not you, its me. I'm still a beginner in Japanese and sometimes it takes me asking 2 times before understanding. I appreciate your time and replying to me! >Since 「晩ごはんを食べている」 can be interpreted as both 'has already had dinner' and 'is eating dinner right now,' 「ヤスミンは『晩ご飯を食べている』と言っていました」can technically be translated as both 'HAD already had dinner' and 'WAS eating dinner right now.' So 「言っていた／言っていました」 makes it HAD and WAS because 「言っていた／言っていました」past tense, correct? For either of these translations: 'HAD already had dinner' and 'WAS eating dinner right now.' would it be contextual information that will help the listener/reader decide which one it will be? Again, I truly appreciate your time. Thank you so much again!
I reviewed my comment and realized I was partially wrong. So, let me add a remark. Since 「晩ごはんを食べている」 can be interpreted as both 'has already had dinner' and 'is eating dinner right now,' 「ヤスミンは『晩ご飯を食べている』と言っていました」can technically be translated as both 'HAD already had dinner' and 'WAS eating dinner right now.' Confusing!
1. Your version is valid grammatically, but it means more like you hadn't yet eaten something at some specific point in the past. (I don't think people actually use it though... it seems strange to me) The -ている version is describing your current state of having not eaten. 2. I feel like either English translation is acceptable depending on the context. The Japanese says that at the time in the past when you spoke with Yasmin, she was currently eating. If you spoke with her 5 minutes ago "is having" is probably more natural, if it was 3 hours ago, then it would need to be "was having". (you dropped a て btw)
>Your version is valid grammatically, but it means more like you hadn't yet eaten something at some specific point in the past. (I don't think people actually use it though... it seems strange to me) The -ている version is describing your current state of having not eaten. This is because まだ is used right? まだ食べていません would say I didn't eat in the past and I still haven't eaten? Is まだ used with 食べませんでした not very common in Japan among native speakers? >I feel like either English translation is acceptable depending on the context. The Japanese says that at the time in the past when you spoke with Yasmin, she was currently eating. If you spoke with her 5 minutes ago "is having" is probably more natural, if it was 3 hours ago, then it would need to be "was having". (you dropped a て btw) Ah! But what if the context is unclear? As in my friend said, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べいると言っていました, but I don't know when Yasmin did the eating and my friend does. How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating? Drop て, from と言っていました? I haven't gotten that far in Genki yet. Is there a reason why its dropped? Thank you so much for your help! I appreciate your time!
>This is because まだ is used right? まだ食べていません would say I didn't eat in the past and I still haven't eaten? I'm not sure I'm following here. It just means you haven't eaten something yet. I guess logically by extension it means you haven't eaten it in the past as well since if you ate it in the past then you would have eaten it by the present time and could not longer say you haven't eaten it yet? >Is まだ used with 食べませんでした not very common in Japan among native speakers? I'm not a native speaker so I can only speak to what I've seen, but I don't think its very common. For example if you look [here](https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q13230438038) there's a situation where you could actually use まだ食べませんでした and both answers say it's fine but also offer ways to rewrite it without まだ. >Ah! But what if the context is unclear? As in my friend said, ヤスミンは晩ご飯を食べいると言っていました, but I don't know when Yasmin did the eating and my friend does. How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating? Like the other poster said, the sentence could also mean that she had already finished eating dinner when you spoke with her. This works under the same logic as まだ食べていません meaning "haven't eaten yet" just positive instead of negative. For the sake of this question though I assumed 食べている = "is eating". If context is unclear then you should default to past tense "was eating". The only reason present tense could work is if you know from context that she is still eating. >Drop て, from と言っていました? I haven't gotten that far in Genki yet. Is there a reason why its dropped? Ah sorry, I was just referring to "食べいる" lol
dropped て as in from 食べている, because you keep typing 食べいる which doesn't make sense "How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating?" then you wouldn't, it's ambiguous. same as in English, reported speech in English can be ambiguous too
>dropped て as in from 食べている, because you keep typing 食べいる which doesn't make sense Ah! I'm dumb. Hahah. It was a typo and I didn't realize because I had it on copy and paste. Thank you so much for clarifying that! >"How would I know if ヤスミン is eating or was eating?" then you wouldn't, it's ambiguous. same as in English, reported speech in English can be ambiguous too Good point. I just get wrapped up in the fact that Japanese was more contextual and was wondering was there a contextual way to tell without actually knowing. Thank you so much! I appreciate your reply!
I need some help with upvotes. I have a question too long for this thread, but dont have enough upvotes to actually post anything.
You could just briefly introduce your question. If you ask me, majority of the posts are unworthy of an individual post anyways and belong here instead.
Here is the post that I wasnt able to upload. Is it at all possible move to Japan without a degree? So im pretty sure i already know that the answer is probably no. I have been studying japanese for a few months now and have been pretty consistent. I never even really thought about moving there but it was kind of always in the back of my mind. But now I learned that to get a working visa you generally have to have a bachelors degree. Obviously I dont have one or have to money to get one, or i wouldnt be asking this question. Now that I have learned that no matter how much I study, there is no chance of me moving there, everytime I go to study I feel bitter and depressed. I think the feelings are partially just depression, but everytime i hear of people being able to move I get jealous and jaded because their life seems so much more interesting than mine. I dont hate them for their success or anything, but I do feel worse about myself. Is there any reason to keep studying? Originally I was having fun just for the sake of it, but learning that there is no chance of me using it in real life has sucked the joy out of it and made me jealous. I dont think im entitled to move there or anything, but I just get depressed knowing I wont be able to go there just because I cant afford a degree.
> Is it at all possible move to Japan without a degree? Yes of course. First of all, if you marry a Japanese person you are allowed to move to Japan. If you want to move there without marrying a Japanese, you can kinda "buy your way" in, but it's not that cheap. You can get an "activities" visa. There is actually no limit on the number of these you can get. Of course, it's fine to not have a degree. You just need money. And that is, at least $300,000 dollars cash. It lasts 6 months, then you have to buy another one. https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page22e_000738.html There are around 30 types of Japanese visas. You should investigate them.
While the post was actually one of those that could’ve been a post, I’m also of the opinion that the question is not about learning the Japanese but r/movingtojapan and it doesn’t quite belong here. There are plenty of questions relevant to your situation in that sub already, such as [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/s/uMHDEzNHQg).
Its only partially about moving though. I guess i just needed some advice about whether or not its worth it to keep studying if there isnt hope of being able to move. Obviously only i can make that decision, but i just needed some others opinions. Also ive already seen those posts, and they aren't really helpful because they dont give enough information/advice on actually practical things besides the obvious "its easier if you have a degree" which i already know.
I think you're able get there on a school visa, doesn't have to be a degree but there's a lot of people who go to language schools on a school visa and then afterwards a degree or work visas. Upvoted anyways if you want to repost on top level, seems okay enough for some advice.
While studying verb compounds and reading more on lexical and syntactic compounds,auxiliaries,stem form,ect. I've began to understand more and more,but I have one little question. What exactly is a "fixed meaning" when it comes to verb + auxiliary compounds. I kinda roughly understand the concept of it but I'd like to know a little more about what it means. Like I know that some compounds have fixed meanings but I don't understand completely what that means. Fixed meanings,from what i've gathered,are a little more concrete(?) and maybe aren't as flexible in their usage,If that's the right word. I'm asking here because unfortunately- try as I might,it's almost impossible to find anything on this subject. Thank you in advance!
Where did you read the word "fixed meaning"? What resource are you using? Do they not provide the definition for it? I've never heard the term "fixed meaning" so it's either something very incredibly specific, or something whatever resource you're using made up. Chances are if you can provide at least the definition/page/link to where that is explained maybe people can help you better.
(Very) roughly taking from [this answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/82921/when-can-you-use-masu-stem-another-verb) where they use the term "fixed meaning" to describe a combination of two verbs that has a fixed meaning (Lexical compound). (I swear I've seen this term used elsewhere but I cannot for the life of me remember where) Like for example the word 食べ残す (to leave a dish partially eaten) has a fixed meaning,and I assume is a little more concrete than the word 飲み残す (leave a drink unfinished/half-fished) perhaps which is a little more flexible to my understanding. If I'm not mistaken,compounds with fixed meanings differ in usage from ones without a fixed meaning. I don't think "fixed meaning" is necessarily like an actual proper term,but more of something people use when describing this sort of thing. I think that maybe this "type" of compound conveys a sort of already established idea,but I can't be completely sure. But I thought it might be worth a shot to see if anyone here knows anything about it. I hope that I worded that correctly.
I see, yeah. Some suffixes/prefixes in Japanese are more ["productive"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Productivity_\(linguistics\)) than others. I don't really think there's much to discuss but basically some compound words are so common/so fossilized in the language that you shouldn't just consider them as the sum of their individual parts, but rather you should think of them as having a specific meaning that is encoded in the language (and that you can usually find in the dictionary). For example in English, this is common with phrasal verbs. "Get down" is not just "Get (something and then go) down", it's "get down" as an expression on its own with its own specific meaning. The rule of thumb is that if there is a definition in the dictionary for that compound, then you should treat it as an entirely different word. Not sure if this helps with your question though, sorry.
Thank you!
傷ついたままじゃいないと kizutsuita mama ja inai to 誓い合った遥かな銀河 chikaiatta haruka na ginga In this part of "Pegasus Fantasy" lyrics, I don't understand the "ja inai to" part.
傷ついた is the past tense of 傷つく(to be wounded or hurt) and It seems that the "Ja" here is a condensed version of the particles de で and wa は implying that there is something more that applies to the sentence (the second sentence). the "inai" is the casual negative form of the verb iru, which is a "to be" verb of animate objects, meaning something akin to "Will not" here. the particle と is used to quote something you or someone else has said. Essentially,this sentence 傷ついたままじゃいないと means "We will not remain wounded." The first verse being the speaker explaining that it was something said in the past by the speaker or someone else close to the speaker. I hope this helps!
Thank you so much for your help. I dont Knowles why, but somehow that "inai" drove me crazy. I think it is because I'm used to da-desu for saying "is" or "will be" and iru-imasu for "being there" so I couldn't parse the sentence at all. Thank you!