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1500 questions
24
votes
6 answers
What is the difference between 「はずがない」 and 「わけがない」?
I know the following two sentences give implication that "not expecting me to understand (it)" but I have a feeling that they give different nuances that I just can't put my finger on:
それは分{わ}かるわけがないでしょう。 sore wa wakaru wake ga nai…
Lukman
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24
votes
3 answers
Confusion about "Seemingly not ～"
So there are several ways to express something is "seemingly not ～":
～なさそう
～そうにない
～そうもない
～そうにもない (is this one even real?)
I was always taught ～なさそう in my Japanese classes, and it was not until I heard one of the other ones that I ever become…
istrasci
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24
votes
1 answer
Is there a difference between さみしい and さびしい？
Both mean "lonely" and appear to be valid readings for 寂しい.
Is there a difference in nuance? Is this difference due to dialect?
pinguish
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24
votes
3 answers
How are 化け物, 妖怪, 幽霊, etc. related to each other?
In the past few years, reading light novels and the like, I have come across many different terms for ghosts, spirits, monsters, etc. in Japanese, and I'm wondering how they relate to each other. What are the differences? Is there some kind of Venn…
rintaun
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24
votes
4 answers
Is Japanese really an agglutinative language?
In the linguistics topic of language typology, Japanese is often included in lists of agglutinative (or agglutinating) languages, but when learning or reading about Japanese grammar exclusively this is rarely if ever mentioned. Other examples of…
hippietrail
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24
votes
1 answer
what is the difference between ごとに and おきに?
Both ごとに and おきに appear to mean "repeatedly at intervals".
What is the difference between these two expressions?
Homura Rin
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24
votes
5 answers
How does pitch accent work in Japanese?
My studies taught me there's two ways to say each mora in Japanese, with the way you normally talk and when you put a bit more emphasis on a mora, i.e. when someone says なつかしい, the word would be sounded out as na-tsu-ka-SHI-i.
I know only one…
Roy Fuentes
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23
votes
2 answers
Words/characters for fast food meal sizes: 並, 大, 特
When dining at Yoshinoya I never know how to ask for the size meal I want.
Their sizes are 並, 大, and 特.
I only know that "大" means big, but it also has two readings so I have no idea whether to ask for "dai" or "ooki". And since the word/character I…
hippietrail
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23
votes
4 answers
Is there an easily accessible list of terms in the Japanese grammar written both in Japanese and English?
I am a native Japanese speaker with a casual interest in languages. I sometimes have trouble explaining the Japanese grammar in English because I do not know the established English translation of some technical terms in the Japanese grammar such…
Tsuyoshi Ito
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23
votes
1 answer
What does どうした mean and how does it differ from 何をした?
I've never really understood how どうした works and hope someone can explain or point me towards further reading.
For example, in my textbook, the following question is asked in relation to a short passage:
母親の気持ちに対して、住友君はどうしましたか？
The passage…
pyrmont
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23
votes
3 answers
How 「えい」 should be pronounced in the words like 英語, 先生, etc?
P.S.: I heard that 「生」 (せい) in the word 先生 can be pronounced either as [sei] or as [see]. If it is so, is there any semantic difference between these variants?
nikkou
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23
votes
1 answer
The etymology of 助っ人
Recently I came across the word 助っ人, surprised to find out its reading was "すけっと."
Does its etymology have something to do with 助ける【たすける】 and 人【ひと】? If so, why the disappearance of た, ひ, and the addition of 促音?
NoNames
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23
votes
4 answers
When would you use 低い【ひくい】 vs 短い【みじかい】
Are 低い and 短い interchangable or do they have specific uses?
elasticrat
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23
votes
3 answers
Who decides what katakana will be used to form English loan words?
I love katakana, mostly because of how the characters look. But I am constantly baffled by why certain loan words from English are constructed using certain katakana sounds.
For example, if someone asked me to say "energy" in Japanese, I would have…
user1316
23
votes
1 answer
Why is English "ka" and "ca" sometimes rendered as キャ (kya) instead of カ (ka)?
I sometimes see that English ka and ca are rendered キャ (kya) instead of カ (ka). Why is this?
Do English ka and ca really sound more like kya than ka, at least to Japanese listeners? (I know it doesn't to me.)
Petruza
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