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21
votes
2 answers
What is the differences in nuances between とうとう and やっと?
What is the differences in nuances between とうとう and やっと?
is it true that やっと has a more "happy" feeling attached to it?
Pacerier
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21
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3 answers
do people actually respect the nuances of 探す vs 捜す?
Part 1
I understand 探す to be to search for something (general)
and 捜す to be to search for something lost
But do people actually care about the difference in nuance when they use it?
I mean do people use them interchangeably like using 捜す for…
Pacerier
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21
votes
7 answers
What is the real difference between the proper use of the words さむい and つめたい?
In English it seems that cold is just always cold just as warm and hot regardless of whether the word describes a person's experience or the actual physical state of an object. In Japanese however there seems to be a strange case where when…
jpierson
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21
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2 answers
What is the proper use of だろう, is it "masculine", and how is it different from と思 【おも】う?
Like a lot of other foreign guys, I picked up some of my Japanese from imitating the women I spoke to. Certain phrases may have made me sound unwittingly effeminate in the early days when I had less of a grasp on the nuances.
One of those habits was…
Questioner
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21
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2 answers
Most appropriate word for 'food'
I have seen many ways of saying 'food'. I am wondering if there is ever a difference in appropriateness.
食品、食べ物、～物(type+物)、飯、ご飯、etc.
Most commonly, I think, is 食べ物, but I thought I'd use 食品 for an assignment involving 敬語（けいご）since it sounded more…
h4xnoodle
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21
votes
1 answer
What is a subsidiary verb?
What is a subsidiary verb? Could someone please explain it and give some examples of its application?
eugene_laserhair
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21
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2 answers
I am struggling with the sometimes conflicting uses of 先
Rikaisama's definition of 先 includes meanings like previous; prior; former; some time ago. However it also includes meanings such as front; ahead; the future; destination. I am struggling to make sense of when to apply each meaning since it seems to…
user5339
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21
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1 answer
Why did Asahi Shinbun write "子{こ}ども" instead of "子供{こども}" in this headline?
I just happened across an Asahi Shinbun article with a headline that reads:
日本{にほん}の子{こ}どもの幸福度{こうふくど}は６位{い} 豊{ゆた}かさの一方{いっぽう}、深刻{しんこく}な貧困{ひんこん}
(-) Compacting articles as much as possible is a standard practice in every newspaper in the world. Yet,…
davewp
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21
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6 answers
Which is correct: こんばんわ or こんばんは?
I've seen both こんばんわ and こんばんは used; which is correct here? If we interpret the は as the topic particle, は would seem correct, but it seems that わ is used quite frequently anyway...
bdonlan
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21
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2 answers
Meaning of ぬ added to 連用形 / masu-stem, as in 風立ちぬ
What does the ぬ at the end of 立ち specify? I can't find a verb that is just 立ちぬ, is this some kind of special form? Can this be done with other verbs as well?
風立ちぬ, for reference, is Miyazaki's new film's name.
user3457
21
votes
5 answers
The という in things like 〜ということ・〜というの・〜という感じ・〜というわけ etc
I have been trying for ages to understand the reason という is used so frequently. In other words, what does it add to the sentence and what connotations does it have in Japanese? I understand the meaning of each word individually in many of the set…
Nathan
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21
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4 answers
How many Kanji characters are there?
I have been searching around, but all the sources give completely different answers ranging from 2,000 to 50,000. So my question is how many Kanji characters that have ever existed since the dawn of time? Does this include unofficial characters?
Van Nguyen
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21
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4 answers
When did you last...?
I am searching for a way to ask a question like "When did you last see her?" or "When did you last do the laundry?, or also "When did we last meet?" Basically, how do you construct a question with this content:
"When was the most recent time when X…
Kdansky
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20
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1 answer
What's the (real) difference between 飲む and 食べる?
When I first started learning Japanese, I learned that 飲む meant "drink" and 食べる meant "eat". These translations seemed to work for a while, but then I learned that you could 飲む things that you can't drink, like 息, タバコ, or 錠剤.
While going through…
user1478
20
votes
2 answers
Differences between the many words for dinner
According to my dictionary, the following words all mean the same thing: "Dinner":
[夜]{よる}ご[飯]{はん}, [晩]{ばん}ご[飯]{はん}, [晩飯]{ばんめし}, [晩食]{ばんしょく}, [夕]{ゆう}ご[飯]{はん}, [夕飯]{ゆうはん(ゆうめし)}, [夕食]{ゆうしょく}
A similar thing goes for "Breakfast" ([朝]{あさ}ご[飯]{はん},…
小太郎
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