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17
votes
1 answer
Where does です come from?
I've heard various things about this construction from many different people, a few examples of which are:
It's a verb meaning "to be".
It's a contraction of something like でございます (de gozaimasu) or ではあります (de wa arimasu).
It just kinda appeared as…
Joe Z.
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i-adjectives that end in a 〜ない which doesn't seem to be 〜無{な}い
I noticed there are many 形容詞{けいようし} (i-adjectives) that end in 〜ない, where the な is not part of the kanji, and doesn't seem to have the meaning 無い.
Examples:
危{あぶ}ない means "dangerous", while 危 means "danger"
少{すく}ない means "few"/"scarce", while 少…
Darius Jahandarie
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17
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Is すごい slang or just informal?
Regarding すごい:
What is the right way to spell it?
Is it vulgar, or is it slang like the English "cool"?, or informal or colloquial? Is it archaic?
If it is slang, does it have a non-slang meaning?
If it would be considered too slangy or informal,…
hippietrail
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16
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1 answer
What does 窓という窓 mean?
What does 窓という窓 mean? I found it in this sentence in Harry Potter:
木の扉に寄りかかってホグワーツを見上げると、窓という窓が夕日に照らされて赤くキラキラ輝いている。
Axe
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16
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3 answers
Difference between 〜といい〜といい ＆ 〜といわず〜といわず
Can somebody explain the difference between these two expressions?
I have pasted the definitions and some examples from 日本語表現文型辞典 to help but they seem to come down to the same thing. (When can one be used but not the other and why?)
といい＝も=…
Tim
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16
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2 answers
Double subject construction?
I've recently been having trouble with constructions that seem to mark two subjects in the same clause. I've only encountered them in ～の方が... constructions, but I can't seem to make sense of them grammatically. Here are some…
Billy
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16
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1 answer
Is 以降 inclusive?
If I say:
16日[以降]{いこう}参加できません。
It means I cannot participate after the 16th.
However, what about on the 16th? Is it also implied that I cannot participate on the 16th either? Or, that I can participate on the 16th, but not after?
wip
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16
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1 answer
Difference between さよなら and さようなら
I just saw the word "goodbye" spelt as さよなら. Having clearly heard the long o sound before, I thought the word was misspelled. However, a quick online search shows both さよなら and さようなら being used. Is there any semantic or usage difference between the…
Armandas
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16
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3 answers
Difference between 何の～ and どんな～
Consider the following:
{どんな・[何]{なん}の}映画を見ましたか。
{どんな・何の}本を買いましたか。
What is the difference in the type of information requested by the two interrogatives?
My hypothesis is that 何の is used to request information from pool of discrete data, while どんな…
Flaw
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16
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3 answers
Rules for emphasizing by lengthening sounds
Sometimes, sounds are lengthened for emphasis. For example, see "とっても versus とても".
What are the rules governing this process?
Are there restrictions on where lengthening can be inserted?
とっても or とてえも or とても～?
すんごい or すご～い or すごいー?
Is it…
user1478
16
votes
3 answers
When/why did 電話する replace 電話をかける?
In some older learning material I came across, they use 「電話をかける」 for "to make a telephone call". When/why did this come to be replaced by 「電話する」 in popular usage?
Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
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16
votes
2 answers
What rules are there regarding the role a radical plays in a kanji (such as telling us about the kanji's reading or meaning)?
Are there certain rules for knowing what role a radical plays in a kanji? I've heard sometimes a radical tells us about how to read the kanji, and sometimes it tells us the meaning of the kanji. But that's all I've heard.
Could you tell me more…
Vicfred
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16
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2 answers
What is the difference in nuance and usage of the two kanji forms for なおす (naosu), 直す and 治す?
Stolen directly from Grigory M's question in the definition phase:
http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/7526?phase=definition
Ali
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16
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2 answers
この道をまっすぐ行ってください。 Why を and not で?
In a quiz, I got a question where one had to complete with に、を、で or が the following sentence:
この道（？）まっすぐ行ってください。
The correct answer being:
この道をまっすぐ行ってください。
It always seems more natural to me to put で here instead of を as 道 describes where the…
Thomas Moulard
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16
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1 answer
Nuances of "give" - あげる／与える／授ける
Can someone give some good context and scenarios for using these? Not only when to use them, but when NOT to use them as well. I know あげる is kind of the most common, but I'm just not sure of the nuances between them.
istrasci
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