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1500 questions
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votes
3 answers
私は猫が好き and 猫は私が好き
I started reading basic grammar of Japanese, and found this sentence:
ねこがすきです。
I like cats.
I thought が is the subject particle, so I supposed that ねこ would be the subject of the sentence. すき seems to mean "like". So I expected ねこがすきです to mean…
Damkerng T.
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住んでいたい and 住みたい
Can anyone tell me, what is the difference between 住んでいたい and 住みたい?
Both seem to be valid words... But I'm unsure which I should be using.
user2422320
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About ご[馳走]{ちそう}: two “runs” would give you “a feast”?
ご[馳走様]{ちそうさま}でした is the greeting that people say after being offered a meal while ご馳走 by itself means “a feast”.
I looked up this word in the dictionary to learn more about the kanji characters. It turned out that both 馳 and 走 have the meaning of…
Lukman
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16
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3 answers
Why is 空【くう】, and not 無【む】, used to define "void", "emptiness" in a buddhist context? What are their nuances?
Feel free to participate to the meta-discussion on whether this type of question (relying on buddhist terms) should be allowed on JLU.
A while back, looking at a reproduction of some famous zen buddhist scrolls in a nearby Kyoto temple, I was…
Dave
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Iterative / repetitive る evolving from classical 連体形【れんたいけい】
This is somewhat related to the discussion of classical auxiliary verb ふ, mentioned in the answer to snailboat's question, What is the わ in 忌まわしい and 嘆かわしい?.
Another apparent iterative / repetitive ending that I've bumped into is る, attaching not to…
Eiríkr Útlendi
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16
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3 answers
About the な part in negative imperative verb form (e.g. 飲むな)
In the Japanese version of "don't drink and drive" slogan, 【乗るなら飲むな】 (also 【飲んだら乗るな】), what part of speech is the な that follows the plain verb 飲む (or 乗る in the second variation) to form the negative imperative verb form?
At first I thought it was…
Lukman
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16
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2 answers
Difference and nuance between することはない and する必要はない/する可能性はない
I understand the grammar point "Verb (Dictionary Form) + ことはない" can mean either "There is no need" or "There is no possibility" depending on context.
However, what are the differences? Are there any nuances which I should be aware of? Can they…
phirru
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16
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Are there words which consist of katakana and hiragana letters together?
Obviously many Japanese words consist of kanji characters plus hiragana since the latter are used for okurigana:
食べる
水割り
鷹の爪
Recently I'v started to discover a few words that use kanji characters plus katakana too:
段ボール
紙パック
But I can't think…
hippietrail
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2 answers
Difference between って and は as topic marker
I often see って being used to mark a topic, such as in the sentence 新宿ってどこ？ I'm aware that this is more colloquial compared to the topic marker は. Other than the formality aspect, are って and は completely interchangeable in meaning when used like…
HAL
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Difference between 家内、嫁、妻、奥さん、かみさん and other words meaning wife
I have seen and heard all these words being used before all to mean wife, but what is the differences between them?
I know some, such as 家内, can only be used for your own wife, but which are which?
Additionally, I have heard there is a similar…
小太郎
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16
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Would the plain form of a verb usually be translated as future tense?
In a recent question I asked, this example sentence was offered:
映画を見る。 (I will watch a movie.)
What struck me about this was that the translated version was the future tense.
However, I always thought the plain form of a verb was…
Questioner
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Why isn't ある's negative form あらない?
ある is listed in dictionaries as having ラ行五段活用, which would suggest a negative form of あらない. However, that form does not exist. Why not?
senshin
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When is a door a ドア and when is it a [扉]{とびら}?
I've been in Japan for the summer and noticed that the announcement for the closing doors (in the Kansai area, at least) on trains is always 扉が閉まります. However, the equivalent announcement on buses appears to be a toss-up between 扉が閉まります and…
Jiahao Chen
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2 answers
Is there a logic for deciding when to employ furigana?
I'm vaguely aware that the usage of furigana is based on the intended target audience. The younger or less likely literate the target audience the more furigana are employed. But is there a system to decide which words receive furigana and which…
deceze
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6 answers
How do you pronounce the Japanese "r"?
How do you pronounce the Japanese "r"? Is it more like an "l" or something inbetween? Would there be any picture or video explaining it correctly, please link it!
Rolf
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