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Are there differences in nuance and usage of [内]{ない}[緒]{しょ}, [秘]{ひ}[密]{みつ}, [隠]{かく}し[事]{ごと} and [秘]{ひ}め[事]{ごと}?
They all carry the meaning of "secret" in English, but are there differences in nuance and usage of each of them:
[内]{ない}[緒]{しょ}
[秘]{ひ}[密]{みつ}
[隠]{かく}し[事]{ごと}
[秘]{ひ}め[事]{ごと}
Incidentally, why is it that there is [内]{ない}[緒]{しょ}[話]{ばなし} but…
Lukman
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Difference between ながら, がてら and つつ
What is the difference between ながら, がてら and つつ?
Philip Seyfi
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14
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3 answers
Saying "to miss" ("I missed you over the weekend")
What's the best way to say "to miss" in the sense of feeling a longing for something, or that something pleasant is missing? I understand there's [懐]{なつ}かしむ, but it seems to me that, like 懐かしい, is more appropriate for recalling your childhood home…
Garrett Albright
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14
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1 answer
Is 「３人いるだと」 grammatical?
３人いるだと！？
Can you say ３人いるだ as a statement? If だと is simply だ + と, I would expect ３人いるんだと. Is だと considered a particle in its own right, with different rules than だ?
Transcription of the contents of the picture:
A: [何]{なに}がどうなってる!!
…
Axe
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14
votes
1 answer
Why do TV subtitles use spaces (instead of commas)?
It looks like Japanese text don't use spaces between words, not even in informal messages (yes perhaps in textbooks, but I digress). This page claims that a sentence with spaces inbetween just looks weird, example:
私の名前は ゆかです。
But it seems like…
Pacerier
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14
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3 answers
Does 韓国 mean "South Korea" or "Korea as a whole"?
When I type in 韓国 in Google, I find South Korea. But when I use Google Translate, I find just Korea. I recently read a Japanese news article where they refer 韓国 as South Korea (I think).
So what is the right way to write "South Korea", and what will…
2hTu2
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14
votes
1 answer
Stative verbs: ～ている vs ～てある vs ～（ら）れる
I'm not sure if I'm wording this properly, but I want to know the nuances of these "stative" type verb forms that act kind of like adjectives.
For example, you could describe an open window with any of the…
istrasci
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14
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"Your sniffling is driving me crazy!"
There are people in Japan who seem to think nothing of sniffling their nose indefinitely as they sit in a coffee shop, in an office, on a train, or anywhere with other people around. Sometimes surprisingly loudly. I've heard some guys who sound like…
Questioner
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14
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3 answers
Why is there two different ways of writing the 衣 component?
I notice that 衣 as a kanji component is sometimes written without the third stroke. For example, in 壌, 衣 is written with strokes 13 through to 16: below the horizontal line there are 4 strokes.
But in kanji like 展, below the line there are three…
Judas
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14
votes
4 answers
What is the difference between ～すぎ and ～すぎる?
When I was playing a video game a few months ago, I noticed that some of the characters (mostly young teen females, in case it matters) kept saying ～すぎ instead of ～すぎる.
For example, when one of the characters was being kind of rude, another…
atlantiza
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14
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1 answer
Difference between 創立、設立、樹立
Can anyone explain the difference between the words 創{そう}立{りつ}, 設{せつ}立{りつ} and 樹{じゅ}立{りつ}? They all basically mean "to set up / to found", and from what I've researched, it's all very 微{び}妙{みょう} to me.
istrasci
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14
votes
3 answers
What does チャラ mean?
What does チャラ mean? It was explained here that チャラ男 means light image. Does that mean cool image of a person? A cool person?
チャラ男とは言動が軽いさまを表す「チャラチャラ」またはこれが形容詞化された「チャラい」を男性名っぽくしたものである（単に「チャラチャラした男」「チャラい男」の略ともいわれる）。
Note: I was actually trying to…
Nap
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14
votes
1 answer
Usage of Encircled Kanji
There appear to be some kanji and other characters such as ①, ②, ③, Ⓐ, ㊄, ㊗, ㊛, ㊑, and many more, which are enclosed in circles.
These characters are listed in unicode and there are quite a lot of them, with various seemingly unrelated kanji, as…
M Palmer
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How to speak about "one" thing in Japanese?
In short, what I mean is, how can I mention about one certain thing (not one thing in amount) in Japanese?
For example "one morning" in the following sentence:
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his…
fenestra
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14
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2 answers
What is the difference between 記憶【きおく】 and 思【おも】い出【で】?
Is there any difference between the meanings or connotations of 記憶 and 思い出?
I started thinking about this after listening to the song 「タイムマシーン」 or "Time Machine" by 少女時代, where these two lines occur near the end of the…
atlantiza
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