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1 answer
～うございます - keigo い-adjectives
I'm not sure if this is actual keigo, or just a polite form of adjectives. Anyway, there are several that we're all familiar with that are still used today.
はやい → おはようございます
ありがたい → ありがとうございます
めでたい → おめでとうございます
There are a couple of others I've…
istrasci
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34
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3 answers
Kanji for native Japanese concepts: Kun'yomi spanning multiple morphemes
There are a few words, which are written with Kanji imported from China, but where the intended native Japanese meaning would prefer a different choice of Kanji. My favourite examples are
雷 vs. 神鳴り (cf. 海鳴り)
鶏 vs. 庭鳥
向日葵 vs. 日回り
Does there already…
Earthliŋ
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34
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4 answers
What are the origins of ヶ?
The ヶ in e.g. 一ヶ月 is a bit of an odd character - it looks a lot like a small version of the katakana ケ, but is it derived from that katakana originally? Or is it a normal kanji? Or is it something else entirely?
bdonlan
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34
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3 answers
The reason for using 何も+negative, but 何でも+positive
In one of the Japanese classes I attended, I've been taught that while we use 「何も出来ない」to say "He cannot do anything", to say "He can do anything" we use 「何でも出来る」 instead of 「何も出来る」.
Why is there a grammar rule that says 「何も」 is used before negative…
Lukman
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34
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1 answer
What do repeated ８s mean in internet slang?
I was watching a live video stream the other day. To my surprise, other viewers kept flooding the chat with the number eight! My screen kept filling up with messages like…
user1478
33
votes
2 answers
How did 面白い end up meaning "Interesting"?
面 by itself means "face", while 白 by itself means "white". How did these two words combine together to mean "interesting"?
小太郎
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33
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4 answers
How can I differentiate between feet and legs?
Feet are 足, and legs are also 足.
Is there a word or method with which I can easily talk about one and not the other? And if not, why is there no word for feet in the Japanese language?
Caveat: I know that one can just use フィート but that feels so very…
Kdansky
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33
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3 answers
The many ways to say "and" in Japanese
In English, we just have one word for the conjunction and which works just fine for many categories, but in Japanese, there are separate words:
と joins nouns together in a closed list
や joins nouns together in an open list
そして does it do something…
hippietrail
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33
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5 answers
What does やれ{HL}やれ{HL} "yare yare" mean?
I would like to know what the meaning of the expression やれ{HL}やれ{HL} Yare Yare is? I hear it often said in anime.
some people said "that yare yare is another japanese onomatopoeia. Kind of like pera pera, gira gira, goro goro, etc.
some others…
Educ
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33
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7 answers
What is the most natural way to refer to someone when you don't know their name and don't have a close relationship with them?
I wanted to mention to a female staff member in a shop that I visit every day that I had seen their photograph in the Shibuya shop. I was going to say:
渋谷店であなたの写真を見た。
..but あなた seemed too intimate. If I knew their name, I could have said, for…
Stuart Woodward
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32
votes
4 answers
Difference between にかんして and について?
What is the difference between にかんして and について?
Example usage would be much appreciated!
hachikuro
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32
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2 answers
How to differentiate ～られる conjugation between passive form and potential form?
For verbs of group 2, whose ～ます form is formed by dropping the ending ～る from the plain form, both the passive and potential forms have the same conjugation: ～られる. Example:
食べられる
1. to be eaten
2. can eat / edible
Other than looking at the…
Lukman
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32
votes
2 answers
ありがとうございます vs. ありがとうございました
When thanking someone, what is the rule for using ありがとうございます vs. ありがとうございました? My sensei taught us to use ありがとうございました when the action you're thanking someone for occurred in the past, but I've heard ありがとうございます used plenty of times right after the…
Amanda S
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32
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6 answers
Do Japanese people see ツ as a smiling face?
Tsu (ツ) kana is sometimes used on the internet as a smiling face, such as in the emoticon ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I'm wondering if Japanese people notice it or is just another character for them?
The reason I'm asking is that my native language is Arabic, and it…
imgx64
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32
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3 answers
My teacher wrote a triangle on my Japanese homework. What does it mean?
One of my Japanese senseis corrected my homework, and several times she drew a triangle next to the item she was correcting. Does this have a special meaning in Japan?
Lou
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