Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (September 22, 2022)

4 comments

1. Why is the particle combination には used in the following sentence?

   祖父と祖母には孫が八人います。
   “My grandfather and grandmother have eight grandchildren.”

   It’s from DuoLingo. I’m not sure why に is used at all here. The grandparents aren’t a destination or direction and don’t seem to be an indirect object either. They’re the subject so は makes sense. What’s the deal?

   Edit: I forgot that に can also be used for a “source” but is that language common when discussing family? The grandparents being a “source” of the grandchildren sounds a bit clunky.

2. I was wondering about this:

   > どんな顔をしてみんなと会えばいいんだろう。

   So some context, this is an elementary school kid thinking to himself, he has just broken the new TV and his family is gonna be pretty mad.

   In context, I think this should mean something like, “What kind of face should I put on when I meet with everyone?”

   But I am kinda confused by the grammar, I thought “みんなと会えばいいんだろう” would mean something like, “Will it be good if I meet with everyone(?)” And I thought that other part of the sentence would be something like, “What kind of face should I make” and I sort of feel like I’m missing something here….

3. I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about immersion lately, I’m a beginner and I’m not sure what people mean by that?

   Is what I’m doing considered immersion or not? I’m taking formal classes in a language school and we have to speak japanese only in class. I watch anime for entertainment but I don’t do any mining and watch with english subtitles. I’m reading simple japanese books meant for children, do a bit of mining to anki but not any large extent.

4. > ガチで

   Is na-adjective + で a general pattern or does it only work in some set expressions? I think I’ve heard it with other na-adjectives too.