There have been some nice posts lately about the differences in the saying…nani nani desu vs nani nani n desu or no desu or nan desu or the casual speech equivalents.
I’m wondering, what happens if really should use one of these, but you don’t. Or, you use one when you should just use the regular desu/da etc.
Like, say you don’t use one of these, so instead of saying 行ったことあるのです you say 行ったことあります。And its a time when you are doing some explanation、like telling the person that’s how you know.
How does that impact what a Japanese person would think about what you are saying? Like, if you don’t use it, will the person not get it at all? or sort of get it?
3 comments
No much of an impact for a foreigner (gaijin pass) most of the time it just adds to the nuance in most cases but will sound much more natural when used correctly. Usually when used incorrectly in a question it can sound demanding so be careful of that. It doesn’t translate well but a decent translation I like that I learned from a native speaker is to translate it as “actually”. That’s just a simplified answer.
Is this a book?
Is this actually a book?
I went shopping.
I actually went shopping.
It doesn’t make any difference in understanding at all, the ん forms just adds a bit of nuance that you’re kind of explaining it instrad of just saying a plain sentence.
So the difference between this things is basically that they all mean the same thing but they stress the implication and give nuance. Obviously as Japanese people we use all of these depending on what we’re saying and more specifically WHY we’re saying it. Not using んです or なんです does not make it impossible to understand someone, we just may not pick up on the implication of what you’re saying without the extra nuance. Here are some examples.
行ったことがあります I have been. This is the standard way to say you have been somewhere and would be the appropriate response to a simple question asking if you’d been somewhere.
行ったことがあるんです。I have been (actually). This is how we say we have been somewhere to someone who may have assumed that we hadn’t or was asking us hoping that we hadn’t been somewhere. Perhaps they wanted to/offered to show you a castle in Osaka but you have already been. Saying あるんです instead of あります is acknowledging that you realize they thought you hadn’t been but you actually have. あるんです is the same as あるのです but we do not actually use this in daily Japanese outside of anime or very specific circumstances.
A few other examples.
A「コーヒーでも飲みますか？」Would you like to get a coffee?
B1「コーヒー飲めないです。」I don’t like coffee. B2「コーヒー飲めないんです。」I (actually) don’t like coffee.
In many cases, without the ん the response sounds a little curt- kind of like we may say 無愛想 which means basically unfriendly.
A「明日何時の新幹線ですか？」What time is your train tomorrow?
B1「今日の夜帰ります。」I leave tonight. B2「今日の夜帰るんです。」I (actually) leave tonight. Either is fine but the second one is more appropriate because in both cases you are basically countering their question with information contrary to their original thought process.
Basically any time you are responding to a question/assumption made based on incorrect information, you may respond with んです or なんです to emphasize you see where the mistake occurred and you are offering explanation.