Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (April 11, 2023)

13 comments

1. For the sentence: ねつがあるんです (I have a fever)

   1. Where does the ん come from?
   2. Why do we use ある and not あります?

   I learned this sentence from Pimsleur. I can commit it to memory for sure but would like to know the underlying grammar reason for its existence. Thanks everyone!

2. After 6 months or so of studying around an hour per day I want to start doing comprehensive input however I’m a bit worried about thinking I’m understanding something and the meaning being off which would give some bad habits or wrong knowledge for the future. For those who do immersion as their main studying method, how do you know that what you are interpreting is correct?

3. **程度は知ったほうが良い**

   **I don’t understand this expression, hope someone can explains its meaning. (i can only guess it means : “One person should know when to stop.” ? but i’m not sure)**

   Context: A general was too hasty/ impatient in a battle, when he charged forward too far from his troops. Though he killed many enemies on his own, his subordinates still gave him honest advices.

   程普(Subordinate 1)「暴れるのはけっこう。ですが後続の者たちへの手柄も残しておいておやりなされ！　それが主君の情けというものですぞ！　うおおりゃあああっ！」

   最前線で暴れまくる二人の将に苦言を言いに来たはずの程普も、いつの間にか二人に混じって大振りの蛇矛で敵をなぎ払っていく。

   年のころは韓当と同じぐらいだろうか。それでも鍛えられた肉体はまったく老いを感じさせることがない。

   孫堅(General)「ははは、程普！　手柄を持っていかれて悔しいのはお前のほうだろう？」

   からかうように孫堅が笑うと、苦言を呈するように韓当が言った。

   韓当(Subordinate 2)「いいえ、私から見ても孫堅様はやりすぎです。はりきるのは分かりますが、後方の兵たちがまったくついて来れていません」

   孫堅「それを言われると言葉がないな。

   何しろ、娘がせっかちなのも俺のせいにされているほどだからな」

   **程普「まあ、程度は知ったほうが良いでしょうな。**

   御覧なさい。もう何も残ってはおりませんぞ」

4. [Full Article](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10014031781000/k10014031781000.html)
   2つ目は、少しでも変だと思ったら、どんな仕事**か**調べることです

   What is that か doing there? After looking around a bit I saw it can be used as a way of expressing uncertainty, is this it?

5. I’ve been drilling through N5-N4 mock exams, so far so good but I’m always surprised by the amount of keigo/humble form question in N5 exams. Is keigo really N5 material tho?

6. Which online translator are people using these days? I’ve been using DeepL for a while but I know the tech has evolved a lot so I was wondering if there’s anything better now? I use it to help me when I’m a bit stuck on a sentence. I know these online translators aren’t always accurate but usually it’s enough to point me in the right direction.

7. So, do 昨日, 今日, and 明日 just not have either an おにょみ or くにょみ reading? It’s something I wanted to add to my notes on new words whether the Kanji is read using おにょみ or くにょみ, but all three of those words are just neither of them. Or am I missing something?

8. 私が子供の時はさ、どこでも寝れたんだよ. My vocab deck translates this as “when I was a child, I could sleep anywhere”. I’m curious about the “はさ”, は is a particle, and Yomichan says さ is used at a sentence end for emphasis/assert. However this isn’t a sentence end, it’s a clause in the middle of a sentence.

   I should know this by now, but what counts as a “sentence end” in Japanese? Or am I missinterpreting さ entirely?

9. We are learning ~ことはあっても、~ない. Here is a sentence.

   物事の表面的、一面的知識で納得している限り、自分の世界を狭くすることはあっても、物事の本当の姿を知ることはできないのだ。

   This directly translates to something like, “As long as you are satisfied with superficial, one-dimensional knowledge of things, your world will be narrow, but you will not know what things truly are.”

   Questions:

   1) what does 物事の本当の姿 mean here?
   2) is ことはあっても、~ない always “…but”? It sounds odd to say “your world will be narrow, but you will (never) know…” because… of course not. It sounds more natural for me to use “and” instead of “but” here. Do you think that’s okay?

10. Is there a word, “できかける”? I saw できかけてた in this dialogue here (source is “Monster” Ep.48 19:26):

    ルンゲ警部: 彼が他に心を許している人物は？

    刑事 1: 彼女ができかけてたんですけどね

    刑事 2: まだやっと名前を聞き出した程度で…何て言ったっけ？

    刑事 1: アンナ…

    The context is: ルンゲ警部 is talking to two detectives about their friend and colleague who’s been accused of murder and who has disappeared. The two detectives believe in his innocence.

    I tried to Google and saw an example sentence for できかけ [here](https://ejje.weblio.jp/sentence/content/%22%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%8B%E3%81%91%22): これなんか、まだできかけのヤツですねぇ.

11. What’s the difference between 尊重 and 尊敬? For example this sentence 「両親はいつも、私の意見を尊重してくれる。」 What nuance does 尊重 add here?

12. Hi, I’ve just encountered a sentence reading コンビニ人間 that I’m a little confused. Because in one sentence it says:

    男性客が差し出した缶コーヒーを受け取る。

    I think it means: The male customer receive the canned coffee he handed.

    But then I went to chat gpt and tells me a different translation:
    “I receive the can of coffee handed to me by the male customer”

    I think chat GPT is wrong but now I’m doubting, hope somebody helps 🙂

13. Hey guys, I’m trying to write a sentence that is something to the effect “x is the best at y” or “there is nobody better than x at y”. I’ve got a couple of example sentences I’ve come up with but I’m not quite sure if they’re grammatically correct or if they even make sense, hoping someone can review them.

    1. Jack Blackさんほどコメディーの俳優演じるはいない
    2. Jack Blackさんよりコメディーの俳優演じるはいない

    The tone I’m hoping to get is one that emphasizes less on the side of Jack Black being the best and more on the side of nobody being better, though that’s how I would say it in English and of course Japanese may offer something different.