Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (May 02, 2023)

22 comments

1. I’m a bit confused with toki and tara. Can I use them to say “When A happens, then B happens.”

   When I go to Japan, I will go to Tokyo.

   日本に行くとき、東京に行きます。

   日本に行ったら、東京に行きます。

   When I become an adult, I can drink alcohol.

   大人になるとき、お酒を飲めます。

   大人になったら、お酒を飲めます。

2. Why is it “取りに帰る” instead of “取るに帰る” in the sentence “忘れた物を取りに帰るように”?

3. I saw this:

   > 先生の体を一瞬でかみさいてしまえるほどの、僕の武器だ。

   And have a question.

   Context: A student seems to be turning into a werewolf(!) He suddenly realizes he has fangs and is talking about them in this sentence, I think.

   I think this says something like, “I could tear up the teacher in an instant, with these weapons (the fangs)”

   I was wondering about this:

   かみさいてしまえる

   this seems to be かむ put into stem form and combined with 裂く？ How can you do that grammatically? I thought you have to use て-form or something to link them?

4. I’ve recently been learning about the different kind of Verbs in Japanese and I have a question about いる and える verbs. Grammatically, how do these work exactly? I thought at first that you were supposed to count the い and え sounds along with the る, so that you can use the role of ‘It’s an う-Verb if there is an A, I, or O vowel sound before it’.

   But, then I realized 切る exists, which after the いる sound is just the K sound. So, how do I make sense of these? Is it just a matter of memorizing the exceptions or is there a rule I’m missing?

5. I found a book that I do want to read in online form. does anyone know if there’s one in the Japanese libraries?

   [https://www.amazon.sg/%E3%83%94%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BC%E6%B5%81-%E5%89%B5%E9%80%A0%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E3%81%A1%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89__%E5%B0%8F%E3%81%95%E3%81%AA%E5%8F%AF%E8%83%BD%E6%80%A7%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%80%81%E5%A4%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%AA%E4%BE%A1%E5%80%A4%E3%82%92%E7%94%9F%E3%81%BF%E5%87%BA%E3%81%99%E6%96%B9%E6%B3%95-%E3%82%A8%E3%82%A4%E3%83%9F%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AF%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B9-%E3%82%A8%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A3%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%83%A0%E3%83%AB/dp/4478016380/ref=sr_1_3?crid=39YDOBF2B8S2A&keywords=ed+catmull+japanese&qid=1682994776&sprefix=ed+catmull+japane%2Caps%2C243&sr=8-3](https://www.amazon.sg/%E3%83%94%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BC%E6%B5%81-%E5%89%B5%E9%80%A0%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E3%81%A1%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89__%E5%B0%8F%E3%81%95%E3%81%AA%E5%8F%AF%E8%83%BD%E6%80%A7%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%80%81%E5%A4%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%AA%E4%BE%A1%E5%80%A4%E3%82%92%E7%94%9F%E3%81%BF%E5%87%BA%E3%81%99%E6%96%B9%E6%B3%95-%E3%82%A8%E3%82%A4%E3%83%9F%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AF%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B9-%E3%82%A8%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A3%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%83%A0%E3%83%AB/dp/4478016380/ref=sr_1_3?crid=39YDOBF2B8S2A&keywords=ed+catmull+japanese&qid=1682994776&sprefix=ed+catmull+japane%2Caps%2C243&sr=8-3)

   It’s the Japanese edition of Ed Catmull’s Creativity.

6. When phrasing something you asked do you use “を” or “と”?

   ​

   上司に会社はたっくさん出張があるかと聞きました

   ​

   上司に会社はたっくさん出張があるかを聞きました

7. Is there a website where you can breakdown a sentence? Chatgpt seems good but idk if maybe there’s another one useful for a beginner.

8. そこからは、まさに探偵といった振る舞いで、淡々と言葉を紡いでいった。
   Can anyone explain what といった is doing here? I couldn’t find anything that seemed to fit when I googled around

9. Let’s say I’m with a group of 5 people total, and want to go to a restaurant. What do I say to the staff after I walk into the restaurant? What’s the 自然な話し方 in this scenario?

   Is something simple like「こんにちは、５人でよろしいですか？」fine? I would also assume you’d be asked with how many people you are, and simply saying ５人です would suffice?

   How would you convey that you’d prefer to sit at a western table, and not a Zashiki style seating (unless there’s a sunken floor)?

10. I’m traveling to Japan for vacation in a few months. I have been using DuoLingo to learn grammar and vocabulary, but I am not learning as much Kanji as I would like. I have found Anki and am using some decks from this. Should I be learning the pronunciation of the Kanji, or should I only care about their meaning? Again, I am traveling for vacation and I don’t expect to talk to many people aside from restaurant servers or hotel staff.

11. I’m confused with だろう grammar.

    [Tofugu](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/darou/) suggests that だろう can be used with plain verbs without adding nominalizer.
    Example：いつかなえは来るだろう。 I wonder when Kanae will come.

    But then there is のだろうか

    [This web-site](https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A0%E3%82%8D%E3%81%86%E3%81%8B) states that to use this construction you must use の。

    私たちのチームは勝てるのだろうか

    I wonder if our team can win.

    Are there two different grammars or there is something else? Thank you!

12. When ordering something (like ice cream), how important is the 一つ when I’m just ordering one thing? Is it needed or is not saying it kind of like saying “a” instead of “one”?

13. Hi everyone 🙂 I wanted to double check if my understanding of this concept is correct. Specifically, when something “becomes.” Example:

    I adjectives: drop last letter and replace with く
    Ex: ねむくなりました (I’ve become tired)

    Na adjectives: add に
    Ex: しずかになりました (It became quiet)

    Nouns: add に
    Ex: なつになりました (it has become summer)

    I’d also like to know if there’s a word for this type of grammar concept?

    Thank you everyone! 🙏

14. 人の脳は嫌なことを忘れて、良い思い出しか残しません。
    I kind of get it that it means people only remember good things but not those bad ones. But what does the か mean in this sentence?

15. I came across this phrase in Duolingo:
    これでいいですか？
    Duoling translated it as “Is this okay?”

    I’m wondering in what context this could be used though. For instance, if you were getting ready for a date and asking someone opinion on your outfit, or if you went to a doctor and they were checking your pain level. Is this a general phrase or for something more specific?

16. Trying to say “I hope it doesn’t rain next week”.

    Some attempts
    来週、雨が降らないと願いします。
    Or maybe
    来週、雨が降っていかないと願いします。
    Or maybe
    来週、雨が降らなくていくとねがいします。

17. What would be “to give someone space”? As in to not take too much of their time, not get too close, allow someone to be alone for a while. 距離をおく and ほっとく seem too harsh.

18. Hey! Is there a reliable way of batch-adding sound to an already existing deck in Anki? Either from yomichan, forvo… Thanks!

19. Hi! Beginner here. A while ago I got the manga  思い、思われ、ふり、ふられ from Box of Manga and was wondering about the title and the usage of verb stems as nous in general. From what I gather, it roughly means “To think of and be thought of, to reject and be rejected” (please correct me if I’m wrong), so the stems of 思う and ふる act as nominalizations, much like when paired with に行く, for example.

    I’ve tried to do some reading on the subject but I can’t seem to find the proper term for it. Could anyone point me to what I should be looking up? Is there a specific name for this usage?

    Thanks!

20. What is the correct way to express “more than X” / “the most”? I know how to express A more X than B with 方が／より but not when it’s done without respect to something else. Here are some example sentences I’m trying to understand:

    * I’ve played this game more than 10 times
    * I’ve seen Matt Damon movies the most (aka more than any other actor)

    Is it possible to use より by itself to indicate? Like A より X -> A the most X? Is it possible to do B 以上 Y -> Y more than B times?

21. Is there an aizuchi for “sheesh?”

    For example:
    Sheesh…あつくなりました (sheesh… it got hot)

22. Want to say something along the lines of “If you replace the batteries (then) the remote control should work again.”

    own attempt: 電池を交換して、リモコンはまた使えるようになるはずだ。

    1) Does this sentence make sense?

    2) Is はず the correct “should” in this case? If not what is?