Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (October 18, 2023)

10 comments

1. It occurred to me the other day that some verbs which sound the same in the so-called dictionary/plain/imperfective form end up conjugating differently because some are ichidan and some are godan. Obviously, such sets of verbs would need to end in *eru* or *iru*. Examples I’ve found include:

   – いる:
   – 居る^1 and 射る are ichidan
   – 要る and 入る^2 are godan
   – かえる:
   – The semantically related verbs 換える, 替える, 代える, and 変える are ichidan
   – The semantically related verbs 帰る and 返る are godan

   ^1 居る is the very common verb normally just spelled いる, I just spelled it in kanji to distinguish it clearly

   ^2 入る is normally はいる but sometimes いる

   Relatedly, する can be the common irregular verb, or the reading of the regular godan verbs 掏る, 擦る.

   Are there any other common examples of verbs like this that I haven’t thought of?

2. Possibly a dumb question from a very very new learner. I’m currently learning Kanji and have read that it’s a good idea to learn the readings via vocabulary. I’ve been enjoying doing this but am wondering if there is non-kanji vocabulary that I may miss out on? Or will all important words/sayings include Kanji?

3. Any examples of -ai vs -ae minimal pairs with the same pitch accent?

4. what’s the difference of 明日 and 朝 when saying “tomorrow”?

5. Kana Writing Line Notebook App?

   I had a ios related question. Anyone know of a app that has the notebook row line kana writing practice built in? Instead of one at a time input?

   I know I can practice with sheets on goodnotes and such but wanted a more intuitive app that grades and let’s me write lines of kana.

   I have ringotan, japanese! And sheets from japanesepod101 already.

   Any other suggestions would be great.

   Thank you

6. hey, I’m a 35 year old man living in New Jersey in the US

   if I started learning Japanese now, is there any way that could lead into a possible job or career of some kind?

   I feel like it’s highly unlikely since I live on the east coast of the US, but I’m starting to accept that I just have a lifelong fascination with Japanese media (tokusatsu, gaming, music) and I probably *should* have learned the language by now.

   thank you

7. I’m trying to figure out how to type あ゙ い゙ with the mac Japanese IME

   on windows, apparently you can press 3099 and then f5, while the IME set to Japanese

   on my mac, if I type だくてん one of the options will be ゛, but it’s full width. so if I type あ(enter)だくてん(enter)い(enter)だくてん(enter) I will get: あ゛い゛. but this is a bit different…the windows IME case above seems like it’s a diacritic added to the character

   anyone know? of course these aren’t the most necessary things to be able to write, but still!

8. > いついく日にはそれをちょうだいに参上するという、予告状を送ることです。

   Context: a thief sends letters in advance to his targets saying what he will steal. I don’t really understand ちょうだいに参上する, and I think it’s because I don’t understand what’s going on with ちょうだい that well. Maybe it’s like, something like, “giving a call” to someone?

   So it’s like, “The day he will come, he sends a visit[???], an advance notice letter”

9. For listing multiple negated な-adjectives or nouns, when would you use ~じゃなくて vs ~ではなくて? Is the only difference in formality?

10. Is there a suffix for “worn-out?” As in “time worn”, “weathered” Similar to how “-tate” is “-freshly” (shibori tate, yakitate etc)