HOW DO I SAY "…." THREAD

[missingno15Member]

I think 先週末だけ泳ぎました。 means “I only swam last weekend.” (I didn’t swim at any other time.)

先週末しか泳ぎませんでした

right ヽ(´ー｀)ノ

[thisiskyleMember]

Do you mean “right” as in what you wrote is correct and what I wrote is not, or to mean that we are both correct? I was under the impression you could use だけ or しか (or both) with the same meaning. If not, I’d like to be unburdened of my ignorance.

[thisiskyleMember]

Weee.

Does anyone know how to say:

Bob is better at cooking than I am at killing elephants.

or in general:

Person1 is better at X than Person2 is at Y.

??

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

Got an idea for a lang-8 post, so was wondering how you would say “I watched/read/listened to a X about Y” – e.g. “I watched a TV show about Japanese culture; it was about bento boxes.”. Also, how would I say what channel I watched it on?

(that’s going to be the topic of my very small lang-8 post hehe)

• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by  MisterM2402 [Michael].

[SheepyModerator]

Hmm I’m not a 100% sure about Kyles because it’d contain some より stuff which im still not very good with. You’d use より　＋　こと (or other nominaliser).

MisterM: you should look up the について grammar point.

僕は日本の文化についての番組を見た。

“日本の文化についての番組” a television show about Japanese culture.

A についての　B

A　= what its about
B = is the object that contains the content.

You don’t need B however.

Read more at this link ,its the first link I found on google, but it’ll definitely be in a grammar dictionary or website.

http://hinapon.wordpress.com/2007/01/06/level-2-grammar-ni-tsuite/

As for the second part. I’m not sure of a specific way but I think NHKで弁当についての番組を見た。　I watched a show about Bentos on NHK. Or use に if you want to say there is a show on NHK. NHKに弁当についての番組があります。　

I’m not 100% but I’m sure its enough to get started on a lang-8 article.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by  Sheepy.

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

Ah, that’s great thanks :) And yeah, I thought about using the で particle too, but then there are so many grammar points I don’t know that it could be something entirely different. Like you said, enough to write a lang-8 post and have it corrected :).

(It was a show on NHK WORLD called “Cool Japan” – it’s a great channel but the English voice-overs of the Japanese speakers were just godawful haha. The bento lunches they featured looked colourful and downright awesome [lots and lots of decoration], but it just looks too much hassle to do every day :P)

[SheepyModerator]

Unless you’re a desperate Japanese house wife ;D

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

So I got this correction
日本には「梅干（うめぼし）」を使った日の丸弁当もあれば、「ピカチュウ」などのキャラクターを形作った「キャラ弁」と呼ばれるものなどいろいろあります。
Using a LOT of Rikaikun, I think it means something like: “In Japan, Umeboshi is used in hinobentou… something, something… Pikachu and similar characters are shaped (for decoration, I assume), and that’s called “kyaraben”, which is very colourful.” – Is that close? I don’t really get much of how the sentence was constructed, but I guessed what I could haha

[thisiskyleMember]

日の丸 means “circle of the sun” and is talking about the Japanese flag. (white rice and red umeboshi)

キャラ弁 I think you understood is a contraction of character and bento.

いろいろ roughly translates to “various” and gets used A LOT.

See if that helps.

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

Yeah, I looked them all up using Riakikun, it’s just that since I didn’t know some of the grammar, I wasn’t really sure EXACTLY what he means. Just wondering if the “gist” I got from it was close enough haha.

(The 日の丸弁当 was actually featured on the show, and I mentioned it in my lang-8 post )

Should there not be something in between 「～を使った」and「日の丸弁当もあれば～」? A particle maybe? I just doesn’t make sense to a beginner like me XD

Yeah, I took いろいろ to mean “various colours/colourful”.

I know this stuff should really be in the “Japanese I don’t understand thread”, but I guess it kinda follows on from my previous posts.

EDIT: A poster on my lang-8 showed me this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiH3grGDexI – ridiculously awesome lunches :D

• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by  MisterM2402 [Michael].

[SheepyModerator]

MisterM: let me redirect you to yet another grammar point. It has a few names, like “subordinate clauses” or “noun modified sentence”.

Basically, you have it like this. A clause using casual form, directly followed by a noun.

Ok that doesn’t look that easy but its easy enough if you see a sentence.

僕が作ったケーキは食べました。

The cake that I made, I ate it. (I ate that cake that I made)

僕が作った　＝　the subordinate clause
ケーキ　= the noun being modified
食べました　＝ the primary clause

So basically whatever comes after 作った is what it is attached to, so 僕が作ったケーキ = The cake that I made. So therefore that entire sentence + a noun becomes a whole new complex noun. Its not a super natural sentence but you might get it from that.

It works the same copula or いる・ある (except for だ）。

日本にいる女の子はかわいいですね。

日本にいる女の子 = Girls who are in Japan

So if you break down the method its not too hard. Just make a sentence in PLAIN form, and then follow it directly with a noun. Its usually used for phrases like “that guy who was at the party last night” or “that food that we left in the fridge”. Etc etc

To read up on it properly, heres the tae kim link

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/subclause

• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by  Sheepy.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by  Sheepy.

[missingno15Member]

日本には「梅干（うめぼし）」を使った日の丸弁当もあれば、「ピカチュウ」などのキャラクターを形作った「キャラ弁」と呼ばれるものなどいろいろあります。

In Japan, there are also umeboshi used as the sun of the flag, and also different kinds of stuff like “chara-bentos” where they are made in the forme of a character like Pikachu etc etc.

Is what I got out of it

But like I keep saying, I’m just a beginner ヽ(´ー｀)ノ
____________________________
Edit:

I’m mad bored so I might as well take a crack at this while listening to some !!!ももいろクローバー!!! not necessarily some ！！！ミライボウル！！！
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUoy582ePlQ

Take a look at noun modifying clauses like this.

It all starts with a simple sentence.

パンを食べた
(I) ate bread.

What you do is take the subject of the sentence, and put it in front of the verb. Which becomes,

食べたパン
Bread that (I) ate

However, its a fragmented sentence if you leave it like that and now you can continue the sentence as if you were making a simple sentence.

食べたパンは美味しかった
The bread that (I) ate was delicious.

In this way, the modifying noun clauses are like complex adjectives. It gets even more complex if you want it to.

猫は捕まった豆を食べていた鳩を食べました。
The cat ate the pigeon it had caught which was eating seeds.

ミッシングはやっと憧れのゲットした前田敦子の生写真を売ってしまった。
Missing (to his regret) sold the sought out for Maeda Atsuko photo that he had finally gotten.

However yet again, I’m just a beginner ヽ(´ー｀)ノ

TIME TO LISTEN EAT SOME BITTER SWEETS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZnZSxIEnHs

• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by  missingno15.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by  missingno15.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by  missingno15.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by  missingno15.

[missingno15Member]

whoops

ミッシングはやっとゲットした憧れの前田敦子の生写真を売ってしまった。
Missing (to his regret) sold the sought out for Maeda Atsuko photo that he had finally gotten.

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

Aha, that makes a lot of sense now :P Thank you very much, both Sheepy and missingno15 :)

But like I keep saying, you’re not “just a beginner ヽ(´ー｀)ノ”

(I think I’m the only one here who actually cares about that XD I think we must have different definitions of “beginner” or you’re being way too humble haha)

EDIT: After reading the article on subordinate clauses, I feel like such an idiot :S I’ve already read it before! XD I must have been tired when I read it or maybe just forgetful :P That isn’t to say your explanations are any less helpful or appreciated :)

• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by  MisterM2402 [Michael].
• This reply was modified 12 years, 10 months ago by  MisterM2402 [Michael].

[DevinMember]

Well, as some of you may know; I’ve been playing some Japanese games to help me learn the language a little better. And so far it’s helping; but I still don’t know enough to really carry on a conversation. So what I was wondering was… How do I say, “I’m not very good at Japanese yet”?

If you could give me a kanji version and a pronunciation version would be awesome. Thanks!

• This reply was modified 12 years, 9 months ago by  Devin.

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