Home Forums The Japanese Language The "I found some Japanese I don't understand" thread.

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  • #20795

    jkl
    Member

    > 質問のある方はどうぞ。

    That looks like a smart.fm sentence. Note that the の particle can be used as a subject marker (like が) in subordinate clauses:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_particles#no

    Literally, it says “Question-having person, please.”

    #20823

    Armando
    Member

    It’s from Core 2k.
    So if I put a が instead of のit will mean the same thing? Does 方 mean person or way here… Still confused.

    #20907

    新しい政策はあまり良いとは思えません。
    Core 2000 sentence for the word「政策」(せいさく) [policy, political measures]
    Why is there a は after と?「新しい政策」is already established as the topic of the sentence, so I’m not sure what the second はis for. I’m not versed in all the uses of はyet :/

    @Armando: Yup, が and の are interchangeable in subordinate clauses, or so I believe. Not sure of the reason; maybe it just makes it easier to say?
    And yes, 方 means something like person there; Rikaikun is telling me it’s a polite pluralising suffix for people, said がた (instead of the usual かた).

    #20918

    Mark
    Member

    What’s with the core 2k and core 6k? It’s core 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 etc. not 2k and 6k

    #20974

    @Mark: Nope, it’s not. Look up what Core 2000/6000 actually is.

    #20977

    Elenkis
    Member

    It used to be core 2000/6000. When they launched the new paid iKnow service earlier this year they reordered all the words and also added/removed a bunch, at the same time they restructured it into core 1000/2000/3000/4000/5000/6000. Most (all?) anki decks are still based on the old word order.

    Mister, とは is often used with negative 言う and 思う. Why? I’m not sure, maybe something to do with the contrastive use of は . I know that とは is used to mark something that is unexpected and the speaker feels strongly about, so maybe it is being used for that nuance in your sentence.

    とは is also often a shortened version of というのは, but that’s different.

    #20983

    @Elenkis: Hmmm… never knew they changed it with the new iKnow. I’m betting the vast majority of people still refer to it/know it as 2k/6k though.
    Looked up the とは thing in A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar, and apparently the は is used to convey some emotion (e.g. surprise, joy, regret) caused by the unexpectedness of the situation – “I’m surprised that…”, “I never thought that ___ would be ___”, “It’s too bad that…”, “It’s great that…”, etc.
    The “meaning” of that sentence in Core 2000 was given as “I don’t think the new policy is very good.”, but I think it’s more like “It’s a shame the policy doesn’t seem very good.” (since 思える is more “seem” than “think”, which makes more sense, I think).

    #21739

    Hatt0ri
    Member

    Can someone help me with these sentences?

    彼は足が短い and きりんの首は長い.

    Why is the first one using は/が and the second one の/は? Is there a subtle difference in their meaning? They are translated in the same way, tho (both are taken from Core 1000 deck).

    #21740

    Joel
    Member

    It’s all in subtext, which is usually omitted when doing a translation. 彼は足が短い is “speaking of him, his legs are short”. きりんの首は長い is “speaking of giraffes’ necks, they are long”. Since English doesn’t have a topic marker, it doesn’t really carry over in a more natural translation.

    #21745

    When using the potential form of a verb, do you use を or が? I was re-reading the lesson on Tae Kim and noticed it said you can’t use を; you have to use が. I couldn’t remember seeing this while reading Japanese for Busy People II, so I went back to check, and in THIS book it says it doesn’t matter, that you can use either one (apart from 出来る). So which one is it? My guess is to trust JPB more, just because it’s written by natives, whereas Tae Kim… isn’t, I don’t think? Does that seem reasonable?

    #21746

    KiaiFighter
    Member

    From what i’ve heard, potential is always used with が

    #21747

    Elenkis
    Member

    Tae Kim is wrong. This is what the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar says about it:

    “In potential expressions, if there is an experiencer, that noun phrase is usually marked by は and the object of action by either が or を.

    In general, the choice between が and を seems to depend on the degree of volition expressed in the action the experiencer takes. That is, if his volition is high, を is preferable. Thus, in the following sentences, が is unnatural.

    私はやめようと思えばいつでも今の仕事をやめられる。
    I can quit my current job whenever I want to quit (lit. whenever I think I will quit it)”

    It gives another example too, but that should be enough.

    • This reply was modified 12 years, 5 months ago by  Elenkis.
    #21937

    Hatt0ri
    Member

    Thank you very much for your answer Joel! Now the difference seems kind of obvious *blush*
    Okay, I need help with this one too:

    その次の週は空いてますか。

    Is 空いてます wrong? If this verb is 空く (あく) then shouldn’t it be 空いています?

    #21940

    Joel
    Member

    No problem – glad to help. As for your current query, in speech, the い from -ている/-ています can sometimes get dropped. Things like that tend to happen in the spoken language. That it’s not been mentioned where you found this (or else some time previously) is an oversight. Or it’s a typo. =P

    #21943

    Hatt0ri
    Member

    I see. Thank you again! (^-^)b
    It’s taken from Core1000 deck, nothing is explained there XD So, let me just check if I got it right: sentence has a typo (I should correct it?), but audio is okay (doesn’t pronounce い).

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