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OK, got it. I think I was trying to say the same thing, but you said it better.
Here’s another question related to these issues. If I wanted to say “That is not big,” I should say
それ は 大きくない です。
How weird would it sound to actually say
それ は 大きい じゃありません。
Is this simply grammatically incorrect, or would it convey something unintended? Maybe something like “That is not the big thing,” as if you were trying to distinguish it from something else? Would I get snickers from a native speaker or just a confused look?
Thanks again for the great feedback!
-Dylan.
Thanks, Joel, for your feedback. I agree that my examples seem a little awkward but I wanted to stay as consistent as possible and I wasn’t feeling particularly creative. Thanks also for catching my missing は’s and が’s. (I’m not ready for super casual speech yet…)
I guess the take-home message is that the conjugation of the adjective before the noun may match, but need not match the conjugation of the verb and this grammatical freedom let’s us change the particular meaning depending on the particulars of the situation.
-Dylan.
ありがとう, Joel!
You answered my question perfectly. I knew that it would be more likely to write such large number using Hindu-Arabic numerals, but I was curious what the progression was anyway. Also, I thought it would be useful to know the progression for when large numbers are spoken.
Before I found TextFugu, I looked into Pimsleur. Here are some things to know:
Paul Pimsleur was a man who did research on language learning and he developed some good ideas.
“The Pimsleur Approach” (which is heavily advertised as mentioned above already) uses Pimsleur’s ideas but their business practice is somewhat predatory (low introductory price, but they start charging you a lot monthly unless you cancel and return the product).
Simon & Schuster also have a Pimsleur learning system and their business practice is much better.
All that being said, if you are interested in “output” style learning, you should look into your local library system. I live in Seattle and the Seattle Public Library offers online language learning tools for free. Specifically Mango (which I have tried and like) and LiveMocha (which I have not tried). Mango uses spaced repetition (like Pimsleur) to develop basic conversational skill.
