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a lot, more, little...

patroclus

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26 Mar 2006
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Hello, :)
If you want to say "walk faster" you could say:
"motto hayaku aruite kudasai"
Right? :p

If you want to say, "I'm walking very fast"
"Watashi wa totemo hayaku aruite imasu"

"motto" means "more"
how would you say "less"??

"totemo" means "very"
"sukushi" means "little"?? (or "a little"?, I'm not sure!)

"takusan" means "a lot"
"chotto" means "a little"

I think this is it,... for now.
thank you! 🙂
 
Yes for everything. Sukoshi is "a little." I believe "less" would be mou sukoshi (although I checked the 辞書 and it said yori sukunai [chiisai]; yori ika no [otoru]).
 
I think that dictionary is a bit incorrect. "Little" can be translated into "hotondo ... nai (almost not ...)".
"Sukoshi" = "a little" or "a few".
It's hard to directly translate the word "less" in Japanese. Yes, we can say "yori sukunai" or "ika" when referring to countable objects, but it doesn't work for adjective like "less interesting".
Normally we use negation or antonyms. such as "sonnani ha omoshiroku nai. (not as much interesting.)" or "yori tsumaranai (more boring)".
 
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I think the "little" patroclus wants is chiisai, though. But that's only if he wants it to mean "little" like "a little girl."
 
I meant little like in "little girl", but also "little interesting".
By the way "yori tsumaranai", yori means "more"? I thought it meant something like from, out of, since, than,..
 
patroclus said:
I meant little like in "little girl", but also "little interesting".
By the way "yori tsumaranai", yori means "more"? I thought it meant something like from, out of, since, than,..
You probably know this already, but languages don't work such that every word has a perfect corresponding word in every other languages. That's why this isn't so easy.

a little girl ---> chiisai onnna no ko
a little interesting ---> chotto omoshiroi

The first little is an adjective, but the second is an adverb. One could think that makes them two different words, even in English, even though they look identical.
 
By the way "yori tsumaranai", yori means "more"? I thought it meant something like from, out of, since, than,..
Yes, well it looks like you may be getting a bit ahead of yourself at times but put it all together nevertheless and you have an implied "more than" in XXX yori or just "more" (hayaku, tsumaranai, shizen....).
 
patroclus said:
I meant little like in "little girl", but also "little interesting".
By the way "yori tsumaranai", yori means "more"? I thought it meant something like from, out of, since, than,..
"yori" is a postposition. Yes, it can be used as "from".
But when combined with an adjective, it implies comparative but also serve as "than".
Roughly, "X yori ADJ" = "more ADJ than X"

"a little interesting" = "chotto (sukoshi) omoshiroi"
"little interesting" = "hotondo omoshiroku nai"
 
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"hotondo omoshiroku nai"

I sometimes get confused with nai. Here, is "nai" negative plain form of "aru" verb?? :p
 
patroclus said:
"hotondo omoshiroku nai"
I sometimes get confused with nai. Here, is "nai" negative plain form of "aru" verb?? :p

I know it is very confusing, but "nai" is not a verb... It conjugate just like adjective.

And here it is a part of i-djective to make it negative.

omoshiro-i
omoshiro-ku-nai
 
Whoa whoa whoa. This discussion is going in a million different directions, most of them wrong.

First of all:
"Hotondo omoshiroku nai." Means "hardly interesting at all." To say "A little bit interesting," it would be "Chotto omoshiroi."
"Yori" can be used as an adverb meaning "more," so "yori ii" means better and "yori ookii" means bigger, but this usage is fairly uncommon and it's better to use "motto" or "sara ni"


There isn't an easy way to express "less" in Japanese, instead, use "more" with an opposite adjective.
"Motto hayai" - faster
"Motto yukkuri/mou chotto yukkuri" - slower = less fast

come to think of it, who would say "less fast" in English?
 
"mou X" is used adjectivally to mean "X more" so "mou chotto" means "a little bit more."

Sukoshi means a little bit. Sukunai means few.

The distinctions between these words will become clearer once you see them used in actual sentences. For now, just content yourself with having a vague idea of what they mean and plug on to something else.
 
JimmySeal said:
"mou X" is used adjectivally to mean "X more" so "mou chotto" means "a little bit more."
Sukoshi means a little bit. Sukunai means few.
The distinctions between these words will become clearer once you see them used in actual sentences. For now, just content yourself with having a vague idea of what they mean and plug on to something else.
Sukoshi is also used for a few or a small number.
Patroclus, are you using a dictionary or textbook by the way ? It doesn't seem a very productive way to study if you keep having to ask these vocabulary questions every few days that could easily be looked up or cross checked with virtually any half-decent, basic set of reference materials. :?
 
JimmySeal said:
Whoa whoa whoa. This discussion is going in a million different directions, most of them wrong.

First of all:
"Hotondo omoshiroku nai." Means "hardly interesting at all." To say "A little bit interesting," it would be "Chotto omoshiroi."
"Yori" can be used as an adverb meaning "more," so "yori ii" means better and "yori ookii" means bigger, but this usage is fairly uncommon and it's better to use "motto" or "sara ni"


There isn't an easy way to express "less" in Japanese, instead, use "more" with an opposite adjective.
"Motto hayai" - faster
"Motto yukkuri/mou chotto yukkuri" - slower = less fast

come to think of it, who would say "less fast" in English?

If I am not wrong, instead of 'yori ii', 'yori yoi' is a much more common way of saying 'better.
 
Sukoshi is also used for a few or a small number.
Patroclus, are you using a dictionary or textbook by the way ? It doesn't seem a very productive way to study if you keep having to ask these vocabulary questions every few days that could easily be looked up or cross checked with virtually any half-decent, basic set of reference materials.
I am. But if I look up sukoshi and sukunai, I get the same answer. A little.
when I ask about this I'm not asking for the exact meaning, but for the real use of that word, that I can't find in my book.
Anyway, I should get a higher level text book now, as the one I have is for very beginers.
 
patroclus said:
I am. But if I look up sukoshi and sukunai, I get the same answer. A little.
when I ask about this I'm not asking for the exact meaning, but for the real use of that word, that I can't find in my book.
Anyway, I should get a higher level text book now, as the one I have is for very beginers.
OK, I think I understand now. 😌 And yes a more advanced book would help a lot in letting you see how they use the language in a more natural setting.

By the way, "yori" is just more formal than "motto"....but just try to get a broad feel for when either is used and don't worry too much yet about which one is appropriate for every situation. :) 🙂
 
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