Does this make sense...?

[The7thSamurai]

今日は静かな日だった。一回だけ私は家に出た。そして 、それは昼ご飯を買う為にだった。

Basically I want to say, "Today was a quiet day (compared to yesterday). I left the house only once, and that was to buy lunch."

My main concern is with the use of 為.

 

[Elizabeth]

今日は静かな日だった。一回だけ私は家に出た。そして、それは昼ご飯を買う為にだった。

Basically I want to say, "Today was a quiet day (compared to yesterday). I left the house only once, and that was to buy lunch."

My main concern is with the use of 為.

買う為だった is fine I think, but 家に出た should be 家を出た。And compared to yesterday doesn't seem implied to me -- maybe someone else can comment on that part.

 

[The7thSamurai]

Great, thanks again Elizabeth. Actually, I am sort of comparing it to yesterday because the previous paragraph (which I didn't include) talked about what I did yesterday. I'm keeping a sort of journal all written in Japanese which my Japanese teacher corrects each week.

 

[Elizabeth]

Great, thanks again Elizabeth. Actually, I am sort of comparing it to yesterday because the previous paragraph (which I didn't include) talked about what I did yesterday. I'm keeping a sort of journal all written in Japanese which my Japanese teacher corrects each week.

Oh I see. In that case you can leave out the watashi wa and I'm thinking too that 一回家を出ただけ is more natural than ikkai dake. Plus, that's how a direct English translation would work....

 

[pipokun]

Great, thanks again Elizabeth. Actually, I am sort of comparing it to yesterday because the previous paragraph (which I didn't include) talked about what I did yesterday. I'm keeping a sort of journal all written in Japanese which my Japanese teacher corrects each week.

Ask your teacher more about the differences between 1度 and 1回.
In your situation, I use 1度だけ, not 1回だけ.

You can say something like...
Women dumped me 100 times.
私は、女性に100回振られた。

But you cannot use 100度 here.
私は、女性に100度振られた。

 

[The7thSamurai]

Hmm, thanks pipokun, I'll check it out.

 

[Elizabeth]

I was wondering if "kai" was correct also but they are sometimes interchangeable so didn't have time to investigate (like
日本に二度(回)行ったことがある。） But I think 回 is more for things that occur over and over regularly or at scheduled intervals, 週（に）１回日本に行く。
If that makes any sense...which it really doesn't in English....

 

[Damicci]

I was talking with one of my Japanese friends and were talking about deciding to live with people from overseas. She wants to come live with me even though we have only been speaking for 4 months on th enet only we have not met yet. But I told her. 一回会うがまだまだ誰かと一緒に住んでいるのを決まるが出来ると思いません。
[trying to say]"To meet one time is not enough to decide to live with someone."
Usually she corrects my english but I wonder if the use of 一回 was correct here.
Feel free to correct my sentence too I know it is probably horrible wrong grammatically.

 

[Elizabeth]

一回も会っていない人(誰か)と一緒に住みたいと決まるのが出来ると思いません。

This is only the first thing that came to mind....but it sounds kinda weird because it is possible to decide even if you can't convince anyone else you're not that strange.

 

[kumo]

一回も会っていない人(誰か)と一緒に住みたいと決まるのが出来ると思いません。

Shouldn't you use 決める instead of 決まる in this case?

 

[Elizabeth]

Shouldn't you use 決める instead of 決まる in this case?

Oh, yes, thank you, definitely the transitive for sure. I didn't even notice that's what damicci had.

 

[kumo]

Oh, yes, thank you, definitely the transitive for sure. I didn't even notice that's what damicci had.

Now that I think about it, maybe it would be even better with a は before 思いません:
一回も会っていない人(誰か)と一緒に住みたいと決めるのが出来るとは思いません。

Sounds more natural to me this way...

 

[Elizabeth]

Now that I think about it, maybe it would be even better with a は before 思いません:
一回も会っていない人(誰か)と一緒に住みたいと決めるのが出来るとは思いません。

Sounds more natural to me this way...

Yes, I think so too. I always forget about the は there because it lacks a good English translation. 決めるべきではない (must not, should not decide) is another strong alternative to 出来る。 Of course something like 一度も会ったことがない人
is fine too for someone you don't even plan to meet.

 

[The7thSamurai]

Ok, I spoke to my teacher about the use of 回 in 今日は静かな日だった。一回だけ私は家を出た。そして 、それは昼ご飯を買う為にだった。 She said it was fine, and also said that 回 was basically interchangeable with 度, but that 度 sounded more "formal" (although from my experience describing something as "more formal" or "less formal" is usually the easy way out for the teacher, I'm sure there's more to it than just formality).

Incidentally, the only thing she corrected was the に that Elizabeth had already pointed out, and that I don't need そして in the second sentence. Therefore 「今日は静かな日だった。一回だけ私は家を出た。それは昼ご飯を買う為にだった。」 is fine.

 

[Elizabeth]

Incidentally, the only thing she corrected was the に that Elizabeth had already pointed out, and that I don't need そして in the second sentence. Therefore 「今日は静かな日だった。一回だけ私は家を出た。それは昼ご飯を買う為にだった。」 is fine.

I thought そして was curious as well since it is closer to the sense of "and then" or "thus" or "in addition" but wasn't sure if it was an outright mistake or not. Whatever translates as "once" over "one time" I would use in English and maybe that is what she meant as more formal.

 

[Glenn]

Incidently, the only thing she corrected was the に that Elizabeth had already pointed out, and that I don't need そして in the second sentence. Therefore 「今日は静かな日だった。一回だけ私は家を出た。それは昼ご飯を買う為にだった。」 is fine.

Really? She thought the 為にだった was fine? I would have thought that the に should be dropped from that, leaving just 為だった. It feels weird to me to have に directly before だ.

 

[The7thSamurai]

Really? She thought the 為にだった was fine? I would have thought that the に should be dropped from that, leaving just 為だった. It feels weird to me to have に directly before だ.

Oh yeah, she said to drop that に too. I just forgot about it.

 

[nice gaijin]

I would probably express that as 一回しか家を出なかった。 since you're putting emphasis on the fact that you went out no more than once that day.

damicci; I notice that you have a tendency to directly express "I don't think..." using the positive verb with a negative omou, such as 出来ると思いません; I think you might get your point across more clearly if you were to use the negative verb with an affirmative 思います, eg 出来ないと思います。

 

[Elizabeth]

I would probably express that as 一回しか家を出なかった。 since you're putting emphasis on the fact that you went out no more than once that day.

I would interpret this, though, as the speaker having the desire to go out more and feeling that only one time was insufficient.

damicci; I notice that you have a tendency to directly express "I don't think..." using the positive verb with a negative omou, such as 出来ると思いません; I think you might get your point across more clearly if you were to use the negative verb with an affirmative 思います, eg 出来ないと思います。

I thought it was just the opposite. That omoimasen showed a stronger sense of absolute negation or refusal.