Expressing sensations/feelings

I'm hoping with this thread to iron out a few points for myself, and perhaps help some others out as well, about expressing sensations/feelings. Please correct me if anything below is wrong or unnatural and then I will make corrections.

Aは＿＿味がする A tastes ___.
Aには＿＿味がある A has a taste of ____ in it.
Aは＿＿音がする A sounds like a ______.
Aは＿＿音を立てる A makes a ____ sound.
Aには＿＿ひびきがある A has a _____ ring (sound) to it.
Aは＿＿感じがする A feels ___ (physical feeling). I feel ___.
Aは＿＿って（という）かんじがする I feel that ___ (can be used to express sound feelings, or that something gives an overall impression of something)
Aは___に見える A looks (like) ____.
Aは～そうだ A looks ____.


-Important point: のよう（な） can be added optionally after ＿＿. This emphasizes the fact that it was a sensation like ＿＿. It is not required to appear in any of the above constructions (I'd appreciate confirmation on this point)

-Another point--adjects like おいしい already imply the sense that they are describing, so many of these cases can be replaced simplying be rewording the sentence Aは＿＿だ。

Example sentences (my own creation, please correct if wrong)

-このスープはなつかしい味がする。 This soup brings me back.
-このステーキは焼きすぎたようなあじがする。 This steak tastes like its been cooked too long.

-彼の話には皮肉の味もあるんだと思うけど。。。 I think there's a bit of sarcasm in his story.
-このカクテルにはちっともアルコールの味がない。 You can't taste the alcohol in this cocktail at all.

-何かが落ちて折れたような音がしました。 There was a noise that sounded like something fell and broke.

-寝ているところに大きな音を立てて本当にごめんなさい 。 I am really sorry for making such a loud noise while you were sleeping.
-あのボタンを押すと、携帯が牛の鳴き声みたいな音を立 てる。 When you press that button, the cell phone makes a cow noise.

-彼女の声にはとても純粋なひびきがある。 Her voice sounds very innocent.

-「We have food enough for the winter」っては正しくないことはないけど、ちょっと古 いひびきがあるので、「We have enough food for the winter」のほうがいいと思う。 "We have food enough for the winter isn't exactly wrong, but since it sounds a little old-fashioned, I think it would be better to say "We have enough food for the winter."

-このマフらはカシミールから作ったような感じがしますね。 Don't you think this scarf feels like its made of cashmere?
-彼女がいない時は何も出来ないような感じがして困って いる。どうすればいい。 When she's not here, I feel like I can't do anything. What should I do?


-初めてあのビデオを見ると、「へー」って感じして、びっくりした。 The first time I saw that video I was like 'What?!'

-いい車といっても、もうのりつぶしたように見えるんじ ゃない。 You say this is a good car, but it looks like its already been driven to death.

-おいしそう！ That looks good.
-倒れそうな老人をみても立ち上がらずに席に座り続けて はなんてひどい。 To see an old person (standing) who looks like he's about to collapse but still continue sitting in one's own seat--how horrible.

I only noticed one or two grammatical errors. The lack of responsiveness may indicate more what a huge topic this has turned into for one thread. So below are a few alternate suggestions that I can't verify with total accuracy but that I sense as mostly correct. Of course the meaning will shift in correspondingly predictable ways as well...


このスープはなつかしい味（感じ）がする。 This soup brings me back.
>
> -彼の話には皮肉の味（気味、感じ、めいたもの皮肉、皮肉っぽいところ）もあるんだと思うけど。。。 I think there's a bit of sarcasm in his story
>
> -このマフらはカシミールから作ったような感じがします（手触りがします、感じます）ね。 Don't you think this scarf feels like its made of cashmere?
>
> -彼女がいない時は何も出来ないような感じがして（気がして、感じて、気持で・があって癌があって）困って いる。どうすればいい。 When she's not here, I feel like I can't
> do anything. What should I do?

-彼女の声にはとても純粋な（に聞こえます）ひびきがある。Her voice sounds very innocent.

-「We have food enough for the winter」っては正しくないことはないけど、ちょっと古 いひびきがあるので（古く聞こえます）、「We have enough food for the winter」のほうがいいと思う。

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply, and I will clean up the first post in a bit with your suggestions. I just got back from an extended trip back home, during which time I did not have japanese fonts installed on my computer, so I have been unable to reply until now. I know that when I was beginning to study, these kind of expressions really bothered me and I had trouble using them, so I hope that this thread will get some more hits in the future.

About ひびき--is this a word that would be better replaced in almost all cases by に聞こえる? I have only come across the word once, and that was in a book, so I don't know how natural it would sound in conversation.

Charles Barkley said:

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply, and I will clean up the first post in a bit with your suggestions.

Click to expand...

どういたしまして. Good to see you back, Charles -- and with Japanese fonts !

But first to clarify a few points I noticed of questionable usage and/or grammar since I can't answer your question about 響き and に聞こえる always being interchangable....


1. 何かが落ちて壊れた（割れた）ような音がしました。 (折る is more when something breaks in two as a result of a split or crack, like a broken leg. 転んだら、足が折れた。)

2. 寝ている間（に）大きな音を立てて本当にごめんなさい 。（ところに is used for being in the middle of actively doing something or performing a job).

3. 倒れそうな老人をみて も立ち上がらずに（？？） 座り続けているなんて、ひどい。 This one I'm not able to correct naturally except for ている(not は）. The
立ち上がらずに just sounds vaguely odd...also I think you can safely leave out 席。


So those are the ones that jumped out immediately. A couple others were maybe not quite like you'd say in real life but for the sake of practice there isn't anything really problematic with them...

So what about the use of みたい to represent similarities?

Like I would think you could say.
この肉は鳥肉みたいな味があるね
This meat has a taste similar to chicken.

P.S. このツレは良い考えと思います。

Damicci said:

So what about the use of みたい to represent similarities?

Like I would think you could say.
この肉は鳥肉みたいな味があるね
This meat has a taste similar to chicken.

Click to expand...

The みたいな part is fine. In the same way the cashmere example above might be colloquially このマフラーてカシミヤみたいな手触りじゃない？ But "味がある" is more often metaphorical to talk about having a "taste for/of" something, "the flavor of" etc. (I'll think of an example when I have time) or even food that has (some flavor).

For specific flavor/taste comparisons you should normally stick with 味がする。ですよね。

*[EDIT]*

OK found the mail that first explained it to me.

「味がある」→少しでも、ほのかに味がある。ただ漠然と味
の存在を言っている。
＊他の使い方・・・「あの人は味がある人だ」
→普通に見えて、でもどこか素敵な、他の人
とは何か違う人だ。

「味がする」→何かの味がする、というように、具体的な味
を言っている。
＊例えば・・・「このステーキはにんにくの味がす
る。」
「このあめはイチゴの味がする。

Charles Barkley said:

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply, and I will clean up the first post in a bit with your suggestions. I just got back from an extended trip back home, during which time I did not have japanese fonts installed on my computer, so I have been unable to reply until now. I know that when I was beginning to study, these kind of expressions really bothered me and I had trouble using them, so I hope that this thread will get some more hits in the future.
About ひびき--is this a word that would be better replaced in almost all cases by に聞こえる? I have only come across the word once, and that was in a book, so I don't know how natural it would sound in conversation.

Click to expand...

They are both conversational but I think the nuance does change.


And now a few of my suggestions as narrowed down by a native speaker... Not surprising that most are not in common use since I was basing them more on textbook cases and grammatical intuition, but at least now you have a well rounded spectrum of choices.

I think there's a bit of sarcasm in his story.
この中では「皮肉っぽいところがある」というのが一番自然です。「感じ。」もそれだけでは不自然だけど「皮肉っぽい感じがする」なら自然です。「味」は使うことはほとんどないし、「めいたものの皮肉」は「皮肉めいたもの」の間違いでしょうか。あまり使いません。





When she's not here, I feel like I can't do anything. What should I do?
「気持ちがあって、感があって」はあまり使いません。「出来ないような感じがして。出来ないように感じて」というのが良く使われる表現です。

Charles Barkley said:

About ひびき--is this a word that would be better replaced in almost all cases by に聞こえる? I have only come across the word once, and that was in a book, so I don't know how natural it would sound in conversation.

Click to expand...

It may or may not be a sweeping generalization but I asked another friend for her impressions comparing the two at least in this context.

It may or may not be a sweeping generalization but I asked another friend for her impressions comparing the two at least in this context.

-彼女の声にはとても純粋な（に聞こえます）ひびきがあ る。Her voice sounds very innocent.＞＞この場合響きがある、、の方が良く伝わあ 閧ﾜすね。 「聞こえます」はそれに対する感情はなくあ Aただ伝えているだけですね。