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food

pacerier

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hi all, i checked the translator it shows

English -- food
Japanese -- sesshoku, shokuryou, fu-do, shokumotsu, meshi

so the question is usually, when you say food, which of the 5 do you choose?

oso, why isnt tabemono listed?
 
pacerier said:
hi all, i checked the translator it shows
English -- food
Japanese -- sesshoku, shokuryou, fu-do, shokumotsu, meshi
so the question is usually, when you say food, which of the 5 do you choose?
oso, why isnt tabemono listed?
Click to expand...
It is what you should be using. Along with ryouri.


sesshoku = Feeding, take in food
shokuryou (hin) shokuhin = food supply, food (as aid), provisions, food stuffs (scientific term)

fu-do =As part of longer katakanized words (fo-do purosessa etc)

shokumotsu/shokumono (?) = The context isn't clear to me, either. But you can talk about "food" in the abstract (food is always essential to life, energy in food, food supply etc) this way, using shokumotsu.

Meshi = Meals, cooked rice, not so common
 
ok, so which of these "food" do i use, if i'm telling my fren "i think i would like to eat some food"
 
pacerier said:
ok, so which of these "food" do i use, if i'm telling my fren "i think i would like to eat some food"
Click to expand...
This doesn't hang together as an English sentence. What is awkward is the wording. Specifically mentioning food as the thing you'd like to eat -- as opposed to non edibles, for instance.... ?

Come up with another example and I'll gladly help. Generally, though, tabemono is standard for talking about actual food the person is eating, looking at, thinking about consuming, etc.
 
well how would a japanese normally say when you are hungry and you are telling your friend to get you some food?
 
pacerier said:
well how would a japanese normally say when you are hungry and you are telling your friend to get you some food?
Click to expand...
ﾂ

Nani ka tabemono wo motte kite kudasai. (Please bring me some food)

Nani ka tabemono wo kudasai. (Some food please).
 
Sorry to be random, but can you use "nanika" as we would use "some" in english? Or perhaps it's just in this situation?
 
I think your assumption (nankia = some) is correct.
To be more precise, "nanika" is usually used with "mono". (nanika...mono = something).

Nanika taberumono : something to eat
nanika hoshii mono wa nai? : Is there something you want?
 
Tomii515 said:
Sorry to be random, but can you use "nanika" as we would use "some" in english? Or perhaps it's just in this situation?
Click to expand...
And there is nothing specific about "nani." "XXX ka = some (thing, place, one...)" applies by the same function to all the interrogatives.


Kono machi ni, doko ka omoshiroi tokoro aru? etc.
 
I agree with undrentide and Elizabeth.

One thing I want to add is that なにか cannot be used to mean quantity as you'd use "some" in "I want some pizza", "I would like some crackers" or "Do you want some fries with that?".

In those instances, "some" should be translated as 何枚か/いくつか/すこし,etc for the cracker example. For pizza and fries, it'd be better to omit it altogether.

In other words, you do not say なにかピザがたべたい for "I want to have some pizza".

Although the translation なにか食べるものがほしい/なにか食べたい are correct for "I want some food", the function of なにか here is that of "something" and not "some".

I want to buy some shirts.
シャツを何着（なんちゃく）か買いたい / シャツをいくつか買いたい。

I need to buy something to wear for the upcoming class reunion.
今度のクラス同窓会のためになにか着る物を買わなくてはいけません。

Do you want some soda?
ソーダ飲む？

Do you want something to drink?
なにか飲む？

I bought some postcards in Paris.
パリで絵はがきを何枚（なんまい）か買いました。

I have to buy some chocolate for my diabetic father.
糖尿病（とうにょうびょう）の父のためにチョコレートを買わなくてはなりません。

I have to buy my diabetic father some chocolate bars for his week-long camping trip in the mountains.
山へ一週間のキャンプ旅行へ行く糖尿病の父に、板（いた）チョコ*を何枚か買ってあげなければならない。 *a chocolate bar

Does that make sense?
 
In addition

These "interrogative + か" structures(so-called 不定詞) can't be used in a negative sentence except in a negative interrogative.

×誰かが道を歩いていませんでした。
Dare ka ga michi wo aruiteimasen deshita.

○誰かが道を歩いていませんでしたか？
Dare ka ga michi wo aruiteimasen deshita ka?

○いつか都合がいい日に会いませんか？
Itsu ka tsugou ga ii hi ni aimasen ka?
 
Once again, thanks so much everyone!

All of your examples made sense, and thanks for all the extra information!

-Tommy
 
undrentide said:
I think your assumption (nankia = some) is correct.
To be more precise, "nanika" is usually used with "mono". (nanika...mono = something).

Nanika taberumono : something to eat
nanika hoshii mono wa nai? : Is there something you want?
Click to expand...
But 食べるもの not necessarily with 何か. :hungry:

My mind was on the context "About the food we eat" after hearing this on the radio today:
食べるものについては やっぱり安全なものがいいなあ。

No, actually it is a joke. :sorry: Only the 食べるものについては やっぱり安全 was real. About our food, naturally it should be safe...desune... ompous:
 

You ignored the background - my post is a reply to Tomii asking about "nanika = some", not about the translation for the word "food".
 
undrentide said:
You ignored the background - my post is a reply to Tomii asking about "nanika = some", not about the word "food".
Click to expand...
Yeah, it was more relevant to the thread as a whole but without a very on-target segue. Sorry about that. :sorry:
 
Elizabeth said:
Meshi = Meals, cooked rice, not so common
Click to expand...
I don't know all of the words in that list, but "meshi" is a pretty common word. In one place I used to work, at dinner time a guy would go around shouting "meshi" in the doorways.
 
Ben Bullock said:
I don't know all of the words in that list, but "meshi" is a pretty common word. In one place I used to work, at dinner time a guy would go around shouting "meshi" in the doorways.
Click to expand...
Probably that's what I was talking about, huh ? Compared with gohan, Meshi is rude and used by men informally, commonly with other men or their wives. :/
 
It is confusing. I could have sworn 朝飯 (Asameshi) was part of the breakfast vocabulary at Comfort Inn Hakodate -- but so broken a term instead of 朝食....Nah!....couldn't have been...:?
 
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