I have a couple of questions...

[Razahia]

Honestly, I've read information all over the internet, reading question that pertain to my questions. And most of the time people answer as if I needed to know japanese already to understand the explanations even.

I just want to know how a few modifiers are used.

なのです and そう

I apologize, I'll most likely be sent to some wikipedia which I've read before. I honestly feel like an ***** that I just can't grasp how these are used. In fact I still am unable to understand には and the like.

Sorry!

 

[Mike Cash]

なのです (or a verb + のです) serves a communicative function kinda-sorta like what we might express in English with devices such as: "it's just that xxxxx" ; "xxxxx, you see" ; or "the thing is, xxxxxx"

It is important to understand the function of the construction and not be tempted to link it in your mind to a single English translation that fits in every situation.

It would help if you would post specific examples of what you have trouble with.

 

[Razahia]

なのです (or a verb + のです) serves a communicative function kinda-sorta like what we might express in English with devices such as: "it's just that xxxxx" ; "xxxxx, you see" ; or "the thing is, xxxxxx"

It is important to understand the function of the construction and not be tempted to link it in your mind to a single English translation that fits in every situation.

It would help if you would post specific examples of what you have trouble with.

First of all, Thank you for responding without making me feel like a total fool...

Here's three examples including another one I have trouble with

この機械が複雑そうですが、私は仕事のため直ぐに調べ ます(For そう)

私は学生なので、お金がないんです(For なので)

And 日本人なのですか(A simple one but I don't get the function of なのです)

Thanks again!

 

[Mike Cash]

First of all, Thank you for responding without making me feel like a total fool...

Here's three examples including another one I have trouble with

この機械が複雑そうですが、私は仕事のため直ぐに調べます(For そう)

Have you learned adjective+そう yet? This is the same thing. You're dealing with a "な adjective" and if you don't spot 複雑 as being an adjective you're not going to get the そう part.

私は学生なので、お金がないんです(For なので)

Forget grammar for a moment and consider only communicative function here. Let's compare it without the なので and see what we get:

私は学生です。お金がない。

"I'm a student. I have no money."

Simple, states the case, easily understood. Also flat as a pancake and as flavorless as a mouthful of sand.

Taken out of context, looking at isolated sentences, you're going to have a hard time picking up on this construction as it serves as explanation or amplification of the other stuff going on in the conversation/situation.

If a person walked up to you and said, "I'm a student. I have no money.", you might think "what the hell are you telling me for?" but the entire intended meaning of the sentences is contained within them and you wouldn't feel you walked in on the middle of a conversation. Now imagine a guy walked up and said, "The thing is, I'm a student. That's why I don't have any money, you see" you'd still understand his meaning but you'd most definitely feel like you walked into a movie 15 minutes after it started. It would not only be "why the hell are you telling me this?" but also "just what the hell are you explaining?" See what I'm getting at here?

And 日本人なのですか(A simple one but I don't get the function of なのです)

Thanks again

And without a context, neither do I.

By the way, did you notice the んです in your example above? Are you aware it's the same deal as with なのです ?

 

[Toritoribe]

ので can be considered a conjunctive particle to indicates the reason/cause of the main clause, i.e., "because". This meaning originally is from the explanatory tone of の, as mike-san explained.

 

[lanthas]

のです has multiple functions depending on the context:

• In statements, it adds that "...you see"/"As a matter of fact, ..." feeling that Mike explained. It's typically used with one of the following objectives:
  • Giving a reason for something: "Sorry for being late. The train personnel is on strike today, you see."
  • Hinting that you require help with something. In this case the sentence is typically followed by "but" (が/けど): "You see, there's a test tomorrow, but..." (implication: I'm having trouble, could you explain some things to me?)
• In questions, it emphasises that you really want to know the answer. It turns a casual "What are you doing?" into a curious "I'd really like to know what you're doing" or even a shocked "What do you think you're doing?!".

To add のです to a sentence, use the following steps:

• Change the sentence to be in the plain form if it isn't.
• If the main verb of the sentence is now だ, replace it by な.
• Append のです, making sure that the です is in the same form as the original main verb. So if the sentence was originally polite, you add のです; if it was originally plain, you add のだ; and if it was originally in the -te form, you add ので. Also, of course, make sure to keep any sentence-final particles (か, ね, よ...) at the end, after the new です.
• Optionally, you can now shorten the のです.
  • In regular statements, you can replace the の by ん (んです/んだ).
  • In questions, you can also replace the の by ん (んですか/んだ?), or you can drop the です (の?). You can't do both at the same time however (ん? is invalid).
  • In subsentences in the -te form, the ので cannot be shortened.

Some examples:

• 遅くなって すみません。バス が 来ません でした。(Sorry for being late. The bus didn't come.)
  遅くなって すみません。バス が 来なかった んです。(Sorry for being late. The bus didn't come, you see./It's because the bus didn't come.)
• 何をやっている? (What are you doing?)
  何をやっているの? (What are you doing? I'm really curious.)
  何をやっているんだ? (What are you doing?!)
• 優しくて、好きです。(He's kind, and I like him.)
  優しいので、好きです。(He's kind, and that's why I like him.)

Be wary of a potential point of confusion: なん だ (What is this?) vs. な んだ (a sentence ending in だ with んです appended).
これは なん だ? (What is this?)
これは なん な んだ? (What on Earth is this?)

Similarly, don't confuse it with the plain past form of verbs that end in ぶ, む or ぬ.
公園で遊んだ。(They played in the park.)
公園で遊んだんだ。(As a matter of fact they played in the park.)

As for には, this is simply the location marker に + the topic marker は. It marks a physical location as the topic of a sentence (e.g. Japan, the park, etc.) It's pronounced にわ, so don't confuse it with the identically-pronounced noun 庭 which means "garden".

 

[Razahia]

Thanks for all your detailed responses. Helps a lot. I still don't know what adjective+そう does as Mike said but I feel like I understand a lot more. Thanks.

 

[nahadef]

そう is like seem, look, and sound. Case by case.

美味しそう = looks delicious <usually>

 

[lanthas]

It should be noted that <adjective>そう can only be used for non-visual adjectives. "That seems complicated", "It looks delicious" are valid because you're making guesses: you won't know if the task is actually complicated until you try it, or if the dish is actually tasty until you take a bite. However, something like きれいそうです (It seems beautiful) is not valid: you can tell whether something is beautiful or not purely by using visuals, there is no guessing involved. You can directly say きれいです instead.

Again a possible point of confusion here: かわいそう is not かわいい+そう, but an adjective in its own right (meaning "pitiful"). かわいい can't be combined with そう because, again, it's a visual adjective.

 

[Andromedashun]

^ Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't きれいそうです is a hearsay?

There are no guesses with そう. That's only possible with らしい (or you might say it is a conjecture).

 

[lanthas]

There's indeed another そうです for indicating hearsay. However, this one cannot be directly attached to な-adjectives: you'd have to say きれいだそうです instead (I heard she is pretty).

 

[Razahia]

It should be noted that <adjective>そう can only be used for non-visual adjectives. "That seems complicated", "It looks delicious" are valid because you're making guesses: you won't know if the task is actually complicated until you try it, or if the dish is actually tasty until you take a bite. However, something like きれいそうです (It seems beautiful) is not valid: you can tell whether something is beautiful or not purely by using visuals, there is no guessing involved. You can directly say きれいです instead.

Again a possible point of confusion here: かわいそう is not かわいい+そう, but an adjective in its own right (meaning "pitiful"). かわいい can't be combined with そう because, again, it's a visual adjective.

According to this than この機械が複雑そうですが(the one I linked earlier) means This machine seems complicated. Rather than it is?

そう is attached to any non visual adjective. So.... この公園は大丈夫そうだから私たちは明日をそこに行く

Know that I am not good with grammar so It's most likely wrong. But would the idea work? It's supposed to mean This park seems alright so we'll go there tommorow.

Thanks again for the responses.

 

[Mike Cash]

You don't need を after 明日

 

[Razahia]

You don't need を after 明日

Otherwise it's alright? Alright. Thanks to all of you. Been great help

 

[Toritoribe]

"Visual" adjectives such like きれいそう "seems beautiful" or かわいそう（可愛そう） "seems pretty" can be valid for logical deduction, not for the one you are looking at, e.g., ここから見る夕日はきれいそうだ (It's not evening now. The speaker guesses the sunset time.) The same logic is applied also to 可愛そう, but actually, 可愛そう is rarely used since it's confusing with 可哀相.

この機械が複雑そうですが emphasizes この機械, just like "THIS machine, not the others". この機械は複雑そうですが is common for a general statement.

 

[lanthas]

そうですか; thanks for the correction Toritoribe. きれい is explicitly mentioned in Genki as an adjective that cannot be used with seems-like そう, but it seems like there's always an exception .