Loads of japanese questions

1) can だ replace です under all circumstances, including questions?


2) what is the difference between じゃありませんand じゃない/じゃあない? do you have to put a です behind じゃあない? like: これは私の猫じゃあない（です）。


3) に、を、で、へ
私は日本へ行きました。
私は日本に行きました。

食堂で食べますか？
食堂に食べますか？

家でテレビを見ます。
家にテレビを見ます。

家へ帰ります。
家に帰ります。

お手洗いに使いしました。
お手洗いを使いしました。

魔法を使いない。
魔法に使いない。

鏡に変われ。
鏡を変われ。

what's the difference between に and で,へ,を in the above examples?

what's the difference between a direct onject and a indirect object? please give loads of examples.

why does some verbs, like 戻る, always use に?

and also, in '私に力を貸して' and '我に力を' , what does the に function as?


3) what is the simplest way of remembering if a verb is in group 1 or group 2, including exceptions, other than refering to the list?


4) when speaking fast, some of the hiragana sounds fused together, or sounds like other hiragana. like 記憶（きおく）, when spoke fast, it sounds like きよく. do native japanese mix them up?

5) i've watch japanese anime. i've heard them pronounce 福引き（ふくびき）as くびき, or 学生（がくせい） as がっせい. can these hiragana be 'dropped' or 'switched'?

6) can the お be dropped in お金、お米、お母さん?


7) according to When and How to Use the Japanese Verb Form "Te" the 'te 'form is derived from the ta/da form of the past informal form. but how do i know if the 'te' form is te, de or da?


8) is 彼/彼女 = him/boyfriend/her/girlfriend?


9) what's the difference between 燃える and 焼ける? they are both grp 2 verbs, right?


10) what's the difference between だから and だだら/たたら(can't hear clearly)? and what 's the use of から at the end of a sentence, other than saying starting point(から．．．まで) and 'because'? because i've heard loads から at the end of sentences and they weren't use to say 'because'. and what's the difference between から and だから when saying 'because' at the end of a sentence?


全部の質問を答えてください。どうもありがとうございます

I'll start with the first two

tanhql said:

1) can だ replace です under all circumstances, including questions?

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だ and です mean the same thing, but are different levels of politeness. You should only use だ with people you know well. Also, you shouldn't use か after だ to mark a question.

2) what is the difference between じゃありませんand じゃない/じゃあない? do you have to put a です behind じゃあない? like: これは私の猫じゃあない（です）。

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just like です and だ, じゃありません and じゃない are just different levels of politeness. Look up the differences between formal (keigo) and casual verb conjugations.

5) i've watch japanese anime. i've heard them pronounce 福引き（ふくびき）as くびき, or 学生（がくせい） as がっせい. can these hiragana be 'dropped' or 'switched'?

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This maybe a colloquial form I have heard おっかさん Instead of お母さん。
Probably similar to how people will say ~んだ Instead of ～のだ。
If your not sure just stick the "true" pronounciation. You can avoid making mistakes altogether.

6) can the お be dropped in お金、お米、お母さん?

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Yes you can but it becomes less formal when you do so. Just remember to always use the お～ form of nouns until you feel comfortable on when to use the less formal forms. お米 doesn't come in my moji side bar for some reason.

For information on に ヘ で
Read here: Verb-related particles - Tae Kim's Japanese grammar guide

I was raised with Japanese, so I am a native in the sense that although I use the right verbs or particles in the right sentences (or most of the time at least), I cannot explain it other people! I find it amazing what the level of knowledge of the Japanese language is on this forum, and I would like to express my admiration and gratitude towards those who are helping others acquire the language skills.. Not only in this thread but on all occasions, you guys are great!!

tanhql said:

3) に、を、で、へ

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You better be thankful for this one...

tanhql said:

私は日本へ行きました。
私は日本に行きました。

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Both are correct.

tanhql said:

食堂で食べますか？
食堂に食べますか？

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で is correct, に is incorrect.

tanhql said:

家でテレビを見ます。
家にテレビを見ます。

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で is correct, に is incorrect.

tanhql said:

家へ帰ります。
家に帰ります。

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Both are correct.

tanhql said:

お手洗いに使いしました。
お手洗いを使いしました。

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As a standalone sentence, に is incorrect and を is correct.

tanhql said:

魔法を使いない。
魔法に使いない。

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を is correct, に is incorrect. And the negative form of 使う is 使わない.

tanhql said:

鏡に変われ。
鏡を変われ。

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Neither of these sentences make any sense, actually. 変わる is an intransitive verb (meaning it does not require an object since it describes, generally, the actions of something on itself), and so it makes no sense to use command form toward an inanimate object. To be honest, I'm not sure what you're getting at ("Change the mirror?"), so I'll refrain from taking any shots in the dark.

tanhql said:

what's the difference between に and で,へ,を in the above examples?

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Read the page Damicci linked to, then come back here for a few more tricks to help you remember.




Seriously--don't read this until you read that.




All right, let's start with the に/で confusion, which is the bane of every Japanese learner. Basically, the "fundamental" function of で is to indicate the means by which something is done. This is most obvious in phrases like 車で行く (to go by car) but in fact permeates almost every instance of it in the language. Take for example, 食堂で食べる (to eat at the cafeteria).

When you eat at the cafeteria, you are making use of it to complete your action. You are eating their food, using their tables, sitting in their chairs, etcetera. In other words, in the broad sense the 食堂 is the means by which you 食べる, and therefore it takes で.

However, if you wanted to say that someone was in the cafeteria, you would say Xは食堂にいる. Since いる means "to exist" (animate being) and you do not make use of the cafeteria to fundamentally exist, the verb takes the particle に. Now, if you were saying someone was waiting in the cafeteria, you could say Xは食堂で待っている, since X is using it to complete his action (before anyone asks, yes, that verb is fuzzy, but this is the more natural usage).

tanhql said:

why does some verbs, like 戻る, always use に?
and also, in '私に力を貸して' and '我に力を' , what does the に function as?

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に purely indicates direction. In your examples above, に is indicating the direction in which the help (or power) is going. に is almost always used with two of the three giving/receiving verbs (あげる・もらう), as is it used for indicating the passing on of a message, entering a building, pasting up a flier, etc. (彼に伝言を伝えた、ビルに入った、壁に貼った). In other words, use に with pretty much anything you would do in the direction of something or someone.

At the risk of repeating the linked page (you read that, right?) the difference between に and へ is that the former has a more solid, final feel to it. Thus 戻る can, in fact, be used with both particles, as can generally every other verb indicating a concrete direction (送る、行く、帰る、変える and so on).

tanhql said:

what's the difference between a direct onject and a indirect object? please give loads of examples.

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Finally, I saved my answer for を until here because the two questions are directly (no pun intended) related. Unlike the "intransitive" verbs I referred to above, を is used with "transitive" verbs, i.e. verbs that act on other people/objects. を comes after the direct object of the verb that follows it, which is directly opposite to English order (i.e. ボールを投げる vs. "throw the ball"). Basically, if you have to say to yourself "what did I do verb to?", you probably need an を particle.

Incidentally, I'm not going to explain direct and indirect object to you. At the risk of sounding stuckup (why is "p*ick censored?), we're here to help with your Japanese, not your English. If ya need a refresher, look it up on Wikipedia and Dictionary.com. And if you're looking for examples, may I offer Reibunkun - just type in verb examples (I'll get you started with を食べる を飲む を読む を歌う を殴る を探す) and you'll have all the examples you need.

Now I'll get another easy one and go to bed.

tanhql said:

7) according to When and How to Use the Japanese Verb Form "Te", the 'te 'form is derived from the ta/da form of the past informal form. but how do i know if the 'te' form is te, de or da?

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First off, the 'te' form is never 'da'. You will have either 'te' or 'de', and that's it.

This explanation is referring to the fact that verbs whose past informal form ends in た will use て te-forms and verbs whose past informal form ends in だ will have で te-forms. Here are some examples from the three groups of verbs:

住む --> 住んだ --> 住んで
食べる --> 食べた --> 食べて
する --> した --> して
死ぬ --> 死んだ --> 死んで
述べる --> 述べた --> 述べて
来る --> 来た --> 来て
泳ぐ --> 泳いだ --> 泳いで
着る --> 着た --> 着て
遊ぶ --> 遊んだ --> 遊んで

See this page for a comprehensive list, but basically verbs ending in む or ぐ will go to だ/で and verbs ending in ぶ or ぬ will go to んだ/んで while the rest go to た/て.

And I'm off to bed. おやすみ～

どうもありがとうございました、jonny-mtさん！

by the way, is there a site that shows if a verb in any form is in which group? like when i see the verb 起きます last night, i have to look up multiple websites to see which group it is in. so, is there a website where by if i type in a verb, like 起きます or 思わない or 吸いません, it will tell me which group it is in?

the best online dictionary I've seen is Jim Breen's WWWJDIC; i typed in 吸う (the dictionary form of the verb) and got these results WWWJDIC: Word Search

above a large grid of pretty much all of the conjugations for the verb, it says "Conjugating 吸う: 五段 (type I) verb" Not everyone learns verbs using the same terminology, so you should probably check this site out to learn the differences. Learning Japanese Verb Groups

Another question: is 彼/彼女 = him/boyfriend/her/girlfriend?

tanhql said:

Another question: is 彼/彼女 = him/boyfriend/her/girlfriend?

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Wow...I actually edited a Wikipedia page today about this very information on Of course, it wasn't as detailed as the answer I'll give you...which is all of the above.

Here are some examples for 彼女:

今夜彼女の両親に会うよ。すごく緊張している！
こんやかのじょのりょうしんにあうよ。すごくきんちょうしている！
I'm meeting my girlfriend's parents tonight. I'm incredibly nervous!

登美子さんは優秀な学生だろう。彼女なら東大に入れるよね。
とみこさんはゆうしゅうながくせいだろう。かのじょならとうだいにはいれるよね。
Tomiko-san is an excellent student, right? Of course she could get into Tokyo University!

And now for 彼：

あたしの彼はね、外国人でメッチャカッコいいわ！
あたしのかれはね、がいこくじんでめっちゃかっこいいわ！
My boyfriend is a totally cool foreigner!

あのね、彼の言っていることをちゃんと聞きなさいよ！
あのね、かれのいっていることをちゃんとききなさいよ！
Hey, pay attention and listen to what he's saying!

So what's the difference? Context. Basically, you can only use use 彼 to refer to "him" and 彼女 to refer to "her" when it is clear who "him" and "her" refer to, just like in English. If you're looking to refer to your boyfriend or girlfriend, then you have to make sure that you reference them in a way that indicates a contextual shift--generally 私/あたし/僕/オレの彼/彼女 is the way to go but, as in example two, this is not always necessarily the case.

As an additional note, girls can also refer to their boyfriends with the term 彼氏 (かれし), which is used (as I understand it) to sort of clear up any remaining confusion, with 彼 being a little bit more of a familiar term. For example, I would feel awkward referring to another person's boyfriend as her 彼 unless I was very close to both the people being talked about and the person I was talking to, but that's just my subjective impression.

...I may come back and get some more questions later if I'm bored

yet another question: what's the difference between 窶抒窶堋ｦ窶堙ｩ and ﾂ湘??堋ｯ窶堙ｩ? they are both grp 2 verbs, right?

全部の質問を答えてください。どうもありがとうございます

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すみません。「やける」と「燃える」の違いが説明できないです。
微妙な違いがあるかもしれないけど。。。
どちらも、ほとんど同じでしょう。
少なくとも、Verb group によって「もえる」と「やける」という意味の違いが分かれると
聞いたことがないです。
(At least I've never heard the difference in meaning was dependent on verb grouping).

でも、元の質問ですが、「全部の質問を答えてください。」は、
「すべての質問に答えてください」が良いとおもいますね。

tanhql said:

yet another question: what's the difference between 燃える and 焼ける? they are both grp 2 verbs, right?

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燃える is burn, as paper burns with flames.

焼ける is to burn, as in becoming cooked (or in high heat, as when steak becomes cooked) and you don't necessarily see the flames.

I think the two are synonymous, except in these cases.

燃える moeru = Burn, flame, glow
焼ける yakeru = Burn, bake, broil

Yakeru is also used for tanning. Interestingly, or at least I find it funny, moeru is used for passion also:

燃えるような愛情 = Burning love

Whereas yakeru, in the context of love, is being jealous:

やきもちを焼く = Being jealous (literally: baking mochi)

epigene said:

燃える is burn, as paper burns with flames.
焼ける is to burn, as in becoming cooked (or in high heat, as when steak becomes cooked) and you don't necessarily see the flames.
I think the two are synonymous, except in these cases.

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そうですね。でも、「焦げる」も同じく「Scorched, blackened burnt food」という意味で使えますね。[Roast, broil, bake, grill。。。]には、「焼ける」という言い方も出来るでしょう。

とにかく、私が料理あまりできないのは非常に明らかなあ。。。

どうもありがとう、皆さん。

another question: what's the difference between だから and だだら/たたら(can't hear clearly)? and what 's the use of から at the end of a sentence, other than saying starting point(から．．．まで) and 'because'? because i've heard loads から at the end of sentences and they weren't use to say 'because'. and what's the difference between から and だから when saying 'because' at the end of a sentence?

Elizabeth said:

そうですね。でも、「焦げる」も同じく「Scorched, blackened burnt food」という意味で使えますね。[Roast, broil, bake, grill。。。]には、「焼ける」という言い方も出来るでしょう。
とにかく、私が料理あまりできないのは非常に明らかなあ。。。

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まぁ、肉を焼き過ぎない限り焦げないでしょうね。頑張れ～

tanhql said:

どうもありがとう、皆さん。
another question: what's the difference between だから and だだら/たたら(can't hear clearly)? and what 's the use of から at the end of a sentence, other than saying starting point(から．．．まで) and 'because'? because I've heard loads から at the end of sentences and they weren't use to say 'because'. and what's the difference between から and だから when saying 'because' at the end of a sentence?

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As for the first question, I think you might be hearing だったら, which is the most versatile of the three conditional constructs. Basically, it just means "if", although it's more of a conditional than a compulsory (i.e. 余りにも大変だったら諦めてもいいよ。 - "If it's too hard, then you can give up" vs. 大変すぎると諦めるよ。 - "I'll give up if it's too hard.").

As for the second, から is also a way of giving a reason, although it's a rather subjective reason. The reason you see it at then end of sentences is because in Japanese you give reasons or provide direct causality links in places that wouldn't normally require them in English. For example, an appropriate response to 今帰るの？ ("Are you going home now?) might be いいえ、仕事がまだあるから。 ("No, I still have work to do."). As you can see, "because" isn't present in the English translation, but if you leave the から out of the Japanese it sounds a little too abrupt and overly straightforward.

As for when to end a sentence with plain から and when to end it with だから, the rules is that if the sentence ends with a na-adjective or a noun and you are male, you use だから. Otherwise, you can just use から. If you are speaking polite form, however, the rules are a bit more flexible, allowing endings like だからです, ですから, ～ますから, and so on.

返ります

jonny-mt said:

As for the second, から is also a way of giving a reason, although it's a rather subjective reason. The reason you see it at then end of sentences is because in Japanese you give reasons or provide direct causality links in places that wouldn't normally require them in English. For example, an appropriate response to 今帰るの？ ("Are you going home now?) might be いいえ、仕事がまだあるから。 ("No, I still have work to do."). As you can see, "because" isn't present in the English translation, but if you leave the から out of the Japanese it sounds a little too abrubt and overly straightforward.

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so, if i say 'i'm going with you. you might get lost if you go on your own.' in japanese, i have to add a だから behind the 2nd sentence? can だから be added in front of a sentence?

jonny-mt said:

As for when to end a sentence with plain から and when to end it with だから, the rules is that if the sentence ends with a na-adjective or a noun and you are male, you use だから. Otherwise, you can just use から. If you are speaking polite form, however, the rules are a bit more flexible, allowing endings like だからです, ですから, ～ますから, and so on.

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so if i'm a male, i have to use だから all the time?

as you know, i've just started to learn the verbs and the tenses, and am making notes of them. i only write down(and remember) the verbs in their basic form(待つ,見る etc). should i write down(and remember) the verbs in their difference tenses too? or should i use my memory to change them into their different tenses?

what's the difference between 見える and 見る, 目覚める and 覚める, 寝る and 眠る, 月影 and 月光?

what does あるべき mean in 汝のあるべき姿に戻れ? i know 汝=you, 姿=form, 戻れ=return.

what's the difference between 戻る,返る and 帰る?

how would you translate '世界の法を忘れ、慢心したか'?

why do i sometimes hear じゃない when the person clearly isn't saying negative things like can't or don't or isn't?

だから by itself can be placed in the front of a sentence that explains the result of the previous sentence. You don't have to use it all of the time, but it will probably be a normal part of your casual vocabulary.

The best way to learn verbs at first is to understand how the different kind of verbs conjugate, so when you learn a new verb, you'll know how to conjugate it immediately. However, for a beginner, I would suggest you concentrate on just a few basic conjugations (plain dictionary form positive and negative, polite form positive and negative, and ～て form, then build up to more advanced structures.

見れ is to see, 見える is to be seen

jonny-mt said:

まぁ、肉を焼き過ぎない限り焦げないでしょうね。頑張れ～

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へへ、どうもありがとう。
ご飯についても、一番良いことはそれを煮すぎても、焦げないですね。
ちょっと固くなるだけです。:hungry:
寿司屋でも、魚が本当に腐らないとは思うけど、臭いを隠そうとするために、
わさびなどを全体に付けられるとおもいます。
料理には、いろいろな秘訣がありますね。

these questions are still unanswered. can someone explain?

1) when speaking fast, some of the hiragana sounds fused together, or sounds like other hiragana. like 記憶（きおく）, when spoke fast, it sounds like きよく. do native japanese mix them up?

2) i've watch japanese anime. i've heard them pronounce 福引き（ふくびき）as くびき, or 学生（がくせい） as がっせい. can these hiragana be 'dropped' or 'switched'?

3) what's the difference between 見える and 見る(still confused), 目覚める and 覚める, 寝る and 眠る, 月影 and 月光?

4) what does あるべき mean in 汝のあるべき姿に戻れ? i know 汝=you, 姿=form, 戻れ=return.

5) what's the difference between 戻る,返る and 帰る?

6) how would you translate '世界の法を忘れ、慢心したか'?

7) why do i somtimes hear じゃない when the person clearly isn't saying negative things like can't or don't or isn't?

you can use chinese to explain too; i'm fluent in both english and chinese.

thanks.

7) why do i somtimes hear じゃない when the person clearly isn't saying negative things like can't or don't or isn't?

this will be like: カッコいいじゃない？ meaning: Isn't (he/she/it) cool?

we use this "じゃない" expression all the time don't we?

yorkii said:

7) why do i sometimes hear じゃない when the person clearly isn't saying negative things like can't or don't or isn't?
this will be like: カッコいいじゃない？ meaning: Isn't (he/she/it) cool?
we use this "じゃない" expression all the time don't we?

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can you elaborate?

and does じゃない mean 'must? like 'お宝じゃない' meaning 'it must be a treasure'. but in this case, how do we know this じゃない is not the informal form of じゃありません?

yorkii said:

7) why do i sometimes hear じゃない when the person clearly isn't saying negative things like can't or don't or isn't?
this will be like: カッコいいじゃない？ meaning: Isn't (he/she/it) cool?
we use this "じゃない" expression all the time don't we?

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Actually it can be a bit difficult to know sometimes by reading, but said with a rising inflection usually indicates "isn't it ?" as a way of making a less direct, confrontational form of the statement. You may also hear the shortened version simply "jan"....usually from young people of course.

1) when speaking fast, some of the hiragana sounds fused together, or sounds like other hiragana. like 記憶（きおく）, when spoke fast, it sounds like きよく. do native japanese mix them up?

Because the /i/ of き right before /o/ affects it, it could sound like きよく a little bit but the speaker do not feel it and from the context those who hears it decides (maybe unconcsiously) it is きおく not きよく. And I think if your ears are very much used to the language, it would not sounds so much like きよく but not really the same. I say the possibility of getting confused is quite low to the native speakers... at least to me.

2) i've watch japanese anime. i've heard them pronounce 福引き（ふくびき）as くびき, or 学生（がくせい） as がっせい. can these hiragana be 'dropped' or 'switched'?

No, they were not dropped, I think that those sounds just excaped your ears because they were 'unvocalized' i.e. their vowel were not voiced.

Certain sounds are unvocalized under certain conditions.
き、く、ひ、ふ、し、す for example.
When they are followed by か行（かきくけこ） or さ行（さしすせそ） or た行（たちつてと）, their sounds nearly lose their vowel - just like when whispered.

ふくびき should be "fukubiki" but ふ is followed by く, so ふ is unvocalized, sounds very close to "f-kubiki".
Same as がくせい. "Gakusei" is actually pronounced more like "gak-sei".
If you do not know this and expect ふ or く, then the words sound as if ふ and く are missing.

3) what's the difference between 見える and 見る(still confused), 目覚める and 覚める, 寝る and 眠る, 月影 and 月光?[/]

見える: intransitive verb. When you say 月が見える, it means 月 appears in your sight, it sounds like 月 shows itself spontaneously even you do not intend to see it yourself.
見る: transitive verb. When you say 月を見る, it means you look at the moon.

目覚める: to wake up from sleep, to come round, to come to life, awaken to something, especially something new. Same as 目が覚める.
覚める: to wake from something, sleep, coma, nightmare, drunkeness, etc.

寝る: to lie down (but not necessarily to sleep)
眠る: to sleep

月影、月光: both are the same - meaning moon light （月の光）, but 月影 is rather an archaic word, often used for poetry.

4) what does あるべき mean in 汝のあるべき姿に戻れ? i know 汝=you, 姿=form, 戻れ=return.

べき = should
Literal translation would be go back to what you should be.

5) what's the difference between 戻る,返る and 帰る?

All of them suggest "going back"

戻る: to return/go back to the original place/form/state
元に戻る、本が戻る、家に戻る
返る: to return 正気に返る、我に返る
to turn 振り返る、ひっくり返る
帰る: normally person(s) go back somewhere - often home.