Thread: 切る
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masaegu (Offline)
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Join Date: Jun 2007
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01-02-2011, 06:57 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxful View Post
I understand that ”電気をつける” and ”電気を消す” mean "Turn on the light" and "Turn off the light".

The reason why I asked if I can alter both verbs to "電気を入れる and "電気を切る" was because since I can say ラジオを切る / ラジオを消す and ラジオをつける / ラジオを入れる than I was wondering I can say the same thing for "電気" as well?
Great, we seem to be on the same wave length, then. (No pun intended with the radio...) And the short answer is negative.

電気を切る means "to turn off the light".

電気を入れる, however, doesn't mean "to turn on the light". It means "to turn the power on" for machines.

I other words, the word 電気 means different things between those two phrases. It means "any lamps or fluorescent tubes" in the first, and "the power (or electricity)" in the second.
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