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lots of questions... -
11-19-2008, 06:28 AM
Ok I have a ton of questions, and I didn't think I wanted to cram the questions/translations thread. Sorry about all the questions, it's just I have so much I want to ask, and online translators are O.K., but they don't always translate correctly. The books I have don't answer these questions, I only have "practical Japanese" and "Your first 100 words in japanese" and "elementary course in japanese", the last one which I borrowed from the library. They're good books, and I read it all the way through, but practical Japanese only teaches "konnichiwa. watashi wa ue he ikimasu.". I appreciate that I have it though. Your first 100 words in japanese is pretty good, it teaches household appliances and basic words, not sentences. Elementary course in Japanese, I love it, it tells you what all the words mean but sometimes it's really confusing. Well, aside form the book reviews, here are my questions:
1/ What is the difference between "ookii and ookina"? I also see "chiisai" and chiisana. IS "you ni" and "you na" also related to this? 2/I've noticed all these verb forms..The ones I have confusion with most are ~rareru/~sareru(話される), ~reba(話せば), ~tara(話したら), ~saseru(話させる ), ~ou(話そう), and ~darou(話すだろう). I know that's a lot, I'm so sorry. I've heard "darou" means "will", but I have yet to confirm whether this is true.. 3/ How do you say "too"? As in "I have too many papers". I read song lyrics, and I think I could guess that it is "sugi" but I'm not really sure. 4/What is "yori"? I see it a ton. An online translator gives me "from", but I thought that was "kara"? Which brings me to the next question. 5/ I spend a lot of time looking and reading what I can of Japanese texts, so I could get used to seeing it and get faster and recognizing katakana, because I've got hiragana down after a few hours of flash cards. I have heard a seen "kara" but not used as 'from' when I read translations. Does it means something else too? 6/ How do you say "because" in Japanese? Are there different ways? 7/ What's the difference between "kochira" and "kono"? And I also see "kochirakoso" a lot in video game texts and literature books. 8/ "suru" is so confusing..Sometimes I see "shite" sometimes "suru".. What is the difference and when do I know to use "suru" or "shite"? 9/ When do I use "yappari"? I try to watch the news in Japanese and try to listen for anything I might understand, and I hear "yappari" when they are talking to other people. 10/ A friend told me "jibun" is the same as saying "watashi". But I thought "jibun" was "myself"? But I also hear people on tv say "jibun no..". I'm so sorry about all the questions, I always have questions I try to find on the internet but get a bunch of verb charts, which I appreciate very much, but I don't know how to use which verb. I know it says it, like "passive, potential, volitional", but i don't even know what that means in english. I've asked a few english tutors who didn't explain but gave me sites, and I'm very thankful for it, but they just have more example sentence of when the verb form is used, which is useful, but I can't construct my own sentences. I've tried and asked my native friends if they are right and they say it isn't when I use that verb form. My other friend who I go to her house sometimes to visit, I ask her questions sometimes but she doesn't really understand what I'm saying, and I wish I could help her too, but I can't explain in nihongo very well and she sometimes smiles or gives me a puzzled look. So if you can any or part of these questions, I'd be very grateful. Sorry again about the long post and thank you for your help. では、申し訳ありません。どうもありがとうございます ！ 
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11-19-2008, 06:35 AM
I'm tired, so I'll answer the first and last.
1) Some adjectives are considered "na" adjectives. Depending on how you use the adjective (like, "the dog is small" or "that's a small dog"), you will need to use "na" at the end 10) Jibun does mean "myself". The way Japanese is set up with the "wa" particle (grammatically, it's like "as for ___"), "jibun wa" is like saying "As for myself..."
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11-19-2008, 08:02 AM
OK here we go...
1/ Ooki na and Ookii mean the same thing. Same with chiisa na/chiisai. 2/Yeah, that's a lot. Sorry. A good grammar book will sort this out. Those topics cover several chapters in Teach Yourself Japanese, among others. 3/ How do you say "too"? As in "I have too many papers". I read song lyrics, and I think I could guess that it is "sugi" but I'm not really sure. Shinbun wa oosugiru: I have/there are too many newspapers. Actually "ooi" can mean the same thing depending on context. 4/Yori is used for comparison. Tokyo wa Maebashi yori ookii. Tokyo is bigger than Maebashi. 5/ "kara" has many uses. "Da kara" means "because." But don't try using it till you've mastered the phrase order. 6/ See above. Japanese is left-branching which means that to say "I drink because I have stress" you say "stress-exists-because-drink." 7/ and 8/ : Big topics, sorry. 9/ "As I expected" 10/ Depends on context. Libraries of linguistics papers have been written on this topic. 「辛かったろう」と言ってくれる
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11-19-2008, 03:06 PM
Excuse me, I didn't get what Japanese level you are in currently...?
I'm afraid that you might be trying to learn too many things from different levels, levels that are way beyond your grasp. I'd suggest that you take proper lessons and a step-by-step approach. Without a proper Japanese foundation, even knowing the answers to all your questions doesn't necessarily improves your level of Japanese. I'm afraid that it might just confuse you all the more.
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11-19-2008, 10:28 PM
I will answer the second question. The verbs, "speak" and "talk" are translated into Japanese as "hanasu" (話す) basically. For example, "I speak to you" is translated "私はあなたに話す"
Japanese verbs conjugate. For example, "話す" has five conjugations. 話さ "hanasa" 話し "hanasi" 話す "hanasu" (this is basic) 話せ "hanase" 話そ "hanaso" By the way, we Japanese add some meaning to verb by adding jyodoshi (助動詞) and/or "jyoshi" (助詞). For example, "reru" (れる) and "reta" (れた) make the verb a passive verb. "Kare ni hanasa-reta kotoba" (彼に話された言葉) = Word spoken by him "Seru" (せる) makes the verb a causative verb. "Kare ni hanasa-seru" (彼に話させる) = "I make (have/ let) him speak." Both "tara" (たら) and "ba" (ば) mean "if." "Watashi ga hanashi-tara" (私が話したら) and "Watashi ga hanase-ba" (私が話せば) = "If I speak" "U" (う) means intention to do or "let's." "Watashi to hanaso-u" (私と話そう) = "Let's talk with me" "Watashi ga sore ni tsuite hanaso-u" (私が話そう) ="I will talk" "Darou" (だろう) means "probably." "Kare ga hanasu-darou" (彼が話すだろう) = "He will probably talk." The combination of "jyodoshi" (助動詞) and/or "jyoshi" (助詞) and conjugating of verb has some principles. However, it is difficult for me to explain about all principals methodically. I think my explanation technically, but I hope this helps your understanding little a bit 
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11-21-2008, 03:40 AM
Thank you so much everyone! Well, I would get Japanese classes, but my parents won't let me and I can't exactly afford it anyway, because my friend told me around here they are about $300 a month, and my parents most definitely won't let me go anywhere far. They don't support me on this..Think think it's waste of time and Japanese is a useless language that isn't spoken in the U.S., but that's not true.
@ Keaton421: Thank you! I thought it would mean somewhat the same to the Chinese meaning. I got sort of a hint at that from the "自" which means "self" in Chinese. But now I know how to use it. Thank you again! @ Wasabista: Thank you. The "sugi" and "yori" thing are still unclear, but the -na thing is off my back and I'm glad. Also, the "yappari". mata, arigatougozaimashita~ @ enyafriend: Well, I can't exactly clarify myself in a "japanese level", or rather, not yet? I try to learn phrases, verb forms, and conjunctions, and just about everything all at once. I keep a book of single verbs and their forms and I write it out a lot when I have time. As for now, I'm scrambling to get everything together for school, so I haven't had much time to devote to studying Japanese.The only big break for me is the Kanji writing. Since I am able to read and write Chinese, Kanji isn't a new concept. The only problem with it are the readings. But thank you for your suggestions! @ Shuka: arigatougozaimashita~ The passive form is getting much more clear, but causative has always been really confusing. I don't even know what it is in English. I understand the "tara" and "ba" forms now, thank you. It has puzzled me for quite a while because I look at translations of things and compare it to the actual Japanese writing, and sometimes it's not literal. "darou" I have hear was "will" or "probably", although I wasn't at all sure if this was correct, but now I can confirm this. Once again, thanks so much, a lot has become simpler.
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11-21-2008, 11:05 AM
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11-21-2008, 04:17 PM
> CaptainThunder
Unnn...., it may not be suitable to explain such a gramatical thing on this site. If so, please tolerate me. First, I explained about the verb conjugations not so collectly in above thread. I want Untilte to understand the fact that there are many kind of combinations of conjugations of verb and "jyodoshi" (助動詞) and/or "jyoshi"(助詞) easily. Sorry for your confusion my explanation may have caused you. By the way, there are 6 conjugations of verb in Japanse correct grammar. "Mizen-kei" 未然形: - this combines with "nai" (ない), "u" (う), etc. "Rentai-kei" 連用形: -this combines with "masu" (ます),"ta" (た), "te" て or 、, etc. "Shushi-kei" 終止形: - this is basic conjugation and combines nothing. There will be "。" after this conjugation. "Rentai-kei" 連体形: - this combines with nouns "toki" (とき) "hito" (人), "mono" (もの), etc. "Katei-kei" 仮定形: - this combines with "ba" (ば). "Meirei-kei" 命令形: - this conjugation makes a verb imperative. There will be "。" after this conjugation. For example, "hanasu" (話す) conjugtes as following, 未然形： 話さ(hanasa) or 話そ (hanaso) 私は話さない。＝ I don't speak. 私が話そう。＝ I will speak. 連用形： 話し (hanashi) 私は話した。＝ I spoke. 終止形： 話す (hanasu) 私が話す。 ＝ I speak. 連体形： 話す (hanasu) 私が話すとき ＝ when I speak, 話す人 ＝ a person who speaks 仮定形： 話せ (hanase) 私が話せば ＝ If I speak, 命令形： 話せ (hanase) それについて話せ ＝ Speak about it Such conjugation is called as "godan katsuyou" (五段活用) and a basic kind of conjugation. However, there are some other conjugation types. For example, "taberu" (食べる) conjugates as follow, 未然形： "tabe-nai" 食べ-ない、"tabe-you" 食べよ-う 連用形： "tabe-ta" 食べ-た 終止形： "taberu" 食べる 連体形： "taberu-toki" 食べる-とき 仮定形： "tabere-ba" 食べれ-ば 命令形： "tabero" 食べろ This is called "shimo ichidan katsuyou" (下一段活用). You need be able to distinguish what type of conjugation that verb has. However, sorry, I don't have enough time to explain about all the conjugations. I hope my additional long explanation doesn't confuse you more.... 
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11-21-2008, 07:40 PM
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11-21-2008, 08:21 PM
Actually in wester teaching system (about Japanese language of course) many times you hear of the 4 main forms of the verb. I am not sure if in Japan they teach the same way...but I think it ends up to be confusing this way. I am for teaching all 6 of them and not introducing the remaining two as "irregularity". I still remember the first text book I bought, when it introduced the godan verb and showed 4 forms I immediately wondered why calling it godan then???
暗闇の中 歩くしかねぇ everything’s gonna be okay 恐れることねぇ 辛い時こそ胸を張れ
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