Please help me :)

[Andreandrea]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

ETA; If I were writing a card like that (I wouldn`t, but that`s beside the point) - I`d probably write it as this;

（君に）伝えたい事がある/あります･･･
お誕生日おめでとうございます！

With the 君に optional, and either ある or あります at the end.

Yeah, actually, I take back what i said before. I think 伝えたい is better than 言いたい or 教えたい。

[MeIsKevin]

Originally Posted by chryuop

Just a question. Shouln't it be なんか言いたいことがあるのは? Just a personal curiosity....

Originally Posted by duo797

Negative. This の isn't nominalizing ある, it's being used as のです. I'm not even sure you can nominalize something like existence >_>, as I certainly am having trouble doing it in my head.

Edit: That makes me think, considering his name is Kevin, shouldn't we say なんか言いたいことがあるんだ ? I was under the impression that just using の at the end of a sentence (not a question) was more female. In fact, I've been corrected on Lang-8 for ending a sentence with のよ. I was told it sounded a bit too feminine.

Originally Posted by Nyororin

Yeah, but if there was a か on the end, he would be saying something like "You got something to say?!?" - so a birthday wish would be kind of hard to stick on the end there.

Originally Posted by Andreandrea

Yeah, actually, I take back what i said before. I think 伝えたい is better than 言いたい or 教えたい。

Thank you everyone for the replies, it helped me alot

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by duo797

Negative. This の isn't nominalizing ある, it's being used as のです. I'm not even sure you can nominalize something like existence >_>, as I certainly am having trouble doing it in my head.

Edit: That makes me think, considering his name is Kevin, shouldn't we say なんか言いたいことがあるんだ ? I was under the impression that just using の at the end of a sentence (not a question) was more female. In fact, I've been corrected on Lang-8 for ending a sentence with のよ. I was told it sounded a bit too feminine.

Actually I'm using の as a softer sentence ender than よ. Sort of a soft, non-female version of わ (although I am aware of men using わ now, especially in Kansai region).

I don't think it sounds "too" feminine. I use it all the time in Japanese. Of course, I'm a pretty carefree, friendly, non-aggressive male, so it fits me well. It all depends on your confidence, situation, etc.

But I'll stand by my choice of の there unless a native tells me not to.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

Umm, why put なんか in there at all? Why 言いたい? And why a の at the end?

Sorry, but this just sounds really weird to me in it`s entirety...

If you NEED to write "something" (which you shouldn`t), at least put it as なにか.
言いたい would sound a lot better as 伝えたい... And the の isn`t needed at all, and makes it sound really wrong to me. Just imagine sticking a か on the end of that, and having an angry guy come up to you saying it...

ETA; If I were writing a card like that (I wouldn`t, but that`s beside the point) - I`d probably write it as this;

（君に）伝えたい事がある/あります･･･
お誕生日おめでとうございます！

With the 君に optional, and either ある or あります at the end.

Yeah, 伝えたい is much better.

And I know the の isn't needed, but I opted to use it as a softer sentence ender. I'll defer to you, though, because your Japanese is far better than mine.

Perhaps since の functions like both よ and か, it was a poor choice of particle on my part.

Edit And yeah, about the なんか, that was way too colloquial (all my university friends used なんか like we use "like" in English).

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

Yeah, 伝えたい is much better.

And I know the の isn't needed, but I opted to use it as a softer sentence ender. I'll defer to you, though, because your Japanese is far better than mine.

Perhaps since の functions like both よ and か, it was a poor choice of particle on my part.

Edit And yeah, about the なんか, that was way too colloquial (all my university friends used なんか like we use "like" in English).

I think the whole problem with your sentence is that it would be an okay thing to just say to friends... But you wouldn`t write it like that. Writing の as an ender looks feminine, particularly with that sentence. I find it hard to envision a guy saying that pattern. Not to say you can`t, but it just feels a bit strange.
Either way though, it wouldn`t be written - same with the なんか.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

I think the whole problem with your sentence is that it would be an okay thing to just say to friends... But you wouldn`t write it like that. Writing の as an ender looks feminine, particularly with that sentence. I find it hard to envision a guy saying that pattern. Not to say you can`t, but it just feels a bit strange.
Either way though, it wouldn`t be written - same with the なんか.

This makes me feel a lot better about what I posted. It felt quite natural when I typed it (admittedly, quickly while my fiancée was yelling at me to get off the computer so we could go to church—this was my mistake in offering half-considered advice).

I absolutely agree it sounds like something said to friends and not like something that would be written down. I hadn't considered that the card needed to sound any differently, but now that I've re-read what you've written, I find myself persuaded by you.

Regardless, I feel embarrassed by my initial offering, and relieved that I wasn't as completely wrong as I felt after reading your first post. The self-doubt has subsided to a certain degree.

(Whether the recession of my self-doubt is a good thing for JF, time will only tell!)