Japanese Homework Help?
 

I'm learning about -でしょう (deshou)、-かもしれない (kamoshirenai)、and -かな (kana). I have to fill in the blanks but the sentences seem strange so I must not be interpreting them correctly. I understood the first few sentences on the homework but not these. Please help if you can. I'm not trying to get only answers but understanding, thanks (^_^)

あの男の学生は日本語のきょうがしょをともっていうか ら、きっと___________________でしょう。
Ano otoko no gakusei wa nihongo no kyougasho wo tomotte iru kara, kitto_________ deshou.

It sounds to me like "That male student is burning his japanese textbook so, surely he's (or it's) ________" But that sounds crazy lol

今日は、とても寒くて、くもがたくさん___________から、� ��るは_________かもしれませんね。
Kyou wa, totemo samukute, kumo ga takusan ______ kara, yoru wa ______ kamoshiremasen.

"Today, and its very cold, clouds will probably _______ therefore, the night might _______." I have no idea if this is close or what to put in the blanks.

山下さんはスポーツが上手_______から、　きっとテニス� �_______でしょう。
Yamashita-san wa supootsu ga jouzu______kara, kitto tenisu mo _____ deshou.

"Yamashita is good at sports _______ therefore, surely probably ______ tennis too." Again that's my interpretation and I have no idea what to put in the blanks.

小川さんは、ねむそうですね。たくさんしゅくだいが___ _____から、きのうのよるはぜんぜん___________かもしれな� �ね。
Ogawa-san wa, nemu sou desu ne. Takusan shukudai ga ______ kara, kinou no yoru wa zenzen _____ kamoshirenai ne.

“Ogawa is sleeping, huh? His homework probably _______ so, last night probably _______ not at all.” I have no clue about this one either.

Thanks if you can help to guide me on the right track or help me translate them better. (T_T)

I made a few typos in the first sentence, and I realized that I was confusing takusan for tabun, which caused a lot of confusion :)

Hello. I'll try to give you hints without completely spoiling everything.

Well, first of all, no big deal, but textbook is "きょうかしょ", with a hard か. Now, your romanization has "tomotte iru" but in Japanese you wrote "ともっていう" (tomo tte iu). とも would mean friend or companion, いう in this context would mean "to call" (as in, to say something is ___), and って is a casual version of the particle と when quoting. So in other words, it means something like "That male student calls his Japanese textbook his friend".

Very close! You're just focusing a little too much on "probably" right now. Notice that after "くもがたくさん____" is the word "から”, which means "because", not "probably". In the example below, you translated から as "therefore", and in the example above as "so", both of which also work just fine.

上手 is a な-adjective. There's something that must go between な-adjectives and the word から. If you don't remember, try reviewing から in your textbook. As for the rest, well, Yamashita's good at sports, right? Tennis is a sport . . .

Again, very close. ねている/ねています/ねむっている/ねむっています etc. would be "is sleeping". Notice that そう is tacked on to ねむ. Have you studied そう yet? そう can either mean "seems ___" or "I heard ____". You can tell which it's supposed to be by the form of the word that goes before it - use the dictionary form of a word before そう to indicate "I heard ___"; use the stem form of a word before そう to indicate "seems ___". Examples:

あついそうです。
I heard it's hot.

小川さんは行くそうです。
I heard Ogawa's going.

--------------------------

あつそうです。
It seems hot.

小川さんは行きそうです。
It seems that Ogawa is going.

The tricky part with your sentence is that the verb ねむる (to sleep) looks similar to the adjective ねむい (sleepy). But I'll tell you right now that there is no such verb as "ねむ".

Also, just like with くも above, after "しゅくだいが____" is the word "から”.

I hope that helps!

Can you fill in blanks in English sentences? Filling in blanks in English sentences first "might" make filling in blanks in Japanese sentences easy.

Thanks so much guys :)

In the first sentence I made typos it should be きょうかしょ　and　もっている and I believe that my teacher may have made a typo and put ともっている instead of もっている. And like I said I figured out that I was just glossing over たくさん and not actually reading it, because we just learned たぶん in class so I wasn't really paying attention LOL . But thanks a lot I was able to finish the assignment thanks to your help :D

Your book says this? We Japanese-speakers ceratinly do not.

LOL My teacher wrote the assignment, she is an older Japanese lady, so I don't know if it was a typo on her part or not :)

It said あの男の学生は... :o

Native teachers that teach outside of Japan tend to teach you what sounds "more understandable" to you guys, who are speakers of non-Japanese languages, rather than what sounds more natural to the Japanese ear.

「男」 used this way sounds VERY rude and impolite. I do not know the English word for it but it is the male version of "broad".

What do you say instead?　男性の学生？ Why does 男 sound rude here? I honestly couldn't tell.

「男性の学生」 is not only wordy but its collocation is quite unnatural. We do say 「男性（の）会社員」、「男性（の）歌手」、「男性化 粧品」, etc. but not 「男性の学生」. 　

To say "that male student", which I honestly doubt is even said in English in a natural setting (but then what would I know about English?), one normally would use 「男子学生」 for colleges, 「男子生徒」 for junior high and high schools, and 「男子児童」 for elementary.

In more real-life situations, however, you would hear 「あの子」、「あの人」、「あの学生/生徒」 way more often. The gender of the student would be obvious nearly 100% of the time, which I think is exactly why you would say "that male student" or "that female nurse" just by looking at them.

You DO NOT say 「あの男の学生」 and 「あの女」 unless you already have a very negative opinion of those people. There is no why about it. We just don't. It is completely OK to use 「男」 or 「女」 when referring to either gender in general in phrases like 「男はみんなオオカミだ。」 or 「女の心は変わりやすい。」. 　When referring to a particular person (especially a stranger), however, you could not sound ruder and/or more unえducated if you used these two short words.

Ask around since you appear to be located in Japan.