It makes me feel incredibly satisfied that I could read the sentence correctly and understand the individual words. All those hours poured into WK are showing
I failed at grammar though. What I thought it meant was “Ten yen is not enough” (understandable, since for that amount you can’t even buy a slap in the face).
EDIT: Also, I am a bit confused about that ん (足りないんです). Can anyone explain what it’s doing there?
I’ve heard it implies that the sentence is being offered as some sort of explanation or reason for something else that is happening… but I’m not sure I fully understand it either
Yes. It’s most natural to break out んです as a response or explanation. It helps to look at what’s happening grammatically here.
んです is really just a contraction of のです, the same ending の that you might know as a nominalizer. Ex. 泳ぐのが好きです. (“I like swimming.” Lit. “Swimming is liked (by me).”
泳ぐ (swim) —> 泳ぐの (swimming)
So when you say something like 十円足りないんです, it’s the same as 十円足りないのです (though that’s awkward and unnatural). Or, to translate it to reflect the grammar/nominalization:
“It’s that I’m 10 yen short.”
(With 足りないの actually being a noun phrase: “being insufficient” or “(the fact) that it’s insufficient.”)
This is also why the phrase takes on です instead of ending with the verb. The last part of the sentence is a noun, so you need だ or です.
If you think about it along the lines of, “It’s that I’m ten yen short,” it becomes more clear why it’s more natural as an explanation or response than a stand-alone statement.
(Note that the phrase is also more natural in Japanese than “It’s that I’m ten yen short” is in English, so this is really just to illustrate the nuts and bolts of the grammar/logic, rather than the feeling. Unfortunately the languages rarely line up in terms of grammatical logic and natural use, which is why I think it’s helpful to have both the practical equivalent in English and the transliteration sometimes. One to help you remember when to use the phrase, the other to help you understand why it is the way it is.)
Yay! Glad you understood all the vocab here - and yes! All your effort into WaniKani is paying off🙌
So, 足りないんです is a more casual way to say 足りないのです. Unless in formal documents or literature, we don’t really use のです. In spoken Japanese, の becomes ん almost always because it’s easier to pronounce and のです sounds pretty assertive so we often want to soften the feeling, I think. Same as this, なのだ becomes なんだ, etc.
１ダースには 何個か 卵が 足りない。
We’re a few eggs short for a dozen.
より and には are both used when comparing the size or number, but for a comparison with a specific goal, limit or requirement etc (when we often use 足りる/足りない), we tend to use には.
So you can use より when simply comparing the number of eggs you have and a dozen of eggs using the word 少ない:
1ダースより卵が何個か少ない。
There’s a fewer eggs than a dozen.
But, you’d want to use には when you explain if enough or not enough using the word 足りない.
You did it very well💮, but also wanted to let you know the more natural way🙌 Hope it helps!
To make it sound more natural, you could also say:
ワニカニには「璃」を使った単語が足りない。
実は、一語 (or ひとつ)もないんです。
OK - I’ll add one vocab to your personal WaniKani I don’t think 瑠 is on WaniKani, but 瑠璃 (ruri) is lapis lazuli (or similar stones) and 瑠璃色 (deep blue) is always facisnating to look at
１ダースには 何個か 卵が 足りない。
We’re a few eggs short for a dozen.
より and には are both used when comparing the size or number, but for a comparison with a specific goal, limit or requirement etc (when we often use 足りる/足りない), we tend to use には.
So you can use より when simply comparing the number of eggs you have and a dozen of eggs using the word 少ない:
1ダースより卵が何個か少ない。
There’s a fewer eggs than a dozen.
But, you’d want to use には when you explain if enough or not enough using the word 足りない.
You did it very well💮, but also wanted to let you know the more natural way🙌 Hope it helps!
Thank you for explaining this! I was wondering what the most natural way would be. I’d seen the より construction before, but には feels a lot smoother to me as a learner. The difference in implications is also easy to understand. Thanks again!
for your 作文 then.