[aDoIJG] U - Z 💮 A Dictionary of Intermidiate Japanese Grammar

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A Dictionary of Japanese Grammar :white_flower: Home Thread

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Week
Start Date
Reading Entry Count Page Numbers Page Count
#29 Jul 20th (の)上で to は 6 551 - 567 17
#30 Jul 27th は言うまでもなく to やる1 6 568 - 588 21
#31 Aug 3rd やる1 to ぞ 7 589 - 612 24

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A lot of the “when must you use て vs when must you use Vmasu vs when is either ok” details are ones I’d apparently glossed over, since I haven’t needed to actually write anything for years now…

4 Likes

(の)上で

I remember this entry because I read it pretty closely earlier in the year when I was trying to explain a Japanese nuance in one of my translations to someone.

Vinf・past 上で is used to express an idea that someone will do something rather important (quite often decision-making) after they have done something as a preparatory action. The image is that the action expressed in the main clause is on top of the accompanying action. (There’s a nice diagram in the book, haha)

The verbs of the main and preparatory actions are non-passive, volitional verbs.

The noun in N の上で is typically a noun of investigation, interview, discussion and the like. And the noun is usually a Sino-Japanese noun that takes (を)する.

Vて から is close in meaning to Vinf・past 上で, in that both express two actions in sequence. The examples in this entry can all be rephrased using Vて から as long as the verbs are volitional. The important difference is that Vて から is used solely to indicate time sequence, but Vinf・past 上で is used to indicate a preparation for a relatively important action.

So there are cases of Vて から that can’t be rephrased by Vinf・past 上で, because the first part lacks the sense of prerequisite.

For an example, I'll use the same one that I explained to someone, haha. This was from the Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling press conference on 2024.05.20 where Nao Kakuta announced her produce show, which was held right before her retirement:

Here’s the video for the presser (the part quoted below is the last question asked in the press conference), and here’s the official transcript.

――角田選手は、ほかの3人のリングでの活躍ぶりは?

――Kakuta, how do you feel about the other three’s activities in the ring?

角田「多恵はフリーなのによく週末いろんなところで試合をしているなって。自分が前の団体を辞めることを選んだ時に今後どうするかを考えて、フリーの道って不安がすごくあって、その中で、私が東京女子にお世話になった時間をずーっと一人で走り続けているので。毎週、名前見るしね。フリーとしてここまでずーっと個人で走れているっていうのが、なんかすごいなって。同い年なのでなおさらすごいなって。昨日も川崎いって、夜、千葉いってみたいな。その活動の幅に尊敬しているし。なつみ(なつぽい)は、相談にのってもらった上で、私は今ここにいるので。それがいつの間にか2人(安納となつぽい)でまた一緒にね。なんかこの2人って、どこまでいっても繋がっているんだなって、2人がこうやってスターダムに上がり始めた時に思いました。それぞれまた別の道にいるはずが、結局2人なんだなみたいな。上がり始めても結局タッグやるんだなって。すごいですよ。週プロさんの表紙飾った時とかって絶対におめでとうがあるんだよね、我々。グループLINEで「サオリ、表紙おめでとう」とか、なんか同期だからライバルだけどお互いを称え合って、自分たちを褒め合って一緒にここまできたみたいな感じなので。今回私は引退という道を選びましたけど、この3人はまだまだ辞めないので。まだまだプロレスラー街道を突っ走って欲しいなと思ってます。見に行きます。応援に行きます。ケガなく頑張って欲しいなと思います」

Kakuta: “Tae is freelance, but she often does matches in various different places on weekends. When I chose to leave my previous organization, I was thinking about what to do in the future, and I was very anxious about the freelance path, and while I was being looked after in TJPW, that whole time, she’s been running along her own path by herself. I see her name every week. It’s amazing to continue on so long as an individual freelancer. We’re the same age, so it’s even more amazing. She’ll be at like Kawasaki yesterday, and then Chiba at night. I have so much respect for someone active over such a wide range. And it was because I consulted Natsumi (Natsupoi) that I’m here now. And yet somewhere along the line those two (Anou and Natsupoi) have ended up together again. Those two will be connected no matter how far they go, that’s how I felt when they started to rise in Stardom like this. It’s like two people walking what seem to be surely different paths, but in the end they wind up together. Even after starting their ascent, they ended up as a tag team. It’s amazing. Whenever any of us get onto the cover of Shupro, we always congratulate each other. In the group LINE, we’ll be like, ‘Saori, congrats on making the cover!’. We’re in the same debut class, so we’re rivals, but we praise each other, and I feel like it’s through that mutual praise that we’ve made it this far together. I chose the path of retirement this time, but the other three aren’t quitting yet. I want them to keep running ahead as pro wrestlers. I’ll go see them. I’ll go cheer them on. I hope they’ll keep doing their best, free of injuries.”

上(に)

I honestly still struggle a bit with all the 上 grammar… The previous example was one of the rare ones where I felt pretty confident I could identify which 上 grammar point was happening there :sweat_smile:.

The に after 上 is optional, which often just makes things more confusing for me, haha.

上(に) can be rephrased using ばかりで(は)なく~も, or だけで(は)なく~(も).

Tried searching for an example of this structure, but it was way too much of a pain to sort through all the stuff that isn’t this, so I gave up.

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得る

Oof I barely know this one at all, haha. That <w> tag… Honestly, I’m not sure any of my textbooks ever covered this one? And I haven’t encountered it in pro wrestling, as far as I can remember.

The auxiliary verb 得る is used primarily in written Japanese, but it can be used in formal speech as well.

It can be replaced either by Vinf・nonpast ことができる or by られる, except when the verb is totally non-controllable, such as 起きる “to take place” or ある “to exist”.

Since the basic meaning of 得る is the existence of possibility (not ability), it can’t be used in a sentence that expresses pure ability.

Is there a difference in nuance between the うる and える readings, I wonder? I was expecting this entry to touch on that, but then it didn’t…

I found a few 得るs in my TJPW translations, but the ones I was finding weren’t this grammar point, so I stopped bothering to look. I think if there are any to be found there, they’d be in fossilized expressions, probably.

Vます

Fun of them to sneak this into the V’s even though I don’t think I’d ever think to look for it here.

The difference between Vます and Vて is that with V1て ~ V2, there is a close relationship between the action in V1 and that in V2. No such relationship exists between V1 and V2 in V1ます ~ V2.

Not going to summarize all the specific examples here because there are a lot, but this section honestly made a lot of sense! I think I had been subconsciously aware of some of these nuances already, though I’m sure I’ve also made mistakes when producing Japanese myself.

Mostly when I’ve considered this sort of thing is when writing tanka, where sometimes you make wording choices not because one is a better fit grammatically, but because one form of the word has the amount of mora you need…

I liked the note about how in conversation, such stylistic control (using Vます to avoid too much repetition) is difficult, so therefore てforms often occur for every verb. This is the reason why in some situations the use of Vて sounds colloquial and the use of Vます sounds formal. I feel like I’ve certainly noticed this in pro wrestling!

The entry also points out that in V1て ~ V2, because the action in V1 is closely related to the action of V2, both verbs must be either controllable or non-controllable, which is not the case with Vます.

Not going to grab examples for this because it’s a pain to search for.

Vます as a noun

Totally disagree with example (B), haha. It’s the other way around… Reading and writing Japanese are relatively easy, and speaking it is hard :smiling_face_with_tear:.

The Vます of practically all the verbs can be used as a noun, except Sino-Japanese する verbs. Some of the verb stems are treated like real nouns and listed as such in dictionaries, taking various particles. “It is strongly suggested that the non-native speaker/writer check each use of Vます as a noun in the dictionary.” Don’t worry, ADoJG. I for sure check and over-check each instance, haha. My Anki deck has a fair amount of these even though they’re basically duplicates of verbs I already know…

Some verb stems (Vます) can be used in a compound of the Vます Vます form. In this case, the two Vます show contrastive meaning. I actually already knew a lot of the ones in their list here!

Some Vます can’t be used as a noun in isolation, but can be used as such in a compound.

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I’m glad to see someone else slowly working through the dictionary around the same point as me! I’ve been neglecting it and doing maybe one point per week. I need to step up to try to get it finished!

I started on Vます today so I’ll try to push on!

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This is a fun one! I find these uses of は that aren’t strictly topic-declaring to be interesting.

Affirmative forms such as Vます はする, Adj(い)stem くはある, and {Adj(な)stem/N} ではある often appear with the conjunction が in contrastive sentences.

Adj(な)stem ではない and N ではない are the ordinary negative forms of Adj(な) and N + copula and don’t express any special emphasis.

When auxiliaries occur with Vて, は follows Vて. But when auxiliaries occur with Vます, は follows the auxiliaries.

Note 4 also mentions some contractions:

Group 1 verbs: (consonant)vowel はしない → (consonant) やしない

行きゃしない
買やしない

Group 2 verbs and irregular verbs: (consonant)vowel はしない → (consonant)V やしない

見やしない
食べやしない
しやしない
来やしない

Also, sentences with the emphatic particle は can be rephrased using the structure X ことは X, but this is more emphatic than は. This structure usually isn’t used for negative sentences.

I am not going to attempt to search for an example of this, HAHA.

は言うまでもなく

The adverbial phrase X は言うまでもなく is a continuative form of ~は言うまでもない, which means “it is needless to say X; it goes without saying X”.

These expressions can all replace は言うまでもなく:
~ばかりで(は)なく~(も) “not only ~”, はもちろん “of course ~”, and は言うに及ばず “to say nothing of ~”.

The difference is that X は言うまでもなく is used primarily in written Japanese (explains why I don’t think I’ve seen it much…), and ~ばかりで(は)なく~(も) and はもちろん can be used in both spoken and written Japanese, and は言うに及ばず is not used in casual speech.

Did a bit of searching, but は言うまでもなく wasn’t bringing up any results in my TJPW translations, so I don’t think I’ve encountered it there.

Looking a bit ahead in the book, I might save the わけ clan for one big post, haha.

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わけだ

In casual conversation, わけ (an informal form of わけだ) is frequently used to give slight emphasis to a fact when the speaker doesn’t expect the hearer to know about it.

I found note 2 a bit difficult to parse:

“わけだ, as introduced here, should not be confused with the use in which two propositions X and Y have the relationship ‘given X, one is logically led to Y,’ as in (2). In this use, わけだ is interpreted as ‘it means that ~,’ ‘you mean that ~,’ ‘that’s why,’ ‘no wonder,’ ‘that is,’ ‘in other words,’ etc.”

I guess I feel like I don’t have a super great grasp on the difference between this point and the one in ADoBJG…

The related expression note says that in some situations, のだ also conveys the idea “the fact is that~”, though the strength of the speaker’s expectation that the information represented in the preceding sentence is known to the hearer and the emphasis on the fact represented by the preceding sentence are weaker with のだ.

わけだ can’t be rephrased as ので, however, because ので conveys a sense of reason or cause. On the other hand, わけだ can’t be used to provide or ask for an explanation of, or a reason for, information shared by the speaker and the hearer.

I think maybe I have an example of this? It’s a bit hard to determine…

This is from the TJPW show Summer Sun Princess on 2024.07.20, after the rookie Uta Takami tagged with Mei Suruga (from ChocoPro/Gatoh Move):

Hard mode: here’s the video.

メイ「汐珠ちゃん! 汐珠ちゃんの初めてのお姉ちゃん、駿河メイでーす! 我闘雲舞、東京女子、今までかかわりはあったけども、駿河メイと汐珠ちゃんというかかわりはなかったわけで、ここで初めて姉妹の絆が結ばれたと言っても過言ではないかなと思います! いやあ人懐っこかったな! かわいかったな! でもちょっと生意気なところもメイの妹っぽくって好きかも!」

Mei: “Uta-chan! I’m Uta-chan’s very first big sister, Mei Suruga! Gatoh Move and TJPW have been involved with each other before, but until now, Mei Suruga and Uta-chan had never been involved with each other, so I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that our sisterly bond was formed for the first time here! No but she was so friendly! And cute!! And the fact that she’s a bit cheeky is very befitting for my younger sister, so I might like that too!”

わけではない

わけではない, the negative form of わけだ, denies what is implied either in the previous statement or in the following statement. In either case, わけではない sentences and the previous (or following) sentences are often connected by conjunctions like が and しかし.

In some situations, the ideas whose implications are denied by わけではない are not stated.

Here's an example from the 2024.09.18 TJPW press conference leading up to Wrestle Princess on 9.22, where Maki Itoh and Miyu Yamashita would be challenging Daisy Monkey (Arisu Endo and Suzume) for the tag team belts:

Here’s a transcript of the press conference. Here’s a link to the video.

――現時点でのケガの状態は?

――How is your injury at the moment?

伊藤「正直、100%に戻ったわけではないんですけど…ホントにアメリカのスケジュールが地獄だったんですよ。でも、乗り越えたので、まぁ全然大丈夫だと思います」

Itoh: “To be honest, I’m not back to 100%… My schedule in the U.S. was truly hell. But I got through it, so I think I’m totally fine.”

わけがない

わけがない basically negates either the existence of a reason to believe that someone will do/does something, will be/is in some state, or something will happen/happens, or a possibility of someone’s future/present action or state, or a future/present event.

So, sentences before わけがない are always nonpast. However, わけがない can indirectly negate the existence of a reason to believe that someone did something or was in some state, or that something happened, or negate the possibility of a past action or state by presenting the negation in a statement about a common belief, a habitual action or state, or one’s ability.

はずがない expresses a very similar idea to わけがない. However, it can be used with past sentences, and it negates the possibility of a past action, state, or event.

(Interestingly enough, the weird past-tense わけがない examples in [2] get not an asterisk suggesting that they are ungrammatical, but the full Michelin three question marks indicating unacceptability. This is a distinction that is probably only interesting to me, lol.)

Here's an example from the 2024.02.10 TJPW show after Daisy Monkey won the Max Heart tag team tournament, earning them a title shot against Yukiniki's (Yuki Aino and ''Aniki'' Ryo Mizunami) tag titles:

Hard mode: here’s the video.

愛野「私しゃべっていいですか?」

Aino: “May I speak?”

水波「どうぞ!」

Mizunami: “Go ahead!”

愛野「あのですね、あんな熱い戦いして。私、白昼夢と何回も闘ってきたから、白昼夢の強さってすごいわかるんですよ。だから白昼夢を倒してでじもんが勝ち上がって、そんなの私の心が燃え上がらないわけがないんですよ。もう…もう、いましたいみたいな気持ちで、呼ばれたときめっちゃ嬉しかったんですけど。これは両国国技館でアニキと一緒にユキニキで燃やし尽くしてやりたいと思います」

Aino: “That was quite the heated battle. I’ve faced Daydream many times, so I’m very well aware of their strength. So when Daisy Monkey won the tournament by beating Daydream, there’s no way it wouldn’t get my heart fired up. I was already feeling like I wanted to be there, so I was really happy when they called us up. I want to do this at Ryogoku Kokugikan with Aniki as Yukininki and burn until there’s nothing left.”

わけにはいかない

わけにはいかない is used to express the meaning that one can’t do something because of an external circumstance. So it can’t be used to indicate a simple fact of incompetence.

-ない わけにはいかない is used to express the meaning that someone has no other choice but something.

There is no affirmative counterpart of わけにはいかない.

Regular expressions of potential (such as られる and ことができる) can replace わけにはいかない, but they can’t do so unless an external circumstance which blocks someone from doing something exists.

-ない わけにはいかない can be rephrased by -なければならない, but the latter expresses obligation, responsibility and necessity, whereas the former expresses the idea of “to have no other choice but to do something.” (War flashbacks to me trying to decide on the ending to a tanka I wrote, haha).

Found a TJPW example with two of them in it! These are from the 2024.07.20 show, where the rookies Wakana Uehara, Runa Okubo, and Toga faced the rest of their rookie class, Shino Suzuki, Haru Kazashiro, and Himawari:

Hard mode: here’s the video.

上原 勝つことができました。

Uehara: “We won!”

凍雅 1年くらい前に同じ対戦カードで、しかもここの後楽園ホールで初勝利の時だったんですけど、その時も嬉しかったのは今でも覚えているし。でもそのあとのシングルで志乃さんとやった時に、丸め込みで負けてしまって。今回もそういう丸め込みを使われて。一瞬、前回負けた時のフラッシュバックがあってヤバいなと思ったけど、仲間がいるから助けてくれたのもあって。今回勝ったのは嬉しいよりリベンジした気持ちです。まだ追いつかれるわけにはいかないので、また差を広げてやったぞという気持ちです。嬉しいよりかは。

Toga: “We did this same match about a year ago, and I got my first win right here in Korakuen Hall, and I still remember how happy I was then. But when I faced Shino-san in a singles match after that, I lost to a rollup. She used a rollup like that this time, too. For a moment, I had a flashback to when I lost last time, and I was like ‘oh no!’, but my friends were here to save me. Rather than feeling glad that I won this time, I felt like I’d gotten revenge. I can’t let her catch up to me just yet, so I feel like I’ve widened the gap between us again. I feel that more than I feel happy.”

琉那 ハルと当たったんですけど、前より技も増えているし、強くなってて。負けるわけにはいかないというのもあるし、同じ日にデビューしたからこそ、負けたくない気持ちが強くて。これからも負けないように頑張りたいと思います。

Runa: “I faced Haru, but she has more moves than last time, and has gotten stronger than before. I couldn’t afford to lose, and especially because we debuted on the same day, I really didn’t want to lose to her. I’m going to do my best from here so that I won’t lose.”

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やる1

This is a tricky one sometimes!

The meaning of the transitive verb やる depends on the structure in which it is used and on the meaning of the direct object noun. There’s a nice handy chart in the book with some examples.

やる has the meaning of “drink”, “eat”, and “smoke”, but the usage is very much restricted. Besides the examples given, there are only a few expressions which can be used correctly.

やる can be replaced by する in many of the meanings, but する lacks the meanings of “send”, “give”, “learn”, and “eat/drink/smoke”. When やる can be replaced by する, the difference is a matter of style: the former is more informal and colloquial (hence why you’ll see it in pro wrestling a lot, haha).

する can be replaced by やる only when it means “play”, “work as”, “eat/drink/smoke”. やる lacks the meanings of “make”, “wear”, “have”, “feel”, and “cost”.

Very common word in pro wrestling! It's often used with 試合, or variations of such, haha. Here's an example from the press conference on 2024.09.18, leading up to Ryo Mizunami challenging Miu Watanabe for the Princess of Princess championship:

Here’s the official transcript, and here’s the video.

――ベルトを取った先にどういったビジョンを描いている?

――What do you envision for after you win the belt?

水波「自分はフリーで参戦させてもらっていますが、東京女子のことは大好きなんですね。なので私はベルトを取ったら、東京女子の人全員と、一人一人と防衛戦やりたいですね。それでさらに熱く燃え上がらせて、もっと上に東京女子を自分が戦闘で引っ張っていきたいなと思っています」

Mizunami: “I am participating as a freelancer, but I love TJPW. So after I win the belt, I want to defend it against every single member of TJPW, one after another. So I want to bring out even more of their passion, and lead TJPW to an even higher level through my matches.”

やる2

やる is one of the “giving” auxiliary verbs meaning “do something for someone”, but it’s also used when A does something undesirable to B knowing that A’s deed will cause B difficulty.

The subject of Vて やる is the first person in declarative sentences and the second person in interrogative sentences, commands, requests, or suggestions. I was a bit confused by this part: “(2) is ungrammatical unless the speaker/writer is totally empathetic with Taro.” Which kinds of cases might entail the speaker being “totally empathetic” with him?

Oh, interesting, I actually didn’t know this in the related expressions note:

The auxiliary verb くれる, which usually means “do something for me”, is also used when an action causes difficulty. Here, くれる expresses strong feelings of unhappiness, anger, etc. on the side of the person who is affected by the action. If the verb phrase it’s used with doesn’t represent an undesirable action, くれる means “do something for me.”

The “receiving” verb もらう (not the auxiliary verb もらう) can also be used when the sentence object is something undesirable.

I have a hard time distinguishing this specific use of やる from others... Here's an example (I think?) of やる2, along with a couple やる1s, from the TJPW show on 2024.08.25, where Ryo Mizunami beat Yuki Aino in the Tokyo Princess Cup final:

This was said in the ring, so I can’t link to a video. I think the first two are やる1, and the third is やる2? It’s a bit hard to tell because Aniki definitely is telling Aino to fight her as a positive thing, though it certainly will also come with hardship…

水波「ユキ、おい。何、下むいてんだよ。オメーよ、まだできるだろ。もしかして今日シングルやることがゴールだったじゃねえのか、なあ。私が知ってるユキ、もっとすごかったぞ。でもその顔が悔しい、歯がゆい、その顔がもっと強く何かを持ってるよ、ユキにね! このままじゃ、終わらねーよな、終わらないよな、ユキ!」

Mizunami: “Yuki, hey! Why are you looking down? You can still do it. Hey, maybe the goal was just to do the singles match today, huh? The Yuki that I know was even more amazing. But that look of disappointment and frustration, that expression on your face has something that’s even stronger than that, Yuki! It won’t end like this, it isn’t over yet, Yuki!”

ユキ「またやるよ、おい。絶対また闘ってくれよな」

Yuki: “Hey, we’ll do it again. Definitely fight me again, okay?”

水波「オマエはもう次のレベルの扉はもうとっくに開いてんだよ。あとそこを歩むか歩まないかはユキ次第だ。でも、今の顔、忘れねえぞ。またユキがその先歩みだして、私がいたら、また何回でも何回でも何回でも闘ってやるよ。オマエ、もってできるからな。もっと強くなれるぞ! ユキ、もっと強くなれ!」

Mizunami: “You’ve already opened the door to the next level some time ago. And it’s up to you whether you walk through it or not. But don’t forget the look on your face just now. You will take that step again, and if I’m there, I’ll fight you over and over and over again. You can do it. You can be stronger! Yuki, get stronger!”

やっと

Shocked this is considered intermediate grammar, to be honest :sweat_smile:.

I guess I feel like I don’t see the “barely” meaning very often?

The adverb やっと can be used with Vinf when something desirable has finally been achieved. If something negative has been brought about, the adverb can’t be used.

やっとのことで is a set phrase that emphasizes the time and efforts it takes for something positive to come about. The English translations are “at long last”, “with the greatest effort”, “with the greatest trouble”.

やっと and ようやく both indicate eventual completion of something positive, but ようやく sounds more formal and is usually written.

やっと can be replaced by adverbs 何とか and かろうじて, which both mean that something positive has been luckily accomplished in spite of difficulty, but the latter (not sure I’ve seen that one before?) implies that almost insurmountable difficulty has been cleared.

However, when やっと indicates that it is a matter of a long wait before something desirable is realized, it can’t be replaced by either.

ついに is another adverb which indicates that either something desirable or undesirable has finally come about or will come about after a relatively long process. If the result is a natural one, やっと is preferable to ついに. Also, if the focus is placed more on current difficulty rather than on a long process, the replacement is impossible.

Continuing with the trend, here's another Ryo Mizunami comment, this time from the 2024.10.06 show, where she faced Arisu Endo in a singles match:

Hard mode: here’s the video.

水波「まぁ幕張後一発目ということで。私はタイトル取れなかったし、有栖はタイトル落としたし。そんな中で今日シングルで闘って…幕張でも言ったけど、あの日から次の日には前向いて進まなきゃいけないし。有栖と今日闘って(本人的には)まだまだなんだろうけど、オリジナリティがすごいあの子の魅力だし。いま多分やっと楽しくなったのかなと、やっと充実し始めたんじゃないかなと、プロレスが。でもそれは初歩段階だから。でもいつか…何年後? 2年後、3年後は多分恐ろしい選手になってんだろうなっていう片鱗は見えましたね。私でいえば幕張はもう過ぎてしまったから過去のことなんだけど、過去のことを糧にしていまを一生懸命やって、そして未来を作ることが大事だと思ってるんで。私は私でいまを一生懸命頑張っていきたいと思います」

Mizunami: “Well, this was my first match after Makuhari. I couldn’t win my title, and Arisu lost hers. Those were the circumstances when we faced each other in a singles match today… I said this at Makuhari, too, but from that day to the next day to the next day, I have to keep my head up and move forward. Facing Arisu today, (from her point of view) she still has a long way to go, but her originality is what’s so incredibly compelling about her. I think she has finally started to really enjoy pro wrestling, and it has finally started to feel fulfilling to her. But that’s just the first stage. But someday… I saw a glimpse of the tremendous wrestler she is probably going to become in two, three, how many years? On the subject of myself, Makuhari is already over, so it’s a thing of the past, but I think it’s important to use the things of the past to encourage you and help you work hard in the present and build your future. So I’m going to work as hard as I can in the now.”

Might need someone else to post in here before I can keep going… :sweat_smile:

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Always happy to help!

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よう1

Vます よう is most commonly used with がない “there is no way to V; cannot V”.

Although Vます よう can be used in affirmative sentences, it is most commonly used in negative sentences.

Vます よう often appears with conditional clauses ending in ては, たら, or ても.

Vます 方 also means “a/the way to V; a/the way of V-ing”, though it can’t be used with がない to mean “there is no way to V; cannot V”.

Unlike Vます 方, Vます よう can’t be used to mean “how to V”.

Vます 方 is used to mean “way” either in terms of method or manner, while Vます よう is usually used to mean “method”. This is a distinction that I’ve found to be more subtle than you might expect…

I think I actually did manage to find an example of this? This was from the 2024.06.29 TJPW show, where Shoko Nakajima teamed up with Yoshiko Hasegawa against Yuki Aino and Nao Kakuta, who was very close to retiring at that point:

Hard mode: here’s the video.

中島「角田奈穂、またな。まあ、アイツは優しい性格で。優しい性格としか言いようがない優しいヤツなので、きっとプロレスを卒業してもその人間性でいろんな人とかかわって、いろんなことをしていくんだなって今日は思いました。私は今日が最後かなあ、あと1回当たれたらいいやぐらいだから、今日は思い残しがないように叩きのめしたんですけど、最後は粘り負けましたね。そんな感じです」

Nakajima: “Nao Kakuta, see you later. Well, she has a kind personality. She’s someone who you can only say has a kind personality, so I’m sure that even after she graduates from pro wrestling, with that nature of hers, she’ll still be involved with a lot of people and do a lot of things, that’s what I thought today. Today might be the last time for me, and I was feeling that I’d be happy if I could just beat her one more time, so today I beat her up so that I wouldn’t have any regrets, but in the end, I lost. That’s how I felt.”

よう2

The auxiliary verb よう is used to express either the writer’s conjecture that something can be done, or their belief that something should happen. The structure ~N + Prt + Vvol always expresses certainty. Adverbs like さぞ “surely” and きっと “certainly” also indicate conjecture with a feeling of certainty. Otherwise, it’s subject to either interpretation.

The auxiliary verb よう is primarily used in written Japanese.

The Adj(な) version of よう is Adj(な)stem + である (I honestly had no idea that structure was considered a version of this). We already saw the Adj(い) version earlier, with かろう!

The negative versions of よう are Vinf・nonpast まい (V: a non-controllable verb), Adj(い)stem + くあるまい, and Adj(な)stem + ではあるまい.

だろう, the informal, spoken/written form of でしょう, is a contracted form of であろう and can replace all the uses of the よう without changing the meaning. でしょう, the formal spoken version of だろう, can also replace all the uses of ろう (does the book mean よう there?).

Not searching for an example for this one in TJPW because it would be more of a pain, and also I’m not sure that I’ll find one, anyway.

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より

I’m a little hazy on what makes this one different from the より in the basic volume, to be honest…

I didn’t know that the adverb より was derived from the particle より “than”, though. I suppose it makes a bit of sense? The より adjective/adverb expresses the idea “more adjective/adverb than now or than otherwise” and is used to make a general comparison rather than a comparison between two specific entries.

If X (の)方が is present, the sentence is comparative without より. In this case, より is used for emphasis.

もっと also expresses the concept of “more”, though it’s more colloquial than より. So, the combination of もっと and よい, the literal version of いい “good” (what do they mean by “literal version of いい?”), is awkward.

On the other hand, もっと can be used when a specific item of comparison これ/あれ/それより “than this/that/that” is known from the situation or context, whereas より is unacceptable in this situation.

That was a bit interesting to me, because I feel like my assumption would be the opposite?

When X 方が “X is (more)” is present, もっと implies “much more” while より is simply for emphasis.

Here's a funny example that's a より applied to a もっと, hahaha. This was from Summer Sun Princess on 2024.07.20, where Shoko Nakajima challenged Miu Watanabe for the Princess of Princess Championship in a losing effort:

Hard mode: here’s the video.

中島「目指すといったその方の背中は、やっぱ自分が想像してる何倍も大きかったですね。ここまで立てないのは…そうですね。ここ10年ちょっとで経験した中で一番歯が立たないと思わされたというか。その後声を掛けていただいて、何回でもやってやるというようなことを言っていただいたんですけど…そうですね。その大きすぎて、逆に私はその言葉が悔しいというか。赤子のようにされてしまったので、やっぱり悔しかったですね。その言葉すら素直に喜べないくらい悔しかったです。(アジャを目指す気持ちは変わらない?)そうですね。よりもっと頑張らなきゃなってことが分かりました。でもやっぱりプロレスラーだからあんな風になりたいって思います」

Nakajima: “The person I was aiming for looms so much larger than I imagined. Until now I didn’t fully gauge her… I really didn’t. Here, I felt more outmatched than I had ever experienced in the past ten years. Afterward, she called out to me and said stuff like ‘let’s do it as many times as we want’, but… yeah. She was so big, I actually felt frustrated by those words. Or rather, I felt frustrated because I was treated like a baby. I’m so frustrated, I can’t just obediently and gratefully accept those words.”

(Have you changed your mind about wanting to become Aja?)

“I haven’t. Rather, I realized that I’ll have to work even harder. But I’m a pro wrestler, after all, so I want to become someone like her.”

ざるの得ない

Vneg ざるを得ない is used in written Japanese (oh that’s why it doesn’t look familiar to me lol) to express an idea of “cannot help -ing” (really funny way to word that).

The irregular verb する changes to せ before ざるの得ない.

Just like its English counterpart, the verb that can be used in Vneg ざるの得ない has to be a volitional verb, so a non-volitional verb such as わかる, できる, 疲れる, 困る, 見える, and not every potential form can be used with Vneg ざるの得ない (this is kind of weird wording?).

Vneg ざるの得ない can be replaced by Vneg なければならない when the latter means “have to do something because there is no other choice”. When Vneg なければならない is used in a context where one has to do something because they have an obligation to do it, it can’t be replaced by Vneg ざるの得ない.

The difference is that Vneg ざるの得ない is used to express only a no-choice situation, but Vneg なければならない is used to express either a no-choice situation or an obligation situation.

Vneg ざるの得ない can also be replaced by Vneg わけに(は)いかない and V しかない.

Vneg わけに(は)いかない can be used in both no-choice and obligation situations, and implies the speaker’s unwillingness to do something indicated by the verb, whereas both Vneg ざるの得ない and V しかない are used only in a no-choice situation. So in an obligation situation, Vneg わけに(は)いかない can be used, but not V しかない.

I looked in a few of my translation documents and didn’t find any ざるの得ない, and I think it’s unlikely that I will find any in this setting.

According to the notes, the sentence-final particle ぞ is used only by male speakers in informal speech to express either the speaker’s strong feeling about something in a monologue or a strong desire to draw the hearer’s attention to something.

I have definitely heard female pro wrestlers use this! So it’s not only a male thing, haha, though it’s probably considered somewhat coarse.

The book gives examples of monologues in which a male speaker is expressing an emotion such as dismay, joy, surprise, determination, etc. It also gives examples of other-directed speech in which the speaker wants to draw the hearer’s attention to something assumed to be unknown to the hearer.

The particle ぞ is used in informal speech only. When it is used to draw someone’s attention to something, the addressee has to be either the speaker’s equal or inferior. So a child can’t use ぞ to their parents.

There are four differences between the sentence-final particles ぞ and よ.

First, the latter can’t be used in a monologue, but the former can. So, よ is always other-directed, but ぞ can be used in either a self-directed or an other-directed way. The choice of よ sounds much less persuasive and informal than the choice of ぞ.

The second difference is that よ can be used by both male and female speakers, but ぞ is only by male speakers.

The third difference is that in the sentence-final combination of よね (assertion + confirmation), よ can’t be replaced by ぞ.

The fourth difference stems from the fact that ぞ can be used only with informal forms. In contrast, the particle よ can be used either with informal or formal forms.

Here's are a couple examples from the TJPW show I just finished translating! This is from the 2024.12.14 show, wherein after Hyper Misao's match with Yoshiko Hasegawa, Super Sasadango Machine from DDT invaded TJPW to attempt to bribe Misao into pulling out of their tag match at the upcoming DDT show, Ultimate Party:

No video link because this was said in the ring. Also shupro has a gigantic paragraph and not an easily readable transcript of everything, so the format is a bit different for this one, sorry. There’s also at least one typo in the Japanese, lol. That’s the fault of whoever transcribed it for shupro. Any mistakes in the English are mine, haha.

Just for clarity, Sasadango is a man, and Misao is a woman. There’s a ぞ from both of them in here (and actually a second ぞ from Misao in a part I won’t quote because this section is super long).

試合後、ミサヲがマイク。「長谷川さん、試合ありがとうございました。長谷川さんの気持ち、メチャメチャ痛いぐらい伝わったので、改めて東京女子プロレスの一員として楽しい楽しいプロレス生活をやっていきましょう! よろしくお願いします!(長谷川は退場)せっかくマイク持ったので宣伝がてら。私、大一番控えてます。東京女子プロレス、よっぴが仲間に加わったのもそうだし、アイビーちゃんが加わったり、荒井ちゃんは現役続行してくれるとか明るいニュースばっかり。東京女子プロレスは団体力がいまMAXに上がっている時。そんな時に年末のDDT両国国技館でDDTプロレスと東京女子プロレスの全面対抗戦がおこなわれます。私たちが絶対にDDTプロレスを倒してやりますよ! 絶対勝利してやる!」するとここで『移民の歌』がヒットし、スーパー・ササダンゴ・マシンが紙袋を手に登場。ササダンゴ「DDTプロレス側のメンバー知ってんのかよ? 大鷲透…素行不良、職務怠慢。あのガッチガチのジェルを取るとフワっとした蕎ソバージュ。アントーニオ本多、この下ネタ厳禁の東京女子プロレスと違って、DDTは無法地帯! 彼ののごんぎつねでどんな下ネタを言われて、心がズタズタになったら辛い! でもな、このスーパー・ササダンゴ・マシンは話し合いができるタイプのレスラー。どうかここは一つ、東京女子プロレスと我々の間で和解をしてだな、両国国技館は辞退してもらえないか? 余計な血が流れるのは皆さん見たくないでしょう。余計な受け身なんて取らなくていいんだよ」

After the match, Misao takes the mic.

Misao: “Hasegawa-san, thank you so much for this match. You got your feelings across to the point where it hurt quite a bit, so with you now formally a member of TJPW, let’s do fun and entertaining pro wrestling! I look forward to working with you!” (Hasegawa exits) “Since I’ve got a mic in my hands, I’m gonna do some promotion. I have an important match coming up. TJPW has had nothing but good news lately, with Yoppy joining, and Ivy-chan joining, and Arai-chan continuing as an active wrestler. TJPW is currently at max power as an organization. At the end of the year, at DDT Ryogoku Kokugikan, DDT Pro Wrestling and TJPW are going to have an all-out war. We are absolutely going to defeat DDT! We are going to win!”

At this point, “Immigrant Song” hits, and Super Sasadango Machine enters, bearing a paper bag in hand.

Sasadango: “Do you know the wrestlers on DDT’s side? Toru Owashi… poor conduct, dereliction of duty. When you take that stiff gel off, he’s got wavy flowing hair. And Antonio Honda, unlike in TJPW, where dirty jokes are strictly prohibited, DDT is a lawless zone! Whichever kind of dirty joke he tells in his Gon The Fox story, it’s gonna hurt when your spirit gets torn to shreds! But I, Super Sasadango Machine, am the type of wrestler who can talk things out. Can we please make a settlement between TJPW and ourselves and then pull out of the Ryogoku Kokugikan show? No one wants to see unnecessary bloodshed. You don’t have to take any unwarranted moves.”

And with that, I’ve finished the main entries! :partying_face:

Next I will be moving on to the appendixes!

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