Help with a context sentence with 一気

Japanese Language
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Hello, I’m having trouble understanding one example.
I’m a beginner and don’t know anything about grammar, but I’m trying to read the examples as well.

Here it is:

元気そうな父のかおを見たら、一気に気がぬけました。
It was such a relief to see my father, who looked well.

I’m learning the vocabulary 一気, but I can’t understand how it is translated here (maybe because I lack grammar?)

Sorry if this sounds silly and thank you for the help :blush:

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気が抜ける to be relieved, is happening 一気に which is working as an intensifier here. So that makes it “such a relief”.

Usually the translations here aren’t completely 1 to 1, but they aim for natural sounding translations

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Ok so I will add this meaning to the others given by WK.
Can you please write another example?
Thank you!

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Since it is not a 1 to 1 translation, I don’t think adding the synonym would be useful. The given meanings are most accurate

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ok, I will memorize your explanation,
thank you so much, you’ve been really helpful!

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This resource lists ‘instantly’ as the second meaning:
http://www.romajidesu.com/dictionary/meaning-of-一気に.html

Note the に particle at the end (一気に)

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Thank you!
the definition is wider but it seems a different one nonetheless.
thanks for the link!

(I’m sorry my written English is awful, I don’t know if any of this makes sense to you)

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you’ve been making sense! keep going the way you are, and keep asking questions.

By the way, you mentioned you haven’t started grammar yet. Haveyou been looking around to find a good resource for you to use?

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:heart_eyes: thank you!

yes, I read some of the threads here in the community as well as on tofugu.
So far I realized that ‘Genki’ is the best for beginners as well as ‘a dictionary of basic grammar’

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Do note that the dictionary won’t have any exercises for you to practice with. I guess Genki would be a good place to start, especially if you’re studying without a teacher.

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Nice! yes, I am studying by myself as absolute beginner.
Thank you for the precious advice, I will definitely buy genki then :+1:

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It’s worth to note here that the example sentences are examples of how this vocab would be used in real life. That makes them really hard. I often can’t read them all. I just read the English ones to make sure I kind of get the gist of what it means and then hope that actual reading will contextualize it for me more :slight_smile:.

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thanks, I didn’t realize there was an identical thread… my bad :sweat_smile:

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Yeah, at first it does sound like it has a different meaning, but I think that with the particle ‘に’, the noun becomes an adverb. Though I’m basing this on only one source off the top of my head:
急(sudden) =>急に(suddenly)
See: WaniKani / Vocabulary / 急 vs WaniKani / Vocabulary / 急に

So ‘in one sitting/breath/gulp’, would become 'in one sitting/breath/gulp’ly, which it makes it sound like a fast change over a small amount of time to me, thus “instantly”.

p.s.: Don’t fret about the English. :slight_smile:

EDIT: I’ve just read the thread about it, and it turns out that TofuguKanae has already answered the question :smiley:

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thank you :blush:

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