Hi guys, just a simple question
In these two examples
- 今日から文法の勉強を始めると思う
- 今日から文法の勉強を始めようと思う
What is the difference in meaning? or in other words, what does using the volitional form add to the meaning?
It’s volitional. It expresses intent. The first one is just a neutral statement. It’s possible to say things that aren’t volitional where you don’t actually want to do what you will do.
I think と思う took me off guard, it expresses that the speaker hasn’t decided yet about starting to study, so I found it strange to have it after a volitional verb (witch expresses that the speaker has made up his mind and decided to start studying)
I find the two verbs contradicting each other in a way…
Volitional plus と思う is often used as a softer way of saying “want to” because just plain old たい form is very direct.
That being said, I don’t think they conflict particularly, but maybe I’m just too used to it.
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That’s exactly what I needed to know, now it makes sense.
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I have also learned it as a softer form of つもりです. I am planning to… Or would that be only in combination with と思っている?
つもり implies conviction, and isn’t limited to verbs. 行くつもりです I am set on going. 行こうと思っています。I’m thinking I’ll go or I’ve been thinking I’m gonna go, you simply intend to go. つもり also works with past tense which makes it a bit clearer. よく読んだつもりですけど… I was certain I read the instructions well but… (after being scolded for screwing up the assembly of something.)
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Thanks for your response! Hadn’t heard of past tense つもり yet.
My question was more about 行こうと思う vs 行こうと思っている. Of course there is also a small difference between ‘I think I’ll go’ vs ’ I want to go’.
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You not have been asking, but I’m sure someone will ask, so I’m responding to this as though you did ask specifically.
Here’s what I found about the differences. According to this Stack Exchange, the difference between ~ようと思う and ~ようと思っている has more to do with how long the speaker has been considering something. ~ようと思う is more spur of the moment from the speaker’s perspective. On the other hand, the 〜ている objectifies the whim to a persistent state of consideration.
In addition to that, this site brings up the change of the verb to convey third person information. You may have seen this elsewhere when other people’s words or thoughts are quoted or inferred, 〜ている is used.
木村: 夏休みに旅行しようと思っています。
Ａさん: 木村さんは留学しようと思っています。
The exception to this is when that info is directly being verified with the source, 〜ている is dropped.
Ａさん to 木村さん: 木村さんは留学しようと思いますか。
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edit: NVM I got it
I understand the meat of the sentence, but not the point of it.
もうほんとにね、憧れの職業なんて昔からそんなにね、変わらないのかなって、イメージ的にね、あのー、順番がね、順位が前後したりとかね、その年によってアナウンサーになりたいっていう子たちがいっぱいいたりとか、声優さんになりたいっていう子たちがいっぱいいた時期とか、ねぇ。アイドルになりたいっていう子供たちがたくさんだった時とか, そういうのでね、ちょっとしたね、変化かなと、ぐらいしかね、思ってなかった私が大間違いでしたね。うーん
Given translation: Really, longed-for occupations from long ago have not changed so much. Imaginatively speaking, um, the sequential order…the ranking gets revised. Or depending on that year, there were a great deal of children who said they want to become an announcer, another time a great deal of children who said they want to become a voice actor, weren’t there? One time there were a lot of children said they want to become an idol. I only thought that a kind of minor change was happening, but I was completely wrong. Hmmm.
I know something is very wrong about this, but I can’t put my finger on it. It’s like the translation is just inaccurate. From the translation it sounds like she contradicts herself, stating one opinion then at the end saying “Yeah that’s wrong”.
Any help would be appreciated
Hi, I was wondering if there’s a difference between ここの and この and their other forms respectively.
ここの犬は私の犬です。
この犬は私の犬です。
To me these two sentences are equivalent but I thought I’d ask anyway. Thanks in advance!
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ここの犬 = the dog that is here
この犬 = this dog
Though, in English “the dog that is here” is rather clunky, so I’d probably just translate it as “this dog” anyway.
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ここの犬 is kinda weird in Japanese too. It’s a little hard to think of why someone would use it over この.
Like… if the dog isn’t actually present but everyone knows it is usually associated with the place you are in at that time?
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I have a few questions (well more asking for validation or not of what I assumed)
I learned about verb modified nouns, and there was this example:
昨日読んでいた本を図書館に返した which is “I returned the book I was reading yesterday to the library”
“library” is right before “returned”, but if I said that:
昨日図書館で読んでいた本を返した
would it mean “I returned the book I was reading yesterday at the library” ?
I believe で is more appropriate since the action of reading was happening at the library, is this correct ?
What if I didn’t replace the に into a で ? would it just be gramatically incorrect ? (or in the event I’m wrong with my で usage, it’d stay correct lol)
Lastly, if I wanted to say the same thing, but precise where both the place of where “reading” and “returned” happen, can I put the “library” in the first clause and use の to replace it like that ?
昨日図書館で読んでいた本をのに返した
ありがとう、文法の神様たち
You’re returning it “to” (に) the library. When you return something to someone, a recipient is required. That particle isn’t marking the place of the action. で would mark the place of action, but then it might sound like you returned it to some unnamed entity who was at the library.
oh thank god
This didn’t strike me as short or grammar-related, so I wasn’t sure how to start.
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I think you misread lol, I changed the phrase to have it mean “I returned the book I was reading yesterday at the library” as in, “I returned the book I read (yesterday) at the library” as in I was reading it there
So you’re aware that you’re completely changing the role of 図書館 in the sentence and you just want to confirm that that’s what you did?
Okay, yes, で makes it into marking the place of action, but it’s ambiguous if the action of reading took place at the library or if returning took place at the library. BTW, it’s also ambiguous when you were doing what, thanks to the 昨日 at the beginning. It could mean you were reading the book yesterday, or that you returned it yesterday.
How to fix sentences like this so they are completely unambiguous is actually a section on the proficiency test for natives called the 日本語検定.
Typically context solves it in real life though.
Yes it’s what I wanted to confirm, and also, if I let に instead, I can put library anywhere without changing the meaning then right ?
Since there’s no context, could adding が after 昨日 help identifying that the reading part was yesterday, and adding 今日は after を help as well ?
Resulting in: 昨日が図書館で読んでいた本を今日はのに返した ?
And that のに does replace library or is it wrong ?
If you attach に to 図書館, it will be marking 図書館 as the recipient of you returning the book, no matter where it is in the sentence, yes.
昨日が is not grammatical. Adding 今日 (no は) would eliminate the ambiguity, but as I said, usually in real life people expect these things to be understood and not be spelled out. Eliminating the ambiguity makes things wordier, I just find it interesting that it’s something they test natives on.
I’m not really sure what you mean, but this sentence is not grammatical. In order to attach に to の, where の functions as a dummy noun, の has to be attached to something that isn’t a noun. And in your sentence it seems to just be floating on its own.
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