Sorry I didn’t notice the reply until this late.
Sorry it seems like I copied the furigana and pasted it without noticing, as you suspected it’s just 彼. It’s an example sentence from Bunpro, so unfortunately that’s the full context. But if you’re saying it could go both ways then I shouldn’t worry about it.
Thanks!
Hello, I’m doing some listening practice and am a little confused by a part.
What is the 「たからか」part? Is it just 「〜から」, right? I’m guessing that she is just pondering here.
Yes, she’s saying the reason is that we spoke Japanese (日本語を話してたから). And the か is as you said, for pondering whether that maybe was the reason.
Not exactly a grammar question, but I didn’t want to post a thread for a simple question.
止める and 止まる … Wanikani has them sounding like tomeru and tomaru. I swore it was yameru and yamaru and jisho.org has both.
Is there any point of saying it one way or the other? The main word I recall from any listening is Yamette!!!
This is the 止める/止まる for stopping vehicles and such. やめる/やまる might also be written with the same kanji, but are different words. They also mean to stop, but more about stopping a behaviour, I think.
Edit: I also had a look at the jisho page for yameru, and it does make a note that it id usually written in kana. So when you encounter it in the wild, you can pretty much assume it will be tomeru
(By the way, -te form for yameru is yamete)
I see @Saida typing, so I’m assuming she can help you with your question. For future reference on a place to post such questions:
Also, やめる is often written in kana, presumably so that it doesn’t get confused with とめる.
By the way, the intransitive version of やめる is やむ, not やまる.
I have never heard やまる, and jisho marks it as obscure.
Thank you for the quick reply! Ahh, I need to practice verb conjugations.
This is a wanikani example sentence
便秘がひどくてさぁ。もう一週間以上ウンコしていないんだよ！
I’ve been constipated. I haven’t pooped in a week!
I’m having trouble with the first sentence. What purpose does ひどい being in it’s て form serve? I can tell that it doesn’t literally translate to “I’ve been constipated” but something like “man constipation is terrible (with implication that the speaker has it)”.
I would be grateful for any help
Te form can be used to sorta continue the idea of something and give reasons. So reading this I sorta have in my mind that the next part is gonna be about constipation again and maybe what is a result of it being ひどい.
Thanks for the help. I suspected that, but the さぁ threw me since it’s a sentence ender. I now now that sentence enders don’t necessarily…end sentences. Thanks again
My grammar revision book gave the following sentence:
火事の原因は火をけさなかった＿＿です。
I put の but apparently the correct answer is こと。(I had to choose one of those two options).
Could some kind person please explain why の is incorrect here? I thought it could be used in explanation.
I am also having difficulty with this sentence.
うちでは母はあまり料理を＿＿、父がよくします。(Answer using する)
I put しなくて but apparently the correct answer is しないで
Is there a reason I can’t use しなくて? How does it change the meaning?
お願いします！
What they were looking for was actually a nominalizer. You cant say the cause was a verb, you need to nominalize that verb.
The cause for my bad ankle was excessive run = bad
the cause for my bad ankle was excessive running = good
When pairing a nominalizer with だ、である、or です, it has to be こと and not の. This is so it isnt confused with the explanatory の.
Second one is a bit tougher. So we are talking about a something very general rather than a set incident and its not explicitly told that the mother not cooking is the cause for the father having to cook. The first clause is more or less setting the circumstances for the general fact that the dad makes the food.
When describing causes and reasons for things, the ないで and なくて are interchangeable, but in this case, its just saying that in general the father cooks and the mother doesn’t. Its not saying the father has to cook because the mother doesn’t.
Honestly its pretty confusing and I think I may have gotten it wrong too, but I think the あまり and よく are the best signs since it sorta gives a more general feeling to it. Honestly I’m not even fully sure that I get the whole story but I’m confident enough to post.
Sources:
https://www.alc.co.jp/jpn/article/faq/03/99.html
https://www.alc.co.jp/jpn/article/faq/03/2.html
if youre lazy, heres the line im looking at for how to use ないで
あるいはある動作が行われる背景となる付帯状況を表します
I also find it hard to explain it objectively, but in general I see しないで more as being closer to せずに, maybe a weak alternative to it.
しなくて asks for a strong connection between the two sentences.
Yeah, I would use しなくて if they said the dad had to make dinner. “My mom doesnt usually cook so my dad usually has to make dinner.”. So that way its clearly a causal thing and the two are linked. But as is, its tricky, but しないで is safer.
Are there free flashcards I could access somewhere that goes over the different ways to Conjugate Japanese verbs?
Question:
I was doing some exercises in Genki (change a sentence in a たい form sentence) when I noticed:
In the book: 車を買う
Solution on CD: 車が買いたいです
(same for a number of similar examples)
I would like to know why the particle を changes to が.
Thanks!
The たい form of a verb is actually an adjective. So it’s no different from how you would use other adjectives, which you can’t use を with, like ほしい, etc.
It’s acceptable in today’s Japanese to say を as well, but if you are speaking with a grammar nazi they might silently judge you for it.