Short Grammar Questions (Part 1)

Jisho’s example sentences are all just scraped from a site that collects sentences and their translations into other languages. There’s no guarantee of what sentence was the “original” one. It might not even be the Japanese or English, though obviously Jisho doesn’t scrape the other languages. In other words, both the Japanese and the English could be a translation of some other language’s sentence.

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Sorry, not a grammar question. but could not find a good place to ask. Can anyone post a link of the script that made it imposible to go to the next review right after you get one wrong. (so you dont press next since you thought you got the answer right, without looking up what the corect word was)

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You could just make a new topic.

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I dont like topics that only needs one reply :wink:

Better than posting an irrelevant question in a random topic. :man_shrugging:

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Not sure if this is what you were looking for, but the double-check script seems pretty similar:

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yeah it would be the double check lightning mode.

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「あなたには 言っとかないと!」

It seems ~とかない implies a sense of need (from とく), but what is going on with (a) the 言っと conjugation and (b) the negative conjugation of とくない

Is it saying “I don’t need to tell you” or “I need to tell you”? Does the かない in this case imply some kind of ~なきゃ-like thing?

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It’s a contraction of ておかない. So ておく means “to do beforehand/in preparation”. Then this is turned into the negative form with と、 which is actually short for ておかないといけない. Negative verb + といけない means “you must/have to” do the verb. Literally it means if you don’t do the verb, you cannot go on (living or something like that). So 言っとかないと! means “I must say it (beforehand/in preparation)”.

I think I’d read this as “You should’ve said that!”, since あなたには means that you should be doing this, with は marking you as the topic and に just making it more pointed towards you. I’d need more context for this sentence to be sure myself, though.

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This should be ‘I need to tell you (in advance)’. The に marks who the action of 言う is aimed at, not who is speaking.

Double particles are tricky. :confused: since はis ‘only’ a topic marker (it does have some more functions but), in case of double particles I pay more attention to the other one.

Topic and subject are not necessarily the same. ^^ If it was ‘you should’ve said that,’ it would probably be something like ‘そう言わればよかった(some particles, maybe のに)’…? :thinking:
In any case, いっとかない isn’t past tense.

Possibly the (に)は also acts as a contrasting marker, as in 'I need to tell you (and not other people) even though there is no stated contrasting party… That is pure speculation on my part though, I’m too out of the story at this point to be very aware of the context.

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Yeah I thought it could be read that way too, which is why I was unsure without more context.

I wouldn’t use the passive here. Then it means: ‘It would have been better if you/I were told.’ Depending on subject.

‘You should have said’:(あなたが)言っとけばよかった。

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I just feel like if you leave out the subject, with this sort of phrase you’d usually be talking about yourself or your in group, which is why I went for passive. It’s also more indirect, which seems to be the go to when talking about other people and their short comings.

Have you seen or heard 言っとけばよかった used that way before? I’ll be the first to admit my practical knowledge isn’t quite where I want it yet. ^^

Well, context will inform you of who should have done the saying. Using passive voice, without a subject, completely leaves out the person who should be doing the saying. It focuses the sentence on the fact that ‘I/we should have been told!’ Still not clear that ‘you’ should have told me. That is why I think active voice should be used.

Couldn’t tell you if I specifically heard it with the verb 言う, but I have definitely heard this in active voice, if thst is what you meant. Doing it with 言う doesn’t sound strange to me at all, though.

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Hey people, I have a confusing sentence that I’m not quite getting.
その原因は子供達の毎日の生活にあるのではないかと考えました。
So, the textbook I’m using translates it as “I thought the cause of that is in kid’s lifestyles” and points out the 〜のではないか as a grammar point (although it doesn’t explain it’s usage).
I tried searching online and in the various Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar but I can’t seem to find an actual grammar structure to which it is related. I don’t get the usage of the の there, I don’t get if it is like an embbeded question… If someone could help or connect the grammar point to some explanation I can actually understand I’d be really grateful.
Thank you so much!

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As far as specific grammar, I can’t answer you on that, but in terms of translation, it is sort of acting as a way to turn the previous set of words into an in-sentence indirect question, expecting agreement from the listener.

Ugly overly literal translation: ““That reason can be found in children’s everyday life, isn’t that the case?” it is thought.”

The ではないか is similar to English grammar where we can say “Don’t you think that guy is being a bit mean”. We use Don’t, a negative, but really expect the listener to agree with our train of thought.

Less literal translation: “It is thought that the reason may be found in children’s everyday life.”

The above are my two cents, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable in terms of specific grammar comes by and can give you a more full answer.

Good luck!

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Maybe this page would help from Imabi?

https://www.imabi.net/karanodenoda.htm

To quote probably the most relevant bit:

~のじゃない, just like ~じゃない, is often used to ask for verification, but in this sense you are wanting explanation. Even so, you’d be hard pressed to hear ~のじゃない? Instead, you would hear ~んじゃない? If you wanted the の, ~のではないか would be your next best option. However, this form is more indicative of 書き言葉 or very serious utterances. You should separate this from the のじゃない that comes about from using の as a dummy noun and then following it with the copula.

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@athomasm @TamanegiNoKame Thank you so much, I think I’m getting it now. A hug from Barcelona!

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No, bad. No hugging. A friendly wave from at least 1.5 metres away.

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