Short Grammar Questions

Japanese Language Grammar
#205

Wondering if anyone has some insight on the nuance of the grammar in this sentence:

「遊びに行かない？」

My boss at the Board of Education asked me this a couple weeks ago, when I had just returned to work after a trip back home. I thought this older guy was trying to ask me out to dinner or something and was so confused :scream: I stuttered out some response that made it clear that I didn’t understand and he gave up asking :laughing: Then he came back after a moment and was like, “Oh, did you think I was inviting you somewhere? I wasn’t.”

So if it’s not invitation, what would be the nuance of this sentence in this context? Was he just asking if I had done anything fun this summer in general? Or was it more accusatory, like “Why don’t you go have fun (rather than sitting in the office all day)?” It was the week of Obon and the majority of teachers and office workers had taken the day off so, I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

#206

When someone asks something like that with no pronoun, the baseline assumption is that the listener is the subject. So yeah, my first assumption upon being asked something like that would be “Aren’t you going to go do something fun?” It’s absolutely not about the past.

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#207

Hearing that translation now, it makes a whole lot more sense. I think the other possible meanings just got jumbled in my head in the moment :joy: Thanks!

#208

When is it appropriate for a man to use わ? I almost exclusively hear it used by women so it sounds very feminine to my ears, but I occasionally hear manly “俺” type men use it too. I looked it up and apparently it’s a kansai thing, but in the context that I heard it they were just speaking normal Tokyo dialect.

#209

Probably sarcastically. Do you have an example sentence?

あれば最高だわ～

#210

I imagine you’re talking about the feminine わ in anime, because in real life it’s just not that common. But it is part of 役割語, so you’ll see it, especially “わよ” a lot. The Kansai わ is basically
よ.

But, aside from all that. and the classical-わ which I won’t go into. There’s two main usages in the dictionary:

1.) 軽い詠嘆や驚きなどの気持ちを表す - Light exclamation / admiration or surprise.

2.) 感動の意を表しながら並べあげる場合に用いる - Used along with expressing e motion. (I’m having a hard time finding a natural translation here)

Furthermore, here is a blog post about it written by a native speaker.

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#211

So, I want to say something like “the last 2 days”.

2 days = 二日
2 days ago = 二日前
The period of 2 days = 二日間
The last 2 days = ?

Is it 二日間前? oO’

Thanks in advance!

#212

I’d say この2日, when I stop to think about it. (But I’m not sure if that’s actually correct.)

#213

Assuming you don’t mean 最後の日 (this is why context is important), この２日間.

Source, this example sentence: 今日職場で私はこの2日間のことについて聞かれた。

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#214

Yep, sorry! That’s precisely what I needed :slight_smile: Funny enough, I ended up using この2日間前 XD A mess, I know.

Thanks for the simple but good explanation! :slight_smile:

Almost there it seems :stuck_out_tongue: Thanks for the suggestion nevertheless :slight_smile: Appreciate it.

#215

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that as much as 前 just makes it more explicit as “the two previous days”

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#216

Awesome! Thanks once again :slight_smile:

#217

Can someone explain to me what v-past ことにする／して is meant to convey? I understand that v-nonpast ことにする means to decide to do what’s described by こと, but I guess I can’t wrap my head around how you’re supposed to decide to do something that’s already happened.

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#218

Can you give us an example you came across?

#219

It’s not that you are deciding not to do something that has already happened. It’s that in the past you decided.

it’s the same as I’m deciding not to eat dinner, and I’ve decided I’m not to eat dinner. What’s located in the past is the act of deciding.

http://japanesetest4you.com/flashcard/learn-jlpt-n3-grammar-ことにする-koto-ni-suru/

#220

They’re not talking about that grammar point, because that one requires the verb that comes before こと to be non-past. Which is what you see on that page’s explanation and examples.

#221

Yeah, sure. I’ve seen it a few times but here’s the most recent one I can think of:
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/interview/smnj/vol1/index5.html
It’s an interview with Miyamoto and Iwata at Nintendo. They’re talking about a feature in a Mario game that shows people how to beat a level, and Miyamoto goes on to add that it doesn’t just show them but will actually beat the level for them if they want:

宮本:
そこで、攻略の参考になるだけでなく、
そのコースを仮にクリアしたことにして
「先に進む」を選択できるようにしました。

Thank you for your help but you misinterpreted my question. Read my post more carefully and see the example above.

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#222

Any with する non-past? して doesn’t have a past or present indication to it, it just works with the rest of the sentence’s context. Having it mean past would make sense to me.

But a teacher I talked to said that 仮に in front would make sense, and your example does have that… he said it has a feeling of not doing something ultimately. Though he’s not a Japanese (language) teacher.

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#223

It’s basically something like “To act as if or pretend that something is the case.”

うん、何も見なかったことにして - Let’s say you didn’t see anything.

聞かなかったことにするよ - I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.

この話はなかったことにしてください。 - Please forget about it (pretend it didn’t happen)

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#224

I’m not sure that fits with the quote they gave though?

そのコースを仮にクリアしたことにして
That Course, temporarily, I decided to clear it.

I think part of the problem with real world examples people don’t always use textbook grammar. I think he’s just saying I decided, while making the game, to temporarily clear the level.

Syphus seems to give good textbook examples.