Short Grammar Questions

Japanese Language Grammar
#2491

Just to clarify this a bit further: と does not belong to から here. Instead, the sentence should be destructured as:

ピーマンはうれると - When bellpeppers get ripe (と here means “if”, but usually with a sense of “it is a natural consequence”, “it cannot be controlled by the speaker” or “it happens every time”)

みどり色から - from green

赤色になります。- they become red (になる in this case indicates a change, so this is where から comes into play because it marks the previous state).

(Disclaimer: That’s my current understanding. Please everybody correct me if I made any mistakes!)

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#2492

I think I might have confused と…から with から…まで.

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#2493

Looking back, I dont think anyone answered this for you.

混ざる just more refers to something that is sorta created as a result whereas 混じる is when youre talking about whats there and theres not something becoming of it being mixed. Like their example is gray hair being mixed in with your normal hair, since its just there and doesn’t actually mix with the rest of your hair to create something. But if youre talking about like mixing two flavors together you use 混ざる since it creates something new and you cant really pick out the individual thing anymore.

Hope that makes sense.

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#2494

Ahh thanks!

Now this makes sense「仲間に混ざる。」とは言いますが、「仲間に混じる。」とはあまり言いません

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#2495

捜せば なくはないと思うが、捜すのが大変するぎる。
It’s not that I don’t think we should search, but that searching is too difficult.

What purpose does 捜す being in it’s ば form serve? I see no reason why it should be in its potential form or how it being coupled with the grammar point なくはない makes sense. Unless it’s short for 捜せばいい…

Would be grateful for any help

#2496

It’s the ば conditional form, not potential.

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#2497

Oops, I thought they were the same. Although I’m still confused over the usage.

Translated literally at the expense of meaning and grammar:
If (we) search + It’s not that + is what I think, but

I can’t work out how that could mean It’s not that I don’t think we should search. Where does he express “I don’t think we should search”?

#2498

Double negations, so much fun.

The English translation you have is pretty loose, because anything too literal would come out as barely understandable in English.

なくはない → not like it’s not (what means “maybe yes”, like a very weak affirmative. It’s possible but unlikely, rare, undesirable, etc)

捜せば なくはない → If we search for it, it’s not like [we will] not [find it]

You could also translate the whole thing as “It’s not like I think we won’t find it if we search for it, but searching for it is just too troublesome”. While it’s still not grammatically literal, it’s a bit closer to the Japanese structure.

3 Likes
#2499

Holy Hell. That is a doozy and a half. Now that I understand it, I see that the confusion stemmed from 捜せば なくはない. I looked at it as 捜せばなく…はない when it was 捜せば …なくはない.

Moral of the lesson: Unless you see the grammar point connected by a conjugation or particle, assume it as it’s own separate entity.

Thanks guys

1 Like
#2500

The thing here is the conditional (ば) is not a verb-forming stem like the passive or the causative.
There is no 捜せばる, hence no 捜せばない and so forth, so they must be separate entities.

Even if you wanted to make a negative conditional, the ない would come first, like 捜さなければ

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#2501

わたしはアメリカ人です。又、わたしはフランス人でもあります。

I’m confused why あります is used instead of います in this sentence. Isn’t it referring to 私, an animate object? Is it referring to French-ness, which is inanimate? Or am I overlooking a blatantly obvious grammar rule / exception I didn’t properly learn in Genki Chapter 1?

#2502

である is a more formal-sounding plain copula than だ. It gives things a literary feel if just used on its own. But it functions no differently than だ or です. This isn’t ある alone, so いる isn’t an option.

It is used because that’s what you have to do to get the も into this sentence grammatically. もです is a construction you will see in the real world, but grammar nazis will say it’s wrong. でもある is the correct way to use a copula with も.

Then since the sentence is polite, it ends with ます.

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#2503

This isn’t really a grammar question, but does Wanikani teach all the kanji that can be found in N5 words?

#2504

Yeah, by level 16 you should have all N5 kanji.

https://www.wkstats.com/#charts.jlpt

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#2505

If you want to see how many kanji of some JLPT level you’ve already learned, you can go to the following site:
https://www.wkstats.com:10001/items/jlpt
To use the site, you have to insert the api key, to be found in wanikani settings.

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#2506

the SRS level of items don’t seem to be updated. For example some items I have as apprentice show as unlearned. Do you know how I could make it update?

#2507

In the top right click on your name, and then ‘refresh data’.

Keep in mind, though, that this site lists kanji, and not radicals. If you’ve learned a radical, but not the associated kanji, the item will (intentionally) not show up as learned.

Edit: second paragraph lacks nuance. It depends what page you’re looking at within wkstats. What I’m saying here is true for the page I linked to earlier.

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#2508

I had refreshed, but i hadn’t unlocked the associated kanji yet.

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#2509

何日がごつごうよろしいですか？

What day would be good for you?

I feel like this sentence should be fairly easy, but what does “ごつごう” mean?

#2510

It is ご都合 from https://www.wanikani.com/vocabulary/都合

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