について means “about” here. どう is “how” so it’s literally “how do you think” for どう思いますか. But we don’t really say it that way, we say “what do you think.”
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So I just learnt some ways of saying any and some in Japanese and how を, が and は are not used, but yes で, へ and に in Genki.
I have a question. If I wanted to say something like “I will not eat anywhere in this house”, how would it be?
1 この家どこでも食べないつもりです。
2 どここの家でも食べないつもりです。
Or maybe it requires more grammar I have yet to get to know?
この家（の中）でどこ（で）も食べないつもりです。
Or
この家はどこ（で）も食べないつもりです
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Thank you for the fast reply! I was messing it up when the answer was simpler than that!
Ah, I still have not learnt that. Thank you anyways!
But instead of つもり it would probably be more natural to say ようにしています。 I have decided to not eat anywhere in this house (and am acting accordingly).
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Are both of these sentences grammatically correct? And do they have any different shade of meaning?
木が 、高い。
木は、高いです。
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The commas are unnecessary there.
The difference between は and が is rather complicated, there’s lots of articles and videos about it so I’d suggest looking to some of those to help you get started on it.
Correct, but commas not necessary. Also です is only there for politeness. You can add it it leave it off of both sentences without changing the meaning. As for shade of meaning:
Sounds more neutral. The tree is/trees are tall.
Using は here places emphasis on the subject. So this sounds like: Trees are/the tree is tall (as opposed to some other object, which will become clear from context.
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So if the previous sentence was:
建物は短いです。
Then it would be better to use 木は高い instead of 木が 高い?
If you are trying to write a contrastive sentence, yes.
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You would then also probably link them together with が、けど or でも.
建物は低いですが、木は高いです。Note that if you use です or ーます in your first sentence, you should continue to do so in the rest of your sentences. Since that is the politeness level you decided on.
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Do you mean it is the opposite of tall? That’s 低い, not 短い
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Thanks, that sounded weird to me, but I guess I’m a bit tired, that I didn’t catch it!
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And to add to this, the antonym of 短い is 長い. 短い is ‘short’ in the context of length not of height. For example, 短期 (short term) vs 長期 (long term).
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Is the が in 「が」 and 「だが」 the same? Sorry if it’s not clear. BunPro has two points:
One called が = “but”/“however” where the が comes at the end of the first sentence. Always followed by a comma and the second sentence. It can become だが/ですが .
The other called だが = “but”/“still”/“however”/“nevertheless” .
This one too can be だが/ですが or even just が. Again always followed by a comma and the second sentence.
So what’s the difference?
Isn’t that だが just だ+が ?
I’m confused. I understand that だ is required after a noun / な-adj and that using です instead makes it more polite. Isn’t it basically the same grammar point?
Finally can I use が to say:
“I ate but I’m still hungry”:
食べたが、まだお腹がすきました。
Is it different with だが ?
食べただが、まだお腹がすきました。
I’m posting the structure of both since I know my question and description are kind of confusing.
[The one above is が whereas the one below is だが.]
The が is the same, it means “but, however” and is interchangeable with けど. だが = だけど.
You can’t attach だ to a verb, this is the same だ that you use instead of です for casual speech. You can say これは食べ物だが、美味しくない。
The difference with だが / だけど is you can start a sentence with it.
ライブに行くのがとても好きです。だが、今は疲れたから行かない.
The だ there is like a replacement for the previous sentence. Something like “Be that as it may, however …”. It’s a thing you can do so you don’t made the sentences too long. You can express the same idea as ライブに行くのがとても好きだが今は疲れたから行かない.
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Much clearer now, thanks! They should probably join them to avoid confusion…anyway,
I’ve got a follow-up question: as you said だ cannot be attached to a verb so
食べただが
is simply wrong.
Bunpro shows examples of the の particle (or ん) used to attach だが to the past form of a verb, a couple of examples: hoping I’m not breaking copyright or something
探したんだが、見つけられなかった。
車で行きたかったのだが、駐車場がない。
And weirdly one with an optional の. [The の in the structure explanation is in parentheses as well. ] Not sure if it means that it depends on the verb used (like 言う here) or what:
大統領が言った(の)だが、私は信じない。
What is that の/ん ? And why is it there? [Not sure I should be asking the “why” of a grammar rule, but I thought I’d try]
In another but similar point it uses it like this:
んだけ（れ）ど
ん/の + だが
んですけ（れ）ど
ん/の + ですが
In the notes it points out that “Versions without ん/の are also acceptable but ん/の version is more common nowadays”. But all examples use it so not sure how to interpret that…
Is it the same の/ん that we use in the ending particle んだ/ のだ/ んです/ のです？ Is it because we need an explanatory tone when we want to add a contrastive sentence?
Edit: Almost forgot, does that make 「食べたんだが、。。。」correct? Is it unusual/weird?
It’s the のだ construction with が added to it (the の can become ん in casual speech, because it’s easier to pronounce). Breaking it down, it’s the の nominalization particle (it turns the thing before it into a noun) + the sentence ending だ (the so-called copula or the “to be” verb, even though it’s not quite a verb).
For example you can say 走るのが好きです。
走る means “to run”. 走るの acts like a noun, so it’s something like “the act of running”, or just “running”. You turn it into a noun, so you can use the 好き grammar to say you like to run.
Being a noun, you can make it into a sentence by adding だ or です.
走ているのです。 = “It is that I am running” (loosely). This would be something you’d maybe answer to a question, like if someone asks you 何をしている？ It feels like you’re explaining something.
Let’s take the examples you gave:
探したんだが、見つからなかった。It is that I have searched, but I couldn’t find it. It sort of adds the nuance of being an explanation, maybe even a bit of “It’s not like I haven’t looked, but…”
You can read more about it here:
https://www.imabi.net/karanodenoda.htm
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This seems wrong. Both （のだ）should be in parentheses together.
Edited が to だ
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@jneapan Thank you very much! It’s much clearer now. Apparently I hadn’t understood the nominalization function of の yet. I’ll read carefully the Imabi page since it’s obviously an important point.
Just checked to make sure I copied it right. It’s the first example in the だが page (for those who have a free/paid account there). Could be just a mistake though considering the number of examples and the fact that the site is still a work in progress. [Reported it just in case]
By the way, I’m assuming you meant
Both （のだ）should be in parentheses together
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