Ahhh I was thinking the wrong sense of 離れる there, then. Since the second one referred to her leaving home, I kind of just assumed that the first one did too (also, I had yet to see a counter attached to a verb). I didn’t realize 離れる can also refer to how far apart someone is in age. Thanks!
(Plus, she has to be older since she’s already graduated high school. The POV character is a high school third-year, though of course you don’t get that from that sentence)
It happens all the time (I learned it could attach to a noun with の much later; for quite some time I saw counters only attached to verbs (or i-adjectives, which, at least from an indoeuropean language, are more like verbs than our adjectives)).
For example in 兄弟が四人います, the counter is attached to the verb (litt. brothers exist “4-peoplely”)
Same here. 
One thing you’ll get used to when you’re trying to parse sentences is figuring out what modifies what.
Here you have a verb phrase right before a noun so “三つ離れた” modifies 姉 rather than the whole phrase.
Ohhh I just did a lesson on Duolingo that dealt with counters, and I realized I have seen counters attached to verbs! I just didn’t realize that that’s what was happening since I still saw it as attached to the noun it applied to, just after whichever particle rather than before it with a の; even though the verb is directly after it, it didn’t register that that was what it was attached to. Okay! I can be aware of that now
So literally she’s his older sister who’s separated from him by three (years)
You don’t need to know the game of Go 囲碁 to answer this question. 
I think I know the meaning of ことになる and its’ variants ことになった
or ことになっている：something has been decided/schedule or something will happen without the intervention of the agent. But in the context of the text below, it does not make sense. My summary of the last part (5th column): " (If black does not settle its shape with 9 and 11 then) when it is White turn, White will extend by playing at 9." If White is playing then the play at 9 cannot happen without White’s volition. So not sure how can one use ことになります in this context.
It’s written from black’s perspective though. It’s what will happen if they don’t do something. At that point it’s out of their control.
If this was advice for white about what to do in response to black, ことになる would be weird, yes.
Thanks! That makes perfect sense! If I may ask another question: why the author is using the particle を instead of で or に? when referring to what Black can do in the upper left ( second column, 黒が左上を、)
Isn’t it the “area traversed” を, like 公園を歩く?
Yes! I did not know this usage! Thanks!
Heya!
In the very beginning of the konosuba anime, the main character gets a reincarnation contract with a very shifty small warning that the camera quickly glosses over, and out of curiosity I tried translating it. My transcription is as follows:
注意！
異世界への転生を希望する対象者(以下対象者乙と称す)への転生後における使用言語の後天的使用能力をインストールする作業(丙における作業について)は、対象者乙の海馬ならびに大脳皮質周辺部(以下脳と称す)に瞬間的な高負荷をかける必要があるため、まれに対象者乙の脳が使用困難状態(くるくる●ー)になることがあります。その場合でも対象者乙は第１２９６条第２項、第５項および第２０５１条第３項により転生責任者ならびに関係諸機関に瑕責任を問うことは一切出来ません。
(Those legal terms urghhh. At least I won’t forget them anytime soon)
The only part I don’t understand is the (くるくる●ー). My two possible interpretations are either 1/ it’s an onomatopoeia for the brain “whirling around” or 2/ it represents the person writing this inserting a “laugh”. But why the “●ー” ? Does it have a specific meaning?
Thanks a bunch!
(Edit: I actually paused the anime right at that point and didn’t bother to watch the next few sentences… The person presenting the contract mentions of the character going “poof” (パーになる), and a fan translation proposes (go “p**f”) for the parentheses, hinting that this sign marks some form of censoring I guess?)
Yes, that’s more or less what I assumed when I first watched this after starting Japanese a few years back.
Actually, if you pause the video and zoom in, you’ll notice that the black circle seems to be covering something, and there appears to be an additional mark poking out from behind it, as if パ or バ was the kana that was originally there. It’s a large black circle, followed by the long line used for long vowels in katakana.
This is fantastic, I cant wait to get started
Oh wow, good catch! Indeed, it seems that way.
Only question left is the くるくる then, but assuming it’s an onomatopoeia, the whole part could be a brrrr *POOF* of some sort.
Have a look here: Japanese expression “kuru kuru paa” – Self Taught Japanese.
So, as far as I understand it, a way of saying the person’s brain will disappear, they will become an idiot etc. My Japanese teacher often mutters くるくる to herself when she is thinking, perhaps in a slightly self deprecating way, so I think it’s the context of the ‘cogs’ of your brain turning slowly as you are not quite understanding something!
What is the difference between the following sentences?
私は優柔不断な性格で、レストランなどでなかなか注文（を）決められない。
私は優柔不断な性格で、レストランなどでなかなか注文（が）決められない。
I don’t think there is any. Potential form allows が in place of を I think.
Edit: got Leeboed 
Hmm yeah I did suspect that を could be used with a bit of a colloquial feel as described in the link @Leebo sent (“を + potential is not yet considered standard, but has begun to gain acceptance among some speakers.”) But what confused me was that I saw that sentence in an official Kentei prep book 
.
The person saying that was quoting Japanese: The Spoken Language, which was published 30+ years ago. So that’s when the person writing it was saying “it has begun to gain acceptance.”
I don’t know what that meant percentage-wise at that time, but you would be hard-pressed to find people who object to it now.
It’s still likely considered “incorrect” in the minds of some sticklers, but in a descriptive sense it is accepted now.
Additionally, it’s not the focus of that question, which is testing on ら抜き言葉.
The funny thing with that, though, is that ら抜き言葉 is a phenomenon that is itself gaining traction. I think it’s still recognized as wrong by more people though. It’s one of those things where even people who use it know it’s considered wrong technically. Whereas を with potential is just considered correct by many people. But I imagine ら抜き言葉 is here to stay since it serves a purpose (as a way of distinguishing potential from passive in ichidan verbs).
Ooh I didn’t catch that. Thank you!
